Sunday, December 6, 2015

NEWLIN: The state attorney general gets involved

From what I hear, the Monday, Dec. 14, meeting of the Newlin Township supervisors is going to be packed with angry residents.
As I reported a few weeks ago, the state Attorney General's office has found that Newlin Township's controversial zoning ordinance places excessive regulations on farms and other agricultural businesses, thus violating the state's Agricultural Communities and Rural Environment (ACRE) law.
You may recall the issue: the new ordinance raised the ire of many township residents because it required the owners of many horse boarding facilities to seek an expensive special exception from the township's zoning hearing board if they wanted to continue the operations they'd been running for years. 
The state Attorney General's office suggested numerous and substantive wording changes that the township supervisors need to make to bring the ordinance into compliance and warned that a lawsuit could follow if the supervisors don't amend the ordinance.
The meeting of the supervisors (Janie Baird, Rob Pearson and Bill Kelsall) will start at 8 p.m. at the Lenfest Center, 1199 Cannery Road.

THE LIBRARY: A new executive committee?

This month's meeting of the Library Board is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15, and I'm told there is a great deal of behind-the-scenes jockeying over who will be running the board in the coming year. It's an important question because the public has given the current board leadership a thumbs down in the wake of numerous controversial actions, like trying to change the library's name (from the traditional Bayard Taylor Memorial Library to "Kennett Public Library"). A feasibility study done to assess the library's chances of raising funds for a new building even suggested that the president and vice president resign on the spot.
The president, Susan Mackey-Kallis, has not resigned but will be spending the first half of 2016 teaching in Japan. The (then) vice president did resign and was replaced by Karen Ammon. Many new members have joined the board in the past few months, and I'm hopeful they'll turn the board in a positive direction.

WEST MARLBOROUGH: A story of incredible generosity

Anne Snipes Moss, who lives near Blow Horn in West Marlborough, is donating one of her kidneys on Dec. 8 to Shauna Bishop, a woman who works as a veterinary assistant at her husband Dr. John Moss's veterinary clinic, Brandywine Valley Veterinary Hospital. The kidney transplant surgery will take place at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
According to the BVVH Facebook page: "They will be out of the office for several weeks, and hope to be back to work in the New Year. We are grateful for the support for them from the BVVH community, and hope you will send good vibes and prayers to them on the 8th."
Shauna Bishop is getting a new kidney.

Shauna needs to undergo the transplant because of polycystic kidney disease. You can contribute toward her uninsured expenses via a fundraising campaign on the HelpHOPELive website. As Anne Moss writes: "Your support is literally lifesaving, and will enable Shauna to regain her health for a lifetime. On behalf of Shauna and those who know and love her, I thank you in advance for your kindness."


FATHER DENNY: Memorial service plans pending


The funeral Mass for Dennis Van Thuyne ("Father Denny") was said on Dec. 4 at St. Helena Church in Philadelphia, but I'm told his family wants to hold a memorial service closer to Kennett. I will let you know as soon as I hear anything. I know a great many people want to pay their respects and share with the family how much Father Denny will be missed.
Contributions in his memory can be sent to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary or the Brain Injury Association of PA, www.biapa.org.
Formerly a priest at St. Patrick's Chuch in Kennett, Father Denny suffered a traumatic brain injury during an assault in Philadelphia and started the "General Store" on State Street in Kennett to raise money for fellow victims.

LASAGNE: A West Grove woman's recipe

The other day the "Taste of Home" website featured a delicious-sounding recipe for a classic hearty lasagne from Kim Orr of West Grove. She writes: "This recipe is one of my mom's specialties. It's a hearty main dish that gets requested time and time again. The from-scratch sauce makes each cheesy slice extra flavorful and softer-textured than other versions."
The recipe makes 12 servings:
1. Cook 1 lb ground beef over medium heat until no longer pink. Add 2 minced garlic cloves and cook 1 more minute. Drain. Add 1.5 C water, 15 oz tomato sauce, 6 oz tomato paste, 0.5 to 1 envelope of onion soup mix, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp sugar, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 min.
2. Spoon a half-cup of the meat sauce into a greased 13-by-9 baking dish. Layers with 3 cooked lasagna noodles and 2/3 C 4% cottage cheese, 1.25 C shredded part-skim mozzarella and 2/3 C grated Parmesan. Repeat the layers twice more for a total of 3 layers.
3. Cover. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake 5-10 minutes more. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
(Or you could just go to Giordano's and have their lasagna for dinner, like we did this evening.)

Saturday, December 5, 2015

PASTELS: Vineyard Vines is what's hot

If you have a Unionville teenager in your life as I do, I am sure you know ALL ABOUT Vineyard Vines. It's this Christmas season's red-hot preppy clothing line, kind of like "Hang Ten" or Ralph Lauren Polo shirts were back in my day. There are shirts, hats, jackets, ties, iPhone covers, stickers and even pencils emblazoned with the fanciful whale logo. (Without realizing it, I've seen numerous Vineyard Vine car magnets at the Kennett Y.)
The prices are what you'd expect. You get free shipping if you order $125 worth of merchandise, and it's incredibly easy to do so: even simple T-shirts will set you back $40 or more. (My engineer brother immediately started calculating what the company's profit margin must be.)


Naturally, there are subtle gradations in the items that are evident only to adolescents. The Young Relative and I were scrolling through the site looking at potential Christmas presents for him.
"Oh, I like that color!" I said, pointing to a T-shirt where the whale logo was done in a blue tropical print.
"It's not about the color of the whale!" protested the Young Relative. Apparently, in some complex youth calculus, sleeve length and the pocket placement have far more to do with the item's cachet.
I suggest you order now. The "Clean Catch" T-shirt (an unfortunate name indeed) that we finally settled on was sold out in all sizes except XS. I told him to text me his second choice.

UNIONVILLE: Fed up with speeders

Baby Meow, Tammy Hartzell's beloved pet cat, was killed by a speeding car in the Buffington Street neighborhood in Unionville last week. I've written before about how absurdly fast people travel in that area, which is full of kids. The speed limit is 25 mph on that stretch of Wollaston Road, and there's no way people should be going anywhere near that fast on Buffington Street, which is essentially a one-way alley.

Little Meow was hit by a speeding car.


A Buffington Road resident put this sign up on his fence.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

WEST MARLBOROUGH: State police report on activity

Lieut. Rich D'Ambrosio, the Avondale station commander for the Pennsylvania State Police, attended the West Marlborough Township supervisors meeting on Dec. 1, as he does every quarter, to give an update on the state police activity in the township. He said there had been a total of 60 incidents in the township in September, October, and November, exactly the same as in the same period in 2014. There was not a single criminal incident, he said, and of the 14 car crashes only four were serious.
He suggested that given the increasing popularity of online shopping, residents ask delivery-people to drop off packages around back so they're not visible to potential thieves driving by. He also advised against leaving Christmas tips in the mailbox for postal employees: "Just run it out to them," he suggested. He also encouraged residents to call police if they see anything unusual going on in their neighborhoods. "You know what cars are supposed to be there," he said.
In other business at the township meeting, the township engineer reported that two zoning permits had been issued in November: one for a 20-by-30-foot pole barn at the Dupreys' farm on Wilson Road and one for a 16-by-10-foot run-in shed at the Myers' farm on Newark Road.

LOCAL AUTHOR: Clipper LaMotte's new book

Unionville resident, foxhunter and attorney Clipper LaMotte has written his first novel, "Necessary Vengeance," a crime thriller that's partially set in our own backyard.
One of the characters is "Thaddeus Pennock," perhaps a nod to one of the earliest families who settled here in West Marlborough Township.
Thad is an FBI agent as well as an equestrian. As we learn in Chapter 2: “Then Thad did what he always did to pull himself together. He reached within for the lesson he started learning by foxhunting at the age of twelve alongside his parents. ... If he fell, he was expected to get right up, remount, and carry on without so much as a whimper no matter how frightened he was or how much he hurt unless he broke a bone and couldn’t. Over the years of his youth he did fall, but just as many times he made himself get up and thus came to believe he always could.”  
According to the book's blurb: "The plot races from the sinister world of organized crime in Philadelphia to dirty DC politics and from deadly deception in Buenos Aires to a murderous ambush in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania horse country, with provocative characters and unexpected twists at every turn."
You can download the first chapter for a preview (clipperlamotte.com) or purchase the book online (the e-book is available starting Dec. 8). I'll bet Clipper would even autograph it for you!

The cover to Clipper LaMotte's first novel, "Necessary Vengeance."

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

WEST MARLBOROUGH: Future of police coverage in the township

No more Clarkie??
The West Marlborough Township supervisors are proposing eliminating local police coverage from the township budget in 2016. The move would save $35,000 per year.
Since 2008 West Marlborough has contracted with neighboring East Marlborough to have its police officer (now chief) Robert Clarke patrol West Marlborough for 40 hours per month. The original goal was to ease parking problems at the Whip tavern in Springdell and cut down on speeding.
At their December board meeting, the West Marlborough supervisors said although they have been pleased with Clarkie's service, the move was a matter of fiscal priorities.
"This indicates no level of dissatisfaction," said Supervisor Bill Wylie. "We've had a very, very good relationship."
He said although the township's income is predictable, its expenses are not, especially when zoning hearings require the township to pay for engineers and attorneys. He said the fee that the applicant pays does not cover the township's expenses.
The supervisors (Wylie, Jake Chalfin and Hugh Lofting Sr.) said they welcome township residents' input into the decision (and I understand they have received some already). The budget will be posted on the bulletin board outside the township building in Doe Run and will be voted on at a Dec. 29 meeting.
Pennsylvania State Police at the Avondale barracks would still patrol the township if the contract with East Marlborough were ended.