Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 156, No. 21
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
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Oxford mayor plans remembrance walk for Memorial Day By Betsy Brewer Brantner Contributing Writer Oxford Mayor Phil Harris informed Borough Council that the Oxford Memorial Day Committee recently met to plan the 2022 event. The committee is made up of members of the American Legion, Oxford civic leaders, members of the Oxford Police Department, the Mayor of Oxford and a local veteran and Purple Heart Award recipient.
INSIDE
Harris said, “After two years of virtual events, we are happy to have an inperson event this year on Monday, May 30.” Harris explained that the event will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Oxford Memorial Park. Groups can meet at the Oxford Memorial before walking silently up Pine Street and entering the Oxford Cemetery from the back entrance off of Pine Street. “The walk is interactive and bystanders along the way are encouraged
Primary Election yields lots of intrigue, few surprises in Pa. By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer Josh Shapiro, the popular
Kennett Summerfest state attorney general from Wine and Spirits Festival Montgomery County, won debuts...1B big in the May 17 Primary
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Election as he secured the Democratic nomination in a bid to become the next governor of Pennsylvania. The Primary Election also saw a number of local incumbents, including Republican State Rep. John Lawrence, Democratic State Rep. Christina Sappey, and U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan clear a hurdle on the path to re-election. Meanwhile, the race between Republican candidates vying for the Sunday’s Best wins party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate remains deadPlatinum Medal...1B locked and too close to call more than a week after a Primary Election that yielded lots of intrigue, but few actual surprises in a key battleground state for both parties. Sen. Pat Toomey is retiring at the end of the term,
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to join us as we continue to the Oxford Cemetery,” Harris explained. As in the past, the American Legion will conduct the ceremony which will include speakers, veterans, and local high school students. Harris told council, “We are also focused this year on educating the community about the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day. Memorial Day, as the name suggests, is a day to honor the men and women
and the race to replace the Republican will be one of the most closely watched contests in the entire country this November. Leading up to the Primary Election, a crowded field of eight Republican candidates created a lot of drama in the race for the party’s nomination in the U.S. Senate race, with polls showing Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick locked in a hotly contested race, while Kathy Barnette was surging in the polls. The polls were right. Oz and McCormick are deadlocked in a race with a razor-thin margin where the two candidates are separated by just under 1,000 votes as a recount looms. Pennsylvania has an automatic recount for state-wide results decided by 0.5 points or less. One week after the election, Oz was ahead by about 0.1 points. The winner of the GOP race, whenever a winner is determined, will face off against
who died while serving in the U.S. military.” Harris also emphasized that there will be drivers available to assist those who want to participate but have difficulty walking. Oxford Borough Council President Kathryn Cloyd, who is also a veteran, said Memorial Day means so much to her. Cloyd was a Specialist 4 in the Army stationed in Pirmasems, Germany. “I was in the signal company in radio commu-
The Kennett Township Board of Supervisors passed Ordinance No. 296 at their May 18 meeting that adopted an official township coat of arms, crest, seal and flag. The image – developed by supervisor Geoffrey Gamble with design assistance from township residents – will gradually be seen on all correspondence, the township’s website, on an official flag, on the township’s police and public works vehicles and on the township building. The completed coat of arms, which was unveiled at the meeting and is now mounted on the back wall of the township’s meeting room, contains various elements of the township’s history, heritage and culture. Hand-carved by Gamble, it features two curling red rib-
bons linked at the bottom by a red oval containing a mushroom, all surrounded by a green circle edged on each side in gold containing the words “Kennett Township” at the top and the Arabic numerals “1704” at the bottom, signifying the year the township was incorporated. The coat of arms also features a gold keystone and American Sycamore leaves, a tree seen prominently throughout the township. “My intention here tonight is not to present this for any kind of a vote, but to seek input -- be it favorable or unfavorable -- and to solicit other suggestions and ideas,” Gamble said when introducing the concept for a coat of arms at the board’s Jan. 19 meeting. “Although there is certainly no urgency with respect to this matter, a real township symbol would mark a new beginning for
Courtesy photo
Oxford Borough Council president Kathryn Cloyd’s grandfather, Edward Beddow, an airman with the Royal Air Force, served as a gunner during World War II. He is shown here with his sailing cap on. Sailing was one of his Continued on page 4A pastimes after the war.
In This Issue
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who coasted to the nomination. Fetterman easily out-polled Conor Lamb in the Democratic Primary, just as polls had suggested he would. In the 6th Congressional District, Rep. Houlahan is seeking a third term in Congress. She was unopposed in the Primary Election and will face off
Kennett Township adopts new coat of arms By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
nications,” she explained. “I enlisted in 1978 when I was 19. I was in until 1982. My father was in the military, too. I served in peace time and I am very grateful for those who served during a war. I joined the American Legion (Roy W. Gibson Post #535) to do something to help honor those who served in time of war. It’s very emotional for me at this time in my life. My father-in-law was a soldier during World War II. My father was in the Air
against Guy Ciarrocchi, the winner of the GOP Primary contest. Ciarrocchi, served as president and CEO of the Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry. In the 13th Legislative District, State Rep. Lawrence, who is seeking his seventh term in the State House, fended off a primary challenge by Carmela Ciliberti. Lawrence will
now face Chamir James, the Democratic nominee who was unopposed in the Primary. Sappey, in the 158th District, ran unopposed in the Primary Election and will now face a challenge by Leon Spencer, a longtime Kennett Square area public servant, in the General Election in Continued on page 2A
EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
us all, both from the theft [of $3.2 million of township funds by former manager Lisa Moore] and from the catastrophic pandemic we have just endured.” In subsequent discussions that detailed the progress being made on its development, Gamble said that creating a coat of arms would help the township establish its own identity, given that its residents’ addresses fall under Chadds Ford, Kennett Square and Avondale. “We started out with 40 design options and had help from the Royal College of Arms in London and the President of the American Heraldry Society and others,” Gamble said. The township’s Historical Commission suggested we needed something representing the Underground Railroad, which is the rising
The Kennett Area Park Authority (KAPA) announced on Monday that it will be preserving approximately 15 old-growth ash trees and replanting 125 native species in the current ash grove adjacent to the disc golf course and the main entrance to Anson B. Nixon Park. The ash grove is also next to an area where stream restoration was recently completed, by a tributary of the Red Clay Creek and a portion of the popular 2.5-mile running/walking trail and volleyball courts. As part of this project that will improve approximately two acres in the park invasive species will be removed, and brush control will be implemented. KAPA said that these efforts will support the county’s goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect open space through naturally occurring environmental processes like carbon recapture, flood control and reduction of water run-off. This forestry management is part of KAPA’s mission for preservation of an open, natural, and largely passive environment that lends itself to both tranquil and rigorous pursuits. This project is necessary now because approximately 200 ash trees in this area of the park have fallen victim
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Important update from the Kennett Area Park Authority