4 The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, July 8, 1998 L] wR EDITORIALS 10 good reasons to go to the library auction b if you're in the market for some real summer fun, look no further than 96 Huntsville Road in Dallas this weekend. It’s time for the 52nd annual Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction, four days of fun, games and bidding that provide one- fourth of the library's annual operating budget, and give all of us the chance to greet old friends and new while picking up a fet bargains. “To follow the lead of a popular late-night teletinidn show, here are our top 10 reasons to go to the auction: Wi 10. So your kids can win just one more goldfish. Maybe this “time theyll take care of it. o * 9. To find that old Paul Anka album you'v ‘ve always wanted, 4 “in the Odds ‘n’ Ends booth. * 8. The mouth-watering food in the Rotary food booth. Don’t loworty. when you eat outside it’s not fattening. £7. Can't you really use just one more bunch of black-eyed . Susans from the plant booth? e : 6. You can buy a John Grisham novel and he won't get any +’ of the money, the library will. © 5. To be able to say, “] was there when some fool paid $400 for a stupid lamp.” 4. To be ablé to pay $400 for a stupid lamp. 3. Books, books, and more books. .-2. To watch Kerry Freeman on the auction block, modeling ‘the latest in women’s wear. 1. Because you'll have a great time, meet old friends and new, and support the library, one of the Back Mountain's most important institutions. You may have your own reasons to support the library — perhaps your own experiences there, or the benefits it offers your family. But whatever the reason, you will seldom have the opportunity to do good and have so much fun at the same time. roy £3) Publisher's notebook ' Justimagine the synergy. The market power. The reach. The carelessness of the combined Time Warner and CNN. Then, just imagine the damage a combination of careerism and greed has done to the already tattered image of the news business. In case you haven't heard (and since CNN's ratings are mercifully low, you may not have), CNN and TIME magazine have been forced to retract the story that was to be the blockbuster introduction of CNN Newsstand, a semi-weekly “news magazine” show. Not only did the erroneous report appear on CNN, after much promotion a version was published in TIME'’s issue that came out the next day. Problem was, it really was a story, one that accused the U.S. military in 1970 of trying to kill Vietnam deserters with nerve gas. © Now, there are lots of reasons to question this story, not east of which is the reliability of information that is nearly 30 years old, and exists only in certain people’s memories. People like the main source of the accusation, a man who claimed a spiritual and emotional rebirth a couple of years ago, as a result of which he suddenly was confronted with “recovered memo- ries’ ' of the heinous mission. The fact that this same fellow had written a book about “Tailwind” in the early 1980's, from which deadly gas was absent, didn’t slow down reporters and produc- ers with their eyes on a prize, and marketing executives for whom ratings are the holy grail. When CNN announced its new series of 10 p.m. shows, my response was to suggest it was prompted by the media giant’s ability to combine forces, not by any demand. I still feel that way, but did not foresee the true danger — that ambitious individuals would steamroll skeptics to air anything that would attract attention to a show, and to them. The temptation is irony when the reward can be multi-million dollar salaries. This is only one example of the failure of “synergy.” Another. A evident in ESPN magazine, which rolled out to challenge the supremacy of Sports Illustrated. I saw an issue that contained page after page about the “X Games,” not, I suspect because readers had demanded the coverage but because ESPN spon- sors the games. "So, be careful when consuming news from the big guys. 7 here apparently is no telling what their underlying motives dare, or whether the story you see or read is presented because of its importance, or its potential to launch someone’s career, or to satisfy a big advertiser. This may really be a case where Smaller is better. § Do you agree? Disagree? * Editorials are the opinion of the management of The Dallas Post. We welcome your opinion on contemporary issues in the form of letters to the editor. If you don't write, the community may never hear a contrasting point of view. Send letters to: The Dallas Post, P.O. Box 366, Dallas, PA 18612. Please include - your name, address and a daytime phone number so that we may verify authenticity. We do not publish anonymous letters, but will consider withholding the name in exceptional circum- stances. We reserve the right to edit for length and grammar. TL times, oR ; 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 Kylie Shafferkoetter REPORTER A Jessica Appolo A ADVERTISING ACCT. EXEC Olga Kostrobala CLASSIFIED/TYPESETTING Ruth Proietto PRODUCTION MANAGER Jill Gruver AOERICE MANAGER MEMDER , 4d NIN PENNSYLVANIA NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ANSOCIATION PRINTED WITH NUN i SOY INK i NATIONAL NEWSPADER A Case for consgavation Alene N. Case : We hark to cricket and to human chirpings...with ears so different Haiku by Wafu About two or three times a year, I get this urge to go to the coast. It does not matter the time of year. My yearning is not for sun. Some- times I just want to sit and watch the waves come in. And, some- I do not even watch. 1 simply listen and let myself be enveloped. Let me share with you a wonderful paragraph out of the autobiography of Tom Sullivan, If You Could See What I Hear: “The surge and roar of surf clears the debris of the mind, crys- tallizes thought. Perhaps this is because the sea is so obviously eternal, and against its limitless stretch of time the problems, the issues of the moment are recog- nized for the trivia that they are. The sighted can find perspective by scanning the night sky, can philosophize by searching the embers of a fire. But for me sound is always the main catalyst to thought - the sound of raindrops on a roof or wind stirring leaves or a distant locomotive in the night. And a prime catalyst is the sound of the sea.” Do we, “the sighted,” ever take time out to really listen and clear the mind? Do we ever try to tune ourselves to the world around us? Do we teach our children that sometimes it is desirable to sit Wheels of progress, frozen in time. Photo by Charlotte Bartizek. Listening and hearing and listen and think? : I have an artist friend who re- cently moved from an urban area to the rural village of Brooklyn PA. When we were talking on the phone last week, I said something about “peace and quiet,” and she sighed and said, “There is no quiet.” What have we modern humans done to our world so that even an artist cannot find quiet? I know that I have done a previous article on noise pollution and I do not intend to spout statistics here. I simply want us to consider the effects on our human psyche of constant human-generated noise. When I sit at my kitchen table, where I often read or write, our refrigerator hums and groans con- stantly in the background. When I sit by our backyard pool to watch the fish or talk with friends, the constant drone of traffic (and louder trucks and sirens and such) infrudes. On summer nights, we like to keep our windows open to hear the birds and insects. But, around four o’clock each morn- ing, we are awakened by a convoy of eighteen-wheelers that seems to be coming through the house. We are sometimes envious of our neighbors who block out all exter- nal noises with the constant whir of their air conditioners. ; Humans are capable of all sorts of interesting sounds. Babies cry and coo. Children laugh and call to each other. Young people gather in stadiums to cheer for their fa- vorite ball teams. When someone is heartbroken or sad, that per- son sobs and wails and is often joined by others who share the grief. We make music and sing and dance. But, even these hu- man sounds are being overtaken by radios, stereos, televisions, and computers. Let me challenge you to leave your bedroom window open one night when it is not too hot. You may be treated to an early morn- ing bird serenade called “matin.” Or you may hear, as we did re- cently, the cries of one porcupine who does not want the attentions of another. Let me challenge you to take your family to a secluded place for picnic - a place where you can hear nothing but the bahble of a nearby stream. Dao as Mary Oliver suggests in her poem, “Turtles,” and “listen to the rocks breathing in the wet meadows.” Or, close your eyes and listen to the rainforest sounds on the CD of Andes Manta and pretend you are there. I have read that it is more diffi- cult for a person to adjust to be- coming deaf than itis to becoming blind. We use our eyes for so many things that I really had trouble believing that could be true. But, after reading Tom Sullivan's book several years ago and considering my own, and oth- ers’, dependence upon sound, I have come to understand that our connection with the earth and its creatures is very much a matter of listening. When that capability is lost either through loss of the sense of hearing or through inter- ference from other noise, we suf* fer greatly. Aldo Leopold summed up the essence of what I am trying to say in one sentence: “To arrive too early in the marsh is an adven- ture in pure listening; the ear roams at will among the noises of the night, without let or hindrance from hand or eye.” Let us not depend upon poets and writers to open our ears to nature. Listen and hear as you go through your life and teach your young ones to do likewise. WORD ON THE STREET Te @Q.: What is your favorite toothpaste and why? Where asked: The office of David H. Spring, D.M.D. in Dallas DR. DAVID H. SPRING JEAN HILLARD BETH TODD ADAMS Dallas WITTENBRADER W. Wyoming Dallas + Lake Ariel "Pepsodent. It makes my else." 1054 "Tarter Control Crest. teeth whiterthan anything "Colgate. I've alwaysused enjoythe mintfreshtaste." "Any fluoride toothpaste. | don't like baking soda toothpaste. No studies show there is any benefit from using it." (0 J lB YESTERDAY 60 Years Ago - July 15, 1938 TRUCKSVILLE GRADE SCHOOL TO BE BUILT The School Board of Kingston Township has advertised for bids for construction of a new Trucks- ville grade school building, to re- place the structure burned early this year and bids will be opened at the July 25 meeting. Itis hoped that the contract can be awarded immediately afterward. Y A corps of workmen on Wedensday began widening Machell Avenue and constructing new ditches on the third WPA project to be started in town re- cently. Improvements to Park and Elizabeth Streets on Parrish Heights where a gravel top is be- ing laid probably will be finished by Aug. 10. 50 Years Ago - July 16, 1948 HERMAN GARINGER BUYS 600 POUND BOAR Herman Garinger of Alderson has reason to be proud of the purchase he made at last week's library auction. Herman bought the 600 lb. boar hog given by Col. Henry Pool for $50. On Tuesday, he loaded the hog on his truck and took it to the Nicholson Auc- tion where he sold it for $106. Howard Isaacs, Back Moun- tain dealer for G.E. home appli- ances has opened a store in the Lundy Building on Main Street. Isaacs’ new building on Memorial Highway, Trucksville, is moving along on schedule and will shortly be ready for occupancy and will be the most modern home appli- ance store in the area. 40 Years Ago - July 11, 1958 LEHMAN SCHOOL GETS NEW. SCHOOL BUS , Lehman-Jackson-Ross joint school district has purchased; a 60 passenger school bus from ‘Motor Twins and will take delivery in August. It will be used 0 replace a bus which for 20 years has been driven by Russell Ide on the Lake Silkworth route. Lester Squire, supervising principal states that it is perfectly practical for a large school district to fi- nance a school bus, as if the bus is purchased new, 10 percent each year can be chalked off as invest- ment and reimbursement is forth- coming from the State for expences. He foresees additional convenience for transportation of groups of students such as the band, or athletic teams. You could get - Legs O'Lamb 59¢ lb.; rump roast, 99¢ Ib.; blue- berries, pt. basket, 29¢; cucum- bers, 5/25¢; bread, 2 Ivs. 31¢; Hi- C Orangeade, 2-46 oz. cans 57¢. 30 Years Ago - July 18, 1968 DALLAS SCHOOL DISTRICT TRIES FOR INCOME TAX Dallas School District received assurance from Rep. Frank O'Connell that he would take un- der serious consideration their approval of House Bill 1040 which would allow the district to levy a one percent earned income tax! Legislation is aimed to increase revenues but to ease the burden on the elderly and low income groups. One percent income tax would help to keep higher prop- erty taxes down. New record receipts, fine crowds, spirited bidding charcterized the 22nd Annual Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction last weekend. Officials termed it a great success. Auc-’ tion this year had gross receipts of about $23,000, which may pro- duce a net of from $16,000- $17,000 when all accounts are settled. The gross ran far ahead of last year’s $20,904. several de- partments set new records. : 20 Years Ago - July 13, 1978 HARVEYS LAKE ADDRESSES - BAD ROADS IN THE BORO Harveys Lake Borough coun- cilmen disagree on a lot of things, but there's one subject they seem in almost complete agreement on: the borough didn’t get the quality of road work it bargained for when Somerset Valley Cosntruction Co., general contractor for the local sewer system resurfaced Lakeside Drive. “It was the state’s obliga- tion towatch the contractor,” said Councilman Guy J. Giordano at one point in the borough's regular meeting Thursday. “The author- ity paid the state $30,000 to in- spect and see that the work was done right.” The borough had written to the state auditor gen- eral about the problem and he indicated that a year ago the state might have been able to do some- thing about it. - Ee WB RNAS
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers