Galer Estate Vineyard and Winery was awarded two medals in the most prestigious wine competition in the United States, the 2016 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. The two wines they submitted, their estate grown chardonnays. Both were voted medal winners: Silver medal for their 2014 Chardonnay Reserve and a Bronze medal for their 2014 Red Lion Chardonnay. The Red Lion Chardonnay has also received a Gold Medal from the 2015 International Women’s Wine Competition held in California.
The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition is a blind taste competition which received a record 7,162 entries this year, the highest number of wine entries ever. For four days, 65 judges from around the nation and world met in Sonoma County to deliberate and choose the best wines from the entries. Submissions came in from across the country, included those from small boutique to large scale wineries. The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition is known among those in the wine business as one of the most esteemed in the world and the most difficult from which to be awarded a medal.
Galer Estate vineyard manager Jan Grimes
“Of all the wonderful awards we have won to date, this one is by far the one we are most proud. Both of the award-winning wines were made from our own Red Lion Vineyard grapes, and to be chosen by these judges speaks for itself and truly puts us on par with any winery in the world. All of this success is owed to our winemaker Virginia Mitchell and our vineyard manager Jan Grimes,” stated co-owners Lele and Brad Galer.
Denise Gardner, Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences extension enologist, writes, “Virginia and her team at Galer Estate work hard to maintain quality, Pennsylvania-produced wine. These awarded wines emphasize the importance of education, experience, and regular sensory refinement to maintain quality in winemaking, and are leading examples of excellence found in the taste of Pennsylvania wines.
Galer Estate Vineyard and Winery, established in 2005, is a boutique winery located in Kennett Square Pennsylvania, with its wine tasting room and winery located behind the world famous Longwood Gardens. Other estate grown wines include Albarino, dry Rosé, Vidal Blanc, Huntress White Blend, Cabernet Franc, Huntress Red Blend, and Red Reserve. Since opening to the public in 2007, Galer Estate has won over 100 medals in national and international competitions, and was just awarded “Best of the Best ” in County Lines Magazine.
Galer Estate Winery
Open to the public on the weekends, this is the beginning of another great year for Galer Estate Vineyard and Winery.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for southeastern Pennsylvania from Friday, Jan. 21, into Sunday morning, Jan. 23.
The storm watch, which includes Delaware and Chester counties, means a potential exists for significant accumulations of snow that could adversely impact travel.
Accumulations of 12 to 16 inches are predicted in the vicinity of the I-95 corridor, with eight to 12 inches expected in Philadelphia’s northern suburbs, central New Jersey, and central Delmarva.
The snow is likely to begin Friday night after the evening commute and continue, heavy at times, into Sunday morning. It may be accompanied by northeast winds of 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph.
Snow may be dry and puffy initially, but will become wetter and heavier as the storm progresses, which could make shoveling problematic and could cause power outages as heavy snow builds up on wires and trees.
Pennsylvania State Police, Troop K, Media station, wants to alert people about several phone scams that have been conducted within the state, primarily targeting the elderly. Three of the most prevalent include IRS, lottery winner, and bail money scams.
The IRS scam is usually perpetrated by an unknown caller (usually male with an accent) cold calling a victim and stating that they are under investigation by the IRS for tax evasion. The caller states that if the victim does not immediately wire money to a certain account that a warrant will be issued for their arrest. The caller usually instructs the victim to retrieve prepaid money cards and provide them with the authorization codes, or to go to a Western Union location and wire the money. If the suspect is successful, they often recontact the victim and request further funds.
The Lottery Winner scam involves an unknown caller who contacts the victim and explains that they’ve been randomly selected to win a certain amount of money. They request the victim to wire them a small amount of money to “register” their account to receive the lottery winnings, which will never be paid to the victim because it is a scam. The victims who carry through with the wire are often recontacted to provide more money.
The Bail Money scam again often targets the elderly and an unknown individual will contact the victim stating that they’re the victim’s grandchild or an attorney for the grandchild who has been arrested out of the country. They will instruct the victim to wire “bail money” to an account in order to have the grandchild set free.
The Pennsylvania State Police urges members of the public to be aware of these scams and thoroughly vet any cold calls sounding similar to the above referenced schemes.
