Crime

Per Rockville Police: “The Rockville City Police Department (RCPD) recognizes that we are living in turbulent times across the country and the globe. All acts of hatred, bias, and bigotry are unacceptable. A hate crime is any crime motivated in whole or in part by bias, prejudice, or bigotry; however, as despicable as it may be, not all hate is a crime. A hate incident is often involving a person making non-threatening bigoted, biased, or prejudiced comments to another individual based on race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, or other personal characteristics. It also can involve a person displaying a non-threatening, bigoted, biased, or prejudiced message or image in certain contexts. Although deeply hurtful and offensive, hate incidents do not violate criminal law.

What to Do if You Believe that You are the Victim of, or Witness a Hate Crime or Bias-Related Incident…REPORT IT! Dial 9-1-1 in an emergency. In a non-emergency, dial 240-314-8900 to contact the Rockville City Police. For your own safety do not take it upon yourself to confront perpetrators. Do not clean up or destroy any evidence related to the crime until after the police arrive and investigate. Ask the police what services are available to you.


Crime

Per MCPD: “A third suspect wanted in connection with the March 5, 2023 shooting death of Deandre Keith Ellis has been arrested. D’Andre Lukes was located in Drums, PA and taken into custody by Butler Township Police. The 21-year-old is currently being held in PA, as he awaits extradition to Montgomery County. Ellis was shot and killed inside of a car outside of the Sweet Sweet Kitchen in the 900 block of Bonifant Street. A fourth suspect, 24-year-old D’Angelo Holley, remains at large.

Anyone with information regarding the location of D’Angelo Holley is asked to visit the Crime Solvers of Montgomery County, MD website at www.crimesolversmcmd.org and click on the “www.p3tips.com” link at the top of the page or call 1-866-411-8477.  A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for information that leads to the arrest of the suspect. Tips may remain anonymous.”


Montgomery Village

Baskin Robbins is now open in the Montgomery Village Center. The ice cream shop is located next to Suburban Hair and the upcoming Safe Splash Swim School. The location is offering Baskin Robbins newest flavor “Turkey Day Fixin’s”, a “surprising combination of sweet potato and autumn spice ice creams mixed with honey cornbread pieces and swirls of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce.”

Also in the shopping center, permanent signage is up for Fiesta Laundromat, which will be located across from Baskin Robins, next to Boo Boo Pho. “At Fiesta Laundromat, we take immense pride in our work, whether we are working with large-scale corporate clients, individual laundry clients or our walk-in customers. Take a look around our website and learn more about the variety of laundry services we offer.” No opening date has been announced but the location is currently hiring. Fiesta has an additional location at 7601 New Hampshire Ave in Takoma Park


MCPD

Detectives from the Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking for the public’s assistance in locating Tanease Callends, a missing 15-year-old. Callends was last seen on Tuesday, November 7, at approximately 2:45 p.m., in the 11200 block of Georgia Ave. in Wheaton. She is 5’6″, with black hair, brown eyes and was last seen wearing a blue Abercrombie and Fitch sweater, blue jeans, white sneakers and carrying an aqua blue duffle bag with orange zippers.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Tanease Callends is asked to call Montgomery County Police Non-Emergency (301) 279-8000 (24-hour line).


Event

Historic Indigenous Recognition Event to Take Place in Montgomery County, Maryland

The Taino American Indigenous National Organization (T.A.I.N.O.) proudly announces its upcoming signature public event,


Arts

Five Richard Montgomery High School students have been accepted to the American Choral Directors Association’s (ACDA’s) 2024 Eastern Honor Choir. The ACDA choir consists of students from the Northeastern region of the U.S. ACDA is a professional development organization dedicated to improving choral music instruction. The students have been invited to ACDA’s conference next March in Providence, R.I., where they will have an opportunity to perform challenging musical selections under the direction of nationally renowned conductors. The students are:

Senior Choir:


MCPS

Winston Churchill High School field hockey player Laura Jablonover founded Project Happy Feet, a nonprofit that offers people living in low-income communities equal access to athletic equipment. The organization started by collecting more than 80 pairs of shoes, which were recycled by a third-party charity. Project Happy Feet has received donations and is collecting shoe donations at Churchill and at Thomas S. Wootton High School.

