4 The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, March 31, 1999 EDITORIALS A life well lived, and a lesson for all of us Paul LaBar was one of a rare breed these days, a man who lived nearly his entire life in the town of his birth, and who found his greatest satisfaction in giving back to the place and people that nurtured his growth. Along the way, he made friends not by being a back slapping good old boy, but by being humble, helpful and conscientious. That last word — consci- entious — comes up a lot in conversations about Paul, along with the word “dedication.” He was devoted to his family and to Dallas Borough and the institutions that made it a good place to live as he matured, and — thanks in part to his efforts — continue to make it the kind of hometown people in other areas of the country wish for. It's not that Mayor LaBar had an easy life, quite the contrary. After his mother died when he was only 10, he had to depend on the kindness of family friends and neighbors, who freely gave of their time and attention to the young man. Perhaps that is why Paul gave so much of himself to others and the borough in his later years, after he returned from Panama and World War II. As a borough councilman, mayor since 1981 and active member of Dallas Fire and Ambulance, Paul LaBar was con- stantly involved in the life of his hometown, never missing meetings or making excuses to avoid the work at hand. He never thought he’d done enough, he always did what he committed to, and he never sought the spotlight. Even when at the wheel of an ambulance, he got the job done with a minimum of fuss and bother. More of us would do well to emulate the qualities Paul LaBar seemed to wear so easily. His was a small world, some would say, but it was a universe of modest, wholesome, constructive values where people like him gave more than they took, and viewed service as the best use of their time and talents. Maybe the rest of the world can take a lesson from that. Publisher's notebook | After hearing about the umpteenth big company merger, I've come to a conclusion — we're paying way too much for most products and services. The one that got my attention was an announcement that Comcast, the cable television and profes- sional sports empire, was “merging” with another cable com- pany, at a price valued at some $44 billion. (In case you didn’t know, “merger” is the bizspeak for, “Okay, guys, you work for me now.”) : : Anyway, Comcast picks up about five million subscribers, and no pro sports teams that I know of. Now, my math may not be the greatest, and it certainly isn’t up to valuing an Internet company, but if I figured right, that works out to $8,800 per subscriber. So, let's take a wild guess and say the average subscriber is paying $40 a month, and divide that into $8,800 to figure out how many ‘months it will take to pay for the deal. I get 220 months, or a little over 18 years. Hmm, makes me wonder two things: 1. How did Comcast get enough money to pay for this deal? 2. How in the world will they get their investment back? The answer, I think, is the same for both questions: Comcast customers have been paying way too much for cable service and tickets to 76ers games. And they're not alone. Have you noticed that most of the auto manufacturers have money to burn these days, with Mercedes buying Chrysler, Ford buying Volvo and Jaguar, even modest Volkswagen talking about taking over Bentley, of all things. Ford I can understand, since they make about $15,000 on every one of those miniature school buses, but even the others must be making obscene profits. And we're gleefully handing over the cash that’s appar- ently burning huge holes in our pockets, at least temporarily. ‘Back to cable. The other answer to why Comcast could pay so much for so little is this; cable rates are now unregulated, so that $40 a month subscriber may be in for a rude surprise not long after the signatures are dry on the deal. But, hey, he may be able to get twice as many professional wrestling shows, so it'll probably be worth it. You can send items to the Post by ge dalpost@aol.com 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 letter 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 circumstances. We reserve the right to edit for length and grammar. ~The Dallas Post Published Weekly By Bartsen Media, Inc. P.O. Box 366, Dallas PA 18612 717-675-5211 Charlotte E. Bartizek ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER OFFICE MANAGER Ronald A. Bartizek PUBLISHER Jessica Appolo J ADVERTISING ACCT. EXEC Kasia McDonough REPORTER Olga Kostrobala CLASSIFIED/TYPESETTING. Ruth Proietto PRODUCTION MANAGER PRINTED WITH SOY INK|_ Member Symbol of the season. Photo by Charlotte Bartizek. LETTERS | | SPCA pans animals as entertainment Editor: What do circuses, rodeos, wres- tling bears, boxing kangaroos and donkey basketball all have in com- mon? These are just an example of many exhibitions where ani- mals are exploited for profit under the guise of entertainment. The cruelties these performaing animals are subjected to through stress in transportation, sleep and food deprivation and often cruel training methods are no longer hidden behind the scenes as they once were years ago. Animal rights groups, national animal protec- tion leagues as well as investiga- tive reporters for major networks have exposed all of the above to the public over the last 10 years. Well documented research, laws and regulations now makes it dif- ficult to cut corners on animal care and treatment for these per- forming animals. Even with all these standards and guidelines in place, well mean- ing groups such as the Dallas High School Student Council should consider other means of raising funds for projects. By con- tracting for such attractions at the recent donkey basketball event between students and teachers, the wrong mesage continues to be sent to our youth. Animals are sentient beings, they feel pain and suffer as a result of neglect and abuse. They also respond to kindness. On behalf of the SPCA of Luzerne County, we applaud the efforts of Emily Mallick to bring this 15 year tradition of donkey basketball at Dallas High School to an end. We hope that the school administrators take a good hard look at who actually profited from this event. It certainly wasn’t the student council or the don- keys. Edward Gross Director of Development SPCA of Luzerne County 1999 Library Auction committee Members of the organizing committed for the 1999 Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction are, from left, seated; Charlotte Bartizek, Barbara Kohler, Peg Harvey, John and Sue Oswalt, chairpersons, Jim Snyder, Ruth Tetschner. Standing; Maryann Daily, Karen Boback, Joyce Gebhardt, Lois Townsend, Sybil Pelton, Craig Aicher, Connie Scott, Durelle Scott, Ernie Ashbridge. The 53rd annual auction will be held Thursday through Sunday, July 8-11 on the library gournds. LEGISLATORS DIRECTORY Federal Officials Representative Paul E. Kanjorski (Democrat) Wilkes-Barre: 825-2200 Washington: (202) 225-6511 e-mail: paul.kanjorski @hr.house.gov # 400M, 7 N. Wilkes-Barre Blvd., Wilkes- Barre PA 18702 or 2353 Rayburn Building, Washington, DC 20515 Senator Arlen Specter (Republican) Wilkes-Barre: 826-6265 Washington: (202) 224-4254 e-mail: senator_specter @specter.senate.gov 116 South Main Street, Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 or 711 Hart Senate Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20510 Senator Rick Santorum (Republican) Scranton: 344-8799 Washington: (202) 224-6324 Fax: (202) 228-4991 e-mail: senator @santorum.senate.gov 527 Linden St., Scranton, PA 18503 120 Russell Senate Office Bldg. Washington, DC 20510 State Officials State Senator Charles D. Lemmond (Republican) (717) 675-3931 ‘e-mail: smurphy @pasen.gov 22 Dallas Shopping Ctr., Memorial Hwy., Dallas PA 18612-1231 State Representative George Hasay (Republican) 287-7505 or 542-7345 or 474-2276 or 477-3752 144 North Mountain Boulevard, Mountaintop PA 18707 Hasay's district encompasses: Harveys Lake, Lehman Township, Jackson Township, Lake Township, Franklin Township, Ross Township, and Dallas Township's north voting district. State Representative Phyllis Mundy (Democrat) 283-9622 or 655-3375 Suite 113, 400 Third Avenue, Kingston PA 18704 Mundy’s district encompasses: Dallas Borough, Dallas Township except for the north voting district, and Kingston Township. ONLY YESTERDAY 70 Years Ago - Mar. 30, 1929 GREAT INTEREST IN NEW PLYMOUTH After the special page an- nouncement in last week's issue of The Post, James R. Oliver, who is the direct dealer for Chrysler Plymouth in this section reported great interest being displayed in this new four cyclinder car. All buyers report being more than pleased with the performance of their new Plymouth. 60 Years Ago - Mar. 31, 1939 GETTING AROUND GETS EASIER Transportation between Dallas and Wilkes-Barre will be improved considerably this spring when three new buses take the place of street cars on the Dallas line. Bus service will be instituted when work on the upper end of the Luzerne by-pass necessitates the removal of street car tracks on Main Street, Luzerne, Edwin A. Hoffman, superintendent of the. Wilkes-Barre Railway Corp. said’ this week. You could get - Cross cut beef: roast, 27¢ 1b.; ground beef 2 lbs., 31¢; chuck roast, 23¢ Ib.; Crisco, 11b. can, 18¢; A&P Bread, Ig. loaf 8¢; 8 O'Clock Coffee, 1 Ib. bag. 14¢; lg. grapefruit, 3 for 10¢. 50 Years Ago - Apr. 1, 1949 HELP WANTED AT IDETOWN DRESS COMPANY Rose Dress Co. is operating on a limited schedule with 35 women employed at its plant in the Kern Building at Idetown, according to Herbert Goldstein, general man- ager. Goldstein said the firm is handicapped for lack of experi- enced sewing machine operators and could use 35 more at once. The firm has orders to keep it working at full capacity for the rest of the year. “The Baby-Sitter” a 3-act com- edy farce will be presented by the Junior Class of Lake Township High School, April 6:at 8 p.m., under the direction of Miss Mar- garet M. Dunn. 40 Years Ago - Mar. 26, 1959 SCHOOL BOY FINDS SAFE A mutilated 400-lb. safe, its contents scattered over a wide area was found Tuesday morning in an abandoned stolen Jeep on a ittle used road in the Bunker Hill section of Luzerne Borough. Dis- covery of the safe which was sto- len early Saturday morning from Huston’s Feed Service at Fernbrook was made by a school boy who was taking a walk in that area when he observed a number of checks scattered in the under- brush. Following the trail through the thicket, he came upon the Jeep stolen Friday night from Wyco Supply Co. of Tunkhannock. Five hundred kids up to 12 years of age will be the guests Kingston Township Police Satur- day at 10 for the 10th Annual Easter party in Westmoreland High School auditorium. Prizes will be awarded and each child will receive a box of Easter candy. 30 Years Ago - Apr. 3, 1969 STATE SPENDING CONCERNS LEHMAN RESIDENTS The Lehman Taxpayers Asso- ciation will meet April 4 at Leh- man Center Hose Co. A petition will be presented at this meeting concerning Pennsylvania taxes. This petition which was first cir- culated in Beaver Falls, PA where | itreceived 50,000 signatures, asks the Governor to cut all unneces- sary spending. Now playing at the Paramount Theatre in Wilkes-Barre, “Where Eagles Dare” starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood. 20 Years Ago - Mar. 29, 1979 PROPERTY TAXES REMAIN THE SAME IN HARVEYS LAKE No new tax increase should be necessary to cover Harveys Lake Borough's purchase of land and a. building near Sandy Beach and revenues generated by the prop- erty, operated as a public beach, . should cover its acquisition costs is the hope of borough council president and purchase advocate come to pass. Critics of the pro- posed purchase charged that in’ addition to being unnecessary it will likely turn into a costly “white elephant” that borough taxpayers will have to subsidize through a property tax increase. «UL
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers