4 The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, September 18, 1991 Tie PALLASC[20ST Solicitor's dual roles lead to inevitable conflict of interest ~ One ofthe issues that has surfaced in the continuing protest . against the Dallas Area Municipal Authority (DAMA) trash and ~ recycling program is whether or not it is proper for Benjamin R. Jones III to act as solicitor for both DAMA and Kingston Township, one of three municipalities for which DAMA acts. Mr. Jones and DAMA and Kingston Township officials say there is nothing illegal about his dual positions, and legal ‘experts apparently agree. But sometimes common sense car- ries more weight than legal opinion, and this is one of those instances. The workings of Kingston Township and DAMA are inextri- cably intertwined, even to the extent that while DAMA admini- sters the recycling program, the three municipalities hold the actual contract with Danella Environmental Technologies, the designated hauler. In the course of setting up the program, there were undoubtedly numerous occasions for Mr. Jones to be put in a position of serving two masters. In those cases, how did he decide which party’s interest was more important? It is accepted practice for judges and lawyers to recuse themselves from cases in which they might have a personal interest. It would seem that the circumstance of Mr. Jones representing these two entities is equally fraught with the “potential for conflict, especially when negotiating an agree- ‘ment for new services. It is not our intention to question Mr. Jones's competence as -a solicitor. Obviously both DAMA and Kingston Township are well satisfied with his service and neither has seen fit to act against his holding these positions. But there is no doubt that ‘by representing such closely related entities, Mr. Jones is left ‘wide open to questions about his—or anyone’s—ability to give full and impartial attention to either. If for no other reason than to defuse the controversy that will inevitably follow him in these two roles, Mr. J ones should step down from one of them Give teachers credit for not calling strike . The Dallas Education Association, the teachers’ union, is to “be commended for agreeing to work under the terms of their “recently-expired contract as they and the administration try to ‘reach an accord for this and future years. The alternative, a “strike, would irreparably harm the education of Dallas stu- “dents, as is the unfortunate case in several districts across the state and nation. . While public school teachers are allowed to strike oer the terms of Pennsylvania's Act 195, the tactic'tends to be most ~disruptive to the students and the community. That fact may make a strike appealing to those who view administration/ “teacher relations in a harsh light, but given the nature of ‘teachers’ responsibilities, strikes can be justified in only the «most extreme circumstances. Those do not exist in the Dallas “district at this time. .« School districts are today under increasing pressure to turn “out students who can demonstrate competence; at the same “time the schools face financial demands brought on in part by declining state and federal aid. The result is often a clash between the desire of teachers to be paid more handsomely and resistance from property owners who say they simply can't : afford higher taxes. No matter how these issues are resolved, it is important to ~maintain school programs as consistently as possible because -in the long run we will all pay the price for poorly educating our children. em does help fair .» Luzerne County Commissioner Jim Phillips was quick to call + The Post last week to tell us that an editorial in last week’s issue - complaining that the commissioners give little attention to the - Luzerne County Fair was way off base. It appears that he was . right on that score. . Phillips informed us that Luzerne County has contributed . large amounts of material and manpower to preparing the - fairgrounds each year. He also pointed out that he personally - attended the fair’s opening ceremonies, which were shortened losctuse of heavy rains, and returned with his family on other ays - We're glad to hear that Luzerne County has supported the - fair so well. We hope their interest continues. : 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 DALLASCDosT 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 J oe Eric Foster Paul Rismiller Reporter Olga Kostrobala Production Manager ; Classified/typesettin 9 Jean Hillard Ypsseling Otfice Manager MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION AND THE PENNSYLVANIA NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER'S ASSOCIATION View from Lower Demunds Road (Photo by Ron Bartizek) t Letters Editor, We believe the article "Commis- sioners show little interest in area," (Post, 9-11-91) needs to be cor- rected. County commissioners Frank Crossin, Frank Trinisewski and Jim Phillips have done a lot to get the Fair started this year and for many years.’ They have gone out of their way for us assisting with much of the set-up work prior to the Fair, as they usually do. They have been a great asset. We! need their help. As far as their attendance, we knew commissioners Trinewski and Crossin could not attend, and as far as commissioner Phillips, it was great to see him attend. As far as him not speaking to the people who attended the fair, I'm sure he would have wanted to but due to the hard rain Wednesday night (during opening ceremonies) most speeches were eliminated. We had other representatives attend and they did not have an opportunity either. We dedicated the new under cover building to Francis "Red" Ambrose and the cattle barn to Ralph Sands. We kept the ceremonies very brief due to bad weather. Fair officials say county offers plenty of help each year We apologize to anyone might have been upset. Edward Kelly Fair Chairman Raymond Hillman Grounds Chairman Editor's Note: The article refe to was an editorial. See this wef's editorials for further comment. Library news PA's First Lady to visit By NANCY KOZEMCHAK Some very exciting news for the Back Mountain Memorial Library and the Back Mountain commu- nity, as well. Mrs. Ellen Casey, wife of the Governor of Pennsylvania, Robert Casey, will be visiting the Back Mountain Memorial Library on Wednesday morning, Novem- ber 6 at 10 a.m. Mrs. Casey had graciously re- sponded to a request from our Gookbook Chairman, Maryan Daily, for a recipe for the cookbook and she sent her recipe for “Gover- nor Casey's Chocolate Cake” to the library. The recipe is in the cook- book under the section, ‘Some- thing Special’. sent a letter to her on May 10 hoping she would be able to attend our library auction; where we had planned a special kick-off with some of the recipes for sampling and a sales launch of the cock- book. However, when we didn't hear from her, we skipped the sampling and launch at the auc- tion and sold 12 of the first copies over the auction block. I received a call from her secre- tary last week where she advised me that our library was on her schedule for this visit on Novem- ber 6. We are billing this special production as “Books and Brunch with Ellen Casey” for 10 a.m. when she and two members of her stafl will arrive at the library. Her first request is for the op- portunity to read to some children for 20 minutes and this works out well as Wednesday is Story Hour Day at the Library. After the read- library in November, ing, we will have a reception tc honor Mrs. Casey and her visit and we hope to have at least two plates filled with the Governor's choco- late cake and some of the other recipes from the cookbook as re- freshments. We are planning also to serve coffee, tea and punch. The library cookbook, “Chefs and Artists” will be available for sale during this festive time also. Many members of the cookbook committee who worked so diligently on the book will be present as well as members of the library Board of Directors. Mrs. Casey's secretary assured me we would not have to worry about snow! The library has two book stores in the basement with on-going sales during the year. One store is spe- cial priced books and the other room is $1.00 a bag books. These rooms are open on Wednesday from 12:30to 8 and Saturday from 10;to 5 p.m. #) New Books New books at the library: “Imjica” by Clive Barker is a seamless tap- estry of thwarted ambition and mythic horrors that picks out the brightly colored threads of three memorable characters; John, a master forger; Judith, a beautiful woman desired by three powerful men; and Pie'oh’' Pah, a mysterious assassin who deals in love as well as death. “The Sum of All Fears” by im Clancy follows the aftermath of Communism’s collapse, the Gulf War and the realignment of the world's powers in a terrifyingly i novel. Only yesterday 60 Years Ago - Sept. 11, 1931 904 STUDENTS IN KING. TWP. SCHOOLS Kingston Township schools are now in session with 904 students enrolled. - One way tickets are now being issued to patrons of the local trac- tion company instead of the two stub tickets that were previously used. Hunlock bows to Shavertown fast nine in the Rural League. Wyoming County Fair engages whole circus. ‘Politics’ starring Marie Dressler and Pollie Moran now playing at the Himmler Theatre. 