Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 154, No. 40
INSIDE
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Kennett Township Oxford Police Department officially reopens historic Chandler Mill Bridge requests fulltime detective By Betsy Brewer Brantner Contributing Writer
Oxford fundraiser...2A
Library
Residents get re-Kennected to Greenway Trail...1B
Meet Moose Zeeke...5A
and
INDEX
$1.00
The Oxford Police Department made two presentations to borough council on Monday night informing officials of a recent, two-year manpower study. Police Corporal Scott Brown said, “We have done a two-year study but I’m going to go back to do a five-year study just for further clarification. The formula for the study includes the population of the town, the size of the town, the roadways included in the town and the call volume. Call volume numbers come from county dispatch.” County dispatch includes every call that comes into the police. The borough’s own numbers do not include every call, only those that require a report. It also doesn’t include traffic stops. But even with those caveats, calls have doubled, Brown said. He explained that, according to the manpower study formula, Oxford should have 13 full-time officers. The borough has nine full-time positions, but are currently down to eight officers since Sgt. Thomas McFaddien retired this year after 37 years of service. Other officers will be retiring in
the near future as well. Brown said that the chief of police is a “working chief” and recently helped officers investigate a stabbing case. When an officer leaves the department, the borough also loses years of training and experience. Brown also pointed out that the current population count is from 10 years ago, since the country is currently performing a new census. He used an estimated population number from Wikipedia so when updated census numbers are available, it could also change what best police practices would recommend. Brown said, “We are not asking for 13 officers. We are in the process of hiring a new officer, but we do have to realize we will have some retiring in the future, and we will have to bring the new hire up to speed.” Council member Robert Ketcham asked, “When was the last time we added a full-time officer to our department?” Police officer Chris Coverly replied, “That was in 2007, 13 years ago.” Coverly followed Brown with a report outlining the need for a detective in the Oxford Police Department. He outlined rising crime Continued on Page 2A
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Chester County Commissioners Michelle Kichline, Josh Maxwell and Marian Moskowitz joined with the Kennett Township Board of Supervisors and other key stakeholders at the official reopening of the historic Chandler Mill Bridge on Oct. 2.
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer For every securely fastened bolt that now belongs to the newly restored Chandler Mill Bridge in Kennett Township, there are an equal number of roadblocks that the township had to go through in order to make last Friday’s ribbon-cutting reopening event happen. After a nearly ten-year-long tussle of public hearings and back-and-forth arguments between elected officials and residents, the 110-yearold bridge was officially reopened in ceremonies on Oct. 2, before the township’s Board of Supervisors, all three Chester County Commissioners and some of the key stakeholders who were involved in the bridge’s preservation.
“They say that good things take time,” board chairman Dr. Richard Leff said at the event, which took place at the foot of the bridge. “Well, it took about ten years from when it was closed until we got to this time. What we have here is a good addition. When the rehabilitation began a few months ago, I knew that we were not only preserving parts of Kennett Township’s and the county’s history, but that of Pennsylvania and our nation.” At the time he was campaigning for his first term as supervisor in 2013, Leff told the audience that PennDOT was proposing to reconstruct the bridge – then owned by Chester County – as a twolane bridge to accommodate local traffic. “This was something I
don’t think we need in this part of the township,” he said. “It would be just more noise and more traffic just like everywhere else,” he said. “But here – where we are -- is not like everywhere else. We’re on the edge of the township. We’re on the edge of Delaware, and if you stop talking, you can hear the streams and the birds.” The reopening of the bridge “has been a long time coming,” said supervisor Scudder Stevens. “I started my campaign in 2011 fighting over this bridge, and in 2012, I met with the Chester County Commissioners, explaining why we wanted to keep this bridge, while at the same time I had two supervisors (Michael Elling and Robert Hammaker) with me who Continued on Page 3A
Opinion.......................7A Obituaries..............2B-3B Classifieds.................6B
Despite roadblocks, League of Women Voters of Chester County continues to get out the vote
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By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
© 2007 The Chester County Press
In 1920, on the backdrop of a suffrage movement that marched down our nation’s streets in a surging rush that would not be turned back, women in this country went to the election booths for the first time. In the same year, the League of Women Voters was formed. Now in its centennial year, the non-partisan organization has been a consistent
stalwart of truth, committed to providing fact-based information about issues and the positions candidates take on those issues, in order to help voters make decisions that impact their communities, their state and their nation. This year -- against the backdrop of a worldwide pandemic, a nation divided along party lines and the persistent rumors swirling about the authenticity of elections – the role of the League of Women Voters to
succeed in their mission has never been more important. Leading up to Election Day on Nov. 3, the League of Women Voters of Chester County have, quite literally, blanketed the entire county. To evenly disseminate their work, the League has divided the county into five regions throughout its 67 municipalities, where section leaders and volunteers are coordinating:
county residents about filling out a mail-in ballot request form; • The supplying of townships, libraries, food banks, schools and churches, mosques and synagogues with English and Spanish voting information postcards, legislative directories and voting guides for everyone from college students to senior living residents; • The organization’s social media and mailings; and • Zoom meetings and • “Meet the Candidates” teleconferences that inform forums. In partnership with
the West Chester chapter of the NAACP, the League will host two virtual debates on Oct. 15 and 16 that will introduce 16 candidates who are vying for local and regional political offices. “The League has been so busy this year, that we needed three co-presidents,” said Pam Gray, who shares her title with Susan Carty and Barb Lathroum. “Our membership has doubled since the last presidential election. The interest in voting, the Continued on Page 6A
Sixty-one years of haircuts in West Grove and still going strong By Chris Barber Contributing Writer Sometime in the late 1940s, a young, Italian coal mine worker made his way to Canada and, eventually, to the southern Chester County area. He had high hopes and big dreams. Domenico Ruffini spent several years working at the General Motors plant in nearby Delaware and then obtained a barber’s license. He established a barbershop in West Grove in 1959. In August, Domenico passed away at the age of 92 after a long and successful life.
But the shop, now owned and operated by his son, John Ruffini, 61, has endured and remains a centerpiece of the small shops and municipal buildings on Rose Hill Avenue. The younger Ruffini described Domenico as an energetic and patriotic man. “He would arrive early at the barber shop at 5 a.m. so he could serve the early-risers waiting at the door for their haircuts,” he said. John added that he worked side-by-side with his father for 40 years, and many people who observed their jolly banter and enjoyment of each other’s company didn’t even
Photo by Chris Barber
The walls are filled with relics and decorations that add warmth to the shop.
realize they were father and Through the years, Grove, the town he loved. son. Domenico threw his energies He was elected to the bor“He was my best friend,” not only into his barbering ough council in 1980 and Continued on Page 4A John Ruffini said. profession, but also into West