The Sanatoga Post

WASHINGTON DC – Two public meetings to be conducted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which are intended to give area residents an opportunity to comment on environmental issues they think the NRC should consider as it contemplates requests to renew operating licenses for Exelon Nuclear’s Limerick Generating Station, will be held Thursday (Sept. 22, 2011) at 2 and 7 p.m. in Sunnybrook Ballroom, 50 Sunnybrook Rd., Sanatoga PA, the commission announced.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

An open house, during which residents can also personally meet with NRC staff members, will be held for an hour before each of the two meetings, at 1 and 6 p.m. respectively. Also at the meetings, staff members will describe the license renewal review process.

Related (to federal re-licensing of Limerick Generating Station):

• Police Detail At Limerick Hearings Cost $1,468
• Local Voices Endorse, Worry Over Nuclear Relicensing
• NRC Holds Public Meetings Thursday At Sunnybrook
• NRC Holds Public Meetings Sept. 22 At Sunnybrook
• NRC Legal Notice: Meetings Ahead At Sunnybrook
• NRC Staffers Stop By, Say ‘Hi’ To Commissioners
• Exelon Nuclear Renewals Win Two Early Endorsements
• Exelon Officially Asks To Extend LGS Operating Licenses
• Meeting Wednesday To Review Limerick Nuclear Safety
• LGS License Renewals Topic At May Chamber Breakfast

Editor’s Note: The graphic at top was submitted to The Sanatoga Post by Ikeda King, a licensing assistant in the NRC’s Division of License Renewal, along with a request for our publication’s quote for the cost of advertising what her letter described as the above “legal notice.” Although The Post accepts, and receives revenue from, all kinds of advertisements, it notified King that it will report the announcement of these meetings as news and will not charge the NRC an advertising fee.

CONSHOHOCKEN PA – A disaster recovery center staffed by representatives of federal, state and county agencies will operate Wednesday (Sept. 21, 2011) from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Montgomery County Public Training Campus, 1175 Conshohocken Rd., Conshohocken PA, to help residents and businesses that sustained damage during Hurricane Irene.

Flooding from Hurricane Irene on Route 724 in North Coventry (PA) Township

Uninsured and under-insured homeowners, renters and businesses may be eligible to receive grants for temporary housing, home repair, home replacement and permanent housing construction. The funding, however, is available only to individuals whose property sustained damage from Hurricane Irene from Aug. 26-30.

Among those available to assist will be representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Small Business Administration; the Pennsylvania departments of Public Welfare, Environmental Protection, and Transportation; and the county Health Department, Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, and Aging and Adult Services.

Those seeking grant assistance are urged to call FEMA at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or apply online, here, for disaster assistance.

FEMA has dispatched community relations specialists across the county, who are going door to door within communities to meet with residents adversely affected by flooding. These individuals are clearly identified by FEMA shirts and ID badges.

The county Public Safety Department continues to pursue additional assistance for residents affected by Tropical Storm Lee, according to county Communications Director John Corcoran.

Photo for The Post by Tammy Auman

Jon Frey, right, president of the Pennsylvania Transit Expansion Coalition, greets area residents last Tuesday at the Route 422 Forum

HARRISBURG PA — The regional agency pushing for vehicle tolls and the possibility of returning commuter rail service along the U.S. Route 422 corridor is, at least for now, refusing to release to the public information used in creating its plan, The Pennsylvania Independent online news servicereported Friday (Sept. 16, 2011).

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), which is responsible for the tolling proposal, argues it is not subject to the state’s right-to-know law and does not have to provide information so it can be independently verified.

In defiance of a state Office of Open Records ruling that information be disclosed, DVRPC has denied several right-to-know-law requests that seek data on current SEPTA train ridership. They were filed during the past two months by the Pennsylvania Transit Expansion Coalition (PA-TEC), a citizen’s group opposed to 422 tolling, according to The Independent.

DVRPC is asking Commonwealth Court to review and reverse the Office of Open Records decision.

Coalition President Jon Frey told The Independent his group wants to verify the accuracy of a ridership projection for a DVRPC-proposed rail line between Norristown and Reading, which is tentatively planned to make stops in Lower Pottsgrove and Pottstown. Resumption of train service, which ended in the 1980s, would be financed primarily by toll revenue from nearby Route 422.

For now, “any DVRPC records are pre-decisional, deliberative and strategic, and therefore exempt” from the state’s right-to-know law, Candy Snyder, its communications director, replied. Anything that can be made public is already available, she said.

DVRPC Executive Director Barry Seymour was one of several panelists who spoke Tuesday (Sept. 13) during a forum on the 422 proposal held at Pop John Paul II High School in Royersford. It attracted hundreds of area residents, most of whom seemed to oppose tolling.

• Read a story by reporter Eric Boehm, titled “Planning board pushing 422 toll/transit plan shutting out public access” and published Friday by The Independent, here.
• Watch a video (above) with comments from local officials and guests who attended the forum, or see it at The Post’s YouTube user account.

Related (to U.S. Route 422 Corridor planning):

• On 422 Toll Plan, DVRPC Fights Information Requests
• Notebook Worthy (U.S. Route 422 Forum Edition)
• Drivers will subsidize new rail line in 422 tolling plan (The Pennsylvania Independent)
• Agendas Abound Tonight At 422 Forum In Royersford
• Quigley Seeks Crowd As Source Of Comments On 422
• State Road Tolls A Future Funding Solution, Official Agrees
• Report Expected To Suggest Law For Road Toll Authority
• I-95 A Big Problem; 422 A Solvable Problem (With Tolls)
• Even With Tolling, 422 Might Be Free (For A Few Miles)
• County Candidates Brown, Castor Oppose 422 Tolling
• Quigley, Other Reps Questioning 422 Tolls Proposal
• 422 Toll Proposal Wins Some PA Commission Backers
• Exec Highway Group To Hear Rt. 422 Tolling As ‘Model’
• 422 Questions Answered, For Your Viewing Pleasure
• In 422 Tolling, Planners Say, Studying Doesn’t Make It So
• Former Reporter Asks Commissioners To Support 422 Tolls
• Online Survey Seeks Opinions On Local Road Congestion
• 422 Plus Project Plays Offense With FAQs Debut
• Peering Into The Future? Gov’s Bridge Proposal And 422
• Another Township Endorses 422 Master Plan
• Neighboring Limerick Supervisors Endorse 422 Master Plan
• Understand 422 Plan Endorsement, Lower Pottsgrove Advised
• Lower Pottsgrove Holds On 422 Plan Endorsement
• Engineers Claim PA Roads Worse Now Than In 2006
• Tuesday Session Tackles Funding For 422 And Elsewhere
• Tolls, Lower Pottsgrove Station Part Of 422 Plan
• Pending Decision May Affect Route 422 Projects
• Last Day For Your Say On Route 422 Plan
• Notebook Worthy (Aug. 24, 2009)
• Consultants Express Interest In Studying 422
• Don’t Like 422 Tolling? Website Wants Your Alternative
• Truckers Alerted On Highway Partnerships Bill
• In 422 Debate, Time A Hindrance And Help
• Notebook Worthy (June 29, 2009)
• Growth, Planners Say, Is 422’s Growing Problem
• Tech Used To Draw For 422 Meetings
• Route 422 Toll Meetings Next Week
• 422 Repairs, Delays Start Tuesday
• 422 Proposal, Like Traffic, Creeps Ahead
• Got A Route 422 Idea? Time To Air It
• Train Service On The Front Burner Once More

If approved, Pope John Paul II High in Royersford would reopen Tuesday

ROYERSFORD PA – Students at Pope John Paul II (PJP) High School in Royersford PA, the successor facility to the now-closed St. Pius X High School in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township, may go back to school Tuesday (Sept. 20, 2011) if its teachers ratify a tentative labor contract agreement with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, both parties announced Sunday (Sept. 18) at 6 p.m.

Pope John Paul II High as it appeared last Tuesday evening, before closing due to a labor strike

In an e-mail sent to regional media outlets, the archdiocese and Local 1776 of the Association of Catholic School Teachers jointly said they had reached consensus “for a new contract for high school lay teachers in the 17 Archdiocesan high schools” in the greater Philadelphia area, including PJP. Teachers are scheduled to vote today (Monday, Sept. 19) at 10 a.m. at Penns Landing Caterers in Philadelphia on whether to accept the deal.

Terms have not been disclosed. “Both parties have agreed not to comment” until after ratification during the general membership meeting, their statement said.

If teachers accept the tentative agreement, they “would return to their schools for orientation … and classes would resume on Tuesday,” it added. No matter what the outcome, all schools will be closed Monday.

PJP, on Rittenhouse Road, and its companion high schools were shuttered last Wednesday (Sept. 14) by the archdiocese in the wake of a strike by its more than 700 high school lay teachers. The schools officially opened on time, but could not continue operation with only limited non-union staff available, the archdiocese determined.

In Royersford, the school’s facilities were open for activities like athletic raining and choir rehearsals, its president, the Rev. Alan Okon Jr. said, even though classes had been discontinued.

Related:

• Labor Contract Vote Today For Catholic HS Teachers
• Strike At PJP Cancels Classes; Some Activities Still A ‘Go’

SERVING UP A MEAL FOR HUNDREDS OF NEIGHBORS – Members of the Sanatoga Fire Company fired up grills behind their East High Street, Sanatoga PA, headquarters and prepared tubs in which to marinade chicken Saturday (Sept. 17, 2011; above), during their semi-annual chicken barbeque. Hundreds of prepared dinners were either served in the firehouse garage, which was emptied of apparatus and filled with dining tables and chairs, or packaged to go. Members of the company’s women’s auxiliary, including Barbara Updegrove (bottom) were in the nearby kitchen baking potatoes to accompany the meal.

WEATHER HELD UP (WELL, ALMOST) FOR WORTHY CAUSE – With a few prayers and some good luck that staved off rain until later in the afternoon, Thunder Outreach Ministries’ organizers of a car show Saturday (Sept. 17, 2011) outside Sunnybrook Ballroom in Sanatoga managed to collect both money and donated food items to benefit the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities food pantry for needy families. Car owners paid a small fee to enter their vehicles in show contests, and visitors were encouraged to make donations or bring food too. Those in attendance got to see some beautifully restored wheels. Thunder Outreach President Mark Malizzi declared it “a beautiful day!”

TIMBERLAND STAFF SPRUCES UP FOR MEALS ON WHEELS – Employees of the Timberland retail clothing store at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets were out in a parking lot Saturday morning (Sept. 17, 2011) in Sanatoga, washing cars and selling baked goods to help raise money for the Meals on Wheels program of Family Services of Montgomery County. Ken Major (above) and other workers attracted drivers from East High Street to behind Family Services’ offices there, where getting cars clean and selling cookies for a small fee was the order of the day. “Timberland is a leader in corporate volunteering and service to the community,” said Ruth Hood, Meals on Wheels’ case manager. Its “generous support is making a great difference in the lives of seniors in the greater Pottstown area.”

KIDS THINK IT’S PLAY; PARENTS KNOW BETTER – Coaches (top), and youngsters and parents (bottom) all seemed to be having fun Saturday morning (Sept. 17, 2011) in the Soccer Bugs program at the 422 SportsPlex at the corner of Industrial Highway and Moser Road in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township. The classes started last week. They present just another playtime to kids between the ages of 18 months and 6 years old, SportsPlex officials said, but they are purposely geared toward helping them develop social and fine motor skills, and learn the basics of soccer as well. For more information on the program, call 610-323-9600.

Jerry Blavat.

SANATOGA PA – A rock and roll dance party featuring nationally known disc jockey and radio personality Jerry Blavat, billed as “The Geator With The Heater,”  will be held Oct. 22 (2011; Saturday) from 7 p.m. to midnight at historic Sunnybrook Ballroom, 50 Sunnybrook Rd., Sanatoga PA.

This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Tickets cost $20 in advance and are available from the Sunnybrook box office by calling 484-624-5186. Tickets at the door cost $25.

Photo from Sunnybrook Ballroom

A boy presses apples into cider at the Wentz Farmstead in Worcester PA

WORCESTER PA – Cold weather is fast approaching, and at the rustic Peter Wentz Farmstead in Worcester it’s time to prepare for winter.

The importance of processing and storing food for the long winter ahead, and life in general on an 18th Century farm, will be the focus of demonstrations and discussions planned for Oct. 8 (2011; Saturday) at the farmstead, a Montgomery County historic site, 2100 Shearer Rd., Worcester PA. A donation of $2 per person is requested.

Guests can experience the activities of autumn on a Pennsylvania German farm. Along with demonstrations of the chores typical of the harvest season, there may also be a visit from General George Washington; he’ll be seeking a suitable temporary headquarters, as he did during October 1777, according to museum Educator Kimberly Boice.

Without modern methods of food preservation, people in the past had to find ways to make their fresh food last as long as possible. In the summer kitchen, learn about drying and pickling of fruits and vegetables that will be used throughout the winter. Watch farmers press apples into cider and shell corn using tools and machinery of earlier centuries.

A guided tour of the historic house will include information on how a colonial household readied for the cooler seasons ahead. Volunteers will also demonstrate the laborious task of processing flax fibers in preparation for spinning and weaving cloth for clothing and blankets.

In the kitchen garden, see what plants are growing this time of year and how to prepare the ground for the upcoming frost. Making apple butter and sauerkraut are also a part of the day’s activities.