Wednesday, June 16, 1999 6 The Dallas Post Dallas, PA EDITORIALS Police officers in schools? The younger, the better In response to a perceived more dangerous environment in schools, the Dallas School District is considering the place- ment of local police officers in school buildings. Under the plan, unarmed officers dressed casually but sporting a badges would become a common presence in schools. While they would be able to intervene in specific cases as needed, the greater effect, according to school officials, is to promote interaction between students and the police, so both sides can gain a greater understanding and respect for one another. ai Dallas has not had an overabundance of discipline prob- lems, and the district was mostly spared during the rash of dangerous foolishness that followed the killings in Colorado this spring. In that tragic incident, an armed police officer stationed at Columbine High School was apparently little help in stemming a murderous student rampage. But it seems the Dallas plan is less about scaring potential miscreants than it is about building a bridge of trust between students and police. A couple of generations ago, when people were more likely to live in cities and towns than in suburbs, the beat cop was a regular feature of most neighborhoods. His (it was all men at that time, now it's not) presence served many purposes — to ~ reassure law-abiding people that protection was nearby, to dissuade would-be criminals from-acting, and to demonstrate that the police are a natural and necessary part of society. Today, areas like the Back Mountain are scattered with “devel- opments,” places with lots of homes, but no sidewalks, shops and institutions to tie them together. As a result, the local police must depend on cars to get them around from one place to another, isolating them from incidental contact with the people they serve. One result is that most young children are frightened of police officers, who they know only from depictions on televi- sion, whether the news or a weekly show. Those caricatures don’t lend themselves to trust and respect, because they don't include everyday contact and interaction. . What the Dallas School District proposes could be at least a small step toward rebuilding the comfortable trust that should exist between law enforcement and the community at large, especially if it begins with officers in elementary schools, where impressions are strongest. [ J] [J] ® This is victory? So, this is victory. A million people displaced from their homes, thousands murdered, their villages and cities de- stroyed by bombs and shells, a ruthless dictator still comfort- ably in power. Only a leader like Bill Clinton and his cast of unprincipled followers would dare proclaim this victory. Did some good come out of the tragedy in Kosovo? Sure, thankfully, some always does. In this case, the fact that the enlarged NATO alliance held firm was a plus, although the price of solidarity was an anemic response to unspeakable violence. But even that was a big improvement from other times, when the civilized world stood by as the Holocaust and other sicken- ing events took place. Still, should we call this . . victory? The only clear point was that few Americans or allied soldiers were counted among the casualties. Thus, by Bill Clinton's standard of self-preservation, this was victory be- cause we didn’t get hurt. Thousands of Kosovars, who we supposedly were helping, apparently could be sacrificed for that end, as long as we came out unharmed. In the weeks Slobodan Milosevic massed troops at the border, preparing to attack, we “negotiated.” When he invaded, killing and displacing people, we bombed bridges and build- ‘ings a hundred miles away, safely out of harm’s way. When he was satisfied the renegade province had been reduced to rubble, he ran up a white flag, secure in the knowledge that we ‘wouldn't remove him from power. So, this is victory? LEGISLATORS DIRECTORY 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 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, State Representative George Hasay (Republican) 287-7505 or 542-7345 or 474-2276 or DC 20515 477-3752 Senator Arlen Specter 144 North Mountain Boulevard, (Republican) 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. 