Local News

Showdown at the ranch Celeste Zappala, fourth from right, and son Dante, third from right, both of Mount Airy, react to the passing of President Bush’s motorcade outside the presidential ranch in Crawford, Texas last Friday. The protest by family members of soldiers killed in Iraq has drawn national attention — and a counter-rally from conservatives. (Associated Press photo by LM Otero)

Showdown at the ranch Mount Airy family joins dozens of anti-war protestors in Crawford Celeste Zappala, center, and son Dante, right, both of Mount Airy, react to the passing of President Bush’s motorcade outside the presidential ranch in Crawford, Texas last Friday. (Associated Press photo by LM Otero) by MICHAEL J. MISHAK Celeste Zappala never thought she would spend her vacation with President Bush. But the veteran peace activist from Mount Airy found herself camped out on a country road in rural Texas last week, just outside the president’s Crawford ranch. The death of her adopted son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, had brought her there. Baker, a Pennsylvania National Guardsman, was killed in Baghdad last year while providing security for the Iraq Survey Group, a coalition-led team charged with searching for weapons of mass destruction. He was the first member of the state Guard to die in combat since World War II. His military service was extended when the Iraq war began in March 2003, just weeks before he was set to be discharged. Hill leaders push for more police by MICHAEL J. MISHAK In the wake of the second set of assaults to rock Chestnut Hill in as many months, a small group of neighborhood business and community leaders sought assurances and offered help at an impromptu meeting with police brass last week. The meeting, organized by Maxine Dornemann, president of the Chestnut Hill Community Association, came on a day when the neighborhood found itself under the microscope of the local media, who had descended on the Hill to report on a recent series of assaults and robberies perpetrated by a roving group of teens. Gathered around the table were: Anne McNally, president of the Chestnut Hill Business Association, and local restaurateur Paul Roller. Two City Council staffers — Stewart Graham, chief of staff to Councilman Frank Rizzo and Stephen Johnson, an aide to Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller — also attended. Springfield Township residents oppose development, again by AMY BRISSON In a long and contentious meeting last Monday night, the Springfield Township Board of Commissioners voted to hold a second public hearing in September on the proposed Tecce tract development, despite the protests of a crowd opposed to the hearing. Many in the audience came ready to oppose possible developments on the Tecce tract, at 9303 Ridge Pike in the Springfield Panhandle section of the township, and the Boorse tract, at 10 Camp Hill Road in Oreland. They insisted on being heard, despite the board’s assertion that that it was not the time for a public hearing on either issue.