L i ry Dallas, Pennsylvania | Fe] ag io October 19 to October 25, 2003 £ TE i] i 5 The Back Mountain's Newspaper Since 1889 Vol. 114 No. 42 SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS & LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS Timothy Lawlor, left, and Frank Galicki load some of the hundreds of donated books that were sent to the Our Lady of Fatima Re- hab in Mon- rovia, Liberia. & POST PHOTO/ M.B. GILLIGAN Book donations heading to Liberia By M.B. GILLIGAN Post Correspondent The recently filled cargo container heading to Liberia carried an even more precious treasure than usual. Packaged in with the canned foods, bags of rice, chil- dren’s Christmas presents and hand-me- down clothing were thousands of school- books. “I am really thrilled to be able to do- nate the books to someone who can use them,” said Kathleen McCarthy, Princi- pal of Wycallis Elementary School in Dal- las. “We sent about five cartons of books that we no longer use.” The books in- cluded elementary science, math, Eng- lish and spelling texts. Eileen Rockensies, Shavertown, organ- izes the bi-yearly sea canister shipment to Our Lady of Fatima Rehab in Mon- rovia, Liberia run by Sister M. Sponsa Beltran. The 78-year-old Sister Sponsa graduated from College Misericordia and relies heavily on local connections like Rockensies and parishioners of St. Therese’s Church in Shavertown to con- tinue her humanitarian aid in war-torn Liberia. The Rehab has developed to the point that a Kindergarten through 12th grade See BOOKS, pg 8 Pups ease § kids into reading By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff - DALLAS TWP. — A unique pro- gram that pairs pets with at-risk chil- dren got off to a paws-itive start Octo- ber 10 at Dallas Elementary School. As children filed into the gymnasium and caught sight of their soon-to-be furry friends, the premise of the pro- gram became instantly clear. “Oh he’s so cute,” and “look at that one!” said the kids as they positioned themselves as near as possible to the puppies. The new Puppy Pals reading pro- gram for Dallas Elementary students in remedial reading classes capitalizes on the age-old truism that children love puppies. The result, said Betsy Jerome, Dallas Elementary Guidance Coun- selor, is that the children relax, have fun and without even realizing it, im- prove their reading skills. “It’s encouraging them to read. If they're embarrassed to read to their classroom, they’ll read to the dogs,” “If they're embarrassed to read to their class- . room, they'll read to the dogs.” Michael Harrison, left, and Jordon Nichol. second graders at Dallas Elementary, shared a book with a “Puppy Pal.” Sandra Ford deciding. After the trial run, Jerome had posi- tive things to say. With the exception of some fine tuning, she said, “I think it went really well. The kids really POST PHOTO/ERIN YOUNGMAN said Sandra Ford, a program volunteer. The program, created in 1999 by the Utah organization Intermountain Ther- apy Dogs, has been found to be so suc- cessful, similar programs are being im- plemented around the country. The Dallas Elementary program is the first of its type in this area. Before breaking into small reading groups, Beth Maffei, Humane Educator with the Luzerne County SPCA, talked Puppy Pals volunteer with the children about boundaries with the dogs and how to respect ani- mals in general. Maffei said afterward that although relatively new , children in similar reading programs have seen dramatic results. “Some students stopped stut- tering, they relaxed more and were ab- sent and tardy less. Their social skills improved and they were more likely to turn in their homework,” she said. Maffei and the SPCA are trying to find four schools in Luzerne County in- terested in doing a pilot program simi- lar to Dallas’s, but on a weekly basis. Currently Dallas has plans to do the program four times a year. Jerome said Dallas is considering the weekly pilot program, but wanted to see how the first session went before seemed to enjoy it.” She said there is no additional cost to the district to run the program. Six- ty children in kindergarten to third grade took part and a host of volun- teers from the SPCA and the communi- ty, including parents and the district's reading specialist, worked to make the day a success. For more information, go to www.therapyanimals.org Spooks among the library shelves By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff DALLAS — It may not take a village to Local Halloween attractions benefit charities. Page 8 mount a new fundraiser for a community in- stitution, but it does take a lot of help. “You don’t want one guy to get attacked by a gorilla and another guy never to even see a gorilla — so you need enough volunteers.” Such is the planning that goes into creating a haunted house from the ground up, or in this case, the basement up, explained Dave Neiman, a volunteer helping to create the first Back Mountain Haunted Library. 