The Sanatoga Post

SANATOGA PA – Area trash haulers and Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township commissioners are going back to the drawing board to draw up a new set of bids for garbage collection across the township in coming years.

Commissioners, at the suggestion of Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway, placed an advertisement today (Monday, Nov. 7, 2011) to again seek quotes for the “collection, hauling and disposal of municipal waste, recyclable materials and leaf waste, with (a) bulk trash option” from more than 3,000 township properties and four municipal locations. Bidders are being asked to quote on providing services for a minimum of three, and as many as five, years.

The ad appears in The (Pottstown PA) Mercury, Lower Pottsgrove’s publication of record for legal notices.

The board has sought these bids before, and hoped to consider awarding a contract last Thursday (Nov. 3) during the first of its two monthly meetings at the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd. That didn’t happen, because a majority of commissioners heeded Holloway’s advice and rejected all three bids submitted. He claimed all had significant problems, the Pottstown Patch online news service reported.

• Read a story by reporter Brian Zarley, titled “Trash Talk Turns Heated” and published Thursday by The Patch, here.

Holloway even proposed the township conduct an information session on how and why the bids must be improved and resubmitted by any hauler that wants its business. The meeting is  reportedly scheduled for this afternoon at 1:30 p.m., also in the municipal building.

Commissioners clearly had hoped to have the trash contract behind them as the end of the year approaches, in part to complete the township 2012 budget. Board Vice President Bruce Foltz voted against the motion to reject; board member James Phillips suggested the bids be tabled rather than rejected, The Patch said.

The board now hopes to award a contract by Nov. 30.

Related:

• Lower Pottsgrove Back To Drawing Board On Trash
• Township Bends To Give Garbage Bidders Choices
• Thanks To Survey Input, Township Preparing Trash Bids
• From Township Trash Survey, A Heap Of Interesting Ideas
• Township Didn’t Know You’d Have Trash On Your Mind
• Trash Talkin’: Township Wants Opinions On Messy Topic
• Lower Pottsgrove Seeks Suggestions In A Trash Survey

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ Nov. 3 meeting):

• Lower Pottsgrove Back To Drawing Board On Trash

SANATOGA PA – A preliminary hearing is scheduled Thursday (Nov. 10, 2011) at 9:15 a.m. in Sanatoga on charges against a Pottstown woman who allegedly obtained medical services and prescriptions under a false identity, Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Police claimed Saturday (Nov. 5).

Stacey Brandel, 34, of Pottstown, was arrested late last week and charged with four counts each of forgery, identity theft, and forging prescriptions; 12 counts of Health and Safety Act violations; three counts of tampering with records or identification in writing; two counts of possession of a controlled substance; and one count each of theft of services, theft by deception, and criminal attempt to possess a controlled substance, Police Officer Matthew Meitzler said.

She has already been arraigned on the charges by District Justice Edward Kropp Sr., and was released on $10,000 unsecured bail. Thursday’s hearing also will be before Kropp.

Meitzler alleges Brandel placed calls to or visited local doctors’ offices and used fictitious names to obtain prescriptions and services. The police investigation opened with an incident involving a Medical Drive, Pottstown, physicians’ practice and “numerous pharmacies in the Lower Pottsgrove and Pottstown areas,” Meitzler’s report said.

Part of the investigation, Meitzler added, involved search warrants for medical and prescription records.

Although the investigation began in July (2011), police are still pursuing leads and are asking for public help regarding prescription frauds, Meitzler added. Those with information are urged to call the department at 610-326-1508.

NURSING IT BACK INTO CONDITION – The fall soccer season has ended, and heavily-played fields at Gerald Richards Park in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township are getting somewhat of a rest from foot traffic. While many fields are still usable, and were open to public activities as recently as Sunday (Nov. 6, 2011), soccer Field 4 on the park’s southeast side needs a little more healing others and has been permanently closed until spring. The signboard at the front entrance to the park on Buchert Road (above), as well as smaller signs on the field itself (inset), ask visitors to keep off the turf there.

Participants at Saturday's YWCA Literacy Breakfast share a laugh over personality discoveries

POTTSTOWN PA – Knowing more about your personality can help you deal more easily with the personalities of others, Dr. Carol Henwood of Pottstown Medical Specialists Inc. advised Saturday (Nov. 5, 2011), during the first Literacy Program Breakfast of the YWCA TriCounty Area.

Dr. Carol Henwood, standing at front, showed the crowd how knowing details of their own personalities can help them better cope with differences and similarities in other people

Henwood was the featured speaker during breakfast at Brookside Country Club in what is anticipated to be an annual event to benefit YWCA efforts that help area adults learn to read and write. She discussed, and had the room of more than 150 participants involved in exercises about, 16 different portraits identified by the Myers Briggs personality model.

The event raised funds to continue the work of the Adult Literacy Center, 1830 E. High St., Sanatoga, which each year provides individual tutoring, small group learning and classes to dozens of adults to improve their reading, writing, math, computer, workplace, and English language skills.

About 150 people registered for the event, held at Brookside Country Club

SANATOGA PA – The first test of a nationwide emergency alert system, which includes participation from Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township‘s emergency management team and police department, is scheduled to be held Wednesday (Nov. 9, 2011) at 2 p.m., and will be conducted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Homeland Security, and the National Weather Service using a variety of communication methods.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

At the Lower Pottsgrove municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA, emergency management coordinator (EMC) and police department Lt. Michael Foltz and others will receive and respond to a series of test messages during a two-to-three minute period. Foltz; deputy EMC and Ringing Hill Fire Department assistant chief Chris Wilcox; and assistant EMC Michele Cappelletti have been preparing for the test over several months.

From its perspective, the FCC said, the test will “assess the reliability and effectiveness of the system in alerting the public.” It intends to send test messages over broadcast and satellite radio and television stations, cable television providers, and wireline video services. Those messages likely will be the most obvious clues to media listeners and viewers that the tests are being held.

However, the Montgomery County Public Safety Department last week (Nov. 2) notified test participants that the emergency message to be broadcast would “use a live national code, the same code used in an actual emergency. As a result, there may be instances where the message will appear real due to any audio or visual limitations” of the system. Don’t be unduly alarmed, the department urged county residents.

• Watch a FEMA video (above) in which its officials explain the national test, or see it at the YouTube user account of FEMA.

Emergency planners also have the capability, they said, to transmit messages to mobile devices, but that will not occur Wednesday, they added.

Other coverage:

• National emergency system test set for Wednesday (The Mercury)

POTTSTOWN PA – A pair of alleged burglars was arrested without incident early Friday afternoon (Nov. 4, 2011) in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township by a police task force of officers from several departments, after the two were said to have been caught in the act of removing jewelry, cash and coins from a home on Fox Hollow Lane in the township.

Facing multiple charges in connection with the incident and others are Jason Waldt, 29, of Spring Street, Pottstown PA; and Megan McCormick, 34, of Stacie Drive, Gilbertsville PA, Lower Pottsgrove Police Lt. Michael Foltz announced. Both were committed to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility on $150,000 cash bail following their arraignment by District Justice Edward Kropp Sr.

The task force, consisting of officers from Lower Pottsgrove, New Hanover, Upper Pottsgrove, Limerick, East Coventry, North Coventry and Pottstown, turned its eyes on Waldt and McCormick as suspects following evidence that developed from an earlier burglary investigation, Foltz indicated. A team had them under surveillance Friday at about 1 p.m. as they left Pottstown in a white sport utility vehicle.

Police watching the couple’s activities alleged they “caught them in the act of committing a burglary” at the Fox Hollow Lane residence. The team stopped their vehicle not far away, in the 1300 block of Buchert Road, and took them into custody, Foltz said.

Both are charged with two counts each of burglary, criminal conspiracy to burglary, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, possessing an instrument of crime, theft, and receiving stolen property. Waldt also was wanted on an outstanding bench warrant for probation violation. Additionally, McCormick was charged with two counts of dealing with unlawful proceeds of a crime, and had a detainer filed for probation violation.

There may be other charges pending, Foltz noted. Police obtained a search warrant for the SUV, and recovered “a considerable amount of stolen jewelry, cash and coins,” he said.

The departments’ cooperation grew from Lower Pottsgrove’s active investigation of a series of burglaries that occurred during the past month throughout the township and in adjacent municipalities, Foltz explained. The break that caused them to suspect Waldt and McCormick, he added, followed a burglary reported Monday (Oct. 31) in the 1400 block of Briarwood Lane, Lower Pottsgrove.

In that case, burglars were reported to have smashed a front window and unlocked a door, then took items including jewelry, coins and a digital camera. Investigators tracked some of the goods to a local “cash for gold kiosk,” and merchant records there “reflected that McCormick sold the stolen gold to them soon after the burglary,” according to Foltz.

Evidence developed by police appears to connect both subjects to the two burglaries, he said.

Other coverage:

• Pair charged with Lower Pottsgrove burglaries (The Mercury)

Photo from Google Images

HARRISBURG PA – Student performance on Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) tests, the same exams that created concern last month about a lack of academic achievement at Pottsgrove High School, would become one of several yardsticks used to rate teacher effectiveness under a proposal discussed Thursday (Nov. 3, 2011) by the state House Committee on Education.

The committee held a hearing on what it is considering as a new measurement tool for public school teachers, The Pennsylvania Independent online news service reported. The legislation, House Bill 1980, would establish a statewide, comprehensive rating system for teachers and non-teaching professional employees that in part relies on PSSA results.

The current system offers only two scores: satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Last year, 99.4 percent of teachers received the highest score, despite 17 of the state’s 500 school districts having barely 50 percent of its students performing at grade level, the state Department of Education claimed.

The Pottsgrove School District met its PSSA goals overall during 2011, but a lack of improvement in student performance on tests at the high school drew heavy criticism during October from the district Board of School Directors. Several members complained Pottsgrove was spending substantial amounts to better train teachers without seeing tangible test success in students.

The PSSAs have played a role at the high school again over the past two weeks, as some seniors there were being re-tested. Today (Friday, Nov. 4) was the last day re-testing was scheduled, according to the district calendar.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett wants a system that rewards good teachers and eliminates ineffective ones as part of an education-reform package he hopes the Legislature will approve before year’s end, The Independent said. Right now, state law precludes student performance from being used to evaluate teachers.

With proposed changes, teachers would be described by one of four categories – distinguished, proficient, needs improvement or unsatisfactory – as well as being rated on teacher growth. The evaluation criteria would include PSSA tests that measure reading and math in grades 3-8 and 11; and data from the state’s Value-Added Assessment System, which tracks student performance and growth over several years.

If approved, the new system would take effect during the 2012-13 school year.

“The (measure) puts in place a framework for a statewide educator evaluation system that will more accurately measure the educators in our schools and will provide (them) with meaningful feedback about their practices and effectiveness,” said Carolyn Dumaresq, deputy secretary for elementary and secondary education.

• Read a story by reporter Stacy Brown, titled “Teacher evaluation changes could consider student performance” and published Thursday by The Independent, here.

Related (regarding academic performance at Pottsgrove):

• PSSA Results May Measure Pottsgrove, Other Teachers
• Teachers Helping Classes Succeed, Newsletter Contends
• Poor Math, Reading At Pottsgrove High Frustrates Board
• State Says Pottsgrove Schools Make ‘Adequate Yearly Progress’
• Pottsgrove Teachers Review District Accountability Plan
• School Board Criticizes Lack of Students’ Improvement
• Notebook Worthy For March 23, 2009
• Pottsgrove Tops Many In Science, But …

Photo from Google Images

Presenting the restaurant's check are, in front from left, Liz Bieber, co-owner, Shorty’s Sunflower Café; Amber Travitzky, Jenn Armstrong, Chelsey Rife, and Shushma Patel of Meals on Wheels; and in back, Shorty's co-owner George Bieber, Bob Grose, Nathan Stouch, and Trevor Euston.

POTTSTOWN PA – Just as local grocery shoppers start to think about Thanksgiving dinner, the owners and employees of Shorty’s Sunflower Café – a gourmet restaurant at 1494 N. Charlotte St. in Lower Pottsgrove(PA) Township – were thinking about feeding older community residents who may be unable to observe the holiday with their families.

Staff members of Shorty’s last Thursday (Oct. 27, 2011) presented what has become an annual tradition for them: a check to benefit the Meals On Wheels program of Sanatoga-based Family Services of Montgomery County. The restaurant’s week-long fund-raiser, held in June for the service that delivers meals to shut-ins, this year collected $6,722.

“Our staff and customers always enjoy our annual Meals on Wheels fund-raiser,” said Liz Bieber, co-owner of Shorty’s. “By participating in this event, we have a chance to be more involved in our neighborhood, help those most in need, and do what we do best: feed the community.”

Staff members sold raffle tickets to customers for the chance to win a variety of prizes, including gift baskets, art work, and gift certificates from local businesses. In addition, the café offered advertising “space for sale” in the form of t-shirts the staff wore inside the restaurant during the event.

Each weekday, Meals on Wheels provides two meals, a hot lunch and a cold supper to refrigerate, to about 175 home-bound elderly and disabled individuals in Pottstown, Royersford and the Lower Perkiomen Valley. Community volunteers personally deliver over 81,000 meals a year.

BEATING THEIR BEST – Employees of Diamond Credit Union, headquartered on Medical Drive in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township, gathered recently to celebrate because their fund-raising efforts during 2011 on behalf of the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life collected $71,777, about $6,000 more than their previous record set in 2009, the credit union announced Wednesday (Nov. 2, 2011). The financial institution’s Relay team ranks as the top Relay fund-raising group in Pottstown. Its efforts took many forms during the year, the credit union reported, including a Bark For Life event for pets and their owners, an annual golf outing, a bingo event, beef and beer, shredding event, chicken barbecue, and several hot dog and bake sales.

Pottsgrove Middle School

POTTSTOWN PA – Four different, half-hour sessions intended to help parents of Pottsgrove Middle School students guide their child’s education are among the featured activities being conducted Nov. 17 (2011; Thursday) as part of an open house during American Education Week observances at the school, North Hanover Street, Pottstown PA.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

The open house, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., gives Middle School parents a chance to see their children and teachers interact in regular classes, tour the building, and even share lunch with their students. The school’s guidance counselors and other faculty members also will provide sessions on:

• The Young Adolescent, with tips and resources for supporting a strong relationship with middle school children;
• PTO Update, with news on activities and opportunities available with the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization;
• Study Island, the web-based resource intended to boost student achievement in math and reading. Every Middle School is registered with an account; and
• Middle school academic goals, in which school principal and assistant principal, Dr. Bill Ziegler and Dr. Dave Ramage discuss the school’s educational objectives this year.

Parents and guests are asked to register in advance, by next Friday (Nov. 11) for the event.

Ziegler also noted that parent-teacher conferences, coinciding with the end of the current marking period and the release of report cards, will be held Nov. 21 and 22 from noon to 8 p.m. at the school. No classes will be held during the week, which also is the Thanksgiving holiday.