No More "Do Overs" for J's Sports Cafe After 3 Shooting Homicides

Three Shooting Homicides and They're Out !! As i understand it, after two previous homicide shootings within the past two years associated with violence at J's Sports Cafe, in early January the P.G. Liquor Board provide fairness and due process to the new owner and did approve a Class B(LX) liquor license transfer at J's Sports Cafe, on condition (confirmable with the P.G. Liquor Control Board) that 1) J's Sports Cafe implement a security plan to prevent loitering in the parking lot and violence not only in the "Cafe" but also in the parking lot. 2) No more bands known to draw drugs and violence, as vividly demonstrated last year at Club Amazon on Route 1 Laurel, which was closed down by the county after just ONE shooting.) J's Sports Cafe's county mandated security plan failed when several security guards (uniformed off-duty PG County Police) officers hired by the Cafe were on the scene but were unable to prevent this third shooting death. It is not clear how any security plan could prevent such violence fostered by the Go-Go-style bands that seem to be what attracts violent clientèle to J's Sports Cafe. Whether of not J's Sports Cafe actually violated its liquor license provisions and conditions is a matter for the P.G. County Liquor control Board to determine at a fair hearing - - and soon i hope. It is unclear what, if any, changes at J's Sports Cafe now would actually prevent this unacceptable recurring fatal violence in our community. No More "Do Overs".

Laurel Gas Prices Break Below $2 Per Gallon

Today in Laurel gas dropped below $2/gallon, selling for $1.99/gallon at three different stations. Looking at the above Maryland gas price chart, technical stock analysts might have predicted that.

See Laurel/Beltsville Gas Prices in the News Menu on this site.

Crystal Plaza's Cameron's Seafood

https://www.cameronsseafood.com/seafood-market-locations/?fbclid=IwAR0TZ-o_Y6iy9U4EP4GEfOUd1R6oOe7oUhYiAGYS6xDu6yAIn8onrgr-MZM

Dump Trucks Racing on Muirkirk Rd

UPDATE - Jan 22:
This matter now seems to have been resolved, after Longwood Community Association (on Muirkirk Rd) contacted the relevant development company, who promptly told the dump truck contractor to correct the path of the trucks and stop the speeding. The dump trucks will now travel on RT 1, not the length of Muirkirk Rd as before.

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For the past several days and still continuing there has been a veritable parade of about 15 dump trunks per hour traveling south on Rt. 197 and turning west onto Muirkirk Rd., and racing all day long past the Montpelier Elementary School at well over 50 mph.

So i joined the parade and found out that the trucks are traveling clockwise on the route marked on the map.

They are stopping at two locations:

One stop at "General Shale & Brick" on Muirkirk Rd just east of Route 1, marked B on the map.

And another stop at a construction zone on the west side of the new Laurel Centre at Contee and Route 1, marked C on the map.

And then they continue east on Contee Rd, across Route 1, over the bridge, then south on Route 197, west on Murkirik, and so on, and so on.

Looking again a the map, one wonders why they are driving the very long way around using roads east of Route 1, instead of coming back the way they came on the non-residential roads west of Route 1.

Hmmm?

Citizens Mitigate Dangerous Excavation on Muirkirk

UPDATE Jan 16 8:30 am: Sure enough, the hole was back and two more hubcaps testified to a rough night for drivers. But by 10:30 am WSSC was repairing the valve and the excavation. At 12:30 pm they left the hole filled with more durable asphalt and no valve visible.
UPDATE Jan 15 5 pm: Sometime on the Monday holiday, the excavation was filled with loose aggregate, which by dark had been mostly knocked out by repeated traffic creating three large potholes which together were almost as large as the original excavation. All traffic cones and the DPW&T sign were removed and placed next to a tree on the adjacent verge. In the waning sunlight, some westbound drivers could still see the hole and were swerving left to avoid it, putting them into the on-coming westbound left-turn only lane. Sometime Monday night into Tuesday morning that hole will likely again become as dangerous as it was Saturday night.


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This is not a "pothole story". This is about someone who created and left a very dangerous situation in our community.

Sometime Saturday, January 13, unidentified workers repairing the road at a fire hydrant's WSSC supply valve in the one and only westbound lane of Muirkirk Road near Rt. 197 left their work uncompleted with no traffic control barriers to prevent cars driving into the 2 foot by 3 foot by 8-inch deep excavation, shaped more like a tank trap than a pothole.

As evidenced by at least 6 hubcaps at the scene, sometime that rainy Saturday night into Sunday morning an untold number of cars hit that uncovered excavation, damaging vehicles (at a minimum wheel alignment), possibly injuring passengers, and risking head-on collision with opposing traffic (see below).
A father and son returning from their jolting experience Saturday night looking in vain for their lost hubcap, said that when they came through there was nothing to warn them about the excavation before they hit it. So the comically tiny traffic cone observed at 1030 Sunday morning January 14 most likely was left by another victim desperately trying to help others avoid the same fate in the dark of night. A passer-by contributed two large safety cones.














Even with citizen-provided warnings in place for the westbound traffic , the most danger was from westbound cars swerving suddenly and unexpectedly around the hazard (else risk being rear-ended by cars following close behind leaving the Rt 197 intersection) and so risk running into cars coming eastbound in the left-turn only lane -- so another two cones were added by a citizen on the yellow line to alert eastbound traffic (without changing their traffic pattern).
Police responded quickly to a citizen call at 1030 Sunday morning to the P.G. Public Safety number 301-352-1200 and assessed the situation. Public Safety called P.G. Department of Public Works and Transportation. DPW&T arrived apparently within an hour or so, putting a sign at the excavation and leaving the citizen-provided cones in place. Reference Public Safety service number: 07-014-0663 Jan 14, 2007

Presumably DPW&T will contact those responsible for the road work (WSSC) to quickly and properly complete it with appropriate traffic safety measures on this and future work -- such as covering excavations with steel plates.

Caribbean Restaurant Coming to Crystal Plaza

Soon the long empty store front of the fondly remembered Chin Tao restaurant will take on new life as a Caribbean Restaurant.