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 Representative Phyllis Mundy (Democrat) 283-9622 or 655-3375 Suite 113, 400 Third Avenue, Kingsion PA 18704 Mundy’s district encompasses: Dallas Borough, Dallas Township except for the north voting district, and Kingston Township. The Dallas Post i Published Weekly By Bartsen Media, Inc. i # P.O. Box 366, Dallas PA 18612 : 717-675-5211 Ronald A. Bartizek Charlotte E. Bartizek PUBLISHER ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER OFFICE MANAGER “! Gregory Culver Ro ADVERTISING ACCT. EXEC Kasia McDonough . : REPORTER Ruth Proietto PRODUCTION MANAGER Olga Kostrobala CLASSIFIED/TYPESETTING Nanette Bozentka iy OFFICE MGR. y 4 td ] . PRINTED WITH D>! PENNSYLVANIA % 8 SOY INK 2 i 8 NEWSPAPER Barn at the side of the road. Mountain View Drive, Lehman Township. Photo by Ron Bartizek A Case for consgayation Alene N. Case When I was in elementary school, geography was relegated to some sort of second cousin of history. I enjoyed learning the names of countries (they've al- most all changed since then!) and writing them on the maps of the continents. But, after the test, we really didn’t use any of that infor- mation, and we were never taught the importance of it. That has changed. Inrecent years, schools have begun to participate in the Geography Bee sponsored by the National Geographic Society. The national finals are hosted by the same person who hosts Jeopardy! No distant cousin now! One of the biggest changes in thelast thirty-some years has been the realization that geographic in- formation is’ critically important to decisions made by governments, industries, and all manner of other organizations. And, once this im- portance was recognized, people began to devise ways of putting various types of information to- gether in a coherent form that GIS: Hi-tech tools we can use could be used by decision-makers and understood by the general public: Personal computers, color printers, satellite imagery, and the Internet have all facilitated this development. Geographic information sys- tems - or GIS, for shdrt - are computer-based systems which are used to store and manipulate any information which has a loca- tion component. Maps of soils and topography can be layered together with aerial photographs so that agricultural or forestry practices can be assessed. In fact, the first national-scale GIS was begun in Canada in the 1960s to keep track of the extensive crop- land in that huge country. It has continued to evolve into the Canada Land Data System and includes information on forestry, wildlife and recreation. This sys- tem is copied by nations and orga- nizations around the world in- cluding the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The real beauty of GIS is that these systems can be tailored to the needs and goals of the user. They are just as useful to a county or city as they are to countries or international organizations. Since the old adage “information is power” is much more than a tru- ism, GIS can be a tool in efforts to restore justice and to regain con- trol within political systems which tend to be autocratic. Environ- mental uses of GIS are almost unlimited - local and global, in- dustrial and community organi- zational, scientific and cultural. Let me give you some examples. The city of Atlanta has used a relatively simple GIS known as “CITYgreen” to determine that the 20 percent reduction in vegeta- tion cover they experienced from 1986 to 1993 cost the city 2 billion dollars in storm water contain- ment facilities alone! The city is also determining how trees influ- ence cooling costs, where parks and other greenspaces are needed, what the real problems of sprawl are, etc., with the help of GIS. This intersection of population dynam- ics, climatic data, satellite photo- graphs, and maps of various ser- vices can be accomplished quite easily with the help of computer systems, but would be virtually impossible to do by hand or calcu- lator. Foresters are some of the most frequent users of GIS. In the USA, the Forest Service has been able to keep track of changes in its holdings on a time period much shorter than the 20 year cycle required under the old system. Now they can see changes in for- est health and extent on a weekly or monthly scale. They still have foresters on the ground checking on the reliability of the satellite images, but these foresters are able to go directly to areas of con- cern instead of cruising (that's a forestry term; it does not refer to driving around and around public square) the entire forest. It was recently learned that the Russians were underestimating the extent and nature of the fires in their boreal forests by as much as 90 percent. Satellite images were compared with maps of the officially monitored areas. These underestimates were understand- able since forest managers in Rus- sia are given incentives for good fire suppression. However, 'be: cause a large portion of the world’s boreal forests are in Russia and because crown fires (those reach- ing the tops of trees) in boreal forests add a great deal of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, it is “essential for scientists to know * the total size of the areas affected by these fires. Maps have always been iter. esting to people. GIS can make maps even more useful than be- fore. Therefore, whether you are a sales person interested in maxi- mizing coverage of your territory or aland manager looking to allow development of the least ecologi- cally sensitive land, you may find these tools invaluable. Just make sure you get good advice on the kind of software you need or hire a qualified firm to handle your work so that you can depend on the accuracy and relevance of the final product. ONLY YESTERDAY] 70 Years Ago - June 15, 1929 TRAGEDY AVERTED AT LAKE AS TRUCK CATCHES FIRE One of the large Tarvia tank trunks being used by the State Department of Highways, to oil the road between Harveys Lake picnic grounds and the Wyoming County Line, caught fire Wednes- day afternoon on Main Street, Dallas and caused considerable excitement before the flames could be extinguished. The truck was not seriously damanged. Had the truck burned a little longer, it is believed that the Tarvia tank would have exploded and prob- ably have caused loss of life and serious damage to the business section of town. 60 Years Ago - June 16, 1939 MANHATTAN PLAYERS DRAW RAVE REVIEWS Enthusiastic praise was heard on all sides for the Manhattan Players who opened this week for the season and who expect to duplicate this week’s success when they appear in “In Love With Love” starting Monday evening. The new Theatre, the first at the Lake, is located in the old H.L. Supply Co. on the Kunkle Road. The new amusement center is one of the most attractive in this part of the country and is expected to draw patrons of the spoken drama from Montrose to Berwick. Now playing at the Himmler Theatre, “Dodge City” with Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHaviland. 50 Years Ago - June 17, 1949 FLACK APPOINTED TO PA LOCAL GOV'T. COMMISSION Honorable Harold E. Flack, Representative in the State As- sembly from the Sixth Legislative District has been honored with an appointment to the Pennsylvania Local Government Commission according to an announcement made by Herbert P. Sorg, Speaker of the House. Local Government Commissison has been in exist- ence for a number of years and has an enviable record of accom- plishment. You could get - Sirloin steaks, 69¢ Ib.; Long Island Ducklings, 37¢ 1b.; Bing cherries, 29¢ 1b; pascal celery, 1g. bnch, 19¢; Su- preme Bread, 1g. loaf 13¢; mild Cheddar cheese, 45¢ 1b.. 40 Years Ago - June 11, 1959 McCRORY’S TO OPEN STORE IN BMT SHOPPING CENTER Edward Eyerman announced yesterday that Eyerman & Fine owners of Back Mountain Shop- ping Center, Shavertown will shortly start construction of a large new unit at the northern end of the present center. The new unit with a frontage of 85 feet and depth of 125 will be occupied late this fall by McCrory’s Variety Store, a national chain which also has a store in Gateway Shopping Center, Kingston. Lake-Lehman area jointure adopted a budget and a school calendar, placed orders for type- writers and authorized employ- ment of a new elementary school teacher Tuesday. In a surprise motion, it took the important step of passing a resolution to proceed at once with plans for a building project. 30 Years Ago - June 19, 1969 DALLAS SCHOOL BOARD CONSIDERS WATER OPTIONS Cost of bottled water supplied to Trucksville and Westmoreland Elementary Schools as a result of inadequate and potentially dan- gerous ‘water suplied by Trucksville Water Co. during the past year prompted School Direc- tor Andy Kozemchak to urge a hard-line policy with. that com- pany at the recent school board meeting. Maintaining that pur- chase of bottled water represented a legitimate charge in view of the State's refusal, through its Health Dept. to approve for use water supplied by the Water Cos Kozemchak suggested that it would be less costly in the long run to drill wells at each of the schools. A 20 Years Ago - June 14, 1979 NEW BUDGET INCLUDES TAX: INCREASE IN LAKE-LEHMAN Lake-Lehman school directors adopted a $4,823,474 1979/80 budget at their regular meeeting, Tuesday. The 89 mill budget rep- resents a six mill increase over this year’s budget. A Harveys Lake business has changed hands. On June 2, Nick and Nancy DiVeronica purchased Puterbaugh’s Store from Miss Eleanor Puterbaugh who has owned and operated the general grocery store foryears. DiVeronica a plumbing and heating contrac: tor says he plans to change the name to DiVeronica's Sunset Gro- cery Store but will continue to provide the fine service given by Miss Puterbaugh. 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