Price cut on trash pickup in the works s Vol al Dallas, PA Weanesdey; Rebrialys 1992 —,.-Ss o TT TM A TE TR Pe TE Es rons 35 Cents I Teacher wage freeze still group 'S goal By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff About 70 people packed into the Dallas School District's admini- stration building Monday night, February 3, and most had one clear message for the school board - hold the line on teacher salaries. “I think the day of carte blanche teacher raises is over,” said Joe Local store 4says it will prosecute shoplifters Dallas Borough police are in- vestigating a recent series of retail thefts at the Rite-Aid Pharmacy in Dallas. Rite-Aid will press charges in all cases, store manager Lori Ms. Barborek said that her store has a very dependable security 8 Wa said. system which not only helps to , WE shoplifters butalsoacts as a deterrent to potential shoplift- ers. She added that she has no- ticed a recent increase in retail theft. Police will fingerprint all sus- pects and run their fingerprints through police computers to verify possible prior convictions. According to District Magistrate Earl Gregory, the penalties for retail theft vary, according to the value of the merchandise involved, the circumstances of the crime and the defendant's prior record. Under Title 18 of the Pennsylva- @ ni Crimes Code, a first arrest for retail theft counts as a first degree summary offense, punishable by a fine of $25 to $300 and up to 90 days in jail, providing that the value of merchandise involved is less than $150. If a first offense of retail theft involves more than $150 of mer- chandise, it automatically becomes a felony, punishable by a jail term, which is determined by the judge. A second offense involving mer- chandise valued at less than $150 is treated as a third degree misde- meanor, also punishable by a fine, jail term or both. Punishments for subsequent offenses increase at the discretion of the judge; a third offense is automatically a felony and can involve a jail term of up to seven years, at the judge's discretion. Anyone with any information & retail thefts is asked to contact Dallas Borough police at 675-4615. Inside Story RED CROSS BLOOD DRIVES - Thurs., : Feb. 6, 12 Noon-6 PM, Shavertown United Methodist Church. Mon., Feb. 10, 1 PM-6PM, Meadows Nursing Center, Dallas. HW LAKE-LEHMAN seniors ‘take on faculty in donkey basketball Feb. 7. Page 10 B LESSONS are still to be ‘learned from the Challenger explosion. Page 5 Calendar.............. 13 Classified........ 15-16 Editorials..........i.ees 4 Obituaries............ 11 Police report.......... 2 Property transfers..8 ‘CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, © NEWS OR ADVERTISING Kunec, a member of the Dallas Taxpayers Forum. “I think it's over tonight.” Though the public is not nor- mally permitted to speak at work sessions, the board let the people express their opinions. The school board and the teachers were sched- uled to hold negotiating sessions February 4 and 5. In preparation for the meetings, the Taxpayers Jallas Taxpayer Forum wants 2-year freeze Forum has sent flyers to area resi- dents through newspaper inserts and three of its members were on the Fred Williams radio show last Thursday morning. “I'd like to say the amount of compensation that a teacher gets and the result are two different things,” said Kunec. “We are see- ing a trend in our nation of parents pulling their kids out of public schools and into private schools. Why is this trend occurring?” According to Steve Werner, president of the Dallas Taxpayers Forum, over 3,000 people have signed a petition asking for a two- year pay freeze on teacher salaries and the implementation of a merit pay program. Eric Williams, a Dallas High School senior whose parents are ' both teachers, spoke in support of the teachers at the meeting. “In the past few years the job of By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff So you want to be a rock and roll star. Just buy a guitar and learn to play. So the song goes, but it's not that easy. For members of Strawberry Jam, based in the Back Moun- tain, rock and roll is a full-time career, complete with long hours and five or six-day work weeks. “We played for three years without more than a day or two off,” said John Shemo, one of STRAWBERRY JAM - Shown from left are Ron Blight, drums; Terry Cummings, bass: John Shemo, guitar; Lee Strumski (back), keyboards; Lee Matchett, guitar. Strawberry Jam takes care of business with rock and roll the two guitarists in the group. “You're putting in sometimes 12 or 15-hour days with travel time.” Traveling takes the band to 30 clubs across the state and in New Jersey. What finally made the band take a couple of weeks vacation was an accident January 10 when their van slid on a patch of ice and hit a steel bridge on a return trip from State College. “We usually like to travel to- gether, just for the sake of or- ganization,” said Shemo. Bass player Terry Cummings broke his hand, Shemo broke a rib, Guitarist Lee Matchett in- jured his shoulder. Drummer Ron Blight and keyboardist Lee Strumski walked away with bruises. Shemo is originally from Shavertown, Matchett lives in Dallas, Cummings’ family lives at Harveys Lake, and Blight is from Luzerne. Strumski, nick- named “The Mayor,” who re- placed Joe DeMarco on key- boards in November, is from Wilkes-Barre. See ROCK AND ROLL, pg 3 the teacher has increased to be a social worker, psychologist, a friend,” said Williams, of Shaver- town. “I believe teachers going back 80 years have always been social workers,” shot back Jack Farrell of Dallas in reply. “We are here con- cerning taxes. The salaries the teachers are getting now are com- pletely out of line. The teacher has been a social worker, it's nothing new.” “What you have to remember is that teachers are professional employees,” said Williams. “There are doctors starting with salaries of $90,000. Teachers have been the backbone of society. If you make the teachers unhappy they may not be able to do their job to. the best of their ability.” Williams was also concerned: that if Dallas's teachers salaries become uncompetitive, the district will be unable to attract the best See WAGE FREEZE, pg 2 Decision on Jackson police chief put off Job description lacking, say supers; Jones produces one By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff After interviewing several can- didates for the position of full-time police chief, the Jackson Town- ship supervisors voted February 3 not to fill the position because they did not have a detailed job descrip- tion on record with the township secretary. But during the meeting, Donald Jones, the present part-time chief, | ‘produced a set of detailed job descriptions for all Jackson Town- ship police officers and the chief, which was adopted as Resolution 2, 1986 of the Jackson Township board of Supervisors. The controversy over the posi- tion began November 19, 1991, when the supervisors presented Jones, then the township's part- time chief of police, with a lette and description of a full-time posi- tion as chief. The letter set a dead- line of November 27 for Jones to either accept or reject the job. Jones has worked for the pas 18 years as part-time police chie under a verbal contract, working12 hours per week on night shift, as well as being on 24-hour call, at a yearly salary of $9,000. Gun may have been stolen from girlfriend Description, numbers match By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Two months before Stephen Schwartz allegedly shot Deborah Van Leuven to death in the drive- way of his Dallas Township home, he persuaded his current girlfriend, Carole Cimokaskey, to buy a .380 caliber semi-automatic handgun, according to the arrest affidavit filed with District Magistrate Earl Gregory in Shavertown. Ms. Cimokaskey had reported to Kingston police that the hand- gun, a Bersa Model 97, serial number 050581, was missing since November, 1991, from her Penn Street home. Cimokaskey testified that she notice the gun was missing shortly after she purchased it. She had purchased it earlier that month from Shawnee Gung and Ammo in Plymouth and kept if in a styrofoam box under her bed Police recovered a .380 calibe semi-automatic handgun match ing the description and seria number of Cimokaskey’s gun fro Room 207 at the Days Inn i Wilkes-Barre, where Schwartz was apprehended January 20, threg days after the shooting. During the search of the hote room, police also recovered a clip containing six rounds of .38 ammunition, a woman's wallef containing Ms. Van Leuven's credi cards, a Honda car key, a ski jackef and electrical tape. Police also confiscated a suedd holster, seven rounds of .38(C ammo, five rounds of .380 hollow Newspaper, other recycled materials are piling up By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff Now that most communities in the Back Mountain are recycling, you leave your old newspapers at the curb to be picked up. But where do they go from there? Ifyou live in the Back Mountain, they go to Eagle Recycling in Nan- ticoke. And once at Eagle Recycling, Jacques Khodara has a hard time getting rid of them. The problem is that the public has taken to recy- cling a lot faster than industry has found ways to use the recycled material. “We're losing money on paper, a lot of money,” said Khodara, presi- dent of the company. “It costs $12 to $15 a ton to bale it. When you're lucky, somebody buys it for $7 a ton. Sometimes, you pay $12 to $13 a ton to get rid of it.” Right now, Eagle is sending the newspapers to Korea at no cost - but still has to pay for the labor of sorting and baling them. Eagle Recycling accepts re- cyclables from Harveys Lake Bor- RELATED STORY Page 8 ough and from Danella Environ- mental Technologies, which col- lects trash and recyclables for the Dallas Area Municipal Authority (DAMA) from Kingston Township, Dallas Township, and Dallas Bor- ough. Khodara says that paper — of- fice and newsprint — is about 40 percent of the waste the company receives. “The government doesn't do anything. They obligate to take the paper, which is good, but they don't help us. What could be done is create an incentive,” said Khodara. “The communities are paying the price.” Harveys Lake Councilman David Abod said that when the borough started recycling five years ago, it cost $8 to $10 a ton to dispose of newspapers. Now it's $20 a ton. Recycled newsprint is tough to find Local newspaper publishers say they would like to use recycled newsprint, but can’t find much of it on the market. “Now and again we get a spot of it,” said David Daris, former Times Leader operations director, who was recently named personnel director. “I think the problem is that the mills, the manufacturers, haven't reacted or geared up quickly enough.” “We're committed to doing it as soon as we can,” said Daris. “The cost is about the same. Some will tell you it's a little more. There's not a real noticable difference in quality.” Daris expects the Times Leader to use more recycled newsprint as it becomes available in the first half of this year. At the Pittston Dispatch, which prints The Dallas Post, production manager Bill Watson says they've never run any recycled newsprint because it isn't available to fit their See NEWSPAPER, pg 8 PILES OF PAPER - Piles of old newspapers dominate half of Eagle Recycling's Nanticoke warehouse. (Fost Photo/Eric Foster)
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers