he Jan y Dallas, PA Wednesday, June 24, 1992 35 Cents gave Keefer 'wins by the numbers Sports page. Little League results Sports page. i SCHOOL Lake-Noxen bee winners Page 8. Dallas High students commended Page 8. Pack 232 Blue & Gold dinner Page 6. Library gets ready for 46th auction Page 3. 14 Pages 1 Section Calendar.............. 10 Classified........ 11-13 Editorials............... 4 Obituaries............ Police report.......... 2 School.................. 8 SPOS. ....c.ciivirisiis 9 CALL 675-5211 * _ FOR HOME DELIVERY, NEWS OR ADVERTISING SIGN OF THE TIMES - A sign directed victims of the 1972 Agnes flood to evacuation centers through- out the Back Mountain. (Photo/James Kozemchak) Box faces pie By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Kingston Township ManagerJeff Box survived a barrage of gooey pudding pies as part of the town- ship recreation program's first special activity Monday, June 22. According to recreation super- visor Melissa Kohli, children en- joyed circus-type snacks of hot dogs and cotton candy and played team games, batted down a candy- filled pinata, had their faces painted, and participated in a pie- throwing frenzy. “Originally the children had wanted Mr. Barbose, principal of Westmoreland School, for their target, but he’s out of town,” Ms. Kohli said. “We convinced Jeff Box and Chief of Police Paul Sabol to take Mr. Barbose's place.” Because the event was resched- uled from Friday, June 19, to Monday, June 22, Box had tobrave the sticky firing squad alone, as Chief Sabol is on vacation this week. “Unfortunately, Chief Sabol fingers alone knows the right time to take his vacation,” Box joked, while duck- ing a line of 75 children armed with paper plates of chocolate and vanilla pudding. Frank Martino let fly with a pie that landed with a satisfying “splut” on Box's shoulder, then wiped off his hands on Box's sweat pants. Box good-naturedly endured his ordeal by pudding, laughing and joking with the counsleors and children. Recreation counselors Saman- tha Dzurenda, Kristin Gladey and Tammy Dickson, assisted by vol- unteer Mrs. Marlene Garringer, helped out at the event. Ms. Kohli said that field trips or special activities are planned for every other Friday. Although 150 Kingston Township children al- ready participate in the recreation program, there's still room for a few more, Kohli said. Parents may either call the Kingston Township building or bring their children to the playground on Center Street. Water rate hikes will have public hearings By ERIC FOSTER and GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Customers of the Dallas, Shav- ertown, Harveys Lake and Noxen water companies aren't likely to see their rates increase at the end of June as the companies have requested. The Public Utility Commission suspended the request for higher rates June 19 for more investiga- tion. Investigation means that there will be hearings, and the Office of the Consumer Advocate is press- ing to make sure that at least one of the hearings is in the Dallas area. “There will definitely be a hear- ing,” said Irwin Popowsky, the state's Consumer Advocate. “We want to make sure that at least one of them is in the service territory so rate payers can testify.” The Public Utility Commission had not scheduled the hearings as of Monday, June 22. If the requests are approved for the four companies, owned by General Waterworks, customers can expect to see their quarterly bills jump by the following per- centages: e Shavertown: 27.93% * Noxen: 61.74% e Dallas: 98.90% e Harveys Lake: 338.94% The new rates would mean that customers of each company would generally pay the same amount for a given gallon of water. In actual See WATER HEARING, pg 3 Eagle Scout candidate By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Burndale Park in Dallas has begun the summer recreation season in excellent shape, thanks to the efforts of Matt Gearhart, an Eagle Scout candidate from Ide- town. The son of Jean and Larry Gearhart, Matt is a member of Troop 241 in Idetown and will be a freshman at Lake-Lehman High School in September. Matt, his brother Jason, his parents and a dozen friends and fellow Scouts spent five days and a total of 118 man-hours cutting See EAGLE SCOUT, pg 14 ‘spruces up Burndale Park MATT GEARHART SPLUT! - Kingston Township manager Jeff Box survived a barrage of pudding pies at the township recreation center's first special activity, "Circus Day at Kingston Twp." (Post photo/ Grace R. Dove) 20 years later, Agnes is remembered Back Mountain sheltered thousands after record flood By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Twenty years ago this week, a rain-swollen Susquehanna River chewed its way through Wyoming Valley's dikes, leaving a trail of tears, mud and destruction in its wake. Although most damage was confined to the valley floor, the Hurricane Agnes flood affected the entire area, including the Back Mountain. : Of an estimated 80,000 people evacuated to high ground to es- cape the rising waters, at least 5,000 found their way to evacu- ation centers in the Back Moun- tain. College Misericordia, Dallas and Lake-Lehman high schools, Moon Lake Park and local churches housed evacuees through the en- tire summer. Others stayed for as long as two years, living in a trailer village hastily set up by the Army Corps of Engineers at Frances Teaching gets only 1/2 Lehman budget Spending per student is county's least | By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff A family living in the Lake- Lehman School District pays an average of $166 a year less in school taxes than a family living in the Dallas School District. But in Lake-Lehman fewer of those tax dollars go toward the direct costs of teaching students, the instructional cost, and more towards the cost of administration in the district. The instructional cost in a school district includes teacher salaries and benefits, textbooks, classroom supplies, audio-visual materials and the school libraries. Lake- Lehman has the lowest per-stu- dent instructional cost in Luzerne County, $3,162, while Dallas has the highest, $3,905. But when you figure the entire Slocum State Park. | Many generous Back Mountain | residents opened their homes and their hearts to flood victims, who § often were complete strangers. Peggy Boyes took in four refu- | gees, two of them strangers, and a | blind dog and a cat — all from Forty } Fort. “Itwas a trying time,” Mrs. Boyes said. “While the water was up, all the people could do was sit numbly and watch TV. I tried to fix them | good meals and make them com- fortable.” Boyes' evacuees went to live with other relatives after four or five days. “Things were crazy out at Moon Lake,” reminisced Barbara Pitcav- age, who worked there as a secre- tary in 1972. “Evacu. :s who had| left with tents and camping equip- ment headed right for the park. Families camped two or three tents to a campsite. A few people even slept in their cars.” See AGNES, pg 14 cost of operating the school dis- trict, Lake-Lehman spends $6,149 for every student, while Dallas spends only $5,857. While Dallas spends 67% of its funds on in- structional costs, Lake<Lehman spends 51%. Part of that differ- ence is what the two districts pay in administrative costs. Lake- Lehman has $871,691 budgeted for administration for the 1992-93 school year, Dallas $732,590. Dallas plans to spend $139,101 less in administration even though the district has more students. And increasingly, the adminis- trative costs at Lake-Lehman are] coming under fire, both from the Lake-Lehman Taxpayers Associa- | tion, and from within the school board. School Board member Dr. John See ADMINISTRATION, pg 14 Little misses The Harveys Lake Business and Tourism Asso Sunday, June 21. Six little misses vied for the t Britni Gurnari, 6, 1st runner-up; Kristie Lynn Ta winner. Other contestants were Jennifer Bonetski, 4; Sara Serhan Perez, 4; and Ana Burrell, 5.The event was coordinated by Charlotte Williams. (Post photo/Ron Bartizek) ciation held a "Little Miss Harveys Lake" contest itle. From left, Aniela Coveleski, 4, 2nd runner-up; ylor, 6, Little Miss Harveys Lake; Susan Barber, 1989 Horse show Sunday will aid library By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff English saddles, neatly braided manes and black velveteen jump caps will be the order of the day as horses and riders converge on the Luzerne County Fairgrounds Sunday, June 28, for the fourth annual Back Mountain Memorial Library Horse Show. An all-English show open to riders of all ages, the competition will include both flat classes, where riders are judged on their ability to ride and control their horses at different gaits, and fence classes, where horse and rider are judged on performance as the horse jumps different types of fences on a set course. According to show co-chairman Dr. John Shaskas, the horse show raised $5,000 last year for the library. “We hope todo atleast that well, if not better, this year,” he said. One of the show's most popular classes is the Back Mountain Memorial Library Hunter Triumph Pairs class, sponsored by the li- brary. In this class, each team of two horses and riders must syn- chronize their riding so precisely that they go through the entire course and over each jump to- gether, finishing the course at exactly the same time. First prize in this class is $150, second prize is $70, third is $50 See HORSE SHOW, pg 3
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