Chester CountyPRESS
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas Volume 149, No. 35
INSIDE
www.chestercounty.com
60 Cents
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
All ready for the first day of school
Public meeting on Artesian well expected to draw continued opposition To be held Sept. 8 at Avondale Fire Company By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Victory Brewing sponsors a river clean-up on Sept. 12............................4B Photo by John Chambless
At Pocopson Elementary School (above) and Unionville High School, it wasn’t just the first day for students on Aug. 31. Both schools got new principals as well. See story on Page 1B.
Before its upcoming ruling, one that may determine the future of water distribution in New Garden Township and beyond, the Delaware River Basin Commission will soon be giving local residents an opportunity to voice their opinion on one of the hottest topics in recent township memory. On Sept. 8 at the Avondale Fire Company, the Commission (DRBC) will hold a public input meeting at 7 p.m., to hear from residents in the New Garden area regarding Artesian Water Company’s application to withdraw water from the Broad Run
well in Landenberg. The topic is already well known to many in the township: Artesian Water Pennsylvania, Inc. is seeking approval to withdraw as much as 288,000 gallons of water per day -- at a rate of 200 gallons per minute and over 100 million gallons a year -- from a well it owns at the corner of Broad Run and Newark roads, on property they purchased from the Wilkinson family several years ago. Artesian’s proposed plans for water distribution extend from New Garden up to the Delaware state line, a plan that has raised concern that the Delaware-based company is positioning itself to eventually pump the water from
the Broad Run well over the state line, in order to serve tens of thousands of Delawareans. The objections don’t end there: Several residents and local officials continue to hammer home -- through letter-writing campaigns, meetings and appeals to agencies -- that the number of homes Artesian currently serves and the number of gallons it is requesting to use with the well -- simply don’t add up. Currently, Artesian serves 38 homes in the New Garden area, but in its application, it requests expanding its service territory to include service to additional property slated for development. Artesian states than an estimated Continued on Page 2A
Camp Dreamcatcher: Twenty years of changing lives By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer During its 20-year history,
A car show cruises into Camp Dreamcatcher has proOxford on Sept. 4.........2B vided free therapeutic and
Raising crops for the hungry in Goddark Park.....5B
INDEX Calendar of Events............2B Opinion.............................7A Obituaries.........................8A Classified..........................7B Police Blotter.....................9A
educational programs to nearly 5,000 youngsters whose lives have been adversely affected by HIV or AIDS. Patty Hillkirk, the founder and executive director of the camp, has a personal friendship with most, if not all, of the children who have sought the care, comfort, and companionship that the camp’s staff provides. Hillkirk will tell anyone who asks that she considers the children not just friends, but part of her extended, loving family. No matter how well they know each other, family members will still surprise each other from time to time. One discussion during this year’s camp took Hillkirk by surprise, even though she has facilitated thousands, if not tens of thousands, of discussions with children through the
mark its 20th anniversary. As the Kennett Square-based organization reaches a major milestone in its history, it is a natural time to think about how far Camp Dreamcatcher has come since the first one was held at Camp Sunset Hill in Chadds Ford. There were 53 children and 28 counselors at that first camp, compared to approximately 130 campers this year. “It’s been a year of a lot of reflection for our counselors and campers,� Hillkirk explained. “We’ve taken this as an opportunity to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re going.� Hillkirk founded Camp Dreamcatcher in the mid-1990s to help children who were either HIV-positive themselves or who had close family members who were HIV-positive. She started the camp because she saw that children who were dealing with these challenges lived lives of secrecy and unnecessary shame. These children needed professional counseling; they needed
Township mulls support of mushroom-to-energy initiative By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer The New Garden Township Board of Supervisors is considering lending their support to federal and private grant applications that a local company wants to file, in order to acquire and use technology to make better environmental use of mushroom substrate. Tom Cahue from the Oxfordbased E & H Conveyors, a company that cleans out mushroom houses in southern Chester County, asked the supervisors at their Aug. 31 meeting to lend the township’s name to federal and private grants they would like to submit, in the hopes that they will be able to purchase one or more fuel-efficient incinerators to turn mushroom
Š 2007 The Chester County Press
years. A group of about fourteen 10- and 11-year-olds from two different cabins were brought together for a discussion about how HIV or AIDS was impacting their lives. No sooner was this group of children in the same room together when one youngster started discussing very openly and honestly some of the issues that he was facing at home. The other youngsters listened without judgment and were soon trying to help the first boy by sharing their own experiences. No facilitator was needed for this talk. The children were going to lead it themselves. “It was one of those moments,� Hillkirk explained, “when you say, ‘That’s why we’re here.’� When Hillkirk makes this comment, she is wearing a t-shirt and lanyard from the first camp 20 years ago. This year’s camp, which took place from Aug. 23 to Aug. 29 at Camp Saginaw in Oxford, is the start of a year of special activities to
substrate into renewable fuel. Cahue said that the company processes a quarter million tons of substrate a year. “We have more mushroom substrate than we know what to do with,� Cahue told the supervisors. “In trying to research a solution for this problem, we discovered that there is a process that would allow us to convert compost substrate into fuel for creating energy, which would be sold back to mushroom growers, in order to run their machines to grow mushrooms again.� The incinerator is approximately the size of a shipping container, Cahue said. “This technology would allow us to get rid of the compost in an environmentally friendly way and create renewable ener-
gy for an entire subset of the cleaning process,� Cahue said. “We want to do something that would be very beneficial to the area. This is a way to make the best use of substrate. The substrate becomes energy, and the energy will go right back to the farmers.� To apply for these grants, the company would need the support of either a non-profit organization, a municipality, or a township. Cahue said that the township is the first municipality that they have approached about the use of the machinery, and that if they secure the rights to operate the incinerator, E & H Conveyors would use the technology exclusively in New Garden Township – specifically
Photo by Steven Hoffman
Katrina Miller and Mahaybe Crowder said that the camp is an important part of their lives.
adults in their lives that they could trust; they needed various forms of therapy; and they needed a safe environment where they can just be children. “We focus on HIV and AIDS, but the issues that we deal with are so much wider than that. Many of our kids face issues of community violence or drug abuse,� Hillkirk explained, adding that many of the youngsters
are also from families that struggle financially. In an effort to address those wider issues, the Camp Dreamcatcher team presents therapeutic and counseling sessions that focus on real-world issues that many of the youngsters are facing: bullying, community violence, the need for proper nutrition and health, Continued on Page 5A
A liberal in over his head By Uncle Irvin If you look at the makeup of Congress, or the Pennsylvania General Assembly, you will be able to identify many Tea Party conservatives, as well as liberals. From a demographic point of view, you might assume that as many as 35 to 45 percent of fiscal conservatives reside in Chester County, most in the highly affluent areas. How about an area made up of Newlin, Pocopson and Birmingham townships, perhaps the very wealthiest in Chester County? Many homes exceed $1 million, household income is over $250,000, etc., so what are the chances of electing a social liberal to the school board? I don’t know, but I do know that one of the wackiest liberal highbrows you can run into is Dr. Michael Rock, an elected member of the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board from the Pocopson, Newlin and Birmingham district. To make a long story short, the School Board and the teachers’ union are fighting for either one of two proposals for increasing teacher compensation, starting with the 2016 school year. The U-CF teachers’ union is the greediest and the most strident in southern Chester County. The union’s compensation demands are 4.9 percent per year for three consecutive years -- a compounded
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