Community Corner

LRSC Patch is 1-Year-Old! Final Voting Today

Today is the day! We turned one-years-old here in Limerick.

It was on this day, one year ago, that LRSC Patch was born. The site made its launch under former editor David Powell, who worked diligently for six months to get the name out and the news out to the people of the Spring-Ford area.

Powell took a promotion within Patch in mid-April and I came in mid-June and quickly fell in love with this community. We've seen a lot here over the course of 2011, so I've got a lot to tell you.

First, I would like to reveal to you our final two polls for 2011! Make sure you vote on all of our polls to make sure your favorite blogger, Spring-Ford student, local business and police/fire officer win the Best of Patch 2011 awards.

Find out what's happening in Limerick-Royersford-Spring Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But, today, we reveal the grand finale: Mr. Patch 2011 and Mrs. Patch 2011 (separate awards). Of course, as with all polls, the biggest requirement is that the six nominees had been covered on LRSC Patch in 2011. So, we've nominated 12 candidates (six in each category) to fulfill the role - someone who truly fits the core idea of Patch: Community-oriented, passionate, thoughtful, current with the news...

Again, I know I keep saying this, but this was REALLY hard to narrow down to just six people per category, but somehow our team did it and we believe we have the best twelve people/stories of 2011! The original list for both the men and women had 14 candidates a piece.

Find out what's happening in Limerick-Royersford-Spring Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

So, without further ado, here are our best six in both categories (you can vote at the bottom of the page). Links provided are of stories about the individuals.

For the men...

  • JR Bach - JR Bach, member of the local , was extremely involved in 2011. Bach was a major part, along with many others, in putting on . Bach also tipped us off on a honoring first responders from the 9/11 attacks ten years ago.
  • William C. Brunner - Bill Brunner is the President of the Spring-Ford Historical Society. A blogger for Patch and a historian of the area, Brunner has lived in the area since 1958. Brunner has two books out recalling the Royersford and Spring City area.
  • Mickey McDaniel - , Spring-Ford High School Athletic Director has been instrumental in giving hundreds of students opportunities to excel in athletics. McDaniel oversees a total of 21 teams throughout the school year. In 2011, league championships (team and individual) were won by seven teams. McDaniel is also an assistant coach for the girls basketball team.
  • Rick "The Manager" Russo - Rick "The Manager," a local owner of his own landscaping company, has dabbled in competitive eating in his day - qualifying for the 610 WIP Wing Bowl three times. Russo gave us all a chuckle in the hot summer weather by putting up Christmas lights, exclaiming Russo also generously donated his home as a venue to judge our " in the area" contest in February.
  • Tom Thunstrom - Assistant Vice President at a local bank, Thunstrom doubles as local , providing the community with a weekly report right here on Patch. You knew all that, but what you may not have known is that Thunstrom is involved in both the and the Spring-Ford Chamber of Commerce. He also helped put on a charity this summer. Thunstrom's wife, , writes book and show reviews for Patch.
  • Dave Urner - Former mayor of Royersford, has always believed in fairness within his community. His seven-plus-year term was filled with joy, as he recalled in our five part series (, , , , ), recapping his time as mayor in this town.

For the women...

  • Amanda Barretta - Amanda Barretta is the daughter of Bob and Lisa Barretta, who own and operate in Limerick. Barretta is taking over a brand new branch of Java's Brewin' in the , but more importantly helped raise more than for a local boy with cancer in a September fundraiser.
  • Lisa Bender - ran a contest this year in which the winner would be sent to the Red Carpet at the Emmys. And out of all the giant towns and cities in this world, one Royersford woman captured the hearts of the judges and won the contest. That woman was Lisa Bender, who with her daughter, puts on a bake sale in the clubhouse of their development to benefit hungry children. Bender sent in a of her time at the Emmys with her husband Frank shortly after the event.
  • Karen Hegedus - The would not be completed with its director Karen Hegedus. Hegedus, as described by our former editor David Powell, is all over the place in Limerick. With the help of her committee, Hegedus has provided great community events for Limerick residents, including , the and
  • Melissa McKechnie - Ever hear of ? Well, if not, you're missing out! One Friday per month, the community gathers at Friendship Fire Hall to play about 14 rounds of bingo. Vendors like Pampered Chef and Avon donate items to be awarded to winners, and all proceeds go to a different local cause each month, such as a young boy who was run over by a lawn mower over the summer, and needed reconstructive surgery. McKechnie is the founder of the event, which has been run successfully for the better part of 2011.
  • Gloria Vollert - Autism is becoming a serious issue across the country and more and more parents and children are looking for support. Gloria Vollert, and her husband Kurt, have put together a support group for the Spring-Ford area called , where parents can sit down and muse about their children's autism and give advice.
  • Donna Williams - A 16-year school board member and former school board President, Donna Williams sat in her for Spring-Ford in December. Williams also helped out with this year's and is a beloved member of the Spring-Ford community.

Make sure you vote at the bottom of the page and check back later for our topic page on 2011, where you can see all the polls, read about the people and places who impacted our community in 2011, and make your vote before Jan. 6. All awards will be presented throughout the month of January.

 

Six months ago, we recapped the top 10 stories since Patch was born. Now, let's take a look back at the top 10 stoires between June and now. You can see the first six months' list .

If you've been a loyal user since the beginning, you'll enjoy the nostalgia of our top ten list. If you are relatively new to Patch, then you will love looking back and seeing all the great (and not-so-great) things we covered.

1. - After a huge in June that resulted in a man allegedly shooting himself, pending arrest warrants remained for the mans sons, who reportedly were selling and marijuana out of the residence. Early in October, another raid resulted in the arrest of one man, who from captivity and ran the streets in handcuffs until about 4 a.m. He was detained and jailed.

2. - The title says it all. A woman, who was doped up on an extremely large amount of prescription drugs, was driving her vehicle down , using her cell phone, when she skipped the curb and hit a man mowing his lawn. The man was hospitalized and still remains in poor condition. The woman was jailed for her crime.

3. - The Limerick Generating Station applied for a 20-year license renewal on its reactors this year. In the midst of it all, a was held, where many people voiced their opinions - good and bad. The process is still ongoing and has been by two entities. Proceedings will continue through 2012.

4. - Two stabbings occurred on consecutive nights in Limerick and Royersford. The first stabbing occurred at . The was never found. The next night, a multiple-person ensued at an apartment in Royersford. It appeared that one juvenile was stabbed twice in the fight.

5. - The band was in the news just about every week during the football season, as they once again won the . They also went to to march in a pre-Thanksgiving parade and saw many other successes throughout the year.

6. - Months of negotiating and crunching numbers resulted in a multi-million-dollar settlement between the two on property assessments.

7. - After many deliberations and plenty of hard work, the Royersford businesses put on a beautiful Community Day for the first time in borough history. Many businesses turned out to hang out, have fun and see some awesome classic cars.

8. - After former mayor stepped down from his seat with just over one year left on his term, a new mayor was selected in 20-plus-year councilman John Guest. Guest has been working diligently as the interim mayor for the past few months.

9. - We had just a few heated races in the area this year, including three seats being heavily contested in , as well as one supervisor position in .

10. - After narrowly missing the playoffs in 2010 under new head coach Chad Brubaker, the Rams came back with a vengeance in 2011. The boys saw their first-ever appearance against Coatesville and went on to win the PAC-10 Championship outright for the first time since 1995.

 

I hope you've enjoyed the coverage of the area in the first year of our existence and vow to continue to work hard to get the news out to our dedicated readers. As always, if you have any suggestions, news tips or just want to chat, please reach out to me at Kevin.Haslam@patch.com. Happy New Year!


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