Frigid temperatures might have kept people from attending a talk on cyber safety at Kennett Middle School, but according to one attendee, that was too bad.
“This is the exact information that parents need,” she said, “I wish more had been here.”
The one-hour presentation, given by attorney and former Bucks County Deputy District Attorney Mark Walz, was held at Kennett Middle School on Tuesday, Jan. 19. Fewer than two dozen people attended.
Walz said there are five lessons that parents and children need to understand. They need to protect personal information, safely interact with others through technology, manage conflict and danger, avoid risky behavior and manage their digital footprint.
Protecting personal information can be as simple as learning what not to share and working with a social media site’s privacy settings.
He said people should ask themselves a question: What am I sharing and who am I sharing it with?
Walz explained that letting immediate friends know you’re going on vacation is fine, but it’s not fine when sharing that information with an entire network of “friends” on social media sites.
“Sharing too much information with someone who is a relative stranger turns that stranger into someone who seems like a friend,” he said.
If an 11-year-old shares too much information, where they live, what the dog’s name is, then anyone on the Internet can act like they’re really close friends. The “friend” who presents himself to be a young teen might actually be a 31-year-old predator.
“It’s very easy to develop an idea of exactly what a kid is into,” Walz said. “From my days as a district attorney, I can tell you that those are the keys to making someone who is a stranger seem like a friend.”
He also advises people to check the location settings on their camera phones. Having people know that a photo is from a coffee shop or arcade is one thing, but it’s quite another to have a location tag on photos taken at home. He said GPS programs are too highly detailed, making it easy for strangers to find out exactly where a person lives.
He also cautioned about kids “chatting” online with strangers. That’s a danger area, he said. Walz also doesn’t like the idea youngsters’ including their cellphone numbers in their online profiles because it opens up the door for texting that parents don’t know about.
Walz said parents should work with their kids to prevent negative interactions, but also to work with them to develop positive ones.
If a youngster has a specific talent, such as music or painting, then sharing that talent and enthusiasm with like-minded people online is positive and should be encouraged, but the kids should be careful when it comes to personal information.
Walz also went into legal definitions of bullying and sexual predatory behavior.
Basic takeaways from the presentation were:
• Never give out personal information
• Think about the impact of what’s being posted
• Create secure passwords and keep passwords private
• Do not reply to people you do not know
• Avoid unfamiliar websites including pop-ups or ads
• Never open a message from someone you don’t know
• Report suspicious or inappropriate behavior
• Parents, use privacy settings in apps and on websites
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
During its reorganization meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 19, the Kennett Public Library Board of Trustees received a massive overhaul.
Kennett Public Library board members Jerry Brown (from left), Stan Allen, Tom Swett, Jeff Yetter, and Karen Ammon review documents prior to Tuesday night’s board meeting.
At a meeting attended by fewer than half a dozen residents, the board voted in new leadership, bid farewell to five members, welcomed a new member, and reiterated its commitment to building a new facility.
With seven board members present, two of them holding proxies, the board voted 8-0 for Tom Swett as president, Jeff Yetter as vice-president, and Bill McLachlan as secretary-treasurer. Outgoing president Susan Mackey-Kallis abstained from the vote, explaining that she would be leaving the board to pursue a Fulbright Award in Japan for several months.
Mackey-Kallis said that although she had originally planned to return to the board later in the year, several factors prompted her to change her mind and make the exit permanent. She said she met with her interim replacement, Betsy Del Vecchio, and realized that Pennsbury Township would be well-represented.
In addition, she said the resignations this past week of her friends and fellow board members Doug Thompson, Joan Weber, Rosa Quintana, and Margarita Garay-Zarco, coupled with the resignation during the summer of trustee Geoff Birkett, another good friend, influenced her decision.
Noting that with their departure “the wind has gone out of my sails and the twinkle has gone out of my eye,” Mackey-Kallis said, “My philosophy is to only commit to something if I can give 100 percent, and I am not certain that this remains true for me with KPL. And with so many of my friends gone, it’s not as much fun anymore.”
In a 10-minute closing statement reflecting on her often-turbulent tenure as president, Mackey-Kallis thanked her fellow board members and the library staff for their support and hard work. She said she was proud of the many initiatives accomplished this past year, including a change in the bylaws to improve representation, a 13 percent increase in library board program attendance, and progress in moving forward on plans to build a new library in the borough.
She noted that the change of the library’s name from Bayard Taylor Memorial Library to Kennett Public Library represented a regret, suggesting that she did not realize “the depth of the attachment” to the former name.
However, she urged the board to do more research before changing it back. “For the record, I like the new name, and I love the new logo and branding campaign,” she said.
Mackey-Kallis vowed to continue to be a cheerleader for the library and complimented Swett on his resume and reputation. “From everything that I hear about the new president’s track record of success in the borough and the surrounding community, then KPL is in good hands,” she said. To read her entire statement, click here.
After receiving a bottle of champagne from Karen Ammon, the board’s former vice-president, Mackey-Kallis adjourned the reorganization meeting and handed the reins to Swett.
Swett, who expressed gratitude to Mackey-Kallis for her leadership, said he was delighted and honored to return to service as the library board’s president, a position he held from 1989 to 1992. He also served on the board from 1982 to 1989.
A member of the Historic Kennett Square board since 2001, including two years as president, Swett has worked as an administrator, development director, and board member for a host of area institutions, including Upland Country Day School, the Stroud Water Research Center, Chester County Hospital, Po-Mar-Lin Fire Company, First National Bank of Chester County, and Family Services of Chester County.
“The library is blessed by a dynamic, imaginative, personable staff and head librarian who are well regarded by our patrons,” he said. He pointed out that it serves an area of 44,000 — of whom 12,000 are cardholders.
“The stage is being set to provide an even more relevant role in the life of the area,” Swett noted. “The library contributes to the cultural, information management, literary, and economic well-being of our multicultural community with particular sensitivity to young people.”
Swett said that after consulting with other board members, meetings would be held on the same scheduled dates, but the time would be moved up to 5 p.m. He said getting new board members would be a priority, especially in Pocopson and West Marlborough, which have no representation, and New Garden, which just lost two representatives: Weber and Thompson.
He said the 2016 budget, which is currently being reviewed by the county, would have to be approved electronically, and he said he planned to schedule a Saturday morning retreat for the board in the near future.
Swett introduced Del Vecchio, the newest board member, who was appointed by Pennsbury Township to replace Mackey-Kallis.
“I am very honored to be on the board,” Del Vecchio said, describing herself and her husband as “super-users” of the library, having both tutored in the library’s English as a second language program and checking out several hundred books a year.
Del Vecchio said that after her husband’s diabetes resulted in his use of a wheelchair, it became impossible for him to visit the library. She said she would be particularly sensitive to making a new library handicapped-accessible, and Swett said he would value her insight.
In her director’s report, Donna Murray said 10 volunteers worked from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Martin Luther King Day to rearrange some of the books to serve patrons better, a job that is still not finished. She publicly thanked Carrie Freeman, CEO of United Way of Southern Chester County, for attending a meeting designed to help stem the Adult Literacy Program’s red ink. United Way is the program’s biggest funder.
Murray said that Freeman, who attended Tuesday night’s meeting, suggested tailoring the program to “fit the budget” and that they were working toward that goal.
Yetter, the board’s new vice-president, updated the board on efforts to build a new library, presently focused on purchasing the borough-owned Weinstein property at the intersection of East State and South Willow Streets.
“There is a lot going on, but no rush to anything,” Yetter said.
He explained that once a contract is signed with the architect, the board would go forward with a tentative agreement of sale that would allow time to ensure that the tract has no hidden impediments, such as bedrock or buried tanks.
Yetter stressed that before the board could begin a capital campaign, it would need to show plans to prospective donors so that they would know where their money is going. “It could be a spectacular entrance to the borough,” Yetter said of the Weinstein tract.
During public comment, Tiffany Volovich, a volunteer for the library’s Home and Garden Day, an annual fundraising tour, said the group wanted the board to know that all proceeds support children’s programming and the Adult Literacy Program. She said 1,000 more children were served this year.
“It’s a worthwhile effort,” she said as board members nodded in agreement. She added that greater board support would make it even better.
A Lincoln University man faces charges relating to the fatal stabbing and attempted rape of his 81-year-old grandmother and the attempted rape of his mother, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said in a press release.
