Lady Braves Pound Coatesville

 Coatesville goalie Jackie Viola makes a save on Octorara's Melanie Lowry during Thursday's contest. Lowry would record a hat trick as the Braves posted a 6-1 victory. (Photo by Bill Rudick courtesy of The Daily Local News)

In all the talk about Octorara's winning weekend, what with the football team's win over Pequea Valley 33-00 Friday evening and the boys soccer team drubbing of Devon Prep 4-0 Saturday morning, lets not forget about girls sports.

After all, it was the field hockey team that kicked off the winning weekend with a 6-1 shellacking of neighboring Coatesville Thursday afternoon on Octorara's home field.

Melanie Lowry and Missy Stefanosky led the Lady Braves scoring with 3 and 2 goals respectively.

Coatesville's only goal came in the closing seconds of the first half.  Octorara had built a 3-0 lead.  The never-say-die Coatesville players took advantage of an Octorara let-down and slammed their only goal of the afternoon home.

The money quote taken from the Daily Local News comes from Melanie Lowry and Missy Stefanosky:

Missy Stefanosky: "We just always know where each other will be.  I don't really even have to look for her. I just know I'll find her when I pass to a spot."

Melanie Lowry:  "And it's not just the two of us. There's always support all over the field. I know if I put a ball on the post, someone will be there." 

Beating Coatesville is always fun.  Coming away with such a lopsided win and showing such teamwork in the process; That's something to be proud of!

You can read the article about the game on The Daily Local's site here.

Coatesville Historic Church Tour Set For Saturday

Blessed Virgin Mary Byzantine Catholic Church

This from this Today's Daily Local News:

History and religion will unite on Saturday, September 17th during the second annual Coatesville Historic Church Tour.

Visitors will be able to tour seven different churches in the city, two in Caln and one in Valley. The tour is free and will be run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"There are so many old, historic, beautiful churches in the City of Coatesville and we felt that other denominations do not usually get to view those churches, so it was a good idea to open them up to the public," said Jo-ann Doyle, one of the event's organizers.

The 9 churches included on the tour are:

• Hutchinson Memorial UAME Church, 825 E. Chestnut St.
• Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, 107 S. 17th Ave.
• Our Lady of the Rosary Church, 80 S. 17th Ave
• St. Cecilia's Church, 99 N. Sixth Ave.
• St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, 11 Oak St.
• Tabernacle Baptist Church, 819 Coates St.
• Blessed Virgin Mary Byzantine Catholic Church, 88 Gap Road; 
• Episcopal Church of the Trinity, 323 Lincoln Highway
• Holy Ghost Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 392 Charles St.
• Holy Trinity Church of God in Christ, 101 N. Fifth Ave.

Click here to read the entire article

Free Employment Workshops Scheduled For Coatesville, Exton

Free 12 Steps Toward Employment^TM workshops have been scheduled in September for Exton and Coatesville to aid Chester County’s unemployed and underemployed, including recent college students, in seeking, obtaining and retaining suitable employment.

The seminars will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday, September 23, at the Exton Square Mall in Exton, and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, September 30, at PA CareerLink-Chester County in Coatesville.

The ongoing series of workshops are part of the Road to Employment initiative established by the Chester County Workforce Investment Board (WIB) to focus on many often-missed steps in undertaking a successful job search, from the time one learns or decides he or she will be seeking employment through the first few months of a new job, a time when persons often become unemployed again for a variety of reasons.

        

Required registration information for limited available seats at individual workshops, along with additional job-seeking tools, may be obtained at  www.chesco.org/JobSeekerToolkit.

       

Additional information on this initiative is available from Casey Jones, workshop presenter, at bps461@msn.com or (610) 707-1494.

Flight Down Memory Lane

Thanks to Milton Smith for passing this video along.

View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.

Coatesville History Video

A brief, as in 10 minutes, history of Coatesville, Parkesburg's neighbor and Chester County's only city.

Remembering Annie Groff Rice

Officer Edgar Rice

Over the weekend area residents remembered the horrific death of officer Edgar Rice and his accused killer Zachariah Walker in a murder/lynching a century ago.

This morning, a take on the incident from a voice often forgotten in the discussion of the event and its impact; Annie Groff Rice, Edgar Rice's wife.

In her blog Genealogical Gems!, Jeanne Eckmann asks who was Annie and what became of her after her husband's untimely death.

Annie Groff Rice was the wife of T. Edgar Rice, the policeman shot by Zachariah Walker.  In most accounts, understandably so, everyone focuses on Rice or Walker, but everyone neglects the widow Rice and her five children.

Read Jeanne's entire blog post here.

Drugs or Alcohol Not Involved in Tragic Crash

 
The West Brandywine police announced this morning that "the teen driver of the vehicle in a crash that took his life and the lives of three other teenagers did not have any drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of the one-vehicle accident."

Sgt. Jeff Kimes said Tuesday morning that toxicology test results showed Collin Feiler McElroy, 16, of Honey Brook, was sober when his 1994 Honda Prelude crashed just before 1 a.m. July 3 on Route 82 just north of Route 322.

Read the entire announcement and follow-up on the accident at the Daily Local News.

Parkesburg Yesterday

What memories do you have of this 1969 event?

The follow-up discussion to this post on Facebook illustrate the vivid memories longtime residents of Parkesburg have of this fearful night 42 years ago.

• Jack Mariano It really wasn't as sensational as the news clipping would indicate.
  

  Sunday at 5:08pm
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  Kathi Rendall Really Jack? Why do you say that? It was pretty sensational for me 1/2 block away...
  

  Sunday at 5:09pm
• Jack Mariano ‎"Irate groups of blacks and whites clashed"? I don't remember THAT!
  

  
  

  Sunday at 5:24pm
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  Jack Mariano There were probably less that a dozen people totally involved.
  

  Sunday at 5:25pm
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  Jack Mariano Had the Pagans not been involved (an outside gang) there probably wouldn't have been an incident.
  

  Sunday at 5:29pm
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  Ken Knickerbocker Interesting Jack. I stumbled across a clipping from Rome, Georgia last week. The story was more than a local incident.
  

  Sunday at 5:34pm
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  Jack Mariano Yeah, Ken... It was pretty much blown out of proportion.
  

  Sunday at 5:36pm
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  Kathi Rendall That is in fact what happened. There were many people shot who had been at a Labor Day party that came down to investigate an incident had happened earlier in the day.
  

  Sunday at 5:36pm
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  Ken Knickerbocker How old were you at the time Jack?
  

  Sunday at 5:37pm
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  Kathi Rendall Blown out of proportion? It was my 13th birthday and I had to crawl in my own house below the windows. I did stand up long enough to see a dead man in the street. My father, brother and another man were hiding in our bushes with guns. The town was under a curfew for quite some time, the store were looted, windows broken. It lead to years of racial unrest.
  

  Sunday at 5:38pm
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  Kathi Rendall ‎*stores
  

  Sunday at 5:38pm
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  Jack Mariano Some of the folks at the Arms weren't happy about a couple of the black guys from tha bar across the street. The Arms folks solicted the help from a couple members of the Pagans motorcycle group. Mysteriously, one fellow was shot and killed. I do not know if they ever proved who actually did the shooting.
  

  Sunday at 5:39pm
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  Kathi Rendall No, no one ever was convicted of murder. what a surprise.
  

  Sunday at 5:40pm
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  Jack Mariano Ken...I was about 15 or 16 and I thought the Pagans were "cool" in fact my dad worked with the Pagans local VP (Jack Anderson). One of my buddies and me rode our chopped up bicycles back and forth past the Arms several times that afternoon.
  

  Sunday at 5:41pm
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  Ken Knickerbocker I didn't know the Arms played into the story.
  

  Sunday at 5:42pm
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  Kathi Rendall The "shooters" were in the Arms shooting from the windows.
  

  Sunday at 5:43pm
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  Jack Mariano Mr. Dickinson (although I didn't know him personally) used to walk shirtless in the street, pounding his fists on his chest. That bothered a lot of people but really, it wasn't breaking the law.
  

  Sunday at 5:43pm
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  Jack Mariano Racial tensions were already a ltille high after the killing of a young black man on Main St. - a few years prior.
  

  Sunday at 5:44pm
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  Jack Mariano I recall one of the defendants saying that he was asleep in his upstairs room and never heard anything.
  

  Sunday at 5:46pm
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  Jack Mariano Unfortunately, I had to leave the area to report for work at the Cathlolic Church for BINGO.
  

  Sunday at 5:47pm
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  Jack Mariano Kathy..of course you were scared! Did you see any cops around?
  

  Sunday at 5:48pm
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  Ken Knickerbocker Sounds like BINGO kept you safe that night Jack!
  

  Sunday at 5:49pm
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  Jack Mariano Actually, I walked down Chestnut St. to First Ave. and stood there watching. All of a sudden, this familiar brown VW rolls down first ave and turned to go back towards thre railroad station. "Familiar" because it was Mr. Anderson's car. Also, there was a rather large man in the passenfger seat...all I could see was his shoulders and his "colors" I thought UH OH! and I returned to my job.
  

  Sunday at 5:57pm
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  Jack Mariano Sometime later, the church hall received a call that there was a "riot" downtown, make an announcement that all patrons should go home but not by way of First Ave.
  

  Sunday at 5:58pm
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  Jack Mariano Subsequently, Borough Council hire a full time Police Chief out of Chester, PA and five full time police officers (plus a couple of part time officers) which they later on discovered that the Bourgh could not afford.
  

  Sunday at 6:01pm
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  Jack Mariano Kathy, I do remember a story about a party, do you remember where this was held?
  

  Sunday at 6:02pm
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  Kathi Rendall Dixon's labor day party, Lenover Hill Rd.
  

  Sunday at 6:03pm
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  Debbie Reynolds Helms
  

  I was there when this happened. I probably told this before. My brother's band was playing in the lounge and my Mom was in there to listen to them. I was with Lee Mitchell and Lisa Stoltzfus and not sure who else. There were Pagans sho...See More

  
  

  Sunday at 6:30pm
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  Debbie Reynolds Helms I remember the shots and noise and a black girl I knew from school said to me These negros are crazy tonight. And walking down and seeing bullet holes in the stores the next day. I was just scared for my Mom and brother. I and Lisa had gone into the Arms before this happened. We'd go into the door behind the bar to use the bathroom there. But we didn't go into the lounge. We were trying to see the band.
  

  Sunday at 6:36pm
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  Kerry Glenn Legend is that Rev. Crane of the Baptist Church stopped the unrest.
  

  Sunday at 7:12pm
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  Debbie Reynolds Helms I don't remember that happening but I can't remember everything about that incident. I just know it was a wild night!!
  

  Sunday at 7:17pm
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  Bill Glenn  
  

  
  

  Somehow the community knew that there may be an incident brewing at the Arm’s Hotel that evening. My parents forbid me from being in that area until farther notice. At that time period I was mobile on my bicycle and often rode it to the far reaches of the town limits. So where did several of us young boys end up that evening….?!??!?!.... In front of the old ACME building across from the Arm’s Hotel. I’ll try and remember who was with me: Scott Smith, Mark Smith, Greg Kellon & Ron Wiggins – I don’t think brother Kerry was with us. So, we just hung out there – sitting on our bicycles trying to be cool (because we had banana seats and high handle bars on our bikes) Suddenly the commotion escalated and before we knew it there were GUN SHOTS! We got out of there quick! I remember pedaling up the hill behind Butler’s Hardware – pedaling so hard that I thought I was going to break the spokes out of the wheel. We all kept riding as fast and as hard as we could until we all got back to 3rd Ave. There were probably 4 to 6 shots fired – it happened pretty quick – and as we were riding away.

  
  

  Sunday at 9:04pm
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  Deb Zwicker Wilson Bill - Storytelling must run in your family ..... You tell a story as well as your brother Kerry! More please . . . .
  

  Sunday at 10:25pm
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  Heather Thompson Kellon I graduated in 1998 and there was still racists. Blacks sat on one end of the cafeteria and whites on the other end. It was even worse when I was in second grade. They had to close the school several times, because of the KKK trying to scare off anyone who wasn't white.
  

  23 hours ago
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  Debbie Reynolds Helms I think I'll pick my brother's brain to see what he remembers from inside. Dave Jones was the lead singer in the band and for some reason every time he would wear this one shite satin shirt he would somehow get blood on it.
  

  22 hours ago
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  Debbie Reynolds Helms White satin shirt. sorry
  

  22 hours ago
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  Kerry Glenn
  

  Mayor Graham Boice had died the week before this, and if memory serves me, Chief of Police Earl F. Shipman ("Shippie") was ill and hospitalized. At the Boro Council meeting the following week, Council President William J. Findley was elevated to the office of Mayor (per State law), and "Shippie," who was likely already well past retirement age anyway, retired. Not long before his death (late 1990s?), Bill Findley told me the first thing he did as Mayor was to call Jack Anderson down to the police Station for a face-to-face meeting, and Bill said he pointed his finger in Jack's face and said, "I want those P____ns (biker gang) OUT OF PARKESBURG."

  
  

  22 hours ago
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  Debbie Reynolds Helms Shipman looked old when we were kids! I thought he was scary! My Dad took him on a few times though!
  

  20 hours ago
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  Dave Tennant Sr. I always stopped at the Arms on my way home from work for a beer.That day when I walked in, all I saw was strangers & guns. Roy Skiles Sr. walked up to me & said Dave, you have a new baby at home,get out of here now. I left & drove to my home on fourth ave. As I stepped onto my porch the shooting started. Thanks Rima.
  

  18 hours ago
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  Bob Stoner AS I REMEMBER IT, THE ARMS WAS ALWAYS AN INTERESTING PLACE. IF YOU WERE LOOKING FOR TROUBLE, YOU'D FIND IT IN THERE.
  

  18 hours ago
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  Kathi Rendall I think maybe you still can...
  

  17 hours ago
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  Debbie Reynolds Helms YEP!
  

  17 hours ago
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  Bob Stoner DIDN'T THINK THE ARMS WAS STILL IN OPERATION, AS A BAR ANYWAY.
  

  17 hours ago
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  Debbie Reynolds Helms It's not anymore! But they still rent out rooms!
  

  17 hours ago
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  Dave Tennant Sr. Bob Stoner, The Arms was always a very peacful place to meet your friends, & have a beer. The mentality of some people in that era was certinally in question. Issues between blacks & whites at that time were certinally an issue. I truly believe that all of us have put it behind & together move forward. My humble opinion.
  

  13 hours ago
  
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  Debbie Reynolds Helms Dave I think it sticks in my mind so well too because my Dad had passed away in November 1968. Had he still be living I'm sure I would have been no where near there. And it was a big event in my young teenage life.
  

  11 hours ago
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  Jack Mariano Ken, any suprise that a sory like this was big news in GEORGIA during this period?
  

  8 hours ago