The Sanatoga Post

POTTSTOWN PA – On the Pottsgrove School District sports schedule for today (Monday, Dec. 20, 2010) through next Monday (Dec. 27):

Today

• Girls 8th Grade Basketball vs. Boyertown West, 3:30 p.m.
• Girls 7th Grade Basketball vs. Boyertown West, 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 21

• Boys Freshman Basketball @ Perkiomen Valley, 3:30 p.m.
• Girls Freshman Basketball vs. Perkiomen Valley, 3:30 p.m.
• Co-ed Varsity Swimming @ Chichester, 3:45 p.m.
• Boys JV Basketball @ Phoenixville, 6 p.m.
• Girls JV Basketball vs. Phoenixville, 6 p.m.
• Boys Varsity Basketball @ Phoenixville, 7:30 p.m.
• Girls Varsity Basketball vs. Phoenixville, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 22

• Boys 8th Grade Basketball vs. Boyertown East, 3:30 p.m.
• Girls 8th Grade Basketball @ Boyertown East, 3:30 p.m.
• Boys 7th Grade Basketball vs. Boyertown East, 4:30 p.m.
• Girls 7th Grade Basketball @ Boyertown East, 4:30 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 23

• Boys JV Basketball @ Episcopal Academy, 5 p.m.
• Boys Varsity Basketball @ Episcopal Academy, 6:30 p.m.

Friday-Monday, Dec. 24-27

• None scheduled

Schedules from HighSchoolSports.net; photo from Clipart.com

POTTSTOWN PA – The 7th annual Winter Blast Invitational “Swim Your Own Age” Meet, conducted by the Freedom Valley YMCA, is scheduled to be held Dec. 27 (2010; Monday), with warm-ups starting at noon and the meet at 2 p.m. in the Y, 724 N. Adams St., Pottstown PA.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

The meet is open to youths age 12 and younger, and they are not required to be a current member of a swim team to participate. Ribbons and meet winner awards will be presented, along with a gift to all entrants. Entry costs are $3.50 per individual or $14 per relay. In case of inclement weather, the meet will be re-scheduled to Dec. 28 (Tuesday).

For more information, call 610-323-7300.

Lt. Col. Jagodzinski and his family.

BIRDSBORO PA – U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. James J. Jagodzinski and his family, stationed in Vilseck, Germany, offer holiday greetings to his father, James Jagodzinski of Birdsboro PA, in this video produced by the Joint Hometown News Service (JHNS) and released for distribution this month (December 2010).

• Watch the video, above, or see it at The Post‘s YouTube account.

Editor’s Note: For a second consecutive year, The Post is proud to have been selected by the San Antonio TX-based JHNS to carry video holiday greetings from U.S. Armed Forces troops to their family members who live within 25 miles of Pottstown PA. None of the greetings made available this year were from servicemen or women with ties to Lower Pottsgrove or Limerick (PA) townships, or the Borough of Pottstown. We know, however, that residents of our coverage areas join families across the nation in thanking our troops for their service, and wishing them and their families the happiest of holidays.

Airman 1st Class Timothy Schwarz.

CHESTER SPRINGS PA – U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Timothy P. Schwarz, stationed at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, offers holiday greetings to his mother, Theresa Schwarz of Chester Springs PA,in this video produced by the Joint Hometown News Service and released for distribution this month (December 2010).

• Watch the video, above, or see it at The Post’s YouTube account.

Editor’s Note: For a second consecutive year, The Post is proud to have been selected by the San Antonio TX-based JHNS to carry video holiday greetings from U.S. Armed Forces troops to their family members who live within 25 miles of Pottstown PA. None of the greetings made available this year were from servicemen or women with ties to Lower Pottsgrove or Limerick (PA) townships, or the Borough of Pottstown. We know, however, that residents of our coverage areas join families across the nation in thanking our troops for their service, and wishing them and their families the happiest of holidays.

MOVING TO THE MUSIC – A group of three women, one of whom is shown with their instructor (above), were hard at work getting fit Wednesday (Dec. 15, 2010) in the gymnasium of the Pottsgrove Middle School, North Hanover Street, Pottstown PA. The weekly exercise class is held Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays year-round from 6-7 p.m. at the gym, and is sponsored by the Pottsgrove Recreation Board. The classes cost $30 per person for residents of the Pottsgrove School District, which includes West, Upper and Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Townships. Continued funding of the recreation board by the school district was recently questioned by the district Board of School Directors.

POTTSTOWN PA – A 30-hour driver education class conducted by the Montgomery County (PA) Intermediate Unit – which provides county schools with a variety of services – will be held Tuesday and Thursday nights beginning Jan. 4 (2011) from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Pottsgrove High School, 1345 Kauffman Rd., Pottstown PA, principal Chris Shaffer announced Friday (Dec. 17, 2010).

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Students in the process of getting their permit or students who already have their license “will benefit greatly from this course,” he said.

Completion of this course, at a cost of $190, and its accompanying behind-the-wheel segment at a cost of $300, could result in a 10-percent discount on car insurance premiums from most insurance companies. It also helps students develop safer driving habits, he noted. Course dates are Jan. 4, 6, 11, 13, 18, 20, 25; and Feb. 1, 3, 8, 10, 15, 17, 22, and 24.

For information on the program or to register a participant, call Dr. Ken Voss of the unit’s Nonpublic School Services Division at 610-755-9318.

Winter programming awaits!

POTTSTOWN PA – Registration for the Freedom Valley YMCA winter program session, which begins Jan. 10 (2011) and runs through Feb. 27, will be held daily during regular hours at the Y, 724 N. Adams St., Pottstown PA. Y fitness and wellness classes and programs are available for all ages. They include aquatic programs, cycling, ZUMBA and Kettlebell training.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

For more information, call 610-323-7300.

POTTSTOWN PA – Ring in the new year with the Ringing Hill Fire Company, whose members will hold New Year’s Eve Bingo games on Dec. 31 (2010) at the fire hall, 815 White Pine Ln., Pottstown PA. Its doors will open at 4:30 p.m., with games scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Tickets and cards will be sold at the door. A $500 jackpot will be offered during the first half of the event, as well as both a $500 and $1000 jackpots during the second half. Fire company representatives promise their guests will be done in time to see the Times Square, New York City ball drop with family and friends.

HARRISBURG PA – Pennsylvania job figures released Thursday (Dec. 16, 2010) from the Department of Labor and Industry show a drop in unemployment figures for the third consecutive month, with an 8.6-percent November unemployment rate and the addition of 5,100 non-farm jobs.

• Read the story here, published by The Pennsylvania Independent online news service

Graphic from The Pennsylvania Independent

SANATOGA PA – Given a choice of doing or avoiding extra paperwork, Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township‘s solicitor has taken the avoidance route … and not because he was lazy, attorney R. Kurtz Holloway explains. Turns out, bypassing the paper in buying open space property on Rupert Road saved the township both time and money.

Holloway said he purposely delayed the municipality’s purchase of property from owners John and Dawn Kelius, which had been scheduled for earlier this week, until this morning (Friday, Dec. 17, 2010) at 9:30 a.m., to stay away from form-filing headaches.

Township officials have been quietly talking with the Kelius couple for months about buying 13 acres they own off Rupert Road, at the south end of the Woodgate housing community. The land will be dedicated as open space, and is valued at $40,000; it is being sold to the township for $5,000. The deal was to have closed Tuesday (Dec. 14), as reported earlier by The Post.

Before anyone arrived at the settlement table, however, Holloway said he did some checking with the Montgomery County Board of Assessment. Yes, it replied, the sale could be completed Tuesday, but because the township had not held a public hearing on the purchase the land’s tax-exempt status might be questioned.

Holloway could later file an appeal – hence the paperwork – to clear up the issue, he was told. Or the township could simply hold a public hearing first, have the Board of Commissioners approve the purchase after the hearing ended, and skip the appeal process (saving time and money, of course).

That’s why commissioners conducted a hearing as the first order of business Thursday (Dec. 16), during their last meeting of 2010 in the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown. There was no public comment. The hearing wrapped up in five minutes, and the Kelius purchase was unanimously approved.

The real value of the Kelius property, Manager Rodney Hawthorne noted, lies in its location. It connects to the other two parcels that make up the township’s Snell and Norton Park. Together, he said, they create a U-shaped cradle of open space that surrounds Woodgate on three sides.

Related:

• Township Settles Today On Newest Open Space Purchase

Related: (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Dec. 16):

• Hearing Helps Lower Pottsgrove Skip Nasty Paperwork
• Lower Pottsgrove Budget Approved, After Some Scolding
• Final OK Expected Tonight on Lower Pottsgrove Budget