Mount Rainier Day and More - Saturday and Sunday

From the Mt. Rainier listserv:

SATURDAY

MOUNT RAINIER DAY FESTIVAL
The Mount Rainier Day Festival will be in the 3400 block of Rhode Island Avenue, 11am-6pm

· Parade starts at 12:30 and will march down 34th St from St. Johns Church to the Traffic Circle and then down to Otis and back up 37th St. Northwestern High School Band will be in the parade in addition to the Rolling Crest Community Center Pom Dance Team.

· Many of the city’s artists will be performing this year, including a salsa band and dance group from Joe’s Movement Emporium. There will also be self-guided walking studio tours throughout the entire Gateway Arts District from Mount Rainier, Brentwood, North Brentwood and Hyattsville.

· Transportation has been added this year to support residents from all over the city who want to participate and join in on the fun but have little or no transportation, or for those who cannot walk to the events. THE CITY’S CALL-A-BUS WILL OPERATE FOR THE ENTIRE DAY FREE OF CHARGE! CALL-A-BUS STOPS WILL BE MADE EVERY HALF HOUR AT THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS FOR PICK-UP AND DROP OFF BEGINNING AT 10AM AND ENDING AT 6PM:

• Wells Avenue and Otis Street
• Wells Avenue and Perry Street
• 34th Street and Bunker Hill Road
• 30th Street and Taylor Street
• 32nd Avenue and Upshur Street
• Thomas Stone Elementary School Parking Lot
• Prince George’s Pool Parking Lot
• Rainier Manor
• 30th Street and Arundel Road
• Parking Lot on Varnum Street near 22nd Avenue and Arundel Road
• 31st Street and Bunker Hill Road

Please note that the pick up times and drop off are approximate.

GATEWAY ARTS DISTRICT OPEN STUDIO TOUR
A Gateway Arts District open studio tour in conjunction with Mount Rainier Day is scheduled for Saturday, May 19th, 2007, 12-5pm. Over 30 artists participating in a self-guided tour of Mount Rainier, Brentwood, North Brentwood and Hyattsville will occur on this date and will include painting, ceramic, sculpture, glass, mosaic, mixed media, performing arts, and more! Maps will be available at the Mount Rainier Artists’ Lofts, H&F Fine Arts, Artmosphere Café (3311 Rhode Island Avenue, Mount Rainier) and Gateway Community Development Corporation, (4102 Webster Street, North Brentwood, MD 20722). In addition, a group show of participating artists at H&F Fine Arts, will be held May 4-31, at 3311 Rhode Island Avenue, Mount Rainier.

SPECIAL INVITE FROM JOE’S MOVEMENT EMPORIUM
From Ingrid S. Nuss, Marketing & Program Manager, Joe's Movement Emporium:

Join us on Saturday, May 19th, 2007, 12-5pm, for the Gateway CDC’s annual open studio tour and Mount Rainier Day! From 2-4pm Laura Schandelmeier and Stephen Clapp will host the OPEN DOOR PROJECT for PORTALS. Building upon the storefront spirit of the old Joe’s Movement Emporium, we are opening the studio doors at the new Joe’s facility! We invite you to join us through the creation of our latest evening-length performance work, PORTALS, to premier June 23-24 at Dance Place. We invite you to create, write, dance, draw or sing at your own comfort level, offer feedback through a structured response process, have a peek at our latest evening-length work, PORTALS, and our last OPEN DOOR session before the piece debuts. For more information please contact me at 301.699.1819 or come by the new Joe’s at 3309 Bunker Hill Road.

COUNTDOWN TO SPLASHDOWN
Prince George's Community Pool Countdown to Splashdown
Saturday May 19, 2007 • 4 to 8 pm
34th & Buchanan Streets, Mt. Rainier, Maryland
The pool will open our grounds (no swimming until the following weekend) for a free early peek at what’s in store for this summer. The pool is now accepting memberships for the 2007 season.
Potluck • Open to all • Live music by Ten Feet Tall

Prince Georges Community Pool
34th and Buchanan Streets in Mt. Rainier, MD
PO Box 181, Mt Rainier, MD 20712
www.pgpool.org

======================================

SUNDAY

HYATTSVILLE HOUSE TOUR
The 28th Annual
Historic Hyattsville House Tour
Sunday, May 20th, 2007
1-5pm

The Hyattsville Preservation Association is honored to once again showcase beautiful homes in Historic Hyattsville. This year’s tour includes nine wonderful homes and gardens. The architectural and decorating styles vary and include Cottage, Art-Deco, Sears Bungalows, a Center Hall Colonial, and a grand Queen-Anne style Victorian.

Each home showcases the owner’s unique approach to making the house comfortable for life in 2007. Our town and our homeowners are proud to share our homes and neighborhood with you. Come see why Hyattsville is a "Good Place to Live" and "A World Within Walking Distance."

The Historic Hyattsville House Tour is a self-guided walking tour through the beautiful City of Hyattsville. For those with difficulty walking the tour, Hyattsville provides a shuttle van that continuously circles the route.

Ticket Information:
Adults: $10 in Advance, $12 Day of Tour
Advance tickets will be available at Franklin’s Restaurant and Store in May. On the day of the tour tickets can be purchased at the Hyattsville Municipal Building, 4310 Gallatin Street, Hyattsville, MD, the tour’s starting location. For additional information contact Ann Barrett, 240.938.6060.

Carjackings and Abductions Near CUA, Hyattsville

MPD is working with the PG County Police Department on a recent series of seemingly related carjackings and abductions. From MPD:

Sometime after 7 pm, on Wednesday, November 8, 2006, a 23-year-old female operating a 2001 Pontiac Aztec near 12th and Newton Streets, NE, stopped behind a silver Honda [Accord]. It was at this time that a man displayed a handgun and forced the woman into the passenger seat of her Aztec and began driving her vehicle. At some point, she was forced into the trunk of a Honda, while another subject got behind the wheel of her Aztec and drove away. The victim is unclear as to how long she was driven around before she was placed in the trunk of the Honda.

At approximately 7:30 pm, on Wednesday, November 8, 2006, a 27-year-old female was entering a 2006 Chevy Cobalt in a parking lot in the 300 block of Taylor Street, NE. It was at this time that she was stopped by a white Mitsubishi and silver Honda. A man armed with a handgun entered her vehicle and drove off. The woman jumped from the car and made good her escape. It is reported that a short time later that night a man and woman were abducted in Prince George’s County, Maryland [Hyattsville]. The suspect in this case attempted to force the female into the trunk of the Honda, which was already occupied by the female abducted from 12th and Newton Streets, NE. The man and woman in this case managed to escape.

The woman in the trunk of the Honda is uncertain as to the length of time she was driven around and was in the trunk of the vehicle. However, her captors released her near her car in the Northeast section of the city after robbing her of cash, credit cards and a cell phone.

The suspect in the Newton Street case is described as a black male, 18 to 20 years old, approximately 5’5” tall, weighing 130 to 140 pounds, with a long pony tail and wearing a mask. The suspect in the Taylor Street case is described as a medium complexioned black male, approximately 6’1” tall, with a slim build, wearing dark jeans and a mask.

Anyone with information about these cases is asked to call police at (202) 727-9099. The Metropolitan Police Department currently offers a reward of up to $10,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for any robbery committed in the District of Columbia.

WaPo and NBC4 have additional details. Apparetnly the Honda was stolen on Sunday morning in Lanham and, the Post adds, "Prince George's police are investigating whether the carjackings are related to possible serial rapes. In the past month, at least four women have been assaulted after being abducted at gunpoint and forced to drive to various locations, where they were raped. [Diane Richardson, a Prince George's police spokeswoman] said that there is no evidence to suggest a connection but that police had not ruled one out."