L Vol. 115 No. 48 arris dancers help ring in the holiday season. i The Back Mountain's Newspaper Since 1889 November 28 to December 4, 2004 50¢ Creek carved a path for local trolley service Once upon a time, rail and trolley ines ran along the route of day's highway. By PAUL LAZAR For The Post Toby’s Creek’s water once powered mills along its banks, and the path it cut through hills and valleys made way for trains and trolleys that once served the region. Rev. James Wert knows a thing or two about those trolleys. He also knows how they tie into the Back Mountain’s rich history, a histo- ry full of triumphs and tragedies along railway lines that ran from Luzerne, through the Back Mountain, and continued to Harveys Lake. The tracks that carried the trolleys ——— 00 parnlle] “In the late to the creek 19th century, = Wherepossi H Lake ble, but arveys La crossed was the focal over it at point of the Back several Mountain area’ points, Today, Rev. James Wert Route Ee Local historian Overs paris of both the old trolley line and the natural creek bed. “In the late 19th century, Harveys Lake was the focal point of the Back Mountain area,” said Wert. “Transportation was an issue because the only way to get there was by a three to four hour trek by horse and buggy.” Conditions were hazardous in the winter, with icy conditions, and poor even in the spring. The ride was a slow, uncomfortable one, fraught with bumps, ruts and dusty air kicked up om the horse and buggy. " With transportation being an issue, ~ Albert Lewis, a local landowner and TH businessman, chartered a steam rail- road in 1885 called the Wilkes-Barre & Harveys Lake Railroad, which was designed to carry passengers and cargo, such as lumber and ice. When Lewis found that the line was profitable only in the summer months, he sold it to the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which extended the line to Towanda and ultimately to the company’s main route to New York. With the advent of electricity as a power source, and the invention of the dynamo in 1870, attorney John B. Reynolds began the second electric rail line, the Wilkes-Barre and West Side Railway, in 1887. Many land owners, however, including Lewis, did not want a rail- way running through their properties. Reynolds answered by chartering another railway, this one called the Wilkes-Barre & Northern Railroad, which was to use a steam engine. See TROLLEY, pg 2 Parents turn confusion, anger Into ald for others When Aaron and Betty Kings’ son was born, they had to rush out of town for medical care. Kidz Sake helps others in the same circumstance. By CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Post Correspondent SHAVERTOWN — What do you do when someone you love must be moved without notice to an out-of- town hospital? Aaron and Betty King found out two years ago, when their third child was born with Hirschsprung’s, an ugly disease that affects the intestine, making parts of it unable to digest food causing blockages. When their newborn had to be flown by helicopter from Wilkes- Barre General Hospital to Hershey, the Kings did what anyone would; they packed their two other children in the car and headed off, not losing any time on visits to a bank or store. Aside from the unusual medical condition, Anthony was born during a nurses’ strike at the hospital. “I was on the floor crying because the ‘strike’ nurses they brought in didn’t know where the surgical instruments A FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Anthony King showed one of his favorite videos to the photographer. RR IR RR a ee “If you have a sick kid it doesn't matter how much money you have or where it is ... “ Betty King Shavertown were for her C-section. I was mad at the health care system. Anthony could have been brain damaged and my wife could have been dead,” remembers Aaron King. The precarious birth and subse- quent trips to the Penn State Children’s Hospital at Hershey Medical Center meant the Shavertown family had to stay in a hotel for eight days and spend $3,000. After working through their own difficulties, the Kings wondered what they could do for other families fac- ing unexpected emergencies. They found the answer in “Kidz Sake,” an organization the couple founded that gives cash grants to parents before they leave to travel with a sick child to a faraway hospital. “It was a way to channel our anger and grief — we needed a positive outlet,” said Aaron King. “It was important for us to be there (in Hershey), all together, as a fami- ly.” But rooms in Ronald McDonald Houses are not always available when family emergencies arise, and Betty King feels they aren’t the best place for other kids. Hospitals are often crowded, sometimes with children who are quarantined with contagious illnesses that no one would want to risk spreading. Worries haunted the Kings while they and their two other young chil- dren stayed in Hershey with their infant son. “The whole experience was very sad and troubling,” Aaron said. See KIDZ SAKE, pg 3 Teachers cleverly mix required schoolwork, fun By M.B. GILLIGAN Post Correspondent DALLAS TWP. — Onlookers might not have noticed, but last week when Wyecallis Elementary School second grade students performed the annual Hoedown, they were doing more than singing and dancing. They were meet- ing curriculum standards set by the No Child Left Behind Act. The traditional show features square dancing, line dancing, and songs about the life and times of the American cow- boys. While preparing and performing, the students fulfilled requirements in music, physical education, Social Studies, reading and art. “It is probably the tenth year we've done this,” said Suzanne Herstek, sec- ond grade teacher. “We used to do almost all of it in the classrooms but e just can’t do that anymore.” ®- Child Left Behind has changed e way schools operate. State stan- dards in all subject areas and standard- ized testing now dictate the curricu- lum. Wycallis Elementary teachers have found a way to comply with the standards while ensuring that the show goes on. “There is such a volume of curricu- lum and curriculum comes first,” said Kathleen McCarthy, principal of the school, which has just received the Keystone Achievement Award for ade- quate yearly progress for the second year in a row. “We incorporated the music and physical education pro- grams into the Hoedown.” In addition, classroom teachers use the Hoedown to meet standards in their Social Studies classes. “We teach about the cowboys and their gear and the terrain,” said Beth Faerber, another second grade teacher. “We also teach about why they sang these songs. The cowboys sometimes needed to lull the cattle and it was lonely out on the range.” Reading standards come into play also. “We talked about why the cow- See HOEDOWN, pg 3 FOR THE POST/M.B. GILLIGAN Debbie Pike, music teacher at Wycallis, led students in song during the dress rehearsal. Public speaks out for and against plan By RONALD BARTIZEK Post Staff HARVEYS LAKE — Testimony from a public hearing held Nov. 22 will be taken into account as the state Department of Environmental Protection decides whether or not to allow a small section of the lake to be dredged. Twenty-one individuals spoke at the hearing. “Going in, we had eight,” said Mark Carmon, DEP spokesman. Then four people Comments signed up accepted before the this week hearing began and Written testimony on the dredging proposal will be accepted until others were added during the evening. Friday, Dec. 3 at “We got Ei | got on Marina Pointe Water ent Jrom Management both sides, Program, Dept. of Carmon said. Environmental “It was Protection, 2 Public worthwhile Square, Wilkes- t h 1d th Barre PA 18711. 9 nholg Ue hearing. One of the speakers, Justin Matus, who lives at Pole 280, was disappoint- ed with the level of evidence present- ed by some dredging opponents. “My gripe really is with the scien- tists,” he said Tuesday, after reading newspaper reports about the hearing. He feels some of the testimony leaned toward policy and not science. “I know sound science,” said Matus, who holds a doctorate in health serv- ices research. “The so-called scientific arguments weren't well presented or well supported.” Carmon said statements received at the hearing, attended by about 100 people, will be specifically addressed in a “comment response document” that will be included when a decision is announced. There is no deadline by which a decision will be handed down. Based on some of the testimony, Carmon See DREDGING, pg 2 Inside The Post Kari Maskalis makes a quilt for traumatized children Page 10 12 Pages, 1 Section calendar .... vv ods 12 ChurCh «5. vious vis 1 Crossword ........ iv» 8 Editorials ....o... 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Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers