Ten Years Of Cabela’s: Tons Of Taxes, Tons Of Business

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It was a poor place for businesses, planners thought.

The slopes of farmland in northern Berks County would be difficult to build on.

Nearby roads were heavily traveled, but didn’t provide a good way in.

The infrastructure improvements necessary to fix those problems would be expensive, and zoning laws would complicate the process.

That was how the Berks County Planning Commission and a national site selection firm viewed 150 acres of fields near Route 61 in Tilden Township a little over a decade ago.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=513221

‘Code Orange’ Issued As Air Quality Expected To Be Poor Today

The Department of Environmental Protection and its regional air quality partnerships have forecast an orange air quality action day for ozone on Thursday, July 18, for Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.

On air quality action days, young children, the elderly and those with respiratory problems, such as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis, are especially vulnerable to the effects of air pollution and should limit outdoor activities.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130718/NEWS01/130719364/-code-orange-issued-as-air-quality-expected-to-be-poor-today#full_story

87 People Paddle Down The Schuylkill River For The Annual Sojourn

Location of Pottstown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

POTTSTOWN — Nearly 90 people dragged their kayaks and canoes into the Schuylkill River around 9 a.m. Wednesday as they started the fifth day of the 15th Schuylkill River Sojourn.

The group camped out Tuesday night at Riverfront Park in the borough before paddling 17.8 miles to Mont Clare on Wednesday.

The 112-mile guided kayak and canoe trip started in 1999 after the Schuylkill River was named River of the Year buy the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

According to the group’s website, it takes seven days to reach the Philadelphia Boathouse Row from their launch site in Schuylkill Haven. The canoeists and kayakers paddle between 14 and 18 miles a day, stopping for lunch, then camping overnight.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130606/NEWS01/130609563/87-people-paddle-down-the-schuylkill-river-for-the-annual-sojourn#full_story

Free Summer Playgroup Sessions In Pottstown

Family Services of Montgomery County

Wednesdays, 10am-11:30am, June 12^th, July 17^th, & August 14^th

The Spray Park (Memorial Park) King & Manatawny Streets

Please call Megan if you plan to attend at 610-326-1610 ext. 242

Jim Thorpe Faces Losing Its Namesake

English: Postcard picture from 1915 of a “bird’s eye view” of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, then known as “Mauch Chunk”. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

JIM THORPE, PA – Stewart Counterman stopped by Jim Thorpe’s tomb Monday afternoon after hearing the legendary athlete’s body might soon be moved.

Despite never having set foot in the town that now bears his name, the pro football pioneer and double-Olympic gold medalist provided the community a sense of purpose when it seemed to have none.

“It’s something that is really important,” said Counterman, of Lehighton, standing in the shadow of Thorpe’s red granite mausoleum.  “It’s something that we’re going to miss if it’s not here.”

In 1954, the struggling mining towns of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk were looking for a way to put themselves back on the map.  They made a deal with Thorpe’s widow Patricia, united under Thorpe’s name, and gave him the fitting tribute and final resting place his native Oklahoma would not.

Read more:   http://www.timesleader.com/news/news/456773/Jim-Thorpe-faces-losing-its-namesake

Hazleton Area Rail-Trail Bridge To Get Historic Support

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A 117-foot bridge that will take the Greater Hazleton rail-trail over an active Norfolk Southern railroad line will be held by supports built more than 120 years ago by the Coxe coal barons.

The bridge will be delivered to the site on May 23.

Tom Ogorzalek, a trail volunteer and local history buff, said the abutments were built by the Coxe family when they owned and operated a railroad near the turn of the last century.

“They were built in 1890 by the Delaware, Schuylkill and Susquehanna (DS&S) Railroad, which was run by the Coxe family to haul their coal,” Ogorzalek said. “Other railroads also hauled their coal.  They made a deal with Lehigh Valley Railroad to haul all of their coal.  Lehigh Valley acquired DS&S, and almost immediately abandoned that track sometime between 1900 and 1905.”

Read more:  http://standardspeaker.com/news/rail-trail-bridge-to-get-historic-support-1.1476971

Pottstown Regional Recreation Post Could Wear Many Hats

POTTSTOWN — Sometimes things just fall into your lap just when you need them.

Just one day after members of the Pottstown School Board and borough council brainstormed about ways they can work together to cut costs and market Pottstown to a broader region, an opportunity to do just that for free was again presenting itself.

During their first joint meeting of the year on Feb. 25, members of both Pottstown boards echoed a common lament, the need to market what Pottstown has to offer to a wider audience, to better coordinate and add to major events and the need for additional funding help from outside sources and the surrounding townships.

On Tuesday, the Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning Committee heard about an opportunity being developed over the last year with the help of the Pottstown Health and Wellness Foundation to do many of those things at a ridiculously low cost.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130304/NEWS01/130309833/pottstown-regional-rec-post-could-wear-many-hats#full_story

Brecknock Township Receives An Unlikely Inheritance

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It started when Brecknock Township suddenly found itself the owner of a mansion, secluded on a 47-acre wooded lot off Fitterling Road in the township.

A lawyer from Oregon, executrix of the will of a man they knew little about, Philip T. Buxton, called in 2011 to say Buxton had left the township the house and land to use for a park.  The only stipulation was that it be named for him and his late wife, Jane.

That came as a surprise to township officials.

“We were very happy to be the recipients of it,” said Jeffrey M. Fiant, supervisors chairman.

Read more:   http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=450358

Pittsburgh Expects 2013 Completion For Point State Park Fountain

It will be another spring before the fountain at Point State Park bubbles up again.

That was the message Thursday about progress on the $9.6 million fountain renovation, which began in late 2011, part of a $35 million makeover of the entire park.

If the weather stays mild, flooding remains minimal and the construction work proceeds smoothly, park manager Matt Greene said he is “cautiously optimistic” that water will return to the fountain in spring 2013. The fountain was shut off in April 2009.

“So far, so good,” Mr. Greene said as he surveyed the tip of the Point.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/city-expects-2013-completion-for-point-state-park-fountain-636861/

Lower Macungie Mapping Out Ambitious Greenway Plan

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lehigh County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Budd Coates dreams of one day jogging continuously along pathways and parks through Lower Macungie without the need to compete with traffic cluttering streets and highways in one of the Lehigh Valley‘s most populated municipalities.

“Not to pick on anyone,” Coates said, “but Lower Macungie is so fragmented with some of these developments, you not only can’t get from one development to another in anything other than a car, you can’t get from one block to another.”

The avid Emmaus runner’s wish may not seem that far-fetched. Lower Macungie is in the process of mapping out an ambitious environment-protecting greenway plan, complete with a network of trails that would help connect the 22 1/2 –square-mile township’s neighborhoods to nearby municipalities and to surrounding parks, schools and other landmarks.

Forming the spine of the system would be 18 miles of trails that would follow the Little Lehigh and Swabia creeks.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-lower-macungie-greenway-plan-20120414,0,6389307.story

Game Commission Gives $250,000 To Hawk Mountain For Amphitheater

Image via Wikipedia

The Pennsylvania Game Commission has given Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Berks County $250,000 toward the construction of an amphitheater that will bear the commission’s name.

The 2,500-acre sanctuary in Albany Township welcomes about 70,000 visitors a year and is considered one of the best places in the Northeast to watch the annual autumn raptor migration. It is in the midst of a $10 million capital improvement campaign.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission Amphitheater will replace the current structure, where sanctuary educators present live raptor programs and school and other groups gather.

“The current amphitheater … offers no sheltered stage area and the wooden benches retain moisture,” sanctuary President Jerry Regan said.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-hawk-mountain-ampitheater-20120316,0,1907579.story