6 The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Thursday, January 10, 2002 Major highway again a danger zone In storm It seems to happen every winter. A big storm hits, people overestimate their driving skill and roads are blocked. That scenario is understandable on Follies Road in Jackson Town- ship, Manor Drive in Shavertown or Outlet Road at Harveys Lake. But it was inexcusable for Route 309 north through the Back Mountain to be impassable at 8:30 Sunday night, as a line of cars waited nearly an hour for a plow to show up. Help was needed because a truck and car had collided and the right lane was blocked. That wouldn't have been a prob- lem if the roadway had been reasonably clear of snow and slush, but it was not. One could argue, as I'm certain the folks from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will, that snow was falling at a rapid pace and no plows could keep up. If this were an ordinary street, the argument might be acceptable. But Route 309 is not an ordinary street — it is a mini-ex- pressway and becomes the only passageway to and from the Back Mountain when a storm such as last weekend's has hit. That makes the inability to get through more than an incon- venience; danger to life and property increases dramatically when an ambulance, fire truck or other emergency vehicle can’t reach its destination promptly. The bottleneck Sunday night was just north of Carverton Road, which was itself cov- ered in snow, cutting off the Back Mountain at nearly it’s closest point to the Wyoming Valley. A similar topographical setting exists on the far side of the valley, where Route 309 snakes its way up to Mountaintop. The grade is steeper there, but the population and traffic are less. Still, people who live in Mountaintop remark about how clean the roadway is kept during storms. Here's a suggestion, which PENNDOT probably doesn’t want to hear, but we'll make anyway. When a big storm hits, assign a plow or two to travel Route 309 from the Luzerne/Wyoming County line to Interstate 81 and back again until the flakes have stopped falling. That round-trip, of about 15 miles, would provide the consistent care that should be a priority for such an important stretch of high- way, but which has been sadly lacking for years. Publisher’s Notebook Read the other day that Pennsylvania is jumping on the Powerball lottery bandwagon. It seems the daily number and various and sundry other games no longer draw enough in- terest from ticket buyers. That's understandable, given the paltry winnings those games offer. Obviously, lottery players have become more sophisticated and don’t have time to stand in a ticket line for a measly few million dollars payoff. Power- ball, even though the odds of winning are about equal to those for being struck by a stray meteorite, offers a much more enticing challenge for these savvy investors. e000 You can bet your local weatherman won't let this happen again! For the first time in memory, television forecasters downplayed a storm that turned into a whopper, instead of building up a few flurries into a major event. The result? No panicked crowds in supermarket aisles or hardware stores. But local TV news, true to form, followed the storm with their usual assortment of startling reports that people bought shovels and ice melt. Imagine that. 000 I was stuck on Route 309 for nearly an hour Sunday night, right behind a fellow who had driven from Allentown without incident. His experience illustrated the frustration we feel with care of this important thoroughfare. We both went on our way after waiting for a plow to arrive and open up a lane. But before we could leave, driving our two-wheel drive clunkers, we helped push a four-wheel-drive police vehicle out of the snow. 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 managment of The Post, appear on the editorial page and are written by the editor unless oth- erwise indicated. Any artwork represents the opinion of the cartoon- ist, and columns are the opinion of the author. Letters to the editor are welcome and will be published, subject to the following guidelines: * Letters should not exceed 500 words. * No writer may have more than one letter published during a 30- day period, except as a reply to another 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 objectionable 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 consideration when selecting material for publication. The Dallas Post TIMESeLEADER unity Newspaper Group P.O. BOX 366, DALL A 18612 » 570-675-5211 Ronald Bartizek GENERAL MANAGER Heather B. Jones REPORTER Ruth Proietto PRODUCTION MANAGER Brenda McDonough ADVERTISING ACCT. EXEC. Darlene Sorber OFFICE MANAGER Ron and Charlotte Bartizek PUBLISHERS EMERITUS Stephen Peterson PRESIDENT & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER 1-800-427-8649 ONLY YESTERDAY 70 Years Ago - January 8, 1932 COUNCIL REDUCES BOROUGH EXPENSES Drastic reductions in bor- ough police expenditures were made at the meeting of borough council. Officer Elwood Elston was retained as borough police officer but his salary was re- duced from $100 a month to $50 a month for the period from January 1 to April 1. After that ‘date the salary of the officer will be $100 a month to $50 a month until the first of October, because of the winter months. At American Stores Co., you could get a loaf of bread for 7¢; 1 doz. eggs, 39¢; 2 lbs of butter, 69¢; 1 1b. coffee, 17¢; palmolive Soap, 3 cakes 20¢; pancake flour, 2 pkgs. 13¢. Unless $822.40 is forthcom- ing from the borough tax collec- tor before the February 1 pay day, Dallas borough school teachers will have to wait until the tax id collected before they will receive their pay. 60 Years Ago - January 9, 1942 WILLIAM BAKER NAMED STREET COMMISSIONER William Baker was appoint- ~The old Schooley Farm in Shavertown was blanketed by Monday's storm. Photo by Ron Bartizek. ed street commissioner for a pe- riod of two years at a salary of $100 a month to succeed william Schmoll, Street Com- missioner for the past five years. Twenty-two youngsters ex- posed to measles when they at- tended Christmas exercises at Idetown Methodist Church were this week confined to their homes, all victims of the infan- tile disease. Helen M. Williamson of Chicago Il., a former resident of Noxen where she taught third grade for more than six years, has been appointed first grade teacher at Shavertown Building by Kingston Township School Board to succeed Louise Roushey who recently resigned to head Girl Scout activities in the Bloomsburg area. 50 Years Ago - January 11, 1952 COMMONWEALTH WILL OPEN NEW HOME THURSDAY More than 4,000 invitations have been extended to sub- scribers of Commonwealth Tele- phone Company to attend the formal opening of the company’s new central office building on Lake Street. The entire engi- neering department will be moved from its Forty Fort head- quarters to Dallas. JPeynton: “Penny” : Lee, 22, son of Mr. and Mrs. Peynton Lee, Dallas, is believed to the only boy who has ever passed the Army Qualifications Test at the Wilkes-Barre Induction Cen- ter with a perfect score. Penny attended Dallas. Area Schools and graduated from Wyoming Seminary. Harold G. Payne, vice presi- dent and general manager of Commonwealth Telephone Com- pany was elected a director of First National Bank of Dallas at its forty-sixth annual stockhold- ers meeting recently. The newly elected director is also a director of Sordoni Construction Compa- ny, and Harvey's Lake Light Company. 40 Years Ago - January 11, 1962 JOINT COIN CARD DRIVE BRINGS IN.-OVER $6180 Dallas Community Ambu- lance Association and dr. Henry * M. Laing Fire Company report a successful conclusion of their recent coin and campaign. In this joint effort a total of $6,180 was realized plus an additional amount of $300.25 for the Am- bulance Association in the Kun- kle area. Edwin L. Johnson, Dallas, has been commissioned a Lieu- tenant Junior Grade in the Coast Guard Reserve. He is the son of Mrs. E.M. Johnson, Dun- more. Mr. Johnson is guidance counselor and english instructor at Lake-Lehman High School. Homer B. Moyer, Dallas, president and comptroller was elected director of Miners Na- tional Bank at the annual meet- ing. Mr. Moyer is a member of the Back Mountain Library As- sociation. 30 Years Ago - January 20, 1972 DALLAS EARNS $54,000 FOR LANGUAGE PROGRAM A grant of $54,000 for ESEA Title 3 program for the Dallas Team Approach to Language was allotted recently to Dallas School District. The board ap- proved two recreation programs for children and adults. Lake-Lehman secretaries and cafeteria workers were granted salary increased follow- ing the regular monthly meeting of the school board. The motion, which was passed unanimously, approved a wage hike totaling $.15 per hour for cafeteria em- ployees and set $2 per hour as the minimum wage for secre- taries. Marine Lance Corporal Eu- gene M. Steele, son of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene W. Steele, Dallas was promoted to his present rank while serving with the First Marine Air Wing in Okinawa. 20 Years Ago - January 13, 1982 BLOOD DRIVE IS A SUCCESS The first Blood Drive orga- nized at the newly formed Back Mountain Blood ‘Council of the Red Cross was a success, said Rev. Douglas Akers, Co-Chair- man of the Council. The Council has asked for 180 pins and 231 people registered. Former athletes of Dallas and Lake-Lehman High School have organized the Lake-Noxen Adult Basketball league. Officers of the league are: Kent Jones, president; Bub Kern and Bill Kanasky, vice presidents. John Kasko, tubist, and Ed- ward Havrilla, trombonist, are members of the Lake-Lehman High school Band who have been designated as two of Penn- sylvania State’s finest student musicians and selected to par; ticipate in the 1982 PMEA All- State Band Festival. New books added at Back Mountain Memorial Library The Back Mountain Memorial Library, 96 Huntsville Road, Dal- las, announces the addition of the following books to their collec- tion. FICTION “He Sees You When You're Sleeping” by Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark “Meeting of the Waters” by Kim McLarin “A Shared Dream” by Jayne Ann Krentz “Jerusalem’s Heart” by Bodie Thoene “The Boetius Phoenix” by Henning NON-FICTION “Journey Through Heartsongs” by Mattie J.T. Stepanek “SAT Prep Course” “Say it Like Shakespeare” by Thomas Leech “Love Stories of World War II” compiled by Larry King “The World War II Reader” edited by the editors of World War II Magazine “The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women” by Marion Luna Brem “Fodor’s New Mexico” “Fodor’s Scotland” “Fodor’s Great Britain 2002” “Fodor’s Florida 2002” Winter parking in effect in Kingston Twp. Kingston Twp. Police reminds residents that the Township Winter Parking Ordinance is effective Nov. 1, and runs through March 31, 2002. Under this ordinance residents are prohibited from parking vehicles on township streets between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. daily. Vehicles are not permitted to be ‘parked on township streets during snow storms or for eight hours after the end of a storm. Residents with questions about the ordinance may contact Police Chief James Balavage at 696-1175. Fodor's Germany 2002” MYSTERY “Natural Suspect” by William Bernhardt “Wreck the Halls” by Sarah Graves : , LARGE PRINT NONFICTION “Around America: a tour of our magnificent coastline” by Walter Cronkite “My Journey: from an Iowa farm to a cathedral of dreams” by Robert H. Schuller BOOKS ON CD “Isle of Dogs” by Patricia Corn- well “The Fiery Cross” by Diana Gabaldon “Good Harbor” by Anita Dia- mant “Funeral in Blue” by Anne Per- ry “Icy Sparks” by Gwyn Hyman Rubio VIDEOS “Endless Night” Christie “Sister Wendy's American Col- lection” “Lance Armstrong: racing for his life” “The Songmakers Collection” by Agatha Q . Where do you find the most Back Mountain news each week? A: Only in The Dallas Post Ne
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers