Vol. 95, No. 19
ST
25 Cents
By DOTTY MARTIN
Associate Editor .
All charges against two Dallas school
directors accused of bid rigging have been
dismissed.
The charges were dropped by District
Magistrate Andrew Barilla following ‘a
hearing Monday night as the Dallas Post
went to press.
Barilla said after the hearing there was
not sufficient evidence to proceed with
prosecution of Tex Wilson and Harry Sick-
ler.
Originally scheduled to be heard by Dis-
trict Magistrate Earl Gregory, Magistrate
out of town, attending school.
Dismissed by Barilla were charges of
criminal conspiracy, obstructing adminis-
tration of law or other governmental func-
tions and speculating or wagering on offi-
cial action or information.
The charges had been based on an alleged
bid-ridding scheme in which Wilson and
Sickler were accused of providing a repre-
sentative of a Kingston architectural firm
with false information concerning the bid-
ding for purchase of the Trucksville Ele-
mentary School Building.
It was alleged that Wilson, 56, of RD 1,
Box 403, Dallas, and Sickler, 63, of 105
Lehman Ave., Dallas, informed Thomas
Doughton of Smith Miller & Associates Inc.
of Kingston that a Pittston businessman
planned to bid $100,000 for the building.
Smith Miller, which had originally
intended to bid $76,500 for the building,
upped its bid by $40,000 and submitted a
high bid of $116,500.
When the bids were opened by the Dallas
School Board, there was no $100,000 bid
from anyone and the only other bids
received by the board were a $61,000 bid
from Landfarm Inc. of Cambria and a
$75,000 bid from Frank Donnelly.
Corporal Thomas Sartori of the Pennsyl-
vania State Police who, along with Trooper
Dale Culver, investigated the case, said
late last week that he felt there was enough
evidence to. take the school directors to
trial.
“I sure do think there’s enough evi-
dence,” Sartori said in an interview. “If we
didn’t, we wouldn’t have proceeded with
the investigation.”
After Monday night’s hearing, Sartori
said the district magistrate had made a
ruling, and he had no comment.
had not been charged with any wrongdoing
in the case, admitted giving testimony to
the District Attorney in the matter.
Doughton’s employer, Donald Smith of
Centermoreland, president of Smith Miller
& Associates, Inc., admitted his company is
still interested in purchasing the Trucks-
ville Elementary School Building.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following
article, written by Michael Geczi of
the New York Bureau of the Dallas
Morning News, was submitted to
The Dallas Post by Bertha Supulski
of Mill St., Dallas. It appeared in
the May 6th issue of the Dallas
Morning News, a Sunday newspaper
in the Dallas, Texas area.
Mrs. Supulski and her husband,
Ernie, whose sons Roy and Jeff both
received the article from her son,
Jeff. She found its contents quite
amazing and wanted to share it with
other readers of The Dallas Post.
We think you, too, will find the
whole thing quite amazing as you
find that readers in Dallas, Texas
were informed of just what’s been
happening around here in the past
few months.)
DALLAS, Pa. - When a recent
ambulance controversy made head-
|lines across America, the tele-
phones in the municipal building
here began ringing furiously.
“It was kind of funny,” recalls
Paul LaBar, mayor of Dallas Bor-
ough. “We have a little volunteer
ambulance service here, and people
were going to be sued.”
The local residents were quickly
assured th4t their emergency serv-
ice wasn’t involved, and that all the
publicity had to do with the “other
Dallas...the one in Texas.”
The second part of that explana-
tion was necessary because resi-
dents don’t think of Texas when the
name Dallas is mentioned. To them,
Dallas is their hometown.
They aren’t alone.
There are at least 13 variations of
the Dallas name stretching from
Georgia and North Carolina on the
East Coast to Oregon on the West
Coast.
And while the exact Dallas name
is found most often, there also are
“near Dallases,” such .as Dallas
City, Ill., Dallas Center, Iowa, and
Dallastown, Pa.
But the mountainous Wyoming
Valley section of northeastern Penn-
sylvania, the link to “the other
Dallas’ seems most obvious.
Among other things, 23.5 square-
mile Dallas, Pa., has a football
controversy, famous cheerleaders, a
health business climate and a civic
pride that measures up quite favor-
ably to that more often associate
with Dallas, Texas.
Both municipalities were appar-
ently named after the same family.
In fact, Dallas (the 8,200-person
township and the 2,700-person bor-
ough) is. nearly 30 years older than
its Texas counterpart. )
In the late 1700s, Dallas was
called Bedford Township. But in
April 1817, Dallas Township was
established, after Nehemiah Ide
petitioned a Luzerne County court to
name the area after Alexander
James Dallas, a famous Philadel-
phian.
As it turns out, Dallas had died
just a few months earlier in Tren-
ton, N.J., but the locals apparently
had not heard about his demise. No
matter, Dallas was on the map.
According to LaBar, Alexander
Dallas had a son, George Mifflin
Dallas, who became vice president
most’ historians say Dallas, Texas,
was named for in 1846.
He, too, is honored in Dallas, Pa.
The local Masonic Lodge is called
the George Mifflin Dallas Lodge.
The past few months have been
difficult ones for Dallas, Pa., foot-
ball fans. Though the team has been
fairly successful over the years, the
Dallas school board voted in March
to oust the Mountaineers’ head
(See TALE, page 8)
By DOTTY MARTIN
Associate Editor
Dallas Post/Bill Savage
festivities.
Memorial Day
can Legion Post 672, Dallas, lists
the following itinerary for the
Annual Memorial Day Parade
which will be held in Dallas Bor-
ough on May 28.
The parade will begin at 9 a.m. at
the American Legion Building on
Route 415 in Dallas and proceed to
the monument located in the center
of Dallas Borough where Com-
mander Lyons will conduct a brief
ceremony, paying tribute to our
vallas Post/Ed Campbell
With prom time right around the corner and with
graduations rapidly approaching, Back Mountain PAK
(Parents and Kids) is pulling out all stops to alert
parents to teenage drinking and driving.
Mrs. JoAnn Hall, chairman of PAK, explained
theorganization wanted to get its message across to as
many people as possible and, after deciding the cost of
highway billboards was out of range of their budget,
instead bought a sign that is currently placed on the
front lawn of the Dallas Post Office.
The message on the sign, which is changed every
week, conveys a message to the public that teenage
drinking can be a problem and should be stopped
~
geared toward teengers attending their school proms
while future messages will be geared toward gradua-
tion and the parties that go with it.
“What we want to do,” said Mrs. Hall, ‘‘is make
parents stop and think about serving beer to teenagers
at parties.”
The PAK chairman was quick to tip her hat to the
kindness of the Dallas Post Office in allowing the
organization to use its front lawn to display its sign:
The sign will remain at the Post Office for four or five
weeks and, after graduation time, will be stored. It
will then be used at different times throughout the
year to announce seminars and workshops being
i”
deceased veterans.
The parade participants will then
continue to Warden Cemetery where
appropriate honors will be rendered
to the war dead. John Sheehan of
Dallas, executive director of the
Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of
Commerce, will serve as the main
speaker at this ceremony.
The American Légion Firing
Squad will also pay tribute to war
veterans at the Chapel Lawn Ceme-
tery.
Older Americans
She’s a real
history buff
By WALLY KOCHER
Staff Correspondent
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The month of
May has been designated as ‘“‘Older
American’s Month.’ The Dallas
Post has decided to honor these
individuals by featuring an Older
American in each week’s issue
to show that there is life, quality
life, after 65. We have chosen Miss
Verna Lamoreaux of Meadows
Apartments; as this week’s honor-
ary Older Anderican.)
It’s not too often that one has the
opportunity to talk to someone who
has actually experienced the history
we can only read about. The Dallas
Post, however; was given the
chance to speak with such a person,
(See OLDER, page 8)
VERNA LAMOREAUX
§
Denis J. Abromavage, 25, of 84 E.
Columbus Ave., Pittston, was sented
to 16 months to nearly five years in
prison Friday in connection with the
deaths of four people in a boating
accident last June 18 at Harveys
Lake.
In addition to the jail term, Abro-
mavage' will spend an additional
five years on probation as a result
of ‘the sentencing, conducted by
Luzerne County Judge Patrick J.
Toole Jr. After 16 months, Abroma-
vage’s record will be reviewed by
the state parole board which will
made a decision as to whether he
should stay in prison or be released.
Following the sentencing Friday,
Abromavage was taken to the
county jail to begin serving the
prison term.
Abromavage’s attorneys, Joseph
Cosgrove and Michael Cefalo, had
asked Toole to limit their client’s
prison term to 12 months, .elying on
the fact that Abromavage has no
prior criminal record. Neither Cos-
grove nor Cefalo, however, stated
they will appeal the judge’s deci-
sion.
Volunteer honored
Abromavage, who pleaded guilty
lat month to one count of aggra-
vated assault, four counts of invol-
untary manslaughter, one count of
recklessly endangering another
person and one count of negligent
ating a 1978 Mastercraft motorboat
at the time of the accident. The
Mastercraft boat was owned by
Mark Turner, 24, of Shavertown.
Turner was not held criminally
responsible for any of the deaths.
With Abromavage at the helm,
“inotor’ boat fram “the rear, killing
Sharon Pallis, 39, of Valley View
Drive, RD 3, Wyoming; her son,
Joseph, 6; Karen Pitcavage, 34, of
and her son, Thomas, 7.
Ten-year-old Michelle Pallis, also
a passenger in the boat, was seri-
ously injured while her father,
Leonard Pallis Jr.; 39, the driver of
10; and Thomas Pitcavage Sr., 39,
all passengers in the motor boat,
Dallas Post/Ed Campbell
The Dallas School Board rejected
a proposed budget of nearly $9.3
million at its meeting last Monday
evening. A second meeting will be
held last this month to attempt to
pass the tentative 1984-85 school
spending plan.
At its regular monthly meeting,
the board also reported it will keep
fourth grade students at the West-
moreland Elementary School for at
least one more year.
The spending plan, which included
a five-mill increase in taxes, was
defeated 6-3 by the directors. Voting
in favor of the budget were board
president Joseph O’Donnell, Dr.
William Camp and Earnest Ash-
bridge. Voting against the budget
were John George, Donald Jones, Al
Pisaneschi, Barbara Meade, Harry
Sickler and Tex Wilson.
The proposed budget called for
$9,285,520 with a tax millage of 116
mills. A mill is a $1 tax on every
$1,000 of assessed property value.
Had the tentative budget been
passed, a homeowner in the district
v
Inside The Post
Births
ssss0avennaceanns
Obituaries ..............
Perspective ............
School ................... 13
Sports ............ 3,10,11
{
Te