“2 THE DALLAS POST
1984
Dallas Post/Ed Campbell
JOINS MEDICAL
ASSOCIATES
Dr. David Greenwald is
pleased to announce that Dr.
Edward T. O'Brien has joined
Medical Oncology Associates of
Wyoming Valley, P.C.
Dr. O'Brien is a graduate of
Fairfield University, Fairfield,
Connecticut and Georgetown
University School of Medicine,
Washington D.C. He has com-
pleted a three year medical
residency. program at Hahne-
mann University Hospital in
Philadelphia, PA and has just
completed a two year fellow-
“ship in Medical Oncology at the
Milton S. Hershey Medical
Center, Hershey, PA. While at
Hershey Medical Center, Dr.
O'Brien was honored as a Clini-
cal Fellow of the American
Cancer Society.
Dr. O'Brien has been trained
in the field of cancer and
hematological malignancies and
specializes in cancer chemoth-
erapy and cancer management.
Medical Oncology Associates
currently includes Dr. David
Greenwald, board certified
Medical Oncologist and Chief of
the division of Medical Oncol-
ogy and Hematology, Wilkes-
Barre General Hospital, Jeff
Fremont, Ph.D., clinical psychol-
ogist specializing in the psycho-
logical and emotional needs of
‘cancer patients and their fami-
lies, Lila Kozicki, R.N., Karen
Delaney, R.N. and Alice Pier-
son, R.N., chemotherapy
nurses.
Dr. O'Brien and Dr. Green-
wald are on the active staff of
the Wilkes-Barre General Hos-
pital and the Nesbitt Memorial
Hospital and on the consulting
staff of the Mercy Hospital and
NPW Hospital. Medical Oncol-
ogy Associates is located in the
Wilkes-Barre Medical Arts
Building at 35 West Linden
Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA. Tele-
phone 826-1741.
Dr. O'Brien will reside in
Dallas with his wife Bernice.
DER awards
rodent grants
The Wilkes-Barre Region of the
Department of Environmental
Resources (DER) has awarded
Rodent Source Elimination Grants
to 21 municipalities in Luzerne
County, totaling $34,377, Regional
Director James W. Chester
announced recently.
The grants are used by each
municipality to eliminate and reno-
vate areas that would harbor
rodents. Back Mountain municipali-
ties and the amounts they will
receive include: Dallas Township,
$554; Dallas Borough, $554.
The legislators that represent
these areas include Senator Frank
0’Connell, Senator Ray Musto, Rep.
Thomas Tigue, Rep. George Hasay,
Rep. Frank Coslett, Rep. Correale
Stevens, Rep. Stanley Jarolin and
Rep. Kevin Blaum.
Bazaar held
Dallas Post/Ed Campbell
Dr. Michael Case
By WALLY KOCHER
Staff Correspondent
The universe, along with its stars,
planets, moons and comets, has
been a mystery that man has
attempted to unravel since the
beginning of time.
There are records of early starga-
zer's findings that date back to
centuries before Christ.
Through the eons of time, a major
portion of these early astronomers
were in fact merely amateurs. That
did not make them less important,
however.
Most people think of astronomical
research as something performed
by devoted academies peering
through the eyepieces of huge tele-
scopes on remote mountaintops. But
in fact, every clear night, thousands
of small telescopes wielded by
equally dedicated observers swing
into action around the world.
Dr. Michael Case, 37, of Trucks-
ville, is among the thousands of
amateur astronomers who either
stargaze for pleasure, or patrol the
heavens for comets and meteors,
research.
“I’ve been interested in astron-
omy ever since I was a little boy,”
said Case. “My uncle built a tele-
scope, and when he would come to
our house, he would let me look
through it, and show me how it
worked.”
Dr. Case teaches a course in the
Survey of Astronomy approximately
once a year at Wilkes College. This
course is quite different from others
he teaches, when you take into
consideration that he is actually a
biology teacher.
The astronomy course is usually
well received by the students.
“There’s a lot of interest in the
course at Wilkes,”” claimed Dr.
Case. “Many people, however, get
astronomy mixed up with astrology.
They have nothing to do with each
other. Astronomy is a true science,
where astrology is a pseudo-science,
or non-science.”
Although Dr. Case has no claim to
fame for discovering any new
comets or planets, many findings
are discovered by amateur astrono-
mers.
Name
Address
City
State
Nearly all new comets are discov-
ered by amateurs. Jean Louis Pons,
a doorkeeper, discovered 27 comets
during the period of 1801 to 1827. A
Japanese kindergarten teacher,
Minoru Honda, has discovered 12
comets in the past 84 years, and the
first comet he discovered this year
was spied by William Bradfield, an
Australian engineer. :
One can guess that patience is a
key necessity to becoming an ama-
teur astronomer. Dr. Case
explained what else someone would
need to begin such an exciting
hobby.
“Well of course they should buy a
good telescope if they're really seri-
ous about it,”’ Case said. ‘Prices for
a good telescope can range any-
where from $250 to thousands of
dollars.”
When this reporter met with Dr.
Case for this interview, Dr. Case
was kind enough to bring along a
telescope to try out.
It was small. I was sure it was
one of the $250 models, but was
shocked to learn that it cost $4,000!
Dr. Case explained that it was an
excellent telescope. Although it was
small, it had the power of a tele-
scope six feet long. Indeed it was
powerful. When looking through the
eyepiece at the various planets, I
was actually able to detect the
bands of Jupiter, along with four of
its moons, and the rings of Saturn.
According to Dr. Case, there are a
few other items every amateur
astronomer should possess.
Three publications recommended
by Dr. Case are, ‘‘Sky Calendar”,
“Sky Guide”, and ‘‘Sky and Tele-
scope’.
“Sky Calendar” is actually 12
charts, one for each month, that
shows what will be visible that
particular month.
A subscription of Sky Calendar
can be obtained by sending $5.00 for
a year’s subscription to: Abram’s
Planetarium, Michigan State Uni-
versity, East Lansing, Michigan,
48824-1324.
“Sky and Telescope’ is a maga-
zine that tells about astronomy and
other related subjects. It can be
obtained by writing to: Sky and
Telescope, 49 Bay State Rd., Cam-
bridge, Mass. 02238-1290. There is a
yearly subscription rate of $18.00.
Sky Guide is a book published by
Golden Press. It was written by
Mark R. Chartrand III and sells for
approximately $6.95 in local book-
stores.
Now that you have your telescope
and charts, it’s time to find a dark
spot to do your observing. Accord-
ing to Dr. Case, this is easier said
than done.
“Light pollution is the astrono-
mer’s worst ‘enemy,’”’ he said.
“There isn’t really anywhere you
can go to get away from it.”
Even though our observations
were taken at the Lake-Lehman
High School where outside lights are
kept at a minimum, the lights of
Wilkes-Barre were still visible on
the eastern horizon.
“Perhaps finding a good spot to
observe is the hardest part of
astronomy,” said Case. ‘You have
to get away from all street lights,
house lights, and above all, large
cities.”
“After you've located your spot,
all you have to do is set up your
telescope and get prepared for
hours of enjoyment.”
Beginning this month, millions of
customers in Pennsylvania and Del-
aware will receive separate bills
from AT&T for all leased telephones
at their homes and businesses.
For most customers, the charges
are not new. They are simply sepa-
rated from the old telephone bill
and mailed in a separate envelope.
Previously all equipment charges
for leased telephones and business
communications equipment were
included in monthly bills from Bell
of Pennsylvania and Diamond State
Telephone Company. The charges
were included with bills for local
telephone service and long distance.
With the restructuring of the Bell
System in January 1984, ownership
of leased telephone equipm,ent
transferred to AT&T Information
Systems. As a result, AT&T will
begin sending separate bills to cus-
tomers who lease telephones.
The total national billing conver-
sion involves the transfer of more
than 60 million customer accounts,
120 million telephones and 200 mil-
lion records all contained in 26
different billing systems, 87 revenue
accounting offices and 52 billing
data centers.
“It’s the most massive records
conversion and data processing
endeavor in the history of American
business,” said Art Saxon, AT&T
Consumer Sales and Service man-
ager for Pennsylvania and Dela-
ware.
And it’s all being done, Saxon
said, while AT&T Information Sys-
tems goes about its normal business
of leasing, selling, installing and
maintaining telephone and informa-
tion management equipment.
“In comparison,” he said, “the
recent modernization of 36 million
Social Security records took about
five years. Nationally, we will con-
vert nearly twice as many accounts
in a little over one-third the time.”
The conversion includes more
than three million customers in
Pennsylvania and Delaware. The
remainder of the country will be
wk
converted in stages through July
1985.
“We think most customers will
find their new bill easy to read and
understand,” Saxon said. ‘‘An insert
will be included to supplement the
information printed on the bills. But
if questions do arise, customers can
call the toll-free 800 number printed
on their bill. We’ll respond to each
as quickly as we possible can.”
Customers leasing one or two
telephones from AT&T will receive
a bill quarterly. Those who lease
three or more telephones, or have
monthly charges of $12 or more, will
receive a bill each month. Business
customers leasing complex systems
will receive monthly bills.
Awards program
deadline is set
The Economic Development Coun-
cil of Northeastern Pennsylvania
(EDCNP) issued a reminder
recently that the deadline for sub-
mitting entries in the sixth annual
Pocono Northeast Community
Awards Program (PNCAP) is
August 31. As'a major component of
the Council’s Area Awareness and
Action Program, the PNCAP honors
communities and organizations for
their .community improvement
efforts i
Karen Devey, Commission Rela-
tions Manager for Commonwealth
Telephone and PNCAP Chairperson,
said, “The Pocono Northeast Com-
munity Awards Program is signifi-
cant in recognized communities and
organizations for their worthwhile
civic endeavors. Interested parties
are encouraged to submit projects
for competition by August 31, 1984.”
Additional information and entry
forms for the Pocono Northeast
Community Awards Program may
be obtained by contacting Ruth M.
Sorber, EDCNP, 1151 Oak Street,
‘Pittston, PA 18640-3795 or calling
(717) 655-5581.
Take a hike,
By ANN DEVLIN
Staff Correspondent
JoAnne Oliver of Lake Street,
Dallas recently ‘took a hike.” To be
exact, she hiked over 1,200 miles
from March 31 to July 4 on the
Appalachian Trail.
The Appalachian Trail is a foot-
path over 2,000 miles, extending
from Springer Mountain, Georgia to
Mount Katahdin, Maine. The trail
includes the Great Smokey Mgi-
tains in North Carolina and Ten¥es-
see, the Shenandoah National Park
in Virginia, and the Green and
White Mountains of Vermont and
New Hampshire.
With only a backpack, JoAnne
walked from Georgia to Connecticut
by herself. She intended to meet a
friend along the early part of the
trip, but when her friend, decided
not to go on, for personal reasons,
JoAnne continued anyway.
JoAnne became interested in
hiking the Appalachian Trail when
she heard about it from a friend in
Having earned a certificate in for-
estry from Sterling College in Ver-
mont, the Back Mountain resident
couldn’t wait to get started.
She decided to take a year off
from college and start the trail from
Georgia in early March where the
weather would be fairly mild. Grad-
ually, she worked her way up north
toward Maine during the summer
months.
A typical day on the trail for
JoAnne started at 5:30 a.m.
Describing herself as a ‘‘morning
hiker,”” JoAnne usually began
hiking at 6 a.m. and continued until
3 or 4 in the afternoon.
"At night, she usually stayed in
shelters along the trail, which wegg.
specifically built for the hikers. TH
shelters, according to JoAnne, are
three-sided wooden structures with
a roof, and usually enclosed by
fencing. Occasionally, she was able
to stay in a hostel, a lodging place
for hikers, commonly run by
churches or families. This was a
“real treat,” according to JoAnne,
especially when the hostel was fur-
nished with running water or show-
ers.
During the day, JoAnne was
rewarded with breathtaking scenery
and glimpses of wildlife and birds,
the most common type being deer,
grouse, and songbirds. Ironically,
the only time she saw a harmful
animal was in the middle of a town
she passed through. There, she
came across a poisonous Copper-
head snake.
JoAnne’s most frightening experi-
ence was not caused by humans or
wildlife. Rather, it was caused by
the weather itself. “I ran into lower
class hurricane winds,” Sq
JoAnne, “in south Virginia on Wiiite
Top Mountain.” When she reached
the top of the bald mountain, it )
snowing and the 60 mph winds were
blowing furiously. “I couldn’t see
anything in front of me,” says
JoAnne, “including the trail.” The
trail, which is blazed by white
marks on rocks, was completely
covered by snow. “My arm was
numb,” adds JoAnne, ‘and when I
took off my backpack to get my
coat, I was totally exposed to the
wind.” Luckily she stumbled upon a
dirt road which led down into the
trees, where it was 15 degrees
warmer.
For the most part, however, the
trip was filled with fun. “The people
were the most interesting part of
the trip,”’ claims JoAnne. ‘I
expected to meet one general type
of people,” she admits, “But I was
amazed at how educated and div-
erse they were.”
Along the way, she met doctors,
lawyers, bankers, and chemists.
Most hikers were taking a break
from college where they were wig-
ing on their bachelor’s or master
degrees.
“I met a guy in the Smokies who
plays the oboe in the Montreal
Philharmonic,”” says JoAnne.
“Hiking is his hobby.”
Certain “trail personalities’ are a
permanent fixture on the trail,
according to JoAnne. ‘‘There’s the
‘Ice Cream Lady’ on the Cumber-
land Valley Roadwalk in Pennsyl-
vania,”’explains JoAnne, ‘Her name
is Bonnie Shipe.’” This woman,
whose house is on the Roadwalk,
sits on her front porch and gives out
ice cream cones to the hikers as
they pass by. As the hikers leave,
Bonnie asks them who's coming
behind them, so she can greet each
new hiker by name.
Upon reaching Connecticut in
July, JoAnne decided to end her trip
and return home to rest before
returning to college this month. She
plans to attend Wilkes College to
study biology. —
However, this doesn’t mark the
end of JoAnne’s backpacking
career: ‘I plan on finishing the trail
within the next five years,” she
says.
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