L Vol. 115 No. 18 . The Back Mountain's Newspaper Since 1889 May 2 to May 8, 2004 Mountaineers tennis squad looking strong Page 7 SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS & LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS Creek cleanup astounds, disgusts By RONALD BARTIZEK Post Staff DALLAS — For decades, Toby's Creek has been neglected or abused as it travels from its source in Dallas ong the same path as major high- @: ir meandering back and forth ways that cut through the Back Mountain. On April 24, it got some desperate- ly needed tender loving care, when about 50 people gathered, ready to don wading boots and pull on gloves before tackling the cleanup of a quar- ter-mile stretch that parallels Lake Street in Dallas Borough. Walter Chamberlain, district man- ager of the Luzerne County Conserva- tion District, was delighted at the turnout and sur- Community prised at the cleanups volume of junk thisweek = "= Several Back “When I first Mountain looked at it, 1 municipalities wondered. if : there was are holding their enough stuff to annual spring merit a cleanups this cleanup,” he week. See page said Tuesday. 2 for details. But once the volunteers start- 'd digging through underbrush and combing the stream bed, they found more than enough to keep them busy. Chamberlain, a lifelong Back Mountain resident, was there to as- sist the cleanup and to supervise planting of native plants on steep slopes where invasive species had been removed. The new plants will stabilize the stream bank and, since all of them bear flowers and fruit, will attract songbirds as they provide a natural screen between the backs of commercial buildings and the stream. The plants — among them grey and silky dogwood and Arrowwood Viburnum — were obtained with a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Foun- tion Restoration Plant Giveaway. Chamberlain guessed 250-300 were installed. He is happy to see the creek getting some positive attention. “It’s been considered a nuisance,” he said. “We pipe it, we channel it, we move it around. The reality is, it’s an asset.” Dallas Borough Council President John Oliver also marveled at the amount and variety of debris. “You know, in the summertime when it’s all grown in, you don’t see this,” he said. The borough provided trucks and manpower to haul away the junk, and will now keep a close eye on business- es that abut the creek to see that trash doesn’t again mar the waterway. Oliver did his share of pulling dead branches out of the stream bed and Mayor Tim Carroll cooked hot dogs See CLEANUP, pg 3 FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Volunteers scoured a quarter-mile stretch of Toby's Creek in Dallas Borough April 24, then planted native plants to stabilize the stream banks. In top photo, Chelsea Fufaro, Dallas, looked disheartened as she packed some trash into a bag. Above left, Amanda Roth and Bridget Nash adjust waders prior to joining the cleanup. Above right, Michael Lukatchik watched as a borough shovel carted away one of dozens of old tires found in the stream bed. Council president vows crackdown on sloppy businesses By RONALD BARTIZEK Post Staff DALLAS — John Oliver, president of Dallas Borough Council had no idea. “I was shocked,” he said Tuesday, by the amount of junk removed from a small stretch of Toby’s Creek in the borough during the April 24 Great Pennsylvania Cleanup. And to the extent that businesses along the creek are responsible for the mess, he doesn’t want to see something similar again. “It’s not in keeping with any kind of standards,” Oliver said, and will not be tolerated in the future. Oliver stopped short of blaming the businesses for all the trash and debris that was picked up and heaved out of the stream bed by about 50 volun- teers. He suspected that some of the items — a toilet, a washing machine tub and a truckful of tires — might have been deposited by people look- ing for a convenient, and hidden, "See BUSINESSES, pg 3 Lake-Lehman Key Club Raising the bar of service By ERIN YOUNGMAN Post Staff LEHMAN TWP. — The number of blood units collected for the American Red Cross: doubled. The amount of ‘money raised for the Leukemia Soci- ety: quadrupled. Lake-Lehman’s Key Club turns 40 this year and as icing on the cake, is enjoying what could be its largest, most fruitful membership ever. “It's phenomenal,” said the club’s advisor, Gail Honeywell. “We have many more active members. I think the club has possibly tripled in num- ber.” The club won Club of the Year hon- ors in the northeastern Pennsylvania district, and Honeywell was named Advisor of the Year. While moving into a new classroom last August, Honeywell unearthed the Club’s original December 12, 1964 charter. Along with the document she discovered binders full of notes about the group’s early years. The charter was matted, framed and presented to the school board last week. As she was going through the binders, Honeywell realized the scope of the club has changed dramatically, from conducting four projects a school year to now completing more than 20 year-round. In addition, she said the club has exceeded goal after goal since the 2003-2004 school year began. By far, the year’s largest success was Pennies for Patients. The Leukemia Society fundraiser normally rounds up about $500, but this year brought in $1,971.35 for the organization. “We've again exceeded our goal,” she said. “To have raised this much means students really rallied for it.” Key Club is a non-profit service or- ganization that has been sponsored by the Dallas Kiwanis since its inception. Each month it conducts several cam- paigns, from selling daffodils for the American Cancer Society to Trick or Treat for UNICEF. New projects are added each year. New this year, the group sent cards to about 100 service people overseas, most of them Lake-Lehman graduates. A blood drive sponsored by the club last November set a new record. Nor- mally the school brings in about 45 See KEY CLUB, pg 10 Check it out Jeff Jumper and John Berti took out Shavertown Volunteer Fire Company's newest addition for a test run re- cently. They checked the vari- ous components on the brand new, $175,000 truck. Present but not pictured, Ryan Kastenbaum and Jason Ostrum. POST PHOTO/ ERIN YOUNGMAN V Inside The Post 12 Pages, 1 Section CR ONOAE «vv x iene ve binie 12 ChUICH. duh sei sie navise 1 Editorials. « ......n.0A 4 Obituaries .... i co. ov: 5 SCHOO) «iene win 3 10 Back Mountain Baseball begins 2004 season Page 7 Senior housing moving ahead By RONALD BARTIZEK Post Staff LEHMAN TWP. — Slowly but surely, the development of a gated senior citizen housing community is moving forward. Barbara Simms, a member of the township planning com- mission, said last week that Richard Angelicola, owner of the property, has received con- ditional approval for construc- tion of 78 dwelling units on 37 acres of land. “It's going to take some time,” she said, to resolve the conditions, which include cre- ating an acceptable plan for storm water management and an agreement with neighbors who challenged the project. In early 2003, George Huntzinger, who owns adja- cent property on 42nd Street, filed an appeal against the township supervisors’ vote to rezone the land from agricul- tural to multi-family residen- tial. That appeal remains on file with the county court, but there has been no action as the parties negotiate an ac- ceptable resolution. Proof the conditions have been met must be presented to the planning commission; another meeting is not re- quired. Angelicola said his original plan for the complex, named Greenbriar, called for 75-120 units. He also intends to con- struct walking trails, a swim- ming pool and tennis courts. Fourteen acres will be pre- served as wetlands. He said no construction will take place until final approval is granted. Each of the approximately 1,200 square-foot units is pro- jected to have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living/din- ing room, an eat-in kitchen and a one-car attached garage. See GREENBRIAR, pg 2 Lake-Lehman High School honor students Page 10 Fundraiser planned to aid family of missing Lake Township woman 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 i TE
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