The West Marlborough supervisors updated the wording of the township's floodplain ordinance at their Sept. 5 meeting. Before voting to approve the changes, the supervisors held a brief hearing to hear any input from residents. The only comment came from Mark Myers, who asked if the new ordinance would prohibit the installation of fences in areas designated as floodplains. Supervisor Bill Wylie said he had researched that question and concluded that fences would not be affected.
The supervisors made the changes because the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been updating its flood maps statewide and is requiring all municipalities to redo their ordinances this year for consistency. Court reporter Bill Handy commented afterward that it was probably the eighth similar hearing he had recorded recently in the county.
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
UNIONVILLE: Start spreadin' the news
It may seem trivial to some, but I was delighted to hear that a new community bulletin board was installed at the Unionville post office on Sept. 6. The old one was removed some months ago, and I for one really missed checking out the fliers for local events, blood drives, help wanted, houses for rent, and tack and horses for sale. And when I was trying to publicize an event it was the best possible place to thumb-tack a poster.
Sunday, September 3, 2017
BLUEGRASS: A chilly, rainy, terrific fest
We had a great time Saturday listening to old-time music and people-watching at the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival, which is held each Labor Day weekend at the Salem County (N.J.) Fairground.
The music started on Friday, but we got there on Wednesday evening for two reasons: to pitch our tent and to claim our space in the main performance pavilion by setting up our folding chairs. Even though the campground had just opened, dozens of RVs were already there; you could hear people jamming, and the folks in the space next to us had already set up and lit their tiki torches (South Jersey mosquitoes don't mess around).
The entire main pavilion was already full of chairs by the time we got there, but we found a good spot in the secondary pavilion.
The most memorable performers were Tuba Skinny, an ensemble whose style was more New Orleans street jazz than traditional old-time music. The band included, yes, a tuba and other brass instruments, a clarinet and even a washboard, played with gusto by an extremely loose-jointed fellow. The audience seemed to love it, dancing around while bobbing their umbrellas up and down.
The rain, sometimes heavy, actually added to the fun. To stay dry, there were folks wearing firehouse bunker gear, nautical foul-weather gear, floor-length Western-style canvas dusters, and those nubby Mexican ponchos that were all the rage in the 1970s. A guy in a transparent orange poncho looked just like a Creamsicle.
I stared fascinated as one very tall man, wearing a desert-camo jacket and matching knee-length skirt, unfolded a pair of camo pants, threaded a belt through the belt loops and then managed to put it on while simultaneously removing the skirt.
Hat-wise, I saw people wearing clear-plastic pixie hoods, a beret, a conical Chinese-style hat, Stetsons, straw hats and ball caps. The rainbow of umbrellas included an impractical white Mary Poppins parasol, a full-sized two-tiered porch umbrella, and umbrellas with newspaper logos on them (do newspapers still give away premiums?).
The many kids at the fest, of course, didn't mind getting wet in the least. We had fun watching them jump into puddles and steer their bikes across the flooded grassy areas, the deeper the better.
Along with the rain, it didn't get above 70 degrees all day Saturday. A woman said to me in the ladies' room that she was wearing so many layers of clothes, she was sure she'd walk out of the restroom with the wrong layer pulled up and the wrong one pulled down.
My still-soggy hat goes off to the Brandywine Friends of Old-Time Music, the group who organizes this fest.
ETHICS: Who mispriced my cheese?
So on Sunday I was at the Giant, buying the ingredients for one of my favorite comfort-food suppers: angel-hair pasta with garlic, olive oil, basil (fresh from the garden) and Romano cheese. I was looking through the cheese case and found a wedge of Romano priced at $0.05. Yes, five cents for a good-sized triangle of cheese. There were other chunks priced at only one cent.
Now: what would you do?
Would you say, "Sweet! With all the money I spend at Giant, they totally owe me one!" Or would you say, "Let us recall Kant's Categorical Imperative from Philosophy 101. I must point out this error to the manager because if everyone took advantage of this obvious mistake, the store would suffer. Perhaps they could no longer afford to stock fancy cheese at all!"
Discuss with your family over the dinner table.
Without even running the scenario, I know I would be on the losing end of this one in my family, by a 2-1 vote, with the Young Relative's ethical position wavering, depending on whose favor he was attempting to curry on any given evening.
Who am I kidding? I'd be down 3-1 for sure.
