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Dallas, Pennsylvania The Back Mountain's Newspaper Since 1889 February 7 to February 13, 2002
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United We Stand
Vol. 113. No. 6 50 Cents
SPORTS SCHOOL COMMUNITY
Dallas, Lake-L.ehman meet on Burczyk gets principal’s parking Ministerium plans unity ser-
the mat. Pg. 9. space. Pg 11. vice. Pg 5.
Back Mountain can play its own small part in saving the Chesapeake
BY TIMOTHY J. RAUB
Post Staff
PLYMOUTH TWP. — The Chesapeake
Bay may be hundreds of miles away,
and out of the minds of many Back
Mountain residents.
But to the Luzerne Conservation Dis-
trict, the Back Mountain's creeks serve
an important role in the cleanliness of
the bay.
@ We live downstream,” said Todd
am
3a
HR, —
ia .
Rush, Luzerne Conservation District
Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Management
Technician. “All of the water that travels
through the Back Mountain runs from
the streams to the Susquehanna River
and finally to the Chesapeake Bay.”
Rush and his co-workers at the con-
servation district work daily with Back
Mountain watershed groups and farm-
ers to make sure the water quality is up
to par, and harmful nutrients don’t find
their way into the water systems in the
area.
Nutrients from animal waste and soil
erosion and rain water runoff are the
top forms of non-point pollution in the
Back Mountain. Non-point pollution
travels from the source, in this case
from the farm animals, soil nutrients
from erosion and rain water runoff,
through the ground and into the water
system.
“We try to educate farmers, and teach
them how to keep their animals away
from creeks and streams,” said Rush.
The conservation district works with
funding from the State Department of
Environmental Protect, and uses grant
money to aid farmers in making their
pastures environmentally friendly. The
program funds up to 80 percent of the
cost to improve the fields, while the
farmer is responsible for the other 20
percent.
One of the easiest ways for farmers to
prevent pollution of creeks and streams
Royal treatment
Lake-Lehman senior basketball players Kari Maskalis and Danielle Kern exit their limousine prior to their “Senior Night” game on Feb-
ruary 4. The booster club honored senior players and their parents. More photos on sports page.
is to build a fence around them. That
way, animals can not walk into the wa-
terways and eat the grass, which con-
tributes to the erosion of the soil
around the waterways.
Another way is to have the farmers
create barnyards with a concrete curb-
ing outside of barns, which keeps ani-
mal waste farther from the waterway,
and contained to a particular area.
See CHESAPEAKE, pg 7
Westmoreland school
POST PHOTO/JIM PHILLIPS
J Variance given
with use restrictions
- no phone tower
BY TIMOTHY J. RAUB
Post Staff
KINGSTON TWP. — The
Kingston = Township Zoning
Board voted unanimously Mon-
day to approve a variance allow-
ing a Dallas advertising agency
to develop the former Westmore-
land Elementary School for pro-
{fessional and business use.
Scott Ciravolo, owner of Tree
Design Studios, a full-service
advertising agency in Dallas, is
working out the sale arrange-
ments for the property, at 106 S.
Lehigh St., Trucksville, with the
Dallas School District. He asked
the board for a variance to use
approximately one-third of the
usable space and lease the re-
maining space for professional
and business offices.
“I plan to remodel the school
into professional offices,” said
Ciravolo. “If granted, I would
lease the remaining space to
tenants.”
The property will remain
zoned R1 single family residen-
tial use, which is for a single
family structure, public and pri-
building can be used
as offices, zoners say
“The whole reason
I am interested in
this property is its
location. It’s quiet,
and I would
keep it quiet.”
Scott Ciravolo
Potential buyer of former
Westmoreland School
vate schools, churches and syn-
agogues, etc.
Ciravolo said his company
would occupy approximately
8,000 square feet of the total
20,000 square feet of usable
space, and lease the rest to ten-
ants. A large gymnasium, locat-
ed on the second floor of the
property, would remain a gym-
nasium for tenant use.
“There will be no restaurants
or anything like that, just simi-
lar businesses (to the advertis-
ing agency),” said Ciravolo.
The board set forth four stipu-
lations for the variance:
e Two modular buildings must
be removed from the property.
e A signed agreement of sale
be submitted to the board.
* No outside storage facilities
See WESTMORELAND, pg 8
District preps for legal battle with losing electrical contractor
By ELIZABETH ANDERSON
Post Correspondent
LEHMAN — The Lake-Lehman School
District has won round one of a suit filed
by Cavanaugh Electrical Contracting,
Inc., the second lowest bidder for the
electrical contract on the senior high
@chool addition and alterations project.
echeerleaders
But the district is gearing up for a
tough battle. ;
Judge Michael Conahan ruled against
an immediate temporary injunction that
would have stopped work on the new
school construction, delaying the
progress of the project as much as 60 to
90 days, but granted a hearing on the
matter. The judge has asked all parties to
the suit to supply documents, after
which he will make a ruling on the tem-
porary injunction. But for now, work on
the construction site will go on as before.
In a special meeting for general pur-
poses, the Lake-Lehman School Board
voted to retain the services of Attorney
Joseph G. Albert of Forty Fort to serve as
co-counsel with board solicitor Peter Sav-
Black Knights
to perform
age in the suit called by Donald Marx
and Cavanaugh Electrical Contracting,
Inc. against the school district and Main
Electrical Supply and Contracting, Inc.,
the lowest bidder on the project.
Savage told board members he needed
assistance as “there were a number of
things that had to be done in very short
order” on the case, including, among sev-
eral other filings and petitions, a re-
sponse to a petition for a temporary in-
junction to halt the construction project.
Albert, who has worked with Savage pre-
By ELIZABETH ANDERSON
Post Correspondent
Township gains ally in tire fight
LS AS
16 Pages, 2 Sections
viously, lives in the Lake-Lehman district calendar... 5a... 16
and was the first Assistant District Attor- Classified.................. 13-15
ney for several years. Crossword..................... 10
“It's a situation where you've got a 30- Editorials............ Rhein 6
man construction specialist law firm ODHUBIIES.....covivesreressinses 2
sending out their number one. partner School 11
from Philadelphia, with an 'associate.and | = oy
SPOS. .....onisvirnsisivesss 9-10
with a local legal counsel,” explained Sav-
age. “They are Philadelphia lawyers. They
are sharp guys, these guys,” he said of
the attorneys for the plaintiff.
See LEGAL BATTLE, pg 3
CALL 675-5211
FOR HOME DELIVERY,
NEWS OR ADVERTISING
E-mail: dallaspost@leader.net
carry and spread the West Nile
Virus.”
at Pro Bowl
Two Lake-Lehman
Senior High School
cheerleaders will per-
form at the Pro Bowl
in Honolulu, Hawaii
on Saturday and can
be seen on WNEP
hannel 16 at 4:30
p.m. Co-captains
Courtney Coletti and
Shelly Wentzel can be
seen at the pre-game
and half-time shows.
The seniors qualified
for the event last year
at a competition in
@Cheerleader Kim
“Hartman qualified
‘also, but was unable
to attend.
T
andi
KT supervisors sworn in
Incumbent Supervisor Paul Sabol was sworn in for a new four-year
term. at a recent Kingston Township Board of Supervisors reorgani-
zation meeting. Mr. J. Carl Goodwin was sworn in for his first four
year term. District Magistrate James Tupper administered the Oath
of Office.
Paul Sabol was elected Chairman of the Board of Supervisors for
2002. J. Carl Goodwin was elected Vice Chairman. From left: J.
Carl Goodwin, Paul Sabon and Magistrate Tupper.
JACKSON TWP. — The Jackson
Township Board of Supervisors has
picked up an ally in its battle against
waste tires in the township.
The board received a copy of a let-
ter to the Department of Environ-
mental Protection (DEP) from State
Representative Phyllis Mundy, 120th
District, and read portions of it at
Monday night's meeting.
Two tire dumps were reported to
the DEP in October 2001, one, on
Chase Road, numbering at least
2,000 tires and the other on Follies °
Road, over 8,000. Portions of the let-
ter were read at the supervisors
meeting this week, in which Mundy
said, “I agree with the township that
these tire piles represent real envi-
ronmental and health concerns.
They are indeed located near resi-
dential properties and are a breeding
ground for mosquitoes which can
Mundy questioned why the DEP
has not “utilized its enforcement
powers under the Solid Waste Man-
agement Act to require the permits
are obtained and the tires are re-
moved.” She asked that the DEP “use
every power at its disposal under the
Solid Waste Management Act and
any other pertinent statute to see
that these matters are all resolved.”
There has been no further re-
sponse from the DEP. Board mem-
bers and residents expressed con-
cern over nearby cases of the West
Nile Virus in Northeastern Pennsyl-
vania.
In a related waste tire problem,
Jeffrey Malak, solicitor, reported
Judge Peter Paul Olszewski ruled in
favor of the township in the case of
Raymond Malak. The matter is cur-
rently going to Commonwealth Court
See JACKSON, pg 8
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