SEPTA'S DUMBEST CRIMINAL No, that's not a reference to the consultants who seem to think that super-sized light rail is the best option for the Schuylkill Valley and Cross County corridors (the price tag for Cross County, by the way, has apparently jumped to about $1.02 billion). That honor goes to one Anna Toni Haas, 37, of Upper Darby. The Delaware County Daily Times reports that Haas was arrested on drug charges and for resisting arrest after an incident in the women's restroom at 69 St Terminal. SEPTA Police were alerted to a suspicious odor in the women's restroom. When an officer arrived, Haas allegedly was searching for something she had dropped. Police allege that she said "I dropped my f***ing crack," right in the presence of an officer. After the officer ordered her out of the stall, Haas attempted to flush "four packages containing a white powdery substance" down the toilet, then attempted to throw a 40-ounce beer bottle at the officer, who promptly maced her. Police confiscated several packages of what would later test positive for cocaine and marijuana. Haas - who will be charged with drug possession, possession of marijuana and paraphernalia, resisting arrest, and tampering with physical evidence - is now being held at the Delaware County Prison in lieu of 10 percent of $10,000 bail, pending a preliminary hearing. This raises two questions: (1) How stupid do you have to be to announce to the whole world that you've misplaced your illegal drugs, and (2) Who knew that the toilets at 69 St Terminal actually work properly?

DRIP, DRIP, DRIP On a somewhat related note, the customer service office at 69 St Terminal reopened today, after a broken water pipe caused some water damage to the office. This is the third plumming problem to plague 69 St Terminal in the past year. A couple of months ago, SEPTA work crews began work on the operator's lounge after plumming problems. So, SEPTA is trying to get nearly $3 billion for two "super-sized" trolley lines of over 60 miles each, but can't be bothered to check the plumming at one of it's major transit centers? Ye gods...

REVENGE OF THE TREES An engineer running an R5 Paoli train fell victim to a tree branch towards the tail end of the evening rush hour last night. At around 6:45pm, a westbound train - believed to be #573, the 6:12pm from Center City to Malvern and running about 10-15 minutes late - was approaching Wynnewood station when a tree branch fell and struck the windshield of the train car. The engineer was hit in the head by the branch, and later treated for minor injuries. The branch took down some of the catenary, causing delays for most of the later evening on the Paoli line.