> @ Vol. 104 No. 38 Municipal mortgage » «going up In flames By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff It will literally be a hot time in Lehman Township Monday, Sep- tember 27, when the municipal authority burns its $130,000 mortgage, which it has paid off 15 years ahead of schedule. Incurred five years ago as the township's share of a $1.3 million federally funded project, the mortgage paid for the installation of the Oak Hill sewage collection system, according to authority member Charles E. Bartlett. “We're the only area municipal authority that I know of which is completely debt-free,” Bartlett said, who attributed the author- ity's success to “good manage- ment practices:” keeping operat- ing expenses down, maintaining a 90 percent debt collection rate, using an all-volunteer board and obtaining a business loan for the original debt instead of floating a municipal bond issue, which would have cost more money. “All our board members are Oak Hill residents, which means that they have a vested interest in keeping costs down,” he contin- ued. “We saved a good $75,000 by using an all-volunteer board.” The board has also established a contingency fund for emergency repairs which might be needed in the future. An advantage to paying off the loan early is that sewer bills have decreased 15 percent. Five years ago, the average yearly Oak Hill sewer bill was $340; it is now $288, Bartlett said. Serving 210 customers, the Oak Hill system ties into the Harveys Lake Municipal Authority, which sends its sewage to the Dallas Area Municipal Authority (DAMA) for treatment. Residents interested in attend- ing the mortgage burning cere- mony Monday, September 27, at 7 p.m., should contact board members Marie C. Ritts at 639- 5447 or Charles E. Bartlett at 639-5773. Other board members are Walter F. Blejwas, Albert R. Babetski, Joseph J. VanJura and Alfred Swelgin. Phone co. celebrates its week By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Providing state-of-the-art tele- phone service to more than 200,000 Pennsylvania customers in mainly rural areas, Common- wealth Telephone in Dallas, the nation’s largest small independ- ent telephone company, is cele- brating National Small Independ- ent Telephone Company Week, September 19-25. Owned by C-TEC, Inc., Com- monwealth Telephone employs 230 Back Mountain residents at two facilities, the original build- ing on Lake Street in Dallas and the service center on Route 309 in Dallas Township. Most exchanges in Common- wealth’s service area — 20 mostly rural counties in eastern Penn- sylvania — now have touch-tone service and such options as call waiting, call forwarding, three- way calling service and electronic voice mail, according to commu- nity relations manager Adelle Mulea. “We expect to add return call- ing, repeat calling and call tracing to our services by early 1996, and would like to eventually begin using fiber-optic lines to provide better service,” Ms. Mulea said. To celebrate National Small Independent Telephone Company Week, Commonwealth has dis- tributed posters about the event to its employees and scheduled / sean 2 Pid 77 sy L/ ul 5 Newspaper Since 1889 EVN THE COMMUNITIES ©] 3 lo | =H BVAVE WARS 8 WAY =H B= 2 VV AH NEST ed o [00] BB] ICY I 2107 BS Dallas, PA Wednesday, September 22, 1993 POST PHOTO/GRACE R. DOVE TAKING A BREAK - Enjoying a chat between classes, Paula Sitar, left, and Frances Sabaluski, right, compare their experiences at College Misericordia. Misericordia enrollment blooms By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff For the second consecutive year, College Mis- ericordia in Dallas has welcomed the largest fresh- man class in its history. The college has seen its total enrollment grow by 50 percent during the past six years. Founded 70 years ago by the Sisters of Mercy to provide affordable higher education for young women, Misericordia was Luzerne County's first fully-accredited four-year college. Although its mission hasn't changed, the face of the college certainly has. No longer “the little Catholic women's college on the hill,” Misericordia has become a dynamic, progressive coeducational institution offering postgraduate degree programs and community activities in addition to undergraduate studies. Students face challenges Dallas resident Paula Sitar and Lehman resi- dent Frances Sabaluski have taken advantage of the college's programs for both traditional and non-traditional students. The fourth person in three consecutive genera- - tions of her family to attend Misericordia, Sitar, a sophomore, transferred from King's College in Wilkes-Barre to pursue a degree in radiography. “I saw how well-educated my mother, aunt and grandmother were from their experiences here and knew that I could get the same education,” she said. Sitar’'s mother, Carol, majored in arts with a minor in English, while her aunt, Jeanne Herman earned a degree in medical technology and her grandmother, Catherine Polacky, earned a degree in education. Sitar’s radiography degree will prepare her to work with X-rays, radiology, magnetic resonance indicators (MRI's), ultrasound and CAT scans. She had originally wanted to study pharmacy, but changed her mind when she read about the need for radiographers. Studies for her chosen career include a strong background in anatomy and physiology and a . year of chemistry and physics, in which she must earn at least a C. A non-traditional student, Sabaluski works full-time in the library at the Penn State Lehman campus while carrying a full course load of 15 credits. She plans to graduate in May, 1994, with a degree in liberal arts. “Don’t tell them how old I am,” she joked. “I want them to keep on guessing - some of my fellow students think that I'm in my 70's.” Nowhere near 70 for a good two decades, Sa- baluski said that she came to Misericordia to finish her studies after having earned an associ- ate’s degree from Luzerne County Community College. Having completed an internship at the Mead- ows Nursing Center this past summer, she is also minoring in gerontology, a growing field in the area due to its large number of senior citizens. “I had to convince myself that I should be here, See MISERICORDIA, pg 3 POST PHOTO/GRACE R. DOVE ALWAYS READY TO HELP — Commonwealth Telephone network systems technician Doug Osborne takes a call reporting a problem in the system. guest spots on two radio stations. Ms. Mulea and C-TEC public relations coordinator Suzanne Green have taped an interview on WMGS, 93 FM, and will guest star on WNET radio in Wellsboro Thursday, September 23. In addition to its commitment to providing quality telephone service, Commonwealth and its employees are involved in many public service organizations and projects. Through the Friendship Phone program, used telephones leased Go from Commonwealth and re- turned to its offices are sent to United Rehabilitation Services in Wilkes-Barre to be refurbished for $1.50 apiece, providing jobs in URS's sheltered workshops. Rebuilt phones are then dis- tributed to area needy families through the Commission on Eco- nomic Opportunity or the Depart- ment of Public Assistance. “We were told about a person whose mother had been sick in bed for three years and couldn't afford to put an extension phone in her room so that she could talk with her friends,” Ms. Mulea said. “She was very happy to get one through this program.” Through a speakers’ bureau, Commonwealth employees are guest speakers for area civic or- ganizations, discussing such widely diverse topics as telephone fraud or what customers can expect to see in phone systems of the future, all free of charge. See PHONE CO., pg 14 Couch potatoes rejoice! Network channels stay on local cable By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff AL Local television stations won't miss a beat on cable in the Back Mountain. In an attempt to unravel the complicated Cable Television Act passed by Congress in October, 1992, Tele-Media Company has worked out retransmission agree- ments which don’t involve addi- tional charges for three of the area's four local channels. Tele-Media had been prepared to drop WNEP, WYOU, WOLF and WBRE from its channel lineup if the stations had wanted to charge cable customers for retransmis- sion, according to Tele-Media general manager Don Zagorski. As’ of September 20, Tele-Me- dia has reached agreements which won't cost the system's custom- ers anything with all but WYOU, Zagorski said. “Under the Cable Television Act adopted in October, 1992, we were required to make retransmission agreements with our local chan- nels, which could have resulted in them charging us to retransmit their signal,” Zagroski said. “We have taken the stand that we shouldn't have to pay for chan- nels that customers not on the cable get for free. Rather than charge our customers for them, we would have dropped them.” The Dallas Post Zagorski is optomistic that he will reach an agreement with WYOU before the federal law's October 6 deadline. WVIA, the local Public Broad- casting System channel, and EWTN, the Catholic religous chan- nel, aren't affected by retransmis- sion fees because they are basi- cally public service channels, Zagorski said. In addition to possible changes in channel lineup, rates for sub- scribers using the full 33-chanel basic services have increased six percent, although rates for cus- tomers using Tele-Media's 12- channel “Lifeline Basic” have decreased nearly 35 percent. Originally offered for $13 per month, “Lifeline Basic” will now cost $8.20, Zagorski said. In addition to the four local network affiliates, public televi- sion channel WVIA and the Catho- lic religious channel CTV, “Life- line Basic” provides the QVC Shopping Network, C-Span, WTBS, local Channel 9 and two New York channels, WPIX and WWOR. - rv ww wow See NETWORK, pg 14 Orloski Quick-Mart gains eight zoning variances By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Over the objections of zoning board member James Davis, the Dallas Borough zoning board approved eight variance requests submitted by owner Edward F. Orloski Thursday, September 16, paving the way for an Orloski's Quick Mart to be built on the site of the former Dallas Exxon sta- tion. Designed to be erected on the site of the present gas station, which will be torn down, the self- service gas station and 2,000 square-foot convenience store will sell Citgo gasoline, Orloski said. Orloski had requested vari- aces for the front and side yard setbacks, sign height and size, sign setback, pavement cover and requirements for the canopy, which will cover the fuel islands. “It appears that I've made a lot of requests, but I didn't realize how tough the shape of the lot was to work with until after my father had purchased it,” Orloski said. “I thought that we had a lot more room than we actually have. No matter how many times I tried to make different designs fit, I still kept coming back to this one,” he continued. Davis, a member of the Dallas ambulance crew, said that he had several concerns about the loca- tion: its close proximity to Route 309, the design of the sign posts and Orloski’s use of variances. “It's too close to the highway - and could create a traffic hazard,” | he said. “The sign posts are also See QUICK-MART, pg 14 tions also will rise accordingly. Newsstand, subscription prices to rise The price of The Dallas Post at stores and by subscription will rise effective with the October 6 issue. Single copies purchased at stores will cost 50¢, while local subscriptions will rise to $18 per year from $16. Two-year subscriptions will cost $32. Out-of-area subscrip- This is the first increase in price since 1989. It is necessary be- cause the costs of news gathering, production and distribution have risen, and because advertising sales have not grown sufficiently to offset them. We hope to use some of the revenue to further improve news coverage. Part of the store price increase will be shared with dealers, who will receive new cost information next week. HB Mounts, Knights will try to bounce back from losses, page 9 HM Tasty tickets. Tick- ets for "Taste of the Valley' are available in the Back Mountain. 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