bah dh A ENS LA (e fe {e § 9 ie 0 ® S0¢ SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS & LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS Vol. 107 No. 17 Dallas, Pennsylvania April 24 thru April 30, 1996 Board cuts sports by $11,000 By ANN POEPPERLING Post Correspondent LEHMAN TWP. - The Lake- Lehman school board voted April 18tolop offabout halfthe district's spending on athletic supplies for ‘the coming year. The action , pleased board members con- cerned about the upcoming bud- ' get, but supporters of school sports cautioned that too strong an emphasis on savings could shut some students out of activi- ties. The board voted unanimously to award bids for fall 1996 sports materials, supplies, and equip- ment to low bidder meeting speci- fications, to a maximum of $9,000. At an earlier committee-of-the- whole meeting, Superintendent William Price announced that the district's fall athletics budget had been reduced by over $10,000. Price said that he and the athletic director, Roger Bearde, met and eliminated “athletic shoes, sup- plies, and equipment, reducing the budget from almost $20,000." Board president Ed Kern as- sured the audience that “although we have to cut, we're not sacrific- ing the safety of the kids. Safety is our main concern. Nothing necessary will be cut.” "As an example, Price used the girls’ field hockey team equipment: “The inventory reflected approxi- mately 80 hockey sticks. So we cut the purchase of the more ex- See SPORTS, pg 11 TEE TIME Rangers’ tee-ball coach Don Artsema showed Candice Bittner the art of batting during a practice session for the team last week. The Rangers play in the 6-year- old tee-ball division of Back Mountain Baseball. Turn to page 9 for photos of Little League's opening day. POST PHOTO/ CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Westmoreland kids rally for their school mms By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff SHAVERTOWN - Parents and supporters of Westmoreland School filled nearly every seat in the school's cafeteria Thursday - night to meet the winners of the School Spirit Day poster contest. The PTO organized the contest as part of an ongoing effort to keep the school open instead of con- solidating all the district's elemen- tary classes into two buildings. If it follows an engineer's recom- mendations, the Dallas School District would erect a new build- ing behind the Middle School to house Westmoreland's students. Citing the higher quality of edu- cation which they say smaller schools provide, supporters of Westmoreland, the district's last small neighborhood school, want the district to either renovate the existing building or build a new one on the Lehigh Street site. School Spirit Day was one of By MICHAEL TWICHELL Post Correspondent HARVEYS LAKE - Long lost relatives are not just plot twists in your favorite soap opera. Many people try to find missing uncles, great-uncles, or great-great grandfathers to form a complete record of their family history, or genealogy. Back Mountain native Marshall Colin Price hasbeen trac- ing his roots for 26 years, since age fifteen, when he first became curious about his family history. “It was interesting to listen to older relatives retelling old family stories,” he said. Price has researched his fam- ily quite extensively. “On my mother's side of the family I've traced a few lines back as far as many activities the PTO initiated this past school year to call atten- tion to the importance of keeping Westmoreland open. On Spirit Day, April 18, stu- dents wore Dallas colors (blue and white), Westmoreland T-shirts or sweatshirts and their favorite “I ™ Westmoreland” buttons. Grouped by grade, the students’ projects included posters and written accounts of the students’ feelings about their school. Third-grader David Shultz drew the front of the school and pasted photos of his friends in the win- dows, describing it as “the school with a heart,” while classmate Sara Getz's poster See WESTMORELAND, pg 11 the 1400's and 1500's. Untortu- nately on my fathers’ side, I've only gone back to the first ances- tors who came to America four generations ago,” he said. World travel has also been part of his quest. “I had the opportunity to visit the village in Wales where my father's ances- tors were from, and also the church where they were married,” he said. Price has also found a few famousroots along the way. “lam a direct descendant of the Mather family, which Cotton Mather was a part of. They came from En- gland and were theologians dur- ing the Salem Witch Trials. An- other ancestor, Robert Treat, was a former governor of Connecticut in the late 1600's,” he said. The most challenging search said, Ode to Westmoreland School | Amanda Nichols, a third grader at Westmoreland School, wrote this poem about her feelings for Westmoreland School. | think it's kind of cool, It's where my dad and his mom and ad went to school. The walls may be cracked and you'll see open seams, but these halls hold many, many dreams. Although we are small it is big enough for all. We have enough room when we walk through the halls. The teachers all know us and call us by name, if we went to a bigger school it wouldn't be the same. | hope the people in charge really open their eyes, and see not just a building but us children inside. We feel safe when we walk through the doors and know that the cleaners did all their chores. Mr. B. is in charge or so he thinks, but we all know its really Mrs. Wink! When | grow up and move away I'll never forget my Westmoreland days! Price has encountered is not some- one from centuries past, but his maternal grandfather, whom he has been searching for since he first became involved in geneal- ogy. No known living relative has been able to help in his search. “His name is George Willard Bryant, born in 1900 in Plymouth, PA. His parents were Harry and Cora E. Strait Bryant. He had two older brothers, Frank and Ray, and a sister, Mrs. Maude Eliza- beth Davis. Little is known of them either,” said Price. According to a marriage record obtained by Price, George Bryant was a chauffeur and lived on North Main Street in Wilkes- Barre in the Sterling Hotel Annex prior to his marriage. “He mar- See FAMILY, pg. 8 GEORGE WILLARD BRYANT About the early 1920's By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff BACK MOUNTAIN - Now that Dallas High School has a swim- ming team, some parents think the district should also have a pool. Members of The Dallas Com- munity Association for an Aquatic Facility have given school board members and administrators let- ters pointing out the advantages of having a pool, and are asking the public to support such a facil- ity. They also asked the board to place a discussion of a pool on the May 13 meeting agenda. According to member Anita Schweitzer, the district could use a pool not only for its own swim team, but also rent it out to other schools. Dallas could make swim- ming a requirement for gym classes, host American Red Cross programs and open a pool to the public for lap swims, classes, Parents want pool for Dallas What Do You Think? Fill out and send in the Dallas Pool Survey, pg 8 water aerobics and injury reha- bilitation. Although the organization was initiated by parents of Dallas swimming and diving team mem- bers, not all of the group's mem- bers are swim team parents, Schweitzer said. They are parents who think a district facility is a good idea. “Trying to find a pool deep enough for the diving team to practice is difficult,” said Schweitzer, whose daughter, a Dallas swimmer, made it to the state diving competition this year. “In the past we have used Wyo- ming Valley West's pool, which Dallas paid for, but they don't See POOL, pg 8 Bloomers make the flower show blossom By ANN POEPPERLING Post Correspondent BACK MOUNTAIN - The North- east Pennsylvania Flower Show, coming up April 26 through 28 at the Kingston Armory, actually has its roots in the Back Mountain. Presented by the Back Moun- tain Bloomers Garden Club, the show has blossomed into the sec- ond largest in the state and is a winner of the prestigious National Flower Show Achievement Award. The show, now in its fourth year, not only cultivates the fine art of horticulture, but also nur- tures the community's relation- ship with classical music, as all proceeds benefit the Northeast- ern Pennsylvania Philharmonic. Show chairperson and Back Mountain Bloomer Lora Marcolina Freifeld feels the event is impor- tant to the public because it per- petuates garden club goals. “Our main goal is to educate the public about horticulture, design, and the conservation and preserva- tion of natural resources.” Freifeld said the club encour- ages area residents to participate in the show. “You don’t have to be a garden club member or a pro- fessional horticulturist,” she said. “We want people to take a look around their yard, garden, or house for any flower, shrub, or houseplant that looks beautiful POST PHOTO/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Florence Halstead, with a gourd grown by her grandson, which she fashioned into a bird feeder. and bring it in. There's even a class for evergreen cuttings.” There is no charge to enter an event and everyone is welcome as long as they have taken care of the specimen for at least three months. See FLOWER SHOW, pg 3 MH Big-time writers Lake-Lehman students have seen their letters published in Newsweek and the New York Times magazine. Pg 3. BH Boston blast Mark Belenski was part of history when he ran the Boston Marathon. Pg 9. 16 Pages 2 Sections Calendar.................... 16 Classified............... 14-15 Crossword...........00. 164 Editorials.........c..i..i.. 4 Obituaries.................. 14 School... 12-13 SPONS.....i. cites ivi 9-10 CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, NEWS OR ADVERTISING The Dallas Post MAILING LABEL- Please enclose this label with any address changes, and mail to The Dallas Post, P.O. Box 366, Dallas PA 18612-0366
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