L Old Shoe Game <, highlights, ~ Page 9 Bs iden Newspaper Since 1889 November 2 to November 8, 2003 & 50¢ SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS & LAKE-LEHMAN SC HOOL DISTRICTS DeRojas saw bravery, death in Iraq By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff JACKSON TWP. — As a Forward Surgical Team (F.S.T.) member, local doctor Colonel Juan DeRojas helped save lives on Iraqi front lines. He re- turned in October from his second de- “It’s worse now than it was five months ago.” Colonel Juan DeRojas Jackson Township ployment this year. The Back Mountain father of five documented his recent tour with pho- @ of every day realities in post-war q. He will present his experiences at local venues throughout the area for Veterans Day, “You know people think the war is over, but it’s \definitely not over. It’s worse now than it was five months ago,” said DeRojas as he began to ex- plain his experiences there. “That is the point I want to make — it is a very dangerous place.” A US. Army Reservist, DeRojas worked in Iraq as part of an FS.T team, a new type of front-line medical care aimed at reaching the injured within the first hour of injury. He and a group of 20 other soldiers braved the 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a- week threat of mortar attacks and am- bushes to bring surgical care to sol- diers who were in the most dangerous - situations. Especially dangerous dur- ing his last tour, he said, because of the recent escalation of violence in the area. “There are American soldiers being shot at, ambushed daily,” he said. “Basically it was pure luck whether you were caught up in an ambush, just pure luck.” The FST team was stationed at Camp War Horse outside of Baquba, 30 miles northeast of Baghdad. Their time was split between the camp and accompanying troops on missions in search of Saddam Hussein and those actively loyal to him. : The team was composed of three surgeons, two nurses, O.R. technicians . . and medics and was “100 percent mo- bile.” “We could go anywhere and within 15 minutes, set up an O.R. table and start operating,” DeRojas said. Some days they would see several casualties, other times they would go for days without any. But always con- stant was the threat of mortar attacks coming from nearby villages. DeRojas said he learned that human beings can experience tremendous See DEROJAS, pg 8 Poisonous snakes are on the list of dangers soldiers in the Iraqi desert have to contend with. Colonel Juan DeRojas kneels near one found in a neighboring tent. Speed limit on the lake? 2 Group proposing 45 mph limit for oe” weekends HARVEYS LAKE — The Harveys Lake Protective Association is looking into creating the first ever daytime speed limit on the lake. Richard Squitieri, a member of the association, is visiting other organiza- tions around the lake to gather letters of support for the proposal. He said so far, everyone he’s talked to thinks a limit is a good idea. “Of course there’s always some mi- nority that doesn’t like regulations at all,” said Squitieri. The idea for a 45 mile per hour speed limit from Memorial Day to La- bor Day, during peak times, was one of two questions on a survey that went to all 140 protective association member families. Squitieri said the idea was well re- ceived. “It came back overwhelming See LAKE SPEED, pg 8 Regional plan scaled back By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff DALLAS — Budget changes and A case of ‘clown foot?’ POST PHOTO/RON BARTIZEK Samantha Feist, Dallas, expressed frustration with her costume’s footwear to friends Amanda Mikolaitis and Erika McCabe. She had been marching down Church Street in Dallas Borough, on her way to the awards cere- mony for the annual Dallas Kiwanis Halloween parade. More photos on page 4. Cuts In services, layofis likely | By RONALD BARTIZEK Post Staff KINGSTON TWP. — The budget outlook for 2004 has residents angry, supervisors feeling under siege and township employees worried they might be out of a job. Concluding last week’s public budg- et hearings, Township Manager Ed- mund O’Neill offered a bleak outlook. “The bottom line is a total deficit of $400,000, and that is with some of the cuts we talked about,” he said. He believes that whatever the pre- liminary budget looks like, it will have to be trimmed before final adoption in order to close the gap between rev- enue and expenditures, and gave three possible approaches. One is increasing revenues by levy- ing a property tax. At Monday’s hearing, Paul Sabol, Chairman of the Board of Supervi- sors, suggested it might be helpful to reinstate the local property tax that was abolished 10 years ago. It had been 5 mills in 1993, and would have brought in about $74,000 in 1994 had it not been eliminated. As a home-rule Kingston Township is not restricted in establishing a millage rate. Another option is to cut expendi- tures, which O’Neill said has been done all along. “This is not a last minute reaction,” he said. One way to save is by eliminating township jobs, which Sabol acknowledged has been discussed. “If we could cut three people, we could save a couple hundred thou- sand dollars,” Sabol said after Tues- day’s hearing. te O'Neill said later in the week that he felt certain staff reductions would be considered. : A third contributor to balancing the budget would be to dip into savings, which O’Neill estimated at about $500,000. So far this year the ac- counts haven’t been touched, but he said that is usually the case until year’s end when books are balanced. “None of these options are favor- able,” O'Neill said, “but there are de- cisions that have to be made.” On Wednesday, O'Neill reiterated See KT BUDGET, pg 3 community, uncertainties have forced the Back Mountain Council of Governments (COG) to undertake its regional plan with $50,000 rather than the original- ly budgeted $130,000. : The change means the Back Moun- tain-wide plan to evaluate pressing re- gional issues will be scaled back and cut into two separate parts. : & The first phase will begin immedi- ately and take approximately 12 months, said representatives from the appointed planning firm Kise, Straw and Kolodner. The second part will be contingent on the COG obtaining a Land Use Planning and Technical As- sistance Program (LUPTAP) grant. The regional plan is being undertak- en by COG members Dallas Borough and Dallas, Kingston, and Lehman townships to assess three key regional issues: traffic, water supply, and land use. The planners and COG members dealt with two main monetary issues Tuesday, as well as how to plan around Jackson and Franklin town- See PLAN, pg 2 Dallas High School puts the classroom online By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff DALLAS TWP. — Dallas High School has found a unique way to in- tegrate what has become standard col- lege technological fare, with an age- appropriate twist. The school now offers several on- line courses, but unlike similar college level classes, Dallas’s require in-class time. Kathy Kupstas, who teaches West- ern Civilization at Dallas, said even though the initial transition to using the technology was trying, she be- lieves this is just one more necessary step in preparing her students for what they will encounter in college. “I see at the college level my daugh- ter does a lot of work online. I want the kids to be ready,” she said. Kupstas is one of four teachers in the district who have elected to use Web CT course building technology to supplement their in-class work. With their user identification and password, students can log on from any computer to find cyber-versions of their classes. At first glance the program may look just like a web page, but Assis- tant Superintendent Michael Speziale said Web CT has capabilities beyond that of a run of the mill internet site. Some teachers have posted calen- dars of when exams and papers are due, syllabi and other housekeeping See ONLINE, pg 7 V INSIDE THE PosT FAIR 14 Pages, 2 Sections Calendar. Tanner Englehart is crowned at Luzerne County Fair. Page 5. PRINCESS CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Sentences handed down in murder of teen, Trucksville man charged with indecent assualt. Page 2. TREATS FOR OTHERS Ross Elementary kids collect for UNICEF. V¥ How To Reach Us News: 675-5211 thepost@leader.net 15 N. Main St. Wilkes-Barre PA 18711 Advertising: 970-7102 Subscriptions and Delivery: 829-5000
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