or es ae LS Cele J a = “a a Santa “ Vol. 106 No. 10 Dallas, Pennsylvania STI SAVAINC RIE ou | =H OI \V I\V ISIN TRE =ISHO | =i I | =58 BAY BH WAST. WAY =i =o | \V, AV WRG 0] » [0 [OB BI ISH Boi [6 BS March 15 thru March 21, 1995 New, familiar faces will be on May ballot By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff WILKES-BARRE - For the first time in several election cycles, contests for public office will be contested in many Back Moun- tain communities. Nominating petitions for the May 16 primary were turned into the Luzerne County Bureau of Elections March 6. They included challenges in both school districts, is Lake, Dallas Township, ‘Board upholds smoking ‘policy By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff ‘DALLAS - Unless negotiations between the Dallas school board ‘®and the Dallas Education Asso- ciation change the district's smok- ing policy, teachers who continue to violate it by smoking on school property could be dismissed for insubordination. According to association presi- . dent William Wagner, the teach- ers are trying to negotiate the section on discipline with the school board. ~ “The present policy allows + teachers to smoke only in desig- nated areas until August 31," Wagner said at the regular March 13 school baord meeting. “After that date, teachers caught smoking on school grounds will receive a verbal warning for the first offense and may be required to pay a fine to the district magistrate. After the second offense. violators will re- Becive a written warning. A third See SMOKING, pg 2 Dallas Borough, Jackson Town- ship and Franklin Township. Incumbent Dallas school board members Ernest Ashbridge, Jr., and John George are being chal- lenged byJohn P. Litz, Thomas W. Russ and Reese E. Finn. All but Finn have filed on both the Demo- craticand Republican slates; Finn has filed as a Republican. Dallas school directors are elected at large. In Lake-Lehman’'s Region I, incumbents Edwin H. Kern, III, Register to vote by April 17, pg 12 and Elizabeth Sichler will face Lois Kopcho, a member of the Lake-Lehman Taxpayers’ Associa- tion. In Region II, incumbent Tho- mas E. Williams will face Rose- mary Howard and Dr. Martin McMahon, who was forced to give up his seat after the 1993 election because he had moved from the region which had elected him. In Region III, incumbent Karen Whipple, appointed to finish McMahon's term, will face Mi- chael Warner and David R. Kaufman. All Lake-Lehman candidates have cross-filed. Five Democrats and four Re- publicans are seeking three seats more photos on sports pages. Oh, no..Go get ‘em! Lake- gohan wrestling coaches Tom Williams, left, and Phil Lipski presented a study in contrasts at last week's state wrestling championship meet in. Hershey. The Black Knights sent five grap- plers to states, but only Tim Sayre came away with a medal, placing fourth at 135 pounds. Story, PHOTO BY DAVE KOZEMCHAK Eigh t-year-old is big time model Ll By GRACE R. DOVE & a Post Staff SHAVERTOWN - Craig Tho- mas has a fun job. As a profes- sional model, he gets paid todem- onstrate toys and ham it up in front of a camera. The eight-year-old Shavertown resident became hooked on mod- eling when he was 3-1/2, accord- ing to his mother, Cindy. “We had received a flyer in the mail from National Talent Associ- ates when Craig was two and we lived in New Jersey,” she said. “The second time we sent a set of photos back to them, he was accepted. He had his first job the day after we signed him up with NTA.” Craig has done it all and he loves it all — posing for still photos in store sales catalogues, filming TV commercials and doing hand modeling, in which only his hands moving different X-Men figurines were filmed. Girl Scout Week “The hand makeup felt kind of slimy at first, until it soaked in,” he said. “I had to watch myself - you can't have any cuts on your hands when you're doing thatkind of work.” His face has appeared in Par- ents’ Magazine and on the cover of one of the books in The Sweet Valley Kidsadventure series. Craig has also filmed commercials for Rookie League sportswear and did See MODEL, pg. 2 CRAIG THOMAS Leaders gain as much as girls in Scouting By GRACE R. DOVE Rost Staff © BACK MOUNTAIN - When Debbie Dinger was first asked to be a Girl Scout leader, she never thought she'd be teaching young women to cook a meal in a card- board box. . Cook in a box? “Lining a heavy cardboard box with aluminum foil transforms it into an efficient oven, which can cook an entire meal using char- coal briquettes,” Debbie said. “You can do everyting — right down to the cake for dessert.” There's a special way to calcu- late how many briquettes are needed to bake a cake for 45 minutes at 350°, but Debbie says that's a Girl Scout secret. Debbie Dinger is one of the Back Mountain's 262 unsung heroes, adult Girl Scout volun- teers who work with 47 troops “The girls’ enthusiasm makes it worthwhile. They love to have fun and enjoy friendships.” Debbie Dinger Leader, Cadette Troop 709 serving 548 area girls. Troop lead- ers like Debbie, Sandra Dob- rowolski and LouAnn Alters have watched their daughters and their | friends grow up in scouting. Debbie became hooked as a leader after attending a leaders’ training meeting with a friend, Lehman Township resident Char- lene Cook. “Charlene asked me ifI'd like to have fun working with kids,” she said. “That was all it took. Work- ing with young people is my strong point.” For five years Debbie was leader of Brownie Troop 640, then went to Cadette Troop 709. Camping, touring the airport and learning how to cook a meal in strange containers - her girls have done it all. So has Debbie, who worked for for 11 years as a troop leader, mall show director, cookie chairman, day camp director and co-chair- man of Neighborhood 24. Her daughters, Jennifer and Christine, are Scouts. “The girls’ enthusiasm makes it worthwhile,” she said. “They love to have fun and enjoy friend- ships. Their Scouting memories and relationships will last a life- time.” Like Debbie, LouAnn Alters, the leader of Cadette Troop 262, be- came hooked on Girl Scouting when her daughter, Diane, was in her second year of Brownies and TE aN the troop needed aleader 11 years ago. Diane is now a Senior Scout, while her younger sister, Mich- elle, is a year behind her. “I've seen them grow from little girls into young women,” Alters said. “Scouting is a great opportu- nity for girls — it helps them ex- press themselves by doing posi- tive things that they might not be able to do outside of the troop.” Scouting is much different from when LouAnn began as a Brownie leader. The Daisy troops hadn't been organized yet and Brownies didn't earn “Ixy-It” patches and other badges. The issues which interest the girls have alsochanged — today's young women visit nurs- ing home residents and volunteer in soup kitchens for service proj- ects. See GIRL SCOUTS, pg 12 on the Harveys Lake Borough Council, with incumbent Demo- crats Martin Noon and Joseph Miscavage facing Isla Spock, Lynn Coury and Elizabeth West. Re- publican contenders are Sharon Britt, Thomas J. Callahan, Ruth Eaton and Christopher Hinton. In Dallas Township, Republi- can incumbent Frank Wagner will face Democrat Marjory Gorko for supervisor, while in Franklin Township, Republican Timothy Dymond will square off with Mi- chael Prokopchak for the Repub- lican nomination for supervisor. Running against them on the Democratic ticket will be Martin W. Murray. These nominating petitions have been filed: DALLAS TOWNSHIP Supervisor (6 year term) (1 seat) * Frank Wagner (R) Marjory R. Gorko (D) See BALLOT, pg 12 Child molester pleads guilty Werts will serve 5 or more years By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff WILKES-BARRE - Dean Lee Werts didn't want anyone to see his face after pleading guilty to multiple sex charges against minors Tuesday. Hiding behind other people as he left the courtroom, Werts sud- denly sprinted through the third- floor hall of the Luzerne County courthouse and nearly stumbled while running down the stairway in an attempt to elude three newspaper photographers and two television cameramen. “You're ignorant,” his mother snarled at a reporter. Werts, a former Dallas school bus driver, admitted “taking sex- ual liberties” with two boys, ages 11 and 12, and pled guilty to charges of indecent assault, in- voluntary deviate sexual inter- course, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors before Luzerne County judge Edward Brominski. He faces at least five years in prison and will be sentenced May 17 at 10 a.m. He will report to the Luzerne County Prison March 16 at 9 a.m, where he will stay until his sentencing. Werts had served five days in prison after his arrest in Novem- ber, 1994, until his parents put up their Franklin Township home for his bail. He has been free since then. See MOLESTER, pg 3 Court dismisses suit by former employee Borough spends $29,000+ to prevail By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff HARVEYS LAKE - The bor- ough has won a lawsuit charging wrongful discharge of a former employee, but at a cost of more than $29,000 in legal fees. A lawsuit filed August 26, 1993 in federal court by a former Har- veys Lake Borough zoning officer Dan Samson claimed he was wrongfully discharged without a proper hearing. Samson's attor- ney said he was told the case was dismissed last week. According to documents filed in federal court in Scranton, Samson was appointed zoning officer at the council's reorganiza- tion meeting inJanuary, 1993, as he had been for the previous four years. He was terminated February 15, 1993, without notice or an opportunity for a hearing, accord- ing to the documents. The building code which Har- veys Lake uses says that the build- ing official “shall not be removed from office except for cause” and after a hearing to give specific reasons for his firing. Samson requested reinstate- ment, back pay, attorney's fees and damages on two counts of at least $50,000 each. Samson said he has worked occasional seasonal jobs since his dismissal. Samson was represented by attorney Michael Melnick, while the borough was represented by attorney Ralph Kates, who has See SUIT, pg 12 BM Rural only. Franklin Township is considering a new zoning ordinance which encourages a "rural lifestyle." Page 3. BM Two-sport star. Therese Paxton made a quick switch from the court to the diamond. 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