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Some highlights make a strong showing at the Bethesda Painting Awards. B-4
The Gazette SILVER SPRING | TAKOMA PARK | BURTONSVILLE
DAILY UPDATES ONLINE www.gazette.net
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
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Man charged in murder-for-hire
Friends and family mourn former Paint Branch High School student Don Pen Soh Boma, 18 on Tuesday outside the Burtonsville school. Mourners included Boma’s aunt, Priscilla Ade (second from the left) of Burtonsville. Boma, a Burtonsville resident, drowned in Ocean City recently.
Suspect offered undercover police officer $1,000 to kill ex-wife n
BY JENN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Family, friends recall drowning victim n
‘He had dreams. He knew what he wanted to do with his life’ BY
TEDDY AMENABAR
SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
Be safe. That was the last text message Augustine Fuondjing sent to Don Pen Soh Boma. “I wish that had happened,” Fuondjing, Boma’s legal father in the U.S., said over the
phone. Boma and his two friends were caught in a rip current on Monday in Ocean City, Maryland. Lifeguards rescued 2014 Sherwood High School graduate Kevin Savadogo and 2014 Paint Branch High School graduate Antoine Kadaouno but Boma could not be found. Rescue swimmers eventually found Boma, but he was pronounced dead later Monday night at Atlantic General Hospital, according to The Washington Post.
More than 80 family members and friends met outside Paint Branch High School on Tuesday night holding hands in prayer and lighting candles to memorialize 18-year-old Boma. Born in Cameroon, Boma attended Paint Branch High School for four years before graduating as an honor student last year. Boma lived with the Fuondjing family in Burtonsville while attending school,
See DROWNING, Page A-10
Silver Spring Blues Festival set for Saturday Event provides good way to gain exposure, performer says
n
BY
SILVER SPRING BLUES FESTIVAL
STAFF WRITER
Sam Peightal, better known as “Flatfoot Sam,” might live in Frederick, but he is wellacquainted with Montgomery County. He has performed at former clubs Tornado Alley in Wheaton, and Twist and Shout in Bethesda, among numerous others along the East Coast in his musical career, which spans more than 25 years. Peightal also
n Where: Ellsworth Drive and Fenton Street, downtown Silver Spring n For information: silverspringblues.com
lived in the county for awhile before moving northward. While he has performed in numerous festivals, including
See BLUES, Page A-10
See MURDER, Page A-10
Planning Board OKs plan to uproot trees n
Plan could result in mixed-use project
BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
Despite opposition from numerous residents and mixed feelings from some commissioners, the Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday approved the uprooting of several mature
trees right outside its offices in downtown Silver Spring. It’s part of a plan that officials hope will eventually result in a new mixed-use development. The development project would include about 360 apartment homes, 26,200 square feet of retail space and 575 underground parking spaces, according to current plans. That is contingent
See TREES, Page A-10
Early voting starts Thursday
n When: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday
KEVIN JAMES SHAY
A Gaithersburg man has been charged with trying to hire a hitman to kill his ex-wife, according to a Montgomery County Police news release. Ndokey Peter Enow, 37, of Swan Stream Court, was taken into custody Friday after meeting with an undercover police officer posing as a hitman
in Silver Spring and offering $1,000 to kill Enow’s ex-wife, the release said. During the sting, Enow gave the officer partial payment, showed the officer where the victim lived and provided photos of her. Police first learned of Enow’s plans three days earlier when they discovered that he offered a different person $1,000 to execute the killing, and provided photos of the victim and the victim’s address, the release said. When Enow was questioned following his arrest,
PHOTO BY TURNER PHOTOGRAPHY, FREDERICK
Sam Peightal, shown next to a 1960 Chevrolet Biscayne in Frederick, will be one of the performers in the 6th annual Silver Spring Blues Festival Saturday. His band, Flatfoot Sam & the Educated Fools, is slated to play at 5 p.m.
There will be nine earlyvoting sites in Montgomery County, open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily from Thursday through June 19. County, state and federal races will be on the ballot. More information is at montgomerycountymd.gov/ elections/index2.html. The Gazette’s online voters guide, with candidate profiles and more, is at gazette.net/section/vg2014. Early-voting sites:
• Jane Lawton Recreation Center, 4301 Willow Lane,
Chevy Chase • Marilyn J. Praisner Recreation Center, 14906 Old Columbia Pike, Burtonsville • Mid-County Recreation Center, 2004 Queensguard Road, Silver Spring • County Executive Office Building, 101 Monroe St., Rockville • Silver Spring Civic Center, 1 Veterans Plaza, Silver Spring • Wheaton Recreation Center, 11711 Georgia Ave., Wheaton
Students take trip to study ecology outside classroom n
About 100 sophomores study island for four days BY
TEDDY AMENABAR
SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
It’s not every day that magnet students who are neck deep in homework find themselves neck deep in mud, Montgomery Blair High School teacher Daniel Fowler said. Among a cluster of seabound barrier islands, roughly 100 Montgomery Blair High School students do just that. They spend four days in Wallops Island, Va., south of Salisbury, Md., interacting with ecological
systems they’ve studied back in the classroom. The trip is an annual program for sophomores enrolled in the Magnet Program, which offers rigorous math, science and computer science courses for passionate students. The program, which started in 1989, provides high schoolers with a developed lab science curriculum in the classroom. But some subjects, such as earth sciences, require going out in the field, Magnet Program Coordinator Peter Ostrander said. The trip exemplifies how “Blair Magnet [Program] attempts to let you have real experiences,” junior magnet student Arun Ra-
See ECOLOGY, Page A-10
SPORTS
ELECTION
ONE BAD INNING
2014 Learn more about the candidates running in the June 24 primary. Check out our online voters guide at www. gazette.net/voters guide2014.
mamurthy said. Ostrander said teachers in the program feel a responsibility to provide that. The trip is “a rite of passage” for students in the program, Ramamurthy added. In a sense, sophomore Kalin Vassilev said, students see it as an extension of spring break. This year’s trip was at the end of April. Over the four days, students study the unique ecological systems of the barrier island, the physics behind the formation and the reasons why these habitats can exist on the eastern shore line, Ostrander said.
American Legion Post 268 looks for consistency after 0-5 start.
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PHOTO FROM DANIEL FOWLER
In one of the highlights of the trip, Montgomery Blair sophomore Aaron Szabo (center) spends time with classmates exploring the marsh while having some fun.