Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
To Subscribe Call 610.869.5553
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
INSIDE
Volume 153, No. 22
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Perfect weather and high New Garden Board opposes application spirits for the Kennett Square Memorial Day Parade to construct ‘Citizen’ cell tower By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer In the words of Yogi Berra, it was deja vu all over again. Less than two months after New Garden Township’s Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB) opposed a zoning application to construct a cellular tower in the township, a follow-up proposal to create a similar tower on May 20 was soundly rejected by the township’s Board of Supervisors. By a vote of 4-0, the board opposed the zoning application of Citizen Towers, LLC, to construct a cellular phone tower at 1515 Yeatmans Station Road in Landenberg, on a 4.3-acre property owned by Arthur J. Santoro. The vote came after a nearly hour-long
“Yea” and “Nay” comment session by 31 residents who expressed their opinions in favor of – and in opposition to – the proposed tower. Citizen Towers, LLC submitted their application for the tower to the ZHB on April 22, proposing the installation of a tower-based Wireless Communications (WCF) at the property “for the use and benefit” of up to four service providers. The tower, they proposed, would consist of a single steel monopole antenna support structure that would be 125 feet tall. The tower, the application stated, would be available for the installation of four antenna array platforms that would be capable of supporting up to 12 panel-style Continued on Page 2A
Incumbents have strong showing in Avon Grove School Board races Avon Grove Scholarship Foundation gets $100,000 donation from Waltman family...4A
By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
A few of the most highly contested races in the area in 2019 are for seats on the Avon Grove School Board. In the Primary Election on May 21, there were nine candidates vying for five seats. Now, heading into the general election in November, there are eight candidates who’ve earned spots on the ballot vying for those five seats on the school board. But the results of the Primary Election could be The community ralmore consequential than it lies around a cherished first appears. boutique...1B The candidates are sharply divided on the new high school project, and at
least two candidates made halting the project the centerpiece of their campaigns to unseat incumbents. However, the Primary Election results suggest that those candidates supporting the high school project are in strong positions for the general election in November—though the May 21 results could hardly be called decisive. In Avon Grove’s Region II, where two seats are up for election, incumbents Tracy Lisi and Jeffrey Billig were being challenged in the Primary Election by Mark Stewart, Jr. and Carmela Ciliberti. Billig and Lisi earned the nominations on the Continued on Page 3A
Photo by Chris Barber
By Chris Barber Correspondent
Day Parade knew a few other people there. Spirits were high because folks As in most small towns, knew this was traditionally practically everyone at the the borough’s biggest and Kennett Square Memorial most spectacular parade.
INDEX Opinion.......................7A Obituaries...................2B Classifieds.................4B
As the 21st annual Avon Grove Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony began to gather in proper file in the parking lot of Avon Grove High School early on May 25, the long line of participants who climbed into vehicles, floats or fell into line had very little idea of the crowds that awaited their arrival, but after the parade began at 9 a.m., those participating soon knew. Before hundreds of local residents, friends and family members who lined the parade route along State Road and Prospect Avenue, the annual West Grove Borough tradition was a Photo by Richard L. Gaw generous Who’s Who of The 21st annual Avon Grove Memorial Day Parade and Continued on Page 6A
Calendar of Events.....6B
© 2007 The Chester County Press
Ceremony on May 25 featured several scout groups.
Heroes honored at EMS banquet By Chris Barber Correspondent
State Rep. John Lawrence gets to work on May 24.
“It’s almost June and we can’t get the grass mowed? That’s not acceptable,” Lawrence said. “Constituents have called in and said that it looks like Jurassic Park.” So last Friday afternoon at about 3 o’clock, Lawrence decided to take action. He took a weed wacker and started cutting some of the
Continued on Page 5A
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer Motorists who were driving on the Route 1 Bypass between Oxford and West Grove on Friday afternoon of Memorial Day Weekend saw an unusual sight—if they were sharpeyed enough to see what was happening. Yes, that was State Representative John Lawrence cutting the overgrown grass in the Route 1 median strip. For several weeks, Lawrence’s District Office had fielded complaints from residents in the 13th Legislative District about how the grass in the median wasn’t being mowed. Lawrence went through the proper channels to try to find out why the private contractor wasn’t doing the job the state had hired it to do.
Many of the visitors even arrived an hour before the 10 a.m. starting time, and a good number brought folding chairs.
Annual parade marches through West Grove
Lawmaker takes action
Muriel Anderson brings guitar wizardry to Kennett Flash...6B
$1.00
grass himself. He said that he would continue to cut the grass, a little at a time, until the contractor does the job that they are contractually obligated to do. “They’ve been hired to do a job,” Lawrence said. “Pennsylvania taxpayers are paying them to do this job. It’s very frustrating.”
In the past year, 29 people in Chester County were essentially brought back from the brink of death thanks to the skill and dedication of local EMS providers. On May 23, the 15th Chester County Emergency Medical Services Council Awards Ceremony at the Kennett Fire Company Red Clay Room recognized those countywide responders. The room was filled to the brim with about 300 responders, guests and recovered victims. As the succession of heroes stepped up to the podium and were named, they collected their plaques and were photographed. The council lauded 23
instances of crews performing “clinical saves.” Those awards were presented to members of the emergency services who were involved in pre-hospital saves of people who were pulseless and not breathing. Among recipients was the team that saved local dentist Dr. Amit Dua, who lives in New Garden and has a dentistry practice in Hockessin at Lantana Square. He suffered cardiac arrest on Aug. 19, 2018 and was almost immediately given CPR by arriving Southern Chester County Regional Police officers Jeremy O’Neill and Mario Raimato. In a short time, members of the advanced life support Medic 94 team arrived and administered lifesaving aid. The members of that team were Continued on Page 5A