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Mark StephensBy Bethany E. Starin

W hen asked how he defines success as a coach, Urbana’s Mark Stephens stopped for a moment before responding.

“Most coaches look at the scoreboard [to define success],” said Stephens, who is the Maryland state director for Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and a U13 lacrosse team for Linganore, Oakdale, Urbana Youth Athletic Association (LOUYAA). Carefully choosing his words, he explained how it is different for him.

“As a coach, you really are going to know if you have succeeded 10 years from now, dependent on

UHS Presents HawkfestBy Madelyne Xiao

W hat provided the impe-tus for Hawkfest, the mammoth Urbana High

School (UHS) bash slated for April 27?

“I’m crazy,” said Stephen Ward, an English teacher at UHS, with a laugh. “Wait — are you going to write that down?”

Ward, the originator and orga-nizer of UHS’s impending end-of-year celebration, has a real and better cause for his labors.

“I know that the elementary school and middle schools have festivals of sorts [at the end of year],” said Ward. “High school-ers don’t have anything to look forward to. I wanted to give them something to look forward to.”

School spirit, in particular, is a cause of some concern for the AP Literature teacher and National English Honor Society advisor.

Hawkfest will reach the en-tire Urbana community, Ward emphasized. Though UHS will play host and organizer for an entire afternoon (from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.), all community members, young and old, are encouraged to participate in the event. News of Hawkfest has spread quickly throughout the greater Frederick

area, with support from Fred-erick’s Child magazine and the Frederick News-Post.

Local businesses and organi-zations have chipped in to cover most of the costs of Hawkfest, and local restaurants such as the Atlantic Grille, Black Hog, and the Mediterranean Corner have signed on as food vendors.

UHS’s own clubs and organi-zations have been instrumental in expanding Hawkfest’s color-ful palette of activities (bungee runs and dunk tanks, anyone?). Seventy-five percent of all UHS clubs will host booths and games during Hawkfest, Ward said. Organizations ranging from the National French Honor Society to the drama department are cur-rently in the planning stages of subject-specific undertakings, to be unveiled on April 27.

Teachers and administrators added their voices to the growing chorus of support for Hawkfest. Four teachers — Ward, as well as English teacher Kristen Rowe, band director Mike Harrison, and Assistant Principal Michael Chavez — volunteered to occupy the Hawkfest dunk tank for dif-ferent parts of the afternoon.

Planning Commission Approves Urban Green Concept Site Plan

By Sally Alt

O n March 13, the Frederick County Plan-ning Commission approved the Urban Green concept site plan for a new devel-

opment proposed to be located on the west side of Urbana Pike across from the former Cracked

Claw/Peter Pan Inn building and east of the Ur-bana Office Research Center. The development project includes 352 multi-family residential units, as well as 12,000 square feet of commercial uses in 10 buildings on the 22.95-acre site.

Civic Association Responds to Plans for Cracked Claw

By Teresa Bell-Stockman

V acant for a year-and-a-half, neglected with broken windows and overgrown

by weeds, the once renowned Peter Pan Inn and most recently Cracked Claw restaurant is now looking at a complete regenera-tion.

Al Clapp, licensed architect with the Architectural Concepts Group, Inc., in Urbana, shared the plans for the 2 1/2-acre prop-erty, located at the intersection of Md. Route 80 and Route 355, with the Urbana Civic Associ-ation at its annual meeting on

Vol. 9, No. 4 April 2013

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n cracked claw Continued on page A10

n hawkfest Continued on page A11n development Continued on page A9

n community spotlight Continued on page A14

Photo | Submitted

matan development recently received approval for its urban green concept site plan by the frederick county planning commission for a development proposed for the west side of urbana pike across from the site of the former cracked claw. the urban green project includes 352 multi-family residential units and 12,000 square feet of commercial uses.

Photo | Shannon Wagner

coach mark stephens demonstrates technique to his players before their lacrosse game on march 24.

Page A2 The Town Courier April 2013

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Concerned Residents Attend Development Open House

By Kristy Crawford

A rea residents attended a re-cent open house in Ijamsville to learn more about an of-

fice complex and over 3,200 homes planned in southern Frederick County. Sponsored by the Freder-ick County Planning and Commu-nity Development Review Board, the March 4 open house at Windsor Knolls Middle School offered a first look at the building plans.

Current plans include more than 600 homes to be built on the south-west side of Md. Route 355, across the street from the Urbana Com-munity Park, plus 2 million square feet of business space. Also planned in the Urbana area are office, retail and commercial space totaling more than 2 million square feet. The

original plans for age-restricted res-idential space has been changed to homes for all ages.

Also proposed are a new devel-opment called Lansdale, with 1,100 homes, on Ed McClain Road and Route 80; more than 3,000 homes in New Market; more than 100 homes in Mt Airy; and the Monro-via Town Center, with 1,500 homes and more than 180,000 square feet of commercial space at routes 75 and 80 on what is currently 450 acres of farmland. A new elementary school is also in the plans on the Lansdale property, and some low-income homes are also planned in the resi-dential areas.

Approximately 75 people at-tended the open house, with many residents voicing concerns about negatives effects of the proposed de-

velopment on quality of life, traffic, schools and public resources.

One long-time resident and for-mer farmer off of Md. Route 80, who asked to be anonymous, was close to tears while talking about the development plans and lament-ing the disappearing farms.

“They don’t give farmers any in-centive to keep farming and keep it in the family,” he said, “And, when I sold, I was told it would be a golf course and restricted-age (55-years of-age and older) communities.” Local preservationists would like to preserve some of the land, but can only offer a pittance compared to what developers can pay.”

Another concern mentioned was apparent lack of communication on opportunities for citizens to learn

Area Summer Camps AboundBy Kristy Crawford

T he school year is coming to a close. In just about eight weeks, children will burst out of the

school doors, looking forward to two months of freedom, adventure and a little relaxation. About a week later, many kids will complain of boredom, and then will voice the common re-frain, “There’s nothing to do!”

Working parents need safe alter-natives for their children during the workday. In the Urbana area alone, camps and classes range from cook-ing, dance and horseback classes to tennis, karate and basketball. Most are currently offering registration.

Here are is a sample of some of the

Buzzer Implementation at CentervilleBy Bethany E. Starin

O n March 11, a newly installed front-door buzzer system was activated at Centerville Ele-

mentary School (CES). Principal Ste-phen Raff said this system was added in response to the Newtown, Conn., shootings.

“The school system as a whole after the Newtown tragedy was reevaluat-ed,” he said. “The front door buzzer being installed was in response to a system-wide reevaluation. I was noti-fied that it was coming.”

Almost all Urbana-area schools have heightened their security by putting buzzer systems in place, in-cluding Urbana Elementary School,

which implemented the buzzer sys-tem in early March. Urbana High School activated its system earlier this year. Urbana Middle School is in the process of adding this system but does not yet have it activated. Green Valley Elementary School in Monrovia has been using this type of system for a number of years. Windsor Kolls Mid-dle School staff said that its buzzer sys-tem has been in place since October of 2006. This year, they have tweaked their system for increased security.

Since the Newtown tragedy, Raff said he stayed in touch with parents of CES students, letting them know about various security updates and tweaks at CES. To ensure that the in-stallation of the buzzer was a smooth

transition for all parents, CES noti-fied parents of the upcoming change, as well.

The buzzer works much like a doorbell, Raff said. It chimes, and the two front-office secretaries have monitors on their desk so they can see the person. After welcoming them, the secretaries ask them what visitors’ reasoning is for visiting the school that day and, if they do not recognize them, ask them to show valid photo ID. The photo ID is held up to the camera located on the brick wall to the left side of the front doors.

