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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
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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