Mt. Airy confronts rising murder rate
by ED MAHON
The murder rate is rising in Philadelphia, jumping by 21 percent from 2002 to 2003. In the 14th Police District, that upward trend continues. From January to July there have been 14 homicides in the district this year, five more than the same time period last year and one shy of last year’s total.
That spike brought more than 50 Mount Airy residents to a town meeting last week at the Sedgwick Cultural Center seeking answers to the question that State Rep. John Myers (D., Phila.) said, looms larger than life: why?
State and city officials — including the event’s host State Rep. LeAnna Washington (D., Phila.), and District Attorney Lynne Abraham, City Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, and representatives...
Run for the Hill beneficiary has great spirit
by ED MAHON
Sean Mahoney has one leg, but you’d be lucky to keep up with him.
A rare soft tissue cancer cost Sean his left leg when he was two years old. After recovering from that sickness, he was afflicted with leukemia, which weakened his immune system, forcing him to spend nine months isolated from pretty much anyone outside his immediate family, except nurses, and doctors. But even with all he’s been through 5-year-old Sean from Oreland, has incredible excitement for life’s smallest details. He is this year’s Run for the Hill of It beneficiary, which takes place Saturday July 31.
Sean hops all over his house — from his train set upstairs to his video games downstairs. He has no problem hopping up his steps, and on the way down he likes to let himself slide belly down and foot first. He hops everywhere, including places where he’s not supposed to, like his couch.
Sean puts on a show for audiences. When he was interviewed by this Local reporter, he insisted on posing in a variety of ways — hopping up the steps, playing with his...
Strummin’ and hummin’ with the Quaker City String Band
by NANCY BERGER
From Bourbon Street to Broad Street has been the Quaker City String Band’s theme for 2004, garnering them a second prize in this year’s mummer’s parade. They’re just … well … seasoned (a euphemism for “old”) … and terrific … the best. You can experience them at the Pastorius Park concert on Wednesday, July 28 at 7:30 p.m.
The band was, according to its Web site, organized in 1920, disbanded, but was reorganized in 1931. The Quaker City String Band, as we now know it, performed in the 1932 Mummers Parade and has been entertaining parade watchers and mummers fans ever since, many of whom annually brave the frigid temperatures of downtown Philadelphia on New Years Day to watch those great performances.
The band has used its creativity and innovative style to become a consistent...