Safe Travels

Designated Driving Services is your community guardian when it comes to getting home safe from the bar, restaurant, Phillies game, wedding reception, you name it

It’s 1 a.m. in Doylestown. You’re three shots of Jameson deep. Your best friend insists on “just one more beer.” You do it – knowing full well no one is driving your sorry butt home. Your girlfriend/boyfriend’s at home, asleep. Your only possible reliability is in front of you, head tilted back, grooving on “that hot Katy Perry song” on the jukebox. It’s all good – you called DDS ahead of time: Designated Driving Services. The Horsham-centered nonprofit is there for you, volunteer behind the wheel, driving an intoxicated you to your bed, safe and sound. Gordon Johnson started the nonprofit in 1999, after he found himself at Bucks County Correctional Facility one evening. “I heard some stories about DUI and accidents and all that. …

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Gingrich Sued for Using Song in Doylestown

The company that owns the rights to "Eye of the Tiger" said the presidential candidate did not have permission to use it when he visited the Moose Lodge

Newt Gingrich played to a packed house when he visited Doylestown in September, but now he's being sued for what he played. Rude Music Inc., owned by a member of the band Survivor, is suing the Republican presidential candidate for playing "Eye of the Tiger" as he strode into the Oscar Martin room of the Moose Lodge. The company filed the lawsuit Monday in federal court in Chicago, according to the Chicago Tribune. The suit cites Gingrich's own website as proof that he used the song at his appearance in Doylestown, according to Fox News. Rude Music claims Gingrich also used the song without permission at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in 2010 and at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The …

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Five Things to Know Today

Not much happening on a lazy Sunday, but you can find a sharpshooter in Doylestown and a cooking author in Blue Bell

1. Yesterday, hundreds ran for a cause in Lansdale. Today, you can walk against hate. Head down to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, at 2 p.m. and meet up with friends and other walkers for the 5K Anti-Defamation League event. The registration fee is $10 for adults and $4 for children. 2. Celebrity chef Maria Liberati will sign copies of her book, “The Basic Art of Italian Cooking,” from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today at Normandy Farm Hotel and Conference Center in Blue Bell. 3. Normandy Farm Hotel is also the site of the Montgomery Family and Senior Health Fair from noon to 5 p.m. There will be free health screenings and information on physical therapy and rehab, assisted care, in-home care, reflexology and …

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Five Things to Know Today

Yes, it's the end of the weekend. But there's much to look forward to today to forget about Monday

1. The Bel Canto Children’s Chorus performs its 18th annual spring concert at Zion Mennonite Church, 149 E. Cherry Lane, Souderton from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Accompanist is Andrea Berntsen and directors are Joy Hirokawa and Kirsten Olson 2. Walk MS takes place at North Penn High School today at 10 a.m. Registration starts at 9 a.m. There is a $25 minimum donation for all participants ages 12 and older. 3. Stray Cat Blues Rescue holds an adoption event from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. today at PetSmart in the Target Shopping Center, 145 Witchwood Dr., Montgomery Township. Visit www.straycatblues.org for more information. 4. Get yourself out to Delaware Valley College and enjoy the last day of A-Day, the 62nd year of educating and entertaining the …

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Five Things to Know Today

Wiffle ball, car washes and Arbor Day. Is summer here or what?

1. Montgomery Elementary sixth graders hold a car wash today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fire Department of Montgomery Township also holds a car wash from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at its two stations: 202 and Montgomery Drive, and 325 Stump Road. 2. The Great Strides walk takes place today at 10 a.m. at Central Park in Doylestown. Great Strides is a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding a cure for cystic fibrosis. Montgomery Township resident and Lansdale Catholic student Veronica Grosse will lead Team Sam’s Story, in memory of her sister, Samantha, who died of the disease. 3. Montgomery Township celebrates Arbor Day with education sessions and tree giveaways to residents beginning at 9 a.m. and ending when all trees have been distributed. Trees …

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Road Closures, Detours Next Week for Route 202 Parkway Construction

PennDOT will restrict travel on Route 202, Welsh Road, County Line Road and Almshouse Road all next week.

Next week is sure to be one full of detours and delays for area drivers. Beginning Monday, March 28, through Friday, April 1, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will close certain lanes of travel on major roadways for utility and intersection work. Starting Monday, the Route 202 corridor will be affected due to work on the Route 202 Parkway, according to Gene Blaum of the PennDOT. PennDOT will conduct utility relocation and roadway widening at the southern connection to the Parkway in Upper Gwynedd, Lower Gwynedd and Montgomery townships. Motorists will be affected on Route 202 between Sumneytown Pike and Route 309/Bethlehem Pike, and on Route 63/Welsh Road between Stump Road and Bell Run Boulevard, east of North Wales Road, in …

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Whiz Kid

In Memory of Samantha

This week's Whiz Kid, Veronica Grosse, continues to work on bringing awareness to Cystic Fibrosis, a disease that took the life of her best friend and sister Samantha.

Veronica Grosse, of Montgomery Township, knows her purpose in life. The 15-year-old Lansdale Catholic student, and this week’s Whiz Kid, is meant to bring awareness to the effects and consequences of an untreatable genetic disease called cystic fibrosis (CF). The disease took the life of her best friend—her sister, Samantha, a Gwynedd-Mercy Academy graduate— in November 2009 at age 22. “It was rough,” Veronica said. “Me and my sister were really close.” She said when someone has CF, you don’t know it. Cystic fibrosis causes, among other things, scarring and cyst formation within the pancreas. The most serious symptom is difficulty breathing, and it can result in frequent lung infections. Although Samantha fought the disease all her young …

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Sold!

Here's a listing of properties sold in your area between Feb. 21 and 28.

Jane Maslowski, Keller Williams (215) 990-7706 Katie A. Interrante, RE/MAX Realty Group-Harleysville (267) 421-6033 Thomas Greer, Gerald W. Snyder & Assoc. (215) 362-5200 Janet Rubino, Long and Foster-Devon (610) 225-7400 Margie Kollar, RE/MAX Central Lansdale (215) 822-8171 Marjorie Mills, McKee Group Realty, LLC (610) 604-9580 Deb Grasso, RE/MAX Action Realty-Horsham (215) 990-1019 Lynne Murphy, Coldwell Banker Hearthside-Doylestown (267) 718-9686 Debbie Brown, RE/MAX (610) 212-5340 Ray Reichardt, Prudential Patt White Real Estate-Coopersburg (484) 951-3769 Jeffrey Kratz, Jeffrey F. Kratz (215) 721-4700 Ted Miller, Prudential Keystone Properties (215) 855-1165 Jill Daily, Long and Foster-Blue Bell (215) 847-7036 Jennifer Grosso, Exit …

Benefit Thrown for Local Family Displaced by Fire a Success

Jennifer Koch and her 8-year-old son Brody lost almost everything when a fire destroyed their Horsham apartment in January

Check out additional photos from this event at our Facebook page. The Third and Walnut Bar and Grill was the scene as local residents packed the building for a beef and beer to benefit Doylestown resident Jennifer Koch and her son, Brody, who were both displaced by an apartment fire only a few weeks earlier. Background on the fire Koch and her son Brody moved into a new apartment Jan. 1.  After a couple weeks of getting settled in, a fire started on the first floor as the landlord was soldering in the bathroom. The wall caught fire, and the blaze quickly spread to the second floor, engulfing Brody's room and severely damaging the rest of the apartment. "It took out my son's bedroom, our kitchen, bathroom, and half of my bedroom.  The rest …

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Keith Heffintrayer

1:32 pm on Monday, February 21, 2011

It's definitely a worthy cause, and you guys put together a great event.   more ›

Extreme Makeover?

Lansdale Mayor Andy Szekely believes borough businesses' signs could use an upgrade

Who needs a makeover?  According to Lansdale Mayor Andy Szekely, Main Street does, and 2011 is when the street, which is the cultural and epicurean hub of the borough, will get it.  That is, if the local businesses agree to it.  At the Dec. 20 Economic Development Committee meeting at borough hall, Szekely hinted about the new streetscapes project that is in the works, promising new light designs, trees and, with the help of local businesses that occupy the street, new signs.  Rigid, aged ordinances and, of course, the weakening dollar have kept local businesses from offering eye-popping marquees to draw attention to what the borough actually has to offer.  Szekely said he wants to draw the human traffic that a downtown scene like that of …

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