The Sanatoga Post

THEIR FIRST WIN OF 2012 – Members of the Pottsgrove High School’s Indoor Percussion Ensemble won their first competitive outing of the year Saturday (Feb. 1, 2012), with a judges’ score of 72.30 over Egg Harbor High School, which scored 64.40. Although many of the eight groups that entered the percussion segment of the contest fall into different classifications, Pottsgrove’s score ranked second-highest among all competitors. The show was sponsored by the Cavalcade of Bands Association at Wissahickon High School in Ambler PA. The ensemble is next scheduled to compete Feb. 18 (Saturday) in a contest at Ephrata High School.

• Watch a video of the ensemble, above, as they played Thursday (Feb. 9, 2012) for family and friends at the Pottsgrove High School gym, or see it at The Post’s YouTube channel. Pottsgrove graduate and composer Kevin Smith, whose “Dreamscapes” piece is played by the ensemble, opens the video by talking about the creative process.

SANATOGA PA – U.S. Army Reserve military policeman Spc. Zachary Ball returned Sunday (Feb. 5, 2012) from duty in Afghanistan to his home in Pottstown, saluted en route (left) by firefighters and police escorts from Sanatoga, Ringing Hill, Limerick and the borough. Few of them knew him personally, but many said they wanted to share their joy in having him come safely home to Pennsylvania, his family, and especially the 8-month-old twins whose birth he missed.

Ball was among the latest servicemen and women who have been greeted by a parade of well-wishers mobilized by A Hero’s Welcome, a non-profit group that works to ensure all members of the military return from service knowing their time spent on duty is appreciated by the public. It was founded by 1997 Pottsgrove High School graduate Sharon Hyland Keyser.

Ball “is a wonderful husband and  father … (who) is very humble about his service,” his wife Carlene said in a letter to the group. No wonder, then, that following a 10 a.m. celebratory breakfast at The Limerick Diner on Ridge Road, he was surprised by a Limerick Township police escort accompanied by the Warriors’ Watch motorcycle club.

• Watch a video (above) of the Sanatoga Fire Company preparations and salute Sunday to Spc. Ball, or see it at The Post’s YouTube channel.

Awaiting his arrival, five miles west, were members and families of the Sanatoga and Ringing Hill fire companies of adjacent Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township.

Sanatoga Vice President and Deputy Fire Chief Mark Schaeffer regularly monitors the A Hero’s Welcome website, and saw the news about Ball’s impending return. He contacted Keyser’s mother, Maria, who helped coordinate the logistics for a Sanatoga salute to the soldier.

Three pieces of apparatus from the Sanatoga company, two from the Ringing Hill Fire Company, and a Lower Pottsgrove police cruiser all blared their sirens and honked their horns as the motorcade bearing Ball and his family streamed past the intersection of East High Street and North Pleasant View Road. Dozens of firefighters and their family lined the sidewalks on both sides of East High, holding American flags and waving hello.

The salute took about a day to plan and an hour to prepare, and ended in less than 2 minutes. That didn’t matter to one mother who received a text message about the event from Schaeffer and considered it important to show up. “These kids sacrifice, work hard and get little credit,” she said of military troops. “This is how we show them what they fought for.”

In Ball’s case, one sacrifice was missing the birth of his twin daughters during what was his first deployment overseas. “He has been an amazing father from 7,000 miles away,” his wife noted.

Other coverage:

• See an additional photo from the event, here.

Dustin Tavella

POTTSTOWN PA – Pottsgrove High School graduate and increasingly popular national singer-songwriter Dustin Tavella is now a television star, too. He’s appearing weekly (so far, at least) in Season Three of “Sweet Home Alabama,” a reality contest series on CMT, formerly known as the County Music Television channel.

But about that “so far” part …

If you’re unfamiliar with the show, think of it as a southern-states version of “The Bachelor.” Twenty-two eligible young men attempt to outdo each other in weekly challenges to win the affection of a young woman. In this case, the woman is Paige Duke of Lancaster SC. She’s a Clemson University graduate who works as a national representative for Kruger Farms, an outdoors retailer in Minnesota.

Tavella, naturally, is one of the competitors. They are regularly eliminated from the show as Duke makes her preferences known, and family member Patti Tavella on Monday (Jan. 23, 2011) reported the news so far is good. Five men have been cut; Dustin’s still hanging in. For how long, who knows?

Tavella’s big chance to woo Duke arrives on the show Friday (Jan. 27), when an episode titled “Around The Campfire” airs at 9 and 11 p.m. Patti said during a “date” with Duke he will sing a song he wrote specifically for her and the show.

As an aside, the show’s promotional material describes Tavella as “a recording artist from Philadelphia, Penn. Dustin loves entertaining at children’s hospitals and has traveled the world doing missionary work. He is still a virgin, saving himself for marriage.”

Tavella has been an inspiration for students in Pottsgrove’s halls in recent years, and particularly at the middle school on North Hanover Street. He’s led music-fueled fitness exercises there, and served as a motivational speaker during assemblies.

It’s understatement to say Tavella – who rarely misses an opportunity to publicly poke fun at himself – is having fun on the show. His latest video on YouTube (he has 73, for anyone who’s counting) promotes “Sweet Home Alabama” in a take-off of the rap song, “Sexy And I Know It.” His twist is titled “I’m Country And I Know It,” and although it’s far from the smell of hay and the sound of twanging guitars, it has already been viewed more than 383,000 times … in just one week.

• Watch the video (above), or see it at Tavella’s YouTube channel.

Other coverage:

• Stowe native featured on reality show ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ (The Mercury)

Photos from CMT, Dustin Tavella

Derek Menaldino, left, and Brian Hess at Thursday's economic forecast breakfast

LIMERICK PA – One regional economist believes manufacturing jobs are poised to return to the U.S. because global financial events have made it more expensive for competing nations to export goods, local business owners and leaders learned Thursday (Jan. 5, 2012) during an economic forecast breakfast in Limerick PA.

Brian Hess, senior research analyst at Brandywine Global Investment Management, told guests at the TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce forum that rising wage costs in China combined with rising oil costs worldwide had narrowed the price gap between it, other countries and the U.S. in the race to sell durable consumer goods like appliances. The possibility for renewed competitiveness could spur manufacturing growth here, he said.

Hess and Derek Menaldino, chief investment officer of Main Line Financial Advisors in Pottstown PA, were featured panelists during an hour-long discussion of the coming year in business and finance, held at the Copperfield Inn at Lakeside.

Both focused their comments in reaction to results of a recent client poll undertaken by Main Line, in which its clients said they felt better about improvements in their own personal finances during 2011 even though they believed the global economy simultaneously worsened.

“Consumers look at the prices of things they buy, and feel better when cash is freed up in their own pocketbooks,” Menaldino said. Oil and food prices are major factors in personal expenses, he noted, and in the year just ended both were comparatively lower than those in 2009 and 2010. In that light, he added, “the global issues sort of fade away.”

Media reports on financial turmoil in Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain certainly attracted public attention, Hess acknowledged. He said he was nonetheless “excited by prospects outside the U.S.,” where several governments with “very stable” economies were promoting investment opportunities with lower risk.

Other predictions from the pair:

• The pump price of gasoline is likely to hover between $3 and $3.50 for much of 2012;
• National economic growth will be somewhere between 2 and 2.5 percent for the year;
• Marcellus shale oil drilling will again have a significantly positive financial effect on Pennsylvania this year, and for several more years as well; and
• Job creation will be slight, and unemployment will remain high nationally, because the U.S. is still reeling in the “long hangover period” that follows a recession.

Watch a video (above) of comments made during the breakfast, or see it at The Post’s YouTube channel.

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

POTTSTOWN PA – The New Year’s Day tradition that involves turning warm, sometimes scantily clad bodies into human popsicles – the Polar Bear Plunge at Pottstown’s Riverfront Park off College Drive – returns Sunday (Jan. 1, 2012) with the anticipated dip into the icy Schuylkill River and other activities that make the event worth attending and watching.

Hundreds of onlookers, and a few dozen brave but shivering swimmers, arrive every year at the park for the fun. It’s free, it’s open to the public, and organizers say they’ll practically guarantee visitors will have a good time. The swim registration starts at 9 a.m., followed by a couple of speeches at 10, the lighting of the borough’s flesh-warming bonfire at 10:15, and the plunge itself at 10:30.

Unless you plan to get wet of your own accord – that is, you’re willing to take a dive – better bring an umbrella along. Most weather forecasters predict rain Sunday, although the high temperature should reach 51 degrees. That’s later in the day, sadly; the morning thermometer is likely to read somewhere in the 30-degree range.

• Want an advance peek at what’ll happen? Watch a video (above) of last year’s (2011) edition of the plunge, or see it at The Post’s YouTube user account.

Pallets are already stacked in the park by the riverside, ready to be set afire Sunday

Other coverage:

• New Year’s Day event keeps growing (The Mercury)

• Watch a video of Saturday’s (Oct. 29, 2011) storm damage at one Pottstown home (above), or see it at the YouTube user account of LookWutZachSaid, here.

Other coverage:

• Electric Is Back! (Pottstown’s Blog)

SANATOGA PA – Albert Einstein Medical Center, the Philadelphia-based teaching hospital that specializes, in part, in human liver transplants and the treatment of liver disease, has opened a new satellite liver center at 600 Creekside Dr., Suite 203, in the heart of the Sanatoga village district.

The facility, officially called the Einstein Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation – Pottstown, “is as close as a hospital can come to making home visits” and “brings treatment for advanced liver disease,” the hospital announced last Tuesday (Sept. 20, 2011) on the social networking platforms Facebook and Twitter. Its Sanatoga staff will deal with “cirrhosis, liver cancer, and other pre-transplant conditions,” it said.

Dr. Victor Araya, the hospital’s chairman of hepatology and deemed by U.S. News and World Report to be among the top 1 percent of the nation’s physicians in his specialty, claimed the facility “will be the only liver treatment center of its kind in the area.”

• Watch Araya, above, discuss Einstein’s liver disease program, or see it at the hospital’s Vimeo user account.

The hospital and the new center are part of the not-for-profit Albert Einstein Healthcare Network.

A promotion for the new Sanatoga liver center posted last week on Facebook

SANATOGA PA – About 150 people arrived Thursday (Sept. 22, 2011) for two hearings at Sunnybrook Ballroom in Sanatoga over whether the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should allow the twin nuclear reactors at Exelon Corp.’s Limerick Generating Station to be licensed for operation beyond 2024, more than a decade from now. And just as the size of the crowd was about evenly divided between the meetings, so too, it seemed, were its opinions.

Some praised the Limerick operation, its safety record, and its positive effects on the economy. Others openly worried about environmental safety, the inability to evacuate area residents if an emergency arose, and the storage and disposal of spent fuel rods.

• Watch a video (above) of opinions expressed during the evening meeting, or see it at The Post’s YouTube user account.
• See a gallery of photos (below) from the evening meeting. Click on any thumbnail image to enlarge it.

The evening meeting, which began at 7 and followed an afternoon session that began at 2, appeared well controlled. People were there for a serious purpose, many said, but they smiled and waved at neighbors they knew, looked at several display tables and talked with representatives staffing them, and generally treated differing opinions respectfully.

There was, however, a significant law enforcement presence to ensure the meetings were orderly. The Lower Pottsgrove Police Department placed four officers inside the ballroom during the evening proceeding as a precaution. No trouble was expected, one officer said, “but you never know and you don’t want to take chances,” he added.

The 13-year time lag between Thursday’s meetings and the expiration of current licenses at Limerick, in 2024 and 2029 respectively, was mentioned by several commenters as a concern. They wondered how the NRC could adequately judge, so far in advance, if Exelon would be a suitable candidate for relicensing.

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

Other coverage:

• Nuclear regulators hear comments about Limerick plant (WFMZ-TV)
• Terrorism, Cost, Evacuation Discussed At Nuke Hearings  (Pottstown Patch)
• Tweeting Live From The NRC’s Hearings (Limerick Patch)
• Pros, cons aired at hearing on Limerick nuclear plant (The Mercury)