May 21, 2009

Chadds Ford Township dos not have the money to operate the Brandywine Battlefield Park, but it may need to take the lead in saving the park operations.

Supervisors’ Vice Chairman Deborah F. Love made the comment after a Monday night meeting on the park’s future held at the Brandywine River Museum.

During that meeting – attended by an estimated 200 people, some in 18th century garb – 35 people told state Sen. Dominic Pileggi, state Rep. Stephen Barrar and members of the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission to keep the park open.

Earlier this year, the commission announced it would vote in June on whether to continue funding the site. A PHMC sustainability study recommended the commission turn the park over to the Township.

Love, who spoke at the meeting Monday, said Tuesday that township supervisors have met with members of the commission and with Pileggi and Barrar.

“We’ve agreed to partner with the commission to keep [the park] alive. We’ve met with the senator and had a conversation with Representative Barrar to say that we the township would take the leadership to maintain the jewel that we have in our community,” Love said. “Obviously we’d be looking for partners to do this.”

Those partners being considered include both Chester and Delaware counties and private parties, she said.

Entailed in taking the lead would be some level of funding and organizing some business plan to maintain the park’s operation.

Love said, however, the township can’t afford to run the park on its own.

“We absolutely do not [have the money,]” Love said. “We’re looking at [whether] it’s a contribution from a grant, [or] some set of open space money. We have to look at that, but we know to maintain is going to be a cost and we certainly can’t take the whole bite.”

She said the township has been talking with Pileggis and Barrar to see what funding, through partners, might be available.

Other organizations wanting to keep the park operating – organizations whose representatives spoke during the meeting – include the Brandywine Conservancy, Chadds Ford Historical Association and the Chadds Ford Civic Association.

Other speakers included re-enactors, past and current members of the Battlefield Park Associates and private citizens. Voices not allowed to speak at the meeting were those of park employees.

Employees received a memo telling them that any statement they wanted to make had to be in writing and submitted through their supervisors, said one employee who spoke under the guarantee of anonymity.

The source said that employees believe that it’s a foregone conclusion that the township will take over the park and that the decision has already been made despite what anyone from the state is saying now.

All of the employees believe they will be laid off, that there will be no transfers, the employee said.

Pileggi called the meeting. It was designed to get a feel for what people thought and no decisions were made. PHMC members will vote in June on the matter.

“My goal, simply stated,” Pileggi said, “is to keep that site open, keep the park open and to improve the services and the programming at the park from what’s there now. … I personally think the state has a responsibility and a duty to continue to provide support for the site and, in that regard, I disagree with the commission’s recommendation.”

Pileggi, citing budget figures, said the operating cost for the park was $385,000 per year, with the state providing $235,000. The remaining $150,000 came from the associates group.

Park employees dispute those figures. The employee said the associates provide much less, and that the figures cited are old.

Brandywine Battlefield Park is one of several historic sites in the state that could be squeezed out in a state budget crunch. The site honors the Sept. 11, 1777 battle between British and American forces and was the largest land battle of the War for Independence.

The dairy industry was once a major player in the economy of the general Chadds Ford area. Not so today. Homes and highways now dominate the landscape that was once dominated by grazing cattle and the pastures they roamed.

In honor of those farming roots, the Chadds Ford Historical Society has opened a new exhibit, “From Moo to You.”

Displays include old photographs and models as well as a grain cradle ( a scythe-like device) and old milk cans and bottles.

The exhibit started as a nostalgic look back at the dairy industry in Chadds Ford, said Sallie Corbishley who put the exhibit together. While the industry is no longer of any contemporary importance, she said, there were some basic things she learned in the process.

“I learned what a grain cradle was and how to use it. Two, I learned what an ox is, which I never knew before aside from eating ox tail soup. … And the third thing I learned is that the dairy industry didn’t disappear because of development. It was WWII that caused the demise of the dairy industry.”

Corbishley said changes in laws requiring stainless steel to be used forced a lot of small farmers out of the business. Converting to the stainless was cost prohibitive for them, she said.

“The small farmers just couldn’t afford it,” Corbishley said. “Rather than buy the equipment they just said, ‘Forget it, we can’t afford it.’”

She added that development gave the farmers an option they would not have otherwise had if it weren’t for the post war building boom.

And it was another aspect of the post war era that also added to the end of the local dairy industry. Corbishley said the market dried up since there was no longer a large standing military that had to be fed and that there were many returning GIs who were farmers before the war, but who no longer wanted the farming life after they came home.

“A lot of the younger generation of farmers found other things outside of farming to do and a lot of the farmers who stayed around became old,” said Corbishley. “It was a number of things, but I can’t say it was development that killed dairy farming.”

Corbishley hopes that visitors to the exhibit come away with the thought that “Milk just doesn’t come in a box or a plastic jug from the grocery store. … That they will appreciate what goes into a jug of milk or a pound of cheese.”

One resident of Chadds Ford attending the opening is someone who knows what farming is all about.

Karl Kuerner, who several years ago turned his family farm over to the Brandywine Conservancy, said the exhibit brought back memories for him.

“The pictures bring a lot of memories back. The pictures show our cows,” he said.

When he saw the grain cradle he said that Chris Sanderson used to cut grain on the Kuerner farm with the cradle.

The Kuerner farm, he said, was primarily a dairy farm with about 80 to 85 head of cattle. He said there was always a lot of work to do, with no time to get into trouble. However, he said he and a fellow farmer from Pennsbury, Al Woodward, did have the time to hunt for arrowheads.

The voters have spoken and Aaron McIntyre won the Republican Party nomination for supervisor in Pennsbury Township. He defeated Steve Eichinger 302-124, but he may still face Eichinger again in November.

Five days before the Tuesday primary election, Eichinger challenged McIntyre’s education claims and said even if he lost the primary he would run as an independent against McIntyre in the general election.

Eichinger is not dismayed over Tuesday’s results.

“We got 29 percent of the vote, but I was an underdog to begin with and we expected a lot less,” Eichinger said. “We were up against a tough machine.”

When asked if he was still going to run in November, he responded with one word: “Absolutely.”

However, state law prevents that from happening. A check with Chester County Voters Services revealed a state law – referred to as a sore-loser law – prevents the loser of a party primary from running as an independent for that same office in a general election.

Kathy Zittle, from Voter Services, said that a prospective candidate seeking to run as an independent in a general election must sign an oath saying the candidate was not registered with a given party 30 days prior to the primary.

In short, she said, however a candidate is registered 30 days before the primary is how they are considered for running in the general election.

(Indeed, a March 8 article published on line <http://campaigndiaries.com/2009/03/08/specter-loose-ends/> suggested that one of Arlen Specter’s best bets to retain his senate seat would be to switch to the Democratic Party because losing to Pat Toomey in next year’s Republican Party primary would disqualify him from running in the general election.)

Regardless, McIntyre said he feels great about his victory and isn’t concerned with facing Eichinger again in the fall. He said his 71 percent to 29 percent margin of victory proves the people of Pennsbury are united.

“The people of Pennsbury have spoken,” he said. “They’re united in their desire to move forward as a community – not as divisive factions – to preserve what we love about Pennsbury.”

School board

In two regional school board races, Jeff Leiser of Birmingham Township and Holly Manzone of Pocopson Township won both the Republican and Democratic Party primaries for Region B of the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District. Both topped Laura Maurer in the two primaries and will earn their seats on the board come November.

Region B includes Birmingham, Pocopson and Newlin townships.

In Region A, four candidates split the two primaries. All four candidates, Karen Halstead, Jeff Hellrung, Vic Dupuis and Keith Knauss cross-filed to run in both primaries.

Halstead and Dupuis won the Democratic Party primary for that party’s nomination in the general election, while Knauss and Hellrung won the Republican Party nominations.

Results are not final until certified by the state Board of Elections.

The Unionville High School renovation project is now a go. After two failed attempts at passing a referendum for the project, the school board voted 6-3 Monday night to approve the project that comes in at just less than $70 million.

Wohlsen Construction of Lancaster won the project with a base cost bid of $52,500,000 plus $395,000 for alternates. Other costs include $1.9 million for the stadium and $16 million in costs such as site work, fixtures, furniture and financing. Total cost is roughly $69,678, 412.

Wohlsen’s bid was 7.2 percent less than the expected cost.

Voting against the project were Timitha Trigg, Ed Murray and Therese West. Each said that they think it’s the right project and right scope, but found other reasons to think it would be wrong to vote for it.

Trigg said the funding was risky and that future boards would have to beg residents to bail out the district.

Murray said it was wrong in light of the two failed referendums, and West said the board might be damaging relations with the community.

Trigg, Murray and West also voted against authorizing the district to work with Public Financial management to structure the financing. Voting with them was Ed Wandersee. The vote was 5-4 in favor.

District Business Manager Robert Cochran said the debt structure would have the district paying $8.3 million from fiscal year 2011-12 through 2031-32.