BRIGHTON,
VOL. 86 NO. 1
| Greenstreet News Company, Dallas-
based publishers of the Abington
Journal, The Dallas Post and The
Mountaintop Eagle, today announced
that Pennaprint Inc., a new company
organized by Ohio newspaper publisher
Ray Carlsen, was the successful bidder
for assets of the firm.
‘Bruce E. McCarthy, vice president
and genera, Manager of Greenstreet,
said that W¥:naprint would assume
control of the three newspapers
immediately and said the former
ownership extended their best wishes to
the new firm as it prepared to re-
newspapers.
Carlsen, who will serve as editor and
publisher of the new company, said he
hoped to have the papers return to the
service of their various communities
within the next week. He noted that the
renewal of operations will be from an
essentially “zero” start since only the
business assets of the former
publishers were included in the
transactions and the recruitment of an
employee force would be necessary for
his company,
The thr'd® Weekly
pera by Greenstreet discontinued
disk
I
The Dalias. Education Association
(DEA) will attempt to settle differ-
ences with the school district over
preparation periods for department
chairmen during negotiations for next
year’s contract, a DEA spokesman said
Tuesday.
William Helgemo, DEA president,
said a verbal agreement between the
DEA negotiating team and the school
contract, but the administration “ap-
parently forgot the agreement.”
The dispute is over the number of
preparation periods per week for teach-
grievance with Dr. Linford Werkheiser,
superintendent of the Dallas school
district. The “normal’’ number of pre-
_ parationggeriods was interpreted to be
five plus per week, Helgemo said,
and adde} that the board found ‘no
grounds for grievance.”
But Helgemo said that the verbal
‘agreement in the current contract de-
fined “normal” as the number of free
periods the teacher had in 1972 plus one
52540
TWENTY CENTS
‘operations the day after Christmas
after continued financial losses. The
new ownership has agreed to fulfill all
circulation obligations of the three
pipers and is presently reviewing
i and editorial policies to see
here improvements can and should be
e, Carlsen said.
Wa new publisher said he welcomed
comments and suggestions from the
readership and advertisers. He said it
was Pennaprint’s goal to develop the
kind of local news and service
emphasis which is the ‘‘exclusive
domain’ of a good weekly newspaper.
Carlsen is a former resideng of
Tunkhannock, Pa., where he: fved
while employed as public relafions
manager for The Charmin ny
Products Company. 5
“We have returned to business
area because we like it here,” Ca
noted. “We think we are fortuna
have this opportunity 'to get
acqpainted in an area we like so we
| After leaving Tunkhannock, Carl
etufined to’ Cincinnati, Ohio,
be in’s parent firmj Procter
Gn le, where he served as man!
Gr ms Oa paki 1% oth Fa IRe
paper, coffee, food and industy il
products divisions.
period. In most cases, he said, the total
would be eight; in one instance it would
be nine.
In negotiations already under way for
next year’s contract the DEA has pre-
sented a ‘‘very clear definition’ of
normal, Helgemo said, but could not
He purchased three weekly
newspapers in financial difficulty in
Northwest Ohio in late 1970 and left P
&G in August of 1971 to invest full time
nursing the three papers back toward
their potential. In 1972, he added The
Pandora Times to his initial three
papers, The Putnam County Vidette,
The North Baltimore News and The
Liberty Press.
The firm Ohioprint Publications grew
out of the ownership and, in the fall of
1973, initiated a fifth community
newspaper called The Maumee
Valley Free Press. The company also
operates a small plastic sign
fabricating business in Columbus
Grove, Ohio.
Carlsen, a 1960 graduate of Wheaton
(1I1.) College, is active in the National
Newspaper Association and the Ohio
Newspaper Association. He is an
accredited member of the Public
Relations Society of America, an elder
in the Presbyterian Church, and has
been an active member in Rotary,
Jaycees and Lions Clubs.
He is married to the former Freda
Toland, a former area leader for the
Meggpron-Pacono Council of the Girl
Scouts and teacher at Tunkhannock
High School. The couple has three
say what that definition was because
the terms of the negotiations are con-
fidential.
Helgemo added that in the past the
school board has been ‘‘very coopera-
tive’ with the DEA and said he expects
“good working relationships.”
Three children of Mr. and Mrs:
Robert Miller and their 78-year-old
great grandmother perished in an early
morning fire, Saturday in their mobile
home. Fireman from the Dallas Fire
Department arrived on the scene at the
Valley View Trailor Park on Ryman
Road, Dallas Twp., at 5:30 a.m. after
being summoned by the police.
Fire Chief Don Schaffer said the
whole front half of the trailor was on
fire when the company rsached the
scene. The fireman were informed
that there were people inside the home
and when they entered. they found the
four bodies, victims of asphyxiation:
morning.
The blaze was discovered by Mrs.
Miller who fled from the trailor to a
neighbors for help. Mr. Miller was
enroute to work and unaware of the
fire.
Shavertown and Franklin Twp., fire
companies assisted the Dallas fire
fighters.
The deceased are Iola Miller, age
five, Robert Miller, age four and Dale
Miller age, three. All children of Mr.
and Mrs. Robert Miller, and Mrs.
Emma Miller 78, their grat-
grandmother.
An investigation was conducted by
State Fire Marshall Paul Cotlier, with
Chief Deputy Coroner Joseph Shaver
i
children, Joel, 4; Kay Lynn, 2; and
Kristi Ann, three months.
