4 The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, August 21, 1991 Tie SDALLASC20ST Region must cooperate to meet growth demands Last week's announcement that Wilkes-Barre General Hos- pital will construct a large health care facility in Dallas is just the latest indication of the region's development. Other recent projects at Penn State Wilkes-Barre and College Misericordia also point not anly to growth but to a broadening of services available for residents. Add to that the impending completion of the Cross Valley Expressway linking Route 309 and Inter- state 81 and you have all the elements for a burst of expansion- ary pressures on the region, with all their good and bad impli- cations. Are we ready? In many ways, the answer must be, no. One example is the apparent demise of the Back Mountain Water Commission. Formed in 1988 after that summer's drought left many area homes dry, the water commission met regularly for a few months as its members developed ideas that could have led to better utilization of present resources and development of methods by which to prepare for future needs. But, despite this summer's dry weather, water supplies have been reliable enough to remove the urgency of three years ago, and interest in planning ahead has waned. It would be easy to make the case that the evolution of the Back Mountain is, or soon will be, at a crossroads. The growth we've experienced up to now has occurred in something of a governmental vacuum, as a glance at the hodgepodge of commercial buildings along Route 309 reveals. Inconsistent regulation or enforcement has resulted in that part of the area nearly completely losing the charms that originally attracted many people here. In other cases, such as Country Club Plaza and the Dallas Village Shopping Center, the developers have taken it upon themselves to maintain the appearance of the buildings. The same can be said for the Dallas Shopping Center, which is presently undergoing major renovations that will include a completely new facade. But cosmetics are only one concern; assuring an adequate supply of basic services is even more critical in any effort to assure and control positive development. Highways and traffic control; sewage services; water supplies; open space consid- erations; all these are important if the region is to continue to grow in a way that improves the economy while preserving as much of its appeal as possible. The time has come—in fact, it is already late in the game— for a serious regional approach to planning the Back Moun- tain’s future. It is no longer possible for part-time municipal officials to stay on top of the demands that will be placed on the region, orto research the options that exist to meet them. At the least, we need to form a regional Council of Governments, which is a proven method of multiplying the ability of local officials so that issues facing the region receive adequate attention. Along with such a cooperative structure could come full-time professional employees whose salaries can be shared by the member municipalities. In the rush of meeting their own and their town's day-to-day responsibilities, local officials are able to spend very little time seriously considering the region’s future needs. But nothing is more important right now, because if we don’t plan, we're likely to be looking back in sorrow later. Speak out, or your beliefs will be lost In trying to provide accurate news coverage, one of The Post's greatest frustrations occurs when someone calls or stops by the office to offer a fresh perspective on the news, but refuses to speak for publication in the newspaper. When that happens, the “other side” of a story usually doesn't get out, since we will not use our news columns to print unattributed allegations. As a result, the entire community suffers, because the public assumes that only one opinion exists. Our policy on using unnamed sources is similar to our letter policy—just as we require that letter writers’ names be used on published letters, we believe that residents who feel a side of a story is lacking must be identified. The reason is fairly simple; readers should know if the source is linked to the story in some way. For example, if a story addressed the use of a parcel of land, readers should know that someone complaining about it was a neighbor. We are always puzzled by people's reluctance to be identified with their beliefs, which often appear to be quite strong. In our society, the unspoken has little weight, so anyone who truly holds their position dear should know that things are unlikely to change as long as they maintain silence. Do you agree? Disagree? Editorials are the opinion of the management of The Dallas Post. We welcome your opinion on contemporary issues in the form of letters to the editor. If you don't write, the community may never hear a contrasting point of view. Send letters to: The Dallas Post, P.O. Box 366, Dallas, PA 18612. Please include your name, address and daytime phone number so that we may verify authenticity. We reserve the right to edit for length and grammar. 7 ALLASCDosT Published Weekly by Bartsen Media, Inc. P.O. Box 366, Dallas PA 18612 Telephone: 717-675-5211 Ronald A. Bartizek Charlotte E. Bartizek Editor and Publisher Associate Publisher Peggy Young Charlot M. Denmon Advertising Acct. Exec. Reporter fii Eric Foster Paul Rismiller Reporter Olga Kostrobala Production Manager : Classified/typesettin Jean Hillard he 9 Oftice Manager MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION AND THE PENNSYLVANIA NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER'S ASSOCIATION Photo by Charlotte Bartizek Library news New book details Pensylvania's trout streams By NANCY KOZEMCHAK The Back Mountain Memorial Library was pleasantly surprised with the visit of a nice young man from Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. Mr. Dwight Landis dropped in the li- brary last week with a copy of his recently published book, “Trout Streams of Pennsylvania” which was also produced by him. Room at Penn State University's Pattee Library. The book is very well done with a table of contents which includes chapters on the sections of Penn- sylvania streams and a Stream Index in the back of the book. This book is a comprehensive guide to the great variety of trout fishing available in Pennsylvania. This book is an angler’s guide including photos and maps by the author. The company that pro- duced the book'is Hempstead- This book has been purchased from the library with funds do- nated from the Casey Cash Crunch project, which funds were donated Lyndell of Bellefonte. Included in the author's list of acknowledg- ments were the Pennsylvania Fish Commission, Waterways Conser- vation Officers and the librarian at earlier in the year. The Friends of the Library of the Back Mountain Memorial Library will hold their first meeting of the the Centre County Library in Belle- fonte, and the staff of the Maps ¢, at 1 p.m. in the main reading new season on Friday, September room of the library. The Friends group is responsible for the news- letter mailing once a year; the Friends luncheon in the spring; the annual Friends financial mail- ing and the current project, the Back Mountain Memorial Library Cookbook. Volunteers are always needed for the projects of this organization and Shirley Forney, chairman of Friends, invites anyone interested in working with the steering com- mittee of Friends to attend the meeting in September. New books at the library: “A Suitable Vengeance” by Elizabeth George is a mystery that began with what was meant to be a festive engagement weekend. The people involved with the weekend find the hore is full of tormenting memo- ries, and when a journalist is found gruesomely murdered in the nearby village, the engagement party is well and truly over. Involved are unbreakable blood ties and secret motives. “Shadow of a Doubt” by alla J. Coughlin has much of the a#? mosphere and intrigue of murder and a humdinger of an ending. It includes an electric courtroom drama of immense power in a realistic and gritty tradition. The reader is taken behind the legal curtain to reveal the hidden, and sometimes convoluted, secrets of American criminal justice. Only yesterday J structor. A wire-haired terrier named “Pete”, a blue ribbon winner in- shows, probably saved the L.E. Cottle home from fire last Tues- 60 Years Ago - Aug. 28, 1931 KINGSTON TWP. SCHOOL MOVES AHEAD Kingston Township School Board met at a special meeting to select an architect to draw plans for the new school building for the township. Mark and Sahm were selected as the architects to draw up the plans. Dallas Methodist Church choir held a covered dish supper Friday at Fernbrook Park. Shavertown defeats East Dal- las 10-2 at Shavertown Firemen's Fair. day when he woke up the neigh- borhood and when the Cottles looked out the window they saw a guest oftheir's caron fire at 2 a.m. Employees of Noxen Tannery prepare for union election. Wed - Dorothy Helen Habblett and Harry Lee Smith. Singing Hill starring Gene Au- try will play this week at Himmler Theatre. Daddy Longlegs starring Janet Gaynor is playing next Friday and Saturday at Himmler Theatre. 40 Years Ago - Aug. 24, 1951 WALLO DOING WELL AS GENERAL'S DRIVER 50 Years Ago - Aug. 22, 1941 PUP WAKES OWNERS, FIRE PREVENTED The new Dallas-Harveys Lake Boulevard will be half done by winter. Dallas School Directors named Robert Henderson as band in- Korean interpreter says Joe Wallo is making good as the Gen- eral's driver in a letter the Korean wrote to Mrs. Wallo. Fire damages the home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Mead on the Lehman-Ildetown Road. Work on the Lehman-Jackson School is progressing on sched- ule. Wed - Phyllis Jean Barkowski and Hanford Louis Eckman; Laura M. Pollock and Harold Rose. East Dallas downs Shavertown 7-0 in the Bi-County League. International stars featured by Mills Circus coming to Dallas. 30 Years Ago - Aug. 24, 1961 KEY CLUB BAND WINS MARCHING HONORS Judge Lewis visits site for pro- posed new school for the five-way Lehman jointure. Daddow-Isaacs American Legion to stage Americanism night Sep- tember 8. Key Club marching units bring home honors from V-J Day Parade at Norwich, N.Y. Westmoreland transformed from high school to elementary school. Wed - Beverly Ann Gosart and Jerry Gerrity; Donna Lee Brown and William Norris; Priscilla Mar- tin and Laing N. Coolbaugh; Alice Shortz and Roderick K. Davis. Gate of Heaven School antici- pates enrollment of 825 student | Dallas Schools recreation pro: gram closes with display of gym-' nastics and dancing, coordinated by Robert Dolbear and Edward Brominski. 20 Years Ago - Aug. 25, 1974 DALLAS HIGH EXPECTS RECORD ENROLLMENT - Roads, sewer construction gr- eas to be improved by contractor; fy Dallas Borough council mex bers will review and revise zoning. laws. A A Bus rcutes schedule set for Lake=" Lehman schools. Wed - Christine Ann Puchalsky and Gary R. Mathers. ; Dallas Senior High School to. have record enrollment. ol Jay Borton, Shavertown artist will have an abstract painting on exhibit at Wilkes-Barre Campus. Penn State Campus Lehman plans to have intramural football. ; Edward Edwards, Knights foot- ball coach becomes director. of activities. Psi ¢ 8 ml The economic opinion State program can help with local road problems By HOWARD J. GROSSMAN A little known but key program in Pennsylvania provides techni- cal assistance to municipal gov- ernments desiring to improve their transportation capabilities and infrastructure. The Rural Techni- cal Assistance Program (RTAP) became the Pennsylvania Local Roads Program in 1986. A Rural Technical Assistance’ Center for the Pennsylvania Local Roads Program is located at 68 CRAGS Building, Penn State Harrisburg, Middletown, PA 17057. It is the only organization in the Common- wealth whose sole function is to provide transportation technology to Pennsylvania's 2,637 munici- palities. Within these municipali- ties there are 69,910 miles of road- way. The program is designed to help all local governments regard- less of size, classification, urban or rural nature and services are pro- vided in many cases at no costs to municipal governments. Such services include technical /advisory assistance 'workshop/training sessions, publication, technical reports, audio/visual roadshows, quarterly newsletters and safety training. For example, RTAP’s traveling audio/visual training programs are available upon request, at no cost. Municipalities supply the location and the audience, and RTAP pro- vides the latest video tapes, films and slide/tap presentations on roadway related topics. An RTAP engineer presents the program and is available to discuss the presen- tation as well as other topics. RTAP's engineers are available to help municipalities solve high- way problems or answer transpor- tation-related questions unique to a community. Publications and technical reports are sent to municipalities upon request. RTAP can locate a highway publication or research report on almost any topic and provide a copy, often at no cost, to municipalities. An opportunity for municipal employees to be trained in the lat- est technologies and innovations through a series of half day train- ing sessions, conducted at con- venient locations throughout the Commonwealth is’ available through the Roads Scholar Pro- gram. Those who complete the program receive a certificate of program completion. Since small communities spend, on average, 29.6% of their total budget on road maintenance compared to 13.1% for all local governments, and since commu- nities under 5,000 population have a percentage of budget spent on roads totaling 35.8%, the RTAP Program can be of maximum sig- nificance to the small communi- ties in Northeastern Pennsylvania. One official in a small munici- pality in the Commonwealth noted that “an RTAP engineer demon- strated proper road maintenance techniques to our entire council and road crew. He took the time to thoroughly examine our problems | and answer all our questions. We found him to be very knowledge- : able and cooperative. His informa- | tion helped us establish a proper road maintenance program for our community at no cost to the tax-. | payers.” god Local governments in Northeast- | ern Pennsylvania concerned with road maintenance problems and: the cost thereof, should contact | the RTAP Pennsylvania Local Roads Program at the address noted or call 717-948-6098. In addition, the; Economic Development Council of Northeastern Pennsylvania (EDCNP) has a brochure which | provides information pertaining to the RTAP Program. The Council's address is 1151 Oak Street; | Pittston, Pa 18640. Howard Grossman is Executive Director of the Economic Develop: ment Council of Northeastern Penni: sylvania. He lives in Dallas.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers