T HE G AZ ET T E
Page A-4
Thursday, February 6, 2014 lr
Hyattsville Middle arts students battle to advance together
Paws for a cause
Northwestern High School rule hinders middle-schoolers in nearby program n
BY JAMIE
ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
EMILIE EASTMAN/THE GAZETTE
Pat Jarvis, a volunteer with Laurel-based Fidos for Freedom, and her therapy dog, Jay Bear, visit Saturday with Jane Curran of Burtonsville.
Therapy dogs help in wake of shootings BY
EMILIE EASTMAN STAFF WRITER
A week after the shooting at The Mall in Columbia, one Laurel organization decided to help the community heal with a little assistance from man’s best friend. Fidos for Freedom, a nonprofit that trains therapy and service dogs, asked Maryland residents affected by the tragedy to join more than 30 volunteers and their dogs at Fidos headquarters Saturday for a calming and rejuvenating experience. “An event like this [allows people to] come here, and sort of process that and talk about it,” said Tracy Bowman, Fidos’ board president. “If you’re touching the dog, I think there’s that tactile touch that helps to bring down the endorphins and lower blood pressure and just reduce the stress.” Attendees were able to pet and visit with the dogs while chatting with Fidos volunteers and other visitors. Fidos staff member Sandy Ball helped coordinate the event and said she started planning shortly after she
heard about the Jan. 25 shooting, which left three people dead, including the gunman. “We wanted to offer comfort,” Ball said. “We know our dogs can do that. It’s just the unconditional love I think they give.” Fidos for Freedom opened its doors in Laurel in 1987 and has since recruited and trained around 130 therapy dogs and their owners who visit facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes and schools, Ball said. The organization also trains service dogs and raises awareness about disabilities, she said. Laurel Mayor Craig Moe attended Fidos’ event Saturday to show support for the organization and the community’s healing process, he said. “Fidos for Freedom always do a wonderful job for the community,” Moe said. “I grew up with dogs — they become part of the family. These in particular, these dogs really assist and help a lot of people.” Carrie Nicholsen, a Fidos client and volunteer, said she was thinking about going to the mall Jan. 25 before she heard about the shooting. She said she
still feels shaken about the incident. “It was hard, because I go there all the time,” she said. “I just don’t want to go [back] there right away.” John Silva of Eldersburg attended the event with his wife, Cindi, and son, Brian, and said the family was at Fidos’ center when the mall shooting took place. Brian Silva, an Air Force veteran, suffered traumatic brain injury during a car accident three years ago and is working with Fidos to find a service dog. “In the three months we’ve been here working with Fidos, we’ve seen a really significant improvement in how [Brian Silva] thinks about himself and how he interacts with the folks here,” John Silva said. “It’s just amazing.” Bowman said Fidos occasionally hosts community events, but this was one of the first designed to aid recovery after a tragedy mourned nationwide. “We had a lot of volunteers who felt really passionately about doing this event,” she said. “We wanted to just give back.” eeastman@gazette.net
Laurel gets help to connect with community Police chief: New supervisor also will oversee civilian staff
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BY
EMILIE EASTMAN STAFF WRITER
Laurel police created a management position intended to help improve communication with the community and oversee civilian staff members. The city hired John Wagner, a retired Navy chief who served for more than 20 years, on Jan. 13 to fill the new role of service supervisor. Laurel Police Chief Rich McLaughlin said the department’s civilian components have expanded over the past few years and needed the additional oversight. “We’ve added a lot of additional services, [such as] fingerprinting five days a week,” he said. “I just thought it was time to put somebody in that was hands-on.” As services supervisor, Wagner’s duties will include overseeing the approximate 24 civilian staff members that make up the communications, records and evidence departments, McLaughlin said. Dorcas Kiptepkut of Laurel said police are visible and active with the community, but said the city’s needs are changing as it expands. She said she anticipates transportation becoming an issue as new developments like Towne Centre Laurel draw out-of-town visitors, but she remains
GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
John Wagner (top), services supervisor for the Laurel Police Department, confers with dispatcher Bob Bain in Laurel. optimistic about Laurel’s future. “I don’t know what it’s going to be like,” she said. “But I’m looking forward to it.” Some of Wagner’s tasks were previously performed by Jimmy Collins, Laurel police public information officer. “I want to tidy everything up. I want to tie it all together,” McLaughlin said. “If there’s any room for growth, any room for improvement, its time to do that.” Wagner, 40, who lives near Fort Meade, said he has experience running volunteer programs for the Navy and his management and community relations
skills are the perfect combination for his new position. “I’m a people person. I’ve had a lot of training with management,” he said. “The military trains you to lead from Day One.” Wagner said one of his main goals will be improving communication and interactions with the public. “We are family here, and I want the community [members] to understand that we are family,” he said. “We want to help them as much as they need help.” eeastman@gazette.net
Boundary restrictions for Northwestern High School’s new Jim Henson Academy of Visual and Performing Arts program might be changed to allow more talent into the school, officials said. Currently, the program only accepts students living within the Hyattsville school’s boundaries, preventing many from nearby Hyattsville Middle School’s arts program from attending Northwestern’s program. Hyattsville Middle’s Creative and Performing Arts program accepts students from across northern Prince George’s County — so arts students living outside the school’s boundaries are not able to matriculate with their classmates into Northwestern. Precious Carter, coordinator of Hyattsville Middle School’s program, said approximately 75 percent of the 200 students enrolled in the school’s arts program are out-ofboundary students. “Why allow students to attend a feeder school for Northwestern and then not allow them to attend it?” Carter asked the school board during its Jan. 23 meeting. “Why deny them the opportunity to further develop their craft to prepare them for collegiate auditions and scholarships?” Leona Lowery-Fitzhugh, coordinator of the Northwestern arts program, said the school needs more students with a background in the arts to be competitive.
“Students who are beginning or entry level at grade nine are less likely to successfully compete for college and conservatory auditions because of their lack of intensive training,” Lowery-Fitzhugh told the board. Suitland High School has a Creative and Performing Arts program that is open to out-of-boundary students, but Lowery-Fitzhugh asked the board why northern county students should be bused to Suitland when many of them live within walking distance of Northwestern. Northwestern and Suitland are the only two county high schools with visual and performing arts programs. Hyattsville Middle eighth-grader Morgan Austin of Cheverly said Suitland would be twice the commute of Northwestern and asked the board to allow her to remain with her peers who will go on to Northwestern. “We have bonded and gelled and fed off each other’s creativity. We have formed relationships that will forever be a part of me,” Austin said. School board member Amber Waller (Dist. 3) said CEO Kevin Maxwell and his staff will discuss allowing Hyattsville Middle students to audition for Northwestern’s arts program regardless of where they live. “It’s under consideration, but no decision has yet been made,” said Waller, whose district includes both schools. Waller said the exception, if made, would just be for Hyattsville Middle School creative and performing arts students. janfenson-comeau@gazette.net
New Laurel fire chief plans focus on training Leader also hopes to expand the department n
BY
EMILIE EASTMAN STAFF WRITER
When Laurel’s new fire chief isn’t working 24-hour shifts as a firefighter in Baltimore, he will be enhancing Laurel’s volunteer fire department through drills, training and education, he said. The Laurel fire department elected Chief Duane Hull, 26, and Deputy Chief Darrin Grant, 49, in January, and the pair said they plan to emphasize training and expanding the department, as well familiarizing members with a newly purchased ambulance. Hull, a Laurel resident who began volunteering with the department in 2006, said the leadership role appealed to him as a way he could help improve and prioritize the department. “I just wanted to focus the department on our basic services we provide,” he said. “That’s our primary goal right now — that we’re providing a service level the citizens deserve.” Grant, 49, of Laurel is a fire safety inspector for the state and has spent almost 12 years with the Laurel fire department, he said. Grant said he worked closely with Hull in the past and the new chief is motivated and well-equipped for someone his age. “[Duane Hull] is very well educated, very well trained,” Grant said. “Working with him will be a great opportunity. He’s a very good leader. It makes working underneath him very enjoyable.” Both men were nominated by fellow firefighters and chosen dur-
ing the department’s annual elections on Jan 13. At that time, the station’s former chief, Trey Kelso, moved on to become a trustee on the department’s board of directors. The Laurel volunteer fire department is made up of about 100 volunteer firefighters and paid career firefighters staffed by the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department, Hull said. Some volunteers are career firefighters by day, but many have unrelated jobs such as engineering or information technology, Hull said. “We have a very diverse fire station,” he said. “Some people might say [career firefighters make better volunteers], but I disagree. It’s all how seriously people want to take it. You can be a really great firefighter and still be an accountant.” Hull said the department responded to around 5,300 calls last year. The Laurel volunteer fire department also provides emergency medical services and recently purchased a new ambulance, which will add to the fleet of three fire engines, an ambulance and a ladder truck, Hull said. Mark Brady, a spokesperson for the county fire/EMS department, said the county is excited to work with Hull and Grant in their new roles. “We look forward to working with them as we do with all the volunteer leadership throughout the county,” Brady said. “[The Laurel Volunteer Fire Department] is a very good department with a wide diversity of membership and they do a tremendous job day in and day out.” eeastman@gazette.net