Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1941-05-22

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in command of first-line battalion
of combat infantry in France i'm
PEELED him to do the work and
show the leadership which opened
up the map of Montgomery Coun-
..ty and so effectively helped our
home community become the great
section it is.
I can remember attending din
ner of 600 of the leading citizens
of Montgomery County and Prince
Georges County and of Washing
ton City, including many of the
most important District of Column
bia officials, which Brooke Lee
gave and paid for at the City Club
in Washington. Here the plan of
the Maryland National Capital
Park and Planning Commission
was first suggested in a speech by
Brooke Lee and supported by
scores of other speakers. The
plan was recommended to the
Maryland Legislature and enacted
into law. This dinner was the
start of all city planning, all park
planning, and all zoning planning
in suburban Montgomery and
Prince Georges Counties.
Brooke Lee was the author of
what is recognized by lawyers as
one of the most far-sighted and
comprehensive pieces of legislation
ever passed by the Legislature for
Montgomery County, that is, the
Suburban District Act. This new
law stopped the creation of little
towns in suburban Montgomery
County and gave town services to
the people of the suburban district
for about third of the cost that
is now levied on the people in
some of the more extensively op-
Grated suburban towns in the
County.
| Brooke Lee first suggested that
Montgomery County abandon a
police system consisting Of fee
deputy sheriffs and fee consuables
and that salaried police force be
created to protect the public safety
and enforce law and order. Under
his leadership, this was done. The
Montgomery County police have
always been honest and incorrup-
tible. Even in the days of pro-
hibition, the rum-runners almost
never attempted to use Montgom-
cry County roads to enter Wash
ington City.
For years, succeeding sheriffs of
Montgomery County and judges
and grand juries have been unable
to run commercialized gambling
houses out of certain sections of
Montgomery County. Brooke Lee
suggested and helped enact a
change in the law So that every
body arrested in a gambling raid
was guilty as principal until
proved otherwise. This caused the
patrons to expose those who oper-
ated the games. Several operators
were sent to the Penitentiary and
there has been no commercial
gambling in Montgomery County
since.
Then, in 1910, the delegates to
the Democratic State Convention
Of Maryland again elected Brooke
Lee delegate to the National
Convention in Chicago. The Bal
timore and Washington papers
agreed that Brooke Lee took a
leading part in the contest within
the Maryland delegation which re-
suited in Is of the 80 Maryland
delegates, including Brooke Lee
and Preston Lane, voting for re-
nomination of Franklin D. Roose-
welt.
Last December, Brooke Lee was
appointed a member of the House
of Delegates for the 1941 regular
session of the Maryland Legisla-
ture in exactly the same manner
that dozen other members of the
House and two members of the
State Senate were appointed. But
Mr.. Yohe finds Brooke Lees ap-
polntment irregular, improper and
obnoxious. All the appointments
were made under the same pro-
vision of the Maryland Constitu-
ton, by the same Governor, under
the same kind of recommendation.
Mr.. Editor, have already writ
ten too long a letter and longer
than l intended, but Brooke Lee
has done so many things to help
Montgomery County that there
was no way to make the letter
short.
AS a final light on Brooke Lee,
would like to point out to Mr..
Yohe that the Civic Federation, of
which he is member, is another
of the things that Brooke Lee
helped start in this County. In
fact, one year the Civic Federation
gave Brooke Lee the Star Silver
Cup for doing the most for Mont
gomery County in that particular
year. In another year, the Star
Silver Cup was voted by the Civic
Federation to the Committee on
Legislation of which Brooke Lee
was member and of which his
close friend, j. Bond Smith, was
chairman.
Brooke Lee and Mr.. Yohe are in
politics. Brooke Lee plays by the
rules and Mr.. Yohe doesn't. There
is nothing wrong with a mans be-
ing in politics. Franklin d. Roose-
welt, Winston Churchill, all of our