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Editorially Speaking
"More Than A Newspaper, A Community Institution” |
We're a little bit hurt this week . . . and disappointed.
Nothing much has happened, only we've justslearned that
we are not considered local.
It’s a long story, but here it is—even though it’s prob-:
ably something more to be harbored in the back of our
heads than used as a topic for an editorial. We'll let you
be the judge.
Months ago this newspaper offered to send The Post
free to every soldier from the Back Mountain Region.
You may take our word for it that the offer was genuine.
‘We had no desire for credit or for glory. The fact that
many of the boys have been grateful and praised us
enthusiastically in their letters has at times been em-
barrassing. We have published many of those letters
in order to keep the boys in touch with one another and
with home. We want them to feel that the community is
behind them—not the Post alone. Ask them what part of
the Post they read first.
It’s always
the letters. Ask
them what community they want their news from and in
unison they reply: “All of it, from the whole Back Moun-
tain country. That’s home to us.”
When we started sending these free papers the first
- group to ‘‘co-operate’”’ was from Kingston Township.
They handed us the addresses of 100 boys. Since that time
Kingston Township friends and parents have continued to
send them in. Many of them probably never knew the Post
existed before. Many have probably forgotten it already.
But all had one opinion in common at the time, “Boys
from Back of the Mountain will be glad to read the home-
town news.”
and one for all.
For a moment at least, we were all one . . .
For a moment, too, there might have been some thought
of the expense involved . . . of the extra effort required to
keep addresses straight with six of our own force in the
army. There might have been a moment when someone
wondered what keeps a newspaper running when adver-
tising revenues decline in
advertising-minded merchants.
a field never fertile with
There have been times
when we, ourselves, have wondered.
This week we still wondered. Shavertown Chemical
Company is appealing for support as a community institu-
tion—not as a brilliant smooth functioning outfit with
efficient stream-lined fire-fighting apparatus—but as a
struggling community outfit like ourselves. But the com-
pany didn’t give that a thought when it was looking for
some one to print its program—a program for this same
Field Day that we as a community institution have given
columns of publicity over the years . .. and half a column
of front page publicity a week ago. We were overlooked
once again.
We are always glad to give publicity. Our community
institution is always anxious to support any community
ventures and we are bound by no narrow prejudices,
borough or township lines. We'd like to make it plain
that we are for the whole Back Moutain Region.
But
we are getting a little tired of being a local community
institution when Kingston Township wants sorpething
and a ‘foreigner’ when it has something to give.
Last spring, and for several springs, when Kingston
Township schools had a yearbook to print we were not
considered, although two of our employees live and own
their homes in Kingston Township. Both of them pay
taxes to support those schools . .
. and that is more than
the teachers who placed the printing do. ot He seme |
time that we were too small or not “local enough” to be
considered, this plant was producing outstanding publica-
tions for Wyoming Seminary and College Misericordia
whose standards for workmanship surely must be as high
as those of Kingston Township schools. Commencement
invitations, school programs, football tickets—it is all the
same.
Not local enough? Not big enough? Brother, this
paper has been here fifty years and will be here long after
we are. gone,
enthusiastic enough?
Not community-minded enough?
We were born and bred back of
Not
these mountains. We were suckled on these mountain mists
long before most of the carpetbaggers in Kingston Town-
ship knew the difference between coal dust and fresh air.
And as to community institutions—we’ll continue to be
one and do the job better without public support than
those who are yapping for it when they don’t deserve it.
*
*
The place that you are least likely to find a cigarette is
in one of these fancy boxes scattered through the rooms of
every house.
FROM.
PILLAR TO POST
By Mgrs. T. M. B. Hicks, Jr.
It is next to impossible for the average northerner to understood
colored folks. He either mistrusts them completely, or he is oppressed
by the racial-equality fallacy and so outraged at its inferences, that he
builds up too much resistance in his subconscious mind. To get to first
base with colored folks, you must have been born in the south or have
moved so early in life that southern
understanding is grafted upon
northern heritage.
There is no true affection for col-
ored folks except below the Mason
and Dixon Line, partly because of
the ‘uppity’ variety that consti-
tutes northern colored society, and
partly because of the stone wall of
indifference” and distrust between
the races.
True southern darkies expect a
great deal of their “White Folks.”
It is understood that the white folks
will go to bat for their colored re-
tainers, extricating them from the
clutches of the law after indescrim-
inate razor-play, seeing to it that
they are adequately clothed and
housed and fed. A colored family
burned out of house and home en-
lists the sympathy and cooperation
of the entire community. One white
family raids its attic for surplus
beds and cast-off furniture, another
places a mammoth order at the
grocery, another turns over a cot-
tage rent-free, and all as a matter
of course.
When there is a death, the white
folks provide the extra cash. They
visit the colored school and see to
it that the book supply is adequate,
and that the building is kept weath-
(Continued on Page 8.)
Darras Post
MORE THAN A NEWSPAPER, A COMMUNITY
INSTITUTION
Yol. 52
- FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1942
No. 32
Are you entitled to wear a
“target” lapel button? You
are if you are investing at
least ten percent of your in-
come in War Bonds every pay
day. It’s your badge of pa-
triotism.
ith
While Brothers Fight They Build The
Weapons
American girls aren’t willing to sit at home idly while their brothers, fathers, husbands and sweethearts are
fighting. Hundreds of thousands of them have found some way to help. In Akron they are building barrage
balloons, pontons, gas masks and life belts. This group of girls built this ponton in the plant of The General
Tires & Rubber Company. Getting up at the crack of dawn they work in the factory from six o'clock until
two. One afternoon, to satisfy themselves that the pon tons met all specifications .
. . that they would support
the loads intended for them, they took one out on a nearby lake to test it for air and water leaks. Having
found that it met with official approval they paddled it around the lake just for a little recreation. Each one
of these girls has some person close to her in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard and each is
determined to do her part to provide them with weapons. And each pay day each girl sets aside part of her
income for war bonds.
Booth Leaves
For Texas Job
Engineer Will Work
On New Rubber Plant
Nelson Booth of Lehman avenue
left yesterday for Freeport, Texas,
where he will be employed by his.
old firm, Stone & Webster, in the
engineering corps constructing a
new synthetic rubber plant.
For the past seven years Mr.
Booth has been associate engineer
with the Works Progress Adminis-
tration, of Pennsylvania and during
one year of that period was in direct
charge of 1,700 employees and vari-
ous power equipment engaged in
the construction of 1% miles of
levee and dredging for flood con-
trol along the Susquehanna river
at Wilkes-Barre.
During the past two years he has
been in charge of National Defense
program on airport construction in
the State for the Deputy Adminis-
trator and during that time super-
vised the construction of five mod-
ern airports. y
Prior to his work with WPA, Mr.
Booth was employed by the State
Department of Forests and Waters
and by Stone & Webster, nationally
known construction engineers.
Mrs. Booth and daughter, Ann,
will remain in Dallas with Mr.
Booth’s mother, Mrs. C. N. Booth.
Davis Promoted
Alfred Davis, son of Councilman
and Mrs. William Davis, has been
promoted from corporal to sergeant
in the Headquarters Detachment at
the Ordnance Replacement Center,
Aberdeen, Md.
Members Of State Commission
Will Be Guests of Wilkinson
the
Local] Government Commission, of
Members of Pennsylvania
which he is a member, will be en-
tertained Friday by Don Wilkinson
at his home, Friendship Hill, on
Center Hill road, Dallas.
The Commission, frequently known
as the Mallory Commission, is com-~
posed of four members of the State
Senate, four from the Legislature
and two lay members. It will meet
for a public hearing at the Court
House in Scranton on Thursday.
Main topics of discussion will per-
tain to the collection of delinquent
property taxes, a retirement sys-
tem for municipal employees, and
changes in the State Constitution
which will give the State Legisla-
ture the power to change voting
districts. The Commission hopes to
simplify the methods of filing and
collecting liens for taxes. Under
the present laws these costs ap-
proach $100. Through simplifica-
tion the Commission believes that
costs can be cut to less than $10.
In this connection the Commission
hopes to accomplish something to-
ward the divestment of mortgages,
Pennsylvania being the only State
in which mortgages still hold their
place when properties are sold for
taxes.
Those who will be Mr. Wilkin-
son’s guests Thursday night and
Friday are: Senator Charles Mal-
lory, Blair county; Senator George
Stevenson, Clinton county; Senator
Edward Coleman, Lackawanna
county; Senator Harry Lanius,
Representative Franklin Lichten-
watter, Representative Paul Naugle,
Representative Ruben Nelson, H. A.
“Cappy” Thompson, president of the
Second Class Townships’ Associa-
tion; Walter Greenwood, president
Third Class Cities’ Association; A.
Boyd Hamilton, secretary of the
commission; Miss Mary Moore, re-
cording secretary; Eugene Reed,
statistcian Pennsylvania Economy
League, and John H, Fentig, counsel,
Eight Army Bombers
Fly Over Dallas
Eight army bombers flying east
in formation attracted the attention
of hundreds of Back Mountain resi-
dents late Sunday morning. The
planes were flying at moderate al-
titude and the uniform drone of
their motors warned of their ap-
proach long before they were in
sight.
Lake Sehools
Appoint Henney
Kunkle Poultryman
Heads New Department
One of the best known poultry-
men in the Dallas area, Ray Henney,
will head the newly established vo-
cational-agricultural department at
Lake Township schools.
Mr. Henney assumed his duties
on August 1, and during the re-
mainder of the summer will inter-
view Lake Township parents and
students to determine what courses
are needed, outline his course of
study and organize the department
for actual work in September.
Mr. Henney is well qualified with
a background of theoretical and
practical experience gained as an
instructor of animal hubandry and
as a practical farmer. For years
he has specialized in poultry breed-
ing on his farm at Kunkle and has
been one of the outstanding egg
producers in Luzerne County.
Before coming to Dallas he was
head of the vocational-agricultural
department at the government vo-
cational school in Baltimore, Md.
Except for time served in the navy
during the World War, Mr. Henney
has been actively engaged in farm-
ing either as student, teacher or
proprietor since his graduation from
Coughlin High School in 1914. He
received his B. S. degree in animal
husbandry from State College and
in the intervening years taught in
the schools of Delaware, Dayton,
Ohio, and as supervisor of voca-
tional-agriculture at the State
Teachers’ College, Bowling Green,
Ky. He holds the certificate of
Junior Poultry Husbandry with the
United States Department of Agri-
culture and was for some time chief
of agricultural training at Chilli-
cothe, Ohio.
During college years he was pro-
ficient athlete and four-letter man
holding letters in football, track,
basketball and boxing. On occa-
sions he has substituted as a teach-
er in Dallas Township High School.
Fighter Command Is
Not Patroling Valley
Many have raised the question
whether the Army Fighter Com-
mand is patroling Wyoming Valley
with night fighters. Best explana-
tion of night flying planes came
this week with the announcement
that the army is training many
pilots in night flying and that some
for many years head of the Legis- | have included Wyoming Valley in
lative Reference Bureau.
fh
their course. 4
Nu Yodel EE
sdbes
\Faithful Few
Man Air Post
Observers Needed On
Early Morning Shifts
Under the direction of Merle
Shaver and Giles Wilson county
employees are making up for lost
time in bringing construction and
painting of Observation Post No.
672-A in Rice cemetery to comple-
tion. Chief Observer Paul Shaver
announced this week that he hopes
to have the post in operation and
fully manned within a fortnight.
There is still a need for furnish-
ings and Mr. Shaver has asked any
one in the community to notify
him if they have and are willing
to donate a 12x14 linoleum rug, coal
pail, broom, coal shovel, dust pan
or 10-gallon water bottle and foun-
tain. Tally-Ho Grille has already
donated two chairs and two tables
which Atlee Kocher has rebuilt in-
to a desk, and Henry M. Laing Fire
Company has donated two rocking
chairs.
Mr. Shaver says that he is still
short enough observers to man the
12 (midnight) to 6 a. m. shifts:
Sunday-Monday, Tuesday-Wednes-
day, Wednesday-Thursday and on
Thursday-Friday. Since two per-
sons serve on each shift this means
that eight observers are vitally
needed. Observers serve once every
fourteen days so that a full com-
plement of 112 persons is needed
to properly man the post ‘on all
shifts.
Two of Mr. Shaver’s most faithful
observers on one of the Thursday
to Friday shifts have been F. G.
Mathers and Franklin Stroud of
Kingston Township. They have held
that station for the past eight
months. Others who haven't missed
a shift except for illness—and in
some instances neither illness nor
(Continued on Page 8)
Motor Club Has Fine
Road Opening Pictures
Some of the best pictures of the
ceremonies incident to the open-
ing of the Harvey's Lake Highway
are on display in the offices of Wyo-
ming Valley Motor Club in Hotel
Sterling. Some of the pictures tak-
en from the roof of Richard's Mar-
ket show the crowd and school
bands lined up before the speaker’s
stand while others show the full
parade headed by tanks from Ber-
wick.
Still Growing Potatoes
Without Tops, Or Blight
Lehman Avenue agriculturalists,
John Frantz and Howard Risley,
were still growing potatoes without
tops this week. One hill dug up
provided almost enough potatoes to
fill a small strawberry basket. Blight
has struck the tops of the normal
potatoes in their patches, but Mr.
Frantz and Mr. Risley have no fear
of its effect on their “freak” pota-
toes.
SAY
=
YOU'LL BE FINED IF YOU
VIOLATE REGULATIONS IN
NEXT TRIAL BLACKOUT
Violators of Blackout regu-
lations will do well to be on
their guard during the next
Blackout in this area according
to R. M. Currie, chief warden
of Zone 9. During previous
trials numerous incidents have
been overlooked by the wardens
and in Kingston Township
where a German alien defied
wardens performing their duty
nothing was done. ‘But, during
the next blackout,” Mr. Currie
warns, “all offenders will be
subject to arrest and prosecu-
tions will be pressed.”
=
Priorities Close
Mathers Firm
Firm Finds War Work
For Employees Away
With all types of road surfacing
material frozen by the Government,
Mathers Construction Company has
closed operations for the duration,
sent its trucks and road working
machinery out ‘on army and navy
work and found jobs for all of its
former employees in other indus-
{ries.
Until ‘the Government order
which shut off its supplies of Colas,
an asphalt road surfacing material,
Mathers Construction Company was
one of the most promising highway
and driveway contractors in this
area. Headed by F. Gordon Math-
ers of Trucksville it had grown
| steadily since its organization some
| years ago and within the past year
| purchased a fine new building on
Sly street, Luzerne, when its head-
quarters in Trucksville were no
longer large enough to accommo-
date its expanding business.
During most of last summer the
company employed fifty men on
driveway and surfacing jobs and in
addition furnished much of the sur-
facing material for Dallas Borough
and Township streets as well as for
municipalities throughout Wyoming
Valley and Northeastern Pennsyl-
vania. The company still has more
than 25,000 gallons of Colas—or-
(Continued on Page 8)
Seventy-Two Year Old
Man Falls Down Steps
Horace Spencer, aged 72, missed
his step and fell down the stairs at
the home of his daughter and son-
in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Harris,
early Wednesday morning when go-
ing downstairs for breakfast. The
fall resulted in a broken collar bone,
several fractured ribs and severe
cuts on the head. Dr. Sherman
Schooley was the physician in
{ charge.
Rationing. Board For Entire Area
|Will Be Established In Dallas -
New Set-Up Will Eliminate Costly and Wasteful
Trips To Shickshinny and Wyoming Boards -
A rationing board for the whole Back Mountain area will be established
in Dallas before the end of August it was learned on reliable authority :
this week. Establishment of a board here will remove the necessity for
| frequent inconvenient trips to Wyoming and Shickshinny on the part of
local residents and will greatly speed-up the allotment of tires, sugar
and gasoline for those who are en-
titled to them.
Announcement of the new set-up
was made by a member of the
County Board after plans for the
Dallas Ration Board were approved
by Philadelphia,
A. J. Sordoni, ‘chairman; Reuben
Although final plans have not yet
been made known it is understood
that a central location on Main
street, Dallas, has been selected and
the staff tentatively approved.
Lapp Resigns
As Air Warden
Currie Names Joseph
To Dallas Sector
R. H. Currie, Air Raid Warden for
Zone 9 comprising the Back Moun-
tain Region, has announced the ap-
pointment of David Joseph to suc-
ceed Clyde N. Lapp who has re-
signed as warden of Sector 1 which
includes Dallas Borough.
At the same time Deputy Chief
Warden, Clarence Laidler, and Mr.
Currie announeed an important
gathering of all air raid wardens to
be held Thursday night, August 20,
at Norris Grove on the Hillside-
Huntsville Road. “At that time
members of the State Police and
an air raid expert will complete the
training of wardens with demon-
strations of new methods of com-
batting poison gas and fires set by
incendary bombs. Of 249 wardens
in the area only 79 have completed
their course and been awarded offi-
cial arm bands. Those who com-
plete their work on August 20 will
be awarded bands.
Supervisors of Townships and
borough officials in Zone 9 have
been asked to contribute a pro rata
share, based on population, of the
$800 expense required to set up
the control center in the old King-
ston Coal offices in Kingston.
Monthly operating costs will be
about $100 and include costs of
light, heat and eight telephones.
Since Kingston and Plymouth will
bear most of the expense, the
amount asked from local municipal-
ities is small. 3
Other sector wardens announced
by Mr. Currie under the revised set
up are: Sector 1, Dallas Borough,
David Joseph; Sector 2a, north dis-
trict, Dallas Township, Raymond
Kuhnert; Sector 2b, south district
Dallas Township, Earl Layau; Sec-
tor 3, Kingston Township, Shaver-
town, Clarence Adams; Sector 4,
Kingston Township, Trucksville,
Ralph Hazeltine; Sector 5, Jackson
Township, Chase, Ernest Smith;
Sector 6, Jackson Township, west,
man Township, Carl Brandon; Sec-
tor 8, Lake Township, Alan G. Kist-
ler; Sector 9, Ross Township, Sweet
Valley, Carl Drapiewski.
Back Mountain mothers are prov-
ing that they are not only good
homemakers but that like their
pioneer forebears they can protect
those homes from enemy invasion—
not this time from hostile Indians
but. from enemy bombardment—
while their sons and brothers are
protecting America on far-flung
fronts. !
Of the twenty or more women
who have volunteered as spotters
for the aircraft warning observa-
tion post in Rice Cemetery some are
veterans, like Mrs. Arthur Kocher
of Harvey's Lake, and Mrs. James
Robinson and Mrs. John Blackman
of Idetown. These women have
been among the most dependable
observers at the Lake Post. When
the aircraft warning service decided
to transfer the post to Dallas they
were among the first to notify Paul
Pioneer Women Had Nothing
On Modern Aircraft Spotters
Shaver, chief observer of Daddow-
Isaacs Post, American Legion, that
they would continue as spotters in
Dallas.
Then other women seeking to
prove that there was no complac-
ency on the home front—not among
the women at least, volunteered
their time to search the skies for
enemy planes. Among them are:
Mrs. Milton Perrigo, Emily Parrish,
Mrs. Earl Monk, Josephine Norton,
Mrs. Clifford Ide, Mrs. John Cun-
ningham, Mrs. Edward Nelson, Mrs.
Ralph Brown, Betty Pittman, Mar-
garet Jones, Mrs. Ray Shiber, Mrs.
William Baker, Mrs. Arthur Kocher,
Mrs. Paul Warriner, Mrs. Charles
Stookey, Mrs. John Nicholson, Mrs.
James Robinson, Elizabeth Pittman,
Mrs. John Blackman, LaVerne Race,
Mrs. Joseph Jewell, Mrs. James
Hugton and Mrs. Atlee Kocher.
Members of the county board are
Levy and James B. Costello. Ray
J. Bartow is executive secretary.
Elmer Laskowski; Sector 7, Leh-.
\ i