THE GAZETTE
Page A-6
Wednesday, May 21, 2014 r
Local teens win community service award Berliner to WSSC: Girls are recognized for their recycling and volunteer efforts
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BY KRISTA BRICK STAFF WRITER
Yiyi “Jessica” Li of Gaithersburg and Ally Salvino of Germantown were both named Maryland’s top two youth volunteers of 2014 for The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. Yiyi, a senior at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, formed an energyconservation and recycling team that saved her school
$20,000 a month in electrical costs, launched several innovative recycling initiatives, and promoted environmental awareness at local events, according to a news release from Prudential. Yiyi and her team volunteered to turn off every light and computer in the building on Friday afternoons, and to stay after pep rallies to pick up recyclable cans, bottles and paper programs. Ally, an eighth-grader at Kingsview Middle School in Germantown, has volunteered to work with students with special needs over the past several years at school and at an annual summer
LightenUp...
camp, according to the release. Ally’s elementary school also housed a school for children and teenagers with special needs, so when she was in the fourth grade, she decided to give up one recess a week to spend time with one of the students in a “Buddy Club.” The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals, is a youth recognition program based exclusively on volunteer community service. All middle and high schools in the U.S., along with all Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, Red Cross
chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of HandsOn Network, were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award last November. Two state honorees — one middle and one high school student — plus a select number of distinguished finalists from each state and the District of Columbia were selected based on criteria such as personal initiative, effort, impact and personal growth. As state honorees, the teens were awarded $1,000 and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for several days of national recognition events on May 3 through 6.
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Customers still getting water charges that are larger than usual
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BY
RYAN MARSHALL STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County Councilman Roger Berliner is asking the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission for more information on why some customers have continued to get bills that are much higher than normal. Berliner (D-Dist. 1) of Bethesda sent a letter to the chairman of the commission May 14 saying that he wants the commission to provide new information on what might be causing people to receive bills substantially higher than normal. The issue was first raised in March, when Berliner reported that his office had received “dozens and dozens” of complaints about their bills. At the time, WSSC said the heavy snows during the winter had made it hard to read meters and led to a longer than normal billing cycle. People staying home because the weather closed schools and businesses may have also led to more water being used, officials said. Berliner was skeptical at those reasons at the time, and expressed similar disbelief in his letter to WSSC Chairman Jerry Johnson on May 14.
“For months, I have remained unconvinced by the answers your agency has provided to my office stating that these bills are indeed accurate,” Berliner wrote. “How can it be that when customers are being billed hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars higher than their normal bills, your agency maintains that there is no issue?” Berliner also included a list of about 60 county residents who had complained to both his office and the county’s Office of Consumer Protection. Most of the customers lived in Bethesda, but the list also included addresses in Silver Spring, Kensington, Rockville, Takoma Park, Gaithersburg and Potomac. WSSC spokesman Jim Neustadt said in emails that Johnson was looking into Berliner’s request and would get back to him, but the commission had already provided information for all but about 15 people on the list. Berliner said Monday that he’s asking for WSSC’s help in trying to isolate what could be going on, since it’s clear that something is not right with the billing process. Every time the issue comes up, his office hears from more people, and had gotten several more emails from residents over the weekend, he said. rmarshall@gazette.net
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