Lansdowne

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has discovered radium and uranium in ground water at the site of a former radium-processing plant in Lansdowne that is being cleaned up under the Superfund program. The radioactive contamination was found in ground-water samples taken at the plant site in April, EPA spokeswoman Leanne Nurse said yesterday after releasing a statement on the findings. The contamination is not believed to pose an immediate threat to people who live near the site, Nurse said.

The Democratic candidates for Borough Council in Lansdowne say the GOP establishment on the council has not pushed to improve the quality of the William Penn School District or to alleviate the heavy tax burden on borough residents. "The Republican mayor and the Republican council will not criticize the Republican school board members," Democrat Bill Smith, 25, said. The two board members who represent the borough are Republicans, as are all but one member of the Borough Council.

A 16-year-old Lansdowne girl was raped while walking to summer school classes at Upper Darby High School at 8:33 a.m. Friday, police said. The victim told police she was walking along a trail under the SEPTA trestle on Garrett Road when she was approached from behind. The assailant put his right hand over her mouth and threatened to kill her if she screamed, police said. The man led her down the trail and into a wooded area near Naylor's Run Park, police said. The man pulled her shirt over her head so she couldn't see, police said.

Barely one week into the $6 million dismantling of Lansdowne's radioactive "hothouse," the contractors handling the project have already run into a snag. The Bucks County landfill that was to take the clean, non-radioactive pieces of the house - or so federal officials thought - appears to be backing away from the project out of a fear of negative publicity. "Even though (the debris) may be clean, we may not want the exposure," said Steve David of GROWS Inc., the Morrisville landfill.

Gar Schoener never intended to run the 100-meter dash in summer's Senior Games of Delaware County, much less win it. But then he had a metaphysical experience. "I'm down on the track, and I'm looking at the white lines. And they were kind of shimmering," Schoener said. The scene was straight out of the movie Field of Dreams, where a character looks at his cornfield and hears a voice telling him to build a baseball diamond, he said. "I got the same message: Why not?" The experience drove Schoener to win the event, spoiling rival-of-sorts Bill Burroughs' chance to grab an eighth medal at the games.

The Lansdowne Borough Council will discuss at an executive meeting tomorrow what, if any, action to take against animal control officer Blake Cash. Cash has come under fire by pet owners in Lansdowne who say he has an abusive manner and makes unwarranted trips onto private property. The residents have complained bitterly at borough meetings and recently asked the Borough Council to suspend Cash and conduct an investigation into his job performance. Councilman Robert Alpigini said council members would reveal the results of their discussion at the Aug. 15 public meeting.

A 66-year-old man died in a Lansdowne house fire Wednesday. Elmer G. Burtnette Jr. of 70 E. Stewart Ave. was found by firefighters in the living room of his three-story house. He was declared dead at the scene. The fire, which is not being considered suspicious, was reported around 12:30 p.m., said Police Chief Daniel J. Kortan. The house had been condemned in April for unsanitary and unsafe living conditions, Kortan said. State police and Delaware County fire investigators are looking into the cause and origin of the fire.

Delaware County officials, responding to complaints from neighbors, seized 51 cats Wednesday in a case of animal hoarding. Lansdowne code enforcement officers and animal control representatives rounded up the flea-infested felines from a twin home on the unit block of Marshall Avenue. The home was later declared unfit for habitation. No criminal citations were issued, said Police Chief Daniel Kortan. The owners of the animals were intending to sell some of the kittens, said Kortan.

In the lives of motorists unlucky enough to be approaching a railroad crossing in Lansdowne at 6 p.m. on Aug. 28, it may well turn out to be an evening that will live in infamy. Because that night a 2,000-foot-long train will whistle through town. Actually, it will creep through town, taking between 30 minutes and one hour to pass. And it will return at 6 a.m. the next day. The train will carry track for a $38 million SEPTA project that will correct problems along the tracks from Lansdowne to Philadelphia, Borough Councilman Anthony P. Campuzano said.

Some of the ailing roads in Lansdowne will be repaired beginning next week. Aston Construction Co. of Aston has contracted to do the work for $75,345. The first repair site will be at Union Avenue between Fairview Avenue and the railroad tracks, borough Councilman George Bochanski said. The project will include resurfacing the road and minor repair of storm drains. The drains cannot adequately handle the stormwater that flows through the area, Bochanski said. A larger storm drain project will take place next year, he said.

Editor's note: This story has been updated from an earlier version JESSICA PERRONE was watching TV early Sunday when she heard a banging noise, then four or five gunshots outside her Lansdowne home. She rushed to her window and saw the first clue to what would become a murder mystery: a vehicle "driving all crazy" on the back lawn of the house across the alley, she said. "It was like it was going wild," said Perrone, 25. She ran outside and saw the vehicle slam into the attached garage of the other house, then burst into flames.

Police have identified the Delaware County woman struck and killed by a SEPTA train Wednesday morning. Yvonne M. Cephas, 65, of Lansdowne, was hit by the inbound train just after 6 a.m. at the crossing at Union Avenue, north of the Lansdowne station. Her car was found nearby. Police said they did not know why she was on the tracks, but do not suspect foul play. Service on the Media/Elwyn line was halted and the intersection of Union and Baltimore Avenue closed until about 9 a.m. - Mari A. Schaefer

A woman was struck and killed by a SEPTA train just north of the Lansdowne station, and service was suspended until 8:30 a.m. The incident occurred about 6:02 a.m. today near Union Avenue by an inbound train on the Media/Elwyn Line, one of SEPTA's busiest routes. The woman has not yet been identified.

Police have identified the Delaware County woman who was struck and killed by a SEPTA train Wednesday morning. Just after 6 a.m., Yvonne M. Cephas, 65, of Rose Lane in Lansdowne, was hit by the inbound commuter train at the crossing at Union Avenue, just north of the Lansdowne station. Police said her car was found nearby, they did not know why she was on the tracks. They do not suspect foul play. Service on the Media/Elwyn regional rail line was halted, and the intersection of S. Union and Baltimore closed until about 9 a.m. while police investigated the incident.

The body had 13 bullet wounds. And at least 25 shell-casings were found at the scene of the Wednesday night shooting death of Gbolahan "Bo" Olabode, 45, outside his Lansdowne, Delaware County, residence. "I wouldn't call it an execution," Lansdowne Police Chief Daniel J. Kortan said this afternoon, adding that his officers were looking for multiple suspects, "but for all intents and purposes, that's what it appears to be. I would say they meant to kill him. " His body was found shortly after 8 p.m. outside the three-story apartment building where he lived on Owen Avenue.

His parents dreamed that Gbolahan 'Bo' Olabode would one day become a wealthy man, and he evidently pursued that dream after he came to this country from Nigeria in 1982. Olabode paid his way through Temple University and saved diligently, according to a friend, even enduring 43 days in jail for a false arrest along the way. Eventually, he became co-owner of a pharmacy business in Lansdowne, Delaware County. Now police are trying to figure who shot him to death on Wednesday night, and why. The body of Olabode, 45, was found shortly after 8 outside the three-story apartment building where he lived in the unit block of Owen Avenue.

A 66-year-old man died in a Lansdowne house fire Wednesday. Elmer G. Burtnette Jr. of 70 E. Stewart Ave. was found by firefighters in the living room of his three-story house. He was declared dead at the scene. The fire, which is not being considered suspicious, was reported around 12:30 p.m., said Police Chief Daniel J. Kortan. The house had been condemned in April for unsanitary and unsafe living conditions, Kortan said. State police and Delaware County fire investigators are looking into the cause and origin of the fire.

Delaware County officials, responding to complaints from neighbors, seized 51 cats Wednesday in a case of animal hoarding. Lansdowne code enforcement officers and animal control representatives rounded up the flea-infested felines from a twin home on the unit block of Marshall Avenue. The home was later declared unfit for habitation. No criminal citations were issued, said Police Chief Daniel Kortan. The owners of the animals were intending to sell some of the kittens, said Kortan.

David Braneky is thinning arugula shoots, weeding rows of baby broccoli, and feeling great. Of course, he is. His day-off to-do list is shorter by two tasks, and he gets to watch the miracle of spring unfold, row by row. Those are no small gifts, as every gardener knows. But Braneky, called "Pastor Dave" by his congregation at Lansdowne Baptist Church, experiences something else in the garden, too: a profound connection to the Earth, to his food supply, humanity, and community, and to his God. "For me, the garden is a spiritual place.

Lawrence A. Kilcullen, 65, of Lansdowne, a computer specialist and Vietnam War veteran, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Saturday, March 5, at Delaware County Memorial Hospital. Mr. Kilcullen grew up in Lansdowne. After graduating from Monsignor Bonner High School, he attended St. Joseph's College for a year before enlisting in the Army. In 1966, he married Laura "Dolly" Miller. Two days afterward he departed for Vietnam. Though wounded in a knee and ankle by shrapnel, he declined a Purple Heart because he didn't want to worry his parents, said his son, Lawrence.