Residents rally to demand change, accountability after Rockville HS gang rape (Video+photos)

Hundreds of residents gathered in front of the Montgomery County Council Building in Rockville yesterday to demand elected officials and MCPS be held accountable for their roles in the alleged gang rape of a 14-year-old girl at Rockville High School. Protesters held signs demanding MCPS Superintendent Jack Smith resign, and against Montgomery County sanctuary policies that allowed the girl's alleged attackers to live here and enroll in 9th grade despite being much older. The rape allegedly took place in a bathroom at the school on March 16.

Speakers and notable attendees included Montgomery County Executive candidate Robin Ficker, Montgomery County Council District 2 candidate Edward Amatetti, and Brigitta Mullican, a Rockville resident who has been one of the leading critics of the effort to officially declare Rockville a sanctuary city.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO: Rally highlights

A small group of counter-protesters
were kept separate across the street
by Montgomery County police

A small group of less than 20 counter-protesters set up across Maryland Avenue from the protest, and attempted to shout down speakers throughout the event, despite lacking the numbers to do so. The poor showing was likely due to the fact that very few in the county believe the accused rapists should have been in the 9th grade. And to the mass outrage over the security lapses that facilitated the alleged suspects' brutal bathroom attack, during which they allegedly repeatedly raped and sodomized the victim, as she screamed for help that never came.

Robin Ficker is mobbed by
fans after lowering the boom
on the County Council and MCPS
in his speech

In a speech to the crowd, Ficker ripped County elected officials and MCPS for their mishandling of the Rockville H.S. rape, and of crime in their schools in general. Ficker cited recent reports of violent crimes that occurred at the school just weeks before the gang rape, and were covered up by administrators. In one, a girl was beaten and kicked in the head three times, he said - yet parents were never informed this happened. These were warning signs that should have resulted in tighter security weeks ago, Ficker said.

Ficker suggested the county move 9th grade back to junior high, and leave grades 10, 11 and 12 at the high school level, arguing that kids are being forced to grow up too fast. He noted that, while Rockville H.S. had more than 100 security cameras, no one was monitoring them.

Amatetti paused during his speech to ask the crowd to "pray real, real hard for the young, brave girl" who was the victim in this case. He said the school system and the county have "real problems" that need to be addressed.

Ficker poses with a large
contingent of legal Asian
immigrants

The crowd was diverse, including Asians, African-Americans and Latinos. One attendee was overheard noting that the counter-protesters across the street were whiter than the crowd they were counter-protesting against.

Several immigrants who had legally achieved citizenship through great effort and cost, or were seeking to do so legally, decried the county's effort to give those who haven't followed the rules special status. Lucas, a resident of Kensington who did not wish to give his last name, said he has been in the U.S. for 3 years on a student visa. Now he has applied for citizenship, and has been told the process will take 3 to 5 years. It's "unfair," he said, for those who broke the rules to gain the rewards of citizenship in Montgomery County before those who play by the rules.

Mullican called it "unfair for the legal immigrants who waited their turn and came here through the system." She emigrated legally to America from Germany with her family in 1956, and had to wait until 1968 to become a citizen. "I understand the immigration process, and the privilege of being a U.S. citizen," she said.

Several attendees carried signs demanding the resignation of MCPS Superintendent Jack Smith, Smith has so far declined to comply with the growing calls locally and nationally for him to step down. He has gained national notoriety for seeming more concerned about immigration politics than about the rape victim. Smith "speaks far more harshly about xenophobia than he does about sexual assault of a child," said Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson.

Bethesda resident Jerry Cave
was master of
ceremonies for the rally

Montgomery County
Young Republicans VP
Dan McHugh

Parents want
Smith out

Apartment kitchen fire in The Kentlands

Montgomery County firefighters are responding to a fire in the 300 block of Ridgepoint Place in The Kentlands development. According to scanner reports, a stove is on fire in a building there. The 3-story apartment building has been evacuated.

Residents pan new Montgomery County snow plow tracker, fake news on sidewalks

The new Montgomery County "snow portal" touted by County Councilmember Hans Riemer and other officials got a failing grade from residents I spoke to, and on social media, after yesterday's storm. Not only is there no longer a map to view snow operations countywide, or even in your area, but the consensus opinion was that the time estimates were no more useful than the old map. Not to mention that switching to a primitive text format, instead of a graphic map, was like going from iPhone to DOS.

Constituent gives Councilmembers
Hans Riemer and Roger Berliner his
blunt assessment of their new "snow portal"
on Facebook

Riemer provided some additional fake news about his sidewalk shoveling bill, which cost taxpayers $6,458,000, but came up even shorter than the snow portal. In a blog post, he boasted that since the bill passed two years ago, "I find that the County is doing a much better job clearing snow from sidewalks where the County (or Parks) is the responsible party as well as helping clear snow from sidewalks where there may be a public safety concern."

"It's just as useless

as past versions. #FAIL"

This is simply not true, as I well-documented last winter. On Westbard Avenue alone, sidewalks fronting both Montgomery County (Little Falls Library) and Montgomery County Public Schools (Westland Middle School) property remained unshoveled a full month after the largest storm. Embarrassingly, Riemer himself passed by these very sidewalks after the storm on a carpetbagger's bus tour for the Westbard sector plan, and took no action to get them cleared.

What happened?

Riemer's claim earns him the Four Pinocchios/Pants-on-Fire awards.

New small business group to host networking event for MoCo restaurant owners March 22

The Montgomery County Small Business Action Network, a new organization encouraging Montgomery County small business owners to be proactive on county government actions that impact their businesses, is concentrating on restaurant owners this month. SBAN will host a networking event for restaurant and bar owners on Wednesday, March 22, from 5:30-7:30 PM, at Hunter's Bar and Grill, located at 10123 River Road in Potomac.

The guest speaker at the event will be Bob Dorfman, the newly-appointed Director of Montgomery County's Department of Liquor Control. Dorfman will remain after his presentation to answer restaurant owners' questions one-on-one. The cost to attend is $25. For $35, you can attend and also become a member of SBAN. There will be a cash bar during the event.

RSVP by email, as space is limited for the event.

Legal immigrants turn out in force to oppose sanctuary bill in Annapolis (Photos)

A House of Delegates bill that would officially designate Maryland a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants ran into opposition from legal immigrants Tuesday, who waited out an epic public hearing that lasted until the early hours of Wednesday morning. The House Judiciary Committee convened at 1:00 PM for an agenda that included a hearing on the "Trust Act," HB 1362. Chair Joseph Vallario (D - District 23B) appeared to stall the hearing in an attempt to wear out citizens who had traveled far to testify, not taking up the bill until 7:00 PM.

Legal immigrants who testified
against HB 1362 are joined by
Silver Spring resident Hessie Harris
(center) and Del. Deb Rey (R - District 29B)

Dozens of citizens spoke in opposition to the bill, including 35 legal immigrants organized by the Maryland Chinese-American Network and Asian-American GOP coalition. Speakers also included Hessie Harris, an African-American woman from Silver Spring.

Some of those testifying questioned the fairness of exempting those who did not come here legally from the law. "I love Montgomery County," testified Shawn Nie of North Potomac. "I legally obtained my citizenship through a lengthy and expensive process." 

Others warned of public safety consequences, should the bill pass. "Sanctuary policies essentially create an environment where criminals can go unnoticed,” said Zhenya Li, also from Montgomery County. "Restricting law enforcement risks public safety."

Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Dick Jurgena called the marathon hearing "one for the record books," and praised those who stayed until midnight and beyond to testify despite the wait. 

HB 1362 is among several legislative efforts to codify sanctuary policies in Maryland, Montgomery County and the City of Rockville currently proposed. Police in Montgomery County are already not allowed to inquire about a person's citizenship status, even without this bill.

Proponents of the policy, and this bill, say the community is safer when undocumented immigrants don't fear interaction with the police. Opponents point to several horrifying crimes that have occurred within the last year, which have been tied to illegal immigrants.

In April 2016, Montgomery County Police arrested two illegal immigrants living in a County Housing Opportunities Commission apartment in Wheaton. The men were charged with abducting a 12-year-old girl, and gang-raping her in that taxpayer-subsidized apartment.

Just last month, 15-year-old Gaithersburg resident Damaris Alexandra Reyes Rivas was found dead in Fairfax County. Her mother told police she had become involved with MS-13 gang members at Watkins Mill High School, before disappearing December 10. Fairfax County police say Reyes Rivas was held prisoner by the gang before being assaulted in an undisclosed fashion, and was executed by them around January 8. Her remains were found in an industrial park on February 11.

After the Judiciary Committee issues a favorable or unfavorable report on HB 1362, it will return for a second reading on the House floor, and consideration for amendments by delegates.

Photos: Xiaoyuan Luo/World Journal