Press Release: "On Wednesday December 30th 2015 at approximately 2245 hours, the Haverford Township Police Department responded to the Ardmore Junction station of the SEPTA Route 100 Norristown high speed line for a report of subject struck by a train. The preliminary investigation revealed that a W/M/38 of Mays Landing, New Jersey was struck by an outbound train on the tracks approximately 75 feet south of the Ardmore Junction station platform. The preliminary investigation indicates that this was an apparent suicide. Witnesses reported observing the subject exit a vehicle parked in an adjacent parking lot and walk up an embankment and onto the track. The witness observed the victim lay down in front of the train as it approached the station. Police did locate a suicide note in the victim’s vehicle. The victim sustained fatal injuries and was pronounce deceased at the scene. The name of the victim is not being released pending notification of family. There were no injuries to the train operator or its passengers. The investigation is continuing by SEPTA and the members of the Special Operations Unit of the Haverford Township Police Department. This is an Official Press Release of the Haverford Township Police Department issued on the authority of Chief Carmen D. Pettine Lt. Michael Glenn Patrol Division Watch Commander" … [Read more...]
Suspicious flyer put in mailboxes
An unsigned "mimeographed" (<-tee hee) flyer has shown up in area mailboxes. This obviously fake "Amazon Logistics" letter is in the photo. Click on it for a closer look. It's an obvious scam. Amazon would never: Use door-to-door "outreach" Use paper for first-line communication Need random customer feedback for logistics Ask for customers' access codes Send a person out to collect delivery preferences Not sign a letter with a name Use random capitalization (Our Business partner) Use photocopied paper Here at Havertownies HQ we received one of these flyers. When we asked @AmazonHelp, they assumed we were talking about an email phishing attempt. They were unfamiliar with this letter. We called the police and handed over the letter. Not all the neighbors received one so perhaps there is a leaked list of Amazon customers somewhere and this scammer got a hold of it. When posted on Facebook, another Townie thought she saw a while male, 30s, in black pants and shirt, driving a tan sedan distributing these flyers. This is just a guess, though, so take that under consideration. Our thought is the plan is this: Step 1: Distribute the flyers. Step 2: Send an official-looking person with stolen Amazon logos on his shirt and a clipboard to knock on doors. Step 3: Fish for information like where packages are left, whether or not doors are open, and if there is anyone home during the day. The Haverford PD said there are no permits issued right now for solicitation in the Township except for maybe the Natural Gas sellers. So no matter what, don't open the door to anyone you don't know and aren't expecting. Call 911 for any solicitors, even if they seem legit. To keep up with stuff like this, make sure to join and follow the following groups, pages and websites (starting with Havertownies.com, of course!) Havertown and Drexel Hill Community Network on Facebook. Closed group. You will need to wait for approval to join. Nextdoor.com … [Read more...]
Kinks in Haverford School Lunch Accounts
Seems like Haverford School District (HSD) is making a change in the lunch account system. Parents who are trying to log on to the present system, myschoolaccount.com, are getting errors. A password reset attempt eventually produces this email from the site: It appears that Haverford School District is making a change. They are no longer active within our system. Therefore, the parent accounts under this district are no longer active. You will need to contact your school directly for more information. Keep in mind that if your students have a current balance, those funds are at your school. Thank you for using myschoolaccount.com.support@myschoolaccount.com A call to Gerry Gannon, HSD's Food Services Director, told us the new system, ParentOnline.net, is still being tested. We asked if we had missed an announcement, and Mr. Gannon said no. Announcements on the change will go out after complete testing is done. (Thinking summer might have been a good time for this, but hey... whatevs, as the kids say). If you had money left in your child's account from last year, your pre-existing balance is still active. Your student can use that money. Also there is always the cash option (but this doesn't work out so well for the little ones, who tend to promptly lose their change at recess. Every once in a while at Chatham an old guy comes out with his metal detector and combs the fields. He probably has already recovered the price of the metal detector). If you go to ParentOnline and register your child (you'll need the 5 digit ID number), you can add more money to the account, monitor purchases, etc. The official announcement of the change will come sometime in... let's take bets. January? We have a feeling Mr. Gannon probably isn't paid enough to be fielding all the phone calls he's been getting about it. So, spread the word. Leave Mr. Gannon alone and hang tight. It'll work itself out eventually. … [Read more...]
Local cheater-mcgeeter numbers
The respawned Patch paper has a data scientist or two looking through the hookup website Ashley Madison hacked info for IP addresses that are assigned to Delaware County and its surroundings. Havertown: 1686 registered users Haverford: 343 registered users Ardmore: not listed So let's round it off and say 2 grand of our 40,000-sh residents had logged on to the site at least once. That's 5% fodder for juicy Townie gossip. Or is it? Deeper analyses of the Ashley Madison user data are taking over the web. Gizmodo pointed out that almost all the real (actual human) accounts on the site belong to those who identified themselves as men. 5 million accounts belonging to women are now thought of being fake. So the site was a big ol' sausage fest spewing out (allegedly fraudulent) claims that their users had affairs within a few months of signing up and that there were plenty of women on the site. The truth: Most of the real accounts had no activity on them. So don't go looking for your neighbor's name. Even if his name is on there, it doesn't mean much. You'd have to dig down and see if he was active on the site and then figure out if he conversed with anyone. It's not worth all the trouble, seeing that the data is unreliable. Still need to sate that insatiable curiosity? Go over to The Truth About Deception and sort through some of articles with infidelity statistics, or read this (a bit sexist & skewed toward women) Woman's Day article about men and cheating. Also, sociologists will tell you that we find our romantic partners (including illicit lovers) from the pool of people we know (or the people they know). Almost all of our connections are contained within the friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend circle (i.e. 3 degrees away from us). So the myth of a "cheater's website" is a convenient one to distract us from an uglier truth: if your spouse is cheating, they are cheating with someone you know. It's kind of a similar myth of the online sexual … [Read more...]
Bee the Soda…
Saw this on Haverford today, in front of Ardmore Beverage: Would this be soda for bees? Or soda made out of bees? Or, more of philosophical command, a la Caddyshack: Let it happen. Beeee the Sodaaa. … [Read more...]
AirBnB wants your house for the Pope’s visit
We all heard rumors about homeowners over by the golf course making gaboogle bucks renting out their house or even their backyards for the PGA tournament. But the reality was a bit different than that. Most people made the going rates, one to two hundred dollars a night per person-ish. Still, that's some nice cash if you can stay at Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop's for a bit. Person-to-person accommodations broker AirBnB recently sent out an email to users to spread the word about an orientation session they're having for potential landlords in the area. They're searching out space for the upcoming events Made in America and the papal visit. They're after first-time listers and they are fishing through their past renters for interest. Havertownies HQ is way too ...lived in... to double as guest accommodations. Hell, it barely functions as owner accommodations. But perhaps you have a room to spare or can rent out your whole house. Take a stab at it. You never know. RSVP for the orientation session on August 27th at 6:00 pm at 30 S. 15th St. downtown. But don't forget to ask Mom-Mom first! … [Read more...]
Granite Run Mall Runs No More
From the Granite Run Mall social media pages: People are leaving comments with memories about growing going to the mall, how it was in its heyday back in the day, etc. We here at H-townies didn't grow up going there, but when we moved to the area in 2000, that's where the local townies told us to go for family portraits. One of the department store's studio was our main portrait squeeze for the early kid years. Funny how that whole "portrait every year" thing dies out after a while. Anyway, Sears, Boscov's, PENNDOT, Acme, AMC, Kohl's, Friendly's, and Pappone's will all stay open. You'll have to drive around to all the different spots, though, because the actual mall and its connecting walkways will be closed. The News of Delco has some info about proposed development on the existing site... something about apartments. It's like a dystopian dream, living in an ex-shopping mall. Somehow I think that won't fly, but they are thinking about gutting it. We'll see. It's all just hot air at this point. Do you have memories of the mall to share? RIP GRANITE RUN MALL! … [Read more...]
So many questions in local teen’s death
A certain story line played out in the local zeitgeist: local private school 13-year-old, stressed over late schoolwork, left his home right before a big snowstorm and had been missing for days. The kid's family and local authorities called for massive media attention and search crew help. The indication was that maybe this normal, well-adjusted, well-liked kid, who rashly left the house without his glasses or cell phone, had fallen and bumped his head somewhere and needed help ASAP. or perhaps he fled to South Street in Philly and met up with some bad guys. Hundreds of people got involved, searching, putting up posters. Thousands worried; The media coverage was extensive. By now we all know the kid's story ended tragically, with an apparently self-inflicted gun shot wound to the head. His body was located on the family's 17-acre property, covered in snow. As people process this tragedy, questions arise. Most people are too polite to ask these questions publicly because they don't want to overshadow or undermine the extreme pain the family must be feeling at this time. But yet the questions persist. Why weren't we told about the missing gun or the possibility of a gun? Is it because the family wanted help and feared they would not get it if that fact came out? How did this story – of essentially a run-away teen – get so big? Teens run away all the time; they don't get this kind of coverage. Why the overwhelming publicity when it is a private family matter? The family asks for privacy now – which, of course, is understandable and they have a right to it – but we can't simply turn off our concern, our curiosity, or our emotions. We went from being concerned and devastated to feeling manipulated. There will be no closure on this, and that too is painful. Others are (mostly reluctantly) using the apparent suicide to bring up issues of gun ownership and safety, the little-known harsh realities of the spontaneous nature behind suicide, LGBTQ issues, school … [Read more...]
Violence threat at high school deemed not credible
Haverford High School students were sent back to normal class activities at 9:50 a.m. this morning, Monday, January5, 2015 after a student reported a threat delivered via another student to the school's principal, Dr. Nesbitt. Facebook lit up this morning with parents searching for information after receiving texts from their students currently told to "shelter in place" on lockdown in their classrooms and other holding areas like the gyms and auditorium. At 10:40 a.m., Dr. Nesbitt sent out the following robocall to parents in the township: NBC Philly reported on it here. Will update when more information comes in. UPDATE: 3:32 PM. Official statement from the high school: "This morning a student at Haverford High School informed Dr. Jeff Nesbitt of an internet threat to the High School. Dr. Nesbitt immediately followed district protocol by putting the school in Shelter In Place, contacting the local Haverford Township Police, and District Administration. The Haverford Police worked with school and district officials to search the building. The Police and Administration found no threat. At 9:50 am, Shelter In Place was lifted and students resumed their normal school day. Three Haverford Township Police officers will remain on campus for the school day. Haverford High School students and staff followed the safety protocol that they practice in drills throughout the school year. The Haverford Township Police will continue to investigate the threat." … [Read more...]
HSD looking for a new superintendent
Looks like Dr. Keilbaugh is retiring. Chester County Intermediate Unit seems to be the go-to group for this kind of search. Guess what! You get to weigh in. Please see the flyer for open forum times and dates. … [Read more...]
101 Tenby Demolition Begins
Builders tore into the aged structure located at 101 Tenby today. The demolition began this morning in the rain. We visited the (very chilly and wet!) site and gathered some shots. The last photo in the series is courtesy of the homeowners. It depicts partial demolition of the house's outer wall. … [Read more...]