Chester County Press 02-21-2018 Edition

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Chester CountyPRESS

www.chestercounty.com

Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas

Volume 152, No. 8

INSIDE

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Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Save Our Water group to file protest in response to Artesian application By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

On the morning of Feb. 16, three days after it first solicited responses from local citizens, Save Our Water – a grassroots organization created two years ago to oppose the application by Delaware-based Artesian Water to extract water from a Landenberg well – received more than 50 Open-ended dreamscapes signatures that will become a part of a formal protest at Arts Alliance...3B against Artesian’s latest application, and filed with the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission. Over the next week and leading up to the March 14 deadline, the number of

protest signatures is expected to more than double. Save Our Water is opposed to the application that was filed last December by Artesian Water Pennsylvania, Inc. with the Public Utility Commission (PUC) to obtain a certificate of public convenience, in order for Artesian to implement the easements for the Broad Run well and placement of the water pipe from the water well to Broad Run Road. A certificate of convenience is the legal mechanism by which a public utility gains the right to undertake certain activities to govern the approval Continued on Page 2A

Fundraisers succeed in raising money to purchase handicapped accessible van By John Chambless Staff Writer The community came together over the past three months, with donations big and small, to fund the purchase of a handicapped accessible van for a local family. Joanna Johnson, a teacher at Unionville High School, sent a note through the school district on Feb. 13 to thank all the people who contributed to several fundraisers and a Go Fund Me page. “This amazing community showed up big and with all of the money raised we are shopping for a handicapped accessible van and hope to have it in our driveway this spring,” she wrote. The couple’s sons, Elliott and Henry, have Duchenne Muscular

Photo by John Chambless

Joanna Johnson with her sons, Elliott and Henry, at their home near Downingtown (2016 file photo).

Dystrophy. It is the most common fatal genetic disorder diagnosed in childhood, affecting about one in every 3,500 male births – about 20,000 cases each year, worldwide. The Duchenne gene is found in the X chromosome, so it primarily

affects boys. Duchenne results in progressive loss of strength and is caused by a mutation in the gene that encodes for dystrophin, a key muscle protein. In the absence of dystrophin, muscle cells Continued on Page 3A

KCSD unveils $86.3 million preliminary budget Gas company to occupy PREIT site...6A

INDEX Opinion........................7A Obituaries...................2B Calendar of Events.....4B

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A tax increase seems likely at this point in the budgeting process By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer The Kennett School Board voted to authorize the release of an $86.3 million preliminary budget for 2018-2019 school year during its meeting on Feb. 12. It’s still early in the budgeting process, but it seems likely that a tax increase will be necessary to fund the spending plan. School board member Michael Finnegan, who

serves on the district’s Finance Committee, outlined some of the specifics of the budget. He explained that the budgeted expenditures total $86,337,497 for 2018-2019, which is an increase of more than $2 million over the current year. If the budget is approved as is, Finnegan said that a 2.27 percent tax increase would be necessary— slightly less than the 2.4 percent Act 1 Index limit for the next school year.

The Act 1 Index limit establishes the highest amount that a school district could raise taxes without seeking approval from residents through a referendum. A 2.27 percent tax increase amounts to a $123 increase in taxes for the owner of a home with an assessed value of $330,000, which is the average assessed value in the district. The millage rate would be 30.5542 mills. In addition to the tax

Local business owner donates computer lab to Study Buddies program

increase, Kennett will also be dipping into its fund balance for approximately $714,330 to balance the spending plan. The year-to-year increase in spending can be attributed in part to another big hike in the state-mandated PSERS costs. The state determines the rate that school districts must contribute to the retirement fund, and that rate has been skyrocketing for more than a decade. For 2018-2019, it is projected

Photo by Steven Hoffman

By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer On Monday, Feb. 5, a group of students who participate in the Study Buddies after-school program in Kennett Square visited one of Chester County’s most innovative businesses for a tour. Steve Figgatt, the founder and CEO of West Grove-based Sycamore

International, led the students on a trek around the business that buys old technology like computers, iPads, or laptops from schools, businesses, and hospitals, and then refurbishes them to be used again, effectively recycling millions of pounds of electronics each year. The students even got to see some of the Sycamore International technicians at

work on refurbishing the devices. Then, on Wednesday, Feb. 14, Figgatt visited a Study Buddies class in the Bethel AME Church in Kennett Square to see the students use the new computer lab that his company had donated to Study Buddies. Ethan Cramer, the executive director of Continued on Page 2A

Continued on Page 3A

John Fetterman meets local leaders at roundtable meeting

Lt. Governor candidate visits Kennett Square

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

On Feb. 14, Steve Figgatt, the CEO of Sycamore International, visited a Study Buddies class in Kennett Square. Figgatt donated a computer lab to the Study Buddies program.

that Kennett’s costs will go up by $592,894, or approximately 2.6 percent. The salaries in the district are going up by $745,021. This figure includes one new teaching position that is being added next year. The district’s costs related to charter schools are going up by $200,000. When a Kennett student attends a charter school, a large portion of the per-pupil expenditures travel with the student to the charter

From a purely visual standpoint, the similarities between current Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Mike Stack and four-term Braddock, Pa. Mayor John Fetterman – one of four candidates who are trying to upseat Stack this Nov. 6 – are practically nil. Stack, the flamboyant byproduct of the Philadelphia Democratic machine, is known for his toothy smile, his slickedback hair and his pinstripe suits. In contrast, Fetterman, who met last week with prominent Kennett Square leaders at a roundtable discussion held at the Kennett Brewing Company, would never be confused with someone who is beholden to any particular fashion sense. Fetterman wears customary black shirts that semi hide his many tattoos, including one that reads

15104 – the zip code of Braddock, that is imprinted on his left forearm. Beneath his bald head are a set of eyes that do not linger on their subject but pierce, deliver and move on, and there is a kind of urgency in the way he carries his sixfoot-eight frame – central to his movement and his candidacy – that suggests a feeling that he is carrying the burdens of every Pennsylvanian, beginning with immigrants. “I am appalled every day by how we treat immigrants, the way we talk about immigrants in this country, the way we are rounding up people now and deporting law-abiding citizens who have done nothing wrong, and they’re just trying to create terror,” said Fetterman, whose wife Gisele is an immigrant and became a U.S. citizen nine years ago. “[Immigration] speaks to me very intensely, and I’m running for lieutenant governor because I want Continued on Page 4A


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