South Philly Review

A Settlement Music School teacher was killed in a head-on collision last Thursday in Gloucester Township, New Jersey.

Anthony "Tony" Simmons, 38, of Woodbury, N.J., taught viola and violin at the school's main campus at 416 Queen St. for six years. He also taught at Settlement branches in Jenkintown, the Northeast and Germantown, said Settlement Executive Director Bob Capanna.

Simmons was heading south on Route 42 near the Blackwood-Clementon exit when a northbound driver lost control of her 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse, crossed a grassy median and slammed into the victim's 2003 Honda Civic, said New Jersey State Police Trooper Stephen Jones.

Simmons was pronounced dead at the scene after the 7 a.m. incident.

The driver of the Mitsubishi, Janelle Young-Matias, 27, of Williamstown, and her passenger, Charles Taylor, 32, from Queens Hill, N.Y., were taken to Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Washington Township and treated for minor injuries, Jones said.

The southbound lanes of Route 42 were closed for two hours after the crash, which remains under investigation.

In addition to teaching at the prestigious Settlement, Simmons instructed at the Wilmington Music School and was the violist for Serafin String Quartet and new music ensemble Relache. A memorial service was held in Wilmington yesterday; a free memorial concert, featuring performances by Settlement colleagues and students, will be held 7 p.m. March 15 at the school.

The victim's wife, Marka Kasker Simmons, is also a viola and violin teacher at Settlement's Queen Village location and coordinates the school's adult chamber music program. She was unavailable for comment this week.

"The thing about Tony that sort of distinguished him from a lot of musicians and maybe a lot of teachers is that he was a very unassuming guy -- very modest, very quiet, a guy who was very interested in other people," said Capanna.

The director called Simmons a "terrific teacher," citing that his focus was on student needs and advancing their potential. "As a consequence, he had a very remarkable success with students and also a very close bond with his students," the director noted.

Assault went beyond trash talk

A family of four was arrested Tuesday after they allegedly beat up two city sanitation workers, sending the victims to the hospital, police said.

The suspects, from the 1700 block of South 19th Street, started cursing and threatening the workers because they refused to wait for them to bring out their trash around 11:35 a.m., said Officer Sheila Smith of the Police Public Affairs Unit.

The four caught up with the truck on the 1900 block of Watkins Street, where they began punching and kicking the two victims and assaulting them with garbage cans, Smith said.

One of the victims, a 20-year-old man from Southwest Philly, suffered a busted lip, facial bruises and swelling. His 45-year-old coworker from North Philly suffered facial cuts, a concussion and possible internal injuries, police said. Both men were taken to Graduate Hospital.

Eugene Dykes, 37; his wife LaTonya Dykes, 37; and their sons, Norman Cutright, 22; and Eugene Dykes Jr., 18, were charged with aggravated and simple assault, terroristic threats, conspiracy, reckless endangerment and other offenses.

Shot by female stranger