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Editorially Speaking:
WHO GAINS IF CHARTER IS ANNULLED?
Efforts of the Back Mountain Protective Association to annual the
Dallas Borough Charter and have the present Borough become a part
of Dallas Township have most of the residents of both communities
confused,
What are the reasons that have prompted the Protective Association
to circulate petitions among Dallas Borough voters requesting the Court
to have this question’ placed upon the ballot at the November General
Election? What are the advantages to the people’ who live in Dallas
Borough? What are the advantages to the people of Dallas Township?
Do the people of the Township have any voice in the matter of accepting
Dallas Borough back into the Township? Will taxes be lower? Will we
have better government? Who gains, who loses or will both communities
be better off operating as a single municipality? How is the annulment
of the charter and the return to Dallas Township accomplished ?
These are the questions that have many sincere, forward looking and
public spirited citizens in both communities concerned, and they are not
questions that can be answered with a flat “yes” or “no.” There are
many things to be said on both sides—some good and some bad.
Many sincere people in both the Borough and Township feel that
the time has arrived when the Borough and Township should be done
with dissension and should be working as one toward the accomplish-
ment of common objectives.
No one can be certain of the motives of The Back Mountain Pro-
tective Association. It is the brain child of Dr. F. Budd Schooley of
Dallas Borough. Its membership is composed of a small group of persons,
representing but not necessarily representative of, a number of Back
Mountain municipalities. It is not a Dallas Borough organization.
The preamble to its Constitution reads: “We citizens of the Com-
monwealth of Pennsylvania, associate ourselves for the purpose of:
Protecting, Maintaining and Defending the rights and properties of tax-
payers of the Back Mountain Area of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.”
It further states that any one may become a member who resides
in or owns real estate in the Borough of Dallas or Townships of Dallas,
Franklin, Jackson, Lake, Kingston, Lehman and Ross in Luzerne County
or in the Townships of Noxen, Monroe and Northmoreland in Wyoming
County. Thus the Protective Association covers a wide area and can
become involved in any number of conflicting problems.
Formed originally to take up matters of water supply, water rates,
sewage disposal and other community problems, it has concerned itself
with these as well as with schools, tax assessments and telephone rates.
At one time or another many people have attended its meetings, depend-
ing upon the problem under discussion and how much the immediate
problem affected them. Generally the Association has been in opposition
and has not presented any constructive program or solution to any
community problem.
Its lack of any real achievement and absence of a constructive pro-
gram have made it suspect among many forward thinking citizens and
have led to charges of “rabble rousing’; “politics,” personal ‘‘selfishness,”
and antagonism.
Therefore the motives of the Protective Association in asking for
an annulment of the Dallas Borough charter are in doubt.
Be that as it may, what would be the advantages to the people of
Some think
that it would mean lower taxes. Dallas Township now has a total tax
millage of 53.2 plus a $5 per capita tax for school purposes. This com-
pares with Dallas Borough’s 68.2 and $10 per capita tax. School tax in
the Borough is 2 mills higher than that of the Township and the per
capita tax is $5 per person higher. The Borough now pays 35 mills for
schools while the Township pays 33 mills. The joker here is that both
comirimities w in be paying the same rate for schools, just as soon as
they are joined “or the Hownship starts on its S hadly needed school build-
ing program.
Any real tax saving will, therefore, not come in. school taxes. But
the Township now pays only 9 mills for general government and roads,
while’ the Borough pays 22 mills for general government, streets, street
lighting and police. Street lighting in the Borough costs more than
$3,000 per year. The Township has no street lighting.
But the greatest advantage to the people now living in the Borough
would NOT be a possible tax saving. It would lie in the immediate
unification of Dallas Borough and Township, a goal many of us have
been seeking for years. The common problems of both would become
the problem of a single community. It should permit the selection of
the best minds of both areas to administer the municipality.
In spite of arguments to the contrary, unification of schools would
and could not be immediate. Consolidation of schools would remain
right where it is now . . . dependant upon the approval of the State
Council of Education. Annulment of the Borough charter would not
make consolidation mandatory. Presently ‘Dallas Borough-Kingston
Township Joint Board has one of the few ‘approved jointures in the
State. Its program meets all requirements: No: other Back Mountain
Assuming that the consolidation of the districts into one, should
meet the approval of the State Council of Education, the reimbursement
fraction would not remain the same for the new district as it is in either
Dallas Borough or Dallas Township now. Dallas Borough taxpayers will
not be permitted by the State Department of Education to any free ride
at the expense of the State or the people of Dallas Township. Therefore
immediate consolidation of the two school districts or a presumed saving
in school taxes are not valid reasons for the annulment of the Borough
Charter.
What would be the advantages to Dallas Township? They would be
much the same as those for the people now living in Dallas Borough—
unification and an elimination of the present causes of bickering. Instead
of fighting one against another, we would all be fighting among ourselves
. if that is any advantage.’
Do the people of the Township have any voice in the matter of
accepting Dallas Borough back into the Township? Absolutely none! If
the people of the Borough vote to annul the charter, and want to return
to the Township, the Township will have to accept them. Atty. William
Valentine two weeks ago in the Safety Valve explained how annexa-
tion is accomplished.
Many in the Township feel that they might be saddled with heavy
debt from the Borough. The¢Borough has a bonded indebtedness of
$21,000 for the new borough building, but provision for handling this
is taken care of in the law that permits annulment of the charter.
Will the new governing body of the enlarged Township give the
people of the Township or the present Borough a better government
than either now has? No. The‘form of government will be that of a
second class township and will be the same as Dallas Township’s. The
governing body will be the present board of three supervisors of Dallas
Township or a newly elected Board. Dallas Borough Council will go out
of existence. The new enlarged Township will not be a first class
Township with a Board of Township Commissioners because it. lacks
sufficient population density—a major requirement of a first class
in the management of municipal affairs.
Presently Dallas Borough is governed by a Burgess, who has little
real authority in Borough affairs except the control of police, and a
Borough Council composed of seven Councilmen. Councilmen in Dallas
Borough receive no salaries although under the law they are permitted
to vote themselves salaries if they choose. Council employs a Street
Commissioner, Chief of Police and assistants, engineer and secretary.
The latter employees are paid. Council also appoints a Board of Health
and Building Inspector.
Presently Dallas Township is governed by a three-man Board of
Supervisors. Supervisors in most second class townships are primarily
concerned with the maintenance of roads and frequently are men who
are eager only to secure work on the township roads. They are paid
for this road work but receive no other compensation, They are, how-
ever, entrusted with the general management of the Township.
Who loses, who gains, or will both municipalities be better off
operating as a single municipality? Here again the answer is difficult
to pin down.
From the point of view of municipal management, Dallas Borough
will lose. The Borough form of government is superior to the Second
Class Township form.
Dallas Borough now pays higher taxes but for those higher taxes
(amounting to about $13 more than residents of Dallas Township pay
per $1,000 of assessed valuation its citizens receive: adequate street
lighting (this costs the Borough more than $3,000 per year); twenty-four
(Continued on Page Six)
Woman's Hands
Badly Injured
Mrs. Luther Hummel
Shows Brave Spirit
Mrs. Luther Hummel, 48, whose
hands were badly mangled Monday
morning at 11 when they were
caught between the rubber rollers
of a textile processing machine at
Natona Mills is putting up a brave
fight to keep up her spirits at
Mercy Hospital.
“Many of our ‘boys went to Ko-
rea and lost all of their limbs. They
want to forget about it, and that’s
what I want to do,” she told a
friend who called on her. »
Members of her family are grate-
ful that so many have visited her.
‘Mother loves and needs company
—especially at this time,” said her
daughter, Mrs. J. W. Allen Jr., who
is here from North Carolina. “But,”
she added, ‘some of the curious
have asked her to tell them spe-
cifically how many fingers she lost
and the nature of her injuries—
that only breaks down her spirit.
We wish they wouldn’t ask such
tactless questions, but we do want
them to call on her.”
Mrs. Hummel had been employed
at Natona Mills since its opening
seven years ago. At the time of
the accident she was attending the
machine for Mrs. Virgie Elston, the
regular operator, who was having
lunch.
The machine was almost instant-
yl stopped and she was given first
aid before the arrival of Dr. H. G.
Gallagher who had her taken to
Mercy Hospital in the Kingston
Township ambulance which had
been called by mill office.
When Mrs. Hummel spoke of the
boys in Korea, shé was probably
thinking of some who fought be-
side her son Wellington, now of
Baltimore, who spent thirteen
months on that front.
She has five other children, Pa-
tricia, a senior at Lake-Noxen
School who lives with her parents
in Loyalville. Luther Jr., of Har-
veys Lake, a veteran of World War
II, who is also employed at Natona
Mills and three married daughters,
Mrs. J. W. Allen Jr., North Caro-
lina, Mrs. Norman Loebensberg,
Baltimore, and Mrs. John Boone,
New York, all came home shortly
after the accident to be with their
mother.
Joint Schools
Are Evaluated
Committee Completes
Survey On Thursday
Evaluation of Dallas’ Borough-
Kingston Township Joint Schools
was completed yesterday afternoon
by a committee of educators from
the Commission on- Secondary
Schools of the Middle States Asso-
ciation of Colleges and Secondary
Schools.
The committee arrived on Mon-
eA
Christmas tractor for sale. If Pop
could have a new tractor, Ricky
wanted one too. The small model
brought $14 over the block, the new
model, purchased on the spot, cost
Pop. Harold Post, trading in his
Massey-Harris 30 on a larger Massey-
Directors: Standing, left to right:
Durelle T. Scott Jr., L. L. Richard-
son, Charles A. James, Supervisor
Supervising Principal;
Clewell, Harry L. Ohlman.
tary; Dr. Robert M. Bodycomb, Mrs.
Charles A. Eberle Jr., Charles H.
Mannear, John F. Wardell.
Absent: James D. Hutchison.
Evaluating committee; standing
left to right, W. Frank Trimble,
Principal Westmoreland High
School; Fred Jones, Superintendent
Sunbury Area Schools; John Car-
son, Commercial Mt. Penn High
School; ‘Charles Ebner, guidance,
William Penn High School, Harris-
burg; Marvin Werley, Supervising
Principal Pine Grove; John Kaiser,
Vocational Edueation, Sunbury
High School;
Seated: Mrs. Ethel Darkes,
Health, Lebanon High School; Mil-
ton H. Steinhauer, Chairman, Asso-
ciate Professor of Education, Rut-
gers University; Jean Snyder, Home
Economies, Lock Haven High School;
Arthur E. Minnier, Assistant Chair-
man, Supervising Principal, Clarks
Summit-Abington - Joint
Myra Scovell,
High School;
librarian, Kingston
Lambert
The Dallas Post
Telephone Numbers
4-5556 or 4-7676
Farley To Be
Moderator At
Town Meeting
Farver And Tresslar
To Speak On Program
Sponsored By Library
Believing that sound solutions to
public problems can be found only
when facts and understanding re-
place prejudice and misinformation,
Back Mountain Memorial Library
Association will start its series of
Town Meeting forums on pertinent
local questions next Wednesday
evening, March 31 at 8 at Dallas-
Franklin High School Auditorium.
First topic of the series will be:
“Are We Ready to Create the Con-
ditions for Better Schools.”
Dr. Hobart A. Farver, Allentown,
Superintendent of Lehigh County
Schools, the first speaker, will bring
accurate first hand information on
his topic: ‘My Experiences with
Successful School Jointures and
Union Districts.”
James Tresslar, Harrisburg, of the
State Department of Public Instruc-
tion, who directed the recent sur-
vey on school facilities in the Back
Mountain area will present his find-
ings based on this study.
Wilkes College, will be moderator.
The meeting will start promptly
at 8 and the speakers will be given
one hour to present their facts. At
9 the meeting will be thrown open
for questions from the floor.
Presidents of Back Mountain
School Boards and County Super-
intendent of Schools E. S. Teter
will also be present to answer ques-
tions from the floor. The meeting
Institute, Freeland. a
day and was informally introduced
to the Faculty at Westmoreland
High School that evening. During
its stay here the committee was
housed at Irem Temple Country
Club where a dinner was held on
Tuesday night for its entertain-
ment by the Joint Board.
The local schools were last evalu-
ated in 1948, it being customary
to conduct a survey about every
five years. The Dallas Borough-
Kingston Township Schools are the
only local schools ever so -evalu-
ated.
The findings of the Committee
which cover every phase of school
activity from supervision and cur-
riculum to building maintainance
and athletic fields, will not be re-
leased for some time.
Approval by the Association is a
coveted honor for any school
system.
Harris 44, and young Ricky, went
home to Broadway well satisfied
with the days transactions. Charles
Long, with the rain-cover on his
hat because of inclement weather,
Dayton Long with the clip-board,
and Howard Sands, auctioneer, pro-
tractor.
Jack Vavrek
In Hospital
Returned POW Has
Health Undermined
Jack Vavrek, returned Korean
war prisoner is a patient at Wilkes-
Barre Veterans’ Hospital where he
was admitted three weeks ago, suf-
fering from effects of malnutrition
while in enemy hands, and possible
stomach ulcers.
on Monday to determine focal point
of the trouble.
Mrs. Anna Vavrek, Jack’s moth-
er, reports that he has been unable
to eat normally since his return on
September 17, so he has been living
largely on milk and other liquids.
Prison fare for three years in Korea
has been impossible for him to re-
gain ground in the months since
release.
‘Jack, on his return last fall, took
the examination which would give
him a high school diploma and per-
mit him to enter Wilkes College.
He had planned to enter at mid-
term, but was prevented by ill
health. Jack, with only two years
of high school at Dallas-Franklin,
had accumulated enough education
after leaving school to guelily him:
for college entrance.
Ambulance Fund
Drive To Report
Dallas Association
Meets Sunday At 3
Dallas Community Ambulance As-
sociation will meet Sunday after-
noon at 3 in Back Mountain Li-
brary Annex, to assay results of the
recent drive for funds. Norti Berti,
president, extends a cordial invita-
tion to residents of Dallas Borough:
and Dallas Township to attend,
whether they have registered as
members of the association or not.
Solicitors will report on their
canvass, and questions of policy will
be discussed. Available ambu-
lances, new and used, will be dis-
cussed.
Anybody in the community who
has not yet made a donation may
do so by calling Norti Berti, Dallas
4-7396; William Wright, 4-5201;
Harry Brown, 4-6721; Robert W.
Laux, 4-5002.
A list of donors and amounts will
shortly be published. Residents
wishing to raise their contributions
may do so before final returns are
tabulated by contacting any of the
men named above.
PTA Dinner For
Band, Athletes
Bucknell Coach
Is Main Speaker
Members of the Band and ath-
letic teams at Dallas - Franklin
Township were entertained Wed-
nesday evening in the school dining
room by the PTA, who. annually
the cafeteria staff.
Football, basketball and baseball
teams were present, fifty-one mem-
bers of the band, cheer leaders,
coaches and faculty advisers.
John F. Rosser, school principal,
{
spifthe wi ave ok
2 a Sa officers and members are:
Roswell Patterson, vice chairman,
Mrs. Charles Eberle, secretary; Ed-
ward Haskell and Albert Pesaven-
to, publicity; James Hutchison,
Lewis LeGrand, Odis Moore, Mrs.
W. E. McQuilkin, Howard Risley,
David Schooley, Atty. Mitchell Jen-
kins, Rev. Robert Yost, Harry Bo-
gart and Arthur Smith.
awarded prizes and trophies. Rob-
ert Dolbear was toastmaster.
Charles Rinehimer, PTA president,
was present.
Harry Lawrence, football coach
at Bucknell University, was the
main | speaker. Heard also were
Coaches Robert Thomas, Mrs. Jew-
Milliner Camp spoke for the band,
and Edgar Hughes, faculty manager
Raymond Kuhnert,
principal, spoke briefly.
supervising
“
Lehman-Jackson-Ross school stu-
dents pose with trophies won in
foul shooting and wrestling events.
Kneeling, left to right, are Bab-
etta Hewitt, Theresa Rodriguez, and
Janet Cornell, winners in the foul
shooting contest sponsored by Wyo-
ming Valley Women Basketball Of-
ficials at Meyers High School on
St. Patrick’s Day.
Standing are Mike Schultz, Jack
Kern, and Tom Coburn, winners of
first and second place trophies in
the YMCA Novice Wrestling Meet.
Teams from twenty-two regional
schools were in the foul shooting
contest. Out of twenty-five shots
Hewitt made seventeen, Rodriguez
and Cornell each eighteen, making
a team score of fifty-three.
In the wrestling finals, Coburn
defeated Watchilla of Coughlin for
first place in the 95 pound class;
Schultz lost to Granoski, Nanti-
coke, 120 pounds, winning second
place trophy; Kern defeated Behler,
Coughlin, in a close touch and go
match for the 138-pound champion-
ship. 5