Patricia Wells

Charges against a woman accused of driving drunk and killing six children who were in her car in a July 4 crash in Camden will not be dropped because of a delay in indicting her, a judge ruled yesterday. Camden County Superior Court Judge Linda G. Rosenzweig said the delay in taking the case of Patricia Wells, 28, of Camden, before a grand jury was "not particularly useful," but was not cause for dismissal. Leah McGarry Morris, assistant deputy public defender, had filed a speedy-trial motion contending that Wells' rights were being violated.

The woman who was driving a speeding car that crashed on the Fourth of July, killing six children, was arrested yesterday and charged with six counts of aggravated manslaughter. Authorities also said that Patricia Wells, 28, of the 400 block of Bailey Street in Camden, was drunk when the accident occurred. Wells was accompanied by her father and her attorney when she surrendered to authorities yesterday afternoon at the Camden Police Department headquarters. She was taken to the Camden County Jail and was scheduled to be arraigned on the charges this morning before Superior Court Judge Isaiah Steinberg, according to Camden County Prosecutor Lee A. Solomon.

From the time she was a little girl, food writer Patricia Wells knew what she wanted to be when she grew up. "I remember at 7 years old standing at the blackboard and writing 'Journalist,' " said the author of the recently released "The Provence Cookbook. " (Harper Collins, $29.95.) "I knew that I always wanted to write for newspapers. I'm not sure whether it's that I just wanted to see my name in print, or to be able to ask questions that other people couldn't. The food and the journalism came together much later, though.

The prosecutor asked for the maximum penalty, 20 years in prison. The defendants' relatives, many of whom were also the victims' relatives, pleaded for the judge to act with "compassion, just as Jesus did. " They did not ask for mercy. Only God, they said, could give that. In the end - after an hour-long hearing so intense, so full of sobbing and flailing of arms it seemed like a wake - Superior Court Judge David G. Eynon sentenced Patricia Wells to the longest prison term he could, with parole possible only after 17 1/2 years.

A woman who authorities said was drunk and speeding when her car crashed into a tree near Camden High School, killing six children and injuring two others, pleaded guilty yesterday to manslaughter and faces 17 years behind bars. Patricia Wells, 30, of the 400 block of Bailey Street in Camden, entered the plea to two counts of manslaughter in connection with the 1997 crash, said Camden County Prosecutor Lee A. Solomon. Camden County Superior Court Judge David Eynon scheduled sentencing for May 28. Solomon said his office would recommend a maximum sentence of 10 years on each count, to be served consecutively.

A Camden County grand jury yesterday returned a 23-count indictment against a woman who authorities say was drunk and driving at a high rate of speed when she crashed the vehicle and killed six young passengers in Camden last July 4. Among the charges lodged against Patricia Wells, 28, of Bailey Street in Camden, are six counts of felony murder, six counts of aggravated manslaughter, two counts of aggravated assault, and eight counts of child...

By Patricia and Walter Wells HarperCollins. 317 pp. $27 Reviewed by Karen Heller Perhaps Patricia Wells lives in your kitchen. Our Bistro Cooking is splattered with grease, not surprising as almost every recipe calls for copious amounts of pork or butter, and sometimes, fortunately, both. What's not to love about a cookbook that has nine recipes for potato gratin? The only quandary is whether to make Madame Cartet's that calls for one cup of Gruyere, Madame Laracine's that asks for two, or the Pommes de Terre Comtoises that requires an almost illegal three.

They weren't supposed to die so young, so fast, and as a family. Certainly not all on the same day - or on a national holiday that traditionally draws families together for barbecues, parades and fireworks. But the six children did. And for dozens of their relatives and friends, something within them died as well, as if they were all squeezed into that Mercury Sable that crashed into a tree on Friday morning on winding Baird Boulevard in Camden. "Everybody in the car was my family," said William Robert McDaniels, as he examined the crash site yesterday afternooon.

The Foods of Vietnam, Nicole Routhier's collection of 150 Vietnamese recipes, was named "best of the year" for 1989 in an annual competition last month under the auspices of the International Association of Cooking Professionals. The cookbook, published by Stewart Tabori & Chang, first won in the contest's international category before it was selected as the best out of 13 category winners. A jury of 36 food professionals across the country judged about 200 books submitted for the contest.

The woman accused of driving drunk and killing six children in her car in a July Fourth crash in Camden sat in a wheelchair and wept yesterday as a judge read six charges of aggravated manslaughter against her. Patricia Wells, 28, of the 400 block of Bailey Street in Camden, sobbed softly and wiped her eyes with a paper towel each time the name of one of the child victims was spoken during the proceeding. Among the young victims killed was one of her own two children. Wells was in a wheelchair because she had suffered a broken hip and other injuries in the 11 a.m. single-car crash two weeks ago on Baird Boulevard near Camden High School.

By Patricia and Walter Wells HarperCollins. 317 pp. $27 Reviewed by Karen Heller Perhaps Patricia Wells lives in your kitchen. Our Bistro Cooking is splattered with grease, not surprising as almost every recipe calls for copious amounts of pork or butter, and sometimes, fortunately, both. What's not to love about a cookbook that has nine recipes for potato gratin? The only quandary is whether to make Madame Cartet's that calls for one cup of Gruyere, Madame Laracine's that asks for two, or the Pommes de Terre Comtoises that requires an almost illegal three.

The 22d edition of the Book and the Cook, Philadelphia's foremost culinary event, is set to begin March 17 and continue through March 26. Foodie favorites Mary Ann Esposito, Iron Chef Cat Cora, Rick Bayless, John Mariani, Patricia Wells, Jeff Nathan, Paula Wolfert, John Shields and Michael Jackson (the Brit) will be back to host their share of this year's 67 scheduled wine and dining events. New faces on the menu include popular television food personalities Dave Lieberman, Daisy Martinez, Aaron Sanchez, Brini Maxwell and Ted Allen.

From the time she was a little girl, food writer Patricia Wells knew what she wanted to be when she grew up. "I remember at 7 years old standing at the blackboard and writing 'Journalist,' " said the author of the recently released "The Provence Cookbook. " (Harper Collins, $29.95.) "I knew that I always wanted to write for newspapers. I'm not sure whether it's that I just wanted to see my name in print, or to be able to ask questions that other people couldn't. The food and the journalism came together much later, though.

In its 20th year, the Book and the Cook's pairing of cookbook authors with area restaurants produced 72 dining events plus cooking demonstrations, food tours and related programs. Restaurant tallies were not available at press time. But judging from the full and nearly full dining rooms we saw during the March 12-21 festival, the results should be comparable to last year's. In 2003, nearly 7,000 diners spent more than $620,000 at 74 meals with authors, feasting on dishes from their cookbooks.

The 18th annual edition of The Book and the Cook, Philadelphia's renowned 10-day cookbook festival, wrapped up last weekend with a flurry of successful dinners. The 71 dine-with-the-authors events brought in about $650,000 in revenues from about 9,200 patrons. Still, it was a tough year for the fest, underwritten this year by KitchenAid. Overall participation and attendance slipped a bit because of the economy's malaise and some late planning and missed deadlines due to the Sept.

The pairings are set, the program at the printer. And, the economy's malaise aside, plans for Philadelphia's KitchenAid The Book and the Cook Festival, to be held March 15-24, are in remarkably good shape. The 18th annual cookbook fair and gastronomic extravaganza will feature cooking classes, demonstrations, and dozens of events at which food lovers can dine with renowned cookbook authors and other food personalities at 64 restaurants and other venues. The festival's Culinary Showcase and Market, which will run March 16-17 in the Adam's Mark Hotel ballroom, is billed as the nation's largest consumer culinary fair.

Ask Andrew Axilrod about the cooking classes he has taken with cookbook author Patricia Wells in Provence, and a dreamy expression settles over his face. "It changed my life," said Axilrod, 50, a University of Pennsylvania staff urologist who lives in Wayne. The techniques he learned were almost secondary. "It was as much about having a good quality of life as about the food," he said. The magic of the experience, he added, came from inhaling the perfume of a just-unearthed black truffle, from tasting wines unknown in the United States, and from the companionable hours spent at the table after the cooking was done at Chanteduc, Wells' hilltop home in Vaison-la-Romaine.

The prosecutor asked for the maximum penalty, 20 years in prison. The defendants' relatives, many of whom were also the victims' relatives, pleaded for the judge to act with "compassion, just as Jesus did. " They did not ask for mercy. Only God, they said, could give that. In the end - after an hour-long hearing so intense, so full of sobbing and flailing of arms it seemed like a wake - Superior Court Judge David G. Eynon sentenced Patricia Wells to the longest prison term he could, with parole possible only after 17 1/2 years.

A woman who authorities said was drunk and speeding when her car crashed into a tree near Camden High School, killing six children and injuring two others, pleaded guilty yesterday to manslaughter and faces 17 years behind bars. Patricia Wells, 30, of the 400 block of Bailey Street in Camden, entered the plea to two counts of manslaughter in connection with the 1997 crash, said Camden County Prosecutor Lee A. Solomon. Camden County Superior Court Judge David Eynon scheduled sentencing for May 28. Solomon said his office would recommend a maximum sentence of 10 years on each count, to be served consecutively.

A Camden County grand jury yesterday returned a 23-count indictment against a woman who authorities say was drunk and driving at a high rate of speed when she crashed the vehicle and killed six young passengers in Camden last July 4. Among the charges lodged against Patricia Wells, 28, of Bailey Street in Camden, are six counts of felony murder, six counts of aggravated manslaughter, two counts of aggravated assault, and eight counts of child...