EI ES ee cH OR The Dallas-based newspaper publishing firm of Pennaprint Inc. this week received a letter of thanks ance for a special edition sup- porting the prompt release of hostages held in Tehran, Iran. Pennaprint’s The Miner, Car- and The Midvalley Gazette, Olyphant, Pa., combined to produce a special front page effect in petition format in which the friends and neighbors of Hostage Michael Metrinko, a for- mer Olyphant resident, asked for his prompt release along with that of other American hostages. In a letter to Pennaprint Dear Mr. Carlsen: work in Tehran. her idea. Mr. Ray Carlsen, Publisher, Box 515, January 25, 1980 ZN J / ih ™ Hon: Caviston Cllale Barbara Camston C Yale dng Mbscese C deta Ty Mmascary CS i P: Py voli ony C data C ‘abl ee any frm 2 A Teme sn abe: AY [1 A GAT, CoAnd IR fot Serve + Conbemdasl & hag/es Hate) CarBownate Fa b GA Llondie Ta - 2 ondyle Ph pa DO: leavage eri 4 Ci dRak rn Conn Mss } iw QT © gary publisher Ray Carlsen, Vance praised Metrinko’s performance as a consul in Tabriz, a city in Nor- thern Iran and said he would pass the Miner and Gazette front pages along to the Iran working group within the state department. Copies of the special petition were also sent to the Iranian Embassy in Washington, D.C., to the American Embassy in Tehran, and to the Ayatollah Khomeini, Qom, Iran. Carlsen said no acknowledgement was received from the latter three addresses. Pennaprint publishes The Dallas Post, The Abington Journal, The Mountaintop Eagle and Western Poconos Press-Tribune in addition to The Miner and The Gazette. Franklin Township supervisors were sporting red faces at the board’s February meeting Monday evening in the basement of the Orange United Methodist Church following disclosure that they were violating a state statute by paying the township’s police chief, Richard Bartholomew of Orange, 33 cents per mile for the use of his privately owned automobile for police ac- tivity. State law limits payment for the use of privately owned automobiles to 17 cents per mile under Act 1979- 51, enacted July 20, 1979, by the state legislature. During 1979, the Franklin Township board approved payment each month at 28 cents per mile to Bartholomew, in addition to a monthly ‘salary’ of $250. At the January reorganization meeting of the board last month, the rate per mile was upped to 33 cents per mile for Bartholomew. In addition, his monthly salary was raised from $250 per month to $275 per month. Police Chief Bartholomew is a fulltime day supervisor at the Air Products plant in Hanover Town- ship. He resides across the street from Harold Hoover, a member of the Franklin Township board of supervisors and who also is em- ployed at the Air Products plant in Hanover Township. For November and December, 1979, Bartholomew submitted and payment was approved for upwards of 500 miles during each of those months at the 28 cents per mile rate. For some unexplained reason, Bartholomew's bill for January travel for police work was sub- mitted for only 249 miles at the new 33 ‘cents per mile rate. The reduction in mileage was more than 50 percent over the mileage sub- mitted on the November and - December bills. The limit per mile for state of- ficials and employees for any of the state’s subdivisions is 17 cents per mile. The federal government limits payment for government use of a private automobile to 18 cents per mile. This information was brought out at several meetings of the Franklin Township Board of Supervisors by Franklin Township residents who attend meetings but to no avail. The board, after hearing the com- plaints from residents, took no action and continued paying the 28 cents per mile plus salary to Bar- tholomew until last month when arrogant board members upped the payments to 33 cents per mile - in addition to a 10 per cent salary increase. Hoover, a member "of the Franklin Township three-member board board of supervisors and also the board’s secretary-treasurer, was confronted by the disclosure at Monday night's meeting of the Franklin Township board. Shown a copy of Act 1979-51, as enacted by the state legislature on July 20, 1979, Hoover was caught by surprise and replied that the board would have to consult its solicitor, Atty. John E. Morris, who was not in attendance at the meeting. Hoover said the township couldn’t afford the purchase of a police cruiser and the board was of the opinion that the arrangement with Bartholomew to pay him 28 cents per mile, (which was raised to 33 cents as of January, 1980,) was the best for the township. “We'll just have to find some other way to compensate him for the use of his car,” Hoover said. At several meetings during 1979, Police Chief Bartholomew has come under fire from Franklin Township residents attending meetings, who complained that he is seldom seen on patrol or other police duty. Police callers in many instances are referred to the state police barracks at Wyoming. Northeastern Bank of Penn- sylvania plans to build a branch office in the Back Mountain, ac- cording to Tom Roberts, vice president of marketing. The bank officials filed an ap- plication in January to construct a branch building of Northeastern on property at the intersection of Route 309 and Upper Demunds Road, across from Wilson's Restaurant. According to Roberts, the bank must first file applications with the Pennsylvania Department of Banking Institutions and the F.D.I.C., giving them specific in- formation concerning the bank’s plans. Following examination by both groups, Northeastern Bank will be notified whether or not the plans specified in the applications are approved. Leonard Kozik, Dallas Township zoning officer, said that he had been contacted by the Northeastern Bank concerning percolation tests and water and sewage facilities. If approved, Northeastern would become the second area bank to announce Back Mt. branch plans in 1980. Hanover Bank announced Franklin Township board of supervisors raised salaries of its roadmaster and other road department personnel by 10 percent for 1980, making Franklin Town- ship’s road employees the highest paid of nearby townships. Current (1980) salaries for road department personnel in the township are listed as follows: $6.20 per hour for roadmaster; $5.60 per hour for an assistant; $5 per hour for truck driver and $4.65 for laborer. The 10 percent increase is above the seven percent recom- mended by the federal government The job of roadmaster was passed Recent reports that Wilson's Restaurant has been sold are completely unfounded, according to Robert Coscia, one of the two owners of the restaurant. Coscia said that several parties have expressed interest in the business in the past but he said that nothing developed following talks with the owners. At one time, according to Coscia, two gentlemen from Western Pancake indicated interest but decided that the building was too large for their plans. Coscia also said that contrary to rumors, he and his partner, Wilson Garinger, have not been ap- proached by the Elby ‘Big Boy’ Restaurant to purchase the business. Wilson's Restaurant has not been placed on thé market, according to Coscia. 5 P.M. FRIDAY re-organization meeting to Willard Race, son of 78-year old Russell Race, Sr., a member of the board of supervisors, who held the road- master position for more than a decade until his recent illness in October. Race, Sr., however, continues to work on the road department, as evidenced by payment for work he performed last month and for which he was paid about $250 at Monday's meeting. His son, Willard Race, at Monday night’s meeting received the following net salary payments for January. For the first half of January, payment to Willard Race was approved at Monday night's meeting for 101 hours, plus five overtime hours. For the second half of January, payment to Willard Race was approved for 99 regular hours and three overtime hours. The township has no garbage collection, has a volunteer fire department and most of the tax monies go for payment of super- visors, auditors, solicitor, or other administrators and road workers. Board Chairman William Meade presided. In attendance were construction plans which began a few weeks ago. First Eastern, United Penn and Wyoming National, the latter with two locations, already operate Back Mt. branches. Northeastern, a Scranton-based bank, is one of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s largest banking companies. Bevevino property ‘total loss’ A raging fire totally destroyed a large English Tudor style house on Shrineview Drive, Dallas, Friday night and early Saturday morning. Robert Besecker, assistant fire chief, in charge of the firefighting in the - absence of Fire Chief Don Shaffer, described the house as a total loss. - Formerly owned by Harrison H. Smith, the house had recently been purchased by Frank Bevevino and was in the process of being remodeled. Besecker said that there was no suspicion of arson. He said that workmen had been in the house on Friday but no one knows what caused the blaze. The assistant chief was on the scene before the firemen arrived. He said there was no way they could save the house since the flames were through the roof from the basement before the firemen came on the scene. “Wind and lack of water supply hampered the firefighting,” said Besecker, ‘‘but the fire was so totally involved no amount of water could have saved the structure.” According to Besecker, the house was insured by the owner. On behalf of the Dallas firemen, Besecker extended appreciation to the firemen of Franklin Township, Kunkle, Shavertown, Trucksville, Idetown, Lehman and Harveys Lake, who responded to aid in fighting the fire. The Bevavinos, when contacted, said that they were very sad about losing the house since it was their desire to own an old house in the area. Mrs. Bevevino said that at the present time, they were undecided what their future plans would be for the property. “It could have been worse,” she said, ‘we could have been living in it and lost everything.” a z _ PMI 18 Sena a hes
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers