6 The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Thursday, November 7, 2002 EDITORIAL Addressing issue is symptom of county 911 weaknesses Francis Kopko’s letter on this page raises perplexing ques- tions about how well the countywide 911 emergency response system is serving the Back Mountain and other communities. His point that adherence to the “Colorado” system of address- ing doesn’t make the most sense when applied to Lakeside Drive is a good one. Addresses around the lake have been by pole number for decades, and that system has become the fa- miliar standard for fire, police and ambulance personnel. It is perfectly accurate, and Kopko says has been given approval by the post office. Replacing it with addresses such as 000 Lake- side Drive would seem to be a needless inconvenience at best, and a danger at worst. This disagreement raises the issue of whether or not we have received what we've paid for since Luzerne County ramrodded the county system through. The answer is obvious to anyone who listens to emergency calls that initially send the wrong de- partment, which wastes precious time as someone from the lo- cal squad calls back in to correct the error. Then there's the is- sue of all the goodies local communities were promised by the county, such as transmission towers to clear up garbled sig- nals and advanced communications equipment for emergency vehicles. We have received precious little of what was present- ed as a bundle of carrots to authorize this bureaucracy, but we're still paying top dollar, and more than people in more re- sponsible counties that have delivered on their commitments to public safety. In the end, common sense wins out, and dispatchers contin- ue to use pole numbers when giving directions to a Lakeside Drive emergency. If only the rest of this system, which holds so many potential benefits, worked as well as that. Time is right to help others The holidays are approaching, and with them reminders that America’s bounty is not spread evenly through the population. This is the time of year when the Back Mountain Food Pantry steps up efforts to collect items for distribution to families who must choose between paying the fuel bill or buying fixings for holiday meals, a question that never comes up for most of us, but is all too real for some of our neighbors. The food bank is a joint effort of the congregations of the Back Mountain Ministerium, and is operated out of the Trucksville United Methodist Church. Your donations provided a decent Thanksgiving meal to more than 120 families last year, and the number who could use a hand is likely to in- crease this fall. Many of those families must return for supple- mental items throughout the winter, particularly if it is a cold one, as this has started out to be. In an effort to make donating more convenient, food bank volunteers have persuaded several local businesses and churches to provide space for collection boxes at their facili- ties. Please make it a point over the next few weeks to drop off non-perishable food items, or if you prefer, send a cash dona- tion to: Back Mountain Food Pantry, c/o Trucksville United Methodist Church, 40 Knob Hill, Trucksville, PA 18708. Publisher’s Notebook Ron Bartizek My computer died over the weekend. It wasn’t one of those annoying temporary episodes in which the hard drive won't boot up, or the monitor goes black. No, this time it was stone cold dead, and not only that, it happened while it was on. You see, I left it alone for just a few minutes, and when I came back into the room it had expired, gone kaput, given up the ghost. (If computers have ghosts, that is. We all know they have gremlins.) I'm left with survivor guilt, and a deadline to meet. You wouldn't think this would be such as problem as it turned out to be. But, you see, I live in a fast-disappearing world, that of the Mac. Despite having a superior operating system and better reliability (usually), machines with the tiny apple insignia for a distinct minority of computers in use, and given the slap on Microsoft's wrist meted out last week by a federal judge, the share is likely to shrink even further. My company is hopping on the PC bandwagon, and with a new system on order, hasn't been replacing Macs as they retire to that Silicon Valley in the sky, leaving our backups, well, nonexistent. Or almost so. We did manage to scrounge up a model that was the toast of the lab 15 years ago, and it’s hold- ing down the fort until a more suitable replacement can be found. It may be old, but I'll bet it crashes less often than a Pentium 4 running Windows 2000. Letters are welcome Letters to the editor are welcome and will be published, subject to the following guidelines: * Letters should not exceed 500 words. * No writer may have more than one letter published during a 30- day period, except as a reply to another letter. * Letters must be signed and include the writer's home town and a telephone number for verification. * Names will be withheld only if there exists a clear threat to the writer. * The Post retains the right to accept or reject any letter, and to edit letters for grammar and spelling, as well as to eliminate any li- bel, slander or objectionable wording. The Dallas Post TIMES*LEADER C nunity Newspaper Group P.O. BOX 366, DALLA 18612 « 570-675-5211 Ronald Bartizek GENERAL MANAGER Kari L. Wachtel ADVERTISING ACCT. EXEC. Erin Youngman REPORTER Claudia Blank AD PRODUCTION MANAGER Terry Quinn PAGE DESIGN Darlene E. Sorber OFFICE MANAGER The Outlet at Harveys Lake, rospleiidit in Seasonal color. Pole numbers still best for Lakeside Drive addressing Editor, In 1996 Harveys Lake became involved with the Luzerne Coun- ty 911 Emergency Response Agency to establish an effective addressing system to locate resi- dents who needed emergency service. Since the goal was to have the same address for emergency re- sponse (fire, ambulance, and po- lice) and for mail delivery, the District Postmaster for our area was contacted and permission was granted to use the existing telephone pole numbers as an address along Lakeside Drive. The 911 Agency also agreed to use the pole numbers. Shortly thereafter,” the blue and white reflective numbered plaques were attached to the utility poles for identification of locations on Lakeside Drive. Then, about two years ago, Harveys Lake Council was in- formed that representatives form 911 were assigning the Colorado system of addressing to resi- dences and structures along Lakeside Drive instead of using pole numbers. The 911 officials who were as- signing the addresses indicated that it was easier for them to as- sign the Colorado addressing ONLY YESTERDAY 70 Years Ago - November 4, 1932 KINGSTON TOWNSHIP MARKS OPENING OF NEW BUILDING Kingston township school dis- trict's new high school building was dedicated formally at a pro- gram which attracted more than 1,000 persons. Mrs. C. Roscoe had been ap- pointed major for the district comprising Shavertown, Dalas, Trucksville, and vicinity for the annual Welfare Federation drive. Some of the items you could get at the American Stores Co. were: spaghetti, doz. 55¢; 4 cans 19¢; string beans, 2 cans 13¢; tomatoes, 1 can 5¢, dozen 59¢; cherries, 6 cans 73¢; peaches, 6 cans 73¢ 60 Years Ago - October 30, 1942 MOTHER FINDS DALLAS MARINE SON’S PHOTOGRAPH IN LIFE MAGAZINE Mrs. Russell Shaver picked up an issue of Life magazine and while glancing through ran across a picture of her son, system than to assign the pole numbers with dashes for the in- dividual structures. Imagine that — doing what is easier for them and compromising speed and accuracy for the safety of the residents on Lakeside Drive. Have you or a member of your family called an emergency ser- vice as a Lakeside Drive resident and/or property owner? You were probably asked what pole number you were located. For many years the pole numbers have proven their accuracy for emergency response time after time, on Lakeside Drive. The arguments Council mem- bers use against using pole numbers are as follows: 1, there ‘is more than one structure rep- resented by a particular pole; 2, using pole numbers is not. stan- dard as the house numbering in other communities; 3, emer- gency responders from adjacent communities would be confused with pole numbers and they would not be able to find a spe- cific location; 4, there are five utility poles that do not have numbers at the Outlet Section of Harveys Lake. What do you do there? : The rebuttal to the aforemen- tioned arguments include: 1, the Willared Shaver, and nephew, Elwod Whitesell, making a prac- tice landing on a beach with a gorup of United States marines. Dr. Henry M. Laing Fire Com- pany purchased two Indian pumps to be used in fighting grass fires, incendiary bombs, and small confined fires. The pumps cost $18.50 each. A surprise blackout caught much of the Back Mountain not prepared and proved again the inadequacy of the present fire siren warning system and the inefficiency of the secondary air warden set-up.In = Kingston Township, response to the warn- ing was almost immediate. In Dallas Borough and Township the blackout was far from com- plete. 50 Years Ago - November 14, 1952 LEHMAN EX-PRINCIPAL TRAINS TEACHERS TO IRAN Dr. Clyde B. Myers, principal of Lehman High School in 1913 and 1914, before going to Penn- sylvania State Colllege to teach, has been selected to establish an educaitonal system in Iran. He will train Iranian teachers in ele- mentary schools. Commonwealth Telephone Company has filed new tariffs with Pennsylvania Public Untiity Comission increasing monthly charges for telephone service in all of its thirty-nine exchanges. Harveys Lake ambulance was completely remodeled as a result of an appeal to year around resi- dents and summer cottagers. District Postmaster from Allen- town will accept the use of dash- es after the. pole number for a mailing address, i.e. Pole 111-1, 111-2, 111-8 etc. The County 911 also indicated that the use of pole numbers with dashes was acceptable to identify specific structures when the numbers are located on the specific structures when the numbers are located on the spe- cific property; 2, our community is unique along Lakeside Drive- 8.25 miles long with an estab- lished pole identity; 3, adjacent communities have been re- sponding to: emergencies ‘along Lakeside Drive. for years using pole numbers for locations: 4, between Pole 279 and Pole 280 there are five poles without numbers. The pole number and dash system may be used very accurately in this situation as well, i.e. 279-1, 279-2 etc. A Council person told me that, although the residents along Lakeside Drive will have the Col- orado Addressing System, the pole number would still come up on the 911 monitor when an emergency call came in. What irony! Luzerne County 911 as- signs the Lakeside Drive resi- dents a new address number, The ambulance was completely refitted, repainted, repaired and reocnditioned. 40 Years Ago - November 8, 1962 DALLAS SCHOOLS PETITION STATE TO CHANGE PLAN Dallas School directors, at an adjourned meeting voted to peti- tion the Sate Council of Educa- tion to change the proposed plan for merging of Back Mountain area schools with those of the Northwest Jointure in Shick- shinny. For the first time in history, a Democratic candidate, Daniel Flood, incumbent Congressman, carried the seven municipalities of the Back Mountain. Even the tough Republican Middle Dis- trict in Dallaas Township gave Flood a plurality. Back Mountain residents reg- istered an unsurprising heavy vote for the Republican party helping Governor-elect William Scranton to his victory over De- mocrat Richardson Dilworth. 30 Years Ago - November 2, 1972 FLOOD RELIEF REFERENDUM ON BALLOT Pennsylvania voters will do more than help decide the next President of the United States. They will also be given the op- portunity to participate in a ref- erendum on a Consititutional Amendment to determine whether the Commonwealth has the right to make direct grants to people who suffered financial but uses the pole number to identify the location for emer- gency responses. As recently as four and a half months ago, the County 911 Co- ordinator indicated that the use of dashes with the pole numbers was doable. The District Post- master in Allentown also indi- cated that the pole numbers with the dashes would be doable as-a mailing address. Twenty Lakeside Drive resi- dents and/or property owners were polled and they expressed the effective and logical use of LETTERS lo the pole numbers as opposed to ® the system supported by Coun- cil. If you feel that as a Talceside Drive resident and/or property owner that the continuing use of the pole numbers is important to you, then call the borough office (639-2113) after 4 p.m. and leave your message on the an- swering machine. Indicate your name and pole location. Calling after 4 p.m. will not compromise office time, and the secretary will be able to tally the calls when it is convenient. Francis Kopko Harveys Lake loss in the flood. A consumer coalition of citi- zens groups placed their support for lower milk prices on the line with a poll of how 22 Lackawan- na and Luzerne County candi- dates to the Pennsylvania Gen- eral Assembly support a House bill to abolish retail milk price controls. H.B. 1480 was recently ap- proved by the state Senate and sent to the “governor” for his sig- nature. H.B. 1480 provides bus- ing for kindergarten and elemen- tary school children, living with- in 11/2 miles of the school, where road and traffice condi- tions are hazardous to children 20 Years Ago - November 3, 1982 LAKE-LEHMAN DISTRICT MANAGEMENT PRAISED BY STATE AUDITORS Lake-Lehman School District has emerged from a state audit with flying colors according to state Auditor General Al LBene- dict. No new violations or reocm- mendations were noted in the report. Some of the items you could get at Daring’'s. store were: smoked franks 1lb., $1.49; bot- tom rounds, 11b., $2.09; 11b., $2.69. The Back Mountain Memorial Library obtained $5,000 to re- place, update and expand the adult and children’s reference collections and career informa- tion materials. canadian bacon, QQ: Where do you find the most Back Mountain news each week? A: Only in The Dallas Post 1Ib., $1.59; stirp @@ sirloins 1lb., $2.69; rump roast, | |
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