Tag Archives: Philadelphia Inquirer

mixed emotions

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I heard from Pat Biswanger. She has been elected the new President of the Board of the Chester County SPCA. I am very proud of my friend. Hope she doesn’t live to regret this, but I think she will do a good job.

However, and this is the mixed emotions of it all, Howard Nelson has been elected Board Vice President. I honestly feel and my opinion is this is a huge mistake. I don’t see him as a victory for homeless animals. I said before that Howard should have turned this down if he really wants people to believe the Howard from the PASPCA is not the Howard at the CCSPCA. I still feel that way and Howard, it is never too late to put ego aside and do the right thing.

This is Chester County’s shelter. I believe that the board leadership should have been split between Chester County and Delaware County as long as there is the contract, after that who knows?

And because it is Chester County’s shelter and they take donations from Chester County residents and the shelter is physically located in Chester County, I believe that Chester County should always be represented in board leadership. Now it is not, and I am sorry but I do NOT think that is right.

I have no problem with a general board composition that includes people who don’t necessarily live in Chester County who are animal advocates or professionals helpful to the shelter, but I do think because it is Chester County’s shelter that Chester County should always be part of board leadership.

Pat will do a good job. I simply have little faith in what’s his name given his past with the PASPCA.

But the horse is out of the barn.

I found this op-ed today and I would like to share it as it reminded me what was important (the animals, not the personalities):

Chester County needs to focus on animals by Joe Mason The Intellegencer

There is a huge issue going on at the Chester County SPCA.

From what I’ve read and from what I’ve been told, it’s the staff against the volunteers.

I don’t know who is going to win, but I can tell you now who is going to lose.

The animals.

The shelter staff has undergone a lot of changes over the past few months….Today, the SPCA is electing its new board president, and according to a letter I received that was mailed to the board, this vote goes a long way in deciding how many rescues will work with the shelter……I don’t care if the people who work at the SPCA hate the volunteers and rescues, and vice versa. That’s not important.

The entire reason for everyone being there is to make sure the animals get in, stay comfortable while they’re there, and get into a home or foster home as soon as possible.

It’s why the shelter is there.

It’s why the board is there.

It’s why the employees are there.

It’s why the volunteers are there.

And it’s why rescues are there.

So forget egos, forget agendas, forget rivalries and do whatever it takes to get everyone working together to place dogs and cats in situations where they can be loved and spoiled.

The last thing we need is animals not getting every chance at being saved because of a little bickering.

Good luck Pat. You are going to need it and a big bottle of ibuprofen for headaches as I am thinking chairing this board will be like herding cats. And speaking of cats, I might be a dogs rule kind of gal, but I think cats need more representation at CCSPCA.

 

UPDATE SUNDAY 3/30:

New SPCA board president says shelter can rebound

By Kendal Gapinski, Daily Local News

WEST GOSHEN — The Chester County SPCA, in turmoil for nearly a year, has a new board president.

 

Patricia Biswanger, of Havertown, Delaware County, was announced as the new CCSPCA board president Friday morning. Biswanger, an attorney who operates her own small practice out of Wayne, was an animal advocate for several years before joining the Chester County SPCA board of directors….

During the board meeting Thursday night, the board voted to approve a bylaw that states all members must sign the code of conduct, and if it is not signed, then that member cannot participate in board activities, according to Biswanger.

 

Conrad Muhly, the former board president, said there are 19 total board members and 14 have signed the document so far. Both Muhly and Biswanger said they hoped the few who hadn’t signed it would reconsider.

 

Muhly has also been a point of controversy during his time as board president. He served as president of the CCSPCA’s board for five years and during the past year faced allegations of a conflict of interest surrounding the sale of shelter land in West Bradford to a developer that lists him as a principal member.

 

enough chester county spca, enough

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ccspca pizap

Maybe I am post -surgical cranky, but I want to hear from State Senator Andy Dinniman and others on this.

I just had a WTF moment when a friend of mine texted me to let me know that the Chester County SPCA fired her (again) today. And oh yeah, they used the West Goshen Police Department to do it.

I am about to almost use a bad word: BULLSH*T

Once you get past the whole how-do-you-fire-volunteers of it all, I am stuck with how is it the Chester County SPCA continues to use a local police force like their own private security detail?????? (And yes my friend gave me one of the badge numbers but I am not disclosing this here as it is not the officer’s fault.)

Who is paying for this??? Are taxpayers/residents of West Goshen and Chester County on the hook for this misuse of municipal resources ???

I am completely and utterly disgusted. I hope the media eats the Chester County SPCA for breakfast. I hear some of the media is already working on stories.

I mean how can you get “people and animals together” when you keep using the local police as bouncers to fire volunteers?

And I thought it was bad when they used the police the last time…but two police cars to confront a woman????? REALLY????

what once was: philadelphia inquirer building

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hump day havoc: patch does mass layoffs

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patchfiredCan you still call it AOL Patch?  I am not sure because they mostly sold out to an entity called Hale Global recently as per the Wall Street Journal.

USA Today said on January 15th:

AOL Inc. effectively abandoned its ambitious strategy of reinventing hyper-local news when it agreed Wednesday to sell a majority stake in the Patch website network to technology investment firm Hale Global.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed. The companies anticipate closing the deal in the first quarter.

The deal is touted as a joint venture between AOL and Hale Global, which says it specializes in turning around underperforming businesses…..

Hale Global and AOL say Patch will be relaunched as a place for contributors and businesses to create “locally-themed news and content.” ….”We are committed to bringing users, local businesses, writers and advertisers together into a Patch experience full of innovation and growth,” said Charles Hale, CEO of Hale Global, in a statement.

Well corporate raiders, acquirers, whatever you want to call them never seem to follow through on the warm and fuzzy moments do they?  With them and underperforming assets it is all about business. And the bottom line.

Well as of today all of our local Patch sites are kind of over.   The web pages are up but this morning AOL Patch did mass layoffs.  It is all over social media and the news is slowly trickling to traditional media.  It is “off with their heads” Wednesday.

Romenesko has covered it the best thus far.  He has a recording of “Hello You are Fired”

Part of what was said (courtesy of Romanesko):

Hi everyone, it’s  Leigh Zarelli Lewis. Patch is being restructured in connection with the creation of the joint venture with Hale Global…..Unfortunately, your role has been eliminated and you will no longer have a role at Patch and today will be your last day of employment with the company

Romanesko writes:

I’m told that hundreds — two tipsters claim two-thirds of the editorial staff — have been laid off by Patch’s new owner, Hale Global…

“The patch years were years of being aol’s tool and plaything. Killed myself, almost literally. Left with literally nothing. Better off dead.”

“I was a local editor for Patch for 3.5 years, up until about an hour ago. ….We knew it was coming, but the silence from New York over the few months was deafening. They left us in a state of suspended animation. For those of us who killed ourselves working for this company, it was a real slap in the face.”

I have many friends who worked with Patch since it’s inception.  Some were traditional journalists and writers by trade. People like Tom Walsh, who is now the Public Information Officer of Lower Merion Township. Or  former Managing Editor of Main Line Media News, Tom Murray and Sam Strike from the now defunct Suburban and Wayne Times, Tom Sunnergren, Anthony Leone. And more.

Heck, when Patch was in its embryo stage I was a freelancer for photos and occasional articles for mostly Ardmore Patch.

I have been critical of Patch in the past couple of years.  It had gone from being this wonderful hub of hyper-local news to a mish mosh of spelling and grammatical errors with very little emphasis on what was happening in the communities it was covering.  But yet, there were Patch sites that continued to stand out – locally Malvern Patch until Pete Kennedy left, Phoenixville Patch, Tredyffrin-Easttown Patch,  East Hampton Patch and Radnor Patch.

If I had to pick my favorite it would have been Radnor Patch, where Sam Strike was editor.  She is a friend and I have always loved her writing and photography skills.

If I had to pick a golden time for a lot of the local Patch sites, it would have been when Tom Murray was a Regional Editor.  A real newspaper guy, he really taught me how to write when I used to contribute to then Main Line Life Newspaper.

But this morning for my remaining friends at Patch like Sam Strike it was “hello, you must be going, you are fired.”

Sam Strike wasn’t the only fine Patch person who got the axe today.  Bob Byrne of Tredyffrin Patch and it looks like West Chester Patch and Malvern Patch and the list goes on. Basically if you go to Patch, click on the editor’s hyper link. It goes to an “oops there is nothing here” page. That is how I am counting up who is gone from our region.

I have been in touch with some of the Patch people I knew today.  Tom Sunnergren who now writes  for places like ESPN.com and hibu (you know those Malvern Life and similar “Life” magazines we get in the mail now once in a while?) and I spoke this afternoon for a few minutes.

Tom said he left Patch  in August 2013 for a new position and when he thought he saw the final handwriting start to appear on the wall. He told me he believes all the Patch editors in our region is gone. He said enjoyed his experience at Patch, they gave it the “college try”.  He remarked towards the end of his tenure there was a period of mixed directives that was hard on editors.

We spoke about Patch being almost a social experiment after a fashion.  He remarked it would serve as a cautionary tale to the next group that tried this hyper-local formula.

Not to armchair quarterback but at first Patch had too many sites and tons of people working for them.  Then they kept cutting people but not consolidating Patch areas to keep up with the layoffs.  First they were right there with your hyper-local news reporting on local issues from local meetings.  Then they were not covering the news but telling you  that you could blog on Patch “for free”.

The Patch sites around here operated under a mushy soft news umbrella after Tom Murray left  the Regional Editor spot for another job.

Sam Strike now former editor of Radnor Patch sent a note out to her e-mail list this afternoon:

Date: Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 1:23 PM

Subject: It’s been a pleasure

Hi all,

I wanted to let you know that it has been a pleasure working with you all over the years (some many, some few). Today Patch laid off the majority of its staff, myself included.

I’ve been doing local news in Radnor for a decade. And I’ve enjoyed it. But I think it’s time for a new challenge.

I have been and will continue to be pursuing work in the public relations/communications sector. I would appreciate any leads that you may encounter.

My Patch email will be shut down at 5 p.m. today

I was also in touch with Anthony Leone today.  He used to be a Patch editor I worked with at the Haverford-Havertown Patch. Anthony always had an uphill battle while at that Patch and so did every subsequent editor because it wasn’t just the Havertown/Haverford Township Patch. They also tossed in the town I used to live in when I lived in Lower Merion: Haverford.

Haverford, Lower Merion Township should have been attached to Bryn Mawr or Ardmore Patch but only the local editors ever got that.  Anyway, I asked Anthony what he thought and this is what he shared with me:

While it is a shame that this happened to so many of my former Patch colleagues, some of whom I have worked with personally, it is not a surprise. I do wish them the best of luck. One of the wonderful things that I have discovered since I left Patch in July 2012 is the fact that so many former Patchers are still in contact with one another and offer support.

Since I left Patch, I’ve written a lot about it on my blog What Burns My Bacon, but I thought in the beginning that they were filling a true community need, something that the readers really wanted. But over time decisions were made and it started to have a negative impact on Patch and its readers. I just hope someone can take the best parts of Patch, fix the things that were wrong with it and make something that will employ journalists and give readers what they truly desire: Original, local news.

So now what?  What is the future of journalism? Regionally and locally our newspapers have had to keep cutting back while beefing up on things like new technology and an online presence.

Years ago I had the good fortune to become aware of a blogger named Karl Martino who was one of the folks who thought up this amazing blog, a blog community really, called PhillyFuture.org which is now defunct.  One of his topics there was the future of journalism.  I wish I still had those posts he and others wrote. (he still blogs at paradox1x.)

Journalism was so different when many of us were little kids.  Real newspaper people and hard-core editors chasing the story.

Then came the failures.

I remember the first time The Philadelphia Bulletin closed. 1982.  Then the name was bought and it was resurrected for a second life. Then it died again in June 2009. It became deficit omne quod nasciture or everything that is born passes away.

Patch was launched in our area on or about September 10, 2010.  One of their editors wrote at the time:

“Want the facts without bias? A team of trained journalists covering every government meeting, every school board hearing and keeping the community abreast of local events? A brand new online newspaper launching Sept. 10, 2010 in Ardmore.  Patch.com is owned and funded by AOL, supports community journalism on a “hyperlocal” level.  Patch will cover all of the goings on in its three namesake communities, and will be updated multiple times every day with breaking news and information. “

The initial Patch sites in the greater Philadelphia area went “live” at 10:55 a.m. on September 10, 2010.   The Patch editors were ironically all fired by that time today.

Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News wrote an interesting article about the future of journalism on Attytood this past October 16th.

He said in the article titled Like it or not, this is the future of American journalism  :

I think we’re seeing that since actual civic-minded good-for-you news and investigative reporting  — propped up for more than a century by department store ads, classifieds and crossword puzzles — has zero economic value in the digital free market, there’s only one thing that will keep it alive. And it’s not really what those hundreds of journalism reform articles I read over all those years were about — things like reader engagement and crowdsourcing and using social media (although those things matter).

It’s really just about very rich people.

And not just any very rich people, but very rich people with an agenda.

Given the state of politics and craziness that has defined the rise and fall and rise and fall and rise again of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News I am almost surprised he was able to articulate much of this particular piece.

But is he wrong? Sadly, I think not.

Who will be our voices in Chester County now?   We get some coverage on TV if too many people in Philadelphia aren’t being murdered or politicians aren’t causing scandal.  But as far as local news, we don’t have much coverage by the Philadelphia Inquirer (they jettisoned their Chester County bureau a few years ago), and the Daily Local and Main Line Media News are stretched thin.

Will we be our own voices? We have all but run out of our traditional real-time story tellers A/K/A reporters and editors.

Not surprisingly most major media outlets like the New York Times are now starting to report on the Patch editorial massacre today.  They all are saying that neither AOL Patch nor new owner Hale Global would comment on the layoffs.

Interestingly enough according to Fox News a Patch that survived with editor intact apparently is Greenwich Patch.  As in Greenwich, CT. Why? Because Tim Armstrong (AOL) lives there basically. Fox reports that AOL still owns 40% of Patch.

To now former Radnor Patch Editor Sam Strike and Tredyffrin-Easttown and lately Phoenixville Patch Editor Bob Byrne I wanted to say thank you. They were among the last editors standing until today that I really respected.  They are true journalists and are people of integrity.

My friend and former editor  (as well as Patch Regional Editor) Tom Murray said to me today “Very sad day when journalist and friends lose their jobs.”

Please feel free to share your thoughts.

What is the future of media? Journalism?

tragedy

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long roadToday’s post is perhaps in part a rambling stream of consciousness.  Truthfully, I am not sure where this post will go as I start to write. This post began writing itself in my head a few hours ago.

A tragedy in Wayne has made me think of someone I had not thought of in a few years.

What tragedy am I speaking of? The man in Wayne who shot his wife on Sunday afternoon with one of their children in the house.  Then the man took his own life.

Coward.

Main Line Media News: Update: Husband, wife identified in Wayne murder-suicide

Published: Monday, January 13, 2014

By Pete Bannan,
Pbannan@Mainlinemedianews.com

Radnor police are working with family members to help care for the children after an apparent murder suicide that took place on 300 block of South Wayne Avenue in Radnor shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday.

Radnor police were called to the home for the report of shots fired. Two people, Tim Rooney, 49, and Linda Rooney, 48, were found dead from gunshot wounds in a pool house at the rear of the property, according to police.

“It appears to be a domestic situation,” said Radnor Police Supt. William Colarulo.

An 8-year-old was in the main house at the time of the shooting. The couple had two other children, a 15-year-old who is in a boarding school out of state and a 17-year-old daughter.

Their names were Tim and Linda Rooney.  I did not know them.  From what I am reading she was some kind of high level executive with a pharmaceutical company.  

Linda was also a mother of three children, two teenagers, and one child who is considerably younger.  Now these poor kids are orphans and tainted by a tragedy not of their making which is so unfair.

From what Radnor Patch was reporting, Linda Rooney may have not only feared her husband, but apparently the marriage may have been in trouble.

Wayne Murder Victim May Have Feared Husband, Police Say

Posted by   Sam Strike  (Editor) , January 13, 2014 at 06:51 PM

rooneyAs the Radnor Township community grapples with a shocking murder-suicide that took place in a Wayne home on Sunday, Radnor Patch has received comments ranging from concern for the victim’s children to the shock of knowing that a firearm was within blocks of their own children and many at Radnor Middle School.

While Radnor Police have not yet revealed a motive in the killing, they have said that they believe that Timothy Rooney, 49, shot to death his 48-year-old wife, Linda, in the pool house of their home and then shot himself….based on documents that police found it appears the marriage “was in trouble” and that Linda “may have been fearful” of her husband.

I noticed that some people were hard on Radnor Patch Editor Sam Strike for in essence, doing her job and reporting this.  This shows up in comments underneath the story when the news broke, but victims had not yet been identified. It is horrible news, but she did not sensationalize it. She stated what the Radnor Police had reported to the media in general. I know Sam, so this bothers me.  She is not deserving of being castigated for doing her job.  It was also all over the media like lightening.

Murder-Suicide in Pa. Suburbs

By  Wire Reports and  NBC10.com Staff                                  
|  Monday, Jan 13, 2014  |  Updated 3:42 PM EST

tragedyA man shot and killed his wife then shot himself Sunday afternoon, according to Radnor Police.

The incident happened in the guest house of a property at 319 S. Wayne Ave. in Wayne. The victims are identified as 49-year-old Timothy Rooney and his 48-year-old wife Linda Rooney. One of the couple’s three children, an 8-year-old boy, was in a bedroom of the main home.

Police say there were signs of struggle and that a note was left at the scene….The couple’s 17 year-old daughter came home to be with her younger brother. Another sibling is away at boarding school. Police are seeking to make contact with her.

The family, who is originally from Texas, moved to Radnor about a year ago, according to authorities.

This is all so senseless and tragic.  It will undoubtedly get weighed down by another debate on gun control.  I hope not.  It is a weighty issue, but three children just became orphans. And like many other weighty issues in this country it is polarized by politics back and forth on both sides of the issue.

What is rattling around in my brain is a similar crime the spring of 2000.  A woman I knew (and went to Shipley with) was shot by her ex-husband.  And then he turned the gun on himself.

His name was Mark Biddle.  Hers was Melinda Clothier Biddle.  She was a neighbor of mine.  I came home one day for lunch to find my neighborhood in lockdown, with police and media all over the place; helicopters swarming. The press had a field day because of the old Philadelphia names involved…likened it to High Society run amok.

A Violent End For Two With Notable Names Mark Hampton Biddle Fatally Shot His Ex-wife, Melinda Clothier Biddle, At Her Main Line Home. Then He Killed Himself.

By Patrick Kerkstra, Erin Carroll and Chani Katzen, INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF

Posted: June 01, 2000

A divorced couple from the Main Line, members of two of the most prominent families in Philadelphia’s long history, died yesterday in an apparent murder-suicide at the woman’s home in Haverford.

Mark Biddle was an angry man that Melinda finally divorced.  And it took a long time for her to get to her divorce.  It was very difficult for her to do this. But before she died, she was finally happy. She was blooming. She loved her children, her garden, a career, her friends and neighbors. I remembered seeing her out with some of her female friends from the neighborhood and elsewhere and I was so happy to see how she how happy she was and excited about life again.

A Murder-suicide Leaves Family And Police At A Loss. Questions Abound In Shootings  

By Ralph Vigoda and Patrick Kerkstra, INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

Posted: June 04, 2000

As he did many mornings, Mark Hampton Biddle started Wednesday with a prayer for his new wife, Veruschka, in the bedroom of their Chester County home. The couple, married 31/2 months, then prayed together – another morning ritual – before getting themselves and the children ready for the day…..What Mark Biddle did less than two hours later, police say, was confront his ex-wife, Melinda Clothier Biddle, in the back of the Haverford house they had once shared. He shot her twice, then – seconds later – shot himself in the head, his body crumpling in the driveway.

And then, one Wednesday morning, Mark Biddle parked his car literally across the street from my then driveway and accessed his ex-wife’s home via the R-5 Septa train tracks. He used the train tracks as a path.  He shot his former wife and then himself.  That darn car sat there for days.  I remember I finally called his old law practice and begged them to get someone, anyone to remove that car from our neighborhood.

What is wrong with this country?  Clearly, Mark Biddle was never someone who should have had access to guns anymore than this Tim Rooney. Yet he did.

My one comment on this debate which wages over guns in our country is why there has to be more control over exactly who is allowed to literally bear arms.  No one wants to interfere with an American’s inalienable rights, but part of this process should be a clean bill of mental health. And that should be something that should be periodically revisited as long as an individual owns guns. People kill.  Guns can’t just do it on their own as inanimate objects.

So as I first heard the news reports of this tragedy in Wayne, I was instantly transported back 14 years to the sounds of helicopters swarming like we were on the set of M.A.S.H or something.  I remember the chaos well because this is where I lived, and Melinda was my neighbor.  I have not thought of her in a few years.  Until this happened in Wayne.

I can only imagine how everyone in Wayne feels, and these were people that everyone was undoubtedly just getting to know because the family had only moved into the area within the past couple of years.

Human beings can be so cruel to each other and crimes like this will always be selfish in my mind on the part of the perpetrator.  Ok, so it is human to be ungodly upset but to take another life? And then your own so you don’t have to deal with the consequences of your actions? And to leave the children you brought into this world orphaned? It’s hateful, wrong, tragic, and selfish.

I often think about Melinda’s kids and wonder where their lives have led them.  I remember her son in particular as a little boy with reddish hair at the bus stop.  Melinda’s kids were lucky because her parents were able to step in and take care of her children.  And they are amazing and lovely people.

I guess life’s big lesson here is once again we are reminded of how life can change in a blink of an eye. I wish for a day when senseless violence like this ebbs away from our existences.

Appreciate those who love you and hold you dear.  I know I do.

the ultimate tree carving

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DSC_0186So.  We had this tree. It was beautiful but was a house killer so it had to come down. I hate when trees have to come down. The tree guy says to us at the time (a few months ago)  “Do you want to keep a tall stump I know a guy who carves trees.”  We said yes.  We called this guy up several times. Only this tree carver never called us back.  Good thing in the end, because our tree was carved by the person I think meant to carve it.

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Around the same time Carver “X” wasn’t calling us back,  friends in Phoenixville had a giant tree  carved.  It was amazing.  We asked them who they used.  “Marty Long” they replied.  So we called him up. He asked us to look at his website to see if what he did was to our liking.

I think it took five seconds of looking at his website to say “oh yes, please”.  This was tree carving I had never seen the likes of. It was fully sculptural, often lyrical and even fey. I have a friend from high school who is a marvelous sculptor, so I appreciate the craft.

Marty said he would fit us in when he had time.

frogSummer rolled through and I began to realize that some of my favorite wood carvings I had seen out of trees were his creations.  The giant frog in North Wayne. The rabbit totem pole on the Haas Estate facing County Line Road in Villanova.  And many others.  It ends up that all of the wood carvings I really like are his.

DSC_0012Marty was trained as a chef at Johnson and Wales.  He went from crazy ice carving to tree/stump carving.  He also carves benches and furniture and does extreme power carving.  One of the many articles written about his work was written by my friend Bonnie Cook:

Tree sculpture creates a buzz A dead white oak  is transformed into art with a children’s theme.

By Bonnie L. Cook INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Posted: September 02, 2008

High above the road in Villanova, what’s left of a giant oak is becoming chainsaw art.

Marty Long, an ice sculptor turned wood carver, slices away at the 12-foot-high trunk in front of an orthodontist’s home at 91 N. Spring Mill Rd.

DSC_0018We had a different vision for our tree then the people interviewed above.  We both love owls and I also love green men and wood sprites and spirits. Marty came and walked around, checking out my quasi tamed but somewhat feral garden (as I have previously mentioned, my garden suffered from lack of care due to an elderly gardener before I got my paws on it.)

He called us a week ago and said it was time.  I was so excited I think I was probably a bit ridiculous to live with.

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Marty and his assistant John showed up and he asked me what we wanted, or should I be more specific, had what we wanted changed since we first met with him.  I said nope and said the end result would be up to him as the artist.  I figured the wood would tell him what it wanted to be as he got into it.

From the body of a tree formerly known as a GIANT RED OAK has arisen this amazing sculpture.  It’s like a totem pole and it is awesome.  I have the ultimate owl on one side DSC_0066guarding over us and my garden, and on the other side of the tree is a wood-spirit who must have a green man as a cousin.  He gazes out at us with knowing all-seeing eyes and his hair and beard are partially made of leaves.

DSC_0130I find myself just staring at the tree. Marty’s work is simply amazing and very beautiful.  His tree carvings are raw energy and then they flow into these amazing creations.  They are indeed pieces of art if you let him go with the flow of his creativity.

If you want to connect with Marty, here is his website: www.martylong.com. Tell him you read about him on Chester County Ramblings.  If you want the most amazing thing ever, this is your guy.

Chester County has some truly amazing crafts people and artists.

I think this thing is so cool that I need my own druid…..

Thanks Marty!

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media advisory: justice for argus & fiona trial set for jury selection monday, sept. 9

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argus-and-fionaIt’s to be a very dog-centric week on this blog, apparently. The day of justice is nigh.  We received word via the Bock family this morning that jury selection begins Monday, September 9th:

announce

This odyssey began for me on February 19th when I saw a cross-post about these puppies who were shot on a friend’s Facebook page.

Then I heard this:

Since February we have suffered the ups and downs of this case with the Bock family.  We have rallied and supported the family as a community.  And as a community of Chester County residents and dog lovers it is time to come together PEACEABLY and show our support for the Bock family and in a  PEACEABLE manner express our hopes for justice.  We need justice so the family has closure.

pilottiThat does NOT mean going anywhere near Gabe Pilotti, unless you don’t want him to face a judge and jury of his peers and be held accountable? Unless you want him to become the victim in this tragedy in place of the true victims: the Bock family and two deceased Bernese Mountain Dog puppies.

Here is the docket: CP-15-CR-0001099-2013  – that is a fluid web-based docket, so you can also follow it online.

Justice for Argus & Fiona can be considered a necessary component or step in reforming dog laws can’t it?

The Chester County Courthouse is in downtown West Chester, PA. Consult the court’s website for directions.

the emperor may have no clothes on when it comes to t.o.d. in malvern

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UPDATE: I was just cruising through Malvern Patch to see if there was any resident feedback from Malvern’s TOD meeting (since the media can’t seem to cover life altering development) and my eyes about popped when I read this:

Sidne Baglini      July 24, 2013 at 09:34 pm   

The meeting was last night at Borough Hall.  The subject was the Transportation Oriented Development…Read More Plan presentation which is encouraging the Borough to change the zoning on the north side of the railroad tracks on Warren Ave.  so that 600 residential units can be constructed so that SEPTA can increase it’s ridership and surrounding communities can avoid suburban sprawl.  The plans presented showed several 12 story buildings; a plan with multiple 7 story buildings and a plan with even more multiple 4 or 5 story buildings.  Another meeting will be announced for late summer or early autumn as they are required to hold 3 public meetings and last night’s was the 2nd.  I don’t know if the 3 plans were left at the Borough Hall or if they are being held by the Delaware Valley Planning Commission.  In a nutshell, if you think East King Street Flats is your vision of what Malvern should be like, then this proposal is EKSF on steroids.

EARLIER:

I used to say that TOD stood for Total Of Dumbasses.  It really means Transit Oriented Development, and whoa Nellie I had no idea it was being planned for Malvern Borough.

It is like Groundhog Day for me because I lived through a lot of these Emperor’s New Clothes scenarios when I lived on the Main Line.  It tore apart Lower Merion Township where I used to live and to this day divisiveness truly still exists. And Transit Oriented Development is still a myth of more fiction than fact.

And oh my gosh golly here comes a meeting that may have been held TODAY in Malvern Borough that I only saw on Malvern Patch just now and it wasn’t posted until July 22 at almost 11 pm.  This is a meeting important enough that it should have had widely publicized notices for weeks and not been held in the dead of a hot, hot summer when a lot of people are away.  But the jaded person in me says that naturally that is when local governments sneak things through: around major holidays or in the dead of summer.

Future of Train Station up for Discussion

This is your second chance to see what could be coming for the Malvern train station.

 A meeting this Tuesday could shape how a major section of Malvern could look in the future.

The Malvern Transit-Oriented Development Plan (TOD) is holding a public meeting to discuss the future of the half-mile section of borough near the SEPTA train station on Tuesday, from 4 to 7 p.m….For more information on the meeting, contact borough manager Sandra Kelley at 610-644-2602 or check out the group’s flyer onthe borough website.

Malvern-workshop-2-flyer

malvern flyer july 2013

A meeting this important and they seem incapable of properly publicizing? it is a shame that Malvern Borough wants to turn themselves into Upper Darby or something isn’t it?  I have to ask is this “plan” actually a done deal and are these motions are just for show?

Malvern’s charm is in it’s history and size, much like the village portion of Berwyn and similarly scaled small towns and villages.  I could see making Malvern say sprucing up a little bit more like Narberth which has undeniable charm and popularity, but Narberth does things based on sound planning and well Malvern Borough seems to chase dollars like a hooker looking for money on top of the dresser.

Some will find my words hard and hyper critical and for that I am sorry, but lordy have they learned nothing? Look at Eli Kahn’s hulking monstrosity would you? The photo below was taken in March and while the Tyvec and black paper may be covered up now by plaster and whatnot but it still does not disguise the fact that this project looms over the street, looms over houses across the train tracks and lacks human scale and the ridiculously low amount once quoted in the paper as what would be gained in ratables leaves me scratching my head.

And again, I am sorry to sound this way it is just so simply Groundhog Day and if I could spare anyone what others have gone through with these Emperor’s New Clothes fools’ errands of unattainable zoning overlays and infill development hair-brained plans that don’t EVER seem to take into account the scale of current buildings, architecture, history, human scale, design elements, the actual will of the people or parking and traffic I would.

I don’t live in Malvern Borough so I have no standing, just opinion.  But I have to say I am not anti-progress but I am against poor planning.  An article from September 2012 in Main Line Media News by Henry Briggs on this topic says that as per tax records Malvern Borough residents pay nearly FOUR TIMES the taxes paid by businesses and industrial property owners.

Here is that column of Henry Briggs’ from September 2012:

Main Line Suburban Life > Opinion

HENRY BRIGGS: How much should Malvern grow?

Published: Monday, September 24, 2012

On Tuesday, Sept 25, from 4pm to 7pm, Malvern Borough will offer its citizens a voice in a decision that will permanently effect the future of the town.

Woody Van Sciver, Borough Council President and Jeff Riegner a planning consultant, will ask for comments on “transit oriented development” in Malvern; specifically, putting additional people and buildings into a half-mile perimeter of the Malvern SEPTA station.

As Malvern is only 1.3 square miles, this will have enormous and permanent impact on the people who live and work there.

With the development of East King Street, the town is currently in the first stage of a 10% expansion….What triggered the study? A breakfast in 2008 hosted by the Philadelphia Area Chamber of Commerce and attended by assorted civic leaders, including Woody Van Sciver, Malvern Borough Council President.

The main speaker, Barry Seymour, from the DVRPC, spoke about the need to beef up density around transit centers – the SEPTA and AMTRAK stations – along the Main Line. His pitch echoed that of the “Landscapes Plan” which Chester County put together years ago.

I am with Henry Briggs and ex-Borough President Pat McGuigan: keep Malvern a traditional village.  Maybe spruce it up a little and get some of those derelict property owners near the Flying Pig to clean up and get tenants, but don’t supersize Malvern around a train station that isn’t even handicap accessible.  Fix up the existing downtown, get grants to repair sidewalks.  Look to ways of improving parking for visitors and residents. Come up with a viable village plan that looks at Malvern Borough as a whole so progress flows and doesn’t cause pain. Go to Media and Narberth and check them out – although downtown Media is much larger than either Narberth or Malvern like Malvern and Narberth it is off the beaten path (i.e. not right on a major road like Route 30)

Like many municipalities, Malvern Borough might benefit in term limits for elected officials because wow hearing this stuff makes one question why people serve doesn’t it? Maybe this Woody Van Sciver needs to retire, right?

Also see Should Malvern Grow by Joseph DiStefano at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Malvern Borough is 1.2 or 1.3 square miles and that will never change.  It is time for Malvrn Borough Towns Fathers to put away their huge insecurity issues and obvious inferiority complexes and accept Malvern for what it is: a VILLAGE.  Capitalize on THAT, don’t try to make Malvern what it is not.  And anyone who tells you that your community in exurbia (because out here we are past the traditional suburbs of the Main Line) will only thrive and prosper with tons of density and infill development should be run out of town on a rail and sent to live in the urban jungle they so greatly crave.  As a matter of fact, I hear there is a lot of room in Detroit these days.

Lecture over You all do what you want this is merely my opinion.

playing “chicken” in west vincent

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cluckThere has been a lot of discussion about “things” in West Vincent again, and once again the knee jerk reaction of someone is to post things which are tantamount to bullying at a minimum in a building that functions as a United States Post Office.

Posting harassing things to bully private citizens in a building designated a United States Post Office is like mailing the same things through the mail – it is not quite legal and that is why things like this are given to United States Postal inspectors, isn’t it?  Maybe it is past time to bump this up a notch?

west vincent harassment

So supporters, followers, politicians, township employees, whomever here is the 411: David Monteith is not and never has been “Chickenman”.  And Chickenman is not the one who started the inquiry into the problematic West Vincent Farmers Market.  Ordinary people did.  I have looked into it, does that make me Chickenman too?  Do the inconvenient facts that the Township Manager of Upper Uwchlan is following his zoning and the law make him , Cary Vargos , Chickenman?

I don’t know who Chickenman is and as an Auslander I stand a better chance of finding out than Ken Miller, Dave Brown, Claire Quinn and so on and so forth. Maybe Chickenman is Sam Cantrell and he is all organic? Maybe Ted Otteni or Gabe Pilotti is Chickenman?  What about West Vincent’s Township Manager and Township Solicitor? Are they in fact Chickenman?

I know David Monteith.  He runs a good business.  And because he stood up once upon a time in West Vincent he is harassed by supporters of “good government” as it currently stands in West Vincent.   These people stand in the shadows like vampires  afraid to be seen in daylight, don’t they?  And doesn’t this stuff oddly seem to happen to every other resident and taxpayer of West Vincent who stands up for the right things?  I figure it is only a matter of time before  John Jacobs and Maria Holderness will be targeted, right?  Maybe their residency will be challenged? How they tie their shoes? Maybe a case can be used against civilized, incorruptible, honest people some more in West Vincent?  Why does good = bad?

So are you going to attack me because I am sick of what you “good people” have been trying to do to an innocent man the past couple of years?  I get you are all working on mob mentality and like to hide in the shadows as bullies are wont to do, but sooner or later, probably sooner, you will be caught won’t you?  After all you never know where surveillance cameras lurk (other than in woods during private barbeques) do you?

The irony of this dumb as dirt thing posted today is the proposed farmers market for West Vincent is actually located in Upper Uwchlan .  So maybe Cary Vargo REALLY is Chickenman?  Hell maybe Jim Gerlach is Chickenman! Or what about that nasty Larry guy who left comments on this blog?  Is he Chickenman?

Lots of media follow this blog and eventually someone will say it is very odd the way West Vincent officials turn a seemingly blind eye while residents are bullied by government supporters.  And I bet that might include The Daily Local which some flannel mouth woman in West Vincent whose name begins with an “S” seems to think she controls, right? (I find that to be quite the accomplishment given she is neither editor, owner, nor publisher is she?)

If you people do not have the balls to come out of the shadows and man and woman up and have a conversation the right way maybe you should all just shut it?

But this bullying and harassing of private citizens who love where they live and want the best for residents IS going to stop. People get tired of it more and more every time. And the fact that May primary turned out the way it did and the fact that the placards in the United States Post Office are back says that someone or several someones are running scared and dare we say they are BIG CHICKENS?  Are they Chickenman????

Cluck, cluck, cluck.  This blog is my opinion as guaranteed by the founding fathers of this country via the First Amendment.  Guess they are Chickenmen too?

it’s not easy being green….

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green

It’s not easy being green…poor, poor West Vincent Township.  So much darn odd stuff happens within the township boundaries, you just can’t make it up.

The latest is a gargantuan pot bust.  Yes marijuana is apparently the new crop in that part of Chester County.  I can’t see it from my window and that is good.

Before I post the article I would mention that West Vincent residents have an AWESOME and not connected to the current regime candidate for supervisor – John Jacobs.  Given the odd things that happen to West Vincent residents  have an interest in cleaning up local government, can it be said this man puts himself at great risk to run?  Well of he can do that, you all should be able to vote for him.  West Vincent residents all say they want change, well the only way to get that is to break the death grip the current network has with a new supervisor.

You want change, people?  Vote the old out and vote in the new.  John Jacobs has a website.   Here is a link to other endorsed candidates if you are interested. Yes it is GOP and I would put up the Democratic info if I could find it. But the truth is who is representative of them in West Vincent? Clare Quinn?  Lordy that isn’t something to brag about and are you all still paying her benefits? Also worth noting? Another fabulous upstanding and honest person that I think would be marvy is running for West Vincent Township Auditor – Maria Holderness. Seriously people, it is time for change in your neck of the woods. After all what does it hurt to consider people whose hands AREN’T in some cookie jar somewhere?

Here is the article and yes, it’s not easy being green:

DA: major West Vincent pot grow operation busted

Posted: Thursday, 05/09/13 01:24 pm Updated: Thursday, 05/09/13 07:14 pm

WEST VINCENT — Over 180 marijuana plants were seized and one man was arrested Tuesday after police discovered a “sophisticated” grow operation at a home in the 1200 block of Jaine Lane in Spring City.

“Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan announced the arrest of Christian Titone of Spring City Thursday for allegedly running what police said was a sophisticated hydroponic grow operation and that housed over 180 live marijuana plants .”;
According to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office, 53-year-old Christian Titone was arrested after police executed a search warrant at his home. Officials said the home was located in a secluded area of the township.

“Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan announced the arrest of Christian Titone of Spring City Thursday for allegedly running what police said was a sophisticated hydroponic grow operation and that housed over 180 live marijuana plants .”;
“The defendant thought he could outsmart the police trying to grow marijuana in a secluded section of Chester County. He was wrong,” said District Attorney Tom Hogan. “We have confiscated his drugs arrested him, and now will move to forfeit everything associated with his drug dealing.”

photo courtesy of The Daily Local News via Chester County DAs Office

photo courtesy of The Daily Local News via Chester County DAs Office

“A large number of grow lights removed from the West Vincent home of Christian Titone, who is charged with a large-scale marijuana growing operation.

Police said investigators executed a search warrant at Titone’s home during Tuesday’s early morning hours. Inside, they found a sophisticated hydroponic grow operation…also found processed marijuana ready for sale…Titone’s home also had a “state of the art” surveillance system…After the search, executed by the Chester County Detectives and the county’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Strike Force, members of the state police’s Clandestine Laboratory Team removed the marijuana and all of the growing equipment, officials said.

I notice the Daily Local lists a rather long list of law enforcement involved.  Basically everyone except West Vincent’s own police department and why?  Was West Vincent’s Chief out collecting Gabe Pilotti’s gun or something?  Pilotti is the one who shot the dogs in cold blood, remember?   One would have thought that the West Vincent police would have confiscated the weapon pending the outcome of the court case, right?  But we’re not here to discuss dog killers today.

Anyway just chalk it up to more unpleasant spotlights shining down on West Vincent.

Also found coverage in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

POSTED: Thursday, May 9, 2013, 4:07  PM

Aubrey Whelan Philadelphia Inquirer

Chester County detectives have arrested a West Vincent man who, they say, was  running “a major marijuana grow operation” in his house.

On Tuesday evening, detectives entered the home of Christian Titone, 54, on a  search warrant. Inside, they found 188 marijuana plants — part of what Chester  County prosecutors called a “sophisticated hydroponic grow operation” that  included lights, ventilation and an irrigation system, according to court  documents.

Kudos to the Kennett Times for a catchy article title that cracked me up.

The Kennett Times: Plethora of pot plants lead to drug bust

W. Vincent resident accused of  marijuana-growing operation

By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times

Authorities said an alleged marijuana grower thought his remote location and sophisticated surveillance system would protect him from police….“A high-tech, high-end drug operation like this would be providing drugs to suppliers from Phoenixville to Kennett Square and points beyond,” said Hogan….Titone has been charged with several drug-dealing offenses, including possession with the intent to distribute controlled substances and possession of drug paraphernalia, the criminal complaint said.  Hogan said Titone was released after “promptly” paying $100,000 cash bail. He said a preliminary hearing would be scheduled in the near future.