HISTORICAL PRESERVATION IN OLNEY Sports nonprofit restores landmark Colonial home. A-5
NEWS: Fallen heroes honored at annual law enforcement ceremony. A-4
The Gazette ROCKVILLE | ASPEN HILL | POTOMAC | OLNEY
SPORTS: Sherwood lacrosse keeps winning, overcoming fatal car collision last August. B-1
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
25 cents
School pairing plan proceeds
She’s got game
Opponents cited traffic, lack of community voice in Tilden-Rock Terrace proposal n
BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
The Montgomery County school board approved on Tuesday a study to look at a possible pairing plan for Tilden Middle School and Rock Terrace School on a North Bethesda campus. The plan and the project process have sparked heated community opposition. Seven board members voted in favor of the feasibility study of a new facility that would house both the general education and special education schools.
Board President Patricia O’Neill was absent. Interim Superintendent Larry Bowers recently recommended the paired facility on Tilden Lane, which the district expects to hold more than 1,000 Tilden students and up to about 100 students from Rock Terrace, now in Rockville. At an April 27 public hearing, community members told board members that the district had not given them a fair chance for input on the pairing plan. Speakers also voiced concerns about the plan itself, including arguments that the site is too small and the facility would worsen traffic on neighborhood roads.
See SCHOOL, Page A-10
Couple’s slaying stuns neighbors
(Above) Julie Ricketson of Germantown shoots baskets in the Bankshot league of the National Association for Recreational Equality at Mattie Stepanek Park in Rockville’s King Farm on April 26. The new league is for people both with and without disabilities. Bankshot sports are played alongside, rather than against, others, with no offense, defense or body contact.
Police: Pair stabbed at Rockville-area home n
BY DAN MORSE AND MICHAEL S. ROSENWALD THE WASHINGTON POST
(Right) Gary Rock of Rockville gets advice from John Solyst of Community Services for Autistic Adults and Children while shooting baskets.
Montgomery County detectives and crime-scene investigators spent Monday searching for clues at a Rockville-area home, more than 24 hours after a couple in their 60s were killed there by at least one assailant armed with a knife or some other
PHOTOS BY BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
sharp-edged weapon. Friends of the couple — Richard “Dick” Vilardo, a hotel developer, and Julianne “Jody” Vilardo, who had worked at an accounting firm — said they couldn’t imagine anyone having a reason to hurt them. Two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case said that while the investigation is young, they hadn’t uncovered anything to suggest that the victims were targeted for something either
See SLAYING, Page A-13
Hometown pride Graduates’ careers take cue from life takes center stage at Olney Days n
One student takes on nursing, another pursues social work BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
n
Parade, fair, fireworks, block party all on tap this weekend BY
TERRI HOGAN STAFF WRITER
Imagine visiting Olney for the first time, and finding a parade marching down Georgia Avenue. Helene Rosenheim, Olney Days committee chairwoman for the past 22 years, said she recently met a family who did just that. “They had come to look at
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Olney as a place to raise their family, and when they saw the parade, they thought, ‘What a great community.’” For more than three decades, that annual parade down Olney’s main street has brought the community together, while showcasing the local fire department, businesses, church groups and community organizations. Olney Days, which will be celebrated Saturday and Sunday, started out as a parade, but has grown to a weekend
See OLNEY, Page A-13
The Universities at Shady Grove’s largest graduating class includes two students whose career goals arose unforeseen from life’s twists and turns. Staff Sgt. Martin Mann of Gaithersburg and Desiree Colvin of California, Md., are graduating from programs hosted at the Rockville campus, stepping into or nearing careers that serve people they can relate to. The campus held a celebration on Thursday for 784 undergraduate students and 40 pharmacy students who are receiving degrees from University System of Maryland schools. Mann recently shared his story at an event honoring William E. “Brit” Kirwan, the outgoing university system chancellor. Mann ends his time at Shady Grove after working on a bache-
lor’s in social work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. For Mann, 30, the degree is another step toward joining a field in which he can help fellow veterans and others through a range of roles. Though he started community college years ago with psychology on his mind, Mann left school to join the Army in 2003. His first deployment took him to Iraq in 2006 to serve as a combat medic. After returning home, he entered an Army nursing program, looking to build on his medical knowledge. His trajectory began to shift toward social work with the help of a psychology professor at Montgomery College, where Mann was pursuing an associate degree. He was looking to help his fellow veterans, a goal the professor told him could be better accomplished in social work. Mann said he sees himself taking on different roles in social work, from case manager to therapist to researcher.
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HARMONIOUS LILIES Boxcar Lilies return to BlackRock with new music, old favorites. B-5
See CAREERS, Page A-13
Volume 28, No. 19, Two sections, 32 Pages Copyright © 2015 The Gazette Please
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BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Nursing student Desiree Colvin of California, Md., and her children — Myra, 3, and James, 6 — talk with university system Chancellor William E. “Brit” Kirwan after Thursday’s graduation celebration at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville.