Heather Hamilton honed her sign language skills at the VRS Interpreting Institute in Utah.

By Crissa Shoemaker DeBreeStaff writer

Heather Hamilton didn’t understand why the young boy wouldn’t acknowledge her goodbyes. The two 5-year-olds had spent an entire afternoon playing together. He didn’t say much, but Heather thought he was just quiet. Then, it

dawned on her: He wasn’t nswering her farewells, no matter how loudly she shouted, not because he was ignoring her. He simply couldn’t hear her. He was deaf. “He was gesturing (in sign language) and I didn’t even know it,” she said.Hamilton, now 22, never saw the boy again. She doesn’t even remember his name. But that encounter had a profound effect on her. Today, the Hatboro-Horsham High School and Bloomsburg University graduate is an AmericanSign Language interpreter. She recently completed an intensive, three-month course at the VRS Interpreting Institute in SaltLake City. Only two dozen top-level Interpreter EducationProgram graduates are chosen each year for VRS’ School-to-Work program. “Our program isintended for people who already have a foundation,” said faculty member Michelle Draper. “We tryto hit those people who have enough skills but could use our support and benefit from that. Our goal is to improve their skills and their confidence. The end goal is full, sustainable employment for them.” Draper said Hamiltonproved to be a natural leader whose skills and confidence grew as she went through the program. “It was amazing,” Hamilton said. “I worked

very hard, very long over the 14 weeks I was there. But I can’t say enough positive things about it.”Hamilton said she’s known ever since her childhood meeting that she wanted to be a sign languageinterpreter. She graduated from Bloomsburg’s interpreting program in August. She has a provisional certificate from the state that allows her to interpret for business, education and non-emergency medical clients. She’s applied forher full certification, which will allow her to interpret in courts and in emergency situations. She’s applied to Galludet University in Washington, D.C., a leader in liberal education and career development for deaf and hearing-impaired students. If accepted, Hamilton hopes to study the linguistics of American Sign Language. When she interprets,Hamilton thinks back to herchildhood playmate. “I, as a 5-year-old kid, didn’t care that he was deaf,” Hamilton said. “We playedanyway. I want adults to communicate with deaf peopleand not feel any barriers at all.”

Crissa Shoemaker DeBree: 215-345-3186; email: cshoemaker@calkins.com; Twitter: @CrissaShoemaker

localThe inTelligencer ♦ A3 ♦ FridAy, April 11, 2014

A south of the border Passover B1

His memory of that fateful day is a constant companion: World War II … Normandy, France, 1944 … an accidental bazooka explosion … jagged shrapnel tear-ing into his stomach, arms and legs … the chilling squeeze of death’s cold hand.

Should the events of that day 70 years ago ever become clouded by the passage of time, a glance at his right hand, where his pinky used to be, will provide renewed clarity.

Shortly after surviving a mild heart attack a few months ago, 90-year-old Walter F. Thomson’s memories of that day shone clear as he was en route to Carroll’s Jewel-ers in Doylestown. The Army veteran is a member of the often-called greatest generation that sacrificed so much for so many. But on this day, he was about to do something for himself.

Along with his memo-ries, Thomson toted a damaged high school graduation ring to his jew-eler — the ring he wore on his right hand when that bazooka shell exploded. His pinky was so severely dam-aged it had to be surgically removed shortly after he was wounded.

The graduation ring from Northeast High School in Philadelphia was severely dam-aged too, bent out of shape to such a degree that it couldn’t be worn. Still, Thomson tucked it into his uniform pocket, took it back to America, put it away and forgot about it.

The passage of time often draws our gaze over our shoulders, to the days when our lives were new and the future was an open highway. And as Thomson’s 90th birthday approached, he began thinking about that ring and how much he wanted to wear it again.

“I didn’t want to restore my ring to exactly the way it was, but to change it to reflect my Army service,” said Thomson, a resident of Ann’s Choice, a continuing care retirement community in Warminster. “I wanted to get it re-stylized with the insig-nia that officers put on their caps — a large eagle clutching arrows. I was only an Army staff sergeant, not an officer, but I didn’t think anybody would mind. I was doing it to remember my service and to honor my country.”

When Thomson visited the jewelry store and handed the damaged ring to Carroll’s owner Joel Robinson, the jeweler immedi-ately knew restoring it to the man’s specifi-cations would be challenging.

“The ring was damaged and needed to be reworked,” Robinson said. “Plus, he wanted a particular insignia set on a black onyx stone. I knew it was going to take some time to find the right insignia.”

Thomson described what he wanted, and Robinson said he’d do his best. But the jeweler soon realized the insignia Thomson chose was too large for the ring’s stone.

“I told him that if he couldn’t find what I was looking for, he shouldn’t worry about it. I told him to just fix the ring. But he said, ‘Don’t worry. It might take some time, but I’ll find the insignia for you.’ ”

Months passed. Thomson hadn’t heard a thing. He gave up on the project.

Two weeks ago, Thomson answered his phone. It was the news he was certain he would never hear: Robinson saying his ring was ready to be picked up. The next day, Thomson excitedly walked into the jewelry store. He approached the counter, where a sales clerk handed him the ring. It was just as he had hoped. The look and fit were per-fect as he slid it onto his left ring finger.

And then Thomson handed the sales-woman his charge card.

“She handed it back to me and said, ‘Sir, your bill has been taken care of,’ ” said Thomson, who celebrates his 90th birthday today. “Then she told me she’d like to read me a note.”

The note was from a gentleman who was in the store when Thomson brought the ring in. The man, a regular customer of Car-roll’s, had overheard Thomson talking about how the ring was damaged during the war. After he left the jeweler, the man went home and thought about doing something nice for Thomson. He phoned the jewelry store and said he wanted to pay for the ring’s repair, and asked the clerk to make sure to thank Thomson for his service to our country.

Thomson asked the clerk for the man’s phone number because he wanted to call and thank him for his unexpected generos-ity. The clerk informed Thomson the man wants to remain anonymous.

“That was sure nice of him, but I don’t think I did anything special,” Thomson said, his voice cracking with emotion over the generosity of a man he doesn’t know. “People are always saying thank you for your service. That’s nice, but I tell everybody, that back then, we were all eager to serve. We did it for our country. We don’t need to be thanked.”

There are those of us, anonymous and otherwise, who couldn’t disagree more.Phil Gianficaro can be reached at pgianficaro@calkins.com, 215-345-3078 and @philgianficaro on Twitter.

Deserving of thanks

By Gary WeckselBlattSTaff WriTer

Members of the Centennial School Board are criticizing the chairman of the district’s Finance Committee for “mis-leading the public” on the dis-trict’s proposed tax increase.

During Tuesday night’s board meet-ing, Michael Hartline suggested a piece-meal approach to the implementation of a new middle school program to allow for tax relief with a pro-jected 5.3 percent hike planned for 2014-15.

But Mark Miller, the board’s vice president, said Hartline was already aware the number had been reduced to 3.61 percent and would be introduced at Wednesday night’s Finance Committee meeting.

“The (updated) budget and middle school plan was sent to everybody, and they came to that meeting with all of the information at their disposal,” Miller said. “That was dis-ingenuous. He’s chair of the Finance Committee. He knew it was a lower number. He mis-led the public.”

On Thursday, Hartline said he used the 5.3 percent num-ber because it had been the last one used publicly since last month’s committee meeting.

Wednesday night “it went down to 3.61,” he said. “That number had not been dis-cussed publicly. ... Everybody has very strong opinions about what they feel and don’t feel.

Tax issue boils over

By James mcGinnisSTaff WriTer

Precision metals manu-facturer Ron Herd doesn’t expect his next employee to come from a local college or university.

The president of Perkasie-based Daria Metal Fabricators doesn’t put much hope in the local job ads, either.

“A lot of kids today get pushed by their parents to go to college,” he said. “There’s no college for this kind of work. Nobody teaches it.”

But, soon, there could be.Armed with a $100,000 fed-

eral grant, Bucks County Com-munity College said it plans a new fabricated metals manu-facturing program tailored to the needs of local companies

BCCC plans metal workers job training program

Phil

Gian

ficar

o

commentary

By laurie mason schroederSTaff WriTer

A Bucks County jury in Doylestown on Thursday delivered a not guilty ver-dict in a case that was the first court test of a new law designed to make it easier to prosecute people who deliver drugs to persons who then

suffer fatal overdoses.

Nicole Lavery, 39, was acquit-ted of drug delivery resulting in death, a felony that could have sent her to

prison for more than 10 years.Jurors found her guilty of

a lesser charge of delivery of a controlled substance, finding that she did provide heroin to 26-year-old Megan Boni, of

Bensalem.Boni died at the Radford

Motel on Bristol Pike in the early morning hours of Sept. 1.

Prosecution experts testi-fied that her death was the result of ingesting heroin. A doctor hired by the defense said that she overdosed on prescription antidepressants.

“While I respect the jury’s verdict, I do believe it deval-ues Megan Boni’s life,” said Deputy District Attorney Ryan Hyde. “The facts were clear; she died after taking drugs that the defendant

delivered. She didn’t die from taking pills, she died from taking heroin.”

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for less than an hour.

The verdict capped a three-day trial in which Lav-ery, of Delaware County, testi-fied that she, Boni and Boni’s boyfriend, Nelson Reyes, decided together to use her-oin after a night of drinking.

Lavery said she and Boni pooled their money, and that she made arrangements to

Woman not guilty in friend’s heroin deathJurors, however, found Nicole Lavery guilty of a lesser charge of delivery of a controlled substance.

“the facts were clear; she died after taking drugs that the defendant delivered. she didn’t die from taking pills, she died from taking heroin.” — Deputy District Attorney ryAn HyDe

lavery

centen

nial

kim Weimer / STaff PhoToGraPher

Lori albright with the red Paw emergency relief Team is honored Thursday by the american red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania during a celebration breakfast to honor heroes of

Montogomery County in Plymouth Meeting. The red Paw team is a community partner with the american red Cross providing transport, shelter and veterinary care to animals in residential fires and other disasters.

heroes among us

tuition goes up for students a9

By crissa shoemaker deBreeSTaff WriTer

Heather Hamilton didn’t understand why the young boy wouldn’t acknowledge her goodbyes.

The two 5-year-olds had spent an entire after-noon playing together. He didn’t say much, but Heather thought he was just quiet.

Then, it dawned on her: He wasn’t answering her farewells, no matter how loudly she shouted, not because he was ignoring her. He simply couldn’t hear her. He was deaf.

“He was gesturing (in sign language) and I didn’t

Course completion a sign of accomplishmentHeather Hamilton honed her sign language skills at the VRS Interpreting Institute in Utah.

art Gentile / STaff PhoToGraPherheather hamilton, of horsham, is only one of 12 american Sign Language interpreter graduate students chosen from across the nation to attend a prestigious, post-graduation program in Salt Lake City.

See lavery, Page a4

See taxes, Page a4

See metal, Page a4See sign, Page a4

Course completion asign of accomplishment

Art Gentile / staff photographer Heather Hamilton of Horsham, is only one of 12 American Sign Language interpreter graduate students chosen from across the nation to attend a prestigious, post-graduation program in Salt Lake City .

localThe inTelligencer ♦ A3 ♦ FridAy, April 11, 2014

A south of the border Passover B1

His memory of that fateful day is a constant companion: World War II … Normandy, France, 1944 … an accidental bazooka explosion … jagged shrapnel tear-ing into his stomach, arms and legs … the chilling squeeze of death’s cold hand.

Should the events of that day 70 years ago ever become clouded by the passage of time, a glance at his right hand, where his pinky used to be, will provide renewed clarity.

Shortly after surviving a mild heart attack a few months ago, 90-year-old Walter F. Thomson’s memories of that day shone clear as he was en route to Carroll’s Jewel-ers in Doylestown. The Army veteran is a member of the often-called greatest generation that sacrificed so much for so many. But on this day, he was about to do something for himself.

Along with his memo-ries, Thomson toted a damaged high school graduation ring to his jew-eler — the ring he wore on his right hand when that bazooka shell exploded. His pinky was so severely dam-aged it had to be surgically removed shortly after he was wounded.

The graduation ring from Northeast High School in Philadelphia was severely dam-aged too, bent out of shape to such a degree that it couldn’t be worn. Still, Thomson tucked it into his uniform pocket, took it back to America, put it away and forgot about it.

The passage of time often draws our gaze over our shoulders, to the days when our lives were new and the future was an open highway. And as Thomson’s 90th birthday approached, he began thinking about that ring and how much he wanted to wear it again.

“I didn’t want to restore my ring to exactly the way it was, but to change it to reflect my Army service,” said Thomson, a resident of Ann’s Choice, a continuing care retirement community in Warminster. “I wanted to get it re-stylized with the insig-nia that officers put on their caps — a large eagle clutching arrows. I was only an Army staff sergeant, not an officer, but I didn’t think anybody would mind. I was doing it to remember my service and to honor my country.”

When Thomson visited the jewelry store and handed the damaged ring to Carroll’s owner Joel Robinson, the jeweler immedi-ately knew restoring it to the man’s specifi-cations would be challenging.

“The ring was damaged and needed to be reworked,” Robinson said. “Plus, he wanted a particular insignia set on a black onyx stone. I knew it was going to take some time to find the right insignia.”

Thomson described what he wanted, and Robinson said he’d do his best. But the jeweler soon realized the insignia Thomson chose was too large for the ring’s stone.

“I told him that if he couldn’t find what I was looking for, he shouldn’t worry about it. I told him to just fix the ring. But he said, ‘Don’t worry. It might take some time, but I’ll find the insignia for you.’ ”

Months passed. Thomson hadn’t heard a thing. He gave up on the project.

Two weeks ago, Thomson answered his phone. It was the news he was certain he would never hear: Robinson saying his ring was ready to be picked up. The next day, Thomson excitedly walked into the jewelry store. He approached the counter, where a sales clerk handed him the ring. It was just as he had hoped. The look and fit were per-fect as he slid it onto his left ring finger.

And then Thomson handed the sales-woman his charge card.

“She handed it back to me and said, ‘Sir, your bill has been taken care of,’ ” said Thomson, who celebrates his 90th birthday today. “Then she told me she’d like to read me a note.”

The note was from a gentleman who was in the store when Thomson brought the ring in. The man, a regular customer of Car-roll’s, had overheard Thomson talking about how the ring was damaged during the war. After he left the jeweler, the man went home and thought about doing something nice for Thomson. He phoned the jewelry store and said he wanted to pay for the ring’s repair, and asked the clerk to make sure to thank Thomson for his service to our country.

Thomson asked the clerk for the man’s phone number because he wanted to call and thank him for his unexpected generos-ity. The clerk informed Thomson the man wants to remain anonymous.

“That was sure nice of him, but I don’t think I did anything special,” Thomson said, his voice cracking with emotion over the generosity of a man he doesn’t know. “People are always saying thank you for your service. That’s nice, but I tell everybody, that back then, we were all eager to serve. We did it for our country. We don’t need to be thanked.”

There are those of us, anonymous and otherwise, who couldn’t disagree more.Phil Gianficaro can be reached at pgianficaro@calkins.com, 215-345-3078 and @philgianficaro on Twitter.

Deserving of thanks

By Gary WeckselBlattSTaff WriTer

Members of the Centennial School Board are criticizing the chairman of the district’s Finance Committee for “mis-leading the public” on the dis-trict’s proposed tax increase.

During Tuesday night’s board meet-ing, Michael Hartline suggested a piece-meal approach to the implementation of a new middle school program to allow for tax relief with a pro-jected 5.3 percent hike planned for 2014-15.

But Mark Miller, the board’s vice president, said Hartline was already aware the number had been reduced to 3.61 percent and would be introduced at Wednesday night’s Finance Committee meeting.

“The (updated) budget and middle school plan was sent to everybody, and they came to that meeting with all of the information at their disposal,” Miller said. “That was dis-ingenuous. He’s chair of the Finance Committee. He knew it was a lower number. He mis-led the public.”

On Thursday, Hartline said he used the 5.3 percent num-ber because it had been the last one used publicly since last month’s committee meeting.

Wednesday night “it went down to 3.61,” he said. “That number had not been dis-cussed publicly. ... Everybody has very strong opinions about what they feel and don’t feel.

Tax issue boils over

By James mcGinnisSTaff WriTer

Precision metals manu-facturer Ron Herd doesn’t expect his next employee to come from a local college or university.

The president of Perkasie-based Daria Metal Fabricators doesn’t put much hope in the local job ads, either.

“A lot of kids today get pushed by their parents to go to college,” he said. “There’s no college for this kind of work. Nobody teaches it.”

But, soon, there could be.Armed with a $100,000 fed-

eral grant, Bucks County Com-munity College said it plans a new fabricated metals manu-facturing program tailored to the needs of local companies

BCCC plans metal workers job training program

Phil

Gian

ficar

o

commentary

By laurie mason schroederSTaff WriTer

A Bucks County jury in Doylestown on Thursday delivered a not guilty ver-dict in a case that was the first court test of a new law designed to make it easier to prosecute people who deliver drugs to persons who then

suffer fatal overdoses.

Nicole Lavery, 39, was acquit-ted of drug delivery resulting in death, a felony that could have sent her to

prison for more than 10 years.Jurors found her guilty of

a lesser charge of delivery of a controlled substance, finding that she did provide heroin to 26-year-old Megan Boni, of

Bensalem.Boni died at the Radford

Motel on Bristol Pike in the early morning hours of Sept. 1.

Prosecution experts testi-fied that her death was the result of ingesting heroin. A doctor hired by the defense said that she overdosed on prescription antidepressants.

“While I respect the jury’s verdict, I do believe it deval-ues Megan Boni’s life,” said Deputy District Attorney Ryan Hyde. “The facts were clear; she died after taking drugs that the defendant

delivered. She didn’t die from taking pills, she died from taking heroin.”

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for less than an hour.

The verdict capped a three-day trial in which Lav-ery, of Delaware County, testi-fied that she, Boni and Boni’s boyfriend, Nelson Reyes, decided together to use her-oin after a night of drinking.

Lavery said she and Boni pooled their money, and that she made arrangements to

Woman not guilty in friend’s heroin deathJurors, however, found Nicole Lavery guilty of a lesser charge of delivery of a controlled substance.

“the facts were clear; she died after taking drugs that the defendant delivered. she didn’t die from taking pills, she died from taking heroin.” — Deputy District Attorney ryAn HyDe

lavery

centen

nial

kim Weimer / STaff PhoToGraPher

Lori albright with the red Paw emergency relief Team is honored Thursday by the american red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania during a celebration breakfast to honor heroes of

Montogomery County in Plymouth Meeting. The red Paw team is a community partner with the american red Cross providing transport, shelter and veterinary care to animals in residential fires and other disasters.

heroes among us

tuition goes up for students a9

By crissa shoemaker deBreeSTaff WriTer

Heather Hamilton didn’t understand why the young boy wouldn’t acknowledge her goodbyes.

The two 5-year-olds had spent an entire after-noon playing together. He didn’t say much, but Heather thought he was just quiet.

Then, it dawned on her: He wasn’t answering her farewells, no matter how loudly she shouted, not because he was ignoring her. He simply couldn’t hear her. He was deaf.

“He was gesturing (in sign language) and I didn’t

Course completion a sign of accomplishmentHeather Hamilton honed her sign language skills at the VRS Interpreting Institute in Utah.

art Gentile / STaff PhoToGraPherheather hamilton, of horsham, is only one of 12 american Sign Language interpreter graduate students chosen from across the nation to attend a prestigious, post-graduation program in Salt Lake City.

See lavery, Page a4

See taxes, Page a4

See metal, Page a4See sign, Page a4