A111 ~~» FS a i Ba aris a EE RR i a a a Er i Class of '75 donates in memory of classmates Vol. 102 No. 31 Dallas, PA Wednesday, August 7, 1991 35 Cents Sunset Beach sale to Grotto off, group hopes to reopen it By ERIC FOSTER Staff Writer Joseph Paglianite, the owner of Grotto Pizza, will not purchase Sunset Beach from the Harveys Lake Beach Association. Attorney Joseph Burke, representing 14 dis- senting members of the beach association, said he received a letter over the weekend from Paglianite’s attorney saying that he will not defend against the Hicents suit to stop the sale. I'm withdrawing from the purchase of the beach- front property because I didn't want to bring in- creased litigation and legal fees for the Harveys Lake Beach Association,” said Paglianite, who is a member of the association's board of directors. The beach association voted on June 20, 1990, to sell Sunset Beach, located across from Grotto Pizza, to Paglianite for $13,422. Dissenting members of the association formed the Committee to Preserve the Harveys Lake Beach Association, and filed a suit on Nov. 1 to stop the sale of the beach. Paglianite was added to the suit when he signed a sale agreement later that month. . The suit alleged that the vote taken to sell the beach was improper, and the sale price was far below market value. “It really doesn’t involve him except that he was a third party who wanted to buy the beach,” said Paglianite's attorney, Paul Mahler. “It's a conflict between two factions in the beach association over who has the right to sell the property. We were a nominal party.” The gates to the beach were chained shut in the summer of 1990. Paglianite had planned to do about $100,000 worth of renovations to the beach, which would open it for public swimming and meet Department of Environmental Resources standards. “The main reason I got involved with the beach is that the DER told them 2 years ago that they could not operate the beach with the idea of using someone else's restrooms,” said Paglianite. “Il wanted an agreement in which the tone was reconciliation,” said Burke, who added that he hoped the development would “reopen a dialogue with the directorship of the beach association to come up with a plan to reopen the beach.” The Committee for the Preservation of the Har- veys Lake Beach Association has petitioned resi- See BEACH, pg 2 Life next to the fast lane - ‘By ERIC FOSTER . Post Staff No one is closer to the in- . creased traffic, noise, and acci- dents on Route 309 than Jim Taylor. Taylor's Trucksville home sits only 18 feet from the busy highway. Since 1955 Tayler: ‘and. his fife Florence have lived in a allwhite house just south of 1 intersection of Route 309 and Carverton Road in King-. ston Township. “You didn’t have half this Vraffic then,” said Jim Taylor. “It was real quiet. That was only a two lane highway in the beginning, then they made it a four.” As the highway became big- ger, Taylor's house became smaller. “We used to have a front porch,” he said. “Had to take it off.” Along with the front porch, Taylor covered up the front door; (hey use a side door instead . now. Taylor talks about his neigh- bor, the four-lane highway, with an air of resignation. “Modern times, what are you going to do?” he asks. The grey house next to his is no longer occu- pied. “We Just got used to the noise, that’s all. Now that we're getting older we're losing our hearing partly anyway. That helps a little bit.” Jim Taylor Owner of home next to Rte. 309 HOME ON THE HIGHWAY - Jim Taylor. stands outside his hole, which is 18 feet from Route 309. There used to be a front porch where the mailbox stands, but it had to be removed when the high- way was expanded from two to four lanes. (Post Photo/Eric Foster) To block out the noise, he and his wife don't use any special strategy, like blaring the TV or turning up the radio. “We just got used to the noise, that’s all,” Taylor said. “Now that we're getting older we're losing our hearing partly any- way. That helps a little bit. Our house is pretty well insulated, so it does keep it down.” “My wife really loved the place when we bought it. It's bad real estate now. Initially, the Taylors had a garage, but the Agnes flood washed it away and it wasn't replaced. The yard was filled, but washed away into Toby's See FAST LANE, pg 5 Citizens’ group to study safety on Route 309 By CHARLOT M. DENMON Staff Writer More traffic signals, a median barrier from Luzerne to Harveys Lake and greater use of car pools were just a few of the ideas offered to enhance safety and reduce .congestion on Route 309 when the Back Mountain Citizens’ Council hosted a meeting to discuss the highway. As a result of the meeting, Cili- zens' Council members and mu- nicipal officials will form a portation Management Association (TMA) to discuss traffic problems that will be created on the Back Mountain section of the highway when it is connected with major interstates in October. PennDOT Engineer Chuck Mattei said there is no doubt the Luzerne-Dallas Highway will be a congested road. “Roadway improvements are no longer enough. The highway (rom the end of the Cross Valley to Route 118 already has various levels of congestion. Now is the time to begin planning solutions to reduce con- gestion and to ensure the salety of the highway,” Mattei said. “There will be a need for more police enforcement, signals, education of the public by the media and, mostimportant the TMA, which can meet in small groups and come up with some ideas,” he said. Mattei said some possibilities are construction of a median bar- rier to control access in some ar- Trans-. additional IDEAS TO MAKE ROUTE 309 SAFER AND MORE CONVENIENT Some of the ideas brought up at last week's meeting with PennDOT officials include: «Install a median divider from Luzerne to Harveys Lake « Install more traffic signals « Reduce the number of drive- way and parking lot entrances » Close some side road ac- cess « Have businesses stagger working hours « Encourage car pooling. Build park and ride lots. + Lengthen time traffic signals stay green « Establish alternate routes for emergency use _eas, closing some driveways, es- tablishing a completely limited access highway and the closing of some side roads. He also explained that there is not much area on either side of the highway to ex- pand any more than has been done. From 25,000 to 45, 000 cars daily PennDOT Engineer Ray Ra- domski told the group that he - knows the highway's problems well since he is a resident of the Back See SAFETY, pg 5 Changing channels? Harveys Lake considers iinning its own cable TV ERIC FOSTER Staff Writer Harveys Lake Borough Council is considering going into the cable television business. Ata special meetingJuly 31, the council heard a presentation by resident Conrad Hislop who said that the borough could install a system ofits own for $400,000 and in the process extend service to people who can't get it now, reduce rates, and increase the number of channels available. But Donald Zagorski, manager of the borough's present cable company, Tele-Media, thinks His- lop's picture has got too much rose in it. “His figures are way ofl,” said Zagorski. “At a bare minimum, we're looking at $1.2 million to constructasystemat Harveys Lake at today's cost. That's just to give identical service to what we have. If you're talking about serving the outlying areas like they are, it'd be another couple of hundred thousand.” See TV, pg 6 Abstention halts variance By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff When a public official is in a position todecide an issue in which they have a personal interest, of- ten the correct action is to abstain from voting. That's just what Bill Zimniski did at the Harveys Lake Zoning Hearing Board meeting at July 30. But because only two of the three members of the board were pres- ent, Zimniski's abstention was enough to effectively deny a re- quest for a zoning variance from Nicholas Arnone which would have allowed him to put a residence on a commercially zoned property he owns on the Old Lake Road by Shawnee. Arnone wanted to put a modu- lar home on the property for use by his son and his sister-in-law. At one point during the meeting, Zimniski, who owns Bill's Cafe across from Arnone's property, said, “You're the worst neighbor I've ever had.” Zimniski gave the example of a brick building across See ZONERS, pg 3 County Fair planners The Luzerne County Fair Committee met recently to plan for the fair which will run from Sept. 4 to 8. Shown from left are committee members, kneeling: Gary Hozempa, Lillian Piatt, Judy Kmetz, Jean Hillard, Marie Deitz. First row standing: Charlie Hillard, John Urbanc, Ralph Sands, Ed Kelly, Dick Williams, Jim Rogowski, Donna Cupinski, John J. Jablowski Jr., Elena Leandri, Norma Leandri, Charlotte Williams, Stanley Wojciechowski, Linda McLaughlin, Butch Grey. Second row standing: Ray Hillman, Wayne Pettit, Al Radginski, Ron Ercolani, Bob James, Ayleen Landon, John Baranow- ski. The committee is standing in front of the Francis (Red) Ambrose Exhibitors Building. Ambrose, who passed away earlier this year, founded the Luzerne County Fair in 1962. The structure was completed in July. The committee's next meeting will be Thursday, Aug. 15, at 7 p.m. at the fair- grounds. (Post Photo/Eric Foster) Calendar.............. 16 Classified.......... 13-15 Echionials......ccc..cv. ous 4 Obituanes............... 13 Police repoft............ 2 School... 12 Spons......... Leila 11 RED CROSS BLOOD Fri., Aug. 9, 1-6 PM, Meadows Nursing Ctr., Dallas. Appts. 823-7161. Community Events ICE CREAM SOCIAL - Sat., Aug. 10, 4:30-7 PM, Loyalville Methodist Church, Loyalville Rd., off Route 118. Wimpies, hot dogs, baked beans and more. LAKE TOWNSHIP RECYCLING -Sat., Aug. 10, 10-Noon, Lake Twp. Bldg., Rte. 29. Glass, bimetal cans, aluminum, all plastics except oil containers. AUCTION AND FLEA MARKET - Sat., Aug. 10, Swetland Homestead, Wyoming Avenue, Wyoming. Adults $3.00, children under 6 free. CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, NEWS OR ADVERTISING
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers