Newark Life Fall/Winter 2014

Fall/Winter 2014

Newark Life

Magazine

Inside:

• A new life for the Newark Shopping Center • UD partners with Mt. Cuba • Time runs out for the New Century Club

www.newarklifemagazine.com

• Q & A with Dennis Lawson, the executive director of the Newark Arts Alliance A Chester County Press Publication

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Table of Contents...

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Newark’s new community neighborhood

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Reviving the classic music of Pink Floyd

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Remembering the long assault on voting rights

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Celebrating the ‘Lazy Athlete’ in all of us

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UD’s other outdoor classroom

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The Newark Empowerment Center offers a hand up

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...Fall/Winter 2014

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Adventure in Honduras

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Downtown Newark

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Innovative program to celebrate tenth anniversary

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Photo Essay: The New Century Club fades into history

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Q & A with Dennis Lawson, Newark Arts Alliance

On the cover: Photo by Richard L. Gaw Cover design: db Stirrat Orchard Road on the campus of the University of Delaware

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SPOTLIGHTING NEWARK LIFE An ever-evolving city Newark Life • Fall/Winter 2014 Letter from the Editor

N

ewark is a very different city than it was on Thursday, July 21, 1955. That’s the day that the Newark Shopping Center held its grand opening celebration. In this issue of Newark Life, we look at the exciting plans to revitalize the Newark Shopping Center, Atlantic Realty, Inc., a Virginia-based real estate developer, has a vision for the shopping center’s future that will soon transform it into a destination for shoppers throughout Delaware.

This is another illustration of how Newark is an ever-evolving city. There are signs of progress and change throughout Newark.

Many people who are invested in the community have devoted their time and talents to carefully planning out the city’s future.

As our writers and photographers put this issue of Newark Life together, we met many interesting people who live or work in the city. It’s not a coincidence that an ever-evolving city would attract so many interesting people.

There’s Gary May, a professor of history at the University of Delaware, who has written five books, including one, “Bending Toward Justice,” about the Voting Rights Act. In another story related to the University of Delaware, we explore the unique collaboration between the university and Mt. Cuba that offers students in the College of Agriculture & Natural Resources 350 acres of opportunities for research.

We talk to Scott and Brenda Hurst, Newark residents who have established a lifestyle brand called Lazy Athlete that allows people of all ages to celebrate the lazy athlete inside. With its line of t-shirts, hoodies, and other athletic gear, Lazy Athlete encourages everyone to remember to have fun and enjoy life while also handling day-to-day responsibilities like work or school.

We also meet members of Echoes, a band that will be gearing up this fall to bring Pink Floyd’s timeless music to local audiences.

This issue also includes a feature on the Newark Empowerment

Center, which helps local residents most in need, as well as a photo essay on the New Century Club building, which is set to be replaced by a threestory apartment complex and office building.

The subject of our Q & A is Dennis Lawson, the executive director of the Newark Arts Alliance, who shares some insights about the local arts community and his own writing.

We hope that you enjoy these stories as much as we enjoyed writing them, and we welcome your comments and suggestions for future stories. We look forward to bringing you the next issue of Newark Life in the spring of 2015.

Randy Lieberman, Publisher randyl@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553 Steve Hoffman, Editor editor@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553, ext. 13

www.newarklifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Newark Life

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The Newark Shopping Center, long a visual and commercial eyesore, is about to receive a new life, thanks to the vision of an enterprising developer and the great foresight of some Newark businesses

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer The Newark Post newspaper headline, dated Thursday, July 21, 1955, spoke volumes about the realization of a dream: “Newark Shopping Center Open as Thousands Throng City.”

The article called the shopping center “a gleaming new merchandise mart,” a retail paradise headed by eight businesses: The Equitable Security Trust Company, the Newark Department Store, the Sun Ray Drug Store, F.W. Woolworth, the Terry Shop, the Lindemann’s Bakery, Chrichton’s Beverages, and J.J. Minster and Son. The place was not only brand-spanking new, it was huge: 16 acres, with enough room for 1,500 cars, as well as covered sidewalks, stone facing and ground-to-roof display windows. On its first day, the formal dedication ceremonies ushered in a new definition of the way retail in Delaware would look.

Image courtesy of Atlantic Realty, Inc.

The new Newark Shopping Center will appeal to both drivers and pedestrians.

Newark’s new community neighborhood

That was nearly 60 years ago, and that once-shining monument to convenience and community has become a creaky, often neglected version of it former glory, while megamalls like Christiana and Concord have collectively swept the once-polished veneer of Newark Shopping Center clean of hope and customers. For the most part, the 50,000 residents who live within a five-mile radius of the now-forlorn shopping center have latched on to prettier pastures.

During that time, only Minster’s Jewelers has remained.

In the past several years, the City of Newark had entered into relationships with several developers to bring the Newark Shopping Center into the modern age. One by one, plans fell through. And then, five years ago, David Ross, the president of Atlantic Realty, Inc., a Virginia-based real estate developer, saw the dilapidated shopping center for the first time, based on the recommendation of its business partner, Angelo, Grodon & Company.

At a time when so many others saw the Newark Shopping Center as a project of little hope, “we saw it as probably one of the most prime pieces of real estate in this part of Delaware, an unbelievable opportunity for us to bring life back to what had once been so vital a part of the Newark community,� Ross said.

In many ways, it was the perfect combination: a shopping center in need of a major overhaul, paired with one of the largest commercial real estate developers in the Washington-Baltimore region, with a current portfolio of 5 million square feet of office and retail space. They have a success-story turnaround of mall projects from Virginia to Maryland.

It was just the kind of forward thinking the City of Newark wanted to hear.

Continued on Page 10

Newark Shopping Center...

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Ross and his staff saw the center as a site that once had great purpose, but needed to be reborn into the mold of a community center design that could potentially draw from a customer base of University of Delaware students, longtime residents of Newark, as well as an influx of young professionals. They wanted to create an eclectic destination center of anchor stores, retail shops and restaurants -- one that could help drive the economic, social and retail fabric of Newark.

“Retail today is different than it was 60 years ago,” Ross said. “A lot of the older centers basically had their population come to them. There were not a lot of opportunities for residents beyond the weekly shopping, shopping centers focused on cars, driving and parking lots. Now, there is so much more emphasis on the pedestrian. We’re trying to bring things into today’s world.”

The center’s upgrade, now 100 percent approved and underway, is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2015. The upgrade will include improved traffic lanes and parking, updated signage, new landscaping, renovation of existing storefronts and stores, and a pedestrian

Image courtesy of Atlantic Realty, Inc.

The shopping center is expected to be completed in 2015.

walkway through a retail pavillion that will connect the center to the historic Pomeroy Trail.

So far, several businesses currently located in the center have signed on for the new phase of development, including Anthony’s Salon, the Cinema Center, Capriotti’s, Dollar Tree, Empowered Yoga, Goodwill, Minster’s Jewelers, PNC Bank, Rita’s and Saigon Restaurant.

Marilyn Minster, of Minster’s Jewelers, remembers that wonderful day in 1955 when the Newark Shopping Center opened to thousands of well-wishers. Minster’s Continued on Page 12

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was among the first tenants. She is thrilled to be a part of the new center.

“It’s a dream comes true,” Minster said of the new shopping center plans. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this to happen. Atlantic is having to do a lot of repairs, and right now it’s in stages, but when it's finished, we will better be able to entice the consumer into visiting the shopping center. I’ve been here for 58 years and stuck it out for one reason -- for my clientele. I stayed here, and I’m glad I did.”

On July 25, the Newark Natural Foods Co-op signed a lease for 17,610 square feet of retail space in the center, which will make them one of the primary anchor stores. The new location -- at the former location of the Newark Department Store, between Saigon and the Dollar Tree -- will double the current size of the co-op, increase shelf space by 20 percent, allow more space for educational programs, and enable the store to hold its well-attended Sunday farmers markets at a site within view of Main Street.

“We are in a situation where we have outgrown our current location,” said Karen Taylor, general manager of

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Newark Natural Foods Co-op. “We don’t have enough parking and our loading dock is outdated, so when the space became available, it made it easy for us to prepare for our third move in the last 40 years.”

For years, largely because its current space is tucked away from Main Street, Newark Natural Foods Co-op has been referred by many as “Newark’s Best-Kept Secret.”

It may not be anymore once the move is made; Taylor said that having a dedicated and specialized grocery in the Newark Shopping Center will attract more people to other neighboring stores.

“It will bring a sense of community into that space,” she said.

While Atlantic Realty, Inc., continues to seek out additional tenants for the new center, it is being done with the idea of “filling holes” in the big picture of what a mall of this kind needs to provide its customers. Ross said that his company is looking for updated restaurants -- in the style of the brewpub, where families, students and oher residents can mesh.

“There are a lot of restaurants that are stand-alones on Main Street, which we feel would do better in a center like this, as a way of adding a sense of synergy with other establishments,” Ross said. “We’re also looking to create an outdoor patio along Main Street

that could be used by a restaurant. It’s making sure the opening of the Newark Shopping Center nearly 60 years that we’re not just putting tenants into spaces, but ago, the anticipation of the many businesses who were a part of its beginning seems to leap from the headlines. finding the right tenant for the right space.”

Sometime in 2015, Ross knows that the when the newest incardecision to replace nation of the Newark the 50-year-old Shopping Center will Brunswick Blue Hen be unveiled, a similar Lanes bowling alley grand opening will be with a five-story, held, one that will rec250-unit apartment ognize not only a part complex and parking of the center’s future, garage was a conbut honor its past. troversial one, but When asked what he feels the project he will tell Newark was based purely on residents at the grand economics. opening, Ross did not “Clearly, the bowlImage courtesy of Atlantic Realty, Inc. hesitate. ing center has been The center’s plans also call for a 250-unit residential complex.

“The people of there for a long time, but at the same time, it doesn’t generate the revenue that Newark will know that the Newark Shopping Center we’re seeking,” he said. “We elected to eliminate the should be in a very good position for the next 60 years,” bowling center, so that we can support a new revenue he said.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, e-mail rgaw@ generator.”

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———————|Newark Arts|———————

Reviving the classic music of Pink Floyd

By John Chambless Staff Writer

T

he epic, timeless music of Pink Floyd has been a constant presence for the members of Echoes, a band that will be gearing up this fall to bring Pink Floyd’s magical aura to local audiences.

Echoes was playing steadily in the early 1990s, just as Pink Floyd released its last album, “The Division Bell,” in 1994. Audiences

Photo by John Chambless

From left: David Fox, John Cassidy and Kyle Frederick at the Crazy Diamond Recording Studio in Newark.

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raised on the band’s most popular albums – from “Meddle” in 1971 through “Dark Side of the Moon” (1973), “Wish You Were Here” (1975) and “The Wall” (1979) – couldn’t get enough of the introspective, incisive and dark material that explored hidden corners of the human experience.

Fractured by personality conflicts and perhaps the sense that they had nothing left to prove, Pink Floyd ceased to exist by the late 1990s.

But the bands that paid tribute to them were just beginning.

“We were playing a bunch of Pink Floyd songs in this other band a couple of guys and I were in,” said David Fox, a guitarist for Echoes, who was in its previous incarnation. “We went ahead and thought we’d do a whole tribute. It worked out really well. We played within a 100-mile radius, out to Pennsylvania and New Jersey.”

