Route 202 Parkway a Suburban Skyline Drive

Driving the parkway went smoothly on opening day, but it remains to be seen if the scenic road will be able to handle heavy traffic

It's like a suburban Skyline Drive. That's the impression I got as I drove the Route 202 Parkway just minutes after it opened to traffic late Monday afternoon. The real Skyline Drive is a 105-mile-long, two-lane road that runs the length of Shendandoah National Park in Virginia, featuring overlooks with sweeping vistas. The 35 mph road is free of commercial development, has overpasses and underpasses to avoid traffic lights, and is restricted to cars and passenger trucks. The new Route 202 Parkway would be a fantastic road if it were located in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania. It is protected from commercial development and private access, and is paralleled for its entire length by a paved 12-foot-wide bike-hike trail separated from …

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Where to Give Locally for Hurricane Sandy Cleanup

Add your own volunteer efforts in the comments, or email tony.didomizio@patch.com. Don't forget to post to your community at www.Facebook.com/LansdalePatch

This is an ongoing and updated list of local Hurricane Sandy cleanup efforts in the North Penn, Indian Valley and beyond. Email volunteerism efforts to tony.didomizio@patch.com. The Towamencin Soccer Club U9F Tornadoes and U12F Tigers are coordinating a collecting effort on Saturday, Nov. 10 at Grist Mill Park fields from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The park and fields are at the corner of Forty Foot Road and Allentown Road. Collection will be delivered to Fairview Village Church in Eagleville, who will then deliver to New York and New Jersey. Here are needed items in their effort on Saturday:   The Gutter Guys at Route 309 and Trewigtown Road in Colmar are collecting clothes, blankets, pots, pans, silverware, dog food and more for hurricane victims…

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The Silver Screen

The 'Silver Screen’s' Top Films of 2011

Our movie critic, Stephen Silver, takes a look back at the very best movies of the year.

Celebrating the close of 2011, here are my top ten movie choices of the year: 1. The Artist The year's most unlikely film is also its best – a black and white, silent film set in 1920s Hollywood. Michel Hazanavicius' film is just plain beautiful, both thematically and aesthetically, and sports standout performances from Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo. And the dog, Uggie, should win Best Supporting Actor. (In theaters now.) 2. Certified Copy This most international of films, shot in Italy with English and French leads by an Iranian director, is also the mind bender of the year. Directed by master filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, Certified Copy looks at a couple (William Shimell and Juliette Binoche) who may be strangers or may be an estranged …

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Gwyn-Nor Wants Your Clothes

For a second straight year, the elementary school is hosting a multiple-day clothing drive

On a beautiful Saturday morning, Becky Conrad was seated in the back of a nearly-full U-Haul truck in the parking lot of Gwyn-Nor Elementary, as vehicle after vehicle pulled into the lot to donate clothes. "Look at the size of this truck!  And we just started!" said Conrad.  "I think this is a good one for us." Indeed, only four hours into the clothing drive, the U-Haul had little to no space left, forcing Conrad and her partner, Cathy Halberg, to move donations to a secondary collection point, a few parking spaces away. "This weekend is the mommy market, which helps.  People come out with stuff they didn't sell, and throw it right in the truck," said Conrad with a laugh. The amount should come as no surprise, as the school raised more …

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