November 7, 2012

The 2012 election year may go down as another election where incumbents get to stay in office. At least that was the case in the greater Chadds Ford area.

President Barak Obama won re-election for another term in office, so did several other incumbents in local races.

State Sen. Dominic Pileggi defeated Democratic Party’s Patricia Worrell in the 9th Senatorial District.

In a statement issued late election night, Pileggi said, “As Senate Majority Leader, I have worked to increase fiscal responsibility and transparency in state government, two issues that I will continue to champion during my next term. There is still much that needs to be done and I will continue my efforts to develop pragmatic and common sense solutions to the economic and fiscal challenges facing Pennsylvania.”

Pileggi has been in the state senate since 2002 and has been the senate majority leader since 2006.

In other elections, U.S. Reps. Joe Pitts and Pat Meehan, both Republicans, won re-election in the 16th and 7th Congressional districts respectively. In the U.S. Senate race for Pennsylvania, incumbent Democrat Bob Casey beat out challenger Republican Tom Smith.

For the state House of Representatives, Republican Chris Ross, in the 158^th district, won re-election, as did Steve Barrar who ran unopposed in the 160th district. Ross beat Democrat Susan Rzucidlo. This is the ninth term in office for both incumbent Republicans.

While the political veterans retained their seats, some high school students got their first taste of politicking. Several students from Unionville High School were manning tables at two polling stations in Pennsbury Township. Two at Chadds Ford Elementary School were advocates for Obama and two at the Pennsbury Township building were Mitt Romney supporters.

Tessa Jackson and Natalie Walden, both seniors at UHS, manned the Democratic Party table at CFES, one of the four polling places in Pennsbury.

Their presence was part of a school project. Walden said they’re required to do two hours of activism each marking period for an advanced placement government class.

“I thought this would be a good way to get involved with the Democratic Party,” Walden said. “It’s something I wanted to do.”

She said the government class teaches the Republican and Democratic views and she favors the Democrats because she’s a liberal and is more sensitive to women’s issues. There is no discussion of third parties or how their philosophies differ, she said, and added that that was a problem.

“I think we should be studying more than just those two sides,” Walden said.

Farther down Route 1, at the Pennsbury municipal building, were Lindsey Bower, an 11^th-grader at Unionville High, and Alexandria Coleman, a senior at the school. Both were recruited to represent the Romney/Ryan ticket.

Sharon Jones, a Republican committeewoman arranged for the two — along with others from both Unionville and Avondale High School — to take part.

Jones said it was a chance for the students to get involved in the political process, if only up to a point, during their day off from school.

Bower, still too young to vote, said she wanted to get involved because she wants to speak her views and tell people how she would vote if she were old enough.

She said it’s time for a change.

“We’ve seen what Obama has done and we need a change out there, and Mitt Romney wants to do that,” Bower said.

Coleman said she was out to express her view because she’ll be in college next year and is concerned about whether there would be a job available to her once she graduates.

“Am I going to be able to come out in a strong economy? I want to be able to leave college and be confident that my education will pay off because there will be jobs and I want America to thrive,” she said.

Ballot questions in a few other states worth noting: Maine and Maryland became the first two states to approve gay marriage by popular vote, while Washington State and Colorado approved the recreational use of marijuana. The Colorado question amends the state constitution. Massachusetts’ voters approved the use of medical marijuana.

Main photo: Voters stand in line to cast their ballots at Birmingham Friends Meeting, one of two polling locations in Birmingham Township.

It was an early Veterans’ Day for Vietnam vets in Chadds Ford. Several dozen of the vets, now in there 60s, came to the oldest Vietnam memorial in the country to pay honor to their comrades, living and dead, with a 21-gun salute, the playing of Taps and a wreath laying.

One veteran, Ray “Rocket” Ferrell, originally from Tinicum Township, was already serving in Vietnam when the monument was dedicated in November of 1966. Seeing it now for the first time was emotional.

“Vietnam vets were really beat up back then. We weren’t even allowed to join the VFW. It gives me goose bumps when I see things like this,” Ferrell said.

Chuck “Graves” Roth, a Delaware County native who served in Vietnam with the U.S. Marines in 1967 and ’68, coordinated the event.

“Having a memorial that was dedicated in 1966, when about 57,000 of the 58,000 dead [were] still living, is special. This memorial has not had any activity in four decades. This being the Veterans’ Day week, I felt it was right for us to get out here. This is our day for the living, but honor the guys that we lost. We’re having a little camaraderie with the guys who are still living,” Roth said.

“This will be the last event at this monument until it’s put into its new place. Hopefully, the activity we’re creating today will get them to think where they’re going to put it,” he added.

The monument, a cannon on a stone base, was dedicated on Veterans’ Day, Nov. 11, 1966. It sits at the side of the parking lot of the former Sovereign Bank on Route 202, diagonally across from Hillman Drive.

It had been ignored for decades until earlier this year when Steve Quigley, of Concord Towing, brought the monument to the public attention. Since then, ChaddsFordLIve.com has learned that it appears to be the oldest known Vietnam Memorial in the country. A monument in Missouri dedicated in 1967 was thought to have been the oldest until the Chadds Ford monument was rediscovered.

The veterans thanked Quigley for his efforts to bring awareness about the monument to the public. He laid a wreath at the base of the monument.

The present location is poor and there was talk of moving it to the Chadds Ford municipal building site, though, as previously reported, the three supervisors are not unanimous in their opinions. Several local businessmen have offered to help pay to move the monument. Since then, the developer for a planned Wegman’s market has included the monument in plans. Those plans are still being reviewed.

Also attending was District Justice Richard Cappelli.

“I have a great respect for the men who serve this country,” he said. “The Vietnam War was a particularly difficult time for our country and I think the men who served in that war deserve recognition, and that’s why I’m here.”

Cappelli added that he has no opinion on where the monument should be since he has not heard all the opinions. However, he said the current location is “not ideal.”

“A location like a township facility, an open park or something like that would certainly make more sense to me, but I don’t know what the arguments are.”

In the interim, there is still no word on the monument’s history, why it was dedicated in Chadds Ford or who was behind the dedication. No mention has yet been found in any of the regional newspapers or historical societies.

However, one Concord Township resident said he was there at the 1966 dedication. Bill Manley said during the Nov. 3 ceremony that he was a young boy at the time and has no recall of any of the particulars.

“I was just a kid and I just happened to be around at the time, just a dumb kid wondering what it was all about. I really couldn’t tell you who was here, or what was here…All I can say is that I remember the day they dedicated that.”

Main photo: Vietnam veterans Ray Ferrell, left, and Chuck Graves, salute their fallen comrades. (All photos by Rich Schwartzman)