The Silver Spring Penguin

Updated Apr 23, 2007, at 6:40 p.m.

This afternoon, maintenance crews prep the swimming pool outside Penguin world headquarters. Weee!!! Here’s what else is happening this week in Silver Spring:

Monday. Silver Spring’s pedestrian safety committee meets to discuss, well, pedestrian safety. Kickoff at the Silver Spring Regional Center (8435 Georgia Ave) is at 7:30 p.m.

Monday. The state transit administration holds a focus-group discussion on possible Purple Line routes through downtown Silver Spring. That meeting goes down at the Silver Spring Public Library (8901 Colesville Rd) at 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday. US Rep Albert Wynn (D-Md 4) holds a town-hall meeting at Sligo Creek Elementary School (500 Schuyler Rd). The deal goes down at 7:00 p.m.

Thursday. Two downtown developments — Bonifant Plaza and 1050 Ripley Street — hit the planning board for deadline extensions on their project-plan reviews. Both projects may be impacted by possible Purple Line routes. Their petitions drop at 1:00 p.m. at planning board HQ (8787 Georgia Ave).

A man whom police believe to be the Woodside Park burglar may have worked with a partner, the third district’s top cop said Thursday.

Commander Betsy Davis told the urban district advisory board that the unnamed man broke into homes through the back, while an unnamed female suspect kept watch on the street.

Both suspects were arrested two weeks ago. Contrary to a previous police statement, the male suspect is still in custody. However, the female suspect is out on bail, Davis said.

Police were led to the pair after a Woodside Park resident reported a car roaming around the neighborhood. The car’s license plate was traced to the male suspect, who has a criminal record for burglary.

A special-assignments team monitored the man’s District home for two weeks before following him and the woman back to Silver Spring, where they were busted.

The pair may be responsible for up to 30 burglaries throughout Silver Spring, Wheaton and Mitchellville in Prince George’s County, Davis said. More charges may be brought upon them.

Davis also commended the Woodside Park resident who contacted police with the suspect’s license plate number. She hoped more area residents would be as helpful with police investigations.

“I want people to be nosey, I want people to write something down. Don’t be afraid to call,” Davis said. “We need that information so that we can deploy.”

A handful of threats, as well as the anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings, prompted Montgomery County police to increase their presence at public schools Friday, the third district’s top cop said.

Commander Betsy Davis told the urban district advisory board Thursday that more cops would be seen at every school on Friday. The increased police presence, Davis said, was in response to threats made earlier in the week.

“We have to take these threats as real,” Davis said.

In one instance, a bomb threat was phoned into a Wheaton school. In another, police responded to a Takoma Park school after one student made threatening remarks, Davis said.

In Gaithersburg, one man was arrested Wednesday for phoning his son’s elementary school and allegedly threatening to repeat last Monday’s Virginia Tech shootings. Forty-year-old Larry D. Moore, Sr., of Carousel Court, was busted after school administrators notified local police, according to a police press statement.

Friday also marked the eighth anniversary of the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Thirteen students, including two teen gunmen, died in that attack.

In Virginia, Gov. Tim Kaine (D) declared Friday a statewide day of mourning for victims of the shootings at Virginia Tech. Police in Blacksburg believe one student killed 32 people there before shooting himself.