I am always curious when things seem odd, aren’t you?
I will admit I have always been a little curious about East Pikeland because it always seems a little off, doesn’t it? Is it as simple as too many crystals and soy based candles or something?
And then there’s the Kimberton Fire Company, which is like part of the heartbeat of that community, isn’t it? so the first question is why is somebody suing the fire company?
For real:
So then I have to ask is why is the Kimberton fire chief trying to I don’t exactly know do what to a 41-year-old widow with three kids? I mean, I have to ask do we really think a 41 year-old widow with three kids is a threat to the Kimberton fire chief?
And why am I allowed to ask that question? Is it simply because there is a public criminal complaint and a publicly posted court docket?
And is this how residents who speak out in this municipality are treated? Is it just me or is this kind of twisted?
So yeah, that’s all I’ve got. And my questions and my opinions are brought to me by the First Amendment. And why I’m asking is posted below in screenshots.
She is being represented by Samuel C. Stretton, Esq. of West Chester.
So guess what? My husband‘s provisional ballot is one of the ones that apparently does not count.
I have covered up the number of his ballot for privacy sake for the screenshot above, but I can tell you I am still checking it and his vote is nowhere to be found.
NOWHERE. It’s like it didn’t exist, like he didn’t exist as an Independent on Election Day. It is like they ate his provisional ballot.
Am I surprised? Nope.
Of course, you also can’t get anybody on the phone in voter services let alone the esteemed director who has been invisible since the election day debacle. If it’s not a fluffy, self-aggrandizing media interview, she’s invisible and to date, unapologetic so whom is she in the process of blaming?
So this is kind of why litigation is being filed, isn’t it?
Here’s the link to the county’s bogus press release:
I personally don’t have faith in voter services at this point. And Karen Barsoum the department head and she needs to go.
She can’t hide behind the county commissioner she hides behind, which is Josh Maxwell. I think he’s trying to be kind and be fair because that’s totally the way he is, but Barsoum is doing Josh Maxwell a great disservice. IMHO she is damaging his political credibility.
I do not blame Josh Maxwell for this, but I so do blame Karen Barsoum.
The case of Kevin Krebs continues to evolve. As of a couple of days ago he is now in Federal custody. Deanna Durante from NBC10 broke the story initially, or at least that’s where I heard it first.
WEST CHESTER — Kevin Krebs, the Chester County man who carried a loaded firearm to a “No Kings” protest last spring and whose home was later found with explosive devices and other dangerous material, made a brief court appearance here Tuesday, four months after his case made national headlines…..Krebs, 31, of East Whiteland, was dressed in a blue hooded sweatshirt and cargo pants. Flanked by defense attorneys Christian Hoey of Tredyffrin and Thomas Bellwoar of West Chester, Krebs did not say anything to the court during the 10-minute-long proceeding….Although Hoey told Vito that he was uncertain where the case would ultimately wind up — “Who knows where we are going next,” the veteran defense attorney told her after the hearing concluded — he indicated that at least the gun case would be kept at the Common Pleas trial level.
“We are going to aggressively address his defense in state court,” Hoey told the sole reporter attending the hearing in Vito’s court at the Chester County Historic Courthouse. “State court is where this case will be prosecuted, and we intend to defend him vigorously.”
Then the news the other day…. and now Kevin Krebs is in federal custody.
Media reports indicate what most of wondered all along, and that was he someone who had challenges and perhaps dealt with mental illness or was on the spectrum of a couple of things and so on? Lots of people, myself included wondered that given how he was on the no kings social media video and the way his expression was in the West Chester PD mugshot. A TV reporter who had been in court relays that he had been adopted from another country, and was on the spectrum. The Inquirer reporters (Vinny Vella and Robert Moran) wrote about that in their article which you can Google and find.
Apparently his dad and brother were in court with him as well? I have to ask, now that his challenges have been confirmed, now what? Is he receiving mental health help while incarcerated?
My other questions are if he does have issues, serious issues, how did his parents ever let him start owning firearms? And no this is not an anti-right to bear arms conversation, it’s a legitimate question. It also once again points out the validity of mental health evaluations and awareness when it comes to owning firearms. Krebs is 31 years old. So did his parents have any freaking idea of all he owned? And what of his brother? Did he know living under the same roof? I mean how could they not know? Will they have some sort of culpability here?
So what happens now? A deal or a trial? Time will tell. To follow please find some stuff found relating to Federal case. This guy needs serious help, but will he ever be safe to live outside of a structured safely behind walls existence of some sort? You really have to wonder about that, and if I’m honest and being selfish, I hope he doesn’t come back to this area. I have to wonder if the feds took this over because he’s going to be institutionalized somewhere for the rest of or majority of his days?
People also want to label him as a political terrorist, and I have never thought that to be the case. Do I think perhaps that was an impetus for his actions in as far as a reaction to the political climate in this country? Yes, but to label a man with obviously this many mental issues per media reports now as a political terrorist I feel is inaccurate and unfair. And I’m not saying that as some sort of bleeding heart, I am saying it because I believe it to be true, and Democrats around here need to remember this guy was one of them at that point as far as political registration, and what nobody seems to be talking about is this once again points to the glaring holes in our healthcare and mental healthcare systems in this country.
This is scary and sad all at the same time. We owe all of the law enforcement agencies from West Chester PD to East Whiteland PD to all of the other federal, county, and other folks in law enforcement a debt of gratitude. I am thankful how on top of this they were. They did their jobs so impressively from No Kings to his bomb and weapon filled house in East Whiteland; they kept us all safe. This could have been a disaster.
I have to admit it was very nice to hear a supervisor (Carlotta Johnston-Pugh) speak up for Mount Pleasant tonight. But Tredyffrin needs to buy a clue and it needs to actually help Mount Pleasant.
The time for lip service is done.
This has been going on for years. It took forever to get this Township to enact a student housing ordinance. It still takes forever to even get anyone to deal with the problematic student houses. Blue Tarp Villa is a favorite example.
For how many years has Blue Tarp Villa been a problem? for how many years has Tredyffrin blown smoke up the asses of the residents of Mount Pleasant?
Why isn’t zoning code and general code enforcement of the student houses back there done more proactively? How many complaints do these houses need to have before whoever that person is who does the zoning and code enforcement gets out from behind her chair and does something?
Year after year, it is the same old song. And these supervisors and their predecessors know it’s a problem back there. They have known it’s a problem back there for how many years now?
I started following this issue in the early 2000s, so unless these officials(paid/appointed/elected) all live under a rock, why is it nothing ever really gets done? Like the Murph guy? Hasn’t he basically been a supervisor since the dawn of time?
Just because this isn’t a million dollar neighborhood per se, although it has some ridiculously overpriced close to million dollar infield development townhouses that are butt ugly, it doesn’t mean that this area should continually be ignored, right?
Yes, sorry, holy run-on sentence, Batman. Sometimes it just can’t be helped, and other times I just don’t care… but I digress.
At this point, it is just downright discriminatory and people need to say that out loud. It is downright discriminatory that Tredyffrin for decades has been looking the other way with regard to Mount Pleasant.
And yes, I can have that opinion.
I can’t even count the number of meetings I have watched over the years where people from Mount Pleasant have gotten up and begged for help.
Enough with the lip service Tredyffrin. The zoning people and manager need to start to earn their keep, don’t they?
I mean, gosh, Tredyffrin will it take something like a civil rights action before you help these residents?
Mount Pleasant matters. Start acting like it, Tredyffrin.
Screenshot of Ellen Greenberg’s mother holding her photo in the Hulu documentary series.
I will admit I didn’t really follow this case at all until recently. The case started during a time when I was starting my breast cancer journey and learning what life after breast cancer was like. So I remember the initial news reports, but given my life back then and what I didn’t track this and plenty of other news stories I am sure.
Let’s go back to the beginning:
Her name was Ellen Rae Greenberg (June 23, 1983 – January 26, 2011) and she died after sustaining 20 stab wounds in her Manayunk apartment in Venice Lofts.
Her fiancé at the time was a guy named Sam Goldberg. Apparently he called police after he broke the front door down and subsequently found her with a knife sticking out of her chest, but didn’t recognize a knife being in her chest at first, according to the new Hulu documentary which I just found freaking strange. These apartments aren’t that big and if you’re standing there at the entrance of an apartment kitchen and you’re looking at your fiancée literally slumped on the floor or whatever you’re not going to notice a knife sticking out of her chest at first?
And they called it a suicide? How does one stab one’s self multiple times in the back and end up back down with a knife in the chest? And then there was this thing in the documentary where they said that some uncle of the fiancé Sam coming in and getting Ellen‘s electronic devices? So like her computer or tablet and phone? What was the condition of the items when police got them? How could they properly be examined after they took a detour and what is that term? Chain of custody? How was that observed exactly?
Ellen and her parents were from the Harrisburg area. It seems that her parents now live in Florida. Her former fiancé whose full name seems to be Samuel Hankin Goldberg apparently hails from the Main Line. His parents seem to still live in the area. Ellen’s parents are Joshua and Sandra Greenberg.
I have been reading and digging into this since I watched the Hulu series. Suffice it to say when you think you have heard the last worst story about anything having to do with Philadelphia, never say never and watch the documentary series.
R. Seth Greenberg was District Attorney in Philadelphia at the time of Ellen’s death. Charles H. Ramsey was Police Chief.
It’s just insane. Why is Philadelphia stonewalling the Greenberg family?
This is a crazy rabbit hole to go down. And I never really went down it before. There are so many articles, but what I still don’t understand is how the ex-fiancé and his family for that matter just seemed to move on like Ellen Greenberg never existed? He reportedly is married and has a family, and his parents seem to still live in the greater Philadelphia area?
It sounds like Ellen Greenberg wanted to have a family too doesn’t it? Only she never did, did she? Her parents never saw her get married, did they? Her parents never held any of her grandchildren because they were never born because their daughter is dead, right?
People started sending Ellen links for me to post when I was posting about Anna Maciejewska. Every time I looked at anything I kept coming back to one thing: how did Philadelphia think this young woman stabbed herself so many times in the back and chest?
So reports at that time talking about Ellen leading up to her death, included people saying she was anxious and seeing a psychiatrist, right? Does that mean she killed herself? No, it doesn’t does it?
Screenshot off of Hulu series, episode 2
And another thing is supposedly she’d been home a while before she died? Why did she have like boots on? I mean I get that they look like UGG boots or something but they weren’t slippers, they were boots. It’s snowing like crazy, but when you are in your house do you wear boots? Maybe but maybe not?
And how is it that the police and everyone started treating this as a suicide immediately because if you watch the documentary and you read the articles it’s like as soon as they appeared on the scene, they decided what it was and how could they? And then lickity split within a few days it seems of her death the apartment/crime scene was scrubbed within an inch of its life? I realize everything is not like an episode of Law and Order or whatever but doesn’t that seem strange?
Now that I’ve gone down this rabbit hole I get why people have been sending me links all these years.
There’s nothing normal about this, including the fact, the way her fiancé‘s family as well as himself just seemed to move on, right? and he’s married with at least one child right if not more? Perhaps their relationship wasn’t headed down the aisle, but we will never know because Ellen can’t tell us.
So they always tell us that if something like this is a murder one of the suspects they always look at are people closest to the victim. In this case it would be like a domestic incident right? So it would be partner, fiancé husband, etc.
Yeah, it seems like before anyone knew what this was this was just categorized as a suicide and how do you kill yourself by stabbing yourself in the back like how do you reach? Was she like really flexible or something? And I still don’t understand how they let her devices be taken out of the apartment like that? Even if it was a suicide, shouldn’t they have been collected on the initial scene that evening and at least looked at by the police?
Other things I find interesting? The media reports Nancy Schwartzman who directed this documentary, went to Shipley. They also said Sam Goldberg the fiancée also went to Shipley. I guess life really is a small world isn’t it? I know neither of these individuals, we just have a school in common, many years apart. “Courage for the Deed, Grace for the Doing” is Shipley’s motto. It has nothing to do with anything or maybe it has something to do with everything? What do you think?
I just don’t understand any of this. Most of all I don’t understand why the City of Philadelphia never seems to really cooperative so what is being hidden and who is connected to whom? Is this about money, as in whomever has all the expensive toys wins, and no one ever really looks into this case again?
There is a Facebook page that has been up for years about this:
In February 2025, the Greenbergs celebrated a major legal victory when the city settled both suits and the Medical Examiner’s Office agreed to reopen its investigation into Greenberg’s cause of death.
This ruling came shortly after Dr. Osbourne signed an affidavit stating that her death should be classified as “something other than suicide,” according to NBC Philadelphia. He reportedly made the decision after reviewing new information in the case and consulting with a pediatric neuropathologist.
The settlement also included an undisclosed amount of money.
“I hope today we made Ellen proud of us, and we were certainly very proud of her as her parents,” Sandee told reporters. “It’s monumental; for 14 years we’ve been dealing with this suicidal label.”
I don’t know if we’re ever going to know the truth. I hope we will, but it just seems every twist and every turn with this case now that I finally have sat down and read enough articles to make my eyes bleed, you go like a step forward and then two steps back. People really don’t seem to want to have this case to be solved in Philadelphia, do they? In my opinion, that is profoundly disturbing and sad.
Ellen’s family deserves answers. Her ex fiancé’s family should want this issue put to bed once and for all shouldn’t they?
Well, I’m going to leave this here with all the miscellaneous I dug up.
Ellen deserves to have her spirit at rest and justice done. Her parents deserve peace and the respect of the City of Philadelphia and various departments to actually do their freaking jobs.
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.
These photos were like yesterday or last night in front of Jaco Taco and Juice Bar in West Chester Borough. 8 West Gay Street, right ? So does this business have a security cameras? If so, they need to turn the footage over to police.
At first given all the online chatter people were rather frustrated with West Chester Borough Police.
Whoever this person is needs to have his ass thrown in jail for putting puppies in a cage in freaking August and trying to sell them on the streets of West Chester Borough.
This is horrible, it is actually illegal, and it’s animal cruelty. I’m going show you all the screenshots I have collected and a little video. if you see this person selling dogs on the street do not approach. Just call the police and record them. Clear photos would be helpful here.
I will note, based upon what I have seen online, it seems like West Chester Borough was a little slow to act here.
Police need to catch this guy because otherwise we all know what will probably happen, right? Dead puppies somewhere right?
Whoever this is, they’re just as bad as a puppy mill, and who knows maybe they’re from a puppy mill?
And just out of curiosity when this fighting was going on in the middle of the street, where were West Chester Police?
This is ridiculous that this is even happening.
File under law and disorder and illegal puppy sales in West Chester Borough.
No it’s not Sullivan Hall on Villanova’s campus. It’s Mt. Pleasant in Tredyffrin. The neighbors as in the full time year round residents are in hell. Party season for off campus housing is back.
And the song remains the same as in the same year after year. Tonight there was a call regarding Mount Pleasant. The residents don’t call unless it’s really bad and what happened? As always not much.
Mount Pleasant deserves better. Tredyffrin Township needs to get it together. There are plenty of student rentals in the region where it’s not like animal house every single year.
But in Tredyffrin its animal house every single year. One would think with all the overpriced infill development going in around Mount Pleasant that Tredyfrrin would be a little more on top of the student houses.
Come on Tredyffrin, how many years? Why isn’t this township embarrassed?
Overview of August 27 Incident: Earlier today, U.S. Marshals arrested an unaffiliated individual in the I-1 parking garage on Ithan Avenue. The person, a suspect in an off-campus incident in New Jersey, was taken into custody by federal agents without incident. Law enforcement has since left the scene, and an all-clear was issued. There is no threat to the Villanova University community. This matter is unrelated to last week’s incidents on campus.
Aug 27, 2025 at 1:44 ALL CLEAR: I1 Garage Open. Police have left the area.
Aug 27, 2025 at 1:34 p.m. Police are still on scene. Continue to avoid area. No threat to campus safety. This is unrelated to last week’s incidents
Aug 27, 2025 at 1:30 p.m. Unaffiliated person – suspect in off-campus incident in New Jersey, taken into custody safely at I-1 Garage by federal agents.
Aug 27, 2025 at 1:18 p.m. Police activity in I-1 garage Ithan Ave 1st level. NO IMMEDIATE THREAT.
I took this photo in 2022 when I had jury duty the last time
Surprise! I am a chosen one…again….and within the last 3 years. Yup I a jury duty encore
When I was called last time, I actually wrote about it. I don’t mind jury duty, but if the rule of thumb is every 3 years, and when I was called in the year last time….I should be called in 2026. And given all the things I cover as a blogger, I am always amazed they want me because they seem to jettison regular reporters. I also do suffer from lymphedema which literally makes sitting for hours difficult at times. But it is something we all should do, it’s just for such a large county, I am amazed they don’t have other people to choose from.
The jurors room in the Chester County Courthouse is really pretty nice. I don’t like the arm desks we have to write on because I am left handed. The courthouse people are all very nice. Last time I was excused after voir dire. The Judge knew who I was. He is retired now, and was a great judge I thought.
I have to tell you that overall this was kind of an interesting experience. I enjoyed the process for the most part. It’s a good way to learn how things happen inside a courthouse. I do recommend bringing a book.
I am curious if other Chester County residents feel as if they are called more so than others? People always want to tell you all of the excuses to get out of jury duty, but it really isn’t that I want to get out of it, I just feel as if I was called too soon again.
If I am indeed to serve, I wonder what kind of a case it will be this time? Last time it was a civil case.
I will let you know how my West Chester Court House experience is if I end up being called for sure the night before.
