Vol. 102 N Dallas, PA Wednes day, November 6, 1991 35 Ce nts By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff ‘Complaining of high costs and poor service from the Back Moun- tain Communications Center, Harveys Lake Borough Council voted at a special meeting October = 3@agtake steps to join the Luzerne & Cai¥ity Communications Center. The Back Mountain Communi- ‘cations Center has asked Harveys Lake to provide $25,811 or, 15 percent, of its proposed 1992 oper- ating budget of $172,071. According to David Macekura, director of Luzerne County Emer- gency Communications, the cost LEAF PICKUPS ‘SCHEDULED Area municipalities have an- nounced schedules for leaf col- lection. In all cdses, leaves should be bagged and left at curbside. No burning of leaves is allowed because of drought conditions. - Kingston Township will pick yh loaves the week of Novem- BET 11-15 between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. | Collection will be made in Dallas Township the week of "November 18-227 Dallas Bor- ough picks up leaves anytime | until the first snowfall. ‘Leaves should not be swept 1 into gutters or onto roadsides because they will block storm Fire risk stl great due to drought By GRACE R. DOVE Post Correspondent Four fire engines, a tanker and firrg@dshters from the Trucksville and Sh&®rtown Fire companies re- spohded to a structure fire early October 31 at the John Hilstolsky residehce on Mount Olivet Road, Kingston Township. According to Trucksville Fire Company's Assis- tant Chief Brian Johnson, a 16- by-16-foot storage shed at the rear of the resi" i.e caught fire when leaves on the roof were ignited by | sparks coming from the smoke pipe of the shed's woodburner. Johnson said the fire was tapped outvery quickly, although the shed burned to the ground. A tanker from Jackson Township had been plated on standby, Johnson added, Wille the Kingston Township Fire Pofte and personnel from nearby Frances Slocum State Park as- sisted in directing trafic on Mount Olivet Road. Johnson took the opportunity of the fire to warn residents that to the borough for using the county dispatching services is nothing. “I don’t have any problem with any of the guys at the Comm Center,” said councilman David Abod, who made the motion to begin the move to the county's system. “It's just gotten too expen- sive. I can't walk away from 0 versus $25,000.” Macekura said that the county communications center has added an extra repeater, a station which rebroadcasts radio signals, ‘which will eliminate the dead spots in the Harveys Lake area. The county's communication center is also planning to move its "I don't have any problem with any of the guys at the ~ Comm Center. It's just gotten too expensive.” Dave Abod Harveys Lake Councilman this before is they didn’t ave the extra repeater up,” said Abod. Besides the cost, Assistant Harveys Lake Police Chief Ronald Spock, isn't pleased with the serv- ice from the Back Mountain Com- munications Center. ‘Spock said he's had officers radio the communications center ‘asking for criminal histories, and the officers have been asked why they wanted them. He also said the / — radio signals aren't always received. communication tower from /the/ courthouse to Larksville Mountain, which should further improve service, Macekura said. “The only reason we didn't dof : we “There are dead spots with Back ' Mountain,” said Spock. “You can't ‘get on with your radio. Even 100 feet is too much of a dead spot.” Spock says that so far this year, By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff 3 ) ing. You'd like to go dancing - but disco leaves you dizzy? Then you may be interested in contra danc- The Northeastern Pennsylvania Folklore Soci- THE BACK MOUNTAIN REELERS - Formed two years ago, the Reelers perform traditional songs and dance tunes of America and the British Isles. Shown from left are Rob Lewis, of Lehman, Mar- garet Bakker, Lehman, MaryLou Mehl, Shavertown, Paul Mehl, Shavertown. Dancing back to colonial times been playing together for two years, also includes Paul Mehl of Shavertown on banjo and guitar; MaryLou Mehl of Shavertown on hammered dul- cimer, recorders, and piano, and Margaret Bakker of Lehman on cello. Most contra dancing music is from the British Isles, Irish, Scottish or English, but there is also 1s Lake threatens to pull out of Comm Center "I don't want to start a fight with them. I'd rather see them stay and sit down with us.” Paul Sabol Chairman of the Comm Center seven officers around the country have been killed making traffic stops. “If that’s going to happen,” said Spock, “you really have to be in contact.” Councilman Joseph Sgarlat said he, Spock and Abod tested the Dallas plans changes. to 7 school periods By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff Dallas School District secon- dary students may spend part of their spring semester in seven- class-period days, as opposed to the eight-class-period days the district currently offers. At their committee of the whole meeting November 4, the Board of School Directors voted to have Middle School principal Dr. Gilbert Griffiths develop a 3-2 program for the Middle School. The program would call for three “school days. a week with eight periods, and two days a week with seven periods - and could start next semester if the directors vote to do so. The seven-class-period schedule would call for fewer classes, but each class would be longer. “My intention is that we move to a seven-period day next year,” said director John Cleary, who made the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by the directors. Griffiths said that some prelimi- nary work has been done since the Back Mountain. ~moved several feet. Expressway opens Friday Friday, November 8 might be called T Day, or Traffic Day for the That's the day the final leg of the Cross Valley Expressway will county system on October 31 od found only two dead spots - bu they disappeared when the car was Sl Where was Harveys Lake? The complaints of high costs and poor service have the chair- man of the Back Mountain Com- munications Center, Kingston Township Police Chief Paul Sabol, wondering why Harveys Lake's representatives don’t show up at the center's monthly meetings. “They should have had some- body there to argue on their be- See COMM CENTER, pg5 beginning of the school year. “This is in anticipation of the 1992-93 school year,” said Grif- fiths, who described the action as making a transitionary step to having a seven- period day for grades six to 12. “We're trying to put some more nuts and bolts in the courses,” said Cleary. 5 Cleary said that a move to a seven-period day would mean that students would have more instruc: | 0 tional time and fewer study halls. Cleary also made a motion that District Superintendent Gerald Wycallis post a job opening for at assistant superintendent of in struction and curriculum. “It's generally recognized that we could use some more continu- ity in curriculum,” said Cleary. “In the past 10 years, there has always been a director of curricu- lum,” said director Ellen Nagy. “It wouldn't be creating anew job, but filling one left by Mr. (Fred) Templin.” The position of director of cur- riculum was left unfilled when See SCHOOL PERIODS, pg 12 ety and Chicory House will hold a contra dance Saturday, November 9, at Wilkes-Barre's First Presbyterian Church on South Franklin Street. Admission to the dance will be $5 for adults and $2.50 for children ages 10 to 16. The dance will start at 7:30 p.m. but with an English rather than Country and Western feel. The dances, also called row or column dances, evolved from ancient fertility rites. A contra dance can last up to ten minutes. But you needn't worry about looking like a dancing fool - the caller will go through each dance slowly at first. “Some places in New England have had the dances continuously since colonial times,” says Rob Lewis, of Lehman Township, a member of both the Folklore Society and Chicory House. Lewis is a guitarist of the Back Mountain Reelers, a string band which plays traditional folk and contra dance music. The band, which has Contra dancing looks a bit like square dancing, some French and French Canadian music. Because a dance can last for up to ten minutes, bands often combine two or three songs. While Reeler's played at the contra dance last June, Saturday's dance will feature Philadelphia . area caller Sue Dupre, with music by Polansky, Stokoe, and Deane. The New York band features fiddle, tenor banjo, mandolin and guitar. The first contra dance was held in the fall of 1990, after Dave Martin of Centermoreland and some other members of the Folklore Society had gone to a contra dance in New York. Since then they've been held each month from September to June. “We get 150 people sometimes,” Mehl. Singles, couples, beginners, young and old are welcome to the dance. Dancers should wear cas- ual clothes, and preferably; soft-soled shoes. See DANCING, pge 12 says Paul open. There will be ribbon cutting ceremony at 1:30 p.m., and the highway will be open to traffic at about 3 p.m., according to Rolly Keisling, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Trans- portation (PennDOT). The completed section of the expressway will connect Interstate 81 directly with Route 309 - eliminating the need to travel through Wilkes-Barre. The opening of the highway has many area government and police officials worried that the Back Mountain will be flooded with a huge surge of new traffic on the already busy Route 309. In re- sponse to the concerns of increased traffic, PennDOT and area officials have formed the Back Mountain Transportation Manage- ment Association, which will meet again December 4 at 7 p.m. at Penn State Wilkes-Barre. While the expressway will be open November 8, it will not be completely finished. The exit ramp from the expressway to Wilkes-Barre Boulevard will not be completed until around Thanksgiving, according to Keisling. He said an acceleration lane at the River Street ramp will also be finished at around that time. See DROUGHT, pg 12 \ : i .-Calendar............ 20 Police repon.................... 2 Classified......17-19 Property Transfers........... 2 Editorials............ 4 School. ......ooiss--0n00- 10-11 en... Obituaries........... 17. SPONSy.. Linn... 13 AMERICAN RED CROSS BLOOD DRIVE - Wed., Nov. 6, 11 AM-5 PM, Penn State Wilkes-Barre, Lehman. Appointments, 823- 716%. Community Events VIETNAM VETERANS MEETING - Wed, Nov. 6, 7 PM, Dallas Legion, Route 415. All veterans and interested parties invited. CRAFT FAIR - Sat., Sun. Nov. 9, Trucksville Fire Hall, Carverton Rd. | ROAST BEEF SUPPER - Sat., Nov. 9, 5-7 PM, takeouts 4-4:30. St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Shavertown. Adults $6. 00, children $3.00. ARTS & CRAFTS SHOW - Sat; Sun. Nov. 9-10. 10 AM-7 PM, Sat., 9:30- 4:30 Sun. Our Lady of Victory Church, Harveys Lake. Free, 7 efreshments available. CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, NEWS OR ADVERTISING 'PhoneFriend’ lends an ear to latchkey kids By GRACE R. DOVE Post Correspondent “I'm home alone and I hear a strange noise.” “My pet kitten died today.” “Do you know how to multiply three numbers together?” In its first year of operation, PhoneFriend, an after-school tele- phone help line for children an- swered 350 calls such as these from so-called latchkey children. For the second consecutive year, Dallas United Methodist Church has made “PhoneFriend,” a non- profit community outreach pro- gram and supportive system, avail- able to children who spend time alone between the time that they arrive home from school and the time that their parents come home from work. The phones are manned by trained volunteers, mainly jun- jor and senior students from the social work program at College Misericordia. Due to the need for many par- ents to work outside the home, the number of children home alone for an hour or two after school has grown significantly during the past several years. This situation can be worrisome not only for the chil- dren, but also for their parents, according to Reverand Michael Bealla, pastor of Dallas United Methodist Church. Calling a local number will put a child in touch with a trained operator who can lend a listening ear, help with a crisis or simply chat with the child about what happened that day at school. PhoneFriend services are available during the school year between 3:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on school days. Volunteers have been trained to provide information to young call- See PHONEFRIEND, pg 12 PHONE FRIEND - Brendan O'Leary, a senior liberal arts student at College Misericordia, is one volunteer in the PhoneFriend program for youngsters who are home alcne. (Post Photo/Grace R. Dove) Ci ina AER
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers