iL’ Dallas, Pennsylvania The Back Mountain's Newspaper Since 1889 February 28 to March 6, 2002 SCN Vol. 113. No. 9 United We Stand ] [] : DALLAS POST 50 Cents SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS & LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS SPORTS swing. Pg 9. Basketball playoffs in full SCHOOL of month. Pg 12. Dallas High School students COMMUNITY Prince of Peace plans 50th Antique Show and Sale. Pg 5. . Police make arrest in JT burglaries; arrest HL man BY TIMOTHY J. RAUB Post Staff BACK MOUNTAIN —Local police have made two arrests and expect to make. more soon in connection with a string of daylight burglaries through- out the Back Mountain. Officials say there have been seven or eight daylight burglaries in the area during the past several months. Several Back Mountain police de- partments are working together on the investigations. The latest arrest came February 23, when Harveys Lake police arrested Phillip E. Knepp, 39, of Ridge Avenue, Dallas, on charges of receiving stolen property, specifically an AR-15 semi- automatic rifle that had been stolen along with numerous other firearms on Feb. 13 from James Pilger, of Lake- side Drive, Harveys Lake. According to arrest papers: Pilger contacted police: on Feb. 21 with information on his burglary. Pilger said he was contacted by Ryan Healy, address unknown, who said he knew who had the stolen AR-15. Healy said he would sell Pilger the rifle for $1,000. Pilger agreed to pur- chase the rifle, valued at $1,500, and Healy said he would pick up the mon- ey in 15 minutes. Harveys Lake Police Chief Jeffrey Butler, patrolmen Charles Musial and James Karlowicz were at Pilger's home when Healy arrived Feb. 21. Healy agreed to cooperate with police and said a second man, Dr. Ronald Bost, of 50 Stoneybrook Rd., Shaver- town was in possession of the AR-15. After a transaction between the two men, Pilger identified the rifle as his. Police determined the rifle had been purchased directly from Knepp on Feb. 13, when Bost presénted police with a receipt of sale. Knepp was arraigned before District Justice Paul Roberts of Kingston and taken to the Luzerne County Correc- Police Investigate ® arson at junkyard JACKSON TWP. — Police are investi- gating an arson at Malak Junkyard on Pine Tree and Salansky roads Tuesday morning. Jackson Township officer Scott Davis said eight junked cars were set on fire when a flatbed tow truck, owned by Donald Malak, rammed into them after 4 am. The junkyard is owned by Malak's brother, Raymond Malak. Davis said gasoline or a similar accel- erant was used on the cluster of cars before the crash. The flatbed, valued at $9,000, was destroyed, Davis said. A nearby auto body garage was in danger during the fire, but firefighters extinguished the fire before it spread. The state police fire marshal is also investigating, Davis said. PSU student dies in one car accident BY TIMOTHY J. RAUB Post Staff LEHMAN TWP. — A Penn State stu- dent died in a one-car crash on Feb. 21 near the Penn State University-Wilkes- Barre campus. Penn State student Christian Proco- pio, 19, of Stroudsburg, was transport- ed by helicopter to Scranton Community Medical Center after his 1992 Toyota sedan left the road at a high rate of speed and struck a tree on Old Route 115 in front of the campus, according to Lehman Township police. Procopio later died at the hospital as a result of injuries sustained in the crash. The vehicle was involved in an- other crash earlier in the night at an off- campus housing facility. Then, police said, the car struck four parked cars in an off-campus apartment complex park- ing lot. Lehman Township police are investi- gating the accident and said they do not believe alcohol played a role in the crash. tional Facility for lack of $7,500 bail. Jackson Township police also arrest- ed Alfred George, of Wilkes-Barre, in January with a daylight burglary in the township, and consider him a sus- pect in another burglary in the town- ship. “It is rare to have daylight burglar- ies,” said Jackson Township police of- ficer Scott Davis. Davis recently attended a monthly crime information meeting in Wright Township to discuss the burglaries. “The method of entry has been the same in the burglaries, and we are currently looking for more than one person.” Police departments throughout the Wyoming Valley are working together to see whether a recent rash of as many as 60 daylight burglaries are connected, several law enforcement of- ficials said. Kingston Township has had two, daylight burglaries in the past year. Chief James Balavage had no com- ment on the investigation into the bur- glaries as of press time, but did say both burglaries had forced entries, but ~ different types of items were taken in each incident. “At this time there is a suspect in one of the daylight burglaries, but we have not made an arrest as of yet,” said Balavage. Harveys Lake, which has had five burglaries since January, and one known daylight burglary. “We think the daylight burglary in Harveys Lake may be connected to the burglaries in the other municipalities,” said Butler. “We don't know for sure if there were any more daylight burglar- ies in the borough, because some of the people were not sure when the burglaries happened." Both Balavage and Davis said resi- dents can help prevent burglaries by Racer's edge Ryan May cheers on his competitors. Watching the race from left are: Karl Carichner, Brian Ghezzi, May, Luke Jolley (kneeling), Peter Steve and Kyle Banks. More photos on page 3. locking their doors, letting neighbors know when they are going to be out of town for an extended period of time and setting house alarms during the day while they are at work. “You would be surprised how many POST PHOTO/M.B. GILLIGAN Food and friendship Trucksville United Methodist Church held its annual Pork and Sauerkraut supper last weekend. Enjoying the food and fellowship were Altheda Smith, left, and Ruth Pritchard. More photos on page 4. POST PHOTO/JIM PHILLIPS people do not lock their doors,” said Davis. “People also do not set their alarms during the day. We have not had a burglary yet at a home with an alarm.” Times Leader staff writer Kalen Churcher proved additional informa- tion for this article. PETE G. WILCOX/SPECIAL TO THE DALLAS POST Confiscated weapons from a Harveys Lake burglary remain at the Harveys Lake police station. Band sponsors slowly gain ear of school board Jd Still, staffing is short and band director's job is open By ELIZABETH ANDERSON Post Correspondent LEHMAN TWP. — After a long and contentious battle with the past school board, the Lake-Lehman Band Sponsors were shown a little light at the end of the tunnel by the present administra- tion and hope to see much more. The present school board; in place - about two years, recently granted the wishes of the band sponsors and creat- ed the two new school district positions of Indoor Colorguard director and In- door Percussion director, satisfying dis- trict insurance liabilities and enabling the Indoor Percussion and Colorguard to resume practicing for competition. The school district will pay the two new directors’ salaries of $1,926 a year with the balance of the salaries being made up by the band sponsors, a proposal made by the band support organization themselves when they requested the deal from the board. The band sponsors pay quite a large percentage of the expenses for not only indoor guard and percussion, but also See MUSIC, pg 8 16 Pages, 2 Sections Calendar.............c....ouv, 16 Classified.................. 13-15 CrOSSWONQ..... econ rivecrrnacns 10 EQHONIAIS. .... cue nnsesssviessren 6 ODbIUAHES. vee. sosisneinssionse 2 Sohook......cidhiiiiiniiniai 12 SPONS......o.oliinniied 9-11 CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, NEWS OR ADVERTISING E-mail: dallaspost@leader.net The Dallas Post Please enclose this label with any address changes, and mail to The Dallas Post P.O. Box 366, Dallas, PA 18612-0366
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers