Spring 2007 TOPs

Welcome to “TOPs”, Pennsbury Townwatch’s member newsletter. Townwatch can be reached at 610-388-0785.

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NOTICE TO ALL MEMBERS

THIS IS YOUR OFFICIAL INVITATION

To attend the

Pennsbury Townwatch

Annual Meeting

Wednesday

March 28, 7:30 P.M.

Chadds Ford winery

Guest Speaker, Joseph W. Carroll

Chester Co. District Attorney

“What Goes on at the DA’s Office”

Wine tasting, snacks and refreshments will be served

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President’s Corner

“ONCE EVERY YEAR”

Certainly March brings many good things for all of us in Pennsbury (among which, we hope, an end to our snow). But for the Townwatch Board of Directors, it also brings our Annual Meeting on Wednesday evening, March 28, 2007 – the one chance we have each year to give our members, and particularly our Patrol volunteers, a chance to say hello to both one another, and also to the Board members. It also gives us the opportunity to honor those who patrol on a regular basis.

This year we have returned to our traditional venue, the Chadds Ford Winery and will again be hosted by Eric Miller, Wine Maker and Proprietor. Light refreshments and snacks will be served beginning at 7:15 PM, and the formal meeting will start at 7:45 PM (and will run about 30 minutes).

Eric will provide a tasting of some of his notable wines.

This year, Joseph W. Carroll, the District Attorney of Chester County since 2002, will be our featured speaker. It will be Mr. Carroll’s first visit to Pennsbury Township’s Annual Meeting. Read more about his background and his lecture topic later in this edition of TOPs.

At the Annual Meeting, we will be electing a President and Vice President. Up for nomination are Kevin Meloney (President), our current Patrol Chair who many of you know as your patrolling contact, and Jim Shugarts (Vice President). Two prospective members of the Board of Directors, Roman and Leslie Kucharczyk , are up for election.

We look forward to March 28^th, to a great speaker, good fellowship, and hopefully a record turnout.

‘Til then, take good care of your neighbors’.

Ron Majors, Retiring President, Pennsbury Townwatch

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Townwatch to Provide Heart Defibulator to Pennsbury Township Building

The Pennsbury Township Board of Supervisors has always been very supportive of our Townwatch activities. Not only do they permit us to use the building facilities for our monthly and occasionally our Annual Meetings, but the Road Crew, headed by Dave Allen, places, cleans, repairs and replaces the prominent Townwatch signs scattered throughout the Township. To repay the Township for these services, the Board of Directors voted to provide an automated external heart defibulator to be installed in a conspicuous place in the Township Building at 702 Baltimore Pike (U.S. Highway 1), Chadds Ford, PA. A heart defibulator will help restore the natural rhythm of the heart when a person is experiencing dangerous arrhythmia or cardiac arrest. The heart has a natural defibulator built in that acts much the way a pacemaker does, but as we age it can quit functioning properly.

An Automated External Defibulator (AED) serves the same purpose as an internal defibulator, but it is not implanted. An external defibulator used to be found only in hospitals and ambulances, but in recent years the reduced size and cost of these units has brought them into wider use such as in office buildings and airports. External heart defibulators have saved countless lives that would have been lost had it not been for the portability and affordability of this new breed of external defibulators. So, Townwatch is happy to provide such a unit that may someday save a visitor’s life, since the Township Building is used for meetings by many organizations in the area as well as residents conducting Township business.

Chester county district attorney to address Townwatch annual meeting

Mr. Joseph W. Carroll, District Attorney of Chester County, PA will be the guest speaker at the Annual Meeting on March 28, 2007. In his talk, Mr. Carroll will give a short description of what goes on at the DA’s office and some of the philosophical principles that affect the way that he approaches his responsibilities. He will then talks about some of the newer programs and plans for the future of the DA’s office. He will also be answering any questions from the floor.

Mr. Carroll has a long and distinguished career in the legal system. After graduating from the Villanova School of Law in 1976, he has been a practicing trial attorney in a West Chester law firm and has served the Chester County DA’s office as preliminary hearing attorney, assistant district attorney, deputy district attorney, first assistant district attorney and now as District Attorney. He has been involved in many notable cases including the Johnston murder prosecutions in the early ‘80s.

Two longterm directors sears and Holland retire from Townwatch board

Two of our long-standing members of the Board of Directors of Pennsbury Townwatch have retired. Connie Holland, who joined Townwatch in 1990, has been Secretary for as long as any of us can remember. She first began as a patroller and then as a neighborhood contact. Back in those days, each neighborhood has a contact person whose role was to get new members and patrolling was a more cumbersome activity than it is today. For a time, Connie also served as Patrol Chair. She has seen many changes and improvements in the patrolling activities and was proud to be a member of Pennsbury Townwatch, the oldest continuous operating Townwatch in Chester County. We wish her success in her move to Gettysburg, PA and thank her for her years of service to Townwatch.

Jim Sears, well known to many Township residents, joined Townwatch in the mid-90’s and has served as patroller, patrol chair, vice-president and president during his tenure. Although he contributed immensely to Townwatch programs and activities, his biggest contribution was the overhaul of the patrolling system, of course, our most important activity. Prior to Jim’s restructuring the patrolling process, there was a complex system of patrolling with a day patrol chair and a night patrol chair (who didn’t work together), a dispatcher located at the Township Building who was in constant contact with the patrollers by radio communication. Each patrol car required two people, one to drive and one to be in touch with the dispatcher via radio. For each checkpoint in the patrol route, the second patroller had to report to the dispatcher—a time consuming effort. The role of dispatcher was to record any observations of patrollers in the patrol log and to contact State Police with a problem. The entire process was rather cumbersome to say the least.

Jim streamlined the process by replacing the two-way radios with pre-programmed cell phones (donated by Verizon) where patrollers could contact the State Police directly without the need of the radios. The improvement eliminated the dispatcher and even the second patroller in the car, thus, freeing more members for patrolling duties and coverage increased to 3-4 simultaneous full township patrols a week. Since one of Townwatch’s objectives is to be frequently “seen” by would-be criminals, Jim also instituted a system of so-called neighborhood patrols and “standing” patrols. Neighborhood patrols allow patrollers to be on the road more frequently by patrolling several times within a mile or two of their residence during their assigned week. Standing patrols involve a patroller sitting in conspicuous heavily traffic locations [e.g. Hwy 1 (Antique Mall, Gables Restaurant parking lot), Hwy 52/926 intersection, etc.] to be readily seen by passersby. Jim also got Townwatch more involved in Emergency Management, an organization also for the safety and security of residents. We also thank Jim for his many years of service to Pennsbury Townwatch.

Townwatch will offer “55-Alive Defensive driving class in June, 2007

Due to the popularity of the “55-Alive” Class in 2006, Townwatch has decided to bring the course back to Pennsbury Township again this year. Produced by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and conducted throughout the country in two half-day sessions, 55 Alive teaches preventive measures to use when driving that saves lives. Eight hours of classroom instruction that refines existing skills and develops safe, defensive driving techniques. The course is spread over two four-hour sessions on consecutive Saturday mornings. We believe so strongly in the individual and community benefits that come from this course that Townwatch will subsidize the tuition for the course. Normally, priced at $20 per individual, registration will be $10 and is limited to the first 20 people. The sessions will be held on June 9 and June 16 from 8 a.m. to noon. You must attend both sessions to receive certification. Certificates are good for three years. PA law requires insurance companies to give a 5% discount for drivers 55 and older who successfully complete the course. To sign up, use the form at the end of this issue of TOPs.

ChaddsFord Winery wins award

Eric Miller, winemaker and owner of Chaddsford Winery in Pennsbury Township, has always been a strong supporter of Townwatch. Thus, it is our pleasure to report that his Winery recently won five of the 10 top honors of the Pennsylvania Wine Society’s fifth annual Pennsylvania Excellence Awards at a ceremony held in Harrisburg in January 2007. At what is referred to as the “Academy Awards” of the state’s wine making industry, a panel of judge chose 10 of the state’s best wines made from Vinifera and Chambourcin grapes. Chaddsford Winery, the largest and best-known winery in PA, has led the way for a premium wine region to emerge from the hills of the Brandywine Valley. We would like to congratulate Eric on his firm’s honor.

Reminder -- renew your membership

Your membership renewal should have arrived in your mailbox within the last couple of weeks. For a mere $7.50 for an individual membership, or $10 for a family or business, you can help Townwatch to continue its program of providing patrols and other activities to maintain your safety, security and peace-of-mind. Funds are used for road signs, patrol signs, window stickers, TOPs Newsletter, promotional activities and other related items. Use the form at the end of this issue of TOPs. Make your check payable to Pennsbury Townwatch and mail it to: Pennsbury Townwatch Inc., 702 West Baltimore Pike, Chaddsford, PA 19317. Note that all donations are tax-deductible.

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9-1-1 Address -- DO YOU KNOW YOURS?

IS IT VISIBLE FROM THE STREET?

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”A Townwatch Community” Road Signs

We are sure you have all seen our road signs indicating Pennsbury is a Townwatch community.

There are nearly 60 of these signs throughout the Township – one at each road leading into the Township, and others at the entrances to subdivisions and major roadways. These are placed, and maintained, through the generous efforts of Pennsbury Township’s Roadmaster Dave Allen’s Road Department; we believe them to be a significant deterrent to mischief or criminal activity, along with our patrol activities.

Should you notice a sign that is either missing, defaced or obscured by weeds or bushes, please either contact Dave (610-388-9180) or leave a message on the Townwatch phone (610-388-0785).

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Scholarship Awarded to Unionville High School graduate

To encourage the study of law enforcement and community safety and service, Pennsbury Townwatch is pleased to announce the establishment of a scholarship entitled the Pennsbury Townwatch Scholarship for Law Enforcement Study to a deserving Unionville High School graduate who is pursuing a career in law enforcement, forensic science or criminalistics. The scholarship consists of a one-time $1000 award to a student enrolled in such a training program. In May, a Unionville High School Scholarship Committee selects the student from a list of those meeting the selection criteria established by Pennsbury Townwatch. The 2006 recipient was Ellana Schreep who is attending the University of Tampa as a major in forensics science.

Winter/Spring 2007– Issue No. 12

Pennsbury Townwatch

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