6 The Dallas Post Friday, July 11, 2003 OUR OPINION Thanks, Sue, for your contributions to library This year’s Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction will feature a special, although not necessarily welcome highlight — the sale of the final on-site auction painting by Dallas artist Sue Hand. That's final as in, “for now,” we hope. The prolific artist’s auction painting has been the largest sin- gle item sold during each of the last several auctions. And watching her create it amid the hustle and bustle of the event has been a treat for everyone who has attended, as each night her skilled hands added detail, color and drama to a unique auction scene. Finally, as the sun set Sunday night, the finished painting, expertly framed by her husband, Joe, would be sold to the highest bidder. But it has never been easy or inexpen- sive to take it home, as spirited bidding sent the price soaring while library supporters watched with eager anticipation of the completion of another successful auction. But all good things must come to an end, and we are grateful this one has lasted so long, and helped the library so much. An artist’s creative spirit needs new inspiration and fresh chal- lenges from time to time, and Sue is looking forward to both with a massive 10-year project to chronicle the “Light and the Land” of Northeastern Pennsylvania. She says the auction ex- perience has helped prepare her for this venture, but she has given far more to us along the way than she will be taking. We’re bearly removed from the natural world around us A note and photos contributed to this week’s issue by Ken and Joan Rogers, who live in the High Point Acres subdivision in Dallas Borough, remind us that development in the Back Mountain hasn’t moved us all that far from the natural world we've invaded. The Rogers recently had a visit from a young black bear who thought a bird feeder held a delicious treat. While they wrote that this was the first time they had seen a bear in the neigh- borhood, it’s likely that bears have seen them and their feeder many times. A larger bear rambled through the area around the Dallas side of the Huntsville Reservoir a few years ago and others have been spotted throughout the region. And as any gardener will tell you, they are joined by countless deer, rabbits and other assorted creatures that have adapted nicely to life with their new human neighbors. The chance to share our lawns, yards and fields with the semi-wild critters is one of the charms the Back Mountain has to offer. But while they seem cute and cuddly, these animals pose dangers as well, and we are wise to treat them with re- spect and a certain amount of distance. That way we can con- tinue to live in harmony. PUBLISHER’S NOTEBOOK Like millions of Americans, I traveled by automobile over the July 4th holiday weekend, venturing to Connecticut to visit rel- atives. Thankfully the trip was without inci- dents or accidents and largely free of delays .. except for Route 81 outside Scranton. We passed through there on the way back Sun- day afternoon, finding to our disbelieving eyes only one lane open on a bridge just north of the city. What's with that? One of the busiest weekends of the year — perhaps the busiest — and they have only one lane open? I don’t know that any other state would so openly invite criticism and risk elevating drivers’ tem- pers with such lame-brained scheduling. And have you noticed that traffic cops are never posted at confusing, congested construction sites? Sunday a state trooper was parked about a quarter mile before the bottleneck with his flashing lights on, but there was no traffic control as four lanes of cars, trucks, campers and motorcycles funneled down into one. And I'm still mad at that guy in the blue Suburban who cut me off! RON BARTIZEK Letters, columns and editorials The Dallas Post publishes opinions on a variety of topics in many forms. Editorials, which are the opinion of the tatiasertient of The Post, appear on the editorial page and are written by the editor unless otherwise indicated. Any artwork repre- sents the opinion of the cartoonist, and columns are the opinion of the author. Letters to the editor are welcome and will be published, subject to the following guidelines: e Letters should not exceed 500 words. ® No writer may have more than one letter published dur- ing 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. e 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 libel, slander or objectionable wording. In addition to letters, we welcome longer pieces that may run as columns. The author or subject's relevance to the Back Mountain will be the prime consideration when select- ing material for publication. Tie DALLAS POST TIMESeLEADER $" Newspaper Group P.O. BOX 366, DALLAS PA 18612 * 570-675-5211 dallaspost@leader.net Ronald Bartizek EDITOR/GENERAL MANAGER Justin Wisnosk ADVERTISING ACCT. EXEC. Ein Youngman REPORTER Claudia Blank AD PRODUCTION MANAGER Darlene E. Sorber OFFICE MANAGER So many flowers, so little time. Photo by Charlotte Bartizek. LETTERS First roundabout, then ‘big box.’ Is this what we want? Editor, In April there were several encouraging articles in The Dallas Post describing the vi- sioning committee’s revitaliza- tion plans for Dallas, the aim of which was to enhance the ap- pearance and viability of the downtown. More recently the talk has been about putting a traffic roundabout in the center of Dallas, an idea that is greatly at odds with the goals of down- town revitalization and bad for the Back Mountain as a whole. In terms of downtown revi- talization, the major flaw is that the roundabout will effec- tively kill pedestrian traffic in the center of town. Even on roundabouts where traffic must stop for pedestrians, a person trying to cross the street takes his life into his hands. The pro- posed Dallas roundabout ap- parently does not even have this pedestrian right of way. The problem is that cars al- ready on the roundabout will be continuously exiting onto any one of the side streets without warning. To make mat- ters worse, vehicles entering the roundabout do not even have to stop, merely yield to traffic on the roundabout. Also the fact that cars will be enter- ing the circle nearly parallel will only serve to increase the ease of entering traffic - great for vehicles - deadly for pedes- trians. Our biggest problem with the roundabout, however, is that it will remove the last bar- rier to the building of the “big box” increase in the Back Mountain as more housing de- velopments, retirement com- munities and even small shop- ping centers that serve our res- idents are built. This kind of development, however, is natu- ral, inevitable and even desir- able. But the big box store is nei- ther natural nor desirable nor inevitable. It is not natural be- cause it is the beginning of turning the Back Mountain into a mega-shopping destina- tion for thousands from out- side our community. (And you think traffic is bad now!). It is not desirable because big box stores like Wal-mart and Lowe’s invariably wipe out small locally-owned business- es. Most importantly, it is not inevitable because PennDOT will not grant a highway occu- pancy permit to the developer of the big box store unless Dal- las Borough officials approve the idea of a roundabout, which they are scheduled to do this month. Those residents opposed to the traffic circle and the big box store had better let Dallas Borough officials know how they feel soon before this bad deal becomes a done deal. Mirshall D. Rurhbangh Sue Hand Pattie Davies LIBRARY NEWS An active summer planned at the library for children @ There are still a few openings in the ongo- ing story hours for tod- dlers and 3-5-year olds. Call 675-1182 to regis- ter your child. It’s also not too late to register children from pre-school to 6th grade in this summer’s “Get in the Game @ Your Library.” Pictured on the right with the “miniature golf” game which helps children to select the books they will read are, from left, Janet Bauman, library assistant, and CAROL KING Yuri and Aloysia Ackerman. The next special program, “Olympics of Ancient Greece,” will be held on Tuesday, July 22, at 1 p.m. in the children’s room. cookies. The children will learn a little about the Olympics, hear a story, do a craft, and take home a snack. The final party will be the Read and Grow Magic Show with magician and ventriloquist John Carlson, on Mon- day, July 28, at 6:30 p.m. Certificates and prizes will be awarded, followed by refresh- ments. Everyone participating in this sum- mer’s game is welcome. Registration is nec- essary for both programs — call the library. On Saturday, August 2, from 10:30-11:30 a.m., the Luzerne County Library System is sponsoring a “Game Day” at the LCCC Gym, Nanticoke. Call the library for more information and to register your child. Baby-sitters class: Yes, another one is scheduled, due to the great popularity of the previous four classes. It will be held on Saturday, July 26, from 10 a.m. to 4:30.p. m. There’s a limit of 12 in the class, so call the library and reserve a space soon. The fee of $25, with checks made payable to the American Red Cross, includes a Red Cross handbook and is due in advance. Bring your own lunch; Pepsi will provide sodas, and the Old Country Buffet will supply Librarian’s report: Kathy Finnerty, special needs teacher from Lake-Noxen, brought nine children to the library to do research on gardening and pollution. The four lead- ers of the Summer Reading Teamwork Family Literacy Program entertained 37 children and parents on June 24. Statistics for the month of June include: total circula- tion, 8,431; books added, 164; new borrow- ers, 142; and active borrowers, 15,603. See LIBRARY NEWS, pg 7 % 70 Years Ago - July 14, 1933 KT SUPERVISORS LOWER DEBT TO $1000 Kingston Township Supervisors at a meeting reduced the in- debtedness of the township to the amount of $1,000. In an effort to further reduce the indebted- ness the su- pervisors have decid- ed that no binding oil will be used on the township roads, but a dust oil will be used. Because of the rapid increase in the number of beavers in Penn- sylvania the Game Commission has set aside a limited trapping season for them. At a meeting of Shrine View as- sociation the secretary was in- structed to investigate the cost of drilling a well and installing ONLY YESTERDAY a pump to supply that section of the community with water. 60 Years Ago - July 16, 1943 BACK MOUNTAIN AREA WILL HAVE DEFENSE CONTROL CENTER In spite of opposition from County and State Councils of Defense, the men who know best the air raid precaution needs of the Back Mountain re- gion have decided to set up their own independent control center in Dallas Township High School. Persons in need of sugar after using their Nos 15 and 16 stamps can apply for more for canning purposes, according to Mrs. Clarence Laidler, clerk at Dallas war Price and Rationing Board. Lehman Township citizens will honor 95 of their sons and daughters who are in military service when they dedicate an imposing honor roll on the vil- lage green at Lehman center. 50 Years Ago - July 10, 1953 AUCTION TRAFFIC PLANS OUTLINED Chief Russell Honeywell an- nounced that the no double parking will be permitted on any Dallas street during the two-day Library Auction. He has designated Franklin Street as a through street with no parking at anytime. Some of the movies at the Sandy Beach Drive-In Theatre: “The Lone Hand” with Joel Mc- Crea and Barbara Hale; “Valley of The. Eagles” with jack Warn- er, Nadia Gray; “Last of The Co- manches” with Barbara Hale, Johnny Stewart. Dallas Borough Police were busy on the Fourth of July with two arrests for reckless driving and three for passing through the Main Street red lights. The fine was $5 for passing through the red lights. 40 Years Ago - July 11, 1963 STATE BIDS ON SCHOOL PROPERTY A tiny segment of Shavertown Grade School property is being sought by the State Highway Department, Dr. Robert Mall- man disclosed at a meeting. Purchase price of $975 was of- fered for one twentieth of an acre near proposed new road construction site. M. E. Kuchta, Commonwealth telephone Company District Manager at Clarks Summit, and formerly of Dallas, was named Division manager. Robert = W. Billings of Trucksville was put on two weeks duty training as a sea- man recruit at the Naval Train- ing Center, Great Lakes, Ill. Upon completing the training period the Reservists returned home. See YESTERDAY, pg 7 | | | Il
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers