Mantua

The shame on this narrow block of Melon Street lies in a series of handshakes, the ease of two young men in puffy coats standing against a redbrick house selling drugs on a winter day. It is midafternoon, and their business is brisk: a rumpled man with a limp; a squatty older woman; and a young man on a bicycle with a backpack, the semblance of a college student. In the last year, the 3800 block of Melon Street in Mantua, known as "the Bottom" for its position on the map of West Philadelphia, has been transformed into a work of art. The facades of almost all of the houses, even the abandoned ones, were painted through a grand Mural Arts Program project.

Mantua Mayor Tim Chell, now a nominee for a New Jersey Superior Court judgeship, was in line for a $41,564 pension from multiple part-time jobs as a municipal lawyer and prosecutor in Gloucester County. That is, until the Division of Pensions and Benefits launched an examination of the records of Chell and at least 10 other lawyers to determine whether the jobs they claimed as "pensionable" warranted a retirement payout. In Chell's case, some of them did not. The state sent him a letter in May after concluding he was due a pension of only $14,729.

On Saturday, old-school hip-hop legends, entertainers, and community leaders will gather in West Philadelphia for Mantua Community Improvement Center's seventh annual Mantua Family Day, focusing on improving the lives of neighbors, bringing the community together, and pledging to support youth. The free event also will promote nutrition awareness and celebrate the launch of a youth academy. Seven hours of activities begin at noon near 34th Street and Mantua Avenue, including a hip-hop legends concert, carnival, horseback riding, clowns, moon bouncing, and games.

The 2008 murder of a beloved youth mentor on a Mantua basketball court moments after he handed out trophies was avenged yesterday when a judge threw the book at the hit man. "Guilty," Common Pleas Judge Steven Geroff firmly repeated after every charge, which included two counts of first-degree murder - including that of community activist Miles Mack - and four counts of attempted murder. Kareem Savage, a chunky man who last lived at 29th and Thompson streets, will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.

The 2008 trophy ceremony for the neighborhood basketball league had barely begun when people at McAlpin Playground in Mantua dove to the ground at the sound of gunfire. "Are you all right there, boy?" said Miles Mack, founder of the X-Tra Miles Development Basketball League to curb youth violence, to a player whose body he was shielding. For Mack, 42, those words were his last. Seconds later, testified fellow coach Murphy Applin, the player's panicky voice called out: "Mr. Miles is not getting up. " "I thought he had a heart attack," Applin told a Philadelphia judge Monday.

Wednesday's warm and sunny weather was propitious for the new solar-powered traffic light at Woodbury-Glassboro Road in Mantua Township, at the entrances to a Target store and Timber Creek Shopping Center. "We are always looking for ways to use green energy, so we're happy to be the first to be doing this," Gloucester County Freeholder Heather Simmons said of the four-way signal, which is topped with six solar panels. It is the first of its kind in New Jersey, according to the state Department of Transportation.

A male was shot to death late Wednesday in the Mantua section of West Philadelphia, police said. Police responding to a report of a shooting at 11:05 p.m. found the unidentified victim in the 3800 block of Melon Street with a gunshot wound to his head. He was pronounced dead at 11:17 p.m. at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Police reported no arrest. - Robert Moran

A teenage boy shot his buddy in the wrist last night in Mantua but police and family members say it was accidental. The boys, 14 and 12, were playing in a lot on Brown Street near Union when the older boy shot his friend at 7:50 p.m. The wounded boy, identified by a neighbor as Douglas Carrol, was reported in stable condition at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The two boys live across the street from each other and neighbors said they often play football in the lot. The shooter's father, who identified himself only as Richard, 40, said his son ran into the house and collapsed onto the floor after the shooting.

A third South Jersey teachers union has agreed to a wage freeze to lessen the blow of cuts in state aid. Around 4 a.m. Friday, Mantua School District teachers and officials reached a tentative contract agreement that includes a one-year salary freeze, said Linda Galella, president of the school board. "The teachers came through for us," she said. "They knew we were dealing with significant budget cuts, significant state-aid cuts. " The Gloucester County district is expected to take a cut in aid of about a $1 million next year, Galella 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.