THE GAZETTE
Wednesday, November 13, 2013 s
Page A-5
Parks ‘spokesmen’ take to the trails Managers use two wheels to check on southern county’s 100 miles of trails n
Maryland students offered funding, but awards were rejected n
BY AGNES BLUM STAFF WRITER
BY
SYLVIA CARIGNAN STAFF WRITER
AGNES BLUM
Since summer, Montgomery County park managers have been cruising up and down the hike-and-bike trails of the southern county, checking on facilities, looking for trail maintenance issues and chatting with park visitors. Branch, Matthew Henson and Rock Creek. It’s just part of being good stewards of the park system, Tyler said. Managers say being on the ground, out in the elements, provides a more accurate sense of what is going on. “You get to see a lot more than when you’re in a truck,” said Perry Young, who rides the Matthew Henson trail in Aspen Hill. “You get to experience what the riders experience more up close and personal.” On the always-busy Capital Crescent Trail, John Boyd and Jeff Devlin, who have a combined 53 years with the parks department, are often stopped by people who have questions — sometimes about things they can answer, such
as directions, and sometimes about issues they cannot, such as when the $2.2 billion Purple Line light rail project will be built. For frequent walkers Joy Macdonald and Catherine Hotvedt, recognizable parks employees on the trail are a welcome sight. “We’re super grateful,” said Macdonald, who has been walking the trail with Hotvedt five days a week for at least 10 years. It’s reassuring to see someone official checking on the trail and its users,
Hotvedt said, especially in light of the infrequent — but often traumatic — crimes that occur, such as the woman who was sexually assaulted on the trail in October 2012. Park managers say they are much more likely to come across downed tree limbs than active crime scenes, but Hotvedt said she is happy they are there. “We need you and we thank you,” Hotvedt said, ablum@gazette.net
About $17 million in Maryland need-based college scholarships went unused last year after a “higher than anticipated level” of students rejected awards or were ineligible for them. According to an audit by Maryland’s Office of Legislative Audits, $17.2 million in funding that was appropriated for scholarships was not spent. The unspent funds could have helped 7,800 students on the Maryland Higher Education Commission’s 31,000-applicant waiting list, the report said. The office’s report on the commission was released to the public on Nov. 6. The commission did not use the accumulated scholarship funds from students who were offered scholarships but were later found to be ineligible, or turned down the award. Commission spokesman Gregory P. FitzGerald said the funds went unused because the commission saw a “higher-than-anticipated level of cancellations” for the awards, but there is no definite cause behind the cancellations. The Need-Based Student Financial Assistance Fund was created in 2011 to account for rejected or canceled awards in the state’s budget, the report stated. Unused funds from the previous year roll over to the
next year. The fund’s balance was $9.9 million in June 2011 and $17.2 million in June 2013. The financial need-based awards include the Educational Excellence Awards, available for high school seniors and undergraduate students. Awardees must maintain satisfactory grades to renew their application for the awards. Grants for graduate students and professional school students also are available to students who demonstrate need and are studying certain subjects. FitzGerald said $14 million of the fund’s $17.2 million balance will be appropriated to offer awards to more students on the waiting list. The commission plans to award about $81 million in need-based scholarships in fiscal year 2014, though $135 million already has been offered to students. In fiscal year 2012, the commission awarded $81.4 million in need-based grants and scholarships to students. The commission will be “actively engaging the institutions, streamlining the process, and communicating earlier with students and parents to get more aid to students,” FitzGerald said. Montgomery College spokesman Marcus Rosano said the school’s admissions team is reviewing the audit before it comments on the state’s findings. scarignan@gazette.net
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The guys in the green-andyellow jerseys pedaling down Montgomery County’s trails may look like the other spandex-clad cycling enthusiasts that flood the parks, but these “spokesmen” are on the clock. Thanks to the Managers on Bikes program started this summer by Bill Tyler, chief of the county’s southern parks division, park managers have been stowing their trucks and hopping on two-wheelers to experience the southern part of the county’s 100-plus miles of trails first-hand. Montgomery’s parks department is part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, an independent state agency made up of Parks and Planning in Montgomery County and Parks, Recreation and Planning in Prince George’s County. “We like to educate people, let them know we’re out there,” said Tyler, who is responsible for an $11.7 million budget and oversees 147 full-time employees, as well as seasonal staff. On any given day, weekends included, a manager might be cruising up and down a trail, chatting with other walkers and cyclists, looking for problems that need to be addressed and making sure rules are being followed, Tyler said. The 10 area managers try to get out on the trail once or twice a week, always wearing jerseys that list the trails that crisscross the 80,000 acres of the southern parks: Northwest Branch, Paint Branch, Sligo Creek, Capital Crescent Trail, Little Falls Branch, Long
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