I have no details, it happened I think at the end of last week. He was in his late 60s. 67 or 68 would be a guess. He came to work for The Daily Local in West Chester, PA in 1982, and he would have just celebrated 43 years with the paper.
Let that sink in: 43 years.
How many print reporters can say that today?
He and I were definitely not friends, more like oil and water. He did not care for me, probably because there will always be old school print reporters who just don’t like those who have only been bloggers. Or it could simply be I am outspoken and an acquired taste.
While some might find it odd for me to write anything, I am saying something out of respect for his craft. He could write. And old school newspaper guys? They are a dying breed as hedge funds etc. continue to gobble up our papers. Newspaper reporting is an art form. I know my dearly departed friend of some years, Tom Murray, whose last job was editor at The Daily Local for a while, respected Rellahan’s abilities. He told me and I remember.
Rellahan brought the stories of Chester County, in particular the courts, to life for us for decades. Court reporting is not fun, I know and have known a few court reporters for print and broadcast and it’s hard work. It’s multiple personalities and egos commingled with hard, horrible, and heartbreaking aspects every single day.
I did really like and dug into quite a few of his stories over the years. He told what a long ago English teacher would have called “word stories.” You could definitely tell when a topic interested him in the courts.
A reporter can’t color crime and justice. A reporter is not a blogger, who may like myself write, but hey opinion is part of the blogging equation. It’s just not necessarily something that old school newspaper guys will appreciate.
I found out he was gone a couple of hours ago when all of sudden a few people messaged me. I was told it was verified by folks in West Chester? I was also told nothing nefarious, just sadly his time.
Rellahan was literally a veteran reporter, one of the very few voices we had left at our local paper The Daily Local. His last article by my count was October 22nd.
I know nothing about his life other than the stories he wrote, but from his own Facebook profile, he was originally from the Cincinnati, OH area and went to Earlham College in Indiana. That was a Quaker oriented institution as per his old blogger profile. He came to this area (he wrote) three years after graduating college. So that would have made him graduating college around 1979 and high school around 1975 I guess right?
Anyway, that’s all I have got. I am honestly sorry he’s gone as I know he leaves friends and family behind who will miss him and cared for and loved him. If somewhere they post funeral information or a formal obituary, I will of course share it.
Rellahan was an old school newspaper guy. There aren’t enough of those left. Again, he wasn’t someone I knew personally, but I will miss his articles. On Muck Rack they list 8900 articles. That is a body of work one has to respect.
The gallery is quite literally art in an unexpected place and it’s fun! It’s a big well-lit space on the second floor of the auto spa.
As a matter of fact an amazing artist I know named Leah Macdonald who is an encaustic artist has a show there on Saturday, November 8, 2025 from 4 PM – 6 PM.
Anyway, discovering Leah was doing a show was the cherry on top of the delightful surprise of discovering this new gallery. There were a few different galleries that were in Malvern Borough over the past few years which are now sadly gone.
Art is one of those things that makes the world a happier place, so I hope you check it out. Again the gallery space is on the second floor of the Franklin Auto Spa in their lounge area.
So someone posted in a Malvern Facebook group about “is Malvern the Main Line?”
Eyes rolling, not this again.
No people it’s Chester County and always will be and that is totally fine and accurate to the history.
Saying Malvern is the Main Line is merely realtor/developer marketing by those who don’t know any better and/or don’t care.
The “Main Line” got the nickname from the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad mid-19th century. In the early 20th century it was attached more kind of socially and socioeconomically to the area beginning at the city line of Overbrook and ending in Paoli for social and historical reasons .
Malvern is part of the train line headed west but no more a part of the Main Line than Thorndale or Lancaster and Harrisburg are, which are also part of the same line that headed west.
It is like saying Downingtown and the edge of Coatesville is Chester Springs, which is also part of current day developer and realtor spin. And like Malvern should just be proud to be “Chester County”
Another example? People from Northeast Philadelphia don’t say that they live in Chestnut Hill do they? Or confuse Society Hill with West Philadelphia? Or say South Philadelphia is Rittenhouse Square? All of these places, including the Main Line and Chester County have their own unique history.
Those who didn’t grow up here also like to misstate the history, especially where the Main Line is concerned.
I grew up on the Main Line and lived there as an adult until I moved to Chester County to be with my husband, so I actually know the history and FWIW would rather be in Chester County because the Main Line isn’t what it used to be.
Of course for my efforts in attempting to explain this some turdsticker in that group called me a Karen. That is not a pejorative term that can be applied to me except by someone who is pig ignorant, but it helps him get through his day as an angry mansplainer.
I am glad Malvern and Chester County have their own identities and towns in Chester County can and should have their own individual and unique identities and don’t need to be plunked into inaccurate Stepford real estate marketing.
How come we have to keep discussing this?
People. Learn your railroad history. It is how these towns were built.
The Philadelphia Main Line, known simply as the Main Line, is an informally delineated historical and socially pretentious and ridiculous region of suburban Philadelphia, as freaking created by old railroad lines. These towns became more cohesive along the Pennsylvania Railroad’s once prestigious “Main Line”, which ran northwest from Center City Philadelphia parallel to Route 30 (Lancaster Ave to some Lancaster Pike to some Lincoln Highway to others.)
The railroad first connected Philadelphia to the Main Line towns in the 19th century.
They became home to sprawling country estates and hotels belonging to Philadelphia’s wealthiest families, and over the decades became a bastion of “old money”. People built their summer homes out here at that point. In the 18th century wealthy Philadelphians summered in places like Fairmount Park. In the 19th century the railroads moved them further west.
The Main Line has this fabled history. I lived there until coming to Chester County. My parents moved us there when I was about 12. So yeah, I know the history. In some regards I think I lived there in the sunset of it’s greatness. The Main Line as it exists today I find distasteful and gauche sometimes because well, the nouveau Main Line neither gets nor appreciates nor really cares about the actual history.
Until the railroads, the Main Line was a lot of country. Farms, quarries, mills, even factories. It became genteel versus rural/copuntry living by it’s very history. The Pennsylvania Railroad and 19th century real estate developers and speculators truthfully get the credit here.
Like Wayne, PA which was essentially a developer planned community of it’s day. Don’t believe me? Visit the Radnor Historical Society Website.
When this topic of what the Main Line actually is and what the actual historical boundaries are crops up on social media, someone always leaves a conversation feeling offended.
Sorry not sorry but Malvern isn’t and never will be the Main Line. As I have said before, it’s Chester County and everyone in the Malvern area should be ok with it as Malvern already has a wonderful identity and history.
One of my dear friend’s grandfathers was an executive with the Pennsylvania Railroad. He moved his family from the city to Haverford near Merion Cricket Club. The road they settled on had several homes built as a direct result of the railroad. Like many of the homes in Wayne, it was desirable because one could walk to the train station.
Growing up, we never thought the Main Line was one centimeter past Paoli…because we knew the history. Today it’s like saying you are from Greenwich, Connecticut or similarly affluent and storied suburbs… when you are not. Or even what defines Manhattan, versus living in the other boroughs of New York City but saying you live in Manhattan.
When we were growing up there was this little thing we did to remember the order of the train stations. Old Maids Never Wed And Have Babies. Overbrook, Merion, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr. You can find this mentioned here on this blog which I find amusing because they say they think the ditty ends with Bryn Mawr Station because it was thought of possibly by a Bryn Mawr College girl. This blog is called Philadelphia Reflections and I love it because they write about the most interesting stuff!
Growing up, we never thought the Main Line was one centimeter past Paoli…because we knew the history. Today it’s like saying you are from Greenwich, Connecticut or similarly affluent and storied suburbs. Or even what defines Manhattan, versus living in the other boroughs of New York City but saying you live in Manhattan.
And just so we are clear, I am not some old Main Line trust fund baby. We lived there because my parents decided to move us there as we got older for access to better schools and a way of life that included being able to play outside whenever we wanted. However, where I grew up was close to where one of my great-grandmothers was in service. Rebecca Nesbitt Gallen. She was a summer housekeeper for the Cassatt family(think Merion Cricket Club) at their Cheswold Estate. Of course Alexander Cassatt was also famous for his Chesterbrook Farm in Berwyn. We of course know Chesterbrook today as the giant development that popped the cherry of suburban density development. It’s hard to believe that Chesterbrook today was once a glorious 600+ acre farm, right?
And yes, Chesterbrook Farm was in Berwyn…yet Chesterbrook the development today has a Wayne post office zip code. Yup even Chesterbrook wasn’t o.k. where it really was, was it? Again, real estate/developer marketing.
Yeah, I know this has been quite the ramble. But I just don’t think Chester County needs to be completely annexed to the freaking Main Line. It’s preposterous. Stick to the history. It tells you the boundaries. And yes, there are several towns (and townships) that have parts of themselves which are part of the Main Line historically, although not in their entirety. Like parts of Chester County. Chester County has a rich history that is far more interesting than the mere history of the Main Line which was created by the railroads.
Thanks for stopping by….writing today as always from beautiful Chester County, PA. (NOT the Main Line.)
Yes, Virginia, there may indeed be a Santa Claus, but Malvern will always just be Chester County and not the Main Line. This is another example why actual history matters, not what revisionists wish to reimagine it as.
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.
Freedom of speech is freedom of speech so he is certainly allowed to do whatever he wants but the pledge isn’t the place for his opinion. Just my 2 cents.
This all comes courtesy of West Vincent Supervisor Bernie Couris.
Now Bernie is an interesting cat. He was the most devoted of Republicans when he was all those years on West Conshohocken Borough Council then he moves to West Vincent and becomes Nouveau Bernie the Born Again Democrat.
I am a traditionalist when it comes to certain things and I don’t think you should mess with the Pledge of Allegiance do you?
If you think Bernie should apologize to the residents and anyone else who might hear this, please email him at:
Oh and let us not forget the mysterious evaporation of whomever the forager woman was whom they initially tapped to replace Sara Shick who passed away in August? I can’t remember the woman’s name but she literally lasted like four or five meetings and disappeared. She was done.
Why that is interesting because of the sheer lunacy of whom they replaced the disappearing woman with. This is none other than Jim Wendelgass. Yes, isn’t that a fantabulosa thing? First he’s a manager then he comes back as an interim manager and now he’s a politician.
Why is this important?
Wendelgassbag was the manager that a bunch of years ago they chose not to renew his contract so he kind of went bye-bye and then went over to West Pikeland as manager because that place is very Pennsyltucky and problematic as far as government (we’ve heard about them in recent months because they keep trying to get rid of their police department and because they don’t record meetings a lot of stuff doesn’t get out.)
Wendelgassbag was at West Pikeland until he retired I guess a couple of years ago now? Then he was brought back to life like Lazarus rising from the dead in West Vincent, as like some kind of interim manager. (See the link to the old post on this blog discussing that at the very bottom of this post. )
West Vincent is one of those places that you don’t pay attention to for a while and then you go back and look and then you shake your head because every time you think things can’t get more sketchy there, they do.
And other things that I always find curious when it comes to West Vincent are little things like this open records appeal from 2024 I think it was:
Interestingly enough they’re no longer seems to be a Township Secretary at West Vincent Township and why is that? What did they do to the last one?
You know it can get shady in certain municipalities in Chester County and West Vincent, well, it is definitely a place in need of sunshine and good government.
Don’t mess with the Pledge of Allegiance that’s like burning the flag IMHO.
Hello Chester County! Welcome to the nastiest race in Chester County! The Honey Brook Thug Politics Cabal is in a FULL ON swivet because people like Valerie Shultz and they want better in local government than those people.
Sadly, every day these pathetic humans are harassing people including the executive branch of the Chesco GOP in West Chester, aren’t they?
I mean, I guess this is a step up and intimidation and harassment tactics from some rando truck following people around in Honey Brook Township on occasion, including somebody’s kids right? But how you know it’s Honeybrook there’s nothing to see here, right?
What’s next? Mythical complaints to voter services about campaign signs without a disclaimer or whatever? Note to cabal: buy better readers at The WalMart because they are there, however where bubba was a hoodie is concerned what is it with him referencing a benefactor on his signs yet say something like paid for by the candidate?
And is he taking down his own signs to say they are being stolen? Or is he placing them on private property where he doesn’t have explicit permission to post his lame signs?
Honey Brook, stop the badness and the madness with these people and #vote4val
My disclaimer: I’m exercising my first amendment rights. I am not part of any campaign. I do not donate financially to political campaigns and never have. I believe in paying it forward and that is what I am doing here.
Honey Brook deserves better than the thug politics cabal which also extends to the Twin Valley School Board. Vote for change; break the cabal with a #vote4val
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.
I make no secret of the fact that FarmBoy BBQ is one of my favorite local businesses or that I know the owner. I think they have the best barbecue around and their brisket is like a religious experience.
However, I wrote a post here in August about how difficult it is getting in there because of PennDot and their endless sink hole remediation project. The project has been forever and seems to be way behind schedule.
Farm Boy is located at 625 N. Morehall Road (AKA Route 29) in Malvern.
But guess what I discovered completely by accident today? Farm Boy is on Instacart under the restaurant tab for our area!
So if you would like to help out this restaurant so that they survive PennDot hell part two (they already had to live through this sink hole remediation once with PennDot ), place an order on Instacart and Uber Eats if you don’t want to deal with the aggravation and delays created by PennDot!
Trust me, you’ll be glad you did. And if you’ve never tried Farm Boy, this is as good an excuse as any.
And if you have an extra few minutes, please contact our state Senator Katie Muth, and tell her that PennDot is strangling small businesses with their delays on Route 29.
Last night’s roast chicken with a curry paste in leftover form first became a bone broth.
Then, after broth was cooked and strained, the chicken I had leftover that had been separated from the carcass prior to bone broth was shredded and added back along with finely chopped vegetables (fresh spinach, red cabbage, red onion, celery) and simmered along to perfection.
Some of the mashed potatoes left over from the chicken became gnocchi- just enough to cook separately and fresh for bottom of the bowl and soup ladled over it.
Now last night’s chicken was a happy experiment. We love curries and I thought why not try a curry roasted chicken?
I made a curry paste and used it to roast the chicken with it.
It wasn’t too complicated to make the paste. It was a couple different kinds of curry powder that I have, red curry paste, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder.
I thought that the leftovers would make a good bone broth and they did. And last night I decided some of the leftover potatoes would make great gnocchi.
And it all worked! In an era of expensive grocery prices, it was a thrifty solution to stretch groceries and make leftovers more fun!
Freaking Weston is back. I knew it would be and development is inevitable here but West Whiteland’s planning guy talks in circles, and I have always wondered if he was really there for residents?
I haven’t had a chance to read through it, but I am distinctly unsure how many houses they’re talking about. And are they all single-family home or are we talking twins and townhouses?
I don’t trust anything and I certainly don’t trust this township planning employee and I’m sorry not sorry on that regard. I can have these opinions.
And they NEED a traffic signal at Weston Way and King because residents will never be able to get out of driveways and roads in East or West Whiteland.
This photo is several years old.
People can participate on Zoom and I strongly encourage everyone to do so.
This plan is right on W. King Rd. right in West Whiteland over the East Whiteland boundary. It is across the street from the land that Eli Kahn bought from Johnson Matthey for warehouses. that land in particular needs definite careful environmental testing. And I hope that parcel is not big enough for a data center or a mega warehouse.
But first things first and what we’re seeing now is Weston. If you don’t participate where you live, you can’t complain about the outcome.
