CELEBRATINGCELEBRATING 8787 YEARSYEARS OFOF SERVICE!SERVICE! Vol. 87, No.24 • 50¢ A NEWSPAPER OF RECORD Thursday, June 20, 2019 INSIDE County Celebrates Pride Month Upper Marlboro Dodd Found Not Guilty Mayor resigns amid Former University of Mary- land basketball player Damonte Dodd was found not guilty of four racist rhetoric charges, including rape, on the fourth day of court proceedings on Prince George’s County NAACP to By Jessica Ricks June 13 relating to an incident that speak, and issuing her resignation @jessica_ricks25 took place in 2017. soon after, people assumed she was UPPER MARLBORO — leaving office because of racist ac- Page 3 Town of Upper Marlboro Mayor tions towards her. At a press confer- Tonga Turner, the first African ence on June 12, she made it known American mayor of the town, an- that this was simply not the case. nounced her resignation after less “My decision was based on me than two years in office and clarified wanting to spend more time with my that she is not actually leaving her two small children both under the position due to discriminatory acts age of 10. Period.” against her, on June 12. Turner clarified that, although Although serving as mayor has she had been a victim of racist ac- been a positive experience for her, tions, the real reason she decided to they said had to deal with things like leave is to be able to spend more being called the n-word, getting her time with her husband and their two tires slashed and a man sitting in the children. Shall We Dance? audience during a meeting writing “I chose family over service, swastikas on a legal pad. and I am proud of that,” she said. “And I will continue to be proud of Check out Mark Dreison- Turner was elected to office in that. We need to move forward in stok’s review this week. January of 2018. She announced her continuing to grow our community resignation, which becomes effec- and allowing people like me who Page 8 tive June 30, in a letter to the town choose their family over everything on June 11. else not to be penalized or marginal- “Serving the Town of Upper ized or sensationalized because of Marlboro has been one of the great- that decision.” est experiences of my career, and it Turner said the moment she re- COURTESY PHOTO has been my distinct honor to have The Capital Wheel at National Harbor, just outside of Washington, D.C., alized she could no longer continue served alongside each of you,” she as mayor was when she came home displayed rainbow colors in celebration of Pride Month. The vibrant said in her resignation letter. Waterfront District at National Harbor offers unique boutique shops and However, following a town hall well-loved stores all along its wide, walkable streets. meeting where she invited the See Mayor, Page 4 County Council listens to residents’ concerns about health in the area County, which the county council sit- then to create release a final report in fessor at the Georgetown University By Jessica Ricks ting as the Board of Health with help 2020. Department of Health Systems Ad- @jessica_ricks25 Baysox Drop conduct. Part of that process included “We are doing this work because ministration, in addition to hearing Fisher Cats UPPER MARLBORO — The getting feedback from residents at the access to quality healthcare, health testimony from people who signed up Prince George’s County Council, sit- town hall meeting. promotion and disease prevention are to speak during the meeting, the The rain did not slow down ting as the Board of Health, held a “Tonight’s town hall meeting is important to the Prince George’s RAND Corporation and the county the Bowie Baysox’s momentum town hall meeting to discuss the to engage in a countywide communi- County Council, the Board of Health council took survey feedback from as they smashed 13 combined hits health and human services needs of ty process and to solicit input from in- and county residents,” said RAND those in attendance as well. to defeat the New Hampshire Fish- Prince George’s County on June 11. terested stakeholders as to the needs Corporation Health and Policy Re- During the interactive portion of er Cats 9-4 on June 13. The town hall meeting was held for services and resources to improve searcher Ashley Kranz. the meeting, everyone answered in partnership with the RAND Corpo- the health, wellbeing and overall “As part of this work, we are an- questions about the quality of life in Page 28 ration, a research organization that de- quality of life of all Prince Geor- alyzing data, interviewing experts and their community, and the results were velops solutions to public policy chal- gians,” said County Council Chair asking residents for their perspectives displayed for everyone to see. lenges to make communities more se- Todd Turner. on this issue. The goal of this work is These questions included cure, healthy and prosperous. The RAND Corporation devel- to develop recommendations for im- whether people think there is good The county council contracted oped a health assessment for Prince proving the health and wellbeing of health care in their community and RAND Corporation to complete the George’s County in 2009, and this county residents.” Health and Human Services Needs town hall served to build off of what Facilitated by Christopher King, Assessment for Prince George’s they learned from the residents back program director and associate pro- See Concerns, Page 4 2 THE PRINCE GEORGE’S SENTINEL JUNE 20, 2019 OPINION The Prince George’s Sentinel, published weekly by Berlyn Inc., is a Nixon from his grave: ‘I want a do-over’ community newspaper covering Prince George’s County, Maryland. It Dirksen and Goldwater and their gaged personally and through close quiries, or contravening the laws gov- is a newspaper of record. Our offices By Paul K. Schwartz are located at 9458 Lanham-Severn frickin’ integrity? subordinates and agents, in the erning agencies of the executive Road, Suite 203, Seabrook, MD 20706. @PKSpaul Sold for 50¢ per single copy, subscrip- I should never have let them talk course of conduct or plan designed to branch and the purposes of these tions to The Prince George’s Sentinel I can hear it now as he, Richard me into leaving the office to which delay, impede, and obstruct the in- agencies.’ can be obtained at these rates: $31.50 per year, $26.20 for senior citizens. Milhous Nixon, 37th president of the the American people elected me in a vestigation of such illegal entry; to In the Mueller report, it states Higher rates apply outside MD/VA/DC. United States of America, is turning real landslide in 1972, not an imagi- cover up, conceal and protect those that ‘the president tried to influence (ISSN 1041-262x, USPS 444-840) over in his grave: “I want a do-over! nary one like this numb-nut falsely responsible; and to hide the existence the decisions of both Michael Cohen claims. and scope of other unlawful covert and Paul Manafort with regard to co- Bernard Kapiloff The articles of impeachment activities.’ operating with investigators...includ- PUBLISHER EMERITUS Paul’s View drawn up against me included ob- Sound familiar? ing the dangling of pardons.’ The re- Lynn G. Kapiloff struction of justice, abuse of power According to the special coun- port also states that ‘the president re- CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER/ By and contempt of Congress. Have you sel report, ‘Trump directed White peatedly pressured then-Attorney PUBLISHER read the Mueller report? What they House Counsel Don McGahn on General Jeff Sessions to reverse his [email protected] Paul K. Schwartz had against me was a pittance com- several occasions to fire Special legally-mandated decision to recuse pared to what POTUS Donald Counsel Bob Mueller and to use false himself from the investigation’ and Mark Kapiloff Trump has done, and I was forced conflicts of interest by Mueller as an for Sessions to limit the scope of the ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER If he were alive today, I bet this out, and he remains in office. So un- excuse for such firing of the special investigation to future elections. The [email protected] is what he would say about our cur- fair – oh, wait, I’m beginning to counsel. special counsel concluded that these rent presidential situation: sound like him. ‘Further, when these actions actions by Trump were intended to “I cannot believe that I was I have been lying here for some came into public awareness, Trump prevent further investigative scrutiny EDITORIAL forced out of office and this numb- 25 years now, so I have had a lot of then repeatedly called for McGahn to of the president’s and his campaign’s nut (note to reader: numb-nut might time to think. I have concluded that I deny that these actions took place and conduct.’ Sounds like a strong case Daniel Kucin Jr. not have actually used) is still presi- made some horrible mistakes, many even went so far as to tell McGahn to for abuse of power; even stronger EXECUTIVE EDITOR dent. miscalculations and used some write a letter for the files falsely deny- than the case against me if I say so [email protected] How can this be? abysmal judgment. ing that McGahn had been directed myself and I just did. Yes, I famously said that ‘the I realize, for example, that I was by Trump to fire Mueller.’ The third article of impeachment José Umaña American people have a right to wrong when I told television host So this is not obstructing justice against me was for contempt of Con- CITY EDITOR know if their president is a crook,’ David Frost that ‘if a president does to the same degree as was cited in my gress and stated that I ‘failed without [email protected] but I was not limiting that statement it, it is not illegal.’ If a president does first article of impeachment? Really? lawful cause or excuse to produce pa- to just me.