Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Abbe Effron, who led the campaign to install Collingswood's Michael Landon plaque, could hold her own rededication ceremony if the borough doesn't plan one.
Abbe Effron has worn many hats since she decided to build a Michael Landon memorial in Collingswood. Fundraiser. Project cheerleader. Advocate. And on Monday, quite unexpectedly, security guard. After several months of plot twists and uncertainty, Collingswood re-installed the Michael Landon plaque in Knight Park on a rainy afternoon. So rainy, in fact, that the mason had to let several hours lapse before he could secure the memorial in the fresh concrete. Effron had rushed to the park after hearing from Patch that the memorial was being reinstalled—she didn’t immediately get notification, but wanted to see the process unfold. But when she learned the mason planned to leave and come back, her new role fell into place. “I’m staying here. I’…
Monday, April 23, 2012
The restoration of the Knight Park plaque commemorating Collingswood's most famous native in town history has begun.
Call it Collingswood's Highway to Healing—Michael Landon is almost back on public display. His plaque, that is. As promised by Mayor James Maley, spring has sprung, and Michael Landon is making his return to Knight Park. The circuitous journey of the displaced memorial honoring a man who is arguably Collingswood's most famous native will be drawing to a conclusion soon. On Monday afternoon, a three-man crew prepared a new foundation for the bronze memorial, which was donated by former Collingswood resident Abbe Effron. The concrete is poured at this hour, but the plaque cannot be installed until later in the afternoon because the rain made the base too wet. "We'll be releasing some official news this week," said Cassandra Duffey, borough …
39.919338
-75.082132
The Knight Park
713 Atlantic Ave, Collingswood, NJ
/articles/michael-landon-is-back
1777526
/locations/6861812
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Spring has arrived, but plans for Collingswood's erstwhile Michael Landon memorial haven't. Abbe Effron, who spearheaded the now-removed memorial, wishes Collingswood took more of an interest in the late humanitarian.
To millions of TV viewers, Michael Landon was a father figure. To Abbe Effron, Landon (the actor who played "Pa" on Little House on the Prairie) was a local hero. That's why the fate of a plaque honoring Landon is deeply personal to Effron, who now lives in Cherry Hill. In the late 1990s, Effron read about a planned monument to Superman in the town of Krypton, IL, and then another in Riverside, IA, to Captain James T. Kirk. But Collingswood, where she was living, had no memorial for Landon, its own native son. “These are fictional characters,” Effron says of the Man of Steel and the captain of the Enterprise. “[I thought] this real-life man deserves a tribute in his own town.” Although she got the go-ahead for her idea, it was incumbent…
Thursday, January 5, 2012
As police talk to Joe Dinella, who reportedly found Collingswood's Michael Landon plaque, Mayor James Maley said Dinella's alleged involvement "changes everything."
Collingswood's Little House on the Prairie saga continues, and the cast of characters is expanding. Officials have identified borough resident Joseph Dinella as the man who allegedly came into possession of a plaque—commemorating Collingswood native and famed Little House on the Prairie actor Michael Landon—and brought it to The Retrospect's office. Dinella, who has been known to publicly tussle with Mayor James Maley over borough issues, has been questioned by police over the incident. At first, the plaque's removal just caused an mild uproar, with some residents criticizing the town's decision to remove the piece—which the borough deemed a safety hazard due to its stone marker sitting near playground equipement. Under borough direction…
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The bronze marker was taken from a borough public-works facility.
Borough police have launched a criminal investigation into how a marker honoring the late actor Michael Landon ended up at the office of a local weekly newspaper. Police Lt. Glenn Prince confirmed the investigation Tuesday afternoon. "We're trying to figure out what happened," Prince said. "We’re definitely looking into it, now that we’ve been made aware of the situation." The bronze plaque honoring the borough's most famous former resident had sat on a 2-foot high concrete base in Knight Park since 1997. The marker was removed this past November during a major cleanup project at the park, after borough officials determined it presented a potential safety hazard because the base sat alone at a low height in a grassy area. Mayor James …
39.919338
-75.082132
The Knight Park
713 Atlantic Ave, Collingswood, NJ
/articles/police-investigating-removal-of-michael-landon-marker
1777526
/locations/6120743
Monday, January 2, 2012
A bronze marker honoring the late actor, who grew up in Collingswood, ended up in a refuse heap.
The borough had no intention of dumping on its most famous former resident after a memorial to him was removed from Knight Park, according to Mayor James Maley. News that the borough removed the bronze plaque and concrete marker honoring the late actor Michael Landon created a stir after it was first reported late last week by the local weekly newspaper, The Retrospect. The plaque and a two-foot high concrete base–which had sat in the park since being installed in 1997–were removed in early November during a major cleanup project at the park. In addition to the marker, Landon's widow, Cindy, also donated a children's play set, dubbed "Little Treehouse on the Prairie," at a cost of $6,700. Late last year, after all but one piece of the …
39.919338
-75.082132
The Knight Park
713 Atlantic Ave, Collingswood, NJ
/articles/mayor-we-didn-t-mean-to-trash-michael-landon-memorial
1777526
/locations/6129377
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Collingswood's bronze marker for Michael Landon was discovered in the borough dump. Do you agree with Collingswood's decision to take it down?
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- Patch Staff
-
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Collingswood’s biggest Hollywood claim to fame is Michael Landon, but is the town turning its back on the late actor? A bronze marker honoring Landon, patriarch of the Little House on the Prairie family and an alumnus of Collingswood High School, was found by a resident in the borough dump, according to local newspaper The Retrospect. It seems, according to The Retrospect account, that Collingswood removed the stone base and marker this fall during the Knight Park cleanup. There were concerns the stone base stood at unsafe height for children playing on the nearby playground equipment. And now Collingswood isn’t interested in the marker, The Retrospect attributed Mayor James Maley saying. The bronze marker went up in 1997 in honor of …
Jessie Jo Heuer
8:08 am on Monday, April 30, 2012
YEAH ABBE. WE LOVE MICHAEL here in our house. My 3 little children even adore him. We have watched all his shows. He is a beautiful man. I'm 31 and even making a web-site in his honor. He's loved and adored. SO HAPPY about this! Also, DISGUSTED it was ever removed. SHAME ON COLLINGSWOOD!!!!! more ›