By JANE C. BOLGER
Staff Correspondent
The Dallas School Board election
seems to be the local race drawing
the most attention as seven candi-
dates vie for five open seats with a
sixth seat for a two-year term
having been decided in the primary
elections.
The candidates are incumbents
Ernest Ashbridge, Patricia Greg-
ory, Shawn Murphy and Albert Pis-
aneschi and challengers Johnny
George, Donald Jones and Harry
Sickler who have combined forces
to run on one ticket. i
Each candidate who could be
reached was asked to state his: or
her reasons for running for a seat
on the school board, what they felt
were the issues in this election, and
their goals. All were given the
opportunity to provide an accompa-
nying photograph.
Ernest Ashbridge of Shavertown,
a 12-year Dallas School Board vet-
eran who won in the primaries on
the Republican ticket, stands on his
background and experience.
Ashbridge is President of the
West Side Vo-Tech board and also
represents Dallas on the Luzerne
wi,
i
1983
7
Lisa Bond, Tom
Fabian and Ed Halda.
May sue township
25 Cents
By DOTTY MARTIN
Associate Editor
He waited two and a half years
for it. And, on a day when he should
have been drinking champagne and
kissing his wife, John Bauer felt
almost empty.
After two and a half years of
battling the Dallas Township Zoning
Board over the construction of four
two-unit buildings on his Route 309
property in Fernbrook, Baur, pro-
prietor of Treat Drive-In got his
way one day last week. Luzerne
County Court Judge Bernard Brom-
inski denied the township’s final
appeal of an earlier decision that.
cleared the way for the stores.
“It’s a hollow victory,” said Baur,
a teacher in the Dallas School Dis-
trict, as he reflected on the 31-
month battle.
Baur’s bitterness comes in the
fact that 2» years ago he had the
necessary financing for the project;
he had tenants lined up; and he had
contracts worked out.
“Now, we’ll have to start all
over,” said Baur, who with his wife,
Lena, resides at 125 Armstrong Dr.,
much greater cost now. We're just
going to have to re-evaluate where
we are and what we are going to
do.” i
Looking back on the two and a
half years he spent watching his
dream slip further and further
away, Baur outlined his original
plans.
building on his property that opened
in August, 1981, Baur decided to
build eight more units like it or four
The building that currently stands
on the Fernbrook property houses
John’s Hobby Shop, which is oper-
ated by John Lukasavage of Shaver-
(See BAUR, page 8)
a
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i
ERNEST ASHBRIDGE
Intermediate Unit No. 18 board. He
is also president of the Back Moun-
tain Memorial Library board and
was recently instrumental in
arranging the sale of the abandoned
Dallas Borough School to the
library.
Ashbridge’s goals are ‘keeping
taxes in line while providing the
By JANE C. BOLGER
Staff Correspondent
The case of John Kundrat, the
fired Dallas School District custo-
dial employee for whom a Private
Hearing was held two weeks ago,
has, been settled. The settlement
came. not through a Dallas School
Board decision, but rather by the
fact that Kundrat resigned.
Kundrat’s resignation last week
was confirmed by Dallas School
District Superintendent Dr. Richard
A. Shipe.
him...he has already started his new
position,”’ said Shipe, noting that “I
wish Kundrat well.”
at its Nov. 14 meeting to officially
accept Kundrat’s resignation at
their November 14 meeting.
Whether or not this precludes the
still pending board decision on Kun-
drat’s hearing will apparently be
decided with the legal advice of
p Atty. Charles Lemmond, who is
~ acting as special advisor to the
board for both the Kundrat and the
John Gabriel hearings.
The fifth Public Hearing for
Gabriel, who was also fired from his
post supervising the custodial
employees, was held last week. On
the stand was District Business
manager ' Sandra Vidlicka, the
second witness to be called for the
Dallas School District who are
acting as prosecutors in this case!
Two more hearings had been
scheduled as one was set for Tues-
day, Oct. 25 and the second will be
held Thursday, Oct. 27. Two more
hearings are tentatively scheduled
for the first Tuesday and Thursday
in November.
It is unknown at this time how
many more witnesses, all of whom
must be cross-examined, will be
called to present the school dis-
trict’s case against Gabriel.
Following that, Gabriel’s defense
will be presented by Attorneys
Arthur Piccone and Ronald Santora
who represent him.
Again, the exact number of wit-
nesses to be called is unknown, but
it is expected that the hearing will
continue for several more weeks.
This will place the time zone for the
elections when several of the Dallas
School Board members who are
acting as ‘‘judges’’ will leave office.
Christmas trees.
vehicle.
as “Suburban Casuals.”
’
:0-
HARRY SICKLER
best education possible.” He would
like to see more basic computer
skills, which he called ‘“‘the way of
the future,” introduced into the
district.
Johnny George of Dallas was on
vacation out of town and unavaila-
ble for comment, but a spokesman
for George stated he is running ‘‘as
a team’ with Jones and Sickler.
George, who won on both ballots,
also captured the lone two-year seat
in the primaries, and is presently
contending for a four-year seat.
Should he win this, he will have to
immediately resign from one post
or the other, thus making one of the
new school board’s first official
actions the appointment of a new
member.
Patricia Gregory of Trucksville,
who has served 11 years on the
board and won on the Democratic
ticket, is using as her campaign
slogan “Elect a voice not an echo.”
Learning the ropes
DONALD JONES
Mrs. Gregory stated she has often
assumed the role of ‘‘a watchdog for
Dallas” and hopes to continue to
look out for the peoples’ interests
particularly in the area of finances
and of upgrading the school for the
students.
“A woman’s voice is needed on
the board,”” Gregory stated and
voiced her concerns about bus
transportation, one of her pet
projects, which she coordinated for
most of her terms in office and was
responsible for creating a two way
system.
on the Republican ballot, is strong
on ‘quality education but with econ-
omy in the budget.” He noted that
10 years ago when I built my home
the tax millage in Dallas was 53
now it is 111...and the school enroll-
ment is down.”
(See ELECTION, page 8)
Parade planned
Dallas Elementary School and
end behind the Dallas Acme.
It will cost $100 each for any
political candidates who: wish to
hang their campaign posters in
Kingston Township.
The Township enacted a Political
Sign Ordinance after growing com-
plaints that, long after elections
were over, political residue left the
area ‘‘looking like the billboard of
the Back Mountain,” according to
Mark Kunkle, Kingston Township
All candidates, both county and
local who filed to run for office in
the primary elections last spring,
received letters from the township
informing them that it would be
necessary to place a $100 bond with
Township Zoning Officer John
Dana. -
provided the candidates do not
place signs in the area more than 30
days prior to election and remove
all signs them within a 30-day
period after the election.
The candidates who ran in the
primaries all complied with this
ruling and not one forfeited his or
her $100 according to Township
Manager Mark Kunkle. To date, two
candidates have paid the $100 fee to
place campaign posters in the Shav-
ertown/Trucksville area for the
Nov. 8 election.
A fire in a dumpster at the Dallas
Senior High School early Sunday
morning resulted in a small explo-
sion, it was reported by Bob
Besecker, assistant fire chief of the
Dallas Fire Co.
Dallas band
gets second
The award winning Dallas High
School Marching Band received a
2nd place trophy in Class II compe-
tition in the second annual ‘“‘March
of Champions”, held recently at
Lake-Lehman High School. m
Other schools competing in Class
II were Wyoming Area, Nanticoke,
Lackawanna Trail, Pittston Area,
Blue Ridge and Bishop Hoban.
The band under the direction of
David C. Benn, was awarded a first
place trophy in Class II in Allen-
town, first place at Wyoming Area
T.0.B. and four first place trophies
at the annual band festival spen-
sored by the Arthritis Foundation.
The Mountaineer Band competed
will compete Oct. 30 at Nanticoke.
broke out shortly after 1 a.m.
‘Sunday and was contained to a
portable dumpster which had been
pulled up to the loading dock behind
the high school. :
“The dumpster was loaded with
paper, junk and paint cans,’ said
Besecker, ‘‘and there could have
Besecker said one engine
responded to the scene and the
gating.
Inside The Post
BIrths ......oiiienn 3
Business ............... 13
Calendar ................ 9
Classified .......... 14,15
Cookbook ................5¢
Obituaries ...............2
People ................. 6,1
Perspective ............ 4
School .................. 12
Sports............... 10,11
Week in review ....... 2