Here in Chester County we have reached the non-answers to questions phase of life, making it feel like we’re in the City of Philadelphia. It seems when people ask them questions these days they don’t even remotely answer the question and then there’s the whole thing over data centers. Are they really that obtuse deliberately ?
You’ll notice whomever does the socials for the county gave that lady a link to Chester County Planning Commission. Has anyone else realized that all the questionable planners from Montgomery County seemed to end up in Chester County not to be a conspiracy theorist but like are they trying to populate the region with their shall we say interesting or maybe Stepford trained planners? It’s something to consider.
And look at the link they posted and who’s on it. That bad ordinance model from Penn Futures is on it. Penn Futures went from annoying door-to-door solicitation to basically being sellouts didn’t they?
And there is supposedly some model ordinance they’re looking at from Montgomery County (shocker do you see a pattern yet?) but it’s not there and would you really trust anything coming out of Montgomery County given the total sheit show of Limerick and that other location near Conshohocken for a data center?
Our county needs to get off of Josh Shapiro‘s data center bus. So do other counties basically residents can’t depend on anyone when it comes to data centers and protect protecting us. And it affects our water. It affects our power. It affects our cost of power which PS PECO has said in a press release that they’re raising rates and it has to do with that – data centers.
📌On Monday, 15 months after receiving a nearly 12 percent rate increase for electricity and a 12.5 percent increase for natural gas, PECO Energy filed a request with the Public Utility Commission seeking an additional 12 percent increase in electric rates and another 11.4 percent increase in natural gas rates…. In its press release, PECO said providing power to data centers is one of the reasons the utility is seeking a rate hike.📌
And you’ll know they all dance around the topic of water usage of these things, and you can find videos from a county in Georgia who’ve literally had their water supply sucked dry by a data center.
And they don’t want to talk about the noise, or the fact that these data centers are muscling their way in to get approvals and before they even have a shovel in the ground, they want to make everything bigger like in East Whiteland and East Vincent.
It’s kind of like the pipelines except even worse. We as residents are being hung out to dry while they pander to a governor with political aspirations. I don’t mind political aspirations as long as it is not at the expense of all of us and even on a county level now you have to wonder?
Approximately location where I saw all of the police cars
I obviously couldn’t stop and take a picture where they wouldn’t have been thrilled with but earlier today there were about six West Whiteland police cars on Burke Road on the side of the road where it’s like a little trail and stuff?
I had just turned off of S. Whitford Rd. onto Burke and I saw lights. I slowed down because I thought oh boy another tree had fallen because there are big trees that go smoosh across the road there from time to time.
But there were literally a bunch of police cars. I don’t know if all of them were West Whiteland or if some were other agencies?
I don’t think whatever happened was good and it wasn’t a car accident. It was something in the woods.
And I remember one or two of the officers looked up at me as I was driving by and their faces were quite somber.
I was told by some people that a couple was walking on a trail and came upon a person who had ended their own life. I don’t know who or why or the age, somebody said they thought they were on the young side, which is so sad.
It just shows you once again what a mental health crisis exists in this country. And in this area, if you could get an appointment, there are therapists, but there’s not really the inpatient availability that used to exist even on a temporary basis.
Someone else came through there after I had gone through and there was a coroner’s vehicle added to the assortment of law-enforcement.
Say a prayer for whoever that was and their family.
And I will tell you another little story that I remembered with astounding clarity after so many years yesterday.
This memory, I believe was triggered by the faces of a couple of the members of law-enforcement looking up as I went by, and it was one of those weird slow motion things where you caught the look on their faces which again was totally somber. It wasn’t the normal look. I don’t know how to explain it.
I couldn’t get the look out of my head so that is what made me look for information which was out there publicly.
Driving by made me think of my freshman year in college. I had a nightmare roommate first semester freshman year, but there was no room in our suite for me to go into another bedroom so the RA’s found a single room that had opened up in an upper class person suite on the first floor of the same dorm. Obviously I took it because that was like dorm gold: a single room in a more quiet suite.
Flash forward to right before parents’ weekend and I don’t remember when I went to sleep. It wasn’t particularly late because it was kind of a chill night since so many people‘s parents were showing up that Saturday.
And then I was woken up at some point in the middle of the night by lights coming through the blinds in my room, and I looked outside and it was somebody I knew, actually one of the first people I met freshman year because I had arrived early for field hockey. He had jumped out of his girlfriend’s window in a suite above. It was only a four story building. What I don’t remember now is if it was the third or fourth floor.
He was still alive when he fell because it really wasn’t (I guess) that high or something, so I have that whole visual forever burned in my brain of paramedics and fire and police putting this guy on a stretcher and taking him to the hospital where he was on life-support a brief time and then gone.
It’s been how many decades and I can still see it in my minds eye? Of course, the other terrible thing about that event is I found out later on at an high school class reunion that he was some kind of a cousin to one of my classmates.
And the thing about somebody thinking of killing themselves is they really aren’t thinking about the people whom they are leaving behind and how it will affect them. In a sense it’s a rather selfish act. Perhaps you think I’m harsh for saying that, but that’s how I feel.
Another thing I know I will never forget about the after shocks of this was the student run memorial service afterwards in the quad. There was that bad PA system that was somewhat portable and it was warm and I watched a lot of the people around me who never knew the kid. That was sort of a surreal experience remembered in more of a slow motion than it was because I was wondering at the time how they were mourning someone they never knew? And then I remember another weird thing they had like a portable stereo outside in the quad and somebody played Genesis “follow you, follow me.”
And here I am utterly middle-aged and when I drove past that scene yesterday I remembered it all again. And all I kept thinking was the people on that trail who found this person. Because this is something when you come upon something like this, you will never forget. Just like whoever this is, they left a family behind who will never forget.
I had some guy judging because I wrote about this and I didn’t disclose any non-public information. I have no idea who it was or how old they were, just that it happened and what made me look to find out what happened was the almost visceral reaction I had driving past the scene.
So again say prayers for the friends and family this person left behind, and think good thoughts about the people who stumbled upon this through no fault of their own, and the law-enforcement and first responders , who had to deal with it.
And to our elected officials out there, not only do we need another hospital in Chester County, but the region needs actual mental health services as well that everyone can access in times of need.
Fiorello’s Cafe at 730 E. Gay Street in West Chester is normally a special place for us.
I will preface what I’m about to say with the fact that I am writing this because of the way I was treated by the young (?) woman who answered the phone who was some kind of a hostess or something and when I asked her if there was anyone else I could speak to she said no and if you’ve ever been in Fiorillo’s, you know that’s not true.
Talking about things like this actually helps a restaurant because they might not be aware how this person treats customers. And again, if you have ever been there, you know that they normally are wonderful to their guests.
We thought we would order takeout tonight and my husband wanted pizza and I didn’t, so we settled on Fiorello’s because it’s literally one of our favorite places to go to. And once in a while, we order them from Uber Eats for delivery. (You can also order on Slice, but I have found that delivery service problematic and prefer not to use them and actually if you order Fiorillo’s through them it’s more expensive than Uber Eats.)
Here is what I ordered. It was $32 from Uber Eats. $34 on Slice:
I ordered the “Calamari Mediterranean”, which says it comes with linguine. That is what it’s like when you order it in the restaurant. I asked for it to have capers added to it. I have ordered this for delivery before and again, like when you eat it in the restaurant, it comes with a small side house salad, and a little bit of bread and sometimes even that wonderful thin small slice of a garlicky pizza they serve with their meals.
It was delivered without linguine there wasn’t the side salad that used to come with it or even a crust of bread.
I called Fiorello’s twice and whoever the young woman is answering the phone was just freaking rude. I will admit that because I do not respond well to rude I was sharp due to her response along the lines of “What do you want me to do about it?” Now that’s paraphrasing, but that was the clear message.
“We don’t deliver” she says. I responded that I know they don’t deliver. The problem wasn’t the delivery. The problem was the order.
And no, I’m not driving to come pick up a replacement order when I wanted to treat myself to delivery from Fiorello’s. I never actually asked for a replacement incidentally.
And the phone/hostess woman with the whole attitude of what do I expect her to do about? It is simply not acceptable. That’s what I can’t get past. She could’ve actually just apologized. A simple “We’re so sorry” goes a long way.
Does she want me to explain a restaurant and what front of house does when there’s a problem? I wasn’t even looking for a partial refund at that point although after I got off the phone with her, I was so ticked off I did contact Uber Eats and they did give me a partial refund….which I deserved as a customer.
Again, we have been customers for years.
And I don’t understand how their own kitchen doesn’t know that this comes with linguine that’s plain that you put the calamari over? (When you are in the restaurant, of course, the calamari comes out on top of the linguine.)
Again, I ask because you see the photo of what I received and that was all that I received in the photo that opened this post. Does this look like a $32 dinner or even complete?
And I will also note that this woman who answered the phone argued with me that all I was getting was calamari when I ordered that for Uber Eats and I said no she had better go back and read the menu.
But above all else, I don’t do rude as a customer. And again she would not have gotten an edge in my voice if she had just been polite to me instead of me getting the whole attitude of she doesn’t really want to be there on a Sunday night and talk to anybody on the phone or help people.
When employees have attitudes like that it makes it less likely that people actually want to come into a restaurant.
Mostly this makes me sad because we’ve had many wonderful occasions in this normally local gem of a restaurant. We even celebrated our engagement there as a newly engaged couple.
I’m not writing this post to say no I will never patronize Fiorello’s again, I am writing this because they obviously have a couple things to work on with staff. Normally things there are impeccable and the staff is really friendly and helpful.
This was not such an experience.
I’m not looking for a free meal and I won’t accept one, but it would be nice if somebody just said they were sorry that this happened. And also to teach whomever that was on the phone who also never identified herself, basic customer service skills.
I love Fiorello’s normally, I didn’t love this. And that’s all I’m saying.
This is about a cold case of a crime committed within East Pikeland Township. Does the Chester County District Attorney have a cold case unit? Maybe if items are still preserved the DNA of it all could be tested again like the author of this post I am sharing suggests? I will note that it seemed like in the not too distant past that the Pennsylvania State Police are still very much looking into this. Also it looks like they looked at it in 2017?
I’m going to note that I looked up in the newspaper archives I think written by a colonist from the Philadelphia Daily News in April 1970 at some point talking about the viewing in Darby for this murdered little boy who would have been 67 now had he lived. He might have had a family of his own and more. But he never even lived long enough to go to a prom, let alone get a drivers license, grow up, etc.
Think about that.
Anyway, the old newspaper articles talk about how he earned the money to go on this trip where he ended up getting murdered.
The Daily News article about the viewing in 1970 spoke about all the people waiting in line to pay their respects. A lot of the people seemed as if they were kids his age?
He was laid out in a dark suit and some adult signed the sympathy book in the church in Darby “FIDDLE” and said I guess to this reporter that people would know who he was or Terry’s family would know who he was.
The columnist’s name from 1970 was Tom Fox. He also interviewed the man who helped to make the trip possible who apparently owned a furniture store. His name was Harold Finigan. Mr. Finigan‘s brother was the Rev. William Finigan, pastor of St. Basil the Great Roman Catholic Church on Kimberton Road. Apparently the property that these Boy Scouts went camping on was owned by the church. The article said that the church owned 18 acres around there at that point. I don’t know how much they own today.
(An aside would be Harold Finigan was a beloved figure in Darby until he passed away at 95 and he was a legendary rower at Malta Boat Club in Philadelphia. His furniture store was a vintage and antique store and he was the one who helped locate the grave of 18th Century Philadelphia botanist John Bartram in the Quaker cemetery in Darby.So knowing that can you imagine how he must have felt? This man did nothing but good for his hometown.)
Another interesting part of the article was the fact that the Darby Police Chief was reported to have been kind of standing in the shadows, watching all the mourners come and go to look for strange faces.
The other article I read about this noted that the killer must’ve been quiet because there were so many boys plus supervising adults sleeping nearby.
So was it some random person that snuck in where they were camping or was it someone among them? Can you imagine? I bet they probably thought they couldn’t think of a safer place to go camping than the backyard of a church, right?
It was so sad to read the quotes from the children who were at this viewing who knew Terry. One little girl remarked that this would be the last time she saw him, and another girl said the last time she saw him he was walking down the street in his scout uniform.
So this church is near where they hold the Kimberton fair I think. I know I’ve gone past it.
The article also commented that the investigation was also done with the assistance of Chester County Detectives at the time and the state police out of the Exton barracks. I have to be honest I thought that was a mistake in the article because they referred to “East Franklin” police and this church and property are in East Pikeland Township and I’ve also never known or maybe I don’t remember ever hearing about a Pennsylvania State police barracks in Exton…but there was because Barry Dee from WCHE FM sent me a note:
The PSP Exton Barracks was located where the Wicks Ski shop was later located that became Buckmans. It is across Rt 100 from Hill’s seafood which is at the corner of Pottstown Pike and Shoen Rd. They used to land the helicopter in the field on the south side of the building. It was an old beat up farmhouse. They later moved to Rt 30 heading west out of Exton, past Ball & Ball at the old farmhouse and barn on the right that became a veterinarian. The location is now the Pennsylvania Farm Table Company. That building location is right across from the old ARCO (i think) gas station that is now and Enterprise Rental.
They then moved to the building located on the Embreeville Mental Institution grounds on Strasburg Rd just east of Romansvile before they finally got the modern building where they are currently operating just half a mile west of their previous location.
How’s that for a history?
Barry
Now back to the old case of Terry Bowers.
Terry was in 6th grade when he was murdered and he was stabbed a few times in the back.
Thank you Angelina Robinson whomever you are for the Facebook post that randomly popped up that made me dig into this. Should we all pay it forward and see if we could get anyone to look at this again? I mean, if they could find the name of the “boy in the box” after so much time, one could hope they find maybe who murdered this little boy?
Yes, they did look into this in 2017 and there were a bunch of media pieces that year. There have also been other articles or pieces or podcasts here and there.
Maybe this year they can look at it again? Maybe this year the media could revive interest in this case?
Embrace new opportunities? Personal growth? Continuing developing as a leader? As an individual?
Forgedddaboutit, Karen.
“The decision to leave is mine, and I thank the Commissioners for working with me on an appropriate timetable.”
Girl, come on now, really?? And yes, I get that no one can talk about something like that, but essentially isn’t everybody wondering why this took so long to come to this resolution?
“Before my departure, I will be assisting with one more election to ensure a smooth transition.”
Yeah sorry not sorry but smooth is definitely not the word I would use to describe your tenure….
“I leave knowing we have all done our best, but for me, it is time to move on.”
Ahhh the we word. Please, by all means, don’t let the door hit you in the posterior. But please define done yourbest? Again, how many people as in what was the body count as in who worked in voter services and left under your tenure? Was that a good thing? How about those poll books for the November 2025 election? Was that something to be proud of? Or the most recent things with the letter from “Chester” or the whole name reversal mailing?
You end your twisted love letter to a skeletal department by using the “team” word? Oh honey, I could go on…but I won’t since it seems that “team” has taken enough for you haven’t they?
I’m going go back to hoping that the next person who has your job actually responds to the residents of this county when they contact them. I’m going to hope that the person who next has your job gets over their own ego and pettiness when dealing with candidates and doing witch hunts over signs, ok? Or is it not OK in your book for anyone who lives in this county to have such thoughts?
At the end of the day, Karen Barsoum never apologized to the residents of Chester county for what she put us through on Election Day 2025. And mistakes can indeed happen but it is all about how you own your mistakes and she never owned a thing. So never ever even issuing a basic apology? That still speaks volumes.
Tredyffrin Township at their recent supervisors’ meeting last week struck a hollow chord with me. Here listen:
Sorry, not sorry that was overly scripted deflection. People deserve answers. I have personal friends who all but for a weird twist of timing and fate would have gone through that exact same area at almost the same time so if it wasn’t Megan Nieberle who was murdered, it could have been one of my friends.
Or it could have been any number of people who live around there, right? For example, I won’t name the supervisor in Tredyffrin but there’s one that I know lives right in that neighborhood near where Megan Nieberle lived correct?
And let’s talk about Steve Jahn’s interactions with people and other police departments before shooting a nurse and MOM of three, ok?
There is a woman from Parksburg, who had a crazy interaction with this guy a couple days before this event. In Caln?
This lady Tiara could have been his victim just as easily as Megan became his victim. Tiara who was a victim of his erratic behavior wanted to press charges. That police department out there apparently just let it go and why? If somebody’s acting that erratically in a parking lot, don’t you even want to look into him for a hot minute?
Here’s an excerpt from the written portion of the interview on 6abc‘s website:
“The officer didn’t want to pursue charges, they didn’t think it was going to go anywhere, and they kind of dissuaded me,” Tiara said.
She said police contacted her again Saturday morning and shared his insurance information, telling her he had also been hostile with officers.
“They wanted to let things lie, they said. So they’re the police, I agreed,” she added.
OK, then you add to that the fact that police encountered him at the PNC Bank and Paoli before he forever took a woman away from her friends, family, coworkers, neighbors? Before he devastated her husband and children?
I just don’t understand why they couldn’t have even have put him in a holding cell? And I get that to 302 someone is not as easy as it used to be, but it’s still possible isn’t it? Sorry if I am not particularly sympathetic about what came out of the mouth of Tredyffrin officials at their meeting. I thought they would at least be more real. (And yes I get that they can’t talk about an ongoing investigation but it could have been a little less CYA sounding.)
And people got up and spoke, and they remarked also upon the fact that residents received no notification of this and why wasn’t an emergency notification issued before they arrested Jahn telling people to stay in their houses and keep the doors locked or on the lookout? Because at that point in time who knew where he was? And it was family members who turned him in, correct?
I’m not playing hindsight is 20/20 but in my opinion I think several balls got dropped here and a woman lost her life as a result.
And then there is something else that I’ve heard multiple times now and is any reporter going to hunt this down? It has been said he stopped in at Radnor PD as in their township building/station at some point before this all happened? Did that actually happen and what did Radnor do? And then there were the reports that appeared in the media already about people concerned about this guy’s mental health calling the police?
Tredyffrin needs to do better than what they have offered thus far.
Megan Nieberle’s husband and children deserve better. Everyone deserves better.
This didn’t have to happen. I still believe that how many days later after this happened.
But Tredyffrin’s response? It’s like they were issuing platitudes so if they’re sued, they can say they care or something? Come on Tredyffrin. Put on your big boy and big girl pants. You can’t unring this bell and how you act going forward may determine a lot of things in this municipality doesn’t it?
Disappointed is the most polite term I can apply to what I saw at that meeting and I dare say residents want action here not platitudes?
Also, Steve Jahn’s hearing was postponed and after looking at the docket, it seems like he still doesn’t have legal representation. He also might not be mentally capable of going to court right now and of course, if that’s the case, I think the public deserves to know what’s going on don’t you?
I’m actually sorry to sound critical but what the hell happened and what is going on?
If you look at the docket, it looks like May is his next court date.
I’ve written about Gladwyne, PA before. It was the first place we lived when we moved to the Main Line many years ago when I was a kid.
When I was a kid, it was truly a magical unique place. Then like the rest of the communities on and off and adjacent to the Main Line who suffered from Main Line-itis or wanna be status, they believe their own press releases at this point and it’s time for them to go talk to Vanna and buy an overpriced clue.
As an adult, I have been in and out of Gladwyne for years because my parish church was there growing up, and I have had many friends who have lived there and still live there.
It has only in the recent past come to pass that not very many of my friends are either involved with the civic association there or in leadership positions. I mean, I can’t think of how many years in a row dear friends were either president or a vice president or on the board of that civic association. As a matter of fact, I was around when they started their Facebook group and was one of the early people invited to join it.
So as the people whom I knew moved on and new people filtered in, you started to notice a big difference in Gladwyne Civic Association, and even in their Facebook group. I noticed that in spite of big issues going on there locally with different things the page was getting dumbed down and seemingly sanitized?
For example posts about the 19035 Madoff types (convicted and jailed felons Josh Verne and Scott Mason) although news for right there were removed. I mean they couldn’t possibly admit they were taken in by their schtick, right? And what about Christopher Hogg from a couple of years ago?
Then other posts would also appear that made me laugh literally. One of my favorites was the person who posted an outrage about why wasn’t someone picking up their horse’s poop when they went down the road? When I saw that post I instantly flashed back to when the sound of horses on the roads of Gladwyne was the rule rather than the exception.
And gosh how would these current 19035-ers have reacted to the mid 1970s burglar nicknamed the “Fat Cat Burglar”? Yup look it up. 1974 and 1975. Victims included Ruth Junkin, J. Permar Richards, Walter Pew, E.R. Fenimore Johnson.
Does the Junkin name ring a bell to any of these people? Or do they realize that was the last name of the little old lady who sold her estates that would become a lot of what became Waverly Heights and once we used to visit the horses on her property? Were they aware of the crazy battle that ensued over the former estate of the late Ruth Rea Junkin circa 1983 to build Wobbly Heights? It was known as the “Junkin Tract” although the property had originally belonged to her late father, Samuel Rea, who had been the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad and built the mansion still part of the property today in 1914? Did they know about all of the crazy accusations of all sorts of things like political lobbying and the criticism of the late Commissioner Howard West whom as the Realtor brokered the deal I guess? And that was definitely true because he was my parents’ next door neighbor back then. (FYI you can read about this in the archives of the Main Line Times and Philadelphia Inquirer.) The initial 53 acres that would become Waverly Heights was approved by Lower Merion in May of 1984.
Or remember Kurt Davidyan who went from social butterfly and having the Real Estate firm Davidyan and Nichols in the basement level of the building that housed PNC Bank and Gladwyne Pharmacy to umm his 2004 fall from grace having to do with fraud charges?
Of course, the latest scandal in the 19035 that they definitely don’t want discussed is what will happen with the historic village of Gladwyne? Will it be Yasswyned? So as related to that, I posted a couple of weeks ago a simple question in the Gladwyne Civic Association Facebook page: I wanted to know if there was a link to the Zoom recording of the recent Lower Merion HARB meeting that people could watch? I got a roundabout non-answer answer from the new commissioner who used to be involved with the civic association Facebook page and the civic before he was elected commissioner for Gladwyne.
And then came a message:
Ahh I see.
I responded back to him that I didn’t understand his message basically because I’d always been a member of this group and I lived in Gladwyne as a child.
It was utterly ridiculous to receive such a message. Also worth noting is I am hardly the only one in that group who doesn’t live in Gladwyne. They’re quite a few people who never lived in the 19035 including a woman from upstate New York who now lives in Malvern, who will never live in Gladwyne.
I still think it is because I asked an uncomfortable question for some. Of course that question shouldn’t have been uncomfortable because it was pretty basic. I mean, what’s the big deal about the HARB meeting? It’s like when someone had posed a question months ago about who bought the buildings, and I didn’t actually know who was behind the limited partnership or whatever it is, but I posted the public real estate record showing the transaction and that comment was removed and why? It wasn’t even posted with particular comment. It was just the public record so what was the big deal? Was it a secret?
So after I responded to the guy, I never heard anything for I guess more than a week. I’d forgotten about it because I just thought the whole thing was stupid and then came the messages I received yesterday:
Oh my gosh, oh golly, he threw me out of the gated community of 19035! Yet he wants my support? Huh?
He is one of the new co-presidents of the watered down Gladwyne Civic Association has thrown me out of the Gladwyne Civic Association Facebook group, which again I’ve literally been in since it was started. At the end of the day I’m amused by this. He’s a jackass. Yes, that is an opinion.
Yes, I told him off. And it’s not because I am in one less Facebook group. It’s the principle of the matter. And I did mention to him that I’ve been contacted by lots of people who currently live in the 19035 because they feel that the Civic Association is doing a whole lot of nothing when it comes to protecting the community and it’s historic character. I think that’s worrisome. Also worrisome? They’re so concerned with their appearance in a Facebook group that they are not actually encouraging public discourse on anything meaningful and why?
So essentially he is like treating Gladwyne like it’s a big HOA and I’ve been tossed out of the gated community 🤣
So yes, I’m apparently banned from the 19035. Whatever. Better lock up the gates right?
The last word is most simply put keeping me out of a Facebook group because I asked a question that made some people uncomfortable for God knows what reason isn’t going to stem the tide of questions or concerns about a modern day robber baron coming to the historic village center will it?
And at the end of the day, my opinion remains the same. I have zero objections to adaptive reuse of historic structures and restoration. It’s the whole make it like a stilted nouveau Main Line Peddler’s Village and messing with the zoning that raises concerns and why is it bad to show concern? And they haven’t revoked the First Amendment yet so I can have those opinions.
It’s not just about opportunity, it’s about community. Community means many voices, not just what some want scripted.
Photo courtesy of Honey Brook Township Supervisor Valerie Shultz
May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, The rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
May God be with you and bless you; May you see your children’s children. May you be poor in misfortune, Rich in blessings, May you know nothing but happiness From this day forward.
May the road rise to meet you May the wind be always at your back May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home And may the hand of a friend always be near.
May green be the grass you walk on, May blue be the skies above you, May pure be the joys that surround you, May true be the hearts that love you.
So if you were part of Greek life in college, and I was, you know that pledge classes of fraternities have certain rituals they are responsible for completing. And that is not necessarily one and the same, but can be part of things that people would categorize as hazing…. especially if the task at hand is not completed.
According to Bill Rettew of the Daily Local, fraternity members are stealing bricks out of the historic sidewalks of West Chester University. This is based upon an interview with local residents:
Why are the historic bricks from the borough’s brick sidewalks disappearing?
Are they wearing out and not being replaced, stolen to replace those bad bricks by neighbors, or according to one neighbor, part of a long-time West Chester University fraternity hazing ritual, or is something else happening?
Sean Barry lives in the Southeast region of the borough where most of the students who rent live, and the fraternity houses are located. His bricks mysteriously started disappearing from his sidewalk.
He returned from his honeymoon to learn from the borough that he was responsible to repair and replace the bricks or face a fine…..The damage was widespread and the sidewalk bricks or pavers are no longer made. Barry sought an estimate and was told by a professional contractor that the bill would come to between $10,000 and $13,000 to repair his sidewalk. A simple Google search shows that several contractors will repair or replace brick or paver sidewalks for thousands of dollars.
Barry spent 11 hours repairing the sidewalk himself, with the aid of a friend. The thefts continue and bricks are currently missing from Barry’s sidewalk.
Barry witnessed a young male removing a brick from his sidewalk. He confronted him and asked the youth why he was removing the brick and was told that he was a member of a West Chester University fraternity and it was part of the pledging process and he had to collect a number of sidewalk bricks to fulfill a “quota.” The alleged student would not give his name or the name of a fraternity to Barry….Elizabeth Nebel lives on South Walnut Street. She sees some neighbors paving the bricks over with concrete and wonders if it is because of the thefts, and if consequently, West Chester will lose some of its charm.
Barry agrees.
“The bricks are a big part of the town,” he said. “It’s part of the charm.
“But brick by brick we’re losing what makes West Chester special.”
Barry said that he’s happy to live in the Southeast.
“We know it’s a select few and most are good neighbors,” he said. “I’m good to have students as neighbors, but the density comes with unique challenges.”
Now, when I read through the article, I noticed that West Chester University was kind of playing Pontius Pilate. Look that’s somewhat typical for schools with a big off-campus population. They say they can’t be responsible for their kids, yet they are, aren’t they?
And the fraternities’ national organizations are also responsible for their charges. It doesn’t take much to look up the fraternities currently active at West Chester, and not even includes ones that aren’t officially recognized. Sometimes fraternities are also suspended, I don’t know if they list them on West Chester‘s website or not. West Chester also maintains documentation of recent or relatively recent issues within their Greek community so to speak as far as hazing and what not. I also found this report- https://cm.maxient.com/chtr.php?WestChesterUniv
So these bricks levitating from sidewalks around the Borough of West Chester near the fraternities isn’t like typical hazing per se, but I am sure it is part of some initiation process. Now it’s relatively harmless if you take it at its face, except it’s destroying historic sidewalks.
As a historic town, West Chester will have lots of visitors, undoubtedly during America’s 250 celebration this summer. If you were “Greek” in college, please look at the attached list of organizations pertaining to Greek life with chapters on this college campus please contact your national organization an please ask them to ask the students to just knock it off and return what they’ve taken.
All of these organizations have service projects that they generally do, and a lot of times they do it right in their local communities where their chapters are located. It would be really nice to return the bricks.
Chase and David the owners who are now friends literally started with a small hoop house that I am pretty sure they made themselves. They delivered all the plants themselves at first. That’s actually how I met their dogs.
I want to say up front I have been a devoted and regular customer. I am not ever compensated in any way, shape, or form. Quality plants- annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, herbs, fruit plants, vegetables and more.
I love to garden, they have great plants at fair prices. And they deliver. I do know some of the wholesale nurseries in multiple states that they use, so I know what I am buying and it’s quality plant material not all juiced up with Miracle Gro. Have I lost a few plants over the years? Yes, due to deer, not them!
I have bought so many wonderful things from them. I have introduced friends and family in multiple states now to them. I have watched them grow from a one hoop house and a couple of vans operation to a multi-state business where they have a hub up in Lancaster County and another in Maryland. They are even growing some of their own plants now.
Last year they added a new arm of their business called Second Chance Plants. It’s an overstock and discount concept put into pop-up locations. They tried it out last year and it was such an enormous hit that this year. They have the regular Bloombox business and like a dozen of these seasonal pop-ups stretching through PA and MD.
I went to the one in Exton on Saturday because I was jonesing to look for plants. Gardening is a definite passion of mine, and I put a lot into my garden every year. So the Exton location is that the Exton Square, Mall in one of the parking lot. And since it’s essentially a dead ghost mall, there’s plenty of space. Of course if those developers would actually pay attention it shows you what people want and it’s not more condos townhouses and apartments is it? It’s things like this and a hospital isn’t it? (But I digress.)
This additional arm of their business is freaking amazing and the prices are amazing and the plant quality is literally like Terrain, but not the Molly Markup. I bought three trees and they had so much stuff and it was just the soft opening. They even had a tremendous selection of beautiful ceramic planters. They have the grand opening next weekend. I think it starts on March 20. You have to look on the website or their social media.
I never had the time to visit any of the pop-ups last year. And I’m really glad they moved them into so many areas this year.
One of the things that we are lacking around here now with the constant march no stampede of big box stores and the cost of renting space and what not is there aren’t as many plant nurseries. There used to be so many gorgeous plant nurseries around so to me this is welcome. I’m not saying there aren’t any nurseries, but they aren’t nearly as many as there used to be.
The guys from Bloombox have worked hard and they have done this on their own. They drive all their own social media. They have wonderful people who work for them I and all of their other happy customers celebrate their success. Their success means our gardens look better and better every year.
However, their success means people want to make a buck off of it, doesn’t it?
Enter my favorite fauxblicist and some shall we say rather pushy or interesting unsolicited now not so private messages to the BloomBox guys:
Good lord. Does this woman not understand not being freaking rapid fire pushy? Yes fauxblicist, no thank you after trying to ignore the ping ping ping of unsolicited messages is a no means no situation is it not? Or does she think that is a maybe?
Welp….it’s a no. I spoke with them.
You see they don’t need her mailing list.
They don’t need whoever she thinks are her followers.
They do their own work. And trust me when I tell you, they work hard.
Social media also isn’t something a small business needs to necessarily hire someone for. A lot of this can be done by yourself for your business or for yourself personally with just a little effort. And that doesn’t mean buying followers. It means connecting with your audience. It means posting about your business. It starts with baby steps.
And if your business needs more, then you hire a real professional, which in my humble opinion which I am allowed to have it isn’t someone who only shares on their own channels.
I would also like everyone to look at the timestamp. It’s really not polite to message strangers later in an evening is it, or do people simply not have boundaries anymore as far as social norms? Just like it’s rude to message too late (especially someone you don’t know), it’s also equally rude to message them so early isn’t it?
And all of this goes into the context of if she wanted a shot at their business and this is what she’s doing? Would you also message someone early in the morning as they’re getting ready to launch a soft opening of multiple pop-up locations over a couple of different states?
A more prudent person might’ve sent an initial message to say hi but then you let it sit and maybe follow up with another brief message a few days later, right? Kind of the wrong situation to lack impulse control wouldn’t you say?
But then again this is the woman who even made a write up and Bitchy Waiter once upon a time:
And then there was the time when she went a little Rambo on a restaurant:
And another restaurant:
And then, of course she does this Easter bunny thing with this creepy costume. And she’s a made herself a public figure so I can have an opinion about the creepy, flat faced rabbit outfit. And no she’s not a furry, just seasonally a bunny. But then she post this recently about that jam:
Yeah….ummm… if somebody’s possibly bringing you somewhere to possibly be around their small children to entertain, they want to know you’re OK, right?
And when we’re talking about the email, I never signed up for her emails and I’ve been trying for I don’t know how many years to not get her emails yet there she is along with the other junk mail that covers nice topics like erectile dysfunction etc.
She’s a peach. A frenetic one….and that is being kind.
