Swarthmore Hyde Park Speakers Corner — Delco Debates presents the initial Hyde Park Speakers Corner event in Swarthmore, in Little Crum Creek Park on Cresson Lane, just off Swarthmore Avenue, 2 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 17.
The event will be held in the park where there are gazebo, benches, tables, and a large stone fireplace. The audience and speakers are encouraged to provide their own picnics and may also opt to provide their own chairs.
The event is open to the public and all are invited to speak,within a five minute time limit, on the topic of their choosing.
There will be a short introduction, followed by the Swarthmore Hyde Park Speakers Corner event. There is no rain date planned.
The Speakers Corner in London’s Hyde Park began in 1872 and continues to this day. Many other countries have since created a Speakers Corner, where anyone can speak. Possibly, this can be the first of many in Swarthmore.
Ladder arch in Aston pays tribute to the victims of 9/11. –Photo by Joseph B. Dychala
Donald Trump himself picked Aston as the venue for tomorrow’s (Sept. 13) speech at the Aston Community Center, 7th Ward Commissioner Mike Higgins told us at yesterday’s 9/11 tribute at Veteran’s Memorial Garden at The Five Points.
Trump’s invitation-only speech will be streamed live 7:30 p.m., at this link.
Yesterday’s ceremony was held at 3 p.m. and commemorated the 15th Anniversary of the Radical Islamic Terrorist Attack. It was sponsored by local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts as well as American Legion Post 926.
Higgins was among the speakers as were State Senator Tom Killion, State Rep. Leanne Kruger-Braneky and a person from Congressman Patrick Meehan’s office.
All gave brief yet very meaningful speeches to an attentive audience.
Higgins said that it was his strong and sincere desire that our federal leaders call terrorism exactly what it is. Much applause followed.
Senior Pastor Rev. Thomas Haugh from Mount Hope Methodist Church gave the opening and closing prayers. The Sun Valley Choir sang our National Anthem as a very respectful crowd stood at attention and a local singer led the crowd in a rousing rendition of God Bless America.
Concerning Trump’s speech tomorrow, the commissioners we talked to said they expect the emphasis to be on family values. Seems very fitting as Aston is one of the oldest communities in the Commonwealth incorporating in 1688 and home to many families and small businesses.
Delaware County Patriots Picnic Sept. 25 — The Delaware County Patriots, a non-partisan organization that promotes government transparency and accountability, is holding a free picnic, 1 p.m., Sept. 25 at Pavilion 17, Ridley Creek State Park.
The group will supply the hot and cold sandwiches, beverages and tableware.
Those attending are asked to bring a side dish or dessert.
And to RSVP. Call Regina at 610-328-2463 or click here.
Libertarian Petitions Confiscated In Delco — In an exceedingly boneheaded move, Saturday evening (July 16), Delaware County Park Police stopped Libertarians from circulating petitions for 7th District congressional candidate Patrick Henry Sellers in the county’s Rose Tree Park in Upper Providence. Police confiscated the petitions and later chased down the circulators with intent to cite them for disorderly conduct.
“I was asked to leave the park and complied,” said Dale Kerns. “I went to (the nearby) Wawa. After leaving Wawa on 252 by the Route 1 bypass, the Park Police pulled me over outside their jurisdiction on Route 1 heading toward the Blue Route.”
The encounter shortly before 8 p.m. was recorded by Kerns. One of the officers says the action was taken at the behest of County Council member Mario Civera just after explaining why the citation is being issued.
Tough break, kid. You are young and there are many other police departments in the nation.
Solicitation is prohibited in county parks albeit this is generally understood to be for commercial matters and not for things like collecting signatures for candidate petitions.
Regardless, that the petitions were confiscated is drastically overstepping all reasonable bounds of law enforcement.
At least American law enforcement.
Kerns says that police ultimately decided not to file the criminal citations but they have yet to return his petitions with the names he collected.
He says he has been in contact with a civil rights attorney.
Among those with whom Sellers will be contending this fall — assuming he gets enough signatures to get on the ballot — will be GOP incumbent Pat Meehan.
Ceremony Honors Woman Pilot, Korean War Vet — This month’s Casket Flag Ceremony at the Delaware County Veterans Memorial is 6 p..m., Sunday, May 8. It will honor a young woman pilot from Radnor who died in a World War II plane crash and a father of eight from Lansdowne who served in the Korean War.
The ceremonies are being held the second Sunday of the month through November at the Memorial, 4599 West Chester Pike, Newtown Square, Pa. 19073, notes Barbara Ann Zippi of the Casket Flag Committee.
Mary Holmes Howson graduated from Radnor High School and joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots in 1943. She was killed in a mid-air collision in Sweetwater Texas on April 16, 1944.
Mary was born Feb. 16, 1919. She was the daughter of Richard and Mary Howson and had three brothers, two of whom would also serve in the military.
She attended private school in Devon for middle school, then Radnor High School graduating in 1936. She then attended Smith college, and took on a teaching job at the Oak Lane Country Day School. In 1942-1943 she learned map-making from aerial photographs in classes at Bryn Mawr College. She then started working for the U.S. Geological Survey Office in Washington, D.C. and spent every spare moment learning navigation and practiced flying at a nearby field before joining the service.
She is buried in the cemetery of Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge National Historical Park. John Corry, a friend of Mary’s from Radnor High remembers her as, “an outdoors type of girl with a daredevil spirit.”
Torpey White was born in March 1930 in Philadelphia and graduated in 1948 from West Catholic High School. He enlisted in the US Army in 1952. He served in Korea and the reserves and was honorable discharged with the rank of Sargent in 1960. He obtained a degree in industrial management from LaSalle College and also became a master plumber. He retired in 1993.
He married Mary Ellen (Rogers) then settled in Lansdowne and raised five children. He had an incredible sense of humor and loved making people laugh. He was active with his family, church and helping those in need of his skills. He passed away in January 2014.
The public is welcome to attend the ceremony.
Reservations are being taken for July and August for those wanting a ceremony for a loved one. Send a request to: info@DelcoVeteransMemorial.com.
News Game, a play by Delco resident Margie Royal featuring a character created by herself and fellow Delco resident Betty Lou Roselle, will be performed 8 p.m., June 25 and 2 p.m. June 26 at Players Club of Swarthmore.
It will be directed by Emily Fishman.
The play ponders the fate of newspapers in the 21st century.
Plot points include:
— The company again streamlines the workforce eliminating even more jobs.
— The company starts outsourcing their ad production to India.
— The company goes bankrupt and is force to sell to another hedge fund.
Operation Bennett Trifecta Kudos — Kudos to the Chester Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police Troop K Vice Unit, and the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division for busting up a long-running cocaine ring in the city’s Ruth L. Bennett Homes housing project.
Fifteen were arrested and city life got just a little bit better.
The investigation was named Operation Bennett Trifecta.
Free Joe Kenney Concert In Broomall — Pianist Joe Kenney will be giving a concert at New Hope Christian Church, 551 Paxon Hollow Road, Broomall, PA 19008, on Sunday, April 24, at 4 p.m. He will be performing works by Bach, Schubert, Liszt, and Debussy. The performance is free and open to the public.
Kasich Bores Delco — Ohio Governor and puzzling presidential candidate John Kasich bored a crowd of 300-plus at a campaign town hall this afternoon, April 21, in Delaware County, Pa.
The event was held at the Penn State Brandywine Campus Commons Building in Middletown Township. Among those in attendance were curious students who had no plans on voting for the GOP candidate whoever it would be.
Bob Asher being introduced before he introduces Gov. Kasich.
It is impossible for Kasich to get the required number of delegates via the primary process to secure the nomination. So why is he running? Well, he was introduced by establishment epitomes Bob Asher and Andy Reilly, who chairs the Delaware County Republican Party. Maybe he figures there is way to get the prize outside the primary process.
Anyway, Kasich’s performance was boring. Mind-numbingly, painfully, excruciatingly boring. He even sadistically alluded that he was being boring on purpose. He gave long, rambling answers to audience questions. He said strange things that made no sense such as his claim that drug problems would go away if schools and churches taught that doing drugs was bad. Okay. Guess that’s never been done. He blamed the rage in the country on talk radio and (cough, cough) talk TV.
He said things of substance as well, though. His hallmark was the danger caused by our $19.251 trillion debt and even included as part of his visuals a running debt counter, so kudos there.
He advocated war against ISIS and an expansion of global intelligence capabilities.
He endorsed devolving government services to states and said — unfortunately quite boringly — that problems were best solved locally and even individually.
He boldly said that the 11 million illegal aliens — his estimate — now in this country should be given a path to legal residency if they have not been involved in crime. “But never citizenship,” he emphasized.
And there were times he sounded almost Trumpian.
If elected, he said that in his first hundred days he would stop all federal regulation excepting those involving health and safety, and require all regulation be made by legislative votes rather than administrative fiat.
He said he would cut the corporate tax and the personal tax rate.
We are probably missing some things but we are only human and he was Boring. Note the capital B.
The event will be held in the park where there are gazebo, benches, tables, and a large stone fireplace. The audience and speakers are encouraged to provide their own picnics and may also opt to provide their own chairs.
