4 Dallas, PA Wednesday, May 31, 2000 The Dallas Post EDITORIALS Time is right for an honest look at regional police After several false starts, the time may be right for Back Mountain communities to take a serious look at the benefits and shortcomings of a regional police force. That seems to be the signal given by an agreement between Dallas Borough and Dallas Township to study the feasibility of combining their departments with an eye toward streamlining administrative costs while assuring adequate coverage for both municipali- ties. A regional force has been discussed for years, and most dispassionate observers have felt the only drawback was a perceived loss of status for individual communities or their officials. If anything has been clear over all this time it is the difficulty small towns have in paying for sufficient coverage on their own, while the common practice of officers from adjacent towns lending a hand to one another is a perfect illustration of how easily two or more departments could work together. A growing number of towns across the state have taken the next step, formally combining their departments to create a single, larger force that can attract high-quality patrolmen and make efficient use of vehicles and equipment, and their experience has usually been positive. Pennsylvania is nearly unique in the high number of govern- ‘mental units within the state — only Illinois has more. Perhaps there were good reasons for the patchwork of communities that evolved here, and there may still be grounds to maintain individual town and borough indentities. Even if that’s the case, sharing services is an option that offers meaningful benefits to everyone in the Back Mountain, in many areas of government. A regional police force is only one possibility; shared planning, zoning and building officials is another, especially in light of the pending statewide building code, which many smaller communities are not equipped to enforce. It's encouraging that two towns are taking this step. Perhaps officials in other communities will want to get involved as well, and the result will be a broadening of this initiative to include all of the Back Mountain, where region-wide schools and organizations have shown the usefulness of bringing individu- als together to accomplish universal goals. Publisher's notebook “Pull ‘em apart limb by limb,” says the government. “I promise to play nice,” responds Bill Gates. “Just keep it going as long as possible,” say the lawyers. And what do I say? “Glad I use a Mac.” I know, Mac owners are characterized as anti-establishment fanatics, blinded to the superiority of Wintel machines (That's a combination of Windows and Intel for the 99 percent of you who could care less about the name on the box as long as the thing turns on) by their self delusions. But even ifyou don’t care about megabytes and SDRAM, aren't you a little fascinated by this modern passion play? After all, nothing is more important in 21st century America than ieehnology and money, and this case has both. The government proposes to carve up Gates — I mean Microsoft — into two or three pieces, hoping the result will be more room for competitors to develop operating systems, web browsers and other software. Gatesoft, meanwhile, insists it is not a monopoly, that having more than 90 percent market share offers no protection against ruthless privateers who are poised to at any moment drive Windows off the face of the earth. Why, they've even suggested that Microsoft has done us a favor by making computer buying so easy, eliminating the need to trouble our feeble brains with choices when it comes to an operating system. If you've ever struggled with pathnames, filenames and directories you may hunger to cut Bill Gates into a thousand tiny little pieces and scatter them across Lake Washington, but that would be an overreaction. Instead, how about this: Make Microsoft buy 90 percent of its key supplies from a single vendor, a company that is run by the guy Gates most disliked in high school. See, aside from Microsoft's monopoly, what we really don’t like is that this obnoxious nerd has us firmly by the cohones and gives a squeeze every? now and then just to remind us of his power. I'm not sure what the best answer is to the predicament Microsoft presents, but I'm guessing it isn’t to give consumers only one real option when shopping for computers, or for anything else. At least when it comes to teenagers’ clothing we can buy exactly the same styles in any number of stores! 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. fax them to (570) 675-3650 or send them by e-mail to dalpost@aol.com. 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 570-675-5211 Charlotte E. Bartizek ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER OFFICE MANAGER Ronald A. Bartizek PUBLISHER Ken Brocious ‘ ADVERTISING ACCT. EXEC Bill Goodman REPORTER Joanna Cease OFFICE/TYPIST/CLASSIFIEDS Ruth Proietto PRODUCTION MANAGER vd PRINTED WITH PENNSYLVANIA SOY INK INEWSPAPER Everything's just ducky in the grass. Photo by Charlotte Bartizek Library news Carol King Auction 2000 The , Back Mountain Memorial Library's 54th Auction kick-off dinner will be held June 5 at Yester-Days Res- taurant in Trucksville. (XX J Auction reminders: The Sand Art Booth needs clean, empty glass . jars, and Lipton, Tropicana, Ocean Spray and Snapple bottles, all with lids. The Book Booth needs reading materials, but no Reader’s Digest Condensed Books, National Geographics or textbooks, please. Clean, usable household items are needed for the Odds and Ends Booth. New goods for sale over the block are also needed. You may bring to the library any items Auction kickoff June 5 you wish to contribute to the Auc- tion. [LX J Book Discussion Groups The next meeting of the Monday evening book discussion group will be held on June 19 at 7 p.m. Members will discuss Animal Dreams, by Barbara Kingsolver. The last meeting for the season of the Monday morning group was held on May 22. Since the as- signed book was a play, W;t (or Wit), we varied our procedure and took turns reading aloud a large portion of the play. Although the main character was a woman pro- fessor dying of ovarian cancer, and the play was certainly som- ber, the reading was absorbing and we even found a touch of humor — and instant recognition — in the depiction of the health care professionals with whom she dealt. Children’s Library Even the j youngsters have a book discus- sion group. “Donuts and Discus- sion”, for 10, 11, and 12-year- olds, will be getting under way in June. If you are interested, call the children’s library at 675-1182. Registration for the Story House summer sessions is required and will be held June 5 through 10. The sessions themselves will be held from June 27-28 through August 1-2. Registration for the “Readers 2000 — Masters of the Millen- nium” Summer Reading Game will begin June 12. Both read-to-me youngsters (parents and pre- schoolers) and readers (school- age children) are invited to par- ticipate. Programs, games, prizes and certificates will provide a sum- mer of fun and progress in read- ing skills. (LX J Summer staff Many of you will recognize Jacqui Prothero, who has returned for her third sum- mer of working at the library. She attends Bloomsburg University and will be a senior in the Fall, majoring in Special Education and minoring in Psychology. Jacqui lives in Dallas. 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 23583 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 Library Auction Corner The Back Mountain Memorial Library is collecting items for the 54th annual auction. The life of the library is a year- to-year proposition, and the auction is crucial to its operation. Twenty- five percent of the annual budget comes from the auction. Any and all donations of cash or saleable items can help assure the continued fine service of the library to our communities. For more information, call the library at 675-1182. al ety | I QO I'll help the Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction I Name Phone I Address City State____ Zip QA | have an item to donate. Call me for details. Value $ Q Here's a cash donation of $ Back Mountain Memorial Library | 96 Huntsville Road, Dallas PA 18612 I Call 675-1182 if you have questions. Donations are tax-deductible. J Mail or bring to: to help the library. This message donated as a public service by The Dallas Post i : i 1 L ! i ! i i J State Representative George Hasay (Republican) 287-7505 or 542-7345 or 474-2276 or 477-3752 119 S. Mountain Blvd., 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. A few sample items (2) Lloyd Flanders (swivel and stationary) patio chairs Autographed photo of Sven Butenschon, Penquins player, with schedule Truckload of stone, delivered, Pikes Creek Sand & Gravel (2) tickets to the 2000/2001 schedule of the Northeast Philharmonic (ON I 4 YESTERDAY 70 Years Ago - May 30, 1930 PA LEADS NATION IN ICE CREAM CONSUMPTION Pennsylvania led all states in the consumption of ice cream. Figures released by the U.S. De- partment of Agriculture credited Pennsylvania residents with eat- ing 4.98 gallons per person. Two attempts were made to burn the old covered bridge that crosses Bowmans Creek at Orcutt's Grove, near Noxen. The fire was eating its way into the heavy timbers of the bridge when it was discovered late at night by Lewis Orcutt and his son George, who lived nearby. With the assis- tance of neighbors, Orcutt and his son extinguished the blaze, only to have it break out later in the night, when it was again brought under control. From the appearance of the charred boards and the number of places where the flames broke out, it was evi- dent that gasoline or kerosene was scattered at several points on ~ the bridge and then lit. Now Playing at Himmler The- atre, "Four Feathers" with Rich- ard Arlen. 60 Years Ago - June 7, 1940 LOCAL GIRLS BIRTHPLACE BUILT INTO SHRINE A crew-of workmen were trans- forming the birthplace of four- year-old Faith Hope Charity Harding of Trucksville into a shrine which, the sponsors be- lieved, would attract visitors from all parts of the country. Nation- wide publicity that came on the heels of claims that the girl was able, with the help of a spirit known and "Entity" to predict fu- ture events, brought thousands of letters to the Harding home and dozens of visitors. The changes that were made to the home were made by a group of wealthy spon- sors who had become interested in Faith, and it was said that the establishment of the shrine was just part of the plans that had been decided for her. The Carey Avenue bridge con- necting Plymouth and Wilkes- Barre was opened for traffic after it collapsed during a flood in April. 50 Years Ago - June 2, 1950 MONROE TOWNSHIP H.S. HOLDS ALUMNI BANQUET Over one hundred alumni of Monroe Township High School spent the evening at their annual banquet. David Austin was the oldest alumni present and the class of 1925 with five members took the honor for the largest group representation. You could get: Nabisco fig new- tons, 2 pkgs., 35¢; Uncle Ben's convertedrice, 29¢/Ib.; Bananas, 2lbs., 29¢; Gold Seal cooked spa- ghetti, 2 cans, 25¢; Philadelphia cream cheese, 2 30z. pkgs., 31¢; Blueberries, 12 oz. pkg., 43¢. 40 Years Ago - June 2, 1960 LEGION WANTS FLAGS FLOWN OUTSIDE HOUSES In an effort to awaken citizens to the importance of displaying the American flag on their homes and places of business, Daddow- Isaacs Post American Legion em- | barked on a campaign to have the flag displayed on every home on Flag Day. The American Legion was selling a 3x5 foot flag com- plete with a six foot pole for $4 to attain their goal. The fourteenth annual Library Auction had an unusual pair of diamond willow carved candle sticks sent to them from Copper Center, Alaska by the Bombeck family who were former residents of this area. The Bombeck's wished for the candle sticks to be auctioned to help raise funds. 30 Years Ago - June 4, 1970 BALLOON FINDS ITS WAY FROM MICHIGAN Ahelium balloon that had trav- elled over 600 miles from Michi- gan landed in the backyard of the Cartier home. Carol Cartier, 12, and her sister Barbara, 9, found the dark green balloon laying on the ground behind their house. Inside was note that read "Visit Beautiful Michigan. Released May 23. If found send to Mrs. Duane Miller, Hastings, Michigan." After a Post staff member investigated, it was determined that the bal- loon was one of 450 released to celebrate Youth Day during Michi- gan Week. 00 | QO Vv
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers