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NEWS: Silver Spring resident wins dispute over HOA parking penalty. A-6
SILVER SPRING | TAKOMA PARK | WHEATON | BURTONSVILLE DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Schools focusing on minors in limbo
25 cents
Silver Spring Transit Center costs shoot up
Looking a lot like Christmas
n Government bodies, nonprofits figuring out how to care for immigrants
Repair estimate now $50M higher than at start n
LINDSAY A. POWERS
BY
SPORTS: A look at this winter’s high school indoor track season. B-1
BY
BILL TURQUE
STAFF WRITER
THE WASHINGTON POST
Montgomery County is seeing an increasing number of unaccompanied minors from Central America and is struggling to keep up with the support they need, county and school officials said. Officials from Montgomery County Public Schools and the county Department of Health and Human Services joined nonprofit representatives on Monday to discuss the issues surrounding children who left their homes in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala for the U.S. The county is serving hundreds of the roughly 1,100 unaccompanied youths in its communities, but not all of them, said Uma Ahluwalia, director of the Montgomery County’s Department of Health and Human Services. “I don’t know that we know who’s not being served and who has not come to our attention yet,” Ahluwalia said. The youths face many issues, Ahluwalia said. Some live with parents who built new families. Others are in families with a low income, at risk of losing housing. The county government and private entities direct resources to help the youths and their families, she said. However, resources are limited; the needs — such as mental health and legal services — might be greater than what the county can meet. “We’re barely scraping the surface with all of these resources,” she said. Unaccompanied immigrant children often come across the border to escape violence, abuse or persecution in their home countries, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Hu-
Repairs to the Silver Spring Transit Center will require another $21 million, Montgomery County officials said Thursday, bringing the cost of the beleaguered project — now four years behind schedule — to $141 million, more than $50 million over original estimates. County officials said in September that additional funds would be needed to fix construction and design defects in the three-level commuter terminal adjacent to the Silver Spring Metro station at Colesville Road and Georgia Avenue. But until Thursday, they did not say how much. The deficiencies in the facility include poor-quality concrete and lack of steel supports for roadways that are expected to support hundreds of buses arriving and leaving each day. General Services Director David Dise, the lead county official on the project, said the
See MINORS, Page A-12
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Sonja Varga, 2, of Silver Spring examines the Christmas tree during Rockville’s tree lighting festivities Thursday at Town Square. Jackie DeCarlo, executive director of Manna Food Center in Gaithersburg, takes a selfie with Santa Claus.
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ockville hosted a holiday tree lighting Thursday in Rockville Town Square. The event also included photos with Santa Claus, live music, ice-skating performances and other activities. The tree lighting was hosted by Aaron Gilchrist of NBC 4 in Washington. A menorah lighting will be held Dec. 17 in Town Center. — RYAN MARSHALL
$21 million should be enough to complete the repairs by late April or early May. “This is all the work that needs to be done,” he said. There is no firm opening date. After repairs are finished, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which will operate the center as part of its transit system, has up to 60 days to inspect the facility and decide whether it is ready for passengers. To complete the project, the county has decided to front the money for the repairs and then try to recover it by suing the contractors that it holds responsible for the problems — a process that could take years. In a letter to County Council President George Leventhal (D-At Large), County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) again pledged taxpayers will not be on the hook for the additional expense. “The contractors and consultants responsible will be held fully accountable for all costs related to and resulting from the necessary remedia-
See TRANSIT, Page A-12
Takoma Park woman runs to help inmates fix relationships n
Baltimore-to-Hagerstown trek inspires hope BY
RAISA CAMARGO STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY ANNA LEE
Lorig Charkoudian, executive director of Community Mediation Maryland, ran 67 miles from Baltimore to Hagerstown to raise money for families who can’t afford transportation to reunite with inmates at Maryland Correctional Institution near Hagerstown. The families partake in a re-entry mediation program that helps repair relationships.
Lorig Charkoudian of Takoma Park did what some people can only imagine. Charkoudian, the executive director of Silver Spring-based Community Mediation Maryland, ran 67 miles from Baltimore to Hagerstown, braving the cold and the freezing winds on Nov. 28 and 29. She paced herself, keeping in mind that her en-
durance is part of a greater cause. Her run represents the physical distance a family travels to visit a loved one who is incarcerated, as part of a conflict resolution program called re-entry mediation. One challenge is that most people incarcerated in Maryland are from Baltimore, but the prisons are far from there, she said. Many families might not have a car or can’t afford to pay for shuttles. Re-entry mediation lets inmates and their family members resolve issues, heal relationships, and make collaborative plans for the future be-
See RUNS, Page A-12
Sale of student-refurbished cars and computers will be Saturday Programs are run out of Edison High in Wheaton
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BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
The first of several sales this school year involving cars and computers refurbished by Montgomery County students in a public-private vocational
INDEX Automotive Calendar Classified Entertainment Opinion Sports
B-11 A-2 B-8 B-4 A-13 B-1
education program will be Saturday morning. The Montgomery County Student Foundations Office, which is headquartered at the Thomas Edison High School of Technology in Wheaton, operates programs in which students fix vehicles and computers, then sell them to the general public. The educational foundations, formed by the county school district and business commu-
nity, support students in automotive, information technology and construction fields. Under the construction program, students help build single-family homes that are sold in the county. Students in the programs typically spend part of their day at Thomas Edison and part at their home school. The programs let students develop skills that help further them in a chosen
career, said Steve Boden, executive vice president and foundation programs coordinator. “They learn both in the classroom and by working with professionals in the business community to gain onthe-job training,” he said. “Many of them earn college credit.” The Automotive Trades Foundation program, which dates to 1978, has locations at Edison, Damascus, Gaith-
NEWS
ON THE RUNWAY Silver Spring woman to represent Maryland in Miss USA pageant.
A-5
Volume 27, No. 50, Two sections, 28 Pages Copyright © 2014 The Gazette Please
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December 18, 2014 1932812
ersburg and Seneca Valley high schools. The school year’s first sale will be from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday at Gaithersburg High School, 101 Education Blvd. in Gaithersburg. Sales also are planned for Feb. 21 at Damascus High and May 9 at Edison. Vehicles are examined by state inspectors. Those with fewer than
See SALE, Page A-12