Local construction company receives PETA award for rescuing canine
CONCORD » A Compassionate Action Award is on the way from PETA to MOR Construction Services Inc., which came to the rescue of a senior dog named Trixie last Monday. At 15 years old, Trixie is blind and hard of hearing so she was unable to find her way to safety after she slipped through a fence and fell into a sludgefilled drainage pipe.
After receiving a call from Concord Township, MOR Construction Services arrived on the scene and used its brand-new robotic camera to find Trixie. Workers were able to keep an eye on her as they cut a hole into the cement pipe around her, and as a video shows, they were soon able to climb down, grab her, and carry her back up to her grateful guardian.
“MOR Construction Services pulled out all the stops to save this scared and confused dog,” says PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “Her rescue is a shining example of what can happen when a community comes together to help an animal in need, and PETA hopes it will inspire everyone to do whatever it takes when an animal is in trouble.”
PETA encourages all guardians to keep their animal companions near them on walks by using a leash and a comfortable, secure harness. Yards should also be kept safe by enclosing them with sturdy fencing, removing potentially poisonous plants or other materials, and covering any open manholes or pipes.
MOR Construction Services,
Glen Mills, will receive a framed certificate and boxes of delicious vegan cookies.
For more information, visit PETA.org.
Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union elects new board chairman
Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union announced the election of Leon Spencer to chairman of its board of directors. He previously served as vice chairman since 2018.
Spencer, a resident of Kennett Square, presently serves as School To Career Specialist at The Technical College High School Pennock’s Bridge Campus in West Grove. He also currently serves as member of the Council of Trustees at Cheyney University, president of the Chester County School Authority, and board member of the Chester County Regional Educational Service. He is the former mayor of the Borough of Kennett Square.
Spencer earned his bachelor’s degree at Muskingum University in Ohio and did graduate studies at Westminster Choir College in New Jersey.
Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra celebrates 75 years with special online performance
The Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra will begin its seventy-fifth anniversary year with a Delaware County Arts Week virtual performance 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1. The link to this 20-minute performance/introduction will be at www. lansdowneso.org and via the orchestra’s social media pages.
Recorded individually at home, orchestra members played along with Music Director Reuben Blundell’s video of conducting and playing orchestral parts. These individual musical performances were then joined together by Blundell using Premiere, a video editing program. This classical-era symphony in D major is filled with contrasts between different moods, whether energetically optimistic, tender, mournful or boisterous.
For this first online performance, Blundell chose to feature a symphony by Joseph Bologne (1745-99), a classical composer that President John Adams dubbed “the most accomplished man in Europe.”
The Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra is an integral part of the Delaware County community, with activities in libraries, community performances, interactions with other arts, and additional activities. Many of the orchestra’s musicians are professionals in other fields, yet they also share their great love of music with the community, as well as the orchestra board and other volunteers. It is a unique community orchestra, which collaborates with local and regional organizations including the Upper Darby Performing Arts Center, Delaware County Arts Week, Lansdowne Public Library, the Lansdowne Theater, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Fleisher Collection.
The Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra’s 202021 season marks Blundell’s seventh as music director. Prior to a doctorate in conducting from Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, he played in most of Australia’s orchestras as a substitute violinist while completing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in violin performance, then was a fellow of both the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Music Center and Michael Tilson Thomas’s New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy, in Miami, FL. Following faculty positions at Millersville University and Hunter College, he directed orchestras at New York’s Trinity School, as well the Riverside Orchestra. He is a conductor with the Chelsea Symphony and an assistant conductor with “Lord of the Rings Live in Concert.”
In former non-pandemic years, the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra releases details about its regular five annual subscription concerts in August, and these performances are held at the Upper Darby Performing Arts Center in Upper Darby. Currently, LSO has no concerts planned for this season, but is keeping active, with future recording projects in progress.
PennDOT resumes issuance of Real ID
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced this week that it has resumed issuing REAL IDs at reopened Driver License Centers offering driver license services throughout the state.
PennDOT paused REAL ID issuance throughout the state in March 2020 out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of public health, due to COVID-19. Additionally, the federal Department of Homeland Security postponed the enforcement date for REAL ID from Oct. 1, 2020 to Oct. 1, 2021 in response to COVID-19 and the national emergency declaration.
REAL ID is optional in Pennsylvania. There is no requirement that any resident obtain a REAL ID; PennDOT continues to offer standard-issue driver’s licenses and photo IDs.
REAL ID is a federal law that affects how states issue driver’s licenses and ID cards if they are going to be acceptable for federal purposes. A federally-acceptable form of identification (whether it’s a Pennsylvania REAL ID driver’s license or ID card, a valid U.S. Passport/Passport Card, a military ID, etc.) must now be used on and after Oct. 1, 2021 as identification to board a commercial flight or visit a secure federal building that requires a federally acceptable form of identification ID for access.
Customers can obtain a REAL ID by presenting documents for verification and processing at any driver license center.
For a full list of opened driver license centers and their services, visit https:// www.dmv.pa.gov.