Echoes headlined at larger clubs such as the Chameleon Club in Lancaster, and Alibis in northern Delaware before family life took precedence over music and the band members went their separate ways.

Now, some 20 years later, with their kids grown or almost grown, Echoes is re-forming with seven members who will perform the best-known era of Pink Floyd, beginning with the breakthrough LP “Meddle.” As an example of how successful covering Pink Floyd can be, there are tribute bands called Echoes in England, Seattle, Germany and Israel. And now, in Newark.

“We try to be crowd pleasing,” Fox said. “But Pink Floyd is known to be a little, well, depressing here and there,” he added with a grin. “So we’ll do a lot of the hits -- ‘Money,’ bits of ‘Dark Side of the Moon,’ maybe some things from ‘Division Bell.’

We don’t want to deaden the audience.”

The band has the distinct benefit of a brand-new recording studio in the home of drummer/vocalist John Cassidy, located near Newark. Cassidy and bassist Kyle Frederick co-own Crazy Diamond Recording Studio, named after one of Pink Floyd’s signature songs. During a recent interview, they showed off the basement room where Echoes rehearses, and the mixing desk upstairs where the sound is recorded and tweaked. The studio sits in Continued on Page 16 Pink Floyd’s legendary staging, seen here, is always a challenge for tribute bands. www.newarklifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Newark Life

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a suburban home with no close neighbors, but Echoes tends to draw a crowd of curious people outside when they’re playing.

While the individual parts of Pink Floyd’s music aren’t too technically demanding, Frederick said, filling the shoes of bassist Roger Waters on iconic songs can be great fun. “I really like Pink Floyd,” he said, showing an arm tattoo of the band’s symbolic crossed-hammers design from “The Wall.”

The challenge of Pink Floyd is reproducing all the layers of sound – instruments, effects, voices – that made each song a little world of its own. The band’s revolutionary use of studio technology in the 1970s produced albums that put the listener inside the narratives. Any band hoping to reproduce the music – and there are plenty of them, all over the world – has to be in perfect sync, with a lot of technology behind them.

Dan Long, the keyboardist for Echoes, is taking care of the prerecorded bits and plays them in concert. Of course, copyright issues keep any cover band from using the actual sound clips, so they must be recreated as well.

“Technology today, compared to when we were trying to reproduce this stuff in the ‘90s, is a whole lot easier Continued on Page 18

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Drummer John Cassidy and keyboardist Dan Long in the rehearsal room with Echoes.

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now,” Frederick said.

“Twenty years ago, we created our own recordings and effects,” Cassidy said. “We were able to archive that, so we can use it again. We get as close to the sound of the record as possible.”

Of the three band members at the interview, only Fox had actually seen Pink Floyd live, on their last world tours without founding member Roger Waters.

“I was in the parking lot at their show at JFK Stadium,” Frederick said with a grin. “Never made it inside.”

The other members of Echoes are Dan Long (keyboards/sound effects/vocals), John Ratcliffe (vocals/ guitar), and Bill Swezey (vocals/guitar).

Pink Floyd’s astonishing, multi-media live shows – available on DVD – are the most lavish productions ever staged. Bringing them to life on a budget is a challenge that all tribute bands face.

“We would hire production companies to bring in the lights and the sound in the ‘90s,” Fox said. “So we’re probably going to need to do the same this time

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to go on the road.”

Hiring a laser operator is probably not going to happen, nor is the stadium-size inflatable pig balloon going to make an appearance, but Echoes is planning to bring much of the dramatic lighting that characterized a Pink Floyd show.

Even in the early 1990s, audience reaction to Echoes was very enthusiastic. “It was a very good reaction,” Cassidy said. “People definitely got into it. Between songs, I couldn’t hear myself yelling because the crowd was so loud.”

There will be a couple of warmup gigs in small clubs this fall, Fox said, before Echoes opens for the veteran jam band Montana Wildaxe at World Cafe Live at the Queen in Wilmington, Del., on Dec. 27. That will be the official debut of the revived Echoes, and it will get the full spectacle staging.

“The shows are so big. With an unlimited budget, we’d love to have a screen to show videos on, but the logistics of that are just crazy,” Frederick said. “We’re just a bunch of local guys who love Pink Floyd. We’re going to give the best possible light show we can, but what we can control is just how good the music is.

That’s what we’re focusing on, so that when people

leave, they’ll say, ‘Wow. That was great.’”

Having a recording studio right upstairs will allow Echoes to record rehearsals and post them on the band’s website (www.echoesrocks.com), and they will take suggestions for tracks that audiences may want them to perform.

The timing for the return of Echoes couldn’t be better, considering the surprise release of a “new” Pink Floyd CD, “The Endless River,” in October. The album will be comprised of tracks not used during the recording of the band’s last two albums. While it’s not the full-band reunion that fans have longed for, the CD should go a long way to stoking the fires of Pink Floyd fans – not that enthusiasm for the group has ever dimmed.

“The music doesn’t seem to be fading away,” Cassidy said. “It’s been canonized on the list of serious music.”

“It’s extremely gratifying to play,” Fox said.

Echoes and Montana Wildaxe will be at the World Cafe Live at the Queen (500 N. Market St., Wilmington, Del.) on Dec. 27 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $13 to $15.

To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, e-mail jchambless@chestercounty.com.

Guitarist David Fox rehearses with the band.

www.newarklifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Newark Life

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For years, University of Delaware professor and author Gary May has followed his curiosity, and five books have come from it. His latest, a history of the Voting Rights Act, is a compelling tale of bigotry, courage and perseverance

Remembering the long assault on voting rights

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer The hands in the photograph on the cover of the book tell everything there is to know about the oppression and struggle of an entire race of Americans to gain justice.

The hands belong to an African-American man. In his right hand, he holds a pencil, and presses it against a voting ballot, while he balances the ballot with his left hand. The photograph was taken in Camden, Ala., in 1966, just a few months removed from the passage of landmark legislation that gave African Americans secure access to voting booths.

The book tells a larger story, filled with heroes and villains, prejudice and policy, segregation and persistence and ultimately, transformation.

“Bending Toward Justice,” [Basic Books, 2013], written by University of Delaware History Professor and historian Gary May, is a broad, sweeping account of what led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965.

Fellow historians have lauded the book for its detailed narrative, May himself received praise from legendary journalist Bill Moyers, when at an appearance on Moyers’ PBS news show. Moyers told May, “You’ve written a book that can change this country again, if every citizen reads it.”

“There is no story more inspiring and interesting in American history than the civil rights movement,” May said from his home in Newark. “There was a compelling story here, and I like telling a good story.”

May approached the writing of “Bending Toward Justice” the way he has approached the other four books he has written: As a storyteller. He grew up in a show business family in Los Angeles in the late 1950s; his grandfather, M.K. Jerome, was a Warner Brothers songwriter whose credits included Casablanca and Yankee Doodle Dandy. His uncle, Stuart Jerome, was a veteran television writer for “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “The Fugitive.”

“I view history cinematically,” May said. “I want to contribute to the knowledge we already have, but history for me are these stories of drama and success and failure and blood and corruption.”

Over the last 60 years, the story of civil rights in America is one told through the camera’s eye: Police dogs trained on African Americans throughout the bigoted southern states; protestors being pelted by massive jets of water from law enforcement officials; the inspiring speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and the

Other books by Gary May:

‘China Scapegoat: The Diplomatic Ordeal of John Carter Vincent’ ‘Un-American Activities: The Trials of William Remington’ ‘The Informant: The FBI, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Murder of Viola Liuzzo’ ‘John Tyler’

Dr. Gary May is a University of Delaware professor, historian and the author of five books.

Courtesy photo

marches on Selma, Montgomery and Washington, D.C. These images are all told in narrative in May’s book, but rather than just focus on the headliners, May introduces the reader to behind-the-scenes leaders, whose crusades both public and private helped form a groundswell of support. He decided to begin the book in the tumultuous period of the 1960s, with the story of Bernard Lafayette, a 22-year-old member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.

The book also tells the story of Rev. George Washington Lee, who encouraged his parishioners in Mississippi to register to vote. He was later shot and killed.

“I get chills when I begin to tell this story,” May said. “These people, many of whom are unknown to most Americans, were absolutely extraordinary. When we think of the Voting Rights Act, we think of Martin Luther King, Jr., and LBJ, but it also included a group of people who risked their jobs, their homes and often their lives. I felt privileged to be able to tell their stories.”

The entire history of the African American vote in the United States can best be described as a tremendous surge met with an equal force of resistance. On one end, there are freedom fighters, religious leaders and concerned citizens pulling toward legislation and freedom, while on the other end, the counterattack of the movement has been a more than 100-year effort to suppress the vote.

The 14th and 15th Amendments of the Constitution that abolished slavery and gave African Americans the right to vote -- as well as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act -- have been met with little regard by segregationists over the past century, May said. While events like the Selma to Montgomery March (commonly known as Bloody Sunday, when protestors were met with resistance at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma) represented the physical violence perpetuated on African Americans during the 1960s, a more subtle form of suppression has enabled many south-

Voting rights...

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ern states to get around the amendments in order to prevent African Americans from voting.

“There were an unlimited number of policies set up to prevent AfricanAmericans from going to the voting booths, like poll taxes, and incredibly difficult literacy tests,” May said. “It was clearly about racism, but it was also about power. White southern segregationists wanted to maintain this system of segregation, which was the core of southern life, and anything that threatened that Continued on Page 24

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The Voting Rights Bill of 1965 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

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just sent most whites into a rage.”

One of the primary examples of voter suppression has been to shorten periods for voting, and prohibiting voting on Sundays.

“Voting on Sunday has been terribly important to the African American community, many of whom have voted after they leave church,” May said. “The expression has been, ‘You take your soul to the poll.’ In some places, that has been prohibited. We have more people aware of this than in the past, but the legal process remains long and tortuous.”

In 2013, the Supreme Court voted five to four in favor of invalidating key components of the Voting Rights Act. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg quoted from May’s book in her eloquent dissent, and former Justice John Paul Stevens, a lifelong Republican, praised the book in the “New York Review of Books,” at the same time attacking his former colleague’s decision. That decision overturned critical aspects of the law, namely Section 4, the formula the federal government uses to determine which states and counties are subject to continued oversight of voting policies. The result

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Courtesy photo

May’s book provides an overview of the 100-year struggle of the African American community to gain voting rights.

quickly allowed nine southern states to be given the green light to change their voting laws as they wished.

To many who opposed the decision, the proverbial gasoline on the fire came when Justice Antonin Scalia

Courtesy photo

referred to the Voting Rights Act as “a perpetuation of racial entitlement.”

May said that although Republican-led legislatures in the South gleefully rejoiced at the decision, a rapidly diversified America -- in which the non-white population is expected to outnumber whites in the coming decades -- may eventually win out in the end.

“Many of these legislatures believe that the only way they can beat the new America is not to adjust to it, but to stop it,” he said. “But demography is destiny, and if the Republican party wants to survive, they have to realize that they can’t turn this tide back. This is a great historical change coming to be.”

For the last 40 years, May has taught history at the University of Delaware, while at the same time researching, writing and publishing five books. He will retire from teaching this coming January, and retirement will allow him more time for writing. This past summer he prepared a new preface, updating the voting rights story, for a paperback edition of “Bending Toward Justice” which will be published in December.

And there will be more books to come, May hopes. His career is not ending.

When May imagines retirement, he sees himself as only a writer does: Continuing to write.

“The job of a historian is to bring history alive, and that’s what I’ve tried to do for 40 years,” May said.

“I’ve had the good fortune and freedom to be able to write and teach things that interest me. I haven’t gotten rich being a historian, but I’ve been rich in time and freedom, to do almost anything I wanted to do.”

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, e-mail rgaw@ chestercounty.com . www.newarklifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Newark Life

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—————|Newark|—————

Celebrating the in all of us

Even the company’s logo, with the vintage lawn chairs, projects a more relaxed time.

By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer

S

cott and Brenda Hurst are on a mission.

It says so right there on their website, lazyathlete.com.

“As an organization, brand and team, we believe it is our mission to find lazy athletes and encourage everyone to make playing a high priority while being creative, to get back in touch with his or her inner child, and to connect with other like-minded people.”

Make playing a high priority? Get back in touch with my inner child? That sounds interesting.

And what’s with all those references on the website about recreation for laid-back people? I like recreation! I’d like to think I’m laid-back! So I make an appointment to meet with Scott and Brenda at the 16 Mile Taphouse on Main Street, hoping to learn more about “mixing it up and chilling out” from these entrepreneurs of easy-going.

I arrive first. The connoisseurs of carefree arrive a few minutes later, bringing with them a bag of Lazy Athlete products

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Courtesy photo

Lazy Athletes displaying their laid-back attitude in Park City, Utah.

Photo by Steven Hoffman

Scott and Brenda Hurst, Master Lazy and Queen Bee Lazy, at the 16 Mile Taphouse in Newark.

Newark Life | Fall/Winter 2014 | www.newarklifemagazine.com

and an undeniable aura of mellowness.

We introduce ourselves. Then, with beers in hand, Scott and Brenda explain the origins of Lazy Athlete, which they describe as a lifestyle brand. They take turns talking about how the Lazy Athlete brand evolved over the last two years, one small step at a time. One of their goals is to help us all discover the lazy athlete inside us; another objective is to help all the lazy athletes out there to connect with each other.

To accomplish these goals, they have the aforementioned website, which a real resource for the recreation-minded, and a host of cool products—t-shirts, headbands, hoodies, cycling jerseys—each one offering the chance to let others know about your laid-back approach to life.

Brenda credits her husband with starting this side business. He’s always been a “lazy athlete” at heart, someone who likes to stay active but might cap off a long bike ride with a few cold beers.

“He has always called himself a lazy athlete,” she explained. “He has a more laid-back attitude.”

In other words, Scott plays at his own pace.

Scott insists, however, that Brenda is an equal partner in

Courtesy photo

Scott enjoys what he calls “sit down paddleboarding,” a laid-back twist to a popular activity, ‘stand up’ paddleboarding.

Continued on Page 28

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the endeavor, and that she is responsible for an equal share of the work and many of the ideas that have become a part of the Lazy Athlete brand.

“We both really play off each other when we’re coming up with ideas,” he explained.

It’s at this point that they share with me their secret identities: He is Master Lazy. She is Queen Bee Lazy. They are as laid-back as the monikers suggest.

The Newark residents tell me that they’ve been traveling to local festivals and community events to introduce more people to the Lazy Athlete concept. They do this even though they both lead very busy lives. Scott works for a large company in Philadelphia, and has a background in marketing and sales. Brenda also has marketing experience and is in nursing school. Despite these demanding pursuits, they are also committed to building the Lazy Athlete brand and spreading the word about the need for less speed in your life. The world, they say, is simply a prettier place when enjoyed at a more relaxed pace.

The need for a Lazy Athlete lifestyle is expressed nicely on the website:

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Courtesy photo

Scott’s father, Jack, on a portable cycle machine.

“Stress in the world is different today. Much of what we do today to relieve our stress (watch TV, surf the web, social media or go to the gym…) doesn’t seem to work as well as it once did. Advances in technology, though positive, have complicated our lives. Pressures and expectations to perform have never been higher, Continued on Page 30

Common Core and Critical Thinking The Common Core State Standards are intended to help students prepare for college and the working world, wherein they must think critically and apply the skills they learn in the classroom to a variety of real-world scenarios. The “buzz” about the standards is that they go much deeper into all math and English-language arts areas and emphasize comprehension and building understanding more so than rote memorization. The standards are meant to strengthen students’ ability to think, analyze, comprehend, defend and support one’s ideas, and much more. Here are a few examples: Reading Reading comprehension is top of mind at all levels. As students read a variety of texts – both fiction and nonfiction – they will be expected to make logical inferences, express their insights, explore ideas, and think about topics from many different viewpoints, among other objectives.

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Huntington is prepared and excited to embrace those challenges together.

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whether you’re working or in school. We believe that being a “Lazy Athlete” is about escaping the mundane unpleasant parts of everyday life we call “the grind.” As an organization, we encourage lazy athletes everywhere to get back in touch with their inner child because we tend to forget how to play as we move through life.”

Brenda is quick to dispel a possible misconception about the “lazy athlete” lifestyle. It doesn’t promote actual laziness—just the opposite, in fact.

“We’re not a couch-potato brand,” Queen Bee Lazy explained. “We promote people being active, but to enjoy recreation in your own way. Even former professional athletes can be ‘lazy athletes’ if they enjoy their sports in their own laid-back way. The key is to not take yourself too seriously. You can be an elite athlete, but you can’t take yourself too seriously.”

According to Scott, there is a very broad definition of “lazy athlete.”

“People who race professionally can consider themselves a lazy athlete,” he explained. “You go as hard as you can, but then you have fun.”

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Team Lazy Athlete competed at the International Intergalactic Global Open Mountain Bike Team Relay Championship in Marysville, Pa. in April.

Brenda picks up on that thought. “A laid-back person can run a marathon. But they have to have a laid-back attitude. Do things at your own pace.”

Lazy Athlete is gender neutral and represents folks of all ages and fitness levels – from less active to moderately active to competitive athletes. For instance, professional

or competitive athletes that Scott and Brenda have talked to believe they’re a “lazy athlete” because they train hard then take time out for leisure activities.

Moderately active people say they are lazy athletes because they work hard all week, then make it priority to play at their own pace during their free time – hence, a weekend warrior. Less active folks say that the brand appeals to them because of their meek attempts to be active and because it pokes fun at more serious athletes. The ultimate goal is to not take yourself too seriously and enjoy life no matter what fitness category or categories you belong to.

The Hursts really started expanding the Lazy Athlete brand within the last year, adding new products that they offer, each one illustrating, in some way, the Lazy Athlete lifestyle.

“We’ve gradually built up the products,” Scott explained.

There are men’s and ladies t-shirts with

Courtesy photo

Newark-area residents sitting around fire pit wearing Lazy Athlete Chammyz and ball caps.

“Be Your Own Oxymoron” emblazoned on them. Youth t-shirts also identify a young person as a “laid-back dude.” Zombie runs are all the rage these days, and if you’re going to take part in one you should be wearing a shirt with “I’m killing It” on the front and “I killed it” on the back.

Continued on Page 32

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Lazy athletes are notorious for their dislike of sweat getting in the way of their recreation. So there’s a new Lazy Athlete headband that has the Halo “sweat block” patented seal designed to keep the sweat out of your eyes.

One of the more popular items is a cycling jersey that comes in three different versions. One version, the chicken leg and beer edition, has front pockets for storing food, trash, and beer. A Lazy Athlete hoodie is perfect for the beach or outdoor activities. The pullover comes with a hood, a kangaroo pouch that can be used for everything from food to cell phones to a favorite beverage. The relaxed cuts allow for free movement, regardless of the activity.

A trucker cap has a unique enzyme wash to make it look worn and dirty with a pre-curved visor. Nothing says “chill” like these lids.

All the products are funky and unique and help people show the world that they enjoy “recreation for laid-back people.”

Courtesy photo

Lazy Athletes sporting their “I Killed it!” performance shirts at the Zombie Run near Jim Thorpe, Pa. on Aug. 30.

“Everything has a laid-back twist or feel,” explained Brenda.

The Hursts are always looking for ideas for new products.

“We’ve taken time to talk to people to see what they would wear,” Brenda explained.

They can’t talk too much about it yet, but Master Lazy and Queen Bee Lazy are hard at work—in a relaxed, chilled-out kind

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of way—on a backyard tailgating game. They shared with me a video of the game being played. True to their mission, the game has a laid-back feel and can be enjoyed by lazy athletes of all ages everywhere. Scott seems to take particular delight in the fact that this game can be played with a beer in one hand and a hot dog in the other. They have a patent-pending on the game and are working on the many details that need to be addressed before a new product can be taken to market.

While the couple isn’t sure what the future holds for the Lazy Athlete brand, they are keeping their minds open to the possibilities.

Scott, for instance, could see them having a truck, similar to a food truck, that they could use to travel to area events. He said that it’s always a thrill to see a person wearing one of the Lazy Athlete t-shirts, headbands, or hats. He enjoys riding with cyclists in the area, and many of them like the shirts and cycling jerseys not just because of the positive messages that they send, but because they are good products that are suitable for an active lifestyle.

“It’s been unreal with the amount of support that we’ve received,” Scott explained. “For us, with the Lazy Athlete brand, it’s never going to be about just making money. It’s about spreading the message.”

To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@ chestercounty.com.

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—————|Newark Education|————— The College of Agriculture & Natural Resources at the University of Delaware offers students 350 acres of opportunities, but a new collaboration with the Mt. Cuba Center has expanded the breadth of the college’s research

UD’s other outdoor classroom

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

I

t is an absolutely stunning August afternoon on the outskirts of Hockessin, and honey bees, bumble bees, carpenter bees, metallic sweat bees and hairy-belly bees are among the ten different categories of

Photo by Richard L. Gaw

Jeff Downing, left, executive director of the Mt. Cuba Center; and Mark Rieger, right, dean of the College of Agricultural and Natural Resources at the University of Delaware, stand beside graduate students Owen Cass and Christina Mitchell.

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Photo by Richard L. Gaw

Graduate student Christina Mitchell conducts research.

insects that are pollinating the plants at the Mt. Cuba Center’s Trial Garden.

Owen Cass, a graduate student in the entomology and wildlife ecology program at the University of Delaware’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources [CANR], maneuvers a long, tubular leaf blower that has been converted into a vacuum, through tall plants, sucking up insects that will soon be sorted out and counted.

It’s a process vital to a collaborative study currently being done by the CANR and Mt. Cuba, in order to assess the ecological value of native plants and determine if pollinating insects are more attracted to “store bought” native plants, or to plants that grow in the wild.

The partnership between CANR and Mt. Cuba on this research -- which is being led by UD professors Doug Tallamy and Deborah Delaney -- was formally kicked off in July and is expected

to yield results in about two years. The answers may have a tremendous impact on our future ecosystem.

“There’s a question that keeps being raised in the gardener community, and that is, ‘Are native cultivars as good as their native counterparts?’”

Cass said. “I’d like to try to answer that question, because there are a lot of people waiting for that answer.

“Specifically, this is going to impact gardeners, landscapers and land managers -- people who are installing a 100-acre meadow or a 100-square-foot meadow,” Cass added. “The choice of planting one type of plant over another is very important at these large scales. We may find out how this affects the ecological value, so that we can improve the ecological value of plants.”

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“I want this to be a place where people will learn to appreciate our native plants and to see how these plants can enrich their lives so that they, in turn, will become conservators of our natural habitats.”

Mrs. Lammot du Pont Copeland, founder of the Mt. Cuba Center “The students who enroll in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources want more than just jobs; they want careers that matter and provide opportunities to make a difference in the world. I can’t think of nobler professions than those dedicated to preserving our earth for future generations.”

Mark Rieger, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Delaware Continued on Page 39

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CANR and the Mt. Cuba Center may be separated by 13 miles, but as the statements on the previous page will attest, they are closely connected in a mission to understand the complexity of our ecosystem and its impact on human life.

Although CANR professors had used Mt. Cuba as a research site in past years, the relationship officially began last summer, when a roundtable gathering of professors, administrators, deans and directors from both institutions met to discuss potential collaborations. The studies being led by Tallamy and Delaney were considered the most shovel-ready of the ideas shared at the meeting, and ones that seemed to be perfect kick-starters to the partnership.

“The collaboration with Mt. Cuba was a great strategic alignment for the college,” said Mark Rieger, CANR dean. “After I arrived at the University in late Continued on Page 40 Courtesy photos

Mt. Cuba Center is a botanical garden with a focus on native plants and ecosystems, with over 50 acres of display gardens and over 500 acres of natural lands.

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2012, we spent 2013 looking at all the research we planned to do, and need to do, for the next 25 years, and the key components of study had to do with sustainable food systems, landscapes and ecosystems.

We were going to hire people, buy equipment and resources, but realized that right up the road is Mt. Cuba, which is studying sustainable food systems, landscapes and ecosystems.”

Tallamy, along with graduate student Emily Baisden, are involved in research to determine if cultivars of native plants -- plants bred to have certain traits such as color, shape or size -- support food webs as well as their parent species.

Delaney and Cass are researching how plants attract insects in order to determine which plants provide the most nutritional pollen and nectar for pollinators. Both projects dovetail perfectly with Mt. Cuba, because the study explores a nebulous area where horticulture and ecology intersect.

“We’re really just starting,” Jeff Downing, executive director of the Mt. Cuba Center, said of the research.

“Right now, I would say that we don’t know anything, and that’s part of what makes this partnership and these projects so valuable. Native plants are marketed and appreciated in large part because they’re a part of the local ecosystems, but no is quite sure that the things that make it attractive for sale are also attractive to insects, for the purpose of pollenization.

“You can go to the store for produce and look for the prettiest. You can go to the store and look for the produce that’s the heartiest. Through the results of this study, we’re hoping to enable people to someday go to the store and look for the produce that’s the most environmentally beneficial.”

Downing said that a lot of academic research tends to be wrapped in exploration for exploration’s sake, with little regard for the potential impact the findings will have on answering the big-picture questions.

“Conversely, these projects with UD seem so relevant,” he said. “This ecological research is in the spirit of trying to have a greater understanding, academiContinued on Page 42

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cally, of how these plants can impact our lives, so that we have a better understanding of how to use them, in ways that further the bigger project, which is having a healthy environment for us and our children.”

Rieger sees CANR’s relationship with Mt. Cuba -and the findings that will eventually come from it -- as part of the college’s expanding role and ever-changing definition.

“Eighty years ago, the first green revolution happened, which was about improved varieties, crop inputs, and mechanization,” he said. “They literally changed the world. Now we’re into the second green revolution, where we still are dealing with genetics, but we’re dealing with it through molecular biology.

The fundamental of genetics taking us forward is trying to figure out how we’re going to have enough food to feed 10 billion people 35 years from now.”

One of the largest roadblocks in steering an academic college is navigating around the stubbornness of public perception. Despite the expansion of its vision and the inclusion of many new departments

within the college, Rieger is aware that the common myth still exists that “UD’s Ag School is a place where future farmers go.”

In truth, “Ninety percent of our students come from the suburbs, and go on to become biotech scientists, or veterinarians, or go into pharmaceutics, or go into sales and marketing of agricultural products,” he said.

“They go on to write for agricultural communications. They create websites. We’re not your grandad’s ag school, but fundamentally we haven’t changed.

It’s still research, teaching and service in the public interest.

“The college’s methods are changing immensely, but our fundamental mission is to be relevant,” he added.

“The research and innovation engine is there, but if we’re not doing something that’s going to be useful to someone someday, we’re not relevant anymore. We have an endgame, a goal in mind. It may take an entire career to see it, but we’re sensitive to being relevant.”

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, e-mail rgaw@ chestercounty.com .

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—————|Newark Communities|—————

The Newark Empowerment Center: A hand up for those who need it most

Photo by Steven Hoffman

Marc Marcus outside the Newark Empowerment Center’s home in the Newark United Methodist Church.

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By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer

I

n March of 2007, the Friendship House in Wilmington, Del. partnered with the Newark Homeless Coalition to open the Newark Empowerment Center as a way to provide support and assistance to local residents who are having a difficult time meeting their basic needs.

No one, not even a longtime Newark resident like Marc Marcus, understood at the time how many people in the area needed help securing food, shelter, and clothing.

“I was surprised to see the level of need in the community,” explained Marcus, the assistant director of the Friendship House, who helps run the Newark Empowerment Center.

“It’s hard to see some of the suffering. People don’t have what they need.”

Over the last seven years, the Newark Empowerment Center has done its part in helping to meet those needs for more than 2,500 people who reside in Newark. Marcus splits his time between work at the Friendship House and the Newark Empowerment Center, leading a small staff of Friendship House employees and volunteers. The assistance that the Newark Empowerment Center provides is always a hand up, not a hand out.

“Our philosophy,” said Marcus, “is to always walk with people. We’ll help anyone who is willing to do what they need to do to help themselves.”

The Friendship House has been serving Delaware for 27 years, operating a men’s day center, a women’s day center, a men’s transitional housing facility, a women’s transitional housing facility, and the Andrew’s Place Emergency Shelter. When preliminary discussions were held to determine how to help people who were struggling in the Newark area, several different ideas were considered, including a men’s shelter, but Continued on Page 46

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Marcus explained that even if a shelter is available, it doesn’t mean that the men and women who find themselves without a home will seek it out.

Some of the people involved in those early discussions were members of faith groups in Newark who were looking for ways to help the homeless. Richard Waibel, a longtime member of the Newark United Methodist Church, was one of them. He recalls that discussions and planning took place over a period of about two years before the concept of the Newark Empowerment Center took shape and became a reality.

“We had this idea of doing something for the homeless in the community,” Waibel explained. “I’ve been active in the Newark United Methodist Church a long time. So I was very aware that people were coming in to churches asking for help every day.”

The requests for help that the churches were receiving far surpassed the help that the churches could provide, and it was placing a drain on the churches’ resources as well as the staff members. Many of the people seeking help were dealing with handicaps or

“I was surprised to see the level of need in the community. It’s hard to see some of the suffering.

People don’t have what they need.” ~ Marc Marcus, the assistant director of the Friendship House didn’t have the education that they needed to get jobs that would enable them to support themselves. Other people were battling drug and alcohol addiction.

There was a strong sentiment that help needed to be provided to these people.

Having one centralized location where that help could be offered was appealing. A fundraising campaign to get the project off the ground was successful, quickly raising over $15,000, and the decision was made to open the Newark Empowerment Center three days a week on a trial basis.

Waibel and other organizers quickly discovered how great the need was in the community.

“I never thought that the needs were that big in the community,” Waibel said. “There is an ongoing need Continued on Page 48

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to keep people from sliding off the edge of the cliff.”

The center was housed in a small Sunday School-size classroom in the Newark United Methodist Church.

In the first few months that the center was open, five or six people would stop by for help each day. But that number grew steadily, especially when the great recession hit, and the center’s hours were expanded to 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. each Monday through Friday.

Now, on a typical weekday, Marcus said, between 25 and 45 come in for assistance.

“It’s a walk-in space,” Marcus said, “so for us that’s a lot.”

The Newark Empowerment Center provides help in a variety of ways, starting with the most basic needs— food, shelter, and clothing. People can come in for bag lunches, a hot beverage, or sanctuary from the elements. Staff members can help people fill out job applications or secure identification cards. Men and women who are battling drug or alcohol problems can also consult with the staff and get referrals for addiction recovery programs. There is a table with

three computers set up for people to use as well. This can be helpful for people who are trying to apply for a job or secure housing. Emergency financial assistance is also available for rent or utilities, although this kind of assistance is limited. Persons asking for financial assistance at any of the participating faith communities may be referred to the Newark Empowerment Center for a personal interview with the Friendship House staff person. Persons seeking financial help must reside in the greater Newark area, demonstrate that their income normally matches their expenses, and show how the funds requested will resolve their current financial crisis.

“We try to help people as much as we can,” Marcus explained. “Some people may not be ready for help, but maybe we can get them into a shelter or a recovery program.”

The Newark Empowerment Center is staffed largely by a few Friendship House employees and a group of volunteers.

“We have a dedicated force of volunteers, which is wonderful,” Marcus explained.

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Waibel said that Marcus does an admirable job of leading the volunteers, and serves the Newark Empowerment Center well with his intelligence and big heart. In 2014, Marcus was a recipient of the Jefferson Award, an honor that is handed out by the City of Newark each year to those who provide exceptional public service to the community. Marcus was recognized for the way that he demonstrates selfless compassion while doing his job.

A release from the city stated that, “Marc accepts people where they are, respects their dignity, and encourages them to get to a better place. His patience, mentoring, and sound counseling never fail, and his extraordinary balance of gentle caring and tough love are greatly appreciated.”

Marcus, however, points to the staff, the volunteers, and the enormous cooperation among the 20 or so faith organizations in town as reasons for the Newark Empowerment Center’s success.

“Newark is really incredible at that,” Marcus said of the collaboration. “The Newark community is very supportive.”

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The Newark United Methodist Church, for example, donates the space to house the center and the other churches donate all types of things to the effort.

The winter sometimes presents extra problems for people who can’t meet their own basic needs.

The Newark Empowerment Center offers a “Code Purple” sanctuary whenever the nighttime temperature falls below 20 degrees. One of the churches affiliated with the center will open a room from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The host church provides a light supper in the evening, hot beverages throughout the night, and transportation for those who need it in the morning.

Waibel said that during the winter of 2012-2013, there were 13 nights when Code Purple was put into effect.

That equated to 196 people who spent nights in one of the churches. But in the more harsh winter of 2013-2014, there were 34 nights of frigid temperatures that amounted to 597 people. On one night alone, Jan. 8, 2014, there were 27 people who sought shelter at the church.

“That would have been 27 people who would have Continued on Page 49

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————|Newark Sports & Adventure|————

An unforgettable adventure to I Honduras For ten days in July 2014, Newark resident Alan Turns went on an unforgettable expedition to some of the most remote places in the Rio Plantano Biosphere Reserve in Honduras. Three guides from La Moskitia Ecoaventuras led Turns and several of his family members on an exotic journey across diverse tropical environments and landscapes as they river-rafted, hiked through the forests, and traveled to the edge of the Caribbean sea. Here’s the story of the unforgettable adventure in his own words...

Photo by Laurie Turns 56

Newark Life | Fall/Winter 2014 | www.newarklifemagazine.com

By Alan Turns Special to Newark Life

went over my checklist for the last time. After a dozen trips to Eastern Mountain Sports and a few visits to various websites, I finally had everything I needed: Lightweight pants and shirts, Teva water shoes, Frogg Togg rainwear, a fleece towel and blanket, Deet, a backpack, a Camelback, a headlamp, a hammock, and more.

I was headed to a rainforest in Honduras.

Ten days in the rainforest demanded a few purchases, so for nearly a year my brother, Larry, two sisters, Kerry and Laurie, and brother-in-law, Craig, had been corresponding and collecting what we would need for a river-rafting expedition that my brother had decided would be a great adventure and bonding experience. La Moskitia Ecoaventuras offers one of the most interesting expeditions of Central America.

On the first day of the journey, we were ready by 6 a.m. and loaded all our gear into the back of two pickup trucks in La Ceiba. Our guides, Jorge, Mino and Humberto, introduced themselves and off we went for a twelve-and-a-half hour drive through Honduras. We had been told to be prepared for anything, and within the first few hours we had our first test as we came upon a bridge that was blocked with people and traffic. We thought it might

have been an accident, but evidently a group from the local village was protesting electricity cutoffs and had closed the bridge on purpose. No worries. Not on this trip.

We just drove down the embankment, drove across the river under the bridge and up the other side. Okay, that was cool. And so we went on.

Honduras is a poor country which was evident as we drove through the area. As we headed up into the mountains, the scenery was beautiful—clear cutting for crops made for pretty vistas but exposed a nasty destruction of forested land. Jorge pointed out that Honduras needed to have stronger land management, and that the Rio Platano Biosphere that we were headed to needed funding to ensure that the forested land wasn’t destroyed there.

We passed through numerous checkpoints. Drugsmuggling is a huge problem in Honduras and this became more evident as we headed into the jungle. Our last few hours of this part of the journey were on a dirt road that was dotted with holes that we dodged as the villages and people became more sparse. The road eventually ended at our first night’s destination, the Bonanza ranch.

We unloaded all our gear and met our host family.

The yard was filled with dogs, chickens and horses, two of which added to a rather restless night as we slept on mats on the “living room” floor. We were served a meal of chicken, beans and rice and then called it a day. The roosters started calling out at about 3 a.m. Sunrise wasn’t until 5 a.m. Ugh. After a breakfast of eggs, beans and rice, we watched as all the gear was loaded onto mules and horses. Rafts, barrels of food and equipment, dry bags, tents, etc. were carefully distributed and I wondered how the animals could carry it all. Soon, we began our ten-and-a-half hour “hike” into the jungle. Along the way, Jorge and Mino pointed out various birds, plants, insects and animals.

Their knowledge was amazing and their excitement was contagious. We learned which plants you could eat, and which ones should be avoided. Spiders were harmless, we were told, but certain ants were poisonous—as were some snakes. These guys truly appreciated their country and were anxious to share it with us. The hike was beautiful and interesting, but it was also long and arduous. Knowing that we needed to reach our camp at the river’s edge kept us moving.

The mules had deposited our gear at the campsite and Humberto had also gone ahead to set up camp. Two huge tarps were strung up and a raft was placed underneath it as that would be our “social” area where we would store our packs, gather for conversation, and have our meals. A fire

Photo by Craig Roberts

Ready for our 10 1/2 hour hike to the Rio Plantano.

was started and tents were set up. We were all exhausted but when a hot meal of pasta and fresh vegetables was served, we started to come around and begin to enjoy the adventure.

The next morning Mino gave us paddling instructions and the commands we would need to safely navigate the river: “forward,” “left back,” “right back,” and “stop.” Our guides were extremely experienced on the river and we were not. Our learning curve was steep as we loaded the rafts and headed down stream. Larry, Kerry, Mino and I were in the red raft. Laurie, Craig and Humberto were in the yellow raft and Jorge was in a kayak. Thankfully, we were all in good shape as the paddling was much more strenuous than we anticipated.

After a couple hours of paddling in several sets of what are considered class 3 rapids, we seemed to be getting the hang of it. Then I heard my sister, Kerry, scream in pain. She had been bitten by a bullet ant on her thigh and finger. Mino was next to her in the back of the raft and without hesitation began to try to suck the poison out. The pain was excruciating for Kerry. Jorge, who had been in a kayak, came with an Epipen and worked on the finger.

They must have done a good job of removing the venom because the pain began to subside over the course of a few hours and Kerry was able to enjoy the rest of the day.

After about six or seven hours of rafting, as we were about ten minutes from our next camp, disaster struck again. We were all tired and came upon a class three rapid that had a large rock with a huge log sticking out. Despite furious efforts, we did not get around it and we flipped over. Everything was secured tightly, so we didn’t lose any equipment, but it was scary and sobering. Later, as I contemplated what we did wrong, I realized that I needed to try not to anticipate our moves and just listen to Mino’s Continued on Page 58

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Honduras...

Continued from Page 57

instructions. Following instructions was crucial to our success, as we needed to work as a team.

We reached our camp and began unloading the rafts, a chore that we would repeat each of the next seven days.

The tarps were put up, the fire was started, and the tents went up. Each of us had our jobs to do. These duties became routine and took less time as the days went by.

The sibling bonding we had hoped for when we planned this trip took hold, and an unexpected bonding between us and our three guides also took place.

Jorge was the leader. A wiry 53-year-old former special forces ranger, he could carry the load of two people and smile and whistle, completely unaffected by the burden.

Mino, his 45-year-old younger brother, had many jobs and skills, but cooking was what we’ll remember most about him. Humberto, a 34-year-old indigenous Pech Indian, spoke little English, but communication was still not much of a problem.

We will long remember our guides and the pristine environment and incredible ecosystem of Honduras. On the river each day we were treated to an abundance of wild-

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Photo by Laurie Turns

The "social" area at one of our campsites.

life. We saw three types of monkeys: howler, spider and white face, as well as river otters and deer. Iguanas would drop from branches into the water as we came upon them.

One of the most exciting things for us was coming upon a mother and baby tapir crossing the river. Just before that, Kerry and Mino saw something swimming in the river, but were not close enough to identify what it was. We paddled to within feet of the tapirs and watched them head into the jungle. We were so excited and had video to document it. Little did we know that we would encounter the tapirs three more times as they criss-crossed the river.

Photo by Kerry Pingree

Mother and baby Tapir crossing the river.

Mino thought they must have been evading prey, and that animal they had seen earlier was most likely a jaguar that had been stalking them. We also saw many birds: macaws, eagles, hawks, toucans and herons among them.

We had two wonderful day hikes up into the rainforest.

The first was a climb up along a waterfall to a series of caves which we explored. The second was to an Indian archeological site where we found many ancient artifacts.

We also were treated to a series of petroglyphs, mysterious drawings carved into the rocks by unknown ancient jungle settlers rumored to be possibly of Mayan origin.

Photo by Laurie Turns

Mino grilling up fish for breakfast.

We had been rafting down mostly class 2 and 3 rapids but on the fifth day we encountered class 4 rapids and were forced to portage around three of them. This required us to take everything out of both rafts and carrying gear and rafts for about a quarter of a mile down stream through the jungle and over slippery rocks to the other side. We did that three times in one day. It was extremely grueling and treacherous, but safer than trying to run class Continued on Page 60

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Honduras...

Continued from Page 59

4 rapids with fully loaded rafts. It took six hours to cover the three portages.

One of the most fun and rewarding parts of the trip was fishing. I had brought a small, collapsible rod and reel with me, as well as a few lures. The first time I fished was from the moving raft and it proved difficult at first because casting close to shore and not snagging the line was tough.

But after a while I caught my first fish, a large guapote that weighed four or five pounds. I caught another guapote that first day, and a mechin and a domilon. Dinner for eight!

Humberto cleaned and prepared the fish and dinner was fantastic. It is a truly great feeling to provide dinner. I was able to do it again on the last night we camped.

As we began to unload and set up our last campsite, my sister picked up a couple sleeping mats to take up to her tent and was shocked to find a curled up snake laying underneath. To her credit she backed up slowly and called for Jorge and Mino. We had just been talking the night before that it was nice that we hadn’t seen any snakes so far on the trip. Well we sure were surprised to learn that this one was the feared Fer De Lance. A single bite would

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require a satellite phone call and immediate air lift out of the jungle. Instead, Mino carefully lifted the snake with a long stick and carried it the river where we thankfully watched it swim away.

Packing up our last night of camp was bittersweet. On the one hand, we had not seen another person in seven days and it was exciting to be heading down river to our first village, Las Marias, where Humberto lived. But on the other hand, the synergy our group had developed while camping was really special and that part was ending as we would be staying in a hostel the next two nights.

As we rafted toward Las Marias we began to see a few Pech and Moskita Indians out on the river and, eventually, a few wooden huts. After a few hours, we rounded the bend and stopped at Humberto’s home. His children came down to greet us and we helped carry his gear up to the house. It was an open-air hut with an adobe stove.

Chickens and dogs circled the yard. We met his wife and ate some home-baked cakes with coconuts.

Soon, we headed back down river to the village where we would spend the night. As we unloaded the rafts, I noticed a group of men and boys clustered around a small building and wondered what they were doing. To my surprise and delight, I learned they were watching the World

Cup soccer match with electricity from a generator. Soon, I joined them and had my first cold drink in a week. A beer!

A few more beers were shared and our host family provided a nice meal of chicken, rice and beans. The next morning we loaded our gear and ourselves into long dugout canoes for a four-hour trip toward our final destination, the Caribbean sea. We proceeded down the river and eventually cut through a mangrove channel into a huge lagoon called Ibans that lay next to the Caribbean. After getting our rooms and a snack, we walked the 1/8 mile to the ocean. It was beautiful, and we were the only ones on the beach. We spent the afternoon soaking up the sun and letting the salt water clean our bug-bitten bodies.

The next morning a 65-foot water taxi picked us up as the sun rose and we headed upriver where we were met by a 4x4 truck that took us back to La Ceiba. It was nice to be headed home as I missed my family, but the experience was so much more than I had hoped for and it was tough leaving our new friends, Jorge and Mino. This was a trip not meant for everyone as it tested us physically and mentally, but it was so rewarding. For information about a trip through La Moskitia Ecoaventuras, you can reach Jorge at www.lamoskitia.hn.

One big happy family!

Courtesy photo

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Visiting Downtown Newark News from the Downtown Newark Partnership Sweet 16!

This year, the Downtown Newark Partnership (DNP) celebrates its 16th anniversary of improving, enhancing and marketing downtown Newark as a great place to eat, shop and enjoy time with friends and family. The DNP’s strength comes from its broad support base of merchants and volunteers, and has achieved huge success, surpassing $150 million in private investment in the downtown area, and becoming known as the “hottest sub-market in Delaware� among the commercial real estate community.

