Chester County Press 07-28-2021 Edition

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Chester CountyPRESS

www.chestercounty.com

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

Volume 155, No. 30

INSIDE

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Plea deal expected in Lisa Moore trial By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

Dinosaurs on display...4A

$1.00

The much-anticipated trial of former Kennett Township Manager Lisa Moore – one that would have attempted to explain in further detail her alleged theft of more than $3.2 million of the township’s money over an eight-year span -- will very likely never happen. On July 19, Moore’s attorney Julia Alexa Rogers appeared before Chester County Court of Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Sommer and asked that

the case be continued until September in order to “prepare for plea to comply with terms thereof and determine scheduling.” Sommer, who has presided over the case since it was first set for trial in April 2020, signed the continuance order. With a trial now very much in doubt, there is strong speculation that Moore will plead guilty to her alleged crimes and negotiate a plan that would require her to pay the township back the money that was lost. While the terms of negotiation are still being

discussed between Moore’s attorney and the Chester County District Attorney’s Office, the length and extent of her prison sentence – or whether she receives only a probationary sentence -- is expected to be ultimately determined by Sommer. Meanwhile, the most crucial component of this resolution may not be measured by the severity of “punishment” that will be doled out to Moore for her alleged crimes, but how these stolen funds will find their way back into the township’s account. To date,

the township has already received $1 million from the surety bond that covered Moore, that guarantees that a specific individual ensure that he/she will act in accordance with certain laws in accordance with the Pennsylvania Second Class Township Code. House Sale Courtesy photo That still leaves well over Lisa Moore $2 million to recover, leaving the former township for repayment was intromanager liable to repay duced into negotiations in the remaining restitution. the form of Moore’s threeContinued on page 4A Recently, possible collateral

Part 1 in a three-part series

100-year-old photographer Bob Adams and the rest of his story A family’s heritage and an artist’s final years...1B

County appoints new director of human services ...6B

INDEX Opinion.......................5A Obituaries.............2B-3B Classifieds................4B

By Betsy Brewer Brantner Contributing Writer Robert Alison Adams, Jr. was born on Feb. 15, 1921. In some ways, his early years were a rehearsal for what was to come 100 years later. Bob was born during the Spanish Flu pandemic and a few years before the Great Depression. Now, all these decades later, he has survived the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and the economic ramifications that resulted from that. He is currently in a nursing home, but don’t think his memory has faded. Not even a bit. His memory is as clear as the pictures that he captured as a photographer, and he has strong recollection of everything that happened in his 100 years. You can find numerous interviews that he has done on YouTube. All are a must-see. Adams used his photography skills to document memories for many people who lived in the Oxford area—and for people from outside of the area. He

Courtesy Photos

Bob Adams is wearing a sheepskin suit standing outside of his barracks in Nebraska. It was cold flying in a bomber. Eventually, the military came up with electric suits that were plugged into the electric on the plane. It kept everyone warmer and was much less bulky.

Mary Stillwell, the future Mrs. Adams, leaning on Bob’s 1938 Buick in Silver Springs, Md. Bob would travel there often on weekends when she worked at The Pentagon.

was the photographer of choice for the local dignitaries and famous visitors at nearby Lincoln University. The list of those people he photographed reads like

Air Force in Europe, Martin Luther King, Jr., Albert Einstein, Marian Anderson, Julian Bond, and many more. Philip Merrill, a histori-

a who’s-who of influential people during the last half of the 20th Century: Queen Elizabeth II, King George VI, Lt. General James Doolittle of the 8th

an, author, and television personality, had this to say about Adams: “He is the most important photographer in Oxford’s history next Continued on page 2A

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‘It’s about empathy and co-navigating’

The Peacemaker Center helping young people through pandemic By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer Beginning in March 2020, the essential lifeline valves of millions of teenagers – interpersonal communication between peers and the wide-eyed optimism defined as hopes and dreams – were suddenly and without warning cut off. For the next 15 months, as the glaring and terrible

statistics kept up their ruthless assault and the world struggled to fight an invisible pandemic, bedrooms and family dens became fortresses for young people – impenetrable walls of protection that gave them shelter against the storm, but also hour after hour of loneliness and disconnect. Suddenly, becoming just another face in a tic-tac-toe diagram of other faces on

a laptop screen became the new normal, and so did the growing realization that the time afforded them to be the best versions of themselves was dissolving before their eyes. “I had a client who numbed out so much during COVID19,” said Scott Edwards, the director of operations at The Peacemaker Center in Kennett Square. “His parents were riding him. They

asked if he had completed his homework, and he began lying to them, telling them that he had. “He told me that he would sit there for six hours in front of his computer screen and then shut it all down and do nothing for the remainder of the night. He wasn’t alone. He was a member of the new normal when nothing was normal.” “It was a sense of their not

being seen,” said Melanie Wilson, a therapist with The Peacemaker Center. “They began to realize that social media was not giving them what they thought that it did, and not having engagement in person really hurt them.” The Peacemaker Center, housed in a historic home on South Willow Street in Kennett Square, stands at the heart of a borough whose Continued on page 4A

Oxford Area Chamber of Commerce organizes job fair to connect local businesses with potential employees The job fair will be a part of the First Friday event in downtown Oxford on Aug. 6

© 2007 The Chester County Press

The Oxford Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting a pop-up job fair in downtown Oxford as part of the town’s First Friday event on Friday, Aug. 6. The job fair will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. at 3rd and Locust streets.

“We are looking to connect folks looking for employment with our members who are seeking to fill positions,” said Christine Grove, the executive director of the Oxford Area Chamber of Commerce. “This is a Continued on page 4A


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