i 'WING THE BACK MOUNTAIN » "he Dallas Post 35 Cents w FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY. | Dallas, PA Tuesday, December 22, 1992 County's 911 plan falls flat here By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff - to dispatch emergency personnel — police, firefighters and ambulances - for every county municipality, instead of using regional communications centers like the one currently in use in the Back Mountain. Patton said that the county-wide system would be funded by a surcharge on each resident's phone bill, up to $1.25 for each telephone number in a household. Families with a second telephone number for their children, for example, would pay $2.50. Macekura and John Patton of the Pennsylvania Department of Community Affairs (DCA). Although most of those present said that they thought that 911 is a good idea, they objected to how Luzerne County is going about getting it. “We did not receive any additional details today on what the county plans to do,” said Kingston Township manager Jeff Box. “They left the impression that they were almost pay double for a service which they have | already had for several years. hen “The township supervisors will not be pleased if our residents will be forced to | pay an additional $15 a year for a service | that we already have,” Box said. “Residents of Kingston Township, Dallas Township and Dallas Borough alone would be giving the county $84,000 a year, in addition to | the municipal tax money going to our own | center.” a Back Mountain officials aren't happy with what they heard — or didn’t hear — at a meeting last week to discuss a county- wide 911 emergency system. Municipal officials and police chiefs from all over Luzerne County crowded into the commissioners’ meeting room in the courthouse Friday, December 18, to voice | Letters to | Santa from Mrs. ~Roeder's first graders. plage 13-17. ° Your chance | to star auditions | for Kiss Me Kate at the Music Box. Page 20. | Systematics lsthrows party 3 or Head Start kids. Page 2. "Unique ; fundraisers | aid Turchin family Page 2. { | scHooL | World aware seventh graders draw | posters. Page 9. | Young authors read their work. Page 3. " Dallas boys oi | to a strong start in basketball. Sports page. i } | | | Dallas Post closed | The office of The Dallas { Post will close at 2 p.m. | +Thursday and all day | ‘Friday for the Christmas “holiday. Items may be left in the drop-off box at the | front of the building. 20 Pages 2 Sections Calendar............. 20 Classified........ 18-19 Editorials. -............. 4 + Obituaries............ 18 Property transfersi1 fl SSchool.. i... 9 Sports............. 10-11 (07 \ RE YIU PAR FOR HOME DELIVERY, | fi SPORTS { . ¢ ) INDEX | J NEWS OR ADVERHSING + their opinions to Luzerne County commissioners Jim Phillips, Frank Crossin Luzerne County Emergency Services Director David and Rose Tucker, Needless alarms will mean fines By DAVE KONOPKI Post Correspondent Businesses and residences with faulty alarm systems in Kingston Township could find themselves a little lighter in the pocketbook, beginning in 1993. According to township manager Jeffrey Box, a new ordinance, which will take effect January 13, will assess a penalty to businesses and residences which have more than two false burglar or fire alarms in a one year period. The fine assessed for a false burglar alarm will be $30 while the fine for a false fire alarm will be $75. “The purpose of this ordinance is to toughen the penalties on any system that malfunctions more than two times in one year,” said Box. “Emergency services are here to serve the public. Nothing should be construed as a denial of that responsibility. But it is the responsibility of the owner of a house or business to make sure the alarms work properly.” Box added that the lives of the emergency personnel, in addition to expensive equipment, are at risk with each call. “The two fire departments (Shavertown and Trucksville) each respond to at least 100 calls per year,” Box said. “Up to one-third of those are false alarms. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment have to go out on each fire alarm. In addition, volunteers are getting called out of bed at three o'clock in the morning.” The ordinance also calls for the owners of property with such alarm systems to provide the name, address and telephone number of someone with access to the structure in case the owner cannot be reached. See ALARMS, pg 12 the DCA for approval.” ready to send a county-wide 911 plan to The proposed county-wide 911 system would use one central computerized system Box believes that the Back Mountain would still have to keep its own communications center operational to handle non- emergency calls, forcing area residents to Kingston Township Police Chief Paul Sabol 4 is also concerned about what he believes Christma 6 There have been Christmas plays, pageants and visits from Santa Claus all around the region this week. In photo at left, Katelyn Moody and Phillip Engler played Mary and Joseph at Gate of Heaven School. Above, Ryan Sheehan, 2, of Dallas, got to meet Santa and eat a hot dog all in the same day at the Daddow-Isaacs American Legion. (Post photos / Charlotte Bartizek) Students bring joy of the season to others By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Students at Gate of Heaven learned first-hand about the spirit of Christmas in a special class project that treated six needy area families to a holiday dinner and gifts. While learning about healthy, balanced meals, students in Mrs. Nancy Garvey's fourth and sixth grade nutrition classes designed a tasty, nutritious Christmas meal, which they then broke down into a list of ingredi- ents that was distributed to the entire student body. Each student in the school chose the ingredient that he or she would bring in - literally everything from soup to nuts. The third grade supplied large blue baskets to pack the food in. Assisted by Mrs. Garvey and teacher's aide Mrs. Carol Car- SANTA’S HELPERS — Gate of Heaven students Colin Donnelly, Lee Stevans, Tim Carroll, John Gale, Erin Rovinsky and Melissa Everitt pack one of six Christmas food baskets that will be given to area needy families for the holidays. (Post Photo/Grace R. Dove) roll, the fourth and sixth grad- ers assembled the baskets Fri- day, December 18, for delivery beginning Monday, December 21. “It's nice to help people who wouldn't getanything for Christ- mas,” said fourth-grader Lee Stevans. “This makes me feel helpful. I'd like to be able to to more,” added fourth-grader Tim Car- roll. Third-grader Erin Rovinsky said that helping other families at Christmas makes them feel like they're needed. “You like to help people. And they like it, too,” said third- grader Melissa Everitt. To make the holiday com- plete, toys were included with the holiday baskets, with the help of Gate of Heaven parish- joners, who donated 14 large bags full of toys and games. * Needy families were selected from Gate of Heaven's five member parishes, Mrs. Carroll said. “The entire student body par- ticipated in the project. It worked out beautifully,” Mrs. Garvey said. See 911, pg 12 : Dallas Twp. spending jumps 15%, taxes don't By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff For the first time in its history, Dallas Township's 1993 budget, approved Tuesday, December 15, topped the $1 million mark, a 15 percent increase over 1992's’ $979,000 budget. Cd But for the tenth straight year, | township millage remain at six | mills. ie] The township expects to finish | 1992 with a $200,000 bank bal- | ance, up $50,000 from last year, | Total revenues have increased | 9.9 percent, or $97,000, with large | growth reflected in all taxes, espe- | cially in the earned income and | property taxes. Earned income | taxes increased 18.75 percent, | from 1992's $480,00 to $570,000, while property taxes went up 16.6 percent, from $540,000 in 1992 to | $630,000. il Other increases were noted in | revenues from the state funding | for various projects, which more than doubled, from $20,000 to $50,000; a 20 percent increase in the cable television franchise fee, which is expected to bring in $12,000; and an 11 percent in- crease in the state highway fund, | expected toincrease from lastyear's $90,000 to $100,000. 7 The cable television franchise fee is calculated at three percent of | the gross receipts for all Dallas Township customers of Tele-Me- dia, the cable television operator.: However, gains were offset by projected increased expenses. = Tax collection expenses .are expected to increase 30 percent, from $23,000 to $30,000, while] operations of the municipal build-| ings have doubled, from $25,000) | \ See DALLAS TWP, pg 5 |] Wl S| | a v CY Ar | . rs » > * a hs + pS 1 Ww BN { REN | Dallas Boro protests | cable TV : rate hike | Dallas Borough council has joined Kingston Township in for | mally protesting Tele-Media's sec: ond cable television rate hike in less than a year at its regula meeting Tuesday, December 15. “Ata time when all local munici palities and utilities are trying ta hold the line on expenses, I don't think that it's appropriate for Tele- Media to be raising their rates,’ said Jay Pope, who introduced the motion protesting the rate increase at the council's December 18 meeting. : Council directed borough man ager Milt Lutsey to write to Tele: Media, protesting the rate hike and solicitor Ted Krohn to deter: minne whether or not the borougt has any legal recourse, such as inviting other cable television op} erators to do business in the bor: See CABLE TV, Pa!
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