VOL. 82, NO. 36
~ Wage - Price Quandary
7)
~ THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1971
DALLAS, PA.
The decidedly ““fallish’’ aroma of pumpkins, pota-
toes and pears wafted across the grounds of the
Dallas Fall Fair from Merrill Thomas’ display of
organically grown fruits and vegetables.
+ Local Teachers Unsure
* Of Salary Raise Status
by Shawn Murphy
The vagaries of President Nixon's
wage-price freeze have been nowhere
more apparent than in the on again-off
again situation which has developed over
teachers’ salaries.
The conflict has arisen because of new
contracts negotiated by teachers with
thd school boards, new contracts which -
promised higher salaries and more
benefits for the educators. Most school
districts, including Dallas and Lake-
Leman, completed the lengthy contract
negotiations last spring. The effective
date of Lake-Lehman’s new contract was
July 1, coinciding with the beginning of
the district’s fiscal year; Dallas’ contract
did not go into effect until Sept. 1.
It didn’t take educators, school board
officials and school administrators long
to perceive the quandary they were in
when President Nixon announced his
extraordinary wage-price freeze Aug. 15.
To pay or not to pay, that was the ques-
tion.
Ro! surprisingly, education asso-
ciations across the State lined up to
defend their constituents’ right to the
higher salaries. Shirley Riemer, assis-
tant director of public relations for the
Pennsylvania State Education Asso-
ciation in Harrisburg, admitted to the
Dallas Post that there was some con-
fusion on the question but quoted a much
publicized guideline from the Washing-
ton-based Cost of Living Council which
indicated that if the teachers’ contract
period started before Aug. 15, the salary
increase would be granted.
“In my mind,” said Mrs. Riemer in a
very pleasant everything-will-be-alright
voice, ‘I can’t see the reason for any
hang-up.”
Lake-Lehman teachers breathed a
collective sigh of relief. Not only had
their contract become effective a month
and a half before the freeze, but it had
fulfilled a second portion of the Council’s
mandate, namely that all teachers could
be paid according to the new salary
schedule if only one teacher had worked
or was accruing pay at the new rate.
Lake-Lehman School Superintendent
Robert Z. Bellas told the Post that not one
but two teachers were being paid at
the higher rate since the contract’s July 1
effective date.
On Sept. 2, a statement by Under
Secretary of the Treasury Charles E.
Walker sent a chill wind scuttling through
the Harrisburg offices of the PSEA and
the Department of Education.
“The interpretation that most
teachers’ pay increases will be permitted
is incorrect,” asserted Mr. Walker. He
suggested that the beginning of the con-
tract period would be determined not by
the date the contract was signed but by
“the date when services contracted for
begin to be delivered.”
His statement threw the carefully con-
strued Cost of Living Council’s guidelines
“into limbo,’”’ reported Albert Holliday,
director of information for Pennsyl-
vania’s Department of Education.
“If you had called yesterday,” Mr.
Holliday told the Post last Friday, ‘I'd
have known the answer. Now we just
don’t know what to recommend. The
school districts are going to have to take
the bull by the horns and make their own
preliminary decisions according to the
interpretation offered by their own solic-
itors. When the official decision is
made—then they can revise their deci-
sions if necessary.”
Not a little exasperated, Mr. Holliday
expressed the wish that Under Secretary
Walker ‘‘keep his own opinions to him-
self” until the matter was officially de-
cided.
By late Friday afternoon, the chill wind
had developed into freezing gale.
‘Literally. Teacher salaries would stay at
1970-71 levels, ruled the Cost of Living
Council, no matter what the effective
date of the new contracts.
While maintaining that ‘“‘our policy has
remained the same,” Council Director
Arnold R. Weber conceded that the Coun-
cil had ‘““‘dropped’’ the interpretation that
all teachers would receive the higher rate
if one employe had received it prior to
Aug. 15 because it was ‘‘mischievous.’’
Somewhat enigmatically, he called the
interpretation a ‘‘golden sheep’’ concept
whereby one person pulls all the others
through to a higher category.
In Dallas, apparently, there was no
problem. Because Dallas teachers’ new
contract did not begin until Sept. 1, Dr.
Linford Werkheiser, superintendent of
Dallas schools, informed the district's
teachers by mail and at a meeting Sept. 8
that they would be paid according to last
year’s schedule.
Walter Glogowski, president of the
Dallas Education Association, told the
Post that the Dallas teachers had taken
the announcement ‘fairly well, although
they were all disappointed.”
The Council’s new ruling did, however,
affect Lake-Lehman’s pay policy. Super-
intendent Belles indicated Friday that
the school district would pay its teachers
at the higher rate, although he cautioned
that the situation could ‘‘change tomor-
row.”
He may well have been clairvoyant, for
the situation did indeed change the next
day. By the time Lake-Lehman’s teach-
(continued on PAGE THIRTEEN)
PHONE 675-5211
ALLAS~IZ0OST
“Complete Back Mountain News”
FIFTEEN CENTS
American Asphalt Plant
Reduces Pollution Level
According to results of an air pollution
test administered last May by the Dept.
of Environmental Resources at the
12 New Teachers
Join Faculty at
Misericordia
College Misericordia welcomed 12 new
faculty members for the fall semester,
according to Dr. Marvin J. LaHood, new
academic dean of the college, bringing
the college’s total number of faculty
members to 98, including part-time in-
structors. The large faculty provides in-
coming students with the favorable stu-
dent-to-faculty ratio of 10 to one, resulting
in much more individual attention for the
students, according to Dr. LaHood.
The new members joining the college’s
teaching staff for the fall are: Sister
Agnes Therese Brennan, RSM, mathe-
matics; Barbara Brown, nursing; Wil-
liam Dick, education; Sister Ann Horgan,
RSM, mathematics; Patricia Lewis, -
sociology; Arthur Miller, art (photo-
graphy); Dr. Eugene Miller, chemistry;
Edwin O’Malia Jr., theology; Edward
Roke, psychology; Vincent Smith,
music; Sister Elaine Tulanowski, RSM,
French, and Jo Anna Wentling, educa-
tion.
In addition to the new faculty, the
college also welcomed two faculty mem-
bers who had taught at College Miser-
icordia a few years ago and are returning
to the faculty fo. the fall semester. The
two returning faculty members are Sister
M. Aidan Byron, RSM, music; and Lee
Williames, history and government.
American Asphalt Company’s plant in
Chase it would appear that the Back
Mountain paving company has managed
to shake its dubious distinction of being
the state’s “worst air polluter.”
According to a letter from James
Chester, regional air pollution control
engineer with the Dept. of Environmental
Resources, American Asphalt now
complies with state air pollution regula-
tions. While the state permits a total
emission of 40 pounds per hour of
suspended and settled particulates from
a company’s air stack, Mr. Chester in-
dicated, the test administered at the
American Asphalt plant revealed that
only nine pounds of particulates per hour
were being emitted.
The “stack’’ test was conducted May 20
following installation of an updated anti-
pollution system at the Chase plant in the -
fall of 1970. es
Bernard Banks, American Asphalt’s
treasurer, told the Dallas Post that his
firm had added a ‘“wet radial fan” and
100 foot stack to its existing anti-pollution
system following a meeting with health
department officials in June, 1970. At that
meeting, American Asphalt officials had
promised to comply with state air
pollution regulations ‘within 60 days.”
The promise followed close on the heels
‘of the paving company’s being named as
the state’s worst air polluter in a list of
chronic polluters. The list was prepared
for the C%. Raymond P. Shafer by the |
health department after the governor had
ordered’ a crackdown on long term
pollution cases.
Football Outlook Good
As Dallas Gets in Shape
Dallas Mountaineers lined up in
steaming, grass-stained groups under a
too-bright late Saturday morning sun,
taking deep breaths as they scrimmaged
with offensive and defensive squads from
the school at Tunkhannock. The Dallas
hopefuls listened to a never-ending
stream of instruction as their head coach
Jack Jones, pushed them through two
hours of workouts.
Several dozen interested parents and
spectators sat in the stands giving en-
couragement as though this was a real
game instead of scrimmage.
Coach Jones—sometimes a half-smile
creasing his face and sometimes a
frown—and his staff watched the would-
be football stars grunt and strain to make
the right plays.
This year marks the beginning of Jack
Jones’ fourth year as head football coach
at Dallas Senior High School. Last year
was a good season with six wins and four
The Dallas Post (J. KOZEMCHAK SR.)
‘Members of this year’s squad of would-be football
stars at Dallas Senior High School stand on the side-
lines where they await their turn to scrimmage.
Each player is hoping he’ll make the varsity team.
There could be a future All-American in this inter-
ested group.
losses. The losses were to Class A teams,
with three games lost by only one point.
And Jones is optimistic for this year
despite the loss of several seniors who
graduated in ’71. Also despite the fact
that eight of this year’s seniors who
played as juniors elected not to ‘‘come
out’ for this year’s team.
“We’ve got 16 seniors—but frankly, I
don’t care what they are just as long as
they can play football. Just like every-
body else, we have to rebuild,” said
Jones, pulling at the bill of his cap.
There were many hopeful and optimis-
tic lower classmen who would be gald to
hear their coach say that. Each one
seemed to be trying to prove his capabil-
ities. Some will not make it—but they are
gaining valuable experience for next
year and the next year.
“With less experience, this team does
not have as much depth as last year’s.
That team had good depth and was very
competitive.” But Jones smiled again.
“We're going to try our darndest and we
hope to improve. That’s our purpose.”
The two-a-day practices grind
inexorably towards the opening game
against West Side Tech School this Satur-
day afternoon at 2 on the home field.
The veteran coach conceded that he
still hasn’t made definite decisions on
some positions and said he would prob-
ably not know until game time Saturday.
“We don’t know what to expect from
West Side. We're going into the game
blindly—but ready to cover spreads,
tights, anything. At least, we hope we're
ready,” he admitted with a shrug.
One of the things he does believe is that
defense is ‘“‘one of our strong points.””
Coach Jones is counting on junior Gary
Arcuri or senior Tim Kaye to handle the
quarterbacking chores. Arcuri is six feet
and weighs 174 pounds; Kaye is five feet,
nine inches and weighs 150. They’ll be
handing off to senior halfbacks Robert
(continued on PAGE THIRTEEN)