| | ®Kubis Award Dallas and Lake-Lehman school bus schedules inside The Back Mountain's Newspaper Since 1889 August 22 to August 28, 2002 United We Stand Vol. 113. No. 34 SPORTS Double sessions continue for high school athletes. Pg 9. Ld SCHOOL Top elementary stock pickers, this time with names! Pg 10. 50 Cents COMMUNITY Lake-LLehman Band Boosters car show draws 240 entries. Pg 12. LJ Ng Young man on a journey to beat ALS By ELIZABETH ANDERSON Post Correspondent In March, Todd Van Bodegon-Smith was handed a death sentence by a prominent New York neurologist. But he refuses to accept the death warrant served on him. After seven years of suffering from the debilitating effects of Lyme Dis- ease, Todd was told he had ALS or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease — a neuromuscular disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness re- sulting in paralysis. “I decided that I needed to do some- thing about it,” said Todd. “My broth- er, Kai, who was in China, said, ‘Quit your job, take a break and do some- thing. If you're not going to do it now, you'll never do it." ” Almost immediately, he went to Cal- ifornia and began working with two psychologists doing visualizations and imagery and practicing positive affir- mations. Three times a week, he re- ceived acupuncture treatments. ALS is almost always fatal. Fifty per- cent of ALS patients die within 18 months. There are rare cases where the disease progression plateaus or stops. There are a few cases of people “reporting a reversal of symptoms. In California, Todd met just such a woman — Judy Johnson. “Her grandmother, mother and sis- ter all died of ALS,” said Todd. “She was diagnosed with it, and she beat it.” POST PHOTO/ELIZABETH ANDERSON Todd Van Bodegon-Smith, right, is battling Lou Gehrig's disease with help and support from his brother Kai, left. Todd will travel to China next month to take part in alternative Chinese medical practices in Todd's effort to beat the ailment. Todd intends to beat it also. “Judy asked me, ‘What is this (dis- ease) about for you? Are you willing to do the work, the personal work, for yourself, to beat the disease?” Todd said. “I honestly believe in my heart that I am moving away from it.” He will make part of his journey to be healed with his younger brother, Kai Van Bodegon-Smith, half way around the world to China. Kai has been working in China for the last two years, teaching English to children and studying Chinese medi- cine in his own quest for answers to the questions Western medicine can- not answer. “There aren't any coincidences,” said Todd. “Everything happens for a reason. I don’t think there is any doubt that Kai was over in China find- ing out about Chinese medicine to help me.” His brother's ALS diagnosis had left Kai feeling frustrated and helpless be- cause he did not know enough to help him. It took Kai a year to find a Chi- nese doctor practicing the traditional Chinese medicine he had been looking for. “I was thinking to myself that I needed to learn as fast as I could,” said Kai. “I became more and more motivated to study.” While on a holi- day he told a friend about his search. ~ See BEATING ALS, pg 8 L-L High School will make Sept. 3 deadline By ELIZABETH ANDERSON Post Correspondent LEHMAN TWP. — The Lake-Lehman High School will be open as scheduled for the first day of school, September 3. The athletic field will be completed by Saturday, Aug. 31. District Superintendent Robert Roberts said he did a walk-through of the building with the architect, Douglas Trumbower, Friday and “all of the exist- ing high school with the exception of the renovation to the art room is com- pleted.” Work will continue on the new portion of the high school. Roberts said some materials did not arrive on time, forcing priorities on the construction/renovation project to switch from the new portion of the building to completing the existing structure. The freshman hall and the main hall of the old building are com- pleted, as are a couple of rooms in the new construction area. The library will not be ready until the end of September due to furniture delays. “There will be minor inconveniences as you might expect,” added Roberts. “But we will be ready to go. : “That is a big worry off me and it saves considerably on the price of Tums that I have been eating by the handful lately.” See L-L HIGH SCHOOL, pg 8 INDEX eNew Lake-Lehman busing scheme separates students by age Vodzak There will be new starting times for some of the schools in the Lake-Lehman School District this school year. The high school and middle school will continue to start at 8 a.m. Lehman-Jackson and Lake-Noxen elementary schools will be starting at 8:25 a.m. with a half hour later starting time at of 9:05 a.m. for Ross Ele- mentary. Dismissal times will remain the same as last year. presented William W. Rebecca Vodzak, an eighth grade student at the Dallas Middle School, was recently pre- sented the William W. Kubis Award at a recent assembly. The award is presented annually to the Dallas Middle School student who exemplifies a posi- tive attitude toward the responsibilities inherent in being a good student and citizen. Rebecca is the daughter of John and Ann Vodzak of Dallas. Common planning time for the elemen- tary teachers will be instituted at all three elementary schools due to the success of a three-year pilot program at Lake-Noxen. Teachers at Lehman-Jackson and Lake- Noxen will arrive at 7:45 a.m. to do their planning with school starting at 8:25 a.m. Teachers at Ross Elementary will begin their day at 8:30 a.m. and the doors will open to students at 9:05 a.m. Buses will pick up and deliver students to Lehman-Jackson and Lake-Noxen ele- mentary schools and then do a double service run through the Sweet Valley area’ to,pick up Ross students at later times. A dual busing system has been institut- ed by the district separating the elemen- tary school children from the older stu- dents, with the exception of the sixth graders. Sixth graders and junior and se- nior high school students will ride the same buses. Elementary students will have their own buses. With the completion of the Ross Ele- mentary School construction project, about 70 students will be transferred from one elementary school to another, with 43 students being transferred from Lehman- Jackson to Ross. by Elizabeth Anderson 16 Pages, 2 Sections Calendar..............cec. suai 16 Classified.......... 13-15 Crossword.............cvssnses 10 Editorials.......8.. aia 4 Obhbituarnies.................cccoee 2 SCNO0L..... 0 fe isssnsisauins 5-7 SPOS... vss: isivisnsse: 9-10 On principle, supervisors send back $8 bills to county assessor By ELIZABETH ANDERSON Post Correspondent LEHMAN TWP. — Lehman Town- ship supervisors decided at Monday night's meeting to refuse to pay two bills of $8 each submitted to the township by the Luzerne ' County Board of Assessors. The assessor's office wants to split the cost of property tax reassessments be- tween the county, school district and municipalities. “Lehman Township has nothing to do with the assessment value of the property. We have nothing to do with hearing someone’s appeal with the assessment of the property,” ex- plained Chairman David Sutton. “Unless somebody opposes it, my recommendation would be to not pay this bill.” The other supervisors agreed, calling the billing arbitrary, and the motion was passed. In an effort to reduce the incident of traffic accidents, Lehman Town- ship will install and test “Briteside” reflective panels to stop signs at two intersections in the township at Mountainview Road and Old Route 115 and Mountainview Road and Market Street. Serious accidents have occurred at the intersections in the past. Rumble strips to keep people from wandering across the center- line were recently set into the cen- ter of a nine-mile stretch of Route 118 between Lehman and Red Rock in Luzerne County as part of a state Department of Transportation (Pen- nDOT) safety project. State Rep. George C. Hasay (R- 117) met with local officials and PennDOT representatives at the Lehman Township municipal build- ing in May of this year, announcing a public service road safety cam- paign where he proposed the rum- ble strips. : The Lake Silkworth Protective As- sociation received a Growing Green- er grant for $15,852 for the outlet bank restoration. It will be used to See LEHMAN, pg 3 CALL 675-5211 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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