LN am co. giand LJ Re fn amd 1 Xn am mw de At Net oa ONS 0 a GETS 8 hs 1 Local wrestlers begin season 11 OST Vol. 102 Nc rr Dal ee i kl 2acher salary Dallas, PA Wednesday, December 11, 1991 Board, union mum 'til fact-finder's report By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff It was a disappointing night for residents who attended the De- cember 9 meeting of the Dallas ghool Board hoping to hear more SJout negotiations between the district and teachers’ union on a new labor contract. “Unfortunately, we are still held under confidentiality by the fact School land sale cancelled By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff Wilkes-Barre General Hospital has abandoned its plans to pur- gaaase the former Dallas Township §¢hooland 12.6 acres of land from thie Dallas School District , leaving school board members disap- pointed but the president of Back Mountain Baseball Inc. relieved. “I think it would have been a tremendous asset to the commu- nity,” said board member Ellen Nagy. “I think it would have bene- fited everybody.” “fhe. school board ‘voted to ap- i the sale of the schoo! and sW¥rrounding land to Wilkes-Barre General Realty Co., a subsidiary of the hospital, at the its meeting on august 12. ‘Whe price was to be $950,000, with an agreement that the Little League field would be leased to Back Mountain Baseball Inc., for ten years, and other fields for a shorter period. The building was to be used for a medical and physical fitness center. General Hospital would have relocated it’s family practice office from its present location at See LAND SALE, pg 10 finder,” said Dallas Schools super- intendent Gerald Wyecallis told the crowd, explaining why neither he nor union representatives would talk about the negotiations. A long-anticipated fact-finding report requested by the district to help resolve its logjam with the teachers is expected to be made around Christmas. The teachers and the district have been negotiating since Janu- ary of 1990, with the teachers working under théir old contract since September 1. In August, the district released a statement which said that the teacher's were requesting a five- year contract with yearly salary" increases of approximately 10 percent - which would raise the current average teachersalary from $38,646 to over $60,000 in the 1995-96 school year. Union president William Wag- ner has repeatedly denied that the union request is that high, but has been unwilling to say what it is asking for. The fact-finder was called in to help resolve the dispute by collect- ing information on what average salaries are in the area, the cost of living, what business growth is like, and by comparing the district to similar districts. The report makes recommendations that if agreed upon by both parties, be- come the basis for a contract. Dropping a line to Santa Claus Third grade students from the Dallas Elementary School in Carole Hayden's class recently helped first grade students in Judy Roeder’s class write letters to Santa Claus. Seven-year-old Phillip Oh at left is shown writing a letter for six-year-old Samantha Oschman. Osch- man wants a skateboard for Christmas. The first grade students’ letters will be printed in the Decem- - ber 18 edition of The Dallas Post. (Post Photo/Eric Foster) a Hunters bagged 390 bears in short season By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff According to law enforcement supervisor Ted Vesloski, the 1991 bear season resulted in a harvest of 44 bears in Luzerne County and 390 in the thirteen-county North- st Region, according to prelimi- Wry data released by the Pennsyl- vania Game Commission. The three-day season, November 25- 27, ended with 1,669 bears har- vested statewide, with the largest, weighing in at 604 lbs. coming from Bradford County. Hunters who bagged a bear were required to bring it to the nearest bear check station, where its weight was recorded and a tooth removed. State biologists count the growth rings in the teeth in order to deter- mine the bear's age. If the bear had an ear tag or an electronic tracking collar, Game Commission biolo- gists can obtain further data. Vesloski noted that although it is legal to shoot a bear wearing an ear tag or electronic collar, it is illegal for hunters to use electronic ‘tracking devices while hunting. Hunters are allowed one bear per See BEARS, pg 10 By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff 3 Dallas. Czech visitor bags a buck Jan Galdun, a visitor to the area from Czechoslovakia, bagged a spike buck while hunting with his cousin; Cyril Krempasky of RR When he applied for his non-resident hunting license at the Pennsylvania Game Commission office in Dallas, Galdun was sur- prised to learn that secretary Elaine Hudak is a distant cousin. “It's sure a small world,” Krempasky laughed. “Elaine Hudak's husband's grandfather and my mother were brother and sister. We never knew that until Jan came in for his hunting license.” An experienced hunter, Galdun, 31, is a member of a hunting club in Czechoslovakia, where he hunts European stag, wild boar and roe deer, which are smaller than the American white-tail deer. He lives in the village of Vitaz in the county of Presov, and is a quality control inspector in a furniture factory. Krempasky has helped to interpret for Galdun, who speaks very little English. Galdun bagged his buck the day after Krempasky shot a Y-buck during the first week of the season, using a .308 Springfield borrowed from Krempasky. Each buck weighed in at approxi- mately 135 Ib. field-dressed. “I was surprised that he was so good with an unfamiliar gun,” Krempasky said. “Jan uses an over-and under, 7.5 mm and 12-gauge, at home. He's a good shot.” Galdun plans to return home within a week, having spent six weeks in the Back Mountain with the Krempasky family. Madrigal dancer When she wasn't displaying her delightful voice, Sue Hatrak was a dancer during the Madrigal Dinner at College Misericordia. The 22nd annual event was held last Friday and Saturday. (Post photo/ Charlotte Bartizek) Sand candles on sale Shavertown Fire Department is conducting their annual Sand Candle Sale. They will be available on weekends at the Shavertown Acme; Monday evenings at their fire hall or contact any member or call 675-1302. Wyecallis said that when the report is completed, both sides have 10 days to accept or reject it. If either side rejects the report, there is a five-day cooling off pe- riod after which negotiations begin again. The fact-finder held a hearing October 24 at which both sides presented evidence, said Wycallis, who added that normally, the report is due in 40 days. In Novem- ber, Attorney Jim Crawford, coun- sel for the Labor Relations Board which arranges fact-finders, said 35 Cents report to be read y for Christmas that the report was being post- poned because the district and teachers had engaged in further negotiations. Though approximately 100 people attended the meeting, held in the Dallas Middle School, only a few addressed the board from a microphone in the center of the auditorium. ; Charlotte Arbogast of Dallas Township, a member of the newly- formed Dallas Taxpayers Forum, See SALARY REPORT, pg 10 Lehman wells still tainted by gasoline By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff Nearly three months after their well water was found to be con- taminated by gasoline, residents of Byrant's Mobile Home Park in Lehman Township are still waiting for water that they can drink. A new well for the park was drilled in September, after its ex- isting well was discovered to have been contaminated by benzene, a component of gasoline which is believed to have leaked into the ground from the nearby Lehman Sunoco Station on Route 118. That well went down about 1,000 feet, according to Mark Carmon, spokesman for the Departthent of Environmental Resources, but didn’t supply enough water for the residents of the park. Another well was drilled about 200 feet deep, but that well has been found to be contaminated with MTBE, an additive to gasoline used to prevent engine knock. Benzene has been found to cause cancer in large doses, while MTBE is not as hazardous. Carmon said that between 20 and 30 wells in the area have been tested for contamination, some of them several times, and that be- tween 12 and 15 wells have been contaminated with MTBE. Those include the wells at the nearby Lake-Lehman Junior High School and Maple Hill Nursing Home. Besides the mobile home park's well, only one other well has been contaminated with the more dan- gerous benzene - the well of a private home on Market Street near the Lake-Lehman Junior High. Like the mobile home park, the resi- dence’s well was about 100 feet deep; unlike the mobile home park, a new well has been successfully drilled for that homeowner. George Maculloch, owner of the Sunoco Station, has paid for drill- ing the new wells, and for bottled water and/or filters for all of the others with contaminated water. A hole was discovered in one of the Sunoco station's tanks in October of 1990. The tank was replaced, and a ground water study at the time showed no contamina- tion, according to Carmon. Maculloch’s consultant is pres- ently developing a plan to clean up the water, said Carmon. But the cleanup will take time. “It won't take a year, or half a year,” said Carmon. “But it will take some time. We would want to see it done as quickly as possible, but we wouldn't want to see a hasty or incomplete job done ei- ther.” Head Start center opens at Lake-Noxen By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Bright pictures, colorful posters and signs reminding little ones to “Use your walking feet” and “Use your inside voice” decorate the walls of Luzerme County Head Start’'s newest location at the Lake- Noxen Elementary School. Open since September, the center held its ribbon-cutting Wednesday, December 4. Head Start, a private, non-profit organization, serves more than 595 children from low- income families at nine locations in Luzerne and Wyoming Counties each year. Fifteen children attend the Lake- Noxen program for half a day, participating in supervised activi- ties designed to improve their social skills. After a hot breakfast, the children work with learning games, puzzles, storytelling and other individual and group opportuni- ties designed to help prepare them for kindergarten. A late-morning snack rounds out the day. Parents assist the staff, which includes certified teacher Sherry Tsikalas, social services coordina- tor Lena Taylor, health assistant Cindy Brynn and family worker Debbie Maskalis. Although Luzerne County Head Start operates nine centers in Luzerne and Wyoming Counties, See HEAD START, pg 3 Calendar.............. 18 Police report.......... 6 Classified........ 16-17 Property transfers..2 Editorials............... 4 School.......... 13-14 Obituaries............ 15 Sports.............. 11-12 Community Events CHRISTMAS CONCERT - Sun., Dec. 15, 7:00 PM, Alderson U.M. Church, Harveys Lake. By Orpheus Choral Society. Free will offering. CHRISTMAS CANDLELIGHT PROGRAMS- Thurs., Dec. 12- Sun., Dec. 15, 7-9 PM daily, matinees 2-4 PM Sat. and Sun. Swetland Homestead, Wyoming Ave., Wyoming. Adults $3.50, children under 12 $1.50. TOYS, TRAINS AND OTHER TREASURES - Through Christmas, Wyoming Valley Historical Society, 69 S. Franklin St., Wilkes-Barre. Tues.-Fri., 10 AM-4 PM, Thurs. eve. 6-9. Free. |
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers