Mantua

As the township's population continues to grow, so does the number of children attending local public schools. In fact, officials warn, enrollment could swell by as many as 500 pupils by the turn of the century, further burdening already crowded schools. The Board of Education has a solution: expansions of two district school buildings. The cost to taxpayers: $13 million. On May 13, voters in the Gloucester County community will decide whether the district should float a $13 million bond for construction at J. Mason Tomlin and Sewell elementary schools.

Authorities yesterday busted a Mantua cocaine ring that allegedly had sold about $4 million of the illegal drug in the neighborhood. "These nuts were strangling the community," said C.B. Kimmins, founder of Mantua Against Drugs, adding that the neighborhood "applauded" officials "for helping us to get rid of these thugs and urban terrorists. " The eight-member cocaine ring distributed more than 40 kilograms of the drug between July 1995 and July 8, 1996, a 16-count federal indictment charged.

In the last three months, Mantua Township has approved three ordinances that officials have said were needed to control the problems of population growth. They are a law controlling use of all-terrain vehicles, one to regulate shooting and a third designed to save the trees on lots under development. Now the township is dealing with fences. Specifically, Mantua committeemen at their meeting June 13 presented an amendment to the zoning code that would lift the 4-foot limit allowed for property fences.

With elementary-school enrollment in Mantua Township expected to balloon by 66 percent within the next five years, the most likely solution will be to double the size of the Centre City School within the next three years, according to school Superintendent David S. Porreca. A second phase of construction, after additions to the school are completed, would involve the expansion of one of the township's remaining two elementary schools - the Sewell School or the J. Mason Tomlin School, Porreca said.

Mantua Township residents will see their tax rate increase by 8 cents if the Township Committee approves a proposed $5.13 million budget on Tuesday. A public hearing on the budget will be at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday at the municipal building on Main Street. The committee is expected to vote on the proposed budget after the hearing. The committee last month introduced a budget that is $312,073 higher than the 1990 budget of $4.82 million. The proposed budget calls for the tax rate to increase to 93 cents from 85 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

Explaining trash-collection delays and defending Mantua Township's decision to collect trash on its own, Mayor William J. Berry asked residents last night to be patient until the service could be improved. Many among about 50 residents at the meeting complained about continued delays in trash collection. They grilled Berry and Township Committee members on how soon backed-up trash and recyclable goods would be collected, and on how they planned to improve the service. Berry said the three trucks now collecting trash were not sufficient.

There seemed to be an unusual amount of activity along Haverford Avenue near the West Philadelphia Community Center late yesterday afternoon. Members of the city's Anti-Graffiti Network painted murals on buildings. A group of young people collected litter from a vacant lot. A man put a new sign atop the American Family Quality Market. And there was a city street sweeper methodically moving south on 34th Street, certainly not an everyday sight in West Philadelphia. But it's not every day that the President of the United States pops in for a visit.

Next year's enrollment projections indicate that the Mantua Township school board should consider reorganizing bus routes to even out ever- increasing class sizes, according to Superintendent David Porecca. Porecca predicted that the 883-student district would grow by about 82 students by September. Porecca said the district had grown by 7.5 percent since September 1986 and was expected to grow by an additional 10 percent by June 1988. Distribution of the new students among the district's three schools will be uneven, Porecca said.

A pizza deliveryman was killed during a robbery Wednesday night in the Mantua section of the city, the second time this month that a deliveryman has died in a robbery. Kouakou Jacques, 36, was shot once in the chest while making a delivery in the 4100 block of Aspen Street about 10 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Police have no witnesses and no suspects. "Right now, we don't know how the events occurred," Capt. James Clark, commander of the Homicide Unit, said yesterday.

Miles Mack was gunned down at a basketball tournament that he'd founded to save and serve a community he once referred to as "my people. " In that quick and brutal act, a city starved for role models lost one of its best. And a good man who had stepped up to make a difference was apparently victimized by the same tough guys and "hard-headed" kids he had worked all his life to help. "He was on the front lines," said Rick Young, a friend and the chief executive officer of the Mantua Community Improvement Committee.