www.lmvue.org. Shortly after the video was shot the room was PACKED! Full of the happy sounds of neighbors and children having a great time on a rainy night! Sorry the photos aren't better, only had a teeny camera with me...

NBC10: Montco Man's Throat Slashed Inside His Home

A man is dead after his throat was slashed inside his Montgomery County home.

Richard Porter was discovered inside his home along the 400 block of Woodhill Road Friday morning in Upper Merion, Pa., police said.

Porter, 68, was found lying on his back in the living room of the home, Montogomery County D.A. Risa Vetri-Ferman said. He had injuries to his face and neck and a large amount of blood was splattered on the walls and floor.

This is horrible, simply horrible. This man's dogs are safe at a shelter - the police saved them. The murder scene is described as horrific with blood everywhere.

Cheryl Allison's editorial posted below courtesy of Main Line Times is magnificant. And I thought her article earlier was also spot on.

Main Line Times > Opinion
Opinion: Batten down the hatches and prepare for long night in LM
Published: Friday, March 12, 2010
By Cheryl Allison

When does something magically decide to become off limits? When Lower Merion decides it is so? Or when the solicitor who can't talk to residents decides something is privileged?

So, I thought after I sat through the travesty of this past Wednesday's meetings, that we would not only see the C.V.'s of those being pitted against one and other for Planning Commission so politics can go on as usual in Lower Merion, that we would also be seeing the solicitor's legal opinion on how this year's process was coming to pass? But it's not up there. And someone told me today that the public might not ever see this document?

WTF Loser Merion Township? WTF Lawyer Merion Township?

Thirty six weeks ago I wrote this post:

Spending Like Drunken Sailors, or David v. Goliath with an Open Checkbook

I didn't realize just how right I would turn out to be. Rich Ilgenfritz spent some time going through the legal bills Morgan Lewis has racked up defending the District in Students Doe vs. Lower Merion School District. My prediction? Scott Shafer and company are going to get really nice gift baskets from Morgan this Christmas.

How high will they go? Legal fees spiral in LMSD

Some highlights:

At its current pace Lower Merion could end up spending more than $1 million a year in legal fees defending the Ardmore redistricting lawsuit if the case were to continue until June.

According to a review by Main Line Media News, between last June and November the Lower Merion School District rang up bills of nearly $550,000 in the first six months that Morgan Lewis has been representing the school district in the Ardmore redistricting case. Other figures provided by the district this week suggest the total has likely already surpassed $600,000 as of the end of January. That doesn’t include bills for February. So if the district hasn’t gotten them yet, February’s bills are probably already in the mail.

and

The largest bill for the district came last July when the district was billed a total of $207,525.94. The costs in the bills were broken down into two primary parts. One part lists the hourly wages earned by the attorneys who are working on the case. The other part includes expenditures such as duplication fees, the costs of a legal research service and taxi rides to hearings.

Of that $207,525.94 for July, $200,838 was for the hourly labor wages of the attorneys who worked the case that month. The expenses came in at $6,687.

What does LMSD have to say about this?

Actually, quite a few words from Ross Haber, the Architect of all the 'scenarios' developed that became plans. Ross' deposition was quite revealing. Warning: This is an incredibly long (207 page) document with frequent use of the words "okay", "sorry" and "sure". Having actually read all 207 pages (took me 3 days with lots of breaks) I would recommend the highlights being pages 29 - 31, 49 - 54, 70, 79 - 82, 87 - 90, 93, 113 - 115, 128 - 138, 177 - 183, and 198 - 202. Feel free to read the whole document though:

Main Line Times > News
LM planning commission meeting gets wild during vote on appointments
Published: Thursday, March 11, 2010
By Cheryl Allison

So basically, it is like being Alice in Wonderland and falling down the freaking warped rabbit hole into Lower Merion Township.

Ya know...I hate when I get e-mails like this. Apparently George Manos has been dubbed the new expert on Roberts Rules of Order (and somewhere Lance Rogers is doubled over in laughter at that prospect), but it doesn't mean he grew any brain cells when it comes to shunshine (oops must be a subliminal slip, I mean SUNSHINE). Apparently the good footsoldier of The Bruce denied the public access to a recent Ad Hoc Environmental Initiative Committee, of which he is the chair?

Tsk, tsk Georgie...you knew it would come out and voila here is an e-mail I was sent and many thanks to Audrey for sending it and allowing me to reveal the origin of it:

Dear Carla,

Here's one for you.

Last Tuesday, March 9, the Ad Hoc EIC, chaired by George Manos, met. I was pleased to see that this Ad Hoc Committee was finally posted and on 2/21 sent a genuine thank you to Scott Zelov, Brian Gordon and George Manos.

Last night Carl Watson told me that he had arrived for the AHEIC and was denied admittance. Manos said it wasn't an open meeting. Apparently Zelov and Gordon tried to convince him that there was no reason to keep it closed. Someone pointed out that it had been posted, at which juncture, as it was relayed to me, Manos claimed that he had had the posting withdrawn. This seems to be true, given that you cannot find it under past calendar postings on the Lower Merion website.

I asked Zelov about this last night, and he corroborated the narrative. Since by all accounts there was nothing privileged in the discussion, one has to assume that Manos just closed it to spite the public.

If you want to post something on your blog, feel free to use my name.

Fondly, Audrey

Cheers George, they are watching you...

But seriously as I know nothing of this committee (Ad Hoc Environmental Initiative Committee), what does it do that couldn't be done in public?

As some have noted, the March 8, 2010 Radnor Board of Commissioners meeting was, in a word, unusual.

During the meeting, I had an interesting discussion with Commissioner John Fisher about the proposed contract that sets the salary and terms for the new Radnor Township Manager. I noted that the new manager is receiving what appears to be a significant salary increase over his position in Ohio. Commissioner Fisher responded by characterizing my question as "a good one", and stated that the increase was largely due to a cost-of-living increase between Ohio and Radnor.

"Does It Ever Stop?" was obviously a rhetorical question for we all know that it never does.

The real question iswhy.

Debates continue with B.C. Library project
Published: Wednesday, March 10, 2010

By Cheryl Allison

For most Lower Merion commissioners, it’s a matter of keeping a long-overdue upgrade of township facilities on track.

For a smaller number, it feels like “being on a $25-million runaway train.”

They were talking last week about the next project in the township’s multi-year program to update all six branches in the Lower Merion Library System: a major renovation of the Bala Cynwyd Library.

It was a predictably long discussion and in many respects virtually the same debate that took place in 2009 before the launch of the first project in the series, improvements to the system’s flagship, Ludington Library in Bryn Mawr.

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