Mayor Linder performs Reading at Crozer Library Tuesday

Hon. Mayor John Linder will take time out to stress the importance of literacy to Chester youth, during National Libraries Week sponsored by J. Crozer Library April 9^th through April 14^th. 

Mayor Linder will be making a library selection to read to youngsters at 1pm on April 10^th inside the library followed by a brief discussion session with the children. ‘Real Men Really Read’, a nationally recognized program initiated by the Chester born, Brothers of Concern Organization, has gained traction with local fatherhood initiatives to support parent/child relationships through literacy learning experiences. 

“Fathers must embrace their leadership positions in creating literate, reading enthusiasts. Fathers are leaders, and leaders are readers!” Linder lends. 

A listing of National Libraries Week events can be found on J. Crozer Library’s website, www.crozerlibrary.org, and additional information about the BOC ‘Real Men Really Read’ campaign at www.BrothersofConcern.org.       

Mike Wallace & Malcolm X

When I heard Mike Wallace was 93 years old, I did the math and realized he was going strong all through his 80s. Much respect for his productive longevity.

Everyone who watched '60 Minutes' liked Mike Wallace. 

My respect for Mike Wallace grew last year after reading Manning Marable’s book Malcolm X:A Life of Reinvention and learned that Mike Wallace made a name for himself early in his career for his interviews with Malcolm. 

C-City TV Episode 3

Sorry for the long delay since Episode 2. I didn't realize how much some of you were looking forward to this blog feature. Enjoy!

City of Chester’s new website

i rarely go to Chester City's website. Only because of a comment on this blog did I follow up on the question, “Where is the City of Chester website?”

When I visited www.chestercity.com, I was surprised with a new design. I missed that announcement, too. 

I have experience designing (not developing) large websites, and I’m especially familiar with the practice of website usability. Sometimes that’s a curse because I’m always looking at ways to improve websites.

Here's my evaluation of the site.

Chester High School students at Widener

Ashley Hagood, a junior nursing major, takes two high school students on a tour of the new nursing building, Founders Hall. 

On Wednesday, April 4, the Widener University NAACP College Chapter teamed up with the College Access Center of Delaware County to host the NAACP Shadow-a-Day Program. In its second year, the NAACP Shadow-a-Day Program gives high school students from the Chester area the opportunity to shadow a student at Widener University.

“We recognized a concern for the education program in Chester,” Jamar Phillips, a political science sophomore and president of the NAACP Chapter at Widener, said. “We wanted to show high school students that there was more for them after high school.”

Trayvon rally in Chester today at 6pm

Click HERE for event details

Introduction…………………Karen Walker, 3^rd Vice Chair, NCBW

Prayer…………………………Pastor Curtis Morris, Pastor, Bethany Baptist

1^st Moderator………………Nicole Cogdell, Brothers of Concern

1. Judy Gaskin……….Pastor, Chester House Of Restoration
2. Calvin Williams……Pastor, Temple of Brotherly Love
3. Faried Imam Rasfool..Muslim Coalition Against Violence 
4. Mrs. Rose Cooper……..Mother of Victim, Chester

                        Singer – John Carr

2^nd Moderator………State Representative Thaddeus Kirkland

1. Darren Laws…………..........Chester Mission
2. Ted Reed……………………Pastor, Christian Coalition Against Violence
3. Darryl Jones……………….President, NAACP, Chester Branch
4. Isalm Smith………………..Philadelphia, PA

                        Singer

3^rd Moderator…………………Rev. Rocky Brown, Delco Chaplain

1. Nakir………………………….Brothers Of Concern, Chester
2. Pastor Joel McGee…………Ministerial Fellowship of Chester and Vic

11.Butch Slaughter…………… Chester Township

12 Mayor or Council?.................City of Chester

All Speakers have 5-7 minutes to speak!!

Moderators will give their speech before they introduce their speakers

Top Crime: Failure to Pay Child Support?

The opinions of the child support system are varied. On the extremes, some see it as a situational entitlement, and others see it as a heartless act of legal robbery. 

Unfortunately, child support is rarely openly discussed for its merits or deficiencies. 

Some municipalities enforce child support violations more aggressively than others. 

If you are owed child support payments, you want aggressive enforcement. If you owe child support money, you wonder why you're sitting in jail.

Occasionally, I peek at the Delco Most Wanted tab on this blog. Somehow, it always seems to be full of folks who fail to pay child support.

Mt. Pleasant Church Concert Friday

On Friday, April 6, 2012, 7:00 p.m. Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, Rev. Dr. Willie E. Robinson, Pastor, is hosting the "CELEBRATE HIM" concert featuring United in Worship Mass Choir.  The doors open at 6:00 p.m.  This is an event that you won't want to miss.

Chester basketball earns State honors

Chester High’s star junior, Jefferson was named the PIAA Class AAAA Player of the Year, by way of a vote of Pennsylvania sportswriters.

Chester teammates Erikk Wright and Darius Robinson made the state’s Class AAAA second team along with  Archbishop Carroll’s Yosef Yacob, a Chester native.

Larry Yarbray, Chester’s coach, was named the Class AAAA Coach of the Year for a second straight season.

Click HERE for more

Mount Pleasant summer day camp

Mount Pleasant CDC

Nursery & Summer Day Camp

June 11, 2012 thru August 17, 2012

Ages 6 Weeks Years thru 12 Years

ENROLLMENT IS GOING ON NOW....

Accepting applications until June 1st (or) until program reaches maximum enrollment. 

DON'T WAIT....REGISTER TODAY!!!!

Next School Year Enrollment

August 2012    thru    June 2013

Ages 6 Weeks Years thru 5 Years

To Register for Summer Camp or School, Please contact:

 Ms. Denene Easton @ 610-497-7899 or Ms. Karla Gray @ 484-390-3169

Harrah's Chester moving to Philadelphia?

I've been informed that Harrah's is in the process of rebranding itself from Harrah's Chester to Harrah's Philadelphia.


Since we already host the Philadelphia Union, why not just rename the entire city of Chester to Philadelphia. 


Click HERE to see the name change on Ticketmaster (you Lynyrd Skynyrd fans).


Click HERE for Delcotimes story.

Tonight is an Official Basketball Holiday

Ladies, please hold off on the Honey-Dos tonight if your man is a basketball junkie.

Tonight, Kentucky plays Kansas in the National Championship game for men’s basketball. 

Please be especially sensitive to your junkie if he was unable to see the Final 4 games this past Saturday. One was a 40 minute highlight reel, and the other was a come from behind classic with a photo finish.

PPL Park risk taker praised

Chester + Pro Soccer = Nick Sakiewicz

(Nick) Sakiewicz has gone from being called an idiot who wants to build a professional soccer stadium in Chester to the idiot who built too small of a soccer stadium in Chester.

Phil Heron writes race

Phil and I talking race...not really.

The Daily Times editor can talk race with the best of them. Since most of you don’t get to talk to him, you occasionally read Phil's thoughts about race.  

Today, he talks of the consequences he expected from his readers on stories featuring Chester youth on the front pages last week. 

Phil has many years of experience to safely predict the response he’d get in emails, comments, and phone calls when Chester looks too good in the paper. 

This time, Super Editor was hit with a haymaker to the head that he never saw coming.

A New Blog Design

I've been promising a new blog design for 2012. This weekend, I started working on it.


Check out a preview HERE and send me your opinions.

SURVEY RESULTS: Who will get your vote?

Next Senator

65 votes

Dominic Pileggi 53%

Neither 26%

Pat Worrell 20%

Next State Rep

164 votes

Tina Johnson 78%

Thaddeus Kirkland 21%

Chester voted for ‘Change’ in the last election. Changing State Senators doesn’t seem likely, but it appears folks are looking for a change in State Rep.

We’ll see what happens at the primaries. 

Gemini Party May 18th

Click to Enlarge

Chester Idol Auditions

Dental clinic opens Friday on west side

There’s a reason to smile in Chester these days. And the smiles will be brighter and healthier than ever before.

That’s because there’s a new facility in Chester that local residents can go to in order to receive quality dental care for minimal cost. 

Located at the World Impact building at 700 Central Avenue, the Grace Dental Clinic will serve the needs of Chester residents that require dental care but cannot afford it on their own. 

Thanks to a generous donation by godly saints and supporters, Lynne and Foster Friess, this clinic has been equipped with state of the art dental equipment, x-ray machines, and two dental chairs. Dental services will be provided by volunteer dentists and hygienists, who have agreed to work at the Grace Dental clinic every Friday free of charge.

Scholarship Luncheon

 

Click to Enlarge

Trayvon Martin rally in Chester planned

The National Congress of Black Women Delco Chapter will spearhead, along with the NAACP, Brothers of Concern, Inc, members of the Clergy, others organizations, the Trayvon Martin Rally in the City of Chester, on Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 6pm.  

The Martin Rally will take place at Memorial Park located at 7th and Engle Sts, Chester, Pa.  

Come and Stand with us as we demand Justice to be Served in this case and also, we'll address the Violence issue in our own City.  

Let's Stand together to stop the Violence and Educate rather than Commit Senseless Crimes.  

We must believe that Change and Justice can be served across this Nation and in our local community when we Pray and Stand UNITED!!!

Dear Chester Upland Basketball Booster

The future of Chester Basketball, that future is very bright.

This year, the under-14, 8th grade boys and girls teams both won their respective championships in Delaware County, and many of these young athletes will be moving on to Chester High School and bringing more titles to an already stuffed trophy case.

Our upcoming 7th grade teams also showed great promise by finishing 2nd for the girls and 3rd for the 7th grade boys.

These young men and women would never have played had they not been scholars first. We have many of our student/athletes receiving honors and distinguished honors for their academic work as well.

Widener SBDC Offers Three FREE Small Business Seminars in April

The Widener University Small Business Development Center will offer three free seminars during the month of April.

All seminars take place at the Widener SBDC located at 1350 Edgmont Ave., Suite 1300, Chester, Pa. Interested participants should call 610-619-8490 to reserve a space or visit www.widenersbdc.org.

Widener University Promotes Awareness of Domestic Violence

The Widener Center for Violence Prevention is proud to host, Take Back the Night, a day of events to promote awareness of sexual assault and domestic violence.

The events will begin at noon on Wednesday, April 4 in University Center (14th Street between Melrose Avenue and Walnut Street) with the Clothesline Project, a display of T-shirts created by survivors of abuse and those who have lost loved ones to violence. Guests will also have the opportunity to create their own T-shirts in dedication to victims.

Several workshops will also be held throughout the day in University Center, starting at noon with a self-defense workshop presented by the Chester Police Department. Following that there will be a presentation by the Kappa Sigma Fraternity on the role of men and how they can help.

At 6 p.m. in the Atrium of University Center there will be guest speakers from Domestic Abuse Project Women Against Rape and an “Open Mic Speak-Out,” the evening will conclude with a candlelight march through the campus to demonstrate a unified stance against all acts of violence and abuse.

Each session is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Trisha Kozlowski at 610-499-1247 or trisha.kozlowski@gmail.com/.

Linder joins Widener's President for the Day

Hon. Mayor John Linder, is set to enjoy an afternoon of exchanging ideas with Widener University’s annually appointed ‘President for a Day’, Anna Miller. Anna is a senior Chemistry major who will be replacing Pres. James T. Harris III for a full day presiding over the Widener University students, faculty, and University operations. 

As part of her presidency, Anna will be privileged to converse with elected officials regarding her extenuating intentions for the student body and its consequential role in the surrounding community. 

Ms. Miller has had the opportunity to work with non-profit organizations in Chester City, and feels as though the engagement is an invaluable experience not known by enough of her fellow students. She intends to educate them in their importance to the citizens and collaborate with Mayor Linder’s initiatives towards a progressive “entrepreneurial community.”

Mayor Linder and Anna Miller will lunch in the President’s Dining Area at Widener University at 12:30pm March 30th. 

“When you volunteer in Chester it’s a worthwhile investment in the human capital essential to our intellectual, economic, and spiritual growth.”     

City honors State Champs at PPL Park Saturday

Hon. Mayor John Linder, will return to PPL Park this weekend where the Philadelphia Union will face off against the Vancouver Whitecaps. 

This Saturday’s scrimmage will pay homage to the Championship Men’s Basketball Team of Chester High School. In addition to the Mayor and Council, team members’ families, The Chester Youth Council, and the DelVal Chester/Upland Youth Champions have also been specially invited to enjoy a free night of fun and celebration sponsored by PPL Park.

Kickoff is at 4pm on Saturday March 31st. 

Warren Moore in Vegas

Warren Moore was captured performing in Las Vegas on a cellphone video singing lead with The Next Movement at Orleans Hotel.

Chester High Basketball Parade

Poison Prevention Workshop Thursday

The Bureau of Health, IVPP

Injury Violence & Prevention Services present

Poison Prevention Awareness Workshop for Children (6-mo to 6-yrs.)                                                                

A hands-on community forum for understanding the mysteries beyond what we see.                         

Thursday 29 March 2012 -Community Room at Chester City Hall  4:30 P.M. – 7:30 P.M.

Join your neighbors and the Chester City Community in our Public forum for an exciting fun filled evening of exploring the misconceptions of unintentional poisoning.

Travel through and learn with character’s Zipper & Nelly.

Presentations By: Childhood Lead Poison Prevention Program and the City of Chester Fire Department.

There will be activities to thrill and challenges all ages so don’t miss out! Refreshments will be served.

For a complete schedule, of our public services please visit our website at:

 www.chestercity.com

Ieasa Nichols, MHS 

Public Health Commissioner

Councilman William Al, Jacobs, esq.

Director of Public Safety

Linder delivers State of the City

Hon. Mayor John Linder, accompanied by Council, staff, and The First Lady, delivered his first annual State of The City Address inside the church at Latham Hall on the Chester Campus of Widener University this morning.