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Included: The September 8, 2010 Issue of The Hyattsville Reporter — See Center Section
HyattsvilleLife&Times
September 2010Hyattsville’s Community NewspaperVol. 7 No. 9
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treasurer continued on page 12
thanking the troops, one pizza box at a timeA Hyattsville couple turns pizza boxes into care packages, then delivers them to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Page 3
tackling those tree rats
local library adds booksSome 1,500 new books are on the shelves at Hyattsville Elementary this fall. Page 5
Miss Floribunda talks about how to keep pesky critters such as squirrels away from your precious produce. Page 6
By Susie Currie
A Safeway regional executive will recommend upgrading the Ham-ilton Street store to a more mod-ern “lifestyle” version, rather than opening a new location at Univer-sity Town Center, following last month’s public meeting with more than 60 local residents.
“That store was due for an up-grade probably a few years ago,” Director of Public Affairs Greg TenEyck told the crowd, who filled the lobby of the former BB&T building on Aug. 16 to dis-cuss concerns about the grocery store next door.
Later, in an interview, he con-firmed that he was going to advo-cate making the Hamilton Street store a Lifestyle Safeway, similar to the Greenbelt location, with subdued lighting, custom floor-ing, earth tones, and enhanced service departments.
TenEyck said he would make the suggestion to the company’s real-estate committee, which makes property and investment decisions for the chain, when it meets in early September. As far as when the decision might be made, though, “I don’t know if I’d
Safeway exec backs improving, not moving
By Paula Minaert
The city of Hyattsville has a new treasurer. Elaine Stookey took over the position August 16 and brings a range of experience to it. In addition to many years working in municipal government, she has also worked in a school district and a manufacturing plant.
She began her career in munici-pal government accounting in the city of Forest Park, Ohio, with a population of 20,000. There, she worked as a temporary accoun-tant, then deputy finance direc-tor and finance director. She was there 15 years.
“I loved it there,” Stookey said in an interview. But she wanted to live closer to family and so she moved to the East Coast, taking a job as accounting manager for the city of Hagerstown, Maryland, with a population of 40,000. She then became its treasurer.
When asked what attracted her about Hyattsville, Stookey an-swered, “The size. I like the small staff size here and getting to know people. Everyone seems very friendly.”
She also said she likes the city’s diversity and its mix of housing.
Stookey belongs to the Gov-
City’s new treasurer brings much experience
by Bart Lawrence
In the 1951 film “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” an ominous flying saucer lands in downtown D.C., attracting the attention of the military, top scientific minds, and an excited public. Last month, the appearance of 12 H-shaped objects throughout Hyattsville caused much the same excitement — and it really happened.
Have no fear, residents: These Hs are part of a harmless art in-stallation, Project H, orchestrated by the city’s Offices of Community Development and Volunteer Ser-vices.
Just like in the movie, the aliens first landed in Washington, D.C. Developed last year by the non-profit DC Greenworks and the
Volunteers put the H in Hyattsville
out of thisWORLD
photo by chris currieThe Safeway on Hamilton Street may become a “lifestyle” version after a company executive recommends the upgrade later this month.
volunteers continued on page 12
safeway continued on page 13
photo illustration by ashley perks/photo by chris currie
Page 2 Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010
a community newspaper chronicling the
life and times of Hyattsville
Mailing address: Po Box 132, Hyattsville, MD 20781
Hyattsville Life & Times is published monthly by Hyattsville Community Newspaper, Inc., a 501c(3) nonprofit cor-poration. Interested reporters should send their e-mail addresses to the editor to be reminded of deadlines and re-ceive internal news. Articles and news submitted may be edited. The dead-line is the last week of the month for the following month’s issue. Letters to the editor and opinions are encour-aged. For all e-mail correspondence with HL&T: news, features, tips, adver-tising and business write to [email protected]. To submit articles, letters to the editor, etc., e-mail [email protected].
executive editor Paula Minaert
Managing editorSusie Currie
editorial Intern Kara Rose
Production Ashley Perks advertising
writers & ContributorsMylie Durham Victoria Hille
Valerie Russell Kimberly Schmidt
Hugh Turley
Board of Directors Julia Duin - President
Chris Currie - Vice PresidentJoseph Gigiliotti - General Counsel
Paula Minaert - SecretaryPeggy Dee
Susie Currie - Ex OfficioCirculation: Copies are distributed monthly by U.S. Mail to every address in Hyattsville. Additional copies are distrib-uted to libraries, selected businesses, community centers and churches in the city. Total circulation is 7,500.
Hl&t is a member of the national newspaper association.
FromThePresident
By Julia Duin
Anyone who’s read the Gospel knows the haunting story of Jesus instructing the rich young man: “Sell all you have and give it to the poor and you shall have trea-sure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Sounds impossible. Have any of us done so? Of course not.
Which is why my ears perked up when I read this email: “Our dear friend Christie is selling everything, giving her money to the poor, and leaving to follow Jesus!”
Specifically, a 29-year-old woman was holding a yard sale on Galla-
Embracing poverty for a higher causetin Street last month to sell all her possessions before joining a Cath-olic religious order in France.
“I am so confident that this is where God wants me to be and blessings will flow from it,” Chris-tie Myers says. “Knowing the Lord is there and waiting for me to come, I can’t wait to get there.”
She’s headed toward a place called Notre Dame de Vie, a Car-melite community of about 600 members worldwide headquar-tered in Venasque, about an hour from Marseille.
Christie plans to be there by Sept. 8 to start her novitiate. She’ll be cloistered for two years before beginning work outside the com-munity.
Christie will be known as a lay consecrated woman, wearing reg-ular clothes instead of religious garb — a wise decision in view of the rampant anti-clericalism in France dating back to the French Revolution.
What does a 21st-century ver-sion of that Gospel parable look like? When I showed up in the front yard of the house she shares on a steamy Satur-day morning, Christie had laid out her jewelry, furniture and all manner of household goods in neat rows. Up at 5:30 a.m., she’d taken four hours to pres-ent the accumulations of almost three decades.
Heating pads, a drill, laundry basket, a lounge chair, a collection of small decorative boxes, a crock pot, art supplies, an easel, a purple mask with peacock features, leath-er purses, a coffeemaker — what would my life look like spread out on someone’s lawn?
Hers included a rack of red silk and black chiffon ball gowns and bridesmaids’ dresses, a reminder that one of the costs of joining this community is lifelong celibacy. Unless Christie changes her mind, she will never wear a wedding dress.
She says her parents, who live in Tulsa, are on board with her deci-sion. She expects the distance to be difficult for her and her fam-ily, which also includes a married older brother with one child.
Christie, her curly hair pulled back in a ponytail and wearing a simple cotton blouse, lavender skirt and polka-dotted sandals, doesn’t look like someone who’s headed for a life of prayer and manual labor in southern France. As people bought her things, she would tell the history of where she
bought this, why someone gave her that, how this lovely blue pot-tery bowl was given to her as a gift and so on.
The hardest thing to part with, she said, was her collection of small ornamental boxes. “Some of them were too precious to sell, so I gave them to special friends,” she said.
She raised $514 from the sale and hopes to bring in more from selling her 2001 Chevy Lumina sedan. All is going to the Rev. Leonard Lemchukwu, a priest in southeastern Nigeria who is try-ing to raise $10,000 to $15,000 to build a well so that people there can have clean water. Christie met
the priest while both were study-ing in Germany and was so im-pressed with his story that she de-cided to dedicate her life savings to helping him.
I had to leave for an hour and when I returned, Christie was seated in the living room, explain-ing her decision to dozens of visi-tors and their children. Many were from her life as a doctoral student in theology at the John Paul II In-stitute at Catholic University.
“Best of luck,” one man com-mented, “although I’m not sure that’s exactly the right thing to say.”
While doing research in Germa-ny this summer, she visited Ve-
nasque and was so impressed she decided to sell all her possessions and move back to France.
“I was resistant to it for a while,” she says of the religious life. “God has a really good sense of humor. I always told Him I don’t want to do that. Now I can’t wait to go.”
The mother superior encouraged her to take the long view.
“You’re going to go back and people will think you’re crazy to give up studying for your doctor-ate,” the superior said. “But who has the right to make God wait?”
Julia Duin is the president of the board of the Hyattsville Life & Times.
photo by julia duinChristie Myers shows part of her ornamental box collection to Veeka Duin during a yard sale.
Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010 Page 3
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By Kara Rose
At Linda and Milton McGehee’s home, visitors are greeted with warm smiles, walls adorned with family photos and stacks upon stacks of pizza boxes.
The boxes, donated by Three Brothers Pizza, are filled not with pizza, but with towels, magazines, soap, shampoo, razors, shaving cream, toothbrushes, toothpaste, books, Bibles, comic books, playing cards, movies, candy and Beanie Babies — some items McGehee said he wished he had when he served in the Army during the Korean War in the early 1950s.
Every two weeks, the McGehees personally stuff and deliver these boxes to wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Cen-ter and the nearby Malone House, a hotel for wounded soldiers and their families.
At the Malone House, the Hyatts-ville-area couple actually gets a chance to meet the recovering sol-diers and share a cup of coffee and bring along cookies and candy as well. They have filled “10 to 20” scrapbooks with pictures of their visits.
“We sit down with them, talk with them, don’t ask them no questions about where they got hurt or how they got hurt,” said McGehee, 74, who retired in 1998 after 32 years as a meat manager at Giant.
The couple has been married for over 50 years, with three adult children and “10 or 12” foster chil-dren over the years. The project started five years ago, when two of their son’s friends enlisted in the Army and went overseas.
The couple sent a box to each soldier in the unit and in re-turn received a photo of the unit signed by every member, thank-ing the couple for their care pack-
ages. This photo, McGehee said, is “what kept us going.”
“We sent candy [and] cookies overseas,” said McGehee. “Then it got expensive as anything. … We ended up having so much to send, we started going to Walter Reed [instead].”
Since they began making the care packages, they’ve made and delivered nearly 6,000 boxes. “There are about 108 right here,” McGehee said, pointing to the stacks of pizza boxes flooding his living room. This group of boxes will be dropped off in just four days. The boxes covering his kitchen counter will go to-wards the upcoming Christmas delivery, which requires renting a truck.
“Well, to get 1,000 boxes, you’ve got to start early,” he added with a smile.
The McGehees have put over $3,000 of their own money into the project and rely on contribu-tions for the rest. Most come from shoppers at the Giant in Beltway Plaza, where, a few times a month, the couple sets up a table adorned with photos of their work and a
wish list of items.That, he says, covers most of
what they need to fill a box — “ex-cept new bath towels and wash-cloths, and disposable cameras. Those are the hardest to get.”
Other contributions have come from an area dental group, the American Legion, local Elks Club and Moose Club chapters and nine area churches, including one church that helps put together some of the boxes each year. His project has already inspired two churches to create their own.
But his biggest wish is so far unfulfilled: to take the operation back where it started. “I would give anything if I could get some-one to send these things to the troops overseas,” he said. “It’s just too expensive for me.”
Still, he says, “It’s gotten about 100 times bigger than I anticipat-ed for us, but we do nothing. We’re not even a drop in the bucket.”
To donate, contact the McGehees at 301.559.0864 or 6611 24th Place, Hyattsville, MD 20782. For a receipt, please include your name and address with the donation.
Delivering gratitude to troopsphoto by kara rose
Milton and Linda McGehee in their living room, surrounded by pizza boxes filled with goodies for soldiers.
photo by kara roseThe photo that started it all: the troops who received the first care packages.
Page 4 Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010
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By Lindsay Powers
Edgar Butt hadn’t played the trumpet in about 35 years.
He had played in high school and continued through part of college, but stopped playing altogether when he switched his major from music education to math.
Butt, a retired University of Maryland computer programmer and longtime Hyattsville Hills resident, eventually found his way back to music. In 2004, he joined the Maryland Community Band, a group that has given several Hyattsville residents the oppor-tunity to re-enter the music scene after years of hibernation.
“It took me a couple years to get the lips back in shape,” said Butt.
Among other local band members are Charles Fulcher, who plays the French horn; Rebecca Fulcher, an oboe player; trumpeter Pete Reini-ger — and Edgar’s wife, Helen Butt.
Helen, who started playing clarinet in high school, had her own musical hiatus. “I had taken a break for 30 years raising kids,” she joked.
The Maryland Community Band, with 80 or so members in any given season, hosts a wide variety of play-ers, including local music teachers, University of Maryland alumni, and others who have found a reason to pick up their instruments again.
John Wakefield, the university’s director of bands for 40 years, helped form the University of Maryland Community Band in 1995, later renamed the Maryland Community Band.
The longest-serving director in campus history, Wakefield is a member of the Maryland Mu-sic Educators Association Hall of Fame. He now serves as Director of Music at the University United Methodist Church in College Park.
He is also the sole conductor of the all-volunteer band, leading weekly rehearsals and lining up concerts.
The group draws musicians from as far away as Rehoboth Beach and Solomons Island to its Tuesday night rehearsals at the campus’ Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. With a season running from September through June, the band covers what Wakefield calls a “standard wind band repertoire” at the Smith center and other area venues, such as retire-ment homes and Brookside Gardens.
At its June concerts in Bethany and Rehoboth beaches, the group plays lighter selections like Broad-way and movie tunes.
In 2008, many of the musicians
They’re with the band
traveled to China just before the Summer Olympics to play in a series of concerts called “Salute to the 2008 Olympics” along with other Maryland area bands.
“Most people have a real com-mitment … and plan their lives around rehearsals and perfor-mances,” said Wakefield.
Hyattsville resident Ron Olexy, a neighbor of the Butts’, discovered the band through an email group of horn players. He had played the French horn in college before being drafted to fight in Vietnam.
He continued playing, first in the U.S. Army Band at Fort Dix, N.J. f during his basic training, and then another year in Vietnam with the 1st Infantry Division Band and the
1st Cavalry Division Band.After Vietnam, however, Olexy’s
horn gathered dust for 20 years.“It’s hard to stay motivated with-
out a place to play,” said Olexy, who eventually decided to seek a teacher and joined the orchestra at his alma mater, Catholic University, before moving to the Maryland Community Band in 2006.
Auditions for the 2010-2011 season will be held in room 1230 of the Cla-rice Smith Performing Arts Center on Sept. 14 beginning at 7:30 p.m. for woodwinds and Sept. 21 begin-ning at 7:30 p.m. for brasses. For more information, contact Mari-anne Kassabian at [email protected].
photo courtesy of jeanne olexyRon Olexy, Rebecca Fulcher, Edgar Butt and Helen Butt are a few of the Hyattsville residents in the Maryland Community Band.
Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010 Page 5
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By T. Carter Ross
Some 1,500 new books are on the shelves at Hyattsville Elementary this fall, thanks to the Strokes for Hope 2010 golf tournament and a matching grant from Literacy for a Lifetime.
Hyattsville Elementary Principal Jeanne Washburn and Reading Specialist Stephanie Chapman announced that the school had purchased about $5,000 worth of books with its portion of the tour-nament proceeds.
“We mostly purchased nonfic-tion, science and social studies [books],” said Chapman. Also purchased were multiple Math Wrap-Ups sets, a learning toy de-signed to boost math skills.
Among the titles selected were
“Mummies and Pyramids,” “As-tronomy,” and “Knights,” all part of the Usborne Discovery series. The school decided to purchase eight or nine copies each for use in small groups in the classroom.
“Hyattsville Elementary School students will be enjoying these books for years to come,” Chap-man said.
The books were presented to the school on August 25 during a welcome-back ice-cream social sponsored by the Hyattsville El-ementary PTA.
“This is a great gift for the stu-dents and another unexpected, but welcome, gift to the school from an outside source,” said PTA President Bart Lawrence.
Post Hope, the corporate philan-thropy division of Post Properties,
organized the tournament to ben-efit schools near its seven D.C.-area developments — including the new Post Park apartments on East-West Highway next to The Mall at Prince Georges.
The tournament, on May 7 at the Reston National Golf Club, raised $22,200 — matched in full by the Educational Development Corporation, which publishes Usborne children’s books. Other regional schools that benefited from the first-ever tournament were Strong John Thompson El-ementary and J. Hayden Johnson Middle School, both in Washing-ton, D.C.; Ritchie Park Elemen-tary, Rockville, Md.; Bull Run El-ementary, Centreville, Va.; Cedar Point Elementary, Manassas, Va.; Springhill Elementary, McLean,
Hyattsville Elementary gifted with new books
Va.; and Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy, Alexandria, Va.
Former Washington Redskins Roy Jefferson and Mark Moseley hosted the event, which featured 122 golfers. Jefferson, a former
NFL wide receiver who helped take the Redskins to the playoffs four times between 1971 and 1976, was scheduled to present the books to Hyattsville Elementary, but had to cancel due to illness.
photo by t. carter rossHyattsville Elementary School Reading Specialist Stephanie Chapman announces the donation of 1,500 books to the school during a PTA-sponsored ice-cream social.
Page 6 Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010
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MissFloribundaMiss Floribunda is away; in her absence we’re publishing this often-requested reprint. Her col-umn resumes next month.
Dear Miss Floribunda, Our vegetable garden has done well, but we’re harvest-ing very little. Rabbits, squir-rels and who knows what other creatures seem to be helping themselves to just about ev-erything. We don’t even have pears on our tree — they are eaten green. Of course shooting the little beasts is out of the question, but we’re desperate. Could we catch them in Havahart traps and take them to a pooch park somewhere to give the dogs something to chase? Really, the situation is completely out of hand. This morning we saw a bra-zen squirrel run by in broad daylight, a ripe red tomato in his mouth.
The McGregors of Gallatin Street
Dear McGregors,
You are among the many vic-tims of the Magruder Park Gang, led by Bugsy Springer, Pogo the Poacher, Bunnyface Nib-let, Quickcaw McCrow — not to mention their masked master, Al
“Lightfingers” Racoone. But be advised that both city and county ordinances forbid trapping these miscreants and taking them else-where. There are few unpopulated areas to take them to and there are no reform schools for them.
I’ve spoken with various garden-ers about ways to save our har-vests. Mr. and Mrs. Minnowhaven put out “protection” veggies on their back steps for the gang to take, and this seems to keep their garden safe. My neighbor Patty-panelope claims that she grows so much that there is enough for everyone, including her family. I have found that my fearless dog, Barcus O’Droole, keeps both diur-nal and nocturnal thieves at bay.
Others report success growing garlic and onions among the veg-etables. Hot pepper sauce or pow-der is temporarily very effective but washes off in the rain. Some nibblers are repelled by the odor of marigolds and nasturtiums. These plants also deter many in-sects and are ornamental.
You can also make a spray from mashed garlic, vegetable oil and water. However, if you want a quick fix in order to save this year’s crop, you might try a product now on the market no one I know has yet used: a hot pepper wax that does not wash off but can apparently be peeled off.
I hope someone will experiment with it and report back.
If your pear tree is small enough you might cover it with a net — al-though Aunt Sioux complains that her squirrel visitors deftly undo netting. Wire mesh is available but cumbersome. Shiny CDs and aluminum pie pans hung in trees help keep birds away. Cousin For-syte planted his fruit trees so far from each other and other trees that the squirrels can’t jump from one
to the other, but not all of us have enough space to do that. And even so, he has seen the occasional squirrel scamper through his gauntlet of dogs and run up a tree for snacks.
If anyone has other helpful ideas, please join us at the next meeting of the Hyattsville Horticultural Society on Saturday, September 21, at 10 a.m. in the municipal building.
Part of the Magruder Park Gang of garden rustlers.
Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010 Page 7
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JAMSERIES 2010
The Summer Jam Series is held at the City Municipal Building, at 4310 Gallatin Street, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. the second Friday of the month, Rain or Shine! The event is free and open to everyone. Refreshments are available for pur-chase, including hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken grilled by Outback Steakhouse.
For details, call 301/985-5020 or visit http://www.hyattsville.org/summerjam
Glass Onion
September
10
September 19Riversdale House Museum hosts two events today. From noon to 3:30, the free program “Simple Simon and his Pieman” features demonstrations of the art of pie making. Then, at a 5:30 p.m. con-cert of the music of Flanders and France, Karen Ashbrook and Paul Oorts will play a variety of instruments, including the dul-cimer, wooden flute, and accor-dion. $15; reservations suggested. Riversdale House Museum, 4811 Riverdale Road, Riverdale Park. 301.864.0420.
The county-sponsored Hispanic Festival features carnival games, crafts, music, entertainment, ethnic food, face painting, pony rides, and more. Free. Noon to 6 p.m. Lane Manor Park, 7601 West Park Drive, Adelphi. 301.408.4335
September 20 to 24To mark Active Aging Week, the M-NCPPC Parks & Recreation department has put together a lineup of 21 activities throughout the county for ages 60 and up.
Whether you want to play tennis, try tai chi, swim a few laps or try your hand at creative writing, you should find something to suit you.
For a complete schedule, e-mail [email protected], or visit www.pgparks.com/Things_To_Do/Senior_Activities.htm. Or call
the help desk at 301.699.2255.
September 21Pianists Vakhtang Kodanashvili and Genadi Zagor will perform pieces from the Gershwin Song-book and improvisations of some of the composer’s most familiar works as part of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s Take Five performance series. Free. 5:30 p.m. in the center’s Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Recital Hall, University of Maryland, Col-lege Park. 301.405.ARTS.
September 24Children ages 4 to 7 can wear their pajamas to the Riversdale House
Museum for Maman, Papa, et Moi, part of its “Flanders in the Fall” series. The evening includes a Belgian story, related craft and snacks. $6 for one child and one adult; $5 for each additional child and $2 for each additional adult. 6:30 p.m. Riversdale House Mu-seum, 4811 Riverdale Road, Riv-erdale Park. Advance payment required by September 17; call 301.864.0420. September 25Celebrate the city’s cultural di-versity at the Hyattsville Inter-national Street Festival with music, dancing, carnival games,
Karen Ashbrook and Paul Oorts will perform at the Riversdale House Museum later this month as part of its Flanders in the Fall series.
CalenDar continued on page 8
Page HR1 Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010
LAST OUTBACK STEAK-HOUSE SUMMER JAM IS SEPTEMBER 10Summer flew by! Thanks to The Beach Bumz, N2N, Superflydisco, and Ruthie and the Wranglers for headlining the first four Outback Steakhouse Summer Jams this year. A very special thank you also goes to Outback Steakhouse for their continued support, and Mac-Donald Auto Body for sponsoring Mandy the Clown’s appearances. The last Outback Steakhouse
Summer Jam of the summer will take place on Friday, September 10. Our featured act is Beatles tribute band Glass Onion. In addition to the usual music and merriment, September 10 is also our annual Police Department Open House.The event runs from 6:30 to 8:30
p.m. on Friday, September 10 at the City Municipal Building, 4310 Gallatin Street, rain or shine! Ad-mission is free and open to the
public. Refreshments, including hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken grilled by Outback Steakhouse, as well as beer and wine, are available for purchase.
FREE LEAF MULCH RE-TURNS THIS MONTHBeginning Monday, September 13, residents will be able to pick up free leaf mulch at three lo-cations in the City: Magruder Park’s parking lot (40th Avenue & Hamilton Street), Heurich Park’s parking lot (Ager Road & Nich-olson Street), and the University Hills Duck Pond Park parking lot (west end of Wells Parkway.) You will see signs at each mulch pile.Note that all three parks are
open from dusk to dawn, daily.The Department of Public Works
replenishes these piles on an as-needed basis. If you notice a mulch pile is low, please take a moment to call us at 301/985-5032. We will be happy to provide more.
Mulch is ground from the leaves and wood chips collected by the cities of Hyattsville and Green-belt. Both cities use the material in our planting projects. It’s nat-ural, organic, and free of charge! The Fall program ends on Octo-ber 29, 2010.
FIND US ON FACEBOOKAre you on Facebook? You can now keep up with City events and happenings at www.facebook.com/cityofhyattsville. When you see Vainglorious, the silver metal bird sculpture at Centennial Park, you’ll know you’re in the right place. He is kind enough to serve as the City’s wall photo.
MAINTENANCE ALERT: MAGRUDER PARKRoutine maintenance and equip-ment replacement will take place at Magruder Park beginning Tuesday, September 7. During
this time, portions of the play-ground will be blocked for instal-lation or repair. Areas not under construction will remain open. Please use caution, and we appre-ciate your assistance keeping our kids safe as we improve the park. Please direct any questions to the Department of Recreation and the Arts at 301/985-5020.
CONSTRUCTION DETOURS AT JEFFERSON STREET/BALTIMORE AVENUE INTERSECTIONWork begins on Tuesday, Sep-tember 7 at the intersection of Jefferson Street and Route One/Baltimore Avenue. The project will place a new, 60-inch sewer main under Route One.Work will take place OVER-
NIGHT, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., Monday through Thursday. There will be no traffic disruptions dur-ing morning or evening com-
ANNOUNCEMENTSCOMMUNITY CRIME WATCH RECAP: SAFETY TIPS
If you missed this summer’s Community Crime Watch meeting, here’s a quick list of safety tips to keep in mind. The first two tips are general information; the rest apply when-ever you’ll be away from home – for a night, a week, or longer.
1. Program the Police Department phone num-bers into your cell phone. They are 301/985-5060 (non-emergencies) and 301/985-5050 (emergencies). You can always call 911, but the 911 dispatcher will have to route your call through to City before responding. It takes just a few seconds, but going direct is always best.2. Don’t hesitate to call. We often say that “if it concerns you, it concerns us.”3. Our police officers will provide a home safety audit to any Hyattsville resident. Call our non-emergency number (301/985-5060) to schedule a time, or email Lieutenant Mark
Roski ([email protected]). The service is free of charge. 4. Leave your porch light on. A timer will even do the work for you. Keeping our streets well-lit is a simple way to deter crime.5. Make sure others know you’ll be away. Neighbors’ eyes on your home can be a big help. In many cases, they will be the first to notice something out of place on your street. You might also develop the habit of telling each other when you’re having work done. A neighbor might be the first to suspect that a service truck is out of place on your property.6. Ask a neighbor to check for mail and news-papers. Putting deliveries on hold is a good start, but fliers and other material can collect at your door if you’re gone for longer than a night or two.7. Set a light, or even a radio or television, on a timer. If a thief is watching your house, see-ing a light or hearing a TV click on is probably enough to send them elsewhere.8. Cut your grass before you leave. Just like newspapers left on the front step, an unmowed lawn can signal a vacant home to a thief.9. Ask a neighbor to park her car in your
driveway. Depending on your parking situa-tion, asking a neighbor to occasionally park in your driveway might be enough to confuse a would-be burglar.10. Register your trip with the Police Depart-ment, and we’ll ask our patrol officers to keep an eye on your address. While we can’t promise to prevent break-ins, letting our of-ficers know that your home will be empty can help us spot problems quickly. We will ask you for basic information: your depar-ture and return dates, contact numbers while you’re away, and information about any cars that may be parked near your home in your absence. Simply come to the Police Depart-ment, located on the second floor of the City Municipal Building, 4310 Gallatin Street, at any time prior to your trip. Our Communica-tions Center is open at all times.
If you do come home and think someone has been in your house, please don’t go inside! Find a safe location and call the Police Emer-gency number immediately: 301/985-5050.
http://www.hyattsville.org/police
SEPTEMBER 20107 Routine maintenance begins at Magruder Park. Portions of the playground will be closed off during equipment installation. Overnight detours begin at the intersection of Jefferson Street and Route One/Baltimore Avenue. Drivers will be unable to turn off Route One onto Jefferson, or onto Jefferson from Route One, between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., Monday through Thursday evenings. Work is expected to last approxi mately six weeks.
8 Hyattsville Environmental Committee meeting, 7:30 p.m.
10 Outback Steakhouse Summer Jam featuring Glass Onion AND the Police Department’s Annual Open House, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., City Municipal Building, 4310 Gallatin Street, RAIN OR SHINE!
13 Free Leaf Mulch returns to City parks. (Magruder, Heurich, and University Hills Duck Pond parks.) Available through October 29. Public Hearing: Establish a Residential Parking Zone (3100 block of Gumwood Drive), 7:30 p.m., immediately prior to the City Council Meeting, 8:00 p.m. (Includes Community Leg acy Plan presentation.)
14 Parent & Child Program returns to Magruder Park, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
15 Parks Master Plan meeting, 7:00 p.m., City Municipal Building
16 Parks Master Plan meeting, 1:00 p.m., Magruder Park Blood Drive, 2:30 to 7:00 p.m. Code Enforcement Advisory Committee meeting, 7:00 p.m.
20 City Council Meeting, 8:00 p.m.
21 Planning Committee meeting, 7:30 p.m.
25 International Street Festival, 3:00 to 8:00 p.m., Hamilton Street at Queens Chapel Town Center
CALENDAR
How Do you spELL
HyAttsviLLE?
Hyattsville Reporterthe
No. 200 • September 8, 2010
Ready for a challenge? Photographer Anand Gahlot spelled Hyatts-ville using letters found on signs throughout the City. You can view a larger version of this image at http://www.hyattsville.org/contest, on our Facebook page, on the City’s cable channel (Comcast 71/Verizon 12 within the City limits), or on forms available in the lobby at the City Municipal Building.Take your best guess as to where each of the eleven letters appears.
The resident with the highest percentage of correct answers will be an-nounced during the September 10 Outback Steakhouse Summer Jam!
iN otHER NEws...
www.hyattsville.org • 301-985-5000
Page HR1 Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010 Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010 Page HR2
mute times.During overnight work hours,
drivers will not be able to turn off Jefferson Street onto Baltimore Avenue, or from Baltimore to Jef-ferson. However, Jefferson Street itself remains open to local traffic.The project is expected to take ap-
proximately six weeks. From 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., the work area on Baltimore Avenue/Route One will be covered with steel plates.The new sewer main was re-
quired by the new construction; however, it will replace an inad-equate main in the street. The upgrade will reduce the chances of flooding on Route One/Balti-more Avenue.Direct questions to Tony
Shumante, Land Development Manager at EYA, 571/220-7670.
PUBLIC HEARING: ESTABLISH A RESIDENTIAL PARKING ZONE ON GUMWOOD DRIVEA public hearing will be held in re-sponse to a petition from residents of the 3100 Block of Gumwood Drive to establish a residential parking zone and enforce resi-dential parking restrictions in the block. The hearing will take place on Monday, September 13, 2010 at 7:30 p.m., immediately prior to the City Council Meeting.
CYCLOCROSS RETURNSThe second annual Hyattsville CX – that’s Cyclocross, racing on bicycles! – event will take place on Sunday, October 10, 2010 in Magruder Park. Visit their website to learn more: http:// hyattsvillecx.blogspot.com/
HYATTSVILLE VFD HOSTS 5 MILE RUN IN OCTOBERIf biking isn’t your thing, check out the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department’s first 5-Mile Run, scheduled for Saturday, October 23. The Department’s annual open house takes place immediately following the race. Learn more at their site: http://www.hvfd.com/hvfd/hvfdrace/
PARENT & CHILD PROGRAM RETURNS SEPTEMBER 14Parents or caregivers are invited to a standing playdate at Magrud-er Park’s recreation building
every Tuesday and Thursday morning, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., during the school year. (Please note that adults must re-main with their child during the program.)The Parent & Child Program
combines a chance for free play and structured, seasonally-themed activities. The cost is $50 for one child per semester (September to December), with discounts for additional chil-dren. Parents may also pay $2/session on a drop-in basis. To register or for details, contact Terry Kenny at 301/985-5027, visit the program during regular hours, or see our website: http://www.hyattsville.org/pcprogram
NEXT BLOOD DRIVE IS SEPTEMBER 16The City’s next Blood Drive takes place Thursday, Septem-ber 16 from 2:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the First Floor Multi-Purpose Room, 4310 Gallatin Street. Call 1-800-RED-CROSS to learn more or to schedule a donation appointment.
ELECTRONICS RECYCLINGSaturday, October 16 will be the next Electronics Recycling event at the Department of Pub-lic Works Yard, 4633 Arundel Place, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. City residents may recycle up to eight items including tele-visions, VCRs and DVD play-ers, stereos, computer monitors, CPUS, and related equipment (keyboards, mouse), cell phones, and printers. There is no charge for the program, but you may be asked to show ID, such as a driver’s license or utility bill, to demonstrate City of Hyattsville residence.
PARKS MASTER PLAN: TAKE THE SURVEY, SHARE YOUR IDEASAs part of the Parks Master Plan
process, we are soliciting com-munity input via a survey. Find the link at http://www.hyatts-ville.org/parkplan. Two Com-munity Meetings will be held to allow resident comment, too. Join us on Wednesday, Septem-ber 15, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the First Floor Multi-Purpose Room at the City Municipal Building, or on Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. at the Magrud-
The City’s annual International Street Festival will take place on Saturday, September 25, 2010 from 3:00 to 8:00 p.m. along Hamilton Street, between Ager Road and Queens Chapel Road at Queens Chapel Town Center.New this year: a Steel Orchestra
extravaganza! Four Steel Bands will perform on our Main Stage throughout the event. Come hear Utopian Pan-Soul, The Pan Jam-mers, Positive Vibrations, and Old Mill High School bring the best of this global art form to the streets of Hyattsville. Expect everything from jazz to calypso to songs you just heard on the radio.Watch other international per-
formances, take part in children’s games and activities, and sample the global cuisine and crafts for sale, too.The City’s annual Fireworks Dis-
play concludes the event at dusk.
For more information, call the Department of Recreation and the Arts at 301/985-5020 or visit http://www.hyattsville.org/ international.
er Park Building, 40th and Ham-ilton.
REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR OCTOBER 9 CITY-WIDE YARD SALECity-wide Yard Sale Day is Sat-
urday, October 9. On this day, no permits are required to hold a Yard Sale, and the City will publish a map showing all reg-istered households. Stop by the City building or visit http://www.hyattsville.org/yardsale to register.
International Street Festival Takes Place September 25
Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010 Page HR2
LAST OUTBACK STEAK-HOUSE SUMMER JAM IS SEPTEMBER 10Summer flew by! Thanks to The Beach Bumz, N2N, Superflydisco, and Ruthie and the Wranglers for headlining the first four Outback Steakhouse Summer Jams this year. A very special thank you also goes to Outback Steakhouse for their continued support, and Mac-Donald Auto Body for sponsoring Mandy the Clown’s appearances. The last Outback Steakhouse
Summer Jam of the summer will take place on Friday, September 10. Our featured act is Beatles tribute band Glass Onion. In addition to the usual music and merriment, September 10 is also our annual Police Department Open House.The event runs from 6:30 to 8:30
p.m. on Friday, September 10 at the City Municipal Building, 4310 Gallatin Street, rain or shine! Ad-mission is free and open to the
public. Refreshments, including hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken grilled by Outback Steakhouse, as well as beer and wine, are available for purchase.
FREE LEAF MULCH RE-TURNS THIS MONTHBeginning Monday, September 13, residents will be able to pick up free leaf mulch at three lo-cations in the City: Magruder Park’s parking lot (40th Avenue & Hamilton Street), Heurich Park’s parking lot (Ager Road & Nich-olson Street), and the University Hills Duck Pond Park parking lot (west end of Wells Parkway.) You will see signs at each mulch pile.Note that all three parks are
open from dusk to dawn, daily.The Department of Public Works
replenishes these piles on an as-needed basis. If you notice a mulch pile is low, please take a moment to call us at 301/985-5032. We will be happy to provide more.
Mulch is ground from the leaves and wood chips collected by the cities of Hyattsville and Green-belt. Both cities use the material in our planting projects. It’s nat-ural, organic, and free of charge! The Fall program ends on Octo-ber 29, 2010.
FIND US ON FACEBOOKAre you on Facebook? You can now keep up with City events and happenings at www.facebook.com/cityofhyattsville. When you see Vainglorious, the silver metal bird sculpture at Centennial Park, you’ll know you’re in the right place. He is kind enough to serve as the City’s wall photo.
MAINTENANCE ALERT: MAGRUDER PARKRoutine maintenance and equip-ment replacement will take place at Magruder Park beginning Tuesday, September 7. During
this time, portions of the play-ground will be blocked for instal-lation or repair. Areas not under construction will remain open. Please use caution, and we appre-ciate your assistance keeping our kids safe as we improve the park. Please direct any questions to the Department of Recreation and the Arts at 301/985-5020.
CONSTRUCTION DETOURS AT JEFFERSON STREET/BALTIMORE AVENUE INTERSECTIONWork begins on Tuesday, Sep-tember 7 at the intersection of Jefferson Street and Route One/Baltimore Avenue. The project will place a new, 60-inch sewer main under Route One.Work will take place OVER-
NIGHT, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., Monday through Thursday. There will be no traffic disruptions dur-ing morning or evening com-
ANNOUNCEMENTSCOMMUNITY CRIME WATCH RECAP: SAFETY TIPS
If you missed this summer’s Community Crime Watch meeting, here’s a quick list of safety tips to keep in mind. The first two tips are general information; the rest apply when-ever you’ll be away from home – for a night, a week, or longer.
1. Program the Police Department phone num-bers into your cell phone. They are 301/985-5060 (non-emergencies) and 301/985-5050 (emergencies). You can always call 911, but the 911 dispatcher will have to route your call through to City before responding. It takes just a few seconds, but going direct is always best.2. Don’t hesitate to call. We often say that “if it concerns you, it concerns us.”3. Our police officers will provide a home safety audit to any Hyattsville resident. Call our non-emergency number (301/985-5060) to schedule a time, or email Lieutenant Mark
Roski ([email protected]). The service is free of charge. 4. Leave your porch light on. A timer will even do the work for you. Keeping our streets well-lit is a simple way to deter crime.5. Make sure others know you’ll be away. Neighbors’ eyes on your home can be a big help. In many cases, they will be the first to notice something out of place on your street. You might also develop the habit of telling each other when you’re having work done. A neighbor might be the first to suspect that a service truck is out of place on your property.6. Ask a neighbor to check for mail and news-papers. Putting deliveries on hold is a good start, but fliers and other material can collect at your door if you’re gone for longer than a night or two.7. Set a light, or even a radio or television, on a timer. If a thief is watching your house, see-ing a light or hearing a TV click on is probably enough to send them elsewhere.8. Cut your grass before you leave. Just like newspapers left on the front step, an unmowed lawn can signal a vacant home to a thief.9. Ask a neighbor to park her car in your
driveway. Depending on your parking situa-tion, asking a neighbor to occasionally park in your driveway might be enough to confuse a would-be burglar.10. Register your trip with the Police Depart-ment, and we’ll ask our patrol officers to keep an eye on your address. While we can’t promise to prevent break-ins, letting our of-ficers know that your home will be empty can help us spot problems quickly. We will ask you for basic information: your depar-ture and return dates, contact numbers while you’re away, and information about any cars that may be parked near your home in your absence. Simply come to the Police Depart-ment, located on the second floor of the City Municipal Building, 4310 Gallatin Street, at any time prior to your trip. Our Communica-tions Center is open at all times.
If you do come home and think someone has been in your house, please don’t go inside! Find a safe location and call the Police Emer-gency number immediately: 301/985-5050.
http://www.hyattsville.org/police
SEPTEMBER 20107 Routine maintenance begins at Magruder Park. Portions of the playground will be closed off during equipment installation. Overnight detours begin at the intersection of Jefferson Street and Route One/Baltimore Avenue. Drivers will be unable to turn off Route One onto Jefferson, or onto Jefferson from Route One, between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., Monday through Thursday evenings. Work is expected to last approxi mately six weeks.
8 Hyattsville Environmental Committee meeting, 7:30 p.m.
10 Outback Steakhouse Summer Jam featuring Glass Onion AND the Police Department’s Annual Open House, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., City Municipal Building, 4310 Gallatin Street, RAIN OR SHINE!
13 Free Leaf Mulch returns to City parks. (Magruder, Heurich, and University Hills Duck Pond parks.) Available through October 29. Public Hearing: Establish a Residential Parking Zone (3100 block of Gumwood Drive), 7:30 p.m., immediately prior to the City Council Meeting, 8:00 p.m. (Includes Community Leg acy Plan presentation.)
14 Parent & Child Program returns to Magruder Park, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
15 Parks Master Plan meeting, 7:00 p.m., City Municipal Building
16 Parks Master Plan meeting, 1:00 p.m., Magruder Park Blood Drive, 2:30 to 7:00 p.m. Code Enforcement Advisory Committee meeting, 7:00 p.m.
20 City Council Meeting, 8:00 p.m.
21 Planning Committee meeting, 7:30 p.m.
25 International Street Festival, 3:00 to 8:00 p.m., Hamilton Street at Queens Chapel Town Center
CALENDAR
How Do you spELL
HyAttsviLLE?
Hyattsville Reporterthe
No. 200 • September 8, 2010
Ready for a challenge? Photographer Anand Gahlot spelled Hyatts-ville using letters found on signs throughout the City. You can view a larger version of this image at http://www.hyattsville.org/contest, on our Facebook page, on the City’s cable channel (Comcast 71/Verizon 12 within the City limits), or on forms available in the lobby at the City Municipal Building.Take your best guess as to where each of the eleven letters appears.
The resident with the highest percentage of correct answers will be an-nounced during the September 10 Outback Steakhouse Summer Jam!
iN otHER NEws...
www.hyattsville.org • 301-985-5000
Page HR1 Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010 Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010 Page HR2
mute times.During overnight work hours,
drivers will not be able to turn off Jefferson Street onto Baltimore Avenue, or from Baltimore to Jef-ferson. However, Jefferson Street itself remains open to local traffic.The project is expected to take ap-
proximately six weeks. From 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., the work area on Baltimore Avenue/Route One will be covered with steel plates.The new sewer main was re-
quired by the new construction; however, it will replace an inad-equate main in the street. The upgrade will reduce the chances of flooding on Route One/Balti-more Avenue.Direct questions to Tony
Shumante, Land Development Manager at EYA, 571/220-7670.
PUBLIC HEARING: ESTABLISH A RESIDENTIAL PARKING ZONE ON GUMWOOD DRIVEA public hearing will be held in re-sponse to a petition from residents of the 3100 Block of Gumwood Drive to establish a residential parking zone and enforce resi-dential parking restrictions in the block. The hearing will take place on Monday, September 13, 2010 at 7:30 p.m., immediately prior to the City Council Meeting.
CYCLOCROSS RETURNSThe second annual Hyattsville CX – that’s Cyclocross, racing on bicycles! – event will take place on Sunday, October 10, 2010 in Magruder Park. Visit their website to learn more: http:// hyattsvillecx.blogspot.com/
HYATTSVILLE VFD HOSTS 5 MILE RUN IN OCTOBERIf biking isn’t your thing, check out the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department’s first 5-Mile Run, scheduled for Saturday, October 23. The Department’s annual open house takes place immediately following the race. Learn more at their site: http://www.hvfd.com/hvfd/hvfdrace/
PARENT & CHILD PROGRAM RETURNS SEPTEMBER 14Parents or caregivers are invited to a standing playdate at Magrud-er Park’s recreation building
every Tuesday and Thursday morning, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., during the school year. (Please note that adults must re-main with their child during the program.)The Parent & Child Program
combines a chance for free play and structured, seasonally-themed activities. The cost is $50 for one child per semester (September to December), with discounts for additional chil-dren. Parents may also pay $2/session on a drop-in basis. To register or for details, contact Terry Kenny at 301/985-5027, visit the program during regular hours, or see our website: http://www.hyattsville.org/pcprogram
NEXT BLOOD DRIVE IS SEPTEMBER 16The City’s next Blood Drive takes place Thursday, Septem-ber 16 from 2:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the First Floor Multi-Purpose Room, 4310 Gallatin Street. Call 1-800-RED-CROSS to learn more or to schedule a donation appointment.
ELECTRONICS RECYCLINGSaturday, October 16 will be the next Electronics Recycling event at the Department of Pub-lic Works Yard, 4633 Arundel Place, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. City residents may recycle up to eight items including tele-visions, VCRs and DVD play-ers, stereos, computer monitors, CPUS, and related equipment (keyboards, mouse), cell phones, and printers. There is no charge for the program, but you may be asked to show ID, such as a driver’s license or utility bill, to demonstrate City of Hyattsville residence.
PARKS MASTER PLAN: TAKE THE SURVEY, SHARE YOUR IDEASAs part of the Parks Master Plan
process, we are soliciting com-munity input via a survey. Find the link at http://www.hyatts-ville.org/parkplan. Two Com-munity Meetings will be held to allow resident comment, too. Join us on Wednesday, Septem-ber 15, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the First Floor Multi-Purpose Room at the City Municipal Building, or on Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. at the Magrud-
The City’s annual International Street Festival will take place on Saturday, September 25, 2010 from 3:00 to 8:00 p.m. along Hamilton Street, between Ager Road and Queens Chapel Road at Queens Chapel Town Center.New this year: a Steel Orchestra
extravaganza! Four Steel Bands will perform on our Main Stage throughout the event. Come hear Utopian Pan-Soul, The Pan Jam-mers, Positive Vibrations, and Old Mill High School bring the best of this global art form to the streets of Hyattsville. Expect everything from jazz to calypso to songs you just heard on the radio.Watch other international per-
formances, take part in children’s games and activities, and sample the global cuisine and crafts for sale, too.The City’s annual Fireworks Dis-
play concludes the event at dusk.
For more information, call the Department of Recreation and the Arts at 301/985-5020 or visit http://www.hyattsville.org/ international.
er Park Building, 40th and Ham-ilton.
REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR OCTOBER 9 CITY-WIDE YARD SALECity-wide Yard Sale Day is Sat-
urday, October 9. On this day, no permits are required to hold a Yard Sale, and the City will publish a map showing all reg-istered households. Stop by the City building or visit http://www.hyattsville.org/yardsale to register.
International Street Festival Takes Place September 25
ethnic food and fireworks. Free. 3 to 8 p.m. Queens Chapel Town Center, Hamilton Street between Ager Road and Queens Chapel Road. 301.985.5020.
Educate your family about ex-ercise and fitness opportunities offered through the county’s De-partment of Parks and Recreation during the Family Health and Fitness Day. Free. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wells-Linson Complex, 5211
Paint Branch Parkway, College Park. 301.446.6810. Today, the rest of the country gets a taste of what locals have loved for years: free admission to stel-lar museums. As part of Smith-sonian Magazine’s Sixth An-nual Museum Day, hundreds of cultural venues nationwide won’t charge an entry fee to visitors who present a special admission card, downloadable at http://micro-site.smithsonianmag.com/muse-umday/. One card per household serves as a pass for two people. Lo-
cal participating sites include the College Park Aviation Museum, the National Language Museum and Riversdale House Museum, with dozens more in Baltimore and Washington. Check the web-site for a complete listing.
October 5Puppetry artist Basil Twist, the Jim Henson Artist-in-Residence in the University of Maryland’s School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies, performs A New Twist on Puppetry. Free.
5:30 p.m. Robert and Arlene Ko-god Studio Theatre, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park. 301.405.ARTS.
October 8 to 16The University of Maryland School of Theater, Dance and Per-formance presents Enchanted April, a show about four English-women in the 1920s vacationing at a secluded Italian castle. It’s based on the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim. $27. Oct. 8, 9, 15 and 16 at 8 p.m.; Oct. 10 and 16,
Page 8 Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010
Legend
commUnity calenDar2 p.m.; Oct. 13 and 14, 7:30 p.m. Ina and Jack Kay Theatre, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland. 301.405.ARTS.
October 9Twice a year, city officials waive the yard-sale permit requirement for Community Yard Sale Day. If you want to cash in on all your decluttering, let the city know by noon on Oct. 6. You may also register online at the Hyatts-ville website. Your address will be listed on a map for bargain hunt-ers, available on the website and at the municipal building. Best of all, a charity will pick up left-overs afterward. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 301.985.5000.
Bring out the blades for Her-bert Wells Ice Rink Opening Day. Call for schedule and ad-mission information. 5211 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park. 301.277.3717.
October 10Register now for the second an-nual Hyattsville Cyclocross, a day of races for every age. Fees are $20 to $25 per race, with pro-ceeds to benefit Special Olympics of Prince George’s County; visit www.bikereg.com to register. Races begin at 9 a.m. at Magruder Park. 202.531.8173 or [email protected].
October 12The Kettering Foundation spon-sors a National Issues Forum on News Media and Society to discuss, among other things, why celebrities have become news and what responsibilities come with freedom of the press. Free. Noon to 2 p.m. Hyattsville Library, 6530 Adelphi Road. 301.985.4690.
OngoingBefore Wells Roller Rink turns into Wells Ice Rink for the sea-son, it hosts Friday night roll-er skating, complete with DJ, through September 24. $6 admis-sion includes skate rental fee. 8 to 11 p.m. Wells Roller Rink at 5211 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park. 301.277.3717.
Every Thursday seniors ages 60 and up can mix and mingle at the piano bar at the Gwendolyn Britt Senior Activity Center. Enjoy refreshments and a game of chess or Bid Whist. Free. 3 to 4:30 p.m. Gwendolyn Britt Senior Activ-
CalenDar continued on page 9
calenDar continued from page 7
photo courtesy of basil twistBasil Twist brings “A New Twist on Puppetry” to the Clarice Smith Center on October 5.
Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010 Page 9
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Shop locally grown produce at the West Hyattsville Farmers Market, held Tuesdays from 2 to 6 p.m. Behind Queens Chapel Town Center, Queens Chapel Road and Hamilton Street. 301.627.0977. Runs through Oct. 26.
The producers-only Riverdale Park Farmers Market offers a variety of vegetables, fruits, hon-ey, baked goods, meat, jams, flow-ers and more. Free. Thursdays, 3 to 7 p.m. through Nov. 18. At the intersection of Rhode Island Av-enue and Queensbury Road, Riv-erdale Park. 301.332.6258.
Join a park naturalist on a pon-toon boat to search for birds and other wildlife on an Anacostia River Boat Tour. Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 26, 5 to 5:45 p.m.; Tuesdays through Fridays through Oct. 29, noon
to 12:45 p.m. All ages welcome. Bladensburg Waterfront Park, 4601 Annapolis Road, Bladens-burg. 301.779.0371.
The Hyattsville library offers a variety of storytimes. Space is limited; free tickets available at the Children’s Desk. Ages 9-23 months with caregiver: Mon-days, 10:15 a.m. Ages 2-3: Mon-days, 11 a.m. and Tuesdays, 10:15 a.m. Ages 3-5: Tuesdays, 11 a.m. Ages 3-6: Wednesdays, 7 p.m. English-Spanish Story-time for ages 3-6: Saturdays, 10:30 a.m. 6530 Adelphi Road. 301.985.4690.
Community Calendar is compiled by Kara Rose and Susie Currie. It’s a select listing of events hap-pening in and around Hyattsville from the 15th of the issue month to the 15th of the following month. To submit an item for consid-eration, please e-mail [email protected] or mail to P.O. Box 132, Hyattsville, MD 20781. Deadline for October submissions is September 23.
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Before Wells Ice Rink opens next month, you can roller skate there on Friday nights.
Page 10 Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010
Hyattsville International Street FestivalSept. 25, 3:00 to 8:00 p.m.Queens Chapel Town CenterHamilton Street (between Ager Road & Queens Chapel Road)
Featuring four steel bands on our main stage, plus international entertainment, children’s activities, and global cuisine and crafts for sale. The event concludes with fireworks at dusk.
Visit http://www.hyattsville.org/international or call 301-985-5020 for information
By Elizabeth Turčan
I have always considered myself a cautious driver, so I had a bit of a shock when I was looking at a $200 fine for five speed-camera tickets from the city of New Car-rollton received within a two-week time span. After reading the law and spending some hours in court, I have become decisively opposed to the use of speed cameras. With our city officials considering the addition of these cameras, here are a few reasons to say “no” to speed cameras in Hyattsville.
First of all, the system makes you guilty until proven innocent, which is in direct opposition to our justice system. Having to de-cide between missing work to go to court or just paying the $40 fine, most people will choose to pay the fine and be done with it.
Of the five tickets that I received, three were dismissed because they had been sent in violation
of Maryland law. Two were sent after the legal two-week window; one had an image so fuzzy it was hard to read, where the law speci-fies a clear picture.
But that was nothing compared to the stories I heard while sit-ting in court and listening to countless other cases. Several tickets were sent to owners of the wrong cars — some were even the wrong color!
“Did you even run the plates?!” yelled one angry man to the of-ficers as he left the courtroom. The elderly handicapped woman sitting in front of me had to drive across town to get to court to prove that the car in the picture was not hers. When you receive a citation that violates the law, the burden falls on you to prove your innocence — which means miss-ing work (and sometimes pay) to arrive at justice.
Let us not forget another consti-tutional right. According to the
Sixth Amendment, we have the right to face our accuser in court. If your speeding violation is re-
corded by a machine, who exactly is your accuser? As citizens con-cerned with justice, let’s be mind-ful of these small usurpations of our rights.
Finally, let me address a prac-tical side of the issue. While neighboring municipalities that have already adopted the speed cameras may be basking in their sudden income surge, this kind of revenue encourages financial irresponsibility. I do not believe it is sound fiscal planning to rely on money that may not be there in the future.
It’s possible that, as happened in Montgomery County, this revenue will dwindle. It is also possible that speed cameras may be abolished by future lawmakers (as happened in Arizona).
Moreover, it is simply unreason-able for our government to be rais-ing more money from residents who are already cutting their own budgets due to loss in income.
Why can’t governments look for places to cut, as well?
Expanding revenue so greatly so rapidly would prevent our city officials from being financially responsible during these hard economic times and thinking cre-atively to solve fiscal challenges. Blatantly extracting extra money from citizens, especially when done unlawfully, is never good fi-nancial policy.
Some worry that rejecting speed cameras and the added revenue will lead to police budget cuts, and therefore increased crime and a loss of security. As a mother of two young children, I’m most cer-tainly concerned with safety. However, I’m not willing to be the recipient of easy money at the expense of justice and the respon-sible, creative decision-making from our city officials.
Elizabeth Turčan has lived in Hyattsville for five years.
Just say no to speed cameras
MyTwoCents
Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010 Page 11
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CommentaRy & oPinion on HiStoRy & PolitiCS
Hugh’sNews
By Hugh Turley
After the BP oil well was capped in July, President Obama and his daughter Sasha swam in the Gulf of Mexico and ate some seafood from its waters. The press publi-cized the event and the message seemed clear that the Gulf was open for business again.
The president’s swim, at a beach barely affected by the oil, remind-ed me of Henrik Ibsen’s play “An Enemy of the People,” which is still fresh in my mind from its ex-cellent and timely presentation by the Olney Theater in 2006.
Ibsen’s play is about a town in Norway that has plans to become a popular health resort with mu-nicipal baths. Real estate val-ues are rising, unemployment is down, and everyone is poised to profit. Then the title character, Dr. Thomas Stockmann, discovers that the deaths of several bathers were caused by exposure to con-tamination from the town’s larg-est employer, a tannery.
The naive Stockmann thinks that the mayor (who is his brother) and the local newspaper editor would publicize his discovery and the problem would be addressed. But that would likely mean clos-ing the tannery. The community soon labels Stockmann “an enemy of the people” bent on destroy-ing their town, and by the end of the play the citizens are hurling stones through the windows of his home.
If there is a Dr. Stockmann to-day warning about pollution in the Gulf, would we learn about it from the government or the mainstream news media? CNN reported recently that 40 percent of the fish harvested in the lower 48 states comes from the Gulf of Mexico. The region is also heavily dependent upon beach tourism. News harmful to the Gulf econo-my can affect the entire country.
On April 24, two days after the Deep Horizon well sank, the public was reassured by the Wall Street Journal headline, “Coast
Guard Says Oil Leak Stopped,” and the Associated Press report-ed, “[Rear Adm. Mary] Landry said no oil appeared to be leak-ing from a well head at the ocean floor, nor was any leaking at the water’s surface.”
But a few days later, on April 27, the Washington Post reported, “Crude oil continued to pour into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of about a thousand barrels a day and oil company officials said it would take at least two to four weeks to
get it under control.” Two days later, the Post had the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-istration estimating that “oil could be pouring out of the ground at a rate of up to 5,000 barrels a day.”
During the following months, es-timates continued to grow. When the well was capped on July 15, the New York Times quoted offi-cials estimating that 53,000 bar-rels of oil per day had poured into the Gulf.
Before his swim, the President
Friends of the People? said, “The long battle to stop the leak and contain the oil is finally close to coming to an end.” The government is now telling us that most of the oil has “disap-peared.” During a White House briefing, the administrator of the NOAA reportedly said that “at least 50 percent of the oil that was released is now completely gone from the system, and most of the remainder is degrading rapidly or is being removed from the beach-es.” This is the same agency that had estimated the leak at only 5,000 barrels a day.
BP, always to the accompaniment of very pleasant music, assures us in commercial after expensive commercial that it is “going to make things right.” Is that pos-sible? When the livelihoods of mil-lions of people are involved and the cost of the cleanup is overwhelm-ing, whom do you trust?
Ibsen had tried to make a living as a journalist and knew firsthand the role of the media in establish-ing public confidence. He had learned what cynical opinion-molders have known for a long time: People will believe what they most want to believe, and it doesn’t take much to nudge them in that direction.
photo courtesy of the white housePresident Barack Obama and daughter Sasha swim in the Gulf waters.
Page 12 Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010
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ernment Finance Officers As-sociation of the United States and Canada, where she served as co-chair of the Women’s Net-work. She also is a member of Maryland Government Finance
Officers Association. She is on this organization’s Special Re-view Committee, which reviews Comprehensive Annual Finan-
cial Reports of member juris-dictions.
“One of my goals,” she added, “is to prepare a Comprehensive An-nual Financial Report for Hyatts-ville. It explains the overall op-erations of the city and what the year’s highlights are.”
Stookey has two children. Her daughter is a harpist who lives in Fairfax, Virginia and teaches music there. (Stookey’s instru-ment is the piano.) Her son will go to Marine boot camp in October.
She said she prefers accounting in government to accounting in the private sector.
“I love governmental account-ing,” she commented. She paused, then added, “I love accounting, period.”
Mayor Bill Gardiner said, “The city was fortunate to find an expe-rienced professional with Elaine’s skills and enthusiasm for local government.”
city’s Green Summer Job Corps, the group of 40 brightly painted H-shaped planters adorned the H Street corridor during a construc-tion project. With construction moving into a different phase, the squat wooden consonants needed a new home.
“They were intended as artistic place markers to highlight the fact that there has been no greenery along H Street,” said Peter Ensign, executive director of DC Greenworks. Later, they will be replaced by trees. But for now, he said, “some of them are in the way of the machinery.”
A few sharp-eyed Hyattsville city employees had long been interest-ed in the future of the Hs. So when they learned in July that the letters would be available in less than a month, they moved quickly.
The Office of Volunteer Services tapped its network of volunteers, lining up two groups to remove and deliver the Hs on August 16. The letters began popping up in Hyattsville parks and other public areas the next day.
On August 25 a third volunteer group, the College Park Scholars at the University of Maryland, planted flowers in them, one of a
long list of city projects they com-pleted that day.
“There are many things that vol-unteers do for the city each year,” said Abby Sandel, Hyattsville’s communications manager, “ef-forts that many don’t notice and the city wouldn’t necessarily be able to afford.”
Resident reaction has been mixed.
Posts on the H.O.P.E. listserv called the planters “ugly” and “trash”; the one in the University Hills Neigh-borhood Park (also known as the Duck Pond) sparked so many com-plaints that the city intervened.
The offending H was relocated to Melrose Park, and its final destina-tion is in the hands of the Univer-sity Hills Area Civic Association.
“If residents choose to ‘adopt’ the H, it will be returned,” said Ward 3 Councilmember Tim Hunt, who lives in the neighborhood.
But the response hasn’t been all negative. “I think they’re cute and funky,” said Meredith Massey, who has lived in the area for nine years. Another longtime Hyattsville resi-dent, Jean Smith, called it “a cool idea. I’d like to see some artists get a hold of them and do like they did to the birds,” a reference to the county’s Bird’s-I-View art installations, which can still be seen outside various busi-nesses and residences in the city.
The planter boxes come in five col-ors — yellow, orange, pink, purple and blue. The city plans to stencil them in a way that identifies them with Hyattsville and is considering other decorative options. Project H is not envisioned as a permanent ad-dition to the cityscape, so enjoy them while you can.
Or you can get one of your very own; Ensign says about half of the planters are still up for grabs. “If any residents would want to have an H in their yard, we have about 20 left,” he of-fered. “They’re welcome to just come by and pick them up off the street.”
Since the 4-foot-by-3-foot struc-tures weigh in at about 200 pounds, though, aspiring owners couldn’t really do that on a whim.
“They should call our office and we can help figure out the logistics,” Ensign clarified. “They’re free; we just ask that people send us a pic-ture of where the Hs are sited and what they did with them.”
To view photos of the Project H moving process, visit the city’s website at www.hyattsville.org and Facebook.com/cityofhyatts-ville, respectively. To contact DC Greenworks, call 202.518.6195 or e-mail [email protected].
volUnteers continued from page 1
“if any residents would want to have an h in their yard, we have about 20 left. they’re welcome to just come by and pick them up off the street.”
— Peter EnsignDC Greenworks
“i love governmental accounting. i love accounting, period.”
— Elaine Stookeynew city treasurer
treasUrer continued from page 1
photo courtesy of the city of hyattsvilleElaine Stookey started as city treasurer this month.
Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010 Page 13
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venture a guess on that. I know there are a number of projects in the pipeline and capi-tal has already been committed to them.”
The company has been reluctant to invest in the Hyattsville store, he said, because of a possible relocation to University Town Center. In 2006, UTC announced that a new 56,000-square-foot Safeway would open during the winter of 2008. So far, financial pressures have prevented the de-veloper from building it.
“Now that it appears that the prospects of the new store are dim, we need to invest in upgrades [at this one],” said TenEyck.
That sentiment seemed to be unanimous among the crowd. Several spoke passion-ately in favor of keeping the store where it is, citing its walker-friendly location and easy parking — a sharp contrast, they said, from the traffic-congested area around the proposed location.
“Now that I’m retired, I have time to go to the Giant and deal with all the traffic over there,” said one of many retirees in the crowd. “But not everybody wants to do that.”
TenEyck was joined by store manager Nik-ki Nell and District Manager Eric Gronbeck at the meeting, which was organized and fa-cilitated by Ward 1 Councilmember Douglas Dudrow. The officials were mostly silent in the face of criticism ranging from expired products to broken freezers to unspecified “deli issues,” as one speaker put it.
“If you took the loss incurred because of the way you handle your products, and spent it on soap and water instead, what
a store we would have!” said longtime resident Gloria Thompson, who pressed to know when someone might take a rag to the area behind the vending machines.
“Tonight, Ms. Thompson, tonight,” prom-ised a weary-looking Nell.
But two weeks later, Thompson said, dirt was still lurking behind the ice machine, among other places: “Someone needs to stand over the cleaning crew and say, ‘You need to clean under here and behind here.’ ”
Besides cleaning, residents suggested a variety of improvements, from restriping the parking lot to adding more motorized carts. Afterwards, according to Nell, seven people signed up to be on a task force that would continue to work with store officials on improvements.
For some, those improvements can’t come soon enough.
“When I first moved here 15 years ago, the first comment card I sent said that you should be ashamed of yourself for redlining,” said Victoria Moss, referring to the illegal practice of limiting com-mercial services in certain neighbor-hoods. “I still feel that way. I can’t shop there anymore.”
But TenEyck said, “The same trucks de-liver to all our area stores. You’re getting the same produce that Georgetown gets. Of course,” he added, “the truck might stop in Georgetown first.”
“This community has been loyal even when they haven’t been treated very well,” said Del. Anne Healey, one of many elected officials present and a Hyattsville Hills resi-dent for more than 30 years. “They deserve to see some changes.”
safeway continued from page 1 BACK TO SCHOOL
photo by chris currieSchoolchildren re-enacted a September ritual dating back more than a century in Hyattsville, bidding summer fun goodbye and heading towards a new school year.
Page 14 Hyattsville Life & Times | September 2010
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