The Sanatoga Post

LIMERICK PA – Exelon Nuclear, which is credited for its financial support of Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township’s summer concert series, on Tuesday (Feb. 7, 2012) delivered a $150,000 donation to its host municipality, neighboring Limerick Township, to pay for programs and facilities of the Limerick and Linfield Fire companies, its police department, and local parks and recreation.

The check, presented to the Board of Supervisors by Limerick Generating Station (LGS) Site Vice President Bill Maguire, represented the fourth installment of a $600,000 Exelon contribution to the township during the past four years.

“Our goal at (LGS) is to be both a leader in our community and in the nuclear industry,” Maguire said. “Exelon employees have been, and will continue to be, deeply involved in the community, and this contribution demonstrates our ongoing commitment to Limerick … and the region.”

Municipal officials welcomed Exelon’s gift. LGS, supervisors’ chairman Kara Shuler said, “is a valuable member of our community and we look forward to having them here for many years.”

Exelon is currently in the process of renewing its nuclear Units 1 and 2 operating licenses for another 20 years. The station is located at 3146 Sanatoga Rd. in Limerick, just east of the Lower Pottsgrove-Limerick townships’ line.

Exelon spokeswoman Dana Melia noted the company also contributes more than $400,000 each year to regional charities and community organizations.

Photo by Sean Bonner via YFrog

Safer motorcycle riding is on the minds of volunteers at the Ringing Hill Fire Company

POTTSTOWN PA – Volunteers from Lower Pottsgrove’s Ringing Hill Fire Company teach children what to do when a fire alarm sounds. They teach fellow members about how to be better firefighters and emergency responders. Now the company is looking to use its property for yet another teaching role: motorcycle safety.

Ringing Hill has asked the township Zoning Hearing Board to grant a special usage exception in the R-1 residential zone where its fire hall located – 815 White Pine Ln., Pottstown PA – “to teach a Pennsylvania-approved motorcycle safety program,” according to an advertisement published Friday (Feb. 3, 2012) in The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper, Lower Pottsgrove’s publication of record for legal notices.

The board is scheduled to meet Feb. 21 (2012; Tuesday) beginning at 6 p.m. in the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Sanatoga PA. The hearing is open to the public.

If its exception is granted, Ringing Hill would be the only approved provider of motorcycle safety programming within a 10-mile radius of Pottstown, according to the Pennsylvania Motorcycle Safety Program. Others closest to the greater Pottstown area are in Phoenixville, Wayne, Emmaus, Leesport and Cheyney, the last being 23 miles away.

The program is supervised by the California-based Motorcycle Safety Foundation and the state Department of Transportation.

The foundation’s Pennsylvania website explained the program “was established to teach riders of all skill levels the basic fundamentals needed in order to safely operate a motorcycle. The MSP was created from legislation in 1984 and began one year later. The Motorcycle Safety Program is free to all Pennsylvania license holders.”

Its 15-hour basic rider course “is designed to prepare (motorcycle operators) for entry into the complex world of traffic,” the website said. A second, more advanced 6-hour course “was developed to address the skills needed for low risk, enjoyable on-street motorcycling,” it added. A third and newest course is similar to the basic session, but is specifically geared toward increasingly popular three-wheeled ‘cycles.

A set of courses to be taught at Ringing Hill, where there is plenty of isolated parking lot space for such activity, is classified as an “educational purpose” for the hearing board’s consideration.

All it needs now is the "Crooked Hill Ridge Runners" logo on its doors

It would be difficult to miss these directional signals

SANATOGA PA – Down at the garage bays of the Sanatoga Fire Company on East High Street in Sanatoga, its volunteers could hardly wait for today (Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012) to arrive.

Barring unforeseen delays, the fire company website confirms it is scheduled to take delivery sometime today of a new Ford F-550 utility vehicle being customized as a traffic control unit for its fire police team. Work on the truck, which was purchased last year, has been under way for the past three months at the KME Division of the Kovatch Organization in Nesquehoning PA, 62 miles northwest of Sanatoga.

Sanatoga’s fire police have worked for several years with a 1989 Ford Yankee Coach ambulance that was converted to meet their needs. That vehicle has seen plenty of action in its time.

During November (2011) alone, the latest month for which statistics are available, Capt. Robin Guber reports 41 fire police volunteers logged more than 42 man-hours in responding to 28 different calls; six of them for mutual aid requests outside the township. That represents just a fraction of the entire department’s activity during the period, Chief Rick Brendlinger noted.

Like proud parents anticipating the birth of a child, members of the Sanatoga crew have made four different treks since last November to the KME plant to inspect progress on the truck and help company workers plan for the layout of its cabinets, other storage spaces, and auxiliary equipment.

The KME Kovatch plant in Nesquehoning PA

KME specializes in such work. It claims to be a “global leader in the supply of customized specialty trucks and vehicles, particularly in the aviation, petro-chemical, industrial, energy, military, police, and fire-rescue markets. Privately held since 1946, the company employs more than 600 people at its Nesquehoning facility. It also operates factories in California, New York and Virginia.

The new truck includes several high-tech innovations, as well as conveniences intended to improve fire police efficiency. Among them, and probably most immediately obvious to the public once the truck goes into service, are bright, flashing directional arrows that rise from the top of the vehicle at an emergency scene. They more quickly re-direct traffic, particularly at night or during inclement weather.

The truck also holds a rear-facing slide-out platform to carry compartmentalized equipment. Pieces and packages can be reached easily at just-above waist height, eliminating the need to bend down or reach inside a compartment when speed and safety are critical.

A dedication and traditional apparatus housing ceremony is being planned, company members say, but no date has yet been announced.

The truck's slide-out rear platform

Photos from the Sanatoga Fire Company and KME Kovatch

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.

MAKING HIS ROUNDS ON THE WEST SIDE – Volunteers of Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township’s Ringing Hill Fire Company took on the happy duty Sunday (Dec. 18, 2011) of accompanying Santa Claus on his annual visit to residential communities within its coverage area (above). Wearing sunglasses to reduce the glare of a bright morning, the jolly elf found families along Lynn Drive near Pottsgrove High School had arisen early to see him and say hello (below). They were rewarded for the effort with small gift bags filled with goodies.

A parade of Ringing Hill apparatus (above), featuring Santa at the center, made its way across portions of the township for several hours, bringing joy and good cheer.

POTTSTOWN PA – Electrical power was out for about three hours Monday night (Dec. 15, 2011) across a wide swath of homes and businesses on Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township’s east side, after an automobile accident occurred shortly after 5 p.m. on North Charlotte Street between Keim Street and Bleim Road.

A car hit and sheared a utility pole in two in the accident, downing it and accompanying wires. Montgomery County emergency dispatchers sent apparatus from the Ringing Hill Fire Company and other first responders to the scene. Reports indicate the driver of the overturned vehicle was not seriously injured.

A Metropolitan Edison spokeswoman said its crews worked to switch service as quickly as possible from one series of lines to another to restore electrical power in affected locations, and then could take even more time to clear and replace the damaged pole. Several housing communities along North Pleasant View and North Sanatoga roads were without power, and the normally well-lit exterior of the Buchert Road municipal building was dark.

Portions of Upper Pottsgrove Township also were said to be affected.

Other coverage:

• Power out in Lower and Upper Pottsgrove after crash brings down pole (The Mercury)

Photo from Ringing Hill Fire Company

POTTSTOWN PA – It’s during this time of year that Santa Claus separates himself from the pack of gift-giving pretenders. Sure, he’s busy making lists and checking them twice. Yes, he’s got all those reindeer to feed. And, of course, he visits children all around the world in a single night. That kind of schedule would leave any other red-suited fat man pooped; not Santa.

So it should be no surprise that, despite everything else he’s got going on, Santa will take time on Sunday (Dec. 18, 2011) to climb aboard a truck or two with volunteer members of Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township‘s own Ringing Hill Fire Company, and travel roads within the company’s 7.9-square-mile service area on the municipality’s west side. He’ll wave hello to residents and their kids, distribute good will, and toss some candy toward those he passes.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Fire company Secretary Kim Lightcap, in an e-mail to The Post, said its Santa Run will begin at about 11 a.m. “Keep your ears open and listen for the trucks,” her e-mail urged. There are no set times for routes or stops, so blaring fire sirens are the best indicator that “Santa (is) heading your way,” she said.

SANATOGA PA – Santa’s been known to change his mind on occasion. He’s not opposed, for instance, to moving children from the “naughty” to “nice” category when they merit it, or the other way around when they don’t. Rudolph hasn’t always been the lead reindeer. And there were a few years during which, at the Missus’ urging, the Jolly Old Elf shed a couple of pounds for health reasons, making him lighter but no less jolly.

So it should come as no surprise that he’s changed his mind, too, about his anticipated visit next Saturday (Dec. 17, 2011) to Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township. For the better.

Sanatoga Fire Company President Don Woodley Jr., in an e-mail Friday (Dec. 9) reported that the previously announced list of stops for the firefighters’ annual Santa Run – the one during which they accompany St. Nick to locations around the township for visits with children and parents – has undergone “a few adjustments” since it was initially published by The Post.

The good news: he’ll be out and about for an hour and 20 minutes longer than initially planned, and his list has expanded from 18 to 24 sites.

Here’s the revised list of planned times (all are approximate) and stop locations:

Rosewood Court  and South Sunnybrook Road, 10 a.m.;
Donna and Noel, 10:30;
Maplewood and Oaktree, 10:30;
Heather and Bradley, 10:50;
Bramblewood and 1st Ave, 11 a.m.;
Welsh and Oak, 11:10;
Creekside and Brookview, 11:20;
Welsh and Sunnyslope, 11:30;
Pinehurst and Raleigh; 11:40;
Sanatoga Village – top of hill, 11:50;
Pebble Beach and Julie, 12:05 p.m.;
Blackberry and Commons, 12:20;
Walnut Ridge at the Kepler Rd entrance, 12:25;
Allison and Shelly, 12:40;
Walnut Ridge at the Buchert Rd entrance, 12:50;
Oakdale and Woodmere, 1:10;
Rolling Hills at the office area, 1:30;
Oakdale and Rivendale; 1:30;
Rolling Hills at the Pleasantview Road entrance, 1:50;
Windhaven at the barn area, 2 p.m.;
Prospect Hill Lane, 2:25;
Shaner’s at the bus stop area; 2:25;
Sanatoga Fire House, 2:45; and
Evergreen Road, 3 p.m.

On other thing: In case of inclement weather, Santa and his elves will make their rounds on the following day, Sunday (Dec. 18).

Photo from Google Images

HAZMAT ACCIDENT – A truck leaking diesel fuel on U.S. Route 422′s eastbound lanes in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township required a hazardous materials response from local fire companies, Montgomery County fire safety officials reported Friday at about 9:50 a.m. Brandie Kessler, reporter for The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper, took this photo shortly afterward and posted it to the YFrog photo sharing website, noting that traffic on the highway was “crawling” and  “backed up from the Armand Hammer Boulevard exit to the Park Road overpass” in Sanatoga. A tow truck was en route to remove the leaking truck, and fire crews were busy with the fuel clean-up.

Photo by Brandie Kessler via YFrog