{JN SL INTHE {i LA Vol. 97, No. 34 By JOHN HOINSKI Staff Writer The 18th Annual Luzerne County Fair, in what is predicted to be its most successful year, will get underway today with a full slate of events, highlighted by an opening night performance by world renowned hobo, Boxcar Willie. The event, which will be held through Sept. 7, will take place on the Dallas Fall Fair Grounds behind the Back Mountain Medical Center off Rt. 118. Fair hours will be from 3 to 11 p.m., Wednesday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. to midnight on Saturday and Sunday. Over the years the popularity of the Fair has steadily increased, and this year officials are expecting its biggest turnout. ‘Last year we had 70,000 people,” Ray Hillman, fall chairman said. “This year we are expecting any- people.” To help with that draw, the Fair committee - has scheduled a two- show performance by Boxcar Willie anid the Texas Trainmen on opening nijzht at 8 and 10 p.m. Appointed as World Ambassador for! the Hobos, Boxcar Willie was volled the Music City News’ ‘Most Promising Male Artist’ in 1982. He hails made television appearances on Hee-Haw, Glen Campbell’s ‘‘Coun- try. Comes Home’’ and . also appeared in the CBS made-for-tele- vision movie ‘Country Gold.” Trie entertainment will continue n Thursday night with a 7 and 9 p.m. performance by Shotgun Red display during Luzerne County Fair. resources.” sustain wildlife and offer scenic and recreational with Steve Hall and Southbound 76- star of Hee-Haw. On Friday, the Lake Lehman High School Band will take the spotlight at 6:15 followed by the RPM old star band, a rock-n-roll 50’s music show from 8 to midnight. On the final day of the Fair, festivities will begin with the Open English Horse Show and end wit a performance by the Great Rock Scare band. In addition to the live entertain- ment, two new horsebarns, which will house 50 horses, will be open for public viewing as will the two arts and crafts buildings. For those who would like to avoid the parking hassle, the Luzerne County Transportation Authority has set up a bus schedule for the five-day event. The bus will pick up persons along several routes to the fairgrounds and then make special trips back to ublic Square in Wilkes- Barre with dropoff points along the way. A complete schedule can be obtained by calling the fair offices at 675-6448. begin at 6 p.m with the guest speakers being: Congressman Paul Kanjorski; county commissioners Frank Trinisewski, Jim Phillips and Frank Crossin; Senator Charles Lemmond; and Rep. George Hasay and Robert Andrews from Franklin First Federal Savings and Loan. By CHARLOT M. DENMON For The Dallas Post New things are happening along Memorial Highway in Dallas. Rumors have been circulating in the Back Mountain area for the past several weeks that Bonomo’s Bowling Center has been sold. This week center to «a party from outside thé Back Mountain area are in the final phase. Bonomo and his brother, Richars Bonomo, are owners of the bowling lanes that they inherited from their father, the late Anthony Bonomo Sr., who owned and operated the business for 25 years until his death last year. Bonomo Jr. says the potential buyer did not want his name released until he discussecl his intended business venture with his present employers. The Bonoino brothers have anngueed that representatives: of the buyer a Bear lovers Hug bear wins vote at library By CHARLOT M. DENMON For The Dallas Post Sixty-six of the 420 children, who voted in the “Care Bear’ contest sponsored by the Back Mountain Memorial Library, voted for the winning bear in the complete 16- Care Bear collection which was on display in the library for the past month. The colorful Care Bear collection, owned by Dawn Hando of Dallas, drew the admiration of hundreds of youngsters, who visited the library during the past month. Children coming into the library were encouraged to vote for their favorite Care Bear. Sixty-six chil- dren voted for the winning bear “Baby Hugs A Lot.” The ‘Friend”’ Care Bear, surprisingly received the least number of votes, only two. Names were drawn for order of winning and Alison Piazza was the first place winner. She won a Care Bear cocoa mug. Second place win- ners Mandy Wensell and Melissa Mitchell won Care Bear portfolios; the four third place winners, Danny McDonald, Bridget Temperine, Katie Sylvia and Holly Rishko won Care Bear memo pads. Care Bear erasers and pencils were awarded to the other 59 chil- Care Bear. Assistant Librarian Nancy Kozemchak was in charge of the contest. Mrs. Florence Crump drew the winners. 25 Cents _ Boxcar Willie nk has new look will assume management of the lanes this week, under a lease agreement. “We have had numerous parties approach us in the past, even when my dad was living, interested in purchasing the bowling center,” explained Bonomo, ‘‘But none of those parties came close to the appraised value of the property. The individual with whom we are now dealing, agreed to our price and we have no doubt that it will be only a few weeks before the deal is final.” He also explained that when and if the sale is completed, the new owner plans to carry out any agreements made by the Bonomo’s with members of the Center’s bowling leagues and, in fact, may offer better agreements. “The interested buyer is eager to satisfy all of our present patrons and hopes to be able to encourage additional leagues to bowl at the lanes through a variety of incentives.” According to Bonomo, he and Richard did not deliberately search for a buyer for the bowling center but when the present buyer approached them and indicated his serious intent by his willingness to negotiate at the sale price set by the Bonomo family, it was an offer the brothers did feel they could not refuse. ‘‘We have to get on with our lives while we are still young,” said Bonomo. “Now that we have the opportunity, we feel we must take advantage of it.” “The transaction includes my home adjacent to the lanes,” said Tony Bonomo. When asked what he planned to do, Bonomo said he would to managing the lanes with his brother, Richard, Tony is in the TV satellite service. Adjacent to the Bowling center is the Rollaway skating rink, owned by Nick Tsioles, who purchased the rink from the late Anthony Bonomo Sr. That also has ffaken on a new look with numerous renovations madethis summer. Tsioles has installed a new stereo sound system, added revolving colored lights in the ceiling of the rink and sanded and refinished the floor. In the near future, he will install a large video screen at the far end wall of the rink on which will be projected a variety of films as well as films of the skaters in action on the floor. Video tapes will be filmed of birthday parties and special school groups or other organizational groups and will be available to these individuals. Plans also are in the making for various competitions to be held at the Rollaway in the not too distant future. Daring’s Market is also undergoing a major change. Owner Ray Daring has started construction on the front of the building. He is putting on an 11 x 72 foot front which on the outside will include an under-roof parcel pick-up area, providing customers protection from inclement weather. In an attempt to prevent accidents from occurring along that area of Route 415, therv: will be no parking in front of the store but there will be additional parking along both sides of the building. “The intent is to prevent shoppers from backing out on the highway. The middle left turn lane in the center of Rte. 415 highway should facilitate entering and leaving the store.” For the convenience of shoppers, there will be entrance and exit doors on both sides of the building and the checkout counters will be moved as well. There will be five new checkout counters and they will be located in the new front area and will run from the front toward the highway, instead of parallel to the hilghway as the counters do now. “Our aim is tv) provide better parking and easier access to and from the parking area imto the store for our customers,” said Daring. ‘‘The additional space inside will enable us to put in more shelves and get merchandise out: of the aisles and, with more traffic in the Back Mountain we also are trying to provide additional safety and convenience for our customers.” Attempts to contact the reported builder on the property next to Roth Jewelry were urisuccessful but it is understood that construction of a car wash is underway. By JOHN HOINSKI Staff Writer When the Rev. Gene Geiger said he wanted to locate a new church on the Dallas Memorial Highway, no one believed he could do it. “I talked to one Realtor,” Geiger recalled, ‘“‘and she said, ‘Look, I believe in faith, but you are dream- ing.’ 1” That dream turned into reality, however, and now Geiger is the pastor of the two-week old West Valley Baptist Church, finally estab- lishing ground at 421 Memorial Highway, the building formerly used to house the AAA travel agency. Bucking the odds is old news to the 43-year old Geiger. On two prior ! a occasions in Virginia, and most recently in Carrabelle, Fla., he has taken floundering institutions and helped them flourish. “The last two churches I was at were financially strapped and low in numbers,” Geiger said. ‘Now they are successful. In Ashland, Virginia, we had about 24 people and we reached a high of 134. In Florida, we started with 20 people and it is now over 100.” And it appears his task won't be any easier this time, either. For openig services two Sundays back, 14 people showed up for the morning service and 13 for the evening. But Geiger is confident the numbers will pick up. Through word of mouth, advertising and by going door-to- door, he hopes to make the church a success, something he says he \ v } V seems to have been called to do. “I hope this is the last time I will be moving,”’ Geiger laughed. ‘But sometimes you feel you have to. Once you hit a plateau with a church, you either have to set new goals or move on to another chal- lenge.” In March of 1985, Geiger set out to search for that new challenge, trav- eling about the southeast. But he saw no great need there and headed for New York state and the sur- rounding areas in April. After coming to the Scranton area, where he says there were a lot of tradi- tional-type churches, Geiger met with the Rev. Charles Birch, direc- tor of Catholic Services at Baptist Bible College in Clarks Summit, who showed him maps of the sur- rounding regions. On July 14, with the donations collected from six churches in the southeast to finance the trip, Geiger, his wife, Ginny, and their three children set our for the Wikes- Barre - Scranton area. “We didn’t know exactly where we were going to locate,” Geiger explained. “We were operating on faith.” The family arrived in Wyoming Valley on July 18, and after survey- ing maps for a spot for the church, Geiger decided on its present site. “This area has a lot of thorough- fares,”” Geiger explained. ‘‘Routes 309 and 415 are right here, and Rt. 118 and the Cross Valley Express- way are also close. We wanted to locate in an area where it would be easy for people to travel to.” Geiger says the lease on the current site is short term, probably in the neighborhood of six months, but says he hopes to expand the congregation by ‘then so they could move to a bigger biuilding. “We would like to stay on the south side of Dallas if we can,” Geiger noted. “We: want to be easily accessible to the sinaller towns.” Financially, Geiiger will be sup- ported by a Baptist group out of Chattanooga, Tenn., for the next three years, and his wife has also found work as director of the Day Care Program at the United Cere- bral Palsy agenicy of Luzerne County. But any m.oney put into the church comes out ()f Geigers pocket until the church can become self sustaining. “We are just like any other church,” Geiger says. ‘‘You need the financial support of the mem- bers to maintain its upkeep. But right now we don’t have many people so I will pay what bills we GENE GEIGER
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers