STAYING PUT Council decides to renovate Rockville offices. A-10
SPORTS: County boxers head for Golden Gloves finals in Las Vegas. B-1
The Gazette
SILVER SPRING | TAKOMA PARK | WHEATON | BURTONSVILLE
NEWS: Takoma Park opens doors for annual community house and garden tour. A-4
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
25 cents
County officer’s widow remembers fallen hero
Decades don’t erase memories of officer’s fatal shooting
Montgomery police sergeant died in Wheaton crash in 2010 n
BY
PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
Melissa Ayala remembers the night her husband, Montgomery County Police Sgt. Hector Ayala, died while on duty — April 4, 2010. She said she can tell the story a million times and it still hurts five years later. “There was a knock at the door Easter Sunday about 4:30 a.m.,” she said. “I was pregnant with triplets and put on bed rest. Our son, Hector Jr., had been in New Jersey with my in-laws, but they were there for Easter. “My father-in-law answered and came to tell me the police were here. I thought it was a problem in the neighborhood, but when I saw Philip Meyer, a police officer who was a good friend of Hector’s, I wondered, ‘Is Hector injured?’ It felt like forever [before] the words came out that Hector was no longer with us.” Ayala died in a car crash
See WIDOW, Page A-12
Detective who died on duty in 1972 to be honored in statewide ceremony n
BY
STAFF WRITER
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Melissa Ayala is pictured with her four children — (from left) 4-year-old triplets Angelica, Gabriella, and Victoria and 6-year-old Hector Jr. — at her upper Montgomery County home. Montgomery County Police Sgt. Hector Ayala, their husband and father, died five years ago while on the job.
Takoma Park keeps library design funds n
Council narrowly favors retaining money
BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
Following pleas by numerous residents — including students — to keep funds for a new library design in next year’s budget, the Takoma Park City Council on Monday informally agreed 4-3 to retain the design money. Councilman Terry J. Seamens proposed not spending $200,000 in fiscal 2016 for the library design and engineering
KEVIN JAMES SHAY
work, saying he appreciated advocates’ requests and thought the library was a “phenomenal resource.” But he said he was “not sure that we have well defined what it is that we want.” “The design changes that we listened to in the envisioning process really didn’t talk a whole lot about expanding programs,” Seamens said. “It talked about expanding shelf space. So I’m just not sure that we’re ready to start talking about designs until we look at all those different factors.
See LIBRARY, Page A-12
Forty-three years later, Nancy Acker clearly recalls her husband’s last day. Her husband, Montgomery County police Lt. Donald A. Robertson, had gone to work. That day, in March 1972, was a little more special; it marked his 13-year anniversary with the department. While in their Germantown home, Acker received a call from her husband’s brother, Ralph Robertson, also a Montgomery police officer at the time.
See SHOOTING, Page A-12
PHOTO FROM ROBERTSON FAMILY
Nancy Acker with her late husband, Montgomery County police Lt. Donald Robertson. Robertson was shot and killed while on duty in 1972. He was scheduled to be honored during Fallen Heroes Day in Timonium on Friday, but the event has been postponed.
Army facility targeted for face-lift n
Project to include modernizing animal research facility BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
A 67,000-square-foot medical research laboratory built in 1972 at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring is targeted for renovations, according to a preliminary federal bid solicitation. The structure, known as Building 511, includes a vivarium that houses small and large animals, such as primates, used in defense and medical research projects. The work will include electrical, animal lighting, building automation, walls and ceilings, telephone and communication systems, plumbing, doors and windows, according
to the bid on the government’s Federal Business Opportunities website. The estimated construction price range is between $25 million and $100 million, with three years allowed for construction. The preliminary “phase one” bid, which is a qualifying phase, is due by May 8. The second phase — the formal bid — is due to be released on June 15, with the bid deadline slated for July 30, said Miles Brown, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ district based in Little Rock, Ark. The Little Rock district handles most projects overseen by the Army Corps at medical-related facilities, Brown said. “We have the expertise for medical facilities,” he said. “We have done projects across the country and even worldwide.” For the Silver Spring project, contrac-
tors will have three years to complete the work, under the proposal. Bidding is done in the two phases to help weed out companies that aren’t qualified for the project, Brown said Friday. “The idea is to save on time and money,” he said. “They don’t have to put a lot of time doing a full bid proposal, if they aren’t qualified for the project.” The Army Corps of Engineers also is soliciting bids for renovations to another structure at the research institute — Building 501. The 21,075-square-foot structure was built in 1954 as a pilot vaccine production facility to help protect soldiers, according to the bid on the FBO site. The first phase bid is due by May 18. The second phase is expected to be issued
See FACE-LIFT, Page A-12
Students learn health fields through NIH Discovery Program offers firsthand look at medical careers n
BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
Before entering a new career discovery program at the National Institutes of Health, Ben Cabrera leaned more toward the legal field. Now the junior at Blake High School in Silver Spring wants to pursue a medical field, such as
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neuroscience. “When I thought about joining this program [last year], I didn’t know much about NIH. It just sounded like it would be a cool place to work,” Cabrera said Thursday at the NIH Clinical Center during a visit to the research hospital’s epidemiology department. “But as I got more involved in this program, my interest in health care really increased.” That heightened interest by high school students in the medical field is exactly what Courtney Duncan envisioned
when she pushed to start the Discovery Program last year. The volunteer services program coordinator in the center’s social work department had heard from more high school students that they wanted to volunteer at NIH to help them learn about what the research campus does. Duncan knew of career exploration programs at other hospitals and decided the Bethesda center needed one. She sought a school that did not have a previous partnership with NIH and had a relatively high minority population. The Blake staff was
excited and identified students to participate, she said. “It gives them the opportunity to gain more knowledge about this field before they have to make a decision on a college degree,” Duncan said. Starting last September, 13 Blake students, mostly juniors, have met for about two hours each month at various departments and sections at the center. Besides touring the departments and learning about the work from doctors and
See NIH, Page A-12
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ON THE MONEY Rocker takes the stage at Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club. B-4
Volume 28, No. 15, Two sections, 28 Pages Copyright © 2015 The Gazette Please
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TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Dr. Tara Palmore assists Asorai Dhaba, 17, as she tries on a filtered air respirator hood. Blake High School students toured the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, learning about careers from hospital epidemology staff.