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Day laborers who continue to gather in Gaithersburg parking lots to find work say they aren’t using a county employment center in Shady Grove because they have to be in line as early as 3 a.m. to get a job there.

‘‘This may be the beginning of a big wave of people coming,” said Gaithersburg Police Chief John King, who wonders if the spike isn’t coming from day laborers leaving Prince William County in Virginia, which passed a package of laws last week that crack down on illegal immigrants.

The answer will also not be Gaithersburg’s anti-solicitation ordinance, which makes parking lot hires a misdemeanor for workers and their employers.

City leaders passed the measure in February. Amid questions of its constitutionality, city leaders decided not to enforce it until September so that Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler could give his opinion. Despite the recent spike in the number of day laborers in the city, Mayor Sidney A. Katz said Gaithersburg should not rush the law into action.

Now the converted two-story house in Olde Towne Gaithersburg that Identity moved into less than four years ago is packed on after-school afternoons.

So after a year of planning, more than 20 parents and students made their case last week for a 1,270-square-foot building behind the existing 2,100-square-foot building on East Diamond Avenue.

The arrests of four employers and nine workers by federal officers at a Wheaton restaurant Thursday have increased the fear of police action against immigrants in the county, activists and advocacy groups say.

The catalyst of the discussion was a January incident involving an illegal immigrant in Takoma Park who was pulled over by a city officer and subsequently deported, first reported by The Gazette in March.

The city’s sanctuary city ordinance states that ‘‘no agent, officer or employee of the city, in the performance of official duties” can assist in the investigation or arrest ‘‘of any persons for civil or criminal violation of the immigration and nationality laws of the United States.” Furthermore, information regarding the citizenship or residency status of any Takoma Park resident is not to be released to federal immigration authorities. The law, part of city code, did not come up for review during routine recodification in December 2004, according to city records.

Classmates of a Gaithersburg High School football player charged in several robberies and sex assaults say the allegations are inconsistent with what they know of the young man’s nature

Dion Harvey Montgomery, 18, of the unit block of Duvall Lane in Gaithersburg, faces 31 charges in nine cases, according to documents filed in Montgomery County District Court. Charges in one additional case are pending, said Gaithersburg Police Chief John King.

A Gaithersburg man accused of robbing an Olde Towne bank in April was sentenced to 15 months in jail for a 2006 Kentlands burglary.

Timothy James Denzel, 30, of the unit block of Russell Avenue was sentenced Tuesday morning to eight years with all but 15 months suspended for conspiracy to commit theft over $500.

‘‘Young man, I think you’ve gotten enough wake-up calls,” Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Eric M. Johnson told Denzel.

The City Council deferred action on a schematic development plan for the Vistas, a residential subdivision slated for construction next to the Quince Orchard Park community in west Gaithersburg.

Council voted 4-1 on July 9, with Councilman Henry F. Marraffa Jr. dissenting, after a request by Assistant City Manager Fred Felton. The hold-up relates to an agreement that would allow Quince Orchard Park residents to use the Vistas recreation amenities, and vice versa for a fee, Felton said.

Christine Handy Collins has been named the new principal at Gaithersburg High School, the fourth principal in six school years at the 2,200-student school.

Jennifer Jones was running on empty while navigating the array of boxes, furniture and other things in varying states of readiness at her Gaithersburg apartment Saturday.

All of Broadstone’s current tenants must be out by Nov. 15, and construction is slated to begin this winter. Those being displaced are eligible for the city’s pilot homeownership assistance program designed to provide down payment loans to tenants facing relocation so that they can buy a home.

Richard Masser moved quickly behind rows of produce to keep up with all the customers milling around his stands at the farmers market in Olde Towne Gaithersburg last week.

Things have picked up, Masser said, even as his farm, Frederick County-based Scenic View Orchards, is the only farmer remaining at the market this year. Last year, two farmers sold their goods in Olde Towne. The number of farmers at the market has consistently dwindled since it opened with seven other vendors in the early 1990s.