Vol. 103 No. 11 Dallas, PA Wednesday, March 18, 1992 35 Cents Inside Story gvater? Is there enough No one really knows. Page 3. 2 Scholastic Ar t Awards for two Lake-Lehman students. Page 8. ack Mtn. Baseball vii hod ’ | outs March 21 and 28. Sports page. Mike Geurin, Charlie Jacoby place in state wrestling meet. Sports page. Girl Scouts Wash Washington Kelly Freeman leads the Promise. Page 10. Kingston Township supervisors protest cable TV price hike. Page 16. Legalize drugs? Johnson says maybe. Page 5. Calendar.............. 12 Classified........ 13-15 Editorials............... 4 Obituaries............ 13 Police report.......... 2 Property transfers..9 School................. 10 BROOMS... ini 11 FORM NEWS Teachers, board agree to 5% raise - By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff The new contract between Dal- las School District and its teachers may become a benchmark for school boards throughout the state. With average annual pay increases of 5%, the agreement will mean teachers will get about one-half the raises they had ini- tially asked for. The Dallas School Board unani- mously approved the three-year contract at a special meeting Monday, March 11. The agreement would grant the district's 142 teachers a 5% average pay raise for the next two years, bringing the average teacher's salary [rom $38,646 to $40,578 for the cur- rent year, and to $42,607 next year. Salary negotiations would be re-opened in the third year, but the benefits would remain the same. The contract will be retroac- tive to September 1, 1991. William Wagner, president of the Dallas teacher's union said the teachers voted to accept the con- tract earlier Monday by “a very narrow margin.” According to superintendent Gerald Wyecallis, the Dallas con- tract has the lowest percentage in- crease of any contracts settled this year that he's aware of. Wycallis said the lowest settlement he had previously heard of was a “little under 7%, like 6.9%." “I'm proud of this staff and what they did to continue the educa- tional program,” said Wyecallis. “There's probably not any other More on page 16 BM Some benefits deferred Individual raises vary widely school district that has had this much pressure on their stall.” “I think they took into consid- eration the economy,” Wyecallis said. Though the contract grants a 5% pay increase, the cost to the district will be the same asa 4 1/ 2% package that the board offered the teachers in February because many benefits will be reduced, or come into effect later. The three major benefit reduc- tions from the previous offer were in life insurance, increases in the hourly rate for homebound and summer school teachers, and in the extra personal day, said board president Ernest Ashbridge. The total increased cost of the package will be $275,187 this year and around $300,000 the second year. The cost of the 4 1/2% pack- age was $247,668 in salaries and $28,434 in benefits for a total of $276,102. Ashbridge said that the con- tract will not cause any tax in- crease this year as the board used an 8% salary increase when pre- paring the budget for this year. For the 1993-94 school year, Ashbr- idge said that, barring unforeseen changes in things such as slate subsidies, there would be a mini- mal tax increase if any at all. “It is a [air proposal,” said board member James Richardson. “It is not what either of us wanted at the beginning, which is what negotia- tions are about.” When voting to accept the con- tract, many of the board members praised the district's teachers for See 5% RAISE, pg 16 Farmland preserved with help from state By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Twenty years ago, old family farms were a large part of the Back Mountain's image as a quiet, rural community. But as land values rose, many acres of pasture land have been transformed into hous- ing developments. And the sudden influx of people unaccustomed to rural life has created complaints about the unpleasant noise [rom crowing roosters, roads blocked by herds of cows on their way lo pasture and the unique odor of "dairy-air” produced by manure spreaders working in nearby fields. 5 Thanks to the Agricultural Se- curity Act, away has been found to encourage preservation of [arm- land and to prevent townships from enacting nuisance ordinances which might interfere with normal farm operations, such as manure spreaders, cattle crossings-and even crowing roosters. The act has been a great help to 24 farmers in Jackson Township, who joined in 1985 to preserve 1,813 acres on some of the area's oldest family farms, according to Fred Wertz of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmland Preserva- tion Office. This year 2,000 acres in the township will be protected, Wertz said. Under the Agricultural Security See FARMLAND, pg 10 THREE GENERATIONS OF FARMING : Francis, Butch, Mark and John Manzoni work the family’s century-old Forest Heights Farm in Jackson Twp. Much of the Manzonis' farm has been desig- nated an agricultural security area.(Post photo/Grace R. Dove) First rabies case of '92 found in Lehman By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff According to the Pennsylvania Health Department, a fox in Lehman has been confirmed as Luzerne County's first rabies case this year. Health Department epidemiolo- gist Bernie Healey said that the fox had not been in contact with humans. “Rabies outbreaks usually run in three-year cycles,” Healey ex- plained. “The past two years have been bad; Luzerne County had 15 confirmed cases, mostly in rac- coons, in 1991. We expect them to drop off after this year.” Lastyear's rabies cases included one bat, eleven raccoons and three skunks, according to data [rom the Pennsylvania Game Commis- sion. The data reported no cases in 17 counties. A fatal viral disease of the cen- tral nervous system, rabies is trans- mitted by by the saliva from the bite from an infected animal, ac- cording to information supplied Ey See RABIES, pg 10 He found $1,000... and gave it What would you do if you found $1,000 lying in the road? Michael Stevens found him- self in that very position Wed- nesday afternoon, March 11, but there was never any question in his mind of what he would do. A manager at the Burger King in Shavertown, Stevens was driv- ing north on Route 309 when he saw something on the road near the traffic light at Center Street. He stopped his car, put on his flashers, and checked to see what the object was. It turned out to be an enve- right back lope withanameonit, $1,000in twenty dollar bills, and a bank deposit slip. Stevens called the bank, then turned the cash over to the Kingston Township po- lice, who returned the money to the Harveys Lake man who lost it. The man met Stevens and gave him a reward. “I'd want the same thing done for me,” said Stevens, of West Pittston. “I'm an honest person. I'm a born again Christian. It's how I was raised. It's what [ was taught in church.” -— By Eric Foster / YUK - Girl Scout inter-neighborhood event: Encouraged by Lee Williams, Junior Girl Scout Erika Turner dabs fabric paint onto a large bluegill, which will be pressed against a piece of cloth to make a printed neckerchief. (Post photo/Grace R. Dove) Girl Scouts help 'Save Our Earth’ By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Back Mountain Daisy, Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts learned to print a neckerchief using a real fish, decorate pel rocks, make recycled paper from junk mail and lay out a model fire using pretzels and marshmallows — later recycled as a snack — as part of an inter- neighborhood event, “Save Our Earth,” Saturday, March 14. Organized by Senior Scouts Michelle Zikor of Trucksville and Kelly Freeman of Dallas Township as the final part of their Gold Award project, the event held at Lehman- Jackson school featured environ- mental education, awareness and fun activities geared to the young girls’ ages and interests. Daisies played indoor badmin- ton using balloons and empty salad dressing containers, explored food chains by tying yarn between dif- ferent animals and what each one eats and decorated pet rocks. Squeals and giggles echoed from the Brownies’ section as they used a multi-colored parachute to loss a “Ner{" ball into the air. “That helps them work oll excess en- ergy,” Kelly laughed. Other Brownies learned to lay out model fires and listened raptly to the whimsical Dr. Seuss story of The Lorax, a magical creature See GIRL SCOUTS, pg 9
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers