More News

As Girl Scout cookie season approaches, younger Potomac Scouts got some words of advice from older Cadette Scouts when it comes to selling the popular treats.

Cadette Girl Scout Troop 1137 hosted a Cookie Rally this month to teach 60 younger Girl Scouts the ins and outs of cookie selling.

Scouts are taking orders for the cookies, a major fundraising activity for the group, through mid-January. After that, residents will start seeing Scouts hocking the cookies outside retailers in late February and early March. Sixty cents of the proceeds for each box will benefit the troop and support programs and activities for the girls.

The aim of the Cookie Rally, according to troop 1137 leader Deborah Mark, was to familiarize Scouts with the cookie-selling process.

"Essentially, they wanted to get girls psyched up about selling cookies, and they wanted to provide a training day for girls who have never sold cookies before or had done it only one time," Mark said.

With support from troop leaders, the sixth-grade Cadette scouts organized activity stations for the younger girls that highlighted aspects of cookie selling. The activities focused on knowing the different kinds of Girl Scout cookies, where to locate nutritional information, safety while selling and goal setting. Girls decided on how many phone calls to make per week and how many hours to spend knocking on doors, Mark said.

"It's not setting goals in terms of how many boxes they were going to sell, it was more about ‘What do I want to learn from this experience and how am I going to sell these cookies?'"

One of the activities focused largely on role-playing, so young Scouts could become familiar with all the different scenarios they might encounter.

"The girls tired on all different kinds of scenes, from the customer who says, ‘Sure, I'll take 10 boxes!' to the customer who says, ‘Don't come to my door again,'" Mark said.

To order Girl Scout cookies, visit www.girlscoutcookies.org to be connected with Scouts near you. Or, keep an eye out outside retailers beginning in late February.

The competition's on!

Have a penchant for painting? Want to get your work recognized? The Bethesda Arts and Entertainment District is accepting applications for the sixth annual Bethesda Painting Awards. The juried competition will honor four top painters with $14,000, and up to eight finalists will be asked to display their work this summer at downtown Bethesda' Fraser Gallery.

Established in 2005, the Bethesda Painting Awards were founded by business owner and Bethesda community activist Carol Trawick. The event is chaired by Catriona Fraser, an award-winning photographer, curator and juror who has directed the Fraser Gallery since 2002.

Judging the works of art will be Carloyn Carr, deputy director and chief curator of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; Maryland Institute College of Art drawing and painting teacher Mark Karnes and University of Richmond painting professor Erling Sjovold.

The entry fee is $25, and contestants must be 18 or older and live in Maryland, Virginia or the District. Original, two-dimensional paintings including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic and mixed media are being accepted, and work must have been completed within the last two years.

Digital entries on CD are also acceptable. $10,000 will be awarded to a first-place winner; $2,000 to a second-place winner and $1,000 will go to a third-place winner. A young artist, born after Feb. 26, 1980, may also be awarded $1,000.

Applications are available at www.bethesda.org or can be requested by calling 301-215-6660. Contestants can also send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Bethesda Painting Awards, c/o Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, 7700 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, MD, 20814.

WJ grad receives degree,

Air Force commission

North Bethesda resident Nathan Liptak received a Bachelor of Science degree in behavioral science from the United States Air Force Academy on Dec. 16 and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant, his father, Steven Liptak, told The Gazette.

The lieutenant also earned varsity letters as a member of the academy's elite parachute team, Wings of Blue, and captain of the renowned Falcon Boxing Team.

A Jumpmaster-rated parachutist, Liptak instructed cadets in skydiving operations and placed either first, second or third in several local, national and international competitions.

An All American athlete, Liptak was a two-time All-Academy champion in boxing, the National Collegiate Boxing Association Western Region champion and an NCBA National Bronze Medalist, his father said.

A graduate of Walter Johnson High School, Liptak is taking a break with his father and his mother, Yeong Liptak, and his sister, Stephanie, before beginning flight training at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi.

Green cheese not just

for moon anymore

For lovers of wine, cheese, and environmental practices, the open house for the Maryland Energy and Sustainability Cooperative is a triple threat. The co-op provides discounts to its members on things like home energy audits, green building, even green party supplies and consulting.

The open house will be Thursday from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Bethesda Green, 4825 Cordell Ave. in Bethesda. Wine, artisan cheeses and a $100 discount on co-op membership will be free for all, as well as more than $500 in door prizes. To learn more about the co-op visit www.nrg.coop .

Bethesda Green, a nonprofit that encourages businesses, institutions and individuals to adopt greener practices, will also host a lunchtime Discussion with Rabbi Warren Stone of Temple Emanuel in Kensington about his recent experience as a delegate at the Copenhagen Climate Conference. The discussion will be held Jan. 19 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the same location.

Contact Jen Beasley at jbeasley@gazette.net or 301-280-3005, or Erin Donaghue at edonaghue@ gazette.net or 301-280-3007. Send information by fax at 301-670-7183, or snail mail at 9030 Comprint Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20877.

Holiday closings for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 18:

-Federal, state and county offices are closed.

-Banks, libraries and courts are closed.

-Montgomery County Public Schools administrative offices are closed.

-Recycling and trash pickup — no collection. Collections provided one day later for the remainder of the week. County's waste transfer station is closed.

-Ride On and Metrobus will operate on weekday schedule. Metrorail will operate 5 a.m. to midnight.

-MARC trains will not run.

-County liquor stores are open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., with the exception of Cabin John, Diamond Square and Twinbrook, which will be closed.

-Parking is free at county lots, meters and garages.