“If we do not recognize the parent, we ask that they present ID. Then we

By Kristy Crawford

Full-Service Starbucks Coming to UrbanaStarbucks restaurant is seeking approval to build a

freestanding restaurant with drive-through service next to McDonalds in Urbana. A hearing is scheduled on April 10 at 9 a.m. at Winchester Hall. For more information, contact Frederick County principal planner, Denis Superczynski, at 301.600.1142 or email [email protected].

Posh Bridal ExpandsTo meet the needs of its growing business, Posh

Bridal Boutique has moved to a new location at 3540 Sugarloaf Parkway, in the Giant shopping center next to Pizza Hut. The boutique originally opened in April 2012, in the townhome suites across the street. Ac-cording to owner Brandie Berkheimer, Posh Brid-al specializes in designer collections to suit all price ranges and for brides, attendants and mothers-of-the bride or groom.

“Urbana is still growing at a rapid pace,” said Berkheimer, “so we are growing along with it. We offer the products and services that you would find in a more expensive area, like Bethesda, but at a lower cost and more personal environment.”

Posh Bridal is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 7 p.m., Friday from noon – 5 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon – 5 p.m.. The shop is closed on Wednesdays, and on Mondays is open by appointment only. For more information, call Posh Bridal at 301.810.5443 or visit their website at www.poshbridalmd.com.

New Staff Member at Sage OrthopedicSage Orthopedic Physical Therapy recently wel-

comed Kristie Carithers, a new physical therapist to

n shop talk Continued on page A18

shoPTAlk

n school safety Continued on page A18

n open house Continued on page A16

n summer camps Continued on page A17

Photo | Kristy Crawford

a freestanding starbucks adjacent to mcdonalds is in the works for urbana.

Photo | Submitted

posh Bridal recently moved to a new, larger location in urbana’s giant shopping center, next to pizza hut.

Credit | Submitted

attendees from the 2012 urbana art and soul summer camp show off some of their creations. registration for summer's urbana art & soul summer camp is now open.


Laughter and AdventuresI t always seems to hap-

pen to me. Even on my honeymoon.Over the years, it seems

that my days are often a string of unfortunate events, things that always turn into hilarious adven-turesome stories. But the laughter always comes af-terwards.

For example, during my sophomore year at Virginia Common-wealth University, Hurricane Gaston hit Richmond really hard, and I found myself stranded — torrential winds, down-pour-ing rain, no jacket and an umbrella flipped inside out — and then, the empty light on my gas gauge flipped on. All cell phone towers were jammed, so I couldn’t make phone calls and, through the rain, all I could see were taillights not moving. Somehow, a homeless man saw my plight, climbed in the back of my truck and helped me get to a gas station.

My older brother was stuck at his insur-ance job on the top floor of a building, so I found a nearby hill to park on while he ran to my truck, wearing black trash bags as rain coverings. Later on, I heard reports that nine people drowned that evening, many trying to save their cars that floated away. Gratefully for me, it was just another adventure.

On another day, while at my first jour-

nalism job, I was assigned to pose as a homeless person for the day as part of a community event. So off I went, wander-ing the streets, eating at shelters and re-ceiving a proposal from a man who makes airplanes from abandoned Coca-Cola cans. I declined. I suppose I didn’t look as home-less as I felt.

And every time March rolls around, I start thinking of our March 13 wedding and seven days in the Bahamas that fol-lowed. While honeymoons are supposed to be idyllic and perfect and ours was all those things, there were also adventures, as there always are with me. My loving husband of two days rented a brand new cottage on the beach just outside Governor’s Harbor on the small island of Eleuthera. The water was aqua and sunshine and weather incred-ible as we exited the plane, but poor Jared was shocked when the rental car had knife stabs in the steering wheel, and we bare-ly made it to a gas station. About to head out for our cottage, I asked where the keys were and saw them on the driver’s seat and tried the doors. Locked.

No one spoke English and there was only one mechanic for miles. We walked down the dusty road, chickens running about, and found that the mechanic spoke English — but we would have to wait, per-haps all day. Get something at Pammy’s Take-Away, he said.

Pammy was a native for sure, and once we placed our order for fresh fish, we heard her hand-crank her deep fryer into life. So sketch but my fish was incredible — even though my plate was eaten on a makeshift table of the mechanic’s workbench, rusty bolts and piles of discarded car scrap all around. Three hours later, we were on our way. We found a local farmers’ market full of friendly locals and delicious homemade bread waiting at our cottage, which was absolutely perfect — as was more of the is-land as we found in days to come.

What I realized is that while I seem to be good at getting my husband and my-self into interesting situations, he is rather skilled at getting out of them. He is so per-fect for me.

More than that, I’ve discovered that laughter is vital — and while I cannot control what happens to me at points, my response and my perspective is my choice.

While each event doesn’t feel adventures or humorous in the moment at all, I’ve begun to learn to tell myself that life is an adven-ture, and I need to take is as such. Not just later — but in the moment.

“It’s an adventure!” Jared will say to me, and he will start laughing. That type of re-sponse is contagious and so healthy.

It’s the best way to respond to growing pains, uncomfortable circumstances that always come with change. The change is almost always good but painful in the pro-cess.

Within our community, there are a lot of growing pains happening right now. On the front page alone, there are two stories of development and changes to take place in the center of Urbana. There are plans to transform the historic Cracked Claw/Peter Pan Inn site and to add an Urban Green center across the street. Down the road across from Urbana Community Park, there’s plans to add hundreds of homes and office space, as well.

There have been a number of communi-ty open houses during the past month for area residents to share their feedback on the proposed changes. On page A3, note the article where Town Courier writer Kristy Crawford attended one of those meetings and spoke to locals about their opinions.

In addition, the paper is going through it’s own growing pains. This month, we made it to 44 pages, the longest the pa-per has ever run, which includes a sec-ond front-page section. Around Town has made it to a two-page photo spread (see pages A20 — A21). As our community grows and changes, so does the paper in tandem.

Through these changes, please take time to send your opinions about the develop-ment and giving Town Courier feedback to me! Your input makes the paper valu-able. And as often as you have them, send me story topics on trends going on in the community, particularly about neighbor-hood issues that might not be found except by word of mouth. Reach me anytime at 240.409.6734 or jot me a note at [email protected].

A Personal TouchDear Editor:I read the Courier every month and look forward to getting it. I generally don’t

read “Ask the Editor,” but today it jumped out at me. I am a caregiver and try to keep in shape at home but have been thinking of going to a fitness center for a one-time consultation like the one you got. It would be nice to know the workouts are paying off. At 68 I want to spend my remaining years as healthy as I can.

This little paper is very personal, which makes it nice. I used to live in Chevy Chase, Md. [That city] didn’t have anything like this there, and keeping in touch with the community is important. I would like to see more articles on health such as organic issues, fitness and most importantly about the growth of the area. I have been here five years, and it is amazing how fast things are happening — some good some bad. I left a city to come to the “country” and now it seems to be following.

Thanks for your interest in “what your readers think.” That shows a personal touch. Thank you for keeping the paper “family friendly.”

— Sandy Gamble, Urbana resident

AskThe ediTor

©2013 Courier CommunicationsThe Town Courier is an independent monthly newspa-per providing news and information for the commu-nities of Kentlands, Lakelands and Quince Orchard Park in Gaithersburg, Md. The paper is published by Courier Communications, which is responsible for the form, content and policies of the newspaper. The Town Courier does not espouse any political belief or endorse any product or service in its news coverage. Articles and letters submitted for publication must be signed and may be edited for length or content. The Town Courier is not responsible for any claims made by ad-vertisers Letters to the Editor and Commentary do not necessarily ref lect the views of the staff, management or advertisers of The Town Courier.

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By Bethany E. Starin

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A Dozen Friends at Destination Imagination


T his month, Sherry DeFrancisci, who teaches Spanish part-time at Friends Meeting School in Monrovia, will

take 12 students from Friends on the ul-timate field trip — their second round of Destination Imagination.

“Destination Imagination is an inter-national group,” said DeFrancisci, who brought the idea of participating in Desti-nation Imagination to Friends three years ago. “It’s a problem solving and teamwork tournament. All the students get different

Actress Maddie Reefe Expands Her Wings


T his spring, Madison “Maddie” Reefe starred in the classic play “Annie Jr.” as the charismatic, big-hearted

orphan, Annie. During this role, played Feb. 9 – 24, the 12-year-old Villages of Urbana resident said she learned some new things about her abilities as an actress.

“Sometimes there are roles I take on that are difficult for my personality,” she said, pointing out a particular scene in Annie. “I was very upset about being an orphan. It felt awkward because I could not really relate.”

To overcome this, Maddie said she learned from the other girl cast as Annie. Maddie explained that two actresses (in-cluding her) were cast in the role and al-ternated performances, so she took time to watch the other actress work through this scene and gained from her experience. In addition, she started doing something she’d never done before — a mind game.

“I would relate something happening during the scene to something pretty close to it [in my life], and it would help,” she said.

While being an actress can be challeng-

ing at times, Maddie said acting really makes her feel alive.

“I like being in front of an audience. I like to make them happy for a little while. I always do my best,” she said.

The Urbana Middle School (UMS) sev-enth grader said she even enjoys auditions.

“I think auditions are really fun. I get to get in front of people and entertain them for a while. I like working for the role,” she said, adding that tackling new challenges is something she enjoys.

Growing up, Maddie said her mom told her that their neighbor was always saying, “She’s going to be an actress.”

Maddie’s first role was when she was just 7, she said, when she was a page in “Once Upon A Mattress” with the Frederick-towne Players.

“I got to open the curtain and do some dancing,” Maddie said of that role.

Since then, Maddie has been in pro-ductions by a number of local companies from Damascus Theatre Company and the Thurmont Thesbians to Act II and the KAT Second Stage at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn, as well as plays at her local schools. Currently, she takes theater arts as her

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n show & tell Continued on page A18

show& Tell

n destination imagination Continued on page A19

Photo | Sherry DeFrancisci

on march 2, students from friends meeting school won first place in the destination imagination regional tournament in hagerstown, md. students including (from left) katrina taylor, arianne Browning, grayson Buki, anthony righter (rear) Jason lerner, Jonny ghermann and Jacob gorham will compete again on the state level on april 13.

Photo | Submitted

this spring, urbana middle school (ums) student madison “maddie” reefe played the role of annie in the “annie Jr.” production put on by kat second stage at the gaithersburg arts Barn. from march 19 – 20, maddie played slimrose in “the hungry games,” play at ums, a parody on the popular “the hunger games,” movie and book series.


Tax Season TipsBy Sally Alt

I f you are feeling stressed during this tax season, Frederick resident Scott Black-burn offers some wisdom for getting

your taxes done. Blackburn, a CPA for nearly 20 years, serves as a financial advisor to businesses and individuals in the area. He shares some tips below.

Courier: What advice would you give to someone who is doing their taxes at the last minute?

Blackburn: Preparing the actual tax return at the last minute is not the most time consuming. Good record keeping can make the process of last minute filing much easier. Be sure to keep the following in-formation handy: Social Security numbers for everyone in your family; interest and dividend statements from banks and bro-kerage firms, etc; a copy of last year’s tax return; mortgage interest and real estate tax statements. Be sure to track your child-care expense and keep your childcare pro-vider’s EIN or Social Security number on

file. Finally, retain receipts for all of your charitable contributions.

A good tip I use is to review the prior year return for reminders of regular trans-actions. If you are missing any of the infor-mation you need for income or deductions, it is better to file an extension than to sub-mit an inaccurate return.

Courier: Are there any myths you want to debunk about taxes?

Blackburn: There are tons of myths people have about taxes, the most risky of which I think are people electing not to claim appropriate deductions because they have heard they are audit flags. Taxpayers should maintain accurate and complete re-cords so they may take every deduction and credit available to them. The one [thing] I hear the most is a fear of taking the home office deduction because it is an audit flag. If you do use a portion of your home to conduct business and you have proper jus-tification as well as documented expenses,

The 411 on Smoke Alarms: What You Need to Know

By Jeff Kinney and Bethany Starin

T esting and replacing smoke detectors is kind of like eating right: Everyone knows they should do it, but who re-

ally has the time?Well, the Federal Emergency Manage-

ment Agency (FEMA) and lots of other government agencies suggest you make the time. In addition, recent events in Fred-erick County give a sobering nod to the importance of smoke alarm detectors func-tioning properly.

In the nearby town of Myersville, Md., Jack and Angela Lillard lost two of their four daughters in a house fire at the end of February. The house fire, which began in a baseboard heater that ignited the drapes and spread throughout the house, was ruled as accidental by The Frederick County Fire Investigation Task Force. Investigators also

reported that the smoke alarms were not functioning properly at the time of the fire.

FEMA points out that properly installed and maintained smoke alarms are the only thing that can alert you and your family to a fire 24 hours a day, seven days a week. According to the National Fire Protection Association, almost two-thirds of home fire deaths resulted from fires in properties without working smoke detectors.

Jim May, fire chief at Urbana Fire and Rescue, said that smoke detectors — or smoke alarms as May said is the correct way to refer to them — should be placed in every home.

“Obviously, smoke alarms have been proven to save lives. They do save lives,” May said. “Everybody should have them in their home, and if they do have them in

n police Beat Continued on page A22

n tax tips Continued on page A19

PoliCeBeAT

Urbana Mom Publishes Macaroni KidBy Sally Alt

U rbana resident Maggie MacKay discovered a dream job that she can do as a stay-at-home mom. MacK-ay is a “publisher mom” for “Macaroni Kid,” a free

weekly e-newsletter and website that highlights family friendly and kid events. The publication also includes ar-ticles, recipes, local business spotlights, product reviews, giveaways and other information.

The newsletter is available in all 50 states, as well as Canada. “Macaroni Kids” publishers are mostly stay-at-home or working mothers, but some fathers also partic-ipate. MacKay, who currently covers the Mt. Airy, Da-mascus and Urbana area, has published “Macaroni Kid” in the region for two years.

A few years ago at a local charity event MacKay had organized, someone recommended that MacKay become a “Macaroni Kid” publisher. She liked the idea, which would allow her to combine work and staying home with her kids.

Publisher moms work independently but share articles, recipes and craft ideas with each other. MacKay said she gets a lot of feedback from other publisher moms, as well as from subscribers. A Texas mom who read one of McK-ay’s articles, for example, said her kids loved the craft activity MacKay had written about.

MacKay invites readers to become guest authors for “Macaroni Kid.” Photo | Submitted

urbana resident maggie mackay hosts a princess party for one of her meet-up events organized through her weekly e-newsletter macaroni kid.n macaroni kid Continued on page A22


A Taste of Frederick

T aking the Market Street Food Tour in Frederick surprised me with de-lightful culinary experiences, stories

and history. On a bright, sunny Saturday, our tour group of three people, including a couple from Pennsylvania celebrating their five-year anniversary, met at the Brewer’s Alley restaurant and brewery in downtown Frederick.

Town Courier writer Sarah Withers, our tour guide, said she launched her compa-ny, Taste Frederick Food Tours, last year. Withers, who loves everything foodie, has lived in Frederick for 15 years. She said a food tour of Greenwich Village inspired her to start her own local food tour busi-ness. She said she takes people to restau-rants with great food where she often goes out to eat. What is most enjoyable is get-ting to meet all of the different people who take the tour, Withers said. Her tours re-opened for the season last month and run until mid-November.

For our first “tasting,” we tried the restaurant’s margherita pizza, freshly baked in the restaurant’s oven, and rye-based ale. The pizza was delicious with just the right amount of cheese and sauce and seemed like the perfect meal for a date downtown. Withers explained that Brewer’s Alley had once been an opera house and theatre in the early 1900s and pointed out the faux marble on the ceiling.

After finishing our pizza, we walked up North Market Street to Firestone’s Market, where we sampled pastrami hot pressed sandwiches. This was the first time I had ever eaten pastrami, and I fell in love with it. We spent time browsing in the store where I found locally made soup, ice cream and goat cheese. Withers also recommend-ed the market’s homemade catsup and truf-fle fries to try some other time.

Our third stop was Griff ’s Landing, a South Market Street seafood restaurant that has been independently owned for 32 years and regularly hosts parties. Withers said the restaurant is a “great place to come and pretend you are on vacation.” The wait-ress served us crab mac and cheese “pops,” bacon-wrapped sea scallops, and hush pup-pies with tall glasses of water with lemon. The appetizers were rich and filling.

We took a stroll along Carroll Creek and enjoyed watching the ducks and marveling at the images in the Community Bridge Mural. Next, Withers led us to The Wine Kitchen where we were seated at a front table in the busy restaurant and wine bar. The waitress brought us beet salads with pistachios and tangerine slices, glasses of Chardonnay from France, and scrump-tious, buttery macaroni and cheese topped with Ritz crackers. As someone who does not normally eat beets, I found the salad to be a pleasant, delectable surprise. Withers

said she would eat anything this restaurant serves.

Next, Withers led us along Patrick Street and told us the history of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and the Weinberg Center, which is located in the city’s Arts District. We stopped in front of the statue and former house of John Han-son, who served a one-year term as Pres-ident of the Continental Congress before George Washington under the provisions of the Articles of Confederation. Later, we passed the All Saints Episcopal Church and the charming Tyler Spite House, a local bed and breakfast.

After a nice, long walk around town, Withers took us to the North Market Pop Shop. Bottles of 60 varieties of vintage soda pop lined the walls. Withers picked out the white birch beer and strawberry lemonade sodas for us to try. Drinking soda pop brought back memories of child-hood, and each flavor was distinctive and not too sweet.

Withers guided us past Urbana resident Bryan Voltaggio’s flagship restaurant, Volt, and across North Market Street as we made our way to Zoe’s Chocolate Co., our final destination. We all breathed in the aroma of chocolate as we entered the store, which was filled with customers. We first tasted the baklava chocolate followed by a liquid caramel chocolate, which melted in my mouth. It was the perfect ending for a very enjoyable food tour.

To learn more about food tours in Frederick, visit www.

tastefrederickfoodtours.com or call 800.979.3370. Tours last three hours and are $45 per person, which covers all food tasted during the tour as well as tips.

Launching Urbana’s Community Restaurant

By Jo Ostby

R ecently, Urbana’s Monoca-cy Crossing restaurant and the Greater Urbana Area Food Bank

formed a partnership. With this rela-tionship in full swing, the Monocacy Crossing will host its first Commu-nity Restaurant on Monday evening, April 29.

Based on the concept behind Jon Bon Jovi’s Soul Kitchen in Red Bank, N.J., the Community Restaurant plans to give families that use the Greater Urbana Area Food Bank an oppor-tunity to sit with their families and enjoy a healthy, delicious meal in the warmth of good company, together with other members of their commu-nity. Following the thought behind JBJ’s Soul Kitchen, the partners have a slogan for the event: “A healthy meal can feed the soul.”

“The community restaurant concept is for you if you are hungry or hunger to make a difference in your commu-nity,” said Rich Regan, co-owner of Monocacy Crossing Restaurant with his wife, Kelly.

There are no prices on the menu. A minimum of $10 pays for a meal, but

n community restaurant Continued on page A21

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taste frederick food tour guide sarah withers (left) and guests nathan and tara gerster, visiting from pennsylvania, stop at Zoe’s chocolate co. at the end of the market street as the last edible stop in withers’ food tour.

www.towncourier.com/urbana


Friends Walk for Williams SyndromeBy Bethany E. Starin

F our years ago, Rockville resident Erin Rupolo was at an event in Wash-ington, D.C., where she connected

with Urbana resident Lisa Ridgley — a friendship that would support them both as moms and in their mutual passion — spreading awareness and support for Wil-liams Syndrome.

Ridgley and Rupolo both have daughters who have been diagnosed with Williams Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that af-fects one in 10,000 people worldwide and is characterized by symptoms including cardiovascular disease, developmental de-lays and learning disabilities. Sophie Ru-polo, 4, was diagnosed with Williams Syn-drome at three months and is in her second year of preschool at Stone Mill Elementary School in Gaithersburg, Md. Tatum Ridg-ley just turned 7 and is in kindergarten at Centerville Elementary School.

“Lisa has been not only a friend but also a resource for me — we have become very close through all this,” Rupolo said. “Her daughter is older than Sophie, which is helpful because I can ask her questions. Even though every child with Williams is so different ... there [are] still a lot of per-sonality traits and different things that you go through that are similar so it has been nice to know I can pick up the phone.”

In addition to their friendship, the duo

combined their forces together with Urba-na resident Emma Lewis to plan the fifth Walk for Williams, which will take place on May 4. Ridgley, who is the mid-Atlan-tic regional chair person for the Williams Syndrome Association (WSA), has been planning the event with Lewis since the first year five years ago, and Rupolo joined the team last year. This year’s Walk for Williams includes breakfast from Panera Bread and a 1.5-mile family walk that in-cludes pets and strollers, Rupolo said. Fol-lowing the walk, an afternoon of festivities will include a moon bounce, face painting, cotton candy, snow cones, games such as tug-of-war run by Urbana High School volunteers and a picnic lunch. The local fire department will also visit.

“We have a DJ, and it is just a fun cel-ebration,” Rupolo said, adding that the 100 percent of the proceeds of the event go to the WSA. “Their mission is to en-rich lives of individuals through research, camp programs, medical information ... to raise awareness as it is such an unknown condition.”

The cost of the event is $50 for a family of four ($10 per additional family member) or $20 per person. The cost covers break-fast, a T-shirt (if you sign up before April 12), lunch and all afternoon activities.

Rupolo added that May marks the na-tionwide William Syndrome awareness month. Because of the success of the previ-

ous Williams Walks, other walks across the nation have been launched.

“Because it was such a success, the WSA said they wanted to do it as a global event. The Urbana walk actually was the begin-ning of doing these walks across the coun-try,” she said.

Last year, about 400 people attended the

Williams Walk, and about $25,000 was raised for WSA.

Walk for Williams begins with registration at 9 a.m. and the walk follows at 10 a.m. To sign up for the walk, go to www.walk4williams.org. For more information on Williams Syndrome, visit www.williams-syndrome.org.

Photo | Submitted

the williams walk is being coordinated by urbana residents emma lewis and lisa ridgley and rockville resident erin rupolo. pictured here (from left to right) at last year’s williams walk is ridgley and her daughter tatum, now age 7, lewis, and rupolo, holding her daughter sophie, now age 4. Both sophie and tatum have been diagnosed with williams syndrome.

Photo | Submitted

the annual williams walk is being held may 4 in the villages of urbana raising funds for the rare genetic disorder, williams syndrome. last year’s event (pictured here) included record attendance.

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According to Denis Superczynski, a principal planner for Frederick County, Matan Development has completed the first part of the development review pro-cess and will still need to submit a full site plan.

Superczynski said he anticipates the res-idential buildings on the site will be rental apartments and the commercial area will include cafes, restaurants, offices and retail stores. Residential units will also be locat-ed above retail stores and offices.

“What is being proposed here is more in line with what you would see in down-town Frederick,” he said.

Amy Reyes and Pam Abramson, found-ers of Residents Against Landsdale Ex-pansion (RALE), a coalition of Monrovia residents striving to keep the nature of the community small and rural, expressed some concerns about the new develop-ment.

“Urbana schools are already over capaci-ty,” said Reyes. “What are they thinking?” The children will be the ones who are af-fected, she said.

Because the Urban Green project will bring more students to the area, the devel-oper plans to provide required funding for a significant amount of improvement for Urbana Middle School (UMS) to handle more students, said Superczynski . The funds will be used to finish the interior of the building shell on the lower level of UMS.

Residents also expressed concern about the roadway capacity in the Urbana area. Abramson said the development could also contribute to more traffic congestion. The

traffic is already “horrible,” she said.Monrovia resident Steve McKay shared

similar concerns. “Why are we to believe that the schools and roads will keep pace with this development when nothing of the current development history supports that thought?”

Matan Development will need to submit a traffic impact study, according to Su-perczynski. If construction is necessary to handle the additional traffic or create a safe condition for vehicles and pedestrians, the developer must provide funding or make the improvement themselves, he added. The principal planner said traffic improve-ments, however, will not necessarily return the traffic situation to what it was like be-fore the development.

The planner said the Urban Green proj-ect is “making good use of the planning and zoning efforts that preceded the de-velopment.” By developing close to the center of town and by combining homes and businesses in one development, new residents will be able to live, work and play in close proximity with minimal car trips, said Superczynski.

Abramson expressed a different opinion. She said she only wants growth in Urba-na on a small scale so that the community can keep its rural character and hometown feeling.

“We as citizens need to stand up and say, ‘Enough development,’” Abramson said.

For more information about the Urban Green development project, please contact Denis Superczynski at [email protected] or 301.600.1142. For more information about RALE, visit http://www.ralemonrovia.com or https://www.facebook.com/RALE.Monrovia.

n dEVELOPMENT from page 1

Photo | Submitted

Frederick County Boy Scouts Compete in the Watermore than 60 boy scouts from across frederick county competed in the 32nd annual pack 278/troop 278 invitational swim meet on march 15. held at middletown high school, scouts competed in freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke competitions. each swimmer took home a ribbon and the winners of each group received a trophy. pictured here (left to right), scouts include eddie hall, Jackson owen, Blake smullen, thomas grosskopf, Jack cummings and Jacob manley.


March 20 at the Urbana Fire Hall.Clapp presented blue prints and photo

renderings of the site.“One of the things we want to do is re-

store the facade of the Rine-Dixon house,” he explained.

Clapp was hired for this job by Bethes-da-based property owners Lowell Baier and Andy Brown, with Washington, D.C., developer JBG Rosenfeld, who also de-veloped the adjacent Urbana Village retail area.

The current building is a sprawling fa-cility that has been added onto numerous times, including elaborate wrought-iron patios, restaurant kitchens, enclosed glass dining area and stone fencing. At the core

of this building is the Rine-Dixon house, built in 1855 by the daughter and son-in-law of Dutch Rine, whose tavern stood on that site and was, in about 1800, the site of the area’s first commercial build-ing 30 years before the community was named Urbana, according to local histori-an Knight Kiplinger. The family cemetery was there as well, Kiplinger said.

But perhaps the property’s best-known hospitality reincarnation was the many years it was owned and operated by the Baumgardners, who opened the Peter Pan Inn as a tea room in 1926. It was the Jazz Age and the Baumgardner’s son and heir was Dick “Hot Cha” Gardner, a vaudeville singer. They soon annexed an addition to the original house and about a decade lat-er opened an art-deco club called the Hot Cha Supper Club. Success led to more ad-

ditions and more gilded, flamboyant décor. From the ‘40s to the late ‘70s, the Peter Pan Inn was a destination place to eat for the mid-Atlantic. The Peter Pan Inn closed its doors without notice in 1986, ending a 60-year era.

The Cracked Claw, a well-known sea-food restaurant relocated to Urbana in 1989, moving into the Peter Pan Inn. Twenty years ago, the owners converted part of the building into the first inde-pendently owned off-track betting parlor in the state. A victim of a failing economy, the Cracked Claw closed on Oct. 9, 2011.

Since then, the property has fallen into such disrepair that the structures will have to be demolished as it cannot be renovated up to code, said Clapp. “We have to put new foundations in, and there is not much left of the interior,” he said. “None of the glass is to code. It’s going to take a lot of work to redo it.”

The new owners plan to replicate the rebuild based on historical research of the Rine-Dixon house, with a stone founda-tion and brick walls, as well as a portion of the structure with glass windows reminis-cent of the Peter Pan era. The glass win-dow area of the structure is slated to house a fine wine and craft beer shop, said Clapp, operated by nearby Franklin Liquors. The design also includes a drive-through area, and the developers are hoping to get a bank tenant in there, he added.

“That’s a great usage of the main house,” agreed Linda Ropelewski, president of the Urbana Civic Association.

The two-story structure echos the origi-nal Rine-Dixon house, and Clapp suggest-

ed the upstairs, at about 1,400 square feet, would afford ideal office space for an at-torney or real estate agent. Developers are also hoping to bring in a gas station with a convenience store, he added. However, they are talking with about a half-dozen fast food chains, which brought up a num-ber of safety concerns.

“Fast food will be a magnet for the high school kids,” noted Janine Borofka, a board member of the association.

Clapp reassured her that “there will be sidewalks all around the site.”

On the far end of the property, at the lower end of the vast parking lot, Clapp said there are plans to build a CVS. Currently the owners are in the process of finalizing contracts, and Clapp estimates that they will move on the project in possibly six to nine months. Overall, he added, there has a been a good response from the community.

Members of the Civic Association agreed.

“I’m thrilled that the building is being adaptively reused,” said Borofka.

Clapp said the cemetery will be marked, as well. He approximated that it was lo-cated off of Md. Route 80 by one of the kitchen buildings with the steel staircase. He said no tombstones were recovered, and no bones were detected by scans. There is speculation that when the road was moved, the graves may have been relocated, but that remains a mystery.

Ropelewski suggested that a marker or plaque be erected at the site so future gen-erations would be aware of the property’s significance and importance to the Urbana community and Urbana’s history.

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“They’re understanding of what I’m try-ing to do, and they support this endeavor,” said Ward.

Thrown into the mix are a rock wall, a Velcro wall, a nine-hole miniature golf round, moon bounces, sack races, and face painting.

Despite extensive efforts on the part of Hawkfest, Ward still harbors doubts about the event’s execution. “In my nightmares, no one shows up,” he said, with a laugh. “We’re hoping for hundreds. I’d love it if thousands showed up.”

And Hawkfest’s prepared for thousands,

Ward maintained. “If you don’t think big at the get-go, you’re not getting anywhere.”

Students and staff at UHS agree. The event, ambitious at its inception and grow-ing more expansive by the day, promises an impressive showing.

Tickets can be purchased in bundles for admissions to select events (two tickets for $1, 15 tickets for $5, 40 tickets for $10), with all proceeds going towards general scholarships for UHS students. To support Hawkfest and UHS scholarships, send a check to Urbana High School, 3471 Cam-pus Drive, Frederick, MD 21754 in care of Stephen Ward. For more information about the event, contact Stephen Ward at [email protected].

n hAWkFEST from page 1

Picture | Madelyne Xiao

the heart and soul behind this month’s hawkfest bash, urbana high school english teacher stephen ward, says he “want-ed to give high schoolers something to look forward to at the end of the school year.”


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CommuniTysPoTlighT

how the athletes you’ve coached are liv-ing,” he said. “Are they living the life you coached them to live? Are they giving it their all with their mind, body and heart?”

But this wasn’t always Stephens’ perspec-tive. When this Villages of Urbana (VOU) resident graduated from Salisbury Univer-sity in 1985, he held a degree in computer science. His life plan?

“My goal was to make a lot of money and give a lot of money away,” Stephens said, smiling broadly as he reminisced over his plans. “I did that for five years — and that was not fulfilling for me.”

Stephens said he wanted a career change, to work as a coach or in ministry — but with his background in computer science, he had neither the seminary degree to pur-sue ministry or the teaching licensure to be a coach. Stephens, newly married to his wife, Rhonda, chose to quit his job, take a pay cut and was soon hired by a church and also as a part-time coach for a wres-tling team.

This sacrifice would put him on the tra-jectory to jobs he now describes as fulfill-ing. Within a year of his career change, he was head-wrestling coach at his alma mater, Bowie High School in Bowie, Md., and since last year, he’s been in his current position for FCA.

“Every day I work for FCA, it’s not a job,” he said. “I’ve been working for FCA full-time for eight years. ... I love it.”

Stephens spent 27 years coaching athletes on wrestling mats, golfing green and, most recently, girls U13 lacrosse fields through LOUYAA — and as many years as he has coached, he’s been volunteering with FCA. Last month, he just returned from 10 days of coaching in Singapore and Malaysia working with athletes and training coaches with the local FCA organizations.

“We helped to introduce the sport of lacrosse in Singapore,” Stephens said, ex-plaining that he coached athletes on fields and in gyms in Singapore, as well as train-ing coaches in both Singapore and Malay-sia. Coach training included topics such as how to build confidence in athletes and how to motivate athletes, Stephens said.

“Sports are so important in our society, and if you can change the life of a coach or an athlete, you can change lots of lives,” Stephens said. “My passion is to see lives changed and the platform we use is sports.”

FCA does this through coach training, Stephens said, including weekly huddles for coaches as well as coaching seminars. The goal is to help coaches tone their skills and think about coaching for what FCA calls “the whole athlete,” including body, mind and spirit.

“We are trying to get coaches to coach the heart of an athlete,” he said.

As far as reaching athletes, Stephens said FCA provides weekly huddles for athletes at their individual high schools, meetings before each game, as well as something that was launched three years ago in Frederick County — character coaching. Urbana High School’s (UHS) character coaching is led by Timothy Mellott and is “blowing up,” it’s so popular Stephens said.

Reaching students also comes on the playing field coaching his lacrosse team. Even in his years of being a wrestling coach, Stephens said his style has never been a yelling, screaming type of coach.

“I want each girl to be the best athlete [she] can be. As they are striving towards this, they are going to learn to serve others, learn that sports are fun, learn that their are losers and winners in life and learn to grow in their relational skills,” he said.

Stephens said he does this by calling each athlete by name, giving positive feedback and giving correction at the same time.

In his FCA role, Stephens oversees a team of 25 staff and more than 1,000 vol-unteers, which means he has a large realm of influence, Stephens said, something that excites him because his goal is to impact lives.

UHS freshman Kaysie Morningstar was coached in lacrosse by Stephens in second grade and said he has become a role model for her.

“As a young kid, he taught me how to love the game of lacrosse and to excel my goals,” she said. “ Coach Stephens always allowed us to be in a welcoming environ-ment that made us feel comfortable learn-ing the sport that we have grown to love and being taught by a man who we have as well adored. Mark Stephens is a role model in my mind and has impacted the young lives around us by his attitude and heart for the game of lacrosse.”

Chris Rich, director of FCA for Fred-erick County, said Stephens thrives in this role.

“Mark is the most gracious and humble leader that I have ever met. He is a leader of leaders who has pushed Maryland FCA to limits that we didn’t think it was able to go,” said Rich, an Ijamsville resident. For example, while last year 570 attended FCA’s state awards banquet in Baltimore, 1,800 people showed up this year, and peo-ple had to be turned away.

Stephens moved to VOU with his family in 1990 at the development’s earliest stages. In fact, they were the fourth family to buy a house in the community.

“I have four daughters, none of [whom] are wrestlers,” he said with a laugh, adding that he has been married to his wife for 22 years.

His oldest, Sally, is a 19-year-old sopho-more at Liberty University. Grace, 17, is a senior at UHS where she plays volleyball; and Lucy, 14 and a freshman at UHS, par-ticipates in both volleyball and lacrosse. His youngest, Lilly, 12 is in sixth grade at Urbana Middle School where she plays bas-ketball. Lilly also plays on the LOUYAA lacrosse team that Stephens coaches.

Stephens’ passion for coaching doesn’t just stay in the field. This year, he had his entire family select a word that would use as their personal theme of the year. Each family member painted the word and they were mounted in the kitchen, to be a con-stant reminder. Stephens’ word was “big” — “because I want God to do big things in me and through me this year,” he said.


Urbana’s First Funraiserleft: supporters show up at urbana’s march 2 event to showcase their talent and athleticism in the sport of skateboarding.

Below: organizers collect donations for the urbana skate park fund to go towards building a skate park in urbana community park.

Photos | Shannon Wagner


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delaney hosts Meet and Greet in Frederick

congressman John delaney chats with geb Byron, managing partner of potomac ener-gy fund, at magoo’s pub and eatery in downtown frederick on march 8 for a meet and greet to discuss renewable energy in maryland.

more about the plans and to voice their opinions. Monrovia residents, Amy Reyes and Pam Abramson, started RALE — Residents Against Lansdale Expansion — a nonprofit community coalition to provide more information to the community.

“We pushed hard for this public meet-ing,” Reyes said, “because we felt that the commissioners are not listening to our

concerns.” Group members have sent out flyers to area school families and posted signs in the area to inform neighbors and encourage them to get involved.

For more information, visit the Community Development Division page at www.frederickcountymd.gov/community development. To find out more about RALE visit www.RALEmonrovia.com or go to their Facebook page, RALE — Residents Against Lansdale Expansion.

n OPEN hOUSE from page A3

C The Town CourierStay up to date on our Facebook page.www.facebook.com/TownCourierUrbana


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many Frederick County options:• Frederick County Parks and

Recreation offers the “Recreator” brochure each season, and the summer edition offers details on several daily, weekly or seasonal camps and activities. Some camps offer varied activities; some focus on specific themes, including sports, art and nature. Find more information at www.frederickcountymd.gov, under the parks and recreation page.

• The city of Frederick also produces a brochure of multiple activities avail-able to all county residents. Multiple activity camps are held at city recre-ational centers, and some specialize in varied activities like skateboard-ing, music and horseback riding. Visit www.cityoffrederick.com for more information.

• The Frederick YMCA has several camps and activities, both at its main location on North Market Street and its Green Valley location in Monro-via. For more information, visit www.frederickymca.org, or for the Fred-erick location, call 301.663.5131, or Green Valley at 301.607.6900.

• Cooking camps are offered at the Kitchen Studio on Buckeystown Road in Frederick. More information is available at 301.663.6442 or www.kitchenstudiofrederick.com.

Here’s a sampling of activities and camps right in Urbana:

• Urbana Dance Studio, on Worthing-ton Boulevard, has half- or all-day camps, plus various classes and clinics. For details, call 301.874.4367, or visit www.urbanadance.com.

• Urbana Art and Soul Studio, on Ur-bana Pike across from Giant shopping center, offers a variety of art classes and camps. Call 301.418.5458, or visit www.urbanaartandsoul.com.

• Urbana Riding Club, on Roderick Road, offers full-day “kids club” riding camps for the summer. Call 301.874.2000, or visit www.urbanaridingcamp.com.

• Bar-T Mountainside, on MD 80, near the I-270 exit, offers various camps for children and teens and features several outdoor opportunities such as hiking, fishing and zip-lining. Bar-T has two locations and provides transportation from the Urbana library and some

Montgomery County schools. Call 301.948.3172, or find information at www.bar-t.com.

For more active or athletic-based camps, Urbana has three different martial arts stu-dios to choose from in the Urbana Town Center, as well as numbers of other athletic programs.

• The Villages of Urbana offers a ten-nis program each summer, through local company, Tennis4Life. For more information, contact Greg Selby at 571.258.888 or visit www.tennis4life.com.

• Kick’s Karate is accepting registration now for the annual week-long training camp in June at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. For more information, call 301.874.4740, or visit www.kickskarate.com For information about summer activities at other studios, contact Jeong’s Taekwondo and Yoga at 301.874.4706 or www.jeongstkd.com; or the Urbana Academy of Jiu Jitsu and fitness at 301.529.6289 or www.urbanaacademy.com.

• The Linganore-Oakdale-Urba-na Youth Athletic Association (LOUYAA) is now accepting registra-tion for its half- and all-day basketball and baseball camps at local schools and recreation centers. Information on ad-ditional camps will be posted on the LOUYAA website soon. For more information, visit www.louyaa.org, where phone numbers for individual sports are listed.

• Three baseball camps are scheduled in June and July with the Central Mary-land Baseball Camps. Activities will be held at the Urbana Jr. Hawks base-ball field on Araby Church Road. For more information, call Mike Frown-felter, head baseball coach at Urbana High School, at 240.367.7732, or vis-it the website at www.leaguelineup.com/cmbcamp.

Area child care centers also offer special programs:

• Bright Eyes Childcare — 301.810.5066 or www.brighteyeschildcare.com.

• Kids Villa Learning Center — 301.874.9100 or www.urbanadaycare.com.

• Urbana Montessori — 301.874.1896 or www.urbanaschool.com.

Planning ahead can make for an active and fun summer break for children and families, and they will (almost) never be bored. Here’s to a great summer!

n SUMMER CAMPS from page A3


the clinic. A resident of Urbana, Carith-ers has practiced physical therapy for more than 12 years and has worked in various types of therapy, orthopedic treatment for athletes and pre- and post-natal exer-cise rehabilitation. These will be Carith-ers’ main focus in her new position, and she will develop Sage’s Obstetric Physical

Therapy program, to provide treatment for pregnancy-related issues.

Sage Physical Therapy is located at 3510 Sugarloaf Parkway, in the Giant shopping center next to Subway. Sage is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and by appointments on Saturday and Sunday, from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. For more information, call 424.266.4457 or visit www.sageorthopt.com.

make a decision about letting them into the facility,” Raff said.

The front doors stay open from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. for student arrival, after which the front doors will be closed and locked. Late students must be escorted into CES through the buzzer system by a par-ent/guardian.

So far, the transition to this new system has been positive, Raff said.

“It has been very smooth. We have had several parents positively comment about

it,” Raff said. “In some cases it could create a delay for a parent, but I haven’t gotten any negative feedback about that.”

There have just been a couple cases, so far, Raff said, where visitors have not been allowed into the facility. Wanting to regis-ter their child for kindergarten, two people from the neighborhood stopped by on their run/power walk to pick up a packet.

“They did not have their ID, so we apol-ogized and just asked that they return at a time that they could present ID. They were completely understanding of that,” Raff said.

n SChOOL SAFETy from page A3

elective at UMS. Recently, her theater arts class worked on a parody on the popular “The Hunger Games” book series and movie, one that her class dubbed, “The Hungry Games.”

This was Maddie’s first time writing a play, and she said it was a great experience. The class split into small groups, and each wrote a scene, she explained. The play was performed March 19 and 20 at Ur-bana Middle School. Maddie played the role of Slimrose, a parody to “The Hunger Games” role of Primrose.

While Maddie said she’s not sure what she plans to do with acting in the future, she said she has a few dreams. One, she would love to play the role of Patrice in “13 The Musical,” and two, she would like to be cast as Galinda in “Wicked,” a beloved Broadway play and a role often played by

star Kristin Chenoweth, who Maddie not-ed as a role model.

“I definitely want to keep performing. I’m not sure if I want to do plays or tele-vision,” she said, explaining that she has done several commercials, including a Nickelodeon special called “Kids Pick the President.”

One thing she is certain of: “I love being on stage.”

Currently, Maddie is busy with rehears-als for her newest role as Charlotte in “Charlotte’s Web,” which she will perform in a KAT Second Stage production at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn.

“I think it would be really fun to be an animal and to portray something people don’t usually,” she said with a laugh.

For more information on “Charlotte’s Web,” performed May 4 – 5, 11 – 12, 18 – 19, go to www.katonline.org.

from page A5

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from page A3

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challenges, and they get graded on team work.”

All school year, a group of 12 middle and high school students at Friends has been working to prepare for this, a day where they are given a challenge they have to work as a team to fulfill in a race against the clock.

The students from Friends divided into two teams that competed March 2 at South Hagerstown High School in the first round of Destination Imagination competitions.

This is the third year Friends has sent students to Destination Imagination, but it is the first year two teams have progressed to the state level. If they win on April 13, they will go to nationals in Tennessee this May.

Destination Imagination evens the play-ing field for kids — something that is a value at Friends, a Quaker school, said De-Francisci, a Monrovia resident.

“What I love about Destination Imag-ination is that when you get a group of

kids together you have some that are out-spoken and some that are shy, and Desti-nation Imagination levels that playing field because the students know they are getting points for participation and respecting ev-ery person’s idea,” she said. “So every per-son’s ideas — every idea is respected. I love watching teams grow from the beginning to the end. It helps the bolder kids realize that [their] ideas are good, but they are not the only one with good ideas.”

At the March tournament, the two teams from Friends were given different tasks. The first team, dubbed “Chocolate Moo Cows,” was comprised of seven students who were given an Improv challenge.

“They have to create a five-minute skit about life after a dramatic change and how characters adapt to that change. They had to learn about different communication techniques and integrate that into the skit,” DeFrancisci said, explaining that the only advanced prep they could do was study communication techniques.

In addition, the skit had to be done only with white T-shirts and markers as props, and these props had to be integrated cre-

atively into the skit. The students also had to create a slogan — with three randomly selected nouns — that was included in the skit somehow. All of this had to be done in five minutes.

This Friends team won first place.The second team, “DI Extreme,” came

in fourth place for their challenge. This five-student team had to perform a the-atrical drama that they practiced ahead of time. The twist on this challenge was that every aspect of their performance had to be original.

“It is absolutely hands off for adults. Ev-erything has to be their very own ideas,” DeFrancisci said. Another twist — they could only use non-verbal techniques to tell the story. To achieve this, the students crafted masks that they used in their pre-sentation.

“Both teams showed exemplary problem solving skills and teamwork,” DeFrancisci summed.

The two teams move on to the Desti-nation Imagination State Tournament to held at University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) on April 13.

take the deduction.Also, many people believe that income

below $600 or income for which they did not receive a 1099 does not need to be re-ported on the 1040. That is false. Just be-cause a customer, client or bank did not issue you a 1099 for services rendered, in-terest income or any other nature, you still must report the income on your tax return.

Courier: Are there any deductions most people aren’t aware of?

Blackburn: I find my clients underuti-lize the child and dependent care credit. This credit can be used for child care ex-penses incurred while you work or look for work. This even includes summer camp, and the deduction applies to expenses re-lated to children under 13.

Courier: how can people file for an extension if they need more time?

Blackburn: There are three ways to re-quest an extension of time to file your tax return.

The form 4868 to extend the due date of your federal tax return can be filed online. You can pay your balance due using a debit card, credit card or the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System.

You can also obtain a paper copy of form 4868 and mail it to the address included on the form instructions. Please note, this ex-tension is for the time required to prepare the full and accurate return. It is not an extension to pay your taxes. Tax payments are due on April 15.

Courier: Where do you recommend that people have their taxes done if they wait until the last minute?

Blackburn: Many people wait until the last minute to file their tax returns. The safest bet is to contact a qualified tax pro-fessional who can either assist you in filing an extension or providing you with the guidance that you need to file an accurate and complete tax return.

IRS Circular 230 Disclaimer: To ensure com-pliance with IRS Circular 230, any U.S. federal tax advice provided in this communication is not intended or written to be used, and it cannot

be used by the recipient or any other taxpayer (i) for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed on the recipient or any oth-er taxpayer, or (ii) in promoting, marketing or recommending to another party a partnership or other entity, investment plan, arrangement or other transaction addressed herein. For more information on this disclaimer contact [email protected].

n TAx TIPS from page A6

n dESIGNATION IMAGINATION from page A5



Safe and Sane Consignment Salecommittee chair Jane price (second from the left) assists shoppers at the annual consignment sale to help raise money for urbana high school’s safe and sane program. the march 23 sale earned more than $500 and is one of the activities organized by the committee throughout the school year to raise money for a safer alternative for new graduates to celebrate with friends. donations and volunteers are urgently needed to make the popular event a success. for more information on the safe and sane program, visit http://urbanasafeandsane.shutterfly.com.

Photo | Submitted

Mock Trial Masterson march 19, the urbana high school mock trial team won its first ever circuit final and became part of the maryland state “elite eight.” the team, coached by Jessica mcBroom, will compete on either april 10 or 11 in re-gional finals. pictured here (back row) are mock trial team members cassie lowell, chase tarnstrom, Joey pas-terkiewicz, Bharadwaja chappa, alex pasterkiewicz, christian Jambora and Jimmy greene; as well as (front row) elizabeth laporte, grace cillo, celina harris, Bailey roe, ariana sadoughi, Jackie nichols and yasmin lachir.

AroundTown Compiled by Kristy Crawford


Superintendent Chat at Urbana high Schoolon march 21, superintendent terry alban held her third town hall meeting at urbana high school. with a small group, alban took time to answer questions in an open forum format.


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paying more helps to feed others. Any ex-tra helps defray the cost of someone who can’t afford to pay at all. Families that cannot afford to pay will volunteer at the Community Restaurant.

The goal of the event is the partnerships dedication to eliminating hunger, building relationships and also celebrating commu-nity.

Wondering how you can help? Since the first Community Restaurant is a soft opening, or limited invitation list, mem-bers of the community are encouraged to give money to keep this project go-ing. Email [email protected] to have your name placed on the invitation list and to make arrangements to pay for your neighbors’ meals. The partners hope this will become an ongoing event held by the Greater Urbana Area Food Bank and the Monocacy Crossing Restaurant.

n COMMUNITy RESTAURANT from page A7

Photo | Tracey McCabe

UMS Multicultural Nighton march 22, urbana middle school (ums) hosted a multicultural night. here, several ums students have their names written in chinese lettering by the frederick chinese school.

Photo | Tracey McCabe

Opening Up the Nightmichael friend and michelle hutton of soul in motion perform “welcome to the village” to kick of multicultural night at urbana middle school on march 22.

(UMS Cultural Event2.jpg)


their home and they are not functioning properly, they need to make sure they [get them fixed].”

Many area homes are either approach-ing or have reached the age at which their smoke alarms need replacing. So where to start? First, buy the right kind of smoke alarms. There are two main types: ioniza-tion and photoelectric.

According to the National Fire Protec-tion Association, ionization-type smoke alarms feature two electrically charged plates with a small amount of radioactive material between them, which ionizes the air and causes current to flow between the plates. Smoke disrupts the flow of ions and activates the alarm.

By contrast, photoelectric-type alarms aim a light source into a chamber. When smoke enters, it reflects the light onto a sensor and triggers the alarm.

Because the two types operate differ-ently and are better at detecting different kinds of fires, Beth Anne Nesselt in the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Public Information Office suggested you either install both types in your home or buy detectors that feature both ionization and photoelectric smoke alarms.

In addition, if you or a family member has a hearing disability, buy alarms that also has a strobe light.

Most newer, large homes have smoke alarms that are hard-wired to the electrical system so that if one goes off on a lower floor, all of them will sound and people upstairs will hear them. However, each detector should also have a battery backup in case the power goes out, and batteries should be replaced regularly.

Nesselt also strongly advised having alarms detectors on all levels of the home, including the basement. Because many fa-tal fires begin late at night or early in the

morning, install them both inside and out-side of sleeping areas. Always follow the manufacturer’s installation instructions to the letter, or hire an experienced contrac-tor to install your smoke detectors.

The Frederick County Department of Fire and Rescue Services offers to come out to any home in Frederick County and confirm that a current smoke alarm is working — or install a 10-year, lithium battery smoke alarm, both free of charge. If you are interested in either of these ser-vices, call 301.600.SASL (7275) and leave a voicemail to make an appointment.

Even a properly installed smoke detector is useless without proper maintenance, of course. Again, follow the manufacturer’s instructions, but be mindful of these gen-eral FEMA guidelines:

Smoke detector powered by a 9-volt battery:

• Test the alarm monthly.• Replace the batteries at least once per

year.• Replace the entire smoke detector

unit every 8 – 10 years.

Smoke detector powered by a 10-year lithium (or “long life”) battery:

• Test the alarm monthly.• Since you cannot (and should not) re-

place the lithium battery, replace the entire smoke detector unit according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Smoke detector that is hard-wired into the home’s electrical system:

• Test the alarm monthly.• Replace the backup battery at least

once per year.• Replace the entire smoke detector

unit every 8 – 10 years.

“Most people jump at the opportunity [to] share something cool that they’ve done with their kids,” she said. “Everyone wants to be published.”

MacKay said she enjoys her work be-cause she gets to meet so many people and watch their kids grow up. She loves see-ing different aspects of the community and bringing people together.

“I love to network,” she said. She also likes to plan parties for “Macaroni Kid” meet-up events for mothers and their kids.

MacKay said she works with a lot of lo-cal venues and gets free tickets she uses as giveaways for her readers for events such as performances at the Weinberg, concerts, the circus and even martial arts classes. She said she is able to go to events for free that her family would not ordinarily be able to afford with a single income.

MacKay also has helped out with fund-raisers by contacting local vendors she knows through her work for “Macaroni Kid” and asking them to donate whenever there is a local fundraising event. Her ef-forts include helping with the Lillards Bas-ket Bingo, for example, which benefitted

the Myersville family who lost two of their daughters in a house fire earlier this year, and Damascus Y Women’s Denim and Di-amonds.

She said many people don’t realize that she doesn’t have a staff. “It’s just me,” she said.

McKay pays a fee each month to publish “Macaroni Kid” and earns money by find-ing advertisers for the website. She often barters for services with people who want to advertise.

Working with “Macaroni Kid” has also opened doors for MacKay. A year ago, she was hired as the event planner, social me-dia and marketing staff member at Green Meadows Petting Farm in Ijamsville.

MacKay said her goal is to find 20 ad-ditional subscribers and reach a circulation of 1,000 by May. She would also like to plan more meet-up events to get more lo-cal businesses involved.

She describes working as a publisher mom for Macaroni Kid as “rewarding” and said she has received a lot of support from other “publisher moms” and subscribing mothers through her work.

“We are a powerful group,” she said.For more information about “Macaroni

Kid,” visit www.mtairy.macaronikid.com.

n MACARONI kId from page A6

from page A6

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