gaithersblog.net

• C. Benjamin Ford writes, County crime rate drops, reversing upward trend:
  

  Montgomery County saw a decline in the overall crime rate in the first quarter of this year after seeing a rise last year, according to the County Police.

  Note that the County’s Crime Statistics, when they get around to publishing them, are posted here. I’ll put up another post about the statistics later.

• Sebastian Montes writes, Car, but no suspect, in death:
  

  Responding to a tip Friday evening, Montgomery County Police found what they believe is the car that struck and killed 17-year-old Esai Lopez in a hit-and-run accident last week.

• Meghan Tierney writes, Thomas gets guilty verdict in death of Gaithersburg man:
  

  A Gaithersburg man accused of shooting an acquaintance in Germantown during a botched robbery attempt nearly two years was found guilty Tuesday by a jury in Montgomery County Circuit.

• Chris Robinson writes, Burglary victim files $3M civil suit:
  

  A $3.25 million civil lawsuit was filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court against a pair of Gaithersburg brothers convicted of burglarizing a Kentlands condominium last year.

According to the WordPress software I use for this blog, after posting this, Gaithersblog will contain a total of 500 posts. So I don’t clutter things up any more, I will also note here that in about three weeks, I will have been writing this blog for a year, and that after at least two domain squatters decided that it wasn’t worth even their trouble, I finally obtained control over the domain gaithersblog.com a few weeks ago; gaithersblog.com and gaithersblog.org should now both redirect to gaithersblog.net, which will remain the official domain name for this blog.

When I started, I honestly didn’t know if I’d find much to write about, but I guess I did. I hope that at least some of you have found this useful. Thanks for reading.

• Sebastian Montes writes, City, ACLU lock horns over anti-solicitation law:
  

  As Maryland’s Attorney General begins to consider Gaithersburg’s anti-solicitation ordinance, city leaders and the American Civil Liberties Union are locking horns as they try to sway his opinion in their favor.

• Mike Meno writes, Alliance to educate Latino-owned businesses on sale of alcohol:
  

  A new county alliance will provide alcohol training and education to local Latino-owned businesses that sell and serve alcohol, the county department of Liquor Control announced last week.

• Patricia Murret and Chris Robinson write, Parents cautioned after girl saved from city pool:
  

  Lifeguards rescued a 6-year-old girl from a public pool Sunday afternoon at Gaithersburg’s Summit Hall Water Park on South Frederick Avenue, said Pete Piringer, a spokesman for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services.

• Chris Robinson writes, Kentlands Mansion repairs are halfway complete:
  

  Repairs to the roof and brick exterior of the Kentlands Mansion are halfway complete, Gaithersburg officials said last week.

• Nancy C. Lineman, M-NCPPC’s chief of community outreach and media relations, writes in a letter, County taxpayers pick up tab of The Gazette’s fishing expedition:
  

  When we called [Gazette Reporter] Ms. [Janel] Davis to inform her that the documents were ready for inspection, we reiterated that we would charge for the research, as allowed by law. Several weeks went by and she told us that an editor was still deciding whether to pay the fees. Although [Gazette Reporter] Mr. [Doug] Tallman’s story indicated that The Gazette objected to the fees, at no point did Ms. Davis or any editor ask us to consider waiving the fees. According to the law, anyone filing a MPIA request can ask for the research fees to be waived.

• C. Benjamin Ford writes, Maryland, Montgomery say their bridges are safe:
  

  Spending money to maintain Montgomery County’s bridges may not be exciting, but the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minnesota demonstrates how important it is, the county’s transportation officials said.

• Patricia M. Murret writes, Montgomery’s county fair adapts to changing landscape:
  

  From sport fishing competitions and high-wire motorcycle acts to public service announcements and signs in Spanish, the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair — which opens for its 59th year later this week — is working to embrace the county’s changing demographics and tastes.

• Patricia M. Murret writes, Fairgrounds sit on prime property worth nearly $17M:
  

  The fairgrounds that host the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair every August was recently assessed for nearly $17 million — more than 1,300 times the land’s original purchase price, according to state records.

• Douglas Tallman writes, Sour notes linger over Birchmere:
  

  Enlarging a proposed music hall in downtown Silver Spring threatens the community support that has built up over the project, says the owner of the Birchmere, a club that has long been planned for the site.