_4 The Dallas Post RE Ao Dallas, PA Wednesday, September 11, 1996 LT. EDITORIALS Of course schools can Institute dress codes ~ Instituting dress codes is one of the ideas of the moment intended to improve the performance of public school stu- . dents. On one side are parents, officials — even many students . — who believe clothing restrictions will at the very least reduce distractions. On the other are those reluctant to restrain children’s “creativity” by imposing standards of dress. Some “even see codes as an improper constraint of students’ rights : and freedoms. ‘In purely theoretical terms, dress codes are an affront to a person's individual rights. So, perhaps are other standards. “Would those who reject dress codes or uniforms also support "schools without grades, or even allendance requirements? . There are dillerences between those principles and dress codes, of course, but if rules and regulations are aimed at enhancing academic performance, a minor tradeoff of “rights” is worth making. “But let's back up for a moment. Nearly all public school students are minors, so they don’t have the same rights as ‘adults. Parents and school administrators are responsible for providing the best education possible, and if enough of them “think a dress code can help that quest, they surely should be free to impose one. They can cite many good reasons to do so, “perhaps chief among them that standards of dress reinforce the notion that school isn't like home, or a trip to the mall, it ‘is a special place with a special purpose. If students want to indulge their sartorial instincts after school and on weekends, more power to them. + Unlike the days of our agricultural heritage, modern life is ‘divided into many parts, each with its own conventions. Anyone who works in an office or in a job that requires public “contact must observe certain standards of appearance when ‘on the job, or they'd better look for other work. There are some “people who do just that, forever rebelling against limitations on their * rights,” but the price they pay is a stiff one. We are not responsibly serving our children by giving them the misguided {impression that anything goes, anywhere, anytime. No one is ‘suggesting we all must like dress codes, only that there are logical reasons for them, and measurable advantages accrue from them. In the end, the people in each school district must decide for themselves whether or not dress codes are worthwhile. But they certainly have every right to do so. ‘Don't buy the bureaucrats line on liquor stores 2,1 Here they go again. Managers and employees in the state “liquor system are raising hysterical voices against getting the state out of the wine and liquor business. They're using the sarhe tired arguments we've heard before — that greedy private operators will peddle the evil brew to children, with none of the high- -minded restraint shown by bureaucrats. Drunken chil- “dren will litter the sidewalks like so much trash, they say. Why, j we "Il have trouble, with a capital “T” right here in River City. ‘ Hogwash. How can anyone in the Commonwealth of Penn- vive, which has one of the sorriest records of alcohol abuse _in the nation, keep a straight face using that argument against ; ‘private liquor stores? They can argue that the state is able to on “ ‘skim off millions in profits as well as taxes; they can contend ‘their employees are more skillful, they can even try to claim the selection and service will decline (try that one without smirk- : | {11g). But, please, spare us the moralizing. Hy atthe state doesn’t belong in the business of selling liquor, any ‘ 1] ® hd “more than it should be selling guns or cigarettes, both poten- tially lethal products. Consumers, nearly all of whom are law- abiding, tax-paying citizens, will get a better break if liquor is ‘sold by private stores, which must be strictly regulated by the a Improving the Liquor Control Board's oversight capabilities would be a great deal preferable to figuring out which ofl brand ‘wine can extract the greatest profit from buyers. i ‘ ' i t 0" 1 i } os "The Dallas Post attempts to publish opinions on a variety of topics V in, ‘many forms. - Editorials, which are the opinion of the managment of The Post, appear on the editorial page and are written by the editor unless otherwise indicated. Any artwork represents the opinion of the | cartoonist, and columns are the opinion of the author. ‘Letters to the editor are welcome and will be published, subject to ‘the following guidelines: e Letters should not exceed 500 words. : . No writer may have more than one letter published during a 30-day ‘ \'period, except as a reply to another letter. : e Letters must be signed and include the writer's home town and a ' telephone number for verification. « Names will be withheld only if there exists a clear threat to the writer. . The Post retains the right to accept or reject any letter, and to edit letfers for grammar and spelling, as well as to eliminate any libel, slander or objectionable wording. * In addition to letters, we welcome longer pieces that may run as columns. The author or subject's relevance to the Back Mountain will be the prime consideration when selecting material for publication. 4 — columns and editorials wap Se Re Ten ST Te basinehati pF PO The Dallas Post Published Weekly By Bartsen Media, Inc. P.O. Box 366, Dallas PA 18612 717-675-5211 Charlotte E. Bartizek ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER “eae ela ~ Ronald A. Bartizek PUBLISHER ae aw » Grace R. Dove REPORTER Dennise Casterline ADVERTISING ACCT. EXEC Paul Rismiller PRODUCTION MANAGER Olga Kostrobala CLASSIFIED/TYPESETTING Jill Gruver OFFICE MANAGER fa = EE RE RE EES EE EE EE . ¥ » "i MEMBLA td % 8 PRINTED WITH NIN PENI IANTA 2hL SOY INK] OE WePAPER NEWSPAPER RE Bo 2 t SRG Artist and subject: Sue Hand at Huntsville Church. Photo by Charlotte Bartizek. Ghostwriter by Paul Rismiller "I hope that I helped to build a fierce pride in what we are and what we can do if we set our minds to it. The human race is a remark- able creature, one with great poten- tial, and I hope that Star Trek has helped to show us what we can be if we believe in ourselves and our abilities.” - Gene Roddenberry September 8th, 1966. It was nothing spectacular, what happened on that date. Nothing thatdid nothappen dozens of times every fall since the advent of televi- sion and has every fall to this very day. : Television series have come and gone, some have vanished so quickly that they didn't even regis- ter on the national conscious. Some stuck around season after season, even shows that made you believe that all the Nielson families were drooling half-wits. But on that date 30 years ago, a series that was destined to air only 79 episodes premiered. And 30 years later, it is part of the cultural landscape of America. It's shadow will no doubt reach out another 30 years, and beyond. I was eight years old when Star Trek first aired, and I loved it im- mediately. By today's standards, Classic Trek, as the original is known to countless Trekkers worldwide, was pretty cheesy. Lame effects, goofy looking aliens, pa- pier-mach€ boulders, melodra- matic scenery chewing by the lead character. So what was the big deal? To paraphrase the old saw about a million monkeys and a million typewriters - It would take a mil- lion Trekkers a million years, and it would still be hard to precisely put your finger on just what the essence of Star Trek is, and why it has bred and spread to become the massive franchise it is today. ‘Boldly going where I've wanted to go for 30 years It's particularly hard to explain to those who, inexplicably, aren't entranced by the mystique of the show, its descendants, its heroes and villains, its history, its techno- babble and Treknology. Even harder if you don't want to sound like a stereotypical fan-boy geek. But I'll give it the old Starfleet try. : First, let's put it all in perspec- tive with numbers: four television series, seven feature films (#8 re- cently wrapped filming), one entire language (Klingon!), a Saturday morning cartoon show, comic books (Marvel Comics will be bring- ing out seven new titles), well over a hundred novels and other books, two collectable card games, vari- ous video and board games, and hundreds of action figures, mod- els, jewelry, posters, and assorted other gewgaws and knick-knacks. How did all this come about from the humble beginnings of a TV show it's creator, Gene Roddenberry, pitched as a "Wagon Train to the stars"? : The original Star Trek began in the middle of both the Cold War and the space race. It gave viewers a vision of a future for mankind among the stars, a future that was very much in doubt at the time. It also gave us characters that we came to love and want to spend time with, beginning with the great triumvirate: the irascible Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy; the coolly logical Vulcan, Mr. Spock, and the two-fisted, swashbuckling, lady- killing Captain James T. Kirk. The actors, DeForest Kelly, Leonard Nimoy, and William Shatner, and the writers for the show gave these characters alife of theirown, far greater than the sum of their parts. There was always a moral to the episodes, often touching on what was actually going on in the world. And Star Trek gave us a glimpse of what I and millions of other Trek- kers want to see come to pass - a bridge that didn't just "look like America”, or the world, but a gal- axy - positions filled on the basis of absolutely nothing but merit. When Star Trek: The Next Gen- eration debuted, a lot of Trekdom was wary, if not actually put off by the prospect of a spin-off. We were all in for a shock - TNG was not only far more of a success than its ancestor, it boldly took us much farther than ever before. Through Data, the android of- ficer portrayed by Brent Spiner (a guy who definitely deserved an: Emmy) we were given a look at our humanity through a unique per- spective - from outside. Various people have accused Trek, particularly TNG, of being "politically correct". It's a charge I find absurd - the crews of all four shows have, I think, shown the ideals the human race should be striving for: a basic, deep-seated faith in democracy, personal re- sponsibility, integrity, the pursuit ofexcellence, tolerance, friendship, loyalty, and devotion to duty. Now we are left with Deep Space Nine, a crew precariously perched on a very important corner of no- where, and Voyager, struggling to get back home through uncharted space - and the saga continues. Star Trek has a history all its own, various races and cultures, differ- ent governments with their own agendas, unique phenomena...it is, literally, a universe. And the most important element in this universe, the one that makes the whole thing possible, that gives the Trek universe its impetus and sustenance, and the thing that is most often overlooked and misun- derstood by people who examine the Star Trek phenomena from the outside is the Trekkers. Who are they and what are they doing? They come {rom all walks of life, of both sexes, and of all ages. They include the famed physicist, Stephen Hawking, and of course, your humble scribe. Many have been inspired by the show to study the sciences. Despite their diversity, Trekkers have one thing in common, be- sides being fans of one or all the different flavors of Star Trek. They are eternal optimists. They have faith in their fellow man. They think our species has a future. They think our destiny lies in space. They share le reve d'étoiles - the dream of stars . . . LEGISLATORS DIRECTORY FEDERAL OFFICIALS Representative Paul E. Kanjorski (PA 11th District) (Democrat) Wilkes-Barre: 825-2200 Washington: (202) 225-6511 Address: 10 E. South St., Wilkes- Barre PA 18701-2397 or 2429 Rayburn Building, Wash- ington, DC 20515 Senator Arlen Specter (Republican) Wilkes-Barre: 826-6265 Washington: (202) 224-4254 Address: 116 S. Main S., Wilkes- ii Barre PA 18701 Senator Rick Santorum (Republican) B-40 Dirksen Building Washington, DC 20510 Washington: (202) 224-6324 Fax: (202) 228-4991 ONLY YESTERDAY 60 Years Ago - Sept. 18, 1936 COPS CRACK YOUTHFUL PETTY THEFT RING . A series of 10 petty robberies in this section during the last year were cleared by Chief of Police Leonard O'Kane of Dallas this week with the arrest of six youths, several of them from well-known families. The youths, ranging in age from 16-18, are said to have admitted the responsibility:ifor theft of auto tires and small eb- jects from cars in'' Dallas, Fernbrook, Kunkle 2nd Shavertown. 51 A record-breaking: thiong jammed the Tunhannock Fair Grounds and voted the annual exposition the most colorfuliiin Wyoming County in many years. One of the biggest feature of the fair, Shupp’s annual sale of Jer- sey and Guernsey cattle” with Howard Sands, will take. ‘place today, the final day of the Yer: 31 3 50 Years Ago - Sept. 20; 1946 STATE OKAYS AIRPORT | FOR DALLAS AREA Harrisburg - State Aeronaufics Commission, following a ‘meeting here, announced approval of ¢on- struction of the Dallas Airport ; at "Dallas R.D. of which which Tho- mas P. Garrity of Alderson is, the proprietor. Lady Luck smiled brightly on th Back Mountain territory last week. Donald Bolo pf Shavertown held the lucky ticket Thursday evening when Wilkes- Barre Vetrans gve away a blue Nash 600 sedan. Two nights later, Sonny Hontz, also of Shavertown, had his winning number in his hand when Wilkes-Barre Amvets Post gave away a 1946 Plymouth sedan at Sans Souci Park. 40 Years Ago - Sept.14, 1956 DEAD SNAKE FOUNDIN POST OFFICE BOX A tentative site for he Hew Dallas Area High School was de- cided upon atthe Tuesday meet- ing of the Dallas Area School Board. James Hutchins; chair- man of Building and Grounds, shared an aerial picture of pro- posed sites for the new: schoel, designated 1,2,3 and 4 for conve- nience, not in the order of desir- ability. All sites are in Dallas Township near enough to High- way 309 for easy access‘and far enough away to avoid traffic prob lems and noise. Dallas Postmaster: Joseph Polacky states that if parents: do not curb their children in their present project of stuffing the newly painted red and blue col- lection boxes with trash, inspec! tors will be obliged to run down! the culprits and hold parents re- sponsible for nuisance. Mailbox at Smith Economy Store, Hunts-| ville Road, yieled a dead snake. The box at the corner of Spring and Lehman Ave. had paper and leaves in it. 30 Years Ago - Sept. 15, 1966 EASTERN ORTHODOX CONGREGATION FORMS | As the sun cast a golden glow: upon the altar of the newly orga-! nized St. Andrew's Eastern Or thodox Church, which held its, first services Sunday morning, the, former ballroom of Hayfield House, Lehman, was transformed into a place of worship. The congrega-i tion will become part of the dio-| cese of His Grace Rt. Rev. Kiprian,! Bishop of Philadelphia and Dean is Rev. John Rachko, Edwardsville. Rev. Gerald Sudick, pastor of the new conregation; conducted the first services. } Lehman Township Supervisors have approved Project 70. Sunset Beach Association has raised sub+ stantial funds for maintenance of the proposed beach over at the entrance to Harveys Lake, it was reported to the board Saturday morning. i [] 20 Years Ago - Sept. 16,1976 COLLEGE HOSTS AREA' S| LARGEST CONFERENCE | Some 100 areawomen attended the “Womenscape” conference at College Misericordia Saturday, participating in one of the largest women's meeting held jn North east Pennsylvania. Conference planners were encouragd by the interest of area women, -Segording to Sr. Mary Glennon arid wi begin preparations for a: follow- up conference. Talhis EN § hd | i { 1 A % “- a ty ® J «
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers