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Bowie laser tag wins city waiver Officials approve request to bypass county parking space requirement
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BY SOPHIE PETIT STAFF WRITER
A popular entertainment spot in Bowie will remain open, thanks to a city waiver allowing the laser tag center to bypass Prince George’s County parking rules that may have shuttered the business. “This has been a long journey. I’m just so thrilled they could come to a reasonable outcome ... I feel a whole lot of relief today,” Cherie Hope, owner of Castle Laser Tag and Silver Star Gymnastics, said of the 18-month-long battle. Hope opened both businesses in 2008 at 14201 Woodcliff Court, and employs 115 people. Last year, county inspectors visited the property after a customer complaint and redesignated the laser tag business an “amusement center,” Hope said. She had been operating both businesses under one “private school” permit. The new permit required the 8,000-square-foot portion of the building that houses the laser tag center to provide 137 parking spaces, an issue for Hope as the site has 37 spaces and there is no available surrounding land. Without the laser tag center, which grosses $500,000 per year, Hope said she wouldn’t be able
to pay her mortgage and would have to close both of her Bowie businesses, so she asked Bowie officials to waive the county’s requirement. Bowie has authority over the development of parking spaces, said Frank Stevens, the city’s senior planner. For nearly two hours, the city’s planning board listened to testimony from Hope, employees and customers who said Hope’s businesses were vital entertainment venues in Bowie. The planning board, which advises the City Council on zoning changes or site plans, unanimously approved the parking-space exemption, but the approval stands only if Hope reached a verbal agreement to share parking spaces with the owners of two surrounding parking lots if Castle Laser Tag needs more, said board member Lisa Avery. Hope and the owner of the two lots, Tina Santos, who was also at the meeting, said they already have this verbal agreement and have been sharing parking lots since Castle Laser Tag opened. Kenny Minor Jr., 40, of Waldorf, who manages the laser tag center on weekends, said he was ecstatic. “I was a little worried when I first heard what was going on,” Minor said. “I have a 7-year-old and a 3-week-old, so the possibility of something changing in my job weighed heavily on me.”
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Thursday, September 19, 2013
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Getting behind the wheel
Activist aims for community success Upper Marlboro radio host/entrepreneur focuses on self-improvement n
BY CHASE COOK STAFF WRITER
William Murry believes the richest place on earth is a cemetery, because too many people take recipes and knowledge to the grave. That is why he spends his time teaching others what he knows about being successful. The Upper Marlboro resident is a community activist who sells real estate, gives speeches and hosts a radio show about the road to success, while also mentoring Prince George’s County’s youth. His calling cards are a vest with slacks and one-liner lessons such as “If you think it, ink it” or “In order to grow, you must know,” for anyone who will listen. Murry, 62, was born in 1950 as the sixth child to his parents in London, W.Va., where, he said, he battled racism as an athlete. He moved to Washington, D.C., two days before his 19th birthday. Moving to the District was about trying to make something more out of life than being a janitor or street sweeper, he said. After getting a job at a Safeway, Murry said, he began working with the civil rights movement, battling racism after the victory of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and working to have Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday declared a national
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Jahmari Samuel (left), 15, of Laurel teaches Dalton Adams, 10, of Upper Marlboro how to use a flight simulator Saturday during the science activities that were part of “A Day of Learning,” sponsored by Men Aiming Higher at Kettering Middle School in Upper Marlboro.
holiday. “There was a lot of marching and protesting,” Murry said. “I was fighting for injustice.” After he worked odd jobs throughout the District and Maryland, Murry said, his mother became sick in the early 1980s. He quit his job and returned home for a year to take care of the family. It was after that year, Murry said, that he developed what he called an “I” problem. “I didn’t want to work for anyone else again,” Murry said. “I decided I got to work for me.” Murry became an entrepreneur. One of his busiBILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE nesses was traveling to New York once or twice a week to William Murry of Upper Marlboro speaks at the Men Aiming Higher event buy clothes from wholesalers Saturday at Kettering Middle School in Upper Marlboro. and selling them for a profit in the area. “I think they gravitate toKevin Lankford of Green- been active for about three belt — Murry’s WOL-1450 AM weeks and pulls in about 1,000 ward him because of his work in the community,” Barnes radio show and public speak- listeners, Lankford said. Murry still finds time to said. “The stories he tells you ing co-host — has known Murry for 15 years. He said one help his community. He par- pull you in.” of Murry’s defining qualities is ticipated in a Sept. 14 session Murry lives in Upper Marlwith Men Aiming Higher, a his tenacity. boro with his wife, Ava Murry, Bowie-based nonprofit that “He is a guy that is never and their 23-year-old grandused up,” Lankford said. “If he mentors at-risk youth to preson, John King III. Murry also vent them from joining gangs has to go over, around, under or through, he will do it to get or to help them get a complete has a 26-year-old son, William education. Murry. results.” Darryl Barnes, the group’s Murry said he, as a perMurry’s and Lankford’s radio show is much like Mur- president, said Murry has son, can never stop improving; ry’s public speaking gigs — a been a “valuable asset” to the once one achieves his goals, 30-minute discussion on organization and the youth it’s time to get new, bigger topics ranging from self-im- they work with connect well goals. provement, persistence and with him. Barnes said Murry “Good, better, best,” Murry financial literacy. Murry and once lectured about 30 Oxon said. “Never stop until your Lankford take calls and ques- Hill youth about how to be a man and build success, and good is better than your best.” tions. The show, which airs from those youths still use those 12:30 to 1 p.m. Mondays, has principles. ccook@gazette.net
Teachers’ salary boost expected to aid retention n
Includes 2 percent raise in base pay BY JAMIE ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
Prince George’s County Public Schools educators should see a little bit extra in their paychecks after the school board and the County Educators Association unanimously approved a teacher pay raise on Wednesday. PGCEA represents more than 9,000 teachers, guidance counselors, speech pathologists, media specialists and other nonsupervisory certified educators in the school system, according to information from PGCEA. The agreement gives educators a retroactive 2 percent pay increase effective July 1, 2013, according to a statement from the board. A copy of the agreement was not immediately available. “I think this is a great opportunity,” PGCEA Executive Director Lewis Robinson said. “It helps us in recruitment. It helps us with retaining teachers here in the district. We’ve had some issues around [retention], but this is definitely a start.” School system CEO Kevin Maxwell also said the agreement will help in recruitment and retention.
This past school year, PGCPS lost more than 600 teachers — many due to compensation, said Deborah Sullivan, recruitment and retention officer in the Division of Human Resources. Prince George’s County ranks sixth out of 10 Washington metropolitan area school districts in terms of average teacher pay, according to a 2013 report by the Washington Area Boards of Education, an organization that allows area school divisions to share information. Montgomery County, which ranks No. 1, pays an average salary of $74,855. The average Prince George’s teacher salary is $63,566. “When you’re at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to salary and compensation, that disadvantage is sometimes rather profound in terms of impact,” Maxwell said. The agreement is estimated to cost $27.6 million, which is already included in the budget, Maxwell said. The school system maintains a reserve fund for salary negotiations. “I’d like to see us in a position where we’re competitive enough and with the support we provide teachers, the compensation, the wages and salary, that it puts us in a place where we have a surplus of people to hire,” Maxwell said.