- o a a ¢ > Ad bo Ee PSN Sr ERT Vol. 103 No. 2 k EE ERIC FOSTER Ros! Staff ‘The Dallas High School will inge from eight to seven-class- petiod days starting in the fall of 1992. Board member John Cleary made the motion to change from ‘eight to seven class periods, which was seconded by Ellen Nagy at the school board's January 13 meet- ing. ~ Cleary, Nagy, James Richardson, Ernest Ashbridge Jr., Dallas. PA Wednesday, January 15, 1992 35 Cents | | and Richard Coslett voted for the change. Clarence Michael, John George, and Thomas Landon voted against it. Thomas Stitzer was absent from the meeting. Nagy pointed out that the school board has been studying the pos- sibility of changing to seven class periods for ayear or more, and that if a change was made, it had to be made soon so students would have time to choose their classes for next year. According to Gilbert Griffiths, assistant superintendent for cur- riculum, class periods will increase from 45 minutes to approximately 50 minutes. The Middle School will adopt a schedule with two seven-period days, and three eight- period days in the fourth quarter of this year - a transition step toward having seven period days in grades six through twelve be- ginning in the fall of 1992. ~ “I've made the philosophical commitment that we've got to get more, basics in the curriculum,” Dallas will reduce to 7 daily classes said Cleary. “I think the number of minutes in a period has more to do with quality not quantity,” objected Michael. “I've done scheduling, I've seen conflicts. I have to say, our 8- period day gives us more {lexibil- iy.” “I feel our children will still have options,” said Nagy. “I had two daughters go through the High School, one when there was seven See CLASSES, pg 5 | Owen's farm | ackground | set tone for his hobby By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff - him that he will soon have to build an addition to his house just for his toys. That's because Owen, a Franklin Township native and its oad foreman, has more than 150 model farm tractors and a sizeable collection of farm implements, ~postly built to 1/16 scale. » Owen's fascinating hobby be- hn gan eight years ago when he and his wife Donna saw a toy farm tractor which reminded him of his childhood toys at a flea market. He paid 50 cents for the plastic toy which had been manufactured during the early 1950's. When he told his mother about his purchase, she brought him all of his old toys, which had been stored in her attic since he out- grew them. Even his favorite John Deere 630 had survived. See HOBBY, pg 11 ] { A ba be | KR "By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (DER) and the U.S. Army J Corps of Engineers Baltimore Dis- trict plan January 16 to inspect a site owned by Commonwealth Telephone Company for possible © Wetlands violations, according to . Larry Oliver of DER's Wetlands Office in Harrisburg. ‘Commonwealth plans construc- Meeting to By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff Ask a typical Back Mountain councilman or supervisor about Art Owen's friends often tease James of EcoScience, Inc., ONE OF MANY - Owen has restored a pedaled model John Deere for his grandson to ride. (Post photo/Grace R. Dove) tion of a building on the site, lo- cated on Route 309 in Dallas Township, which contains approxi- mately 6-1/2 acres of wetlands which were documented by Russell a con- sulting firm. John and Diane Graham, own- ers of property immediately adja- cent to the acreage in question, have contended that the company has recently tampered with the wetlands by constructing a ditch to drain wetland water to a culvert running underneath Route 309 to a pond behind the utility's busi- ness office. “When Commonwealth brought in machinery to cut brush on the site, adrainage ditch running from behind our property to a culvert under the highway was con- structed and the water in it cov- ered with cut baled hay,” John Graham said. “This hay is much different from the grass harvested in the wetland area. And photos which I took during December DER to inspect alleged wetland violations prove that the ditch was not there before Commonwealth's equip- ment came in New Year's Eve.” Graham is also concerned that the hay spread on the water in the drainage ditch will mask evidence of recent excavation, both to field observers and in the planned aer- ial photographs. Graham contends that the util- ity has “grubbed’ part of the wet- land, destroying a significant per- See WETLANDS, pg 3 address joining police forces State officials say regional forces save money without sacrificing coverage ~ merging their municipality's po- lice force with another and you're likely to hear that it has to happen sooner or later - but more likely later. ~ But Don Cooper, president of Dallas Borough's council, wants Back Mountain communities to | look at the possibility now. To give municipal officials a chance to find out more, a repre- sentative from the Department of Community Affairs will discuss consolidating police forces Janu- ary 22 at 7:30 p.m. in the Center for Technology at Penn State's .ehman campus. “I kind of initiated this thing,” said Cooper, who's been interested in consolidated police for the past two years. “It has to happen. Eco- nomically, it has to happen. It's going to happen, now or later. I'd rather now than later.” “We're constructively regional- ized now, we work through a communications center. The com- munities now have an understand- ing as faras support for each other,” said Cooper. One of Cooper's concerns is that in the future, municipalities will be unable to offer salaries which will attract the quality of officers they now have. “I think it would be more cost- effective if we were regionalized.” The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) agrees. According to Dormer Orndorf, Police Consultant for the DCA, See POLICE, pg 2 By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff Today there are 14 consoli- dated police departments throughout Pennsylvania; but the state's first consolidated police department was in the Back Mountain in 1971. The department, combining the Kingston Township and Dallas Township forces, was short-lived. “It lasted six months, and that's about it,” said Dallas Township supervisor Phillip Walter, who was then chairman ofthe police department's board. Begun on the first of the year, the department disbanded six months later, on July 1. There were troubles in the department from the very start. “Dallas Borough backed out in the beginning before it started,” remembers Dallas Township police chief Carl Miers, who was an officer in the de- partment at the time. Kingston Township police Local departments once combined..for awhile chief Paul Sabol was also in the combined department, and re- members that the officers, five from each township, still wore their old uniforms and patches. The consolidated department was in the process of applying for $30,000 in state grants when Dr. Hugo Mailey, director of the state's Institute of Regional Af- fairs, died in March of 1971. Mailey had spent two years talk- ing up consolidation to munici- pal officials and was credited by The Dallas Post with bringing about the combined force. The department also had two police chiefs, Herbert Updyke from Kingston Township and Frank Lange from Dallas Town- ship. A lot of factors played a part in the breakup of the depart- ment, said Miers, but “probably one of the biggest factors, the police decided they wanted to go into arbitration.” The Kingston Township su- See DEPARTMENTS, pg 2 By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff with teachers. Freeze wages? . Ifthe mood of the 150 people in attendance at the Dallas School Board's meeting on January 13 is any indication, residents of the district want the board to take a hard line in contract negotiations “The union wants to play hardball, that's the feeling we get” [in said Robert Frey, who urged the school board to “hang tough.” / At a meeting on December 6, the board unanimously voted to reject a fact-finders report from the state Labor Relations Board which recommended that the teachers receive a four-year contract See WAGES, pg 5 Police think two local bank heists could be related By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff For the second time in two months, a Back Mountain bank office has been robbed. The holdup last Friday (January 10) at the Dallas branch of Hanover Bank on Route 309 follows the November 22 robbery at a Merchants office in Dallas Township. According to the Pennsylvania State Police Wyoming Barracks, a male carrying a dark revolver and wearing a full mak, a dark gray hooded 3/4- length parka, brown pants and white gloves entered the bank at 5:55 p.m., five minutes before closing. Leaping over the counter, he emptied the money from the tellers’ money trays, po- lice said. He then hopped the counter again, exiting through the building's front door, according to the report. Police did not know his direc- tion or method of escape. “This robbery is the firstin Dallas Borough that I can remember in my 17 years as a police officer in AT THE SCENE - Dallas Borough Police Chief John Fowler (left) and Ptl. William Norris are at the scene of the Hanover Bank, which was robbed Friday evening. (Post Photo/Eric Foster) Calendar.............. Classified........ 12-13 Editorials............. ... 4 Back Mountain Baseball registration January 18 Registration for the 1992 season will be held Saturday, January 18 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Shavertown United Methodist Church, Pioneer Avenue. Complete details on sports page. CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, . NEWS OR ADVERTISING Police are looking for a man between 56" and 58" tall," 165-175 pounds the Back Mountain,” commenizds hh Dallas Borough Police Chief Jack Fowler. United Penn, Franklin First Federal and First Eastern banks also have branch offices in Dallas, Fowler added. 4 Officers from Dallas Township . and Kingston Township assisted ; Dallas Borough police at the scene. The Criminal Investigation Unit of the Pennsylvania State Police +. nn Wyoming Barracks, State Trooper William J. Bevan and agent Kevin Donovan of the FBI Scranton office 1 are investigating the incident. A Hanover Bank officials were not available for comment. i According to Donovan, the FBI is investigating the possibility that this latest robbery could be related See HEISTS, pg 3
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