Vol. 115 No. 8 Elementary L February 22 to February 28, 2004 action at Lehman Page 7 50¢ SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS & LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS Water service better, but customers say more needed Public hearing on water rate increases Thur., Feb. 26, 7 p.m. Kingston Township municipal building 180 E. Center St., Shavertown By RONALD BARTIZEK Post Staff KINGSTON TWP. Six years ago, Lee Jones was pump- ing water from the basement of his Midway Manor home while waiting for National Utilities Inc. to repair a leak in its lines. His ex- perience was not unusual; the state Public Utility Commission eventually forced the company out of business. Now Pennsylvania Suburban Water Company, which took over in 2002, is asking Jones to pay 42 percent more for his water. He has seen upgrades that might jus- tify a higher price, but would like to see more. “Nobody likes to see a rate hike,” Jones said last week. “But I have seen some improvement.” Jones, who works for another water utility, said ari important advance was installation of a gen- erator at the pumping station that serves his development. “That's a big thing,” he said. Before the generator was put in, if power went out, so did water service. Response to problems is better, too. Jones said last summer the company came out on a Saturday to repair a leak. National Utilities could take days to respond to a complaint, and then frequently denied anything was their fault, such as when they told Jones and his neighbors that a leak was caused by a hidden spring. Nothing has been done about low water pressure, though, and Jones said he’s still waiting for the promised installation of a storage tank. A tank, he says, would improve pressure and add capacity that could be vitally im- portant in fighting a fire. The Sleepy Hollow develop- ment, which uses the same water system, has hydrants, but Jones believes there is insufficient pres- See WATER, pg 3 Planners oet head start on ‘04 festival By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staif DALLAS — With ice and snow still on the ground it may seem early to begin planning this year’s Dallas Harvest Festival. But committee members who last year planned the event in 77 days aren't wasting any S getting started. They got together last week to toss around what went well at last year’s event, what didn’t and what they would like to see at the next fes- tival, already scheduled for Sunday, September 19. Last September, thousands of peo- ple flocked to the area’s first-ever fes- tival, created to celebrate the re- gion’s small-town atmosphere and farming heritage. ; “Now that we know the festival can be what we pictured it to be, ad- justments can be made,” said com- See FESTIVAL, pg 3 ®F amily, friends search for missing woman By KALEN CHURCHER For The Post LAKE TWP. — By foot, on all-ter- rain vehicles and on horseback, friends and rela- -_ tives of Phylicia Albina Thomas continued search- ing for the miss- ing woman last week. “T've just got to keep in my heart that she’s OK,” said Phylicia’s mother, Pauline Bailey on Feb. 19. “I know, I know somebody has er. She would ever not call.” Wednesday af- ternoon, about 50 people combed land in Lake Township, Noxen and as far west as Phylicia Thomas Age: 22 Height: 5 feet 6 inches Weight: 110-115 pounds Thomas was last seen on Feb. 11 on Route 118 in the Sweet Valley area. She was wearing a blue Pump-N-Pantry shirt, white pants, rust-colored wool Ricketts Glen sweater and Nike i, sneakers. Anyone State Park. with information is As the group urged to call state searches for the 22-year-old Lake Township woman, if they find some- thing that could be evidence, volun- teers rope off the area with brightly colored rope and contact state police. State police also have searched the area, but there was no new informa- tion on Thomas’ whereabouts Wednesday afternoon. She was last seen Feb. 11, when she returned to See SEARCH, pg 3 police at 697-2000. Super collection Children will be fascinated with the collection of 198 superballs on display at the Back Mountain Memorial Library. So is their collec- tor, 11-year-old McKenzie Kelly. She knows how many of each size and color there are in the collection, and something unique about each one, says her mother, Yvonne Kelly of Shavertown. “I know which one is the oldest, it’s the really soft one that grandma gave me,” says McKenzie. The fifth grader at Wycallis Elementary School started collecting them when she was 3 years old. She keeps the balls in pretzel jars and sometimes adds to her collection with discards from her 6-year-old brother. “He doesn’t care about them,” she says. Her next collection? Pressed and flattened pennies. The superballs will be on display through February. FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK ‘Shortfall in cash doesn’t stop raises By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff HARVEYS LAKE — Despite news that the borough’s available cash is about half what it was last year at this time, council voted unanimously Feb. 17 to ratify part-time and full- time police officer contracts with un- budgeted raises. Finance = Committee = member Daniel Blaine said “a tightening of the budget” would be needed to keep the situa- tion from wors- ening, but that, “In order to keep good employees, the borough has to give them a good wage.” Pay for Chief Jeff Butler was raised from about $29,000 a year to $36,000 a year. Council President Betty Jane West pointed out that Butler has been working without a contract since he was appointed in 1996. Pay for the boroughs one other full-time officer was raised from about $22,000 a year to $27,000 for 2004, and will rise to $28,500 in New members appointed to Municipal Au- thority board. Page 2 2005. West said the officer qualified for the raise because he completed a mandatory one-year probation peri- od. Pay for the borough's six part-time officers was raised from $12.06 per hour to $12.65 for 2004 and will in- crease to $13.05 in 2005. Blaine explained total available cash on hand to the borough is down See RAISES, pg 2 Grudgingly, township plans for new building code By CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Post Correspondent LEHMAN TWP. — The Board of Supervisors planned for the inevitable — though not very popular — state- mandated building enforcement codes at its Feb. 16 meeting. The township may join Dallas Township, and Dallas Borough to hire or contract as a group a building code inspector or company to enforce the state construction codes for new buildings and renovations. The three municipalities are members of the Back Mountain Council of Govern- ments. At least five inspections will be re- quired for all residential and commer- cial properties as part of Act 45 of 1999, The Uniform Construction Code. “If we opt out we’ll lose control of the process but by opting in it will get us the best and quickest inspection service,” noted supervisor Ray Iwanowski. Opting in means either employing a qualified town building inspector, as Kingston Township does, or hiring an outside contractor or company to do inspections. Opting out means the state will do the inspections. Dave Sutton, the board’s chairman, said that could be time-consuming and inconvenient for the public because the state Depart- ment of Labor and Industry will not have enough inspectors to go around. “All this will cost the home owner and builder more money. People will have to get permits and inspections for each phase of construction,” said Sutton. “Things we used to do our- See LEHMAN, pg 2 Sign goes missing, again By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff after being installed, the sign disappeared. It is the second time a Druid Hills sign has SHAVERTOWN — The Druid Hills devel- opment includes people who have lived there for 20, 30, or even 40 years, so it wasn’t sur- prising they would come together to help resident Bill Runner create an attractive sign for the neighborhood’s entrance. Ed Kraft donated the wood; Boike Matus (now deceased) trimmed it down; Bob Williams donated the gold paint; John Fladd carved out the lettering; Runner came up with much of the design and local artist Sue it. Hand consulted on the project. Others donat- ed money. After about a month of work, the dark green sign with gold Celtic lettering was hung proudly at the development’s entrance. In early February, though, just five months ago. where'd they put their vehicle?” been stolen; the last theft occurred 20 years “It’s a damn shame,” was Runner’s immedi- ate reaction to the loss. “It’s probably in some college dorm room somewhere.” Residents believe the theft took place around February 2. How it was taken is a bit of a mystery, however. Runner said the four- foot-wide sign weighed about 20 pounds and faced busy Pioneer Avenue. At 5 feet, 11 inches tall, Runner needed a ladder to install “They went up there in the ice and snow. It had to take 10 minutes to get it down — “It had to be done in the dead of night,” he See SIGN, pg 3 i. 4 pa il Bill Runner posed proudly with the sign that is now missing from the entrance to his neighborhood. V InsiDE THE Post 12 Pages, 1 Section Calendar... .oamiv, 12 Legion picks winners in essay contest Read the winning essay, Page 2 page 4 Dallas Borough pursuing grants for children’s park, office renovation Page 3 ¥ 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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