L Vol. 115 No. 33 ge3 To, A CR i jis tting up close in Huntsville. The Back Mountain's Newspaper Since 1889 August 15 to August 21, 2004 0ST. G THE C OMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS & LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS ‘Amazing Grace’ at 101 Noelle Straka and Kevin Straka Jr. helped their great-grandma, Grace Webster, celebrate her 101st birthday. Demand strains loca food bank The Back Mountain Food Pantry is serving 150 households this year, up from usual 125. By M.B. GILLIGAN Post Correspondent FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Back Mountain Food Pantry in the Trucksville United Methodist Church Education Building Donations accept- ed 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays Call 696-2917 for pickup, or to re- quest assistance The Back Mountain Food Pantry has is- sued a request for donations to help cover the needs of area families. “Were down quite a bit and we just pur- chased $500 worth of food from the Wein- berg Food Bank to help out,” said Louise Hazeltine, a long-time volunteer at the food pantry. “We have two big drives, the Scouts and the postal workers, that usually carry us through the sum- mer. This year, though, we have more clients than usual.” The Back Moun- tain Food Pantry is currently helping over 150 house- holds, up from the usual 125. Each house- hold is eligible to request donations every other month. “I just spoke to an elderly woman who told me how much this helps,” said Carol Eyet, a volunteer who coordinates weekly food distributions. “When they tell me their stories, it’s almost hard to believe what they She's sweet and sound and still gets around By CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Post Correspondent IDETOWN — She’s a celebration of life, a study in independence, humor and wit, and what's kept Grace Hemmitt Webster in such good shape these 101 years is her boundless activity help from her family and community. And she’s still pretty good at Scrabble. “See I'm beating her now,” Grace says with a sly laugh about a match against her daughter that has been interrupted by a reporter. The score is 78-17 in her favor. She also likes to play canasta, Tri-Ominos and other games. But her daughter, Carolyn Straka, did not think her mother would pull through the day in 1996, where her mother had checked in. “She had a tu- mor in her abdomen the size of a bread loaf,” says Straka. Doctors were hesitant to operate on the then-93-year-old woman. But Grace was determined not leave the hospi- tal without the operation. She said, “I came in here with this thing and I'm not leaving with it still in me.” The operation was a success. “But the doctor’s eyes were like saucers when he saw the size of the benign tumor that was removed,” recalls Stra- ka. Straka and her husband, Ed, decided then to bring Grace back to Pennsylvania. “I tried to arrange her living in a residential home but no- body ever got back to me about it. I called many roof” on their one-story ranch house to make it bigger and more accommodating. They moved their bedroom upstairs, made the downstairs bathroom handicap friendly and opened up the kitchen. They broke through the back wall of the house and added a large family room with as many big windows as possible, be- cause Grace wanted to look outside and see them working in the garden. “She would have withered away in a home and been depressed,” thinks Stra- ka. The Strakas, both now retired, Carolyn from C- TEC and Ed from the state prison, don’t mind caring for her mother. “She’s easy to take care of, but don’t get me started, we haven’t had a vaca- live on.” A The food pantry is sponsored by the Back Mountain Ministerium and each of the member churches is issuing an appeal for donations from their congregations. The pantry is located in the lower level of the new wing at the Trucksville United Methodist Church Education Building, with local residents and members of all the churches forming the volunteer crew. “We use volunteers to sort and shelve do- nations and put together orders, but there are also clerical jobs that need to be done,” said Hazeltine, who is always on the lookout - for more help. You can call her at 696-1332 to sign up. The food pantry is in short supply of the when a call came in from the Florida hospital times,” she says. So they literally “raised the See GRACE, pg 3 See FOOD, pg 2 Still rockin’ after all these years By RONALD BARTIZEK Post Staff Fans of rock ‘n’ roll music’s golden era are in for a treat when Joe Nardone and the All Stars take the stage next Saturday at the Irem Temple Country Club Pavilion. The band, one of the region’s most popular in the 1960s, stopped playing regularly in 1972. Joe Nardone, 0 now operates a chain of 11 Gallery of Sound stores, d the first reunion concert was held in 1992, after fans had asked for the group to get together one more time. “We didn’t think it would go on for 12 years,” said Nar- done, who lives in Shavertown. The concerts started at Genetti’s in Wilkes-Barre, but quickly outgrew the space. This will be the seventh year at Irem, which Nardone said adds to the atmosphere. About 1,000 people usually attend. Nardone says the Irem venue fits with his band’s histo- ry. “It almost has the same feeling” as Sans Souci Park, the local musical hotbed of the rock ‘n’ roll era where the All Stars often played three nights a week, when admis- sion was a handsome 50¢. See NARDONE, pg 2 POST PHOTO/RON BARTIZEK Joe Nardone posed at his office with a photo of the All Stars band on stage 40 years ago. 8 DALLAS HARVEST FESTIVAL Five are vying for the ‘honor’ of kissing the pig The Dallas Harvest Festival Com- mittee of the Dallas Community Vi- sioning program announces the return of the “Kiss the Pig” Contest to the second annual Dallas Harvest Festival, on Sunday, September 19. Se. new Back Mountain personali- s will vie for the honor of “kissing” a one-year-old potbelly pig named “Rocco Rooter.” Being conducted as a local fundraiser, the Dallas Harvest Festival committee will award contest proceeds to the non-profit organiza- tion of the winner’s choice. The win- ner will be chosen by ballot, which should be accompanied by a $1 dona- tion. This year’s contestants, and their charities, are : Dallas Borough Officer- in-Charge James Martin (Back Moun- tain Police Association); Dallas Town- ship Police Chief Robert Jolley (Ronald McDonald House); WBRE- TV, Ch. 28 Weathercaster Vince Sweeney (Shavertown Volunteer Fire Company); Kingston Township Police Chief James Balavage (Kingston Township Lions Club); Lehman Town- See FESTIVAL, pg 2 This teen gives her generation a good name By CAMILLE FIOTI Post Correspondent SHAVERTOWN — Debra Ketchn- er, of Shavertown isn’t your average 15-year-old teenage girl. As evidence, consider that on Au- gust 8, the Dallas High School sopho- more received the Scholarship Record Award at the Miss Teen Pennsylvania Pageant at Bloomsburg University. The focus of the pageant is to “accent positive qualities of today’s young women of character” as stated on the program. It is not a beauty pageant, Debra’s mom Jane stressed. Open to girls age 13-19, candidates must be invited to apply. Jane Ketchner said that “scouts” comb the country looking for girls with exemplary academic and community service backgrounds. Debra received her invitation at school late last year. “I couldn’t believe it!” Debra said. “At first I didn’t even know what it was.” After she received the invita- tion, she applied, then had to wait to see if she was accepted. After being accepted, she had to send in her tran- scripts from school and a list of her extra-curricular activities. Another requirement was to collect a total of $450 in donations from local business sponsors. Her sister Mary, 13, even helped out by donating $50 of her own money earned from See TEEN, pg 3 V Inside The Post Back Mountain 11-year-old girls £0 on winning spree Page 7 Luzerne County Fair Queen and Princess hopetuls can register. Page 6 10 Pages, 1 Section Calendar su... vue 10 Church ih as. , 9 Crossword: Jou 8 Editorials ici ovis 4 ONtUArIes vss carives 5 SChOOk: cvsani iid ad 8 SDOLS. vos vcvivres ss st 0s 7-8 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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