Chester County Press 02-27-2019 Edition

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Peter Kjellerup of Dansko is named ‘Outstanding Citizen’...1B

Helix Tattoo Lodge opens in Oxford...4A

Chester CountyPRESS

www.chestercounty.com

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

Volume 153, No. 9

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Doerfler chosen as new president of Kennett Square Borough Council By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer Kennett Square Borough Council has a new president after Doug Doerfler was chosen to serve in the leadership role at the meeting on Feb. 19. Doerfler was the only nominee for the position, which became available when LaToya Myers made a surprise announcement at the Feb. 4 meeting, stating that she was stepping down as president. Myers decided to resign from the role after council approved new rules for public comment that she does not believe are fair. She immediately tendered her resignation as president, leaving council without a leader. At the Feb. 19 meeting, council member Jamie

Mallon nominated Doerfler to serve as president. Council then unanimously approved the nomination. Doerfler will serve as president through the end of 2019 as borough council will reorganize at the beginning of 2020, following the November elections. As he accepted the gavel, Doerfler commented on the unusual nature of the events that prompted this change in leadership. He acknowledged that no one is happy about the situation, but he was willing to accept the responsibility of serving as president. The next item on the agenda after the new president was selected was the resignation of council vice president Ethan Cramer Continued on Page 3A

U-CF school board approves artificial turf fields

Photo by JP Phillips

The new double turf fields will be built on this site at the Unionville High School campus. Two new grass fields will be constructed near the current bus depot.

By JP Phillips Correspondent Ever since last June, when the outdoor master plan proposal was introduced by K&S Consulting, UnionvilleChadds Ford School Board meeting comments

By John Chambless Staff Writer

Photo by John Chambless

The crowd filled two huge tents for the whole afternoon.

Avondale youngster Kevin Lightner needs a surgical procedure to help control his seizures. After the insurance company rejected the procedure twice, the family just won the third and final appeal to get it approved to

Sun

INDEX Calendar of Events.....6A Opinion.......................7A Obituaries...................2B Classifieds.................6B

© 2007 The Chester County Press

were dominated by residents who were both for and against various aspects of the plan, especially the artificial turf project. Months of turf talk came to an end on Feb. 25, when the school board unanimously approved financing that included the fields.

Board president Jeff Hellrung thanked residents for the numerous public comments, e-mails and conversations. “I just want to prepare everyone that probably none of you will get exactly what you want,” he said at the Feb. Continued on Page 2A

Cold brews and chilly winds add up to a big success in Kennett Square

Local boy now set to receive potentially lifechanging procedure Indians fall Valley...4B

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By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer The family, friends, and supporters of Kevin Lightner are all cheering the news that he could soon receive a potentially life-changing surgical procedure that doctors have said could bring his seizures under control. Kevin, a twelve-year-old sixth grader from Avondale, has been suffering seizures since 2015. The seizures can occur at any time, and Kevin sometimes suffers between 25 and 50 of them in a day, so they are extremely disruptive to his life. His parents, Lisa and Dan, have been taking him

to New York City to be treated by a neurological team at Mount Sinai Hospital. The neurological team recommended a surgical procedure to insert a Responsive Neurosimulation (RNS) device to help control the seizures, but Aetna, the family’s insurance company, rejected the surgical procedure twice. The Lightners filed a third appeal to the insurance company in late 2018, praying that they would win the appeal so that their son could have the procedure that could potentially change his life for the better. Lisa Lightner said that the family learned that they had won the appeal in early

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February. The family was able to schedule the surgery for March 6. “We’re very relieved,” Lisa Lightner said of the decision about the appeal. “And we’re so appreciative of the community’s support.” She said that even after receiving the good news by telephone call and by email, she was nervous all over again when the letter arrived officially putting the decision in writing. “There was still a part of me that worried that they could rescind it or say that it was a mistake,” she explained. Now that the surgery has Continued on Page 5A

The 2019 Kennett Winterfest proved once again that nothing draws a crowd like beer. The more beer, the better. On the afternoon of Feb. 23, the southern end of Broad Street in Kennett Square was a magnet for thousands of patrons, who came to sample the distinctive brews of 67 brewers and distillers from this region and surrounding states. Set up in two long tents, the brewers handed

out small samples of their wares while heaters provided some warmth against the icy winds that occasionally whipped through the crowd. No one seemed to mind, and everyone came dressed for the temperatures, which weren’t too bad compared to past years, when gripping a tiny mug was hard to do with frostbitten fingers. There were several notable outfits in the crowd, including three striped onesies that were easy to pick out. With the band AfroBear providing an upbeat Continued on Page 2A

New Garden rules on historic home debate By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer The historic Middleton Home on Newark Road in Landenberg absorbed yet another layer of tugand-pull legislation to its delicate and uncertain future last week. At the Board of Supervisors meeting on Feb. 19, township solicitor Vince Pompo ruled that the contents of a proposed amendment -written by the township’s Historic Commission that would impose stricter rules regarding the preservation of historic homes in the township -- would not be applied to an agreement between Wilkinson Homes and the township regarding the home, which sits on the periphery of Middleton Crossing, an L-shaped,

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seven-lot subdivision of homes currently being developed by Wilkinson Homes, with prices that range from $539,900 to $649,900. The agreement between the township and the builder, which was reached by Township Manager Tony Scheivert, Pompo and Bill Romanelli of Wilkinson Homes, proposes that the builder will agree to preserve the home for 18 months, beginning from the original date of sale, while making an effort to sell the home – all under the guidelines of the existing rules and regulations on preservation of the township’s historic structures. If the home is not sold during that time period, the agreement states that the builder would then be

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