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Socially conscious singer steps into the lights at Fillmore. A-15
The Gazette ROCKVILLE | ASPEN HILL | WHEATON
DAILY UPDATES ONLINE www.gazette.net
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
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County men die in shooting at Navy Yard Gunman killed 12 on Monday in D.C.
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SARAH SCULLY STAFF WRITER
David Kottler, who manages Mamma Lucia’s in Bethesda, checks an ID in the restaurant’s bar.
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 done 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
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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 UNDERAGE, 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
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111
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2013 Percent in compliance
102
548 406
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2012
72%
2011
75%
2010
79%
120
113
2009
80%
2008
71%
80%
SOURCE: MONTGOMERY COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF LIQUOR CONTROL
Grand jury faults corrections buildings Report challenges job requirements; praises health care, training
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ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH STAFF WRITER
A Montgomery County grand jury investigation has found that local corrections facilities are old and in disrepair. The grand jury also questioned the pressure on inmates
NEWS
FORMER CITY EMPLOYEE SUES
to find jobs as they leave jail and challenged the mindset of longtime employees. County officials concurred with some findings, such as the need for improvements to buildings, but strongly contested others. The grand jury investigation occurs annually and the findings are forwarded to the Montgomery County Council. This year’s report said the Montgomery County Detention
Center at Seven Locks — the central processing unit for arrests — is “old and deteriorating.” “It would be helpful to officers to add security features such as cameras and mirrors,” the report said, recommending the construction of a new facility “as soon as possible.” “The building is ancient and all agree it needs replacement,” said Correction and Rehabilita-
See JAIL, Page A-9
SPORTS
‘IT WAS VERY MEMORABLE’
Calls working conditions “intolerable.”
Kennedy High School graduate gets a day with tennis pros at the US Open.
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KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
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Downtown Wheaton plans to be outlined Public invited to review plans Wednesday
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See NAVY YARD, Page A-9
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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. 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, Pandit was a civilian employee of the Navy for more than 25 years. He was born in Mumbai, India, in November 1951 and moved to the U.S. when
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
A crew breaks up the concrete walk leading to the county’s Pre-Release and Re-Entry Services facility on Nebel Street in Rockville.
Automotive Calendar Celebrations Classified Community News Entertainment Opinion School News Sports Please
RECYCLE
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Representatives from two development companies targeted to redevelop several sites in downtown Wheaton and Silver Spring are slated to outline their plans during a meeting open to the public at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Wheaton High School. Bethesda-based StonebridgeCarras and Greenbelt-based Bozzuto Group submitted the highest-rated proposal to the county, which sent out requests in June, said Ana L. van Balen, director of the Mid-County Regional Services Center in Wheaton. The meeting is part of the procurement process, and a formal contract has yet to be awarded, she said. Developers will present their proposed plans and design ideas at the meeting. A StonebridgeCarras principal could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Montgomery County Department of Transportation and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission are overseeing the mixed-use project, which includes developing a town square and building a government office building where the commission plans to relocate from Silver Spring. kshay@gazette.net
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FOCUS ON LAWN & TREE SERVICES LOCAL JOBS INSIDE ADVERTISING INSIDE B SECTION
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