Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 156, No. 45
Wednesday, November 9, 2022
$1.00
Kennett Square Borough set to honor slain police officers on 50-year anniversary of murders By Chris Barber Contributing Writer On Nov. 15, a half century will have passed since Kennett Square Borough police officers Richard Posey and William Davis were shot down in the parking lot of the police station as they returned from night rounds. Next Tuesday night, borough officials will mark those 50 years since the killings with a 6 p.m. cer-
INSIDE
emony in the 100 block of East Linden Street, where the shootings happened. The public is invited to attend the ceremony and afterwards to meet with author Bruce Mowday, who recently released his book “Small Town Cops in the Crosshairs,” detailing the events of that early morning tragedy. Borough Mayor Matt Fetick said guests may park in the borough garage, accessing it off Union Street
Kennett Township partnering with agencies to purchase additional property By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Kennett advances playoffs...1B
and onto Linden Street. The Pennsylvania State Police will provide an honor guard, and a memorial plaque will be presented. There will be limited seating. Fetick and Police Chief William Holdsworth are still in the process of planning the details, but the mayor said local elected officials and law enforcement members will speak. If it rains, the ceremony will be held inside the American Legion Hall.
in
To Subscribe Call 610.869.5553
Pennsylvania Hunt Cup’s 88th running...1B
© 2007 The Chester County Press
In other township business, the board approved the appointment of township Director of Finance and Human Resources Amy Heinrich as the chief administration officer of both the township’s non-uniform and uniform police pension plan. The board also approved the appointment of Shawn Knudson as an alternate to the township’s Planning Commission, and the appointment of Anne Verplanck as a member of the Planning Commission. Because of continuing mold issues at the Kennett Township Building, the next Board of Supervisors meeting will be be held on Nov. 16, beginning at 7 p.m. at the New Garden Township Building, 299 Starr Road in Landenberg.
The Kennett Township Board of Supervisors gave approval at their Nov. 2 meeting to enter the township into a grant application with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources that will be used in the acquisition of open space in the township, under the designation of Kennett Woodlands and Trails. The board and the township’s Land Conservation Advisory Committee are currently partnering with the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance on the acquisition. Because the negotiations are on-going, the exact location and amount of property has not yet been disclosed, but township manager Eden Ratliff said that it would To contact Staff Writer be a “worthy” acquisition Richard L. Gaw, email for the township. rgaw@chestercounty.com.
At 7 p.m., Mowday will present a lecture in the legion hall detailing the history and events that led to the killing and eventual conviction of sniper Ancell Hamm. He will also have copies of the book for sale, which he will sign. For Mowday, a prolific writer and former Daily Local News editor, the book is more than a tribute to the lives of the two men. He said, “The sacrifices of William Davis and
Richard Posey need to be remembered. When Schiffer Publishing asked me to research and write the book, I readily agreed. Continued on page 2A Courtesy photo
Author Bruce Mowday has written a book about the slaying of two Kennett Square Borough police officers and will present a lecture and sign copies of his new book,“Small Town Cops in the Crosshairs” during the Nov. 15 event.
FROM OUR LENS Happy Anniversary!
Along with a few of their staff, co-owners Sam and Jack Mavraj of La Verona celebrated the restaurant’s 11th anniversary last week at their location on State Street in Kennett Square. “They say that you have to find out what you love and then do it, and I love cooking, and making our customers happy,” Jack said. “When we moved here 11 years ago, it was a quiet town, but Kennett Square has grown over that time and we are very happy to be a part of it.”
Dr. Richard Winchester remembers forging a union at Lincoln University 50 years ago By Betsy Brewer Brantner Contributing Writer Former Lincoln University professor Dr. Richard Winchester recently reflected on Oct. 19, 1972, when Lincoln University faculty and librarians overwhelmingly voted to form a union. In a historic election supervised by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, the tally was 78 votes in favor of the Lincoln University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (L.U.C./ A.A.U.P.) 6 votes for no agent, and 11 not voting. According to Winchester, “that huge margin of victory for L.U.C./A.A.U.P could only be interpreted as a repudiation of the Branson administration, or in the context of later history, the first vote of no confidence in Branson’s stewardship. Winchester has a long
and colorful history both locally and statewide as an advocate for equality. He recently served on the Oxford Borough Council, where he continued to champion for the disenfranchised population. When Oxford held a unity walk for George Floyd in June of 2020, it was no surprise to see Winchester and his wife, Connie holding signs and looking nostalgically at the Oxford Hotel. Winchester left his mark there as well. Neither are strangers to protests or walks. Both have spent their lifetime championing for the under-served. Connie Winchester is mostremembered for being the director of Neighborhood Services Center for many years. Winchester and his wife sat across the street from the Oxford Hotel where he and Lincoln University students had protested for a
week because black people were refused lodging in the hotel. That was 1961. When asked how long black people have endured racism and injustice, Winchester replied, “Since 1619 when the first slaves were brought to Jamestown and it has continued until now.” Sitting across from the hotel reminded him of going with Lincoln University students to the March on Washington, D.C. to hear Martin Luther King, Jr. He remembered the little children in the ghetto waving their American flags as their bus drove through. He remembered two weeks later when a bomb was thrown into a Birmingham church killing four little girls. “They were all dressed up for church. They were all killed. That was a dramatic punctuation on the March on Washington,” he said. “So many things have
happened and no one was filming them. And it continues to this day.” And to this day, Winchester continues to remember every detail of how coming to Lincoln University changed the life of both he and his wife Connie, who still brings a sparkle to his eye. He had graduated from Ursinus College and admitted, “The history I learned there was not about black people, women or indigenous people.” His first experience with Lincoln University was when he went to the university to hear author Richard C. Wade speak about his book “Slavery in the Cities: The South 1820-1860.” “I travelled to Lincoln University to hear him talk in the chapel,” Winchester explained. “As I listened to the Lincoln students, I was so impressed with them. They went toe to toe with
Wade, asking challenging questions. From that day on, I was so impressed with the university. I was also very impressed with Richard Wade and his recent book. That evening really influenced my life. The book was a breaking story in that period of time, the late 50s. Wade later introduced me to Marvin Wachman, president of Lincoln University. When I met Wachman, I wasn’t even thinking about working there. I didn’t even have a resume put together. I didn’t go prepared to stay for 39 years, but I did.” Although Winchester doesn’t want this story to be about him, understanding the man, is relevant to the formation of the union at Lincoln University. At the time, he didn’t know, what he didn’t know. And Lincoln University opened up his world. He is quick to point out that there were Continued on page 3A