We look forward to even more great things on the horizon as the Newark Shopping Center is rejuvenated and the business community continues to prosper.

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Keeping Newark clean and safe Solar-powered trash compactors increase collection efficiency

In an effort to improve recycling opportunities for the public downtown as well as collection efficiency, the Public Works and Water Resources Department has installed several solar-powered trash/recycling compactors on East Main Street. These units, made by Big Belly, were partially funded by a grant from the Delaware Solid Waste Authority, and have so far been successful in allowing the city to reduce collections to approximately once per week at the stations. With the Big Belly clean management alert system, supervisors are advised via e-mail when the compactors reach factory-set fullness levels for recommended collection. The strategic placement of the trial compactors has allowed us to more accurately determine high usage locations for the deployment of the remaining 27 dual compactor units.

Upon the final installation of the remaining compactors, Main Street trash and recycling collections will be reduced from a near-daily operation to an on-demand collection, significantly reducing our carbon footprint. This will allow us to divert labor to other, more pressing needs in the city.

Newark Life | Fall/Winter 2014 | www.newarklifemagazine.com

Visitors can relax in downtown Newark as the number of crimes drops.

Newark Police Department working hard to prevent crime The Newark Police Department continues to see a decrease a crime in both serious and minor criminal offenses so far in 2014. When looking at the time frame of Jan. 1, 2013 through Sept.

13, 2013 compared to Jan. 1, 2014 to Sept.

13, 2014, burglaries are down 15.9 percent, thefts are down 23.6 percent, serious assaults are down 53.6 percent and criminal mischief incidents are down 24.9 percent. The crime decrease can be attributed to a combination of technology (downtown surveillance cameras) and police deployment. NPD’s specialized units and patrol officers conduct foot and vehicular patrols throughout the city around the clock, in both a proactive fashion and reactive fashion when a crime trend pops up.

NPD updates its crime statistics weekly and they are easily viewed online by going to www. cityofnewarkde.us and clicking on Departments > Police > Administrative Report.

A crime map can be viewed at www.raidsonline. com.

If you are interested in receiving the latest news releases, safety information and crime prevention tips from the Newark Police Department, follow us on one of the social media outlets: Facebook: www.facebook.com/ NewarkDelawarePoliceDepartment; Twitter: @ newarkdepd; or Instagram: @newarkdepolice.

Continued on Page 64

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—————|Downtown Newark|————— Continued from Page 63

Promotions Gift cards Not sure what to get for that special someone for a birthday, holiday, graduation or other special occasion? Check out the Downtown Newark Gift Card program. The cards are accepted at more than 70 downtown restaurants, shops and service establishments, and even in our payto-park lots. Gift cards may be purchased at the City of Newark Downtown Parking Office, located on the second floor of the Galleria at 45 E. Main St.; and the Planning & Development Department, located on the second floor of the City of Newark Municipal Building at 220 S. Main St., as well as at every downtown event.

Purchases may also be made over the phone by calling 302-366-7155 or 302-366-7030.

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Parking Coming downtown and worried about parking?

Stop worrying. With four municipal parking lots and plenty of on-street parking, shopping and dining downtown is convenient and hassle-free. To help make your shopping and dining experience even more enjoyable, nearly 60 downtown businesses are signed up to participate in the Newark Merchant Validated Parking program for the municipal lots.

Customers of the participating businesses may park for free for a period of time. More businesses are being added all the time. For an up-to-date list of merchant validation locations, go to www. enjoydowntownnewark.com/Parking or look for the “Newark’s Great We Validate” sticker in the windows of participating businesses.

—————|Downtown Newark|————— Smart Meters Parking downtown just got smarter! In response to customer requests, City Council approved the purchase and installation of “smart” parking meters that are capable of accepting payments by credit card. After several months of testing to determine the best solution for Newark, the Parking Division earlier this year installed IPS Group meters with a digital display, without any additional cost to our patrons. Curious about how the meters function? IPS has a “how to” video online about how to navigate the meters’ functions. Check it out at: http://vimeo. com/65824595 Young skaters enjoy one of the new skate parks in Newark.

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—————|Downtown Newark|————— Continued from Page 65

Events

40th Annual Turkey Trot Delaware’s second-oldest consecutively run race is on Saturday, Nov. 22 at Handloff Park, on Barksdale Road in Newark. Both courses (5K and 10K) are T.A.C. Certified.

There will be 10 men’s and 10 women’s divisions in each run. The first 250 registrants will receive long-sleeve T-shirts. Prizes will be awarded to overall winners, as well as winners in age group categories for each run. Overall first, second and third pace awards will be given for the 5K Walk. Be sure to list your age on race day so we can accurately place you in the appropriate division. Random awards will be given during the awards ceremony, following the 5K. All winners must be present during the ceremony to collect their awards. Please fill out the registration form and return it to the Parks and Recreation office, or register online – early registrations get a reduced fee!

Once again this year, the Ancient Order of Hibernians will be collecting coats that will be distributed to people in need throughout the area. Anyone interested in making a donation may bring coats in good condition to the race.

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28th Annual Thanksgiving Breakfast Enjoy Thanksgiving Day morning in the company of Newark neighbors and friends.

The Parks and Recreation Department, area merchants and volunteers celebrate our 28th year of gathering together to offer this special breakfast. Our mission is to create a warm and caring atmosphere among community members, older adults and area students who are unable to share the holiday with family members or a companion. Join us for a hearty breakfast and a little fellowship. This year’s menu will include pancakes, eggs, sausage, fruit, coffee, juice, and tea. Advanced registration is suggested.

Volunteer assistance is needed. Please call 366-7069 or 366-7060 for more information. This year, we are holding an optional food drive for the Delaware Food Bank. Please bring a canned item (fruit, vegetables, meat, tuna) the day of the breakfast and we will make sure it gets delivered to the Food Bank (www.fbd.org).

—————|Downtown Newark|————— Downtown Newark Restaurant Week

Winterfest Winterfest, a joint effort between the Newark Parks and Recreation Department and the University of Delaware, is always a great way to start off the holiday season.

Scheduled for Friday, Dec. 5 (rain date Saturday, Dec. 6 from 6 to 8 p.m.), Winterfest includes holiday entertainment, roasting chestnuts, caroling, tree-lighting, ice-carving demonstrations, and much more.

The Delaware Special Olympics will once again be holding the annual Reindeer Run in conjunction with Winterfest (www.sode. org). This program is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

Downtown Newark’s annual Restaurant Week is a culinary celebration highlighting downtown’s diverse restaurants and their offerings.Restaurant Week is known for its affordability and great food in a fun and vibrant area.

From Monday, Jan. 19 through Sunday, Jan. 25, downtown restaurants will offer special menus highlighting the best they have to offer, at the right price.

Three tiers of prix-fixe meals are offered, with some restaurants offering more than one tier during the week. Each restaurant develops menus for the week according to their clientele and tier(s). Participating restaurants, menus and tiers for each restaurant, as well as the full schedule of entertainment for the week, will be available in January at www.enjoydowntownnewark.com.

The tiers include Friends and Family Fun meals that feed a group of four people, two-course lunches, and Courtesy photo two-course dinners and There will be plenty of food to enjoy during the three-course dinners.

Downtown Newark Restaurant Week, Jan. 19 through Jan. 25.

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—————|Downtown Newark|————— Continued from Page 67

the solar panels will be mounted have been installed.

The first solar panel was mounted on Sept. 4, and installers quickly completed several rows in one solar array.

Work to install the remainder of the 900 panels, with 960 inverters to connect the power generated to the city’s electric grid, will rapidly continue over the coming weeks.

McKees Solar Park: Crowd-funded green energy

Construction is wrapping up at McKees Solar Park, a 230-kilowatt solar array, which is enough to power between 26 and 36 homes. This project will convert a former brownfield site into a renewable energy resource, and is providing unique opportunities for citizen participation in its funding.

McKees Park is a 3.91-acre brownfield site off East Cleveland Avenue in Newark that is being redeveloped into a solar farm. This renewable power source will reduce the city’s carbon footprint and serve all residents by reducing the city’s peak power demand, and consequently lowering the wholesale cost of power, generating solar renewable energy credits, and bringing locally produced green energy to the city’s electric users.

Construction of the solar park is well underway, as all concrete ballasts have been poured, sitework is The McKees Solar Park will nearing completion and all of the brackets to which renewable energy resource.

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—————|Downtown Newark|————— The solar park was initially approved by City Council in 2012, and more recently, the Conservation Advisory Commission and city leadership have undertaken efforts for residents and businesses to share in the park’s success by making taxdeductible donations to support the park.

“We are fortunate to have a population showing so much interest and support for this project,” said finance director Lou Vitola.

In addition to outright donations, which are tax-deductible, residential electric users have the opportunity to invest $50 to displace 100 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of their monthly usage with a 100-kWh block of power generated from McKees Solar Park per month, billed at prevailing rates. The investment also results in a $1

electric service rebate, which is credited on the monthly electric bill for 120 months.

These investments are available on a firstcome, first-served basis until the park’s output is fully subscribed, at which time the city will resume efforts to offer green energy on a premium subscription basis backed by renewable power generated outside of Newark.

In an effort to make donations more accessible, the city has subscribed to GoFundMe, a crowdfunding platform that allows residents to donate at any time online, in addition to being able to donate by calling or stopping into the Municipal Building. For more information, visit greennewarkde.us, or call the City of Newark Finance Department at 302-366-7085, option 6.

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Courtesy photo

Since opening, the hotel has excelled in guest service, winning numerous service excellence awards from Marriott for each of the ten years of operation.

The Courtyard Newark at the University of Delaware to celebrate tenth anniversary this November

Approximately 1,000 students have completed their lodging management training at the award-winning Courtyard Newark at the University of Delaware

O

ne thousand students and counting. That is how many people in the Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Management Program (HRIM) at the University of Delaware have completed their lodging management training at the Courtyard Newark at the University of Delaware, since the hotel opened ten years ago. The hotel team will celebrate its tenth anniversary on Nov. 15.

Named the “Lodging Practicum Module,” the program was uniquely developed by HRIM faculty and hotel leadership, and has become an integral part of a planned semester for HRIM juniors. Students are fully integrated into all aspects of the hotel operation for the semester in the “experiential learning” at the hotel, where they spend 140 hours working closely with hotel staff and “real” guests. Learning every job in the hotel, from guestroom housekeeper to general manager. At the same Right photo: Courtesy photo

Members of the Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Management Program’s Class of 2015.

time, the students would take four lodging-related academic classes in a classroom, named the Marriott Center for Hospitality and Tourism, located in the hotel. No other hospitality education program has ever attempted this level of immersion in an operating hotel, and the program has attracted international attention and praise for its success.

The UD Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Management Program recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, and for many years different proposals for the addition of a hotel were considered, but the time was not right. A hotel feasibility study conducted in late 1999 demonstrated that guest room demand has grown to the point where a hotel could be justified.

It was decided by then-President David Roselle and the UD Board Continued on Page 72

Courtesy photo

An aerial shot of the Courtyard Newark at the University of Delaware on the Laird Campus at UD.

