Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas Volume 149, No. 12
INSIDE Home&Garden 2015
LIFE
60 Cents
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Betty Gordon to leave New Garden supervisor post on April 1
‘The people of New Garden Township have had three years of very good government’ By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
See pages 22 & 23 for additional information
Home & Garden Life
Landenberg artist has her work showcased at Wilmington Flower Market....................1B
Kennett drops season opener to Great Valley.......................1C West Grove teacher is a Heart of Learning finalist....................2B
When Betty Gordon announced at a recent meeting that April 1 would be her last day as a New Garden Township supervisor, she did so with a heavy heart. In some ways, despite the fact that she is resigning a full nine months ahead of when her sixyear term is set to expire at the end of the year, Gordon has already made her mark in New Garden – being the first woman in the township’s history to serve on the board, and casting her viewpoints and votes during a period when the township struggled to continue to define itself as a rural community, in the wake of encroaching development. “Betty did what she believed in, which is to try to protect some of the natural resources in our township, help with preserving the natural character and open space, and to secure ground for a future trail sys-
Photo by John Chambless
A group of township officials, PennDOT officials and Sen. Andy Dinniman on the steps of the Red Rose Inn, which has been vacant for years.
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Betty Gordon will resign from the New Garden Township Board of Supervisors on April 1.
tem,” said Steve Allaband, New Garden board chairman. “Betty always did her best, and was accountable and honest. She was an asset to the board and to the township, and she will be missed.” The Chester County Press recently sat down with Gordon at the New Garden Township boardroom, to reflect on her time on the board, her wishes
for the township, and her plans for her future. Chester County Press: What made you first decide to run for the Board of Supervisors? Gordon: People asked me if I would run. Some people were dissatisfied in the way the township was being run, and they felt that I may make a good supervisor. Continued on Page 4A
“Building Bridges” event highlights police’s strengths, weaknesses in its relations with community By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
INDEX Calendar of Events..........3B Opinion..........................7A Obituaries.......................8A Police Blotter.................4B Classified.....................9B
The year 2014 was a difficult one to be a police officer in the United States. On July 17, the death of Eric Garner, a black man, at the hands of Staten Island, N.Y., police quickly became a viral sensation, and on Aug. 9, the shooting of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man in Ferguson, Mo. by a white officer became the fuel that led to a series of disparate attacks, both verbal, retaliatory and violent. These incidents have been followed by numerous other occurrences between the police and the communities they serve – most of them captured on video – that have set off a powder keg of controversy that has effectively placed law enforcement on public trial. Largely, it has been both
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Kennett Square Mayor Matt Fetick, far left, was joined by representatives from four local police departments at “Building Bridges,” an open dialogue between law enforcement officials and the community, which was held March 18 in Kennett Square.
accusatory in its anger and silent in its push for solutions. For West Grove interim Police Chief Michael King, seeing these murders splayed all over the social landscape last year was the source of a frustration he felt both from fellow
officers and the communities they serve. “There was more to the story and only some of it was being given out,” King told an audience gathered at “Building Bridges,” a dialogue between Continued on Page 3A
Dinniman gets first-hand view of work needed at Red Rose Inn By John Chambless Staff Writer The ongoing question of what to do with the Red Rose Inn property was officially addressed on Monday afternoon by State Sen. Andy Dinniman, who stood on the vacant property across the street and agreed
© 2007 The Chester County Press
The past couple of weeks have been anxious ones for virtually every non-profit in the region while the United Way of Southern Chester County decides how its money will be allocated. The hardest part? Every agency that comes asking is doing good work that deserves to be supported. But
Continued on Page 5A
OASD budget picture improves slightly By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer Oxford Area School District’s budget picture for 2015-2016 is improving—slightly. Brian Cooney, the district’s business administrator, provided a budget update at the March 10 school board meeting, telling the board that Oxford now expects its medical insurance costs to be about $247,885 less than originally budgeted. As a result, the $64 million proposed budget that was discussed in December now stands at $63.7 million. Cooney also outlined some of the key points to Gov. Tom Wolf’s first proposed state budget, which was released on March 3 and includes a $1 billion increase in education funding. Cooney said that according to state figures, Oxford would see an increase of $1.12 million in regular education funding and another $350,000 in special education
From a field of worthy choices, the United Way must choose how funding is distributed By John Chambless Staff Writer
that the derelict building is blocking progress. The intersection of Old Baltimore Pike and Jennersville Road in Penn Township worked just fine when people traveled by horse and wagon. But drivers going north or south on Jennersville Road who want
there’s only so much money to go around. Every year, the agencies funded by the United Way line up to make their pitches to a board of volunteers from the Continued on Page 5A Photo by John Chambless
Carrie Freeman, the CEO of the United Way of Southern Chester County, talks to this year’s panelists at a training session held last month.
funding if the proposed state budget is approved as is. That’s a big if, of course. “It will be a long road for the governor to get that budget passed,” Cooney said, explaining that GOP state senators responded to the budget proposal by sending a letter to superintendents Continued on Page 6A
Property tax for non-profits? By Uncle Irvin Every state has laws that exempt churches and federally designated non-profits from property taxes. This present law in Pennsylvania is what exempts huge, money-generating non-profits like Longwood Gardens. In the maverick state of Maine, their governor is championing a proposal that requires colleges, hospitals, and other large charities to pay property taxes in their municipalities and school districts. The Maine governor argues that non-profits rely on local services, and that their exemption unfairly drives up property taxes for others -- all true.
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