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Socially conscious singer steps into the lights at Fillmore. A-15
The Gazette POTOMAC | NORTH POTOMAC
DAILY UPDATES ONLINE www.gazette.net
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
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Two county men die in Navy Yard shooting David Kottler, who manages Mamma Lucia’s in Bethesda, checks an ID in the restaurant’s bar.
North Potomac man one of 12 killed Monday by gunman in D.C.
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ONLINE EXTRA “IT’S SOMETHING WE SHOULD BE DOING IN THE FIRST PLACE” n Restaurants take cautious approach to county tests www.gazette.net
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PHOTOS BY DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Rachel is an underage volunteer for the Montgomery County Liquor Board. She poses in a Montgomery County liquor and wine store with her Maryland underage driver’s license, which is vertical and has a red box around her picture to indicate that she is not old enough to purchase alcohol. The Gazette blurred the personal details on her license.
NOT TAKING CHANCES ON Liquor department trial purchases made 400 times a year in county
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COMPLIANCE CHECKS Checked
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ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH
pronounce it correctly. When she started testing restaurants, she was nervous, she said. That first night, more than a half dozen of the 20 restaurants she tested ended up serving her illegally. Montgomery County police work with underage volunteers such as Navarrete to check if restaurants and liquor establishments are selling to drinkers younger than 21, the minimum age to buy or drink alcohol in Maryland. “We don’t call it a sting operation,” said Kathie Durbin, chief of the licen-
STAFF WRITER
AND JACOB
BOGAGE
SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
Valeria Navarrete remembers the first time she tested whether a restaurant would sell her alcohol illegally. She was an underage volunteer working with Montgomery County police. “I didn’t know anything or what to choose,” Navarrete said. She asked for a chardonnay, mostly because she knew what the wine looked like and how to
See COMPLIANCE, Page A-9
Of the 400 county businesses tested in the last fiscal year, which ended June 30, 111 sold alcohol to minors.
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400
400
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548
550 406
400
Failed
300 200
111
100 0
2013
102 2012
72%
Percent in compliance
2011
75%
120
110
83 2010
79%
113
2009
80%
2008
71%
80%
SOURCE: MONTGOMERY COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF LIQUOR CONTROL
Suit marks third in seven months filed against Rockville by current, former employees BY
ELIZABETH WAIBEL STAFF WRITER
A former employee has filed a lawsuit against the city of Rockville, claiming “intolerable” working conditions forced him into early medical retirement. Charles Baker of North Potomac filed a com-
NEWS
CHALLENGING SEASON FOR GROWERS Several local community supported agriculture farms report success despite weather.
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plaint Aug. 12 in Montgomery County Circuit Court. This is the third time in the past seven months that a current or former employee has filed a lawsuit against the city. Last spring, one current and one former employee filed complaints against the city, claiming they were discriminated against because they are black. According to the most recent complaint, Baker has worked for the city since 1984. In 2005, he was promoted to chief of inspection services, and in 2008, Susan Swift, director of the Community Planning and Development Services Department, became his supervisor.
SPORTS
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See SHOOTING, Page A-9
Feldman named to fill District 15 Senate seat Delegate’s move to Garagiola’s Senate spot creates new vacancy n
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RYAN MARSHALL STAFF WRITER
Baker’s lawsuit claims that Swift “engaged in unabated and outrageous bullying behavior,” but the human resources manager at that time, Carlos Vargas, and city manager Scott Ullery each “turned a blind eye”to his complaints about Swift. Vargas and Ullery no longer work for the city of Rockville. At one point, the complaint says, Baker worked overtime to finish a report and turned it in, but Swift called him into the office on Palm Sunday, a Christian holy day, to staple the report pages together.
See SUIT, Page A-9
See FELDMAN, Page A-9
‘IT WAS VERY MEMORABLE’ Kennedy High School graduate gets a day with tennis pros at the US Open.
Two of the victims identified in Monday’s shooting at the Washington Navy Yard were residents of Montgomery County. According to D.C. Metropolitan Police, John Roger Johnson, 73, of Derwood and Vishnu Pandit, 61, of North Potomac were among 12 people shot and killed by a gunman at the Navy Yard in Southeast Washington. Vishnu B. Pandit The suspected gunman, Aaron Alexis, was killed in a shootout with police; the FBI is seeking information about him. According to The Washington Post,
With the appointment of Del. Brian Feldman to fill the District 15 Senate seat vacated by Robert J. Garagiola, the race to fill Feldman’s delegate position will begin. Gov. Martin O’Malley on Thursday appointed Feldman (D) of Potomac to fill the seat. Garagiola announced in June that he would resign effective Sept. 1 to spend more time with his children. The 23 members of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee who attended a meeting Tuesday night in Kensington unanimously agreed on Feldman as their pick to fill the seat. One committee member was absent. Feldman’s promotion opens a delegate seat in District 15, which is expected
Former city employee sues for ‘intolerable’ work conditions n
SARAH SCULLY STAFF WRITER
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