The Sanatoga Post

POTTSTOWN PA – A 10-hour that instructs manufacturers and general industries on complying with regulations of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) will be held Feb. 24 (2010; Wednesday) from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the conference center of the TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce, 152 High St., Suite 360, Pottstown PA.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

OSHA demand workplace safety compliance.

The session is being co-sponsored by the chamber and Associated Builders and Contractors Inc.

About 60,000 workers are killed annually in, or as the result of, job-site related accidents or illnesses, according to OSHA. Workers also suffer 6 million non-fatal injuries annually that dramatically reduce work productivity. The day-long course is designed to provide an overview of required safety regulations to meet OSHA standards for general industry.

It covers an introduction to the OSH Act, OSHA as an agency, enforcement, and record keeping; walking and working surfaces; means of egress, emergency action plans and fire protection plans; and electrical safety.  This particular course will be beneficial for foremen, job supervisors, inspectors, safety personnel, or anyone having responsibility to OSHA compliance in an industrial setting, according to the chamber.

All participants will receive completion cards and manuals at the end of the course.  The cost to chamber, ABC, and Pottstown Building Industries Exchange members is $250 per person, $225 per person for two or more attendees from the same member-company; or $425 for non-members. Seating is limited, and advance reservations are required. For more information or to register, call the chamber at 610-326-2900 or visit its website.

Photo from Clipart.com

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Camps offer lots of choices for exploration.

POTTSTOWN PA – An open house Saturday (Jan. 30, 2010) from 8-11 a.m., which will promote 11 weeks of fun scheduled for area youths later this year, launches the 2010 Summer Camp registration drive for the Pottstown branch of the Freedom Valley YMCA, 724 N. Adams St., Pottstown PA.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Kids between the ages of 3 and 11, and their parents, can learn more during the open house about camp themes and activities, as well as enroll in their favorites during weeks of their choice. All campers will receive a free T-shirt and be entered in a drawing to win a free week in camp.

Later this summer the Y will operate, on Mondays through Fridays,:

• a Mini-Explorers camp, for ages 3-5, from 9 a.m. to Noon at the Y;
• a Junior Explorers camp, limited to 5-year-olds, from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., also at the Y;
• an Explorers camp for youths in grades 1-5, from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Y, as well as at East Coventry Elementary, West Vincent Elementary, Amity Intermediate, and Birdsboro Elementary schools; and
• a Discovery Camp, also for grades 1-5, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Y.

Some camps will conduct activities that coincide with themes like Go Green Together, Food for Thought, Challenge Week, Friends Friends Friends, and Got Talent? Discovery Camp themes include Wildlife Explorers, Splash Camp, and a Physical Challenge.

The Y reports it will conduct other open house events Feb. 20 to introduce the public to the Y’s facilities during its free Trial Week; and April 17, to promote Healthy Kids Day.

Photo from Clipart.com

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POTTSTOWN PA – Book author Lucinda Fleeson, a former newspaper reporter who wrote about her experiences in moving from Philadelphia to work in a Hawaiian tropical garden, will be the featured speaker Feb. 3 (2010; Wednesday) from 12:30-1:30 p.m. during Montgomery County Community College’s West Campus Speaker Series in South Hall’s Community Room, 101 College Dr., Pottstown PA.

The event is open to the public. This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Fleeson is the author of “Waking Up in Eden: In Pursuit of an Impassioned Life on an Imperiled Island.” Her website describes the book as one for “armchair travelers, modern-day romantics, gardeners, green activists, and everyone interested in a true adventure story about following one’s heart.” She currently serves as director of an international journalists’ program at the University of Maryland College of Journalism.

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POTTSTOWN PA – Regarding its 2010-2011 budget, the Pottsgrove School District paid for the following advertisements to be published today (Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010) in The (Pottstown PA) Mercury, the district’s newspaper of public record for legal notices.

“POTTSGROVE SCHOOL DISTRICT Notice of Act 1 Referendum Exception.”

“Pursuant to Act 1, the Pennsylvania Department of Education publishes an index % applicable to the School District. The school district real estate tax increase for the next fiscal year is limited to the index % unless the proposed tax rate is approved by voters pursuant to a referendum or the School District qualifies for an Act 1 exception. As a result of special circumstances covered by an Act 1 referendum exception, a tax rate % increase above the index is required to balance the School District budget for the next fiscal year. This tax increase is required to provide a quality education program as reflected in the School District Preliminary Budget. Pottsgrove School District intends to seek approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Education for an exception allowing an increase of the real estate tax as reflected in the School District Preliminary Budget. The Preliminary Budget is available for public inspection at the School District offices, 1301 Kauffman Road, Pottstown, PA.” and;

“NOTICE OF INTENT TO ADOPT PRELIMINARY BUDGET”

“Notice is hereby given that the Board of School Directors of the Pottsgrove School District intends to adopt its Preliminary Budget for the 2010-2011 school year at its regular meeting to be held on February 9, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. This meeting is open to the public and all members of the public are invited and encouraged to attend. The proposed Preliminary Budget contains estimated of revenues and expenditures as well as the proposed tax rates for the 2010-2011 school year. Copies of the proposed Preliminary Budget have been and continue to be available for public inspection on the School District’s web site: www.pgsd.org and at the District’s business office, 1301 Kauffman Road, Pottstown.”

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POTTSTOWN PA – A bingo fund-raiser to benefit the Pottsgrove High School Concert Choir will be held Friday (Jan. 29, 2010) beginning at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria of the high school, 1345 Kauffman Rd., Pottstown PA. Seating will be available from 6 p.m., and the event is open to the public.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Longaberger-brand baskets and Silpada-brand jewelry will be among the featured prizes.

Admission costs $20 per person, and may be purchased at the door. Extra cards also will be sold, and raffle tickets will be sold for a series of prizes. Dinner items will be offered for purchase during the games. For more information, call choir director Cindy Foust at the school, 610-326-5105 Ext. 6501, or e-mail her.

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STOWE PA – Brig. Gen. Elmer S. Friedberg American Legion Post 244 of the Pottsgroves will hold its next regular meeting on Thursday (Jan. 28, 2010) beginning at 7:30 p.m. in St. Gabriel’s Lodge, Jefferson Street and Grosstown Rd, Stowe PA, post Adjutant William C. Worrell has announced. The meeting is open to members.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Post meetings usually are held on the fourth Thursday of every month except July, August, November and December. The meeting will be held in Stowe because the post, which has a Sanatoga mailing address, currently lacks its own building.

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A proposed sign for Sunnybrook now seems possible in coming months.

SANATOGA PA – Sunnybrook Foundation, the non-profit owner of Sanatoga’s Sunnybrook Ballroom conference facility, is being urged by the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Board of Commissioners to submit an application to the township Zoning Hearing Board that seeks approval of the foundation’s plans to erect a new promotional sign on East High Street.

The reason: money to pay for the sign is apparently waiting to be claimed.

There’s a catch, though. Foundation directors will be required to approve an indemnity agreement with the township before Lower Pottsgrove passes through the grant money that Montgomery County allocated for the purpose. Commissioners last Thursday (Jan. 21, 2010) authorized their solicitor, R. Kurtz Holloway, to draft that contract.

The board’s action is the latest in a long and sometimes publicly tortuous saga of Sunnybrook’s quest to better advertise entertainment and activities to which it plays host almost weekly. An existing billboard on the north side of the High Street bridge crossing Sprogels Run from Sanatoga west into Pottstown is considered antiquated and inadequate.

It’s been about 18 months since the foundation applied to the county for what now amounts to an $80,000 grant to replace the aging billboard, just northeast of Pottstown Memorial Medical Center, that must be changed by hand every time Sunnybrook announces an upcoming event. The foundation in December (2009) showed commissioners drawings of a computer-programmable, internally-lighted sign to replace it.

Sunnybrook, located at 50 Sunnybrook Rd., Pottstown PA, must obtain variance approval from the Zoning Hearing Board to put up the sign. The board meets as needed, but generally only once a month, and it may take time to get on its agenda. “The sign looks like it’s going to happen, so Sunnybrook has to get its application in,” Commissioner James Phillips said Thursday.

Commissioners have consistently said they favored the sign, and supported Sunnybrook’s efforts to win the money to buy it. They worried, however, over what they said were strings attached to the grant that held Lower Pottsgrove liable for its cost, upkeep and maintenance over a period of years should Sunnybrook fail. For that reason the board voted in July (2009) to return the free money to the county.

A lot has happened behind the scenes since then. “We took a lot of bad press and unfair criticism” over the grant rejection, Phillips said, even though commissioners individually and as a group kept meeting with county officials to work out some sort of compromise. Just what form that takes hasn’t been fully disclosed, but is expected to be the substance of the indemnity agreement on which Holloway is already working.

“The money is back on the table if Sunnybrook takes on the responsibility for it,” Holloway said. “Beyond that, it’s a contract that’s not yet approved by the board and I can’t say much more about it.”

Related:

• Sunnybrook Displays Vision Of A New Sign
• Still Hope For Sunnybrook Grant Township Rejected
• Its Grant Gone, Sunnybrook Looks To ‘Something Else’
• Township Says No To Sunnybrook Grant, Citing Risks
• Sunnybrook Grant On Township’s Agenda
• Sunnybrook, Township at Odds Over Grant

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ Jan. 21 meeting):

• Township May Turn Off Some Street Lights
• Township Commissioners’ Meeting Tonight

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They paid how much?

POTTSTOWN PA – The top price paid for real estate within Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township from Oct. 26-28, 2009, was $234,500, the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reports. The property is located at 1201 Mulberry St.

A second property, at 629 Oaktree Ct., sold for $142,500.

This week’s top reported prices were listed Sunday (Jan. 24, 2010) in “The Top 50,” the newspaper’s weekly review of highest prices paid for real estate sold within the city of Philadelphia and townships in its surrounding counties.

By contrast, during the same period, the top real estate sales price in Pottstown PA Borough, immediately to the west was $154,000; Limerick PA Township, east, $517,000; New Hanover PA Township, northeast, $359,320; Upper Pottsgrove PA Township, west, $125,000; and in North Coventry PA Township, south, none listed.

Related:

• What They Sold For, Sept. 27-Oct. 23, 2009
• What They Sold For, Oct. 12-16, 2009
• What They Sold For, Oct. 5-9, 2009
• What They Sold For, Sept. 29-Oct. 2, 2009
• What They Sold For, Sept. 14-18, 2009
• What They Sold For, Sept. 1-11, 2009
• What They Sold For, Aug. 26-31, 2009
• What They Sold For, Aug. 20-25, 2009
• What They Sold For, Aug. 13-19, 2009
• What They Sold For, Aug. 5-12, 2009
• What They Sold For, July 29-Aug. 4, 2009
• What They Sold For, July 24-28, 2009
• What They Sold For, July 20-23, 2009
• What They Sold For, July 13-17, 2009
• What They Sold For, July 6-10, 2009
• What They Sold For, June 29-July 3, 2009
• What They Sold For, June 22-26, 2009
• What They Sold For, June 15-19, 2009
• What They Sold For, June 8-12, 2009
• What They Sold For, June 1-5, 2009
• What They Sold For, May 25-29, 2009
• What They Sold For, May 18-22, 2009
• What They Sold For, May 11-15, 2009
• What They Sold For, May 4-8, 2009
• What They Sold For, April 27-May 1, 2009
• What They Sold For, April 20-24, 2009
• What They Sold For, April 13-17, 2009
• What They Sold For, April 2-12, 2009
• What They Sold For, March 30-April 1, 2009
• What They Sold For, March 19-27, 2009
• What They Sold For, March 18-20, 2009
• What They Sold For, March 5-11, 2009
• What They Sold For, Feb. 26-March 4, 2009
• What They Sold For, Feb. 18-25, 2009
• What They Sold For, Feb. 4-11, 2009
• What They Sold For, Jan. 28-Feb. 3, 2009
• What They Sold For, Jan. 19-27, 2009
• What They Sold For, Jan. 10-18, 2009
• What They Sold For, Jan. 1-9, 2009
• What They Sold For, Dec. 22-31, 2008
• What They Sold For, Dec. 15-19, 2008
• What They Sold For, Dec. 8-12, 2008
• What They Sold For, Nov. 26-Dec. 5, 2008
• What They Sold For, Nov. 18-24, 2008
• What They Sold For, Nov. 10-17, 2008
• What They Sold For, Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2008
• What They Sold For, Oct. 20-27, 2008
• What They Sold For, Oct. 13-17, 2008
• What They Sold For, Oct. 6-10, 2008
• What They Sold For, Sept. 29 -Oct. 3, 2008
• What They Sold For, Sept. 22-26, 2008
• What They Sold For, Sept. 15-19, 2008
• What They Sold For, Sept. 8-12, 2008
• What They Sold For, Sept. 1-5, 2008
• What They Sold For, Aug. 25-29, 2008
• What They Sold For, Aug. 18-22, 2008

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NORRISTOWN PA – Montgomery County (PA) emergency dispatchers directed police units, firefighters and emergency medical responders within the past 24 hours to a variety of incidents. A selective list of their activity appears below.

The entries are taken from publicly available feeds supplied by the county Department of Public Safety. Feed content has been edited by The Post for relevance to readers in Lower Pottsgrove and Limerick PA townships, the borough of Pottstown, and surrounding municipalities. It consequently is incomplete and is not intended to be comprehensive.

In most cases, the entries can be read as:

1. Type of service (EMS = emergency medical services, Traffic = police, Fire = firefighters);
2. Type of incident (vehicle accident, etc.)
3. Location of incident (usually by closest intersection or landmark, and the name of the municipality)
4. Date and time of the incident (YYYY-MM-DD) @ (“at”) (HH:MM:SS) in military time format.

Sunday, Jan. 24

EMS: Abdominal Pains
Evergreen Rd & W Lightcap Rd; Lower Pottsgrove; 2010-01-24 @ 16:44:43;

EMS: Cardiac Emergency
South St & Cross St; Pottstown; 2010-01-24 @ 16:34:10;

EMS: Allergic Reaction
Whitespire Cir; Upper Pottsgrove; 2010-01-24 @ 16:26:20;

EMS: Seizures
Ridge Pike & Futura Dr; Limerick; 2010-01-24 @ 16:12:41;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident
Prospect St & Logan St; Pottstown; 2010-01-24 @ 15:28:10;

EMS: CVA/Stroke
Willow St & Mulberry St; Upper Pottsgrove; 2010-01-24 @ 14:42:40;

Fire: Fire Investigation
Montgomery Ave & Mensch Dam Rd; Pennsburg; 2010-01-24 @ 13:19:44;

EMS: Head Injury
Main Campus Dr & E 5th Ave; Collegeville; 2010-01-24 @ 12:34:08;

EMS: Unconscious Subject
Lewis Rd & Walnut St; Royersford; 2010-01-24 @ 11:39:33;

EMS: Syncopal Episode
Beech St & Cedar St; Pottstown; 2010-01-24 @ 11:25:18;

EMS: Back Pains/ Injury
Hoffmansville Rd & Green Hill Rd; Douglass; 2010-01-24 @ 11:14:02;

EMS: Allergic Reaction
Evansburg Rd & Heiser Rd; Skippack; 2010-01-24 @ 10:42:19;

EMS: Unconscious Subject
Black Rock Rd & Ramp Egypt Rd To Rt422 Eb; Upper Providence; 2010-01-24 @ 09:34:03;

EMS: Hemorrhaging
Prison Rd; Skippack; 2010-01-24 @ 08:25:37;

EMS: Dizziness
Manatawny St & Belmont St; Pottstown; 2010-01-24 @ 04:13:03;

EMS: Lacerations
Tawnyberry Ln; Upper Providence; 2010-01-24 @ 02:28:59;

EMS: Cardiac Emergency
High St & Brown St; Lower Pottsgrove; 2010-01-24 @ 02:26:57;

EMS: Assault Victim
Main St & 2nd St; East Greenville; 2010-01-24 @ 02:08:11;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident
Main St & W 7th Ave; Trappe; 2010-01-24 @ 01:15:18;

Fire: Vehicle Accident
Main St & W 7th Ave; Trappe; 2010-01-24 @ 01:13:29;

EMS: Vehicle Accident
Main St & W 7th Ave; Trappe; 2010-01-24 @ 01:13:25;

EMS: Overdose
Main St & 6th Ave; Collegeville; 2010-01-24 @ 00:26:08;

EMS: Overdose
Main Campus Dr & E 5th Ave; Collegeville; 2010-01-24 @ 00:14:16.

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SANATOGA PA – The next meeting of Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township residents interested in helping to plan uses of Snell and Norton Park, on the township’s northeast end, is scheduled be held tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010) at 6:30 p.m. in the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA. The public may attend.

Meadow and woodland make up a large part of Snell and Norton Park.

Future meetings, also in the municipal building at 6:30 p.m., are scheduled for:

• March 9 (2010; Tuesday);
• April 6 (2010; Tuesday); and
• June 1 (2010; Tuesday).

Related:

• Keeping What’s Natural In Talks For Park
• Snell and Norton Park Meeting Tonight
• Want To Help Plan A Park? Here’s Your Chance
• Park Master Plan Discussion On Board Agenda
• Township Seeks Grant For Park Site Plan

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