L Dallas, Pennsylvania The Back Mountain's Newspaper Since 1889 March 20 to March 26, 2003 Vol. 114 No. 12 50 Cents SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS & LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS SPORTS Pg 9 Gymnasts bring home medals. Local students have fun at Science Olympiad. Pg 3. COMMUNITY Back Mountain Food Pantry expands board of directors. Pg 4. On brin of war, Rome still seek peace By CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Post Correspondent Peace on earth made a shaky, youthful start last Sunday night in the Back Mountain. A Sunday evening candlelight service held by the confirmation class of St. Therese’s Church, Shavertown at- tracted more than 100 participants and their families. As they struggled to keep candles lit, the children were asked to pray for people they didn't know who might be affected by a war in the Middle East. An. ecumenical youth peace service is planned for Sunday, April 6, at 3 p.m. at the Shavertown &@ United Methodist Church, Pioneer Avenue. Interviews at the Daddow-Issacs Ameri- Legion Post 672 in Dallas turned up other views. Volunteer firefighter and EMT Cathy Moore of Dallas isn’t so sure peace is the answer. Deeply affected by the events of 9/11, she was in complete agreement with President Bush after his speech Tuesday night. “If we do nothing we'll have more of September 11,” she said. “He's not going to stop, so let's hope for minimal loss and-acecomplish the job.” Jim Yascur, a Coast Guard veteran from Huntsville, completely supports the President too. “In boot camp you learn about germ and poison gas warfare and have to wear masks. People don’t realize there are no antidotes for some of these things.” See WAR, pg 5 POST PHOTO/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Diane Fraim, right, lit her mother Amanda’s candle at a service Sunday night at St. Therese’s Church. Many Back Moun- tain residents have been opponents of war with Iraq. Others support the President's action. Eftort made to replace empty gas station with roundabout By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff DALLAS — An effort is underway to acquire the closed Sunoco gas station in the center of Dallas Borough. Community leaders think putting a roundabout traffic pattern in its place may be the answer to the traffic woes dividing Dallas Borough's downtown. But, some say, more research is need- ed. “I am definitely’ for it,” said Kathy Kupstas, Dallas Borough Council Presi- dent. “We're really constrained. It would definitely be an answer to the clog of traffic.” Many think it could be an attractive answer to the troubled area at the heart of downtown Dallas, where five roads intersect and traffic backups are common. However, there are concerns about whether the roundabout will ad- dress all the issues Dallas is grappling with. The idea for the roundabout came from Chuck Mattei, District Engineer for the state Department of Transporta- tion (PennDOT). Mattei suggested the idea as an ideal way to solve the traffic issues at the in- tersection, noting that it would slow traffic, and at the same time keep it constantly moving. He also said Pen- nDOT was actively looking for a place to put a roundabout in the northeast- ern Pennsylvania region. Joe Moskovitz, Dallas Borough Man- ager, said PennDOT has since pro- Harveys Lake residents turn duced a preliminary engineering draft for the idea. He said Mattei has “unoffi- cially” given the time line of two years to implement the project, if approved. “Where we left it is to take it back to the engineers (at PennDOT) to see where the most effective positioning is,” said Moskovitz. The acquisition of the Sunoco station is essential to provide enough room for a roundabout in the intersection. Ac- See ROUNDABOUT, pg 5 Zone change paves way for adult community Employees charge ENCON ducking severance By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff DALLAS — Workers at soon-to-close Energy Converters, (ENCON) say the company hasn't made good on promises — depriving several out of their sever- ance pay. The former controller for the company is considering a lawsuit to re- cover what he says he is owed. Employees say contradicting past precedent and verbal understandings, the company stopped providing sever- ance for those who found work in recent months. After the December 15 announcement that layoffs were anticipated to begin in two months, the company was hit with an unusually high number of orders and layoffs did not materialize. As a re- sult, several long-time employees who had volunteered to be let go, and had found other work, lost thousands of dollars in severance pay. According to Bernie Lambert, Mark Love, Ken Socash, the former controller and other current and former employ- ees, ENCON management told employ- ees in a meeting December 15 that the plant was closing in March, with layoffs scheduled to begin February 15. The employees said they were urged to start looking for work and charge they were misled about severance availability. (Under the ENCON Severance Pay Plan, severance is equal to one base week of pay, plus one prorated week for each year of service.) In other layoffs over the last year, those who volunteered to be laid off re- ceived severance pay. Employees say based on the experience of those previ- ous employees and coupled with state- ments made by management during See ENCON, pg 8 16 Pages, 2 Sections Calendar Classified Crossword CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, NEWS OR ADVERTISING @ut for chief By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff ~ HARVEYS LAKE — About 30 people showed up at Tues- day night's borough council meeting, many to request Jeff Butler be reinstated as police chief. Mayor Richard Boice said “The police department is do- ing very well under the current circumstances,” and he report- ed former chief Butler is cur- rently the “officer in charge.” Butler resigned last month amid a controversy regarding his mishandling of administra- tive duties that left several offi- cers uncertified. After the floor was opened to comments from the public, a barrage of statements in favor of Butler and his reinstatement were made. “Making a mistake does not make a person bad, nor does it e him stupid. Please re- hasider reinstating Jeff Butler See CHIEF, pg 8 Ad Dallas LifeSmarts team headed to nationals By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff DALLAS - Five seniors from Dallas High School will repre- sent the region and the state when they compete in the na- tional LifeSmarts competition in Balias firuh School SEL POST PHOTO/ERIN YOUNGMAN The Dallas LifeSmarts team. From left: John Beberus, Dan Smith, Steve Losh, Robert Murphy and Michael Yenason. Common sense wins out April. Theyre not worried, though, they're just enjoying the ride. Last year, the Dallas team placed third in the state compe- tition that tests consumer knowledge. This year’s team won states and is going to Florida April 26-29 to compete against some 40 other teams from across the country. See LIFESMARTS, pg 7 By SCOTT VINNACOMBE II Post Correspondent LEHMAN TWP. — Despite protests against it, the town- ship supervisors voted 2-1 Monday night to allow re- zoning of an approximately 40-acre site along Route 415 so it could be used for senior citizen housing. Richard Angelicola intends to purchase the property and construct a facility with up to 125 independent living units, walking trails, a swimming pool, tennis courts and a 30-bed assisted living facility. Fourteen acres are wetlands, and would be left open. The board voted to allow the change from A-1, Agri- cultural, to R-3, Multifamily Residential, arguing that an alternative, single-family homes, would put a greater strain on resources. Chairman David Sutton said he believed the facility was something the area real- ly needed and that any zon- ing hearing usually brings out the people who are against whatever develop- ment has been applied for. He also said the only way all of the township residents’ concerns could be complete- ly guaranteed would be for someone to “buy up all the land around them and keep it completely clear.” A large number of town- ship residents attended the zoning hearing that took place prior to the supervi- sors meeting to state their opinions on the complex and most were against it. They cited as reasons a loss of privacy, danger to water wells, traffic and the de- struction of environmental scenery and wildlife habitat. Angelicola and his attor- ney said they intend to pre- serve the wildlife areas for walking tours and bird- watching clubs and have no desire to see any destruction of the natural habitats. Construction is likely to begin around July 1 if An- See LEHMAN, pg 8 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
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers