I actually have to say I think this is a shame and it was one of those places you could always enjoy. And I’m not even a beer drinker at all.
The first Iron Hill I went to was years ago in Media when they first opened there. Then I used to go to Ardmore when they opened there, and West Chester and Phoenixville.
The best out of all of the locations was always Media in my opinion.
When I lived on the Main Line and was working on events like First Friday Main Line, I can tell you that Iron Hill was very generous with nonprofits all the time. When I first moved to Chester County, I went to a couple small nonprofit things at the location in West Chester Borough. And as opposed to a lot of businesses they were always invested and involved in communities where they had locations.
Iron Hill closed Ardmore in 2024. At that time Phoenixville closed as well. And today, all remaining locations went dark. Under heavy circulation, of course, is the email that was leaked by an anonymous employee. Here is a copy and paste of what’s all over the Internet and social media:
“ Reach out to HR with questions.”
Ouch. So I’m guessing there’s no severance for anyone? And what about people who depend on an hourly wage job? Are there companies that have announced they are willing to look at terminated Iron Hill employees?
I don’t know what the inner workings of this are, but I’m a little disappointed. I mean, I don’t know how you completely shutter how many locations at once, but is this like the restaurant equivalent of when Carrie Bradshaw got broken up on a post it note by Berger on Sex in the City?
Anyway, I don’t think this economy is as splendid as people would have you think, or according to propaganda coming out of Washington, DC. and again I sadly think that Iron Hill just expanded too much. I’m sure the expansion game is tempting when you’re rising in the local business scene, but there is something to be said for less is more. Also, how many breweries and micro breweries and brew pubs are there at this point and could over-saturation in the marketplace also have contributed.?
A year ago today, my friend Jamie shared the following post:
ABANDONED PROPERTY ADVENTURE: We explored the abandoned Sleighton Farm School, which was a reformatory school for girls in Glen Mills.
Originally the Philadelphia House of Refuge, founded in 1826–kind of a reform school. Children at the school, which was first coeducational, had lessons and worked the farm. Eventually this became a girls school.
The school has been closed since 2001 and the buildings are in disrepair. Many of these are old dorms, which they called “cottages”—a misnomer, because many of these buildings are large.
The cottages were designed by Cope and Stewardson (1885-1812), a Philadelphia architectural firm that created many major additions to college campuses, including the Quad at Penn and many buildings at Bryn Mawr College. (Oakwell connection: They were buddies with architect Frank Miles Day, architect of Oakwell structures, and collaborated with him when he designed the Penn Museum).
There is a chapel which was built in the 1960s. A few months ago, one of the cottages burned down in an arson.
Eventually, this property will be demolished. Its fate is up in the air. I fervently hope it doesn’t become something like “The Estates at Sleighton Farm School by [XYZ developer].”
So in a sense this is like a sister school to that horrible Glen Mills School. And I feel almost compelled to go down the rabbit hole of this Sleighton Farm School after looking at a couple of other oddly related things…..
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services has reached a settlement agreement with the Clock Tower Schools, clearing the way for the entity to operate at the site of the former Glen Mills Schools….DHS has granted the Clock Tower Schools a provisional two-year license to operate its residential and day treatment programs. The state is also mandating the Clock Tower Schools pay for an independent monitor, Justice By Design.
Yes, I did a little segue here to the old Glenn Mills school now known as something like Clock Tower. But back to Sleighton. And another interesting segue.
Sleighton has a weird connection because of architects’ connection to another cool old house I recently discovered because of the people restoring it putting it on Instagram. It’s called (or was called) Binderton and it’s in Chestnut Hill.
Binderton was built between 1903 and 1906 by Cope & Stewardson Architects. Like Sleighton School. Now I know this is a total tangent, but this house in Chestnut Hill is so cool. It also posts gardens that were designed by the Olmsted Brothers, which in turn ties it also to Stoneleigh and Oakwell. Cool, right?
So yes …..Sleighton….in 2021 the place was being discussed in conjunction with a plan for like 193 townhouses. And remember the property is part Edgemont, part Middletown.
Recently an article about a novelist taking inspiration for her book from Glen Mills/Clock Tower and Sleighton seems to lead me to believe they haven’t started anything much at Sleighton yet?
Now this property seems to be originally about 300 acres? The Sleighton Farm property was originally given to Henry Sleighton by William Penn. So it was also a Penn Land Grant? Newspaper archives have tons of articles about Sleighton ranging from problems, fights, fairs, and astounding amounts of money they got from the county and state.
It’s kind of crazy how much money these institutions used to get right? On July 15, 1957, the Delaware County Daily Times reported that Sleighton was getting $765,000 and Glen Mills School got $770,000! Think of what that would equate to in today’s dollars, right?
In 1970 from the same paper in 1970 I found a notice of an auction of “surplus goods.”
They had fairs, plants sales, and more. In 1974 they had the now deceased Judge Lisa Richette as a speaker and advertised for a farmer.
Like a decade or so ago there was a website post about a “school fixer upper.”
A multi alarm fire at Sleighton according to the Delco Times in June, 2024:
An incendiary fire at the long abandoned Sleighton Farm School for Girls in the 400 block of Valley Road in Middletown and Edgmont townships kept county firefighters busy Sunday night into early Monday…Edgmont Township Fire Marshal Al Mancill said the first call came in at 10:14 p.m. from a neighbor on Forrest Lane who saw flames. Firefighters arrived and found a 100-year-old abandoned dorm on fire and called for additional assistance.
It eventually went to two or more alarms, he said….Nobody was injured in the blaze, which took 90 minutes to control….
There have been numerous large fires over the years at the property, which has been closed for over 20 years.
Elwyn, which now owns the property, has a security patrol, with those members and state police patrolling the property and often making arrests, Mancill said.
Ok that is interesting right? And there were other articles from another fire on the Sleighton property in 2102 which said it was possibly due to a lightening strike…as in a storm.
A public notice posted in Monday’s Daily Times has drawn a rebuttal from Middletown Township.
Middletown Township is disputing a public notice Elwyn of Pennsylvania and Delaware and Rocky Run Development LLC published saying that a tentative plan for a proposed planned residential development submitted to the township in September 2021 has been deemed approved…..
Back to June 2024. Pennsylvania State Police Investigators deemed the fire arson after an investigation. At that time anyone who knew anything was asked to contact Pennsylvania State Police Master Trooper John Stewart at 610-558-7085.
The Abandoned Online post has interesting history on the place. So however many acres are left is owned by Elwyn and they say that was a result of Elwyn merging with Sleighton:
The Sleighton Farm School began as the House of Refuge in Philadelphia in 1826. 1 4 It was founded by the Quakers, with assistance from the Pennsylvania Prison Society, on the basis that juvenile offenders should be treated differently than adults…Male offenders were moved to Glen Mills in Delaware County to the newly formed Glen Mills School in 1889, while the female offenders remained at the House of Refuge. 1
The House of Refuge sought land in the rural Delaware County countryside in 1906 in a shift of curriculum. 1 14 The reformatory school found the belief that students would be better served in a setting that emulated a large family, where the therapeutic power of growing things on a working farm would be better than keeping them in the inner-city hardscape……On April 17, 1931, the school split into two, one for boys and one for girls. The boys’ school kept the Glen Mills name while the girls’ school became known as the Sleighton Farm School for Girls. 1 4 12 By 1949, Sleighton had grown to 350 acres, housing 350 to 360 females. 4…..In 1993, the Pennsylvania Agricultural Land Preservation Board purchased the easement to 120 acres owned by Sleighton for $1.62 million. 5 The easement purchase program, introduced in 1989, was designed to protect prime farmland from being developed by selling development rights to the state.
Sleighton merged with Elwyn in February 1998.
And there’s a lot more in that post so people should read it. It’s very interesting. But it’s very convoluted and confusing as to what is actually going on there. The only thing I seem to be able to find is that there is security on the site and I guess walking trails aren’t really open to the public?
I found something on social media from this year. That includes photos from I guess some kind of a firefighter who was on site for some kind of training exercise.
So what happens now? Who knows? Time will tell. As of June 4th unless I am reading this wrong the Justia site says “AND NOW, this 4th day of June, 2025,Elwyn of Pennsylvania and Delaware d/b/a Elwyn and Rocky Run Development, LLC’s appeal is quashed.”
So it seems there is an actual park area that is public, and where the buildings are rotting is private? But I am not sure? I am not going there, but it is an urban explorer favorite apparently, and again, who knows what happens now?
I love historic preservation. But even I don’t love Pennhurst. I think the whole thing, all of the buildings, should be razed.
However, it does NOT mean that I think East Vincent Township should sit on their collective hands and allow a data center. And I actually did say that to the township manager. And I think more people should stand up and be heard.
From what I understand, East Vincent wanted to create an ordinance regarding restricting data centers and then a plan came in and was filed under the wire so to speak?
There are special meetings in East Vincent this week- starting with the supervisors Monday AND you can register via Zoom (you know that handy tool that East Whiteland recently ditched?)
Special Board of Supervisors MeetingThe Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting on September 22, 2025, at 6:30 PM at the Municipal Complex and at 7:00 PM will hold a public hearing and could vote to adopt an ordinance entitled “Data Center and Energy Technology Campus Ordinance”. Copies of the proposed ordinance are available for public inspection at the Township Office and on the Township website. This hearing will be held in-person meeting attendance and via Zoom Live Stream. Please click here to register to attend via Zoom. Please click here to view the ordinance.
Special Planning Commission Meetings:The Planning Commission will hold special meetings onTuesday, September 23rd, Wednesday, September 24th, and Thursday, September 25th all beginning at 7:00 PM at the Municipal Complex. The purpose of these meetings will be to review and discuss the Data Center Ordinance. These meetings will be held in-person and via Zoom. To attend Tuesday the 23rd via Zoom, click here. To attend Wednesday, the 24th via Zoom, click here. To attend Thursday, the 25th via Zoom, click here.
I am not sure at this point who all owns Pennhurst and I am all ears if anyone cares to update the information, at the bottom line is we don’t need data centers. They hog our energy, they cause pollution, they destroy our open space, create water issues, yes? (See articles at end of post.)
I remember an article in 2021 about funding for redevelopment for certain properties and Pennhurst was one of them. Why does redevelopment have to take the form of a data center? Back then the article I saw in the Daily Local said the following in part.
The Chester County Economic Development Council will administer the funding for the two Chester County projects while the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Montgomery will handle the Rohm & Haas project.
The projects are:* Pennhurst LLC was approved for a $4 million grant and a $6 million loan to assist with the redevelopment of the former Pennhurst Hospital site. BOS funds will be used for environmental remediation, demolition, roads/streets, excavation/grading, and engineering.
The cost is $13.2 million for remediation and site prep work for the project that is expected to eventually create around 600 new jobs, the state said….Derek Strine of Delaware is the developer of the Pennhurst site, which has a sordid history.
Opened in 1908, the Pennhurst State School and Hospital was closed for good Dec. 9, 1987….Located off Route 724 near Spring City, it has 23 buildings totaling more than 600,000 square feet on it. The buildings contain asbestos, Grigalonis said of the environmental hazard there.
Strine said the developers decided residential development was out of the question for the 100-plus-acre property due to its notorious past. He plans to put industrial, commercial and medical office uses on the site.
The state, he said, left a lot of environmental and safety issues when they closed the hospital. Most of the buildings will be demolished but a “core” of six may be saved to make some sort of museum or remembrance to the former state hospital.
“It’s not something you want to forget or ignore,” said Strine, whose company is based in Wilmington, Del.
In all, Strine expects the project will have a value of about $113 million. Work, he estimated, would start sometime in 2018 after the state approves his work plan for the site.
“The goal (of the remediation work) is to make it shovel ready,” he said.
Again, as was the case in West Whiteland I invite people to do things like Google Loudon County Virginia. Google the fight in West Whiteland. And if you live in a municipality, that could be targeted by mega warehouses, bio digesters, and data centers, you need to make your supervisors earn their keep because if you think it can’t happen to you, it can. Can it be said that local government will only try to protect you if you open your mouths? Can it also be said the state doesn’t give a crap about you with these things even if your state elected officials are against these projects in certain areas?
Projects like these in communities mean that residents have to stand up and be heard and it’s never going to be just one meeting. So if where you live is important, get busy .
What if a REAL hospital that Chester County actually NEEDS could be built? Or a combination hospital, low density housing, and open space? Make something good come out of a place that did so much wrong?
I still think the haunted asylum of it all is horrible. They are making money off of a hideous site in a garish way. A ghoulish side show is not a way to even begin to be respectful of what happened there in my opinion and neither is preserving any of the buildings.
Sorry not sorry, but not only does the data center plan need to be scuttled but so does the “haunt season” events over there.
Honestly, you have historical markers so raze what is left of the buildings and since the site seems to have think was remediated with that remediation money, why not put something positive and necessary on the acreage? Why not a hospital and senior living as the housing alternative? Chester County actually NEEDS both right?
This site is 112 acres. It could have a viable use as in not a data center or mega warehouses or building bio digesters.
Also is it true that the reason a data center is even lurking as a possibility is because of the former manager now assistant manager in East Whiteland? And I am allowed to ask that question because I just don’t know. I’m just looking for clarity.
All I do know is people need to get to these meetings in East Vincent and you need to stand up and be heard. You can zoom it or you can go in person. Don’t underestimate the power of packing a boardroom, however.
Has anyone told the Delaware Riverkeeper organization about this for example? What is happening at the site of Hood Mansion in Limerick is bad enough. Don’t let it happen here. Besides this Pennhurst location is actually close enough to Limerick that why do we need two mega data centers so close?
I end this post before the links I am providing with the opinion that the nightmare history doesn’t need to be turned into another potential nightmare use.
Stop the latest madness at Pennhurst before it’s too late.
I have to ask, and I’m allowed to ask this question, but did Chester County get pipeline propaganda money for some reason?
So when did they get a plan? And is it still run for your life for half of a mile uphill or downhill?
Am I being sarcastic? Why yes I am because in my opinion this is some kind of bulltwaddle. Here’s what Ginny Kerslake has to say (and I quote) :
“hosting three (3) pipeline preparedness workshops to support Chester County’s comprehensive plan to ensure readiness for, response to, and recovery from pipeline incidents.”
How are they going to ensure readiness when they’ve barely advertised these workshops and have not notified residents living in the blast zone at the very least? So how are you going to ensure readiness given the very nature of the product flowing through Mariner East and a densely populated area?
It will be interesting to see what 700,000+ tax dollars bought in this planning
And it’s very interesting that the link at the bottom of their notice is for the pipeline safety advisory board, which had almost no input on this emergency planning aside from vague updates at their quarterly meetings. Speaking of the pipeline safety advisory board, there are no minutes posted since 2023 because they have not had a quorum since 2023. Most members don’t show up for the quarterly meetings. On top of that most of the seats allotted to members of the public are kept vacant.
I mean seriously, Chester County, how long are we going to keep having this fake conversation?
Let’s review.
I like many, many others live in a blast zone. Thank you Ginny for commenting.
Many years ago now (July, 2018) when she and I had recently met, we had that meeting with a PR person from a particular pipeline company (not the usual suspects) in my living room. I remember when we asked safety questions then. I seem to recall the answer then she would have to ask and get back to us? Did we ever get an answer? I seem to recall polite crickets after that point.
And I also seem to recall a more recent thing with a plan in West Whiteland to essentially put assisted living on top of pipelines where this very safety issue came up, yes? And if I recall incorrectly, please correct me if incorrect, but wasn’t it in fact the truth that the county didn’t really have a plan? And a certain man who can’t seem to retire from things there who seems to be on this board didn’t really have a plan? And he was at those meetings over this plan, right?
So remember, West Whiteland denied this plan because of the lack of safety plan having to do with the pipelines correct?
It’s still in court it seems.
What I remember most from those meetings is nobody really had a safety plan including the county, so how can the county magically say they now have a plan? Because how are they going to work a notification system? How many first responders would it take to respond to a pipeline disaster in this area? How many first responders are we willing to lose along with everyday people if there’s a pipeline disaster in this area?
I mean, can we just get real about pipelines? If one of those goes kerpluey it’s game over isn’t it? This crap can literally kill us and is poisoning our water sources, wells, etc. And so why does no one talk anymore about how much of what these companies rape our land for goes literally to other countries?
Chester County has been playing the ultimate like shell game in my opinion in all the years I’ve been following the pipeline stories.
I’m just not expecting a credible plan. I think this is a whole lot of bulltwaddle and yeah, I am saying that out loud.
Allow me to share an old NBC 10 report :
That reality hasn’t changed in that video has it? Nothing has changed except for more sinkholes on occasion, right?
Chester County owes us more than lip service and so does the state. These upcoming meetings which nobody really knew about until this random post showed up from the county is lip service in my opinion.
It may be time for the pipeline activists in this region to dust off their protest signs once again. I mean, how many battles affecting our literal existence are we supposed to fight on a daily basis out here? If it’s not wanton unwelcome development, it’s a data center, or the threat of a data center, the threat of a hydrogen hub, or monster warehouses, or pipelines.
Chester County in my opinion is woefully lacking in truly supporting her residents in any of these areas. My last word is who comprises the board of this county pipeline whojamabobby. It’s hard to tell who’s on and who’s off below here are the names.
Sign me shaking my head once again over “pipeline safety preparedness.“
It is no secret that runs for something everything candidates on both side of aisle are individuals I find ridiculous. Usually in Chester County they are Republicans but this year it’s Erica Deuso out of Downingtown. A Democrat.
The 2023 article always amused me because it said (and I quote):
📌A Downingtown resident making her first foray in elective politics in Chester County is hoping to accomplish two challenging goals in the 2024 race for the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives.📌
But it wasn’t her first foray since she ran for Downingtown Borough Council unless a magic mulligan decreed it not to be trying to run for elected office?
So now she is running for mayor? Well good for her except is it just making her a runs for something / anything / everything candidate?
I still have no horse in this race. Downingtown has some unpleasant politics rather regularly, and I haven’t paid attention to the mayoral race since Josh Maxwell was Mayor. I started paying attention then because I respected a younger guy stepping up for his community, which he now does on a county level.
But this race I heard was getting interesting and well I figured it out. SOMEONE put up a FAKE website MISrepresenting Rich Bryant.
So why is Erica Deuso sharing screenshots of a fake website that was taken down because it was fake??
Erica, Erica, Erica. Is this like desperate is as desperate does? Shame on you. You want people to think you are the better candidate? Then be better.
A postscript to all of this are first a handful of screenshots from the defunct website:
Next is a little more unpleasant in my humble opinion. Screenshots of his Twitter feed. This is where this candidate probably now loses me. Why put this on Twitter or X? And why didn’t he clean this up before he announced his candidacy for Downingtown Mayor?
I am glad I do not have to decide between these two candidates. And it’s sad because when I first heard Rich Bryant interviewed a few months ago he seemed like just a regular guy and very pleasant. He seemed real. And I’m not saying he can’t have his First Amendment rights to post however he chooses, but the message in the postings is not pleasant.
Well, we shall see what happens with this race. It ought to be interesting and I think it’s going to get dirtier and uglier before November.
So we all know it’s a hot race in Honey Brook because the thug politics cabal is terrified of a normal Republican or anyone NOT from their inner circle running against their chosen bobblehead. And yes, I can have that opinion. So yeah, hope y’all tuned in or listen later online or now online. https://953wche.com/
So I went to rewatch Valerie Shultz’s video. It gave up this message:
Naturally, I went nosing around because it was available over the weekend. So I don’t know if this is a tall tale but apparently the thug political cabal was so upset that they did their usual round of emails, phone calls, etc and so predictable right? Are they also still doing drive-bys like no one sees that truck or trucks? I guess politics is harassable in Honey Brook Township?
So is it true that the went to the PA State GOP and Chester County GOP put pressure on the individual who merely recorded it because that is part of what he does in Honey Brook for the residents NOT as a committeeperson? As in this wasn’t official anything, was it? It was shooting a video. So this begs the question of what did OTHER supervisors in Honey Brook Township know? Are current elected officials there trying to add the pressure of undue political pressure? Is that even ok?
In my humble opinion this but a pyrrhic victory. In case you are unfamiliar with the term a pyrrhic victory is defined as:
a triumph achieved at such a tremendous cost that it is tantamount to a defeat, leaving the victor in a worse state than they were before.
And guess what? I have the verbiage of the empty hoodie/chair debate. Yes, yes I do. Here you go:
And yes, yes I have the video. I took a screen grab of the publicly recorded empty chair debate. Also note this was advertised for weeks, so nothing was done leading up to this event to stop it. It’s not the first video you see next, it’s at the bottom.
Listen to this video at end of this post. There is nothing wrong with it, except that Valerie Shultz is a Republican running on Democrat ticket because Democrats in Honey Brook Township want representation. These individuals CHOSE to do this because as they noted in a public meeting (in above video), they did not feel they essentially had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting a Democrat elected which means they did their own self-chosen groundswell of support and wrote Valerie in. They chose to do this. See video grab above, for the Democrat who spoke up.
Now my opinion is the Republican Party of Chester County and PA made a critical error. Also my opinion is if the Democrats in Chester County had a collective brain, they would capitalize on this because is this not attempting to deprive someone of their First Amendment rights? Honey Brook Township is sunshine unfriendly in my opinion and they are scared of having, well, what we used to know as a normal Republican on the board and she is respected enough that Democrats wrote her in to get her on the ballot and what does that say?
The residents of Honey Brook do not have to settle for less. And no one decides whom to vote for except for the individual in the voting booth. If Honey Brook wants to start to improve, it starts here.
And I will note that NO one is saying Honey Brook Township is a horrible place (like the talking hoodie yes man bobble head always says), what IS being said that the politics are creating issues in a community as in the thug politics of those currently in office and how is that so difficult a concept to grasp? Honey Brook Township is not the thug politics cabal’s fiefdom or personal sandbox. What has happened with the empty chair debate video in my opinion is a CLEAR example of why residents need to NOT vote for the candidate that the current board wants, right? I mean do you want representative government or not? Or do you want a guy who runs his entire campaign off of Facebook, sort of at the recent supervisors meeting, or from a lawn chair in a random driveway?
Here is the video. Hope all watch and learn and hope regional media wakes up to what is going on. This is at the end of the day a glaring example on a more local level of what is wrong in politics today.
I can’t even begin to explain how this hit me when I saw these photos from the Devon Fall Classic. I mean seriously, what in the Sam Hell, Devon?
If you put the number on the sign into social media and Google, this is what comes up:
Ok so now that this is sinking in I respectfully ask Easttown Township and Devon Horse Show to explain. People are saying puppies may also have been being sold along with the snuggles being sold? And it’s not a rescue in there, it’s this rando breeder? Puppies are standing on wire mesh in crates? For real? You know that hurts their little paws? And this has been happening the entire fall classic?
People said shih tzus and mini poodles on Thursday? Friday also had miniature dachshunds? Today and Saturday a bunch of breeds? They keep the blinds closed and this woman stands in the door collecting the money so you really have to pay to play?
Seriously what IS going on? Are pet shops allowed as boutiques now?
Shame on you and are you that in need or desperate of filling the selling / retail huts?
I am sure there are people thinking I am making this up. Please see photos received this morning:
Oh and now more and more people are commenting (just sharing a couple of comments because they were all kind of similar:
I also pulled the vendors that Devon advertised, and can you find puppy anything? So this was a last minute addition? WHO MADE THIS DECISION?
I have to ask did any of the other vendors there say anything? How can anyone think this is OK?
If I had to hazard a guess since quite a few of the names are familiar with me, most did not know this puppy thing was happening. However, the chair is all over the events all of the time, so what does he know? Will he address it? And there are TWO show managers listed on Devon’s website, and one would think they had knowledge? Will they address this? And who was on the volunteer committee putting this together this year? I mean if you have worked on volunteer committees, and I have, aren’t you kind of told what is going on and who is going where?
How can ANY of these people have thought it was OK? This is NOT OK!!!
Devon Horse Show thought this was OK? Who brought these people in? This is so not OK in my opinion. Puppies in crates for random people to paw and even possibly buy? Like they are a plastic souvenir from the event?
Seeing these photos took me back to 2010 when the state dog law people busted the guy with puppies at the then Zerns Market which used to be in Gilbertsville. Zerns closed a few years back. And I actually saw the puppies there at Zerns which were essentially on display in things that looked like aquariums. For real. And back then the puppies were stressed and suffering from the unbearable heat in the place and their containers. That was actually one of the only couple of times I went to Zerns because the place always had a creepy vibe. My one friend and I went there only because there was a dealer who sold Minnetonka moccasins.
One article from the fall of 2010. There were a few at the time
All I know is seeing things like this makes me sad and wish for the Devon a lot of us knew as kids. Where did that organization go? The organization that recognized the value in adopt don’t shop?
Even Radnor Hunt stopped having rescue dogs at their events many many years ago because it’s stressful for them to be at large events like this didn’t they?
So I guess the Devon Fall Classic is literally almost over for 2025 as I publish. That however, does not negate the fact that Devon and the Chair and the Fall Classic committee have explaining to do. And apologies to make. I also wonder if anyone went to them even when the show started about this? I mean did they think people would all just look the other way?
My sources tell me area rescues are not happy about any of this and can you blame them?
Another source told me that the puppy booth as they called it appears to have been shut down. I have no other information – they just happened to be there – they were visiting some other business with one of those other booth/huts at the show. And for those giving me a hard time about how it was my job to call the SPCA about this a couple of points to note including the fact that the SPCA can’t do anything here. It’s the dog law enforcement people and well are they still awake and active?
But Devon leadership and the Fall Classic committee? You have explaining to do and PUBLIC apologies to make in my humble opinion. Of course my other opinion is this is another reason why maybe it is time for new leadership at Devon?
I would like to hope Devon is worth saving, but when crap like this happens, it makes you wonder. But when you seem to focus on adult beverages a lot at these family friendly events, who knows? If Devon goes forward into the future it would be nice if they gave rescues a table or something near the shops and food where rescues could rotate in and out with volunteers and literature (not animals.)
Very sad turn of events. And I am sure Devon doesn’t care for my opinions and the opinions of others, but they really shouldn’t just try to ignore this and hope it goes away, yes?
Ahh yes you aren’t supposed to feed trolls on the Internet by reacting. But hey now, it’s your reputation so you can keep an eye out and react as needed. Part of the reason is these people are the types who lurk in the shadows. They want to live in your head rent free, because whomever you are, you live rent free in theirs. They hate being pulled out of the shadows.
Every now and again, I have one. I have had them in the past. Eventually they all reveal themselves. I can say that because the last one, who was spurned on by someone else’s gaslighting, ended up exposing themselves to law enforcement and was it actionable? Yes it was and they have a second chance to get on with life but there are certain things they agreed to in front of a judge to do so (which was my idea incidentally as a kindness they didn’t deserve.) Part of their agreement is no contact with me in any form, and the same goes for friends, relatives, internet acquaintances. I never knew this person to begin with, don’t care to now.
But that person? Shall we say inspired to act by the gaslighting of someone else? Yup, and it tracks. So careful what you read on the internet, eh?
You are only as good as your word in this life, and I act with that in mind. And the actual truth.
So the truth is, some don’t like me. That includes people who know me, but basically that’s life as we know it. I can’t be responsible for them, only myself.
A lot of the “haters” or trolls, feel they can just do whatever without impunity. Meh, that may or may not be true.
Now the latest one who is oddly obsessed with me is a woman. She’s a lurker on my blog and blog’s Facebook page. She has a warped view or perception on what reality is, and reading comprehension? Not so good as she seems to miss a lot.
She started a thread about how super horrible terrible I am. She’s not the first, she’s not the last. She thinks taking it out on me other than on Facebook protects her. It doesn’t. See she lurks on my blog’s Facebook page because if she posted on my page, I would just remove her. She knows that is what I do with trolls. And she knows I screenshot to expose bullying and trolling sometimes. Not all of the time, but I do actually do it because bullies don’t like attention upon them, no matter what their often feigned bravado is.
She first exposed herself when I made a public comment about who she might be. I knew she wasn’t that person because it is someone she comments on per her own comments among other things. And yes, I did block that person because they were freaks during COVID and just found a new personal and blocked that too. I ended up ridding myself of lots of people on both sides of the argument then and now.
You can block people on social media. You can remove them from your groups and pages. There is no law on earth that says you have to wear a social media hair shirt and take abuse. Or even mansplaining.
So yeah, I clean up my internet homes on occasion, so what? I choose not take abuse. As a woman, my latest “admirer” should understand that. But she doesn’t and she’s rather self righteous.
She exposed herself again in addition to the anti vaxxer type she hates. This time as a Chester County Democrat etc. and has done that twice so far. She’s all bothered that I don’t like Fauxmer Jawn. She’s also concerned about someone who posts on County Commissioner Josh Maxwell’s page and comments how she can’t believe that person doesn’t have a restraining order against them yet. I guess she doesn’t know in PA that only works with family members or former intimate partners? I am sure the comments are watched by law enforcement…just like honestly there is a lot of law enforcement who watch my socials.
Apparently this woman says her last straw is I posted about the man who killed his wife and injured his son in a one vehicle DUI related crash on Ship Road a couple of weeks ago now. Claims I callously posted photos of child. I did post a screen shot from the You Tube of the funeral that was posted with the Go Fund Me I shared for the now motherless child’s benefit because someone else commenting on my page kept saying two fatalities with the accident which was not true as per what police released. Then she defends her post saying I will probably take my post down because of her thread, but she has screenshots. i haven’t removed squat, and won’t. I did nothing wrong, except in her opinion which isn’t law.
Does she hear herself? I am not a public figure, I do not play one on Instagram or Facebook. Yes I blog, and blog’s are opinion based a lot of the time. So duh, Mrs. Drool Cup, lurk someplace else if I am so terrible. But she doesn’t because she suffers from social media FOMO (fear of missing out.)
Of course with her post comes the predictable clown circus of comments, plus quite a lot of comments this time asking her what her problem is.
Her problem is simple: I am not her, I probably don’t think, look, act, etc. like her. To the narrow minded social media puritans that is worse than being a Trump lover. And apparently they all categorize me as a cat mommy and gerbil owner. The mental gymnastics it took to come up with that must be something, right?
These people are utterly self righteous. Their narrow view of the world is the only one they are comfortable with. One of the commenters there is a probation officer somewhere. He gave himself away too. Others on that thread have as well, and they also lack reading comprehension based on what they have written.
So it is what it is. Do I keep screenshots of this stuff? Yes, not always, but yes I do and do I expose people bullying me online? Yes I do and yes I have.
These people feed on one and other and it is malicious gossip and mob mentality. They don’t have to like me, that’s just silly that anyone would expect that. I still think my biggest crime with a lot of these people is I choose not to know most of them. I mean why would I? When I first started on Facebook one of the first things I ever did was give myself peace by proactively blocking people I did not care for and those I knew who did not like me. My rationale was simple: I chose not to interact with them in the real world, so why do I need to know them in a virtual world?
So yes, dear readers, another troll. This one is a lurker because she is all keyboard warrior except to address me on my own page. Whatever. Take a ticket and stand in line. I don’t ever say why can’t we all get along, because quite simply put, I have never believed that.
So I got to do something totally FUN the other day and exciting for me. I got to preview Frazer Antiques new store in their new location further east from where they were on Route 30/Lancaster Avenue in Malvern/Frazer.
It’s a lot of familiar faces that we all love from the original store plus some new faces, some which are already familiar to me. It was just the most positive wonderful thing to see. For example, Daisy Cottage Antiques from Morgantown is coming!
I was very sad, as were so many, when we heard after decades in one location, they literally lost their lease and were getting the heave ho. Well everything happens for a reason and this is a much better space with wonderful flow.
They are loaded with all sorts of interesting things and I think the store is going to be fabulous and it’s a good location because the parking is much easier, among other things.
(If you need an artisanal chocolate gift that will knock your socks off, they will be carrying some of the Ben Wollenberg Chocolates from Canton, OH.)
The soft opening is Monday, September 8 as far as I know.
179 Lancaster Avenue is the address and down the same driveway as Tague Lumber and Malvern Collision.
I hope you love it as much as I do. #shoplocal #vintage #antiques #lovelocal
Dumb question but election season means whatever happened to Debbie Bookman the former prothonotary? She resigned under a cloud, and I will note unfriended me on Facebook sometime when that happened which kind of made me laugh, but then we’ve heard nothing haven’t we? Are the Democrats burying this? Or is there some kind of investigation going on that they can’t talk about but maybe they want to say that there is an active or not active case?
Now maybe when that cloud broke, she simply exited Facebook, that would also make sense. Don’t know. All I do know is I voted for that woman so when the news broke in October, 2024 I was gob smacked and as a voter felt in a sense, betrayed.
Don’t know where that person went. So this was who I thought she was:
Here she is in a Melton Center video from 4 years ago:
Then this from a year ago with something sone by the Chester County Community Foundation:
And something State Senator Carolyn Comitta put out after visiting CYWA in Coatesville:
Then came the headline no one expected, let alone people who voted for her in October, 2024:
WEST CHESTER — Debbie Bookman, who made history in 2019 by becoming the first Democrat to be elected prothonotary in Chester County and then by winning a second term in 2023, has abruptly resigned from her position, citing personal reasons.
“It has been one of my greatest honors to serve the public as your prothonotary,” Bookman said in a statement sent to the MediaNews Group on Thursday evening. “However, this year has been extremely difficult for me on a personal level and I honestly can no longer give my best to this position.”….Her decision, however, comes in the wake of an investigation by the county Controller’s Office — the county’s elected financial watchdog — into financial irregularities in the Prothonotary’s Office. Bookman alluded to those matters in her statement. She acknowledged that she had made purchases of a personal nature using the credit card issued to the office for official business.
WEST CHESTER — The Chester County chief financial watchdog confirmed on Tuesday that her office had some months ago referred the matter involving potential misuse of a county credit card by the former county prothonotary to the District Attorney’s Office.
Controller Margaret Reif said in an email that she had sent word of her office’s investigation to the D.A. in late August after she had uncovered potential wrongdoing by Debbie Bookman, who was in her second term as the elected official responsible for civil court case documents and filings.
“As required by county code, our office is obligated to report any potential instances of fraud to the District Attorney’s office,” Reif wrote. “In compliance with this requirement, we reported the personal use of county credit cards to the District Attorney’s office on August 28th.
WEST CHESTER — An error by officials inside Chester County government has resulted in the now vacant office of county prothonotary being left off the ballot in the May primary election, leaving the county’s political parties without candidates who would go before the voters until November.
The mistake was discovered Wednesday and reported by commissioners’ Chairman Josh Maxwell to the media that day, as well as by the commissioners and their staff to the county’s two main political party leaders.
One of the county’s so-called “row offices,” the prothonotary is in charge of overseeing the filings for civil and family court cases. It has been vacant since October, when Debbie Bookman, who had held the office since 2020, resigned after it was discovered that she used a county credit card for personal expenses.
Of course this whole thing was described in the media as a “good faith mistake” by the Chester County CEO, and at the time Charlotte Valyo, head of Chester County Democrats (still and oh grandma please, but I digress) I do not recall commenting at all.
But until this morning all that has been heard about Debbie Bookman is motivational speaking stuff. Yes there is a website:
Yeah ok, I bet she is good at that. No digs, truly.
But hey now some watchdog lovelies from Coatesville sent me news through someone I know this morning that answers (for now) the question of what happened with the whole exiting the prothonotary’s office of it all last October and wowza:
Well damn, BOOM there it is. The PA Attorney General has charged her. Her formal arraignment is September 18, 2025 unless it moves. I do not see an attorney listed yet as of this morning.
What really and truly blows my mind is this started in 2023.
Bet that anonymous poster who posted in some random Facebook groups will be posting again soon… and yeah before the incorrect rumor mill starts, not my posts don’t know who posted, don’t care.
(Hey traditional media? You are very welcome! And it’s now your story to flesh out. This was just a dusty curtain raiser.)
End screenshot is from Rep. Pielli. Wonder what he will be thinking now? Not being snarky, as I just can’t believe all of this myself, yet here we are, right? And you have to wonder if Chester County Democrats will be holding onto county row? Time will tell.
