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DALLAS, PA. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1970
. 81 NO. 44
VOL. 81 N FIFTEEN CENTS
Dallas Township
THE DALLAS POST—photo by Bob Saffian
sewer authority approves
$7.2 million bond issue
At a meeting Tuesday night, Dallas Area
Municipal Authority approved a $7,200,000 bond
issue for the proposed Back Mountain sewage
system on recommendation of its financial con-
sultants, Butcher and Sherrerd. The bond issue will
be financed over a 30-year period at an estimated 8
to 844 percent.
‘The 30-year bond issue was favored by the
aulghority over the 40-year period because of the
savings in interest and also, Mr. Martin told The
Dallas Post earlier this week, because ‘‘long term
bonds are not nearly as saleable as the short term
bonds.”’
Wwith minor adjustments in previously esti-
mated figures, total project cost was listed at
$11,368,321.43, with total construction costs at
emergency number
The County-wide emergency commun-
ications system which is being developed to
provide better police protection for resi-
dents of Luzerne County will go into effect
Nov. 9 at 11 a.m., the civil defense control
center has reported.
Eventually, all fire, ambulance, civil
defense, rescue and hospital emergency
calls will be integrated with this system, but
at this time only the main control station
and the fixed-base field units have been in-
stalled for the police portion of the network.
Residents of Dallas Borough, Harveys
Lake Borough, Dallas Township, Franklin
Township, Jackson Township, Kingston
Township, Lake Township, Lehman
Township and Ross Township are urged to
call
675-5259
for prompt police service.
$8,750,656.95. Three grants from State and Federal
sources amount to $4,200,000.
solic
(continued on PAGE ELEVEN)
voters nix
library tax
The question of municipal support for the Back
Mountain Memorial Library was resoundingly de-
feated in Tuesday’s election when 2,125 persons
voted against a referendum which sought to
provide a two-mill tax for the library. Eight hun-
dred twenty-eight voters cast ‘‘yes’’ votes on the
question.
The preponderance of negative votes were cast
in Kingston Township, with voters in the Shaver-
town Elementary School (N.W. district) defeating
the measure by 406 to 121. Five hundred thirty-eight
voters cast ballots against the tax question at the
Trucksville polling place (S.W. district) while 179
voted for it. In Carverton, a scant 12 votes were
recorded for the two mill tax while 118 ‘‘no’’ ballots
were counted.
The margin was less dramatic in Dallas
Borough, where 386 voters turned the question
down and 194 persons voted “yes.” The two district
break-down found voters at the borough building
defeating the measure 202 to 115, while at the
Dallas Elementary School, 184 ballots were cast
against the question with 79 ballots counted for it.
In Dallas Township, the tally was 677 votes
against; 320 for. The middle district’s total was 270
negative ballots, 185 affirmative; the south district
voted the question down by a vote of 289 to 123;
Kunkle recorded only 12 votes for the tax with a
whopping 118 total against it.
okays sewers:
Plans for a Back Mountain sewer system were
almost quashed when Atty. Frank Townend, Dallas
Township’s solicitor, stunned virtually everyone—
including Dallas Township supervisors—by
refusing to accept the recommendations of the
Dallas Area Municipal Authority at a special
meeting held last Thursday night at the Dallas
High School. General Townend was sharply
rebuked Monday night when Dallas Township
supervisors, irked that he had voted negatively
without their consent, voted unanimously to go
along with the municipal authority’s plans.
The solicitor’s unsanctioned.vote came after
representatives of Dallas Borough and Kingston
Township had agreed to accept a plan which
provided for an $8 per foot assessment, $150 con-
necting fee, and $125 annual sewage rental fee. Had
Mr. Townend’s unauthorized rejection of the sewer
plan gone unchallenged, the entire project as well
as $4 million in State and Federal grants could have
been jeopardized.
Atty. Townend flatly stated that the township
would agree to an alternate proposal providing for
a $6 per foot assessment, $150 connecting fee, and
$140 annual rental. ‘“That’s as far as we’ll go,”’ Mr.
Townend said, “we feel assessment should be not
more than $6 and would rather have it less.”’
In his remarks, he also said that township
supervisors must think of their election next year.
Present officials of the municipality are Fred
Lamoreaux, Phillip Walter, and Glenn Howell.
itor objects
Mr. Townend’s dissenting vote followed an ex-
planation of the preliminary financial information
by R. Spencer Martin, authority chairman, and a
‘brief recess. When the meeting reconvened, Mr.
Martin recommended proceeding with the project
and financing as well as with the $8 footage assess-
ment and 30-year bond issue. The latter would be
preferable to a 40-year issue, he explained, because
the authority could save ‘‘something like $2 million
to $2.5 million in interest’ with the 30-year issue.
Three votes were taken in an attempt to get a
unanimous vote, but each time Atty. Townend re-
fused to accept the recommended plans. When the
third attempt failed, Mr. Martin stated that the
authority was at an impase. “If we are held up at
this time, there is nothing more we, as an authority,
can do,” he declared.
Chairman Martin and other authority officials
said a meeting would be held Tuesday, Nov. 3, for
the purpose of opening additional plumbing and
heating bids. He then asked if Mr. Townend and the
Dallas Township supervisors would discuss the
situation among themselves and meet with the
authority Nov. 3. 3
No answer was forthcoming from the Dallas
Township officials. =
Mr. Martin again asked if Dallas Township
officials would meet with the authority Nov. 3.
Again there was no response.
(continued on PAGE ELEVEN) 4
heavy local vote
picks Shapp.Scott
Voters in the Back Mountain Community con-
founded experts who had predicted a light vote in
this off-year election. If area voters did not flock to
the polls in droves, the over-all turnout was far
better than had been expected.
In several communities, poll watchers
estimated that between 65 and 75 percent of Back
see local returns PAGE EIGHT
Mountain voters cast ballots, with the Carverton
section of Kingston: Township recording an
astounding 79 percent voter turn-out.
Perhaps most incredible was that five local
communities in this predominantly Republican
area chose to ‘‘go’”’ for Democratic gubernatorial
candidate Milton Shapp. With voter registration
favoring the Republicans in some Back Mountain
communities by a 5 to 2 margin, Mr. Shapp never-
The Dallas Post (KOZEMCHAK)
theless found Idetown, Jackson Township, the west
and north districts of Ross Township, and
Kunkle in his winning column. An 88 to 88 tie in
Lake Silkworth reflected the close tallies apparent
in several of the contests. pe
Hugh Scott will be returned to the United States
Senate, with large majorities in this area backing
him over William Sesler. Dan Flood, unopposed for
the U.S. House of Representatives, will begin
another term of office in Washington D.C.
State Sen. T. Newell Wood was swept back into
office, with every Back Mountain community
according him winning totals.
Two incumbents—Frank O‘Connell and
Stanley Meholchick—were re-elected. Back
Mountain votes accurately reflected State Repre-
sentative O‘Connell’s victory, but only Idetown’s
107 to 105 tally indicated that State Representative
Meholchick would defeat the popular Republican
candidate Joseph Halesy.