August 7, 2008 Issue                                                     

Local News

NEW*Weekly Audio News Summary*NEW

CHCA preparing records for state probe
by JOEL HOFFMANN

Community Manager Philip LeCalsey announced last week that the Chestnut Hill Community Association had copied or converted into digital form 95 percent of the records requested for review by the state attorney general’s office, which is investigating the fiscal practices of the CHCA and the Chestnut Hill Community Fund.

Patel resigns from CHCA board three months after election
by JOEL HOFFMANN

Chestnut Hill Community Association board member Tapan J. Patel resigned last week after holding office for only three months.

In a July 31 letter to CHCA president Tolis Vardakis, Patel said he hoped his resignation would put an end to the “unnecessary controversy” surrounding the association and allow the board to move on with its mission.

Water quality a concern at Pastorius Park pond
by Joel Hoffmann

Martha Roberts, 3, digs for fish in a creek that feeds Pastorius Pond. (Photo Joel Hoffmann)

Hannah Roberts is taking her daughters for a leisurely stroll through Pastorius Park. She keeps close watch of them both — the newborn, Ruth, clings to her chest in a sling while Martha, 3, walks beside them, stopping occasionally to watch the fish make ripples in the pond.

“Can we go see some frogs?” Martha asked.

“Ok, let’s go see the frogs,” her mother replied.

As they walked around the edge of the pond, past the covered debris pits and toward the moat, Roberts, 33, admitted that the pond looked cleaner than it has in weeks. Still, the water quality concerned her.

Local Sports

GFS’ Betsy Sachs stars in ice hockey and lacrosse
By Justin Goldman

GFS leading scorer Betsy Sachs (#10 in white) prepares to take a shot on goal while surrounded by Shipley School team members.

Two-sport stars aren’t all that rare in high school athletics. Many players rule the basketball court and the soccer field; others blaze on the track and cut up the field hockey field. But Betsy Sachs, a 16-year-old rising junior at Germantown Friends School, is not your typical two-sport star.

Sachs, who has gone to GFS since kindergarten, has excelled at ice hockey and lacrosse for as long as she has participated in competitive athletics. That’s right, ice hockey. There are those in the area that don’t even know that women’s ice hockey exists because hockey is not that popular of a sport in the Metro-Atlantic area, and that is shown by the fact that Sachs travels all the way to New Jersey to play competitively for the Princeton Tiger Lilies girls’ hockey team. 

CHA set to cheer for its own Olympians
by TOM UTESCHER

Mike Koplov, left, and Tom Paradiso.

As the 2008 Summer Olympic Games get underway, the Chestnut Hill Academy community will have a special rooting interest in the USA baseball and rowing teams.

Right-handed pitcher Mike Koplove (CHA ’95) will appear on the diamond in Beijing, and Tom Paradiso (CHA ’98) has been selected to row in the lightweight four for the U.S. rowing team.

Currently a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, Koplove made his major league debut in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was one of the D-backs’ key relievers from 2002 to 2004.