April 19, 2017 - ChaddsFordLive.com

Steve Budischak of Kennett Square

Steve Budischak, 98, of Kennett Square, formerly of Wilmington, Valley Stream, N.Y., and Wheeling, W.Va., died Friday, April 14, at Paoli General Hospital. He was the husband of Martha Budischak, with whom he shared 70 years of marriage. Martha predeceased Steve in 2016.

Steve was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Steve was a 21-year Navy veteran, serving in WWII and visiting ports of call around the world. He enjoyed travel, sports, exercising, dancing, and playing cards, especially with Martha. He had an inner strength that enabled him to be there for all his children and grandchildren. Steve’s faith and devotion to God was a guiding force throughout his life and a living example to everyone.

Steve is survived by nine children: MaryLou Hawkins (Donald), Elizabeth Miller, Ellen Budischak, Stephen Budischak (Sue), Joseph Budischak (Denise), Teri Jones (Bob), Agnes Pont (John), Michael Budischak (Valann), John Budischak (Lisa); 15 grandchildren: Katie, Bill, Valerie, Cory, Sarah, Adrian, Dylan, Denali, John, Aimee, Kevin, Nathan, Megan, Evan and Nina; seven great-grandchildren: Sawyer, Miles, Julia, Claire, Natalie, Jackson and Reid and many nieces and nephews.

You are invited to visit with Steve’s family and friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, April 24, and again from 9 to 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 25, at the Kuzo & Grieco Funeral Home, 250 West State Street, Kennett Square. His funeral mass will follow at 10:30 at St. Patrick’s Church, 212 Meredith Street in Kennett Square. Burial will follow at 1 p.m. at the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 2465 Chesapeake City Road, Bear, DE 19701.

In memory of Steve, flowers may be sent or a contribution may be made to Kendal Staff Appreciation Fund, P.O. Box 100, Kennett Square, PA 19348, or to the Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) Disaster Relief Fund, 125 N. West Street, Alexandria, VA 23317-2754

Online condolences may be made by visiting www.griecocares.com.

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Royal Farms hearing concludes

Local News, Local News Chadds Ford, Local News Concord

The waiting has begun on whether Royal Farms will receive conditional use approval for a convenience store in Concord Township. Township Council concluded last night the evidentiary portion of a conditional use hearing on the proposal and now has 45 days to decide.

Royal Farms wants to put the store — with gasoline service — on a 1.4-acre lot in the split on Route 202 on the north side of Smithbridge Road.

There would be ingress and egress to and from both the northbound and southbound sides on the north side of the site, and 16 fueling stations on the Smithbridge Road side of the property, according to testimony from Jack Whisted, the company’s chief engineer.

Plans are for a 24/7 operation with the store selling sandwiches, beverages and fried chicken. Also proposed is a 12-seat coffee bar inside the 4,166 square foot store and the possibility of outdoor seating, though approval for outdoor seating is up to the council.

Currently, there is no plan to sell beer at the store. Should Royal Farms want to sell beer there in the future, however, it would have to go through another conditional use hearing for approval.

Traffic engineer Nicole Kline testified that improvements are planned for Smithbridge Road. Those improvements include creating a dedicated right turn lane on westbound Smithbridge for traffic to turn onto northbound 202 at Meghan’s Diner.

Another proposed change is to widen Smithbridge within the split so there could be dedicated left turn lanes. Kline said those left turn lanes would be half the length of the distance between the northbound and southbound lanes of 202.

Council President Dominic Pileggi said the township contacted neighboring property owners to get easements needed for the road widening. While the township acquires the easements, it’s Royal Farms’ responsibility to pay for them and the roadwork.

A third engineer, Project Manager Joe Russella, said there would be 37 total parking spaces. Township code calls for 17 spaces based on the size of the proposed store and an additional four spaces for employees.

With the hearing closed on April 18, the 45-day window for council’s decision closes June 2. Pileggi said the township would use its email list to let residents know when council will announce the decision.

About Rich Schwartzman

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.

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Mary Ann Campanella of West Chester

Obituaries

Mary Ann Campanella (nee Sherry), 70, of West Chester, died peacefully Saturday, April 15.

Born in Philadelphia, in 1947, Mary Ann was the beloved wife of Sebastian “Sonny” Campanella with whom she shared 22 years of marriage; the dedicated daughter of Margaret Mary (nee Keating) Sherry and the late Vincent B. Sherry; loving mother of Meg Taft (David), Duke Gleeson, and Ann Gleeson; step-mother of Steven Campanella (Donna) and Scott Campanella (Christina); devoted grandmother of Morgan, Michael, Kathryn, Madeline, Molly, Griffin, Ryan, Julian, Quenton, Danielle, Luca, and Gemma; the eldest of six children and adored by her siblings and their spouses, Vince, Dan (Judy), Madeline (Frank), Frank (Sue), and Mimi (Doug); adoring aunt to her 15 nieces and nephews and a cherished friend to so many.

Educated by Sisters of the Holy Child and a graduate of Marymount University, Mary Ann led a life of devotion to our Lord. Mary Ann had a very successful career in sales and she enjoyed her work. She loved her family, friends, horses, Ireland, the Phillies, the Eagles, and making people feel special.

Relatives and friends are invited to her Visitation 8:30-10:30 a.m. Friday, April 21, at St. Maximilian Kolbe, 15 E Pleasant Grove Rd, West Chester, PA 19382 followed by her funeral service at 10:30. Interment Calvary Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Shriners Hospital, 2900 Rocky Point Dr, Tampa, FL 33607, www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org.

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Art Watch: Art on Earth Day

Arts & Entertainment

Kathleen Magner Rios photograph — Photograph by Kathleen Magner Rios at the Oxford Arts Alliance

Friday April 21 The Oxford Arts Alliance celebrates Earth Day with an exhibition that is a delight to the senses “Living Art.” The opening reception is from 5 to 8 p.m. and the show continues through May 12th. Also celebrating Earth Day this week is Street Road Artist’s Space, at 725 Street Road in Cochranville, with interesting discussions and artistic explorations planned all weekend long. Gallery shows are in full swing for the spring, and many exciting shows in our area are still open for viewing until the end of the month. This weekend is a great time to honor Earth Day and the arts, with such beautiful weather, art is everywhere, inside and out.

“Living Art” at The Oxford Arts Alliance on Third Street in downtown Oxford, is an exhibition conceived by local artist Vicki Vinton. With Earth Day as a kick-off point, she enlisted well known artist friends to explore nature in art through unusual perspectives.

Lenny Wilson Shoes, Oxford Arts Alliance

The highlight of the show is the nature inspired cobbled shoes by artist and horticulturalist Lenny Wilson. He is the Director of Development at the Delaware Center for Horticulture, as well as a professional shoe cobbler and artist. His delightfully imaginative shoe creations have shown widely throughout the East Coast, including a popular installation at the Philadelphia airport.

Each pair of shoes takes on a life of its own, as Lenny adds feathers, twigs, leaves and other natural items, to make a traditional wearable item into something both nature and man-made that is wholly un-wearable (I did ask). The shoes are whimsical and intriguing, and invite the viewer to enjoy the creations, as well as to see other everyday objects as possible sources of creative inspiration.

Curator of “Living Art” Vicki Vinton, is very excited about the show, and says that she is particularly “interested in the public responses to the show. The artwork is as provocative as the poem is beautiful. Maybe this will cause people to look at their outside world a little differently!” Vicki Vinton’s art studio (Studio 23/LabArt) is located across the street from The Oxford Arts Alliance at 23 South Third Street, and her studio location will be part of the huge Chester County Studio Tour May 20 and 21st.

Also in “Living Art”, 27 beautiful photographs of natural subject matter are displayed by artist Kathleen Magner Rios. These selected images are from her series “Metamorphosis”inspired by Franz Kafka’s famous book. In Kafka’s piece, the protagonist awakens to find himself transformed into an insect, and thus many of the photographs by Rios are of insects, strange and beautiful amidst a garden of flowers. While most of the images were taken in the artist’s local home garden, the images seem out of this world, magical and dream-like. They are stunning.

Metal sculptor Rob Sigafoos and artist Vicki Vinton collaborated to create the final section of “Living Art” which is all about natural and unnatural, uncaged and caged, birds in flight and birds locked up. Together the two artists create a mammoth abstract steel cage with an open door. Behind this sculpture, Vicki printed Maya Angelou’s famous poem “Caged Bird” where a “free bird..dares to claim the sky” while a caged bird has clipped wings and can only sing of freedom. It a marvelous combination of words and imagery, together with the visionary photographs and whimsical shoes ala nature, come together to make an interesting and provocative show for Earth Day.

Further afield in Cochranville, Street Road Artist’s Space concludes their exhibit “back, forth: Street Road at 5 years” which looks back on their five years of experimental artist shows and happenings. The closing party for the show is Earth Day, Saturday April 22nd, and the public is all invited. The following day, Sunday April 23, at the Latvian Society in Philadelphia, from 1 to 3 p.m. Laris Kreslins, David A. Parker and Christianna Potter Hannum participate in a panel discussion about their roles in the conception and development of “back, forth”, and the role of art as a connective force. The Latvian Society venue was chosen because it was special to the speakers, and also as a kickoff to plans to continue Street Road Artist’s Space beyond the borders of Cochranville.

Statue of Liberty by Damon Gray, Galer Estate Winery

At Galer Estate Winery in Kennett Square, pop up art shows and music concerts celebrate Earth Day all weekend long. On Friday, abstract sky-scape painter Ellen Catanzaro shows her large, beautiful paintings at the winery from 2 to 6 p.m. On Earth Day Saturday artist Damon Gray shows his brightly colored paintings from 2 to 6 p.m. while musician Alexandra March sings amid the baskets of spring annuals. Sunday renowned jazz singer Wendi Grantham gives a free performance at the winery from 1 to 3 p.m. Wendi Grantham is famous for her beautiful voice, as well as for her starring role in the HBO series The Wire.

Around the Chester County area, there are terrific art shows in local galleries that should not be missed. Some of the most notable art shows are the John Baker and Rhoda Kahler collaborative show at Mala Galleria in Kennett Square, the “Figures and Cityscapes” painting exhibition of Mashiul Chowdhury at Church Street Gallery in West Chester, the paintings and drawing show of fellow artists and friends Abby Patterson and Torrey Kist at Blue Streak Gallery in Wilmington, and the three-person gallery show of Jan Weir, Jeremy McGirl, and Nancy Bea Miller at Gallery 222 in Malvern.

Each of these shows highlight uber-talented artists with unique points of view, and you should check them out before the next month rolls around!

About Lele Galer

Lele Galer is an artist who has chaired numerous art shows, taught art history and studio art, public art and has chaired, written and taught the Art in Action Art Appreciation series for the UCFD schools for the past 12 years. She worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and wrote for the Associated Press in Rome. She has been dedicated to Art History and art education for most of her adult life. Lele and her husband Brad own Galer Estate Winery in Kennett Square.

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Police Log April 19: Identity theft; retail theft; DUI

Police

Pennsylvania State Police

• Pennsylvania State Police from the Media barracks are investigating a case of identity theft involving a 28-year-old Chadds Ford woman. Police said the victim discovered on April 6 that several credit inquiries had been made in her name as well as several bogus accounts had been opened.

• Jerry Lee Dixon, 28, of Utah, was arrested for DUI in Concord Township following a crash on April 1, according to police. A report said the incident happened at 2:30 a.m. on Featherbed Lane.

• A retail establishment — not identified in the police report— on Applied Bank Boulevard experienced retail theft on April 12. The report said a suspect, also not identified in the report, took “numerous amounts of merchandise” and left the store without paying. The incident happened at 11:23 a.m.

• Police said they arrested a woman who stole an item worth $14.95 from the Birds and Bees shop on Route 202 in Concord Township on April 13. A report said the incident happened at 4:50 p.m.

• Peter J. Mele, 44, of Claymont, was charged with DUI after he drove into a mailbox on Baltimore Pike in Kennett Township, according to a report from the state police Avondale barracks. The report said Mele was driving west when he drove off the right side of the road at 3:43 a.m. on March 25. No injuries were reported.

• State police charged David Michael Ruditys Jr., 20, of Wilmington, with drug possession following a 12:31 a.m. traffic stop on Route 1 near Fairville Road on March 29, according to a report.

• Someone stole an antique wooden gate and a black metal wood stacker from a property on Kennett Pike sometime between 3 p.m., March 8 and 7 a.m., March 9. Anyone with information is asked to call Tpr. Ryan Ard at 610-268-2022.

• An expired inspection sticker led to a DUI arrest in New Garden Township on April 13. State police said Pedro Juarez-Guillen, 46, of Kennett Square, who had just picked up his daughter from school, was arrested for DUI at 2:46 p.m. when a trooper noticed the expired inspection sticker. Police made the stop on Baltimore Pike, east of Union Street.

• State police arrested Gonzalo Cano-Zavala, 34, of Avondale, for false identification to law enforcement, identity theft, driving without a license and a suspended license in New Garden Township on April 10, according to a police press release. Police said he claimed to be his father at the time of the traffic stop, 10:51 a.m.

• José Guadalupe Morales-Gomez, 18, of West Grove, was arrested for DUI on March 19, a state police report said. According to the report, police stopped Morales-Gomez on Route 1 North, south of Route 82 in New Garden Township just after midnight because he was driving erratically, and then determined he was under the influence.

• On March 12, state police said, Scott Everett Wiseman, 20, of Chatham, was taken into custody on DUI charges. Police made the stop at 3 a.m. on Thouron Road, north of Clonmell Road in West Marlborough Township.

Southern Chester County Regional Police

• Pedro Ramirez-Reyes, 24, of New Castle, was arrested and charged with DUI and related traffic offenses after he nearly struck a SCCRPD vehicle head on, a police report said. The incident occurred just after midnight on April 2 in the 700 block of West Cypress Street, in Kennett Township. Ramirez-Reyes was driving a 2005 Infinity in the wrong direction on the one-way roadway and then turned abruptly into a restaurant parking lot full of pedestrians, according to Southern Chester County Regional Police. Numerous indicators of intoxication were observed, police said, and after failing field sobriety tests, Ramirez-Reyes was taken into custody on suspicion of DUI. He was transported to the state police Avondale barracks where he submitted to a chemical test of his breath, resulting in a B.A.C. of 0.146 percent. He was processed and released pending issuance of a summons.

• Graham Jones, 19, of Landenberg was arrested and charged with DUI, along with violations of the Controlled Substance Drug, Device, and Cosmetic Act, and related traffic offenses, following a single vehicle crash at 640 Penn Green Road in New Garden Township at 7:15 a.m. on April 02. Police said Jones exhibited numerous indicators of possible intoxication and were told by a witness at the scene that he had walked away from the scene briefly and appeared to have discarded a bag. Marijuana and related paraphernalia, along with an unknown substance in a bottle were discovered in a nearby dumpster.

• Jennifer Chavez-Morales, 23, of Kennett Square, was arrested and charged with making multiple fraudulent transactions at the Peebles Department Store where she worked, a police report said. Police were dispatched to the store at 350 Scarlett Road in New Garden Township on April 5 where Regional Asset Protection personnel for the company reported that Chavez-Morales was using a Peebles credit card number, without authorization, and was bypassing the store’s denial system, by using a manager code she obtained from a former employee.

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