L Dallas, Pennsylvania The Back Mountain's Newspaper Since 1889 January 30 to February 5, 2003 United We Stand Vol. 114 No. 5 SPORTS Check out all the local sports results. Pg 11. COMMUNITY New rec facility coming to Trucksville Pg 6. 50 Cents We have a winner! Pages 4-3. Visioners get a virtual peek a By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff DALLAS — With the click of a button, participants in the Dal- BAS Visioning project caught a mpse of how adding trees, shrubs and a little planning could make a difference in Dal- las Borough. “A lot of small towns are look- ing at ways to compete with malls,” said urban forester Vin- nie Cotrone. “To do that commu- nities are turning their commer- cial districts into destination places — places where people can get out of their cars and walk around.” He said part of the appeal comes from adding green space while “part of that is creating spaces where people can eat their lunch and socialize.” As part of the visioning process, Cotrone, from the Penn State Cooperative Extension, was asked to show participants just what is within their power with a little planning. Cotrone has been helping communities in Pennsylvania “green up” for years. With the help of technology created by the Penn State School of Architecture, Cotrone inter- See GREEN-UP, pg 3 Bs { t ‘ereened-up’ eyesores pny eo An PHOTOS FROM PA BLUEPRINTS, PENN STATE DEPT. OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE How we might look. An interactive demonstration by Vinny Cotrone, urban forester with the Penn State Cooperative Extension Service, showed how a barren parking lot could be improved with the addition of a few trees and shrubs. Gentle touch POST PHOTO/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Taylor Shaw checked out one of the donkeys at last weekend's Lake-Lehman donkey basketball game, in which seniors took on the faculty while riding their trusty steeds. More photos on page 12. The Lake-Lehman High School All Star Cheerleading squad has been practicing to compete in Orlando, Florida for nationals next month. Sandy Dobrowolski coaches he squad of 15 with assis- tants Aprille Covert and Crys- tal Savage. The squad con- sists of senior co-captains Bri- ana Maslowski and Maura Dougher; juniors Ashley Basar, Dana Colfax, Christina Reimard, Cheri Ross, Ainsley Schuler, Missy Simpson, Eri- ka Steele, Kristie Taylor, Feli- cia Walsh, and alternate Ains- ley MacDougall; sophomores Danny Evans and Kim Hart- man, and freshman Caitlin Schuler and alternate Tiffany Harris. During one of their early morning practices the girls took time out to pose for a got milk? “Squad of the Year” con- test. To be considered, a 200- word essay on why the squad should be named the got milk? “Squad of the Year”, had to be submitted including community service events, fundraising activities and cheerleading qualifications. The Scholastic GPA of each ember and of the overall quad, a “MILK” cheer that in- See CHEERLEADERS, pg 3 L-L cheerleaders put on milk faces POST PHOTO/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Reflected in a mirror while putting on their “milk mustaches,” Ash- ley Basar, left, and Kim Hartman. By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECK- ER Special to The Dallas Post HARVEYS LAKE — As many as 205 criminal and traffic cita- tion cases could be challenged because of questions about the accreditation of four-year Police Department veteran Charles Musial, court records show. That figure represents 35 criminal cases that include drunken driving and burglary charges, 58 non-traffic Ccita- tions, such as disorderly con- duct, and 112 traffic violations, according to records complied by District Justice James Tup- per. The validity of Musial’s ar- rests came under question after the revelation Wednesday that he never obtained certification from the Municipal Police Offi- cers Education and Training Commission in Harrisburg. Officers are required to be certified to carry a weapon and enforce state laws and moving traffic violations, said Maj. Richard Mooney, the commis- sion’s executive director. With- out it an officer has no more power to make an arrest than a lay person, Mooney said. The borough maintains Mu- Lehman Twp. mulls reduced police force By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff LEHMAN — For the first time in decades, it appears Lehman Township will not provide all of its own police coverage. “We've never had to have state police cover Lehman, we've had police coverage since the 1930's,” said Lehman Police Chief Howard Kocher in re- sponse to the recent announce- ment that Lehman Township will be reducing its force. The expectation is that the su- pervisors will vote at their Feb- ruary 17 meeting to ask the Pennsylvania State Police to pro- vide coverage during certain hours. “We used to have two full-time officers and a slew of part-timers — up to 12.” Kocher said that was in 1986 when he started with the department. He said since then the department has managed to increase the number of full-time employees and de- crease the number of part-time officers. That was until January 1 of this year. When full time officer Sev Newberry retired, the town- ship supervisors decided they couldn't afford to replace him. The change brings the total number of full-time officers down to three, supplemented by seven part-timers. Harveys Lake on hot seat over 4-year officer’s status sial was qualified because he completed training under Act 120, the state law that man- dates police training. But Mooney said the training itself was not sufficient for certifica- tion. Mooney said a department also must show the officer passed a physical and psycho- logical exam, provide proof a background check was com- pleted, show the officer quali- fied with a weapon and com- pleted first aid and CPR train- ing. The commission never got that proof for Musial, he said. As the borough and commis- sion argue the point, prosecu- tors and defense attorneys are faced with a legal quagmire. Jonathan Blum, an attorney with the Luzerne County Public Defender’s Office who handles Back Mountain cases, said he’s reviewing cases to determine whether challenges to arrests and convictions should be filed. The biggest problems for prosecutors involve pending cases, Blum said. Should Mu- sial’s arrests be deemed illegal, Blum said prosecutors would have to drop the charges or try to have another officer take over the case and rearrest the See HARVEYS LAKE, pg 3 Both Kocher and Dave Sutton, President of the Lehman Town- ship Board of Supervisors, agree this is the first time anyone can remember Lehman won't have full-time coverage. Sutton said in the 14 years he’s been on the board, the trend has been to increase police coverage. “We added a full-time officer last year — it was sup- posed to save us money,” said Sutton. Adding the full-time position was designed to cut back on the need for part-time officers. But, Sutton said, it didn't work out as well as planned. Sutton said the board had been aware of the possibility of police department cutbacks for a while. With costs rising and rev- enue not, other parts of the bud- See LEHMAN, pg 3 18 Pages, 2 Sections Calendar............. AERA | Classified........ Gyan swesns 15-17 Crossword. ..........civeees “2 Editorials.........ciiveceiteneind 8 Obituaries.......... .cccivevesvare 2 SChook....i couse PARTY | SPONS.......cianiiie 11-13 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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