Now: what would you do?
Would you say, "Sweet! With all the money I spend at Giant, they totally owe me one!" Or would you say, "Let us recall Kant's Categorical Imperative from Philosophy 101. I must point out this error to the manager because if everyone took advantage of this obvious mistake, the store would suffer. Perhaps they could no longer afford to stock fancy cheese at all!"
Discuss with your family over the dinner table.
Without even running the scenario, I know I would be on the losing end of this one in my family, by a 2-1 vote, with the Young Relative's ethical position wavering, depending on whose favor he was attempting to curry on any given evening.
Who am I kidding? I'd be down 3-1 for sure.
UHS: The Oakbourne Relays
Sadly, the Young Relative's support crew is now missing its two most senior members, but we still mustered his parents, one grandmother and one aunt to cheer him on as the Unionville High School cross-country teams competed in the Oakbourne Relays tournament at Stetson Middle School on the afternoon of Sept. 1.
This was an unusual race format and a challenging one. The runners pair up, and athlete A runs a mile over a hilly cross-country course, then athlete B runs the same mile, then athlete A, then athlete B again. So basically you warm up, run a mile, and then have to stay limber while your partner runs his or her leg. The YR's times for the two legs differed by only three seconds -- excellent consistency.
We noticed that the students were extremely vocal in their support of their team-mates, especially the spirited team from Emmaus High School, whose cheers were almost deafening during both the races and the awards ceremony.
By the way, on the way home I took a detour just so I could drive over the newly reopened Route 926 bridge over the Brandywine for the first time. I am not often impressed by road projects, but wow! It looks great.
This was an unusual race format and a challenging one. The runners pair up, and athlete A runs a mile over a hilly cross-country course, then athlete B runs the same mile, then athlete A, then athlete B again. So basically you warm up, run a mile, and then have to stay limber while your partner runs his or her leg. The YR's times for the two legs differed by only three seconds -- excellent consistency.
We noticed that the students were extremely vocal in their support of their team-mates, especially the spirited team from Emmaus High School, whose cheers were almost deafening during both the races and the awards ceremony.
By the way, on the way home I took a detour just so I could drive over the newly reopened Route 926 bridge over the Brandywine for the first time. I am not often impressed by road projects, but wow! It looks great.
MAPS: Collecting data
Twice in recent days I've seen the white Apple Maps vans driving around in Kennett and even all the way out here in West Marlborough. Camera rigs are mounted on the roof.
According to Apple, the purpose is "to collect data which will be used to improve Apple Maps. Some of this data will be published in future Apple Maps updates. We are committed to protecting your privacy while collecting this data. For example, we will blur faces and license plates on collected images prior to publication."
My brother reports that an Apple van passed him while he was on his bike. I'll be eager to see if his chiseled legs appear in the final product.
The Apple website also lists the places the Apple vans are visiting during each two-week period. Along with Pennsylvania and 18 other states, they are also in London, Paris, Rome and Biscay, Spain, through Sept. 10.
According to Apple, the purpose is "to collect data which will be used to improve Apple Maps. Some of this data will be published in future Apple Maps updates. We are committed to protecting your privacy while collecting this data. For example, we will blur faces and license plates on collected images prior to publication."
My brother reports that an Apple van passed him while he was on his bike. I'll be eager to see if his chiseled legs appear in the final product.
The Apple website also lists the places the Apple vans are visiting during each two-week period. Along with Pennsylvania and 18 other states, they are also in London, Paris, Rome and Biscay, Spain, through Sept. 10.
VAPING: Carrots are better for you
I saw a sign on a car on Concord Pike the other day: "Don't Be an E-Cig Guinea Pig," it proclaimed. As a longtime cavy fan, I was intrigued.
It turns out that the Delaware Division of Public Health is trying to persuade e-cigarette users that "vaping" is not a safe alternative to smoking because it still involves inhaling lots of toxic chemicals.
 |
| Clever, but using a guinea pig paw instead of a human hand would have been a witty touch. |
Wilmington ad agency Aloysius Butler & Clark used the "guinea pig" angle (one ad shows a very cute guinea pig wearing a hoodie) in a public-service announcement for Healthy Delaware showing a bunch of teens vaping and ostracizing one of their peers as "paranoid" when he suggests their e-cigs are just as bad as the old-fashioned kind. You can watch it on YouTube.
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