4 The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, December 7, 1994 WR NL Ce A voi RCE : p= ae Harveys Lake is more Bh gw : than Thom Greco's profit playground + Thom Greco made a big show of unveiling the results of a iisurvey” his company mailed to 800 addresses at Harveys Jake. As you might expect, the response was overwhelmingly supportive of Greco's enterprises, with a resounding 72 per- -¢cent of respondents “in full support of the Amphitheatre and the various entertainments at Hanson's.” That's nice. But a ‘loser look at how the survey was conducted would indicate the ‘Yesults don't necessarily reflect the true feelings of the majority 9f Harveys Lake residents. - In a glowing cover letter that accompanied the claims for the survey results, Greco said 800 questionnaires were mailed to srandomly-selected residents in RR1, RR2 and RR 3, “who live and pay taxes in closest proximity to the Amphitheatre..” While .some of the recipients — no one knows which were “selected” + might live close to the stage and dance hall, most do not. ‘Only portions of those routes serve homes close enough to be directly affected by the performances. One, RR 2, goes out as far as Beaumont. ’ The sample of 800 homes, with an astounding 33 percent ‘fesponse rate, is also questionable. The three postal routes serve a total of more than 1,200 addresses. Conveniently se- Jecting a majority of homes removed from the amphitheater site could skew the results considerably. ~, Then there's the questionnaire itself, which is loaded with questions like this one: “Do you think the amphitheatre has re- ignited interest in Harvey's (sic) Lake and increased business at the lake for all area businesses?” Anyone who conducts : legitimate surveys knows that questions written in such an enthusiastic fashion draw equally positive responses. “While Greco touts the overwhelming support shown by the 270 respondents (“62 percent think there is no problem with noise from the Amphitheatre or the dance hall before or after 11 p.m.”), he doesn’t dwell on the negative, which in this case means that nearly 4 of every 10 respondents thinks there is a problem with noise. Interestingly, while 90 percent of the respondents said they were full-time residents of Harveys Lake, only 61 percent said they paid property taxes. Even more startling, 57 percent saw the Lake as “a resort area with private residences and primarily seasonal living.” The alternative was to see Harveys Lake as “a yrivate community,” presumably with iron gates and stern- faced guards at each entrance. People who call Harveys Lake hpme know both descriptions are inaccurate. »eBut there youhaye the crux of Greco’s-argument: Harveys Lake exists; for thelamusement ofithe ticket-buying populace and fer:the profit: of those like himself who can exploit its setting. If that means disrupting the tranquility of a large share of the populace, so be it. Thom Greco, and many other people, need a little refresher gbout Harveys Lake. The lake itself belongs to the people of Bennsylvania — all of them — since it is a public body of water. im e land portion belongs to the people who live in Harveys Lake Borough, who have every right to restrict the kind of activity rhich takes place there. That includes the right to regulate the amphitheater and any other enterprise within the borough's Porders, with the corresponding responsibility to place the #hterests of residents ahead of Thom Greco's profit margins. No gockeyed survey can change that. lt Publisher's notebook Dressed in holiday style Dallas Borough's Main Street reflects the glow from new holiday decorations. Photo by Jack Hilsher. A Case for Conservation Alene N. Case ii 1 had my annual physical checkup last week, the third since 1a bout of serious illness. But if we hadn't switched to an HMO h 1992, I'm not sure I would have been so conscientious. Dur- ing last year’s debate over revamping the nation’s health care i8ystem, a lot of hot air was wasted defending the right of every bitizen (at least the ones with insurance) to pick his or her own doctor. The prospect of being forced to change doctors was i painted as a trauma about equal to anIRS audit. Itain’t sofor | ry. Like anyone else, though, your doctor is sometimes only as good as you ask him to be, and a patient's honesty and participation are often the difference between outstanding and #, There is merit in the argument that no health care organiza- fon should be able to shut out a qualified physician who agrees abide by its rules and regulations. That's why I remain gonvinced that single payer offers the only true solution to the v. S. problem of health care cost and access. Many doctors feel the same, and both patients and physicians in Canada over- Whelmingly approve of that nation’s system. The Dallas Post Published Weekly by Bartsen Media, Inc. P.O. Box 366, Dallas PA 18612 Telephone: 717-675-5211 Ronald A. Bartizek Charlotte E. Bartizek EDITOR AND PUBLISHER ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Grace R. Dove REPORTER Peggy Young ADVERTISING ACCT. EXEC 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 PRINTED WITH SOY INK There are places on the ocean floor where hot water emerges. This water is either white or black depending on the form of sulfer dissolved in it. There are other places where petroleum seeps out of the sediment causing an oil slick on the bottom of the ocean. There are still other places where huge whale carcasses have fallen to the deeps and the smell of hydrogen sulfide (“rotten egg” odor) is overwhelming. You might think that these places would be devoid. of life. . Instead, they are the sites where some of the most remarkable biological discoveries of the past 20 years have taken place. In 1977 “black smokers” were discovered on a ridge in the east- ern Pacific Ocean near the Gala- pagos Islands. The cameras showed strange chimneys belch- ing black “smoke.” It turns out that seawater is circulated below the ocean floor where it is heated by lava. Some of the sulfurous basalt dissolves in the water and forms hydrogen sulfide. The ge- ologists were not surprised — they had suspected that such places exisited. However, they were very sur- prised by the large number of huge animals clustered around these vents. You see, the ocean floor a mile or more below the surface is generally more desert- like than Death Valley. All the plants in the oceans are confined to the photic zone — the depth to which light can penetrate. Below that, photosynthesis is not pos- sible. And, in the middle of the oceans, nutrients are not gener- ally available to support large As Iwas saying -— id | Jack Hilsher | Today's subject is newspapers, the birth of, and the death of. Before we start however, a little historical music please. In 1690, the first printed newspaper in America was called Publick Occur- rences Both Foreign and Domes- tic, published by one Ben Harris from London. After only one edition the government of Massa- chusetts surpressed it, which says a thing about freedom of the press in those days. Next, in 1704, the weekly Bos- ton News-Letter, showed up. It was published by the postmaster as a public (sorry publick) service, and he arranged for 300 copies to be sent to taverns and coffee houses. They contained a Lost and Found section, news of run- away slaves and lost cattle, and had ads for such frivolties as Ocean depths may populations of plants. In many of these areas, the surface waters are classified as deserts. There- fore, the few small worms, brittle stars, and fish that live on the bottom may wait a long time be- tween meals. So, what could possibly sup- port large communities of giant clams, mussels, crabs and tube worms? Most of these animals had never been seen before. The tube worms were up to a meter in length! Yet, they had no mouth or digestive system! How were they gaining nourishment? Why were they not poisoned by the hydro- gen sulfide? How could some of these animals live in water hot enough to cook them? And how were they finding these oases in the first place? Biologists have continued to study these eommunities and have come up with a few answers that are as remarkable as the oases themselves. These animals are gaining their nutrition from bac- teria. That is not so unusual. The bacteria are synthesizing carbon compounds using energy they obtain by oxidizing hydrogen sul- fide. That is unusual! In other words, these deep-sea communi- ties are not dependent upon sunlight and photosynthesis. they depend upon chemosynthesis — the ultimate in geothermal en- ergy! The animals have a variety of ways in which they use the food produced by the bacteria. Some, such as snails and limpets, graze the surfaces of the rocks or other animals’ shells. Some, such as crabs, tend to eat other animals. Others, such as anemones, filter the bacteria out of the water or catch small animals with their tentacles. But, the tube worms with no gut and the giant clams have large colonies of bacteria living inside their tissue! Scien- tists are only beginning to under- stand how these animals can carry poisonous hydrogen sulfide in their blood to these symbiotic hold fix for acid mines bacteria in order for the bacteria to maintain production and, in turn “feed” the creature in which they are living. Almost as puzzling as how the animals gained nutrition was how they might find a hydrothermal vent to colonize. Obviously, such areas are few and far between. But, the bodies of whales can sink to the bottom almost anywhere. There are now pictures of whale skeletons covered by the same type of bacteria as that found at vents. And, yes, the other ani- mals are there, too. Apparently, whalebone is filled with oil (or lipids) which is a source of hydro- gen sulfide. Such communities have also been located where petroleum seeps out of sediments in the Gulf of Mexico. It is becoming clear that warm water is not necesary for the growth of the bacteria or. the associated animals. In fact, hydrogen sulfide is not even nec- essary — some communities are based upon the chemosynthesis which is fueled by methane. We still do not know exactly how these animals disperse but, as more and more such areas are discov- ered, one gets the impression that the distances between them are smaller than first thought. Many of the questions raised by the discovery of hydrothermal vent communities have not yet been answered. Studying any- thing thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean is quite diffi- cult. Views from manned or unmanned submersibles have been essential but very expen- sive. Laboratory studies have also been useful, but the reconstruc- tion of under-sea conditions is difficult and also expensive. Such research is worth supporting not only because these strange oases are “cool” but they may hold the secret for successful treatment of acid mine drainage or other envi- ronmental problems here on dry land. ‘Death of newspapers is greatly exaggerated dancing and music lessons. In 40 more years the Declara- tion of Independence was signed and - lo and behold - more than 1,200 papers were being pub- lished nationwide, all weeklies. In 1833 the first daily paper, the New York Sun, sold for one cent. Some others costing six cents each didn't make it. Too expensive! In 1851 the New York Daily Times had a circulation of 9,000. Today, known simply as The New York Times, circulation is well over one million copies daily. Now we are being told, in all seriousness, that newspapers are in their death throes. Experts say it is only a matter of time - and a brief matter at best - before your computer screen will supply you with sports scores, weather infor- mation, airline schedules, theatre reviews and food prices. These data will come toyour home screen either by your phone line or through your cable TV system. It doesn’t take much imagining to picture how telephone, TV, and probably Ted Turner or his like, companies are scrambling to develop the ultimate system. And when they do, again according to the experts, the newspaper of a . today will suddenly BE NO MORE! Well, if they were going to fold it would have happened during the depression year of 1933 when Herbert Hoover was president and only one worker in four was employed. Businesses were fail- ing at the rate of 230 a day and newspapers were called “Hoover blankets” valued as much for thier warmth as for the information they contained. But fold they didn't. As for today, and the future, I don't believe it. Doomsday is not in sight. For myself, I am not about to read my favorite comic strip on a computer screen. And I'll tell you something else. The crossword puzzle addicts of the world - over 50 million of them - are never going to fool around with a screen and a stylus. Or is it called a mouse? Don't know. Don't care. What about the car ads, the classified section, house and apartments for rent or sale, the wedding pix, the obits, the colum- nists, the editorials, the features? What would we use to soak up puppy puddles? To wrap stuffin? To swat flies? A computer screen? Aw, c'mon now. tion. ; Dallas Borough can expect to Only yesterday 60 Years Ago - Dec. 17, 1934 SCHOOLEY BAGS RECORD SIZE BUCK Corey Schooley and son-in-law Edward Williams of Noxen, killed a 200-1b. buck with 21 points last week on Schooley Mountain. It's the largest rack on record in Wyoming County. At the monthly meeting of the West Side Visiting Nurses Asso- ciation this week it was reported that nurses are unusually busy.in the district which Trucksville, Dallas and Harveys Lake. There were 189 visits made. You could get - Veal rump roast, 19¢ Ib.; chuck roast, 13% 1b.; 8 O'Clock Coffee, 19 lb.; new cab- bage 3 lbs. 10¢; carrots, 3 bchs. 14¢. 50 Years Ago - Dec. 8, 1944 ° LEHMAN STUDENTS SET SCRAP RECORD Climaxing a reconstruction program that started last Decem- ber, Beaumont Union Church, originally built in 1866, will be rededicated Sunday with services in charge Rev. John Ten Hove. A number of former pastors will be among the speakers. Members of Dallas Borough Council at their Monday night meeting learned that 90% of the Borough tax for the current year has already been collected. Lehman High School students broke all records for the year when they brought more than 2 1/2 tons of waste paper and thou- sands of tin cans to the school grounds in their campaign to “Back the Attack With Salvage” under direction of Ella B. Lewis of the Junior Red Cross. 40 Years Ago - Dec. 10, 1954 FOUR BOARDS OKAY SCHOOL JOINTURE It was a hot meeting with plenty of fireworks but four school boards finally voted in favor of jointure on a kindergarten-12th grade basis Wednesday in the Dallas-Fran- klin Twp. High School library af- ter voting it down on the first ballot. Lake-Noxen High School is still “closed, waiting for'the new well to produce enough water to supply necessary facilities. Down 150 feet there is enough water now to lubricate the drill. Chief Jesse Coslett of Kingston Township Police asks all motor- ists approaching Memorial High- way from East or West Center Street to be sure to wait until traffic signals are green before entering the intersection. With new magnetic signals in opera- tion, the lights will change auto- matically to yellow, then to green. 30 Years Ago - Dec. 10, 1964 BORO WILL END THE YEAR IN THE BLACK Jack Stanley, Center Hill Road, Dallas was elected president of Dallas Area School Board at the reorganization meeting. The meeting from this point was di- rected by Stanley with consider- able discussion on the need for added classrooms and a building program. Board voted to change a prior resolution seeking an addition to Dallas Senior High, back to an original request for an elementary school, upon advice of the Department of Public Educa- end thel964 budget year in the black, according to Sec. Robert Brown and Councilman Bob Parry. Brown ventured to say that some $1200 might be left in the balance. You could get - Spare ribs, 39¢ lb.; chicken breasts, 44¢ lb.; ripe bananas, 9¢ lb.; Plum preserves, 4 lb. jars, 89¢; apples, 2 lbs. 29¢. 20 Years Ago - Dec. 12, 1974 TELEPHONE WORKERS REJECT CONTRACT Communication Workers of America failed to ratify a contract offer by Commonwealth Telephone Co. Dec. 6. Voting among the union locals constituted a 219- 202 vote rejecting the company’s contract offer and authorizing the union leadership to call a strike. Dallas Senior High School auditorium will be the setting for the annual Christmas Concert presented by the band and the Mixed Chorusdirected by Florence H. Sherwood, Dec. 15 at 3 p.m. Dallas Borough Chief of Police Ray Titus warns residents there will be no parking on streets other * than Main Street during winter months, especially during night time hours. Snow plowing is seriously hampered because of parked vehicles and all offenders will have their cars towed from the scene. includes. Q
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers