BRIGHTON BINDERY CO
BOX 336
BRIGHTON, IA HAGA0
J
25 Cents
Vol. 97, No. 13
ow
By JOHN HOINSKI
Staff Writer
If you talk to officials from both
the Pennsylvania Gas and Water
Company and the Dallas Water
Company, they will tell you they are
committed to providing the best
possible service for their customers.
Sometimes, however, there is a
credibility gap between what is
promised and what is actually deliv-
ered. The best way then to deter-
mine the quality of a product is to
go directly to the people who use it.
If you.talk with individuals who
receive their water supply from
PG&W, most will not speak favora-
bly of their water and will use
words like ‘“‘lousy’”’ and ‘rotten ’’ to
describe it. Last week’s tentative
decision by the Public Utility Com-
mission (PUC) to deny PG&W a 38-
per cent, $11 million rate increase
would seem to bear those statments
out. The increase would have raised
the annual cost from $172 to $236.
On the other hand, if you talk to
people who happen to receive water
from the Back Montain company,
you will get ratings ranging from
“fair” to‘‘excellent’” depending on
their location. :
But attempting to compare the
two wouldn’t exactly be fair since
both utilize different systems to
provide water. PG&W taps their
supply from reservoirs while the
Dallas Water Company uses a total
of 17 wells to serve its customers.
“Our operation is different from
PG&W’s because we don’t use a
filtration system,” Joe Salla, Gen-
eral Manager of the Dallas Water
Company, explained. ‘When the
rain falls and seeps down through
the ground and ‘into the wells, the
ground acts as a natural filter and
eliminates a lot of impurities.
“We still find levels of iron and
manganese in the water, but we do
a number of tests and procedures to
make it as clean as possible’.
Salla says water lines in the
Dallas area are flushed twice a year
while those in Shavertown are
flushed every: month or two. In
addition, Salla says they follow
requirements by the Development
of - Environment Resource (DER)
(See WATER, page 2)
By JOHN HOINSKI
Staff Writer
National days of recognition are
annually set aride for those idivid-
uals who shoulder a great deal of
responsibility. Mother’s Day and
Father's Day are two dates that
immediately come to mind, but not
many people give much thought to
our elected local officials who serv-
ice the needs of an entire commu-
nity.
Their contributions have not gone
unnoticed, however, and in appre-
ciation of their service, Tuesday,
April 15, has been designated as
Local Government Day.
Pennsylvania is made up of 969
boroughs, encompassing more than
40,000 men and women who devote
their time and energy to servicing
Taxes
It's that
time now!
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following
article is meant to be taken lightly.
It is a humorous way of looking at
the upcoming April 15 deadline for
‘the filing of individual tax returns.
Any resemblance to any Back
Mountain taxpayers is purely coin-
cidental.)
By CHARLOT M. DENMON
Staff Correspondent
An evening with friends this past
Sunday brought to mind ‘It’s Later
Than You Think!” April 15 is less
than a week away. Have you done
your tax return?
Those friends of ours hadn’t, but
Sunday morning Joe (an alias, of
couse) decided ‘“Today’s the Day.”
Joe was going to do his tax return.
Since he and his wife, Jane, (also an
alias) both worked, he was filing »
joint return.
We were innocent of the fact that
Joe was working on his tax return
so when our phone rang Sunday
afternoon, we had no idea what the
evening (actually, hours) would
bring.
The phone conversation went
something like this: ‘Hi, this is Joe,
how about stopping over for some of
Jane’s new cake recipe and a
drink? And while you’re here,
maybe you could help me with a
few questions on our tax return!”
That’s where we should have
picked up a clue — as usual our
friend was in a quandry. But Good
Samaritans that we are, my hus-
band and I went over. We hadn’t
planned to stay very long. Just a
drink or two and some ice cream
cake. The underestimate of the
year.
Joe said since you do your own
return every year, how about help-
ing with a few questions. I told him
that we didn’t do ours this year, we
the needs of the people whom they
represent. Often times their deci-
sions are met with some degree of
opposition, but, nonetheless, they
are committed to providing the'best
possibic service
“We get our share of complaints,”
Dallas Borough Mayor Paul LaBar
said. “But, we handle them the best
way possible. All things can be
handled. We know the wants and
needs of the people and things
usually run pretty well.”
Although a borough mayor is not
the central force in the government,
he is usually the spokesman for the
borough, taking responsibility for
enforcement of ordinances and reg-
ulations and removing any nui-
sances that may arise.
He is not a member of council,
either, even though he can cast the
(See DAY, page 2)
team leader.
The National: Marabof Dimes WalkZimerica,
will be faking on a new look in the Scranton
and Wilkes-Barre area this year. On April 27,
hundreds of area residents will take part in
what will be locally known as the Brucelli
Advertising/March of Dimes WalkAmerica.
A carnival atmosphere will prevail with
colorful balloons, attractive checkpoints, deco-
rated victory wagons and bright t-shirts sport-
ing local businesses and corporate logos. It
promises to be one of the largest and most
exciting walks the Wilkes-Barre-Scranton area
has never experienced. Part of the reason for
the change is the generous underwriting of
incentives and printing costs by the Brucelli
Advertising Firm. WalkAmerica involves some
1100, co vmunit i and 114° million people
nationwide. in the Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre area,
represented with over 1,100 walkers registered
to date, and new teams signing up every week
as part of the TeamWalk Challenge.
Offset Paperback of Dallas, a returning team
from 1985, is going all out in their support of
WalkAmerica 1986. Bob Murdock, team leader
for Offset along with teammates George Cave,
Gary Pesavento, Thomas Jurish, Robert Hay-
ward, Wilbur Murdock and Ruth Murdock, has
set a personal goal of $1,000 in sponsorship
pledges and is well on the way to achieving
that goal. Offset is also supplying a, ‘‘Victory
Wagon’. One of the many that will be available
on Walk Day to assist walkers along the 20km
route that starts at Pubiic Square, winds
through Kingston, Wilkes-Barre and Luzerne
and ends at Kirby Park.
