HE
ALLAS
“Complete Back Mountain News’’
OST
VOL. 82 NO. 42 FIFTEEN CENTS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1971
DALLAS, PA.
PHONE 675-5211
FIFTEEN CENTS
Lacks Federal Approval
Cross-Valley Plans At
Impasse Once Again
The plans for the construction of North
Cross-Valley Expressway seemingly are
at an impasse again, due to lack of
Federal approval of the proposed route.
Apprcgial is needed because the high-
way’s location would involve lands ter-
med ‘“‘recreational in nature.”
This would include land (already
purchased by the state) on which King’s
College had an athletic field, a gym-
nasium, and a playground; the latter
operated by Kingston Borough. This was
known as Scandlon Field.
Additional recreational land would be
taken for a proposed interchange at
North Washington Street, Wilkes-Barre.
Acgording to Section 4 (f) of the High-
way ®ict of 1966, Federal approval is
prohibited of ‘‘any program or project
which requires the use of any publicly
own land = from a public park,
recreation area. . . .unless there is (1) no
feasible and prudent alternative to the
use of such land, and (2) such program
included all possible planning to
minimize harm to such park, recreation
area. . .ete.” :
A request for approval under Section 4
(f) was submitted to Pennsylvania
Department of Transportation in
Harrisburg and to the U.S. Highway
. Administ ration the first week in October,
according to Thomas J. Harrington,
PennDOT regional engineer, Dunmore.
‘Final approval must be awaited from
U.S. gp ansportitien Secretory John
Volpe.’
If the selected location is not approved,
this gcould leave PennDOT holding
property which it has already purchased.
The land would not be usable by Penn-
DOT, and would have to be sold for other
uses.
The North Valley-Expressway would
expedite traffic from the Back Mountain -
Luzerne-Swoyersville areas across town
to a section near the VA Hospital. The
need for a new expressway has been
highlighted in recent days by backed-up
traffic on Union Street, Luzerne, a State
highway. ”
we Back Mountain motorists and
oth®Ts have complained about new line-
paintings on Union Street. The police
chief of Luzerne Borough said traffic has
been backed up in the morning west
toca the Back Mountain and in the
afternoon as far back as the Kingston
Borough boundary line.
Donald Wiltshire, district traffic engin-
eer for PennDOT, said the new markings
are to provide a safer movement of traf-
fic through the area. He stated that the
section of Union Street where the island is
painted always has been a bottleneck,
and “it’s not the new traffic island that is
to blame.” :
A Drama
The drama which is currently being
played out in courtroom two at the
Luzerne County Courthouse has, as have
most dramas, a cast of players whose
roles were assigned long before the
opening day of John Terry Wilson’s trial
for the murder of George W. Wesley. The
roles are those of the defendant, his at-
torneys, the Commonwelath’s
representatives, the presiding judge, the
witnesses and the jurors. Within the
confines of these parts, however, each
player has taken his assigned role and
shaped it to fit his own temperament and
personality—a fact which sustains in-
terest throughout much of the seemingly
interminable testimony.
Seated at the table closest to the wit-
ness stand are Dis. Atty. Blythe H. Evans
and his associate, Atty. Hopkins
Rowlands. Mr. Evans’ style might best
be described as low key; his is not the
flamboyance of a Melvin Belli but the
prosaic—one is tempted to say plodding—
There is not room for four lanes on
Union Street, as the road is about 40 feet
wide and utility poles are near the road-
way.
With the new delay in approval of the
Cross-Valley Expressway, Regional En-
gineer Harrington said he has no es-
timate of the time needed for approval.
He added that PennDOT is continuing
with the acquiring of properties along the
originally proposed right-of-way for the
expressway, but only if the land can be
acquired by an amicable settlement. The
department will not become involved, at
this time, in any litigation to acquire pro-
perties.
Mr. Harrington reported that the state
transportation department feels the pre-
sently planned location for North Cross-
Valley Expressway is the best possible
route.
Prosecution Calls 34
Photo by J. Kozemchak Sr.
Game Warden Ed Gdosky of the Pennsylvania
Game Commission holds the head of a pure albino
deer which was fatally injured Tuesday morning
when it jumped a fence trying to escape several
dogs which were chasing it. The deer, which was
solid white with pink nose and eyes, broke its back
when it landed in a four-foot ditch on the opposite
ye
5 i
Ties
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. EPu he CT
ry ix od, A
side of the fence. Warden Gdosky said this was the
first time in 15 years with the commission that he
had seen a pure albino, whose birth would be ap-
proximately one in 100,000. He said he wanted to
remind dog owners’ not to allow their animals to run
loose and gather in packs to chase deer, par-
ticularly during the times of deep snow.
Eye Witnesses Implicate
John Wilson in Murder
by Shawn Murphy
Apparently proceeding on the theory
that if one eye witness is good, eight eye
witnesses are better, the Commonwealth
had called a total of 34 witnesses when
court adjourned Tuesday afternoon, eight
of whom offered eye witness testimony
implicating John Terry Wilson in the
wr
Photo by Pat Cancro
These bike riders were among the hundreds who
participated in the autumn tour around Harveys
Lake Sunday. The event was sponsored by the
Bicycle Club of Wyoming Valley.
murder of George W. Wesley Jan. 10.
The eight eye witnesses included two of
the victim’s brothers, Harry and Warden
Wesley; George Nichols, the bartender at
Sorber’s Lake Silkworth Hotel the night
of the shooting; Dara Bowen, a barmaid
at Sorber’s; Fletcher Whitesell, a patron
at the tavern, and Earl Eck, Donald
Purvin, and Charles Coombs, three of the
six persons with whom George Wesley
arrived at Sorber’s Hotel the night he was
killed.
Earl Eck, a Sweet Valley resident, was
the first of the eye witnesses to testify,
and his recollections place Wilson
squarely behind a 30-30 caliber rifle
which has been introduced by the
Commonwealth as evidence. Eck told of a .
night of partying, first with George
Wesley and Donald Purvin at the apart-
ment of one ‘“‘J.R.”’ in Dallas, and then at
Chief’s Bar in Demunds, where Warden
Wesley was playing in a band. Sometime
before 2 a.m., he said, he and Purvin, the
three Wesleys, Charlie Coombs, and Ted
Montross left for Sorber’s Hotel ‘to get a
couple of drinks.”
“Who called Sorber’s to see if it was
still open?’ asked Atty. Krohn during
cross-examination.
“That was me,’”’ replied Eck. He said
he believed he’d talked to Marge Sorber,
Plays Itself Out
efforts of a determined workman. His
quiet manner is contrasted and possibly
complemented by the briskly nettlesome
temperament of Atty. Rowlands, who
voices all of the Commonwelath’s ob-
jections and springs to his feet whenever
challenged by the defense counsel.
Theodore L. Krohn, Mr. Wilson’s at-
torney, is given to dramatic vocal in-
flections and occasional eye rolling when
perturbed. He and Atty. Rowlands
engage in verbal fencing with all the
agility of well-clawed tigers, and each is
inclined to grin with ill-concealed satis-
faction when a swipe draws blood from
the other.
The one imponderable, of course, is the
jury. Comprised of seven women, five
men and two women alternates, they
were carefully screened by both the
prosecution and the defense from a group
of over 80 persons during a week-long
period.
The women are all housewives and the
men are all retired. Despite presiding
Judge Albert H. Aston’s admonition
during the early stages of jury selection
that ‘‘the court is unwilling to have a jury
comprised only of the aged and retired,”
most are in fact elderly. There is not one
as young as the defendant.
In addition to these statistics, the
questions posed by both attorneys during
the selection process provide an in-
teresting profile of the group as a whole.
None of them has conscientious scruples
against capital punishment (D.A. Evans
has announced his intention of seeking
the death penalty for Wilson); all are in
reasonably good health and each would
be able emotionally to find the defendant
guilty if so proved.
More important from the defense’s
point of view is their declared willingness
to give the defendant the benefit of a
(continued on PAGE FIVE)
the proprietor of the tavern. and that she
had told him John Wilson was there.
(Marge Sorber subsequently denied
talking ‘at length with Eck and Miss
Bowen, the barmaid, could not recall the
conversation).
‘““Didn’t it seem strange to you that she
should tell you:John Wilson was there?”’
asked Krohn. :
“Not for the reason she gave,” Eck
answered. “She said he was causing
trouble and it wouldn’t do much good to
come over.”
“And still you all piled into three cars
and headed in a caravan for Lake Silk-
worth?’’ Krohn asserted. “But you knew
there was bad blood between the Wilsons
and the Wesleys, didn’t you? And as a
matter of fact, you knew there was a feud
between the families,”” Krohn asserted.
“Yes, but not that night,” was Eck’s
reply.
The issue of ‘“bad blood’ between the
Wilsons and Wesleys has been brought up
time: and again by Krohn, and his
questions on the subject have elicited
different answers from the witnesses.
Both Harry and Warden Wesley flatly
denied the existence of any family feud or
hard feelings between themselves and
Wilson or their deceased brother and the
defendant. But Purvin recalled hearing
several statements made in the bar that
evening which suggested trouble.
Purvin told the court that he was
standing at the bar near Wilson and
George Wesley when he heard Wilson
say, “You know any Wilson can take any
Wesley.” George Wesley replied, Purvin
recalled, “Get your boys together but no
knives or guns.”
Fletcher Whitesell, a bystander,
testified that he left the bar ‘pretty fast’
when warned by the bartender that there
was trouble brewing, and the bartender,
George Nichols, suggested that ‘‘the
whole atmosphere there that night made
me think there was going to be trouble.”
William Murphy, who with George
Hackling and Wilson had come to Sor-
ber’s earlier that evening, said that at
‘one point Purvin had attempted to in-
troduce Wilson to George Wesley but that
Wesley had ‘‘slapped his hand away.”
(Other witnesses recall that the hand-
shake was made without incident). After
the hand shaking incident, Murphy said,
“Wilson waited until George had gone
into the men’s room and said to Hackling
and me, ‘Let’s get out of here.” ”’ :
(continued on PAGE THIRTEEN)
#
Organizations
Oppose UGI
Rate Hike
A number of Back Mountain
organizations, both governmental and
private, have gone on record as being
strongly opposed to proposed rate in-
creases by UGI Corporation.
Among the first to voice opposition
were Back Mountain Protective
Association and Lehman Township
Taxpayers Association. Added to those
protesting the increases are Dallas
School District Board of Directors,
Kingston Township Supervisors, Dallas
Borough Council and Dallas Township
Supervisors.
The proposed 20 percent residential
rate hike and 10 percent commercial and
industrial rate hike were announced by
UGI during the first week in October.
Residential increase, if approved by
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission,
would become effective Dec. 7. Com-
mercial-industrial increases’ effective
date would be June 30, 1972.
All the demurring groups have filed or
will file protests with PUC, according to
their spokesmen.
Back Mountain Protective Association
announced a public forum and town
meeting would be held last night in the
auditorium of Dallas Senior High School,
and Association President Everell
Chadwick urged all interested consumers
and groups to be present.
The protective association is a char-
tered, non-profit, non-partisan group
concerned with protection of taxpayers,
stated its solicitor James Lenahan
Brown. )
Kingston Township Board of Super-
visors voted their protest against the
proposed hike, as they felt it would mean
a half-mill increase in taxes to township
residents. ;
Although Dallas Township Board of
Supervisors will not meet in regular
session until Nov. 1, Supervisor Fred
Lamoreaux stated Tuesday that the
three members of the board have agreed
among themselves to go on record at
their meeting as being against the hike.
President Joseph Reina of Lehman
Township Taxpayers Association
reported the executive directors went on
record as being against the large rate
boost, although not being against a hike
in general.
PUC granted UGI, Luzerne Electric
Division, a step-up in rates in 1970.
Group to Conduct
Air Pollution Study
Sandra Raymond, director of the
Luzerne-Lackawanna Citizens’ Council
for Clean Air, has announced that the
Environmental Protection Agency has
contracted with the local group to con-
duct a 10-county workshop on the
proposed Pennsylvania Air Im-
plementation Plan.
The plan, Mrs. Raymond explained, ‘‘is
the manner in which the state of Penn-
sylvania plans to clean up its air, so that
the quality of the air we breathe meets
the federal standards as mandated in the
Clean Air Act of 1970. The plan will in-
corporate controls and regulations which
must be enforced throughout the Com-
monwealth.”’ According to Mrs.
Raymond, the proposal will be submitted
for federal approval in January.
The workshop, scheduled for Nov. 29,
~ will outline the plan and work toward
preparation for the December hearings
on it. The council also hopes to engage an
army of local citizens in a ‘“‘watch-dog’’
capacity to see that regulations set forth
in the plan are enforced following their
adoption.
At the same time, Mrs. Raymond also
revealed that LU-LAC is one of 74
agencies and institutions throughout the
(continued on PAGE FIVE)