September 27, 2007 Issue                                                     

Local News

The Chestnut Hill Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia celebrated its 135th birthday over the weekend. This plaque was hung outside the building in its earlier years in honor of Henry J. Williams who gave Chestnut Hill the building where the Library is now located. It will be hung inside the library soon. In attendance were (left to right) Mary Sue Welsh, President of the Friends of the Chestnut Hill Library; Margaret Brunton, branch librarian; Martha Repman, former branch librarian (’72-’93); and Joe Mc Peak, Director of Operations for the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Play Café would bring kid-friendly dining to Hill
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI

Chestnut Hill is not known for kid-friendly cafés and restaurants, but in a few years it might see the addition of a restaurant and café that redefines the term.

City, State plug school budget Jenks shouldn’t see any more program cuts
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI

The school district budget woes seem to be over — at least for this school year.

On Sept. 11, Governor Ed Rendell and Mayor John Street announced that additional state and city funding is available to expand some student programs and eliminate the deficit that still hung over the school district’s head on the first day of school.

Local Sports

Big-time Tigers; GFS runners are executing an ambitious plan
by TOM UTESCHER

For the 2007 Germantown Friends Cross Country Team, the top seven Tigers are pictured, left to right, Fenn Hoffman, Eddie Einbender-Luks, Tom Waterman, Isaac Ortiz, Max Kaulbach, Jake McKenzie and Gus McKenzie. For more photos go to www.chlocalphotos.com. (Photo by Jimmy J. Pack Jr.)

Hired as boys cross country head coach by Germantown Friends School at the start of the 2004 season, Rob Hewitt watched a Tigers dual meet for the first time and saw the future.

The squad was in rebuilding mode, with only a couple of returning varsity runners from the previous fall. What caught Hewitt’s eye was a trio of freshmen – Max Kaulbach, Isaac Ortiz, and Jake McKenzie – and he singled them out for Tom Myran, a fellow observer who was then the Athletic Director at the school.

“I could point out those three who would emerge,” he recalled. “You could see it in their stride; they were fluid runners from the beginning.”

These three athletes, who train together year-round and run many races almost side-by-side, have served as the foundation for a GFS team that has improved dramatically throughout their tenure and is now receiving recognition at the national level.

CHC men trap Bears, 2-0
by TOM UTESCHER

CHC’s Andrew Thorne strikes, making the first goal of the game. For more photos visit www.chlocalphotos.com. (Photos by Jimmy J. Pack Jr.)

The scoreboard still read 0-0 at halftime of last Wednesday’s soccer scuffle at Chestnut Hill College, but it seemed only a matter of time before the Bears of Ursinus College took the lead in the match.

The visitors dictated much of the play in the first half and for the most part kept the ball in the Griffins’ half of the field. The Bears were already building a sizable advantage in the shot column, which would later show a total of 31 attempts for Ursinus while the Griffin men managed just five.

None of this fazed Chestnut Hill’s first-year head coach Seamus O’Connor, who is clearly a man with a plan. His squad would wind up winning 2-0 on a pair of goals by sophomore Andrew Thorne.