The new publisher said it is his intent
to become personally involved in the
day-to-day management of the
newspapers. He said his Ohio staff was
in a position to handle operations of the
papers in that state although he
intended to keep in close touch with the
business there.
“The opportunity in Dallas, Clark’s
Summit and Mountaintop required
quick action,” Carlsen said. ‘Good
local newspapers can provide a
valuable service to their commuities
and the newspapers must get back in
| service as quickly as possible.”
production.
Local public educators and school ad-
ministrators see little, if any, change in
the procedures they follow resulting
from last week’s Supreme Court deci-
sion concerning the right of students in
U.S. public schools.
In that decision, the high court ruled
that public school students in the nation
have a constitutional right not to be
expelled for misbehavior unless school
authorities inform them why and allow
them a chance to explain their conduct.
It was a closely divided decision. The
vote was 5 to 4.
The justices held that pupils have
what they labeled an ‘‘entitlement” to
schooling that cannot be taken away
unless due process of law has been
adhered. to.
Judging from the local school offic-
ials we talked to, the above decision will
have little effect in this area, mostly
because of farsighted administrators
and the provisions of the state Bill of
Rights and Responsibilities of public
students which passed the legislature
October 3, 1974. That legislation lays
out responsibilities of students and also
emphasizes their right to the due pro-
cess of law.
“The provisions of this state law are
just about the same as what the Su-
preme Court said,’ says Wyoming
Valley West high school principal John
Yonkondy. He is principal of 632 eighth
grade students there.
Yonkondy states that 95 percent of his
students are well-behaved but the ones
who get into trouble ‘have always and
will in the future have a chance to have
their side of the story told.
“When a student who has misbe-
haved comes tc me and says ‘I have my
rights’ I always point out to him that he
also has responsibilities that are
spelled out in the state law,” Yonkondy
says. Those consist of, among others,
attendance, promptness, respect for
school regulations, respect for equip-
ment and supplies, persuance of
courses to the best of one’s ability, and
adherence to dress and grooming rules.
Yonkondy sees to it that a copy of the
State Bill of Rights and Responsibilities
for Students is posted in each of his
classrooms. :
Dallas Juhior High School principal
John Rosser agrees that most of what
the Supreme Court said in last week’s
decision is contained in the Pennsyl-
vania regulations.
“We never suspend a student without
a hearing and without contacting the
parents,” he says.
“We are fortunate here that our prob-
lems are not numerous, but we do have
some. Because of the type of commun-
ity Dallas is, most of my students are
well behaved and eager to learn,” he
says. ww
Anthony Marchaki§as, principal of
that “we try to do what is right, proper,
and just and will continue to do so.
“Of course, we will abide by the
Supreme Court decision, but it will not
alter our conduct to any great degree,”
Marchakitas says.
for students rights is committed in the
interest of time. ‘The Supreme Court
ruling is good because usually when a
student’s rights have been overlooked,
it is due to a hasty administrative de-
cision.”
Marchakitas is proud of the fact that
there has never been a permanent
expulsion at Lake Lehman. “Education
is a slow process and we try to be
patient,” he says.
Although unaware of the high court
decision, Crestwood High School Prin-
cipal Andrew Patterson says that there
is always a hearing before a student is
expelled at Crestwood.
Under Patterson’s direction, teach-
ers at Crestwood meet weekly to dis-
cuss disciplinary problems and
methods of dealing with them.
Robert Dolbear is principal of the 760
students at Dallas Senior High School.
“We have made it a practice always
to have a hearing before a student is
suspended and to contact and work with
the parents of the student in trouble,”
he says. Dolbear maintains that sus-
pensions have always been used *‘con-
servatively”’ at Dallas Senior High
School.
Although it does not have to do direct-
ly with the subject at hand, the Anti-
Smoking program at Dallas High de-
serves mention. Principal Dolbear
points with pride to this program
which, to date this year, has helped
nearly 25 students quit smoking.
The clinic is a special class in anti-
smoking which is available to those
first time offenders of the smoking
rules. “Although some students have
quit the clinic, we think it is working
very well; at least there have been no
repeaters,” Dolbear says.
“We are fortunate that Pennsylvania
has had the student rights law, which
we think is pretty good,” says Crest-
wood School District Superintendent
William Smodic.
“The Supreme Court decision will not
really alter our manner of administer-
ing our schools because we have always
made a practice of scheduling hearings
to allow students to express their feel-
ings when a violation has been com-
mitted,” Smodic says.
“We've been following the Supreme
Court rulings rights along, suspending
very few pupils and always bringing the
parents in on the problem,” says Wyo-
ming Valley West High School Prin-
cipal Benjamin Davis.
“I meet on a scheduled basis with
students to discuss anything they wish
to talk about We work together with
rule
our students. We even have instituted
courses here that have been suggested
by our students,” Davis says.
All in all, it can be said that area
public educators have always been duly
concerned about student rights. At
Wyoming Valley West District Super-
visor Abram Morgan says ‘we have
always been concerned especially with
the student records. We watch very
carefully what is entered into those
records - you never know, because they
are permanent, an unfair entry could
jeopardize the student in many ways.”
It can be said that the Supreme Court
decision grew out of an extreme case,
that of racial unrest in the Columbus,
Ohio junior and senior high schools.
Pupils in that case maintained that
they were sent home for as long as ten
days without explanation. The fact that
many of these students had no hear-
ings, was the Court said, a ‘denial of
due process.”
Public students in this area are
fortunate - for the most part they’ve
had due process all along.
[mm
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