The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 265

Sunday, September 6, 1998 THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER MC3 The See 118 In Bucks and Montgomery Counties 6. i- .4 tdgar Williame appearing at the circus, you would find them in a high-wire act. 4. The first communist dictator of China was Mao Tse-tung. 5.

Winston Churchill delivered his "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Missouri. 6. At Pittsburgh, the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River meet to form the Ohio River. New quiz: 1. For what work of fiction was author Herman Wouk awarded the 1952 Pulitzer Prize? 2.

In women's tennis, identify: (a) "Little Mo," (b) "Little Miss Moffett" (before she became Billie Jean you-know-who), (c) "Little Miss Poker Face," and (d) "Gorgeous Gussie." 3. Now in men's tennis, identify: "Little Bill," (b) "Big Bill," (c) "The Bounding Basque," and (d) Pancho. the National Park Service. Homes will be open to visitors throughout the enclave. A flight plan, perhaps? In the parking lot of the Holiday Inn in Kulpsville, Robert J.

Linden spotted a Pennsylvania license tag advising: OFF TO PLA. Answers (and more trivia) Answers to quiz of Aug. 23: 1. Richard M. Daley (Chicago), Rudolph Giuliani (New York) and Edward Rendell (Philadelphia) are current mayors of American cities.

2. Christine Todd Whitman (New Jersey), Thomas R. Carper (Delaware), George M. Pataki (New York) and Tom Ridge (Pennsylvania) are current governors of American states. 3.

If the Flying Wallendas were 4. What is an isobar? 5. The city of Rochester, is best known for what service that is provided there? 6. Name the only father and son to have served in the presidency. (Answers next Sunday.) The whale watch Further corroboration for Langhorne octogenarian Mae Fallows' recollection of seeing a preserved whale on display in North Philadelphia a half-century ago: James Anderson, a native of the area and now a resident of Levittown, writes that he remembers the whale's being exhibited in a large trailer at the southwest corner of Broad and Butler Streets, across from St.

Stephen's Roman Catholic Church "sometime in the 1930s," he estimates. Cheers for Oak Park A stop-the-presses item. That select "400" of American neighborhoods, the National Register of Historic Places, has honored the Oak Park section of Hatfield Township by designating it a historical district. The National Park Service says so. It took some doing to bring this off, including a two-year program of checks and re-checks, questionnaires, and a vote of approval by residents.

Begun in 1912 by a mystic type named Harry Richardson, Oak Park is at West Main Street and Squirrel Lane, just across the Lansdale Borough line. Its wrought-iron gates Richardson was great on this sort of thing are impressive but not imposing. Missing, however, are statues of Considerable dough? Let us bring back for an encore the story of two women, aunts of William Penn, who started Pennsylvania's first bakery. By baking the pies themselves, they were able to keep prices low. Pretty soon, the entire colony was talking about the pie rates of Penn's aunts; Stoke that firebox! Harold G.

Fenstermacher of North Wales makes the observation that old railroad locomotive drivers, whom many of us called engineers, never pass on. Quoth Fens: "They only run out of steam." Edgar Williams' column also appears Saturdays in all editions of The Inquirer. Write to him at Inquirer Neighbors, 1100 E. Hector Suite I 100, Conshohocken, Pa. 19428.

an Indian accompanied by his faithful dog. When a man is above 80, I've heard it said, he is entitled to say whatever he wants, without risk of prosecution. Which is my sneaky way of confessing that once I helped three other adolescents snatch the dog statue. (The Indian was too heavy.) More on this later. Meantime, be advised that Saturday is Oak Park Day, in observance of the designation by 'IV; Group honored those who served in Civil War The Grand Army of the Republic had eight posts in the county.

Most struggled for the first decade. i If! I't it ill i ill 4 I -i 1 I i (1864). The Samuel K. Zook Post in Norristown was the county's first GAR post, chartered in December 1866. Records of the Historical Society of Montgomery County report that most of the local posts during the first decade after the war floundered in terms of activities and turnout for By Joseph S.

Kennedy INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT NORRISTOWN Currently, there are a number of national veterans' organizations that represent the interests of former service people and maintain the nation's memory of America's armed conflicts. But around tiie turn of meetings. However, the GAR posts were always involved in the Memorial Day observances. Reading between the lines of these records, it appears that many veterans had to take time to recover from war wounds. Some sought further edu The GAR posts in our region held picnics and had family-oriented outings to the seashore or rural areas.

the there was only one sucli body the Grand Army of the Republic, made up of Union veterans of the Civil War. At the local level, the membership of the GAR summoned up the Civil War's past and was in the forefront of the effort to protect veterans' rights. This archive photo shows members of the Conshohocken post of the Grand Army of the Republic gathered around the turn of the century. Other records of the Historical Society of Montgomery County track the group's history. cation or training, while others attended to new jobs, marriage, and raising a family.

In such cases, there would be little time for club activities. Yet by the end of the 1870s, the GAR posts became more active both politically and socially. Civil War veterans were actively involved in local, state and national politics. And while the GAR itself did not directly involve itself in campaigns, its members created veterans' clubs to help elect fellow veterans. Being a Civil War Union officer was a badge of honor worn The national GAR was created in April 1866 on a foundation of "fraternity, charity and loyalty." In Montgomery County, eight posts were chartered between 1866 and 1889.

Local posts were named after a local or national Civil War hero, preferably an officer killed in action. Thus, the GAR post in Lansdale was named after Col. Edwin Schall, a Norristown resident killed in the Battle of Cold Harbor (1864), and the Hatboro post took the name of John H. Fisher of Sellersville, killed in the Wilderness Campaign (which aided vets in need), Ladies of the GAR, and Homes and Schools for Disabled Soldiers and Their Families. When Congress passed and the president signed the Disability Pension Act of 1890, the GAR's national membership peaked at more than 400,000 dues-paying members.

As late as 1923, there were still 65,000 members nationally. The last known member died in 1956. proudly by those seeking local or national office. Socially, the GAR posts in our region held picnics and had family-oriented outings to the seashore or rural areas. During the 1880s, the files of the Historical Society reveal, the GAR held an annual patriotic demonstration in Norristown during September.

One of the largest of these demonstrations involved 30 posts from the region, accompanied by bands, a mounted cavalry post, a Naval post from Philadelphia, and Post 80, made up of African American Union veterans. Gen. John F. Har-tranft, the former governor, was chief marshal. The day's activities included a parade, lunch, speaker, and large evening campfire gathering.

The GAR posts created auxiliary organizations such as the Sons and Daughters of Veterans, Women's Relief Corps Bucks community college enrollment slides again; causes and effects vary Some say more students go to four-year schools in times of prosperity. The campus is changing with fewer enrolled. By Todd Bishop INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP The student population at Bucks County Community College has reached its lowest level in more than a decade, continuing a six-year slide that administrators are struggling to reverse. Total enrollment at the community college was 8,167 students as the fall semester began Aug. 26 on the Newtown Township campus.

That figure was more than 25 percent lower than the 11,260 students who were registered on opening day 1992, the highest opening day enrollment at the college in recent years. The downward drift, which has been mirrored at community colleges across the region and nation, is believed to result from forces like the country's overall financial growth, administrators said. Historically, community college enrollment is opposite to economic trends. "This is not the first time this has happened," said college president James Linksz. "In times of poor L.

'--t j4 A iri-i -t 4 J-i f( Alii 5 Less crowded classes may provide more opportunity for students. -f finflr'-- Tim Magnavita leads a math concepts class at the college. 5 lh I i economy, when jobs are more scarce, people come back to the community college." Declining enrollment has subtly altered life on campus in a variety of ways, said students, teachers and administrators. Students choose from a smaller number of class sections, and faculty members do not always know whether the classes they are assigned will attract enough students to be held. "The effect of declining enrollment here has largely been in t- ur iriir -r' i 'IlLi.

i .1 ii i i i MmikMtim.JtUinihJL bvXffcutg For The Inquirer JOHN SLAVIN Karen Dawkins, dean of enrollment management, gives directions to student Josephine Ryer. Dawkins said the number of full-time students at Bucks County Community College was finally rising slightly. creased uncertainty for everyone," said Allen Hoey, spokesman for the faculty union. The mood of the campus also has changed, said James Wellington Adams, a former student council president who now directs the Union Program Board, a student committee that plans campus events. The program board and other campus groups funded through a student activity fee are allocated less money when student numbers decline, he said.

"There's less energy, less diversity," Adams said. At the same time, the college is less crowded, allowing students educational opportunities in the classroom that are not necessarily available during times of booming enrollment, Linksz said. Open campus parking spaces, once scarce, are in ample supply. College administrators speculate that the enrollment drop occurred because more students can attend four-year schools during times of prosperity. Another probable cause, Linksz said, is a lack of desire for retraining among workers who feel secure in their jobs.

As of early last week, total student enrollment had climbed to 8,406 students, still hundreds less than the official figure of 8,991 reported after Opening Day Enrollment At Bucks County Community College said Dan Stark, assistant director at the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges. Between 1993 and 1996, enrollment at community colleges statewide decreased by more than 8 percent. Last fall, however, statewide enrollment numbers began to rise. "We are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel," Stark said. Administrators are witnessing such a trend at Montgomery County Community College, where total enrollment dipped from 9,411 students in the fall of 1994 to 8,704 students in the fall of 1996.

Enrollment rose by more than 100 students last fall, and the college expects to maintain that momentum this year, said Andy Back, director of college relations. Bucks County Community College officials are continuing a marketing campaign that includes radio and the third week of the fall semester last year. Official enrollment had reached 11,475 students in the fall of 1991 and 11,355 a year later, according to figures compiled by college administrators. Although overall student numbers have declined, the enrollment of full-time students has begun to rise, said Karen Dawkins, dean of enrollment management. When classes began Aug.

26, full-time students numbered 2,937, compared to 2,834 at the same time in 1997. By Monday, full-time enrollment had reached 2,996. Part-time students, who account for the bulk of the college's total enrollment, have steadily declined in numbers since 1992. Community colleges across the state and nation have experienced similar drops" in total enrollment, billboard advertisements intended i to attract new students. The college also hopes to draw international': students from the region andf' abroad, officials said.

Part of the enrollment decline at Bucks came as both La Salle Univer- sity and Holy Family College opened nearby branch campuses in New- town Township. Linksz, said those schools serve a different market than does the community college. Their presence, he said, has nfft significantly affected the com-; munity college enrollment. Linksz said the recent increase in full-time students encouraged ad-' ministrators and demonstrated the school's "significant niche" in the area. "We're not worried," he said, i "We have never known exactly how many students are going to be there in any given semester." Full-time students 3,075 3,168 3,329 3,353 3,212 Part-time students 7,270 7,683 7,767 7,907 7,474 Total students 10,345 10,851 11,096 11,260 10,686 Full-time students 3,052 3,018 2,860 2,834 2,937 Part-time students 6,764 6,321 5,968 5,693 5,230 Total students 9,816 9,339 8,828 8,527 8,167 SOURCE: BCCC Office of Admissions, Records and Registration I The Philadelphia Inquirer.