localThe inTelligencer ♦ A3 ♦ TuesdAy, MArch 10, 2015

It’s a dog’s lifeBest-selling author to speak Sunday. B1

To me, River Road — running the length of Bucks County from Morris-ville and then into Easton — seems other-

worldly, winding lazily as it does through a Tolkien landscape of tiny river villages.

Each of those settlements embraces a sleepy haze of fan-tasy born centuries ago. A place where Ichabod Crane and Bilbo Baggins would have been kin-dred spirits.

Which brings me to a specific 2-mile stretch of road in Plum-stead, beginning at Lower Black Eddy, a deep, slow-flowing chan-nel in the river just below Point Pleasant. Back in the 1700s, the channel and small village got its name from the Black family.

Each spring, men came downstream by the scores on 200-foot-long, 40-foot-wide tim-ber rafts from upstate New York. The Eddy was a perfect over-night anchorage. The men came ashore for libations and lodg-ing at the Blacks’ small hotel, built over the ruins of an ageless Indian village set between the river and a 200-foot cliff. Those who were inclined could scam-per up Slobbery Run, a foaming waterfall near the hotel, to the top of the cliff, and then scale Mossgiel Rock, which jutted a bit higher over the river valley. There, on the bald rock covered with inscriptions from prior visi-tors, they had an incredible view of the valley below, the timber rafts at anchor, with Bulls Island and Raven Rock on the Jersey side.

The real action, however, was back at the hotel. There, the rafters told of the hazards they faced, while local fisher-men cooked up tales of the big ones that got away. The Eddy happened to be where the choic-est shad lurked. Just as the rafts came downstream, the annual migration of the prized fish ran upstream from the Atlantic to spawning grounds in New York.

In the early 1800s, work-men excavated the Delaware Canal, from Easton to Bristol. In Lower Black Eddy, a lock raised and lowered the water level where the channel passed in front of the hotel. The Blacks’ inn became popular not only to river rafters, but to canal barge drivers.

Things got rough at times. The bargemen, said one his-torian, “were America’s most accomplished linguists in cuss words and the language they handed to their stolid mule teams as the boats were locked through the Eddy were lurid in the extreme.”

That kind of language was a given 2 miles down the Dela-ware at Devil’s Half Acre. In the early 19th century, a stone struc-ture was built to house an illegal distillery at what is now a sharp turn on River Road. Rafters, bargemen and prostitutes were frequent clients. Their drunken revelry gave the building its moniker. Said one local: “It was a wild scene every night.” The local legend says customers died and were buried there.

In the 20th century, the building was converted into a private home, its ghostly tale continuing to pass from one buyer to the next.

“What the story is,” owner Walter Knouse said in 1990, “is that they had this hooting and hollering by all these guys and women. And when they passed on, they were so bad that the good Lord didn’t want them, nor the devil. So they became free spirits that float around here.”

Knouse was to discover later that his new home had a name: Devil’s Half Acre. He learned that from a Plumstead newslet-ter. Bemused, he asked the town-ship for permission to put up an engraved roadside marker. Didn’t last long. It was stolen.Carl LaVO can be reached at carllavo@msn.com. Twitter: @underCs2. Blog: carllavo.blog.com.

Rivermen, bargemen and the devil

Carl

LaV

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By Hayden MItManSTAFF WRITER

A home-improvement contractor who pleaded no contest to defrauding customers agreed to testify against his son and business partner.

But a county prosecutor says he probably won’t need the testimony of 61-year-old John “Jack” Thayer Jr., the father part of Ham-mertime Construction and Hammertime

Demolition and Hauling, both of Bristol Township.

Thayer entered the no-contest plea Monday in Bucks County Court before Judge Wallace Bateman; the plea is not an admission of guilt even though it carries the weight of a guilty plea at the time of sentencing, which is in 60 days.

Thayer and his son Ryan, 28, a former Bristol Township zoning board member, are charged with more than two dozen felonies, including theft by deception,

deceptive business practices and failing to provide services. According to authorities, the Thayers pocketed more than $675,000 from 10 homeowners between March 2011 and last April. Ryan Thayer’s trial was moved to April 18 so he could get more time to secure a lawyer. Father and son are free on bail.

The judge said John Thayer could receive a maximum sentence of 214 years in prison and be ordered to pay at least $350,000 in fees. Additionally, Thayer would also be ordered to make full restitution to his former customers.

County prosecutor Marc Furber said the Thayers performed shoddy work, abandoned numerous home improvement projects and

Contractor faces 214 years in jail

See Thayer, Page a4

By Gary WeCkseLBLattSTAFF WRITER

For students in the Centennial School District, the fascination with participating in the annual Black and White extravaganza begins well before they’re of high school age.

“There are a ton of elementary school kids who watch their brothers and sisters before they even set foot at William Tennent,” said Dennis Best, principal. “They’re thinking about how they can’t wait to do it. It becomes a goal they want to attain.”

What began 50 years ago as a modest athletic event has become a three-day competition with academic challenges and gym and pool nights.

On Monday, the White Gladiators defeated the Black Phantoms, giving White a 27-23 series advantage.

But Black and White, created by physi-cal education teacher Al Rice and named in honor of the school’s colors, is far more than about wins and losses.

“There’s a frenzy of activity,” said Steve Adams, a Centennial school board member who participated in the activities and hosted many at his home for his children and their friends. “Everybody’s running around, everybody feels responsible, everybody feels involved.

“It’s an enduring tradition.”Black and White teams are created by

A 50-year tradition to look forward to

See TradiTion, Page a4

By PeG QuannSTAFF WRITER

The Central Bucks Regional Police Force warns residents and busi-ness owners to beware of scam artists posing as PECO representatives or IRS agents.

Three Doylestown restaurants recently were targeted by people who told the business owners to pay their utility bill with pre-paid credit cards to avoid having their power shut off.

More than $1,660 was lost.

“A man claiming to be a PECO representative phoned the establishments stating he was on the way

over to shut the power off unless they paid their electric bill immediately,” the police post on Face-book stated. The caller demanded the owners pur-chase prepaid credit cards and call an 800 number to pay their bill.

“Once the call is made, the number on the card is given and the ‘representa-tive’ transfers the money to their own account. Total loss was $1,663. DO NOT follow any instruc-tions involving the pur-chase of debit cards to pay an outstanding invoice,” the police warned.

Police Lt. Patrick

Police: Scam artists posing as IRS, PECO

By JO CIaVaGLIa STAFF WRITER

A 43-year-old Warrington man is accused of endangering the welfare of a child after being found with his crying 3-year-old daughter inside a Bensalem movie theater bathroom, shirtless, appar-ently unconscious and with drugs nearby.

A used needle, an empty plastic bag, a plastic bag containing what appeared to be a tablet of an anti-anxiety medication, and a prescription pill bottle in the man’s name for Tramadol, an opioid pain medi-cation, were found on a changing table inside one of the bathroom stalls, court documents note.

The girl was turned over to her mother who responded to the scene Sun-day, police said.

When Bensalem police responded to the AMC Neshaminy theater about 8 p.m. that night, an employee claimed

he went into the men’s room and found Adam Kostrzewski leaning against a sink, shirtless, badly sweating and appearing to be asleep, according to a probable cause affidavit. His upset tod-dler daughter was also in the bathroom, shoeless and not wearing a coat, police said.

The employee asked Kostrzewski if he needed medical help, but he replied no, police said.

Kostrzewski was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child, reckless endangerment, public drunken-ness, possession of drug paraphernalia and purchase of a controlled substance by an unauthorized person. He was arraigned before District Judge Joseph Falcone and sent to Bucks County prison in lieu of 10 percent of $50,000 bail.Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia

Cops find sweaty, shirtless man in theater with drugs, daughter

See ScamS, Page a4

Despite saying he would testify against his son, who faces the same charges, John “Jack” Thayer Jr. may also have to pay $350,000.

WILLIaM tHOMas CaIn / FOR ThE InTELLIgEnCER

Ciarlo Liples, 4, of Doylestown, gets a feel for his upcoming trip to Disney World as he plays with a Mickey Mouse doll during a surprise celebration Monday night in Lower Southampton.

Ciarlo, who has spina bifida, received the trip from the Sunshine Foundation, which worked with Bucks Connect and teachers and students from Lower Moreland high School to raise funds.

thayer Jr.

Centennial’s Black and White extravaganza

disney dreaming

White team host Steven Beal reads a question during “Family Feud” on Monday.WILLIaM tHOMas CaIn / FOR ThE InTELLIgEnCER