L Dallas, Pennsylvania The Back Mountain's Newspaper Since 1889 May 16 to May 22, 2003 Vol. 114'No. 20 50 Cents COMMUNITY ®, Nursery School students tour po- YW lice station. Pg 6. SCHOOL Weidner is Penn State Wilkes- Barre’s top adult student. Pg 14. SPORTS We have a winner! Check the records and photos. Pg 11. Dallas School Board | District 200d, but Lake-Lehma School Boar 8 (Candidate consensus IS for more, and better technology By TARA BENNINGER Post Correspondent This year’s Lake-Lehman's School Board elections offer a choice throughout the district, with 10 candidates vying for only five open seats. Regions 1 and 2 both have four candidates for two open seats. Region 3 has two candidates, but only one open seat. The candidates all have their own dis- pinctions, but there is a streak of similari- running through most of them. Five of the 10 candidates are incumbents, and one challenger, Edwin Kern, served on the board for eight years before moving four years ago. He feels the school just needs the “right people to get back on track” which is why he has chosen to run again. Many of the current board members, such as current board member Michelle Coombs, and several of the candidates have a personal interest in the school’s well being, because their own children are students. One common concern for these candi- dates was the lack of technological ad- vancement at Lake-Lehman. “We need to increase our technology, and give stu- dents a better education for tomorrow's @ not today’s” said incumbent Jeffrey Pauley. Each of the candidates agreed with that assessment. “Do you feel the district does an ade- quate job managing its budget?” was just one of the questions the candidates was asked. To allow for voter comparison, each candidate was asked the same four questions, in the same order. Their an- swers appear on page 3. Dallas hopes new food vendor serves up profit Brian Grove stood by one of the paths that now crisscross the Back Mountain Recreation Complex land. He is the new executive director of the non-profit organization that is developing the regional recreation park. New park land exec eager to get to work By ERIN YOUNGMAN : Post Staff LEHMAN TWP. — Back Mountain Recreation Inc., the organization building a regional park on 130 acres in Lehman, has hired a full- time executive director to oversee the project. Brian Grove, a native of Forty Fort, stepped into the role on April 1. With the purchase of the property completed last fall, Grove is working on acquiring grants and conducting fundraising. Money raised will pay for phase II, construction of the out- door areas. Grove said after eight years of working with the governor's office in Harrisburg, he is excited to be back in the area and enthusiastic about the work he feels is a perfect match for his skills and background. “This is something [I've always wanted to do; I have a great love of the outdoors,” said Grove from his temporary office in the Lehman Township Municipal Building. While with the governor's office, Grove worked in various capacities from Director of Governors Office of Public Liaison, where he was last, to Deputy Director of Operations. He said much of his work was with special interest groups and overseeing appointments; however, whenever the departments of natur- al resources or environmental pro- tection were involved, he tried to be attentive. “I really wanted to come home af- ter being in Harrisburg for the past three years. I found out about this job and I thought what a great way to get home,” he said. Grove said he is in the midst of learning as much as possible about the organization's history — what they've been doing since the non- profit entity was started four and a half years ago. He is also research- See RECREATION, pg 4 i POST PHOTO/ERIN YOUNGMAN Complaints persist about could be better, say candidates By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff DALLAS — In an election that has nine candidates running for five open seats, everyone agrees Dallas is one of the best schools in the area. Incumbents and challengers alike talk about how to keep it that way, and make it even better. “It seems up until this point in time, Dallas has met the educational needs of its students and produced a student that is well prepared for an ever-changing world,” said Russell Bigus. “We want to make sure we can continue to do that as the need grows larger.” Challengers Bigus, Dennis Gochoel, Bruce Goeringer and Gary Mathers are touting new ideas while the incumbents, Ernest Ashbridge, John Litz, Deborah Morgantini, James Richardson and Thomas Russ say their track record is proof enough that the experience they've gained can keep things moving in the right direction. “We would like to continue the progress that we've been affording to our district, said Morgantini, a Wyoming Valley West Elementary Principal who has four years on the board. “We've done a lot of wonderful things for the children and we'd like to continue with that.” Litz, Controller for UGI Utilities’ electric division, has 10 and a half years on the board. He feels his background in busi- ness and engineering is an asset to the board. He believes the success of the cur- See DALLAS, pg 8 20 Pages, 2 Sections Calendar By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff DALLAS — Students in the Dallas School District will see a change in their standard cafete- ria service next year. In hopes of netting a hefty profit, the Dallas School Board voted Monday to witch cafeteria vendors. The board decided to go with Metz and Associates in place of its long-time company, Nutrition Incorporated. Ernest Ashbridge Jr., Board President, said the new company guaranteed a net profit somewhere in the range of $25,000-$50,000 a year. Nutri- tion Inc. couldn't guarantee a profit. The former company provided cafeteria services to the district for the last five years. Their most recent contract is up at the end of the 2003 school year. “Asked for a letter of recom- mendation, we would gladly give it. They have done a super job,” said Ashbridge. “The decision was based purely on econom- ics.” Ashbridge said the new com- pany will push “grab and go” types of foods — such as pre- packaged salads, similar to foods found at fast food restau- rants, said Ashbridge. He said the company forecasts profit based partly on what it esees will be more sales to students. “If they (students) don’t buy, the district is still guaranteed a profit,” said Ash- bridge. He said the surplus is not ear- marked for anything in particu- lar, but would go into the gener- al fund. Asked whether there would be a change in quality, Ashbridge responded ' “probably not, if there was a decrease in quality, they (Metz) wouldn't be able to have increased participation.” Ashbridge said four compa- nies bid for the contract. The fact that Metz is a local company also played into the board’s decision. Ashbridge said Metz currently provides services to places such as College Miseri- cordia and Mercy Hospital, and that those customers report be- ing happy with the company. The price of a high school lunch will remain $1.50. The board also approved the hiring of numerous coaches and accepted the resignation of some long-time teachers. Retiring at the end of this school year are Maryann Jesse, 33 years; Valeria A. Rothrock, 28 years and Michael D. Wey- man, 33.5 years. The following coaches were hired for the 2003-2004 school year: Kelly Phillips, head cheerlead- ing coach; Mollie Phillips, cheer- See SCHOOL BOARD, pg 9 EY POST PHOTO/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK The horsey set Lindsay Jayne of Dallas proudly displayed ribbons she and her horse, Rowtantina Natasha, won at last Sunday's horse show sponsored by the Showin’ Blue 4-H Club. More photos on page 4. quarry’s hours By TARA BENNINGER Post Correspondent JACKSON TWP. — Fast is the best way to describe the May meeting of the Jackson Township Supervisors. John Wilkes, Chairman, called the meeting to order, and about a half hour later the meeting was adjourned. Reporting to the board, Jack- son Township Solicitor Jeffrey Malak listed several complaints from residents about recent blasting until late into the evening by American Asphalt, as late as 11:30 p.m. Malak said he was in the process of checking on them. Malak also reported that the township could not address the issue of traffic noise from Amer- ican Asphalt truckers, which has become a complaint. The traffic, while disruptive to local residents, is a protected consti- tutional right of interstate com- merce. However, American As- phalt has stopped using the Jake-brake (loud brake on large trucks) and backup beepers af- ter certain hours. Malak agreed to meet with residents living near the plant to discuss the Hours of Opera- tion agreement, when it is ap- proved. All members of the See JACKSON, pg 2 CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, NEWS OR ADVERTISING E-mail: dallaspost@Ileader.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