— Pp =r WW MD OD = 1 AAR EERE EEE EEE IEEE bebhbbbbbbbebhhbhhebedhedhdh tet BN Dallas, PA Wednesday, July 1, 1992 35 Cents coming to Barveys Lake Page 10. COMMUNITY Local business group forms ..-Page 5. i gc of Heaven §Emunion Fake 6. | SCHOOL Kimberly Francis wins scholarship + Page 8. Lake-Lehman High School honor roll Page 8. SPORTS Little League results Sports page. Rec b'ball play starts Sports page. 14 Pages 1 Section Calendar.............. 10 Classified........ 12-13 Editorials................ 4 Obituaries............ 11 Police report.......... 2 School... ooo 8 Sports... 9 CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, “NEWS OR ADVERTISING tax hike at 9 mills By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff With only one day to go before the June 30 deadline, the Lake- Lehman school board passed a “bare bones” budget of $14,228,780 at a special meeting Monday. June 29, with Ed Kern, Dr. John Presper and Ken Wil- liams voting against it. This budget represents a nine- mill property tax increase, whittled down from the estimated 22 mills first proposed in early April. The 1992-93 budget increased $1,213,856, or 8.5%, over the 1991-92 school year. Under the plan, Luzerne County residents will pay 185 mills. Wyo- ‘ming County residents will pay 78 ‘mills, two mills higher than this year. Board members Jeff Fritzen, Mildred Dobash, Joseph “Red” Jones, Thomas Williams, Martin McMahon and Liz Sichler voted for, the budget. Presper, Kern and Williams agreed that they were disappointed that the teaching staff had refused to consider concessions in salaries and benefits, which are anticipated to increase an average of 11% next year. See LEHMAN TAX, pg 14 By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff The arrest of Assistant Harveys Lake Police Chief Ronald Spock on the charge of bribery has prompted Luzerne County District Attorney Peter Paul Olszewski to request that the state’s auditor general audit the borough's books. “A result of interviews we con- ducted in regards to assistant chief Spock gave rise to some other ar- eas of interest for the prosecu- tors,” said District Attorney Peter Paul Olszewski. Olszewski planned to send a Dallas Exxon will shut down By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff David Spurlin would like to buy the Exxon service station on. Route 309 in Dallas where he’s operated his business for many years. Instead, July 10 will be his last day open, and by July 13 he'll have to have his tools cleared out of the building. Spurlin, who's owned the Exxon business for the past five years, but not the property itself, has found himself caught between the interests of Exxon Corporation, the banking industry, and the Depart- ment of Environmental Resources. In August of 1990, Exxon de- cided to sell most of its retail out- lets, and offered Spurlin the sta- tion at a fair price. From a business standpoint, Spurlin said banks had no prob- lem providing financing. But there's a catch. The catch is that over the 45 years the station has been in exis- tence, there have been small spills See EXXON, pg 3 seeks Riding high Jocelyn Kozick, 9, took her first competition ride on Dutchess June 28 at the Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction Horse Show. Amy Lloyd offered some encouragement. The annual event raises funds to support the library. (Post photo/Charlotte Bartizek) letter to the . auditor general's office June 29 asking for an audit of the borough's finances. Harveys Lake Council president Richard Boice is unfazed by the prospect of an audit. “welcome an audit,” said Boice, who is also director of the bor- ough's sewer authority. “We don't have anything to hide from any- body.” The auditor general's office could not comment Monday on what an audit of the borough would involve if undertaken. Spock, 43, of Lake View Ter- race, surrendered himself to state nroha police at District Justice Earl Gre- gory's office in Shavertown onJune 24. Spock is charged with accept- ing a 20 inch color television for the borough's police station last December in exchange for not fil- ing a drunken driving charge against a Wilkes-Barre man. Olszewski said that about 15 other drunken-driving cases handled by Spock also are being investigated. Olszewski said those cases in- volve two types of discrepancies. In some cases a driver was stopped with a blood alcohol level that meas- MOVING SHOP — David Spurlin stands in front of one of the service bays of his business, Dallas Exxon. Spurlin will relocate to another garage in the area because of difficulty in buying the Exxon property. (Post Photo/Eric Foster) House, Senate vote to limit teacher strikes All local legislators in favor By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff Both the state House and Sen- ate have overwhelmingly voted to change state law to make it more difficult for public school teachers to go on strike. On Monday, June 29, the meas- ure, Bill 727, was passed 47 to 1 by the Senate, with state Senator Charles Lemmond voting in favor of it. In the House it passed 195 to 3 with both state Representatives Phyllis Mundy and George Hasay voting in favor of it. Bill 727 modifies Act 195, which gives teachers and many other public employees the right to strike. But members of the Dallas Taxpayers Forum aren't rejoicing at the prospect of 727 becoming law. “We're certainly not going to have any victory celebrations for that,” said Joseph Kunec, president of the Dallas Taxpayers Forum. “Act 195 tied one hand, 727 ties the other. 1 wouldn't have voted for that.” The main problem Kunec finds with the bill is that during most of of HL finances ured higher than the state's legal definition of drunk, .10%, and no drunken driving charges were filed. In other cases, drunken driving charges were filed by Spock, but later dropped, said Olszewski, even though an officer cannot drop a drunken driving charge without permission from the District Attor- ney's Office. State police and the District Attorney's Office learned of the alleged bribery when two Harveys Lake Patrolmen, Jeffrey Butler and Mark Karlonis, told police chief See PROBE, pg 14 the contract negotiation process it would limit a school district's abil- ity to replace striking teachers by stipulating that the replacement teachers have to have been active = in the district within the pastyear. Kunec is not alone in his objec- tion to the stipulation limiting replacement teachers. When the state House added the amendment restricting a dis- trict's ability to hire replacement teachers, the Senate voted against the new version of ie bill that it had earlier passed. A committee of three Senators and three Representatives was formed to work on a compromise bill. The new bill splits the differ- ence between the two old versions. For most of the negotiation period, if a strike occurs in a dis- trict, it has to hire replacement teachers who have worked in the district in the past year. If however, students are in jeop- ardy of not completing 180 days of instruction for the year by June 15 or the last day of the district's regularly scheduled year, which- See TEACHER STRIKES, pg 14 RONALD SPOCK Jeff Bridi is the new man patrolling Harveys Lake By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff There's a new man cruising the waters of Harveys Lake. While Water Conservation Offi- cer Jeff Bridi of the Pennsylvania Fish Commission has been work- ing in Luzerne County for only three months, he's no newcomer to patrolling lakes and rivers. For four and half years before coming to Luzerne County to fill a position left open by the retire- ment of officer Claude Neifert, Bridi watched the lakes and rivers of Montgomery County where he grew up. “In this county, so many people seem to be involved in fishing and there is great variety of opportu- nity available, from small ponds to the Susquehanna River,” said Bridi. “My favorite part of the job is probably dealing with the public, not in the sense of handing them a ticket,” said Bridi, “but talking with fishermen and boaters.” “Because of the weather, we haven't had any real busy days yet,” said Bridi. “It's been cool and damp on weekends. If Harveys Lake is busy, obviously we'll spend more time there. The use here depends so much on the weather. You kind of have to wait and see what hap- pens.” Because of the intense develop- ment around the perimeter of Harveys Lake, the possibilities for accidents at the lake are increased, says Bridi. “With this lake, because of the tightness of it, one of the things we'll be looking for is wake viola- tions. Because of the damage it can cause and the safety,” said Bridi. “Because people live here at Harveys Lake, there's probably more of a problem with drinking and boating. I think when you look back at the accidents in the past, alcohol has been a contributory factor if not the main cause.” In contrast, says Bridi, when See NEW MAN, pg 3 Pauline Kutz: helping the library for 23 years By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff Twenty-five years ago Pauline Kutz was attracted to the Back Mountain Memorial Library's auc- tion — by the noise. She and her husband Dr. An- thony Kutz were living on Norton Avenue, and their home was back to back with the auction, which was held in a barn on Lehman Avenue at the time, Kutz explains. “It would goto 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning then,” said Kutz. “I'm not saying it was an annoyance, but it was how we became aware of its A couple years later, Kutz be- came involved with the library auction as a volunteer through a friend, and she’s been volunteer- ing ever since. “It was just that I loved it,” said Kutz. “I think this whole thing is a unique volunteer effort.” Kutz has been on the library's board for many years, serving as its secretary, and also as chair of the auction advisory board. During the auction, Kutz works with the antiques committee, adding up how much money is made each day on the auction block. She still has the first thing she purchased at the auction, when it went to 1 and 2 o'clock in the morning, a slop pot. The pot doesn’t have an attractive name or pur- pose; people used to empty their chamber pots into one before in- door plumbing. She's turned the pot into some- thing beautiful though, arranging dried flowers in it. Though people still donate an- tiques, said Kutz, more of them have to be purchased today than in the past because there is less fine furniture in people's attics and basements waiting to be donated than there once was. “He'll purchase things that need work,” says Kutz of Ernest Ashbr- idge, who spends his weekends purchasing most of the items that go on the auction block. “That's another wonderful thing, people will do the work.” Kutz remembers an old dental cabinet from the basement of the See LIBRARY, pg 3 46TH ANNUAL BACK MOUNTAIN LIBRARY AUCTION Thurs.-Sun., July 9-12 at the library, Huntsville Rd., Dallas EW Thurs. 6-11 p.m. B Fri., 5:30-12 Midnight HW Sat., Children’s Auction 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Regular auction 6-12 Midnight MW Sun., 5 p.m. until all items sold
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