THE GAZETTE
Wednesday, August 7, 2013 p
Page A-5
In his first run for office, information technology worker wants to be delegate n
John Paul Evans pursuing District 14 seat BY
John Paul Evans, a Democrat who lives in District 14, near Gaithersburg’s city limits, filed with the state on July 31 to become a candidate. District 14 covers much of eastern Montgomery County, including Olney, Laytonsville and Silver Spring. The district’s incumbent delegates — Anne R. Kaiser (D) of Burtonsville, Craig Zucker (D) of
SYLVIA CARIGNAN STAFF WRITER
A newcomer to politics has thrown his hat into the ring for District 14’s state delegate seat.
Brookeville and Eric Luedtke (D) of Burtonsville — are all running for re-election next year. The primary will be June 24, 2014, and the general election on Nov. 4, 2014. Evans, 23, works in the information technology department at Children’s Pediatricians and Associates in Silver Spring. He said he has not run for office before, but has always been interested
in politics. The issues that most concern him are civil rights and government transparency. “I don’t think we have enough transparency in the slightest,” he said. Evans said he is reluctant to single out one civil right to focus on. “We’ve had the gun issue, with assault weapons, and we’ve had issues
with the [National Security Agency],” he said. Evans said gun laws should be based on guns’ functionality, not whether they look like assault weapons. Those topics have been “a driving force” behind his decision to announce his candidacy, he said. scarignan@gazette.net
Medical Giant, others look to make shopping more convenient Grocery pickup service alert scam to start at stand-alone site in Chevy Chase reported in county n
BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
Robocall sounds like real person
n
BY ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County residents have been targeted by a slick robocalling scam, the county’s Office of Consumer Protection warned Friday. In the scam, a prerecorded voice tells the person answering the phone that someone they know has purchased a “Medical Alert” device for them and the company is trying to schedule a delivery, according to Eric Friedman, director of Montgomery County’s Office of Consumer Protection. But the calls are a scam operation to try to get personal identity information or credit card information from residents, Friedman said. People getting ripped off by the scam receive monthly charges of $35 and up, said John D. Breyault, a vice president at the National Consumers League. The scam is similar to one that was investigated by the Federal Trade Commission in March, he said. The call alone is illegal, he said. “If you’ve not given permission for a company to contact you, they cannot use an auto dialer,” he said, explaining that it was a violation of consumer protection law. In that case, a Brooklynbased company would contact seniors with a similar pitch about a free medical alert service, then bill them between $817 and $1,602 with bogus invoices, he said. If the person receiving the bogus bill refused to pay, the company often threatened them, he said. “The FTC put a halt to that scam, but there are copycats out there,” he said. As for who’s behind it? “Really, it could be practically anyone. If you have access to right technology, it’s a fairly simple scam to run,” he said. Many originate outside of the U.S., he said. The calls come from a local number, but could actually be coming from anywhere in the country using a process called “spoofing,” Friedman said. Keith Watkins, an investigator with Montgomery County’s Office of Cable and Broadband Services, said that he received one of the calls last week. “It did not sound like a predictive dialer,” he said. “This fella just started talking. I truly thought it was a live caller,” said Watkins, 56, of Silver Spring. Then, on the recording, the caller asked to schedule a delivery by pressing “1,” or to decline a delivery by pressing “5.” “I’m aware of scams like this, but this sounded so lifelike that I thought I was talking to a real person,” Watkins said. Once he realized it was a robocall, he listened to the rest of the recording, then hung up, he said. Friedman advised Montgomery County residents to limit the amount of time on the phone, not to talk to a live operator, and not to give any personal information to operators.
Giant Food and home-delivery affiliate Peapod are stepping up their services, as more grocers and online retailers offer customers the convenience of having groceries delivered. Starting Wednesday, customers who order groceries online from Peapod can pick them up at Giant’s first standalone site in Maryland, at 8500 Connecticut Ave., Chevy Chase. Customers have been able to have groceries delivered to their homes for a fee in Montgomery County since 2003,
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said Peg Merzbacher, a Peapod spokeswoman. There is a minimum order of $60 for home delivery, but there is no minimum or fee if customers pick up their groceries. The first pickup locations at Giant grocery stores in Montgomery opened in June. There are six — two each in Rockville and Germantown, along with ones in Derwood and Chevy Chase. The seventh site in Chevy Chase also will have a Giant gasoline station that likely will open later this week, Giant Food spokesman Jamie Miller said. “It’s been well-received,” Miller said of the delivery service. “Customers like having this convenience.” Landover-based Giant Food
and Skokie, Ill.-based Peapod are both subsidiaries of Dutch retail giant Royal Ahold. Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway, which also has numerous stores in Montgomery County, has offered home delivery in the Washington region since 2005, said Craig Muckle, a company spokesman. Currently, Safeway only offers delivery with no in-store pickup for online purchases. “There is a pretty strong core of people who use it,” Muckle said. “Some people have challenges going to the store, so it fits their needs.” The minimum order for Safeway’s service is $49. The fee for purchases of less than $150 is $12.95, though first orders for new customers are free, according to the website.
The delivery fee for home service with Peapod is from $7.95 to $9.95; the lower fee is for orders more than $100. Walmart began testing a delivery service for items that include toys and electronics last year in certain markets, such as Northern Virginia. The service is not yet available in Montgomery County, according to its website. Services such as Netgrocer. com also deliver groceries to customers for a fee. Amazon.com has delivered groceries in the Seattle area for several years and is expanding to other markets. Online grocery shopping is one of several trends that is changing the face of supermarkets, which also face competition from club stores, dollar stores and farmers markets,
according to a new report by Rockville market research firm Packaged Facts. About half of shoppers use online or in-store coupons and two-thirds buy groceries on sale, according to the firm. “Economic, demographic, lifestyle and technological changes have created not only a fertile environment,” David Sprinkle, research director for Packaged Facts, said in a statement, “but the absolute necessity for new concepts to engage shoppers ... and reinvent food and beverage retailing.” Giant’s stand-alone site is formatted like a fast-food drive-through, in which customers remain in their vehicles as workers load their groceries. Giant has 10 other gas stations in Maryland, Miller said.