Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 150, No. 32
INSIDE
Education Guide Special Section
Discussion about sewer rate hikes dominate council meeting Oxford Borough residents, officials worry about further impact stemming from sewer authority’s revenue shortfalls By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer At the start of Monday night’s Oxford Borough Council meeting, the first since the Oxford Area Sewer Authority revealed the full extent of its financial woes, borough council president Ron Hershey
Celebrating community ties in Kennett Square ...1B
read from a statement expressing council’s frustration and disappointment that the sewer authority’s revenue shortfalls could place the four member municipalities into what he called “a terrible financial situation.” With a standing-roomContinued on Page 3A
Chester County Tax Rates - 2016 SCH DIST A-G U-CF Kenn Oxf Oxf A-G Kenn Kenn A-G A-G Oxf Kenn A-G U-CF Oxf A-G U-CF U-CF Oxf A-G Oxf
DISTRICT # NAME 4 61 61 69 70 72 62 3 73 59 56 60 71 49 6 58 64 63 57 5 68
AVONDALE EAST MARLBOROUGH EAST MARLBOROUGH EAST NOTTINGHAM ELK FRANKLIN KENNETT TWP KENNETT SQUARE LONDON BRITAIN LONDON GROVE LOWER OXFORD NEW GARDEN NEW LONDON NEWLIN OXFORD PENN PENNSBURY POCOPSON UPPER OXFORD WEST GROVE WEST NOTTINGHAM
With the start of the school year less than three weeks away, the UnionvilleChadds Ford School Board returned from their summer break on Aug. 8 with a lengthy meeting that laid out some long-range goals A day for special-needs for the school district. Rudy Reif, the assistant residents...4A principal at Unionville High School, presented the recommendations
Classified....................6B Obituaries...................3B Opinion........................7A
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Police Blotter..............6A
© 2007 The Chester County Press
MILLAGE TWP 16
4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630 4.1630
4.0000 2.1830 2.1830 0.0000 0.2570 2.4950 0.2000 6.3500 4.6550 1.2500 0.2500 1.6200 1.0000 0.7500 12.2500 0.5300 1.4900 2.2000 0.5000 5.0000 1.3450
SCH 16-17
TOTAL MILLS
29.0400 27.6900 29.2408 30.8400 30.8400 29.0400 29.2408 29.2408 29.0400 29.0400 30.8400 29.2408 29.0400 27.6900 30.8400 29.0400 27.6900 27.6900 30.8400 29.0400 30.8400
37.2030 34.0360 35.5868 35.0030 35.2600 35.6980 33.6038 39.7538 37.8580 34.4530 35.2530 35.0238 34.2030 32.6030 47.2530 33.7330 33.3430 34.0530 35.5030 38.2030 36.3480
Source: Chester County Department of Assessment
of the Student Wellness Committee to the board. “I would look at this as one of the most valuable committees I’ve ever been on, from the standpoint of the really concrete things that were recommended,” Reif said. “Some things have already been put in place. The committee worked really well together.” Topping the list of recommendations is the formation of a standing Board Wellness Committee and a
Wellness Council, modeled on the district’s Curriculum Council. To promote student wellness, the new groups would foster student social and emotional health, and encourage parent professional development with forums on managing social media, promoting healthy responses to stress and other topics of interest to the community. There was also a recommendation to study in depth a student-led proposal to
delay the school start time for high school students. Board member Jeff Hellrung and assistant superintendent Ken Batchelor are co-chairing the Delayed School Start Committee. Staff professional development would be a part of the wellness plan as well. The to-do list included a community read of the book “How to Raise an Adult,” as well as stronger outreach to parents and welcoming new parents, perhaps using
alumni parents as mentors for newcomers. District superintendent John Sanville told the board, “A week from tonight, this board will vote on this as a goal, to have a standing Wellness Committee. I would imagine that committee functioning as any other board standing committee functions, with a council -a parent/stakeholder group that includes parents and teachers – that meets Continued on Page 2A
Township signs More than 1,000 brave heat to attend gun discharge ordinance back Landenberg Day into law
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
INDEX Calendar of Events.....2B
CO 16
U-CF School Board gets ready for year by reviewing some long-term goals By John Chambless Staff Writer
Finding out whodunit ...8A
60 Cents
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
After more than a year on the back burner of Kennett Township rules and regulations, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 on Aug. 3 to place its “Regulation of the Discharge of Firearms” back on the township’s books. By a vote of 3-0 at its July 20 meeting, the Photos (2) by Richard L. Gaw board voted to advertise The Findley family of Lincoln University admired the vistas of the Borderland its currently repealed gun discharge ordinance, in Vineyards at Landenberg Day, held Aug. 6. response to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s June decision that declared the amendment to the Commonwealth’s Uniform Firearms Act (Act 192) unconstitutional. With the vote, the board added yet another chapter marker to a law that has been steeped in controver-
Despite the shade that a large white canopy provided vendors, the food trucks that served as outposts for cold beverages and ice cream, and the refuge of cool that the Borderland Vineyard’s tasting room provided, the August sun beat relentlessly down on
Landenberg Day on Aug. 6, but still, they kept coming. In fact, visitors who attended the 12-hour-long festival ranged from newbie transients to third- and fourth-generation residents, who enjoyed a full day of food, wine, games and music. More than 40 volunteers, including 14 from the vineyard, helped usher in several vendors early in the
Continued on Page 3A
Oxford Sewer Authority flawed from day one
The Crazy Crafter displayed a variety of gourd art.
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
sy. On Dec. 17, 2014, the board voted to repeal its current gun laws as well as pull their name from a lawsuit it had locked its name to a month before, against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and other state leaders, including former Gov. Jim Corbett. The township opposed the vote by the State’s House and Senate that approved House Bill 80, signed into law on Jan. 6, 2015, which significantly amended the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act (18 Pa. C.S.A. Section 6101) and cleared the way for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other groups to sue townships and municipalities that enacted firearms ordinances that were stricter than state firearm laws. By reinitiating its gun
morning to set up, and by 9 a.m., the first of many buses filled with attendees began to arrive. By the middle of the afternoon, event organizer Joseph Birmingham said that the number of visitors was nearing 400. Kurt Kalb, the owner of Borderland Vineyards, admired the festival going on before him, Continued on Page 5A
By Uncle Irvin Years ago, when the Oxford Area Sewer Authority was created, Uncle Irvin called the governing document “highly flawed.” The Authority was labeled a joke and a creation of township supervisors and borough council who were “dumber than doornails.” For example, the Authority was run by an executive director who was a good man, but sold cars and had no experience with land development. Subsequently, the job went to a “bean counter” who worked for the Lancaster Sewer Authority, again with no engineering experience. Continued on Page 2A