Takoma Park

Voters in Takoma Park last week narrowly approved a referendum calling for the extension of municipal voting rights to non-citizens. Sometimes derided as "Berkeley East," Takoma Park has a history of trendy gestures. It has proclaimed itself a nuclear-free zone and a sanctuary for Central American refugees. Now it has declared that aliens, legal or not, shouldn't be discriminated against just for not being American.That sounds noble, and furthermore appears at first sight to rest upon a principle as old as the Republic -- no taxation without representation.

Gov.Martin O'Malley's claim that legislative agreement on all points is needed in advance for him to call a special session to pass a budget is completely bogus ("Leaders float the idea of two special sessions," April 25). The General Assembly's most important responsibility is to pass a budget every year. It failed that duty. Our state constitution allows Governor O'Malley to give the legislature another chance to do its job. The legislature will not likely fail to do its No. 1 job a second time.

A body found in a large trash can in Clarksville was identified yesterday by Howard County police as that of Rolando Andrade of Takoma Park. The body of Andrade, 29, of the 6800 block of 10th Ave. was found about 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the 7300 block of Guilford Road near Route 32. An autopsy found that he died as a result of a head injury, police said. Police declined to describe the wound but said they are investigating the death as a homicide. Police ask anyone with additional information to call investigators at 410-313-3200.

I have often thought of downsizing. Even when the children were babies, I daydreamed about a smaller house to clean, with fewer rooms for them to scatter their messes. But I have never been sure I could leave my neighborhood behind. And I don't think I could walk away from the house that has been the scene of so many memories. And I am certain I could never leave my garden. I can't imagine driving by my old house a season or two later and seeing that new owners had plowed everything under because they know what I ignore: My garden is too much work.

LODGED between the mean streets of Washington, D.C., and the stuffed shirts of the Washington suburbs, is Takoma Park, Md., a last, lonely outpost of the '60s.Geographically, it is inside the beltway, but spiritually, it is outside; far out.Prade included marchers from "The Nuclear-free Soccer Club," the "Bikes Not Bombs" group and a bunch that identified itself only as "Bowling for Nicaragua."It is also a place where one can buy a Christmas wreath advertised as "organically grown," obtain both "regular and holistic" medical care for one's pet and where not merely the open burning of leaves is prohibited, but their disposal in plasticbags as well.

TAKOMA PARK -- By a 5-to-1 margin, voters in a mock election called on the City Council to enact a ban on handguns.The petition question on Tuesday's ballot lost its authority when a Montgomery County Circuit judge ruled that state law prohibits local jurisdictions from passing gun control laws in all but a few circumstances.However, at least two City Council members say they will attempt to draft an ordinance that complies with state law but allows Takoma Park to ban handguns within 100 yards of public places.

A part-time disc jockey at Baltimore radio station WWIN-FM and a female friend have been charged in the shooting deaths of a couple whose bodies were found Nov. 23 in a motel room in Takoma Park, police there said yesterday.Lance William Hayes, 40, of the 11000 block of Old Columbia Pike in Silver Spring was arrested Tuesday outside his home on warrants charging him with two counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of Currie Richardson, 39, and Lameke Ladson, 19, both of New York City, police said.

A 24-year Takoma Park police department veteran admitted yesterday to helping cover up unprovoked attacks, one involving a Prince George's County police dog, on two homeless burglary suspects. Sgt. Dennis Bonn pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt to being an accessory after the fact in the 1995 incident. Bonn, who retired from the police force Nov. 1, also agreed to cooperate with related federal civil rights prosecutions. Two Prince George's County officers and a former Takoma Park officer face charges in the case.

Residents of Takoma Park tend to bristle when their town is condescendingly labeled a "nuclear-free zone." Yes, they are nuke-free, oppose the war in Iraq and even let non-citizens vote in municipal elections. But they don't see themselves as radical or weird; they are, they say, simply a town with a conscience. So the recent brouhaha over Susan Lindauer, the Takoma Park "peace activist" arrested on suspicion of trying to help Iraqi agents in the United States, has left the locals feeling particularly prickly.

TAKOMA PARK -- The most closely watched vote in this city tomorrow might be the one taken on the sidewalk outside the polling place on a simple paper ballot supervised by unofficials.Citizens Against Hand Guns says it will hold a mock election on a referendum to ban pistols and revolvers that was removed from the ballot last week by a Montgomery Circuit Court judge.Almost 2,500 of Takoma Park's 7,411 registered voters signed petitions this summer to put the handgun question on the ballot.

At first thought, a hospital coming so close to Laurel Regional Hospital does sound unfair, and could be a risk to Laurel Regional Hospital's actual existence ("Hospital's proposed move could hurt Laurel Regional Hospital," Letters, Aug. 18). I speak from experience both as a past patient and having had a parent there, by ambulance, two weekends in a row with heart concerns. On the second visit, I spoke to someone in cardiology who said, "If this was my father, I would get him out of here; we can't help him. " I did, and he went to Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park.

Regarding the recent article about the lawsuit over the Maryland Dream Act ("Vote on tuition bill faces lawsuit," Aug. 2), I believe democracy should be upheld. I was one of hundreds in attendance when the law was heavily debated in the State House. Over the last year, Maryland Industrial Areas Foundation has committed itself to true grassroots organizing and building a diverse base of African-American, Caribbean Americans, Latinos, and others who support the law. Our organizing culminated when we turned out a multitude of diverse supporters to witness the passage of the tuition bill in April.

Three hospitals have consistently outpaced all others in Maryland in the use of stents to treat heart patients, according to data obtained by The Baltimore Sun, raising questions as state regulators examine whether the expensive procedure is performed unnecessarily by some doctors. St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson became the subject of a state investigation earlier this year after it notified 585 patients that they might have received unneeded stents to prop open their arteries.

In response to state Sen. Paul Pinsky's opinion piece ("A flawed '50% formula,'" May 4). I agree with his concern for an honest discussion about fairly evaluating Maryland teachers' performance. However, the telling point in his piece was about the tenure threshold being raised from two to three years. In a high stakes performance based career such as teaching I see absolutely no rationale for "tenure" being given. Period. As a parent in Montgomery County I've seen the difficulty of principals' being unable to fire or demote longstanding low performing teachers.

When you are interviewing people from St. Paul who want to talk smack about how we can't handle a little snow ("Winter tested cities amused by our plight," Feb. 11), please remind them (and your readers) that the historic and record-breaking Halloween Blizzard of 1991 knocked that city flat on its butt for several days, with only a measly 28 inches on dry and relatively warm pavement. I was there for college. It was a hoot. They were very lucky it hit on a Thursday so they could be spared the humiliation of a multi-day shutdown.

Margaret Dabney Stellmann, a former WMAR-TV graphic artist and an avid horsewoman, died Monday of undetermined causes at her Butler farm. She was 46. "The results of an autopsy are pending regarding a cause of death," her husband of 11 years, Peter Boyd Stellmann, an insurance broker with Maury, Donnelly & Parr in Baltimore, said Thursday. Margaret Dabney Lancaster was born in Baltimore and raised in Roland Park. She was a 1981 graduate of Roland Park Country School, where she was an outstanding field hockey, lacrosse and basketball player during her four years at the private girls' school.

TAKOMA PARK -- By a mile or so, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange is now a Maryland dance company.Well-known nationally for its diverse complement of dancers and community philosophy, Lerman's longtime Washington-basedtroupe moved a year ago to a former post office in Takoma Park -- about 1,700 yards over the D.C. line.Its concert this weekend at the Dance Place, Washington's busy venue for contemporary dance, continues a long tradition. But the company also is exploring its new state, with projects in local schools and a long-term relationship, beginning next summer, with the Columbia Festival of the Arts.

Terry J. Seamens is the unofficial winner of one of Takoma Park's six City Council seats, with results from Tuesday's election showing he won 47 votes to Roland James Dawes' 30. The thing is, Seamens wasn't even running. Seamens, a former councilman who gave up his seat two years ago in an unsuccessful bid for mayor, had planned to run but withdrew his name from the ballot long before Election Day in the Montgomery County municipality. But a group of Seamens' neighbors had other ideas and started a grass-roots campaign.

On December 3, 2009, TOBY F., age 92; loving mother of Jonathan Kobren and Gina Gaspin; grandmother of David Gaspin, Noah Hall, Molly Kobren, Claire Kobren; and great-grandmother of Tyler Gaspin. A Memorial Celebration will be held Saturday, January 9th at 1 PM at 28 Columbia Avenue, Takoma Park, MD.