Dallas, Pennsylvania The Back Mountain's Newspaper Since 1889 July 25 to July 31, 2002 4 = Toe DALLAS POST SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS & LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS COMMUNITY First Holy Communions at St. Therese’s. Pg 4. SPORTS Kubis Tournament continues at BMT baseball field. Pg 9. SCHOOL Dallas honors retiring teachers. Pg 11. oh | ec complex planners prepare for fund raising 3 Closing on land was delayed, but expected to be finalized very soon By TIMOTHY J. RAUB : Post Staff Quarry @ tour leaves questions “unanswered 4 J Not all residents comfortable - blasts and dust still remain By ELIZABETH ANDERSON Post Correspondent LEHMAN TWP. — The Back Moun- tain Recreation Center will be a reality. But when it will become available for use is still a question. Back Mountain Recreation Associa- tion president Dave Sutton said 84 acres of the total 134 acres has been purchased, but holdups with schedul- ing have delayed the association's pur- chase of the final 50 acres. “We own the property, but we are a week or two away from closing (on the LEHMAN TWP. — It isn’t easy being a neighbor of a quarry or asphalt plant — dust, noise and truck traffic are dai- ly annoyances; and then there is the blasting and the more complex envi- oo ronmental issues. : But John Haines, founder and presi- dent of Haines and Kibblehouse, Inc. (H & K), the mother company of Pikes Creek Asphalt and Crushed Stone, ® said he, his managers, his employees — his entire company — want it to be different. “We want to be a good neigh- bor,” Haines said. “We don’t want this to be some place that’s off limits,” Haines told about 40 Lehman Township residents who at- tended an open house at the asphalt plant and quarry. “We want you to know a lot about the place.” ® After a heated public hearing for a ~ mining permit transfer, required by the Department of Environmental Pro- tection, held at the Lehman Township municipal building in May, the compa- ny felt a friendly get-together, complete with food, refreshments and a tour of the operation might be in order. Haines and several top executives of the company, including Haines’s part- ner, Jack Kibblehouse, flew in by heli- copter to mingle with township resi- See REC COMPLEX, pg 8 Break-ins plague Little League concession stand By TIMOTHY J. RAUB Post Staff POST PHOTO/ELIZABETH ANDERSON John Haines, president and founder of Haines and Kibblehouse, Inc., explained operations at Pikes Creek Asphalt and Crushed Stone to Lehman residents on the walking tour. Lane. She, like many others, is waiting to see if Pikes Creek Asphalt, aka H & K, will’ back-up their words and promises. “I made a point before I left the open house to go back to John Ross (of H & K, Inc.) and say, ‘1 will hear back from you, won't I?” Petroski said. When Deb and her husband, Dr. process of updating the maps now. Those who live north of the newest section of the quarry, particularly those who live on Coslett Lane, Trojan and Crossin roads, said the July 17 blast was much louder than normal. “Yesterday was the worst blast I ever heard,” said Paraschak. She said the blast was so strong, it reminded her of “We want you to know a lot about the place.” DALLAS TWP. — The Back Mountain Baseball Association concession stand is fast becoming a favorite target of, thieves. Association president Jack Snyder said the concession stand has been John Haines President Haines and Kibblehouse + ‘ dents and show their sincerity in be- & coming an integrated part of the com- munity. The show of goodwill made a differ- ence to some, but others are being more cautious with their trust. “They are placating us, that’s my opinion,” said Deb Petroski, of Coslett Alan Petroski, bought their 29 acres on Coslett Road in 1998, they knew there was a quarry but believed there existed a good buffer of land between their property and the quarry. They had no idea the quarry butted up against their property. . Additionally, because of outdated county and township maps, they be- lieved the land was zoned agricultural, as did the previous owners, the realtor and even long-time township resi- dents. A check with the township told them it had been rezoned mining in 1991. Patricia Paraschak, of Trojan Road, has checked with the township herself and was surprised to find the same. Township officials are in the a small earthquake and even her ani- mals were spooked. Paraschak has asked for a seismograph reading of the blast, something H & K encouraged all residents to do if they have questions on the strength of a blast. Her son, Randee, said he remembers his father’s cows, years ago, busting See QUARRY, pg 8 broken in to four times over the last year with a total of approximately $900 taken, and an unknown amount of damage left in the aftermath. “It's a shame,” said Snyder. “We have all kinds of volunteers trying to raise money to keep the organization run- See LITTLE LEAGUE, pg 8 School, fields construction [ J ® th tt Calendar..............c..evensss 16 on pace, wea Cr perm ing Classified...........is 13-15 EAA Crossword...................i.. 10 By ELIZABETH ANDERSON “rs : ; yo y Post Correspondent Tt looks a ness Editorials A IRR PP FAR 6 : Obituaries. ..............co ieee 2 LEHMAN TWP. — School and hopefully by SONOO hie ied isin 11 Board President Charles Boytin the time we play SPOS... visssisarsaniitiuss 9-10 said last week he would like to oo dispel any rumors that the foot- our first football CALL 675-5211 ball or field hockey season will be canceled. “This board is com- mitted to keeping all activities ongoing without any disruption or as little disruption as possi- ble,” said Boytin. “I know for the football players it has got to be a little disheartening to see that field right now. It looks a mess and hopefully by the time we play our first football game, it will be ready to go.” Douglas Trumbower, architect on the high school renovation/construction project, reported the fields and school are on schedule and will be ready by September 3 barring any bad weather or unseen cir- cumstances. Board member James Mahon said he arrived at Community Medical Center in Scranton on July 17 to check on the condi- tion of the Lake-Lehman stu- dents involved in an automobile accident on Route 118 in Lehman Township to find Su- perintendent Robert O. Roberts already present. “Not to my sur- prise, when I got there, there was an individual who was al- ready there, talking to the par- ents, talking to the kids who were there and looking after the game, it will be ready to go.” Charles Boytin School board president individuals who were hurt,” said Mahon. “Mr. Roberts, thank you very much. We appreciate it.” The four students involved in that accident were Matthew Feehnan, the, 6 driver, Ashley Basar, Leslie Rosenbaum and Josh Marth. The new high school principal, Michael Gokay, attended his first public school board meeting in July. The new principal dis- played a sense of humor when asked by Roberts if he would like to say a few words. “I always have something to say,” replied Gokay, “But I rarely have the last word.” He said he was much impressed with the student ath- letes present at the meeting who made entreaties to the board to settle the teachers’ contract ne- gotiations and added, “I'm very much looking forward to being Lake-Lehman High School prin- cipal.” See CONSTRUCTION, pg 8 POST PHOTO/TIMOTHY J. RAUB Number crunchers. Students prompted their classmates with number signs in the German class. From left: Erik Westfield, 9, Shavertown; Taylor Culver, 9, Dallas; Symone Vaughn, 9, Trucksville. Camp makes learning a new language easy By TIMOTHY J. RAUB Post Staff DALLAS TWP. — Candyce Fike has been dreaming for 20 years of the day when she could teach a foreign language to young children. Fike can finally wake up, be- cause her dream has come true. A French teacher at Dallas School for 21 years now, Fike, other faculty members in the district's foreign language de- partment and about 10 high school students have come to- gether to teach French, Spanish and German to about 150 area children. “This is a dream, of mine 20 years in the making,” said Fike. “We have been working on this since April, and I'm surprised to see all of the children that scheduled for the camp show up.” The group of teachers and stu- dents are teaching simple vocab- ulary and phrases to area chil- dren going into second, third, fourth and fifth grades, for about an hour each day for four days. The results have been impres- sive. Fike said camp participants See LANGUAGE, pg 3 16 Pages, 2 Sections FOR HOME DELIVERY, NEWS OR ADVERTISING E-mail: dallaspost@leader.net Please enclose this label with any address changes, and mail to The Dallas Post P.O. Box 366, Dallas, PA 18612-0366
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