Assault reported at Montgomery County Agricultural History Farm Park

Stay out of the parks at night, folks. Montgomery County police responded to a report of an aggravated assault at the Montgomery County Agricultural History Farm Park early yesterday morning. The assault was reported at 12:54 AM at a farm facility at the park at 18400 Muncaster Road in Derwood. 

Car reported stolen from Rockville auto dealership

A vehicle was reported stolen from an auto dealership in Rockville on Thursday evening, June 16, 2022. Montgomery County police responded to a dealership in the 12300 block of Carroll Avenue at 7:44 PM, in an industrial area near Twinbrook Parkway and Parklawn Drive. Auto Wholesalers of Rockville is located on that block of Carroll.

Car stolen from home in Derwood

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a stolen vehicle at a home in Derwood yesterday morning. The vehicle was taken from the driveway of a home in the 16100 block of Deer Lake Road. It is believed that the vehicle was stolen sometime between 11:30 PM Wednesday night, and 9:05 AM Thursday morning.

Turkish menswear label Sayki opening store at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda (Photos)

Sayki, an upscale menswear brand, has leased a space at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. The company was founded in Turkey in 1924. A third generation of ownership decided to launch bricks-and-mortar stores in the United States in 2016, beginning with a shop on Madison Avenue in New York City. 

This will be their sixth American location, joining boutiques in New York, New Jersey and Ilinois. Sayki will be in the space just vacated by Michael Kors on Level 1. Merchandise is in place, so expect the store to open very soon.

New Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robbins with drive-thru nearing completion in Rockville (Photos)

Signs and banners are up at the new Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins with drive-thru at 16268 Frederick Road in Rockville. However, as I predicted, the store is oriented toward Shady Grove Road more than MD 355. The existing Dunkin' Donuts at 16220 Frederick Road will move into this one. Parking spaces are painted, and the ordering canopy is in place, but they still have to install the drive-thru menu board and speaker.

Suki Hana sushi bar "opening soon" at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda (Photos)

Here's a look at the new Suki Hana Japan sushi bar, "opening soon" in the Dining Terrace food court at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, according to a message emblazoned in large type on the side of the counter. Signage and menu screens have been installed. There will be a pretty standard selection of popular sushi rolls, along with poke bowls, seaweed or avocado salad, shumai or gyoza dumplings and edamame.

Bethesda Juneteenth event to be meaningful celebration with march to save a Montgomery County Black cemetery

Macedonia Baptist Church at 5119 River Road in Bethesda will host a Juneteenth celebration this Sunday, June 19, 2022 from 2:00-4:00 PM. The event will be about a current civil rights struggle as much as a remembrance of past history, as the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition will lead a march from the church to the nearby site of the Moses African Cemetery. Desecrated by construction workers building the Westwood Tower apartments in the late 1960s, the majority of the gravesites remain hidden under paved parking spaces at the apartment tower, and on a second site across the Willett Branch stream next to the self-storage construction site behind McDonald's. The church and coalition have been battling Montgomery County officials and developers to restore and memorialize the burial ground, prevent any further construction on it, and potentially transfer stewardship of the land to the church.

A banner will be raised on the Capital Crescent Trail bridge over River Road during the ceremony, and a traditional African libation ritual will be presented by Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). Speakers at the event will include former resident of the lost black community on River Road Harvey Matthews, historian C.R. Gibbs, County Council At-Large candidate Brandy Brooks, Circuit Court Judge candidate Marylin Pierre, and activist Robert Stubblefield. 

Musical and dance performers will include Luci Murphy, Karen Wilson Ama Ethefu, Freedome Nsaroma Lee-El, Martha Peterson, and EverGreen Productions. Representatives from the Poor People's Campaign, UNIA, Party for Socialism and Liberation, The Claudia Jones Organization, and the Green Party will also be in attendance.

It will be a celebration, and also a tremendous educational opportunity to learn more about not only the past, but the direct legacy of that past in our own community of Bethesda and Montgomery County. Impacts of the loss of the River Road community in the 1960s included former residents moving and making major contributions to historic and growing African-American communities in East Rockville, Silver Spring and beyond, while still representing that living legacy of the Loughborough plantation in Bethesda. That makes this event of interest to residents of the entire Washington, D.C. region seeking meaningful ways to celebrate Juneteenth this year.