L Dallas, Pennsylvania The Back Mountain's Newspaper Since 1889 May 30 to June 5, 2003 Vol. 114 No. 22 DALLAS POST SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS & LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS SPORTS Cup presentation today. SCHOOL L.-J students earn royal treatment. Pg 11. 50 Cents COMMUNITY Boat show this weekend at Harveys Lake. Pg 16. POST PHOTO/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Swingin’ in the rain. Dallas Color Guard members Christie Williams, left, .and Meredith Davis led the band at Monday's Memorial Day pa- rade in Dallas. Rain didn’t stop spectators and participants from taking the time to honor America’s war dead. More photos on page 6. Rains don’t stop Memorial Day parade in Dallas By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff ~ DALLAS - The steady rain did- n't dampen anyone's spirits dur- ing Monday morning's Memorial Day parade. Many spectators said a heightened sense of patri- otism was responsible for the large turnout despite the less than favorable conditions. “I'm surprised by all the peo- ple here,” said first-time parade- goer Michelle Clate. Sally Mock, who has been at- tending the parade for years, said the number of people pre- sent was more than she ever ex- pected. “Actually, this is proba- bly bigger than last year’s,” she said. As parade participants — from “People are starting to realize more and more what freedom is all about.” Jack Dodson Chief, Kunkle Fire Department Cub Scouts to the Dallas March- ing Band — readied themselves for the annual march down Memorial Highway, many dis- cussed the nature of this year’s participation. “I think ever since 9/11, there's more support — more people are coming out,” said Jack Dodson, Chief of the Kun- kle Fire Department. “I think the support for the U.S. military is growing incredi- bly. People are starting to realize Lake-Lehman budget grojects income declines By TARA BENNINGER Post Correspondent LEHMAN TWP. — As usual the May Lake-Lehman School Board meeting began with the pledge and a moment of silence. But that silence did not last long, as the board dove into sev- eral topics. The board rejected the pro- posed tentative budget for 2003- 04. Board members Angelo DeCesaris, Lois Kopcha and James Mahon voted against the budget, while the other four members present voted for it. A majority vote of five was needed to pass it. Donna Chamberlain, asked di- rectors that voted against the budget to explain their reason- ing. DeCesaris said he had diffi- culty passing a budget running at a deficit, which Kopcha agreed with. Mahon said that he was not confident that the bud- get was actually going to be bal- See BUDGET, pg 8 Rezoning vote to be appealed By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff LEHMAN TWP. — A Lehman resident has appealed the rezon- ing of a 40-acre parcel of land at Route 415 and 42nd Street, slat- ed to be senior citizen housing. Se. February, the Lehman ship Board of Supervisors voted 2-1 to change the property from A-1, agricultural to R-3, multi-family residential. Some of the land is in Dallas Township, where the township zoning offi- cer reports no application for a zoning change to the portion of property there. Richard Angelicola intends to construct a facility with up to 125 independent living units, walking trails, a swimming pool, See APPEAL, pg 3 more and more what freedom is all about,” he said. Bill Kupstas, American Legion Commander at the Daddow- Isaacs Post 672, which sponsors the parade, said a little after 8 a.m. he called Dallas High School intending to cancel the marching band, 'due to the in- clement weather. But, “they were already on their way,” he said. “The young people are more involved now,” said Tom Reese, i American Legion Adjutant. “There's a lot more media at- tention given to the military. My wife's a teacher and (she said) even the kids are talking about it (the military) more than usu- al,” said Kupstas. Cub Scouts from around the Back Mountain seemed particu- larly unaffected by the rain as they waited for their turn to march. One parent jokingly said that the scouts favorite part of the parade just may end up to be splashing in the puddles. “This is the first time they've been in a parade. For an 8-year- old, that's a pretty big deal,” said Robin Evans of Pack 281, scout Tyler Evan’s mom. See PARADE, pg 6 , Dallas Rotary awards book scholarships Every year since the early 1960s, the Rotary Club of Dallas has awarded book scholarships to deserving students in the Back Moun- tain area who will be attending college in the fall. On May 22 se- niors from Dallas and Lake-Lehman high schools received $500 book scholarships at the Rotary’s annual book scholarship night. Pictured from left are: Eric Martin, president of the Rotary Club of Dallas; Austin Williams, Lake-Lehman, will attend Franklin and Marshall and major in biology and pre-health sciences; Jonathan Morgan, Dallas, will attend Wilkes University and major in the pharmacy program; Tabitha Sprau, Lake-Lehman, will attend Lafayette and major in engineering; Paul Rodda, co-chairman of the Book Scholarship Program. A fourth recipient, Gabrielle Huh major in business. from Dallas, was unavailable for the event. She will attend NYU and Loss of grant tied to increase In crime at Meadowcrest By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff KINGSTON TOWNSHIP — An hour-long standoff May 25 be- tween Back Mountain police offi- cers and suspects in an at- tempted robbery ended with three people arrested at a trou- bled Meadowcrest development home. Evidence pointing to on- going criminal activity was found later at the premises. Kingston. Township Chief of Police James Balavage said since a federal grant supporting additional policing of the area was cut in December, criminal activity at the development has risen. The Federal Housing Drug Elimination Program grant pro- vided approximately $30,000 annually to the Kingston Town- ship Police Department. Admin- program years, we istered through the Luzerne County Housing Authority, the money provided 60 additional hours a month of concentrated patrols in Meadowcrest and the surrounding areas. “When we had the community policing program for five years, See CRIME, pg 3 Yote counts still not final Jd Some races are within “a handful of votes By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff BACK MOUNTAIN — Official counts for area primaries are not likely to be available until next week, leaving some Back Mountain nominations for the November general election un- settled. Leonard Piazza, Luzerne County Deputy Director of Voter Services, said numbers for closely contested races in Kingston Township, and Dallas and Lake-Lehman school dis- tricts are still unavailable. Initial unofficial numbers put some candidates within three votes of each other. The official counting process, which normally lasts about a day, started Friday, May 23. Pi- azza said due to a large number of write-in votes throughout the county, counting has been on- going since. “We're in the process of count- ing them up now. Numbers be- ing published in newspapers are fairly unreliable — officially we don’t have the numbers,” said Piazza. Piazza said it is not uncom- mon for candidates to run or- chestrated write-in campaigns to gain nominations. In Kingston Township, seven The Post will close early The office of The Dallas Post will close at 2 p.m. Fri- day, May 30, so that the staff can set up the Back Mountain Cup presentation. The event takes place at Pavilion 2, Frances Slocum State Park, from 4-7 p.m., with a trophy presentation at 5:30 p.m. Everyone is invited to cele- brate the accomplishments of Dallas and Lake-Lehman student-athletes throughout the past school year. A cook- out will be held throughout the afternoon. candidates are running for three supervisor seats. All candidates with the exception of Christo- pher Concert are Republicans. Unofficial numbers put third place Chris Yankovich at 414 votes, three votes ahead of Sean McAndrew, with 411. (Jeff Box and Dave Jenkins claimed the most votes.) In the Dallas School Board race for five open seats, Dennis Gochoel and 32-year board vet- eran Ernest Ashbridge Jr. are separated by just five votes, See VOTE, pg 8 16 Pages, 2 Sections Calendar Classified Crossword Editorials Obituaries School 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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