CELEBRATINGCELEBRATING 8787 YEARSYEARS OFOF SERVICE!SERVICE! Vol. 87, No.29 • 50¢ A NEWSPAPER OF RECORD Thursday, July 25, 2019 INSIDE Celebrating The Moon Landing Planning Board South County Transit Issues approves Amazon At an Advisory Neighbor- hood Community (ANC) Meeting hosted by At-Large County Coun- in Westphalia cilmember Mel Franklin, residents in the Fort Washington and Acco- patiently and paying my homeown- By Jessica Ricks keek areas gathered to discuss op- ers dues and everything, all of a sud- @jessica_ricks25 tions for bringing public transit to den someone decided for me now we the region on July 18. UPPER MARLBORO — The will build a warehouse in the center Prince George’s County Planning of our whole development,” Good- Page 5 Board voted to approve the construc- win said as he asked the board not to tion of an Amazon distribution cen- approve the project. ter in the Westphalia community fol- The 80-foot-tall, five-story lowing a public hearing on July 18 Amazon merchandising logistics where residents voiced their disap- center makes up a total of four mil- proval of the plan. lion square feet in the heart of the The planning board reviewed Westphalia Town Center, which was the site plan for an Amazon mer- proposed initially as only a residen- chandising logistics center which is tial and commercial area. proposed to be built at the intersec- Owned by Walton Westphalia tion of Pennsylvania Avenue (MD-4) Development Corp., the area already and Melwood Road in the middle of contains a set of homes and is in the the still-developing Westphalia process of building more. A town Town Center. center containing retail and dining Additionally, they heard testi- establishments, offices and hotels ‘Newsies’ mony and took written comments were also intended to be built until from Westphalia residents during the the owner sold part of the land to Check out Mark Dreison- lengthy meeting. Duke Construction Limited Partner- stok’s review this week. Westphalia resident Vernon B. ship who applied to bring in the Goodwin Sr. noted that for the four Amazon center. Page 8 years that he has lived in the area, he The Westphalia Town Center had expected the undeveloped area was conceived as part of the county’s PHOTO BY JOSÉ UMAÑA to be built into what the residents 2002 General Plan, explained Tom To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11 that sent were promised. Haller, an attorney representing astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin to “There were trees, it was beauti- Duke Construction at the Planning the Moon, NASA programmed several events from July 16-20 around the ful, there were deer, but now after country to celebrate the mission. Story on Page 3. four years waiting for the retail and the grocery stores, four years waiting See Amazon, Page 4 PGCPS details accomplishments, improvements in End of Year Report selected as Chief Executive Officer the state’s new accountability sys- communication and program imple- By Jessica Ricks and will utilize the knowledge tem and fully implemented the 28 mentation. @jessica_ricks25 Kingfish Win! gained over the past year to improve recommendations given by the The school system has been The Kingfish Swim Club UPPER MARLBORO — The our school system further.” Maryland State Department of Edu- working towards establishing a cul- continues its successful 2019 school year has come to a close and In the report, Goldson, who was cation following their graduation au- ture of accountability, which includ- summer season as its swimmers with summer vacation and planning made permanent CEO of the school dit. ed creating an office that manages combined for 281.5 points to win for the next school year well under- system by County Executive Angela PGCPS adopted their $2.1 bil- and supports transparency and ac- the 2019 Prince-Mont Division A way, Prince George’s County Public Alsobrooks on June 18, said she had lion FY2020 budget, an accomplish- countability measures. Additionally, Championship on June 20. Schools (PGCPS) CEO Monica heard success stories and challenges ment that Board of Education Vice they hired an ethics compliance offi- Goldson released an End of Year Re- of parents and students navigating President Edward Burroughs noted cer to further assist with those initia- Page 28 port highlighting the accomplish- PGCPS. According to her, “the work at the time it was approved that it tives and to ensure audits and refer- ments of the school system in the done to date is only the beginning.” was the first time in years that the rals to outside agencies are followed 2018-2019 year on July 15. The End of Year Report de- board of education unanimously through. “With the conclusion of the tailed progress PGCPS has made in adopted a budget. Along with accountability, 2018-19 school year, I am excited to four different areas. The report also highlighted the PGCPS has also worked on trans- reflect on our progress and look to- One of them was educational creation of a Teacher Advisory parency. This includes increased wards the future in this End of Year standards. The report highlighted Council. This 18-member council, school communication, an increased Report,” Goldson said in a state- that 80% of PGCPS schools re- made up of educators, will be tasked ment. “I am honored to have been ceived one of the top three ratings in with reviewing ways to improve See PGCPS, Page 4 2 THE PRINCE GEORGE’S SENTINEL JULY 25, 2019 OPINION The Prince George’s Sentinel, published weekly by Berlyn Inc., is a The stakes are too high community newspaper covering Prince George’s County, Maryland. It ing the Trump imposed government It should be remembered, also, However, since Biden would be is a newspaper of record. Our offices By Paul K. Schwartz are located at 9458 Lanham-Severn shutdown? that the historic election of Democrat going against someone who is not Road, Suite 203, Seabrook, MD 20706. @PKSpaul Sold for 50¢ per single copy, subscrip- And, yes, I like Mayor of South Doug Jones over accused pedophile only of the same age group but is tions to The Prince George’s Sentinel The choice is quite simple. The can be obtained at these rates: $31.50 Bend, Pete Buttigieg. Is there any Roy Moore as Alabama senator re- mentally deranged, that should not be per year, $26.20 for senior citizens. option is former Vice President of the candidate more articulate or intelli- quired a massive turnout of the Black a concern...for now. I would hope and Higher rates apply outside MD/VA/DC. United States Joe Biden. gent than this candidate, an Afghan vote. expect that the vice-presidential can- (ISSN 1041-262x, USPS 444-840) war veteran who experienced first- Even though 96% of the Black didate would be someone like Sen. Bernard Kapiloff hand the ravages of war with or with- female vote and more than 90% of Harris who can be groomed to suc- PUBLISHER EMERITUS Paul’s View out “bone spurs”? the Black male vote went to Jones, ceed Biden, maybe even after just one I like them all and will vote for the accused pedophile did receive term. Lynn G. Kapiloff By any Democrat who receives the nom- some 65% of the White vote. The De- The most important thing to re- CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER/ ination, but this is not about my vote. mocratic nominee in 2020 must res- member is that all of the Democratic PUBLISHER Paul K. Schwartz The issue is about the voters in onate with the Black voters of Ameri- candidates are essentially in agree- [email protected] Philadelphia, Detroit and Milwaukee ca, and Biden unequivocally does. ment on the key issues. that in 2016 either went from Obama It should also be remembered All of them want gun safety leg- Mark Kapiloff Yes, I like the United States Sen. to Trump or didn’t show up to vote. that although Clinton won the popu- islation; all want universal health care ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Kamala Harris. Boy, would I like to Trump won Michigan, Pennsylvania lar vote by some three million votes, – how to achieve it may differ, but [email protected] see her take apart United States of and Wisconsin by a mere 77,000 Trump still received more than 60 health care as a right and not a privi- America President Donald Trump votes total spread out over those million votes. Moreover, 52% of the lege is indisputable among the candi- during the presidential debates in three states. white women’s vote went to Trump. dates. All want to address income in- EDITORIAL 2020. All else being equal, those votes Too many to take any unnecessary equality and the critical need to re- She proudly demonstrated her will, without any doubt whatsoever, chances in 2020. Therefore, once build the dwindling middle class; all Daniel Kucin Jr. prosecutorial skills as a former pros- go to Biden in 2020 and hand him again, Biden. want to address our crumbling infra- EXECUTIVE EDITOR ecutor in taking apart Attorney Gen- Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsyl- Granted, I fully understand that structure finally; all recognize the [email protected] eral WillIam Barr during his confir- vania and the Electoral College. Democrats do not universally accept need to address climate change. mation hearings and then-Attorney That result cannot be assured for Biden and I understand why. With a These are all things ignored by José Umaña General Jeff Sessions during a hear- any other Democrat in this most crit- history in the public eye for more Trump.