Chester County Press 09-30-2020 Edition

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Chester CountyPRESS

www.chestercounty.com

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

Volume 154, No. 39

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

$1.00

INSIDE Penn Township

Police respond to receives $1 stabbing incident and million grant for an armed subject in Oxford Borough development of a sports park By Betsy Brewer Brantner Contributing Writer

New initiatives aimed at helping veterans...5A

Courtesy photo

Penn Township has received a $1 million grant to help develop a sports park.

Penn Township’s efforts to continue to develop a New Garden hosts open sports park received a big house at St. Anthony in boost last week when it was the Hills...1B announced that the township had received $1 million in grant funding through the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation Partnerships Program. This grant pro-

gram is funded by a variety of state and federal funding sources, including the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. The $1 million in grant funding will be utilized by Penn Township for the further development of a sports Continued on Page 2A

Oxford Borough police officers responded to two recent incidents in the borough. One was a stabbing that took place at Lauren Lane in Oxford where a male was stabbed multiple times. He has received medical care and been released. The investigation is ongoing. Another incident involved an emergency call with a female needing assistance. When the police arrived, the female displayed a handgun. Officers used de-escalation methods to diffuse the situation. The female was arrested and is being evaluated. Police Chief Sam Iacono informed council about both incidents during the Sept. 21 council meeting. Iacono said that incidents involving the police have

doubled in the borough in the last five years. Iacono also informed council that 22 applicants expressed interest in the police officer position that was posted. Out of the 22 applicants who took the civil service test, 15 people will now move forward in the process. Also discussed at the Sept. 21 council meeting was the preliminary budget for the coming year, which currently totals $4,054,836.02. Borough Manager Brian Hoover said, “We will continue to work on the budget. Currently there are deficits. The budget will change as we find ways to save. We do have the opportunity to put a cellular tower on the elevator of the parking garage which will give us another source of income. And the sale of the former borough hall could also support our budget.” Hoover also informed

borough council during the meeting that bids on the former borough hall, which was also formerly the train station, will be accepted on Oct. 22 at 10 a.m. in response to the Request for Proposal that was advertised. Settlement on the property will take place 60 days after a contract is signed. Council will meet again on Oct. 5 to discuss the budget. A number of department budget meetings will be held before then. The new council and mayor have been carefully scrutinizing the budget to ensure they not only understand it, but that they have not missed anything during this trying economic time. Robert Hotchkiss from Southern Chester County EMS Medic 94 discussed the increase in this year’s request for borough support. Last year, the Borough’s Continued on Page 4A

In effort to stop spread of coronavirus, Pa. launches COVID Alert PA app By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer For those Chester County residents looking to tap additional sources in order to better assure their safety during the most severe pandemic in the past 100 years, there is now an app for that. In a presentation held last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Opinion.......................5A Tom Wolf and Secretary of Obituaries............2B & 5B the Department of Health Dr. Calendar of Events......6B Rachel Levine introduced Native plant sale...4B

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the COVID-19 exposure notification mobile app known as COVID Alert PA. Available for free in the Google Play store, the Apple App store and from the state’s website (www. pa.gov.), the application can detect if the user has been in close contact with another user who later tested positive for COVID-19 by sending a “COVID-19 Exposure Alert” notification to the user’s phone.

Using Bluetooth technology, the notification system allows phones with the app to recognize when it is close to another phone. Once the user taps the notification, he or she will be given public health guidance, along with the latest information on COVID-19 in Pennsylvania from the department’s COVID-19 data dashboard. The COVID Alert PA app helps support traditional contact tracing

processes. When the Pennsylvania Health Department contacts the COVID-19 positive individual to discuss their diagnosis, the public health representative will provide the user with a unique sixdigit validation code to enter into the app. Once this step is completed, the app will be able to alert other app users who have been in close contact with the COVID-19 positive

individual. This exposure alert does not reveal the identity of the COVID-19 positive individual or their whereabouts. The app is available for download in both English and Spanish. Adding phones to the fight “We all play a part in stopping the spread of Continued on Page 2A

Classifieds.................6B

The power of united giving to support nonprofits on the front lines

To Subscribe Call 610.869.5553

The United Way of Southern Chester County celebrates 75 Years of serving the community

© 2007 The Chester County Press

In these challenging and uncertain times, with so many pressing needs in our community, those who want to help often face impossible choices. Is food insecurity or homelessness more important? Health and COVID testing or domestic violence? Programs that provide for at-risk children or those that serve the elderly? It’s impossible to know how to

allocate our giving so that our charitable donations best serve all of those who are most in need right now. That’s where the United Way of Southern Chester County (UWSCC) comes in, according to Carrie Freeman, the organization’s CEO. For 75 years, UWSCC has been skillfully and strategically supporting, connecting, and resourc-

ing nonprofits working on the front lines in every sector of our community. Part of what makes UWSCC so effective in this role is an ability to see all of the various needs—those that make the headlines as well as those that don’t—from a bird’s-eye view. This perspective, in addition to decades of experience and a deeply rooted network of relationships built on trust,

uniquely equips UWSCC to achieve maximum impact. direct funds where they’re Because many of the proneeded most—and to grams UWSCC is able to respond quickly enough to Continued on Page 3A

Mario Basciani: His life, well lived When Emedio Basciani first arrived in the United States from the province of Abruzzo in Central Italy over a century ago, his welcome into this country was likely one accentuated by the sound of his papers being stamped and the cavernous reverberation of hundreds of other immigrants speaking different languages, all arriving in a new world for the first time. He arrived in southeastern Pennsylvania in 1915, and began harvesting mushrooms on the Pratt family farm. After establishing his own farm

ten years later, he brought his wife Anna to the United States. The absolute and reassuring beauty of their arrival in America was that although the Bascianis were staring into the empty canvas of a wide open new country, they were chisled from the bedrock faith that hard work and love of family would ultimately serve them and the family they would soon have. To those who knew him, Mario D. Basciani, who died on Sept. 13 at the age of 91, was the living personification of what his parents believed in. As a second-generation mushroom farmer working in

the Toughkenamon soil, Mario’s hunger for knowledge about the industry was surpassed only by the passion of his labor. Together with his sons and grandchildren, he built M.D. Basciani & Sons, Inc. and Basciani Foods into one of the largest mushroom growing conglomerates in North America. Mario didn’t stop there; he and other farmers began Laurel Valley Farms in 1979, and made it the largest commercial mushroom composting facility in North America. If his success in business became part of the legacy of Mario Basciani, the other half of his life was reserved

for his family – his four siblings, his beloved wife of 70 years, their five children, their 18 grandchildren and their 39 great-grandchildren. It is not known for certain who wrote the poem “A Life Well Lived” but no matter. As we reflect on the life of Mario Basciani, the words of the poem mirror the principles he learned from his parents, and as a guidepost not only to the life he led, but to the lives we should all lead by his example. A Life Well Lived One has achieved success who has lived life well, laughed often, and loved much;

Who has gained the respect of intelligent adults and the love of little children; Who has filled a niche and accomplished a task; Who left the world better than one found it, (whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul;) Who has never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty or failed to express it; Who has always looked for the best in others and given the best one had; Whose life was an inspiration; Whose memory (is now) a benediction.


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