Always Good, Edna Blez And Rives
~ Matthews Excel Their Own lively
Record With Their Contrasting
~ Notes On This Week’s Editorial
Page. Read Their Pieces Today.
al
{More Than A Newspaper, A Community Institution
"THE DALLAS POS
| In Editorial Content, As In Its
“Neo-Dynamic” Makeup, The Post
Is Attuned Precisely To The Times,
Streamlined For The Enjoyment
Of Its Discriminating Audience.
Vol. 49
POST
SCRIPTS
EPH
DONATES
McCOY
A
NAVY
There are noises which never come
out in the day, but rest so they can
keep lonely people company at night.
They float on the blackness of mid-
night, assuring those who are still
awake that this natural phenomena of
nightfall is nothing to be alarmed about
because, come dawn, the world will be
back again to resume its happy and
hysterical course.
We were toying with such flossy phil-
osophies early the other morning as we
splashed sleepily homeward through a
fine, cold drizzle. The rain was spread-
ing silvery patterns across the sleek
pavement. The windows were black
patches, streaked with tiny rivers. Main
Street stretched ahead of us, black,
lifeless, abandoned . . . but not silent.
Add Woolbert’s sign was creaking
dolefully in the wind. Across the
street, Danny Richards’ awning was
cracking like a .22 rifle. There was a
mysterious gurgle we couldn’t identify
until we remembered that Toby’s
Creek, which you seldom remember in
the winter, slips under the street near
the bank building. Swollen by the
Spring thaw and the rain, the stream
was chuckling merrily, adding its bit
to the symphony.
There was another noise. It sounded
like the clanking of an anchor chain
but that, of course, was ridiculous. We
stopped and looked about and then our
eyes popped with surprise. There, in
Toby's Creek, slowly swinging around
toward the bank, was a graceful, three-
masted schooner, its bare spars thrust
toward the low-hanging clouds, its
clean white lines soft in the mist float-
ing up from the water.
We were just getting ready to make
a disorganized retreat up Lake Street
when a lusty voice split the air.
“Ahoy!” someone shouted. We thought
we recognized the voice so we waited,
still ready to get started on =; split-
second’s notice. “Hey,” the voice
called again, abandoning the seafaring
vernacular. Then we saw a figure vault
over the patch of water between ship
and shore and come running toward
us. We picked up a stone and slipped
behind a gasoline pump. “Come on
out, son,” the figure called. ‘It’s me,
Eph . . . . Eph McCoy!”
(Qt
And, sure enough, it was. He was
still wearing his’ buckskin leggins and
his weather-worn jerkin, but he had
replaced his battered old fur cap with
an admiral’s plumed hat, worn cross-
wise. Eph’s grizzled, grinning visage
peered out from under the gaudy head-
gear.
“What in the name of ...,” we
began, but Eph grabbed us by the arm
and propelled us toward the spot where
his ship was anchored. “Tidy craft,
lad, ain’t she?” he asked, as his eyes
moved lovingly over the ship’s lines.
Heretofore we had not encountered
the salty phase of Eph’s career. We
had known him only as an ex-revolu-
tionary soldier, an Indian fighter and
as the man who, sometime in the late
1700's built the first cabin in what is
now Dallas, His sudden acquisition of
a schooner floored us. We conveyed as
much to him. Eph'‘looked injured.
“Didn't I ever tell you I was with
Capt. John Paul Jones on the Bon
Homme Richard in ’79%?” Eph asked.
We said no, he never had. We were
getting chilled through. “Do you mind
if we go home?” we asked Eph. He
ignored us.
“She was nothing more than drift-
wood, and she had four feet of water
in the hold,” Eph said, and we noticed
that the rain was slanting right
through his shadowy figure. “We only
had three guns and I was on one of
them. ‘Have you struck?’ hollers the
captain of the Serapis. ‘I have not yet
begun to fight, Captain Jones yells
back, and then we boarded the Serapis
and licked ’em, and just in time, too,
because while we were wrasslin’ with
the British I looked around and there
was the Richard goin’ down with the
colors flyin’.”
It was getting wetter and wetter and
we were in no mood for Eph’s windy
(Continued on Page 8)
THE DALLAS POST, FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1939
A CAPPELLA CHOIR WILL SING HERE ON SUNDAY
The a cappella chorus of Chesbrough Seminary, which is making its
seventh annual Spring tour, which will appear in concert Sunday after-
noon at 3 at Trucksville M. E. Church and Sunday night at 8 at Laketon
High School (Story on Page 2).
Luzerne Protests
State's Failure
To Keep Promise
Want Main And Bennett
Paved As Was Agreed;
Seek Aid Of Governor
A flood of letters and telegrams
charging that the State has broken
its promise to Luzerne in failing to
provide for reconstruction of Main
and Bennett Streets, Luzerne, will
reach the desk of Governor Arthur
H. James at Harrisburg this morning.
At least 150 communications from
Luzerne civic leaders, business men
and interested persons on the West
Side, as well as photographs emphasiz-
ing the deplorable condition of the two
thoroughfares, were dispatched to the
Governor yesterday.
Tonight (Friday) Luzerne Borough
Civic Association, of which Attorney
Henry Greenwald is chairman, will con-
duct a protest meeting at 8:30 in Lu-
zerne fire hall to demand that the
State Highway Department keep the
promise it made last year to improve
the two main streets of the borough.
A year ago, when Luzerne Council
withdrew its opposition to the by pass
and joined the movement to secure
that long-needed improvement, the
State, borough and traction company
agreed that if the by-pass were built
Main and Bennett Streets would also
be paved. The by-pass is now under
construction and will be completed this
summer. Plans for paving Main and
Bennett Streets have been drawn and
Luzerne councilmen have cleared away
all legal obstacles but the State High-
way Department has not given hopes
for any immediate work on the two
streets. Luzerne business and civic
leaders charge the Commonwealth has
“sold them down the river.”
Local Leaders To Attend
Since it was largely because Luzerne
withdrew its opposition that the by-
pass became a reality, local civic groups
are staunchly behind the Luzerne Civic
Association in its demand and prom-
ised this week to do everything pos-
sible to support the drive to have Main
and Bennett Streets paved.
Among those expected to attend to-
night’s protest meeting are officials of
the State Highway Department, Sen-
ator Robert Miller and Senator Leo C.
Mundy, Representative Don Wilkinson,
representatives of Wyoming Valley
Motor Club, Wilkes-Barre Chamber of
Commerce and West Side civic organiz-
ations.
A special invitation has been ex-
tended to the men in Dallas and vicin-
ity who were instrumental in carrying
the by-pass campaign to a successful’
conclusion. They worked closely with
the Luzerne business men in the clos-
ing days of that movement and agreed
at the time to return to the battle if
the State Highway Department failed
to keep its promise to pave Main and
Bennett Streets, as well as the by-pass.
Racing Pigeon Club
To Meet Next Monday
The Dallas Dairy Racing Pigeon Club
will meet on Monday, April 3, at 7:30
at the Dallas Dairy office. All members
are urged to attend and a special in-
vitation is extended to new members
who would like to join.
HENRIETTA'S MONKEYSHINES
ENLIVEN COURT HOUSE CASE
There were plenty of monkeyshines
in Luzerne County Court House! this
week when Henrietta, a pert simian
with a colorful past, became Exhibit A
in a trial before Judge M. F. McDonald.
Last October ‘Henny’ ran away
from her owner, Anthony Krieger of
Glen Lyon, and ranged the woods for
several weeks until Michael Shon, a
Honeypot storekeeper, found her and
lured her to his home.
This week a jury had to decide
whether Henrietta belongs to Krieger
or Shon and Henrietta, in person, at-
tended the trial, the center of attrac-
tion in the court room. She was, that
is, until she became temperamental and
snapped at a spectator. Then Judge
McDonald suggested that she be re-
moved, and Henrietta spent the rest of
the day disrupting the routine in the
Court Clerk’s office.
The jury decided in Krieger's favor
but Shon wasn’t too disappointed. Hen-
rietta is expecting a “blessed event” in
about six weeks and Shon thinks he
may be able to get one of Henrietta’s
offspring.
PSEA Plan Would
Boost State Awards
To Local Districts
Propose Shifting Tax
Load From Real Estate
To General State Funds
State aid to seven local school
districts would be increased nearly
$90,000 annually and school taxes
on rea] estate would be reduced dras-
tically by a new method of distribu-
ting State subsidies recommended in
a significant report published this
week by a committee of the Pennsyl-
vania State Education Association.
The 203-page report, which is the re-
sult of a study begun in 1937, was un-
dertaken in an effort to find a solu-
tion to the financial distress which is
handicapping many school districts and
preventing attainment of the ideal of
educational opportunity of reasonable
equality to all children in the State.
If adopted as law, the proposals: of
the PSEA’s committee would reduce
materially the tax burden on local real
estate, which now bears the major part
of school costs.
The committee recommends that the
Edmonds Act of 1921, which attempted
to equalize State subsidies, be amend-
ed to increase the appropriations by
adding 20 to the present percentage
rate. Dallas and neighboring fourth-
class districts now receive 50 per cent
of teachers’ salaries from the State.
The committee would increase the ap-
propriation to 70 per cent.
Tax Would Be Five Mills
A uniform tax levy on real property
(5 mills is suggested by the commit-
tee) would be used to raise a share of
the school costs. Where the appro-
priation and the 5-mill levy were in-
sufficient to cover expenses, an ‘“equil-
ization’ grant would be made to cover
the difference.
As applied to the seven local fourth-
class districts, the increase in State
subsidies would amount to nearly $90,-
000. Of that amount $28,318 would be
represented by increased teachers’ ap-
propriations and $61,650 would be
“equalization” grants. On the basis of
the charts contained in the report
Dallas Townshrip would receive addi-
tional subsidies totalling - $13,553;
Franklin Township, $2,385; Jackson
Township, $3,820; Kingston Township,
$39,389, Lake Township, $11,490; Leh-
man Township, $7,750, these amounts
being in addition to the appropriations
now received under the Edmonds Act.
Dallas Borough had at the time of
the survey 6.5 elementary teachers and
seven secondary teachers. The total
true value of property in 1936-37 in
Dallas was $933,000. Providing a school
program equivalent in cost to $1,600
for every elementary teacher and $2,-
000 for every secondary teacher would
cost $24,400. A uniform tax levy of
5 mills, the figure recommended by the
committee, on the true value of prop-
erty in Dallas would produce $4,665
toward the school program. Present
aids, that is appropriations now re-
ceived, would provide $8,154 toward
(Continued on Page 8)
(Special To The Post)
Harrisburg, March 30—Two hundred
nineteen towns and cities in Pennsyl-
vania are operating municipally-owned
water plants with varying degrees of
success, according to the Pennsylvania
Association of Boroughs.
Generally, the record of publicly-
owned plants has been good, a spokes-
man for the Association says.
The size of the municipal plants
ranges from Wyalusing’s which serves
a population of 884, to Harrisburg’s
which serves more than 80,000 persons.
A number of Pennsylvania’s third-
class cities have established their own
water systems, including Reading, Al-
toona, = Lancaster and Bethlehem.
Smaller communities near Dallas which
have publicly-owned plants include
East Stroudsburg, Danville, Tamaqua,
Laceyville and Meshoppen. The largest
More Than 200 Communities In State
Have Publicly-Owned Water Systems
municipal water plant in the state is
the one operated by the City of Phil-
adelphia.
The rates filed with the Public Util-
ity Commission vary widely, some mu-
nicipally-owned plants charging a flat
quarterly rate, others charging for act-
ual metered consumption. The rates
are as low as 10 cents for the first
thousand gallons. Dallas Water Co.
has a basic consumption charge of
$1.50 for the first thousand gallons,
according to its tariff on file at the
P, U. C. office. A few of the 219
municipally owned plants have rates
higher than that. One of the chief ad-
vantages of the municipally-owned
plant, acording to engineers here, is
that it is exempt from many of the
taxes which burden privately-owned
utilities. :
Request Protection
In Case Of Merger
~ Paper Tie-up Prolonged
~ Bs Conferences Drag
The request of the International
| Typographical Union that its printers
be protected against any likelihood of
a merger among any of Wilkes-Barre’s
three daily newspapers prolonged the
city’s six-month newspaper tie-up this
week. )
A strike called last October by the
American Newspaper Guild ended of-
ficially last Thursday when Guildsmen
signed an agreement with the publish-
ers, "but a new contract with the I. T.
U. vd the Pressmen’s Union, who
~ere net on strike but whose contracts
expired, must be negotiated before the
newspapers can publish. Conferences
were held this week but both sides
were silent concerning the progress
made and no date for resumption of
publication had been set by yesterday.
In the meantime, Judge E. Foster
Heller ruled that an order restraining
Mrs. Clara H. (Powell) Robertson, half
owner of The Record, from transferring
or disposing of capital assets of her
deceased husband’s estate be continued
until she posts $93,000 bond.
The order was requested by Elmer
J. Willman, Times-Leader reporter, who
sought the injunction as a potential
heir of the estate of Joseph C. Powell,
co-founder of The Record. Mr. Will-
man’s petition was prompted by the
rumors that The Record was to be sold
or merged. Mrs. Robertson must file
a bond of $73,000 as life tenant of the
estate and $20,000 as executrix of the
will, the court ruled.
Students Compete In
Spelling Bee Tonight
Local students will match their wits
against the best spellers of county
grade schools tonight when they com-
pete in the annual Luzerne County
Scholastic spelling bee at Meyers High
School auditorium, Wilkes-Barre.
The contest, sponsored by A. P.
Cope, county superintendent, is open
to seventh and eighth grade students.
Nearly every school in the county is
entered.
Harold Roberts and Jean Monk will
represent Dallas Borough, Robert
Patrick and Mary Rose Shields will
compete for Dallas Township, and
James Shepherd and Margaret Schwartz
are Kingston Township entries.
EDITORIAL
We who stand to benefit so much from the construction of the
Luzerne by-pass cannot escape our moral obligation to stand with the
people of Luzerne in their demand for improvements to Main and
Bennett Streets.
The failure of the State Highway Department to keep its promise
to pave the main road through Luzerne is not the problem of that
borough alone.
It effects every motorist from this section who drives
into Luzerne to shop or who uses Main and Bennett Streets as a short-
cut to upper Kingston.
Without the aid of the Luzerne people, we might not yet have
our by-pass.
It was largely because of their willingness to co-operate
that the State Highway Department agreed to build the by-pass. They
helped us greatly. It is now our duty to help them.
When the long fight for the by-pass was concluded last year two
promises were made. One came from the State Highway Department.
It agreed to pave Main and Bennett Streets when it built the by-pass.
The other promise came from the men from this section.
In return
for Luzerne’s co-operation, the local committee promised to insist upon
improvements to Main and Bennett Streets.
The promise of the State Highway Department has never been
kept.
Unless we want to go back on our word; too, it is our duty to
do everything within our power to support the Luzerne Civic Associa
tion in its demands. There is no other honorable course.
\
Identify Body
Of Silkworth Man
Fatally Injured By Car
Tuesday Near Nanticoke
A Lake Silkworth man was fatally
injured Tuesday evening when he was
struck by an automobile on the main
highway just north of West Nanti-
coke.
Corey Grey, about 43, of Lake Silk-
worth, was hit by an automobile oper-
ated by Edward Mayka, 23, of 242
West Ridge Street, Nanticoke, on route
11, one-half mile north of West Nan-
ticoke about 7 p. m. Tuesday. Mayka
drove the injured man to Nanticoke
State Hospital immediately after the
accident. Grey was pronounced dead
upon admittance by Dr. J. E. Felder.
Mayka reported the accident to Nan-~
ticoke police, who held him until the
State Police were notified. He was
committed to Luzerne County Prison
Tuesday night in default of $2,500 bail
on charges of involuntary man-
slaughter.
Grey was identified Wednesday af-
ternoon by his sister-in-law, Mrs. Ar-
thur Grey of Lake Silkworth. The
body was removed to the funeral par-
lors of Undertaker Alfred Bronson of
Sweet Valley Thursday afternoon. Dr.
I. C. Morgan, county coroner, investi-
gated the case.
Herbert R. Culp
Dies At Huntsville
Funeral To Be Saturday
Afternoon At 2:30
Herbert R. Culp, 62, of Huntsville,
well-known life-long resident of this
section, passed away of complications
yesterday morning at 2 at the home of
his sister, Mrs. Cecil Moore of Sweet
Valley.
He was born at Huntsville, son of the
late Mr. and Mrs. John Culp, early
settlers here, and lived there until a
year ago, when he came to the home
of his sister at Sweet Valley.
A carpenter by trade, his services
were much in demand in his commun-
ity. He was an active member of the
Dallas Jr. O. U. A. M. and attended
services at Huntsville Christian Church.
He is survived by four sisters, Mrs.
Moore of Sweet Valley, Mrs. Walter
Covert of Dallas, Mrs. Stanley Gregory
of Lehman and Mrs. Robert McHenry.
of Register, and one brother, Stanley
Culp of Huntsville.
The funeral will be tomorrow (Sat-
urday) afternoon at 1:30 from the
home of Mrs. Moore, with services at
Huntsville Christian Church at 2:30
and interment in Huntsville Cemetery.
Rev. C. H. Frick of Kingston, pastor of
Huntsville Christian Church, will of-
ficiate.
No. 13
Utility Hints Demands
May Bring Rate Increase
Reply To Protests
Fans Interest Here
In Municipal Plant
Consumers Study Data
On Experience In Towns
With Own Water System
A lengthy brief filed with the Pub-
lic Utility Commission at Harrisburg
this week by Dallas Water Co., in
answer to two complaints of inade-
quate service directed to the Com-
mission by local consumers, intimates
that a rate increase will follow any
improvement program carried out
here.
Frankly admitting the charge of
faulty service to consumers in higher
sections, the utility asks the Com-
mission to consider a suggestion for
a merger of Dallas and Shavertown
companies and the issuance of addi-
tional securities to finance improve-
ments.
Copies of the answer were received
here by borough officials, who spon-
sored the formal complaint in response
to agitation against frequent inter-
ruption of service to consumers in the
Parrish Heights section of town.
The brief fanned interest in the
movement to establish a municipally-
owned water system here, a course of
action which is being investigated by a
committee which spent a busy day at
Harrisburg on Monday collecting in-
formation which will be helpful in de-
termining whether a publicly-owned
plant is, as many consumers have come
to believe, the only solution to the
water problem.
Upon its return from the capital,
where its members discussed the local
situation thoroughly with a number of
persons who have been involved in at-
tempts to solve the problem, the com-
mittee issued the following statement:
“We hoped we could return with
hopeful news. It would be pleasant to
be able to report that we found some
evidence that the tiresome problem
of inadequate service is to be solved.
Unfortunately, we could discover no
evidence of any such prospects. The
entire matter is complicated by wheels
within wheels and it is obvious to us
that the burden of finding a solution
still rests with the consumers.
Public Ownership Recommended
“We did collect a considerable
amount of material on publicly-owned
water systems and, in accordance with
our instructions, we are preparing that
material for presentation to the con-
sumers. We encountered not one bit of
criticism of municipally-owned plants
but, on the contrary, met interested
persons who recommended that course
highly. Since this committee had no
authority nor desire to act on any
phase of the situation, we stressed that
we were merely an investigating
group.”
“We believe now that the committee
should be enlarged so it will represent
a greater cross-section of the commun-
ity and so the study of the feasibility
of establishing a municipally-owned
water plant here can be carried out
with all possible speed. We are also
anxious to receive suggestions and to
have any opinions from consumers
which should be included in our files.”
The committee had as members
Henry Disque, Mrs. Joseph Schmerer
and Howell E. Rees. Councilman James
Franklin is also a member but was un-
able to make the Harrisburg trip.
The week’s two developments—the
receipt of the water company’s answer
to the complaints and the return of the
committee from Harrisburg—heighten-
ed interest in the plans for a publicly-
owned water system. Those plans are,
of course, far from complete but sev-
eral basic facts have been determined.
In the first place, the law provides
action which would permit Dallas Bor-
ough to construct its own water system,
independently of any existing system
and without regard to any existing
franchise.
Such a project could be financed in
(Continued on Page 8)
K.T.H.5. SOPHOMORE WINS
COUNTY ORATORY CONTEST
A Kingston Township High School
sophomore won the Luzerne County
Scholastic Oratorical Contest held at
Forty Fort High School Friday night.
Richard Jones, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Ernest Jones of Shavertown, was
awarded first prize with a speech on
“Youth.” The vote of the three judges
was unanimous.
An annual affair sponsored by the
Pennsylvania Forensic and Music
League, the contest was open to all
secondary students in the county. Rich-
ard will compete for the Northeastern
District Championship at Myers High
School, Wilkes-Barre, on April 15. High
school orators from 11 counties will be
represented. State finals will be held
at Norristown April 29.
Richard, whose fine showing was par-
tially due to the coaching of Miss Hilda
Staub, English teacher at Kingston
Township High School, received a
bronze medal for his victory. Last
year he received honorable mention in
the contest.