The Sanatoga Post

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)