Perhaps the Royal Caribbean ship “Anthem of the Seas” should be called “Anathema the Seas”**. The ship is turning around for the 2nd time in almost as many weeks. Do you remember the Super Bowl Sunday storm that tossed the 6,000 capacity cruise ship up, down, and all around off the coast of North Carolina? Yeah. That's the one. A skittish crew and new company policies since that first cursed tour has them turning tail at the thought of a repeat trip. LOCAL CONNECTION 2nd Ward Townie Bruce Woodruff and his wife Deborah were aboard the Anthem of the Seas on the first ill-fated trip, where passengers reported lists up to 45-degree angles in the choppy waves. “It wasn’t that bad,” Bruce said. Here's an ABC report with passenger footage: Bruce and Deborah were cruising with friends who are experienced boaters and cruisers. Together, they used phone apps to measure the worst toss at about a 21-degree angle, with most of the leans averaging between 6 and 8 degrees. “I’m not gonna lie,” Bruce said. “It was bad. But it wasn’t nearly as bad as was reported.” The Captain asked everyone to remain in their cabins while they navigated the rough. To pass the time, Bruce and Deborah watched a bit of the Super Bowl in their friends’ suite. The ship’s constant leaning eventually pushed every loose item onto the floor (except, Bruce noted, a magically anchored bottle of wine). When the couple eventually headed back to their own cabin, they employed a walking strategy that proved successful. “You can feel when the ship is about to list,” Bruce told Havertownies. “You just walk to the opposite wall.” Watching the rest of the Super Bowl in their room also required some creative countermeasures. Bruce and Deborah fortified themselves in their bed alcove, forming a t-shape with their bodies and bracing their arms and legs against the floor and walls. “Not the most romantic position,” he admitted. But, they were able to watch the game (we … [Read more...]
Townie woman pleads guilty in DuBois, PA
From GANT/CNN: Posted on Monday, February 22, 2016 by Julie Rae Rickard DUBOIS – A Havertown woman has pleaded guilty to theft for trying to con money from a local church. Michele Thompson, 47, 26 Colfax Rd., Havertown was charged by DuBois City police with theft by deception and receiving stolen property, both misdemeanors of the first degree for her actions on Nov. 23 when she lied to representatives of St. Catherine’s Church to get financial assistance. Thompson pleaded guilty Friday during Centralized Court to a lesser charge of theft by deception, a misdemeanor of the third degree. The other charge was withdrawn. She must pay fines and costs totaling $472.50. According to the affidavit of probable cause, police were called to the S&T Bank on Liberty Boulevard because someone was trying to cash a stolen check. When police arrived, they met with Mary Rossi, who is the office manager at St. Catherine’s Church. She told them that a woman had contacted her earlier that day requesting financial assistance. The woman identified herself as Michele Thompson of Brockway and claimed to own a property in DuBois. Thompson stated that her tenant, Jennifer Douglas, was behind in rent and needed assistance from the church. Thompson claimed to be calling on behalf of Douglas as an alternative to starting the eviction process. She said Douglas was behind nearly $1,000 in her rent. Rossi said she agreed to help and transferred Thompson to Monsignor Richard Siefer. Thompson was issued a check for $200 and two $25 Martin’s Grocery gift cards. She arrived at the church in an old brown coupe and collected the donations, identifying herself as Douglas. Moments after this Rossi received a phone call from S&T Bank requesting permission to cash the check for Thompson. At this point, Rossi realized Thompson had deceived the church. Rossi immediately contacted police and went to the bank. Upon arriving Rossi recognized the brown car in the … [Read more...]
Some Townie dropped out of some political race
In the very probable case you missed it, Townie Jack Stollsteimer dropped out of the PA state Commonwealth attorney general race. Currently our AG is Kathleen Kane and she ruffled a lot of feathers because we have dirty old creeps as judges in this faire greene land. Some accused her of misdeeds, but that all still remains to be seen. The House is still trying to impeach her, though. State Supreme Court is involved (in all ways), so it's messy. ANYHOOOO... Townie Jack dropped out (maybe once he realized he would have to live in Harrisburg if he won), and gave his thumbs up to Josh Shapiro, who is a Commissioner in Montco. That seems like a big leap for Mr. Josh Shapiro. Can you imagine any of our Townie Commissioners just up and running for state attorney general? Yeah right. But hey, this Josh guy has experience being the chairman of the PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency. That's a lot of commissioning. Here's the DELCO Times article if you care. We've pretty much summed it up. Flickr user Jonathan Smith (if that's his real name) snapped the Harrisburg(no-h) photo with a borrowed camera (We corrected "Montgo" to Montco after someone bitched about it on FB. No idea where that g came from) … [Read more...]
Chatham Park Chorus sings National Anthem at HHS Boys Basketball Game
What a great job! Congrats to all the kids in Chatham's 4th and 5th grade chorus and their teacher, Sonya Genstein. … [Read more...]
HMS 7th Heaven sang @ the Phillies!
On September 12 "7th Heaven," a select chorus of Haverford Middle School 7th & 8th graders, performed the National Anthem at the Phillies' game! Congrats to Jackie Serratore, 7th Heaven's coach, and to her students! HMS sent some official pics for Havertownies to share: … [Read more...]
Who’s the “Party Catalyst” on your block?
Every night before I start to cook dinner, I loudly warn the children to stay out of our dinky-and-poorly-designed-because-people-owned-2-dishes-in-1946 kitchen and I pop on a pair of earbuds. I then connect said earbuds to an iPod that plays a steady round of the following podcasts: Freakonomics The Moth This American Life (I can only really listen to about 1 of those per dinner. I'm not whipping up French cuisine in this Havertownie House.) There are some other podcasts dotted in there sometimes, including audio books from the library. But those are my 3 mainstays. (I once was jammin' to the 90's house party music to which I am accustomed, but I came to realize that cooking and popping/locking didn't go very well together. Hence, the more staid podcasts.) Recently, a 2002 This American Life episode called "Plan B" came up. The story was about a guy that worked as a Jose Cuervo "Party Catalyst." What's a party catalyst, you may ask, and how do you sign up? I congratulate your astute asking skills, Fellow Townie, because it is indeed a great question. The perfectly-produced podcast goes on to explain (kinda) what Mr. CuervoMan does. Suffice it is to say, he hands out free alcohol and branded swag via his ... different body parts. Before this blog disintegrates into a treatise on nakedness, let me assure you I bring all of this up for a reason: we need to give proper shout-outs to the neighbors and friends in H-Town who rock the party that rocks the body. Some of the Townies know just when we all need a good beer and grillin' out. West Wilmot used to have a lot of block parties. We here on EW haven't had one here yet, but we definitely have our share o' fun. A few saturdays ago I had too much fun at the hands of our darn incorrigible ne'er-do-well neighbors that took about 2 days to get over (Not mentioning any names, but the last name ends with the long E sound). It just isn't hard to tell who the partiers are on our street, especially … [Read more...]