: | Publisher's notebook “4_ The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, November 23,1994 WRT The Dallas Post Testing would get most from AP courses 2. Dallas School District administrators are struggling to re- Solve questions about the value of advanced placement classes “at the high school. The program now adds .5 point to the grade point average of each student successfully completing an AP class. Since less than 1 percent of students fail the classes, they amount to an automatic grade point average boost. However, only six of the program’s 126 students took tests at ‘the end of each course last year, which, if passed could earn college credit, eliminating the need to take a required freshman class. * Assistant superintendent Gil Griffiths provided a clue towhy so few students take the test when he remarked that many colleges grant credit only to students who score well on the tests. That would indicate three possible reasons so few students take the tests; either they don't feel they can score well on them, they don't understand how advanced placement works, or they just don't care. « Advanced placement courses should in theory be more difficult than the standard high school curriculum. Since only seniors carrying a 3.0 GPA or better can take them, it’s not il- logical most wouldn't fail. But it's reasonable to ask why so few take a test to obtain the classes’ ultimate benefit. If the answer | «is that students aren't prepared to pass the tests, the program is nothing more than a feel-good sham for teachers and ~ students, and one with dangerous implications for young + people who are being given the impression they are more + capable than is true. . Assuming the classes are being taught to high standards, 3 : they surely have value simply by giving high school seniors an ‘early look at what is required in college. But it doesn’t appear the students have been encouraged to demand and acquire -their full advantage from this program. Requiring that ad- “vanced placement students take and pass a final exam would : put the program on more solid footing. vw ’ Ron Bartizek is heating up, and the rhetoric is becoming more divisive. On “one side are those who are convinced that a shortage of religion “in the classroom is at the root of much evil; on the other are - people who think both religion and government are best served “by keeping them as far apart as possible. I'm in the latter camp, Jandgthink that-position is justified by recent history. ¥ . Linited States, which has no state-sanctioned religion, leads the developed world in the share of its population who ‘belong to organized churches, and who actually attend serv- ices. I think the interest in church is directly related to its detachment from government, or any other institution, for that hatter. But if any church, or religion in general, is linked to government, the same resentment that drove so many Demo- werats from office November 8 could be turned on religion. Beyond that, I think people ought to tend to their own family 4n matters of spirituality, and leave others to do the same. * It’s ironic that the same so-called conservatives who rant Against government social programs now say if only we put ‘prayer back in the schools, things will be better. I thought they wowed to get the government out of people's private lives, but apparently only the parts they don’t agree with. jira g bother to test women) who imbibed two to four drinks +~laweek fared better than those who took a daily dose. The worst si=thing was not to drink at all, or twice or more a day. All these “fstudies are based on comparative death rates; for example, the srilucky two-to-fours died at a rate 22 percent less than teetotal- f £1 Our interest in food and its effects may be overdone, but I ~Iil¢rs. I'm no scientist, but I'll wager theyll all die in the end. 3 #*#hink it’s generally a good thing. Diet plays an important role ~ “in how we feel, look and how long we'll live. As we learn more, ~ isiswe are better able to take some control over those aspects of our vilives. Of course, some people expand interest into obsession, «and that’s often unhealthy, so that old rule of moderation in all » =.things is still valid for most of us. Si By the way, the conclusions on alcohol won't deter me from wa daily glass of wine, which adds immeasurably to the pleasure seof a meal with the family or friends. LC . The debate over allowing formal prayer in the public schools “Do you agree? Disagree? -'.’. Editorials are the opihion of the management of The Dallas Post. -~ Se ~ .1“We welcome your opinion on contemporary issues in the form of ot «.etters to the editor. If you den't write, the community may never “w*hear a contrasting point of view. Send letters to: The Dallas Post, :2P.0:Box 366, Dallas, PA 18612. Please include your name, address «and a daytime phone number so that we may verify authenticity. *.We donot publish anonymous letters, but will consider withhelding “+.the name in exceptional circuinstances. We reserve the right to edit ifor length and grammar. "a { K ss % Aw - san wm oe BE ~ » . ae The Dallas Post st Published Weekly by Bartsen Media, Inc. of P.O. Box 366, Dallas PA 18612 Telephone: 717-675-5211 1 Ronald A. Bartizek EDITOR AND PUBLISHER ow Wow kB aa ae PT a a = a df eR SE 3 wy op 2 Charlotte E. Bartizek ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Grace R. Dove REPORTER Peggy Young ADVERTISING ACCT. EXEC a ah aw * CN Paul Rismiller Olga Kostrobala PRODUCTION MANAGER CLASSIFIED/TYPESETTING Jill Urbanas OFFICE MANAGER MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION AND PENNSYLVANIA NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER'S ASSOCIATION VOTED 3rd BEST SMALL WEEKLY IN THE U.S., 1993 EE EE EEE ES a Eo SEES ENE EE $ EEE EE Ae EEE EN EE A Ca iw Le Rae POST PHOTO/GRACE R. DOVE YOUNG PERFORMER - Dallas Elementary School second-grader Andrew VanLoon played a solo on his cello at the school’s annual Thanksgiving program November 18. Letters Kvashay's work should be rewarded Editor: Your recent article concerning the resignation of the winter track coach at Dallas High School, Wil- liam Kvashay, prompted me to address this matter. The loss of coach Kvashay to this program is a loss that will hurt the running program at Dallas, a program, that in my opinion, is one of the better programs not only in this area, but in the entire state. The issue of the low salary he received for many years is not a new issue. He has been under- paid in this position since the program was started, and to give a new coach in the swimming program double his salary is dis- respectful of the job that this man has done for this fine program. The board has addressed this position in a similar manner in past years, and could have in- cluded it in the regular coaches’ contract, and not had to renew the position every year if they so desired. That they have not seen fit to back this extremely success- ful program and this coach is their loss and the consequences of such a loss will fall squarely on their shoulders in the future. The Dallas track program has As Iwas saying a — f Jack Hilsher One of these columns I will have to dissect local columnists for you, starting at the bottom with the Crown Prince of Dark- ness Corbett and going all the way up to the Dean of Communica- tions, Uncle Tom Bigler, at Wilkes. Tom's written output is massive and crafted very tightly, but ver- ~ bally he drifted off the planet re- cently when, at the Kirby's Steve Allen show, he introduced Stever- ino as Fred Allen. I couldn't really tell if he turned red or not. Anyway, until then, you shall have a most unbelievable person- age to consider, the little national columnist who wasn't a colum- nist at all. That is, Billy Rose never wrote a single word but he was syndicated all over the coun- try. His career reads like fiction. Born William Samuel Rosen- berg in 1899, Billy Rose came from an East Side Manhattan tenement and made millions in the world of entertainment, but at heart he was only a frustrated writer. Like many of us? Like who? Well, there's my tax guy, my neigh- bor's wife, a dingbat cousin and a custodian I know. They all want to write, and so did Billy. The difference was he made the big time by not writing. After different part-time jobs won the Class AA district champi- onship three consecutive years, and much of that success is due to the fine indoor program that prepares 25 to 35 athletes during winter months. When these ath- letes go to an indoor meet, the Dallas program is received with a great amount of respect. This program has produced state champs and competed very well against larger and better funded programs. —- In addition, coach Kvashay's overall record while coaching at Dallas is practically unequalled in northeast Pennsylvania, and heisrespected as one of the better coaches in the entire state. His program produced two Div. I runners who competed well at the ICAAAA Eastern Collegiate Cham- pionships held last weekend at Boston, and one runner, Dallas grad Steve Oliver, has qualified for the national cross country championships. Coach Kvashay has had a number of first team All-State runners, several first place state winners and a runner who made first team high school All-America (Steve Oliver once again). His 1988 cross country team was widely recognized as the finest team in valley history, with the top four runners compet- ing at the Div. I level in college. In addition, Jon Strange was the captain of the fine Penn State track team for the past two years prior to graduation this spring. No other coach or program has had the overall success in confer- ence and statewide standing over such a long period of time, yet received so little recognition for his efforts::;;; The time coach Kvashay spends with his present team and then-continues to help runners in their collegiate en- deavors also bears note. I agree with the other parents who found it “amazing” that the school board has overlooked coach Kvashay and his fine programs for many years. Many of the administration never have at- tended a meet or bothered to come watch these teams win district championships time after time, yet we see them at other athletic events on a regular basis. It is time we recognize coach Kvashay for his sterling efforts and reward these efforts financially. Earl Samuel Dallas Billy Rose, columnist who never wrote a word and the usual ups and downs, Billy broke into the entertainment world by producing shows which mixed girls, big bands, girls, good food, booze and more girls...all at bargain prices. He shot up fast and stepped on people as he rose higher; his staff knew him as a penny-pincher but that never applied to customers...they got their money's worth for sure. At the '39 World's Fair Billy's “Aquacade” opened to 8,500 people with swimmers Eleanor Holm and Johnny Weismueller and later, Buster Crabbe, swim- ming in purple water to waltz music, comics diving like por- poises, high divers doing triple twists, and Fred Waring's Glee Club! Water curtains shot 40 feet into the air, 72 girls in scanty suits did cartwheels in a bath of colored lights and later held up a block- long American flag. This was SPECTACLE, truly in caps, com- pletely unlike anything before or since. Thirty-two million people saw the fair that year and Billy made his first million. He also married Eleanor Holm. He kept the mob from moving in, although they tried. Big shot Arnold Rothstein said, “I can’t trust Billy. He's only halfway honest. He acts like he wants to be legit in an illegitimate world. He'll go places; where, I don't know.” Throughout all this Billy under- paid his people and they all hated him; his enemies piled up as fast as his millions. But, it wasn't enough. Writers had long fasci- nated him, and he worshipped columnists Walter Winchell, Le- onard Lyons, Earl Wilson and Ed Sullivan. He called them “word- slingers” and he made up his mind to be one. So the parade of ghost writers began. Lee Rogow was the first, quitting his job at an ad agency he wrote Billy's column, “Pitching Horsehoes”, for more than a year. At the same time magazines car- ried short stories “by Billy Rose” all actually written by Rogow. One day TIME magazine sent a reporter and photographer to see Billy and interview him about his new writing career. Billy put Rogow in an office down the hall and locked the door. Rogow then wanted to share the byline which Billy would never have done, so Rogow left and others followed, earning from $75 a week to Ro- gow's $500. The column ran for five years, not because it was so great but because Billy either gave it away or charged as little as 50¢ a week. It was light stuff, full of dialogue and one critic said you read it in 30 seconds and forgot it 30 sec- onds later. Sometimes a ghost tried to do better, or get creative, and Billy would say, “This is your last column. You're getting stale.” The best comment on Billy Rose was from Maurice Zolotow. He said 20 years after Rose's death, “I never saw anything creative in this fellow. He never invented or did anything original. He was a good money-maker.” Some would say that was enough, but considering his long- ing to write, obviously it wasn't enough. Those “would-be writ- ers” | mentioned earlier would understand, I'm sure. yesterday : | T i H 60 Years Ago - Nov. 30, 1934 | SCARLET FEVER CASES INCREASE | Although the scarlet fever epi: demic which started in Dallas Township about three weeks ago, appeared tobe under control; hew outbreaks in Lehman and King- ston Township caused health authorities to take drastic action in an effort to prevent continued spread of the disease. telly The widening and grading of Huntsville Road, started asaCWA project, will be completed. by Luzerne County after the first of the year. This assurance was given Henry Disque this week by the County Commissioners. You could get - Country style pork sausage, 25¢ lb.; chuck pot roast, 12¢ Ib.; iceberg lettuce 9¢ hd.; Ivory soap flakes Ig. pkg. 23¢ rinisuy 50 Years Ago - Nov. 24, 1944 - JOSEPH DAVIS BUYS ' -! JACK HISLOP'S EATERY Representatives of 17 coms: munty organizations embracing Dallas Borough, Lake, Lehman, Kingston and Dallas Townships have been invited to attend.an open forum meeting, sponsored by Dallas Rotary Club at Lundy's to discuss the formation of a Li- brary Association for the Back Mountain Region. wort Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Davis of Idetown have purchased Jack Hislop’s Restaurant on Main Street. Davis until recently was employed by a Wyoming Valley Coal Co. Mrs. Davis was formerly a night operator at the Dallas Exchange of Commonwealth Tele- phone Co. here r A LF) FRE UL | 40 Years Ago - Nov. 24, 1954" SCHOOL JOINTURE WILL BE NECESSARY Board members and supervi- sory principals of Dallas Borough, Kingston, Dallas and Franklin Townships Schools, agreed Meh- day evening in Dallas-Franklin high school library that a senior high school is an eventual neces- sity for the districts named and the sooner the better. Any other salution of present overcrowding and future heavy rise in enroll: ment, they agreed is merely a stop-gap. hide David Powell has opened a new jewelry store in the Gosart Build: ing, Center Street, Shavertown. There he expects to handle: a complete line of watches, costume jewelry, and gift items. (3 Deus Now playing at Himmler The- atre: “Three Coins in the Foun- tain” with Clifton Webb and Jean Peters. ~i br TRH CRN 4 » i 30 Years Ago - Nov. 24, 1964. KENNEDY EULOLGY'IS PRINTED NATIONWIDE An editorial entitled “The Liv: ing Flame,” published in The Dal: las Postlast year, has been copied: widely over the country in weekly; newspapers on this the anniver- sary of the funeral rites of the laté: president of the United States, John Fitzterald Kennedy. Request’ SERS FE ik from Maine to Florida for permis sion to use it have been received, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Cease; Shavertown, observed their 60th: wedding anniversary Nov. 16: Parents of twin sons, Ira, Shaver! town, and Lloyd, Mt. Freedom, NJ, they have one grandchild and! two great-grandchildren. # Mrs. Alphretta Welch Hon-, eywell, 101, born on July 17; before the close of the Civil War: died Wednesday morning at her, home in Luzerne. i ] 6 od ¥ 20 Years Ago - Nov. 27, 1974 : D.A.M.A. SEWER FEES WILL INCREASE 4 There will be an increase in annual flat sewer rental rates of ‘DAMA effective, January 1, 1975; The increase was announced at DAMA’s regular meeting. RJ Spencer Martin, DAMA chairman cited increased operating costs; the need to have ample money for bond payment and an over pro% jection of estimated sewer hook ups for 1974-75, a reason for the increase. b, In the interest of conservation and economy, Commonwealth Telephone Co. will be reducing the number of telephone directo+ ries it distributes to customers, Betinning with 1974 Dallas and Shickshinny directories, to be distributed this month, custom: ers who have one or two phones would receive one book. Resi dence customers with more thar two phones will receive two books} You could get - Young hen turkeys, 10-14 1bs., 49¢ Ib.; bone: less New York Strip whole $2.29 lb.; Folger's Coffee, 1 Ib. can 99¢; Mrs. Smith's pumpkin custard pie 89¢ ea. Ivory liquid 59¢ bot. Only: iA}
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers