What Goes On • • • • •• • Ancl More Sun., May 22, 1 p.m., GHIi An­ 6mnbdt and Budget Aooption, Muni­ ci,pal Bll'ilding. nual ·Meeting, Greenbelt Elementary School Wed. & Thurs., May 25 & 26, 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Surplllls Mon., May 23, 7 a.m. - 8 p.m., Food Distribution, Municipal Voting contioo:ed for Gm Buildi111g Officers, Greenbelt Municipal Thurs., May 26, 7 :30 p.m., Build. lttws Btuitw Recycle Task Fo~ Meeting, Municipal Build~ng 8 p.m., .City Council Meeting AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER Volume 57, Number 26 P.O. Box 68, Greenbelt, Maryland 20768-0068 Thursday, May 19, 1994 Greenbelt Youth Shot and Killed GHI Annual Meeting Sunday A 13-year-old Greenbelt Followed by Board Election youth was shot to death in Greenbelt East l'ate last Fri­ C.J. - A Life Remembered Greenbelt Homes, Ine. (GHI) members will choose four day afternoon (May 13) The day following C. J. Brown's murder, the site of members to serve two years on the board of directors from whMe anguished friends his death was turned into a makeshift shrine as friends, seven candidates at the annual meeting and election on May looked on h~plessly. Green­ family nem'bers, classmates, and strangers came and went 22/ 23. The annual meeting will begin as soon after 1 p.m. belt police a:pprehended nine as a quorum is established on Sunday, May 22 at the new to lay flowers there and to mourn in a kind of spontaneous Greenbelt Elementary School. male youths shortly thereaf­ wake. It continued sporadically through the next day. ter, two of whom were arres­ Only one item of busi~ess is continues from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. ted for first degree murder Emotions were raw, and some were so overcome with grief on the agenda - a proposed on Monday, Ma,y 23, at the Green­ that they simply sat silently on the hillside, or wept. amendment to the bylaws to al- belt Municipal Building. and other charges. The re­ The site seems an unlikely maining seven were released low use of aibsentee ballots in Incumbents running for the spot for the horrifying scenario the annual election. If approved, •board are Keith Jahoda, CbU1Ck and not charged pending fur­ that had played itself out there this action will implement a de- Hess, Carole Levin and ·non Co­ ther investigation. They the day before. The neighbor­ cision ma.de during the past two mis. Coollengers are Vonda have been suibpoened to ap­ hood of modem garden apart­ annual meetings. Dlllring the Henry, Sherry Garten and Alan pear before the Grand Jury, ment condominiums and rentals meeting the five positions of the Turnbull. according to police officials. is tidy and orderly, with neatly Nominations and Elections Com­ The youth who was shot, Oarl­ trimmed tawns. Hanover Park­ mittee will be filled by election. Running for the Audit Oom­ ton Frances "C. J." Brown II, way, a broad, tree-lined boule­ mit>tiee are chaltengeTs Marsha had been among a group watch­ vard, 'Curves gracefully away Voting for the four seats on Barrett, Oharles Braun, Betty ing a fl ight between older teen­ from the intersection toward the board of directors and the Deitch, Robert Bua;zanco, a,nd Ray agers occurring in a sloping Roosevelt High. A·bove the gras­ three seats on the Audit Commit­ Stevens and incumlbent Jim Ma­ grassy area at the intersection sy slope is a richly-wooded area tee begins after the Sunday af. her. Deitch is a past boa.rd mem­ of Hanover Parkway and Man­ containing children's playground ternoon meeting art the sehoo] and ber. dan Road, according to eyewit­ equipment. nesses. The group had scattered Beloved and begun to run after a gun There was a common thread in The Lake Park Concession was produced. The shooting took what people said about him: C. place momenits later. J. Brown was a young man of The two suspects, although juven­ g,reat promise and good charac­ To Buy or Not to Buy iles, have been charge& as adults. ter, loved for his wit, his warmth Jarreau Newton, 16, was charged and generosity as a friend, and Carlton Francis "C.J." Brown by Diane Oberg with first degree murder and as­ The issue ~nerating the most discussion at the May 10 his intelligence. An honor stu­ "I saw the yellow tape. I was sault with intent to murder, as dent at St Bernard's School (a Greenbelt City Oouneil worksession on the capital improve­ thinking one of my own kids got well as use of a handgun in the Riverdale parochial school) and ments budget was Julie Greer's proposal that the city buy hit by a car," said Bowden, who commission of a crime. The