4 The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, September 10, 1997 Ct ——— ET% EDITORIALS | | We must plan now for the Back Mountain's future It is heartening to hear that housing developers endorse zoning in the Back Mountain's communities, as those inter- viewed by Kylie Shafferkoetter for this week's front-page article do. Not many years ago, it seemed home builders resented zoning and building codes, feeling they imposed unnecessary restrictions on their industry while adding to the cost of construction. The latter is probably true, but most people recognize that standards benefit nearly everyone in the long run, since consistent neighborhoods and quality construction mean higher resale value. NN “Zoning shouldn't be static, though, and given the growth of the region, requires nearly constant fine tuning if we are to have viable communities that are home to a diverse population. Lately it seems the Back Mountain is becoming a haven for upper- income families at the expense of those of more modest means, a circumstance that can be credited to a lack of imagination among both builders and zoners. While the con- cept of “cluster housing” has been around for some time, it has been slow to take root here, at least beyond a couple of ‘condominium complexes. At the same time, an overabundance of 2,500 square foot and more larger homes have been built cheek by jowl on 1/3 to 1/2 acre lots, affordable to a limited - segment of our families. ‘Before zoning comes planning, a process that is painfully difficult, but necessary. The Back Mountain needs to plan its future not as six or seven individual municipalities, but as a unit, so that we define areas that are appropriate for large houses and small ones, shops and offices, even industry, as well as areas that should be left alone. Before we can take this step, though, we must accept that it is needed, and that requires exceptional foresight. Anyone who has traveled much in:the United States knows the areas that have looked ahead and built the most attractive communities are few and far between. It would be wonderful if the Back Mountain could be counted among them. Perhaps with the cooperation of con- cerned individuals, enlightened developers, officials and orga- nizations such as the Back Mountain Regional Land Trust, we can grasp our future and turn it to our collective advantage. It's worth the effort. Public should have say in new school board member Members of the Dallas School Board were right to question and then vote down a nomination to replace Reese Finn, the school director whose letter of resignation was read at Monday night's meeting. While we have the greatest respect for Dr. Richard Coslett, whose name was offered for approval, board members and the public deserve more time to ponder and suggest Finn's replacement. ‘The resignation caught the board by surprise. It “appeared” on the table in an‘junmarked envelope during the break between the work session and the regular meeting, when most board members had left the room. No matter what the inten- tions of the individual who planted it, this is no way to conduct the affairs of the Dallas School District. ‘We urge the board to hold a special meeting in the next two weeks, so that different candidates for the post can be pre- sented and their qualifications discussed. Since the late resig- nation has denied the public the opportunity to select a candidate, this is the least the board can do. Publisher's notebook i’ Here’s my two cents worth on the flood of “news” coverage of the death of Britain's Princess Diana. Besides making me wdnder about the state of the human race, it makes me think real newspapers have a more important role than you might have suspected. I say that because, unlike television, newspa- pers didn’t turn a week's worth of issues over to one irrelevant topic. They continued to bring people a wide range of items each day and week, the kinds of things most people want to keep up on. Television, in contrast, apparently turned Diana Week into a feeding frenzy of tidbits that frequently contradicted each other, and in the process blocked out or atleast shortened most other topics. I think you can attribute the networks’ perverse interest in this item to two things: First, an open acknowledgement that television is an entertainment medium, sometimes wrapped in news packaging; and second, big-company ownership. In the last decade or so, every network has changed hands, and in doing so lost whatever direction the founders and early execu- tives provided. While they weren't exactly saints, William Paley _and his contemporaries wanted respect for their work, and constrained their baser instincts so as to stay out of the gutter. The corporate types running networks now have no similar compunction - the bottom line rules, the money comes from ratings, and ratings come from titillation, at least at this point in time. It’s also cheaper to run a “news” department than to buy shows, so it becomes a no-brainer to produce their own entertainment from the newsroom. And since they're all doing the same thing, they don’t have to worry about being original. You can probably also lay some of the blame at the doorstep of a society that appears unable to discriminate the relative: value of events. Or maybe it’s just the fact that, absent wars and pestilence, we've gotten lazy. The Dallas Post Published Weekly By Bartsen Media, Inc. P.O. Box 366, Dallas PA 18612 717-675-5211 Charlotte E. Bartizek ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER “ Ronald A. Bartizek PUBLISHER Jessica Appolo ADVERTISING ACCT. EXEC Kylie Shafferkoetter REPORTER Ruth Proietto PRODUCTION MANAGER 2) PRINTED WITH | =7|SOVINK|_ Olga Kostrobala CLASSIFIED/TYPESETTING Jill Gruver OFFICE MANAGER N; NEW APER NATIONAL NEWSPAPER EWSPADER ASSOCIATION of PUBLISHERS ASSOCIA tage. A Case for consggyation Alene N. Case If a child came to me and said “I'm worried; I think [I have E. coli,” Iwould look up rather know- ingly and say, “Yes child, you have billions and billions of them.” Escherichia coli is the most com- mon bacterium inhabiting our gut. It also inhabits the guts of other mammals such as dogs, deer, and cows. Bacteriologists call E. colia commensal, which means that it lives in close association with us and is benefited by that associa- tion (that is, it has a nice warm place to live and grow where there is plenty of water and nutrients) and we as its host are neither helped nor harmed. Some would argue that E. coli is a true symbiont, living with humans to our mutual advan- Many sources, especially textbooks and the popular press, state that we are dependent upon E. coli for our vitamin K and bi- otin. But, since our bodies also harbor many other species of bac- teria which produce these materi- als, perhaps we are not depen- dentonE. coliin particular. Other scientists see less obvious advan- tages. For instance, perhaps E. coli simply takes up so much space in our intestines that other, more harmful, bacteria are prevented from multiplying rapidly enough to hurt us. And, metals tend to adhere to the outside of E. coli cells which may help to prevent certain types of metal poisoning. One distinct benefit of E. coli in recent years has been its role in medical research and in the de- tection of fecal contamination of food and water. The choice in both instances was made because of the relative harmlessness of this species of bacteria. Techni- cians can grow E. coli in the lab, _ POST PHOTO/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK The scoop on E. coli view it under the microscope, and clean up afterwards with very little concern about their personal health. That is certainly not true of other bacteria that might be found in our guts, such as Proteus or Enterobacter. And, E. coli is particularly easy to grow and iden- tify. Since it is present in all mam- mal feces, its presence is a good indicator of fecal contamination that might cause serious disease. So, why are people suddenly so - worried about E. coli? Because certain strains, or types, of E. coli are not harmless or beneficial. Some can cause illness and even death. Some of these strains have been around for a long time and others are more recent additions to the family. Many people try to explain these different strains by making an analogy to the fact that not all people are harmless. Some are dangerous to the point of be- coming homicidal. But, with bac- teria the situation is much more problematic. If one person is ho- micidal, we can lock that person up and no one else in society will get hurt. If one E. coli is homi- cidal, it can multiply so fast that there are millions of identical cells before we are aware that there is a problem. The usual E. coli strains within our bodies generally do not cause illness. However, if they are intro- duced into parts of our bodies where they do not usually occur, we can become sick. E. coli is the most common cause of urinary tract infections, especially among women. Ninety percent of cystitis cases are the result of E. eoli being in the wrong place. There are more than 150 known strains of Escherichia coli. Some of these cause most of the cases of diarrhea among infants and trav- elers in less developed countries. If you do not have cholera, you probably have an E. coli strain to which you are not adapted. These E. coli are spread through water and food. Babies who are breast- fed rarely contract the disease. Therefore, breast-feeding becomes an important weapon in the fight against this type of infant dis- ease. After infancy, these types of E. coli rarely are life-threatening. There are other strains includ- ing O157:H7 that cause a much more dangerous disease. They produce toxins that resemble the toxin produced by Shigella and thus have a similar effect on the body. Diarrhea leads to hemor- rhaging. Complications such as kidney failure also may set in. This is the disease that has killed people in the Midwest, West, Canada, Japan, and other places in recent years. E. coli O157:H7 does not normally live in our guts. It has developed within the past few decades in our domestic ani- mals, particularly cattle. One veterinarian with whom I spoke was convinced that this is such a problem now because of all the antibiotics we regularly feed our cows so that they will produce more milk and beef. Cows do not usually get sick from harboring E. coli O157:H7, although calves have been known to become ill. Therefore, perfectly healthy ani- mals may pass this strain along to us if we fail to kill it by adequate heating (greater than 160 degrees FJ). ; Most of the recent news reports onkE. coliO157:H7 have been very misleading. In fact, in many cases they have totally failed to point out that this strain is different from the “normal” inhabitants of our guts and have led to the as- sumption that all E. coli are bad. They have, however, done doctors and public health officials a ser- vice in reminding all of us that hygiene and proper food handling is an important part of staying healthy. We will always live with bacte- ria. But, we need to obey certain rules in order to keep this a com- mensal arrangement, not a para- sitic one. Maintain clean water supplies. Cook all meats well. - Carefully wash utensils and cut- ting surfaces after handling raw meat. Wash fruits and vegetables before eating. And, most impor- tantly, thoroughly wash your hands before eating or preparing food.’ Your news is welcome The Dallas Post welcomes submissions about Back Mountain people and events. In order to plan each issue, we must adhere to self-imposed deadlines, as well as those of our printer. To have the greatest likelihood of publication, items should be received at our office by 4 p.m. the Friday prior to each issue. Items will be accepted until 4 p.m. Mondays, although much of the paper is already assembled by that time. Send or bring items to: The Dallas Post, 607 Main Road, P.O. Box 366, Dallas, PA 18612. Our normal business hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. A deposit box is located at the front of the building for after-hours submissions. : | ONLY YESTERDAY 60 Years Ago - Sept. 19, 1937 « CHECK FOR UNLICENSED : DOGS BEGINS INBMT ~~... Four field agents from the Pa. ¢ Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of". Animal Husbandry, will start ‘a= check ofall unlicensed dogs in‘the't Back Mountain beginning Mon- ~ day. Owners of unlicensed dogs.” will be fined S14 and $2.50 costs: As a precautionary measure, following the discovery of a sec-" ond case of infantile paralysis i in: Dallas Borough schools were: closed this morning for a week. Rev. Francis E. Freeman, pastor of Dallas Methodist Church also. announced there will be no ser- | vices this Sunday. : 50 Years Ago - Sept. 19, 1947 HENDRICKS RECEIVES MEMORIAL AWARD Howard L. Hendricks, super-. ; vising principal of Lehman Tawn- | ship Schools and teacher of Men's Bible Class at Lehman Methodist Churchreceived the annual Frank Hemelright Memorial Award for community service in the Back: Mountain area at a joint dinner. meeting of Dallas Rotary and, Kiwanis Clubs at Irem Temple: Country Club Wednesday evening... The formal opening of College! Misericordia will be solemnized Sept. 26 with a high mass at the school. Largest enrollment on record will be present for the 23rd" opening of the institution. ~~’. 40 Years Ago - Sept. 20, 1957. DALLAS FOOTBALL TEAM DECLARES OPEN SEASON _ Coach Anthony Roan and as-. sistants Bill Morgan and Tom Carr, have declared open season on the Tunkhannock Tigers for Satur- day afternoon when Dallas Area High School opens its 1957 foot- i ball seaons. Tunkhannock witha victory over St. Michael's enters’ the fray on odds as favorite to protect its two year win streak and the complete domination,over local teams it has enjoyed -the past few years. Dr. Ray Cleaver, coordinator of the Pa. State Bureau of. School; District Reorganization spoke toa. large audience at the Township: School Monday evening when PTA , groups of Dallas Schools gath-, ered to hear the State's attitude; toward a Union School District. - He outlined the advantages from a financial and workable view- point, mentioned road blocks tq - its accomplishment, stated that Harrisburg considered the present | jointure a good one and threw the meeting open for discussion.’ . 30 Years Ago - Sept. 14, 1967 DALLAS DISTRICT GETS THREE MORE BUSES Three more school buses will be added to Dallas Schools to take care of the overload of pupils, particularly in the kindergarten and lower grades. The directors passed a motion on recommenda-. tion of Dr. Robert Mellman, Su-- perintendent at a meeting of they School Board Tuesday. Lake-Lehman School Directors drew a breath of relief Tuesday: when they obtained a physician to serve at football games. Dr. J W.J. Daw agreed to attend. Regu-« lations call for the presence of a: doctor on the sidelines. Lehman Township Supervisors approved the proposal of Roy W... Weston for a feasiiblity study of” sewage needs in the community: at a meeting of the Board Satur-« day. Anumber of residents previ-.’ ously serviced by Haddonfield: Water Co. now going out business and operated by Harry W. Ruggles. asked aid of the supervisors in continuing this supply. 20 Years Ago - Sept. 15, 1977 -- MEDIATOR NEEDED IN MIDST OF DISCUSSION | Anthony Andriole, regular;« di- + rector and mediator assigned ‘to! the local school district stated! that it would be sometime in Oc- tober before he could set up, any mediation between representa- | tives of the Dallas Education As- | sociation and Dallas School Dis- | trict. Mediation sessions between ! DEA and representatives of the: District became necessary last; week after DEA voted torefuséihe | final proposal offered by fhe! negiotiating committee of Dallas | School District. Lehman Supervisors an-. nounced at the Monday meeting we that formal action has been taken * against the developer of Town and Country Manor. The developer has repeatedly ignored instruc- tion from the supervisors to in-: stall drainage and proper berths on two roads in the development... © ¢ | © As “ 7
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers