SANATOGA  PA – Weekend (March 21-22, 2009) jottings from a reporter’s notebook, in no particular order:

For Falcon Lovers Everywhere

The last falcon family in Harrisburg, May 2008.

Pottsgrove Falcons boosters, and bird-lovers too, take note. The state Department of Environmental Protection has resumed its live, 24-hour web cam broadcast of a peregrine falcon nest that sits on a ledge of the Rachel Carson State Office Building in Harrisburg PA. Two cameras stream footage of an annually returning pair of falcons via the department website to interested viewers around the world.

This will be the fifth year this pair of falcons has nested at the Carson building. In each of the past three years, the female falcon has laid a clutch of five eggs. The eggs should begin to hatch around Mother’s Day (May 10, 2009) and the young falcons, or eyases, will begin to take their first flights, or fledge, around Father’s Day (June 21, 2009). To date, the Carson nest has produced 39 eggs.

Athletic Directors Recognize Pottsgrove’s DeRenzo

Pottsgrove School District Athletic Director Gary DeRenzo will be honored Thursday night (March 26, 2009) during an awards banquet in Hershey PA, at the 42nd annual conference of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Directors Association (PSADA), as its choice for 2009 Pennsylvania Region I Athletic Director of the Year. DeRenzo, the chief Falcon among Pottsgrove Falcons, has a long history of service to both PSADA and the community.

If you play tennis against DeRenzo, reports an informed source (translation: someone who’s lost to him before), “beware of his backhand.”

Tax Dollars At Work

A legal notice published Friday (March 20, 2009) on behalf of the Montgomery County Housing Authority cost county taxpayers a significant amount of money. It announced the authority had scheduled a meeting of its board of directors, and invited the public to attend. The meeting date? Thursday, March 12 … eight days earlier.

Sayoonara, signage.

Not A Sign Left

Sign makers became sign takers last week, as the last vestiges of the Norco Auto Group dealership on East High Street in Sanatoga – its exterior signs – were removed. All that remains as evidence on the building’s facade are lighter white spaces where the signs were once affixed. The dealership closed in late 2008.

A Belief That Runs Deep

Most residents of Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township are, more or less, familiar with Pottsgrove PA, zip code 19464, a U.S. Census-designated place (CDP) located on North Charlotte Street in the general area of Ringing Rocks Park. They may not, however, know its distant cousin, Potts Grove PA, zip code 17865, located 134 miles northwest of Sanatoga along Interstate 80 about midway between Bloomsburg and Lock Haven.

Tiny Potts Grove made news last week (Monday, March 16, 2009) in the pages of The (Sunbury PA) Daily Item newspaper. It reported that Allen R. Reynolds, a 62-year-old retiree from ConAgra Foods and the state Department of Transportation, this year observes his 40th anniversary as one of 15 active volunteer members of the Potts Grove Fire Company.

Daily Item reporter Rick Dandes wrote about Reynolds, now the department’s chief emeritus, and his dedication to the job. From Dandes’ article: The most gratifying aspect of the work comes when you help people, Reynolds believes. “If you can keep them safe and preserve their property so there is minimal damage, it’s a job well done.”

Whether it’s at Potts Grove or Pottsgrove, or inside the fire houses of Sanatoga or Ringing Hill, you’ll hear much the same sentiment from almost every firefighter you meet.

It’s Always “Sunney” In Sanatoga

Their hearts were in the right place.

To serve guests dessert during its March 15 (2009) Monte Carlo Night fund-raiser at Sunnybrook Ballroom, the Boyertown (PA) Rotary Club ordered treats from a bakery. It lined a table with trays of chocolate-covered eclairs and puff pastries, and at the center placed a multi-tiered, beautifully decorated cake.

Atop the cake, in carefully hand-frosted blue script, were the words “Monte Carlo At Sunneybrook,” a phrase that unfortunately included an unnecessary second “e.”

No matter. “Think of the alternative. They could have spelled it ‘Monty Carlo At Sunnybrook’,” with an errant “y,” one wag pointed out. “Then people would be asking, who’s Monty?”

Isn’t It Ironic?

A supervised, five-man crew of inmates from the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Eagleville PA arrived Monday morning (March 16, 2009) at Lower Pottsgrove’s municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd. They were brought in rake leaves and accumulated winter debris from the building’s surrounding flower beds and landscaping.

Immediately recognizable in bright orange jumpsuits, the crew started at the front parking lot and worked its way ’round back … to just outside the entrance of the township Police Department.

Young Brains Crave Food

Ask any student: taking tests is tough work. Last week was particularly difficult at Pottsgrove Middle School, 1351 N. Hanover St., where all 735 students were required to take the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) exams. To make that grueling task a little easier, school cafeteria workers ordered snacks and organized snack breaks in shifts for all classes.

Indispensible In A Newsroom

Copy editors are the folks who keep news reporters honest and readable. They catch spelling errors, fix typos, and check the math, among other tasks, in stories about to be published. Among those in that beloved group at The (Pottstown PA) Mercury – Lower Pottsgrove’s newspaper of record – is its online editor, Eileen Faust. She’s been accepted as a member of the American Copy Editors Society, that organization announced last Monday (March 16, 2009).

Photos from Sunnybrook Ballroom and the PA Department of Environmental Protection

Editor’s note: Some items in this story resulted from tweets received at The Sanatoga Post’s Twitter account. Feel free to follow or contact us on Twitter @jzlomek.

Related:

• Notebook Worthy, April 6, 2009
• Notebook Worthy, March 30, 2009
• Notebook Worthy, March 23, 2009
• Notebook Worthy, March 16, 2009
• Notebook Worthy, March 9, 2009
• Notebook Worthy, March 2, 2009
• Notebook Worthy, Feb. 23, 2009
• Notebook Worthy, Feb. 16, 2009
• Notebook Worthy, Dec. 9, 2008

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