4 Dallas Post Dallas, PA April 25, 2001 EDITORIALS A word about burning bans It's nothing new. With spring's warm tempera- tures, people are spending more time outside. Then, after an unpleasant incident or two with neighbors polluting the environment with a variety of backyard bon-fires, they call upon their elected officials for help. We heard about it at the last meeting of the board of supervisors in Kingston Township, and we heard about it again at the most recent Dallas Borough Council meeting. People just don’t like being smothered with smoke because others have a “burning desire” (pun intended) to gather up pile after pile of dried leaves and set them aflame. Kingston Township Supervisor Randall Gliddon said he’s been trying to institute a burning ban for the last three years. Good for him! Let's hope he finds luck on his fourth try. Until he does, maybe people can make an effort to burn just a little bit less, out of consideration for their neighbors. And for those who live in Dallas, remember, there is no burning on Sunday, Monday or Thursday. We were very disturbed to hear a complaint about somebody burning leaves on Easter Sunday. It must have been a great way for the kids to enjoy egg hunts in Grandma's back yard as their nostrils burned from pollution. Let’s all try to be more considerate and follow the rules when it comes to burning outside. It's really just common sense and the neighborly thing to do. Publisher’s Notebook I was reminded of the incredible shrinking globe while on vacation last week. Arriving at a restau- rant at the Lucayan Country Club on Grand Ba- hama island, I noticed three fellows waiting to be picked up by a taxi. One of them was holding a plastic bag along with his golf bag, and on the bag I could see “Luzerne” in bright green lettering. It turned out to be a bag from Luzerne County Com- munity College, and the guys were from the Wilkes-Barre area. This just added to my perpetual awe at the ease and speed of travel in the jet age. (Try explaining that term to someone who has grown up with the space shuttle.) In this case, we boarded a plane in the Bahamas at noon and were on the ground in Newark by 2:30. Heck, there are mornings when it ' takes almost that long to get from Harveys Lake to Luzerne. FA REP Ahern Now, about our vacation, which I'm sure you can’t wait to hear all about. First off, you can thank me for bringing back that wonderful weather last weekend. While we were suffering through the boredom of sunny skies and 80 degrees every day, you were stimulated by freezing temperatures and mid-April snow. I can’t tell you how much we en- joyed watching the Weather Channel each night. I'm just rubbing it in. Truthfully, it wasn’t always 80, sometimes it was only 78, and there were some clouds. And wind, which meant putting off a cata- maran sail until the end of the week, when I could- n't hold off my son any longer. Having been told — not by me — that I was a good sailor, I'm sure he looked forward to a thrilling but safe skim across the waves, which I provided in one direction. Than it was time to turn, and I realized that what makes a Hobie cat stable also makes it kind of clumsy. So, we were reduced to the ultimate indignity on the high seas, having a beach crew guy race out on a jet ski to bump us around so we could head back to the shore. No matter how many adventures we had, we real- ized some things just can’t compare with home. Take ice cream, for example. Our daughter combed the shopping districts for a tasty cone, but there was nothing that could compare to mint chocolate chip from Hillside Farm. The snorkeling was better than in Harveys Lake, though, so things balanced out. I doubt we'll spot eagle rays, barracuda and parrotfish off Sandy Beach this summer. ST The Dallas Post TIMESeLEADER unity Newspaper Group P.O. BOX 366, DALL A 18612 « 570-675-5211 Julie D. Imel EDITOR Ken Brocious ADVERTISING ACCT. EXEC. Ron and Charlotte Bartizek PUBLISHERS EMERITUS Stephen Peterson PRESIDENT & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER 1-800-427-8649 Heather B. Jones REPORTER Ruth Proietto Production Manager A taste of spring. Photo by Jim Phillips. LETTERS Praise for those defending Pennsylvania's watershed Editor, I think all the citizens of Northeast, Pennsylvania owe al- legiance to the community- minded “Defend Our Watershed” Organization for doing what each and every one of us should be doing: protecting our envi- ronment for now and the future of this area. Without water we are all lost. And the destruction of watershed land to make a buck is criminal, as well as dis- gusting. One needs only to take a walk (forbidden by Theta Land corporation) to see the muddy, barren logging areas that once were protected and held “for the people”, being destroyed in a mad rush to capitalize on the timber and even sale of lakes as though they were nothing but an everyday cheap commodity. How can any thinking person believe he or she owns what God created for all such as our drinking water and even the lakes? We here in Luzerne, Lackawanna, Wyoming and Monroe Counties are being treated the same way the robber barons of old treated the na- tives; stealing their land and all natural resources and driving ti ato] them into the wastelands. Only through concerted actions, and yes, civil disobedience, will we be able to literally beat back the secretive and unethical actions of this corporation. For more than 100 years, the laws of the United States have given corporations the privileges of human beings. Under cur- rent laws they are granted per- petual life, have practically no limits and cannot be jailed. But corporations are chartered by the state and must answer to the people of those states. Imagine that each of us as pri- vate citizens were doing with our property what Theta Land is do- ing, and see how fast the state would come down on us. fines and jail for polluting the water- ways and reservoirs, a visit from the county conservation agen- cies for soil erosion, etc., at the very least. Yet with the excep- tion of one lone state represen- tative, John Yudichak, not one high and mighty politician has come forward to expose the se- cretive and damaging actions of this corporation. Rest assured, that if it were Joe Schmo doing these things, he would be shut- down immediately. Theta is just another example of placing property rights above human rights. Therefore it is the duty of us all to rise up and demand that the state of Penn- sylvania use its power to redress the wrong that has been done to us behind the false face of a cor- poration. The state has used its poser of “eminent domain” thousands of times to take property from Joe Schmo and others for the good of all, and should be in the ring right now fighting for us, but it is not and we should not sit back and simply wonder why? when we already know it is money, power and sleaze. Sot please governor “Growing Greener” Ridge, spare the citi- zens the ordeal of tedious and costly lawsuits in order to gain control of what is a public utility and absolute necessity, the wa- tershed lands of northeast Pennsylvania. As Lord Thurlow put it 200 years ago, “Corporations have neither bodies to be punished, nor souls to be condemned”. Let us see. John Allen, Sweet Valley About letters, columns and editorials The Dallas Post attempts to publish opinions on a variety of topics in many forms. Editorials, which are the opinion of the management of The Post, appear on the editorial page and are written by the editor unless otherwise indicated. Any artwork represents the opinion of the artist, and columns are the opinion of the author. Letters to the editor are welcome and will be published, subject to the follow- ing (ialdelmes: tters should not exceed 500 words. * No writer may have more than one letter Published on a single subject dur- ing a 30-day period, except as a reply to ano her letter. * Letters must be signed and include the writer's home town and a telephone number for verification. * Names will be withheld only if there exists a clear threat to the writer. * The Post retains the right to accept or reject any letter, and to edit letters for grammar and spelling, as well as to eliminate any libel, slander or objec- tionable wording. In addition to letters, we welcome longer pieces that may run as columns. The author or subject's relevance to the Back Mountain will be the prime con- sideration when selecting material for publication. ONLY YESTERDAY 70 Years Ago - April 24, 1931 RURAL BASEBALL LEAGUE @ TO OPEN ITS SEASON At a recent meeting plans ere completed for the opening games of the Rural League, which will get under way this Saturday afternoon, when Dal- las goes to Idetown, Shavertown to Beaumont and Meeker to East Dallas. Meeker and Shavertown, two new entries in the league, have replaced Noxen and Alderson, and their man- agers are confident of giving the boys a run for their money. With the leasing of the former Adel- man Lumber Yard by R. R. Church, of Kingston, Dallas will probably have a new industry in the form of a large storage and distributing plant for the whole- saleing of lubricating oils. Mr. Church has completed negotia- tions with W. T. Payne for the property for one year and also has an option on the property. The establishment of a business such as Mr. Church is engaged in , cannot help but benefit the community and give employ- ment to a number of local men At your local A&P store you could get rice, 3 lbs. 14¢; Apple- sauce, 5 cans 41¢; sauerkraut; 3 Ige. cans, 20¢; vinegar, 3 24 oz. bots., 26¢; ketchup, 3 Ige. bots., 39¢; Old Dutch cleanser, 5 cans, 31¢; evaporated milk, 3 tall cans, 19¢; butter, 2 lb., 55¢; peas, 5 cans, 41¢. 60 Years Ago - April 25, 1941 DESCENDANTS OF EARLY FOUNDERS PAY FIRST VISIT TO TRUCKSVILLE In an effort to trace the family line of her first husband, a Doc- tor Trucks, Mrs. H. V. Knight and her daughter of Racine, Wisconsin, made a pilgrimage to Pennsylvania and Luzerne coun- ty to find a community they had heard was called Trucksville. William Trucks had come to Wyoming Valley from Windham, Connecticut in 1794 and that he had served on the first grand jury summoned in Luzerne county. About 1809 he estab- lished a saw mill along Toby's Creek. The settlement that grew up around his mill was known as Trucksville. Charles Matting- ly, son of Mrs. John T. Nichol- son of Norton avenue, left by plane from LaGuardia Field, New York, for the West Coast to ® accept a position as navigating officer on bombing planes built by consolidated Aircraft Corpo- ration. While not certain of his new duties, Mr. Mattingly sus- pects that he may help to navi- gate bombers to the Philippines. The United States Defense Sav- ings Bonds and Postal Savings Stamps will be placed on sale in Back Mountain Post offices at the opening of business on May 1, as part of the national effort to make America impregnable. Postmaster Irvin C. Davis, Post- master at Shavertown, an- nounced today that plans are nearly completed for this com- munity, along with thousands of others from coast to coast, to do its full part at the opening of the savings program. 50 Years Ago - April 27, 1951 MEMORIAL LIBRARY DINNER ATTRACTS 254 PERSONS TO IREM COUNTRY CLUB There was never a dull mo- ment at the Back Mountain Memorial Library dinner held at the Irem Temple, with Herman Kern leading group winging from table to table; a piano accordion which' was drowned out in the response; chorale numbers by Dallas Woman's Club Seniors and Juniors; a skit by the Ju- niors; and the auctioning off by Harry Ohlman of a homely arti- cle of bedroom pottery, sight un- seen, the opening gun in the an- nual auction. 40 Years Ago - April 27, 1961 @ COMMUNITY TO HONOR COLLEGE MISERICORDIA Congressman Daniel J. Flood will be the toastmaster Monday night when College Misericordia receives the Community Service Award of Back Mountain Protec- tive Association at a Community @) Dinner at Irem Temple Country Club.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers