Marcus Hook

Now that Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. has taken ownership of the closed Marcus Hook refinery, the pipeline company has big plans for the Delaware River industrial site. Sunoco Logistics chief executive Michael J. Hennigan provided analysts with details Thursday about how the pipeline and terminal company plans to repurpose the refinery as a hub for shipping liquid fuels produced from natural-gas drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shales. "We plan to create a world-class natural-gas liquids hub on the East Coast," Hennigan said.

In the shadow of sprawling pipelines, storage tanks, smokestacks and cranes, former baseball great Mickey Vernon signed autographs for children too young to remember his name. "A little girl came up to me with a book on Marcus Hook's history, and it had a picture of me in it," said Vernon, who was born and spent much of his early years there before beginning a 21-year major-league career. "I asked her, 'Doesn't that look like me?' She said, 'no.' " The young girl's lack of baseball knowledge and Marcus Hook history, though, did not matter to Vernon, the 1946 and 1953 American League batting champion with the Washington Senators, one of five clubs he played for from 1939 to 1960.

Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P., the energy pipelines and terminal operator, has acquired the former Sunoco refinery in Marcus Hook for $60 million and plans to develop it into "world class" hub for shipping natural gas liquids from the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations. The acquisition, announced with the company's first quarter earnings on Wednesday, "demonstrates Sunoco Logistics' continued commitment to pursue opportunistic growth in natural gas liquids," said Michael J. Hennigan, president and chief executive officer.

The borough's "Down by the River" summer festival will begin its 13th year of free concerts in Market Square Memorial Park at 7 p.m. July 5 with a performance by the 60-piece John Philip Sousa Band of Upper Darby. Though the concerts are generally held on six consecutive Tuesdays, borough officials said the opening date was changed to Monday to coincide with the Independence Day holiday weekend. The five following concerts will be held each Tuesday from July 13 until Aug. 10. All will begin at 7 p.m., and in the event of rain will be rescheduled for the next evening.

MARCUS HOOK has long been a quintessential company town, joined at the hip with the iconic Philadelphia company Sunoco for more than a century. With imminent closure of Sunoco's refinery there, most of the 590 workers get their last paychecks today. Now, fear is seeping into this quaint, tight-knit, working-class burg in Delaware County - fear that it could turn into a modern-day ghost town. When Sunoco said in September that it would dump the last of its remaining refining operations and focus on oil pipelines and fuel retailing, local workers and residents hoped that a buyer would emerge for the 110-year-old, 175,000-barrel-per-day refinery.

Officers with the Pennsylvania SPCA removed at least 23 dogs late Friday from the property of a woman in Marcus Hook who runs what she calls an animal rescue agency. Terry Silva, operator of Sixth Angel Shepherd Rescue Inc., faces animal-cruelty charges after officers executing a search warrant found sick and underweight animals in a filthy house, according to PSPCA spokeswoman Wendy Marano. She said officers were continuing to search the property Friday night for more dogs. Silva, a lawyer, was cited by the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement in 2010 for transferring dogs in a public place and other violations.

For years, two companies, the Sun Co. and the Viscose Co. dominated the economic life and the physical appearance of Marcus Hook. But that changed in the mid-1960s when Viscose closed its nearly 38-acre Marcus Hook plant, leaving the nearby Viscose Village section of the borough amid empty buildings. Viscose Village, and indeed all of Marcus Hook, was in trouble, according to Ed Corse, executive director of the Marcus Hook Community Development Corp. (MHCDC), which was founded 10 years ago to encourage economic development in the borough.

Looking for something to do Friday night? If you like Pirates, then this is for you. A documentary, Treasure: The Story of Marcus Hook , will be holding a free special preview screening at 7 p.m. in the Marcus Hook Community Center. The film chronicles the efforts of the Delaware County Borough of Marcus Hook to change it image - and future - by highlighting it's history. Pirate history to be exact. Arrr Matey, What say ye? The struggling Delaware River community of 2,400 residents, is sandwiched between two dying refineries.

The mayor of Marcus Hook, charged last week with holding an acquaintance hostage during a drunken encounter at his home, has decided not to run for reelection. The borough council had asked James Schiliro, 38, to step down, but he declined. He recently filed paperwork to run for reelection, but now has withdrawn his nominating petition, Delaware County officials said Thursday. He is out on bail on charges of recklessly endangering another person, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, furnishing alcohol to someone under 21, and official oppression.

Now that Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. has taken ownership of the closed Marcus Hook refinery, the pipeline company has big plans for the Delaware River industrial site. Sunoco Logistics chief executive Michael J. Hennigan provided analysts with details Thursday about how the pipeline and terminal company plans to repurpose the refinery as a hub for shipping liquid fuels produced from natural-gas drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shales. "We plan to create a world-class natural-gas liquids hub on the East Coast," Hennigan said.

Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P., the energy pipelines and terminal operator, has acquired the former Sunoco refinery in Marcus Hook for $60 million and plans to develop it into "world class" hub for shipping natural gas liquids from the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations. The acquisition, announced with the company's first quarter earnings on Wednesday, "demonstrates Sunoco Logistics' continued commitment to pursue opportunistic growth in natural gas liquids," said Michael J. Hennigan, president and chief executive officer.

By this time next year, the Coast Guard Auxiliary hopes one corner of Marcus Hook will have become a bustling hub for local members to train, teach classes, patrol the waters, and more. Marcus Hook officials, businesses, and politicians are collaborating with the auxiliary, a uniformed, all-volunteer branch whose members perform almost all of the tasks associated with the National Guard, to build a training facility on the edge of the Delaware River. The facility, which Coast Guard members are aiming to have completed by midsummer, will have room to hold boating safety and other classes for recruits, and the river will provide a site for training with the auxiliary's boats and floating piers.

Marcus Hook Mayor James "Jay" Schiliro was ordered held over for trial Tuesday on charges that he fired a gun inside his house while holding a 20-year-old friend hostage. At a preliminary hearing before District Judge Nicholas Lippincott, Nicholas Dorsam, 20, of Chichester, testified that he and Schiliro had a "good friendship" but that on a February night, the mayor ordered a police car to bring him to his house, then compelled him to drink wine and would not let him leave. Schiliro is to be tried on charges that include recklessly endangering another person, false imprisonment, and furnishing alcohol to someone under 21. Dorsam, a former neighbor, said he received a text message from Schiliro while at a friend's house indicating the mayor had been drinking and wanted to talk.

In the Region Advocates, refiner reach deal   The Clean Air Council and Philadelphia Energy Solutions have reached a settlement over a dispute over how emissions reductions caused by the closure of Sunoco's Marcus Hook refinery are credited, according to a joint statement issued Friday night. The advocacy group has withdrawn its September appeal of state environmental officials' determination that refineries in Marcus Hook and Philadelphia could be considered one single air-pollution source.

F. Gardiner Pearson, 98, of Strafford, a longtime research chemist and amateur radio enthusiast, died Wednesday, April 3, of a heart attack at home. Born in 1914 in the Philadelphia suburbs, Mr. Pearson graduated from Episcopal Academy and Haverford College and in 1941 earned a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation, he was hired as a research chemist for the American Viscose Corp., in Marcus Hook, which was later absorbed by FMC Corp., a chemical manufacturing company in Philadelphia.

Despite refinery closures, a storm for the ages, and the perils of the "fiscal cliff," Delaware County has experienced something of an industrial renaissance, according to James L. McGarrigle, the County Council chairman. "We have plenty of Silver Linings," he said at a county Chamber of Commerce lunch Tuesday in Media, invoking the movie, Silver Linings Playbook , which was filmed in part in the county. In his annual state of the county address, McGarrigle said the future "is bright.

As Marcus Hook Borough Mayor James Schiliro deals with charges that he held an acquaintance hostage and fired a gun during a drunken episode at his home in February, residents Tuesday expressed mixed feelings about whether he should resign. Schiliro, 38, a Republican, has said he would not seek reelection but intends to serve the remaining nine months of his four-year term. Schiliro apologized at a Monday night council meeting for the negative publicity that "his arrest has cast on the borough," according to the Delaware County Times.

The mayor of Marcus Hook, charged last week with holding an acquaintance hostage during a drunken encounter at his home, has decided not to run for reelection. The borough council had asked James Schiliro, 38, to step down, but he declined. He recently filed paperwork to run for reelection, but now has withdrawn his nominating petition, Delaware County officials said Thursday. He is out on bail on charges of recklessly endangering another person, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, furnishing alcohol to someone under 21, and official oppression.

The mayor of Marcus Hook, who was charged last week with holding an acquaintance hostage during a drunken encounter at his home, has filed to withdraw his nominating petition for reelection, according to Delaware County officials. James Schiliro, 38, had been asked by the borough council to step down from his office, but has said he would not do that. He recently filed paperwork to run for reelection. He is out on bail on charges of recklessly endangering another person, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, furnishing alcohol to a minor, and official oppression.