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Vol. 97, No. 23
By JOHN HOINSKI
Staff Writer
Damage to a backup water stor-
age tank caused by vandals last
week in Dallas Township, will once
again result in the disruption of
service for area residents, espe-
cially those living in New Goss
Manor.
For the past three weeks, consum-
ers had been experiencing low
water pressure because of work
being done on the 250,000 gallon
from the Regis Charlton firm out of
Pittsburgh emptied the 95-foot high
tank and sandblasted the outside
while coating both the inside and
outside to prevent it from rusting.
The cost was $25,000.
Earlier last week, vandals tore
the entrance gate off the seven foot
high fence, reinforced with three
feet of barbed wire, surrounding the
tank and caused damage estimated
between $6,000 and $7,000. Now the
structure will have to be emptied
again.
“I can’t say when the repairs will
take place but they should last
about a week,” said Joe Salla,
General manager for the- Dallas
Water Company. ‘But it’s a shame
that something like this has to
happen. And the saddest part is that
we have to pass on the cost of
repairs onto the people.”
The tank had the numbers ‘88
and ‘89 painted in red on it and
marked in grease in several areas.
The paint was mixed with some
type of chemical that caused the
outside of the tank to blister. Salla
said the vandals, apparently Dallas
High School students, also ripped off
a heavy steel bar and slammed the
tower several times with it.
In addition, they entered the tank
through a hatch and sprayed paint
on the wall inside. Officials did
recover 1% tons of sand that was
stolen from the facility in a nearby
field. The sand was contained in 70
pound bags.
‘It wasn’t the first time the Water
Company experienced vandalism at
the site and measures may soon be
taken to prevent any further inci-
dents. Salla said anyone caught
tampering with utility property is
subject to a $50,000 fine and-or five
years in jail.
Tank vandalized
tower has also been broken.
By CHARLOT M. DENMON
Staff Correspondent
Lake-Lehman School Board Chair-
man Allen Keiper told taxpayers at
the June 10 meeting that the direc-
tors had managed to reduce the
tentative millage for the 1986-87
school year from the proposed 15
mills increase to 11.1.
Despite cutting many programs to
the minimum, Keiper stated that
the directors were successful in
retaining the junior high extra-cur-
ricular programs, continuing the
summer programs scheduled in the
district and hiring sufficient
coaches. He pointed out, however,
that some cutback in assistants was
necessary as well as a reduction in
summer program hours. Although a
minority of the directors opposed
the cutback in summer program
hours, the summe: program was
approved by a 5-4 vote.
Programs approved for the
summer were bas'tetball, 40 hours,
directed by Rodger Bearde; weigh-
tlifting and conditioning, 40 hours,
Rich Gorgone; coaditioning and rec-
reation sports. 40 hours, Sally
Galka; m=:cning band, 40 hours,
Jouu Miliauskas; and elementary
music, 20 hours, Jonathan Pineno.
William Samuels, taxpayer, asked
the board if the motion to appoint
A
1)
junior high coaches and assistants
at the June meeting would ‘lock in’
the district to maintaining these
programs if an insufficent number
of students showed interest.
Director Bing Wolfe told Samuels
that he had expressed the same
concern during a work session but
he was out-voted. Director Don
Jones explained that the board
members had progressed to the
point where the coaches were
appointed prior to the beginning of
the season. ‘If we don’t appoint the
coaches now, the season will be
opening and we won’t have the
coaches for the various programs,’
explained Jones.
Director Ed Marks made a
motion to table the appointment of
all extra-curricular coaches and
advisors but his motion failed by a
5-4 vote with Robert Emory,
Charles Nafus, Bing Wolfe and
Mark voting to table. A subsequent
motion to appoint the following per-
sons passed by a 54 vote with
Mark, Wolfe, Emory and Nafus
voting no.
Persons appointed were Rose-
mary Zbiek, yearbook advisor;
Jeanne Purcell, elementary spring
musical advisor; Jean Lipski, class
night, junior-senior play, assistant
cheerleader advisor; Susie Snyder,
head cheerleader advisor.
Balloons released
A 49-year-old Forty Fort woman pleaded guilty
Monday to third-degree murder in the New Years:Day
stabbing of her 67-year-old father, Robert A. Shipko-
ski, at the Hillisde Personal Care Home in Dalfas
township.
Caroline Ross Rittinger, 37 Walnut St., made her
plea before Luzerne County Court Judge Robert J.
Hourigan, saying she was ‘very confused and I'm
very sorry.”
Maximum penalty for the offense is 10 to 20 years in
jail and a fine of $25,000. But because the woman has
no prior record, on that basis, and given the gravity of
the offense, the sentence, with aggravating circum-
stances, could be four to ten years. With mitigating
circumstances the range could be three to four years.
Rittinger will be sentenced at 2 p.m. on Aug. 5.
Assistant District Attorney Charles Coslett said he
was prepared to call several witnesses to the stand,
including employees of the nursing home. He also said
he could offer testimony to verify that the blood on
Mrs. Rittingers’s purse and jacket matched the blood
on the knife and that of Shipkoski’s.
Defense attorneys Joseph Sklarosky and Basil G.
Russin said Mrs. Rittinger had been examined by
psychiatrists Robert Sadof and Gerald Cook and was
found competent to stand trial.
On the day of the incident, Rittinger took a cab to
the Personal Care Home in Dallas Township to visit
her father who was a boarder there. She entered his
room and stabbed him with a knife and then went to
the dining room area to tell staff memebers what she
had done.
After Monday’s hearing, Mrs. Rittinger was
returned to the Luzerne County Women’s Detention
Center where she has been held since her arrest in
default of $50,000 bail.
25 Cents
Energy
facility
studied
By JOHN HOINSKI
Staff Writer
The preliminary hearing scheduled last Monday for
Donald Kelly, the man accused of shooting two Dallas
police officers, has been postponed to a later undeter-
mined date.
Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney Charles
Coslett said he could not attend Monday’s session
because of prior court commitments. Atty. Charles
Gelso will represent the defendant.
On June 7, Kelly, of Noxen, allegedly entered the
Dallas Township Municipal building at 3:50 a.m. and
shot officers James Tupper and Wayman Miers in
¥
Wheelchairs donated
their legs before they were able to subdue him. Both
officers, who were patients at the Wilkes-Barre
General Hospital, were released last Thursday.
Kelly remains in Luzerne County Prison in lieu of
$200,000 bail. He is charged with criminal attempt to
commit murder, four counts of aggravated assault,
two counts of terroristic threats and once count of
reckless endangering another person.
The preliminary hearing is scheduled to be heard
before District Justice Earl Gregory in Shavertown.
— JOHN HOINSKI
é
6 Nr
Governing bodies of the Back
Mountain area are considering the
construction of a Waste Energy
Facility that would simultaneously
burn garbage and produce energy.
The proposal was discussed last
week at the Kingston Township
board of supervisors meeting.
The plant, which could be located
at the Dallas Area Treatment Plant,
may help solve the growing problem
of the high cost of garbage disposal
for residents in Kingston Township,
Dallas Boro and Dallas Township.
The incinerator would not only
burn household garbage but would
produce heat to dry sludge as well,
which in turn would also be burned.
But right now officials say they are
still in the early phases of studying
the idea.
“We are now in the stage of
finding out what funds are available
for a feasibility study,” Kingston
Township manager Fred Potzer
said. “Weston engineers (engineers
for the Dallas Area Municipal
Authority, DAMA,) said they would
definitely be interested in perform-
ing a study, but first we have to
wait for information from the
Department of Community Affairs
DCA.
“The technology in Solid Waste is
growing every day, so we want to
see what the latest data is before we
begin. We might even find out the
plant would be more expensive to
operate than the present system.”
Currently, residents must pay a
private contractor to haul garbage
away. But because of the spiraling
costs that are passed down from
landfill owners to private haulers to
customers, officials are looking at
cheaper more efficient methods.
Potzer says the DCA could pay as
much as 50 per cent of the costs for
the study and that the Department
of Environmental Resources (DER)
could also pay a part of the amount.
But, he said, it is more likely that
Kingston Township, Dallas Boro and
Dallas Township would have to pay
a proportionate amount of the cost.
In other business, the township
supervisors:
— Awarded a bid of $40,644.95 to
Wyoming Sand and Stone for the
paving of Mt. Airy, Spring St.
Brook St., Ferguson Ave., and
North Franklin St.
— Awarded a bid of $40,003.95 to
Hadsall Excavating and Utility Con-
tractors for drainage improvements
for portions of Terrace Ave., Sickler
Hill Rd., Timothy Ave, Harris Hill
Rd., W. Center St.and Clover Lane.
Rape reported
In Shavertown
Kingston Township police say
they are searching for two white
males in their late 20s or early 30’s
in connection with the reported rape
of a 31-year-old Shavertown woman
last Friday along S. Memorial High-
way in Shavertown.
Police say the one suspect is
believed to be five feet three inches
tall, weighing 165 pounds with dark
brown eyes, dark complexion and
dark hair. When last seen he was
wearing blue jeans, a maroon short-
sleeved pull over shirt and a gold
necklace.
The second individual is reported
to be five feet seven inches tall,
weighing 185 pounds, with light
curly hair and blue eyes. He was
last seen wearing blue jeans and a
dark blue T-shirt.
The rape reportedly took place at
5:15 a.m on S. Memorial Highway in
Shavertown.
Inside The Post
Births ................... .3
Calendar .............. 16
Commentary ......... 6
Cookbook ............... 7
Health .............. 12,13
Obituaries ............. 4
People ................... 8
School ............. ade 11
Sports ...oonv0nini. 9,10