SIS SAVAINICRIN 2 | SN OTOL [\V ISIN I BRI =ESH © J ol If oo | = © VAN BS EVANC TYR BDAY oQ = B= 1)V/ VAY NN Vol. 112, No. 1 oN Newspaper Since 1889 The Dallas Post On (GIGI BI ISH E21 [OF BSS Dallas, Pennsylvania 50 cents January 3 to January 9, 2001 The Back Mountain's Year 2000 in review, from Dallas Post files This was the year that was in the Back @ Mountain, as compiled by Dallas Post reporter Elizabeth Skrapits. January 5: Local merchants and busi- ness owners reported they experienced no Y2K problems, despite their earlier worries. The Dallas School District suited to move ahead with plans for capital im- provements to the middle school and high school, and began to think about adding a pool. Dallas Middle School students wrote about what or who they thought was most significant about the past millen- nium: women’s suffrage (Samantha O’Brien), D-Day (Lenore Kaplan), Johannes Gutenberg (Jeff Finn), Martin Luther (Cara Bestwick), electricity (An- drew VanLoon), and the microscope (Sara Getz). January 12: Public hearing dates were set as the long-running dispute esca- lated between American Asphalt Paving Co. and Jackson Twp. over mining at the company’s Chase quarry. In 1976 the Chase property was rezoned from M-1 (mining) to A-1 (agricultural), which American Asphalt owner Bernard Banks said he did not know about until later. The purpose of the hearing was to deter- mine whether the zoning should be changed back to M-1. Kunkle residents attended a Dallas Twp. zoning hearing board meeting to protest the permit granted to Daniel Meeker allowing him to put a mobile Slip sliding away home on his property at the intersecticn of Kunkle Rd. and County Rd., on the grounds that it violated the zoning ordi- nance and Meeker wasn't going to be living there. Also in Dallas Twp., the former Elston property, which includes Shadyside Lake, was offered for sale. Dallas Fire & Ambulance purchased a 2000 Pierce Quantum Rescue Engine. January 19: Numerous residents of Jackson Twp. showed up at the zoning hearing to protest the board's recom- mendation to change the zoning of Ameri- can Asphalt’s Chase property from A-1 back to M-1. The residents claimed blast- ing at the quarry damaged their homes and properties and the noise was a nui- sance. Bill Metzger of Jackson Twp., a Lake- Lehman senior, earned a spot in the U.S. Marine Corps Band as an electric-guitar player. See 2000 REVIEW, pg 2 Dallas Borough has Matt Giacometti and D.J. Carey had some winter fun following Saturday's storm, which turned out to be far less severe than POST PHOTO/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK + forecast, but still dropped enoughcover to coat sliding paths with a few inches of the white stuff. big plans for 2001 By ELIZABETH SKRAPITS Post Staff DALLAS BOROUGH - Dallas Borough went through a lot of shake-ups in 2000, but is plan- ning to get its act together in 2001 by cutting costs, getting grants, updating equipment and services, and making other positive changes. The new manager, Jo- seph Moskovitz, has been work- ing hard to get the borough's af- fairs in order, and it was generally agreed that the police and the road crew have been doing exem- plary jobs. “We're fortunate in this borough,” councilman Dennis Garvey said. The finalized operating budget for 2001 was approved at council's meeting of Dec. 19. It has been decreased from $726,000 to $720,000. “We put in the budget some things that are going to be changed, but nothing major,” Garvey said in a later interview. Certain items needed to be bud- geted for, such as equipment for the road crew — for instance, a new street sweeper will have to be purchased at some pint. The borough needs a new phone sys- tem, new computers and software, new pagers, all of which will be replaced with a view toward in- creasing efficiency while keeping costs down. “We're looking to evaluate and upgrade everything,” Garvey said, everi down to finding another Internet provider. “If we can save 10 bucks per month, we're going to save 10 bucks.” he said. “As head of the finance committee, I want to be pro-active in monitor- ing all costs and expenses in the borough.” Due to rising costs, the bor- ough will be accepting competi- tive bids for health care and in- surance. Local insurance compa- nies will be able to submit bids. Garvey estimates finding a new health-care provider can reduce costs for the borough by $14,000- 20,000. The police force will see some changes