y | ] Vol. 105 No. 10 The Back Mountain's Dallas, PA 2 Newspaper Since 1889 S = =A ch |=Neotel\V [VSN BEISSHe] Si Bo | <5 BAN RAR WAN (=F R= eV EWN ESlel (ole IS Fai [0] KS o0¢ Wednésday, March 9, 1994 By GRACE R. DOVE bruising on his left elbow and the left EE ,.., Parent's claims, official records differ on alleged assault ¢ Sri Hels dl NUL Post Staff ® The mother of a Dallas High School ninth-grader thinks the teacher accused of assaulting her son should be charged with assault, not harrassment. But her description of the incident and her son's alleged injuries does not match police and hospital reports on the incident. According to Dallas Township patrol- man Doug Higgins, Richard T. Cibula, 14, and consumer education teacher John. J. Bencala, 45, were involved in @hat Higgins called “an altercation” after ibula became unruly in class February 22 around 12:30 p.m. Cibula was treated at 8 p.m. at the emergency room of the Nesbitt Hospital for a sprained left arm and scrapes and side of his neck, Higgins said. “I'm angry that they didn't charge him with assault,” said the boy's mother, Mrs. Laura Cibula. “My son had a con- cussion, a sprained left arm, contusions and tenderness in his jaw. When the nurse saw him, she called the police immediately.” Official records say that Mrs. Cibula insisted the hospital call police. She said that her son had described the incident to her after returning home from school. He said that some students had been making noise, and that Ben- cala told him to leave the room. When he refused to, Bencala used an arm lock on him, twisting his left arm behind his back, she said. Although Mrs. Cibula said that her son had a concussion, Higgins said that Cibola had not been diagnosed with a concussion, according to a report from the hospital. “They advise most accident patients to be alert for signs of possible head injury as a precaution,” he said. Higgins said that the hospital con- ‘tacted Dallas Township police at 8 p.m. that evening at the mother's request. The hospital didn’t call police on their own, as Mrs. Cibula had stated, he said. “Other students told me that Cibula had been making trouble in class and was involved in the disturbance, but that’s hearsay right now,” Higgins said. Mrs. Cibula added that she had un- successfully asked school board presi- dent Ellen Nagy to request an emergency meeting to suspend Bencala. “My son's only crime was that he wouldn't leave the room when he was told to,” she said. “He didn’t do anything wrong. Now the senior boys are teasing Rich that he let a teacher beat him up.” “The harrassment charge is a lower form of assault, a summary offense,” said Dallas Township police chief Carl Miers. “More serious assault charges are simple assault, a misdemeanor, and aggravated assault, a felony.” A conviction of harrassment is, pun- ishable by a fine of up to $300 or a 90-day jail sentence, Miers said. The school administration is withold- ing any action until the case is resolved. “Our policy is that Mr. Bencala is in- nocent until he has been proven guilty,” said Dallas superintendent Gerald Wycal- lis. “The school board has been advised of the incident and is awaiting the out- come of the hearing. The key is what will happen at the magistrate’s office.” Wyecallis said that if Bencala is found guilty, he could lose his teaching certifi- cate. Pennsylvania teachers’ certificates can be revoked if a teacher has been con- victed of a crime (moral turpitude) or in cases of intemperance, incompetence or severe or unusual cruelty, he said. Other than confirming that the school is conducting an internal investigation of the matter, Dallas High School princi- pal Frank Galicki refused to comment on the advice of district solicitor Ben R. Jones, III. Bencala is still on duty in the classroom, Galicki said. A hearing date with District Magis- trate James Tupper has not yet been set. Insurance agents showed by claims 3y GRACE R. DOVE ost Staff “Snow may be pretty, but ice ain't nice. Area homeowners may face more headaches as they begin repairs on seepage caused by ice which has accumulated in their ‘roof gutters. Not all homeowner's insurance policies cover the damage. ° Area insurance agents say that Bh 1 e largest number of claims pres- ently being filed are for damage from ice dam seepage. Nationwide Insurance has re- ceived more than 4,000 seepage claims in Luzerne County alone, according to agent Chuck Gar- nett. Of the three types of home- owner's policies available in Penn- sylvania, seepage damage is cov- @ red by only one, according to ‘Ward Hartman of Hartman Insur- ance. The other policies, mostly writ- ten about 20 years ago, were never upgraded to cover it, Hartman said. “Most people are underinsured or may not be aware of what their See INSURANCE, pg 14 Toddler knows her way around U.S. By GRACE R. DOVE @° Staff Learning the geography of the United States is still required in school, but a Dallas Township toddler may be able to skip the class. Jenna Woychick, 2 1/2, knows “thé name and shape of every state and where to place it on a mag- netic puzzle map which she en- joys playing with. »' She can assemble the entire ‘puzzle in 15 minutes and not miss a state. “Michigan goes here. It has cars,” she said, placing the brightly colored puzzle piece in its correct place on the map, which also shows each state's major indus- tries. Her parents, Darlene and Louis Woychick, had seen another two- year-old do the same thing on a CNN broadcast and decided to try teaching it to Jenna. Louis re- trieved the old magnetic puzzle form his parents’ attic. “I was surprised — within six weeks she had the hang of it,” her mother said. “It's a game. We taught her some ways to associ- ate some of the states, but she picked up the rest herself.” South Carolina - that's where Momma and Pop-pop are on va- @ cation. New Jersey - that's where cousin Kristin lives. - + Mickey Mouse lives in Florida. £ 5% ~ pal ig POST PHOTO/RON BARTIZEK The old heave-ho | John Allen of Pioneer Avenue in Shavertown, shoveled the remains of the latest winter storm from his walk last Friday. Of course, by the time you read this, that storm may be only the next-to-last of this snowiest season so far. Wyoming has a cow. “That’s where the Bon-Ton is.” Jenna Woychick 2 1/2-year-old geography whiz Methodically placing each state while showing them to her Cab- bage Patch doll, Jenna chattered about the pictures of the products on the map. “Wisconsin has cheese,” she said. “I like cheese. I saw California on TV.” The skyscraper for New York stumped her. “It has letters on it,” she said. For some reason that her par- ents can't figure out, she always saves Indiana for last. Maybe she’s using the process of elimination. “Jenna gets excited when she recognizes the different states on the Weather Channel,” her mother said. Jenna's talents aren't limited to geography, however. She can count to 13, knows her ABC's and can say the Pledge of Allegiance, which she learned from her grandmother, Helen Caruso. “Mom said that I had learned it early and had tried to teach it to her. She thought that Jenna wasn't paying attention,” Darlene Woychick said. “One day, while she was in the bathtub, suddenly See TODDLER, pg 5 POST PHOTO/GRACE R. DOVE IDAHO HAS APPLES - Jenna Woychick, 2-1/2, completes a puzzle of the 50 United States. She knows each state's name, shape and position on the map. Gas leak by school was capped quickly By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Market Street in Lehman Cen- ter was closed to traffic for an hour March 4 when a backhoe clearing snow from the driveway of the Lehman-Jackson School accidentally hit a natural gas line box around 3:30 p.m. The driver of the backhoe, owned by Malick's, was widening the driveway access to the school and didn't know that the box was there, according to Lake-Lehman finance manager Ray Bowersox. “I don't know why the gas company didn’t install protective concrete posts around the box, especially considering the num- ber of vehicles coming through here,” Bowersox said. A Pennsylvania Gas and Water (PG&W) repair crew worked for two hours Friday afternoon re- placing a damaged regulator in- side the box. Jackson Twp. supers freeze talk of TV panel By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff After hearing a report on regu- lating cable television from solici- tor Blythe Evans, the Jackson Township supervisors voted to postpone forming a regulatory commission until they can study the issue further. Evans explained at the March 7 supervisors meeting that set- ting up a cable television regula- tory commission would require “lots of legal work,” including enacting several ordinances to establish the commission. Only the first 12 channels provided to customers with the lowest level of basic service can be regulated, Evans said. Jackson Township is served by Cable-TV in Hazleton. Operating a cable television “was not shut off, Photo on page 14 The regulator in the box re- duces gas pressure in the line leading into the school, the work- ers said. “Something like this can cost between $500 and $1,000 to fix, depending on the extent of the damage,” said worker Frease Jackson. “There's also some damage to piping.” Gas service to nearby homes - Gas was dissipating into the air but didn’t leak into the building, according to Juneann Greco of PG&W. No nearby homes were evacu- ated. Because school had been cancelled for a snow day, there were no children in the building at the time, Bowersox said. | commission would cost between $5,000and $10,000 ayear, Evans said. Once the township takes on responsibility for regulating cable television, the cable company will pass on any costs to attend which their people incur directly to the basic service customers, Evans said. “Several communities sharing one cable operator can form a joint operating authority to save on the costs, but there's no evi- dence that cable service will con- tinue to increase (in price),” he said. Of course, snow was also on the agenda. Road foreman Rich- ard Manta reported that snow- plow crews are continuing to encounter problems in residen- See JACKSON TWP, pg 5 BH Tryouts for baseball, softball Saturday. Page 10. HM Bill Woolbert still loves boats, after 40 years in the business. How things changed over the years. Page 3. 14 Pages 1 Section Calendar.............. 11 Classified........ 12-13 Crossword........... 11 Editorials................ 4 Obituaries........ 5, 12 School...cicoiiiieres 8 Spotts............... 9-10 CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, NEWS OR ADVERTISING The Dallas Post MAILING LABEL- Please enclose this label with any address changes, and mail to The Dallas Post, P.O. Box 366, Dallas PA 18612-0366 Sat i
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