INSIDE Rockville gets funding for road improvements A-3
A&E: AFI documentaries will be shown in Silver Spring once again. B-5
The Gazette
ROCKVILLE | ASPEN HILL | NORTH POTOMAC | OLNEY
SPORTS: Rockville High football sets goal of a winning season in 2014. B-1
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
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Rockville eyes White Flint rebranding Unclear whether developers want Twinbrook in marketing n
BY ELIZABETH WAIBEL STAFF WRITER
Rockville’s stakeholders need to be involved if developers in White Flint want to talk about rebranding an area that could extend into the city, officials say. A group of White Flint developers said it has hired a branding and marketing company to research several names for the area along Rockville Pike that extends north and south of White Flint. While the group did not outline a specific area, at a White Flint Downtown Advisory Committee meeting June 10, some committee members speculated that it could include the Twinbrook area of Rockville. Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton said Tuesday that she was looking into whether anyone on the city’s staff was involved in the discussions. “If not, we need to be, and
All smiles for grads of Richard Montgomery Above: Marcus Foster (center) smiles as classmates enter the hall for graduation at Richard Montgomery High School’s commencement ceremony June 11 at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington. At right: Student speaker Sultan Mahmud takes a selfie at the lectern before speaking to the graduating class during commencement. A total of 520 seniors graduated. PHOTOS BY DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
the mayor and council need to be part of this discussion, as well,” she said. Christina Ginsberg, president of the Twinbrook Citizens Association, said Rockville needs to maximize its own brand. “I don’t understand what they think they’re going to achieve by renaming the whole area something different, except to exert control over it,” Ginsberg said. “I don’t think that Rockville’s going to look very kindly on that.” On Rockville Pike, the city’s border stops just south of Twinbrook Parkway. Rockville has authority over development inside the city limits, and city officials already are working on a master plan for the area of Rockville along the Pike that would mandate lower building height and less density than the county’s White Flint Sector Plan. Don Hadley, chairman of the Rockville Planning Commission, said the areas along the Pike are irrevocably interconnected, and it is in everyone’s best interest to
See WHITE FLINT, Page A-12
50 years ago, some Potomac Rockville girl is pitching in women produced novel idea to support Thai elephants Book club celebrates a half-century of reading and discussions
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BY
EMILY BIRNBAUM
SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
A love of literature has tied the women of Potomac Woods together for half a century. While many book clubs last a few years before fading out, the Potomac Woods Book Club has had from 15 to 20 members for
50 years. In fact, five of its original participants are still active members, and many have been members for 10 or more years. “I would say that what’s made us so successful is a bonding of women,” said Allison Parsons, one of the original members. “People have made an effort to continue to keep together. We want to continue even though some of us have moved. It draws you in.” Saturday evening, the club held a cocktail party to celebrate
Clay models sold at farmers market to raise money, awareness
its milestone anniversary. The club originally consisted of only Potomac Woods residents. In 1964, Potomac Woods was a new neighborhood, filled with young parents just starting their suburban lives. Most had young children, so the club was designed as a way for the women to escape the stress of early motherhood. The club met monthly at 8:30 p.m. in a member’s home, after the children
Miriam Gardsbane is a little girl with a big heart. The 11-year-old from Rockville discovered a problem, and despite logistical difficulties, was determined to make a difference.
See NOVEL, Page A-12
See ELEPHANTS, Page A-12
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TERRI HOGAN
BY
STAFF WRITER
GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Miriam Gardsbane, 11, of Rockville, a fifth-grader at Sandy Spring Friends School, with some of the clay elephants that she and her classmates made to raise money for the Elephant Nature Park in Thailand.
Rockville opera company to perform ‘Pirates of Penzance’ n
Four shows planned for this weekend
BY
PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
Pirates, pretty young maidens, music, dance and even a singing parrot all make up the on-stage fun in Rockville’s Victorian Light Opera Company’s pro-
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duction of “The Pirates of Penzance.” It will be performed this weekend at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre in Rockville Civic Center Park. Performances will be held at 8 p.m. Friday; at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and at 2 p.m. Sunday. There will be a community outreach program from 12:45 to 1:30 p.m. before the Saturday matinee. The outreach includes backstage
tours, meetings with musicians and performers, and a project to allow children to decorate their own treasure chests. “My favorite [company] performances are always the community outreach matinees, and getting to talk to kids who might be attending their very first opera, or maybe even their first theatre performance,” Felicity Ann Brown, vice president of Victorian Lyric Opera Company and director of “Pi-
RESEARCH BONANZA A Rockville biotech company is getting $1 million in a state grant.
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rates,” wrote in an email. “I like talking to them about what goes into the shows behind the scenes, and how they can express their own creativity whether it be through performing on stage, or learning to run lights or build sets, or playing in the orchestra. There’s always a role in the production of theatre for everyone.” Brown said Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera is family friendly, full of action,
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and a perfect way to introduce children to theater. Adults will enjoy the wit and puns, she said. Tickets are $24 for adults, $22 for seniors 65 and older, and $16 for students. They can be purchased by calling 240314-8690. The F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre is at 603 Edmonston Drive, Rockville. pmcewan@gazette.net