Darby Politics - the Story of How a Young Woman Tried to Make a Difference

In the early 70's a 10 year old girl named Paula first became interested in local government. Her mother was a committeewoman and she would tag along with her to the Darby Borough Council Meetings. She found it interesting that a bunch of men would make all the decisions for the town. She remembers going to the meetings when they were at the old Borough Hall located upstairs in an old dilapidated buildling in Darby on N. 9th Street. The "decision makers" would sit around a table, smoke their cigarettes and some would have a quart of beer by their side on the floor!

She didn't think it was right for these men to sit there, smoke and drink and make decisions for the town! From that point on, she would help her mother deliver literature for elections and attend the meetings.

8 years later, when she turned 18, she was legally allowed the right to voice her opinion and boy did she ever! She's voted in every election since, and attended every meeting.

Paula was 19 years old, with 2 babies when she saw something that wasn't right. Main Street in Darby was getting new sidewalks. From her front yard, she can overlook most of Darby. One day, she saw the contractor who was working on the Main Street Sidewalks, dump the old concrete into Darby Creek. She immediately called the Borough and reported it. The borough Code Enforcement Officer said, "The contractors are just putting it there temporarily to store it. They'll haul it away when they are finished the job. " The next day, Paula watched in awe, as the contractors then took a bulldozer and pushed tons of concrete into the creek! She wondered how the contractors were now going to gather the broken concrete and haul it away while it was laying in the creek.

She called the Borough again, and this time spoke to the Borough Manager. He gave her a completely different answer. "The concrete is going to be stored on the banks of the creek. It will help stabilize the banks and stop the erosion." Paula was still puzzled. She asked the Borough Manager, "Well, the concrete is not placed on the banks, it's located in the creek. How will that stabilize the banks?". He then replied, "They will scoop it up and place it strategically along the banks where the erosion is occurring." Still not satisfied with the answer, Paula then placed a call to the Department of Environmental Resources. She asked the call taker if broken concrete mixed with asphalt and iron poles is allowed to be placed in the Darby Creek. The DEP emphatically stated no, it was contaminated and could affect the fish and wildlife and their habitat. They scheduled an appointment to meet Paula at the site so she could show them the violations.

The following day the DEP met Paula at the site and determined it to be quite hazardous to the environment. They met with the Borough Officials, submitted their determination, issued heavy fines with a date to removed the contaminated concrete. Needless to say, the Borough Officials were not happy with Paula at this point. This incident began a series of inquiries and investigations by Paula that would place Darby Borough on the map. She still is known as the "watchdog" on Borough affairs and continues to this day, speaking out for what's right and speaking against what's wrong.

Not content with reacting after incidents occur, Paula wanted to try to prevent such incidents from happening. She decided to get involved in the local government herself, so she could be part of the "solution" instead of reacting to the problem.

She was a Democrat and lived in a 2 to 1 Republican Majority borough making it virtually impossible to get elected. The first office she ran for was Committeewoman. That was easy! She won! Well, it was inevitable because there were no other candidates. At that time, no one wanted to get involved. But it was a good start for her. However, she really wanted to be a part of the town government. So, she then ran for School Board. Of course she lost. Who would vote for a 19 year old kid? So she tried it again the following year but ran for a different position. This time, she threw her hat in the ring for Council. Darby wasn't ready for a 21 year old to lead their government. This didn't deter Paula though. She tried for several years after. She now had 4 children and at the age of 24, she finally successfully won a seat on Borough Council. She was the youngest person ever elected in Darby History.

During her first month in office, she found many things that she thought should be questioned. The Council, (some of the same men who were there with their quarts of beer years ago), didn't like being questioned all the time AND they didn't like some of the subjects she discussed. During one particular discussion, the Chairman gave her "the floor". In Roberts Rules of Order, the chairman grants permission to members to speak. She brought up a subject that the Council did not want discussed. They ruled her out of order. However, Paula being the person she is, told them quite frankly that she wasn't out of order and she continued to speak. The Chairman then directed the Chief of Police to remove her from the room. Paula refused to leave and stayed put in her chair. At the time, she was the only female on the Borough Council. She knew in her heart that she did nothing wrong so she stayed strong and stood her ground. As a result, the Chief of Police removed her, chair and all and sat her outside on a cold night in February. That was the beginning...

The following year wasn't much better. One year later almost to the day, the same scenario occurred! This time, Paula decided she wasn't going to be carried out! She stood up when the Chief approached her. He grabbed her belongings that included a tape recorder. Paula reached out to get the tape recorder and all hell broke loose. Audience members were shocked, including Paula's 70 year old mother who was in attendance. She was flung down on top of the desk and 3 police officers put hand cuffs on her and dragged her out of the meeting. She was charged with Aggravated Assault and Battery on a Police Officer, Simple Assault and Battery on a Police Officer, Resisting Arrest, Disorderly Conduct and Disrupting a Public Meeting.

2 years of trials and hearings went by. Each time, Paula was found not guilty of the charges. Concerned that Darby was going to make a practice of arresting citizens who spoke out, Paula decided to bring civil litigation against the Borough. She successfully won that court battle. The Federal Jury charged the Chief of Police and the Borough with Malicious Prosecution and violation of civil rights.

That was almost 19 years ago. She has been here ever since. Sometime in the capacity of an elected official, sometimes not. Paula has learned a great deal. She admits to making mistakes along the way. But, the same conviction she had when she first started out still remains the same. She stands up for the people. She is not afraid to tackle areas that she's not familiar with and she's not afraid to learn.

Paula stayed on Council for 8 years and then decided to run for Mayor. She felt it was time to expand. She held that seat for 8 years. During those 8 years, Darby went through many changes, good and bad. Through it all, Paula stuck it out and tried her best. Unlike many other politicians, she never gave up. When you love something, you try to nurture it and see it grow. If stumbling blocks come, you jump over them or eliminate them by correcting the problems. That's Paula's attitude. That's Darby.