Free 'MacBeth' Tickets for PHS Students Today!

Wow.

Talk about a great opportunity....

Pottstown Middle and High School Students are you interested in a story about witches, kings, and murder? 

You can see Shakespeare's masterpiece, "MacBeth," for free with your school ID on Saturday, Jan. 16 at 2 p.m. or 7 p.m. at the Steel River Playhouse, 245 E. High St. 

Arrive 30 minutes early. Seats will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

Pottstown CARES Clean-Up Set for Friday

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Hill School Community Relations Professional Cathy Skitko.

Hundreds of volunteers from the Borough of Pottstown, The Hill School, the Pottstown School District, Montgomery County Community College, and other organizations will again combine forces to demonstrate their commitment to our hometown during the third annual CARES clean-up event to be held on Friday, Oct. 23, from 8:30 a.m. until noon. Rain date will be Monday, October 26.

The CARES day volunteers will assemble at 8:30 a.m. under Hill’s former hockey rink roof near the Center For The Arts parking lot at 860 Beech Street, where they will receive instructions and participate in a group photo before stepping off. Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Kevin Steele and Montgomery County Sheriff Russell Bono will be on hand to welcome and thank the massive crew of volunteers.

The clean-up will occur in a targeted area of Pottstown, from High Street north to Beech Street, and Manatawny Street east to Edgewood Street. The CARES project has received the International Coastal Cleanup designation that is granted to endeavors that clean up an area’s watershed; removing litter prevents contaminants from entering waterways via storm drains.

All 502 Hill School students as well as Hill faculty and staff; at least 50 Pottstown High School students and numerous faculty members; volunteers from Montgomery County Community College, and many Borough workers and officials will be dispersed to weed, pick up trash, and complete other “spruce up” tasks in public spaces in the core downtown area. In addition, individuals who have come forward from other community businesses and organizations will join the workers on clean-up teams.

This year the Pottstown area MOMS Club has volunteered to join the CARES effort. CARES planners also are making an extra effort to ask downtown business owners and employees to join in the activities. Interested businesses should contact Kourtney High at khigh@pottstown.org or 610-970-6512.

Also new this year will be a property maintenance merit program in which about 100 owners and residents will be recognized for keeping their properties clean and attractive by receiving a certificate of appreciation and a window “cling” bearing the Pottstown CARES logo.

The CARES organizers ask that Pottstown area residents further show they care about our community by stopping by the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities at 57 North Franklin Street and donating nonperishable food, laundry detergent, toiletries, warm clothing, and other items for distribution to area families in need.

Numerous organizations have contributed funding, tools, supplies, or other support to the CARES endeavor. The planners wish to give special thanks to Lowes for their exceptional generosity in providing tools and other supplies at cost; the United Way and the Fairmount Park Conservancy for loaning tools to the endeavor; Home Depot for providing 600 trash bags and a discount for supplies; and JP Mascaro for supplying dumpsters. In addition, Hill’s food service provider, Sodexo, is donating snacks and the post clean-up buffet picnic lunch for all volunteers.

Organizations that wish to donate time, tools, gloves, trash or recycling bags, or funding toward CARES should contact Katie Scanlan, High Meadows Foundation Sustainability Chair at The Hill School, at kscanlan@thehill.org or 610-705-7277. Donations of work gloves, trash and leaf bags, and tools also will be accepted at Borough Hall at 100 E. High Street. Citizens may email PottstownCARES@pottstown.org with suggestions or questions.

To help identify the unified CARES crew, all volunteers are asked to wear blue – a “school color” shared by The Hill, the Pottstown School District, and the Borough.

The initial, joint CARES (Community, Awareness, Responsibility, Empowerment, and Sustainability) endeavor was conceived in the spring of 2013 during conversations between Borough Manager Mark Flanders, Pottstown School Superintendent Dr. Jeff Sparagana, and Hill School Headmaster Zachary Lehman. The three leaders envisioned a collaborative project that would help to “spruce up” a designated area in the core of Pottstown while boosting community pride. The CARES team hopes these annual events will indeed motivate Pottstown residents to engage in ongoing clean-ups of their own in their immediate neighborhoods.

CARES project organizers wish to give special thanks to the Pottstown Police Department and Emergency Services organizations and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department for their support.

In the Pink and Then into the Black

Photos by Evan Brandt

Grigg Memorial Field's markings were outlined in pink Saturday for the Trojan's football game against Upper Perkiomen High School, which was also its Breast Cancer Awareness Day and the game honoring seniors and parents.

The Pottstown High School Trojans had a busy day on Saturday.

Pink yard lines for Pink Out Day

First, the football Trojans took to Grigg Memorial Field and scored yet another victory in their remarkable season, defeating the Upper Perkiomen High School Indians by a score of 21-13.

It was also the game at which they observed Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so everything was pink.

But wait, there's still more!

The Trojans' low brass section gets tuned up.

Saturday was also senior recognition and parent recognition day.

All that said and done, the football team may have put their feet up for the day, but no such luck for that Trojan Marching Band.

They climbed onto a bus and headed over to Lancaster County for the Manheim Township High School Marching Band Showcase.

There, they performed, for the second time that day, their show, "Fade to Black," to the delight of the enthusiastic crowd which braved the falling mercury and packed the stands at the Blue Streaks' stadium.

The ladies of the Trojans' percussion section

in a quiet moment Saturday.

Then there was an added treat.

Seniors and section leaders, were invited to join the Kutztwn University Marching Band -- which had just performed five numbers -- to perform two songs, "Holiday" and "Hot, Hot, Hot."

First, here is some video of the Trojans taking the field in Manheim:




So here is quick video of highlights of the performance with KU.




As always, full videos of all Pottstown and Kutztown performances can be found below, toward the end of the Storify of Tweets from the day, which, conveniently enough, start right now!

Fire Merger Deadline Unanimously Extended

Monday night's meeting saw another chapter in the fire company merger saga with the focus of public comments now turned toward borough council.

Two speakers, former Borough Council President David Garner and Charles Hermansky Sr., talked about what they called the flawed process by which the merger is being approached.

"I've heard the 2009 merger study touted as the reason for this merger," said Garner. "Did any of you actually read the study?" he asked.

He pointed out that the study calls for several steps to be taken for the merger to be pursued, none of which are evident in the current process.

Garner said council should be driving the process, not "those with a vested interest in controlling things."

Similarly, Hermansky said he has noted a noticeable lack of detail and analysis coming from the borough side of the equation.

"A position paper is not enough," Hermansky said.

Council also approved, unanimously, the plan for rental inspections to occur every two years.

Councilwoman Sheryl Miller, who said she was shocked to find out how many unregistered rentals there are in Pottstown, said the lengthy lead-in time will give the borough's Licensing & Inspections department  time to make headway on that issue.

On a lighter note, Mayor Sharon Valentine Thomas and Councilwoman Carol Kulp chided The Mercury for not presenting enough positive news about the borough.

In the mayor's case, she said "Grease," Pottstown High School's first musical in six years, was a "landmark" event which was an opportunity to present a positive image of Pottstown, was missed by The Mercury.

"Instead, we got a big headline questioning Pottstwn's safety," she said in apparent reference to The Mercury's "Criminal Elements" series which began Sunday.

We're presuming that the fact that as mayor, Valentine is responsible for oversight of the police department, and the fact that her son Seth had a major part in the play, which she failed to mention to the crowd, are irrelevant to her bringing the subject up.

(She is right, as she indicated to a Digital Notebook staffer after Saturday's performance, Seth was among the very best in the show. Sadly, video of numbers from the show, surreptitiously shot by said staffer, could not be posted here as intended due to stern warnings in the program about the illegality of that sort of thing. Also, in the interest of fairness, the mayor had heard that some publicity for "Grease" did appear "on social media, but not in print.")

Not one to lose out on an opportunity to settle an old score, Kulp said that when her son's wrestling team went to the state championships, "we had to beg The Mercury" to cover it.)

That was 25 years ago, she conceded. "It's a shame nothing has changed since then," Kulp said.

Anyway, here are the Tweets from the meeting.

(We apologize in advance for any perceived absence of positivity.)