Corporate teams from Retail, Sales, Indus-
try, Health & Medical Services, Communica-
tions, Government, Banking & Finance, and
other areas will be vying for top position in
their respective divisions. But the real winners
are our children. Money raised through this
event will help to insure every unborn and
newborn. the best possible chance to survive
and thrive.
To register as an individual walker or to find
out how to start a corporate team contact the
March of Dimes office at 342-7894 or 824-1345
(24 hrs.).
TCE a
took it to a CPA. Joe’s answer was
that his was simple.
Unable to refuse a friend, we went
with him into his diningroom. That
was a mistake! The table resembled
a disaster area. Several shoe boxes
were on the table, a large blue
notebook containing IRS instruction
booklets for just about every type
form you might fill out. Prescription
receipts, check stubs, deposit slips,
mileage forms, stock certificates,
and dozens of other papers were
scattered over the table.
That wasn’t all — on the floor
beside his chair, Joe had two large
cartons of papers. ‘‘What are
those?”’, I asked.
“Oh, those — some are grocery
tax and all my interest charges on
credit accounts plus heat, gas, light,
water and phone receipts. Don’t
worry, I have a check list you can
use,” replied my friend.
Check list — his check list was an
extra form where he had scribbled
notes on the back. Well, I thought to
myself, I got myself into this so I'm
obligated to assist him.
That was my second mistake. Joe
is self-employed, but his wife, Jane,
is not. Jane had her W-2 form so
that was a start.
Joe was another story! He had a
notebook listing the money he took
in for the year — well, not all of it
was in, some of his customers
hadn’t paid him, they were overdue.
Two hours and 10 cups of coffee
later, we finally had his income
figured out — well, sort of figured
out. We had to use Joe’s estimates
and, more accurately, some notes
1
that Jane had kept. We had no. lack
of forms — frankly, I didn’t realize
the IRS published so many. Joe had
1040’s, 1040-A, schedules A, B, C, D,
E, F, 1040 EZ, SE, 1040 ES, 2106,
2210, 2441, 4562, 4797 (he thought
he’d include his track losses and
money spent on lottery tickets that
didn’t win), 533, a self employment
tax and dozens of others.
How did I get around all these? I
made a decision — throw them in a
large box and let Joe sort them in
leisure time. This was after an hour
trying to decide.
Without going into a blow-by-blow
account, we finally settled on Form
1040, figured what we thought was
Joe’s income less expenses. Since
he had an eight-room home and
worked out of one room we took 1
(See TAXES, page 2)
Aside from several minor struc-
tural changes, the only real differ-
ence between a borough and town-
ship is the size of population.
But then again, they are not
always exactly alike, either. For
instance, Dallas and Kingston both
have townships, only Kingston is
listed as a Home Rule type of
government, whereas Dallas is con-
sidered a second class township.
Both have a board of supervisors,
but Kingston is ‘more reliant on the
township’s business manager to run
the day-to-day operations, while
Dallas is dependent on its board
members to oversee daily functions.
But aside from these differences,
and the fact that they are both
responsible for maintaining the
upkeep of rural roads, their pur-
poses are the same.
“We have five supervisors on our
board,” Kingston Township business
manager Fred Potzer explained.
“And they are the primary govern-
ing body: They are the ones respon-
sible for passing legislation and
making policy. They hear problems
and pass laws, but they don’t handle
the day-to-day business. They
depend on the township manager to
do that.
“It doesn’t mean we work sepa-
rately from each other, but there
are a lot of problems that can be
taken care of before they reach the
board. For example, if someone
calls up and complains about a
pothole that has to be fixed, then we
tell the road department to fix it
and that’s it,”” Potzer continued.
“Then every week or ever other
week, depending on how much has
been going on, I keep them abreast
of what we’ve been doing, bills that
have been paid and so forth.”
Another advantage of Home Rule,
Potzer says, is that there is more
flexibility. ‘I have been here almost
a year and these supervisors have
been really great to me,” he stated.
“They are not demanding and they
don’t interfere.
“It isn’t that I have to answer to
several different bosses. If there is
a major problem, then I meet with
the supervisors and we’ll discuss it
and vote on whatever measures we
decide to take at the next public
meeting.”
There, too, is a big difference in
format. Unlike other public meet-
ings where comments from the
people are taken before business
matters are discussed, at Kingston
Township, they are taken after-
wards.
At Dallas Township, three individ-
uals, Phil Walter, Frank Wagner
and Glen Howell, make up the
governing body where they either
oversee certain operations or are
directly involved with them.
Howell and Walter, who have
been on the board for over 20 years
each, handle the secretary-trea-
surer, roadmaster positions respec-
tively, while Wagner, a 12-year
member, oversees the police depart-
ment.
‘We are very lucky to have such
an efficient chief and department,”
Wagner stated. “If we do have a
problem that concerns them we
usually let them handle it. They are
outstanding.”
Unlike Kingston Township where
one person governs the daily activ-
ity, at Dallas Township, all three
are responsible for daily operations,
although they rely on input from
other divisions to keep matters run-
ning smoothly.
“We have other departments like
the zoning and planning boards that
help take care of business,” Wagner
said. “For example, the planning
board has three members on it.
They do meet with us and inform us
of what they are doing. But, we
usually follow their recommenda-
tions. If we have suggestions we
discuss them and make whatever
decisions we feel are in the best
interest of the township. *»
— JOHN HOINSKI