{
Dallas, PA
Wednesday, February 19, 1992
‘8 The Dallas Posi
Price Cut
(continued from page 1)
tract. How can you go and make
these changes when it is in litiga-
| tion?”
| * Two private haulers, Searles
_ Sanitation and C&K Enterprises
. have sued DAMA, the three mu-
~ nicipalities, and the public offi-
¥ , cials individually over the garbage
. hauling program, claiming that it
interferes with their constitutional
right to do business.
According to DAMA's Aine
director Tom Bagley, about 100
d Seople have asked about the dis-
count for Dallas Township, Dallas
. Borough, and Kingston Township
| together. If all 100 peaple who
have asked about the discount were
to live in Kingston Township, the
"cost to the township would be
$1,350 yearly.
To be eligible for the price cut,
residents of the three municipali-
ties must meet the following in-
come guidelines according to the
* size of the household:
~ Foraone person household, the
. maximum income is $8,606; two
Ed people, $11,544; three people,
+ $14,482. For each additional per-
! son add $2,938 to the maximum
.» income. The plan still has to be
"approved by Dallas Borough, Dal-
“ las Township, and the DAMA
a board.
% Also at. the meeting, Tom
r; Schmidel of the Trucksville Fire
{ Company asked the supervisors if
oid progress was being made on
i
installing dry fire hydrants in the
township.
The only effective fire hydrant in
the township is behind the Back
Mountain Shopping Center in
Shavertown, said Schmidel.
A dry fire hydrant is not pres-
surized, but allows firefighters to
draw water from lakes or streams
without having their hoses clogged
with debris.
“If there's some way you can
possibly get together with the fire
companies, even if we can get one
each year,” said Schmidel. “It helps
the publicin general. It helps lower
fire insurance for residents.”
Schmidel said that a plan to
install dry fire hydrants was pro-
posed six years ago, but has gone
nowhere since then.
Box said that the project died
because a grant which was sup-
posed to pay for the hydrants wasn't
approved.
While sympathetic, the supervi-
sors said there really wasn't extra
money in the budget for the hy-
drants.
In other business, the town-
ship:
* Recognized with plaques Dick
Staub for his 20 years service on
the township's zoning hearing
board and Keith Rinehimer for
helping to prevent Wallace Stettler
from sustaining a spinal injury in
a traffic accident last fall.
Mystery Valentine strikes again
This Valentine's greeting appeared for the second year in a row on the front doors of Back Mountain
businesses. The thoughtful culprits have yet to be identified. (Post photo/Grace R. Dove)
1 Death penalty
‘ (continued from page 1)
&
i County Correctional Facility. As-
I sistant District Attorney Scott
~ Gartley assisted Olszewski at the
hearing.
ii ' - Olszewski said he would seek
~ the death penalty because of two
a aggravating circumstances; that
the shooting endangered
the child, and that when
‘Schwartz allegedly killed Van
Leuven, he murdered a witness
who was to testify at a criminal
¢ ‘ trial against him.
{The victim's mother, Ruth Van
'S Leuven had sobbed throughout the
hearing but hugged her husband
1 Robertafter Olszewski'sannc unce-
+ ment.
I In May of 1991, Schwartz had
~ chased Deborah Van Leuven's car
: 3 on Route 315 while brandishing a
v gun, and was then involved in an
‘autoaccident. He was charged with
t recklessly endangering another
ri person, leaving the scene of an
I accident, and risking a catastro-
r phe, and carrying an unlicensed
| it gun. He was released on $50,000
bail after the incident on the con-
2 dition that he have no contact with
Z- ‘Van Leuven. Those charges were
to go to trial January 21.
Eight people were called by the
‘prosecution to testify: a Kingston
Township patrolman, the first to
arrive at the scene; a neighbor and
the daughter of a neighbor; a doc-
tor and a deputy coroner, a state
police trooper, a former girlfriend
of Schwartz's, and Schwartz's fa-
ther.
“I heard a noise, but I wasn't
paying any attention,” said Ronald
Schwartz, Stephen's father. “Then
my wife came in and said, ‘He did
it.”
“I went outside, she was lying
there with the little girl over her,”
said Ronald Schwartz, who called
911 for help. He said he covered
Deborah's body with a blanket
while Karen Heltzel, of Huntsville
Road, talked to Deborah Van Leu-
ven who moaned in agony.
“He (Ronald Schwartz) came out
of the house and he said, Yeah, he
shot her,” recalled Heltzel, who
was visiting her parents who live
next door to the Schwartz home.
Joseph Sincavage, the next door
neighbor on the other side of the
Schwartz's, home testified that as
he was pulling into his driveway,
he saw Stephen Schwartz get into
Van Leuven's black Honda.
After the shooting, Sincavage
took the child into his home, along
with the Schwartz's two other
grandchildren who were visiting.
Though Stephanie wasn't in-
jured, he said he noticed blood on
her pacifier and face, which he
wiped away.
When Deborah Van Leuven was
taken to the hospital, the emer-
gency room staff found a handcuff
on her right wrist which had to be
cut off.
State trooper William Bevan
testified that a key to a pair of
handcuffs was found in Schwartz's
pants pocket after he shot himself.
Bevan also said an electric stun
gun was found on the seat of Van
Leuven's black Honda, the car
Schwartz allegedly drove from the
murder scene and which was re-
covered in Dickson City. Bevan
said that Deborah Van Leuven's
family said that she did not own a
stun gun.
Bevan said two holes were found
in the driver's head rest of the car
while the driver's side rear window
had been shattered. Bevan said
Schwartz told a suicide negotiator
that he had fired a shot in the car.
Schwartz was charged with three
counts of theft and receiving sto-
len property for allegedly stealing
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parking in rear of store
the handgun used to the commit
the murder from girlfriend Carole
CimakasKy, and for stealing Debo-
rah Van Leuven's car and credit
cards after the shooting.
Cimakasky, of Tenth Street,
Kingston said she purchased the
handgun in November of 1991 for
self protection, with Schwartz
putting up a small part of the
approximate $115 cost. She testi-
fied that she never fired the gun
however, or even purchased
ammunition for it, but left the .380
caliber automatic pistol in its box
under the bed. She found it was
missing after she said Ronald
Schwartz called her onJanuary 27
asking if Stephen was there.
“He asked me if Stephen was at
my apartment,” said Cimakasky.
“He said ‘He's in trouble, he shot
Deb.
The defense team of Ferris
Webby and Lewis Bott claimed that
there was only circumstantial evi-
dence to substantiate the charges
that Schwartz recklessly endan-
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gered the child or attempted to
unlawfully restrain Deborah Van
Leuven.
“That child but for the grace of
God, could have been hurt her-
self,” countered Olszewski. “ would
submit that the child was so close
to the body and the shooting that
she had Miss Van Leuven'’s blood
on her face.”
Of the claim that there was no
direct evidence to show Schwartz
had put the handcuffs on Van
Leuven, Olszewski said, “It would
be incredible to believe that the
victim placed it there.”
Webby and Bott also argued
that the theft and receiving stolen
property charges should be
dropped also because Schwartz
may have had permission to use
the items.
After the hearing, Schwartz
wound his way through reporters
to the police car which waited to
take him back to prison, veering
away sharply when asked if he had
loved Deborah Van Leuven.
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Parent-teacher—
(continued from page 1)
recently assisted classroom teach-
ers with the new R.LLF. (Reading is.
FUNdamental) program by read-
ing aloud to classes and helping
with the book distributions.
Other district-wide PTA/PTO:
activities include fingerprinting:
and videotaping each kindergar-.
ten and sixth grade student andall
students new to the district for:
identification purposes; a food drive.
to aid needy district families at’
Christmas; a special store where
the kids can buy small Christmas.
gifts at cost for their families; an
anti-drug program featuring Foobie.
the robot, and a puppet show
dealing with peer pressure. ;
Evelyn Weaver, president of Ross.
Township Elementary School's
PTO, said that her organization:
has helped to purchase books. for.
grades 2-4 in the district's first
R.L.F. program. PTO mothers also:
volunteer time reading aloud to.
classes as part of the program.
“We do as many fun and educa--
tional activities as we can, includ-
ing an all-day spring athlej®.
competition, a citizenship awarts
assembly, an Earth Day tree plant-,
ing, an Easter egg hunt and a book
fair to benefit the school library,”
Mrs. Weaver said.
“We're very proud to have. the
first school post office in north-.
eastern Pennsylvania. Each class- -
room has its own address; Kids
sharpen their writing skills by:
exchanging letters and cards. And:
they also learn the proper way to.
she
use ZIP codes in addresses,”
continued. The Post Office gave
the school a real mail bag and
helmet for the student mail car--
rier.
Each PTA/PTO runs only
yearly fund-raiser, a catalog hs
featuring candy, gifts for the home
and other items. By obtaining many.
items for programs at a discount’
or through domations, the group
makes the most economical use of :
funds.
Lake-Noxen principal Robert
Kunkle is thankful for the assis-
tance the groups provides at his
school. “The students certainly
benefit from the special programs.
provided by the PTA/PTO. I would
like to thank these organizations
for helping our children.”
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