In Garrett Park, Sad News Is Swift

Shortly after nightfall Monday, Luke Carter-Schelp and two friends set out to cross a crowded Montgomery County road. He made it halfway across Strathmore Avenue, then slipped on leaves, falling into oncoming commuter traffic.

Luke, 12, died after being hit by a van driven by the father of one of the friends, said family friend Deb Felix.

"This whole town is mourning, this entire town," Felix said yesterday. "This could have been any kid."

News travels quickly in Garrett Park, a town with roughly 360 homes between Rock Creek Park and Route 355. So within minutes of the incident, word spread among friends and neighbors: Something horrible had happened to Luke.

"Everyone knows everyone in Garrett Park," said Joe Gott, 14, a close friend of Luke's, who stopped by the scene of the accident yesterday after school. "If someone gets hurt, within an hour and a half, everyone will know."

Luke's death has devastated a tight community and left town officials asking whether enough has been done to ensure the safety of children who live near the increasingly busy road. The town's mayor, Carolyn Shawaker, wondered yesterday whether a series of newly installed streetlights that have remained without power for months could have made a difference.

"We've tried to do something about it for years, and people kept saying it's going to take someone getting killed," the mayor said. "And by God, it's happened. I can't tell you the pain we're all feeling here."

The 78 13-foot light poles were among the features of a $4.6 million project funded by the Maryland State Highway Administration to give Garrett Park an old-fashioned Main Street U.S.A. flavor. But nearly two years after they were supposed to be functional, the lights remain off because PEPCO, which wired them, hasn't been paid, a spokesman for the utility company said. The reason is a financial dispute between the town and the state.

Shawaker said the town agreed to pay for maintenance of and electricity for the light poles after the state agency had made sure they were hooked up and ready to operate.

"I can say this has been extraordinarily frustrating for the residents of town and elected officials," she said.

Kellie Boulware, a spokeswoman for the highway administration, said town officials requested that PEPCO wire the poles, which drove up the cost beyond the initial estimate. State officials felt the town should have paid the extra amount, the spokeswoman said.

"I can tell you [state] engineers have been in contact with the mayor and will be looking to meet with her to bring some resolution to this issue," she said.