in the upcoming year. Council intends to hire another part-time officer due to the need for one — provided one can be found, as there is a general short- age. Chief Jack Fowler will try to get an officer from the approved civil-service list. The borough is in the process of completing the paperwork on the issue of regionalization. Coun- cilman Patricia Peiffer, as chair- man of the police committee, has been working on compiling data to see if combining the Dallas Borough and Dallas Twp. police forces would be feasible. Garvey said it will be important to seek input from residents at public meetings and through surveys; he also said the Department of Community and Economic Devel- opment will, at no cost, study the borough's findings and come up with. recommendations. Grants will be the name of the game in 2001. The police depart- ment intends to look for available See BOROUGH, pg 3 *kood bank overflows with generosity By SANDY PEOPLES Post Correspondent TRUCKSVILLE - In mid-No- vember the call went out. The shelves at the Back Mountain Food Bank were almost empty and the Thanksgiving and Christmas holi- days were nearly upon us. The demand on the food bank's re- sources would be great, but the supply of food was at an all-time low. A picture that was published in the Nov. 15 issue of The Dallas Post showed the bare shelves that reflected the need. After much hard work by many people, the scene is quite different now. A return visit to the food bank the Friday before Christmas revealed a picture is worth more than a thousand words. Hundreds of pounds of food came in over the last six weeks at the official collection sites that were set up around the Back Mountain area. It took three large SUV-type vehicles to collect and transport all of it to the food bank. On a snowy morning, and in the spirit of the season, some folks came out of the magistrate’s office in Trucksville to lend a hand to unload the food and carry it to the food bank room. “There was such an outpour- ing of compassion for our neigh- bors,” said Barbara DeBellis, food bank coordinator. “It was re- markable. We are truly grateful and can’t thank everyone enough. One woman even drove down from Scranton to donate food.” As aresult of everyone's gener- osity, Mrs. DeBellis reports that 64 families were given food bas- kets for Thanksgiving and 25 fami- lies received assistance 'to make See FOOD BANK, pg 12 POST PHOTO/SANDY PEOPLES Volunteers, from left, Bill Long, Bill Ostrum, Wally Gosart and George Gaylord now have plenty of food for those in need. 11 Pages, 1 Section Calendar Classified Crossword CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, NEWS OR ADVERTISING E-mail: dalpost@epix.net a Practicality+fun-rote work=math kids love By ELIZABETH SKRAPITS Post staff DALLAS - Think back to your grade-school math classes. Doyou remember those funny-smelling mimeographed worksheets with long rows of faded purple-printed problems, workbooks full of little else besides dreary equations, the teacher standing at the black- board going over and over the times tables while you fidgeted tion of a program currently be- ing implemented at the Dallas elementary schools. It's called Everyday Math. What is Everyday Math? Everyday Math is a compre- hensive program developed at the University of Chicago (which is why it's also referred to as “Chicago Math”). Its purpose is to teach basic arithmetic and computation skills, as with a The Dallas Post problems, and instead of squirm- ing in your seat, you're jumping out of it to measure things and count things and play games like “Beat the Calculator.” Does the second scenario sound too good to be true? Not only is it true, but it's a descrip- with your pencil and wished it was time for recess? Now imagine being in a math class where there isn’t a worksheet in sight (not even a photocopied one), the workbooks are called “journals” and are full of projects, number games, and real-life math traditional mathematics pro- gram, but in an innovative and accelerated way. For example, by third grade, students are learning algebra. Even though they are not taught certain al MAILING LABEL- Please enclose this label with any address changes, and mail to The Dallas Post, P.O. Box 366, Dallas PA 18612-0366 POST PHOTO/ELIZABETH SKRAPITS Teacher Bonnie Palmatier worked with Erika McCabe on measuring her book as Danny Morgan observed. See MATH, pg 12
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