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Tuesday, November 14, 2006

A Grim Town

Longtime readers know that UD grew up in Garrett Park, Maryland. She went to college and graduate school in Chicago, then lived on Capitol Hill in DC for many years. But eventually she returned to Garrett Park, and has now lived there for ten years. She covers Town Council meetings for the local newspaper, the Garrett Park Bugle.

Last night's monthly Town Council meeting was grim. Only a couple of hours before the meeting, a Garrett Park boy was killed, hit by a car on the town's only thoroughfare, Strathmore Avenue. Here's the Washington Post article about it.

Shortly after nightfall Monday, Luke Carter-Schelp and two friends set out to cross a crowded Montgomery County road. He made it halfway across Strathmore Avenue, then slipped on leaves, falling into oncoming commuter traffic.

Luke, 12, died after being hit by a van driven by the father of one of the friends, said family friend Deb Felix.

"This whole town is mourning, this entire town," Felix said yesterday. "This could have been any kid."

News travels quickly in Garrett Park, a town with roughly 360 homes between Rock Creek Park and Route 355. So within minutes of the incident, word spread among friends and neighbors: Something horrible had happened to Luke.

"Everyone knows everyone in Garrett Park," said Joe Gott, 14, a close friend of Luke's, who stopped by the scene of the accident yesterday after school. "If someone gets hurt, within an hour and a half, everyone will know."

Luke's death has devastated a tight community and left town officials asking whether enough has been done to ensure the safety of children who live near the increasingly busy road. The town's mayor, Carolyn Shawaker, wondered yesterday whether a series of newly installed streetlights that have remained without power for months could have made a difference.

"We've tried to do something about it for years, and people kept saying it's going to take someone getting killed," the mayor said. "And by God, it's happened. I can't tell you the pain we're all feeling here."

The 78 13-foot light poles were among the features of a $4.6 million project funded by the Maryland State Highway Administration to give Garrett Park an old-fashioned Main Street U.S.A. flavor. But nearly two years after they were supposed to be functional, the lights remain off because PEPCO, which wired them, hasn't been paid, a spokesman for the utility company said. The reason is a financial dispute between the town and the state.

Shawaker said the town agreed to pay for maintenance of and electricity for the light poles after the state agency had made sure they were hooked up and ready to operate.

"I can say this has been extraordinarily frustrating for the residents of town and elected officials," she said.

Kellie Boulware, a spokeswoman for the highway administration, said town officials requested that PEPCO wire the poles, which drove up the cost beyond the initial estimate. State officials felt the town should have paid the extra amount, the spokeswoman said.

"I can tell you [state] engineers have been in contact with the mayor and will be looking to meet with her to bring some resolution to this issue," she said.

Friends of the boy's family said they're not sure lighting played a role in the accident -- the street remains illuminated by regular light poles -- and attributed the crash to a series of innocent mistakes.

"This was a confluence of horrible events," Felix said. "Everything went wrong at once."

Felix and three other friends of the family stopped by the driver's house last night. Efstathios K. Mexas, 43, who also lives in Garrett Park, was devastated, Felix said. She said they assured him that no one was holding him responsible.

"It's one of those things where no one did anything wrong," Felix said.

Montgomery County police said Mexas remained at the scene last night and had not been charged. Fatal pedestrian collision investigations can take several weeks. Luke crossed the street outside of the crosswalk.