BOX 336 BRIGHTON, EXCH { much more. J Only Only Cents Cents VOL. 88 NO. 15 THURSDAY, MAY 4,1978 DALLAS, PA. HL Taxpayers Assn. Harveys Lake Borough Taxpayers police department and the con- power boats could be operated. Association this week issued a survey tinuation of borough garbage The survey also. asks if the ‘by Liz Seymour In. the summer of 1939. Stefan Hellersperk and his new wife, the former Melania Kocuvan of Wilkes- Barre, sailed for Europe to spend a honeymoon with Hellersperk’s family in Poland. Nine years later Hellersperk left Poland in the hold of a freighter bound for Sweden, after five years of fighting with the Polish underground army and more than three years in a series of Soviet slave labor camps. Mr. and Mrs. Hellersperk now live in a neat white clapboard house in West Dallas. From the outside the house is pure American, but inside, with its polished wood panelling and wall of books in many languages, one can almost imagine oneself in a European country house. Symbols of Hellersperk’s pride in his Polish heritage abound, from the handcarved Polish eagle over the fireplace to the two decorations, framed and mounted on velvet, that Hellersperk received for his work in the underground during the Second World War. The paneling, the eagle, and much of the furniture in the house owe their beauty to Hellersperk's craft- smanship. For many years he operated a furniture making and refinishing business. Perhaps his best known work is the beautifully carved furniture he created for the Polish Room at Wilkes College. Hellersperk’s first career was that of a diplomat. He spent seven years in (Editor's Note: Last week the Dallas Post presented the first in a three-part series summarizing the student drug and alcohol survey sponsored by the Back Mountain Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse. The first article indicated that most Back Mountain students grades nine through 12 had at least tried marijuana, a considerable majority were at least occasional drinkers of alcoholic beverages and slightly less than half are smokers. Dr. Keith Kilty, associate professor in the Marywood College, served as con- sultant to the council and author of the survey. This second part in the series summarizes attitudes of Back Mountain high school age students on drug-related subjects.) Sizable majorities of students residing in the Dallas and Lake- 7 of BAG the United States, working first in Washington, D.C. and then in Chicago as commercial attache. It was there that he met his wife. = On Sept. 1, two weeks after the Hellersperks arrived in Europe, Nazi troops marched into Poland, annexing that nation and beginning what was to become a six year global conflict. Hellersperk enlisted immediately in a Polish cavalry unit. “We were fighting only for about four weeks,” he explains. ‘Horses against tanks. I was wounded in a battle, but luckily the Germans did not take me. I stayed witha peasant family for three weeks, but when I was feeling better I found a saw.” When he ‘returned to Warsaw, Hellersperk made contact with the Armia Krajowa, the Polish un- Austrian great-grandfather, Hellersperk was investigated very carefully, but after about a month his credentials were accepted and he was sworn in. For the next five years Hellersperk and his wife worked in secret against the Germans. Hellersperk held two important posts simultaneously: officer of a military unit, and head of Section Six, in charge of information and publicity. To aid them in this latter work, the Hellersperks were given by the un- derground army a powerful radio which they kept hidden under the floor boards under a couch. Every evening Lehman school districts acknowledge that cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs produce ‘bad’ effects on their health. Respondents to the Back Mountain Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse survey agreed overwhelmingly(91.9 per cent) that cigarette smoking was bad. A strong majority of 76.8 per cent acknowledged that alcohol was bad with another 10.8 per cent stating that they ‘don’t know.’ Psychedelics, barbituates, am- phetamines and hard drugs were all recognized as ‘bad’ for health by sizable majorities, ranging from 81.1 to 94.2 per cent of the survey respondents. Marijuana received the smallest majority with only 55.9 per cent recognizing it as ‘bad’ for health and another 12.8 per cent stating that they didn’t know about marijuana’s effect on their health. at 6 the BBC would broadcast a special Polish program from London, where the government was in exile. Mrs. Hellersperk would take shor- thand notes of the news, and these notes would be carried by secret courier to the underground newspaper. Late in the war the Allies made an effort to arm the underground army in preparation for an uprising against the Germans. The underground had three secret airfields in the area around Hellersperk's village, a suburb of Warsaw, and it was the Hellersperks who would receive in- formation about when drops of arms and ammunition would be made. The Allies had detailed maps which had been smuggled out of Poland, showing the location of the airfields. broadcast the BBC would play a program of Polish music. The songs were chosen and the sequence in which they were played formed a code which indicated to Hellersperk when and where the next drop would be made. As soon as he had the news Hellersperk would send his courier to alert the troops. That night, after the ten o'clock curfew, he and 30 of his best soldiers would leave the village. “The best soldiers in my unit of 470 were Boy Scouts,” he says. ‘‘Some were only 12 years old. You know, an American mother might think it was cruel to use boys this age for such important and extremely dangerous work, but believe me, I was know Survey consultant Dr. Keith Kilty of Marywood College noted that the teenaged survey respondents were very similar to their parents and other adults in recognizing the potential damaging affects of certain drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, and then proceding to use the sub- stances anyway. Kilty pointed to the sizable per- centage using alcoholic beverages (87.1 per cent of the males and 76.1 per cent of the high school age females) while 76.8 per cent of the same survey group considered it ‘bad’ for health. The group tended to disagree with a statement that ‘using one drug leads to another’--except in the case of marijuana. The ‘one drug leads to another’ statement was rejected by 77.4 per cent when applied to cigarettes and by 73.5 per cent when applied to alcohol. But with marijuana only 33.6 per cent questionnaire to residents of that community asking them to rate local council members and inviting opinions on a number: of local issues. Association President Ben Orfaly, an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of the borough in the 1977 primary, signed the survey letter,announcing that the group planned a meeting May 23 at Lake Elementary School to form plans for the future. The survey asked if respondents believed the incumbent borough council at Harveys Lake was ‘responsive’ to ‘people’s needs’ and asked if council appointsments were based on friendship, sympathy or qualification. Alisting of council members follows with rating choices including ‘good,’ ‘fair’ and ‘poor. The survey also asks, by the name of each council member if the respondent would vote again for the particular council ‘member. The survey aiso requests resident opinioits of the effectiveness of the sometimes forced by the mothers of these boys to take them into my unit. All in all I had about 40 Boy Scouts in my unit--28 were Explorers and the rest were ordinary Scouts.” Half of the boys meeting the air drop would be armed, ~~ and the other half would carry only flashlights. At about one o’clock they would reach the airfield, and the armed boys would be placed strategically as guards. The other 15 would stand around the field, holding their flashlights ready. ‘Then would come an extremely important and exciting moment,” Hellersperk explains. ‘At about two o'clock you would see a light, and you could hear the bomber coming. The airplane would flash its lights in code to us and we would answer with our flashlights.” The supplies and arms dropped from the airplane would be tran- sported in a farm wagon back to a headquarters and distributed. Even Hellersperk’s mother sometimes would carry an unassembled gun under her clothes, its part strung together and hung around her neck. “You know, the spirit of the Polish people is so wonderful,” Hellersperk says. ‘‘After one year minimum of 500 people knew about me. The Germans offered prizes in cash and food for information about me, but over the five years not one word came out. ‘Only once, in late 1944, one of my sergeants was arrested and tortured disagreed. In other drug related ‘attitudes’, the high schoolers agreed as follows: -that alcohol is a drug (61.7 per cent) -that alcohol is a ‘dangerous’ drug (60.45 per cent) -that marijuana is a drug (73.6 per cent.) Only 45.25 per cent agreed with a statement that marijuana is a ‘dangerous’ drug. And slightly less than half (48.75 per cent) agreed that ‘there is a drug problem’ in the Back Mountain. The survey replies tended to downgrade parental performance in dealing with drug problems. Slightly more than half of the students agreed with a statement that parents were not really doing anything to stop drug abuse. A summary total of nearly 70 per collection. Garbage collection was recently dropped from borough the second half year. The questionnaire includes items on the need for recreational facilities and asks for a rating of local cable television service. It also asks, ‘Do you think dogs, stray or otherwise should be allowed to roam un- supervised?’ Another questions asks if residents would like to see a horsepower limit for motorboats or limits on the times respondent would support a petition to return the borough to Lake Township, the municipality from which it was excised in the 60's. The final question is for a rating on the Harveys Lake Municipal Authority noting that the question of Lake sewer operatins has ‘become a thorn in our collective sides, upper and lower.’ Orfaly indicated that the meeting of his association would begin at 8 p.m. at the Lake Elementary School on May 23. by the Gestapo. During the questioning they asked him if I was the person they knew only as a code name. Our organization was so good-- we had people everywhere--that the next day I got the message from this boy that he had been asked about me. ‘I left home for two or three days, but nobody came. This was late in the war, and at that time the Germans were so disorganized that I think they forgot about me.” Hellersperk watched the recent “Holocaust” program shown on NBC. “You know, the Germans murdered not only the Jewish people,” he says. “During the occupation they mur- dered also about four million Polish people. “In this film, ‘‘Holocaust”’, they did not show how bad it really was in the Warsaw ghetto. The ghetto was seven or eight city blocks only; it was much worse than they explained in the film.” The Polish underground did what it could to help the Jews in Warsaw. “We were helping with arms, and with food. When you are counting in the thousands and thousands, maybe hundreds are not very much, but I would say that in my village there were about 500 Jewish children, hidden between the Polish people.” The Russians invaded from the east, driving the German army back. In January, 1945 the Russians liberated Poland. *‘When the big day arrived we were (Continued on P. 20) ad’, sti talked with their parents a ‘few’ times about alcohol and a higher per- centage indicated they had talked only a few times with their parents regarding drug usage. More than 60 per cent agreed with a statement to the effect: that ‘parents drinking affects a child’s drinking.’ Slightly more than 30 per cent in- dicated that a parent's use of drugs affected a child's use of drugs. When asked if students felt free to use various sorts of drugs on school grounds, about four out of five students indicated that students feel free to smoke cigarettes. Only about one-fourth agreed that students felt free to drink on school grounds. But nearly one-half agreed that students feel free to use drugs. more than 30 per cent of the females said that drugs were sold frequently or occasionally on school grounds, l use surveyed agreed that the school should contact police when students are found using drugs at school. the number who would be willing to laws. Nearly 70 per cent said they would not report a drug dealer if they could do so anonymously. The survey respondents had sur- prisingly good attitudes toward local law enforcement officials with more than 50 per cent acknowledging that local police are ‘fair.’ percent indicated that local police are ‘too tough’ and the remainder in- dicated that police were ‘not tough enough.’ alcohol use among young people. TRAP rR hee ]
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers