Chestnut Hill Local — JUNE 17, 2004 Issue

June 17, 2004 Issue

In The News...

Another year, another SEPTA
budget crisis

Community groups, activists and labor unions rallied last week for dedicated state funding to close the transit agency's $70 million budget gap

by MICHAEL J. MISHAK

In stark contrast to last year's SEPTA standoff, community activists and labor unions joined hands with the transit agency last week to petition Harrisburg for long-term dedicated funding.

SEPTA faces a $70 million shortfall in its operating budget for fiscal 2005.

"Last year, I spent most of my time trashing SEPTA," said Tom Hutt, a founding member of the Northwest Campaign for Public Transportation (NWCPT), at the June 8 rally. "It was us versus SEPTA."

This year, the transit agency has taken a cooperative approach, joining with its harshest critics to present a unified front for dedicated state funding.

Though Gov. Rendell proposed a 3.4 percent increase for mass...

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In Sports...

Lax seniors win at national tournament

by TOM UTESCHER

A group of graduating lacrosse players from the area went out on a high note on Memorial Day weekend, winning the High School Senior Division of the U.S. Lacrosse Women's Division National Tournament held at Lehigh University.

Springside School's Erin Lawson, Zan Morley and Lucy Ross and Germantown Academy's Jess Dwinell and Caitlin McKinney all played for the victorious Upper Atlantic region "Gray" team, which was coached by Springside mentor Brooke Fritz.

This was the first year that seniors and underclassmen were separated at the tourney, which started in the 1930's as a gathering of club teams from different regions around the country and began to include high school players in 1985. Because...

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In LocalLife...

Band started here has
won 9 Grammy Awards

Hill area's "only hillbilly"
to perform at CHA

by LEN LEAR

One of the country's most popular dance and party bands, Asleep at the Wheel, co-founded by two Chestnut Hill area musicians, is returning to Chestnut Hill this Saturday, June 19, to perform a benefit for the Friends of the Wissahickon.

"I spent a lot of time in the Wissahickon as a kid," explained the band's co-founder, Ray Benson. "My friends and I would pretend we were Davy Crockett. I'd hunt snakes and toads, and we rode horses a lot. It's just a shame that the park has gone downward, and I am glad to do my part to help bring it back."

The Western swing band, which has recorded 23 albums and won nine Grammy awards, will begin the performance at 8 p.m. in the Albert Conkey Center...

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