The Sanatoga Post

Behind the voting booth curtains.

HARRISBURG PA – Area chambers of commerce apparently feel the status quo is good to go in the coming November general elections. The board of directors of their umbrella political group, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chambers’ Political Action Committee, on Wednesday (Oct. 6, 2010) endorsed incumbents for re-election to state and congressional offices.

Receiving endorsements locally were state Rep. Thomas Quigley (R), 160th District, and state Sen. John Rafferty (R), 44th District, both of whom represent Lower Pottsgrove, and Limerick (PA) townships and the borough of Pottstown. The committee also backed congressional Rep. Charles Dent (R), 15th District, which includes Lower Pottsgrove; and Rep. James Gerlach (R), 6th District, which includes Limerick, and Pottstown, Trappe and Collegeville boroughs.

In the race for governor, SEPAC favored current state Attorney General Thomas Corbett (R). For Pennsylvania’s U.S. senator, it supported Patrick Toomey (R).

The committee, which lists a Harrisburg location as its business address, consists of the Pottstown PA-based TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Delaware County and Main Line chambers. They were said to represent more than 5,000 members across four counties.

Endorsements were based on candidate’s positions on business issues, activity in the Chamber community and other feedback from SEPAC board members, board Chairman Ken Russell said.

Collectively, they “recognize the needs of businesses in Southeast PA and across the Commonwealth.  They understand what is required to improve the business climate in Pennsylvania, including the lowering of business taxes, regulatory reform, fiscal responsibility, tort reform and promoting sound business policies,” he added.

Photo from HistoryGeek.org

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POTTSTOWN PA – Business owners who have been forced to cut training resources from their budgets due to the tight economy get an opportunity Friday (Sept. 24, 2010) to send their employees to an afternoon of personal and professional enrichment sponsored by the TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber foundation’s Leadership Tri-County Class is presenting an “Emerging Leaders Conference” on Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Pottstown (West) campus of Montgomery County Community College, College Drive, Pottstown PA. Tickets cost $25 per person, and participants can register by calling 610-326-5158 or online at the chamber website, here.

The afternoon development session “is a win-win for both businesses and employees,” chamber representatives say.  Three different break-out groups will cover topics intended to help employees work together and businesses to grow, while discussing community needs as well. Lunch and refreshments are included in the event.

Sponsors of the conference include the college, Exelon, Susquehanna Bank, and the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

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The Pottstown Post scanned available news feeds and found these stories of local interest.

• Each appears with a headline and short description. Click on any headline and its related story will open in a separate browser window at the website where it is located.
• None of the articles below have been written by, nor should be attributed to, The Post. Copyrights to these articles rest with their respective publishers.

He’s Going For the Ride of a Lifetime
Boyertown area resident Preston McEvoy has hit the road on a 1965 Honda motorcycle that’s sat in a barn for more than 20 years, and he’s got a video camera to document his travels. (WZAR-TV, Boyertown PA)

Local Unions Talk About Issues On Labor Day
Members of area unions spent the Labor Day holiday chowing down on burgers at family picnics, but also talked about the challenges facing unions today. (WFMZ-TV, Allentown PA)

Organizations Cautioned About Travel Scams
Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett is urging small businesses, churches and other organizations to be wary of Internet travel scams. (PA Attorney General)

College Opens Observatory and Observation Deck
Montgomery County Community College will hold three open community nights this fall in its state-of-the-art Observatory and Observation Deck in Blue Bell PA. (MCCC, Blue Bell PA)

College Hosts Annual Regional College Fair
Representatives from more than 150 accredited colleges and universities will be on hand in Blue Bell PA to speak with students and their parents about admissions criteria and procedures. (MCCC, Blue Bell PA)

Community Colleges Gear Up for Fall Advocacy
Community college advocates from Montgomery County and across Pennsylvania are letting policy makers and political candidates know they think the post-secondary schools deserve greater support. (MCCC, Blue Bell PA)

Teachers Spent $1.3 Billion of Own Money on School Supplies
The National School Supply & Equipment Association says teachers spent $1.33 billion dollars out of their own pockets in the 2009-2010 school year to equip their classrooms. (Poynter Institute)

Career, Tech Center Goes State Of The Art
The Western Montgomery County Career and Technology Center in Limerick is starting the school year after completing a $36.7 million renovation with 50,000 extra square feet of space. (The Inquirer, Philadelphia PA)

Here is A Bold Idea For the Borough’s Riverfront
Pottstown should create a land bank that will have authority to issue bonds, build stuff and be the agency to kick-start its riverfront development. (Code Blue Pulse, Pottstown PA)

The Law Of Attraction
Think you’ve got a “completely different” way to put Pottstown’s riverfront to use in making the borough a better place? Now’s the time to talk about it. (Save Pottstown, Pottstown PA)

Pottstown Opens Doors In Community Event
You may have lived in the borough all you life, and still may not know everything it has to offer. Saturday’s Open Doors event is your chance to find out more. (Pottstown Arts, Pottstown PA)

Pottstown’s Going To Celebrate September 11
The borough really has so much to offer, but suffers from a lot of old, tired and worn out worries about not being a great place to live. The Saturday Open Doors event will prove otherwise. (Pottstown’s Blog, Pottstown PA)

Tips And Tricks To Manage Stress
When we are stressed, we often feel as if we are out of control of things in our lives, finances, family, work, and our environment. Here are some helpful tips and tricks to identify and manage your stress. (Counseling Corner, Pottstown PA)

Lease With Railroad Reopens Boyertown-Pottstown Line
John K. Howell, Eastern Berks Gateway Railroad president, said he expects the line from Boyertown to Pottstown to be operating by Oct. 1. (Reading PA Eagle)

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American Legion bugler Robert Sabo.

POTTSTOWN PA – A firing squad and a bugler, all of whom are members of Pottsgrove Brig. Gen. Elmer S. Friedberg American Legion Post 244 of Sanatoga PA, will be among veterans participating in the annual Friends of the Forgotten POW-MIA Recognition Day ceremony to be held Sept. 19 (2010; Sunday) beginning at about 1 p.m. at the Pottstown Vietnam Veterans of America gazebo in Memorial Park, Manatawny Street, Pottstown PA.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

The Friends of the Forgotten Motorcycle Club, based in Skippack PA, will conduct a ride on the same day, beginning at 11:30 a.m. from the Lone Star Steakhouse at Coventry Mall, Route 724, and ending at about 1 p.m. at the gazebo.

POW-MIA Recognition Day traditionally is conducted on the third Friday of September.

Photo by Billy Worrell

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Work's available for those with special skills, but in mostly within a comunting distance for local residents.

PHILADELPHIA PA – Jobs are growing “slow and steady” in what a Philadelphia area web-search employment service calls “niche career communities,” a group of employers who hire workers with special skills. A scan of its listings, however, indicates that while such growth may be near Lower Pottsgrove, Limerick and Pottstown, it’s not yet really local.

The second-quarter 2010 Career Trend Analysis Report released Monday (Aug. 16, 2010) by Beyond.com Inc. says that 48 percent of industries with which it deals nationwide posted more job openings during April, May and June than in the first three months of the year. That signifies “a healthier economy leading into the second half,” the company claimed.

It also flies in the face of a recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, which said the national unemployment rate in July was unchanged at 9.5 percent. Beyond.com acknowledged the contradiction, but said its data shows “signs of a recovery” and that “hard-hitting sectors such as retail and travel are beginning to expand once again.”

Career categories that showed greatest quarterly improvement, the company said, included health care and medical, with job postings up 5.57 percent, and sales and sales management, up 2.24 percent.

Using the 19464, 19465 and 19468 zip codes as search filters on the Beyond.com website, however, yielded no results directly within Lower Pottsgrove, Limerick or Pottstown. There were openings within what most area residents consider an acceptable commuting distance; 18 miles east, for example.

In King of Prussia PA, companies sought several computer software developers, a health care account staffing director, a customer service representative, and a senior sales representative. Other openings were farther out, in Doylestown, Conshohocken, Fort Washington, and Philadelphia.

Photo from Clipart.com

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POTTSTOWN PA – Just slightly more than eight months after Pottstown’s only radio station, WPAZ-AM 1370, went silent, leaders of a non-profit community group trying to return it to the airwaves announced the station owner had agreed Thursday (Aug. 12, 2010) to sell it to them for an undisclosed amount.

Outside WPAZ's Broadcast Lodge on Maugers Mill Road in January (2010), after the Pottstown radio station closed. Fans hope it will re-open soon.

“We are now in the process of purchasing WPAZ 1370 from Great Scott Broadcasting, who accepted our offer,” organizers Rick Rodgers and Ross Landy said in a scrolling message on the website of the WPAZ Preservation Association.

On the group’s Facebook page the following day (Friday, Aug. 13), the pair added “Exciting things have been happening behind the scenes! Financial backing has been secured and negotiations are under way with Great Scott Broadcasting. All is looking really promising, and we’re aiming to have some definite plans in place and signatures on dotted lines by the end of August.”

WPAZ-AM abruptly signed off the air Dec. 10 (2009), during mid-morning programming. Great Scott’s president, Mitchell Scott, at the time said his company was shuttering the station for financial reasons. It has been off the air since, and its offices on Maugers Mill Road, Pottstown PA, are vacant.

WPAZ started in 1952 as the first in a chain of the company’s several radio properties.

Since its closing, Rodgers, Landy and other volunteers have been busy with plans to find or raise sufficient funding to buy the station and operate it with a mix of interns, volunteers and a small paid staff. They have consistently contended WPAZ offered an important voice and information services to the community that were not being matched by other media.

Reading PA area radio station WEEU-AM attempted to fill the gap and gain market share earlier this year (March 2010), by promoting itself in The (Pottstown PA) Mercury and elsewhere as “your area’s hometown local radio station,” as WEEU Station Operations Manager Jo Painter put it in an e-mail to The Post. The effort seemed to gain little traction.

The Preservation Association, however, held fund-raising concerts at Sunnybrook Ballroom in Sanatoga PA during the spring and kept enlisting support via Facebook, where it now boasts of almost 300 fans. It drummed up more assistance with appearances at community events like First Saturdays in downtown Pottstown, where WPAZ once occupied studios overlooking High Street until its move to Maugers Mill Road.

The news from Rodgers and Landy was welcomed by several Facebook commenters.

Related:

• Group Envisions WPAZ As Community-Funded Venture
• Five Weeks Later, Thundering Silence at ‘PAZ
• Radio Station WPAZ-AM Goes Off Air

Editor’s note: The Post thanks reader Andy Yusko Jr. of Lower Pottsgrove, a former board operator and on-air personality at WPAZ, for suggesting this story and contact sources. If you’ve got a story idea or tip we should explore, e-mail The Post.

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Certifications classes are coming.

WOMELSDORF PA – A free snowmobile safety class for drivers between the ages of 10 and 15 has been scheduled for Oct. 16 (2010; Saturday) from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Williamson Lodge Hall in Womelsdorf PA, the Pennsylvania State Snowmobile Association (PSSA) announced last Thursday (Aug. 5). The Berks County class, sponsored by the Appalachian Snowmobile Club and located 38 miles west of Sanatoga PA, is the closest currently scheduled near Lower Pottsgrove Township.

Advance registration is required by Sept. 30. For more information or to be registered, call Joyce E. Hassler at 610-693-5627.

This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Pennsylvania law requires youths to earn a safety certificate before they may lawfully operate a snowmobile in the Commonwealth, except upon lands owned or leased by their parent or legal guardian.

PSSA and its member clubs offer classes conducted by state-certified instructors in all areas of Pennsylvania, according to association Executive Director Lori Elliott. The goal of the class, which was created by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, is to develop safety-oriented attitudes among all snowmobilers.

Student manuals and workbooks illustrate the sport’s basic principles and safety concepts. The course content includes winter clothing, machine safety, and snowmobile laws and regulations. Class participants qualify for their certificate by completing their workbooks and achieving a score of 80 percent or better on the final examination.

Classes across the state are conducted throughout the fall and generally end with the calendar year. On the day of the course, parents must accompany their children to registration to complete required forms. Parents who wish to stay for the entire day are welcome to attend the class. A full schedule of classes is available by calling 888-411-PSSA.

Photo by Clipart.com

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POTTSTOWN PA – The following is a list of 192 organizations – whose mailing addresses are within coverage areas of The Sanatoga Post, The Limerick Post and The Pottstown Post – that as of June 30 (2010) are listed by the federal Internal Revenue Service as in danger of losing their tax-exempt status because they have not filed appropriate paperwork during the past three years.

