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SILVER ANNIVERSARY Theater marks 75th with free showing of first movie. A-13
The Gazette SILVER SPRING | TAKOMA PARK | BURTONSVILLE
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Wednesday, September 11, 2013
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Purple Line: More noise, fewer trees n
Final environmental study outlines effects of $2.2B light rail project BY AGNES BLUM STAFF WRITER
The Purple Line will bring with it the hum of power substations, the squealing of wheels and the ringing of warning bells according to the final environmental impact study released Thursday. The study, conducted by the Maryland Transit Administration, is available online at www.purplelinemd. com/en/studies-reports/feis-document and goes into great detail about the effects of construction of the $2.2 billion light-rail line. The train will travel 16.2 miles east-west across Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and is slated to begin in 2015. Those who live alongside the tracks can expect increased noise and vibrations, according to the study. Trains will ring five-second warning bells as they approach a station, and crossing areas may also have
See STUDY, Page A-12
Richard Willis, who is currently homeless, panhandles at the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Democracy Boulevard in Bethesda on Monday.
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
DISCOURAGED
DONATIONS
County tries to curb panhandling; instead, campaign seeks to increase aid to groups that help poor n
BY
RYAN MARSHALL STAFF WRITER
Richard Willis strolled up and down the thin median strip in Bethesda, following the ebb and flow of traffic as the lights changed. Monday was one of the first days Willis had come to the intersection of Democracy Boulevard and Old Georgetown Road in months, but
he said he’s been coming to the area off and on for nearly 10 years. His small cardboard sign said he needed money for prescriptions, but Willis said he was actually trying to raise money to stay at a motel because there was no room in the homeless shelter where he had been staying. Drivers’ reaction to his presence is mostly good, although occasionally someone will tell him to get a job, Willis said. He said sometimes people will bring him a soda or a sandwich. Other times, a driver will say they are on their way to the grocery store across the street, and they’ll bring him something on the way back. In the winter, people
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
will bring gloves, hats or an umbrella if it’s raining, he said. Earlier Monday morning in Wheaton, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), County Councilman George Leventhal and other officials announced an initiative to discourage drivers and other county residents from giving money to panhandlers such as Willis and instead direct their money toward county programs that work with the poor and homeless. “We want people to give. We don’t want people to give to panhandlers,” Leventhal said
See DONATIONS, Page A-11
Tall mature trees will be lost during construction of the Purple Line, which will run behind the home of Maribeth and Lee Eiden, shown in their Bethesda backyard with their grandchild Richie.
School system examines policy on moving teachers Reassignment after accusations of sexual misconduct could be rare n
Doubts raised over Forest Glen Annex fence plan Army Corps to offer public comment period n
BY
SYLVIA CARIGNAN STAFF WRITER
A plan intended to protect the public from medical waste near a popular trail at the Forest Glen Annex met with apprehension and doubt from local residents Thursday evening. A small part of the Ireland Drive trail, which runs along the southwestern edge of the Forest Glen Annex in Silver Spring, was fenced off in 2012 after syringes and scalpels were found
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POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO CRACKS
County turning to latex concrete to fix Silver Spring Transit Center.
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that summer. Medical waste may have originated from one of two landfill sites on the annex — one near the commissary and one near the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research — where household waste, office waste, incinerator ash and medical waste were dumped from the 1940s to the 1960s. At a Restoration Advisory Board meeting Thursday evening, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed an interim solution to control public access to the area, since there may be more waste underground near the trail. According to Forest Glen Annex Garrison Manager William Crane, signs have been erected
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
near the creek that runs alongside the trail, warning that the orange-tinged water is contaminated. The Army Corps’ recommended plan, Crane said, is to temporarily close off a larger part of the trail, including the landfill’s known perimeter, with a chain-link fence. That plan would cost the Army about $281,000. The fence would be in place until the Army Corps has determined how and if it will deal with landfill material and chemical contamination at the site. “We do not know ... what we’re going to
When a teacher has been accused of inappropriate behavior with a student, that teacher could wind up in a new school. The latest education news in Montgomery and affecting Montgomery County County Public Schools is considering new rules that would make such reassignments less likely in cases of “a sexual nature,” said chief operating officer Larry Bowers. The school system is examining its policy for reas-
See PROTEST, Page A-12
See SCHOOL, Page A-11
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Tennis players face a unique situation when wearing their school’s colors.
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