The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, June 17, 1992 a —— addition At a time when many people seem convinced that govern- nent takes too much and provides too little in return, a highly praised public initiative is just getting started in our region. The first Head Start class at the Lake-Noxen school graduated 3 une 4, and the result is 15 little folks who are better prepared to enter kindergarten in the fall. | * The local school will expand to accept 34 children in its next Class, it is the only Head Start in the Back Mountain. . Even the most ardent fiscal conservatives admit that Head Start works and is well worth its modest cost. It is effective not because of technological wizardry or sophisticated methods, but because it is based on common sense approaches to preparing children for later learning. One of its best ideas is encouraging parents to become involved with their children’s feducation as assistants to the regular staff. That's a tactic that could well be expanded to all schools. A chart that appeared recently in USA Today compared the cost of housing prisoners in jail to the expense of higher education. It showed that taking care of a criminal for a year \cost about three times as much as tuition and other expenses for a high-priced college. That's not to imply that the youngsters who attend Head Start are likely to become criminals, but it does illustrate the value of investing in young people versus the cost of neglecting them. Head Start is one of the best investments the United States has ever made, and it’s good to have it here. ] rash /recycling plan worth your support With 20 percent of its customers behind on their payments for garbage collection service, the Dallas Area Municipal Au- thority (DAMA) is cracking down. DAMA recently announced hat it would report scofflaws to a credit bureau, place liens on their property and make their names public. Finally, collection will be discontinued. There's a good chance that a substantial portion of the 988 non-payers will welcome that last development, some because hey use other means to dispose of their trash. Others resent DAMA’s program because it requires that they participate while prohibiting other trash haulers from doing business ere. “A little history. Dallas and Kingston townships are required by state law (Act 101) to recycle. They asked DAMA to set up and administer their program because the authority already had in place the employees and records that were needed. D: 1la's ‘Borough joined because doing so gained economies of s ale, Towering the'cost of garbage service for the vast majority ors residents. But the program‘ was instituted hastily and 'with little public discussion. Then, all hell broke lose and the [flames of resentment were fanned by a radio talk show host (who spread misinformation and rancor in an attempt to attract 'altention to his show. He was successful, and the result is a gl good number of people who believe that DAMA has exceeded its 1¢ al bounds. f But a thorough reading of the state statute reveals no such I ning and logic tells us that the trash pickup and recycling 3) system is a benefit to the environment and to the people in the | Back Mountain. Those are good enough reasons to support E glher than attack this program. | our donation can elp library auction |» Volunteers for the 46th annual Back Mountain Memorial $ | brary Auction are scouring the area soliciting donations of | merchandise or services to be sold over the auction block July ‘9-12. Those donations are critical to the library because proceeds [rom the auction account for one-fourth of the operating budget. | © Not only that, the auction is one of the largest community | events held in the Back Mountain. Others may attract more big but the library auction’s history of volunteer involve- PE and individual support are tributes to its enduring value. . If you've been contacted, please donate generously. If you faven't, call the library at 675-1182 and let them know you pons like to help. Any product or service that will attract a bid i is welcome no matter how large or small. Someone will come and pick up your donation and provide a receipt. b | Do you agree? Disagree? Editorials are the opinion of the management of The Dallas Bol We welcome your opinion on contemporary issues in the form of letters to the editor. If you don't write, the community may never hear a contrasting point of view. Send letters to: The | Dallas Post, P.O. Box 366, Dallas, PA 18612. Please include your name, address and a daytime phone number so that we * may verigy authenticity. The Post does not publish anonymous letters. We reserve the right to edit for length and grammar, but will call if we think editing might change the meaning. ca i Tr PDarrasePosr Published Weekly by Bartsen Media, Inc. P.O. Box 366, Dallas PA 18612 Telephone: 717-675-5211" Ronald A. Bartizek Charlotte E. Bartizek Editor and Publisher Associate Publisher Peggy Young Eric Foster Advertising Acct. Exec. : Reporter ake Grace R. Dove | Production Manager y Classified/typesettin | : g Jean Hillard Pp 9 Office Manager MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION AND THE PENNSYLVANIA NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER'S ASSOCIATION a Sa, Just hangin’ out Photo by Charlotte Bartizek Letters Editor: The Dallas Taxpayer's Forum feels that the increases granted to various administrators were un- fair and poorly thought out. For the following reasons, we feel that all concerned should have received raises of no more than 4.5%, the same as our faculty. As we have stressed, any in- creases should be directly linked to performance, Also, any increases Dallas administrators should have gotten smaller raises should not be linked with the like positions and their salaries in other districts. To the taxpayers of the Dallas area, although the election for school board is over a year away, when the DTF has its olatéf® x candidates elected, this type "of! action will not happen again! * *-™ Stephen E. Werner Shavertown Dallas Taxpayer's Foray : Elegance, wisdom observed at Walko Memorial dedication: Editor: Yesterday, 9 June 1992, I at- tended a Rededication Ceremony of the Daniel S. Walko Memorial Bulletin Board, conducted at the Wilkes-Barre Campus of the Penn- sylvania State University. Daniel S. Walko was graduated from Penn State, Wilkes-Barre in 1969. Pri- vate First Class Daniel S. Walko died.on 8 August 1970 as a result of the hostilities in the Vietnam, conflict. ‘During the ceremony, members of the Penn State faculty and admininstrative staff, anointed with multi degrees, addressed remarks to the audience and to Mrs. Helen Walko, Daniel's mother. Joe Tavaglione, Commander, Post #66, Pittston, Veterans of the Vietnam War, then approached the microphone and individually demonstrated more elegance, sin- cerity,--and wisdom with a few remarks about who Vietnam Vet- erans are, why we were in Viet- nam, and how we felt about being there, than had been collectively demonstrated by all of those who proceeded him. Joe's remarks were followed by Susan Hatrak’s singing of “The Star Spangled Banner," “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and “Wind Beneath My Wings.” I am con- vinced that a professional spend- ing a full day in a fully equipped sound studio could not have pro- duced a more beautiful or perfect rendition of any one of the selec- tions than Susan Hatrak did, standing in the open air, with ah three of them. Please be assured Mrs. Walks!’ your son's sacrifice was not in” vain, his memory is being rever-, ently and permanently honoreg The Veterans on Campus cl’ 3 their faculty advisor, and all those who contributed, should a commended for their time and forts, willingly put forth to dai é} the [ine memorial. John B. Van Horn" Dallas’ J W.J. Perot the 'benevolent dictator’ could be a danger By J.W. JOHNSON “People are so angry," Silas McMarner says, “and regardless whether or not he wins, it will be better for American politics.” Is he going to win? “No!" Rosco Bismark says em- phatically, pausing: “You know, I always worry about a guy who has a simple answer to a complex question...but still and all, the two party system is entrenched. It's too stagnant, much too dogmatic, and the parties are trying to be- come the end in and of themselves instead of being vehicles for change. We need a fundamental change in how we do things.” The “he” referred to by Break- fast Club members is, of course, H. Ross Perot, that political maverick who has captured the public fancy early in this presidential campaign. But what has he, in fact, cap- tured beyond tapping into several obvious frustrations with our po- litical and economic system? Most Perot supporters seem to be those who, at least most of the time, are nay sayers. Perot sup- porters to some degree are those who are “anti” most everything, and not necessarily for anything except “throwing the current bums out”, with a few I know personally having a thought process which wants for example, the right to a trial by a jury of peers but who then don't want to serve on a jury and extend that right to others. All of this is dangerous think- ing, in particular if the person you are looking to as your savior has a history of benevolent dictatorship and, rather than welding consen- sus, forcing his will upon the circumstances. A general frustration with feel- ing no connection to the political process, and a growing gap be- tween the haves and have nots is . atleast partially to blame for Perot's early campaign success. More's the pity and greater is the potential danger. The entire two-party political process, the nomination system, and the various state prerogatives in electing a president have been set up to avoid the manipulation of the process by a demagogue whose true stripes would be revealed through submission to that proc- ess. What Perot has done, in league with the media, is by-pass much of that leavening scrutiny, and has gone directly over the system to the crowds who, in fact, want simple answers to complex ques- tions. More importantly, isn't anyone worried about the fact that most of Perot's supporters don't care about what his policies would be; in fact, freely admitting they are sheep and only too willing to be led by this self-styled entrepreneur. But led where? And at what cost. po- litically and financially? Some of his supporters are apparently forgetting that Perot didn't get where he is by taking care of others; he got where he is by taking care of himself, and reaping the rewards of the free enterprise system. Can you really see him trying to deal with Con- gress, that same Congress trying torespond toits constituents, those same constituents who want simple answers to complex ques- tions, and who then want someone else to pay for it? We, the citizen/voter are the problem here; it's not who we elect, it's our expectations of that person and or the system within which our politicians work. Toward that end, it just might be that the demands of late 20th century republican democracy are too great for the system as presently established. How about this? Why don't we have three presidents, i.e., we could have Bush in charge of foreign policy, Clinton in charge of domes- tic policy and Perot in charge of the economy? And have all of them run on platforms specific to a general such job description? . Seriously folks, hasn't the Job outgrown one man's ability? At the . same time, perhaps we should have term limits on Congress; two four- year terms for Congressmen, and one ten-year term for Senators. And while we're at it, how abotit national political campaigns being entirely publicly financed. The system now finds, as Silas puts it, “about 50,000 lawyers running around Washington with brief- cases” filled with lobbyist cash. To be sure, Perot has Shaken the very foundation and assur” tions of the American politi: | process. it just would be a shame if, in expressing frustration with the current system, his support- ers end up inviting him to dine at the political table, only to find that he has his own agenda and truly wants to eat alone. Library news Unneeded books are a buck a bag at the library. By NANCY KOZEMCHAK The Back Mountain Memorial Library is continuing the $1 a bag of books sale in the basement sale room; plus with every bag pur- chased, there is a bag given free. There are many new books added to the room and they are included in the special sale. We are still accepting odds and ends and books, including cook- books and children’s books for the booths at the auction. These are being accepted at the library when we are open. The library circulated 6,586 books during the month of May; 4, 197 adultand 2,389 juvenile titles. Reference questions totaled 328: .Book Club books circulated 265 rn — and new borrowers were 146. Books added to the library collec- tion amounted to 137 and patrons re-registrations were 220. The kick- off event for the 46th auction was in the form of an art auction, chaired by Stephanie Reisch. Net profit from this activity amounted to $2,100. We welcome to the li- brary staffing roster two PHEAA Work Study students from King's College; Kelly Terescavage and Ronald Edwards who will be with the library until the end of August. Also, Romaine Morris, who started June 1st through the Office of the Aging program. New books at the library: “Scruples Two" byJudith Krantzis the continuation of the story of Billy Ikehorn, one of contemporary fiction’s most intriguing women. It begins on the day after Scuples ended, the day on which Billy's husband, producer Vito Orsini, won the Oscar for Best Picture. The story is filled with practicality, independence and humor. “Motor City" by Bill Morris is a” tale of romance, cars, obsessions, cars and commerce which puts the fins and bumpers back on American history. with Buick and Detroit as its church and state, with vivid characters both real and imagined, this is a winning, rol- licking entertainment and a ro- bust debut. It is a story of the way we were back then. “A Guide for the Perplexed” by Jonathan Levi is a collection of letters that two women write to their mysterious, unseen travel agent—a long night's worth “of confessions, a tapestry of tales chasing tales, including an untold saga of Columbus's voyage to the New World, stories of war and lost loves, lost children, lost Jews and true origins of baseball. “Gone” by Kit Craig is a novel of psychological terror, a scarifying, nonstop rollercoaster ride into terror. With literary skill and a dark, visionary sense of evil, the author has created a gripping story about a family facing destruction at the hands of a pathological murderer—and a world from which there seems no escape. Then something happens in the night. Michael wakes to discover his mother is...gone. Disappeared without a trace. TE
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers