Judy Lizza, is no longer the interim township manager for Chadds Ford Township. Remove the word interim. She is now the permanent manager.
Chadds Ford Township Manager Judy Lizza
Supervisor Deborah Love made the announcement via e-mail on July 27, saying Lizza was one of 25 applicants for the position.
“In the passed six months as interim she has fulfilled her professional duties successfully and helped to improve our township,” Love said.
“I’m excited to be here full-time to serve the residents of Chadds Ford Township and look forward to working on a number of projects,” Lizza said.
She has no specific project in mind, but there is one general project, that being to improve communication so specific projects can be developed properly.
“It’s a matter of growing with the community and continue the interaction of business, township residents and communication to develop projects together. I’d like to improve that communication level,” she said.
Lizza was formerly a legislative liaison for state Rep. Stephen Barrar, R-160, of Boothwyn. She worked predominantly on Pennsylvania Department of Transportation projects affecting Chadds Ford, Birmingham, Pocopson and Thornbury, Chester County, townships.
In 2006 she became the township manager for Upper Chichester, and stayed there until 2012.
Lizza was initially chosen to fill in for Joe Barakat when the latter resigned the manager’s position in December.
Chester County first responders receive 9/11 artifact from the Pentagon
A delegation of 10 representatives from Chester County’s first responder community traveled to the Pentagon last week to collect an artifact from the portion of the building struck during the 9/11 attack in 2001.
Four large pieces of limestone were selected by the group of Chester County first responders, to be included in a specially-designed memorial placed in the tactical village currently being constructed at the Chester County Public Safety Training Campus in South Coatesville.
The delegation was met at the Pentagon by Bill Hopper, Information and Communications Manager for the US Department of Defense. The visit included a tour of the 9/11 memorial conducted by Mike Garcia, who witnessed the plane crashing into the building on September 11, 2001.
Beau Crowding, Deputy Director for Fire Services for Chester County Department of Emergency Services, and part of the delegation, commented: “As we were taking the tour of the memorial museum, I looked around at the men representing all of Chester County’s first responders – fire, police and emergency medical services – and what struck me was the unity that we have as we all work together to keep people safe.
“That unity will become stronger as we train together at the Public Safety Training Campus. It is fitting that the limestone artifact will be placed there, not only as a memorial to those who lost their lives on 9/11 and to honor all first responders who continue to serve, but to remind us of the importance of working together when faced with emergency situations.”
Chester County’s Department of Emergency Services, in cooperation with the emergency response organizations, is currently working with the architects of the Public Safety Training Campus to incorporate a design for the memorial that will highlight the Pentagon limestone. It joins a section of a World Trade Center steel beam that is displayed at the front entrance of the Training Campus education building.
Representatives from Chester County’s first responder community who traveled to the Pentagon to collect pieces of the limestone building struck on September 11, 2001. Front row, from left to right are: Joe Behm, Uwchlan Ambulance Corp, Chief Jack Law, West Bradford Fire Company; Lt. Howard Holland, Downingtown Police Department; John DiBuonaventuro, representing Chester County Hero Fund; Chief Neil Vaughn, Malvern Fire Company. Back row, left to right: Deputy Deputy Ryan Corcoran, Chester County Sheriff’s Office; Joel Gramling, representing Chester County Fire Police Association; Deputy Adam Weaver, Chester County Sheriff’s Office; Chief Shane Clark, West Pikeland Township Police Department; and George “Beau” Crowding, Deputy Director for Fire Services for Chester County Department of Emergency Services. (Courtesy image)
Meet Maggie, a 5-year-old boxer mix that was surrendered to CCSPCA in May when her owner was no longer permitted to have pets. Maggie is a sweet and gentle girl but is timid at first glance. She will need some extra TLC in her new home so she can learn to trust her unfamiliar surroundings. Maggie is housetrained and knows basic commands. She is suitable for a home with older children and will need to be the only pet in the home. If you are able to provide Maggie or any of our other animals here at the shelter a home, visit the Chester County SPCA at 1212 Phoenixville Pike in West Goshen or call 610-692-6113. Maggie’ registration number is 96814273. To meet some of our other adoptable animals, visit the shelter or log onto www.ccspca.org. Not quite ready to adopt? Consider becoming a CCSPCA foster parent – Kitten season is in full swing and CCSPCA needs fosters for kittens and mother cats. Additional information and applications are available online or at the shelter.
• State police are investigating a series of home burglaries on Phoebe Lane in Concord Township. The incidents happened during the weekend of July 27 and 28. A report said thieves took cash and jewelry from several homes while the residents were away. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 484-840-1000.
• Two men from Wilmington were arrested following a traffic stop in Chadds Ford Township during the early morning hours of July 30. Police said they stopped the vehicle for violations of the state vehicle code at 1:21 a.m. near Marshall Road. According to the report, the driver, Todd McClue, 30, was arrested for DUI and Steven Winfield Richardson, 31, a passenger, was arrested for drug possession.
• State police from Troop J, Avondale barracks, arrested Alexandra Stoddard, 28, reportedly of Chadds Ford, for DUI 1:30 a.m. on July 28. The police report said she was stopped for equipment violations.
• Benjamin Alexander Pochopien, of Glen Mills, was arrested for DUI following a traffic stop at Marshall Road and Route 202 shortly before 1 a.m. on July 28, according to a police report. Police said he was under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
• Careless driving is the charge against a 19-year-old from Aston following a one-car accident on Hatton Drive in Concord Township on July 23. Police said Walter B. Quay IV lost control of the Mazda Miata he was driving and hit a tree in a parking lot at Hatton and Byers Drive. There were no injuries, police said.
• Careless driving was also the charge against an Oxford woman following a two-car crash on Evergreen Drive in Concord Township. The accident happened in the parking lot of the Concordville Town Centre in front of the Home Goods store. Police said Anita Bolton, 46, was backing her car out of a parking space when it hit a state police patrol car.
• The board of supervisors meetings schedule for August is as follows: Birmingham Township, 7:30 p.m., Monday, Aug. 5; Concord Township, 7 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 6; Chadds Ford Township, 7 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 7; Pennsbury Township, 7 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 21. Chadds Ford Township supervisors have scheduled a workshop meeting for 9 a.m., Monday, Aug. 5. Several members of the Chadds Ford business community have expressed interest in the Aug. 7 meeting because of the township’s billing of back taxes.
Chadds Ford Business Association board member Beth Alois poses with Blue Rocks’ mascot Rocky Bluewinkle.
• Undeterred by the rain out of the originally scheduled game, many Brandywine Battlefield supporters went to the Blue Rocks game July 26. The Blue Rocks lost by one run, but the fireworks cheered up the night. People who still have tickets for the rained out July 12 game can use them at any Blue Rocks game until July 12, 2014. The schedule on the Blue Rocks Web site tells you whether the game will have a fireworks show afterward.
• Thursday Night Live comes to Darlington Arts Center this month. Award-winning songwriter and Darlington teaching artist Geri Smith performs Aug. 1, while Jeremy Harding explores the many moods of the guitar on Aug. 15 and violinist Sylvia Ahramjian performs Aug. 22. For more information call 610-358-3632.
• Jean Watson, a three-time United Kingdom’s New Christian Music Alliance Praise and Worship Artist of the Year, will perform at Brandywine Summit Camp Meeting on August 3, at 7 p.m.
Jean Watson
Attendance is free, a gift of the Camp Meeting Association, 119 Beaver Valley Road in Chadds Ford. After the concert, join Jean and the entire camp meeting as they stroll the grounds for the annual “Walk Around;” a time of song and reflection made special by the thousands of tea lights lining the pathways and porches of the Victorian cottages and buildings on the 148 year old Camp Meeting grounds. For more information, directions and map; go to www.bscmai.org
• The Kennett Square Resale Book Shoppe, 113 South Union Street, in addition to its ongoing attractions, has a “Teacher Appreciation Day” on Saturday, Aug. 17 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. This day will honor all current, retired, and student teachers. If you fall into any of these “teacher” categories, visit the Book Shoppe that day and fill a large brown bag with books for school or personal use for only $20.00, tax included. The Book Shoppe will supply the bag (“Special Value” books are not included in this sale). All proceeds benefit the Kennett Area Senior Center. For more information call 610-444-6069
• Newlin Grist Mill, Save The Valley, and The Beaver Valley Conservancy will be hosting the first annualOpen Space Music Festival at Newlin Mill Park 219 Cheyney Road in Concord Township on Aug. 10 from noon until 7:30 p.m. The Open Space Music Festival is a call to action to protect the remaining open space in Concord Township and Delaware County. Save The Valley and The Beaver Valley Conservancy aim to preserve Beaver Valley in Concord as unspoiled open space for wildlife and outdoor recreation. Proceeds from the festival will be used to pursue the goal of maintaining and securing open space for our posterity. The festival will feature music from ten local and regional bands, craft beer from Victory Brewing Company, food from local vendors, pony rides, face painting, foods for the kids, Native American games, and more. Tickets are $20 in advance at openspacemusic.org or $25 at the gate. Ticket information and further details about the festival can be found at openspacemusic.org, savethevalley.org, and newlingristmill.org.
• One of Jamie Wyeth’s unique approaches to capturing the scenes of Monhegan Island, Maine is his tendency to paint with his back to the sea. That tendency of concentrating his attention on the people and man-made landmarks rather than the epic seascapes will be the topic of a gallery talk, “Jamie Wyeth: Back to the Sea” This talk will be led by Amanda C. Burdan, assistant curator, at the Brandywine River Museum, 2 p.m., Aug. 21.
In my early years as a psychologist and family therapist, I had the good fortune to meet and learn from many pioneers of family therapy. Perhaps the grandfather of family therapy, Murray Bowen, and his theories captivated me the most. He did not just consider the individual, couple, or family in the session; he was interested in the inter-generational patterns in the family tree. He wanted to know who the great-grandparents, the grandparents, the parents were, both who was born and who died when and where. He derived emotional patterns in the facts of the family as they cascaded down the generations. Bowen intuited that there was a biological foundation in how the grief, stresses and traumas of one generation informed succeeding generations
Now, with the burgeoning field of epigenetics, Bowen’s theories prove true. Epigenetics is the study of the influence of the environment upon the genome —the individual’s DNA identity. No. Your DNA doesn’t change, but the environment does “tag” the various expressions of your genes, so that parts of your genome don’t get expressed. Geneticists, such as Randy Jirtle (see the July 24, 2007, PBS Nova program regarding Epigenetics, Ghost in Your Genes.) use this analogy: consider the genome (the particular DNA) of an individual to be like a computer, and the epigenome would be like the software.
So you can say, “OK, big deal, I eat junk food or smoke cigarettes and debilitate my body. It’s my body, so what?” Well, the problem is what you do to your body that changes the biochemical expression of a gene gets passed down the generations. What our grandparents did does affect us. But, it is not only what we, or our grandparents, did themselves. It is also what has been done to them or us that is especially profound psychologically. If our grandparents suffered traumas—wars, violence or poverty—the emotional effects are transmitted not just behaviorally, but in the expression of genetics.
That is the downside. The upside is that this epigenetic effect on the genome can be changed. This is where choice and awareness come in. We actually can heal the past—at least the DNA expression of our history—through psychotherapy, learning about our family mythology and transcending its constrictions, learning how to emotionally regulate and defuse our emotional reactivity. Turns out our bodies are more than ourselves. We truly are connected to the past and we can change the future generations by changing ourselves now.
* Kayta Curzie Gajdos holds a doctorate in counseling psychology and is in private practice in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. She welcomes comments at MindMatters@DrGajdos.com or 610-388-2888. Past columns are posted to www.drgajdos.com.
Should I stay or should I go when an agent shows my home?
Gently put, most agents say that when potential homebuyers come to see your home, it is best that you leave the premises.
Perspective buyers don’t want to see owners hovering or milling about. When they do, they get uncomfortable and feel as if they are intruding. This often causes buyers to look quickly without gaining a proper feel for the home.
The reason sellers give for sticking around is that they believe home shoppers won’t be able to find everything, and the sellers want to point out the important features. Another is that owners feel they can help “sell” the property by talking about the positives.
Rest assured, your realtor is well trained in showcasing your home. Realtors are good at reading buyers and knowing when it’s best to talk and when it is best to let them “just look around.” If you bombard a seller with too much information all at once, you are going to leave a less-favorable impression. You might even hurt your cause by calling attention to something the buyers aren’t interested in.
Let buyers discover your home’s features themselves at their own pace.
Some sellers choose to wait outside in their car or on the patio, which is better, but still not ideal. Again, if prospective buyers feel like they are being rushed, they are going to move on to the next property on their list quickly.
To be honest, there are some parts of selling a home that can be challenging. Vacating the home for showings is at the top of that list—especially when there are kids to care for, dinners to cook and work to be done.
You want buyers to spend as much time as they need to envision the possibility of living there someday. So, find something to do: go shopping, see a movie, visit your neighbor. However you spend your time, the inconvenience will be worth it in the long run.
* Beth Alois and Jim DeFrank can be reached at 610-388-3700. Prudential Fox and Roach, REALTORS is an independently owned and operated broker member of BRER Affiliates LLC. Prudential, the Prudential logo and the Rock symbol are registered service marks of Prudential Financial, Inc. and its related entities, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Used under license with no other affiliation with Prudential. Equal Housing Opportunity.
