The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Crews rescue kayaker stranded on Schuylkill
PHOENIXVILLE » Rescue crews came to the aid of a man who got stranded in the middle of the Schuylkill River after his kayak capsized near the Mont Clare Bridge Sunday morning.
The kayaker sustained no injuries and was brought safely to shore.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene of the Route 29 bridge between Phoenixville and Upper Providence around 11:20 a.m. Sunday after receiving a report that a man was stranded on a cement pylon after his kayak collided with some debris and flipped over, according to Black Rock Volunteer Fire Company Chief Jim Daywalt.
Initial reports had rescuers looking for another individual thought to be in the water. That person turned out to be the kayaker’s wife, who was kayaking with him, but had already paddled to shore safely, Daywalt said.
The bridge was closed to traffic for about an hour during rescue operations.
The Schuylkill River is swollen and flowing swiftly after several days of heavy rains and the release of water from the Blue Marsh Dam in Berks County.
Black Rock rescuers were aided by members of the Phoenixville Fire Department, the Collegeville Fire Company and the Friendship Fire Company No. 2 Diving Rescue Unit.
According to the legal papers filed by the Hatfield law firm of McNelly/ Goldstein, the value of the property before the eminent domain taking was $3.7 million, according to a separate appraisal submitted as evidence in support of this claim.
The board’s conclusion and award “is inadequate and does not represent just compensation for the partial taking of the property as of the date of condemnation,” according to appeal, and the property owners have demanded “a jury trial.”
The eminent domain challenge won’t be the only reason the owners of Universal Concrete will be in front a judge in the foreseeable future.
Last month, the U.S. and Virginia governments filed a joint fraud lawsuit against Universal Concrete regarding what they say is falsified data concerning concrete panels made for new stations on the $5.8 billion expansion of the Metro line in Washington, D.C. to Dulles airport.
Further, the metro-line lawsuit comes in the wake of a 2016 whistleblower lawsuit by a former employee who claimed he was told to falsify data on whether the concrete met specifications for the Washington, D.C. project.
“The (federal/Virginia) suit seeks unspecified damages and civil penalties from the defendants: Universal Concrete; its president, Donald Faust Jr.; and its former quality-control manager, Andrew Nolan, who is Faust’s nephew,” according to a report in The Washington Post.
The rail project at the center of the federal suit is a 23-mile extension of the Metrorail system’s silver line that will extend in two phases to Dulles airport.
Phase one opened in 2014 and phase two is under construction now.
About 1,500 panels manufactured by Universal Concrete Products are part of six stations in the project, provided as part of a contract worth $6.1 million for the Stowe company.
But more than a year ago, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is overseeing the project, and Capital Rail Constructors, the lead contractor, identified problems with Universal’s manufacturing process, according to a May 22 article in The Washington Post.
Initially, officials thought the problems affected about 20 percent of the more than 1,500 panels. “In addition, 60 panels were found to be faulty because not enough concrete was covering the internal wire mesh,” the Post reported.
But a 2016 whistleblower lawsuit alleges that “all — not just a portion — of the panels could be flawed because the raw materials used to make them did not meet project standards,” according to the newspaper.