Kirkland

State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland was cleared of assault charges yesterday after entering into an agreement with the neighbor who had accused him. As part of the deal, Kirkland (D., Delaware) reciprocated by dropping disorderly conduct charges against Robert Church, 18. Church had admitted to hitting Kirkland's rottweiler with a thrown bottle on March 2 as he was passing the state representative's house in the 1000 block of West Seventh Street. Soon after the incident, Church filed a complaint with police alleging that Kirkland had followed him for several blocks after the bottle was thrown and then, after a quarrel, punched him in the mouth and hit him on the elbow with the dog's leash.

The city's Democrats have turned to state Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland, the party' best vote-getter, to reverse recent setbacks and heal divisions caused by years of bitter infighting. Party chairman James Harper, a Laborers' Union official, announced yesterday that he had resigned his post, saying he lacked the necessary time for the job, which he had held since 1992. The party's executive board voted unanimously this month to pick Kirkland, Harper said. Committee people will meet early next month to consider the matter.

Troubled by Chester High School's high daily absentee rate - which averages almost 30 percent - State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland decided to knock on doors to see for himself why students weren't in school. Some children told him they didn't want to be teased because their clothes weren't stylish. Others said they had to take care of younger siblings because their parents were absent or under the influence of drugs. And, some said fear of violence at school kept them home, Kirkland told members of the League of Women Voters at the Chester Friends Meeting House Saturday.

Democratic Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland cruised to an impressive victory Tuesday over Republican John Nails in the 159th Legislative District, demonstrating newfound organizational strength on the part of Chester's Democratic Party. Kirkland, who was a Chester community activist before first winning office in 1992, said Tuesday night that this was the first time in the history of the district that a Democrat had won back-to-back elections. In doing so, Kirkland overcame an almost 2-1 Republican voter registration edge in the 159th, which consists of Chester, Chester Township, Eddystone, Marcus Hook, Upland and Trainer.

Under renewed pressure from State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland, the City Council voted to pay off an eight-month-old debt to a sporting-goods store by using money from a bank account that remains frozen by order of state officials. The council voted unanimously at its meeting Thursday night to release $19,000 to pay Aston Sports for football uniforms used by the Chester PAL program. The uniforms were ordered last summer, but the bill went unpaid. The action came after Kirkland (D., Delaware)

Democratic State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland represents the 159th Legislative District, where there is an almost 3-2 Republican voter-registration edge, so he can never take an election for granted. Nevertheless, this year's contest should be easier than most for the 45-year-old four-term lawmaker. Democrats tend to do better there in presidential election years; Chester City, with the largest block of voters, usually votes overwhelmingly for Democratic presidential candidates, despite the 10-7 GOP registration majority there.

State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland (D., Delaware) will face a hearing March 25 on charges of simple and aggravated assault stemming from a quarrel in which a teenage neighbor says Kirkland punched him in the face. Yesterday, Kirkland said he had not hit the man. Both sides agree that the incident began when Robert Church, 18, of the 1000 block of West Seventh Street, hit Kirkland's rottweiler with a bottle March 2 as he was passing the state representative's house on the same block.

When Levon Kirkland goes down in a heap, you notice. The Eagles middle linebacker injured his ankle during yesterday morning's practice. Someone rolled on it in the chaos surrounding the line of scrimmage, and Kirkland was hurting. He lay there for a minute before the training staff could get to him. Given the Eagles' ups and downs at middle linebacker this year, it seemed fitting that Kirkland would get hurt. But then he was up, waving off the trainers and walking right back into the defensive huddle.

A longstanding feud among the city's Democrats erupted into a shouting match yesterday, as a state representative and two City Council members traded insults concerning the operation of a new retail business center. The fireworks began when State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland, whose 159th District includes Chester, asked at a City Council meeting whether training had been provided to prospective tenants at the Chester Exchange, a city-funded building that will provide rental space for about 95 small businesses when it opens next month.

Republican leaders in the state House say they see no reason to expel a fellow GOP lawmaker sentenced to prison yesterday on a federal perjury charge until he has exhausted all of his appeals. The lawmaker, State Rep. Frank Serafini of Moosic in Lackawanna County, was sentenced to five months in a federal prison and another five months in home detention for lying about making an illegal campaign contribution on behalf of a landfill company. Serafini said yesterday that he had not decided whether to resign the seat he has held for 20 years.

Come Saturday at noon, Appalachian State fans at Kidd Brewer Stadium may have to excuse Marquis Kirkland. The Villanova senior linebacker may get emotional before the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision quarterfinal against the Mountaineers in Boone, N.C. "Our season is not going to end down there," Kirkland said. "We sent our seniors out last season with a national championship. We want our senior year to end like theirs did. " Since this game showcases two FCS powerhouses, the 6-foot, 240-pounder realizes the winner will basically become the overwhelming favorite to nab the championship.

Andy Kirkland is turning into the high school version of Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard. Kirkland blasted his 11th home run of the season and lifted Unionville to an 8-4 win over visiting Downingtown West in a Ches-Mont League baseball game Monday. Kirkland also hit a single and a double, scored twice, and drove in four runs. Connor Wing got the win on the mound giving up five hits and striking out seven over six innings. Wing also was 2 for 3 with an RBI and two runs scored.

Beverlee G. McLeod Kirkland, 61, of Glenside, a Christian activist, died of diabetes Tuesday at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Kirkland graduated from Haverford High School and attended Villanova University. For several years she worked for Campus Crusade for Christ in California, England, and West Germany. In 1973, she became administrator for the newly established Church of the Savior, a nondenominational church in Wayne. Later she was an administrative assistant at the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation in Glenside.

Blockbuster Inc. has hired the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis L.L.P. to help rescue the struggling video-store chain from a financial bind. The Dallas-based company said yesterday it is bringing in the firm to help arrange enough financing to keep Blockbuster afloat amid a deepening recession that has already waylaid several major retailers. Blockbuster doesn't intend to file for bankruptcy protection, spokeswoman Karen Raskopf said. Earlier reports that the 7,500-store chain had hired Kirkland & Ellis to explore a bankruptcy filing caused Blockbuster shares to plummet 74 cents yesterday to close at just 22 cents.

Wes and Will Kirkland share a birthday, play basketball for Roman Catholic, are being recruited by the same colleges, and had an equal share in the Cahillites' Catholic League Southern Division victory over Neumann-Goretti yesterday at Philadelphia University. Wes Kirkland knocked down the last of Roman's nine three-pointers to give the Cahillites the lead for good, and Will Kirkland knocked the ball away from the Saints with 1 second remaining to preserve Roman's 65-62 win. Neumann (5-4, 0-1)

Wes Kirkland was fed up. The Roman Catholic forward became more and more frustrated as the Cahillites missed shot after shot. "I just figured that I had to make a big play," Kirkland said. Make that big plays. Scoring seven straight fourth-quarter points, Kirkland led Roman to a 66-64 victory last night over Germantown Academy in the Philly High School Basketball Invitational at Philadelphia University. Kirkland, a 6-foot-5 forward, pulled the Cahillites within two points (61-59)

The president of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus said yesterday that after meeting with House Democratic leaders and the National Rifle Association, he would not seek to hold up the state budget over gun-control legislation. "They have made a commitment to doing something, maybe not today or next week, but next month," said Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland (D., Delaware), chairman of the 17-member group. Kirkland said late yesterday that he had yet to discuss the results of the meeting with the members of his caucus and did not know if they stood with him on his budget pledge.

When Brad Wanamaker charged his way to a fourth personal foul with 3 minutes, 39 seconds left in the third quarter, the prevailing question was, "How long is he going to sit?" The Roman Catholic senior superstar had the answer. "How long?" Wanamaker said. "I knew it wasn't going to be that long. " And so, when Wanamaker finally checked back in - only 4:21 later - the Cahillites had weathered a Neumann-Goretti storm, and it was time for the 6-foot-4 guard to unfurl his own blitz.

The General Assembly's Black Caucus issued a clear message to House Speaker John Perzel yesterday: African American history must be preserved as a mandate in the curriculum of Philadelphia schools. In a highly unusual move, 12 of the 15 House members of the caucus descended on the Capitol newsroom, while the House was in session, to protest a letter sent this week by Perzel to James Nevels, chairman of Philadelphia's School Reform Commission. In the letter, the Northeast Philadelphia Republican called the new African American history requirement "unnecessary" and asked the commission to reconsider its mandate.

A $1,000 reward was posted yesterday for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the October shooting that left a 3-year-old Camden girl severely brain damaged. Yahnajeah "Yaya" Kirkland was in the backseat of a Ford Escape on Oct. 28 when shots were fired from a corner of Eighth Street and Ferry Avenue in the Centerville section of Camden. A bullet pierced a door and a window of the SUV and entered Yaya's head just below and behind her left ear. Last month, doctors told her family that Yaya, once bubbly and talkative, had severe brain damage and might not speak or walk again.