50 Cents SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS & LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS June 6 to June 12, 2001 Vol. 112. No. 23 Dallas, Pennsylvania The Morrow mansion at 160 Lakeside Drive, Harveys Lake, as it ap- Now you see it, now you don’t Harveys Lake mansion taken down last week HARVEYS LAKE - The most no- torious home at Harveys Lake is nothing more than a memory. Where once stood a 13 room mansion with six bedrooms, sev- en baths, sauna, jacuzzi, olympic size indoor swimming pool and a 10-car garage, all that is left, is a neatly landscaped lawn. The home, on approximately 1 1/2 acres including a 218 foot lakefront and 125 foot dock, was built over the past 20 years by Al Morrow, a reputed dealer in pornographic materials. On April 30, a permit was is- sued in the name of Kathy Willauer for Pole 160, P.O. Box 103, Harveys Lake, for the demoli- tion of the house on the property. Brdaric Excavating is named as the contractor for the demolition work on the permit issued by Har See HOUSE, pg 5 peared until last week, when it was demolished. An empty lot was all that remained on Monday afternoon. % Increase projected for Dallas school taxes By RONALD BARTIZEK Post Staff DALLAS - Taxpayers in the Dallas School Dis- trict will be paying 9 percent more next year if the tentative budget for 2001-2002 is adopted. The budget, which must be finalized by June 30, projects $21.7 million in spending and $20.7 million in revenues, leaving a shortfall of nearly $1 million. As a result, the estimated fund bal- ance would shrink from $4.6 million to $3.6 mil- lion. The balance decreased by nearly $600,000 in the present budget year. To support the plan, the real estate tax millage rate would increase from 174 to 190. Last year’s rate was a 4 mill increase from 1999-2000. Salaries and benefits for personnel account for $12.9 million, or 59 percent of the spending. Debt service and fees add up to $2.7 million. The district has been on an aggressive renova- tion program in recent years, with the construc- tion of a new athletic fieldhouse and the Wycallis Elementary School, and renovations to the foot- ball stadium. A massive project to renovate the middle school is to start this summer. Local tax sources provide 64 percent of the district's funding, the vast majority of it from property taxes. Other taxes are an earned in- come tax of 1 percent, shared equally with mu- 2000-2001 DISTRICT 11 CHAMPION | AAT BASEBALL They’re tops! | The Dallas Mountaineers baseball team won the District 2 championship last week, topping Meyers 3-1 with daring play in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sharing the joy along with the championship plaque, from left, first row:Ben Coslett, Ryan Bolton, Josh Katyl, A.J. Harris, Mike Smith, Jeremy Harris, Ryan Gryskevicz. Back row: Collin McHale, Mike English, Darryl Evans, Josh Bryant. More photos on sports page. *Bookkeeper admits stealing over $ By HEATHER B. JONES Post Staff DALLAS - A Dallas woman stole more than $100,000 from her employer, a general con- struction firm, over nearly two years. On March 8, Doris Fitch, wife @of Drew Fitch, vice president and secretary of R.N. Fitch and Sons, Inc., Dallas, noticed something out of the ordinary on the desk of secretary Donna Marie Yachim’'s desk. It was a check laying face down. When Fitch flipped the check over and saw *Next step for Act 50 group may be last By HEATHER B. JONES Post Staff & LEHMAN -Frustrated and be- wildered members of the Act 50 Commission are questioning what their next steps will be. At the May 29 meeting of the Lake-Lehman ‘School District Act 50 Commission, school di- rector Moderno Rossi, a com- mission member, questioned if @ commission was formed egally on April 17. “My opinion See ACT 50, pg 8 the check was made payable to Donna Yachim in the amount of $2,500, almost two years of theft had been uncovered. Yachim was hired by as a gen- eral secretary at R.N. Fitch and Sons on September 21, 1998. Eventually her duties were ex- panded to include creation of the payroll and addressing ac- counts payable. She was also re- sponsible for the daily balance ledger. Approximately two years ago Ronald Fitch, president, autho- rized Yachim to sign his name to contracts in the office. Yachim also started signing Ronald Fitch’s name to other docu- ments, including checks. When Doris Fitch found the check on Yachim'’s desk she told her husband, which led to an in- ternal audit. The audit revealed the daily balance ledger was not always added properly, short- changing the firm's funds. It was also discovered that certain can- celled checks, dating back to July 22, 1999 were nowhere to be found. Drew Fitch contacted Mellon Bank and asked for copies of 44 missing account payable checks POST PHOTO/M.B. GILLIGAN Charles Stajewski is pictured with nine scouts from his original Cub Scout troop who have become Eagle Scouts. From left, front row: Peter Van Loon, John Gilligan, Brian Cornia, Dan Piccollo and Chuck Stajewski. Back row: Matt Katyl, Michael Yenason, Peter Yurchision and Sean Smith. which had been made out to Yachim in the amounts of $2,000 or $2,500. Four other checks had been made out to Yachim in the amounts of $500, $3,200 and two for $3,000. The total of the 44 missing checks was $103,700. But it did not end there. Fur- ther investigation into the pay- roll account revealed since around August of 2000, Yachim was paying herself $1 an hour more than her hourly rate of $9.50. The total amount from the payroll account was $1,600. Yachim admitted to writing nicipal governments, and a $10 per capita tax. 100,000 from employer the checks out to herself. She said she would call up the ac- counts payable screen of her computer, fill in her name as the payee and list office supplies as the reason for payment. She would then print out the check and then delete the screen. She would always print the checks with other account payable checks. Yachim completed the hand- written ledger without listing her checks but always included them in the running total so the See THEFT, pg 8 Trusted Scoutmaster hands over the reins By M.B. GILLIGAN 0 st Correspondent TRUCKSVILLE - “Mr. Stajews- ki is the man!” Those five words, so eloquently chorused recently by several Eagle Scouts, speak volumes about their feelings for their Boy Scout leader. Charles Stajewski retired on May 1 as Scoutmaster of Troop 155 of Trucksville United Methodist Church. He started as a Cub Scout leader in 1992 and be- came Scoutmaster in 1996. He felt the time had come to pass the torch. “We've found an energetic, in- terested new Scoutmaster, Robert Welnoski, who has a son in the troop,” said Stajewski. “I plan to hang out and help the troop for a while yet. There are a couple of scouts who are close to becoming Eagle and I'll definitely stay around for that.” Stajewski’s association with Troop 155 began when he helped with his then first grader’s Tiger Den. The following year he accepted the role of Cub Scout leader and hasn't looked back since. “At some of our Cub Scout den See SCOUTMASTER, pg 8 16 Pages, 2 Section Calendar Please enclose this label with any address changes, and mail to The Dallas Post P.O. Box 366, Dallas, PA 18612-0366 CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, NEWS OR ADVERTISING E-mail: dalpost@ epix.net
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