way has collapsed.” scribed as “the brains of the Mattei said. to make sure the Back Moun- or 53 a bor = I 3 ar)
ht Although the contract doesn't intersection,” from being dam- Construction of a jughandle tain gets what it needs.” oh , 0! a Salih 4p) z Br hw a oi ; ng. ede
LC) @ include any work on the stream aged by vehicles which might from Route 309 north onto Hill- The work done so far on the ri L Ys | 3 gle, Y) L vi ( 15 vy t J) L 7
Yr 4 \ > Be nN od rh >
The Dallas Post
Dallas, PA Wednesday, February 21, 1996 3
Cat rescue
(continued from page 1)
savings.
Originally organized in the late
1950's as the Northeast Pennsyl-
vania Cat Club, Wyoming Valley
Cat Rescue is no longer simply a
club for cat fanciers, Balester said.
_ Swoyersville resident Nancy
Boyer took over the former Cat
Club's charter to form the area's
first non-profit cat rescue organi-
zation about four years ago.
Balester came on board soon af-
terwards.
-' “We changed our name to re-
flect our mission - to place home-
- less cats in good, adoptive homes,”
Balester said. “All our cats have
been spayed or neutered and have
been wormed and received their
inoculations against rabies, leu-
kemia and other common cat dis-
eases. Many have stayed at foster
“homes in the area to become ac-
customed to families before being
‘placed.”
VCR's cats come mainly from
@ people who have taken in healthy
Highway work
strays and can't keep them for
some reason. Because VCR has
: limited resources, it can't reha-
: bilitate sick or severely trauma-
tized animals, Balester said.
. Adoptive families must sign a
| contract to keep their cat indoors,
‘ never decalw it and return it to
‘ Valley Cat Rescue if for any rea-
son they can't keep it, instead of
sending it to an animal shelter.
They also pay a placement fee of
at least $25.
“It's a bargain, considering that
you get a cal which has been
spayed or neutered and has re-
ceived at least $100 worth of vet-
erinary care,” Balester said.
Several of the organization's
success slories are in the Back
Mountain, where VCR has placed
cats.
Elvis, a petite nine-month-old
gray female, moved in with Donna
Bullock and her daughter,
Katrina, just before Christmas.
The Lehman Township family
had tried to find a pet at the SPCA
but didn’t see any cats which ap-
pealed to them there.
“The SPCA is good, but they
aren't familiar with the cat's per-
sonality,” Donna said. “Valley Cat
Rescue conducted a detailed
phone interview with us and tried
to fit a cat to our family. The cats
come from foster homes and are
socialized and have received vet-
erinary care.”
Donna and Katrina had origi-
nally wanted a cat between three
and five years old, but decided on
POST PHOTO/GRACE R. DOVE
Katrina Bullock, left, offers a toy to her feline friend, Elvis,
snuggled up with her mother, Donna Bullock.
Elvis instead.
“When we first got her, she was
a bit scrawny,” Donna said. “Now
she eats like a horse.”
Donna believes something
frightened Elvis when she was a
baby because she's very shy, es-
pecially around strangers. But
she's “the world's purring cham-
+ (continued from page 1)
. northbound and southbound
' lanes between Harris Hill and
* Carverton roads and updated
+ signals.
. Mattei announced at a meet-
. ing of the Transportation Man-
* agement Association February
® 15 that the contract has been
awarded to Kuharchik Con-
}
mh
[]
[]
| struction of Exeter.
. The Route 309 intersections
. with Franklin Street and Main
' Road, which meets the highway
‘at -an approximate 45-degree
. angle, will also receive additional
lanes for right turns onto and off
the highway.
Route 415 and Center Hill
Road posed additional problems
" with drainage, which delayed
the final designs, Mattei noted.
“When it rains, Toby's Creek
fills up quickly and everything
‘ backs up,” he said. “The park-
. ing lot of the American Legion
« gets flooded because a drainage
pipe running under the high-
channel, Mattei said his depart-
ment would study installing a
néw drainage pipe which emp-
Road /Church Road intersection
‘have been postponed indefinitely
‘due to a lack of funding.
~ ““The township is concerned that
Carverton Road has no definite
timetable to be upgraded,” said
‘township manager Jeff Box. “It’s
the single busiest intersection in
the Route 309-415 corridor, ac-
‘cording to Department of Trans-
now.
In a money-saving move, the
design for Route 309 and Center
Street in Shavertown was
changed, omitting most of the
new signals, “much to Kingston
Township's consternation,”
Mattei said.
“We're concerned that we'll
be left with some ancient pedes-
trian crossing signals,” said
township manager Jeff Box.
“They're a maintenance prob-
lem now, especially the one at
Roushey Street. We would ap-
preciate any consideration ofin-
stalling new ones as you origi-
nally planned.”
Once the signals and their
computerized controls are in-
stalled, the municipalities in
which they are located will be
responsible for maintaining
them.
Mattei said his staff would
study various ways of protect-
ing the controls, which he de-
hit them.
“The weakness is in our de-
sign,” he said. “We have had this
Paul Sabol.
Released in 1992, the original
design called for widening the
bridge across Toby's Creek, add-
ing another lane to allow traffic to
turn onto Route 309 northbound
and a pedestrian walkway out-
side the existing bridge parapet to
replace the one which would be
taken for the lane.
$50,000 signal can cost about
$15,000.”
Referring to a recent accident
at Routes 415and 118, in which
a fuel truck hit a signal control-
ler which had just been installed,
Mattei said the operator of any
vehicle which damages a con-
troller must pay for it.
A lack of funding has caused
improvements at two other in-
tersections — Dallas Corners and
Hillside Road - to be put on hold
indefinitely.
“These are the most expen-
sive phases of the project,” Mattei
said.
The Dallas Corners five-leg
intersection has been held up
because the state must acquire
land from the U.S. Postal Ser-
vice to add aright turn lane from
Route 415 onto Church Street.
Because it's federally owned
land, the state simply can't ac-
quire it by eminent domain,
side Road and improving the
Route 309/Carverton Road in-
tersection have also been post-
portation Management Associa-
tion meeting February 15.
“Carverton Road really needs an
entirely new bridge, which will
cost between $500,000 and
$600,000 alone, without the rest
of the construction. There isn't
enough money to do everything.”
Kingston Township officials
also aren't pleased with the de-
“This winter the state had
$32 million in storm damage to
its highways and bridges,” he
said. “Even if the federal govern-
ment reimburses us for all our
losses, we still need between $6
and $8 million to make up the
difference.”
Even the passage of an addi-
tional 5¢ to 12¢ hike in the state
gasoline tax might not be enough
to pay for the remaining Back
Mountain projects. Although the
federal government's share of
the funding for the project was
in place in 1992, the state's abil-
ity to pay its share is the decid-
ing factor on whether or not the
work is done, Mattei said.
“This is a new state adminis-
tration with new priorities,” said
Representative Phyllis Mundy,
who spearheaded the drive for
the traffic signals. “I did the best
I could, but it came out more
expensive than was anticipated.
I'll be relentless in following up
highway corridor has cost $2.4
million of the $2.5 million origi-
nally allocated for adding traffic
cause it includes some old equip-
nance problem for us,” Box said.
“Their lights are the old design,
which takes special transformers
and are very expensive lo replace.
The transformers must be spe-
cially ordered and it seems like
we're always replacing one. We
would like the state to install new
crossing signals, which use a stan-
dard traffic light bulb
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pion” and great company for
Katrina.
“I wanted someone who would
greet me at the door,” Katrina
said. “we like to play together.
Elvis wakes me every morning
when Mom opens my door and
pesters me until I get up.”
Katrina dresses her in doll
clothes. In return, Elvis loves to
steal small toys, which she hides
under Katrina's bed.
“She drags the Barbie dolls
around by the hair,” Donna said,
laughing.
Elvis has set up her own pri-
vate den behind the kitchen stove
and also enjoys sitting in Katrina's
big dollhouse. The young girl and
her furry friend have built a spe-
cial relationship, Donna said.
Donna and Katrina are consid-
ering volunteering with VCR to
help raise money “to help more
cats.”
“If I had a bigger place, maybe
we would become a foster home,”
Donna said.
Shavertown resident Michael
Trimblett volunteers raising funds
for Valley Cat Rescue because he
loves animals.
Not surprisingly, he also
adopted a VCR cat, Panther, two
months ago.
“I always wanted an all-black
cat,” he said.
Panther has set himself up as
the boss of the house, keeping
Trimblett's small dog in line and
watching the pet snake in its ter-
rarium and the fish in a 55-gallon
aquarium.
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“Panther is fascinated with the
fish,” Trimblett said. “He jumps
onto the aquarium cover and tries
to get them.”
To settle the score with the
family dog which steals his din-
ner, Panther has cultivated a taste
for dog food.
Patch, a handsome two-year-
old black and white male, joined
the Mitkus family in Chase in
1994. Andrea and Bob and their
three daughters, Danielle, Janine
and Nicole, have made him a mem-
ber of their family, even making
sure that Santa and the Easter
Bunny leave him treats.
“The girls told us we forgot to
get him a Valentine last week,”
Andrea said, laughing. ;
Although he has his own bed,
which Nicole selected, his favorite
sleeping place is with the girls. In
return, he makes sure the family
gets up when the alarm goes off.
A family friend had referred
them to Valley Cat Rescue.
“Heather brought him right to
our door,” Andrea said. “When he
walked out of his carrier, he im-
mediately started purring and
headed straight for the girls. We
fell in love with him right away."
Valley Cat Rescue can always
use donations, volunteers and
foster homes for cats waiting for
adoption, Balester said. Upcom-
ing fundraising activities include
a rabies clinic, bake sale and
spring yard sale.
For more information on Spay
Day USA or Valley Cat Rescue,
call Heather Balesterat 824-4172.
ties into the creek at an angle, problem on more than an occa- poned due to lack of funding, signals at intersections in the — iit] i
rather than head-on, as it does sional basis. The controller for a Mattei said. entire Back Mountain. % ) Hat ch e ry 5) 4
5 Oo
. G : . pth at Benton Roller Mill af
Plan doesn't sit well with Kingston Township Benton, PA (2
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FINANCING AVAILABLE
ley (=
st Staff been the site of numerous acci- signals, a right turn lane from the ls . ih |
= & dents.” pt Ai roads, a barrier ment which they say is too expen- [ EAR Layer Chicks. / 7 lo 4
.- “KINGSTON TWP. —- Kingston Comparing Route 309 toa fun- reaching from Carverton Road sive to maintain. Although the 4 5 Also, Araucanas, Ducklings oF :
Township officials aren't happy nel, Box said Route 309 at south to Knob Hill and straight- intersection will receive a new ~ And Gosh oo |
| with the state's change of plans Carverton Road is whereall traffic ening the intersection to make computerized traffic light control Eo : 0S Ings. : 5 J
| for two intersections, one of which headed for the Wyoming Valley both roads meet the highway ata box and two. overhead signals, Ne Available beginning of April Sau
‘was. scheduled to be upgraded and points south converges. 90 degree angle. PennDO TF also plans to continue ~~ Please place your order early by calling ben ]
but has now been moved to the “We want to see Carverton Road “We had to scrap the original using the existing lights and pe- 7 < 92 5 )) 5 4 ( oe |
back burner. completed forsafetyreasons,”said plan,” said Penn-DOT district en- destrian crossing signals. k: ps - 3 Or 477-2 764 - 8
( O ‘Improvements to the Carverton supervisor and retired police chief gineer Chuck Mattei at a Trans- “They're a continuous mainte- pt £7) 53 £73 a rp itign : = ]