OST
Vol. 103 Ni
Dallas, PA Wednesday, September 2, 1992
35 Cents
Story
Huntsville
@olf Club to
begin seeding
Page 3.
SCHOOL
Sem honors
local alumni
Page 8.
rt contest
winners
8 8. |
En
Printers go
for title
Sports page.
[I
$anks will
head Boy
Scout council
Page 6.
Bulfords hold
71st reunion
Page 6.
14 Pages 1 Section
Calendar.............. 10
Classified........ 11-13
EdQitorials................ 4
Obituaries............ 11
Police report.......... +,
Property transfers..2
SChOOL........cviiiinas 8
SRONS. ovis 9
CALL 675-5211
FOR HOME DELIVERY,
* NEWS OR ADVERTISING
Searles dares DAMA to arrest them
But C&K Sanitation is said to have dropped customers in DAMA territory
By GRACE R. DOVE
Post Staff
More than 60 people filled the
East Dallas Methodist Church to
capacity at a meeting of the Back
Mountain Taxpayers Association
Sunday, August 30, where they
voted to enter into a class-action
suit against the Dallas Area
Municipal Authority (DAMA) and
to request an audit of the
Water stinks,
customers
tell hearing
By ERIC FOSTER
Post Staff
They brought dirty water filters,
tales of foul smelling water coming
out oftheir faucets, and complaints
about high prices.
About 100 customers of the
Dallas, Shavertown, Harveys Lake
and Noxen water companies
attended a Public Utility
Commission (PUC) hearing
Tuesday, August 25, at the Dallas
Middle School to learn about the
proposed rate hikes which could
double the cost of water for many
customers.
About two dozen customers
testified before Administrative Law
Judge Richard M. Lovenwirth who
presided at the hearing. Their
"message was that they don't like
the quality of the water they have
now, and they don't want to, pay
more for it.
“The water is absolutely brutal,”
said Arthur Rosenberg, of Village
Drive Shavertown. “The taste, the
color. The water is absolutely bad.”
“If my water was the quality of
water I could drink, maybe I
wouldn't be so upset,” said Donald
Gavigan, a Kingston Township
supervisor, of Ridge Street,
Shavertown.
Robert Lopasnick, of Hemlock
Street, Dallas, brought a water filter
which had been in use for a week
at his home. It was a muddy brown
color.
“Usually I let it go three weeks
until my wife gets on me,” said
Lopasnick. “I don't think they
deserve any rate increase at all. I
authority's financial records by
state Auditor General Barbara
Hafer's office.
The majority vowed to continue
using their private hauler instead
of Danella Enterprises, DAMA's
designated hauler and recycler.
“Attorney Medico told us on the
telephone last week that we should
continue to do business as usual
and let the municipalities arrest
us. It's up to them to prove where
Trying her hand
we are acting criminally in
operating a business in the
community,” said Fred Searles, Jr.
“We're picking up any customers
who have been left without a hauler
now that C&K is out,” said Mrs.
Peg Searles. Both Searles and C&K
have been recycling in compliance
with Act 101, the state's new
recycling law, since it went into
effect, Mrs. Searles said.
The Searles family said that
Michelle Maskalis, age 5, of Sweet Valley, took her turn drawing at
Arts At Hayfield, held Sunday at the Penn State Campus in
See WATER, pg 14 Lehman. Additional photos on page 14.
(Post photo/Charlotte Bartizek)
Medico told them that pursuing
the matter through further civil
action would be too expensive. The
Searles family estimates their legal
fees so far to be more than $10,000.
The Searles family said that C&K
Sanitation, one of the original three
plaintiffs in the case, had decided
to withdraw from the dispute and
has dropped customers in the three
municipalities. Dave's Sanitation
withdrew from the suit in
December, 1991.
On August 12, Luzerne County
President Judge Patrick Toole set
aside the lawsuit by the haulers,
stating that the plaintiffs hadn't
provided enough information to
back up their allegations. The
haulers have 30 days to file an
amended complaint with additional
information. -
See DAMA, pg 14
Laid-off teachers
back on the job
Union still may file complaint
By ERIC FOSTER
Post Staff
More than a year after they were
furloughed, all five of the full-time
teachers furloughed or reduced to
part-time status by the Dallas
School District are back working
in Dallas classrooms.
