Letters: April 1

Posted 4/1/15

Hoops Madness: It’s About Community

A big thank you to everyone who came to SCHA on Saturday for a morning of high energy 3-on-3 basketball, presented by the Chestnut Hill Community …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Letters: April 1

Posted

Hoops Madness: It’s About Community

A big thank you to everyone who came to SCHA on Saturday for a morning of high energy 3-on-3 basketball, presented by the Chestnut Hill Community Association. This year was our third annual tournament, and we had a great turnout and lots of fun. As one happy parent said as he was leaving, it’s a great combination of just having fun mixed with genuine competition.

For the CHCA, it’s our organization at its best: bringing together community to have a great time: families, kids (from a wide range of schools), friends, teams from local businesses, supporting sponsors and a host of volunteers. Seeing all those kids, boys and girls of so many ages, and watching them compete, was a delight.

Thank you to the creators of Hoops Madness, CHCA Past President Brien Tilley and Matt Paul of Matt Paul Sports. You couldn’t ask for two more dynamic people to run a tournament! And thanks to all the referees, scorekeepers, on-court volunteers, registration and concession volunteers, photographers, and clean-up crew.

A very special thanks to our sponsors from the community: Bowman Properties, Chestnut Hill Hotel, Chestnut Hill College, Janice Manzi and Louise D’Alessandro of Elfant Wissahickon, Temple Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine at Chestnut Hill Hospital, Valley Green Bank, Blake Development, Cosimo’s Pizza Café, Chestnut Hill Sports, Top of the Hill Orthodontics & Pediatric Dentistry, ESF Summer Camps, Chill on the Hill, Sam's Italian Market, and Scoogi's Classic Italian Restaurant.

If you missed Hoops Madness, put it on your schedule for March 2016.

Celeste Hardester

CHCA Community Manager

Dogs should still be on leashes

The world and Wissahickon Park were very different in 1988. There were less people and a dedicated police force with authority and enforcement powers. People who remember the “good old days” from their own perspective don’t always consider the other side of the coin and how others felt.

Not every horse was unconcerned about having dogs running loose, unlike the story from last week [“Beautiful inter-species friendship in Wissahickon Park” by Brenda Malinics].

Barn horses were in narrow stalls with their heads tied to the wall. Most horses were uncomfortable having dogs running into their stall. Many times, horses would be startled and jump unexpectedly.

Dogs were sometimes left tied in doorways where you could trip over them or confined in a stall to bark for hours while the owners were out riding their horse. The dogs were rarely disciplined or reprimanded when they created problems or stole anything remotely edible. After a while, you just did what you could to avoid the dogs.

On one occasion a group was riding and came across a woman and child at a picnic table. The dog that was tagging along ran over to the people, knocked the child off the bench and grabbed food from the table. The other riders kept going. I went back to apologize. The child was crying and very upset. The mother decried “those horse people.” I felt responsible even if it wasn’t my dog.

When I returned to the barn, I told the owner I would no longer ride with her if she allowed her dog to run unleashed. Soon after that incident, she left the barn to ride in Chester County and hunt fox.

Now, 27 years later, manure is not piled up in a mountain due to ecological issues and because of “liability issues,” dogs should be kept on leash.

Carmella Paulmier

Germantown

letters