SERVING THE BACK MOUNTAIN IE he Dallas Post FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY Vol Dallas, PA Wednesday, December 9, 1992 35 Cents Xe ul Holiday play at Shavertown Methodist Page 12. Odd drums gain award for Black Knight band. Page 3. § SCHOOL he ¢ 1onor rolls a 9-10. SPORTS Kirby Jo Richards skates at national meet. Sports page. Basketball (previews ~ Sports page. Red Cross Blood drive Tuesday, December 15, 11 am to 5 p.m., Irem Temple Country Club. Call 823-7164 for ap- pointments. 16 Pages 1 Section Calendar.............. 12 Classified........ 14-15 Editorials... .......... 4 Obituaries............ 13 Police report.......... 2 Property transfers..2 Schoot............... 9-10 CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, NEWS OR ADVERTISING Emergency planning needed, experts say By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Six accidents, one on Hillside Road near Route 309, two within two years of each other on a 1/2- mile stretch of Route 309 in Shavertown, and three in the past two years on Route 29, have several disturbing similarities. Each resulted in the two highways being closed down, once for more than 20 hours. Each involved hazardous materials, including chlorine, natural gas, diesel fuel, gasoline and flammable industrial byproducts, which either leaked or could have leaked into the air, onto the roadway or into nearby streams. And although emergency personnel from many communities worked efficiently together to prevent these situations from becoming disasters, the Back Mountain has no formal, written emergency guidelines for such emergencies. Route 309 at Hillside Auto Sales, opposite the Ranch Wagon, was the scene of a natural gas leak Wednesday, December 2, shortly before 1 p.m., when a contractor's backhoe accidentally broke a gas main. Police : shut down the southbound lanes of the highway for half an hour, until the gas was shut off and danger of explosion was past. The highway had been shut down a year ago, on a rainy mid- October afternoon, when a chlorine leak developed at the water filtration plant on Hillside Road, near Route 309. In late October, 1990, a tanker full of gasoline overturned on the same stretch of highway, spilling gasoline onto the roadway, into storm sewers and into a nearby creek. In Thursday's accident on Route 29 near the intersection with Chase Road (the Bonkotown section of Jackson Township), a tanker full of hazardous industrial waste overturned and almost slid into a - nearby creek. See EMERGENCY, pg 16 The Dallas Post gets a new home The Dallas Post is now completely set up and operating in its new quarters on Main Road, Dallas Township, opposite Offset Paperback. (Post Photo/Grace R. Dove) \ By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff becoming possible disasters. Ranch Wagon. Two incidents in 2 days test police, fire depts. Quick action by emergency response personnel prevented two potentially dangerous situations within two days last week from Several lanes of Route 309 in Dallas Township were closed for half an hour shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday, December 2, when a backhoe owned by Hourigan Brothers Contractors hit and broke a 1/2-inch gas line in front of Hillside Auto Sales, opposite the At noon Thursday, December 3, a tanker carrying hazardous liquid waste overturned on Route 29 inJackson Township, near the end of Chase Road, causing the road to be closed for 20 hours and a dozen nearby homes to be evacuated. According to Pennsylvania Gas and Water Co. spokesman June Ann Greco, crews shut off the gas line on Route 309 at Hillside Auto Sales and had the leak repaired in less than two hours. There was no danger of gas leaking into nearby buildings because the gas quickly dissipated into the air, she said. See 2 INCIDENTS, pg 16 a N SN “Twas the night before Christmas...” Stacey Fox narrated the Lake- Lehman school district's kindergarten Christmas program, Friday, December 4. (Post Photo/Grace R. Dove) Lot next to Jackson Twp. building holds leaky tank By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff The person who purchased the old LaSalle Oil Company property, adjoining the property where the Jackson Township municipal building is located, is in for a big surprise when Luzerne County issues his deed January 15. Purchased for less than $300 for back taxes at a recent sheriff's sale, the land contains a buried tank that is leaking oil into the soil of the adjoining municipal parcel. And the Jackson Township supervisors want the tank removed and the contaminated soil cleaned up. Ayearago, the township received an unwelcome surprise when contractors refurbishing the municipal building found six large underground tanks leaking oil into surrounding soil. Removal of the tanks and more than 1,200 tons of contaminated soil cost the township in excess of $200,000, but didn't totally correct the problem; contractors found another leaking tank on adjoining property then belonging to LaSalle Oil Company. Township solicitor Blythe Evans made numerous unsuccessful attempts to contact LaSalle Oil Company to request that they remove the leaking tank. Although the supervisors have decided to wait to take further action on the leaky tenk until Luzerne County issues the deed to the parcel, the new owner will ultimately face three choices: remove the tank and clean up the contamination, attempt to settle the matter through legal channels or default on the taxes and allow the land to once again be sold at sheriff's sale. “The rule in a sheriff's sale is let the buyer beware,” Evans said. “You never get a clean bill of health from a property purchased for back taxes and liens.” In other business, the supervisors commended township emergency management director and fire chief Rollie Evans and all those involved in Thursday's accident on Route 29, where a tnaker full of hazardous chemicals overturned, for their fine work. Chief of police Don Jones reported on an accident involving the marked police cruiser, which slid over an embankment on Hardisky Road Saturday afternoon, December 5, while responding to an accident on Route 29. The supervisors approved the sale of the old police office trailer to Dallas Nursery for $625. Action on bids for an insurance package were tabled until the December 28 work session, so that the supervisors can meet with representatives from the two companies who submitted bids. Michael Tribendis was unanimously appointed to the recreation board. A meeting to approve the budget is scheduled for Monday, December 28, at 6:30 p.m., to be followed by the regular work session at 7 p.m. Jackson Twp. taxes to take big jump By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Jackson Township supervisors unanimously approved the draft of a $586,062.90 budget which will raise property tax rates from 3.5 to 13.5 mills at a special meeting Monday, December 7. “Taxes have not been raised in Jackson Township for more than 30 years,” said supervisor Joe Stager. “The township has been fortunate to see great growth, resulting in more revenues from the earned income and peoperty taxes. But that growth has levelled off, and we must become responsible and realistic in order to maintain what we have.” Stager said that more than $390,000 alone is needed for road repair and maintenance because guidelines for these projects set up in 1974 were not followed. The same eight roads at the top of the “must repair” list in 1974 weren't worked on and are still on the 1993 list. “If the supervisors back in 1974 had stuck to their original format, PTA AWARD - Lehman-Jackson PTA president Tammy all of our roads would be paved by now,” he continued. “And paving costs have tripled in the past 19 years.” In addition, the road department employees, who did not receive pay raises last year, were awarded a four percent cost-of-living raise. Health insurance and workmen's compensation insurance premiums have skyrocketed, Stager continued. Other necessary expenditures mclude increased fees to the Back Mountain Communications Center, a new police cruiser, a VASCAR unit to apprehend speeders and a portable breath test unit to test drivers suspected of driving while under the influence. Walter Glogowski said that the average assessed valuation is $2,500, with one mill generating $7,600 in revenue. Under the new budget, one mill will equal $13.50 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The budget draft will be posted for public inspection at the municipal building until Monday, December 28, when: the supervisors will vote on it. McMahon, principal Charles James and past president Debbie Maskalis show off the award for best local unit, which their organization recently won. (Post Photo/Grace R. Dove) Lehman-Jackson PTA wins statewide award By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Lehman-Jackson school's Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) recently won its fifth statewide award for most outstanding local unit. Presented at the state PTA convention October 23-25 at the Woodlands in Plains, the award recognized the local unit with the best scrapbook of activities, largest increase in membership, highest quality of student programs and best local press publicity. “I felt surprised, very gratified. They didn't give us any advance warning,” said 1991-92 president Debbie Maskalis, describing last year as “very challenging,” -monthly school Last year the Lehman-Jackson PTA purchased and installed a fitness-obstacle module and two pieces of play equipment toupgrade | the school’s play areas. Working with UGI Corporation, which helped fund the program, the PTA also started Reading is FUNdamental (R.I.F.), anationwide program which encourages young students to learn to enjoy reading, | in the school's first grades. Other activities included a visit from a local fire company for Fire Prevention Week, a Halloween parade and party, book fairs, special educational assemblies, the store, where students may purchase pencils and other inexpensive school supplies, Gee PTA AWARD, pg 16
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