ThayerAvenue.com

Thayer Avenue has confimed that the shooting on Easley Friday night was, indeed, a premeditated act. The victim, Marc Ray, has been shot twice before in apparent “hit” attempts. Looks like the third time was a charm.

The suspected shooter, 27-year-old Rohan Campbell, allegedly took a cab to Silver Spring Towers, where he shot Ray and then fled the scene. The details that led to his eventual arrest remain unclear at this time.

What this means, of course, is that you’re no worse off walking home from the Quarry House than you are anywhere else. But in the immortal words of Mad-Eye Moody, “Constant Vigilance!”

EDIT: Post edited to properly insert “suspected” and “allegedly.” In the absence of trial and conviction, he is presumed innocent. I feel it all the more important to emphasize that in a day and age when our bonehead leaders think extraordinary rendition is a good idea.

Thanks to alert neighbor DS for the heads up on this. Someone was shot last night about 100 yards away from my house. Right in the path I take when walking home from downtown. Many thanks to ABC7 news for apparently being the only local news outlet to report this story.

According to the story, the shooting happened around 11:15pm Friday night and took the life of 30-year-old Mark Ray. Witnesses saw a man fleeing the area, but there aren’t many other details. If you walked down the camera angle from the photo for about 60 seconds, you’d probably be in my backyard. This is a little disconcerting, to say the least.

And in other news…

The Washington Post has a story about speed cameras coming to Montgomery County. Our esteemed County Executive was well quoted:

“Unfortunately, we’re here to remind the citizens of Montgomery County again of the need to slow down and observe safety regulations in order to prevent tragedies,” such as the four pedestrians killed in the county during August, said County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) yesterday during a news conference near Wheaton High.

How about the need for people to not jaywalk with a sense of entitlement? Sure, people need to slow down, but not for the sole purpose of being able to stop for some idiot that crosses against a light - or nowhere near a crosswalk.

UPDATE: Right after I posted this, the story on the ABC7 site was updated to say that a suspect has been arrested in the incident. No other details yet.

Goth Talk’s Circy Nightshade and Azrael Abyss would have a field day.

Yesterday evening we were walking down Fenton when at least half a dozen police cars (and at least one fire truck) stormed onto Bonifant in front of the area where Thai Derm and Roger Miller are. Come to find out, a man was stabbed repeatedly with a screw driver during an argument that started over a parking space. From the venerable Washington Post:

Edward Banya saw a man in a car who appeared to be ready to pull out of his spot. The 28-year-old man was waiting for someone to return to the car, so he didn’t pull out right away. The two men got into an argument.

Police said Banya grabbed a screw driver from his car and stabbed the other driver multiple times in the hand and torso.

Who are these people? From the police blotter, it sometimes feels like the majority of non-theft-induced assaults in the immediate area stem from road rage incidents. Perhaps Banya mentioned something about Ovaltine. I mean, the mug is round, the can is round…

Also, apologies for the recent extended hiatus on ThayerAvenue.com. Part of the time was spent back in my old stomping ground of Alabama, and I got to drive by this sign for about the 420th time in my life - just north of Prattvile on I-65 between Birmingham and Montgomery. And while the sign’s been fixed up some since this picture was taken, it’s nice to know that some things never change.

It’s gold, Jerry… GOLD!

Long Live the Birchmere
The listservs were abuzz yesterday with talk about resurrecting The Birchmere, as if Lazarus himself was about to walk out of the JCPenney building. Seems that the universe has started to right itself, though. While there’s some disagreement on what should go in - mostly based on whether to sit or stand, varying musical tastes, etc. - I think everyone is resigned to the fact that The Birchmere is dead.

On the plus side, there was more discussion about the conversion of the Old Blair Auditorium and the fact that it could be a venue to provide more musical/entertainment diversity for the community. I had no idea, and I think it’s a grand plan.

In the meantime, that alternative might make it more appealing to have a stand-up music club (a la 9:30) on Colesville. Bring on The Fillmore!

Vanity Plate Watch
I saw this license plate in the garage. It’s usually Virginians who have some of the better vanity plates in the area, mainly because of how cheap they are, but I also wonder how something like this got past the censors at MDOT.

File that under the “wish I’d thought of that” category. Though I don’t have to take the beltway for my regular commute if it ’suks’ that day [or if I (A) just don't feel like it, or (2) have a hankerin' for a McD's biscuit].

This is Your Neighbor on Drugs
According to nbc4.com, John Joseph Quinn was charged yesterday in connection with a Silver Spring meth lab. He was already incarcerated on unrelated charges. As the story states: “Quinn is charged with manufacturing methamphetamine, possessing methamphetamine production equipment, common nuisance, possession of methamphetamine and possession of marijuana.”

It’s no Nick Nolte, but I think it’s just as good - if not better. Crazy Mofo.

As per one of my earlier rants, Bank of America seems to have gotten it together with their “Montogmery County Code” misspelling:

That didn’t take too long. I’d like to think I played a small part in this, but I’d love to know if that was actually the case. If any readers out there have intel on the small impact ThayerAvenue.com played in cleaning up the community, I’d love to hear about it.

On a different note…
After a last-second flurry of bidding activity, I lost the race for the venerable Silver Spring ashtry/bottle opener courtesy of someone up in Maine. I heard through the grapevine that the onscreen alias of the winning bidder actually belongs to the venerable head of the Silver Spring Historical Society. And let it be known that with a mere 5 seconds to go, I had the winning bid. The winning bidder, oddly enough, only submitted one bid with a second to spare. I suspect foul play through the use of an auction sniper program, and I’m not too happy about it. Suck it up and play like a normal person.

814 Thayer Avenue
More details have emerged about the development at 814 Thayer Avenue, current/defunct home to the National Association of the Deaf. According to the Silver Spring Penguin, there will be a total of 52 units, and seven of then will be “moderately priced.” The garage will, as talked about earlier, create a thoroughfare on the alley running between Thayer and Silver Spring Avenue that connects Fenton and Grove. And that will handle in-and-out traffic for the 36 onsite parking spaces.

If there are only 36 spaces, are they assuming many won’t have cars? Where will the overflow of cars (assuming there is some) be parked? I know on my section of the street, there’s no parking allowed on the north side of Thayer because of the bus traffic. Here’s to hoping thay start ticketing more to make sure people don’t violate that.

Thanks, as always, to the Silver Spring Penguin. Speaking of which, their site now carries advertisements that I encourage you to click on and buy stuff from. For so long, they’ve toiled away bringing the latest updates to readers in the area, and now their traffic and business model supports revenue generation. Help a Penguin out.

Screw you, parking increase!
As reported in the Washington Post, among other places, Montgomery County repealed the fee and time increase for parking meters. The subhead for the story declares “Broad Criticism Stuns Montgomery.” What the hell did they think was going to happen? I’d be more than willing to fork over some extra parking cash if MoCo was willing to relinquish their death grip on alcohol sales so I could buy beer and wine at a grocery store other than Snyder’s.

Can we get some Skynard?
Silver Spring Singular has a nice post about this, but I equate people’s bitching and moaning about bringing particular musical acts [to what once was to be the Birchmere] to Veruca Salt saying “But Daddy, I want an Oompa Loompa!” If that’s gonna be the attitude, I’ll lobby for whatever will piss them off. Two hours’ worth of “Free Bird” should do the trick.

Peterson, Schmeterson
The County gave Peterson Companies the big finger, according to the Washington Post:

Developers cannot prohibit people from taking photographs on public-private space in downtown Silver Spring, the Montgomery county attorney declared yesterday in a letter to County Executive Isiah Leggett. In an eight-page letter, County Attorney Leon Rodriguez said that the street in question, Ellsworth Drive, “constitutes a public forum” and that the First Amendment’s protection of free speech applies there.

So I guess PetersonCo’s policy of being able to rescind the “we’ll let you take pictures for now” policy is out the window.