Vol. 95, No. 23
25 Cents
By WALLY KOCHER
Staff Correspondent
Lehman Township suffered the
loss of its borough building earlier
this year, due to a fire. Since that
time, plans have been underway to
rebuild the structure.
Instead of tearing down the entire
remains, however, it has been
decided to remove the top nine
layers of cinder block only, and to
rebuild, using the remaining cinder
blocks as a base. Members of the
road department have been com-
missioned to do this job.
he borough building while one
member of the road department,
Greg Simms, 24, of Lehman, was
standing atop the burnt remains.
According to Simms, the wall
began to crumble while he was in
qualified inspectors. By this, I mean
engineers or architects.”
According to Alan Major, Lehman
Township Supervisor, the building
was inspected primarily by Willard
Garey of Lehman, and Don Hughes.
However, Major did not know if
either man had an engineering
degree.
“Both men have been in the
contracting business for years,”
Major said. ‘I feel they're experts
in their field.”
Calls were made to both Garey
and Hughes, however, neither of the
men could be reached.
“I feel it’s safe to build onto the
old blocks,” added Major. ‘After
we remove the top nine layers of
_block, we're going to have the roof
blogks. As of now, we have no plans
build the structure any taller
layers. He jumped off the wall, and!
several blocks landed on top of him,
injuring his leg slightly.
This brought to mind, for several
area residents, that perhaps it’s not
a good idea to use a portion of the
old building as a base.
“If those walls won’t support the
weight of one man, how will it
support a roof?”’ asked one man
who wished to remain anonymous.
“If it’s going to be another flat roof,
it will be even heavier when it
snows.”
“Anybody can see that the walls
aren’t in good condition,” he added.
“Cinder blocks are made with heat,
and when they're exposed to heat
again, they become weak.”
A spokesman from the Povg I D
Asineintes. Ine; 4 af tural
Lngine®ring firm, explained just
how hot cinder block ‘has to get
“It’s true that cinder blocks
become worthless after being
exposed to heat. However, the heat
we’re talking about is around 1,200
degrees, and that’s during a length
of time. It’s possible that this
amount of heat can be reached
during a structure fire, but I
haven’t seen the Lehman borough
building, so I wouldn’t be able to
say that this is the case with this
building. 3
“Whatever the case,”’ he contin-
ued, “it’s important that such build-
ings, especially those used for
public purposes, be inspected by
he proposed building will not be
sed for the road department any
longef Another building for this will
be rected on the lot. Ignatius Hoz-
offipa., Jalso a Lehman Township
Supep¥isor, explained the uses for
the renovated building.
/ “There will be three basic uses.
# There will be a meeting room
located in the building. This will be
used for borough meetings, and
other public meetings. Also, the
police department, and lastly a
zoning office will be located iin the
building,”
ow
bi
Building ruins
oe
All-American boy!
Dallas Post/Ed Campbell
watching his brother,
baseball.
play Little League
Open house will be held at the
Dallas Methodist Church on Satur-
day, July 7, from 2 to 5 p.m. to
celebrate the golden wedding anni-
versary of Sheldon Mosier and his
wife, the former Hilda Ruggles, of
Pikes Creek. The Mosiers feel the
love and friendship of those they
have come to know are gifts in
themselves and ask that no other
gifts be presented.
Mrs. Mosier was active in the
Methodist Church at Pikes Creek
and taught school at Loyalville and
Dallas Township until she married.
The following years were spent rais-
-ing their family in‘ Laceyville and
Dallas.
3
Sheldon graduated from Penn
State and then taught school at East
Berlin, Laceyville-Meshoppen and
Dallas Township until retirement in
1970. He has always been active in
the local Rotary Clubs. Both Mr.
and Mrs. Mosier have been active in
the Methodist Church.
Following Mr. Mosier’s retire-
ment, the couple built a home in
Naples, Florida, and enjoy a good
part of the year in the south.
The couple has four children,
Marilyn Yale, Naples, Florida;
Allan, Fulton, New York; Clark,
Wilmington, Delaware; and Dale,
Austin, Texas. They also have seven
grandchildren.
J.R. Davis
Co. notes
26 years
By WALLY KOCHER
Staff Correspondent
Recently the Back Mountain area
has experienced numerous celebra-
tions, all of which were to mark
very special events. One such cele-
bration was to mark the 25th anni-
versary of the creation of the J.R.
Davis Volunteer Fire Company.
According to William Casterline,
member and treasurer of the
department, it has come a long way
since its birth 25 years ago. Caster-
line has been with the department
for the entire time.
“The idea for such a fire depart-
ment came about in 1959,” said
Casterline. “Albert Davis, the son of
Jonathan R. Davis, gave the area
residents a carriage house and the
surrounding property so that they
could begin a fire department. It
was done in the memory of his
father.” :
The first officers appointed were
President, J. Sheldon Cave; Vice
President, Edgar M. Darby; Secre-
tary, John M. Hewitt; Treasurer,
Paul Davis; Fire Chief, Willis E.
Opinions differ
By WALLY KOCHER
Staff Correspondent
The Dallas Post reported last
January that the Diagnostic Related
Group program, (DRG), would be
coming soon, and so it has. The
program went into effect on July 1.
As we stated in the January issue,
DRG is a new prospective reim-
bursement method which will allow
third party insurance companies to
reimburse hospitals on a “per diag-
nosis’”’ ‘basis, instead of for every
day spent in the hospital.
After a patient has been admitted
to a hospital and diagnosed, it will
be determined how much reim-
bursement the hospital will receive.
The rate of reimbursement will
depend on the diagnosis.
The DRG tells specifically how
many days the patient should have
to stay in the hospital. If the patient
requires les time than expected to
recover, the hospital will still be
reimbursed for the entire amount
settled upon. However, if the patient
has to stay in the hospital longer
than expected, the hospital either
has to absorb the costs, or they can
appeal for a new diagnosis.
Currently, the new. program has
only been adopted by Medicare, and
affects only those senior citizens
who are eligible to receive assist-
ance for hospital payments from
Medicare. - However, the program
will affect all hospital patients
within a few year
DR. ALAN BOONIN
Some doctors in the area are in
favor of this type of program, while
others are doubtful of its outcome.
Dr. Alan Boonin, of Dallas, is one
doctor who's in favor of the pro-
gram.
“I think it’s a good idea,” he said.
“It will make hospital care a’ lot
less expensive. However, with any
program, there will be people who
will abuse it. Time will tell.”
Another area doctor,
does not share in Dr.
optimism abut the program.
Dr. Maria McGrane, whose office
is located in the Back Mountain .
Medical Center, is cautious about
the new plan.
however,
Boonin’s
“The program deserves a chance,
but I'm just not sure as to how
effective it will be,” she said. “I
know one thing for sure, and that is
there are other possible avenues to
cutting costs in medicine.
“One thing we’ll ‘have to be par-.
tieularly careful ..with is that
patients will receive proper follow-
up care under this program, no
matter what,” she added. “It could
possibly be disadvantageous to doc-
tors, also. Because of malpractice
reasons, lawyers are telling the
doctors to take every precaution
when diagnosing a patient. Because
of this program, however, Medicare
will now be urging us to send them
home after their allotted time is up.
Plus if a patient has a complaint
that doesn’t have anything to do
with his or her diagnosis, I'm not
sure if we’ll be allowed to treat it as
an inpatient. Making a diagnosis is
a very complicated thing. It’s not as
black and white as this program
wants to make it look.”
Fire Co. members
Ide; and Captain, William A. Cast-
erline.
Renovations and an addition to
the building were begun immedi-
ately. Sufficient work had been
completed by January of 1960 so the
effective July 15.
superintendent, effective July'15.
Dallas School District.
company could use the garage area.
Also at this time, Albert Davis
presented the department with its
first piece of fire fighting equip-
ment, a 1959 Howe pumper.
The next piece of major equip-
ment was obtained in 1962. A used
cab and chassis was purchased
from the Stegmeier Brewery. Wil-
liam Waggoner and several other
constructed a 1400 gallon water tank
which was later mounted on the
chassis.
Another chassis was purchased in
1966, and the tank was transferred
to it.
Al Zim donated a 1962 Cadillac
ambulance to the company in 1973.
The need for more space was
quite evident by now, so in the same
year, another addition to the build-
ing was begun. This doubled the size
of the existing building.
A portable pump, which had the
capacity to pump 400 gallons of
“
water a minute, and 15 complete
sets of bunker gear (helmet, bunker
coat, boots, gloves and face shields)
Voge obtained by the department in
Inside The Post
Births .................... 3
Calendar .............. 12
[Classified .......... 10,11
Cookbook ...............5
Obituaries .............. 3
People................... 6
Perspective ............ 4
Sports .............. 7.8.9