The furloughs resulted in a
rancorous hearing at which the
schoolboard ruled that it had acted
legally in furloughing the teachers
because of changes in the school’s
curriculum, and the threat that
the furloughs would be appealed
to Luzerne County Court.
Mary Ann Storz who was
furloughed as teacher of the in-
school suspension program, will ~~
be teaching social studies in the
high school. :
This year, Nancy Ferko, who
was changed from full, to part-
time status, is back at full-time.
Margaret Schuler, a physical
education and health teacher, and
Paul Brown, a physical education
and health teacher, as well as
basketball coach, have both been
made long-term substitutes at the
Dallas Elementary.
Catherine Wega returned to
teaching English in January at the
Dallas Middle School after an
opening was created when Anthony
Martinelli became the Middle
School Principal in the spring.
Carol Harding, a part-time
teacher who was furloughed, but
withdrew her request for a hearing,
has been appointed as a long term
substitute kindergarten teacher at
the Westmoreland Elementary
School.
WILLIAM WAGNER
Schuler and Ferko both went on
sabbatical during the furloughs,
while Wega was on sabbatical until
the new position opened in the
Middle School.
William Wagner, president of the
Dallas teachers’ union, said the
union is still considering what
action to take over the furloughs.
Wagner said that while the union
agrees that Paul Brown should be
classified as a long-term substitute
because he has only emergency
certification in elementary
education, Ferko has gained
certification in elementary
education, and should be listed as
a permanent employee because she
has seniority over other elementary
teachers.
“Something will be done about
it. Even if it's to put in a notice
saying we don't agree,” said
Wagner.
Local police plan to push for universal seat belt use
By GRACE R. DOVE
Post Staff
“I don't like them.”
“They don't fit.”
“They wrinkle my clothes.”
“Uh...I forgot.”
These are only a few of the many
excuses that police have heard from
drivers not wearing seat belts.
As a part of “70x'92,"” a national
campaign to increase seat belt
usage to 70 percent of the driving
population, three police
departments in the Back Mountain
are planning a public education
program aimed at the driving
public.
According to chiefs Jack Fowler
of Dallas Borough, Carl Miers of
Dallas Township and Paul Sabol of
Kingston Townhsip, officers have
noticed only between 30 and 40
percent of drivers wearing seat
belts, leaving 60 to 70 percent not
belted.
“It’s the law: drivers must wear
seatbelts. Officers who stop a
Cops hear creative
excuses for not
wearing belts
Page 14
vehicle for any violations may also
cite any driver who isn't belted,”
Fowler said.
Chief Miers added that it is the
driver's responsibility to make sure
that all front seat passengers and
any children under age 18 wear
seat belts.
Although the seat belt law is
currently a secondary violation —
one which police can only cite
drivers for after they have been
stopped for something else —
various police organizations
support a bill to make not wearing
a seat belt a primary violation, for
which officers may stop drivers
and cite drivers without having
committed anyother Motor Vehicle
Code violations, Miers said.
The three police departments
Just like in
“Joe Dixon of Orange and his
take a break after a trot
new Amish buggy, built in
Lancaster.
(Post Photo/Grace R. Dove)
the old days
registered Morgan mare Mollie
through Country Village Trailer
Park this weekend with Dixon's
are waiting for the approval of a
grant to fund seat belt safety
checkpoints, driver/passenger
surveys and materials to distribute
to drivers in shopping center
parking lots as part of a public
education campaign.
Officers also will visit area
schools to educate students of all
ages in the importance for anyone
in a car to wear a seat belt.
“Aside from it being the law,
See SEAT BELTS, pg 14
Reflectors
being stolen
One of the reasons that the
Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation (PennDOT)
installed guard rails around
Harveys Lake early this summer
was to keep people from accidently
driving into the lake.
But, because the guard rails
have been almost continuously
vandalized, drivers may have a
tough time seeing the rails on dark
or foggy nights to avoid colliding
with them.
Reflectors, mounted on the
guard rails to make them more
visible are being stolen.
Anyone having information
about the missing guard rail
reflectors is asked to call the Traffic
Unit of the Pennsylvania
Department of Transportation at
963-4819, the State Police at 693-
2443, or the Harveys Lake Police at
675-4650.