Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 151, No. 22
INSIDE
60 Cents
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Memorial Day 2017
Honoring the service and the sacrifice By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
Ten Oxford seniors sign to play at collegiate level...5A
New field hockey and basketball programs in Kennett Square...1B
The real reason for Memorial Day was on full display as the community came together to honor the service and sacrifice of U.S. military veterans during the Kennett Square Memorial Day Parade on Monday. Large crowds waving American flags gathered along the parade route – Union Street, Cypress Street, North Broad Street, and State Street – to enjoy the parade of bands, military vehicles and community groups that stretched out for more than 95 minutes. The festive event led to a time of reflection about the real meaning of Memorial Day during a ceremony at the Union Hill Cemetery
Ralph Doss (above) took part in the wreath-laying ceremony, as did Raymond Natale, Sr., and Thomas Nale, III.
From the Revolutionary War to modern-day conflicts, each era of the military was showcased.
that included a speech by State Rep. Steve Barrar, himself a military veteran. The parade featured everything from the Delaware Military Academy Band and the U.S. Naval Cadets to Revolutionary War and Civil War re-enactors, and marching bands from
rifice and to remember all the vets who have passed on,” said Mike Pralle. Commander of VFW Post 5467. Don and Mary Drinker, residents of Kennett Square, attended the parade to thank the veterans. Don was holding a “thank you”
sign along the parade route. He said that he saw a little girl holding a similar sign during a Memorial Day event that was shown on PBS a day earlier, and he wanted to do the same. Kennett Square’s Continued on Page 2A
State Rep. John Lawrence meets with constituents during a series of town hall meetings Property taxes, the state budget, Pennsylvania’s pension crisis, and redistricting are on the minds of 13th District residents By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
State Rep. John Lawrence The arts are expanding in updated constituents on Oxford...1B
INDEX
Kennett High School and Unionville High School. Veterans rode in antique convertibles or military vehicles. “Thank you for your service” was a sentiment heard throughout the day. “This is to honor all those who made the ultimate sac-
Photos (2) by Steven Hoffman
the state budget, efforts to approve property tax reforms, redistricting, and other issues at a town hall meeting at the Russellville Grange in Upper Oxford
Township on May 17. This was one in a series of town halls that Lawrence held in mid-May for residents throughout the 13th Legislative District. With the town hall coming so close to the June 30 deadline for state lawmakers to reach an agreement on a new budget for the fiscal year that
begins on July 1, it was no surprise that Lawrence began his 25-minute presentation with details about the progress that has been made on developing a spending plan for the next year. Gov. Tom Wolf proposed a $32.3 billion spending plan in March that includes an additional $100 million in funding for basic education. Republicans in the House countered with a $31.5 billion budget proposal that maintains the bump in funding for basic education, but
achieves an overall $246 million reduction in spending from the budget for the current fiscal year through a six-percent across-theboard cut for hundreds of line items. One major issue complicating the next budget is the fact that the current budget is leaving the state with a deficit for the next year. “We are facing a significant shortfall,” Lawrence said, explaining that the $31.7 billion plan that was approved last year created
a situation where the expenditures were likely going to surpass the revenues for the fiscal year. That’s exactly what happened, so now lawmakers have to factor that shortfall in as the spending plan for the next year is developed. One issue that Lawrence has long been concerned with is how the state is managing its debt—he specifically wants a more responsible approach to budgeting with more focus Continued on Page 3A
Opinion........................7A Calendar of Events......2B Obituaries..................3B Classifieds..................6B
Pa. Trout in the Classroom program offers great learning experiences for Nottingham School fourth-graders
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By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
© 2007 The Chester County Press
On May 22, fourth-graders in Scott Schaffer’s class at the Nottingham School in Oxford released the brook trout that they raised in the classroom during the school year into the Little Elk Creek, as part of the Pennsylvania Trout in the Classroom program. Schaffer said that the hands-on program gave
students an opportunity to learn about ecology and the environment, the life cycle and habitat of fish, and much more while they maintained an aquarium and cared for the fish in the classroom. “It gave the students that instant connection that you wouldn’t be able to get just from a textbook,” Schaffer Photo by Steven Hoffman explained. Fourth-graders in Scott Schaffer’s class in Nottingham School raised broad trout The Pennsylvania Trout in their classroom during this school year as part of the Pennsylvania Trout in the Continued on Page 5B
Classroom program.
Two Stones clears up recent ID confusion By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer With successful locations in Wilmington, Newark, Hockessin, Kennett Square and now in Jennersville, the Two Stones franchise of gastropubs have rightly earned their reputation as a happy destination for delicious food and good times. So it came as a great surprise to many patrons when the restaurant’s Jennersville location was recently targeted for what some in the community viewed as a discriminatory incident that quickly spread around social media. On the evening of May 12, Kennett Square resident Gabriela Pedroza visited
the Jennersville location with a male friend. As they took their seats in a booth, they ordered drinks, and were subsequently asked to show their identifications. Pedroza flashed hers – a Pennsylvania-issued driver’s license – while her friend, a citizen of Mexico who was visiting Pedroza, provided his Mexican passport. He was denied beverage service. “I then asked the manager what the problem was, and she said that she couldn’t accept [the man’s] ID,” Pedroza said. “I told her this it is a valid, government-issued ID. She told me that the policy of [Two Stones] is to accept U.S.-issued IDs only.
“I told her, ‘So what you’re telling me is that when you have tourists from anywhere in the world and they come here and they don’t have a U.S. ID, your establishment is going to turn them away.” The manager repeated the restaurant policy to Pedroza. Pedroza and her friend then left the Jennersville restaurant. Later that evening, Pedroza posted information about the incident on the ICE-Kennett Facebook page, and then later on her personal Facebook page. Almost immediately and over the course of the following weeks, her post received more than 100 comments
and was shared 74 times. Responses ranged from outrage and disappointment to suggestions that Two Stones’ ID policy was discriminatory, and threats from regular Two Stones patrons said that they would no longer do business with the restaurant. Within 24 hours of Pedroza’s post, Two Stones operations manager Michael Stieglitz wrote a personal apology on her Facebook page. “Certainly it’s understandable that everyone is very upset,” Stieglitz wrote. “We either have done a horrible job of training our staff on foreign documents, or more Continued on Page 3A
United Way is up, but not enough... By Uncle Irvin It was encouraging to see that the United Way of Southern Chester County was able to increase its allocation to 26 different programs by $50,000 over last year [Chester County Press May 24, 2017 issue]. UWSCC is unique in that it only funds Continued on Page 3A