Earlier this school year, Churchill’s Athletic Coordinator Jesse Smith shared the following: “How can we make athletic opportunities more accessible to student-athletes in low-income areas?” Winston Churchill field hockey player Laura Jablonover wondered after attending a summer camp in Washington, DC, where she saw several schools in low-income districts. Laura, determined to help fix the problem, founded Project Happy Feet, a nonprofit that offers low-income communities equal access to athletic equipment. Over the summer, Project Happy Feet collected over 80 pairs of shoes, which were then recycled by a third-party charity. Project Happy Feet will also receive more than $90 to donate to schools in the following week. Additionally, Project Happy Feet has placed boxes in the main offices of Winston Churchill High School and Thomas Wootton High School for students to contribute and donate shoes. Boxes will soon be added to places such as gyms and sportsplex. However, if you are not looking to donate shoes, Project Happy Feet is holding a bake sale this week to gather funds for advertisements and boxes. Laura aims to grow Project Happy Feet and give a great number of student-athletes equal opportunities to play the sports they love.


Gaithersburg

Earlier this year, ISAAC’S Poultry Market at 12167 Darnestown Rd in Gaithersburg won the Restaurant Association of Maryland’s “best sandwich competition.” With that win, the restaurant was automatically qualified for the World Food Championships, which are taking place this week in Dallas, TX. The opening round is Friday, November 10, and if ISSAC’S advances it will compete on Sunday for the championship.

According to the Restaurant Association, “The World Food Championships is the largest competition in Food Sport, where grand champions of previous events convene for a chance at winning the ultimate food crown and a share of hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money. This event is also the springboard for many up and coming culinary stars and home cooks as they seek TV fame through many well-known food shows and acting opportunities.”


Gaithersburg

Montgomery Planning’s Great Seneca Plan: Connecting Life and Science team held two community meetings on October 23 and October 25. “It was great to share the first look at the plan’s preliminary recommendations and get feedback.” At the meetings, preliminary recommendations were shared for each of the plan’s distinct geographic enclaves including:

If you couldn’t make it to the October 23 and 25 meetings, here is a guide to the preliminary recommendations, which the Great Seneca plan team will be finalizing over the coming weeks as it prepares to present them to the Planning Board on December 7.


DC Sports

Montgomery County, Maryland native Monica Blakely has a lot of titles of which she can be proud, from small business owner and philanthropist to mom and wife. Now, she can add “Commanders Fan of the Year” to the list. She is also up for NFL Fan of The Year, with voting available here.

A love for Washington football began with her dad who immigrated to the D.C metro area from Iran. Monica, an only child, found that the Burgundy & Gold was a special way of bonding with him. She set a goal of one day being able to afford season tickets and making sure her dad, who is disabled, always had a spot for home games.


Arts

Sanaa Chege, a sophomore at Seneca Valley High School in Germantown, has written a children’s book about her experiences on the diving team at school. She began diving just last fall and now dives year-round. After seeing a lack of diversity on her team, she decided to write a book to share her journey to encourage and inspire others. Her children’s book, “A Diver Like Me” will be published in February 2024.

Additional information, per her website: “Sanaa B. Chege is not your typical high school student. Hailing from Maryland, Sanaa is a young trailblazer who has been making waves, both in and out of the pool. Her journey into the world of competitive diving began in the fall of 2022, and it’s been nothing short of extraordinary.


Gaithersburg

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS) responded to the scene of a crash that involved a vehicle being driven into the woods at the I-270 S ramp to Sam Eig Highway (exit 9) at approximately 7:25am on Thursday morning.

According to Assistant MCFRS Chief Spokesperson Pete Piringer, the crash involved just the single vehicle and two occupants were extricated from the car. Both occupants were transported to an area hospital– one with life -threatening injuries, and another with less serious injuries. Pazos tweeted, “It appears Driver had medical emergency (likely pressing on gas while passenger was trying to steer car to avoid to other cars) consequently they lost control on ramp & ended up in wooded area.”