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Quilt viewers
the two-day event this past weekend.
By JANE RENN
Statt Correspondent
It was Christmas in October in one room of the
Hayfield House last weekend at Penn State's
Wilkes-Barre camps:
The Pennsylvania Quilters, a group with almost
300 members, and the campus co-sponsored ‘Quilt
Show ’86,’” a biennial show originating in 1982.
“Country Christmas’ was one of several themes
at the large quilt showing. Softly playing Christmas
songs led viewers to a room vividly decorated with
almost every quilted Christmas item imaginable.
Avis Kocher’s “Twelve Days of Christmas’ quilt
held a prominent position among the holiday reds
and greens. Kocher, of Lehman, said it took her
three months to make the wall hanging for her
daughter.
“I made it because ‘The Twelve Days of Christ-
mas’ is my favorite Christmas song,’” she said.
Christmas exhibits were only a small part of the
show, which was held October 11 and 12. Nearly 200
quilts and scores of other items such as pillows and
“burp pads’’ were on view.
Workshops in stenciling, applique and various
Dallas Post/Jane Renn
quilting methods were held in other buildings both
days. Vendors in the Hayfield Commons sold
quilting material, stencils and other related aids.
Few of the quilts on exhibit were for sale.
According to show coordinators Clara Slembarski
and Jill Ann Space, most. quilters give their work"
away te family members, although a few do sell
them professionally.
The quilting group sponsors workshops and trips
to other shows throughout most of the year.
Because of the large number of members, however,
they do not sew as a group. There is one exception:
the raffle quilt made each year is a group effort,
and the proceeds go to charity.
One club goal is to help members learn.
“It’s an educational experience because there’s
- always professional teachers coming out with new
ways of doing it, or new designs, or new quilt
patterns, or new fabrics, or new techniques,” said
Slembarski.
“There are no two quilts alike,” she added.
“Even if the same pattern is used, differences in
material, stitching and design make each quilt
unique.’’
Members called quilting relaxing and addicting.
Many began their quilting career after retirement.
Steady now, boys
Hay
By JOHN HOINSKI
Staff Writer
The Dallas School Board Monday
night unanimously passed a resolu-
tion for the possible hiring of three
instructional aides to alleviate
crowded conditions in two district
schools.
The board appointed superintend-
ent Gerald Wyecallis to look into the
matter. Wycallis plans to meet with
principals from the Westmoreland
and the Dallas Elementary schools.
Jay Pope, a teacher in the Dallas
25 Cents
By JOHN HOINSKI
Staff Writer
In an effort to curb a dangerous traffic situation on
Route 309 that has been the scene of a high number of
automobile accidents over the years, two Back Moun-
tain police departments have begun preliminary steps
to have the Pennsylvania Department of Transporta-
tion step in and help resolve the matter.
The Dallas Township police department, in conjunc-
tion with Dallas Boro, has begun compiling specific
accident reports pertaining to the intersection of Main
Road and Route 309 located between the Mark II
Restaurant and the Offset Paperback Company.
The spot, which is situated on the border between
Dallas Township and the borough, has been the scene
of numerous accidents in years past and police say it
is imperative that a traffic light be installed at the site
to allow motorists to safely make the left hand turn.
“It’s a very, very dangerous area,” Dallas Township
police chief Carl Miers said. ‘‘Something has to be
done. I'm getting tired of scraping people off the
road.”
PennDOT says in order for the area to be eligible for
federal money from the states Safety Improvement
Program, at least five angle accidents (not involving
rear end collisions) must have been reported in that
spot for the past three years.
Dallas Township alone has already met the criteria,
reporting seven accidents in 1984; six in ’85 and five so
far in 86. Overall, since 1979 a total of 45 accidents,
injuring 40 persons and involving 143 have been
recorded.
Ron Bonacci, district traffic engineer for PennDOT,
says the department will add those figures to their
own study, but says even if the area does meet the
requirements for the traffic light, it may be a while
before it is installed. Bonacci says the project would
then be put on a list with similar projects from across
the state competing for the eight to 10 million dollars
available in the SIP.
But area officials say they would like the light,
which would cost between $80,000 and $100,000, put in
as part of a $4 million project PennDOT will undertake
in March of 1987 to renovate a stretch of the highway
from Route 309 to the Cross Valley Expressway.
One of those improvements will include the addition
of a modified fifth lane for a portion of road stretching
from Center Street in Shavertown to the 309-415
intersection. PennDOT will utilize a four foot area in
the middle of the road now occupied by a double
yellow line, and part of the right side of the road
heading north to add a fifth lane that will be used for
making the left hand turn.
But Miers said the additional lane alone will not
solve the problem. ‘They still have to cross the other
two lanes to make the turn. But I feel the fifth lane
plus the light will curb the accidents in that place by
about 60 per cent.” :
Ian Richardson, executive vice president of Offset
Paperback, who has been fighting for the signal for
two years, also sees the need for the light.
“We have 550 people at this plant,” Richardson said.
“They are the main reason why I got involved in
trying to get this light. A number of people working
here approached me and asked what can be done
about the problem. It’s a disaster here when the 3:30
shift gets out. This is a very busy road to begin with.”
Richardson said Offset had a private survey done a
year and a half ago and found that 3,000 vehicles enter
and leave the plant per day using the Route 309
entrance.
Marilyn Sult, owner of the Mark II Restaurant along
with her husband, Bernard, also sees the area as a
troubled spot.
“It is very bad,” Sult said. “I don’t even let my son
on that road when I send him to the store. I tell him to
use Overbrook Avenue. I don’t want him attempting to
make that turn.”
And that’s not the only problem the Sults have
experienced. “When we returned to this area years
ago and moved back here we found that our car
insurance went up considerably,” Mrs. Sult explained.
“When I asked the company what the reason was,
they said it was because of this road (Route 309).
Two weeks ago, PennDOT officials met with leaders
of the Back Mountain and said that a resolution must
first be adopted by the township and borough before
any money can possibly be obtained to help fund the
project. Meanwhile, PennDOT says it will continue to
work on the study which should be completed some-
time this month.
Last Saturday afternoon at the
King of Prussia Mall in Montgom-
ery County, Dallas resident Joe
McGrady found himself in a position
the rest of us only dream about.
McGrady, along with nine other
individuals representing eight coun-
ties across the state, was one of the
finalists chosen to compete for the
$1,000,000 Pennsylvania Lottery
grand prize.
Even before the drawing,
McGrady said he felt good knowing
he had already won at least $5,000.
But as the first six names of $5,000
winners were called and McGrady’s
not among them, the pressure
became nerve-racking.
“It was like being in a frying
pan,” the 35-year old supervisor at
the VA Medical Center in Wilkes-
Barre stated. ‘‘The heat was on.
After they called the first five
names, who were each guaranteed
$5,000, things really became intense.
I was the seventh one called, but
I’m happy about the way things
turned out.”
McGrady, who made the trip
along with his wife, Elaine, their
son, Ryan, age six, one of two
children, and McGrady’s father,
Joseph, returned $15,000 richer.
The first five contestants called
each received $5,000, the sixth
received 10,000, the seventh 15,000,
the eighth 20,000, the ninth 25,000
and the tenth, $1,000 a week ($1
million guaranteed).
“Everybody in the family will get
something,” McGrady said. ““Some-
thing in particular we all had our
eye on for a while. But I’m not sure
what we will do with the rest of the
money.”
McGrady said in a telephone
interview Monday he is glad the
pressure is off and that he feels
good, but nothing much has changed
in his family’s life. “You can proba-
bly hear the kids yelling in the
background,” he laughed.
— JOHN HOINSKI
grade level, but may now include
third graders, too.
In other business:
— Carl Miers, whose daughter
attends the Dallas Elementary
School, said he would like the Board
to have collapseble tables removed
from the school. Miers, who is the
Dallas Township police chief, said
his daughter sustained a fractured
arm when the tables collapsed
during music class and caused
another girl to have her teeth
knocked loose.
— Approved the salary raises for
employees in extracurricular activi-
ties that have been set for the next
five years. The first year will call
for a 9.7 per cent increase, with 7%
per cent increases for the following
years.
The move was approved 6-1 with
Board member Ernest Ashbridge
voting against the proposal.
“Whenever we ask for money for
education the money isn’t there,”
Ashbridge noted, ‘‘but when it
comes to extracurricular activities
there seems to be no limit.” ;
— Recommended that a resolution
be adopted to appoint Mrs. Linda
Burd as a long-term substitute fo
replace Mrs. Eleanor Fleming who
school district, voiced his concern
over the matter along with other
teachers and concerned parents,
saying that 29 students in one class-
room on the first grade level are too
many to care for to provide the best
education possible.
Currently, there are four teachers
handling 103 students in the West-
moreland school and three teachers
instructing 80 students on the third.
grade level. At the Dallas Elemen-
tary school, 111 first-grade students
are being taught by four teachers.
Initially, the concern only
involved the education on the first-
»
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‘Are they for real?
is on an approved sabbatical leave
of absence for the first semester of -
the 1986-87 year.
— Recommended that a resolution
be adopted permitting Clarence
,0zgo, Senior High basketball coach,
to attend the Binghamton Basket-
ball coaches clinic in Binghamton
N.Y. on Oct. 2,3 and 4 at an
approximate cost of $215 plus trans-
portation. X
m Accepted the resignation of
Mark Metzo as a custodian in the
Dallas School District, effectice Sep-
tember 26.
— Appointed Mrs. Mary Lou
Bolton, RD 3, Lewis Road, Wyo-
ming, as a temporary field hockey
assistant coach at the Junior Hi
at a salary of $400. :
Inside The Post
Auto Care .... 13,14,15
Births ................... 8
Calendar .............. 16
Classified ............. 12
Henlth .................. 4
panes Posiane e. ODItUIATIES LL... 2
: People ................... 8
Property transfers . 3
Sehool .......:.......... 1]
Sports ................ 9,10
~ ; 5