• This story is a companion to “192 Local Charities Risk Losing Tax Exemptions, IRS Says,” found here.

Editor’s notes: This list was compiled by downloading an IRS spreadsheet of more than 12,600 similarly at risk organizations across Pennsylvania and using database filters to find organizations by desired mailing address zip codes. The Post believes the list to be accurate, but the possibility exists that one or more groups could be missing from its compilation; do not rely solely on it as a guide. Groups identified here should consult with professionals to determine how to resolve whatever issues caused them to be listed. Some groups identified here may already have resolved their issues. For security purposes, The Post has purposely omitted federal tax identification numbers in its compilation; for purposes of brevity, it also omitted zip codes used to filter its search.

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Pottsgrove Manor museum educator Lynn Symborski works on a petticoat.

Gunsmith John Symborski plies his craft.

POTTSTOWN PA — For a second consecutive week, members of the staff and volunteers at Pottsgrove Manor, the Montgomery County PA historic site that was the former home of Pottstown founder John Potts, are inviting visitors to spend Sunday afternoon (Aug. 8, 2010) casually amid 18th century surroundings while re-enactors demonstrate colonial trades and pastimes.

This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Museum educator Lynn Symborski said the manor’s costumed interpreters will be living life the colonial way from 1-4 p.m. on the grounds at 100 W. King St., Pottstown PA, with activities such as needlework, gun-smithing, butter churning, and tape-loom weaving. Visitors can watch, learn, and even join in, she added.

Pottsgrove Manor, built for colonial ironmaster Potts, is operated by the county Parks and Heritage Services Department. A series of five of what Symborski calls “Living History Sundays” have been scheduled there, beginning last week and continuing on Aug. 15, 22, and 29 at the same times.

While at the manor, visitors also can also tour the museum’s current exhibit, “So Long and Toilsome a Journey: Transportation in Colonial Pennsylvania.” A donation of $2 per person is suggested.

For more information, call 610-326-4014.

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POTTSTOWN PA – Five new physicians, two of whom have offices on Medical Drive in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township, have been named to the medical staff of Pottstown Memorial Medical Center, the hospital announced last week (July 14, 2010) in a press release. The remaining three all are headquartered in Pottstown.

Dr. Thea Barton, Dr. Andrew Egger, and Dr. Nasrin Ashouian

Dr. Marta Jimenez, and Dr. Yasha Magyar

Appointed were Dr. Nasrin Ashouian, Dr. Thea Barton, Dr. Andrew Egger, Dr. Marta Jimenez, and Dr. Yasha Magyar.

Ashouian is a member of PMMC’s department of internal medicine – nephrology. She is a graduate of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx NY. Her internal medicine residency was completed at the University Hospital of Cincinnati OH. She completed a nephrology fellowship at Geisinger Medical Center. Ashouian is in practice with PMSI, 1591 Medical Dr., Pottstown PA, and is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Barton has joined PMMC’s department of OB/Gyn. She is a graduate of The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Both her internship and residency programs were completed at Mercy Suburban Hospital, Norristown PA.  Barton is in practice with Women’s Healthcare, 1597 Medical Dr., Pottstown.

Egger is a member of the hospital department of internal medicine – physical medicine and rehabilitation. He is a graduate of the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. His physical medicine and rehabilitation residency was completed at Temple University Hospital. Egger is in practice with Performance Spine and Sports Physicians PC, 1603 E. High St., Suite C, Pottstown.

Jimenez is a member of PMMC’s department of internal medicine – neurology. She is a graduate of the Universidad Central delEste in the Dominican Republic. Her internal medicine internship was completed at Lankenau Hospital.  Both a neurology residency and a stroke and critical care fellowship were completed at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Jimenez is in practice with Tri-County Neurology, 1600 E. High St., Suite 100, Pottstown.

Magyar joined the hospital department of internal medicine – physical medicine and rehabilitation. He is a graduate of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed a traditional internship at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center of New York. His residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation was completed at Nassau University Medical Center. Magyar also is in practice with Performance Spine and Sports Physicians PC.

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