3 Neiman, a self-described Halloween fanat- ic, admits, “when you have two hearses and no funeral home, you know you have a prob- lem.” Neiman’s ghoulish fanaticism will serve him well as one of the many volunteers who have taken on the cause of turning the li- brary’s basement and property into a brary’s budget. A note to Post subscribers While distribution of The Post with the Sunday Times Leader has been generally successful, there have been some snags. Delivery on Sunday began October 5, and we have heard from some of you that either you received no newspaper at all, or your copy of the Times Leader did not include The Post. We will rectify the errors, and hope you'll be patient as we work to do so. Some subscribers may also have inadvertently received bills by mail. Those were sent in error and can be ignored. If you had a valid Post subscription, but did not subscribe to the Sun- day Times Leader, you will receive both for the cost of a Post subscription. Subscribers to both newspapers will see the bal- ance of their Post payment moved to their Times Leader ac- count, resulting in a later renewal date. After that, they will not have to pay separately for The Post. Please call 829-5000 if you do not receive a Post, or have oth- er questions about delivery. Your complaint will then be en- tered in our reporting system, assuring that it will be reviewed by a manager. Thanks again for your patience. thrillseeker’s delight, all in the name of chari- ty. All proceeds will go directly to the li- Nadine Young, chairperson of the library board’s fundraising and development commit- tee, said recent state cuts in ‘funding has meant a $50,000 loss for the library, an amount that nearly eats up the $70,000 to $80,000 made at July’s annual library auction. She said in addition to that loss, the library is down about $20,000 more because other expected funding has not come through. At a time when things don’t seem to be able to get any worse, costly repairs to the building’s chimney are also needed. M Yo B% } oh LL EMO R JU Al Group to provide insurance for docks By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff HARVEYS LAKE — The or- ganization created over 70 years ago to look after summer homes in the winter, will be do- ing so again starting January 1. Mark Sobeck, President of the Harveys Lake Protective Association, said the group has decided to start offering dock insurance to its members. He said the coverage is badly need- ed to protect dock and boat- house owners from ice damage, since local insurance compa- nies currently don’t offer it. According to Sobeck, Har- veys Lake is one of the only lakes in the region that has an ordinance allowing docks and boathouses to be built on piles driven into the floor of the lake. Sobeck said the result, howev- er, is that when spring comes, and the lake begins to thaw, ice chunks the size of “aircraft car- riers” can wipe out those sup- ports like toothpicks. “Every year someone gets hit,” said Sobeck. “You never know whose turn it is to get hit. It all depends on which way the wind blows.” “I've seen docks completely crushed, sidewalls and all.” He said the result is that everyone who owns a dock or boathouse is nervous until the last of the ice melts in the See DOCKS, pg 3 bor 23 POST PHOTO/ERIN YOUNGMAN Many volunteers have come together to make the new Haunted Li- brary a success. From left, front row: Boy Scouts Jason Young, Ryan Williams and Michael Ketchmer.Back row: Senior Girl Scout Heather Mines, Rachael Gallup, Senior Girl Scout Kelly Williams, See HAUNTED, pg 8 Stevie Neiman, Dave Neiman. Peggy Lacey takes on new challenge By M.B. GILLIGAN Post Correspondent The committee planning the 2004 Dallas High School Grad- uation Night Lock-In Party has just kicked off its first fundrais- ing event of the year, a Kathryn Beich candy and gift sale, and this year’s committee chairman is no rookie volunteer. Peggy Lacey, along with her husband - Mark, has been a familiar face at Back Mountain youth sport- ing activities for many years. “I was finished with the sports thing and I wanted to be sure that the Lock-In Party con- tinued,” said Peggy, whose two Making our community strong. If you know someone who might make a good example, call 970-7157. daughters attend Dallas High School. Devin, a freshman, and Meredith, a senior, played soc- cer, softball and basketball throughout elementary school and their parents coached most of their teams. “I coached Devin’s soccer team for seven years,” said Peg- gy, who also refereed many games and served as a commis- sioner for Back Mountain Soc- cer for four years. Since her daughters played softball, Peg- gy was also involved with the Back Mountain Baseball Asso- ciation as a coach and umpire for seven years. She served as Vice President of Softball for three of those years. The sports connection would not be complete without recog- nizing Peggy’s commitment to the Dallas Youth Basketball As- sociation. “There were only See LACEY, pg 3 14 Pages, 2 Sections Calendar Church CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, NEWS OR ADVERTISING E-mail: dallaspost@leader.net Tue POST 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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