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The hotel first opened a decade ago this November with University of Delaware and Marriott International officials attending the grand opening.

The Courtyard Newark...

Continued from Page 71

of Trustees to locate the hotel on a vacant parcel of UD land on the Laird Campus, adjacent to the University’s Clayton Hall Conference Center, where the hotel could Continued on Page 74

CONNOL LY GAL L AGHE R

Courtesy photos(2)

Dean Bruce Weber, PhD. (Lerner College of Business and Economics – UD), Plato Ghinos (President of Shaner Hotels), J W Marriott (Chairman of Marriott International), Debbie Marriott Harrison (Vice President of Marriott International), Lance Shaner (Chairman and Founder of Shaner Hotels), William Sullivan (Managing Director - Courtyard Newark at the University of Delaware), Dr Sheryl Kline (Chair of the Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management at UD).

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The Courtyard Newark...

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also provide guest room accommodations to guests of the Conference Center. An agreement was reached with the Shaner Hotel Group of State College, Pa., and Marriott International to build and operate a 126-room Marriott Courtyard Hotel on that site. The hotel grand opening was Nov. 21, 2004 with Marriott Chairman, J. Willard Marriott cutting the opening ribbon. UD hired Managing Director Bill Sullivan and a very experienced team of hospitality leadership professionals who would not only operate the hotel but also would be “teachers” for the HRIM students in the program. Sullivan had previously managed the Hotel du Pont and related hospitality operations for Dupont, and was an adjunct faculty member in the HRIM program and at the similar program at Widener University in Chester, Pa. Since opening, the hotel has been profitable and has excelled in guest service, winning numerous service excellence awards from Marriott for each of the ten years of operation, and in 2008 was rated the second best Courtyard for guest service in the world. Excellence in service, as rated by surveys of hotel guests, is the result of a great hotel team and the excellent energy

Courtesy photo

The lobby of the Courtyard Newark at the University of Delaware.

and skills of the student-interns as they work together for guest service excellence.

As part of dedication to the local tourism community, Hotel and Conference Center leadership engaged with other Newark-area hotels to form the Destination Newark Hotel Partnership to encourage group travel

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Executive chef Mark Chopko

Courtesy photo

and sports events for Newark to develop new sources of citywide business for the Newark area hotels, local shops, and restaurants. They won several awards from the Delaware Tourism Office for these efforts, and then took a leadership role in the formation of the Delaware Sports Commission. The Hotel leadership engaged as well with local charities and partnered with Delaware Autism, UD Center for Disabilities Studies and the Delaware School for Deaf to provide skill training, jobs and social integration for people with various disabilities. The hotel was nationally recognized for its Merry Otters program that invites families with autistic children to use the hotel pool and meeting space for family outings. The hotel has received numerous community awards for leadership Continued on Page 76 www.newarklifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Newark Life

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The Courtyard Newark...

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with tourism development, service to the disabled community and other non-profits.

The hotel plays an important role in UD, hosting many visitors to campus, and developing a successful Very Important Parents (VIP) program for parents of over 5,900 UD students for lodging needs in Newark.

In 2014, the hotel completed a full renovation of guest rooms and public spaces, this included the addition of the Bistro with Starbucks products and a full service lobby bar. A lovely landscaped patio area provides a great venue for seasonal dining, entertainment and banquet events. Recently, the hotel hosted an event that raised funds for the Newark Police K-9 team, attended by over 200 guests. Hotel dining, with a special recipe for crab cakes has earned the hotel quite a local reputation for fine cuisine and service.

Marriott International has been an exceptional supporter of the hotel since it’s inception. Marriott provided initial funding for the Marriott Center for Hospitality and Tourism, the classroom located in the hotel and recently agreed to donate $560,000 for a new state-of-the-art classroom addition to the hotel.

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The interior of the hotel.

Courtesy photo

Marriott Chairman, J. Willard Marriott, came to the grand opening of the hotel in 2004 and came back again in October of 2013 to visit the hotel and address students of the UD Lerner College of Business and Economics (HRIM is a part of this College).

Executive chef Mark Chopko and staff members with crab cakes made from a special recipe that has helped earn the restaurant a local reputation for fine cuisine.

Courtesy photos (2)

Having educated over a thousand future hospitality leaders, the future is bright for the hotel and the HRIM program. Recent renovations to the hotel and the student-run Vita Nova restaurant clearly demonstrate the commitment by UD administration to keep the UD hospitality program as one of the best learning programs in the world, where excellence in academic

and experiential learning come together to prepare future industry leaders.

Visit the Courtyard Newark at the University of Delaware at 400 David Hollowell Drive on the Laird Campus of UD, www.udel.edu/hotel and Vita Nova located in the Trabant Student Center at http://www. lerner.udel.edu/departments/hrim/vita-nova.

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Newark Life Magazine A Chester County Press Publication

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Center...

Continued from Page 49

been out on a pretty cold night,” Waibel said.

The staff at the Newark Empowerment Center sees the level of need in the community up close.

Marcus said that the sharp economic downtown in 2007 and 2008 created a “new normal” where there is simply more need than what can be met.

“We’re seeing a lot more people,” Marcus said. “On the financial end, we don’t have the resources to meet all the needs.”

It’s an imperfect world. Some of the things that could really make a difference in people’s lives—more job opportunities, for instance, or more people being able to overcome addictions—are unlikely to take place anytime soon.

So the hard work of helping those in need continues, one case at a time.

Marcus said that the greatest satisfaction comes from helping others. For example, shortly after the Newark Empowerment Center first opened, there was a young man who was homeless. He first came to the Newark Empowerment Center at the age of 18 or 19, seeking some assistance.

He was staying in DART bike lots when he could, and was spending the rest of the time on the streets. The staff was able to help him get a job and a place to live. He did so well that he was soon able to provide for himself and even sent the organization a donation.

“We have a lot of people who do that kind of thing,” Marcus explained.

Waibel relishes the success stories, the times when the Newark Empowerment Center helps a person get back on the right path, and he said that the community support through the years has been incredible—in fact, none of the good work would be possible without that help and support of the community. Waibel said that he is very thankful to everyone who has helped out with the Newark Empowerment Center over the years, and he is hopeful that the center can continue to play a role in making the community stronger. There will always be people who need a hand up, so it would be great, Waibel said, if 80

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the Newark Empowerment Center could always be there for them.

“I really hope it perpetuates itself,” he explained.

To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@chestercounty.com.

Courtesy photo

Marcus is the the assistant director of the Friendship House. He was one of this year’s recipients of the City of Newark’s Jefferson Awards for his service to the community.

How to help Contributions to the Newark Empowerment Center can be sent to the Friendship House, Inc., P.O. Box 1517, Wilmington, Del. 19899 with “Newark Empowerment Center” written in the memo line. Volunteers who are interested in working a minimum of one three-hour shift each month should contact Sheila Anderson at the First Presbyterian Church at sbatree@hotmail.com.

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—————|Newark Photo Essay|—————

The New Century Club has faded into history Photos by John Chambless

The New Century Club was the site of countless dances and civic events in Newark.

By John Chambless Staff Writer

S

ince 1917, a lot of history passed through the doors of the New Century Club building. But time caught up with the wood-paneled social hall, and it will soon be replaced by a three-story apartment complex and office building.

The landmark at East Delaware Avenue and Haines Street was the home of a club that stressed civic responsibility for more than 100 years, beginning in 1893 as a women’s literary and social group

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A marker from the Delaware Public Archives pointed out the history of the building.

Photos by John Chambless

A developer plans to build apartments and offices on the site.

Hand-forged security bars were fastened over the lower windows.

The building’s cornerstone.

called the Tuesday Club. The name was changed when 1900 ushered in optimism that great things were on the horizon, and the new century seemed limitless. The site was acquired by the club in 1916, and the building was completed and opened in 1917.

The stage has been the site of concerts, dances, speeches and community events. Soldiers from World War I and World War II attended dances there. In the 1950s, the building was a community center, and it later held graduations for some area schools.

The members of the New Century Club met there until November 2013, when it became clear that the cost of maintaining the building – and performing vital repairs – was becoming too much for the small group to bear. The lower level flooded. Drains around the building needed replacing, there was no sprinkler system, the hall Continued on Page 84

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Photo Essay...

Continued from Page 83

Photos by John Chambless

wasn’t ADA compliant, the radiators were original, and there was asbestos inside.

When an offer came to buy the property for demolition, the decision was made to shed the huge liability.

Most recently, the building has been used by the LifePath Church, whose members cleaned up the lower level and spruced up the interior in exchange for being able to use the site.

But the church moved out in September, awaiting the arrival of the bulldozers.

Architectural details, doors, beams and flooring from the New Century Club are expected to be salvaged, and the historic marker that stood outside will be incorporated in the new building, according to the developer.

A dumb waiter on a pulley ran from the basement kitchen up to the parlor, where ladies were served tea.

Continued on Page 86

Large doors at the front of the hall could be configured to enlarge the space.

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The chandeliers recalled the elegance of a bygone era.

Left: At one corner, the brick foundation was visible through the plaster.

Below: A fireplace in the front parlor.

The main hall had a stage and open floor for dancing.

Graffiti from past graduation ceremonies and theatrical productions was written on the back of the flats on stage.

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Photo Essay...

Continued from Page 84

Photos by John Chambless

In August, during a walkthrough of the New Century Club, the burnished paneling, glass-paneled doors and chandeliers reflected its bygone elegance. While it’s not designated as historically significant, the building did echo with the memories of countless couples who swayed to music there, of students who took their triumphant graduation walk, and of citizens who worked hard to make Newark a better place to live.

To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, e-mail jchambless@chestercounty. com.

A door beside the stage.

A burnished door knob on the main interior door.

The cast-iron radiators were probably original to the building.

Well-worn steps led up to the stage, and a trap door in the floor led to stairs so actors could come and go from the lower level.

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The part of the stage that was visible to the audience was carefully varnished, but the backstage area was left unrepaired.

Original window sills reflected nearly a century of use.

A sign in the lower level stated the purpose of the New Century Club.

The large beams in the ceiling will probably be reused in other buildings.

Storage spaces and stairs in the lower level.

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The Green, the stunning, half-mile strip of manicured lawns, gardens and trees that runs nearly the entire length of the University of Delaware’s main campus, has a rich history that connects the university’s past and present. For generations of students, The Green has served as...

A good walk through history

Contemporary sculpture blends with The Green’s original symmetry and design.

The Green is a perfect place to hang out after classes.

Story and photographs

by Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

H. Rodney Sharp, philanthropist Pierre Samuel du Pont, university presidents Samuel Chiles Mitchell and Walter Hullihen, architects Frank Miles Day and Charles Z. Klauder, and landscape designer Marian Coffin gave birth to an idea that has now become a historical Delaware landmark an one of the most important centers of advanced learning on the East Coast.

At the time, the University of Delaware existed as

The Green, extending from Main Street to south of the Morris Library, is not just a half-mile distance, but the accumulation of a shared vision, one that began nearly a century ago.

In 1915, University of Delaware alumnus and trustee,

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Continued on Page 92

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two small, single-sex colleges. On the north end stood Delaware College, centered at Old College on a campus constricted by the tracks of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and Main Street. On the south end, the Women’s College of Delaware was located on a separate campus near the corner of South College Avenue and Park Place.

In between was an agricultural oasis filled with swampy marshland, apple orchards, a few old houses and a tavern.

However, it was Sharp’s vision to help move his alma mater towards academic greatness – to connect the two separate colleges together – and with the help of his brother-in-law du Pont, the no-man’s land patch between the colleges was purchased by du Pont, and then turned over to Day, Klauder and Coffin for design.

Day and Klauder began to draw up the new design for the land by incorporating the symmetry and balance seen in Thomas Jefferson’s design of the Lawn at the University of Virginia, while infusing the look and feel of architectural design Day had seen in his travels through Delaware.

Once the layout of The Green had been defined, construction began on Harter Hall, a dormitory, and Wolf Hall, which became the home to science laboratories

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and an auditorium. In 1917, students helped plant the rows of elm trees along The Green, many of which still survive today.

A year later, Coffin designed an ornate landscape design concept for the newly-designed university, and by the 1920s, the two colleges, once separated by neglect, were now one. In 1924, Memorial Library, now Memorial Hall, was dedicated, and in the late 1920s, two more buildings – Mitchell Hall, still used as a performing arts center, and Evans Hall, now home to the the electrical and computer engineering department – had both opened.

In 1937, Harry Fletcher Brown, an executive at the Du Pont Company, financed the construction of the chemistry laboratory, a building that now bears his name, and one year later, with federal support from the Public Works Administration, Hullihen Hall, the university’s main administrative building, was completed.

The Green welcomed its next structure in 1958, when DuPont Hall, now the home of the College of Engineering, was completed. In 1962, state funding helped pay for the construction of Sharp Laboratory, and is now where the university’s physics department is located.

When David P. Roselle took over as president of the University of Delaware in the early 1990s, one of his missions was the help beautify The Green by adding brick walkways and upgraded greenery. In 1995, the W.L. Gore Continued on Page 94

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Jump...

Continued from Page 94

Courtesy of the University of Delaware

An architectural rendering of the South Campus, circa 1917.

University of Delaware...

Continued from Page 93

family gave the university funding in order to build a muchneeded classroom building to stand in the last, large empty space along the west side of The Green. Now, Gore Hall faces P. S. du Pont Hall, a building that had been designed in a utilitarian style that differed from that of its colonial revival surroundings, and had a setback out of keeping with The Green’s cruciform plan. University officials recognized

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An architectural rendering of the North Campus at the University of Delaware, circa 1917.

an opportunity to correct these problems by constructing a new façade for Du Pont Hall in 2002.

With the completion of the newly-designed Du Pont Hall, the nearly century-old idea for the University of Delaware had at last been fully realized.

[Reference: “A brief history of the UD Green,” by Carol E. Hoffecker, Richards Chair and Professor, Department of History.]

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, e-mail rgaw@ chestercounty.com.

———————|Newark Q&A|———————

Dennis Lawson

Courtesy photo

Dennis Lawson is the executive director of the Newark Arts Alliance.

Q: Newark has an active arts community and the Newark Arts Alliance is right at the center of it all. What has the experience been like since you became the executive director in 2013?

A: It’s been great! I’ve been so happy to see the role that the Newark Arts Alliance plays in helping people in our area express their creativity, from visual artists to writers to musicians. It’s also really gratifying to see how much our community supports and values the arts alliance—not just individuals but local businesses, grant-giving organizations, and our city and state government as well.

Q: You’re also a writer and very active with other writers in Delaware. Give us the back-story on your writing.

A. I’ve been a reader and a writer since I was a kid. A few things had a big impact on me. One was teaching writing—you really start to understand something better when you try to show someone else how to do it. Another was working at the Delaware Art Museum as the marketing and public relations manager—when you have a deadline, you realize that there’s just no time in life for writer’s block, or even getting something “perfect.” But it’s also hard to get any writing done unless you can carve out time for it. So I was very lucky that my wife supported me 96

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Dennis Lawson is the executive director of the Newark Arts Alliance. Newark Life caught up with him in September to discuss the active arts community in Newark, upcoming exhibits at the Arts Alliance, and the challenges of running the organization. Lawson, who holds an MFA in Creative Writing, received a fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts as the 2014 Emerging Artist in Fiction so we also talked to him about his story “Fair Warning” that was published in an anthology of stories set in Rehoboth Beach and was turned into a radio drama by Delmarva Public Radio.

leaving the museum so I could pursue an MFA in Creative Writing, which I received from Rutgers-Camden in 2012.

Q: Your story “Fair Warning” was published in a collection called “The Beach House” and was recently made into a radio drama by Delmarva Public Radio. Can you tell us about “Fair Warning”?

A: That was a fun story to write! “The Beach House” is an anthology of stories set in Rehoboth Beach. To fit in with the theme, I imagined a group of gangsters getting together in Rehoboth for a card game at their boss’s beach house.

The narrator recognizes his former flame down there, and finds out she’s on a mission to kill one of his fellow gangsters. The narrator has to decide who to betray—his boss or the woman who broke his heart.

Q: What other short stories have you been working on?

A: I’ve been really lucky this year, because I have a solid excuse to write as much as possible. I received a fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts as the 2014 Emerging Artist in Fiction, so I’m expected to produce!

Right now I’m working on a short story about a loan rep whose job is to call people who are delinquent on their student loans. The loan rep’s life is falling apart and the only thing keeping him together is his affection for his

Pamela Slaton’s “Dark Queen” is among the work featured in the Newark Arts Alliance’s October exhibition, Monsters, Mayhem & Superstition.

drug dealer. I’ve also had several crime stories recently accepted for publication. The next “Rehoboth Beach Reads” anthology, called “The Boardwalk,” will include my story “No Business at the Beach.” A short piece called “Whiskey Sour,” which is partly set at Delaware Park, will be in the Autumn 2014 edition of the online journal “Fox Chase Review.” And finally, I just sold a piece to the anthology “Insidious Assassins,” which is being published

by Smart Rhino Publications, based right here in Newark.

Q: You write a lot of crime fiction. Has that always been your favorite genre?

A: I’ve loved crime fiction since I was a kid reading reprints of Dick Tracy strips. When I was older, I discovered Raymond Chandler and his detective Philip Marlowe. Then, when I was a grad student at RutgersCamden, I taught a freshman composition class that I themed around crime writing. In order to teach that class, I had to read so much crime fiction that I couldn’t put it out of my head the next time I tried to write a story. I guess you read enough Chandler and Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain and you can’t resist any more. They put the gun in my hand.

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Dennis Lawson...

Continued from Page 97

Q: The Arts Alliance is very supportive of writers, it seems. What other opportunities are there for writers at the Arts Alliance?

A: Very true! On the first Tuesday of every month, we offer a free Open Mic at 7 p.m.. We call it Open Mic Poetry/Prose/Performance because we welcome writers of all styles and literary stripes, and everybody who wants to read gets five minutes at the mic. Since this past summer, we have also been offering a free monthly writers workshop that I lead. Plus, we regularly bring authors in for readings and discussions. In November, we will have a reading featuring myself and two other Delaware Division of the Arts literary fellowship winners: Viet Dinh (creative non-fiction) and Jane Miller (poetry). That will be on Saturday, November 15, at 7 p.m.

Q: What is the biggest challenge of managing the Newark Arts Alliance?

A: There are always many more good ideas for programs than time and resources will allow. So it’s a matter of offering as many great arts programs that we can while still staying within a relatively small budget and ensuring that the arts alliance is still around tomorrow.

Q: How about the greatest reward? What about the job gives you the greatest satisfaction?

A: I love seeing people create stuff! We have a new exhibition every month, and most of those are themed shows that are open to submissions from any interested artist—and some of our local artists are constantly making new pieces to keep up with the exhibition schedule.

I especially love to hear that the arts alliance has spurred someone on to make creativity a consistent part of their life. For instance, I’ve had artists tell me that they decided to make something for an exhibition, and that led them to put more pieces together so they could display them in our gallery shop. Or I’ve heard people in our writers workshop say that the monthly deadlines have caused them to write regularly. You can’t beat that!

Q: What are some of the events that the Arts Alliance has coming up?

A. I’m glad you asked! Our annual fall fundraiser this year is called “Bohemian Night: A Newark Arts Alliance Gala,” and I promise that it’s going to be a great time!

We’ll have food, including vegetarian options, by Caffe Gelato, jazz music by the Ellen Lebowitz Quartet and dancing, a silent auction of art by local artists, plus lots 100

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of bohemian treats like a tarot card reader and a bellydancer! That party is going to be Saturday, October 18, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., and we’re holding it at the Newark Senior Center’s Evergreen Banquet Room.

Tickets are available on our website and they’re cheaper in advance! We also have some great exhibitions.

Through October 25, we have “Monsters, Mayhem & Superstition,” which generated a lot of excitement before it even went up. And from November 25 to January 3, we use our whole exhibition space for our Holiday Art Market, featuring a variety of art and jewelry by local artists that’s perfect for holiday gifts.

Q: What is your favorite spot in Newark?

A: Main Street. My wife and I first moved to Newark in 2002 when I was earning my MA in English at the University of Delaware. We figured that when I finished, we would move again. But we loved going to Main Street so much that we didn’t want to leave. So we both found jobs and bought a house and we’re on Main Street all the time. And especially Rainbow Books & Music. I still love physical media, whether it’s books or CDs, and Rainbow can always find whatever I’m looking for!

Q: What three dinner guests, living or dead, would you invite to dine with you?

A: That’s a tough one. I guess I would ask the authors Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ian Fleming to dinner and then encourage them to talk shop and I would just quietly listen.

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A: Milk—because I’m a heavy coffee drinker. If there’s no milk in the fridge, then we’ve got trouble on our hands.

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Concord Pike Shoppes Of Red Mill People’s Plaza Hockessin Suburban Plaza Shoppes of Graylyn Chestnut Run Middletown Crossing Community Plaza Aston, PA Edgehill s/c, Dover West Chester, PA Rehoboth Fox Run Elkton, MD Milford New London, PA Thornbury, PA Smyrna, DE Seaford, DE Logan Twp, NJ Frazer, PA Paoli, PA Princeton, NJ Cherry Hill, NJ Chalfont, PA Mount Laurel, NJ

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302-478-8966 302-737-8982 302-836-5787 302-234-9112 302-368-2959 302-477-1995 302-995-2255 302-376-1616 302-324-0502 610-364-1100 302-672-9494 610-701-9111 302-226-2300 302-838-4300 410-398-5554 302-424-8373 610-869-8828 610-399-0124 302-653-1515 302-628-1001 856-467-0022 610-644-6767 610-647-1811 609-683-1520 856-429-1690 215-997-5052 856-780-5552

store hours: Mon-Sat 9am-9pm • Sun 10am-6pm

www.ConcordPetFoods.com NL14

5

$ off

any non-food purchase of $25 or more

Limit 1 offer per coupon, 1 coupon per customer. Not valid with any other coupon, discount or offer, or on prior purchases. Excludes sale items.

Expires 1-31-15.

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CONCORD PET COUPON