" The Dallas Post cl. ¥ vol 104 No. 10 TERY ) @ §-+ ) @ D PE EP SERVING THE BACK MOUNTAIN 1889 \ ar =\\ [hit 3.2 7 \ 4. 1993 FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY Dallas, PA Wednesday, March 10, 1993 / 35 Ce nts Inside Story Lively elections expected this year. Offices in school districts, mu- nicipalities and the district magistrate are open. For a list, see page 3. Regional land trust will be the topic when a group of citizens meets March 18 at 7 p.m. in Hayfield House on the Penn State campus. Sponsored by the Back Mountain Citizens' Coun- cil, the meeting is open to the public. Page 3. Phone breakdown knocks out new 'Home- work Hotline' at Lake- Noxen School. But the +. school board quickly ok's .. a new system. Page 3. Boy Scouts of Troop 281 participate in swim- ming meet. Page 6. Gate of Heaven students raised $4,000 for the Heart Association by jumping rope. Page 8. Order trees now from the Luzernce County Conservation District. Page 7. Matt Samuel, outstanding Dallas High distance runner, will make his college career at Pitt. Page 11. Brian Burd will attend Bloomsburg University on a partial football scholarship. Page 11. 14 Pages 1 Section GCalengdar.............. 10 Classified........ 12-13 Edilonials................ 4 Obituaries... x... 12 School... uo 8-9 SPOS... sus, 11 CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, - NEWS OR ADVERTISING £ Lake-Lehman: No comp for employees By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff If House Bill 174 is enacted, nonprofes- sional school employees would be able to collect unemployment compensation for the summer months when they don’t work. If enacted, this bill could add at least a mill to Lake-Lehman school district's budget. Currently, a school district's nonpro- fessional employees can't collect unem- ployment as long as the school provides a “letter of reasonable assurance” stating that they will have jobs to return to in September. According to Lake-Lehman director of finance Ray Bowersox, paying additional unemployment taxes for the district's 31 nonprofessional employees (25 cafeteria workers, three custodians and three sec- retaries) could cost Lake-Lehman $25,000, or approximately one mill. “We would have to either add this extra mill to the budget or make cuts somewhere else to make up the difference,” he said. Dallas school district wouldn't be af- fected as badly because it has fewer non- professional employees, according to fi- nance director Charlotte Williams. “Our 12 housekeepers work during the school term and the last two weeks of the already collect unemployemnt because they are employed by Service-America, our food services contractor, and not by the dis- trict.” Although Ms. Williams had not com- puted specific figures, she said that the district's costs for 12 employees’ unem- ployment compensation wouldn't be ex- cessively high. Representative George Hasay, who origi- nally supported a bill to this effect last year, now is not in favor of it. “Iwill not support a bill that will cost my school districts a dime more than they are paying now,” he said. “Governor Casey's handling of school funding has already caused problems for area school districts, who are only receiving as much state money as they did two years ago, despite addi- tional enrollments. I will work actively against the passage of this bill.” Hasay said that he had removed his name from a similar bill last year when he found out the great expense that it would cost local school districts. “I wasn't the prime sponsor ~- that was Stanley Jarolin - but having my name on that bill was certainly a mistake on my part,” he said. “I believe that enacting this bill could ultimately set a precedent for teachers to lobby to be allowed to also collect unem- ployment,” Bowersox said. summer,” she said. “Our cafeteria workers Huntsville home owners 7 i PHOTOCOURTESY OF LINDSAY BUTLER “THE FOLLIES” — This landmark home, owned by Lenore and Ken Hayden, at the corner of Huntsville and Follies Roads is one of 14 homes within a square mile of Huntsville’s “Five Corners” built by settlers from Connecticut. Paris dancers, strange voice in local lore By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Often mistaken for a sleepy little rural community, the Huntsville area of Jackson Township was once a bustling community, a treasure trove of offbeat names and interesting local traditions, including ghosts, monsters and the girls of the Follies Bergaire. Of the four homes at the “Five Corners” by the Huntsville Dam once christened “The Follies,” “Damsite,” “By Dam” and “Dam Near,” only “The Follies," owned by the Hayden family, and “Damsite,” owned by the Butler family, retain their original col- orful names. “At one time ‘The Follies’ was owned by the Loomis family. Apparently Mr. Loomis, who didn’t like the Back Mountain, dubbed it ‘Her Folly,” referring to what he considered the folly of his wife's love for the place,” said owner Mrs. Lenore Hayden. Mrs. Hayden recalled another colorful local tradi- tion, that the ladies of the famous (or infamous) Follies Bergaire used “The Follies” as their summer hideaway. “I can't confirm this, but it certainly adds a spot of local color,” she laughed. See LOCAL LORE, pg 14 Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part series on the history of Huntsville and Jackson Township. Part two will appear next week. By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Residents driving through Huntsville have no doubt re- marked on the stately older homes and fine, hand-laid stone walls along the main roads. Now these noteworthy land- marks are being studied as pos- sible candidates for designation as a historic district, to be regis- tered with the state and eventu- ally the federal government. According to Mildred Hogoboom, author of a historical Bicentennial book on Huntsville and Jackson Township, within roughly a square mile of the “Five Corners” at Huntsville Dam, be- tween 12 and 14 older homes and their stone walls have the distinc- tive architectural style of Con- necticut. Interested area homeowners plan to meet Friday, March 12, with Greg Ramsey and Ted Han- son of the Bureau of Historic Preservation of the Pennsylvania Historic Museum Commission, who will tour the neighborhood with Mary Ruth Kelly, executive director of the Wyoming Histori- cal and Geological Society. “I believe that this area of Huntsville is definitely historically significant and worth preserving,” said Ms. Kelly, after having toured homes older than a century, owned by the Butlers, the Carm- iels and the Haydens. There are only two other desig- nated historic districts in Luzerne County, the Eckley Miners’ Vil- plan historic district HB Huntsville historical trivia, pg 14 lage and a section of Wilkes- Barre's River and Franklin Streets between North and South Streets, Ms. Kelly said. Ramsey is looking for a con- centration of buildings of a simi- lar age, with similar architectural styles, or buildings which have been documented as having some connection with a specific histori- cal event or person, similar to “George Washington slept here.” “An area nominated for recog- nition as a historic district must have a good group of buildings of similar age, constructed within the same time period, mixed with as few more modern structures as possible,” Ramsey said. “You ‘should feel as if you've stepped back into that time period.” The Butlers first became con- cerned with preserving their homestead when a proposed Luzerne County road improve- ment project threatened to de- stroy the century-old stone wall and hand-cut stone steps leading to their front door. The Butlers learned that the most practical way to preserve their home would be through establishing a historic district, because the Historic Preservation Commission has too large a work- load to consider individual build- ings unless they are in imminent danger of derstruction. They then set out to research the oldest homes in their neigh- borhood, finding atleast 14 homes See HUNTSVILLE, pg 14 Shrinking subsidies may force Dallas school lunch price hike By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff If school cafeteria subsidies continue to decline at their pres- ent rate, Dallas School District may have to raise its lunch prices next year. James Richardson reported to the school board at its regular meeting Monday, March 8, that cafeteria subsidies have decreased by at least $6,000, forcing the district to directly fund approxi- mately 50 high school students on the free or reduced-rate lunch program, a cost which it formerly didn't have. “Next year, we may have to either cut back on food service or pass the additional cost on to the students, with the cost of food going up and the subsidies de- creasing,” Richardson said. The district has already gone over its 1992-93 food service budget of $20,000, and the costs for the rest of the year will have to be paid for with funds from other sources, he continued. The average price of a Dallas student's lunch is $1.35. In other business, school board president John Cleary reported that a state mediator has been brought into the teachers’ salary negotiations because the negoti- ating committee did not resolve them by February 26, as was required. “We have a proposal, but nei- ther side has made any formal offers yet,” he said. The school board approved the following resolutions: Ellen Nagy was appointed to chair an ad hoc committee to study the feasability of continuing to send Dallas students to West Side Tech. The current agreement expires in 1996. e Course descriptions for grades 9-12 were accepted. POSTPHOTO/GRACE R.DOVE SWEATING IT OUT —Nicole Parsons, left and Amy Newell demonstrated their arm wrestling technique last week at Lake- Noxen School. By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff More tests for lead in the water of 40 Dallas homes in the vicinity of Burndale Park are in the works, according to General Waterworks man- ager Mike Coyle. Of the 40 homes, six were found to exceed the federal Environmental Protection Agency's rec- ommended maximum level of .015 milligrams per liter in voluntary tests performed at the water company's expense, Coyle said. “We plan to test these same homes again within the next few weeks,” Coyle said. “Since we're testing water that has been standing in the homes’ pipes for at least six hours, the lead that we're finding is probably coming from pipes or soldered connections in the homes, rather than from the water mains.” More tests for lead in water planned Coyle said that the company also tested its pro- duction wells and two or three sites in the water distribution system for lead contamination; these test results showed low lead levels. Tests for lead in the Shavertown, Harveys Lake and Noxen systems are planned for late summer, Coyle said. HIgh concentrations of lead can cause damage to the brain, red blood cells and kidneys, accord- ing to a General Waterworks press release. The highest danger is to small children and pregnant women. Lead, which can’t be detected by taste or smell, enters household drinking water by corrosion of lead pipes, lead-based solder and brass or chrome- plated faucets. A $15 test for lead can be performed at Kirby Health Center in Wilkes-Barre. The best boy (and girl) win in Lake-Noxen By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff They sweated. They groaned. Ev:n the girls made horrible faces, as more than 100 fifth and sixth graders at Lake-Noxen School squared off for trophies in seven divisions in the school's 12th annual arm wrestling tour- nament last week. Always held in late winter, the tournament has become a hot item with the students, according to gym teacher Dwight Barbacci. “The kids begin to ask me about arm wrestling almost as soon as they return to school in Septem- arm wrestling ber,” he chuckled. Boys compete in flyweight, lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight divisions, while girls are grouped into Divisions I, II and III. Lightweight division winner Justin Harris said that he prac- ticed for the meet with older broth- ers Jayson and Gary. This year a brother and sister, Amy and Mack Newell, both won in their respective divisions of girls’ Division I and boys’ flyweight. “I practiced with Mack and beat him alot,” Amy said. She said that she See ARM WRESTLERS, pg 5 Pe
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