The Sanatoga Post

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.

Wednesday, Jan. 20

EMS: Respiratory Emergency
Macoby Creek Way & Jodie Ct; Pennsburg; 2010-01-21 @ 04:51:29;

EMS: Back Pains/injury
Shenkel Rd & Timberline Dr; Chester County; 2010-01-21 @ 04:22:47;

EMS: Subject In Pain
2nd St & Johnson St; Pottstown; 2010-01-21 @ 00:10:22;

EMS: Head Injury
Macoby St & E 5th St; Pennsburg; 2010-01-20 @ 23:59:56;

Fire: Fire Alarm
Linfield Trappe Rd & S Township Line Rd; Limerick; 2010-01-20 @ 20:10:42;

EMS: Overdose
2nd Ave & Park Ave; Collegeville; 2010-01-20 @ 19:13:07;

EMS: Abdominal Pains
Evans St & Lesher Aly; Pottstown; 2010-01-20 @ 19:08:43;

EMS: Fall Victim
Old Reading Pike & Schuylkill River Trl; West Pottsgrove; 2010-01-20 @ 18:52:52;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident
Township Line Rd & 10th Ave; Limerick; 2010-01-20 @ 18:01:12;

EMS: CVA/ Stroke
3rd Ave & W 3rd Ave; Trappe; 2010-01-20 @ 17:55:05;

EMS: Cardiac Emergency
Blaker Dr & Hamilton Rd; East Greenville; 2010-01-20 @ 17:29:38;

Fire: Vehicle Accident
Crimson Ln & Sunnybrook Rd; Lower Pottsgrove; 2010-01-20 @ 15:56:42;

EMS: Vehicle Accident
Crimson Ln & Sunnybrook Rd; Lower Pottsgrove; 2010-01-20 @ 15:56:41;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident Injuries
Crimson Ln & Sunnybrook Rd; Lower Pottsgrove; 2010-01-20 @ 15:52:38;

EMS: Head Injury
Hendricks Rd & Colonial Dr; Lower Frederick; 2010-01-20 @ 15:20:28;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident Injuries
Crimson Ln & Sunnybrook Rd; Lower Pottsgrove; 2010-01-20 @ 15:52:38;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident
Philadelphia Ave & Merkel Rd; Douglass; 2010-01-20 @ 15:52:28;

EMS: Head Injury
Hendricks Rd & Colonial Dr; Lower Frederick; 2010-01-20 @ 15:20:28;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident
Egypt Rd & Mill Rd; Upper Providence; 2010-01-20 @ 15:18:07;

EMS: Fever
3rd Ave & Jackson Rd; Douglass; 2010-01-20 @ 14:18:50;

EMS: Unresponsive Subject
Village Ln; Lower Pottsgrove; 2010-01-20 @ 14:06:03;

EMS: Vehicle Accident
Royersford Rd; Limerick; 2010-01-20 @ 12:31:26;

EMS: Cardiac Emergency
Medical Dr & Armand Hammer Blvd; Lower Pottsgrove; 2010-01-20 @ 12:32:40;

EMS: Vehicle Accident
Royersford Rd; Limerick; 2010-01-20 @ 12:31:26;

Fire: Fire Investigation
Anthony Wayne Dr & Minuteman Dr; Upper Providence; 2010-01-20 @ 12:14:29;

Fire: Fire Alarm
South St & S Price St; Pottstown; 2010-01-20 @ 10:19:03;

EMS: Back Pains/injury
Briar Ct & Lakeside Dr; Limerick; 2010-01-20 @ 09:50:16;

EMS: Cardiac Emergency
Lewis Rd & Pine Tree Dr; Limerick; 2010-01-20 @ 08:52:11;

EMS: Respiratory Emergency
Evergreen Rd & W Lightcap Rd; Lower Pottsgrove; 2010-01-20 @ 07:02:38;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident Unknown Injuries
Beech St & Johnson St; Pottstown; 2010-01-20 @ 07:56:16;

Fire: Vehicle Accident
N Charlotte St; New Hanover; 2010-01-20 @ 06:55:14;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident Injuries
N Charlotte St & Buchert Rd; New Hanover; 2010-01-20 @ 06:53:37;

Traffic: Disabled Vehicle
Manatawny St & W 2nd St; Pottstown; 2010-01-20 @ 05:34:13.

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Lower Pottsgrove's municipal building.

SANATOGA PA – Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township‘s elected governing body, its Board of Commissioners, is scheduled to meet tonight (Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010) at 7 in the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA, for its second regular session of January. The meeting is open to the public.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

An advance agenda covering the board’s intended discussion topics usually is available for download from the commissioners’ page on Lower Pottsgrove’s website. It had not been updated as of 8 a.m. today, and instead still reflected the board’s meeting agenda for Jan. 4 (2010).

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The Give And Take Jugglers of Philadelphia will be the featured entertainment of Friday's Family Fun Night in Lower Pottsgrove.

POTTSTOWN PA – The products and services of dozens of area businesses have been added to more than 35 beautifully crafted baskets in preparation for tomorrow’s (Friday, Jan. 22, 2010) Family Fun Night fund-raiser at Lower Pottsgrove Elementary School, 1329 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA, to benefit cancer-stricken student Beth Reifsnyder. The doors open at 5:30 p.m., rather than at 6 as announced last week.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

The baskets will be part of a raffle conducted by the Lower Pottsgrove Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO), the proceeds from which will be given to the Reifsnyder family to offset its mounting medical costs, according to co-Presidents Leigh Chancler and Maria Carroll.

Reifsnyder, a second-grade student at Lower Pottsgrove Elementary, was diagnosed in September (2009) with neuroblastoma, a form of cancer that affects the nervous system of children and infants. She is being regularly treated at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and attends school when possible.

Raffle ticket and refreshment sales will begin at 7 p.m. Donations also will be accepted at the door.

The “fun” part of the night is presented in the form of kid’s art and dance stations from 5:30-7 p.m., followed by a performance by the Philadelphia-based Give And Take Jugglers.

Among the business and community donors to the night’s event, according to the PTO, are Big Daddy’s Pizza, Raving Image Hair Salon, Target Stores, Pottstown Firestone, Kariza Fashion Boutique, Home Depot, Touch of Music, Premiere Dance Studio, Walmart, Sanatoga Thriftway, M&M Lube, Mia Bella Candles, Pottstown NAPA Auto, 422 Sports Complex, Hill Top Drive-In, A Taste of Italy II, and Amity First Stop Beverage.

Photo from the Give And Take Jugglers

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SANATOGA PA – The mound will come down.

Earthen fill that’s been piling up for months in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township, on property just west of the Turkey Hill convenience store at East High Street and Rupert Road, within a few weeks will be plowed to a grade that’s level with the highway, the township Planning Commission agreed Tuesday night (Jan. 19, 2010) during its first meeting of the new year.

The property at 3049 E. High St. will be re-graded to road level.

The mound has been a source of controversy and concern as it grew to a height of more than 20 feet. Neighboring property owners publicly worried the fill might contain harmful chemicals or wastes, and that it looked unsightly.

Planners approved the earth-moving application made by Charles Tornetta and Tornetta Realty Co. of Norristown PA. They authorized the township staff to issue Tornetta a grading permit so long as

• engineers were satisfied that soil in the mound was clean and uncontaminated;
• that an escrow account was established with funds to finish the work if the developer ran into trouble; and
• Sunoco Corp. provided its written permission that a pipeline crossing the land could be further buried by the fill.

The property, located at 3049 E. High St., has been owned by his family’s company for more than 30 years, Tornetta said. “Now it’s time to do something with it, develop it, and have it earn tax money for the township,” he said. “And we’ll be happy to take your money,” Planning Commission Chairman Geoffrey Dailey later replied, smiling. The developer hopes to put an office building, hotel, or retail center on the parcel of almost 14 acres.

None of those hopes are plans yet, and no construction of any kind has been approved by commissioners, Chad Camburn, representing township engineering firm Bursich Associates, noted. “This is only for earth moving and nothing else,” he said of the permit. “When they want to build,” Camburn added, the Tornettas have “got to go through the land development process.”

Results of the most recent tests for potential contamination in the fill’s contents were returned to the township Tuesday, Camburn acknowledged. Although they must be analyzed by Bursich, the firm reported earlier tests indicated the fill was safe. “It’ll show its clean,” Tornetta said of the latest test, and added that Lower Pottsgrove’s “highly unusual” demand that he test the fill more than once -  in response to public concern – had cost an extra $4,000.

Sunoco representatives have already given oral consent to the earth moving plan, Tornetta said.

Plans show a sediment and drainage basin will be created on the property’s north side to control surface water run-off. Once tree stumps on the property are removed, the mound that occupies its eastern end will be leveled across its length and re-graded to be even with East High Street.

“We’re ready to start tomorrow,” Tornetta proclaimed, but his construction superintendent, Ted Krause, was more cautious. “Well, not quite tomorrow,” Krause said, causing commission members to laugh. It may take a week or two to ensure the commission’s conditions are met.

Approval of the permit authorization was unanimous. Planning Commissioners Nicholas Hiriak and Ronald Dinnocenti were absent from the meeting.

Related:

• Earthen Mound Could Grow Higher
• Still Piling It Up At The Interchange
• Sanatoga Soil Mound Concerns Its Neighbors
• Grading Gets Started Near Interchange
• Fill Piles At Sanatoga Exit

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Planning Commission meeting of Jan. 19):

• Planning Commissioner Meeting Tonight

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Fiber optic cables being installed along U.S. Route 422 may help better control future traffic.

ROYERSFORD PA – Trench-digging and pipe-laying that continues this week by construction crews, at work along the south side of west-bound lanes of U.S. Route 422 between Collegeville and Royersford, is a glimpse of the future being buried at the side of the road.

The pipe will carry conduits that are part of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation‘s intelligent transportation management system, being installed on 422 with federal funding that was part of the first-round of economic stimulus money. The electronic and fiber optic system will allow the state to monitor – and to a certain extent, control – the highway’s traffic  with remote cameras, electronic message boards and other devices, PennDOT said.

The installation means the left lanes of 422, for either or both west- and east-bound traffic, may be closed at times between 7 p.m. and 2 p.m. from the Route 29 interchange to the Royersford-Trappe interchange, according to the weekly construction report supplied by the Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association (GVFTMA).

In addition, GVFTMA said, traffic in the same area may be reduced from two lanes to one from between 10 a.m. and 5 a.m. to accommodate guide rail replacements.

Both the guide rail and conduit work is expected to continue through Friday (Jan. 22, 2010).

Photo from Clipart.com

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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.

Tuesday, Jan. 19

EMS: Back Pains/Injury
Walnut St & N Franklin St; Pottstown; 2010-01-20 @ 04:14:09;

EMS: Cardiac Emergency
Harmony Dr & E Harmony Dr; Pottstown; 2010-01-20 @ 03:53:36;

EMS: Cardiac Emergency
Saint Victoria Dr & Santa Maria Dr; New Hanover; 2010-01-19 @ 20:40:53;

Traffic: Disabled Vehicle
Township Line Rd & Heffner Rd; Upper Providence; 2010-01-19 @ 20:30:54;

EMS: Diabetic Emergency
Gateshead Way & Ramsgate Dr; Upper Providence; 2010-01-19 @ 20:11:04;

EMS: Vehicle Accident
W Ridge Pike; Upper Providence; 2010-01-19 @ 20:05:33;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident Pedestrian Struck
W Ridge Pike & N Township Line Rd; Upper Providence; 2010-01-19 @ 20:05:41;

EMS: Seizures
9th St & Johnson St; Pottstown; 2010-01-19 @ 19:36:58;

Fire: Electrical Fire Outside
3rd Ave & Heritage Park Blvd; Trappe; 2010-01-19 @ 19:05:46;

EMS: Head Injury
Ridge Pike & Kline Rd; Upper Providence; 2010-01-19 @ 17:34:59;

Traffic: Disabled Vehicle
Rt422 Wb & S Collegeville Rd Underpass; Upper Providence; 2010-01-19 @ 17:06:25;

EMS: Subject In Pain
2nd Ave & Green St; Royersford; 2010-01-19 @ 16:49:31;

Fire: Vehicle Accident
Rt100 Sb; Upper Pottsgrove; 2010-01-19 @ 16:22:12;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident Injuries
Rt100 Sb & W Moyer Rd; Upper Pottsgrove; 2010-01-19 @ 16:21:28;

EMS: Cardiac Emergency
Medical Dr & Armand Hammer Blvd; Lower Pottsgrove; 2010-01-19 @ 16:03:00;

EMS: Seizures
Evans St & Lincoln Ave; Pottstown; 2010-01-19 @ 15:59:44;

EMS: Cardiac Emergency
Deep Creek Rd & Schultz Rd; New Hanover; 2010-01-19 @ 15:06:25;

Fire: S/b At Helicopter Landing
Logan St & Diamond St; Pottstown; 2010-01-19 @ 15:00:37;

EMS: Vehicle Accident
High St & N Sanatoga Rd; Lower Pottsgrove; 2010-01-19 @ 14:55:49;

Fire: Vehicle Accident
High St & N Sanatoga Rd; Lower Pottsgrove; 2010-01-19 @ 14:51:44;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident Injuries
High St & N Sanatoga Rd; Lower Pottsgrove; 2010-01-19 @ 14:51:19;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident
E 5th Ave & E Main St; Collegeville; 2010-01-19 @ 13:29:38;

EMS: Subject In Pain
County Line Rd & Montgomery Ave; Douglass; 2010-01-19 @ 11:47:31;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident
S Collegeville Rd & Ramp Rt29 To Rt422 Wb; Upper Providence; 2010-01-19 @ 10:58:30;

EMS: Head Injury
Kulp Rd & Deep Creek Rd; New Hanover; 2010-01-19 @ 09:36:06;

EMS: Respiratory Emergency
Glasgow St & Rice St; Pottstown; 2010-01-19 @ 09:08:06;

EMS: Fall Victim
Buchert Rd & Sunrise Ln; Lower Pottsgrove; 2010-01-19 @ 08:01:55;

EMS: Dehydration
Main Campus Dr & E 5th Ave; Collegeville; 2010-01-19 @ 07:44:18;

Traffic: Vehicle Accident
Main St & N Lewis Rd; Royersford; 2010-01-19 @ 07:38:29;

EMS: Cardiac Emergency
Fagleysville Rd & Saint Victoria Dr; New Hanover; 2010-01-19 @ 07:05:41.

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OUT EARLY FOR A COLD JOB – Employees of Hosier’s Lawn and Landscaping of Boyertown and Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township workers were already busy Tuesday morning (Jan. 19, 2010) at 7:30 a.m., trimming branches from trees that occupy the Pleasantview Road open space buffer just north of the rear of the township municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA. Temperatures were in the low-30s, and frost blanketed the ground in a light coat of white.

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Pottsgrove High School.

POTTSTOWN PA – A “late afternoon bomb threat” Tuesday (Jan. 19, 2010) at Pottsgrove High School, 1345 Kauffman Rd., Pottstown PA, caused police to evacuate and search the building, and resulted in the cancellation of all after-school activities, according to Principal Christopher Shaffer.

No bomb or other potentially harmful device was reported discovered, and no one was reported injured.

The school is expected to re-open Wednesday (Jan. 20) at its regularly scheduled time. Shaffer noted, however, that it would put “additional safety precautions in place” based on police recommendations. He did not elaborate on their nature.

Although school administrators did not consider the threat credible, “we are taking it seriously, and are working with the Lower Pottsgrove Police Department to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of our students, staff, and faculty,” Shaffer told students’ parents during a pre-recorded phone message that was sent to their homes.

The script of Shaffer’s message was publicly posted early Tuesday evening on the home page of the Pottsgrove School District website.

Cancellation casualties included the boys’ varsity and junior varsity basketball games against Perkiomen Valley that were scheduled to be played Tuesday night in the school gym. They were re-scheduled for Wednesday night. A meeting of the Pottsgrove Music League was moved from the high school to Pottsgrove Middle School.

Shaffer also took an opportunity during his message to ask for help in finding whoever issued the threat. “If you or your student has any information that would assist us with this investigation,” he said, “please notify us as soon as possible.”

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SANATOGA PA – The Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Planning Commission is scheduled to meet tonight at 6:30 in the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA. The meeting is open to the public. An agenda is usually available for download a day or more before the meeting from the commission page on township’s website.

Board members usually meet on the third Monday of each month. During 2010, meetings also have been scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 16; March 15, April 19,  May 17, June 21, July 19, Aug. 16, Sept. 20, Oct. 18, Nov. 15, and Dec. 20.

• These events have been added to The Post calendar.

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POTTSTOWN PA – It’s been almost two months since the youth basketball season was launched for 2009-2010 by the Lower Pottsgrove Athletic Association, and dozens of its participants spent Saturday (Jan. 16, 2010) at Pottsgrove Middle School, Hanover Street, Pottstown PA, proving that their practice and hard work is paying off. Parents and friends cheered, referees whistled, and coaches barked a demand or two, but the kids on court seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves, their games, and the environment. There were smiles in every corner of the school gym.

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