Mount Airy, We Can Do Better!

Welcome to the Mount Airy Blog!

My name is Donnamarie Needle, and I’m married to Norm Needle, my husband of 21 years. We have two children; Josh, age 15 is a freshman at Linganore High School and Alexa Rae, age 11 is a fifth grader at Twin Ridge Elementary School. Josh plays percussion for the Linganore HS Marching Band and he’s also the drummer in his own band. Alexa swims competitively for the Health Unlimited Hurricanes and The Mount Airy Ridge Seals and plays club soccer for LUYAA’s Black Venom, a WAGS team.

We moved to Mount Airy in 1996 when Josh was 18 months old. Like many Mount Airy residents, we were attracted by Mount Airy’s small town charm and thought it would be a perfect place to raise a family, away from the congestion, crime and big development of Germantown and Montgomery County. We liked the idea of being part of a small, close knit community within walking distance to schools, downtown shopping, a bite to eat or a Sunday stroll for ice cream.

Mount Airy is our home, and I’m proud to be able to give our children the opportunity to grow up in a Town where everyone really does know your name. For the most part, Mount Airy has been good to us, with the exception of politics, or should I say the political shenanigans that we have witnessed over the years.

How it all started.

During the summer of '99 Mount Airy imposed a water ban. Apparently, during times of drought, Mount Airy had difficulty with its water supply. (Really?) If you recall the summer of ‘99, it was pretty brutal and a water ban with two small children didn't make for a fun summer.

Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled with being cooped up inside all day, banned from filling up a baby pool or running the sprinkler for some relief. Why didn’t Mount Airy have enough water? Who was doing something about it? Why was the Town continuing to permit the building of new homes in Summit Ridge and Twin Ridge and other parts of Town while all of Mount Airy was under a water ban?

With a 5-year old and 9 month old in tow, I decided to march right up to Town Hall and lodge my complaints directly to Jerry Johnson, the Town Mayor. He seemed empathetic to the plight of a young mother without a sprinkler and listened intently to my passionate protest, however, it was apparent that his hands were tied.

I came away from that protest with the realization that we obviously didn’t do enough research on adequate infrastructure or Town politics when we selected Mount Airy as the perfect place to raise a family. Soon after I became aware that schools located .5 miles from our home were only for Carroll County residents and that our kids would attend Middle School and High School way beyond the Town limits.

There were many questions. Why didn’t Frederick County have more than just an elementary school in Town? Had we chosen the wrong side of Town to live? Besides, what crazy person decided to put a county line right through the middle of a Town anyway? The entire school thing never made any sense so when there was a rumor about a possible Mount Airy High School in 2005, I got involved. That was the moment of my descent into politics.

Political shenanigans; that’s the reason for this blog. Tina Grogg's article in The Grogg Report not only tells it like it is, but what perfect timing! As we sit here with only a few days left until Mount Airy's next election, the old fear-mongering "crew" has surfaced. Over the next few days we will introduce the truth about Mount Airy's Crazy Town politics. I hope you will follow along with me and my fellow bloggers on our journey to Election Day 2010, as we expose the shenanigans and focus on how Mount Airy really can do better! Yes we can!