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“Complete Back Mountain News’
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ALLAS~I-Z OST
VOL. 82 NO. 47
AEA 4 J. Kozemchak Sr.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1971
The two small children of Mr. and Mrs. Fred An-
derson Jr. imagine they see the pilgrims as Mrs. T.
M. B. Hicks reads the story of that first
Thanksgiving.
DALLAS, PA.
Charge Harassment
2 PHONE 675-5211
FIFTEEN CENTS
Six Prisoners File Suit
~ Against Harvey, Johnston
Six prisoners at the State Correctional
Institution at Dallas have named a
district magistrate, institution
superintendent and assistant superin-
tendent, and three correctional officers
as defendants in a civil rights action filed
Nov. 8 in the United States District Court,
Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Named in the action are District
Magistrate Leonard D. Harvey, Frank C.
Johnston, institution superintendent;
Leonard J. Mack, assistant superin-
tendent; Correctional Sgt. Balchunas,
and Correctional Officers Conrad and
Gennett. No given names were supplied
in the suit for the correctional officers,
and when contacted by the Post,
superintendent Johnston refused to
identify them, observing that “it is
Ronald Williams’ obligation to identify
the defendants properly, and I'm not
going to help him out by assuming that
responsibility.”
The suit, which was filed by Ronald
Williams as chief plaintiff, charges that
the defendants ‘‘are proceeding to use the
color custom, usage, and protection of
their offices’’ to perpetrate a conspiracy
Child Day Care Center
: The “new look” in child care services
has reached the Back Mountain, and one
“of its proponents anticipates ‘“‘a good deal
‘of success’ with the innovative program.
“The program is a child day care center
established at the Dallas United Meth-
odist Church last Friday which will care
.eventually for 15 children aged 3 to 6.
Funded by both “state and federal
agencies, the day care center is one of
nine such facilities presently in operation
throughout Luzerne County.:
Zoning Termed Inadequate As
Planning, Development Continue
Is it possible that Dallas Borough is
faging a mini-building boom ? With its 2.5
es miles of heavily residential area,
such a suggestion might seem ludicrous
at first glance, but there are several facts
which tend to support just that conten-
1.
‘During the past year, Dallas Borough
Council has had thrust into its lap plans
for three apartment complexes, and
although it has not approved any of them,
the building contractors are impatiently
waiting in the wings for council’s nod.
In addition to these apartment-type
dwellings—each of which are proposed
for fairly developed neighborhoods there
are a number of other undeveloped
properties presently being eyed by
builders. Included in this number are
sircels of land along Huntsville Road and
Center Hill Road, areas in the borough
where development has been at least
until now minimal.
Add to these areas a number of smaller
lots where construction has been prohibi-
ted because of inadequate septic system
drainage space—but which will be
“opened up’ with the completion of the
new sewers—and there would appear to
be considerable choice acreage for build-
ing right in Dallas Borough.
There is apparently little question that
the borough will eventually be developed
“even more completely than it is now.
As Edward Heiselberg, chairman of
the Luzerne County Planning Commis-
sion sees it, one of the best ways to insure
that property in Dallas Borough is not
devalued is to revise the Borough's 24-
year old zoning ordinance. That or-
dinance, which was adopted in 1948, lists
only two types of districts—residential
and residential-commercial—and, in Mr.
Heiselberg’s words, ‘‘just doesn’t fit the
times anymore.” :
The borough’s planning commission
which has wrestled with the inadequate
zoning ordinance for longer than it cares
to remember, met with Mr Heiselberg
2
earlier this month and agreed to ask
council for permission to revise the
zoning code with the aid of the county
planning commissioner. Council readily
approved the request, and Mr.
Heiselberg was retained as a private
consultant to help with the revision. The
maximum cost to the borough will be
$600.
Mr. Heiselberg is convinced that a
revised zoning ordinance will help Dallas
Borough maintain its property values.
“As things are now,” said the planning
expert, ‘‘the borough is wide open—in a
residential-commercial zone, it’s
possible to build a garage or a hot dog
stand right next to several attractive
Economic Profile
homes. An updated zoning ordinance
would serve not only to prevent this type
of harmful land use, but would protect
property values, avoid nuisances, im-
prove the environment and help to main-
tain the tax base.”
As he envisions the new ordinance, it
would not include all of the districts
outlined in the county’s zoning code
~ simply because not all would be applic-
able in the borough. The county’s or-
dinance includes several types of resi-
dential and commercial districts as well
..as a conservation district and agricultur-
al district.
(continued on PAGE FIVE)
Opens in Back Mountain
Richard Walsh, who is with the Family
Service Association of Wyoming Valley,
is optimistic about the quality of care
each child will receive at the center.
“Our experience has been that often-
times the youngsters may be a bit emo-
tionally immature, or may not have had
fully adequate day care before coming to
one. of our acrierse We provide the chil-
dren with epportunities to socialize with
other children, to work with adults on a
one-to-one basis, and to obtain education-
al experiences necessary for pre-school
youngsters.”
A typical day at the center begins at 8
a.m. and ends at 3 p.m., although provi-
sions are made for children whose par-
ents leave for work earlier or arrive
home later than these hours: Breakfast, a
hot lunch and snack are provided at the
center, and a rest time is included in the
day’s busy schedule of activities.
In addition to the educational and re-
creational activities included in the cen-
ter’s program, a number of field trips are
also scheduled. “Trips to the local police
station or fire house, for example, are
often new experiences for pre-school
youngsters,”” Mr. Walsh observes, ‘‘and
such trips allow them to travel together
and learn about their communities.”
Back Mountain resident Mary Segal is
supervisor at the Dallas center, and she
will have two other adults working with
her when the full roster of 15 children is
enrolled. State law mandates that the
child care centers maintain a ratio of two
(continued on PAGE FIVE)
Study Scores Area Growth
An economic profile of the Back
Mountain area, including its two
boroughs and six townships, comprised of
111.2 square miles and 22,686 inhabitants,
has been compiled by the Pennsylvania
Department of Commerce, showing
population and area, personal income,
wholesale and retail trade, selected
services, recreational sites, labor force,
and transportation facilities. The
document was released this week by
Secretary of Commerce Walter G.
Arader. ?
Calling the report a ‘“‘guide and a tool
for building the future,” Sec. Arader
said, “Our goal is to make these reports
useful to those seeking locations for new
industry; to government in analyzing the
economic health of the county and state;
to planners in developing useful and
needed programs; to students seeking
knowledge about the state and its
political subdivisions, and to business
2
and industry in maintaining a profitable
-and expanding enterprise.”
In the Luzerne County study entitled
“Pennsylvania Industrial Census
Series,’’ the bulletin points out that the
county is 887.7 square miles in miles in
area ranking 17th in the state. Population
wise, with 342,301 residents, the county
ranks sixth in the state, according to the
‘bulletin, with 81:1 percent urban popula-
tion and 18.9 percent rural.
In per capital income comparisons,
Luzerne County was shown ninth in the
state using 1968 figures, with per capita
income at $2,687 in the county, as com-
pared to $3,413 on a state-wide average.
Lackawanna County, by comparison,
was slightly higher with a per capita in-
come of $2,923.
From a recreational standpoint,
Luzerne County showed two state parks
totaling 21.96 square miles in area, 2.21
square miles of state forest lands, and
)
57.10 square miles of state game lands.
Recreational facilities available listed
boating, camping, fishing, hunting,
picincking, swimming, and riding.
In terms of educational facilities, the
county spent $721 per pupil average, with
enrollment in the 1968-69 school year of
58,180 students in public school and 16,405
students in non-public schools. The study
listed six colleges or universities, with a
combined enrollment of 9,054 students in
1971.
1970 figures in the study indicate that
the total civilian work force was 144,900
ranking 2.87 percent of the state, with un-
employment at 7,500, or 3.71 percent of
the state’s 202,100 unemployed workers.
In the wholesale and retail trade area,
using 1967 figures, the county numbered
4,632 business establishments with total
sales of $882,945,000, with $190,619 per es-
tablishment average. Employes in the
(continued on PAGE FIVE)
a
to commit murder which ‘‘has already
led to our being charged falsely and
currently awaiting trial after being held
in bad faith.”
Other plaintiffs include John James
Keen Jr., Harold A. Brooks, Joseph
Woodruff, Gary P. Bates and Eugene
Walker. All are prisoners at the Dallas
Correctional Institution.
The civil action alleges that the
plaintiffs “were capable of unfoiling a
conspiracy to commit murder per-
petrated Aug. 16 against their lives on the
same day at the state correctional in-
stitution at Dallas.”
Since Aug. 16, the plaintiffs charge,
they have been subject to ‘‘continual
harrassment, violence, both actual and
implied, mace, human waste amid their
food stuffs, no proper clothing and even
continued confinement under cruel and
unusual circumstances—nb water—
windows opened for 24 hours per day, no
mattresses nor beds.”
The prisoners insist: that they are Mi
“victims of a campaign of the state
justice department to suppress and ac-
tually get re-committed many more
active men at these levels politically and 5
legally.”
As explained bv Atty.
O'Malley. legal counsel for the Luzerne
County “%magistr. ls Association,
defendants may choose either to answer
the suit or, as is “much more likely,”
may file a motion to dismiss the suit.
John F.
ihe
Atty. O’Malley indicated that he would |
most probably seek a dismissal of the suit
against Magistrate Harvey on the
grounds that it fails to state any cause of
action to be taken inasmuch as Harvey
was acting in his judicial capacity. Atty.
(continued on PAGE FIVE)
Area Budgets
Will Rise for
Coming Year
Back Mountain municipalities are in
the process of finalizing 1972 budgets,
which most governing bodies expect to
adopt at their respective December
meetings. :
Dallas Borough Council hopes to hold
its tax rate steady in the coming year and
has indicated it will adopt a tentative
budget of $112,720 for 1972.
Although this budget represents an 8.14
percent increase over last year’s budget
of $104,240, Councilman Robert Parry,
chairman of the finance committee,
expressed confidence that there would be
no increase in millage.
As explained by Mr. Parry, the an-
ticipated $8,400 expenditure increase will
be used “mostly for wages of police and
road laborers.”’ Approximately $4,000 has
been added to the figure budgeted last
year for salaries of these borough em-
ployes. :
Sewer expenses, too, have been con-
sidered in the 1971 budget. Dallas
Borough, which owns the borough build-
ing on Main Street as well as property on
Pinecrest and Lackawanna Avenues, is
not exempt from front foot assessments
in the new municipal sewer system and
estimates that its total assessment will
run close to $8,000. The first installment
of this assessment fee, plus hook up and
rental fees, account for close to $3,100 of
the budget increase. ;
Finally, Dallas Borough has ear-
marked $2,000 for Blue Cross and Blue
Shield benefits for three of its policemen
and two roadmen. This is the first time
these benefits have been provided the
borough.
(continued on PAGE FIVE)
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