The Sanatoga Post

This split image from Google Maps shows the Rupert Road bridge from a driver's perspective, above, and its mapped location below

SANATOGA PA – Attorneys working on behalf of Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township said Monday (Feb. 6, 2012) they’re hopeful good things may soon happen in finding cash to fix the crumbling Rupert Road bridge on the municipality’s east side. As evidence of their confidence, the Board of Commissioners was asked to consider scheduling a special meeting on the topic next week.

Commissioners unanimously agreed. A date has yet to be set, pending Manager Rodney Hawthorne’s check of other calendar items. The Post will report the meeting date when it is announced.

The bridge carries Rupert Road across Hartenstine Creek, and is deemed to be one of six structurally deficient bridges in Lower Pottsgrove. During weekdays it bears a heavy load of traffic moving mornings from the township’s northwest end to the Sanatoga interchange of U.S. Route 422, and back in evening hours.

It’s been on the township’s to-fix list for years, with $375,000 or more for the job intended to have come from developers responsible for building the housing community surrounding Raven’s Claw Golf Club on the road’s east side. The money, according to Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway, sits earmarked for the purpose but untapped in a Wilmington DE bank.

Commissioners last April (2011) directed Holloway and their special counsel, the Furey & Baldassari P.C. law firm in Audubon, to file a lawsuit in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas against developer DHLP LLC. It bought the community from an earlier developer, and consequently assumed liability to pay for the bridge’s repair or replacement, Holloway said.

The township and DHLP had been negotiating over the total sum involved for some time. Those talks broke off earlier last year, and then resumed when the lawsuit was ordered. Now, Holloway explained, they seem to be headed toward a conclusion. “There’s movement,” the solicitor cautiously announced Monday, “and it’s my recommendation we try not to lose it if we can.”

Because the board won’t meet again until Feb. 23, Holloway advocated the special meeting. It will be open to the public, but likely will be preceded by a closed-door executive session during which commissioners would learn the details of any agreement and be able to ask questions regarding it. Such private talks regarding litigation are allowed by state law.

Related:

• Settlement May Be Near In Rupert Road Bridge Lawsuit
• Rupert Road Bridge Repair Funds ‘Wait’ In DE Bank
• Township Plans $375,000+ Suit To Fix Rupert Bridge
• Report: Six Bridges In Township ‘Structurally Deficient’

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

• Settlement May Be Near In Rupert Road Bridge Lawsuit

Images from Google Maps

POTTSTOWN PA – A knowledgeable team of would-be attorneys fielded by Pottsgrove High School won both of its opening contests Tuesday (Jan. 31, 2012) during the district-level first installment of the 2012 High School Mock Trials Competition sponsored by The Montgomery Bar Association Young Lawyers Section, the Bar website reported.

The Falcons’ legal squad scored 99.40 against one of two teams from LaSalle College High School (its score was 96.00) in Tuesday’s first round at 3:30 p.m. in the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown PA; and then fared even better, 101.00, against a Souderton High School team (93.60) in the 5:15 p.m. second round.

Pottsgrove’s is one of 32 teams from Montgomery County high schools vying for the district crown in Pennsylvania’s mock trial program. Now in its 28th year, Pennsylvania’s statewide Mock Trial Competition includes more than 280 high schools from across the Commonwealth, making it one of the largest programs of its kind in the nation.

During the competition, each eight-member student team has the opportunity to argue both sides of a previously provided case in an actual courtroom before an actual sitting judge from Montgomery County’s Court of Common Pleas.  The students, who play the roles of lawyers, witnesses, plaintiffs and defendants, prepare with the help of teacher-coaches and lawyer advisers.

This year’s case is a civil action in which the plaintiff seeks an injunction to prevent the owner of a pharmaceutical plant from expanding its operations. The plaintiff argues that an endangered species is alleged to have been found on the land where the expansion is to occur.

Future mock trials in the competitive series are scheduled for Feb. 13 (Monday) and Feb. 15 (Wednesday). District semi-finals are scheduled for Feb. 21 (Tuesday), and the district finals for March 13 (Tuesday).

Lawyers, law office staff and community leaders serve as jurors for the mock trials. The juries determine the winners in each trial based on the teams’ abilities to prepare their cases, present arguments and follow court rules. Young Lawyers’ Section Chairman Seth Wilson said that more than 100 county judges, teachers and lawyers are volunteering time to the mock trials this year.

Once the local contests conclude – and Pottsgrove has done well in them during past years – the winning finalist team will join 11 other high school mock trial teams from across Pennsylvania in advancing to the Pennsylvania Bar Association Statewide Mock Trial Championships, March 30 and 31, in Harrisburg.  The winning team of the state championship will represent Pennsylvania in the national mock trial finals to be held during late spring in New Mexico.

NORRISTOWN PA – A Pottstown man will be under court supervision for four years for his involvement in an underage drinking party in a Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township hotel room, The (Norristown PA) Times Herald newspaper reported Sunday (Jan. 22, 2012).

