news in brief

Philadelphia – President Bush has named David Girard-diCarlo, the chief executive officer and managing partner of Blank Rome Comisky & McCauley in Philadelphia, to be a member of the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center, the national performing arts center.



Girard-diCarlo’s term on the board runs until September 2007.



Girard-diCarlo will be the first private citizen from Pennsylvania to serve on the board of the center, which is a memorial to the nation’s 35th president as well as the busiest performing arts space in the country.



The Blank Rome partner has a long history of involvement in the arts in Philadelphia. He formerly served as vice chair and as a member of the executive committee of both the Academy of Music and the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 1996, Girard-diCarlo received the Edwin Forrest Award, conferred by Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theater, for outstanding contribution to the theater.



“The Kennedy Center is a national icon, and an international treasure,” Girard-diCarlo said. “As a member of the board of trustees, I will do everything that I can to continue its legacy as a producer, commissioner and advocate of the arts.”

Appeals Court: Chickens Are Poultry, Not Pets

Philadelphia – The Superior Court has determined that a Monroe County family will have to get rid of its chickens because they are considered poultry, not pets.



The court determined that Clifford Press and his wife Elizabeth Sawyer violated the “Poultry Covenant” of the Buck Hill Falls development by housing the birds on their property.



The couple argued that the chickens were pets and therefore did not fall under the Poultry Covenant. But the court disagreed.



“The Poultry Covenant specifically states that ‘No livestock, animals or poultry of any kind shall be raised, bred or kept on any existing property except dogs … and other household pets …,’” Judge Frank J. Montemuro wrote for the court in Buck Hill Falls Co. v. Press, PICS Case No. 02-0080 (Pa. Super. Jan. 28, 2002) Montemuro, J. (11 pages). “The word ‘poultry’ is understood to mean ‘all types of chicken…’”



“From its plain meaning, we find that the poultry prohibition contained in the restrictive covenant is quite clear, and was meant to prohibit Buck Hills Falls community members from maintaining chickens for any reason.”



The court reversed the Monroe County trial court’s decision to partially grant an injunction that would stop the couple from maintaining chickens on their property. The trial court limited the number of chickens allowed on the property to five.



The Superior Court, however, said that the family could not keep any chickens on their property because to keep the chickens would be in direct violation of the Poultry Covenant.



The court remanded the case for the sole purpose of determining whether Buck Hill Falls Co. is entitled to attorney fees.

PennDOT May Close Unlicensed Airport