Glenside

It was a celebration of family and friendship Sunday as hundreds of Glenside residents gathered at the Harry Renninger Recreation Area for the community's 89th annual Independence Day Celebration. The day began with morning activities for children at the recreation area, followed by a parade in the early evening. Rene Mealey, who has headed the holiday celebration for two years, said the event cost $15,000 to stage. The money was raised through donations. "(Glenside) is the longest continuously running parade in the state," said Mealey, who has lived in Glenside for 24 years.

The federal government has hit a Glenside-based construction company with $77,500 in fines for allegedly exposing its employees to extremely dangerous levels of lead during reconstruction work on railway bridges in Philadelphia. In issuing a "willful" citation, one of its most stringent penalities, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) indicated its belief that Muratone Company Inc. knew or should have known about the hazard, which could cause death or serious injury.

Kimber Anne Cunnane, 27, died Sunday as a result of injuries suffered in a traffic accident that day outside Columbia, S.C. A former resident of Glenside, Miss Cunnane had been a saleswoman for the Sears Budget Rent-A-Car Co. in Columbia. She was a 1980 graduate of Bishop McDevitt High School and attended Montgomery County Community College. She had spent the last three years at Hilton Head Island, S.C., and planned to marry Daniel Santomaro of Columbia early next year. According to family members, Miss Cunnane was a free spirit who liked the outdoors, especially the beach, and the people of Columbia.

In the realm of pop music, the Cocteau Twins are the proverbial mystery wrapped in an enigma. For the last eight years, the Twins have constructed a shimmering architecture of feverish dreams. Against that swirling backdrop, vocalist Elizabeth Fraser has sung in a language that resembles none spoken on Earth. Saturday night, the Cocteau Twins brought their netherworld music to the Keswick Theater in Glenside. For 90 minutes the three Twins - plus two additional guitarists - spun their hypnotic and ethereal creations for an entranced sellout audience.

Shortly before the end of the Klezmer Conservatory Band's second hourlong set at the Keswick Theater in Glenside yesterday afternoon, bandleader Hankus Netsky thanked the capacity crowd for coming to the celebration. His choice of words was appropriate. When played the way it should be, klezmer, a melange of Eastern European Jewish music and American jazz and popular genres, is a joyous music. And when the 12-piece aggregation broke into a Russian sher medley, members of the audience slowly but surely filled the aisles of the theater with a laughing, percolating, mobile quasi-conga line.

Each of the four artists featured in "A Closer Look," guest-curated for the Beaver College Art Gallery by Alex Baker, rewards a viewer for making the trip to Glenside. Matthew Wine's creepy-looking sculptures, made from multicolored foam carpet-backing, transform a utilitarian domestic material into an intimation of alien life. The small green-and-yellow sculpture that appears to have attached itself to a window is especially unsettling. Susan Arthur's staged photographs - candy chicks, snowmen and such placed in outdoor settings - express something of the same surreal oddness.

"We are born from the darkness," read the sign out front at St. Luke the Evangelist Church on Saturday, a reference to the Catholic teachings of original sin and salvation. But a day after the Glenside parish's popular pastor, Msgr. Michael Flood, was cleared to return to his post, the message could have described the mood of his waiting congregants as well. "It's like we've been under this dark cloud," said John Ginty, 48, a lifelong parishioner. "I can't wait to see him again and give him a big hug. " Flood, 72, was one of three priests reinstated Friday after archdiocesan officials cleared them of allegations of sexual abuse or misconduct with minors.

Jane F. Gerhard, who was described by a family member as "the mother to everyone in Glenside" died Thursday at home after a lengthy illness. She was 66. "Everyone knew her in Glenside. Everyone loved her," said her youngest daughter, Janet Gerhard. "All her sons were volunteer firemen here, and Dad was a chief. Mom and Dad were grand marshals in the Fourth of July parade in 1976. " Mrs. Gerhard was a receptionist for 12 years at Gerhard's Appliances Inc., a Glenside institution for 48 years.

Abington Township police have arrested two children after one brought an unloaded handgun to the Copper Beech Elementary School, and the other removed it from a bookbag and pointed it at third child as they walked home. "It's a serious, serious incident," Deputy Chief John Livingood said yesterday. Police said they found no evidence that either child was planning to do harm at the school or elsewhere. The gun had no magazine or bullets. Parents are upset, however, and community meetings are planned.

At night, the North Hills commuter train station on Mount Carmel Avenue near North Hills Avenue in Abington is lit up like Veterans Stadium on a night that the Phillies are at home. It wasn't always that way, though. Before the station was revamped, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. One night back in those dark days, a man hid in one of the shacks that shielded commuters from the rain. A police officer patrolling the area failed to see him. When the officer left, the man broke into a car and used jumper cables in an attempt to steal it. But local residents on Townwatch patrol spotted him and alerted police.

"We are born from the darkness," read the sign out front at St. Luke the Evangelist Church on Saturday, a reference to the Catholic teachings of original sin and salvation. But a day after the Glenside parish's popular pastor, Msgr. Michael Flood, was cleared to return to his post, the message could have described the mood of his waiting congregants as well. "It's like we've been under this dark cloud," said John Ginty, 48, a lifelong parishioner. "I can't wait to see him again and give him a big hug. " Flood, 72, was one of three priests reinstated Friday after archdiocesan officials cleared them of allegations of sexual abuse or misconduct with minors.

Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia on Thursday announced that business-loan broker Matthew McManus of Glenside and his business partner, Andrew Bogdanoff, of Scottsdale, Ariz., were indicted on charges of fraud, conspiracy, and money-laundering, alleging that the pair "defrauded more than 800 victims out of more than $10 million," federal authorities said. Bogdanoff, 65, is founder and chairman of Philadelphia-based Remington Capital Group and related companies; McManus, 43, was his partner in the business until leaving in 2008.

Upwards of a dozen shoppers at a time swarmed into Dovetail Artisans in Glenside on Saturday, giving the small gift store sales receipts reminiscent of a December rush. Such "cash mobs" have been springing up nationwide to send a jolt to the economy through small, local businesses. And this was one of the first in the Philadelphia region. Cash Mob Philly was organized by Shahrzad Kojouri of Ardmore, who said, with concern: "I'm hoping people don't hear 'flash mob' when they hear 'cash mob.' " Kojouri encourages friends, acquaintances, and Facebook followers to head to a designated shop and spend at least $20. She and Dovetail Artisans owner Elayne Aion met at a previous cash mob event.

A Glenside man accused of using a secret sex tape to try to extort money from an ex-girlfriend waived his preliminary hearing Tuesday in Exton district court. The criminal complaint filed against Omari Listenbee, 34, says he threatened to post sexually explicit videos on the Internet and on the Facebook accounts of friends of his ex-girlfriend unless she paid him $3,000. Flanked by lawyers Thomas B. Bellwoar of West Chester and Robert Levant of Philadelphia, Listenbee appeared before Magisterial District Judge John R. Bailey.

Joseph Slobodzian, 85, of Glenside, a master engineer and mechanic, died of brain cancer Wednesday, Jan. 4, at home. The son of Ukrainian immigrants, Mr. Slobodzian grew up in Nicetown and graduated in 1944 from Simon Gratz High School. After graduating from the Pennsylvania Maritime Academy in 1946, he was an engineer in the Merchant Marine aboard freighters and oil tankers in the Atlantic. He also served in the Navy Reserve for 15 years, until 1961. Mr. Slobodzian was an auto mechanic and a factory worker, and had other jobs before opening a printing business in 1950 on Venango Street.

Here is the list of Archdiocese of Philadelphia school closings and mergers announced Friday: BUCKS COUNTY St. Michael the Archangel , Levittown, merges with Our Lady of Grace , Penndel, at the Penndel site. St. Mark , Bristol, merges with St. Ephrem , Bensalem, at the Bensalem site. Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary , Feasterville, merges with St. Bede the Venerable , Holland, at the Holland site. Holy Trinity , Morrisville, merges with St. John the Evangelist , Lower Makefield, at the Lower Makefield site.

Repertory Films Adventure Aquarium 1 Aquarium Dr., Camden; 866-451-2782. www.adventureaquarium.com . 4D Theater. $22.95; $19.95 children 2-12. Bryn Mawr Film Institute 824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr; 610-527-9898. www.brynmawrfilm.org . Going Gaga. $7. 1/4. Colonial Theatre 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville; 610-917-1228. www.thecolonialtheatre.com . Die Hard (1988) $6-$9. 12/30. 9:45 pm. Comcast Center 1701 John F. Kennedy Blvd.; 610-648-1700.

WILMINGTON - A sex-abuse lawsuit that prompted the suspension of a Glenside priest this year has been withdrawn amid questions over his accuser's credibility. The civil case against Msgr. Michael Flood, 71, fell apart during a deposition last week of the South Jersey man, 48, who sued the priest and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia three years ago. The man - identified in court filings as "John Broe #1" - had alleged that he had been abused dozens of times in the 1970s while a ninth grader at what was then Bishop John Neumann Catholic High School in South Philadelphia, where Flood was a religion teacher.

Layner A. Clavijo , doing business as Clavijo Cleaning , 2321 Afton St., Philadelphia; Chapter 7; no schedules available. Joyce M. Walker-Bruce doing business as Swarthmore Flower & Gift , 1020 Second Ave., Prospect Park; Chapter 7; no schedules available. Michael C. Price , also known as Michael Carl Price , doing business as Price Home Improvements Inc. , and Diane M. Price , doing business as Price Home Improvements Inc. , 1509 Glenside Rd., Downingtown; Chapter 7; no schedules available.