The Sanatoga Post

POTTSTOWN PA – The second annual Greater Pottstown Foundation Senior High School Arts Scholarship Exhibit, which presents works in watercolor or pastel pencil, charcoal or ink, and oil or acrylic by seniors from Pottsgrove, Pottstown, and Owen J. Roberts high schools, opens today (Saturday, May 21, 2011) at The Gallery On High, 254 High St., Pottstown PA, and runs through June 11.

The exhibitors are competing for a $10,000 Scholarship for the Arts for four years of college education, funded by the foundation. The prize will be awarded to one of the several artists, based on merit as measured by artistic performance in the exhibit, as well as by a scholarship essay.

The scholarship will be presented during a June 4 ceremony at the gallery.

The Gallery School of Pottstown is a non-profit community art school and gallery that offers day, evening and weekend classes to all ages. It hosts rotating shows featuring local artists, and also sells handcrafted gift items. The gallery is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Photo from Clipart.com

HARRISBURG PA – Pennsylvania newspaper publishers fought hard Thursday (May 19, 2011) to keep revenue they earn by printing legal notices that municipalities like Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township must display before passing laws, signing contracts, or buying equipment.

Publishers told the House Local Government Committee, during a hearing in Harrisburg, that proposed legislation which would allow legal notices to appear on websites instead of in local papers could cost thousands of reporters’ jobs. Government officials, on the other hand, accused publishers of simply trying to protect an advertising monopoly, The Pennsylvania Independent online news service reported.

• Read a story by reporter Darwyyn Deyo, titled “1,000 jobs hang in balance under PA publication proposal” and published Thursday by The Independent, here.

Headlines And Deadlines, the PNA newsletter

The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association (PNA), the publishers’ lobbying group, “would have you believe that townships just want to hide critical information,” said Elan Herr, assistant executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Township Supervisors. “Instead, they will tell you only daily or weekly newspapers of general circulation can be trusted to provide this critical service, printing legal notices near the back of the paper at exorbitant rates.”

Township association members think they can save taxpayers thousands of dollars annually by putting legal notices where publishers themselves say their readers have moved: online.

Publishers have already heard – nine months ago from a Lower Pottsgrove resident – five suggestions on how they might better satisfy their municipal customers, keep the public better informed, and possibly save their battle for legal revenue.

Joe Zlomek of Sanatoga, former publisher and chief operating officer of The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper and now managing editor of The Sanatoga Post and The Post Publications, was asked last year by PNA to offer his thoughts on promoting and using legal notices. In an article titled “Get your public to notice public notices,” which appeared in the Sept. 17 (2010) edition of PNA’s newsletter “Headlines And Deadlines,” Zlomek proposed that publishers:

• Train their readers by printing, on the newspaper’s front page, a daily text box that provides a short title for and a short description of each public notice published that day, and the page on which it appears. “Give it a week and people will look for it,” Zlomek wrote. “Give it a month and it can be as well read as the comics or the obits;”

• Digitally duplicate the same text box on their newspaper website’s home page, and permanently link each individual description directly to a corresponding notice online;

• Have their newsrooms write stories weekly that refer to legal notices. “Run a small feature … in print and online that describes and links to locally related, interesting, or quirky public notices published by your paper or by others, either within the same ownership group or (gasp!) among competitors,” Zlomek told publishers. “It helps your publication as much as the other guy’s;”

• Push more than paper by creating an Adobe Acrobat document (PDF) from each individual legal notice and providing the digital copy to legal advertisers for posting on their websites. “Municipal governments, in particular, will appreciate such service,” Zlomek wrote; and

• Notify legal advertisers by letting them know how newspapers were “adding value for the money … by giving greater exposure to this important advertising. Invite, and promptly reply to, (municipalities’) feedback and suggestions.”

To date few, if any, publishers heeded the advice.

SANATOGA PA – Ready to get your lips stained red?

It’s happened annually for many years during the most popular event hosted by the Lower Pottsgrove Historical Society. Someone indulges in just one sweet strawberry too many, during the society’s Strawberry Festival at its Sanatoga Chapel headquarters and museum, 2341 E. High St., Pottstown PA, and retains the rouge for all the world to see … unless, of course, there’s a napkin handy.

The festival returns June 11 (Saturday; 2011) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. as the society’s biggest fund-raiser. Lunch and baked goods will be available for purchase, but the stars of this show are the ripe, red-and-green-leafed, luscious and tasty berries that make summer such a delicious season. They’ll be offered in a variety of different ways.

The society also will conduct a flower and plant sale, hold games to keep the kids occupied, and present a basket raffle. In addition, the O’Such Rhythm and Music Band will perform from 11:30-1 p.m., and Sanatoga baseball legend Bobby Shantz will mingle and talk about the game from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For more information, send an e-mail here.

Fellowship Farm's llama, above, and donkey will be available for visits Sunday

POTTSTOWN PA – Fellowship Farm, the 126-acre training center for human relations located just a half-mile north of Lower Pottsgrove at 2488 Sanatoga Rd., Pottstown PA, will host what it calls a Blossom Festival and Family Fun Day on Sunday (May 22, 2011) from 1-4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, although donations are appreciated, organizers said.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

The day features pony rides, face painting, a magic show, juggling, adventures on its low ropes course, nature hiking tours, llama and donkey feeding, home-made baked goods, a country barbecue, story telling, organic gardening, basketball, a play area, and a petting zoo. A sing-along will be led by the Singing City Choir.

In keeping with Fellowship Farm’s mission to create “relationships and communities of respect,” it also will include sessions on violence and bullying prevention and intervention, cross-cultural understanding, conflict resolution, a nutrition crash course, “perfect gentleman” youth skills, and intercultural dance and music.

For more information, call 610-326-3008.

Photo from Fellowship Farm

POTTSTOWN PA – Fifty-eight qualifying students at Pottsgrove Middle School, 1351 N. Hanover St., Pottstown PA, will be inducted tonight (Friday, May 20, 2011) into the National Junior Honor Society, according to school Principal Bill Ziegler, during ceremonies at the school auditorium. Parents are expected to attend, of course, but the event also is open to the public.

Students are selected based on their achievement in four areas: service, character, leadership, and scholarship, Ziegler said.

Logo from the National Junior Honor Society

Christopher P. Landis

PHILADELPHIA PA – Christopher P. Landis, a 2003 graduate from the former St. Pius X High School in Lower Pottsgrove Township and a Phoenixville PA native, will be ordained Saturday (May 21, 2011) into the Roman Catholic priesthood by Cardinal Justin Rigali during ceremonies beginning at 9:45 a.m. in the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, 18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia.

Two other men, Kenneth C. Brabazon of Philadelphia and David M. Friel of Furlong PA also will be ordained.

Landis, 27, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond and Winifred Landis, attended the Phoenixville School District‘s East Pikeland Elementary School and Phoenixville Middle School before becoming a St. Pius student. From there he attended Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, from which he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 2007, his Master of Divinity degree in 2010, and a Master of Arts degree this year.

Landis has been serving as deacon at Saint Andrew Parish in Newtown PA.

Once ordained, the Rev. Landis will say his first Mass on Sunday (May 22) at 2:30 p.m. in Saint Basil the Great Church, Kimberton Road at Route 113, Kimberton PA.

At the end of May, all three newly ordained priests will be assigned to an Archdiocesan parish to serve as parochial vicars, priests appointed by the Cardinal to assist the pastor of a parish.

Photo from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary

SANATOGA PA – A line of people looking for work – a new job, a replacement job, a second job, or a better-paying job – snaked out the front door of Sanatoga’s Sunnybrook Ballroom on Wednesday morning (May 18, 2011), past its decades-old trees and brand-new shrubbery, and beyond guides set up for the purpose. More than 300 would-be employees, most dressed to make a positive impression and armed with handfuls of resumes, showed up for a job fair conducted by the Pottstown-based TriCounty Community Network.

The dance floor at the ballroom, 50 Sunnybrook Rd., Pottstown PA, clacked with the sound of shoes worn by professionals and regular laborers alike, most of them hoping to connect with at least one of the 60 or so businesses that were registered to interview them. Employers in attendance indicated they were impressed by both the effort job-seekers showed, and their interest in both part-time and full-time positions.

Although the state’s unemployment rate fell below 8.5 percent during March (2011), government statistics indicate many workers remain underemployed by working fewer than 40 hours a week. In addition, local and regional job markets received new candidates this month as college grads picked up their diplomas and teens began looking for positions to carry them through the summer.

Despite, or maybe because of, Wednesdays turnout, both workers and those offering the potential for work seemed happy to be part of the TCN event. Cara Kuhn (above, at right), representing TD Bank; Bill O’Brien (below, at left), from Education Data Systems Inc.; and Amy Gebhardt (bottom, at right), of Century 21 Real Estate were among those eager to talk with job fair participants about their abilities and how they might match individual companies’ needs.

Photos for The Post by Aimee M. Herbert, Aimee Marie Photography

POTTSTOWN PA – Get out the two-, three-, and maybe even four-wheelers – all of the pedal-pushing variety, mind you – and have them and their riders checked for safety Saturday (May 21, 2011) from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. during the annual bicycle rodeo conducted by the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Police Department at Lower Pottsgrove Elementary School, Buchert Road, Pottstown PA.

Township police officers who are part of its bicycle patrol unit accompany kids around a track during the bicycle rodeo at Lower Pottsgrove Elementary School

The popular rodeo gives children and their parents the opportunity to bring bicycles and helmets to the parking lots in front of the school. Officers there will have laid out an obstacle course to teach safe riding habits. Local vendors also will be available to offer free bicycle condition checks and inspections. Police department and equipment demonstrations and refreshments will be offered.

The event has grown annually, and this year’s attendance presents the possibility to break another record … if the weather cooperates. Even if it doesn’t, says Ofc. Rob Diesinger, some activities will be held rain or shine beneath the broad, lengthy and covered Buchert Road entrance to the school. For more information, call the department at 610-326-1508.

Reported by Brandi Dickinson
of the Pottsgrove SNAP Academy

POTTSTOWN PA – The “Safety Bug,” a Pennsylvania-certified program that shows high school students what it’s like to drive under the influence of alcohol or other substances, returns next Thursday (May 26, 2011) from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. to Pottsgrove High School, 1345 Kauffman Rd., Pottstown PA, sponsored by the high school SNAP Academy and the Lower Pottsgrove Police Department, represented by school resource Ofc. Wil James.

The PA-DUI Safety Bug is a modified Volkswagen Beetle.

The vent is expected to fill the high school’s student parking lot, as teachers will have the opportunity to bring their classes out from the school to watch, learn, and in some cases participate. Only juniors and seniors with a valid driver’s license can actually operate the car, accompanied and controlled by a trained mentor, which simulates how it feels to be driving while intoxicated or otherwise impaired.

Other activities help those who are younger or not licensed feel much the same thing without ever climbing into the specially altered Volkswagen Beetle. They can wear vision-changing DUI goggles, join in a bat-spin game that emulates the dizziness and mental impairment caused by alcohol, take a breathalyzer test, and race in a seat belt relay.

SNAP (Student Needs Assistance Program) Academy members say they hope the day’s activities leave a lasting impression on the participants and help prevent risky driving behaviors.

PHILADELPHIA PA – Philly.com, the website of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News newspapers, has had a history of mixed interest in its coverage of Montgomery County (PA) happenings during recent years. Now the on-again, off-again mating dance between news provider and news readers seems to be on again.

The website on Monday (May 16, 2011) introduced Montco Memo, a daily “news behind the news” blog written by long-time regional reporter Bonnie Cook and former Texan Jeremy Roebuck. Find it online, here.

Philly.com has been down this road before. It gave the Northwest ‘burbs a “come hither” look in times past, first by offering a section called Neighbors (it got dropped a few years ago with staffing and economic changes), and then with an ill-fated venture called “My Community” (which is still online but hasn’t been updated since – depending where you look – 2007 or 2010).

Cook and Roebuck know they must appeal to a diverse audience. Montco Memo items are short, but they usually link to longer pieces elsewhere in the web’s content. “Covering Montgomery County can be a bit of a challenge,” they wrote Monday. “It’s a place of extremes: from the wealthiest Main Line mansions to the ailing suburbs like Pottstown and from the political machinations in Norristown to the bucolic locales like Upper Salford.”