WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2016

THE MERCURY

POTTSTOWN

| LOCAL NEWS | 5
A

Body
FROM PAGE 1

the bottom of the pond. The pond

is part of Pigeon Creek, which is
a popular spot for fishing and
swimming and is located in an
isolated rural area.
She and the cinder block were
eventually taken out of the water
by first responders.
Interviews with people in the
area indicated that children had
been swimming in the pond the
afternoon before and police determined that the body must have
been dropped sometime afterward.
The District Attorneys Office
said that the body was that of an
African American woman, approximately 25 to 35 years old. She was
5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed 130
pounds. She had short hair, was
dressed in long shorts and a short
sleeved shirt with no shoes. Bracelets were found on both wrists
and rings were on her fingers. The
rings depicted a horse and an anchor. She also had a tattoo on her
left shoulder.
There were no indications of
blunt force trauma, strangulation or gunshot wounds. Authorities said that the woman did not
have water in her lungs, indicating that was dead before she was
put in the water.
The investigation is ongoing and
police are asking that anyone with
information should contact Chester County Detective Sergeant Tom
Goggin at 610-344-6866.

MICHILEA PATTERSON DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA

Children race as they participate in a running relay during a field day event at Franklin
Elementary School in Pottstown Friday.
Children were
sprayed and
splashed with
water as they
competed in
games during
Franklin
Elementarys
field day event
in Pottstown
Friday. The cool
water was a much
wanted relief on
the hot day.
MICHILEA PATTERSON
DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA

OJR

LaCoff said the board had

looked into changing
start times in the past.
But he stated that Chester County Intermediate
Unit would need to lead
the charge to change,
since all county schools
should have similar start
times for purposes of busing and shared programs
and services.
Board member K ris
Barcus, who ser ves as
the districts liaison to
the Intermediate Unit,
said a presentation on
the topic of school start
times was planned for an
upcoming CCIU meeting. She promised to relay the information from
that presentation to the
school board.
Di Mar inos mother,
Kathy DiMarino, urged
the district to take a
strong stance in support
of later start times.
OJR is such an outstanding district. I feel
we should be taking the
lead in making a change,
she said.

FROM PAGE 1

Im really hoping Owen

J. Roberts will take a
close look at the research
and make the necessary
changes as soon as possible, DiMarino said.
But Owen J. Roberts
is hardly alone in asking
teens to rise early. According to the American
Academy of Pediatrics, an
estimated 40 percent of
high schools across the
country begin classes before 8 a.m., and only 15
percent begin at 8:30 a.m.
or later. Middle schools
have similar schedules,
with the majority beginning at 8 a.m.
Physician Jean Flood,
an East Pikeland resident, said those start
times leave students so
sleep deprived its like
drinking four beers before going to school every morning.
Board member William

Krupp
FROM PAGE 1

No, Krupp said softly.

Silow then ordered that a
lawyer from the public defenders office be appointed
to represent Krupp in all future proceedings. The judge
granted the request by lawyer John J. Fioravanti Jr.,
who represented Krupp at
her trial last November, to
be released from the case.
Krupp, through Fiora-

vanti, previously filed court

papers asking the judge to
reconsider the state prison
term he imposed against
her in April in connection
with the 2:26 a.m. Dec.
4, 2014, blaze that totally
destroyed the Commons
Drive home of Limerick
Detective Ernie Morris
and killed the familys cat,
Bandit, while the Morris
family was on vacation to
Disney World.
Krupp claims the sentence was excessive. The
judge has not yet scheduled

Prayer
FROM PAGE 1

Superintendent Shellie
Feola told The Mercury last
week that a complaint was received after last years graduation about the overtly Christian invocation at last years
graduation.
The Mercury has since
learned the student who made
the invocation comments was
Bernard Steyaert. Attempts to
reach him for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Feola said she consulted
the districts solicitor, Marc
Davis, who offered the opinion that district-sponsored
prayer such as establishing
a place for prayer in a school
ceremony violates the separation of church and state.
That opinion was shared
with the school board last summer, but not discussed publicly.
She said prayers are allowed at a baccalaureate ceremony, traditionally held the
day before graduation, because it is organized by stua hearing on the matter and
now a public defender will
have to represent Krupp on
that claim.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Daniels
previously said he will vehemently oppose Krupps
request for a reduced sentence.
During the sentencing
hearing, Silow characterized Krupp as the neighbor from hell and said her
prison term will be followed
by five years of probation,
meaning Krupp, 53, will be

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MICHILEA PATTERSON DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA

A Franklin Elementary student carries a ladle of

water during a game for the schools field day
event in Pottstown Friday. The students enjoyed
cooling off with water activities on the hot day.

The Chester County District Attorneys office has

released photos of the womans
personal effects to help identify
her.
Visit pottsmerc.com to view.

I think its important that the

community be allowed to express
its feelings on this matter, and hear
the board discuss the subject.
Rick Rabinowitz, Pottsgrove School Board president

dents or an outside entity.

As of Tuesday, no baccalaureate had been scheduled, however comments posted in the
robust Facebook discussion
that followed the publication of
last weeks news account suggests that may change.
In the meantime, also in reaction to the debate, School
Board President Rick Rabinowitz posted that he has
asked Davis to draw up a
statement about the legality
of the tradition to be shared
with the community.
He also called for the special meeting.
I agreed to call a special
meeting to discuss prayer at
Pottsgrove events because I
had written requests from
three board members. I was
concerned that such a meeting
might distract the board from

its members oath to protect

and defend the Constitution
of the United States and the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Rabinowitz said.
I also felt that this could
have and should have been
handled last year by the previous board president. Still,
upon further reflection, I realized that I, too, played a role
in not bringing this up as part
of our regular board meetings, and I also realized that
this was a mistake, Rabinowitz said. Justin Valentine was
the board president when Davis provided his legal opinion.
It was Valentines post
on Rabinowitzs PGSD Discussion Page with a link to
a story about students at an
Ohio school who stood and recited the Lords Prayer at their
graduation after being

under court supervision for

25 years.
A jur y, af ter a trial
last November, convicted
Krupp, who had lived next
door to the Morris family,
of charges of arson, causing a catastrophe, reckless
burning, recklessly endangering another person,
criminal mischief, failing
to control or report a fire,
possessing an instrument
of crime and cruelty to animals.
During the trial, Daniels
alleged Krupp intentionally

set fire to the Morris home

out of revenge and misguided blame because she
blamed Morris for her son
Joshua L. Beauseigneurs
June 2014 incarceration on
charges he eluded state police on his motorcycle and
violated a previous probationary sentence.
The prosecutorial evidence against Krupp included a surveillance system videotape, recovered
from the Morris home,
which recorded the arsonist, wearing a hooded

told the school could no longer continue that schools tradition and sponsor the prayer
which kicked off the community debate.
Valentine posted that he
hoped the tradition of prayer
would continue at Pottsgroves
graduation ceremonies.
Since then, discussion
about tradition, the First
Amendment to the Constitution, religious expression and
the rights of the minority have
all been mounting on multiple
discussion threads.
Rabinowitz took Valentines post down from his
page, with an explanation,
and since then has been criticized online for not being as
transparent as he has previously insisted local government should be.
In his statement provided
to The Mercury Tuesday,
Rabinowitz also remarked I
think its important that the
community be allowed to express its feelings on this matter, and hear the board discuss the subject. So, for all
of these reasons, I called the
meeting.
sweatshirt, using a distinctive wand lighter and newspaper to set fire to a small
Christmas tree on the outside porch of the Morris
home.
While conceding she
didnt like her neighbor
and had issues with police,
Krupp has continued to
deny setting the fire.

To view video of convicted arsonist Donna

Krupp after her latest court
appearance go to
www.pottsmerc.com