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Dallas tax hike a possibility
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The Dallas Post
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Vol. 109 No. 19
Dallas, Pennsylvania
May 13 thru May 19, 1998
By KYLIE SHAFFERKOETTER
Post Staff
DALLAS - The Dallas School
Board took a first look at the
1998-1999 proposed budget at
Monday's regular meeting, and
they saw a shortfall of $1.7 mil-
lion that could result in the first
tax increase since 1991. :
- Al Melone, acting business
manager, presented a $19.2 mil-
lion budget that spends $1.7 mil-
lion more than last year. The
‘board will decide how to make up
for 81.7 million increased expen-
ditures May 18 at 6 p.m. when
they vote on the tentative budget.
Gil Griffiths, superintendent,
said the board must decide
whether it will raise taxes, use a
$500,000 fund balance to offset
the expenditures or absorb the
shortfall altogether.
The additional spending is due
in large part to increases of
$200,000 (20.8 percent) for Blue
Cross/Blue Shield coverage,
$372,729 (2.5-3.5 percent) for
salaries and $80,000 (2 percent)
for special education.
The 1997-1998 budget was
Ms. Clean
Ellen Boyer, left, and Joanne Rakowski, both teachers at Dallas, held their favorite
household cleaners at the Lake-Lehman Middle Level Science Fair last week. But
$20.9 million, which included a
one-time allowance of $2 million
for renovations to Dallas Elemen-
tary School. Griffiths said that $2
million was put into a separate
building fund this year, techni-
cally making last year’s budget
$18.9 million.
Board president John Litz said
the Dallas School District has
accomplished a “rather remark-
able achievement considering the
economy (in having no tax in-
. crease in seven years).”
The tax millage has been 158
since 1991.
Field sett
In other business, the
board will walk around the
district's property line May
14 at 6 p.m. with adjoining
property owners of the three
proposed athletic fields.
Atty. Bruce Phillips, who is a
resident of Orchard View
Terrace, is representing a
group of neighbors.opposed
to the fields’ setbacks and
who believe Dallas Township
did not follow proper proce-
dure to inform neighbors of
the school’s plans.
“Communication is
a wonderful thing.
1 ? pope it’s close to
a resolution.”
Atty. Bruce Phillips
: Dallas Twp.
“This lawsuit came about
because the neighbors were
not notified. The light bulb
should have gone on in
ement may be near
someone’s head when no one
showed up to the zoning
meeting,” said Phillips.
“There should have been
more communication early
on. But, things have been
progressing quite well.
Communication is a wonder-
ful thing. I hope it’s close to
a resolution.”
Also, Atty. Ben Jones III
was reappointed as district
solicitor for the next year at
a salary of $2,300 per
month.
POST PHOTOS/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK
Tina Lumbis's project found they lagged behind Sund and Earth, the winner in her
comparison. More proses on page 3.
on PHOTO/KYLIE Sarrerroeen
John Dawe held up the Gold Medal he won at the PA Science
Olympiad, for his demonstration, "Surfing the Net."
\
By KYLIE SHAFFERKOETTER
Post Staff
LEHMAN - At 12-years-old,
John Dawe was already dis-
secting his IBM computer and
mastering the mechanics of
what many people consider a
mysterious machine.
All his hours of tinkering
have paid off big for both Dawe,
now 16, and Lake-Lehman
High School, where he is a
junior. Dawe won first place
for his entry, “Surfing the Net,”
at the PA State Science Olym-
piad held at Juniata College
on April 24.
This was the first time Lake-
Dawe is science gold
Lehman made it to the state
competition and the first time
Dawe ever took part in the
Olympiad, which the school
has participated in the last
four years.
“It was a complete shock
that we won. Since it was a
new event, we had no idea how
it was being scored or what
other schools were doing,” said
Dawe, after quickly helping a
Dallas Post correspondent find
a particular website.
Dawe and students from the
34 other participating high
schools were given 50 minutes
to find the answers to 20 ques-
tions on the web and verify
medalist
their location. One of the ques-
tions asked the name of the
first monkey in orbit. “We
used different strategies (to
better my chances of winning),”
he said.
Dawe specializes in build-
ing web pages. He recently
created his own site that works
as anaccess tomultiple search
engines.
When he first discovered
the Internet, web page design-
ing programs were not that
helpful. So, Dawe knew if he
wanted to build a website, he
would have to learn the some-
See SCIENCE, pg 8
Lemmond will be Penn State
commencement speaker
State Senator Charles D.
Lemmond, Jr. win be the guest
speaker at Penn
State Wilkes-
Barre com-
mencement ex-
ercises on Sat.,
May 16.
A resident of
Pallas, . Sen.
Lemmond is
serving his third
term represent-
STATE SEN. CHARLES
D. LEMMOND JR.
ing the 20th Senatorial District in
the Pennsylvania Senate.
This includes Pike, Wyoming,
Wayne and Susquehanna coun-
ties and parts of Luzerne and
Monroe Counties.
Sen. Lemmond serves as chair-
man of the Senate State Govern-
ment Committee, vice chairman
of the Senate Judiciary Commit-
tee, and a member of the Senate
See LEMMOND, pg 8
Zoning board runs down office request
The Dallas Township Zoning Board voted 3-0 to deny an application
to place an insurance office in a home on E. Center Hill Rd. Eva Ryan,
who lives next door to the white ranch house, said she presented a
petition with 87 signatures asking that the request be denied.
“It took a long time. It's a lot of ground to cover,” to get the signatures,
she said.
Ryan doesn’t want to see commercial uses creep into the neighbor-
hood.
“It’s all residential, and we'd like to see it stay that way.”
‘Leonard Kozick, township secretary, said a written decision will be
completed in a week to 10 days. The applicant, Edward Hartman, has
30 days after the written decision is handed down to appeal if he
chooses to do so.
Making room for the new
Bobby Montross worked at tearing down the former Elston & Gould building along Rt. 309 in Dallas last
week. The property has been purchased by Rick Angelicola of Kingston Twp., who plans to develop
retail stores or offices on the property.
Back
Mountain
helps 'Y'
By KYLIE SHAFFERKOETTER
Post Staff
BACK MOUNTAIN - Many fa-
miliar Back Mountain faces are
spearheading the Wilkes-Barre
Family YMCA’s
first major capi-
tal campaign in
65 years. TheY'’s
Investment
Campaign plans
toraise $5.3 mil-
lion for renova-
tions and an en-
dowment fund.
Frank
Henry of Dallas is general cam-
paign chairman. “After two years
of careful planning we are putting
forward a plan of efficient renova-
tion, vital improvement, financial
stability and historic preserva-
tion of the Wilkes-Barre Y,” said
Henry.
George B. Sordoni of Dallas,
whose grandfather's company
built the YMCA building in 1933,
is campaign vice-chairman.
Renovations that will cost $3.3
millionr will include a new access
tower on the Franklin St. side of
the ‘building in order to comply
with the Americans with Disabili-
ties Act. Also planned are an
‘See YMCA, pg 8
~ FRANK M. HENRY
14 Pages, 2 Sections
POST PHOTO/RON BARTIZEK
Calendar............... 5. 14
Classified............. 12-13
Crossword............... 14
Editorials... . i... ch. 4
Obituatias................. 12
School: uid. 11
SPOS. ils iors 9-10
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