The Daily Intelligencer from Doylestown, Pennsylvania • Page 1

lia "Betty" Jordan was a in WWII. 3 Serving communities In Bucks and Montgomery counties COMING SUNDAY: Screening for Down syndrome A new test for the disease could pose difficult choices. In print and online 50t PennDOT has finished ranking the region's stone bridges. It says more than half the local ones aren't worth preserving. BY JENNA PORTNOY THE INTELLIGENCER he owners of historic bridges serve two gods: preserving historic integrity and providing motorists safe, quick passage over waterways.

"It comes down to the greater good for the greater number of people," said Jeff Marshall, vice president for resource protection at Heritage Conservancy. "Is it more important to preserve an individual piece of our heritage versus our need as a modern society to traverse the roads?" Seven years ago, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation embarked on a mission to answer that question for the 124 stone arch bridges in the five-county area. Last week, it unveiled the results and of the 32 such bridges in Bucks County and eastern Montgomery County, 17 were not recommended for long-term preservation. The others are recommended, or considered moderate or strong candidates for preservation. In the background is the Quarry Road bridge over the Rapp Creek in Nockamixon, which was ranked second of the 124 bridges PennDOT evaluated and recommended for preservation.

ON THE WEB To read the report: www.pastonearch.org The designations don't mean a neighborhood's beloved stone arch bridge will be replaced with a modern span immediately. In some cases, reconstruction may be several years away, and residents still have another month to comment on the report and lobby for their favorite bridge at pastonearch.org. PennDOT hired the Harrisburg firm Skelly and Loy to rank each bridge based on condition, transportation, whether it can handle a storm-swollen creek, rehabilitation cost, development pressures, historical value and public sentiment. Still, some bridges were too old or damaged to warrant preservation, despite factors such as public outcry or historic value. Three local PennDOT-owned bridges fit that'category.

They are on Souderton Pike over Morris Run in Hilltown, Stony Garden Road over Haycock Creek in Springfield and Limekiln Pike over Little Neshaminy Creek in Montgomery Township. though the Hilltown bridge ranked in the top third and there was a "significant degree of public interest" in the bridge, it was not recommended for preservation because it is "too narrow to accommodate the high degree of traffic, particularly truck traffic, the bridge receives," said Kara Russell, a PennDOT cultural resource specialist. Russell visited the bridge with a representative of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The bridge, which has sustained damage by vehicles, was not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places because it has been altered and, built in 1902, is not among the oldest in the region, she said. The bridge is in PennDOT's Trans- See BRIDGES, Page A 6 New Bucks DA brings work ethic Michelle Henry has been with the district attorney's office for 12 years.

BY LAURIE MASON THE 1NTH1.1.1GHNCHR People often underestimate Michelle Henry. At just over 5 feet tall, the fresh-faced brunette looks more like someone's kid sister than a seasoned prosecutor. One might even be tempted to call Bucks County's new district attorney "cute," Of course, that's before they see her in court. Just ask convicted murderer Richard Laird. When Henry who handled Laird's retrial last year in Bucks County court, which ended with a jury booting Laird back to death row for the 1987 slaying of Levittown artist Anthony Milano suddenly pointed to Laird during her closing argument, the hulking killer actually flinched.

"She's a little snip of a girl physically, but she's got a huge personality and amazing strength," said Bucks County Judge Diane Gibbons. "The people of Bucks County are in good hands with Michelle." Henry, 39, of Doylestown Township, was chosen to fill Gibbons' seat Friday, just hours after the former district attorney was sworn in to the county bench. President Judge David Heckler said the vote by the county's 12 jurists "was not unanimous, but was a hefty majority." A Republican, Henry has been with the district attor- See DA, Page A 6 Rick Intelligencer Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry (center) meets with legal secretaries Denise Pierce (left) and Cindy Heath on Friday at the Bucks County Courthouse. Henry replaces Diane Gibbons, now a county judge. We gmans chain will end tobacco sales next month ROCHESTER, N.Y.

(AP) Wegmans Food Markets an upscale supermarket chain with 71 stores in five states including one in Warrington, said Friday that it will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products next month. "We have come to this decision after thinking about the role smoking plays in people's health," the company's top executives, Danny Wegman and his daughter, Colleen, said in a letter to employees. "We certainly respect a person's right to smoke, but we believe there are few of us who would introduce our children to smoking." The family-owned retailer said it has stopped ordering tobacco supplies and will sell its remaining inventory until Feb. 10. Wegmans has 50 stores in New York, 11 in Pennsylvania, seven in New Jersey, two in Virginia and one in Maryland.

Tobacco is a "very profitable category" for Wegmans, spokeswoman Jo Natale said. She declined to specify how much money it has generated. Tobacco and related accessories, such as lighters, accounted for $5.4 billion in supermarket sales nationally in 2006, according to a survey published in September by Progressive Grocer magazine. INSIDE WEATHER Partly sunny and mild; overcast tonight. High, 44; low, 30.

Vol. 117, No. 5 Calkins Media Inc. INPCX Advice 3 Business B4 Classified 01 06 Editorial Uk 5 06 Obituaries 5 Public Notices 2 4 Television 6 Campaign turns confrontational The winners of the Iowa caucuses faced tougher criticism as the candidates prepared for the New Hampshire primary. BY DAVID ESPO AND PHILIP ELLIOTT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MANCHESTER, N.H.

Barack Obama, an Iowa winner seeking New Hampshire spoils, faced stepped-up criticism Friday from Democratic rivals now doubly determined to block his rise in the 2008 presidential race. Republican Mike Huckabee claimed momentum for a hurried five- day primary campaign. "This feels good," Obama told cheering supporters after a dark-of-night flight from Iowa, where he trumped John Edwards and Hillary Rodham Clinton in caucuses with a pledge to bring change to Washington. He said he had no plans to revise a winning strategy, but the same wasn't so for his rivals after an Iowa campaign almost entirely free of harsh criticism. "The last thing Democrats need is to move quickly Whom do you support In the presidential primary? See phillyburbs.com/intell to cast your vote in our online poll.

HIM Democratic presidential hopeful Sen, Hillary Rodham Clinton laughs as her daughter, Chelsea (center), jokes with workers at the Gala Cafe in Manchester, N.H., on Friday. Clinton, who was third in Iowa, said of winner Obama that "it's hard to know where he stands." through this without taking a hard look at all of this," Clinton said as she arrived in New Hampshire. "It's hard to know exactly where he stands, and people need to ask that," she said of the first-term Illinois senator. Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, wound up third in Iowa, and second-place Edwards quickly sought to show her to the sidelines. "I think in many ways Sen.

Clinton represents status quo," he said. For good measure, he added that Obama "has a more philosophical) more academic approach" toward change than he does. If the Democratic race appeared ready to turn in a more confrontational direction, the same thing was already under way among Republicans. "It will be a different race here," vowed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, defeated by Huckabee's low- budget campaign in Iowa and now confronting a challenge from Arizona Sen.

John McCain in the New Hampshire primary. A compressed calendar gave Iowa's losers only five days to adjust. Democrats had back-to-back appearances at a party dinner Friday night, and a pair of debates today guarantee candidates in both parties free television exposure. But there is little time for them to replenish A 6.