Pottstown

In front of a crowd of 3,400, Pottstown guard Aaron Beasley made the first of two foul shots with four seconds left last night to give the Trojans a 72-71 victory over York in the Class AAA state semifinal game at Reading High. Pottstown, which snapped York's 57-game consecutive winning streak, advances to play Perry (a 75-68 winner over Blackhawk last night) in the state championship game Friday. The Trojans (29-2) scored the game's final three points after York took its only lead of the game - at 71-69 with 1 minute, 25 seconds remaining.

News flash: Huey Lewis has backed out of a big San Francisco concert celebrating the 50th birthday of the Golden Gate Bridge, and he's being replaced by a hot new act - the Pottstown Senior High School Marching Band. Concert promoter Bill Graham last week walked out of the May 24 celebration, taking headliners Tony Bennett, Huey Lewis and the Grateful Dead with him. Word had it, the only act left would be the Pottstown marching band, which was invited in January because the town had produced most of the steel for the massive bridge.

Police in Montgomery County have identified the woman killed in a one-vehicle accident Sunday afternoon as 33-year-old Ellen Seifert Gold, of the 2000 block of Yerger Road, Pottstown, Lower Pottsgrove Township. Investigators said Gold and a second person were heading westward on Yerger Road near Keim Road in an old model Ford Bronco at 2:54 p.m. when it crossed two lanes of traffic and crashed into a wooded area. The vehicle was separated from its frame by the impact, police said.

Great Valley finished the first half of its Pioneer Athletic Conference schedule in fine style Saturday night with an 85-43 dismantling of visiting Pottsgrove. Now, Patriots coach Paul Girone hopes his team can continue its strong play in Tuesday night's visit by league powerhouse Pottstown. "It's a good time for us to play Pottstown," Girone said. "I think we're playing our best basketball right now. There's no excuses. But Pottstown is a great team. " The Patriots (11-1 overall, 8-1 league)

John Leslie would have preferred doing this year's Christmas shopping in downtown Pottstown - strolling down High Street, looking in windows, browsing through the specialty shops. But the 68-year-old retired businessman-turned-impressionist painter and designer doesn't like the cold weather much. So, instead, he drove to the nearby Coventry Mall and shopped in the heated comfort of the sprawling complex. The experience left him wanting. "Malls are nothing but glass fronts and neon signs," said Leslie, of Sanatoga, Montgomery County.

Amy Koons works the field harder than a farmer at harvest, and she's just as neighborly. It has always been that way for the Pottstown senior, who squeezes every last ounce of ability from her 5-foot-1 body and wrings every minute from every day. Whether she's playing lacrosse or field hockey, hitting the books or the weights, or enjoying her friends and family, it's likely Koons is smiling. Why shouldn't she? A midfielder and captain for the defending Pioneer Athletic Conference champion girls' lacrosse team, Koons is also ranked in the top 1 percent of her senior class and has an 80 percent scholarship lined up at LaSalle University.

A daylong standoff with police ended Thursday night with the arrest of a gunman who had barricaded himself in his Pottstown apartment. The man, whom police did not identify, fired at police at 2:37 p.m. when they tried to talk him into leaving the building, according to a news release issued by Chief Mark D. Flanders. The gunman was taken into custody about 7:30, authorities said. The chief's statement appeared to bear out reports from a woman huddling in a home basement near the standoff scene.

The afternoon sun streaming into a showroom window at Lastick's Furniture store in downtown Pottstown spotlighted a black leather ottoman on top of which lay a fake martini glass with a $34 price tag. Water-damaged ceiling tiles covered everything. Inside, the stench of acrid smoke lingered in the air. But to co-owner Marsha Petnick, the smell was nothing compared with what it had been on Sunday after a fire the previous afternoon ravaged part of her store and several others on the 200 block of High Street.

The last time the Phoenixville girls' basketball team met Pottstown, the Phantoms had a few things missing. Personnel-wise, Ashley MacLelland. The team's leading scorer was out with a sprained ankle, watching from the bench. Mechanically, the Phantoms had trouble rebounding, scoring points, and keeping up the pressure in the 49-36 loss on Dec. 19. Phoenixville hopes things change on Thursday, when the Phantoms play Pottstown at home. Pottstown is still undefeated and in first place in the Pioneer Athletic Conference.

Sears stores on 69th Street in Upper Darby and in Pottstown are among the 100 to 120 stores that will close, the company said Thursday. The struggling retailer released a list of 79 locations that will shut their doors, with others to follow, after announcing cutbacks Tuesday. Sears Holdings Corp., also owns Kmart. The company could not provide a total number of job losses at each store, but said a typical store has between 40 and 80 employees. The list did not include any Sears or Kmarts in New Jersey or Delaware.

Police in Montgomery County have identified the woman killed in a one-vehicle accident Sunday afternoon as 33-year-old Ellen Seifert Gold, of the 2000 block of Yerger Road, Pottstown, Lower Pottsgrove Township. Investigators said Gold and a second person were heading westward on Yerger Road near Keim Road in an old model Ford Bronco at 2:54 p.m. when it crossed two lanes of traffic and crashed into a wooded area. The vehicle was separated from its frame by the impact, police said.

A Pottstown murder suspect who fled to Florida last month has been returned to this area to face charges that he killed his girlfriend, 31-year-old Alicia Schmidt. Edwin Carrero, 32, was arraigned Saturday before Magisterial District Court Judge Edward C. Kropp Sr. in Pottstown. He was ordered held without bail at the Montgomery County prison on murder and related offenses. Police say that sometime on Feb. 2, Carrero choked Schmidt at her home in the 400 block of Cherry Street and pushed her down a flight of stairs.

A Pottstown murder suspect who fled to Broward County, Florida, last month has been returned to this area to face charges he killed his girlfriend, 31-year-old Alicia Schmidt, police said today. Edwin Carrero, 32, appeared for arraignment at 1 p.m. on Saturday before Magisterial District Court Judge Edward C. Kropp, Sr. in Pottstown. The judge ordered Carrero held without bail at the Montgomery County prison on murder and related offenses. Police say that sometime on Feb. 2, Carrero allegedly choked Schmidt at her home in the 400 block of Cherry Street and pushed her down a flight of stairs.

Nicole Dombrowski and Danielle Gasperi worked hard under the basket to fuel Nazareth Academy's 61-38 victory over visiting Pottstown in the first round of the PIAA District 1 Class AAA basketball playoffs on Tuesday night. Dombrowski piled up 14 points and 12 rebounds, Gasperi collected 11 points and 10 boards, and Marissa Sylvester scored seven of her nine points in a 20-3 first-quarter surge that put the Pandas in Friday's quarterfinals. In other Class AAA action, Springfield (Delco)

Criminal charges were filed Monday against the armed Pottstown man who held police and SWAT officers at bay for more than 12 hours Thursday before surrendering. Albert J. Dudanowicz, 56, of Logan Court Apartments, was arraigned on numerous charges of attempted first-degree murder, assault on a law enforcement officer, reckless endangerment, and related offenses. The charges were lodged during a hearing before District Judge Scott T. Palladino in Pottstown. A preliminary hearing has yet to be scheduled.

A daylong standoff with police ended Thursday night with the arrest of a gunman who had barricaded himself in his Pottstown apartment. The man, whom police did not identify, fired at police at 2:37 p.m. when they tried to talk him into leaving the building, according to a news release issued by Chief Mark D. Flanders. The gunman was taken into custody about 7:30, authorities said. The chief's statement appeared to bear out reports from a woman huddling in a home basement near the standoff scene.

A gunman is barricaded inside his apartment in Pottstown and refusing to surrender to police officers, the borough's police chief said late this afternoon. Chief Mark D. Flanders issued a press release saying that the man, who remains unidentified, fired at police at 2:37 p.m. today when they tried to talk him into leaving the building. "At this time the individual is still barricaded inside of his apartment and refusing to surrender to police," Flanders said in the release.

A daylong standoff with police ended Thursday night with the arrest of a gunman who had barricaded himself inside his Pottstown apartment. The man, whom police did not identify, fired at police at 2:37 p.m. when they tried to talk him into leaving the building, according to a news release issued by Chief Mark D. Flanders. A woman huddling in a home basement near the standoff scene told her husband she heard gunshots at midafternoon. "My wife just heard a ton of gunshots," John Shoen, pool manager of the Mary Robin Brigham Aquatic Center in Berwyn, e-mailed a reporter at 3:24 p.m. "She is on Logan Street in the basement of my sister's house with my son. She called me on her cell phone crying.

Law enforcement officials in Broward County, Fla., on Tuesday arrested Edwin Carrero, wanted in connection with the killing last week of Pottstown resident Alicia Schmidt. Carrero, 32, was driving Schmidt's vehicle with a Florida license plate at 2:10 a.m. when he was taken into custody without incident in the parking garage of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla. Carrero was charged by a Seminole Tribal Police officer with one count of car theft, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said.