Dallas High team 3rd
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Dallas, Pennsylvania
The Back Mountain's Newspaper Since 1889
March 14 to March 20, 2002
United We Stand
Vol. 113. No. 11
SERVING THE COMMUNITIES
SPORTS
Lake-Lehman girls fall in first-
round of state playoffs. Pg 11.
SCHOOL
Rotary donates to support Dallas
High Indoor Color Guard. Pg 16.
50 Cents
OF THE DALLAS & LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS
COMMUNITY
Scouts collect 2,600 food items
for the needy. Pg 6.
players to put on
BY TIMOTHY J. RAUB
Post Staff
HARRISBURG — High school is sup-
posed to get America’s youth ready for
life in the real world.
Five area high school seniors are
proof that Dallas is getting the job
done.
Dallas students Ricky Branco, Janelle
Opello, Ryan Kastenbaum, Ryan Mor-
gan and Erica Swatko recently finished
third in the state championships of the
Broadway
classic
swaggers in
to Lehman
J High school
‘Guys and Dolls’
Oh, the utter joy of watching
the students of Lake-Lehman
High School in a madcap dress
rehearsal days before Frank
Loesser’s classic comedy musi-
cal, “Guys and Dolls,” goes live
before the Back Mountain com-
munity.
If you've never been involved
in the production of a play, you
just can’t understand the long
hours of work and effort it
takes. And all the details! Pearls
and cigarette holders for the
“Dolls,” red carnations for the
“Guys” in their gangster zoot
suits, a scripture sign for the
mission stage set, and the band
can find the paper clips to mark
their music books on the top of
the piano. The last minute dash
for props, electrical outlets that
won't work, microphones that
feedback or simply quit working.
Faculty advisor John Pineno
sighs raggedly (he'll be whimper-
See GUYS AND DOLLS, pg 3
LifeSmarts competition.
“It's pretty neat to be recognized for
what I have done in the classroom,”
said Branco, 18, of Dallas.
LifeSmarts is a national program
sponsored by the attorney general of
the United States. The top nine schools
in the state, out of over 500 Pennsylva-
nia schools, qualify for the state finals.
This year was the fourth straight year
the Mountaineers have made the state
finals.
“It’s pretty nice to be
in the state finals.
We have worked hard,
and wanted to do well.”
~ Ryan Morgan
Dallas senior
LifeSmarts team advisor and Dallas
High School faculty member Cathy
Peter Yurchision stands in front of the plane in which he is learning
to fly.
Woman’s body
found near home
Rescue workers searched a section of
the Ross Township woods on Tuesday
for a missing woman who was later
found dead. The body of Rosemary
Daria Shission, 53, who had been
missing since Sunday, was found
Tuesday afternoon about 1,000 yards
from her backyard, said Luzerne Coun-
ty Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Lisman.
Police said she was last seen by her
husband in the kitchen of their Grassy
Pond Road home at approximately 5
p.m. Sunday. Lisman said she was
wearing clothing suitable for Sunday’s
milder weather, but then temperatures
dropped in the evening.
Lisman said the coroner’s office has
ruled out foul play. He said toxicologi-
cal tests were performed and the re-
sults may help investigators determine
how she died. She was pronounced
dead at 4 p.m. Tuesday by Luzerne
County Deputy Coroner Clarke Piatt.
Talent on display
Lindsay Szalkowski performs her rendition of “My New Philosophy,” a musical pantomime from the production of Snoopy, during last
week's talent show at Dallas Middle School. More photos on page 4, this week's Community Photo Album.
Yurchision earning wings at 17
BY TIMOTHY J. RAUB
Post Staff
— literally.
SHAVERTOWN — While many high school
students seem to have their heads in the
clouds, Peter Yurchision is flying much higher
At an age when most students are playing
sports or mastering a musical instrument, the
Dallas High School junior has been taking fly-
ing lessons so that someday he may become a
commercial airline pilot.
“Flying has always been a childhood dream,”
said Yurchision.”I definitely think I would like
Wega has been with the team for the
three previous trips to the state finals,
and said this was Dallas’ best team yet.
The LifeSmarts competition tests stu-
dents with questions that deal with an
array of consumer awareness ques-
tions.
“The questions are about everything
from debt consolidation to mortgages,”
said Wega. “If it is a consumer ques-
tion, it is eligible.”
Coming into the state finals each
to make a future career out of flying; maybe as
a commercial pilot.” ;
Yurchision, 17, is the youngest he could pos-
sibly be to earn his private pilot's license, and
is currently working towards earning his in-
strument reading rating, something that will
help him learn how to fly in fog and other
weather conditions in which he wouldn't be
able to see the ground from up in a plane.
“Peter came to me and said he wanted to
take flying lessons,” said Yurchision’s mother
Maria Yurchision. “Although I was as nervous
See PILOT, pg 10
POST PHOTO/JIM PHILLIPS
Tree versus
Impala -
no contest
Bill Giberson of Hillside Road
in Kingston Township stands
beside what's left of his 1978
Chevy Impala after a huge
tree in his yard was felled by
Saturday night's high winds.
Giberson lost another car
about two years ago to a
I'd gone to the store for that
soda when I thought about it,
it probably wouldn't have
happened,” he mused.
POST PHOTO/ELIZABETH ANDERSON
branch from the same tree. “If
in state in ‘real-life’ competition
year, Wega feels Dallas is in a unique
situation.
“Most of the schools that compete at
LifeSmarts have a, consumer education
class,” said Wega. “Dallas does, not have
one, but the kids have told me that they
seem to get all their consumer educa-
tion information from other classes they
take here at the school.”
Kastenbaum, the team’s computer
See LIFESMARTS, pg 10
Middle school
project gets
back on pace
A Excavation for pool
to start in two weeks
BY TIMOTHY J. RAUB
Post Staff
DALLAS TWP. — The con-
struction phase of the Dallas
Middle School project is nearing
its completion, project manager
Len Gallo told board members at
the monthly meeting of the Dal-
las School Board on March 11.
Gallo, of Reynolds Construc-
tion, told the board finishing
work is nearing completion in
the offices and computer rooms
in the front addition of the
school, and tile work and ceiling
blocks must be installed. The
computer room and offices are
slated for completion in April to
early May.
Construction crews should be-
gin digging the hole for the pool
March 25, Gallo said in his re-
port. Construction had been de-
layed in the locker room area for
almost eight weeks, Gallo said,
because steel reinforced con-
crete had to be removed before
renovations could be made.
Construction of the pool is
slated to be finished in late July.
Dr. Gilbert Griffiths, the
school district's superintendent,
said concrete slabs in the locker
room area were thought to be
four inches thick throughout,
See SCHOO L PROJECT, pg 10
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20 Pages, 2 Sections
Calendar..............cieeuivie 20
Classified..........000. 17-19
Crossword.................i 12
Ediorials...........ic.cneiiii 8
Obituaries.........c.... eivisnis 2
BSChOOl......... cies siiisiinia 16
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