Aaron Marcus Andrews, 19, of the 400 block of King Street, Pottstown PA, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to four years’ probation after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of corruption of a minor, specifically a 14-year-old girl, in connection with a 2011 (May 14) incident at the Days Inn on Industrial Highway within the township, the newspaper reported.

Other charges of furnishing alcohol to a minor and conspiracy were dismissed against Andrews as part of a plea agreement accepted by Senior Judge S. Gerald Corso, it added.

• Read a story by reporter Carl Hessler, titled “Lower Pottsgrove underage drinking party lands Pottstown man in trouble” and published Sunday by The Times Herald, here.

NORRISTOWN PA – Residential foreclosures nationally seem poised to rise again, according to Reuters News Service. It said banks moved more aggressively in the third quarter of 2011 and the number of new home foreclosures jumped by more than 21 percent over the previous three-month period.

Things may be slightly better, though, for some home owners in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township and elsewhere locally who expected to face foreclosure this week.

Seven of nine foreclosure sales of properties within the township, which were scheduled for disposition Wednesday (Dec. 28, 2012) in Norristown by Montgomery County (PA) Sheriff Eileen Whalon Behr, have been stayed, interrupted by bankruptcy filings, or otherwise postponed to later dates.

Those often are signs of lenders trying to work with owners to keep them in their homes, but they may also be due to holiday generosity.

• Postponed until at least Jan. 25 (2012) were proposed sales of 1383 Oakdale Dr., 772 Gabriel Ct., 3808 Walnut Ridge Estates, and 1612 N. Keim St.
• Postponed until Feb. 29 were proposed sales of 2807 Walnut Ridge Estates, and 2303 Walnut Ridge Estates.
• The proposed sale of 1560 Potter Dr. was stayed.
• The proposed sale of 1912 N. Charlotte St. is uncertain; the sheriff’s website has it marked as “Postponed to 12/28/2011;” and the listing of 19 Pebble Beach Ln. is marked as “For Sale 12/28/2011.”

The combined properties represent a total of more than $1.8 million in outstanding debt, according to the website.

Similarly, proposed sales of six properties in Limerick Township all were postponed, the sheriff reported; and of 34 properties scheduled for proposed sale in the borough of Pottstown, 30 were postponed or stayed.

Reuters, in its Dec. 21 (2011) story, noted that “in the final months of 2010 some big lenders, including Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo, suspended foreclosure proceedings as they responded to criticism over shoddy paperwork used to support foreclosures.” Those reviews have now been completed, Reuters added, and so the pace of foreclosures is again “picking up.”

It cited an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency report that claimed “the large increase in new foreclosures also occurred because banks have ‘exhausted alternatives to foreclosure for the large inventory of seriously delinquent mortgages working through’ the system.”

Photo from Google Images

SANATOGA PA – A Lower Pottsgrove police officer, his labor bargaining unit, and the township Board of Commissioners have agreed on a settlement over a police department disciplinary action in dispute since July (2011).

The board, during its meeting Thursday (Dec. 15, 2011), approved a proposed settlement with Lower Pottsgrove Police Ofc. Matthew Meitzler, in which he accepted a two-shift suspension from duty related to a traffic accident involving a police vehicle he was driving. However, the officer’s salary docked for each shift will be divided between the 2011 and 2012 calendar years, commissioners said, rather than be withheld in a single year.

Meitzler has already served the suspension, commissioners noted. They authorized board President Jonathan Spadt to sign the agreement, following its awaited approval by Meitzler’s labor representatives.

The discipline was issued by Police Chief Michael Shade, with the board’s approving vote July 7, after a car Meitzler was driving earlier near Sunnybrook Ballroom, East High Street, Sanatoga, hit a light pole. Manager Rodney Hawthorne said the vehicle was at the time the department’s newest cruiser.

Meitzler’s objection to the original suspension of two 12-hour shifts was lodged in a grievance by the uniformed officers’ bargaining unit. That ultimately prompted the township to schedule a hearing on the matter before its Civil Service Commission, and require commissioners to plan for payment of two attorneys’ attendance: one a labor law specialist to represent Lower Pottsgrove, and a second to advise the Civil Service Commission itself.

The board also had to grant a special waiver dismissing a perceived conflict of interest with a third attorney, representing Meitzler, whose firm does unrelated work for the township Zoning Hearing Board.

The Dec. 14 hearing, advertised as a legal notice, was canceled in anticipation of the settlement. Spadt acknowledged the township incurred several costs in the case, the total of which was not estimated. “We had expenses, sure, but a hearing would have been even more expensive,” he said. The settlement had been discussed in executive session Thursday before the board meeting, Spadt reported.

Related:

• Lower Pottsgrove, Its Officer Settle Disciplinary Dispute
• Conflict Waiver Keeps Township Out Of An Ethical Jam
• Township Pays Two Attorneys In Police Discipline Case

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ Dec. 15 meeting):

• Lower Pottsgrove, Its Officer Settle Disciplinary Dispute
• Township’s November Warrants Detail Month’s Spending
• Township Budget Final, Approved With Average $31 Hike
• Lower Pottsgrove Settles Police Matter; Looks Ahead to 2012 (Pottstown Patch)
• Last 2011 Commissioners Meeting, Budget Approval Tonight

PHILADELPHIA PA – A Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township man who was employed as a highway construction worker during 2001 when he was injured by a passing motorist, leaving him a quadriplegic, has won a $3 million workers’ compensation settlement, The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper reported online Thursday (Dec. 15, 2011).

Joseph Tuski, of Evergreen Road, reached the settlement with Liberty Construction of Pottstown, his employer when the Jan. 17, 2001, incident occurred, and Erie Insurance Co., Liberty’s insurance carrier, according to court papers and Samuel H. Pond, the lawyer who represented Tuski, The Mercury reported. Pond, managing partner of the Pond Lehocky Stern Giordano law firm in Philadelphia, said the settlement was reached Oct. 27 (2011).

The settlement was approved by workers’ compensation Judge Thomas J. Hines and appears to be one of the highest workers’ compensation settlements in the country, according to Pond.

• Read a story by reporter Carl Hessler Jr., titled “Lower Pottsgrove man gets $3M in workers comp settlement” and published online Thursday by The Mercury, here.

SANATOGA PA – A Limerick PA man was arrested Sunday morning (Dec. 11, 2011) and charged with aggravated assault and other offenses after police alleged he damaged the glass window of a Tanglewood Court home, fought with people nearby, threatened a young boy, and fled the area.

Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township police investigating Ofc. David Slothower said Chad M. Cook, no age given, of West Ridge Pike, Limerick PA, was arrested following the report of a disturbance Sunday shortly after 3 a.m.

A resident of the home claimed Cook had thrown a real estate sign through its picture window, and that the glass had stuck a person sitting on a couch inside. An argument followed outside, Slothower reported, during which Cook allegedly made threats against a 4-year-old boy and bit one person on the forearm in a struggle.

Cook was reported to have left the scene, but later was located and taken into custody by Limerick (PA) Township police. He was charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, and related charges, Slothower said. His bail was set at $35,000 cash following an arraignment, the officer added.

A preliminary hearing on the charges has been set for Dec. 21 (Wednesday) at 11 a.m.; Slothower’s report did not specify in which district court it would be held.

Other coverage:

• Limerick man charged with assault after throwing sign through window of home (The Mercury)

Photo from Clipart.com

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

Kathy Martin

SANATOGA PA – Certified elder law attorney Kathy Martin, of the Pottstown law firm of O’Donnell Weiss Mattei P.C., will be the featured speaker Thursday (Oct. 27, 2011) at 7:30 p.m. during the monthly meeting of Pottsgrove American Legion Post 244 in Sunnybrook Ballroom, 50 Sunnybrook Rd., Pottstown PA.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Martin is a specialist in elder law and veterans benefits, and will discuss and answer questions on both topics. Members and guests of the post are encouraged to attend, Adjutant Billy Worrell said.

Photo from O’Donnell Weiss Mattei P.C.

SANATOGA PA – File this item under the heading “Sticky Wicket, Unstuck.”

Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township recently found, and eliminated, what could have been a conflict of interest issue in its pursuit of disciplinary action against a member of its police department, Ofc. Matthew Meitzler.

The Board of Commissioners during July (2011) authorized Chief Michael Shade to suspend Meitzler for two 12-hour shifts without pay, following an earlier incident that involved a police vehicle. Attorney Blake Dunbar Jr. is representing Meitzler in an appeal of the suspension, expected to be heard by the township Civil Service Commission in coming weeks.

The conflict, defined late last month by township Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway, is this: Dunbar works with the law firm of Robert L. Brant and Associates of Trappe PA. Its principal, Bob Brant, serves as solicitor to the township Zoning Hearing Board. That sets up a scenario in which the same firm both assists and opposes the township, albeit in far different judicial matters.

Of such stuff, legal ethics textbooks are written.

To ensure Lower Pottsgrove’s name doesn’t end up in one of them, Holloway and the attorney representing the township in the Meitzler appeal – Ryan Cassidy of the Eckert Seamans Cherin and Mellot law firm in Philadelphia – asked commissioners to issue a waiver that officially acknowledged and dismissed the conflict.

Board President Jonathan Spadt, an attorney himself, had no objection. No one in Brant’s firm is representing the township regarding the Meitzler case, he noted, and both Dunbar and Cassidy have a “good working relationship,” he added. Commissioner Michael McGroarty agreed, saying he saw “two separate issues here” that posed no problem for him.

Commissioners unanimously granted the waiver during their Sept. 28 meeting. A date for the appeal hearing, which is open to the public, has not yet been announced.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Sept. 28):

• Conflict Waiver Keeps Township Out Of An Ethical Jam
• Lower Pottsgrove August 2011 Warrants Now Online

Photo from Clipart.com