Last night at dinner time came the gruesome and sad news of an apparent suicide by car burning in Chester County (specifically Charlestown Township/Malvern):
I find that horribly sad and tragic. It happened at Haverford College in 2009 – not a student, but someone who came in from the outside and ended their life in a remote parking lot.
There are so many people who are so deeply troubled.
In other news, let’s talk radioactive trash:
Radioactive material came from West Chester trash
Published: Thursday, February 02, 2012
NORRISTOWN — The Department of Environmental Protection is asking anyone who knows the history of an antique medical kit found in a West Chester trash bin to contact the agency’s Bureau of Radiation Protection…..The material was found Jan. 19, when a load of construction debris set off radiation alarms at Waste Management Inc.’s Norristown transfer station. The company deployed a health physicist to recover the radioactive material, identified as approximately one curie of radium-226. Exposure to one curie of radium-226 is equivalent to having more than 100 CT scans at once, and it has the potential to create skin burns within a few hours of contact.
DEP health physicists worked with Waste Management to properly evaluate and store the radium, and traced its source to a roll-off container that had come from the Hershey’s Mill retirement community in West Chester.
Nice. A retirement community.
Punxscutawney Phil, meanwhile, is predicting six more weeks of winter.
Now, previously, I had posted about local food banks, and in today’s Malvern Patch there is a story about the People’s Pantry, formerly known as the Deacon’s Pantry in Frazer. They are raising funds for a new building and have been approved as a 501(c)(3), making deductions tax-deductible. They serve close to 2500 people- at least 500 households. They have a website. In other food bank news, West Chester Patch announced that Chester County Food Bank has been named 2012 Business of the Year by the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce. Read about it here.
We live in horrible economic times at present, and many are struggling. If you can contribute to a local food bank, that is to paraphrase Martha Stewart, a good thing.
West Chester Patch has announced lane closures (for a change, right?) on Route 202:
Nighttime lane closures are scheduled on northbound and southbound Route 202 between the Westtown Road and Route 100 interchanges in West Goshen Township, Chester County on Monday through Friday (Feb. 6-10) from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. …PennDOT reminds motorists they can log on to 511pa.com
The condition of 202 and how long this has taken is a personal pet peeve of mine. That road is dangerous and deplorable. And the projects are like bad Brooklyn Bridge jokes. Construction never stops, never really completes, and work doesn’t seem to last very long. They also do a crappy job of clearing debris from accidents, etc. from the roadway.
My last thing for this particular post is an outbreak of Whooping Cough in West Chester:
Whooping Cough Outbreak Declared for West Chester School
NBC10: Cases of pertussis at a West Chester school have officials shutting off classes to those who have not been vaccinated against the disease
By Teresa Masterson
| Thursday, Feb 2, 2012 | Updated 8:32 AM EST
There is an outbreak of Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, at the Hillsdale Elementary School in West Chester, officials say.
Only days after a case of whooping cough was confirmed at another Chester County school– Great Valley High School – the superintendent of West Chester Area School District announced Tuesday that its elementary school has an “outbreak” of the highly contagious disease….
Scanlon said that any student or employee who does not have all of the necessary vaccines will not be allowed into school.
According to the Chester County Health Department, pertussis is spread through the air when an infected person sneezes or coughs. It begins with cold symptoms and a cough that becomes much worse over one to two weeks.
Symptoms usually include a long series of coughs (coughing fits) followed by a whooping noise. However, older children, adults and very young infants may not develop the whoop. There is generally no fever, officials say.
People with pertussis may have a series of coughs followed by vomiting, turning blue, or difficulty catching their breath….The disease can be very severe…For any parent who wants to have a child vaccinated, the Chester County Health Department offers free vaccinations for children under the age of 18 on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The vaccine is also available free of charge for adults
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