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Some interesting stories in the October Town Courier, Kentlands, Lakelands & Quince Orchard Park edition. The Courier puts very few of their stories up on the web, and none from this issue have been posted, so I can’t link to them, and all quotes below are transcribed; I apologize for any errors in transcription.

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the Kentlands Citizen Assembly (KCA) board of trustees voted in stealth session to change the way that the KCA board of trustees is elected. It appears that this issue is not going away any time soon; this issue of the Courier has three stories, two letters and an editorial which touch on the contraversy:

Sonya Burke writes in KCA Refuses to Budge on Districting regarding the September 27 meeting of the KCA board,

Standing at the center of the room was Richard Arkin, KCA’s board chairman, who called the need for the districts a “governance emergency.”

Although Arkin would not explicitly say, it is widely believed that some members of the board feared a condominium takeover in the upcoming election.

Arkin said the board’s only “misstep” was not acting sooner to enact a district system.

The article goes on to quote several citizens at the meeting, and tells of Gwen Love’s protest:

Lone trustee Gwen Love, a condominium resident, was the only board member to vote against the dristrict plan on September 6. On September 27 when it became clear the other trustees were not going to change their minds, she walked out of the board meeting saying she was “shocked” to learn some residents in the community may have known about the plan before she did.

There were separate stories, both by Carrie Dietz, regarding KCA president Bob Turner’s decision not to run for a second term, and Gwen Love’s walkout at the September 27 meeting. From the latter,

From Love’s perspective, her time on the board has moved her farther from her goal of closing the gap between single-family and townhome owners and those living in the condominiums. “Now I feel completely polarized,” she said.

Regarding Turner’s decision,

Turner sent an email announcement to a personal list of residents about his decision not to run after he was denied the opportunity to communicate his statements in the Kentlands Express newsletter.

In the announcment, he also encouraged residents to join the race. He noted that the president is elected at large so the newly created voting districts won’t hinder anyone’s eligibility to run.

The Courier’s editorial was a scathing attack on the three board mebers who voted for the resolution, saying “It takes a big person to admit they are wrong. … Unfortunately, big people were not sitting at the table … on September 27.”

The first of the two letters was from Richard Arkin, taking the Courier to task for its reporting on the Turner/Express issue mentioned above. He accused the Courier of “…false statements, factual inaccuracies, and outright fabrications”, as well as “reckless disregard for the truth” and “intent … to inflame the public”. The second letter was from Sigrid McCutcheon, complementing the Courier for their coverage of the districting plan.

Update: Here’s another article from Sebastian Montes — dated October 11 — that was supposed to be published in the Gazette, but got left out of the print edition by mistake.

Opposition to the latest proposal for a day laborer center in Gaithersburg appears to be mounting — but this time, there is also swelling support.

City officials last week announced they had signed a letter of intent with the owner of the Festival at Muddy Branch shopping center to turn an empty storefront into an employment center to serve the roughly 75 men, mostly Latino, who gather across the city every morning to find work.

The Mayor and City Council will debate the fate of the idea tomorrow night at a special work session, 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Support for the plan is also coming from a coalition of the city’s religious leaders, who in recent weeks have been working to draw a broad base of support from across the county.

So far, the coalition has the official backing of the heads of several churches — including St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church, Grace United Methodist Church and Episcopal Church of the Ascension.

The Rev. Mark Brennan, who has offered a St. Martin’s field on Route 355 as a temporary center site, took his campaign to his congregation Sunday. Some of his congregation, especially parents of students at St. Martin’s school, are concerned by the field’s proximity to their children at the school.

‘‘Our Catholic Church recognizes the right of human beings to sustain their own and their families’ lives and, if necessary, to move from where they cannot do so to where they can,” he wrote in a letter distributed to parishioners Sunday. ‘‘… I believe Christ would have us approach this local problem not from a legalistic direction but from a humane one.”

Keyonna Summers writes in the Washington Times,

The Gaithersburg City Council has agreed to open a permanent day-laborer center by winter, after more than a year of trying to fix the problem of 50 to 100 immigrants and illegal aliens loitering outside a downtown church while looking for work.

“We’ve got to deal with the problems in Gaithersburg,” council member Stanley J. Alster said Thursday, minutes before casting his vote to approve the center. “I think it’s time we take action.”

I don’t think that Gaithersburg is opening a day-laborer center. Gaithersburg said that they weren’t going to stand in the way of the County opening a day-laberer center on that site.

Vice Mayor John B. Schlichting — whom Mr. Humpton said has financial interest in JBG Rosenfeld Retail, the leasing and management company that co-owns the shopping center — abstained from voting.

This isn’t quite right; see my previous post mentioning this.

The decision came amid pressure from county officials, who have committed $125,000 to the solution and last month urged the city to “redouble its efforts” to find a site. More than 30 landlords had already rejected requests for them to leases space.

At least someone is getting this right.

The police department last month began ticketing and arresting laborers who had loitered for years in the lot between a shopping center and the Grace United Methodist Church, waiting for contractors and others to offer short-term jobs.

Well, maybe threatening to. I don’t think that anyone has yet been arrested or even ticketed.

Sebastian Montes writes in the Gazette,

After a lengthy and tense public hearing, Gaithersburg leaders last night approved an empty storefront in the Festival at Muddy Branch shopping center as a day laborer center.

The City Council’s 3-1 decision clears the way for Montgomery County to negotiate the center’s lease with Nellis Corp., which owns the shopping center off Muddy Branch Road near Interstate 270.

Last night’s debate stretched nearly three hours in a packed City Hall as more than 50 people laid out their arguments for and against the controversial center. Opponents of illegal immigration attacked the city for being involved in a center that would cater to the illegal immigrants among the city’s day laborers. But the overwhelming majority of speakers — more than 40 — supported the site. Some made emotional entreaties, others called for practical solutions.

‘‘We have to get control of our situation,” said City Councilman Michael Sessma. ‘‘This is the first step.”

Those two are, from what I can tell, the only two stories on the meeting that have any substance. Not much of a product for all the film crews, reporters, and photographers that showed up at that meeting.

Jaime Ciavarra writes in the Gazette,

County police have arrested a man they say ransacked an office at Gaithersburg Elementary School before attempting to flee with a set of keys.

Joseph Donahue Woodyard, 38, of no fixed address, allegedly broke into the school at 35 North Summit Ave. around 1:30 a.m. on Oct. 9, setting off school alarms.

Officers apprehended him and took him into custody, discovering that Woodyard had allegedly taken a set of keys from the school, said Officer Melanie Hadley, a county police spokeswoman.

Hadley could not say what the keys open or whether they could be used on exterior doors.

‘‘It looks like he ransacked an office, but didn’t take anything else,” Hadley said.

Well, that’s pretty strange. I wonder what those keys were for, and what he was going to do with them?