Fe CB aa w The story of the personnel and inmates of the State Correctional Institution, Dallas, is a heart-warming one. And the story began with the first victims of the flood and has not ended yet. Immediately upon hearing of serious food situations in the West Side areas, Super- intendent Leonard J. Mack and his staff began to plan how to dispense their foodstuffs and other necessary supplies. As the in- stitution is a self-contained one, they had these supplies on hand and also had the man power and transportation to get them to the evacuation centers and other spots where urgently needed. When the central food-distribution center for the Back Mountain was set up at Dallas Junior High School under the direction of William Scranton 3rd, trucks .from the correctional institution began taking supplies there, as well as to the Dallas Borough Building, and some 20-25 other areas. Supt. Mack reported that 2,500 loaves of bread are being baked each day at the in- stitution by the kitchen inmate staff. Bread, plus such basics as milk, peanut butter, soups, crackers, dried fruit, etc., have gone out in vast quantities each day. “We have sent our loaded trucks as far South as Plymouth, as far north as Wyoming and westward to Sweet Valley, leaving supplies at most municipalities in between,” the superintendent stated. To June 26, the institution had donated 1,000 blankets, 2,000 cots, and thousands of sheets and pillow cases. : At various times, Supt. Mack said that getting a supply of yeast for bread-baking had been ‘a problem; flour was easier to get. However, Monday morning 220 pounds of yeast were received at the institution as a donation from Acme Markets. “Since this large supply of yeast has reached us, we have enough to use for four days’ bread-baking,” Mr. Mack disclosed. - He went on to tell about the inmates “We had 800 oranges which were scheduled for the residents Saturday mor- ning, but they told us they would rather the oranges go to some children in an evacuation center,” he said. “As long as we have the supplies and facilities and as long as they are needed, we will continue to send all these items out.” : Water, water everywhere—but is there any to drink? This is a question which has concerned resi- dents of the flood ravaged Wyoming Valley since the Susquehanna River rolled beyond its banks last Friday and polluted many of the area’s supplies of drinking water. It has also been a question of grave concern to the 12 environmental protection specialists who have been: working from temporary headquarters at Penn State’s Wilkes-Barre Campus at Lehman. The men, who are work- ing under direction of Lawrence Paw- lisch, are with the Department of Environ- mental Resources, Bureau of Water Quality Management. On Tuesday afternoon at approxi- mately 2:30 p.m., the Dallas Post re- ceived word from a spokesman for the Bureau of Water Quality Management that although samples gathered in the Dallas area have not way of contamination, two more days of sampling would be necessary to be absolutely certain terim, the spokesman stated em- Mountain community are advised to boil all water used for drinking pur- poses. Hampered initially by a communications break-down, the environmentalists have now established their own portable laboratory in which to test the water samples they have taken from forays into a six county area. The counties from which water samples have been taken are Tioga, Bradford, Wyoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna and Luzerne. The establishment of a temporary lab was deemed necessary when flood waters pre- vented the water samples from being taken to the department’s permanent lab facilities in Wilkes-Barre. According to Mr. Pawlisch, his men have been assisted in the water testing by two federal government employes whose special fields are pumps and distribution systems. In addition to gathering water samples for analysis, the environmental protection specialists have been checking out dams en- countered in the course of their travels for leaks and general stability. After the water tests are concluded, Mr. Pawlisch told the Dallas Post, the men will begin an evaluation of sewage treatment plants in the area to determine whether or not they are function- ing properly and if not, to make the necessary repairs. At the correctional institution two residents load cans of milk for’ evacuees onto a truck. ate Prison One resident of State Correctional Institution, Dallas, stirs a huge pot of soup, while two others wait to pour the soup in cans. The soup was later distributed to evacuation centers.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers