The Sanatoga Post

POTTSTOWN PA – Pennsylvania’s teen driver law, which in part requires all occupants age 18 or younger of any vehicle to wear a seat belt, took effect late last December (2011). Now Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Police want to ensure it takes hold in the minds of teens themselves.

18 or younger? Buckle up, or face the music

Traffic Safety Ofc. Robert Diesinger and School Resource Ofc. Wil James got to work Tuesday (Feb. 14, 2012) at Pottsgrove High School on Kauffman Road to introduce the law and its ramifications to students there. They’re scheduled to conduct several seminars on the subject, reaching every grade level, through March 4.

The police department will make sure the consequences of non-compliance are felt, too.

In a little less than two weeks – beginning Feb. 28 and continuing through March 2 – department patrols will concentrate on enforcing the law along Kauffman Road, Buchert Road, North Charlotte Street, and other roadways within the townships. Violators should be prepared to be stopped, questioned, reminded of the law, and possibly be issued warnings or citations.

“This new law is a primary violation, and subjects can be stopped solely for not wearing a seat belt,” Diesinger said.

Parents and other adult drivers should pay attention, too. They are responsible for the safety of those in their vehicles, and can be cited if passengers who by law must wear seat belts are found without them.

The intent, of course, is to raise awareness of the law now on the books. Lower Pottsgrove’s effort is being funded by a $1,000 “teen-driver safety enforcement mobilization” grant, and the township was chosen as a recipient specifically because of its educational outreach, Diesinger noted.

Parents and teens who have questions about the law, or the department program, can call Diesinger for more information at 610-326-1508.

On its way to the Cluster, thanks to Wegman's

POTTSTOWN PA – Wegman’s Food Markets, which operates a store in Collegeville and will soon open one in King of Prussia, is making a contribution this morning (Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012) that is likely to help hundreds of hungry families who rely on the free food pantry at the outreach center of the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities, 57 N. Franklin St.

A Wegman’s driver is scheduled to pilot a 50-foot-long tractor trailer filled with the supermarket chain’s donated food into the outreach center’s receiving docks at 10 a.m., according to the Cluster.

Philabundance, a non-profit organization that distributes food to pantries for the needy across the greater Philadelphia area, is experiencing a temporary shortage which would have threatened this month’s Cluster delivery. Wegman’s, which is represented on the Cluster board, volunteered to step in and fill the gap.

It’s not the first time, either. Back in September 2009, only three weeks before the chain opened its Collegeville store, it dropped 17,000 pounds of food at the Cluster’s doors. That load included 20 pallets of canned goods, cereals, snacks, assorted beverages, condiments and baking mixes and ingredients.

At a time when local families’ needs are increasing and available resources are declining, said Cluster Executive Director Barbara Wilhelmy, both donations and the personal assistance of volunteers are greatly appreciated. Although financial support is always welcomed, donors can also deliver supplies to the outreach center themselves. Its most current (Jan. 13) wish list of needs for the food pantry and elsewhere can be found here.

Several Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township residents and ministers serve on the Cluster board or as spiritual advisers.

Photo from GoogleImages

Buckle up. It keeps you safe, and also keeps your out of legal trouble

SANATOGA PA – Teenage drivers and vehicle passengers at Pottsgrove High School who fail to buckle up and wear seat belts are going to get a good talking to – and later may even be ticketed – by officers of the Lower Pottsgrove Police Department, Acting Chief Michael Foltz told the township Board of Commissioners.

The department has won a $1,000 grant from the “Buckle-Up PA” program of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Foltz said Monday (Feb. 6, 2012), and it intends to put that money to use beginning Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. That’s when School Resource Officer Wil James, and Traffic Safety Officer Robert Diesinger will make a “teen seat belt mobilization” presentation at the high school. A second show will follow on March 4.

PennDOT has placed increasing importance on seat belt awareness and enforcement within the teen population, Foltz explained, in part because teens tend to pay less attention to the safety benefits of being belted in. They pay a high price for that inattention, too, in injuries and fatalities. Alerting them to the dangers, and the remedy, is the program’s first task.

It’s not the only one though.

Lower Pottsgrove expects to throw enforcement muscle behind its cautionary words. The program’s “second wave will be an enforcement detail,” Foltz told board members. Warnings, tickets, fines, and maybe worst, notifying parents, are among the tools the department might use to force teen drivers and riders that the law requires their safety and compliance.

PennDOT’s funds will cover the cost of the materials for the presentations, and any overtime incurred by officers involved in meeting the program’s goals, Foltz noted.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ Feb. 6 meeting):

• Buckle Up, Teens, Or Face Lower Pottsgrove’s Police
• Speed Limit, Stop Signs Topics Of Park Road Hearings
• Talk About Really Dirty Crime: Township Trash Thefts
• Settlement May Be Near In Rupert Road Bridge Lawsuit

WITH LOVE, FROM SIS – Nine-year-old Coral Feldman prepared Sunday (Feb. 5, 2012) to have her hair trimmed by Great Clips salon store manager Beth Maggiotto (above) during a fund-raising conducted on behalf of her younger sister, Victoria, age 5. Victoria was diagnosed last October with a malignant brain tumor, and recently underwent surgery, radiation treatments and several forms of therapy to battle the disease. The staff at Great Clips, which opened a few months ago in the Pottstown Plaza on Shoemaker Road, near Wal-Mart, held a “cut-a-thon” fund-raiser to offset the family’s medical expenses. The store’s stylists donated all their tips, and customers were generous; a huge goblet atop the store’s front counter was filled with bills of all denominations. Outside meanwhile (below), mother Renee Feldman braved chilly weather with friends and family members to hold an accompanying bake sale.

Other coverage:

• Cut-A-Thon For Victoria Today (Pottstown Patch)
• See another photo from the event, here.

POTTSTOWN PA – Current and former owners and operators of what once was an Occidental Chemical Corporation manufacturing plant on the southeast corner of Armand Hammer Boulevard and Industrial Highway in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township have agreed to pay $2.1 million for earlier cleanup efforts the site, the federal Environmental Protection Agency regional office in Philadelphia announced Wednesday (Jan. 25, 2012).

One of several entrances to the now-cleaned OxyChem site on Armand Hammer Boulevard, being marketed as the Tri-County Commerce Park

Under a consent decree filed in federal court by the Justice Department on behalf of EPA, the companies also assumed responsibility for all future cleanup costs. They include Occidental Chemical Corp., the most recent owner and often referred to as OxyChem; Glenn Springs Holdings Inc., an OxyChem subsidiary that has been managing the property’s clean-up and re-development; and Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, which preceded OxyChem at the site with a tire manufacturing plant.

OxyChem manufactured polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic resins there from 1980 to 2005. It bought the property from the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, now known as Bridgestone, which manufactured tires and PVC there from about 1945 to 1980.

From 1942 to 1985, operators used The site was used to dispose of industrial wastes including cutting oils, metal filings, tires, and PVC sludge resins. It was identified as having unsafe levels of trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, and other hazardous substances in the soil and groundwater.

After OxyChem ended operations, the site was investigated during 1983 and later for potential pollutants. It was declared an EPA “Superfund” site to designate it as among the nation’s “most contaminated” locations, the agency announcement said. OxyChem, under EPA oversight, performed remedial action on the property and completed construction in 2008.

As of Thursday (Jan. 26), according to the EPA, the property was now considered safe for human exposure, and the migration of any contaminated ground water was deemed to be under control.

To encourage development along Armand Hammer Boulevard, which was renamed for OxyChem’s president, Lower Pottsgrove‘s Board of Commissioners had created a Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance Act (LERTA) district to give incoming business owners property tax breaks within the area. The district included the former OxyChem facility, the land now occupied by Aldi’s Supermarket and Home Depot, and other parcels stretching east to Sanatoga Station Road. The district’s authorization ended in 2008.

The property has since enjoyed a rebirth as a location for light- and moderate-industrial uses, and is being marketed as the Tri-County Commerce Park. A brochure about its tenants and available space can be downloaded here.

Other coverage:

• $2.1M settlement announced for Oxychem site (The Mercury)

Photo from CB Richard Ellis

SANATOGA PA – A minivan being driven Friday morning (Jan. 13, 2012) on Welsh Drive by an elderly Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township man who suffered some kind of medical emergency crashed into trees in the yard of a neighbor and was found slumped over in his seat by township police responding to the scene. He was later pronounced dead, and the cause is under investigation by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.

The driver was identified as Daniel Kranch, 77, a resident of the 2300 block of Welsh Drive, according to Ofc. Scott Weidenhammer.

It appears to police that Kranch left his home in his white Plymouth Voyager and was driving east on Welsh Drive when he suffered what was described as an “unknown medical emergency, and then veered of the roadway,” Weidenhammer said. His vehicle struck two trees – one each on the right and left sides – in the yard of 2252 Welsh, before coming to a stop.

Police, sent to the scene by dispatchers, found Kranch slumped over in the driver’s seat and unresponsive. They smashed out the front passenger side window to get into the vehicle, Weidenhammer said, and with the help of bystanders were able to get Kranch out and began to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Goodwill Ambulance then arrived, and its crew also began treatment, the officer added.

Kranch was pronounced dead following his arrival at Pottstown Memorial Medical Center.

Weidenhammer credited bystanders and Sanatoga Fire Company responders for providing assistance. His report did not mention when the coroner’s report would be issued.

POTTSTOWN PA – Talk about rhythm and moves, and you might well be talkin’ ’bout Pottsgrove High School Interim Principal Yolanda Williams.

It was the last day of school before winter vacation (Friday, Dec. 23, 2011) when the principal was challenged by some of her students to a little friendly dance competition in front of the Nintendo Wii video game console. Was she up to it? Bet’cher boots.

Williams followed a four-and-a-half-minute Michael Jackson tune with only a missed step here and there, but her moves easily kept up with those of the far younger students. She, and they, laughed through the exercise, and seemed to have a good time.

• Watch a video (above) of the principal at play, or see it at the YouTube channel of 999Hellkid.

SANATOGA PA – Police officers “are out protecting and serving every day,” Lower Pottsgrove Police Lt. Michael Foltz explained Tuesday (Jan. 3, 2012) to those packed into the conference room of the township municipal building on Buchert Road, but it’s not often they get to save a life, he said.

One who did was honored by his commanding officers, his peers, and the Board of Commissioners during its first official meeting of the new year.

Foltz presented a life-saving award to Ofc. Ryan Smith, who late last year (Nov. 11, 2011) was credited by emergency medical technicians with saving the life of a Randy Drive, Pottstown PA, resident who suffered a heart attack. Smith had been called to the house regarding a medical emergency. When he arrived he found the male victim not breathing, and with a weak pulse. The patrolman performed cardio-pulmonary resuscitation until an ambulance arrived.

The man recovered fully, Foltz said proudly, noting that Smith’s instincts and training characterized his professionalism.

• Watch a video (above) of the award presentation, or see it at The Post’s YouTube channel.

Ofc. Ryan Smith, center, is flanked by Lower Pottsgrove Police Chief Michael Shade, left, and Lt. Michael Foltz

Other coverage:

• Lower Pottsgrove officer honored for saving man’s life (The Mercury)

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

• All Sworn In And Ready To Work In Lower Pottsgrove
• Police Officer’s Heroism Acknowledged With Award
• Commissioners Ring In New At Tonight’s Township Meet

Flyer from Fellowship Farm

Blood drives ahead

POTTSTOWN PA – The emergency need for blood products always seems greatest around the holidays. That’s why, following the winter vacation respite, blood collection drives begin today (Monday, Dec. 26, 2011) and continue through Jan. 6 (2012) in Pottstown, Limerick and Gilbertsville PA, conducted by the Miller-Keystone Blood Center.

Drives are scheduled for:

• Monday (Dec. 26) from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Pottstown YMCA, 724 North Adams Street, Pottstown;
• Wednesday (Dec. 28) from 2-7 p.m. at St. James United Church of Christ, 321 S. Limerick Rd., Limerick;
• Thursday (Dec. 29) from 2-7 p.m. at Lowe’s, 1136 Town Square Rd., Pottstown;
• Jan. 3 (Tuesday) from 4:30-7:30 p.m. at the Boyertown YMCA, 3065 N. Charlotte St., Gilbertsville; and
• Jan. 6 (Friday) from 2-7 p.m. at Hope Community Church, 2732 Charlotte St., Gilbertsville.

Appointments are required and may be made by calling the blood bank at 610-926-6060.

Photo from Clipart.com