WestChesterBuzz.com

There’s a new class in the lineup at the West Chester Activity Center.  Musik Garten, led by Diane Gerndt of Seeds of Joy Music, is an interactive program for parents and children ages 15 months to 3 1/2 years featuring movement, singing, dancing, listening and playing simple instruments.  The class is now offered on Wednesday mornings, but Gerndt says she hopes to add evening classes in the future.  The Enquirer’s Tony Jones captured these shots earlier this month.

Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: children, diane gerndt, musik garten, photos, seeds of joy music, West Chester Activity Center

Butler County’s Parachute CASA will hold its annual Park Run for Parachute 5K run and walk at 9 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 7 at Voice of America Park in West Chester.

Proceeds will help recruit and train volunteers — known as court appointed special advocates — to act as advocates for children in foster care.

The run will feature chip timing, awards, raffles, a kids fun run, music and food.

Registration cost is $25 by Sept. 28; day-of-event cost is $28.  Cost for children is $12 by Sept. 28 and $15 on race day.  Registration fees include a T-shirt and park entry fee for the day.

Register online at www.sprunning.com or download a registration form to mail at www.parachutecasa.org.

For more information, call 513-867-5010 or email paracasa@aol.com.

Posted in: Events |

Tags: Tags: 5K, Butler County, children, foster care, fundraiser, parachute casa, park run for parachute, Voice of America Park

The West Chester Library held a morning Valentine’s Day party and story time session for children on Tuesday.  The Enquirer’s Tony Jones was there to capture the fun.

Posted in: Events, Library events |

Tags: Tags: children, party, photos, story time, v-day, Valentine's Day, West Chester Library

A Mason man has agreed to plead guilty next week to molesting boys at his mother’s in-home West Chester day care and sharing photos of the abuse via the Internet, reports the Enquirer’s Dan Horn.

Andrew Keith’s plea deal with federal prosecutors includes an admission that he abused and photographed young boys from 2002 to 2003, traded those images with others and collected at least 600 photos of child pornography on his computer.

He was charged earlier this year when authorities traced images to Keith from a computer belonging to another child pornography suspect in South Carolina.

As part of the deal, prosecutors agreed to drop most of the 117 federal charges of producing, sharing and possessing child pornography.

But the remaining 17 charges still carry potential 20-year sentences that could keep Keith in prison for the rest of his life. He is scheduled to formally plead guilty Monday before U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith.

Federal prosecutors say that at least three young boys were sexually abused by Keith, 27, of Snider Road in Mason, in the home.  They say many of the photos show Keith abusing the boys or posing them in sexually explicit positions.

Keith’s mother, Teresa Bailey, 54, is charged with two counts of child endangering that accuse her of failing to protect the children from her son. Unlike her son, who faces federal charges, Bailey is charged with felony counts in state court.

Prosecutors have said in court that Bailey knew her son was a pedophile but still allowed him to be around children. Bailey told The Enquirer after her son’s arrest in January that she “suspected something was fishy” about her son’s behavior.

She said her son was abused as a child and suffered for years from the effects of that abuse.

The plea deal was filed this week in federal court. Neither prosecutors nor Keith’s attorney could be reached for comment.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: andrew f. keith, andrew fares keith, Andrew Keith, boys, children, internet, pornography, theresa bailey, u.s. district judge sandra beckwith, West Chester