Darby

The threat of two new taxes drew more than 100 angry Darby residents to a Borough Council committee meeting last week. Two proposed ordinances, if passed by the council, would impose a 1 percent earned-income tax on Darby residents and those employed in the borough, and a 1.5 percent business-privilege tax on all for-profit businesses in the borough. Councilman Robert Layden, chairman of the Finance and Ordinance Committee, told the crowd at the borough hall Wednesday night that the purpose of the meeting was finance and ordinance and that"we aren't going to be discussing anything about tax tonight.

A Darby Borough rowhouse in the 900 block of Maple Terrace that had started to collapse a year ago completely caved in Tuesday night. Officials have evacuated the homes on either side until they are declared safe. Phil Gallagher, the borough manager, said Wednesday that contractors were examining the rubble to give the borough a cost estimate for demolishing the structure at 925 Maple Terrace. Gallagher said the house had been vacant anywhere from 8 to 17 years. According to borough building inspector Tom Powers, a warrant has been issued for the arrest of the home's owner, David Yeaworth, to whom several citations have been issued concerning the property's condition.

Longwood Gardens will present the Upper Darby High School Encore Singers tomorrow as part of the gardens' annual holiday celebration. The ensemble will appear in two shows - at 7 and 8 p.m. - and will perform a program of traditional holiday favorites, including "Jingle Bells," "Greensleeves," "I'll Be Home for Christmas," and "The Hallelujah Chorus" of Handel's Messiah. The 30-member choir, which performs at special events throughout the school year, is directed by Barbara Benglian and accompanied by pianist Harry Dietzler.

A rape charge has been filed against Kevin Woodson, of the 100 block of North Fourth Street, Darby, who is accused of locking a 15-year-old girl in his car and forcing her to have sexual intercourse, police said. An affidavit filed by police gave this account: At 11:15 p.m. Saturday police went to investigate a report of a sexual assault in the 300 block of Marks Avenue. Officer Michael Leagans spoke to the victim's stepfather, who told them his stepdaughter had been raped.

Police say that arson caused a Saturday-night blaze that destroyed a business, and that they are looking for suspects who may have burglarized three buildings before setting the fire. Police Chief Robert H. Thompson said yesterday one or two suspects cut a six-foot barbed-wire fence to enter the complex at Calcon Hook and Hook Roads about 10 p.m. He said Power Motive Rebuilders, which occupied the building destroyed by the fire, was burglarized, along with Action Supply Co. and T&C Construction Co., which suffered minor fire damage.

The Byron Darby Experiment ended yesterday with a gentlemen's agreement that has given Darby his freedom to find a job elsewhere in the NFL. In October, Eagles coach Buddy Ryan moved Darby, who had started 1986 as the starting left defensive end, to tight end. The experiment yielded only two pass receptions for 16 yards. According to Ryan, Darby did not try hard enough in the off-season to learn his new position. According to Darby's agent, Lloyd Remick, maybe it wasn't such a hot idea in the first place.

A quarrel in the parking lot of a towing company over an alleged affair ended in deadly gunfire Friday afternoon, police said. When it was over, Robert Leonardo was dead. Walter Kauffeld, who police say was having an affair with Leonardo's wife, was charged with shooting Leonardo and the owner of the towing company. Yesterday, Kauffeld, 43, of the 2500 block of South 67th Street, Philadelphia, was being held at Delaware County Prison after his bail, originally set at 10 percent of $250,000, was revoked.

In the borough's largest sex-peddling crackdown in recent memory, its only female police officer disguised herself as a prostitute, dawdled on its busiest thoroughfare, and netted 20 men in just two hours Friday night, police said. In a terse news release issued yesterday, borough Police Chief Robert F. Smythe said the crackdown was a response to complaints from residents. The sting operation was conducted at the intersection of Main and Front Streets - one block from the desolate border Darby shares with Philadelphia.

Dennis H. McErlean, Darby's chief code official, has been appointed acting borough manager, temporarily filling the post that will be vacated today when Philip W. Gallagher retires. The Borough Council approved the appointment by a 6-2 vote, with Council Vice President Stephen R. Davish absent. Voting for the appointment were Republicans Wilbur "Pluggy" Smith, Robert D. Mawhinney and Angel Maskart and Democrats Alfred Robinson Jr., Sandra R. Stewart and Jacqueline A. Townes.

Melvyn McCalla loves his hometown. He loves it so much, he says, that since he was a boy, he has wondered why so many of his friends and neighbors have packed up and moved out. So when McCalla opened his own business on Ridge Avenue 20 years ago, he did so to show whoever was watching that he could stay in Darby and be successful. "The only people who stayed were the numbers [runners] and the preachers," McCalla, 54, said recently, sitting in the funeral parlor he owns at 1019 Ridge Ave. "But I wanted to give something back to this community, so I'm still here.

WHEN Darby Borough cops found what they said were more than 200 marijuana plants inside Daniel Thomas' rowhouse Tuesday morning, he told them that he was an out-of-work horticulturalist. Technically, that's accurate, police say — if by "out of work" Thomas meant that his massive pot-growing operation featured an automated lighting and irrigation system that could function without his daily participation. "This guy is a major-league grower of marijuana," said Police Chief Bob Smythe, strolling in borough hall through a knee-high forest of pungent cannabis plants, which police had transported, using a rented Budget truck, from Thomas' house on Glen Avon Road.

It occurred in front of a stone twin along a tranquil street with the pastoral name Parkview Road, but this was not a typical suburban crime. A 25-year-old man was ambushed shortly after midnight by someone who lay in wait in the bushes, shot him seven times, and left him to fight for his life. His 4-year-old daughter and her mother were in the house at the time. Then again, it happened in Upper Darby Township, Delaware County, which is no typical suburb, and in the view of its sometimes controversial police chief, Michael Chitwood, not a suburb at all. "Upper Darby really is a city," said Chitwood, who oversees the $24 million annual police budget in a township of 82,000-plus people.

A 25-year-old man was ambushed and shot multiple times in his driveway as he approached his Upper Darby, Delaware County, residence early this morning, according to Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood. Police say Khayree Reidhad just arrived at the home on the 7000 block of Parkview Road about 12:30 a.m. today when a lone gunman emerged from hiding. Reid suffered several wounds below the waist and was rushed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and was listed in critical condition.

Upper Darby softball coach Becky Daly could barely explain why pitcher and No. 3 hitter Savannah Nierintz has been on such a roll during the season's stretch run. Neither could Nierintz herself. "We just try to keep everything the same," she said after throwing her second shutout of the season against Ridley, and fifth overall, in a crucial, 3-0 Central League victory Wednesday. The win kept the Royals (12-6 overall, 12-3 league) ahead of the Green Raiders (11-7, 10-5)

The November death of a 4-month-old Upper Darby boy has been ruled a homicide, and all four family members who were present in the house when the child was found are now refusing to cooperate with authorities, police said Sunday. The infant was found unresponsive in his home about 3:30 a.m. Nov. 6 and was taken to Delaware County Memorial Hospital, where doctors were able to get the boy breathing again, said Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood. The child, who showed no signs of trauma, was then transported to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, but he died four days later, police said.

Once a power source vital to the region's economic growth, and once even a haven for yachts, Darby Creek remains a thoroughfare with some of the region's lushest pastoral vistas. But it also is one of the country's most flood-prone streams, a significant drain on the National Flood Insurance Program, and a national lesson in what can go wrong along a developed waterway. Worse for the thousands who live along its 26-mile course, from the border of Chester and Delaware Counties to the Delaware River, the Darby appears to be just a major rainstorm away from spilling over its banks yet again.

Gearing up for Tuesday's Upper Darby school board vote on a proposed 2012-13 budget that includes the elimination of elementary school music and art classes, physical-education teachers and librarians, more than 500 parents, students, and supporters turned out at a board meeting to protest. District administrators at the Tuesday night meeting presented a sobering budget picture. They blamed a $13 million budget shortfall on state funding cuts, increased payments to charter schools, and eroding local revenues.

The Darby Creek Valley Association will hold its 28th annual spring cleaning of Darby Creek from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Volunteers will gather at 30 sites from Haverford Township to Tinicum Township, Delaware County, where the creek flows into the Delaware River. The 26-mile stream meanders through some of the region's most highly developed and populated areas. For more information, visit www.dcva.org/upcoming.html - Inquirer staff

  In the presence of several patrons, including a 4-year-old boy, an Upper Darby Township barber was shot and killed execution-style Wednesday afternoon in a shop near the 69th Street Terminal. "It was a hit," said Michael Chitwood, police superintendent in the Delaware County township. Chitwood identified the victim as Michael Turner, or Michael Boone, whose last known address was the 7100 block of West Chester Pike. Shortly before 2 p.m., the gunman entered the Modern Hair Design Shop on Copely Road, his face covered with a shirt or some type of cloth, according to Chitwood.

Upper Darby police shot and critically wounded a young man who jumped out of a closet Monday swinging an ax at them, officials said. Police went to the house on the 2400 block of Greenhill Road about 1 a.m. after the man called 911 saying he was going to kill his family and himself. When the man's mother answered the door, she said she had no idea why police were there, authorities said. The man then leaped out of the closet, swinging the ax, Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said.