= SALLASCP0ST VOL. 82 NO. 15 “THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1971 DALLAS, PA. FIFTEEN CENTS taxes’ key word at first candidates night by Shawn Murphy If a single word could identify the primary concern expressed by all of the Dallas school board hopefuls at the first candidates’ night held Monday, that word would have to be ‘‘taxes.”’ Democrat Paul Lauer told the audience of 50 persons, assembled at the Dallas <lementary School that “people are finding taxes and inflation threghening their economic survival’; William H. Dierolf remarked that taxes on his house had risen steadily in the years he has been a home owner; Patricia Gregory decried the rise of all taxes by “181 per cent in the last 15 years’; William E. Price declared that ‘‘quality educa- tion does not necessarily mean an increase in taxes.” The word was the evening’s leit motif, the theme upon which each of the candidates played. The first candidate to be introduced by PTA President Clarke Bittner was Leonard Nordfors, thegother Democratic candidate and an assistant press foreman at Valley Paperback Manufacturing Inc. Mr. Nordfors indicated he is against ‘“‘any further building of new schools” and for ‘better security against vandals at the school buildings.” He spoke of a ‘very great drug problem’’ which he “knew personally goes down to the third grade.” When asked to expand on this statement during the question and answer period later, Mr. Nordfors stated that his daughter, a third grader, had come home from school with pills given to her by a fifth grade student. Did he know what kind of pills they were? a reporter .sked. “Yes,” he stated. opposition nil to lodge No opposition was expressed to the Troup Fund’s application for a private club on the New- berry Estate Development at a public hearing Tuesday night before the Dallas Township Zoning Hearing Board. : Board Chairman Carl Goeringer opened the meeting by inviting any persons present to state their views on the proposed application. Several favorable comments were made by spectators. (Dallas Township Solicitor Frank Townend re- viewed the application and read aloud a letter sent [t[ candidates launch campaign Earl E. Booth and Ellis W. Hoover are among the candidates who will be challenging incumbents J. Franklin Patton and Arnold Garinger for posi- tions on Lake-Lehman’s School Board in the up- coming primary election May 18. The candidates seek to represent the citizens of Region 1, which is comprised of Harveys Lake Borough, Noxen and Lake Townships. When contacted by The Dallas Post, Ellis Hoover refused any comment on his candidacy, stating only that ‘I don’t want to have anything put in (the newspaper) at this time.” A welder by ii, Mr. Hoover is a resident of RD 4, Dallas. iar] E. Booth was born and raised at Loyal- ville and lives now with his wife and family on Vo Street in Harveys Lake Borough. A former Bibye Protestant minister, Mr. Booth is a 1948 grad- uate of Laketon High School. He attended Wyoming Seminary for one year following his graduation from high school and then attended the Philadel- phia College of Bible for three years. In 1954 he was Several iohintees firemen attempt to repair Old Engine No. 1 of the Dr. Henry M. Laing Fire Comapny. The truck broke down in the midst of the brush blaze Tuesday afternoon which swept over 50 acres of land near Frances Slocum Park. Wayne H. Luke and Bob Muffoletto, two photographers from up- state New York, posed with all their gear in a Dallas parking lot before answering a fire alarm Tuesday afternoon and “shoot- ing’’ the blaze. ] ordained by an independent ordination council and served in the following years as pastor of churches in Hammond, N.Y., Hardingville, N.J., and Cass- ville, Pa., before yeti ning to the area and estab- lishing a ‘television repair service. Mr. Booth told The Post that he decided to seek a position on the Lake-Lehman School Board at the behest of a citizens’ organization whose name he could not recall. “It is my intention to serve the citizenry of Region I by helping to promote better education at a lower cost,”” Mr. Booth declared. ‘I will try to hold taxation at the present level or possibly lower it—although that would be a phenomenal feat in this day and age.” Mr. Booth stated that he “would, if possible, do without a new elementary school in order to hold taxation down.’”” While admitting that ‘“‘there is no question but that a crowded situation does exist in the school system,’’ Mr. Booth stated that he was (continued on PAGE SIX) a Portable fire-fighters’ tanks like the one shown in this photo were but one of several. sophisticated types of fire fighting equipment brought into use in controlling the brush fire. Over 65 firemen of the Trucksville, Shaver- town, and Dr. Henry M. Laing Fire Compan- ies responded to the fire alarm Tuesday after- What were they? the questioner persisted. ‘““‘Anacin,” he replied. Mr. Lauer, director of the Luzerne County Tourist Promotion Agency, drew chuckles from the audience when he confessed that he was a “member of a radical group in the Back Moun- tain—the Democratic party.” He lambasted the Dallas Area Municipal Authority and the high cost of sewers and proposed a “close look at all expendi- tures, the tenure law, and the possibility of ex- tending the school year.” to the zoning hearing board by Dallas Township Planning Commission. The letter read in part: “Planning Commission is not satisfied with plans and other information submitted in regard to ‘the private club or inn.’ In order to emphasize the position of Planning Commission it is recommend- ed Troup Fund be forbidden to use the word Inn or similar word, such as tavern, which might indicate a public nature for establishment. Planning Commission is satisfied that a private club may and probably should be established on Newberry Estate, but that it should be planned primarily for the accommodation of residents of the Develop- ment. Therefore, since the Development has been planned for about 275 families and is limited to not more than 400 families, 'in order to avoid compli- cated questions of supervision of any club, the Commission recommends that membership in any planned private club on the premises be restricted to not more than 250 families who are not residents of Newberry Estate. Planning Commission also recommends that. assurances be obtained per- sonally from officers of Troup Fund and associated organizations that club will operate conscientiously as a private club and will not be made available to General Public.” Atty. Thomas Roberts, spokesntan for the Troup Fund, took up several points of the letter. He said that instead of using the word ‘‘inn,’’ the Troup Fund would use the word “lodge” if that word was acceptable to the board. Again, Troup Fund repre- sentatives asked that their original application for 600 non-residential members be granted, instead of the 250 families recommended in the Planning (continued on PAGE FOURTEEN) Characterizing himself as an independent, objective, minority voice, Mr. Lauer promised to act as ‘‘an early warning bell’ against extrava- gance in school spending. A more conciliatory note was sounded by Mr. Dierolf, who allowed that he had “no particular axe to grind” and suggested that the “school system’s progress has been exceptionally good.” A retired Army colonel, Mr. Dierolf noted that he had only recently returned to the Dallas area. He would, he said, ‘look forward to meeting with the taxpayers to find out what job you want the school board to do.” Vice president of The Hanover National Bank in Wilkes-Barre, Ernest Asbridge promised to bring ‘‘good, solid reasoning’’ to bear in all of his decisions as school director. There would be no “snap decisions,”’ he stated, and while he advoca- ted coonomy, he would ‘not cut costs just to cut costs.’ Patricia Gregory, the only woman candidate, admitted with a laugh that while no one had asked her to run, ‘‘a few asked me not torun!”’ She asked if ‘formal education and formal (continued on PAGE FOURTEEN) Earth Day may be day that wasn't “Earth Day? Oh yes, that’s coming up again - some time this spring, isn’t it. What are we doing for Earth Day this year? Well, last year . . Earth Day 1971. The day that wasn’t. At least that’s the way it looks in other parts of the State and in the Back Mountain community at the present time. With scarecely a week left before Earth Day gets underway next Thursday, there appears to be little enthusiasm and fewer plans to mark the day’ Ss passing. The apne students and olica oe the prime movers of many of last year’s truly spectacular undertakings. The indifference seems to extend to the top of the bureaucratic ladder: A memorandum from State Secretary of Education David H. Kurtzman outlining possible observances for Earth Week arrived at area schools just this week. (continued on PAGE FOURTEEN) apathy ine! aies Dallas fireman injured photographers happen onto fire by accident Two itinerant photographers who wound up in Dallas when their jaunty Triumph sportscar broke down Monday are responsible for the on-the-spot photographic coverage of the fire which swept through 50- acres of brush near Frances Slocum Park Tuesday afternoon. Wayne H. Luke, a graduate student at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, N.Y. and Bob Muffoletto, an inner city teacher in Buffalo, N.Y., had intended to spend their Easter vacation traveling through the coal mining regions of Pennsyl- vania. They hoped to take photographs of the ecological ruins incurred in strip mining and planned to use these pictures in an art exhibit they are preparing. “But when the A-frame on our TR-4 went,” photographer Luke explains, “we found ourseves stuck in Dallas without transportation.” Fortunately for them, they chanced to run into two of Dallas’ bon vivants—J. R. Sperl and Murph Hislop—who promptly offered to put them up for as long as it might take to get their car repaired and volunteer- ed to chauffer them to the mining towns of Eckley and Jim Thorpe. When the fire alarm sounded Tuesday afternoon and their hosts scurried to answer the call, it was only to be expected that Bob Muffoletto and Wayne Luke would tag along. Because photographers rarely take a step without their cameras, the men were in the right place at the right time and got these shots of the blaze. homes threatened by blaze near park A fireman was injured and several new and expensive residences were threatened by a brush fire Tuesday afternoon.when the blaze raged out of control along Carverton Road, opposite Frances Slocum Park. J.R. Sperl, a volunteer fireman with the Dr. Henry M. Laing Fire Company, reportedly suffered steam burns after dousing himself with water to escape flames which had surrounded the fire truck from which he was working. He was taken in the Kingston Township ambulance to the Nesbitt Mem- orial Hospital where he was treated and released early Tuesday evening. The home of Justin Bergman, reportedly valued at $40,000, was one of the dwellings caught in the path of the flames. Also, according to Back Mountain Patrolman Paul Sabol, another ‘brand new but unoccupied’ residence was threatened. A shed on the Bergman property was consumed by the fire. Some 50 acres of land were burned over— leaving it denuded of brush and grasses. A small stand of trees were saved. Approximately 65 volunteers from Trucksville and Shavertown Volunteer Fire Companies and the Dr. Henry M. Laing Company, Dallas, responded to the 12:10 p.m. alarm. In addition, State Forestry Rangers were on hand. Because additional help was needed in com- bating the land fire, 22 Junior Firemen, members of the Trucksville and Shavertown companies, were recruited from Dallas Senior High School by the Forestry Rangers. : Six pieces of equipment were dispatched by the three Back Mountain fire companies. Assistant Chief Charles Woolbert of the Trucksville unit directed the firefighters. It was estimated that 8,000 to 10,000 gallons of water were used in extin- guishing the blazing brush. Patrolman Sabol is investigating the fire’s origin. “We are not sure at .the progent. time just how it started.” From one unofficial source, it was pried the (continued on PAGE SIX)
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