Nine cars pulled from river
By Richard Ilgenfritz published October 11, 2009
Most cars reach their final resting places either in a salvage yard or as recycled scrap metal. But a very few may forever rest under the mud and muck at the bottom of the Schuylkill River.
That’s likely what will happen to two cars that remain under more than 20 feet of water and a lot of sediment near the boat ramp at Gladwyne’s Flat Rock Park.
Sunday, crews from the Telford Volunteer Diving and Rescue Unit helped township officials recover several cars from the waters near the ramp.
Lower Merion police Lt. Frank Higgins said eight cars were pulled from the river Sunday and one had been removed a few weeks ago.
Although most of the cars that have been recovered have been reported stolen, some of them are at this point unidentifiable because officials haven’t been able to get a license-plate or vehicle-identification number (VIN) from them.
“The oldest one goes back to ’91, which is the one unusual one,” Higgins said of the car that had been reported missing the longest. “The rest of them are more recent.”
Most of the cars were reported missing over the past few years and one was reported stolen about six months ago.
According to Higgins, the missing car from 1991 was from Lower Merion. The others that have been identified were reported missing from Philadelphia. Two of the cars have yet to be identified and officials might need help from the state police to identify those cars, he said.
The cars were discovered in early September when dive teams using sonar were searching the river for the car belonging to missing Chester County resident Toni Lee Sharpless. Sharpless was last seen after leaving a party in Gladwyne in August and has been missing ever since. Investigators theorized that she may have gotten lost in the dark, ended up on River Road and crashed into the river.
Officials now say they do not believe her car is in the river.
According to Higgins, of the three cars that remain in the Schuylkill, “two are buried so deep in the mud that we’re not going to try and recover them.” The other one they might try and recover.
The two are covered nearly to the top of their hoods and likely would fall apart upon removal. He estimated that they could have been under water for 30 years or more.
As written in the Main Line Media News
http://www.mainlinemedianews.com/articles/2009/10/11/main_line_times/news/doc4acd5b8557d80227578243.txt
By Darts & Laurel 2/5/08
Some just live to be spoilers
And we can never tell all of the many volunteers — who fill so many vital roles —often enough how much they are appreciated by the community.
This week we want to underscore that recognition again, and highlight two recent occurrences that have helped prompt this.
The first falls into the category of “we just can’t believe it.”
You may have noticed a Police Log item on Friday that detailed how someone had stolen a firefighter’s truck from where he had parked it near the Hatfield Firehouse when he was responding to a reported gas leak.
Yes, someone had the nerve — and complete lack of conscience — to steal a volunteer firefighter’s truck while he was serving the community. Police are hoping that someone will come forward with information about the theft. If you do, please call the Hatfield Police at (215) 855-0903.
Help to bring this low life to justice.
The other “prompt” was of the positive sort.
In Saturday’s paper, we reported on the Telford Diving Unit of Upper Salford being called upon to help look for the body of a man, believed to be in an abandoned quarry in
It’s a dangerous mission, to be sure; and those in the diving unit have to undergo rigorous training.
We just want to salute this team for their commitment to what often are perilous assignments.
DART: To all of those “fine” people who are wreaking havoc in the White’s Mill Road open space area of
Drug use, littering and vandalism has been occurring in that area, spurring the Tylersport Crime Alert and the township supervisors to work together to stem the problems being caused.
The township is considering installing lights in that area to help discourage those who think the open space area was designed for their illegal activities.
It’s a shame that time and money has to be spent cleaning up and protecting an area that is designed to be a benefit for township residents.
We’re sure taxpayers are less than pleased to think that their money may have to be spent to help ward off these lawbreakers.
We’re glad residents of that area are willing to help patrol and clean up after these vile creatures; but we’d rather see the perpetrators be caught and punished.
Cleaning up even filthier areas seems an appropriate punishment.
As reported online at: The Reporter Online
That’s about as low as you can go.
Telford diving unit headed to
DIVING AND RESCUE TEAM TO ASSIST OFFICIALS IN RECOVERY
By Bradley Schlegel, Staff Writer 2/1/08
And beginning this morning, the unit will help
Neil Rivel, the unit’s president and captain, says the recovery mission could be fraught with danger.
“I’d love to say we’re going to accomplish our mission,” Rivel said. “But there’s no guarantee.”
Relying on a hard helmet diving system, the divers can stay submerged at 100 feet for up to 15 minutes and at 30 feet indefinitely, he said.
Compressed air from a two-axle tractor-trailer pumps continuously into an airtight helmet. Two other lines fed into the helmet allow for surface communication and depth measurement.
The diving unit, which responds to between seven and 12 incidents annually for swift-water rescue and evidence recovery, accepted a request from the Northampton County coroner’s office to help locate a body in a quarry in the Borough of Chapman.
Inclement weather and frozen water shortened three separate searches last week for the body of an unidentified man who died last Sunday.
Accessing the quarry’s northwest corner, where officials estimate the body settled, could be a challenge. Though the unit has trained at the quarry, Rivel said none of his divers is familiar with that section, where the depths measure 150 feet.
Divers may have to traverse 100-foot cliffs just to reach the water, then contend with a 100-foot drop to the water surface, Rivel said.
The quarry’s unforgiving underwater walls are equally dangerous, he said.
“There are a lot of sharp walls,” he said. “Scraping a wall can tear open a dry suit or cut a diver’s (air line).”
Since its creation in 1947, the unit’s members have avoided serious injury, despite responding to move than 600 drownings and 1,000 recovery operations.
Consisting of recreational divers who have their open-water scuba certification and surface supporters, the 40-person unit trains once a month at the Indian Valley Family YMCA or local quarries.
“The training helps keep us safe,” Rivel said.
Six primary divers utilize three helmets, which are sealed to create a self-contained breathing unit. The unit purchased the helmets, which cost each $6,000, through fund raising and grants.
“(Rivel) is quite the grant writer,” said unit spokesperson Brad Lewis.
As reported online at: The Reporter Online
(There are a few mistakes in this article, but that is no fault of the reporter. We are extremely appreciative to him and the Reporter for writing this article).
Texas Equusearch Reports Finding Missing Plane In Lake Erie (DICKINSON, TX)
(2005)
At the Regal family's request, TES Founder and Director Tim Miller, Director of Diving Operations Ted Tarver, and TES volunteers Ralph Baird and Doug Pernnod flew to Buffalo, New York September 13 to assist in the search efforts. TES coordinated with members of the US Coast Guard, the NYSP Dive Team, Buffalo PD and Capt. Dick Spoth of Lake Erie Towing to narrow the search area where the plane was thought to have crashed. TES also enlisted the assistance of members of the St. Louis Sheriffs Department Dive Team, as well as members of the Telford Volunteer Diving and Rescue Unit from Harleysville, Pennsylvania.
According to sources close to the couple, Jesteadt, a 2000 graduate of Slippery Rock High School (PA), planned to propose to Myers, 24, as they flew over Niagara Falls. An investigation is pending to determine the cause for the crash. Regal, a flight instructor with more than 4000 flight hours to his credit, was recently notified that he had been promoted as Northwest Airlines' youngest captain in the airline's history.
TES expresses it gratitude to the many companies and individuals who participated in and sponsored the search efforts, without whose help this search would not have been possible.
Sergeants Al Garcia and Karl Bloom - New York State Police Dive Team
Detective Sergeant Kevin Maloney - Buffalo Police Department
Capt. Dick Spoth and Rick Spoth - Lake Erie Towing & Salvage
Lt. Chris Sweeney and CPO Ralph Kring - US Coast Guard - Buffalo Sector
Jeanne Macko - Lake Erie Diving Center, Angola, NY
Ms. Sally Took
Robert Ziehm - Marion Hill Associates, New Brighton, PA
Under Sheriff Dave Phillips, Capt. Tom Crossmon and Officer Mike Gates - St. Louis County Sheriff's Volunteer Rescue Squad of Minnesota
Capt. Neil Rivel, Diver Johnny Hartzell and Boat operator Ronnie Miner - Telford Volunteer Dive & Rescue Unit, Harleysville, PA
Clive Seal, VP of Flight Operations, Ms. Natalie Bloodworth & Ms. Stacey Mumm - PINNACLE Airlines/ Northwest Airlink
Mr. Joe Hermann, Ms. Jennifer Smith, Ms. Pearl Arnold and Ms. Ashley Gavin Adams Mark Hotel, Buffalo, NY
Mike McDermott - Frank McDermott LTD, Greta Falls, VA,
Buffalo FAA Air Traffic Control - Dave Allen
Buffalo ATC - Air Traffic Manager - Jeff Lynch
Buffalo ATC - Fred Peterson
Buffalo ATC - Darla Ritchie
Buffalo ATC - Automation Specialist John Call
Jim Montgomery, Director of Maintenance, - Executive Air Taxi Corp, Bismark, ND
Brian Edwards - Harvey-Lynch, Inc, Houston, TX
Jack D. Hall - Baird Petrophysical, Houston, TX
Dan Warren, Marine Archaeologist - C & C Technologies, Houston, TX
Tony George - C & C technologies, Lafayette, LA
Dan Bily, Dunkirk, NY (C-172 plane use and pilot)
As posted on Texas Equusearch's Website