sec­ a gifted athlete, he was beloved has four sons. "I felt like it was the Attick Park concession stand. The proposal was n'Ot ond suspect, Nicholas, Terre­ by a wide cirole of friends. included in City Manager Daniel Hob'b's proposed budget. brood, 17, was charged with first one of my own kids," he said, "I'll never be the same." Bowden At the end of the session, the trol the impTOvernents to the pro­ degree murder and released on Young Brown's father, .Carl· only clear council consensus was perty." his own recognizance pending ton Brown, Sr., attempted to wept quietly as, he spoke. A street preacher, Bowden said that no action was likely .by sum­ trial by District Commissioner soothe some weeping youngsters, mer and that a public hearing Staff Analysis saying, "I know where my son is. he wi11 be eulogizing C. J.'s life Toni·a Joy. Both youths Mve in the would be required before any I,f run lby the city, the business He's where no hQrm can come to in a short s<eries of skits at 5400 block of 85th Avenue in council action regarding the pro­ probably would ,be a money-losing him." Roosevelit Center over the sum­ New Carrollton. posal. proposi'bion, aocording to Senior mer. Admdnisitraitive A.ssi.,tant Eric ·Police have said little about Rick Bowden, who lives near­ Youngst ers from the neigh­ Owner's Perspective Berlin. Gr06s receipts for the the circumstances of the shoot­ by, had been Brown's coach on borhood and classmates from St. business have declined at.eadily ing, but eyewitnesses offered the a Greenbelt Raiders football Bernard's strained: to express Greer argued forcefully that over the last five yea,N, in part following account: Brown slipped team, and remembered the short, and fell on the grassy slope their sense of los~. "Everyone the city should buy the business-­ due to a. reduction in ·the hours slightly built youth as an out­ liked his laugh, his smile," said it only makes sense, she s•aid, for while fleeing. He was, subsequent­ standing footbaU player and· a of operation. Currently, the boat­ ly assaulted and beaten while one. Another said, "He never did the city to run a bus-iness located house is open only on weekends. joy to coach. He said, "He was anything negative." Several of on dty property, Sale of the being held on the ground, they a very happy kid. He was con­ said. While the beating was tak­ his classmates added that they 'business is made difficult, she Greer argued that Berlin's an­ cerned about how his friends had been together since kinder­ said, by the fact that she on•ly has alysis was fla\Wd, The nl'aries ing place, a youth came up along. were doing. If they felt bad, he side, they said, and shot him in garten. One said simply, "He a two year lease. he s·aidi would be, required were felt bad. You could sense the was the spirit of our schoot" unrealistically high a.n.d the hours the stomach. They said the vic­ friendship in C. J." In addi!ion to food service and tim was not a participant in the Scholastic Achievement of operation did not reflect the boa,t reJlltal, Greer said, the busi­ fight, which drew numerous on­ Bowden said he arrived on the St. Bernaqod's School in River­ true usage patterns at the !)ark. See YOUTH, page 12, col 1 scene not tong after the murder. dale: which Brown attended for ness provides an important ser­ She said that business drops off all but a few years of his life, vice to citizens and ·the city by signiificantly once the pool and is a group of old~fashioned no­ beach season staz,ts on :Memorial ncnsense 2-story red brick build­ its presence. During her tenure, Day, ings grouped around a small concession staff have rescued two courtyard which serves- as a people, alerted authorities to pro­ At the worksession, Irving rK­ playground. Against this muted blems and fires at t he lake and ommended th1lt, i1 the ciity were· background, a few religious de­ to purchase the business, it not votional objects-mostly statu­ provided information a,bout city try to run i:t. Instead. it should ary-stand out. A smal! statue .history and services. of the Virgin Mary, hands hire a concessionaire. Only a clasped in prayer, stands in one Since the business occupies the "Mom and Pop" •type opera,tion, corner of the courtyard·. onl,y, structure a,t the park, visi­ Irving •said, could ,make such a As its courtyard suggests, tors expect ilt to be city it nm bJ oUS,iness ,profi talble, is a haven, the kind of prot.ect­ staff, according to Greer, She ed environment for learning noted that 'the city's Park and Berlin offered three options for where a youth like C.