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Hunter’s Brooke celebrates its togetherness
by Nancy Bromley McConaty
Maryland Independent
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Relaxing underneath an umbrella Saturday to avoid the late-summer sun, Beverly Rowe recalled the horrific day nearly two years ago when she received the news that her almost-completed house in the Hunter’s Brooke subdivision in Indian Head had burned to the ground in an arson fire.
The December 2004 arson, which damaged or destroyed 35 homes in various stages of construction and is one of the worst such incidents in Maryland history, hit Everton and Beverly Rowe hard.
Beverly Rowe recalled that when she first heard the news, ‘‘I felt like somebody had died. The house was only one month from completion.”
The Rowes, along with many of their neighbors, gathered at the Hunter’s Brooke community pool Saturday afternoon to celebrate the community’s rise from the ashes. The event, sponsored by Maredith Management LLC and the community, included music, games, dips in the pool and an array of food, including ribs, chicken, hotdogs and hamburgers.
The stifling heat did not hamper the celebration.
Jocelyn Pearson said she attended the community’s block party because, ‘‘I want to get to know my neighbors better. I brought my daughter to have some fun and enjoy the pool.”
The arson fires in the community did not deter Pearson from moving into her home in Hunter’s Brooke a year ago, she said.
‘‘I believe in God; I feel as though he led me here,” she said.
Robert and Beverly Schmidt, who were members of the committee of homeowners who planned the block party, moved into the community in January.
Robert Schmidt’s job led him from Georgia to the Washington, D.C., area, he said. The couple was aware of the arson fires before buying their home.
‘‘It didn’t keep us from buying our home here,” he said. ‘‘The arson fires are in the past. The community needs to move on. Everybody needs to work together to promote our neighborhood.”
Hunter’s Brooke resident Lewis Powell led the charge to hold the community block party, said Beverley Lahman, director of marketing and public relations for Maredith Management in Waldorf.
‘‘He said that he had a vision of a community day to show that two years after the fires the residents of Hunter’s Brooke feel united as a community,” she said. ‘‘The arsonists didn’t get the best of them.”
‘‘I felt a need to bring the community together to show people that it’s time to get engaged, to build unity in our community,” Powell said. ‘‘We want to get across to the community at large that Hunter’s Brooke is a safe community to raise a family.”
Powell’s wife, Jewell, added, ‘‘We wanted to overcome evil with love.”
‘‘It’s time for us to come together again,” said Yvonne Haley, who served on the block party committee. ‘‘We all came together for the fires; now we’ve come together to have a good time.”
Several local elected officials, including Del. W. Daniel Mayer (R-Charles) dropped by the event to present the community with a U.S. flag flown over the U.S. Capitol, a proclamation, a citation from the Maryland Senate and a Charles County seal.
‘‘I wanted to apologize to the community for the arson fires,” he said. ‘‘I was born and raised in Charles County, and that incident does not reflect the feelings of the citizens of Charles County. The residents are very proud of their community and it showed Saturday.”
Maryland Sen. Thomas ‘‘Mac” Middleton (D-Charles), U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md., 5th) and state Del. Sally Y. Jameson (D-Charles) joined residents in performing an impromptu dance during the event.
Reuben B. Collins II, a Democrat who is running for the county commissioner District 3 seat, attended the block party with his wife and two children to show respect for a community that did not let adversity destroy its dreams.
‘‘I grew up on the western side of Charles County, and I wanted to show support for this community,” he said.
The block party was set for an ideal time, following Roy T. McCann’s guilty plea Aug. 11 for conspiracy to commit arson in connection with the Hunter’s Brooke fires, Lahman said. With McCann’s plea, all five suspects charged in the crime have been convicted.
Beverly Rowe sent a message to the five Charles County men who were convicted for the arson fires in her community.
‘‘We won,” she said. ‘‘We’re still together; we didn’t run. We survived.”
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