Bucks County

Anthony Orazi, 78, a retired stonemason, former Bucks County employee, and church leader, died Tuesday at his Morrisville home. He served as deputy recorder of deeds for the county in the 1970s and as supervisor of roads and bridges in the 1980s. Mr. Orazi was born in Bristol Borough and graduated from Bristol High School. During World War II, he served with the Army in Europe and the Pacific and took part in the invasion of Normandy Beach. He moved to Morrisville from Yardley 46 years ago. He had been active in Republican Party politics for many years and served as a committeeman during three decades.

Vacationing families from outside southeastern Pennsylvania typically flock to see the sights within a two-mile radius of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, then perhaps take a jaunt to Bucks County. The Bucks County Tourist Commission is working to reverse their itinerary. "We're now selling the idea of 'Come to Bucks County.' It's a reasonable place to stay and take a side trip into Philadelphia," says the commission's president, Albert Giagnacova. The nonprofit agency over the weekend conducted a complimentary tour for a dozen travel writers from outside Bucks and their families emphasizing "family fun" at several of the county's attractions.

Like rain running off an open umbrella, the people of the Philadelphia region for decades have moved out toward its edges. Now, regional planners say, the pattern has been reversed. The rural northern edge of Bucks County is being invaded, not from inside the region, but from outside. Homeowners in central New Jersey have been crossing the Delaware River into Bucks, fleeing from towns where corporate office headquarters have been growing - depending on one's prejudice - like wild roses or like weeds in an untended graveyard.

A person was struck and killed by an Amtrak train Tuesday night in Bucks County, an agency spokeswoman said. The person, whose gender and age were unavailable, was hit by a southbound Acela train 2175 around 10 p.m. in the area of SEPTA's Croydon Station, said Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham. Service remained disrupted between Trenton and Philadelphia at 11:30 p.m., Graham said. Police and the Bucks County coroner were investigating the death.    - Robert Moran  

A armed man barricaded himself late Saturday in a Dick's Sporting Goods in the Fairless Hills section of Falls Township, Bucks County, police said. The incident, on Commerce Boulevard, began about 7:30 p.m. when a man reportedly went to the store's gun department and pulled a handgun, authorities said. He forced a clerk give him a shotgun, police said. The man then took the weapon and ammunition and went to the back of the store. The store was quickly evacuated and no injuries were immediately reported.

Mary Ann DeSantis Kulka, 77, a former public elementary school teacher in Bucks County, died of heart failure Friday, March 23, at her home in Barnegat, N.J. Born in Philadelphia, Mrs. Kulka graduated from Little Flower High School in 1952 and after years of evening classes earned her a bachelor's in 1958 at what is now St. Joseph's University, her husband, John, said in a interview Monday. She was among the first women to graduate from St. Joseph's, became editor of The Nighthawk, the evening school's newsletter, and played on the women's basketball team, he said.

Almost a year to the day after Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, a majority of Bucks County voters cast their ballots for his opponent in the 1864 presidential election, Democrat George S. McClellan. Lincoln won Pennsylvania by 52 percent but was outpolled in Bucks County, 7,235 to 6,197 - indicating that many there favored ending the war, according to Cory Amsler, vice president for collections at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown. The history of Bucks County during the Civil War, Amsler surmised, "is not all neat and tidy.

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Authorities say a Pennsylvania man has died after he was found unconscious at the bottom of a friend's in-ground swimming pool in central New Jersey. Hopewell Township police say Collin Abrams, 21, of Washington Crossing in Bucks County, was found early Saturday. It was not immediately clear what caused the accident. Authorities say Abrams had last been seen swimming by himself about 30 minutes before he was found. When police arrived , Abrams had been taken out of the 8-foot deep end of the pool and CPR was being administered.

In lower Bucks County's redrawn Sixth Senate District, three-term incumbent Sen. H. Craig Lewis is facing a vigorous primary challenge in the May 20 election from state Rep. John F. Cordisco for the Democratic nomination. Jim O'Brien is unopposed for the Republican nomination. The Democratic campaign has been more than simply lively; it has become intensely personal, dripping with charges and countercharges over residence, district loyalty, character and integrity. After sorting through those charges - and because of his distinquished record of representation in the Senate - The Inquirer heartily recommends the nomination of Sen. Lewis.