Kevin A. Havelow Jr.
Hogan said Kevin A. Havelow Jr., 23, was taken into custody at his Lower Oxford Township residence by state police from the Avondale barracks, who received a 9-1-1 call about 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 19.
“This was a brutal attack. The family is traumatized,” said Hogan in the release. The Pennsylvania State Police did an outstanding job responding to a remarkably volatile situation.”
According to the criminal complaint, Havelow began arguing with his mother about 1 a.m. after she denied his request to have a friend stay overnight. Havelow, who admitted having smoked marijuana, lived at the Irwin Drive home with his mother, sister and grandmother. Hogan said the names of the mother and sister are being withheld for their privacy because of the nature of the crimes.
Havelow later told police that he was angry with his mother and grandmother, believing that they were preventing him from having “a normal social life,” including being able to smoke pot at home. He began sexually assaulting his mother, who eventually fought him off while his sister called police, the complaint said.
Havelow then turned his attention to his grandmother, Aleen Watters, who uses a walker for mobility. He sexually assaulted her and took multiple knives out of the kitchen, stabbing her more than 20 times in the stomach, chest, and head, the complaint said.
When troopers arrived, Havelow was still in the home and was apprehended. Efforts to save his grandmother were not successful, and she was pronounced dead at the scene, the complaint said.
“We are grateful that the quick response stopped the defendant’s actions before anyone else was injured or killed,” State Police Lt. Jeremy Richard said in the release.
Havelow, a graduate of Oxford High, where he was on the wrestling team, was unemployed at the time of the alleged crimes. After high school, he enlisted in the Army National Guard but did not complete his commitment. Investigators said he was voluntarily committed to Brandywine Hospital in December for threatening to harm himself, the complaint said.
Following his arraignment, Havelow, whose charges include first-degree murder and attempted rape, was taken to Chester County Prison. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 1, court records said.
The case is being investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police with assistance from the Chester County Detectives. Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Tpr. Nathan Aukamp at 610-268-2022.
“Every homicide is disturbing, but a homicide of an elderly person within a family is particularly troubling,” Hogan said in the release. “We are all grateful for the swift response of law enforcement and the cooperation of the family to address this matter quickly, thoroughly, and justly.”
An acclaimed all-female blues rock band will make its area debut on Friday, Jan. 22, at the Kennett Flash.
Rock and blues will dominate the Kennett Flash on Friday, Jan. 22.
Jane Lee Hooker, a band of five women from New York City who infuse the grit and attitude of their hometown into the blues, will take the stage following Vinyl Artifacts, a local band called “one of Kennett Square’s best kept secrets,” according to a Flash press release.
With double lead guitars, a heavy rhythm section, and soulful vocals, Jane Lee Hooker honors the likes of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Johnny Winter, Big Mama Thornton, and other blues greats. Its debut album, No B!, was released in November 2014, and it’s currently working on a new album. However, band members are not new to the music scene, according to a Flash press release.
The band’s five members have decades of experience playing, recording, and touring, both nationally and internationally, as members of Nashville Pussy, Bad Wizard, Led Zeppelin and more and sharing bills with the likes of Motörhead, MC5, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Deep Purple.
Vinyl Artifacts, a blues and classic rock group, is a combination of four area high school and college students: Elliott Mazur on lead guitar and back vocals, Zach Powell on lead vocals and back guitar, Andrew Reynolds on bass and back vocals, and Luke Wagner on drums and percussion.
The group, which has performed at La Verona restaurant and area open mic nights, has perfected tunes by artists from John Mayer to Warren Haynes to the Allman Brothers as well as increased its body of original songs. At 17, Mazur will be auditioning for attendance at the prestigious Berkley School of Music in Boston later this month, the release said.
The Flash is located at 102 Sycamore Alley in Kennett Square. Tickets are $15 in advance, $18 the day of the show. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the performances start at 8 p.m. Dinner service is available by La Verona restaurant.
From Susan Mackey-Kallis, outgoing Kennett library board president
“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as KPL Board president these last 12 months.
As a Board we settled on 15 goals a year ago in January when I took over as president, with Karen Ammon, Geoff Birkett and Joan Weber as my executive team. Perhaps it was an overly ambition agenda, we managed, however, to complete 7 of those goals and to partially completed another 4. If partial credit counts—and as a college professor I believe in partial credit for my students—that means we achieved 80% of what we set out to do. And we must remember that this grade comes in the face of significant board turnover and the need for the Board to continually respond to lots of public turmoil and questions about the Board’s decision to change the name of the Library. Although that decision was backed by the support of the Library staff and many of our customers we serve, in hindsight, and I’ve said this in print, if I had realized the depth of the attachment to the Bayard Taylor name, particularly from some folks in the Borough, then I would not have supported it. Hindsight however is 20/20 and I urge the new board to do more research before they consider making any decisions about changing the name back. For the record, I like the new name, and I love the new logo and branding campaign.
So regardless, the name change was my regret this past year, what then was I particularly proud of from that list of 12 fully or partially accomplished goals in 2015? I am proud of the beautiful library makeover that we found money in the budget to make happen under Donna’s able leadership. I am proud of the beautiful new user friendly website, also done under Donna’s leadership. I am proud of the new Strategic plan, “Vision 20/20” that we developed in consultation with the community, staff and board. It is a good blueprint that I believe will serve the Board well through the remainder of this decade. I am also proud that we overtly set and evaluated annual board goals for, I think, the first time in Board leadership, at least from any records from past Library boards that I can find. And I strongly encourage the new board to continue with this practice, as expected in our bylaws.
I am proud of that fact that we are finally making progress on building a new library, from hiring an Owners Representative to oversee the process, to working on an agreement of sale with the Borough to buy the Weinstein lot if all satisfactory conditions to build are met, to completing a feasibility study and agreeing to move forward with a contract for our architect. I am also proud that we have begun the process of thorough and professional budget analysis and review under the able leadership of our outgoing treasurer Joan Weber.
I am proud of the by-law change I championed to have a dedicated Library board member appointed by each of the townships we serve regardless of their ability to financially support the library.
I am particularly proud of the work we have done with fundraising and improved communication. I am proud for example, of the 2014-2015 annual campaign that I led and which brought in over 45K, the most in the history of the library. I am proud of our hire this past year of our wonderful Development Director Maureen Snook who is currently leading the 2015-2016 annual campaign with over 30k in the bank and still counting! I am proud of the channel of communication I have opened up with the Township supervisors for quarterly reports from the President and I am proud of the board’s decision to put abbreviated quarterly financials on our website and to make these reports available to full format to all of the Township supervisors each quarter as well. I am pleased with all of the donor events we held last year and the wonderful work of the library staff to build our database for our e-blast, one of the best ways for our customers and community stakeholders to keep abreast of all of the wonderful events and opportunities happening at the library each week.
In sum, as I said in my 4th quarter statement to the Township Supervisors that went out yesterday, “The Library Board, under my leadership this past year, continued to be dedicated to total transparency, achieving a balanced budget by 2016, supporting and growing our adult literacy program, and improving our communication and community relations.”
I would like to round out my remarks with my heartfelt thanks to all of my fellow board members and the library staff for your support and guidance this year. My philosophy of non-profit leadership, as I stated a year ago January is that my job is simply to facilitate the work of the Executive Committee, the Board, and the Library Director. To the extent that I have been able to do this and then to get out of the way to let Donna and her staff shine then I have succeeded. By the way, on the note of Donna and her staff shining, I know that Donna will report tonight that Library programming is up 13% over 2014, an extremely impressive figure given the library makeover and many of the distractions the library faced last year such as the threat of loss of funding from the Borough and attacks upon the Board’s leadership. Donna and her staff are truly amazing and are on the forefront of 21st century libraries reinventing themselves in the internet age not just because they have to but because they want to, and because they get it, they understand what 21st century communities need to have in order to survive and thrive and they are delivering it in a big, splashy, and substantial way! Thank you John, thank you Ivy, thank you Paul, thank you Dillon, thank you Alex, thank you Debbie, thank you Maureen, thank you Milly, thank you Lupe, thank you Elvie, thank you Filomena, . . . and most of all thank you Donna for your wonderful leadership of your top notch staff! I really feel that we have all been in the trenches this year (maybe a lot more than I would have hoped) but that we are better for the battles we have fought because they were fought not for ourselves but for the Library and the belief in the important role that KPL continues to serve as a vital community resource.
And finally, I’d like to end on a promised and a word of caution to the future leadership.
First the promise: I know that once again there has been a great deal of board turnover possibly in response to the anticipated change over in board leadership once again this year, like last year when I took over with a new executive team. As I step off of the board and step down from the presidency my promise is to remain a cheerleader for the Library and its successes publically and to share my criticisms of the library and the board, if any, privately.
So often the instinct is to tear down rather than build up when there is a changeover in leadership, you just have to witness the current presidential primary race to see what I mean, but this instinct is, at its core, counter productive. My leadership of the board last year suffered under this instinct of others to tear down rather than support. However, good governance, which many of you know is my bally-wick, means trusting in the process—democracy is messy for a reason—and working to target the problems rather than beating up the people who have been trying to solve them.
I must admit that this is the hardest board I have ever served on or lead and I have served on a number and led a couple. I know how hard it is to lead this organization, in fact it may be that there are structural problems and historical problems with the KPL Board that may make it near impossible to move forward. But I hope that I am wrong. We will certainly see what can be accomplished this year.
Finally the word of caution and a word of encouragement to the new board leadership.
From everything that I hear about the new president’s track record of success in the Borough and the surrounding community, then KPL is in good hands. In fact I expect great things from this board this year. I even heard something about a million dollar board challenge grant which I hope is not just a rumor? I’ve also heard a rumor from board members regarding a few high capacity donors waiting in the wings until the new board leadership takes over? Well, now is your chance to bring these hopes to fruition and these folks out of the wings and onto the stage! I wish you all the best with the important work of leading the current Library and if possible, funding the cost of a new one.
I will close, however with announcing my decision step off the board completely, not just step down as President. My instinct was to step down completely back in December but I was urged by my Pennsbury Supervisors to make my departure temporary, based upon my Fulbright assignment abroad for some months, and then to return in the fall. And while I initially accepting this request from them, and will be eternally grateful for the wonderful support they have provided me as their representative over these past three years, I now feel very strongly, given the recent resignations of my colleagues and friends, Rosa Quintana, Margarita Garay, Doug Thompson and Joan Weber, and the departure this past summer of my colleague and good friend Geoff Birkett, that the wind has gone out of my sails and the twinkle has gone out of my eye. My philosophy is to only commit to something if I can give 100% and I am not certain that this remains true for me with KPL. And with so many of my friends gone, it’s not as much fun any more. Yes I’m willing to admit it, servant leadership is not just something that we do for others, it is something that we do for ourselves as well.
So my word of caution to the Board is to remember to work hard to build relationships with each other and with the community and remember, by all means, even when you disagree about courses of action, to try to fight fair and remember to even try and have fun along the way! Cheers!
• A 44-year-old Cochranville motorist was the victim of a hit and run accident in Kennett Township on Jan. 16. A state police report said the victim was stopped for a traffic light in the left, southbound lane of Route 1 at Route 52 when he was rear-ended. When the light changed to green, the victim pulled over to the shoulder, but the offending driver continued south without stopping. The incident happened at 1:46 p.m.
• According to state police, a Kennett Square woman, April Louise Zaplinty, was arrested for DUI and possession of drug paraphernalia following a Jan. 16 traffic stop on Route 1 at Route 82 in East Marlborough Township.
• One unidentified motorist rear-ended another vehicle on Jan. 11 near the Wawa on Route 202. A police report said the driver was driving north on Route 2902 and changed lanes from the left to the right and struck a vehicle that had pulled out of the Wawa parking lot and slowed for traffic. The accident happened at 12:55 p.m.
• At 8:48 a.m. on Jan. 11, an unidentified driver rear-ended another car on State Farm Drive in Concord Township. Police said the vehicle that was struck was stopped while trying to merge into traffic.
• An elderly Concord Township couple was the victim of identity theft sometime between Dec. 30 and Jan. 4. Police said unknown suspects used the victims’ bankcard information to make purchases totaling $16,000 at three Target stores in Florida. The victims are both 79 years old.
• Police said a 58-year-old man from Concord Township neglected to care for a dependent person — a 57-year-old woman — which resulted in injury to the victim.