50 Years Ago - Sept. 12, 1941 LAKE VOTERS NIX ANTI-ALCOHOL BILL The local option to defeat the sale of beer and liquor at the Lake was voted down by an overwhelm- ing majority. His midnight caroling was halted abruptly when George Gibbon, an alien farm laboror was hauled off to jail Sunday by Harveys Lake Police Chief Ira Stevenson for drunkenness and disorderly con- duct. Flight training open to local college men at the Valley Airport. Hunlock people oppose closing of D.L.&W. freight station in that community. Women of Rotary held a dinner meeting at the Moses Van Campen Hotel at Benton. The Old Barn Dance’ starring Gene Autry is showing at Himmler 415 to Harvey's Lake. Theatre. 40 Years Ago - Sept. 14, 1951 NEW LEADERSHIP SOUGHT FOR DALLAS Neighborhood chairman Mrs. Harris Haycox announced at Tues- day night's meeting at her home that new leaders are needed in the Dallas District. Householders are ‘asked to number their houses to be ready for the expected house to house delivery anticipated by Dallas Borough. First flock of wild geese fly south as Zeported by local resident. aged - Nancy Hill and War- ren En omas. ‘Showboat’ starring Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel playing at Himmler Theatre. Bloomsburg Fair will open for six big days and nights from Sept. 24 through Sept. 29. Dallas will be at Beaumont and Vernon at Orange in the Bi-County League playoffs this Sunday. 30 Years Ago - Sept. 14, 1961 FALLOUT SHELTERS TO BE DISCUSSED Penna. Gas & Water Co. begins building a new regulator-meter station to introduce natural gas this fall. Dallas Rotary announces that it will offer opportunities to study abroad for a year to Lake-Lehman and Dallas high school students. Civil Defense will discuss fall- out shelter at a meeting this eve- ning at the new high school. Dick Clark, area athlete, is fight- ing for a front line position on the Susquehanna grid squad. Back Mountain YMCA Teen Canteen invites students Satur- day night at its “Y” building in Shavertown. 20 Years Ago - Sept. 16, 1971 JOHN JURIS HONORED Game lands tours scheduled The Pennsylvania Game Com- mission is extending an invitation to all interested persons to take partin a vehicle tour of State Game Lands No. 57 in Wyoming and Luzerne Counties, Sunday, Octo- ber 6, 1991, between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. The planned tour will meet at the Pennsylvania Game Commis- sion's Northeast Regional Office located in Dallas, Pennsylvania at the intersections of Route 118 & We will travel along Route 415 to Route 29 into Noxen where we will enter State Game Lands. The tour route distance is approximately 25 miles and will take about 2-1/2 hours to complete. Each vehicle will be given a map and a brief explana- tion of Wildlife Management Pro- grams being incorporated in the magnificent tract of public hunt- ing lands. The road is rough in certain areas, but passable by vehicle. Pickup trucks and 4 wheel FOR DRIVING SKILL Lake-Lehman Knights- defeat Wyalusing in opener of the season. Commonwealth Telephene Company plans to move its Dallas Business to the Dallas Shop he Center. John J. Juris, rural carrier for the Dallas post office was the re- cipient of a 20-year expert driver award presented by Dallas Post- master Edwin M. Buckley. : Dallas High Schools adopt new traffic regulations for the junior and senior high schools. Dr. Chester Molley of Shaver- town receives his doctorate from Pennsylvania State University. Engaged - Jacqueline Michele Stanley and Joseph C. Falchek. Wed - Karen L. Yablonski and James F. Rittenhouse; Gale Ann Eckenrode and Salvatore Richard Acquisto. Mountaineers open season with 46-0 win over West Side Tech. | for October 6 drive vehicles are recommended. Game commission personnel will act as tour guides ta reveal various points of interest which will include wildlife habitat im- provements and a history of the area. Also, at the conclusion ofthe tour, a limited number of free Wildlife Notes, in a beautiful binder will be available for additional in- formation on an assortment’ of wildlife found within the Common- wealth.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers