room ted a dents. > to go AN Wr 5 as it dents hools 1dred earn- Seven ents. ed by spe- ceive ther- 1eeds : dis- riate . d. As ~hool nsive meet stu- Vol. 103 | Page 14-15. Dallas prom queen Page 13. ®,cholarship winners Page 13. Sizemores win pageant Page 8. Struttin' their stuff Page 5. 18 Pages 2 Sections Calendar.............. 18 Classified. ..... 16-17 Editotials............... 4 Obituaries.............. 9 Police repott.......... 2 Property transfers..2 School............ 12-13 © CALL675-5211 "FOR HOME DELIVERY, . NEWS OR ADVERTISING By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff If the Lake-Lehman School Dis- trict has its way, having a little fun within its borders will cost a little more next year. That's because the district hopes to fund part of its tentative $14,488,310 budget for 1992-93 with a new 10 percent amusement tax. Passed by a 7-2 vote at a special meeting Wednesday, May 27, with Red Jones and Dr. John Presper casting the two dissenting votes, Dallas, PA Wednesday, June 3, 1992 RCE TER DN BS 5 the budget will bring property owners a 12-mill tax increase, even after $171,286 in cost-cutting measures was pared from it. According to financial manager Ray Bowersox, the entertainment tax will be levied against admis- sion fees at the new amphitheater and other amusements at Har- vey's Lake, and greens fees at local golf courses. Bowersox expects the new tax to generate approximately $65,000, or 2.25 mills for the school district. In addition, property in the Luzerne County areas of the district will be assessed a 188 mill tax, up from 176 this year. Wyo- ming County taxpayers will see their tax rate rise from 73 to 85 mills. Cost-saving measures being considered include a two-tier bus- ing system, elimination of certain activities, charging students for driver training and using a cheaper health insurance carrier for the staff's dental and vision care plans. Although the administration anticipated saving $250,000 by switching to a two-tier busing system, in which the elementary Eilen Casey reads to Dallas first graders Ellen Casey, wife of Pennsylvania Governor Robert Casey, visited the Dallas Elementary School June 1 to read to first graders as part of the Reading is Fundamental Program. Casey urged the children to spend some of their time this summer reading. After Mrs. Casey read her favorite books, the first grader’s from both the Dallas and Westmoreland elementaries were able to choose a book to take home and keep. The books are purchased with money provided by UGI Corporation. Earlier this year, Westmoreland Elementary students were read to by Luzerne County Judge Hugh Mundy, and Dallas students were read to by Channel 28 TV reporter Diana Penna. (Post Photo/Eric Foster) 3 2 I! wi ES . BRE Bonding company will pay to finish Jackson Twp. building By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staft Delayed by contractor problems, work on Jackson Township's municipal building will finally be completed, possibly within 45 days, according to township supervisors. Supervisor Joe Stager an- nounced at the regular meeting Monday, June 1, that he had met with the performance bonding company, USF&G, who promised to pay subcontractors for their completed work and arrange to have them finish the leftover items. Subcontractors had refused to continue work on the building, claiming that the contractor, Tri- City of Allentown, had not paid them. A clause in the contract protects the township from having liens placed against the building for unpaid bills. “It's a good thing that we have a performance bond - that's what will pay everyone and get the work finished,” Stager said. In other business, the supervi- Library board speaks out on Oley dismissal Insiders say cancer wasn't known The board of directors of the Back Mountain Memorial Library has released a statement defend- ing its conduct in the dismissal of Charlotte Oley, a 15-year employee who was let goin April at about the same time she was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. While news reports have given the impression that Mrs. Oley was dismissed after it became known that she had cancer, persons with direct knowledge of the events lead- ing to her termination have told The Dallas Postthat the decision to dismiss her was made in early April, because her work perform- ance had deteriorated to the point that it was seriously disrupting the library's operation. That deci- See LIBRARY, pg 3 Some women's conference sessions still have space By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff At least 500 women from the greater Wilkes-Barre area will meet at Penn State-Lehman campus Saturday, June 6, for the 8th annual Luzerne County Women's Conference. Co-sponsored by the Wyoming Valley Women's Network and the Pennsylvania Council or the Humanities, the cc~ference will feature keynote spvaker « _yenne- Arapaho poet and journalist Suzan Shown Harjo, nearly 70 workshops centered around the theme of “Discovering Our Past, Exploring Our Future,” an art exhibit by nine local women,s and storytelling by Christine Martinez San Jose. According to Phyllis Belk, direc- tor of university relations at Penn State, 40 workshops ‘still have space available for late registra- tion. See CONFERENCE, pg 2 sors voted not to allocate any additional township money to the recreation board to cover bulding nature trails, baseball and soccer fields and basketball court. The recreation board was turned down for a state grant to finish the work and construction by the Marine Corps Engineers has been indefinitely put on hold by Opera- tion Desert Storm and a backlog of other projects, according to board See JACKSON, pg 3 CHARTER MEMBERS — Shown from left are charter members of and secondary students are bused to school at different times, the actual dollar figure is closer to $112,250, Bowersox said. “When we first considered im- plementing a two-tier busing sys- tem, we consulted with several companies that do highly success- ful computerized studies of this type,” explained superintendent Nancy Davis. “These people are used to working with large cost overruns that don't exist in Lake- Lehman because our transporta- tion system is already very cost- effective. So the savings weren't as 35 Cents large as we had originally planned on.” Studies included streamlining bus routes, upgrading the type and age of the equipment and monitoring the cost of fuel, Mrs. Davis added. The district will decide on whether or not to switch to the two-tier busing system before the final budget is adopted. State law mandates that the budget be ap- proved before June 30. Tied in with the busing system See TAX, pg 10 =. 7 Lehman will tax amphitheater, golf ( ‘Are they crazy?’ asks Greco By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff The Lake-Lehman School Dis- trict’s proposed 10 percent amuse- ment tax may turn out to be a show stopper at the Harveys Lake Am- phitheater. “What, are they crazy?” was concert promoter Thom Greco's first reaction to hearing June 1 that the district was considering an amusement tax. Greco said Monday that the amphitheater would shut down if the tax were implemented. By Tuesday, June 2, the latest information he'd received from his attorneys suggested there wasn't anything to worry about yet. “We checked with our attorneys and it seems it’s a derivative tax,” said Greco on Tuesday, June 2. “Harveys Lake Borough would have to implement the tax first. That's our preliminary position. We're doing more research on it." School district solicitor Peter Savage said that his research shows that the district can levy the tax without the borough, but the total tax is capped at 10%. If the See GRECO, pg 10 PennDOT says it By GRACE R..DOVE Post Staff Money for five traffic signals in the Back Mountain is available through federal funding, pending approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's district engineer, according to Lou Schultz of the office of the state Secretary of Transportation. Representative Phyllis Mundy had reported last week that she had received word from Secretary of Transportation Howard Yerusalim that a portion of the $2.5 million allocated for highway improvement in the Back Moun- tain can be used for traffic signals. The five signals are planned for intersections on Route 309 at Hill- side Road, Franklin Street and Main Street and on Route 415 at Center Hill Road and at Route 118, according to Ray Radomski of PennDOT’s Dunmore office. “We're taking a good, hard look at the Route 309-415 corridor in the Back Mountain,” Radomski See LIGHTS, pg 10 the Trinity Presbyterian Church, which is in its 30th year: Dana Dungey, Meryl Davis, Barbara Rogers, and Dorothy Jones. Absent when the photo was taken was Edith Pillarella. (Post Photo/Eric Foster) Where the new lights would go A spokesman for the state Secretary of Transporta- tion's office says there is federal funding for five new traffic lights in the Back Mountain. Here's where they would go: HB The intersection of Route 309 and Hillside Road in Trucksville. HM The intersection of Route 309 and Franklin Street in Shavertown. HB The intersection of Route 309 and Main Street in Dallas (Next to Mark Il Restaurant). BW The intersection of Route 415 and Center Hill Road in Dallas (At Pickett's Charge Restaurant). HB The intersection of Route 415 and 118 in Dallas. Trinity Presbyterian celebrates its 30th year By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff Thirty years ago Presbyterians living in the Back Mountain had to travel to Wilkes-Barre or Kingston to attend a service. “We were on the road all the time,” remembers Dana Dungey, a charter member and longtime for- mer secretary of Trinity Presbyte- rian Church, on Irem Road in Dallas. Members of the church will cele- brate its 30th anniversary on Pentecost Sunday, June 6 at 11 a.m. The congregation was chartered on Pentecost Sunday, 1962 with the Rev. Andrew Pillarella as the organizing pastor. Rev. Pillarella served Trinity as pastor for 27 years until his retirement in 1989. The Rev. Robert Upton served as Interim Pastor, and the present pastor, Rev. Robert C. Murdock, was installed March 3, 1991. “There had been a need for many, many years,” said Dungey. “When See TRINITY, pg 3 FF SET
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers