8 The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, July 5, 1995 Library (continued from page 1) “We have investigated other funding sources, including state and private grants. We can use Legislative Initiative Grants ob- tained through area legislators for capital improvements, such as expanding facilities. We also apply for grants from private foun- dations wherever possible.” The library recently began an endowment program, in which money earns money, Rosenthal said. Contributions are placed into an interest-bearing account. The library spends only the interest, so that monetary gifts work in perpetuity. The library board has also devised an innovative plan to raise $22,700 in municipal and school district support. Each municipal- ity would contribute 16¢ for every book borrowed by its residents and school districts would con- tribute $2 per registered student. The library would track the num- ber of books checked out by bor- rowers in each of the nine munici- palities. Under this system, Lake- Lehman would contribute $4,600 instead of its present $3,000, while Dallas would contribute $5,200 instead of its present $1,000. The smallest municipal contri- butions would be made by Fran- klin Township ($400), Ross and Lake townships ($600 each) and Lehman Township ($700.) Jackson Township would donate $900. The largest municipal contribu- tors would be Dallas Township ($4,400) and Kingston Township ($2,700). Harveys Lake would contribute $1,000, while Dallas Borough would contribute $1,600. The library's smallest contribu- tors are Dallas Borough and Fran- klin Township, which each pro- vide $100. Harveys Lake and Lehman and Ross townships don't contribute anything. Lake Township's share is $500, while Jackson Township donates $900. Dallas and Kingston Town- ship each contribute $2,000. Board members will approach municipal governments during the next two months to request their support. To help in the effort, a petition requesting that munici- palities comply with the library's request is available at the library for borrowers to sign. Last week board members Ruth Tetschner and Barbara Lemmond asked the Dallas school board to increase its donation from its origi- nal $1,000 to $2 per student, which works out to $5,200. The school board unanimously approved the change. Although neighboring counties either have a library tax or are considering enacting one, Rosen- thal doesn’t think it would be successful in the Back Mountain. Approximately 20 years ago a referendum fora library tax failed here, he said. “The work of the library and its volunteers never stops - it's a constant effort to keep our re- sources up to date,” said library board secretary Pauline Kutz."It' s important for the community to remember and support us.” Back Mountain Library Municipal and School District Support Graph by Bruce Rosenthal 2277772777222 7 | Dal Area LL Area EE Dal Bor N Frk Twp Dal Twp HL Bor Jek Twp Kng Twp zzz Lak Twp Ros Twp Leh Twp i 1003 [BE 1994 1995 is 10th year in former schoolhouse By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff In addition to being the Back Mountain Memorial Library's 50th anniversary, this year marks its tenth year in the former Dallas Borough Elementary School on Huntsville Road. Originally housed in two stately old homes on 1 1/2 acres at 69 Main Street, the library had out- grown its quarters after four dec- ades. It purchased the school building in 1984 for $30,000 and spent another $100,000 on reno- vations before the books and staff moved in. When Nancy Kozemchak closed the doors at the old library for the last time February 16, 1985 at 5:30 p.m., “a teardrop fell,” as she wrote in her Library News column in The Dallas Post. The library was closed for two weeks for the move, accomplished by a small army of volunteers — families, Scout troops and friends. Mrs. Kozemchak wrote that former children’s librarian Mrs. Florence Crump got up every day at 6 a.m. to bake chocolate-chip cookies for the many volunteers: Mel Congdon, Carl Oberst, David Smith, Kerry Freeman, Jean Warneka, Lori Warneka, Mary Thom, Jean Alexander, Bennie Matchett, Joanne Runner, Gerri Graham, Irma Jacobs, Morag Michael, the Rotary, Back Moun- tain Kiwanis, Boy Scout troops 281 and 232, Dallas Kiwanis, Brownie Scouts, Girl Scouts, Blaise Hoyt and many others. The formal ribbon-cutting cere- mony opened the new library on Huntsville Road at 6:30 a.m. March 3, 1985 - just in time for National Library Week that April. In conjunction with the move, the library held a three-week “forgiveness period,” in which people who had overdue or miss- ing books were encouraged to return them, no questions asked. Collection boxes were left at First Eastern and United Penn banks and Back Mountain Lumber Company. Sadly, much effort needed for settling into the new building had to be diverted in April and May, 1985, when vandals smashedina basement door, destroyed shelv- ing temporarily stored outside the building, smashed the old white auction ticket booth, leaving only its axle and large wheels intact, paved the play area with broken bottles and defaced the building with graffiti. The library sold its Main Street property for $69,000 to the Cal- vary Baptist Church, which trans- formed the old auction barn on Rice Street into its sanctuary, complete with white steeple, the former children’s library into the pastor's home and the old adult libary into a combination Sunday school building and meeting place, where the congregation also hoped to eventually set up an apartment for a missionary or youth minis- ter. The Back Mountain Memorial Library continues the philosophy of service to the community which it began when it first opened in 1945: “To be a living memorial to the Back Mountain men and women who have served in all wars to preserve the American _ ideal.” Budget (continued from page 1) $243,000. Local income, primar- ily from the property tax, is ex- pected to increase only 2.2 per- cent, to $9,684,713. The largest increases will be in regular programs, special pro- grams, vocationaleducation, pupil ~ personnel services, transportation and construction or improve- ments. Regular programs will increase in cost 14.5 percent, from $7,497,335 to $8.580.990. while special programs will increase 5.5 Dream percent, from $1,166,690 to $1,231,235. Most of the increases are for purchases of textbooks and supplies, retirement contri- butions and early retirement in- centives. Retirement contributions will also cause pupil personnel serv- ices toincrease 13 percent in cost, from $462,055 to $522,515. The 9.9 percent increase in transportation is mainly due to increased retirement contribu- tions and payments to contracted carriers. Total costs will run $851,525 this year. Construction and improve- ments will cost the district $70,000, an increase of 37 per- cent over last year's figure of $51,000. Finance committee chairman Ernie Ashbridge had the last word on the budget. He added a sentence to the resolution, which increased the district's donation to the Back Mountain Memorial Library from $2,000 to $5,200. Ashbridge is co-chairman and antiques com- mittee chairman for the library's annual fundraising auction, and the library is beginning a cam- paign to convince the towns and school districts it serves to in- crease their contributions. Before the board had consid- ered the budget, elementary prin- cipal Ruth Tetschner, who is also alibrary board member, had asked the district to donate $2 per stu- dent, which works out to $5,200. (continued from page 1) much as possible from Back Mountain suppliers. The Ondishes even bought their renovation materials — wood, paint and floor coverings — locally, Ondish said. “Small businesses have to help one another,” he said. As the business grows, the Ondishes plan to offer deli items, hoagies and sandwiches to go. They also bought the Moore fam- ily's sausage recipes and plan to make sweet sausage, breakfast sausage, fresh kielbasiand knock- wurst. They'll also offer food for the mind — magazines, newspa- pers and occasionally The New York Times and Philadelphia Enquirer Sunday editions. “If you want it, we'll try to get it for you,” Ondish said. As work progresses, people driving by are already asking when the family plans to open for busi- ness. Starting July 12, the Ondishes plan to be open seven days a week: weekdays 6:30 a.m. until 9 p.m., Saturdays 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. and Sundays 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Brothers’ Mercantile's tele- phone number is 675-4647. Dr. Gary Verazin Joins Drs. Katlic And Blaum Dr. Gary Verazin has returned to our area to practice General Surgery, Surgical Oncology (Cancer Surgery), and Head and Neck Surgery. Wyoming Valley Gary T. Verazin, M.D. Surgical Associates Wyoming Valley Surgical Associates 250 Pierce Street Kingston, PA 18704 287-8222 Dr. Verazin graduated from John S. Fine High School, Nanticoke, Elizabethtown College, and Temple University School of Medicine. He completed his General Surgery residency at the Allentown Affiliated Hospitals and a three-year Surgical Oncology fellowship at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. For the past three years, Dr. Verazin has been Chief of Surgical Oncology at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, on active duty with the United States Air Force. Dr. Verazin will be on staff at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, Nesbity Memorial Hospital, and Mercy Hospital. Other counties have library tax, or want one BACK MOUNTAIN -Faced with meager support from the nine municipalities and two school districts which it serves, the Back Mountain Memorial Library is exploring ways to raise money to meet operating expenses. Although state law allows municipalities to enact special property taxes solely for funding libraries, a similar referendum failed in the Back Mountain about 20 years ago, according to board member Bruce Rosenthal. A three- mill tax would cost the owner of a property assessed at $10,000 an additional $30 per year. Lackawanna County instituted a 16-mill tax in 1982 and Wyo- ming County's voters are attempt- ing to put a referendum for a 1.75-mill tax ony the November : election ballot. According to Lackawanna County Library System adminis- trator Sally Felix, the county cre- ated a county-funded system from four local libraries because of drastic funding cutbacks. The former Scranton Public Library, the county's largest and best- supported, was made the central facility. The tax generates $1.9 million a year for the four libraries in the system. “The tax costs the owner of a property assessed at $10,000 for tax purposes an additional $16 a year — a real bargain, considering a hardcover book costs more,” she said. Since the county system was created in 1982, “usage has in- creased dramatically,” Felix said. Library programs have expanded to include children’s summer programs, bookmobile service and a better selection of books. Voters in Wyoming County are circulating petitions to place a referendum instituting a 1.75-mill library tax on the November elec- tion ballot. It would cost owners of property assessed at $10,000 an additional $17.50 a year. Wyoming County has six small independent libraries —- Tunkhan- nock, Factoryville, Meshoppen, Mehoopany, Laceyville and Nicholson, the largest of which is the Tunkhannock Public Library. According to Tunkhannock librarian Susan Turrell, her li- brary has 9,000 patrons and a yearly circulation of more than 100,000 items (27,000 a week). It runs an outreach program, which sends books to the five other libraries and deposit sta- tions in stores, senior citizens’ centers and post offices. Wyoming County's other libraries are very small - one doesn’t even have a phone, Turrell said. The Tunkhannock Library presently receives $8,000 from the county, which also donates a total of $3,000 to the other five libraries. The bulk of the six li- braries’ expenses are paid for by the Wyoming County United Way, which has suggested they find alternate funding sources. Other income comes from the state, but it's not a lot, Turrell said. In orde to raise more money, th Tunkhannock Library holds fun- draisers —a Christmas show, quilt shows, book sales and a craft show - but “nothing as successful as the Back Mountain Memorial Library auction,” she added. If the referendum makes it to the November ballot and is ap- proved by the voters, the county. would create a library boar composed of representatvies of all six libraries. Each library would keep its own separate identity and governing board. Tax money would be paid to a county board, which would divide it up among the six libraries. “The library tax would increase revenues, particularly to th smaller libraries,” Turrell said. “I could help them qualify for state aid, which is based on the li- brary’s size, number of patrons, number of books and use.” The tax would also free up United Way money, which could be used by the member social service agencies, she added. “When times are difficult,’ people tend to use the library® more because its books, tapes, newspapers, magazines and other resources are available for free,” Turrell said. "But difficult times also mean cuts in state aid to libraries. We can always use more funding. 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Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers