Oldest Business
72 YEARS A NEWSPAPER
Institution
Back of the Mountain -
THE DALLAS POST
TWO EASY TO REMEMBER
ORchard 4-5656
Telephone Numbers
OR 4-7676
TEN CENTS PER
More Interest
Shown In Idle
Noxen Tannery
Only Half Dozen
‘Former Employees
Bre Without Jobs
More interest is being shown in
the abandoned tannery at Noxen by
outside entrepreneurs than at any
time since the big plant of Armour
Leather Company closed there
earlier this year.
During the spring and summer
months at least twenty-five leather
manufacturing and other firms have
visited Noxen and been taken on
tours of the plant by officers of
NEED, the organization formed by
Noxen citizens to find a new tenant
or new owners for the buildings.
Within recent weeks, two manu-
/
facturing firms and one entre-
preneur, have shown more than
passing interest and officers of
NEED are encouraged that some-
thing definite may be forthcoming
shortly. 4
Most encouraging is the interest
of a local man, who is acting as a
liason for an outside concern which
wants to purchase the buildings, re-
model them and lease them out to
a number of manufacturing com-
panies.
While ‘the vacant buildings stand
as mute evidence of an industry
that is gone, most people in Noxen
are not downhearted. And there
are no empty houses to be found in
town. ]
Of all the men who were once
employed at the busy tannery, all
but a half dozen have found em-
ployment elsewhere.
_ Leading citizens of the communi-
ty feel that they have a good town,
that is sometimes not appreciated
by their neighbors in the :
Mountain area.
They say: “We have ample level
land for industrial development. We
have good highways connecting
with fast interstate highways. We
have a medical center, second to
none for a town our size. We have
wonderful mountain air, good water,
a ‘beautiful trout stream, and un-
limited opportunities for recreation,
hunting and fishing.” ;
‘The recent reconstruction by the
State of the highway leading from
Noxen to Stull, a distance of three
miles, ovens that area for further
recreational and residential de-
velopment.
* Dunmore Crowd
5 Hails Key Club
The Dallas School District march-
ing units had a busy time over the
Bail
COPY—TWELVE PAGES
: MORE THAN A NEWSPAPER, A COMMUNITY INSTITUTION
Dallas Township has its own publicly-owned forest for game-
refuge, conservation, and. recreation. . Located near Kunkle on the
old Kunkle-Beaumont road, it is open to anyone. But the old road
needs grading (top left).
Friday, the donor, Dr. F. Budd Schooley took the Post pho-
the land.
tographer for a 56-acre tramp in order to | boost public interest in
On the heights the visitor can see much of the surrounding
Back Mountain territory. Here you can catch a view of Harvey's
Lake from one of the forest peaks.
Dallas Township Forest Needs Road And Highway Marker
VOL.
Through the wandering Dr. Schooley demonstrates the sitting
comfort of an old split-rail fence, and shows thd qualities of birch-
bark for Indian canoes. Closer to the road are many wide fialds,
ideal for sports.
"ow in its seventeenth year as
the Dallas’ Township Forest, the
56 acre tract of rugged mountain-
land and meadow near Kunkle re-
mains virtually unimproved.. The
only work done on it has been
some yearly forestry.
Friday, the 24th, Dr. F. Budd
Schooley and Post reporter-photog-
rapher Leighton Scott looked around
the property, once farm-land. Dr.
Schooley bought the land, and gave
it to the Township in 1945.
There will come ‘a time, noted
the doctor, not too far in the fut-
ure when beautiful forest-land in
this area will be very scarce. And
here is something for our grand-
children to enjoy, for recreation
and wildlife refuge.
In 1945 Dr. Schooley ‘gave 76
acres of such land to Noxen Town-
ship for use as a natural beauty
and recreation spot. Like Dallas
Township Forest, the land has all
variety of trees, plants and animals,
and it also has a creek.
As a result of investigations
made for the Rural Building and
Loan Association, Dr. Schooley
noted the quality of a 56 acre tract
to the West of the Kunkle-Beaumont
highway, the old Samuel Hess farm.
Through the courtesy and under-
standing of the John Parsons fam-
ily, owner, Dr. Schooley bought the
land ,to be deeded to the Dallas
Township Board of Supervisors.
Trees were purchased from the
State Department of Forestry for
cost and transportation, and planted
with their help, and that of the
Wyoming Valley Chamber of Com-
merce, and [Dallas Township High
School students.
' Walter. Elston, (board-member,
proposed at a meeting of the Dallas
Township Board of Supervisors two
years ago that a road be cut up into
the land.. It has not been done.
Actually there is an old log road | Each of them is surrounded by
there now which needs only a little
clearing, and some fil]' for about
fifty yards where it has been
eroded close to the highway.
According to Dr. Schooley, the
reason for the Board's hesitancy in
working on this road is that it
would increase taxes. , On the other
hand, the state of Pennsylvania has
published a pamphlet on the de-
sirability of loca] forests, showing
that they are not only a beautiful
heritage to pass on to future gen-
erations to enjoy, but that they
are economically “money in he
‘bank’ for township treasuries.
A community forest in Switzer-
land, for example, has been yielding
$20 per acre profit in recent years,
in lumber and game. 3
tarting from the highway, there
are five or more level fields that
could be made into ball-parks with
a couple of mowers and some chalk.
fine trees and old stone and split-
rail fences.
On up the old log road there
are countless groves of evergreen
trees in different stages of growth.
beautiful for picnics, The woods
surrounding are filled with all man-
ner. of songbirds, deer, and wild
flowers.
Deer-runs cut through fern, moss
‘and ground-pine. Little stone fire-
places, in various states of -disre-
pair, show where scout troops have
camped under the stars. From the
high points, there are breath-taking
views of all the surrounding valleys.
The Dallas Township Forest is the
first such forest in Luzerne County.
Planting of trees is supervised "by
Sheldon Mosier, township high
school teacher, and is done by high
school students. Selection of trees |
is done by the Township Super-
visors, with the help of Senator
DRIVER REVERSES A TREND
Driver Goes Over
A Back Mountain resident changed
the trend of frequent accidents at
the intersection of Route 118 and
Harveys Lake Highway early Sun-
day Morning.
Most wrecks happen there because
Embankment
From A Different Direction
drivers coming from Lehman ignore
the warning "signs and stop-sign
and cross the Lake Highway, plung-
ing through the opposite guard rail.
Robert Bolton,” Kunkle, on the
other hand, made what seems to
have been the first left turn made
T. R. Jones.
Total number of trees planted
so far is 28,000, with 5,000 on order
for next year. A total planting. of
75,000 is planned.
Included in the purchase of the
land was sufficient land extending
down to Route 309 as to guarantee
Harold E. Flack and State Forester |
a place for .a marker for the Forest. |
at that junction while proceeding
{ from Harve’: Lake Yo Dillas, 4nd
crashed through the same rail." His
car tumbled down the embankment,
Inading right side up in a wheat-
field, and burst into flames.
Dr. Henry M. Laing Fire Company
extinguished the blazing car with
400 gallons of water.
Bolton was taken by private car
Fall Festival
to [Nesbitt Memorial Hospital dis-
pensary for treatment of a lacerated
lip and a possible fractured nose,
74, NO. 36, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1962
| Rotary Students
|a bad idea.
Criticize Ease |
Of High School
Area Teachers Learn |
Dutch Ditchdiggers
Speak 3 Languages
At a general teachers meeting in
Dallas Senior High School audi-
torium Tuesday, the assemblage
learned more from first-hand expe-
riences of Rotary Exchange Stu-
dents than from reports of teachers’
summer schools about improve-
ment of techniques in teaching.
Lynn Jordan, newly returned
from the Netherlands, stopped the
show when asked to compare
American high school with school-
ing abroad. “Those kids”, she
noted, “were worried about passing
exams so they could get someplace. |
We went through high school here
without even thinking we'd flunk
out. But there they never know
whether they're going to or not.”
This candid revelation evoked a
ten-second silence from the audi-
torium full of teachers, who rubbed
their faces and looked at each other
fleetingly, until moderator Edgar
Hughes nervously laughed: “Do
you think we teachers ought to
make students worry more, Lynn?”
It was fairly obvious from their
own remarks on how seriously sti-
dents in other lands took their work
that the five Rotary students on
the panel thought it might not be
Almost ‘to (a man. these young
ambassadors of American good-will
had run into the same response in
their European and Asian foster
homes: Americans are right in dis-
liking communism, but they are
irresponsible leaders. They have
had life so easy that they think all
peoples in the world exist for the
welfare of Americans. = This is
wrong. 3
The Exchange Students’ observa-
tions on foreign life and education
provided marked contrast to the
other part of the program, re-
ports by teachers who this summer
had attended graduate schools on
new educational techniques.. Such
techniques included more do-it-
yourself learning in the form of
audio-lingual laboratories and geo-
logy field-trips. A
The science of teaching, in a
science of awakening students to
education and world affairs was
still hanging on the first turn. HAs
George Jacobs, student last year
in the Philippines, noted: “Student
interest in political systems in the
Philippines, as in some of the other
countries we have talked about to-
day, is negligible. Even in the
United States we do not care any-
thing about government. But some
Married Fifty Years
; Downend Makes
Long Trip To
Class Reunion
There was no doubt who came
[the greatest distanée to attend the
fifth reunion Saturday night of
Westmoreland High School Class of
1957: at O'Connell's Kingston House.
It was Navyman Nelson Downend,
& Labor Day weekend. On Saturday
7 the Colorettes, Junior High drill |:
team, the Keyettes, and the Key |
Club rifle drill team marched in the |
Dunmore centennial parade. The |
units were cheered along the parade
route as they performed their
precision movements before 75
thousand viewers. The youngsters
were congratulated by Mr. Kay,
parade chairman, after they com-
pleted their march. ;
and released. ’
Although Dallas Township Police
and State Police were there, neither '
officially ‘‘investigated”.
Clyde Birth's wrecker towed the
mangled car out at dawn, and took
it to Bolton's Diner, owned by Don-
ald Bolton, Robert's father.
Lehigh Valley
day one of us is going to be Presi-
dent.” a
The other students, in addition to
George and Lynn, Annabelle Am-
brose, Netherlands, Marilyn Eck,
Rhodesia, ‘and Maryalice Knecht,
Sweden, discussed the education of-
fered in foreign schools. Generally,
in the other countries, there was al-
most . no extra-curricular concern.
Marilyn Eck found that education
offered Rhodesians was hopelessly
Attracts Good
Sized Crowds
Despite inclement weather, the
Jonathan R. Davis Firemen’s Festi-
val, Idetown, was a smashing
success last "weekend. Occasional
e uni rain and cold = weather several : ; §
— i nights failed to stop the crowd from tl ind Don os w narrow, that well-trained student
Show at Kingston Armory. The growing well over the size of last | COM tah Alask Tor ‘the: Past Hauls Little technicians, did not know ‘the struc- 5
four units were commended for | year’s attendance. Nel . th hi i a ture of a sentence, and were often
yen Remon 154 ye, an terrified by the prospect of public
their performance by Mayor Frank
Slattery and also were given special i
honors for volunteering to make
leukemia door to door collection
in the Back Mountain area next
wp Sunday afternoon.
The youngsters
in the four units will meet at the
High School at 1:30 Sunday, Sep.
tember 9, and then proceed to their '
designated streets and canvass door
to door in the drive.
George McCutcheon, advisor for |
. the group wishes to thank the fol-
lowing parents, friends, and as-
sistant advisors for their help over
the weekend. Mr. and Mrs. William
Wright, Mrs. Betty Hanna, Mrs.
Elizabeth Titus, Mr. and Mrs. Wil-
bur Davis, Mr. and Mrs. Justus
Letts, Mrs. Wilda Elston, Mrs. Bet- |
ty Gross, Mr. and Mrs. Antain, |
and Mrs. Philip Heycock.
The four units will march next
Monday in the Forty-Fort centen-
nial parade.
Distribution Of
Food Will Cease
Stamp Plan To Go
Into Effect October
The last distribution of surplus
food in the Back Mountain will be
made September 13 at Trucksville
Fire Hall, serving the entire area,
10 a.m. to 2 p. m.
In October, the
Stamp plan will go into effect in:
Luzerne County. Eligible recipients
will be given instructions.
Actual distribution of food will be
discontinued. Food stamps will
“ permit customers to make their own
selection at the grocery of their
choice. Food stamps are designated
to boost the food buying power of
low income groups, making possible
a much wider variety of food at a
fraction of the actual cost.
N
Mr. and Mrs. William Garnett,
who obserbed their 50th Wedding
Anniversary September 3, were
honored at a family dinner at
O’Connell’s Kingston House on Sun-
day. They were chauffeured to
the Kingston House by Karl Bach-
man driving a 1913 Ford owned by
Russell Frantz.
Attending were: Mr. and Mrs.
William Garnett, Mr. and Mrs.
Stanley Mroczkowski, Mr. and Mrs.
Conrad Hislop, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley
Livezey, Ken and Marilyn; Mr. and]
Mrs. Richard J. Rogers, Mrs. Carl
Harrison, Robert and Cheryl Ann;
Doug Trumbower, Karl Bachman,
Federal Food |r. “and Mrs. Herman Lutz, Ben
Cobleigh, Mrs. Anna Kocher, Mrs.
Eva Thompson, Lois; Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Callahan.
Open House was held on Monday
at 2 p.m. at their home. The three-
| tiered anniversary cake was made
| by
| sister, Mrs. Eva Thompson.
Garnett’s seventy-year-old
Mr.
Those who called to extend best
wishes for another 50 years were:
Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Wilson, Mrs.
| Anna Kocher, Mr. and Mrs, Stan- :
|
|
7
{and Mrs. Conrad ‘Hislop, Ben Cob-
leigh, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Kocher,
Sr., Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Cobleigh,
| Jackie, Cynthia, Jerry and Donna,
| Mrs. Daniel Gabel and Sandra, Mr.
land Mrs. William Cragle, Mrs. Jes-
ley Livezey, Ken and Marilyn, Mr. |Jr.,
Pikes Creek;
Mrs. Garnett is the former Lydia
Cobleigh, daughter of the late
George and Eliza Whitesell Cob-
leigh, Loyalville. Mr. Garnett is
the son of the late George and Hes-
ter Rogers Garnett of Outlet. The
| sie Shupp, Karl Bachman, Robert | couple was married September 3,
IN. Rogers, Harold Kocher, Jr., Dal- [ 1912, in Luzerne by the late Rev.
las;-Mr. and Mrs. Richard J. Rogers,
| Spring Lake, 'N. C., Mr. and Mrs.
| Herman Lutes, Cambra; Mr. and
| Mrs. Charles Callahan, Davisville,
| Pa Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Mrocz-
| kowski, Temple, Pa.: Mrs. Mary |
| Craig, Courtdale; Doug Trumbower,
Robert Kunkle, Sweet Valley; Daisy
Crispell, Harveys Lake; Mr. and
Mrs. Edward Cobleigh and Delbert,
Binghamton, N. Y.; Mr. and Mrs.
Orville 'Cobleigh, Endicott, N. Y.;
Mrs. Bernadine Turner, Buffalo,
N. Y.; Mrs. Eva Thompson and Lois;
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Thompson,
Forty Fort; Mr. and Mrs. William
Warman, Plymouth; Mr. and Mrs.
Floyd Thompson, Kingston; Mr. and
Mrs. Burton E. Steltz, Mr. and Mrs.
Lloyd Naugle, Bradley and Lloyd,
{ing at Outlet where Mr.
| followed the carpenter trade. They
| later purchased the Cobleigh home-
William Day and went to hosekeep-
Garnett
| stead and farm where they now re-
side. Mr. Garnett is now retired.
There are three living daughters,
Mrs. Stanley Mroczkowski, Temple,
Pa, R. D. 1; Mrs. Conard Hislop,
White Birch Trailer, Dallas R. D. 1;
Mrs. Stanley Livezey, Dallas R.D. 2;
also six grandchildren, William Har-
rison, Brunswick, Ohio, Robert and
Carl Harrison, Sweet Valley, Mrs.
Richard Rogers, Spring Lake, N. C,,
Marilyn and Kenneth Livezey, Dal-
las R. D. 2; also five great grand-
children.
The Garnetts attend Maple Grove
Methodist Church.
Although actual results will not
be known until this weekend, it has ;
been estimated that twice as much |
money was raised this year as last. |
Mrs. Louise Boyce, Tunkhannock, |
won the color TV set on one chance.
The biggest crowd gathered Fri- |
day night to hear the famous Lake- |
Lehman High School band, “but the |
most money was spent Saturday.
{ Some of the crowd was drummed up |
| by a large parade Friday afternoon
{ opening the event.
Fire Companies |
from Idetown, Lehman, Lake Silk-
worth, Luzerne, Swoyerville, and
Kunkle heralded the procession
through Idetown and around Har-
vey’s Lake.
State Senator Harold Flack and |
Representative Daniel Flood accom-
panied the parade in convertibles.
Each of five lovely young ladies who
sold tickets for the festival were
| also in convertibles, and several had
| adorned themselves with umbrellas
{ by the end of the parade.
| drizzle began about half way around
| the Lake.
A light
Dan Meeker’s ancient Packard
truck, complete with puncture proof
solid tires and colorful frills and
{ frippery, made a valiant effort to
stay with the parade, but had to
stop and rest. Two other antique
cars stayed to the end.
The champion Back Mountain
Little League All-Stars had their
own trailer, and were warmly re-
ceived. Manager Bill [Sponseller
was with them.
On Saturday night, the crowd
was put into a gay money-spending
mood by a wandering German band.
There were games of chance and
skill to tempt the dauntless, and
for the kids there were several rides
and a Ferris Wheel supplied and
manned by the Hobby, Pa. Fire
Company. Rs
The Pennsylvania Game Commis-
sion had a tent {ull of wildlife
exhibits, and ‘supplied several of-
family has been’ stationed on Ko-
diak, an island of 5,000 population,
2,500 of them ‘Naval personnel.
Nelson left Kodiak on Monday,
August 27 by Naval plane. Two
hours later he was in Anchorage,
and eight hours later, still flying
but in another Naval plane, he was
in Seattle.
From Seattle the going became
rougher for Nelson had determined
to hitchhike across the continent.
“T must have had a hundred rides
| from Seattle to Chicago” he told the
Post this week. “I was picked up
| by bread trucks and all sorts of
| conveyances.”
But he made the journey from
| Chicago to Philadelphia in four
‘hops, arriving in Dallas Saturday
| morning at 10, just eight and a half
| hours before the Class dinner.
After a brief visit with his par-
| ents Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Downend
| Sr., Nelson will return to Kodiak to
| his wife the former, Kathleen Smith
| of Kingston, and their two children,
| Susan 1, and Patricia Louise 2%
{months. In the meantime he has
|talked with them by short wave
| radio and told them that he made
the dinner and expects to start the
return journey sometime today.
Fire Enthusiasts
Stay For Free Show
As a result of a stump-fire on land
owned by Dallas Outdoor Drive-in
Theater Tuesday night, about three-
quarters of the audience attended
the early show for nothing.
Scores of cars followed Dr. Henry
M. Laing Fire Company into the
theater about 8:15 to watch them
extinguish a flaming tree-stump.
According to one of the firemen,
only eight or nine of them came
(Continued on Page 2 A)
back out with the engine.
Beyond Dallas
What is the future of Bowman's
Creek Branch of the Lehigh Valley
Railroad ? That is the question that
is on many lips, since it is known
that the right of way of the rail-
road will have to be relocated be-
tween Luzerne and Trucksville to
make way for the new highway.
For the past year there has been
little railway traffic beyond Dallas.
{Only an occasional freight runs as
far as Alderson since the closing of
the Armour Leather Company plant
at Noxen.
Bulk of the freight handled is
comprised of carload lots of feed to
Devens Milling Company -in Dallas
and Huston’s Feed Store at Fern-
brook. Other miscellaneous freight
includes cable, wire and poles for
Commonwealth = Telephone (Com-
pany, lumber for Whitesell Brothers,
Back Mountain Lumber Company
and Shavertown Lumber Cempany.
Most of these shipments could be
handled by ‘trailer trucks, but per-
haps not as cheaply: There are
Back Mountain farms or industries.
Within recent weeks there has
been indication that the railroad
might abandon its lines from Dallas
to Noxen, or at least from Alderson
to Noxen. The right of way from
Noxen to Towanda was abandoned
years ago, and the railway station
at Noxen ds: now a deserted
shambles.
Thomas Jordan Grows
Mammoth Cucumbers
Six pounds of Burpee hybrid
cucumbers, contained in two enor-
mous specimens, were brought into
the Dallas Post Wednesday after-
noon by Thomas Jordan. One
measured fifteen inches, one four-
{ teen,
very few outgoing shipments from |.
speaking.
Maryalice Knecht, on the other
hand, found Swedish education too
broad. Students got a smattering
of almost every subject. But, at
the same time, there were no
quizzes or term-papers demanded
of the Swedish student, and exami-
nations, while long in time, were
not large in substance. Maryalice
felt the most valuable thing she
learned was Swedish. A
Annabelle Ambrose was im-
pressed with the number of lan-
guages the average Hollander will
learn. “Even if you are going to
dig ditchs”, she observed, ‘you
have to take three languages at a
Dutch high school”. The Nether-
lands has the lowest illiteracy rate
in the world.
Lynn Jordan was impressed by
the antiquity of the Netherlands.
She was also surprised by first-
hand accounts of bombings in the
Second World War. “I couldn’
imagine what it would be like to
look out my window and see bombs
falling on my neighbors’ houses”,
she commented. :
George Jacobs felt the Filipinos
were definitely in a rut by the ma-
ture of ‘their fatalistic attitude to-
ward poverty. Thirty million people
are living in an area not .as big as
California. George was the only one
of the students to attend a univer-
sity while abroad. “I understood”,
he told the audience of teachers,
“that I was to attend a Filipino high
school. But, it seems they only
have four years of high school, so
I was ahead of them. And besides”,
the over-six-footer chuckled, “thas
didn’t think I could make it thry
the high, school door.”
George spent much of |
working in small villagg
travelling around the man;
He was outspoken about
apathy toward the plight {
All the students were as
(Continued on Page 2