I January 9 to January 15, 2005 Vol. 116 No. 2 The Back Mountain's Newspaper Since 1889 Dallas, Lehman junior high boys meet on the court. Page 7 50¢ SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS & LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS Planners urge I:L to reconsider | sale of school The Lake-Lehman School District plans to sell the former middle school building to a church. A life comes full circle Fred Murray returns to his roots in Jackson Township By CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Post Correspondent Fred Murray holds his per- snoally auto- graphed copy of Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the speed of sound in an airplane. Murray helped unload the X-1 when it ‘was sent to Washington for display at the Smithsonian. & At the beginning of the Korean War, Fred Murray was a flight mechanic at Andrews Air Force Base working on a P-51 Mustang when he heard another plane pull up to the hanger. The B-29 bomber was big and noisy, and he helped pull open a hanger to let it in. Two pilots and the engineer came out and lowered a smaller plane out of See MURRAY, pg 3 By RONALD BARTIZEK Post Staff LEHMAN TWP. — The planning commission has asked the Lake-Lehman School District to reconsider a plan to sell the former middle school building to River of Life Fellowship Ministries for $70,000. Instead, the commission would like to see the board find a buyer that would use the building for senior citi- zen housing or recreation. “The recommendation of the commission was that ‘either of those uses would be more suited to the needs of the township,” said Dave Sutton, chairman of the supervisors and a member of the planning commission. Sutton acknowledged that the township cannot tell the district what to do with the property. Volunteers of America had proposed buying the build- ing and creating 26 one-bedroom apartments for per- sons age 62 or older. They completed a similar project Lake-Lehman pays J times Dallas’ cost for special transport L-L board president charges that some contractors 11 receive favorable treatment. | By RONALD BARTIZEK Post Staff LEHMAN TWP. — The Lake-Lehman School District spends nearly three times as much per student as Dallas to transport special-needs students and those who attend parochial and private schools. Lake-Lehman School Board President Jim Mahon is part of a three-member committee studying why car and van costs are so high. i A | “We have a major problem,” Mahon said last week. PHOTOS FOR THE STATO BARTIZEK In 2003-04, Lake-Lehman paid an average of $10,070 for each child shuttled by car or van to classes else- where, a service mandated by state law. That compares | | See TRANSPORT, pg 3 | Fred Murray stands by the stream he knows as Bidlack Creek, but which has been designated East For Harveys Creek. The original name is in the deed for his property. Is a creek by another name still the same? The references for the creek names are & The sign says it's East Fork Harveys Creek. His deed calls it Bidlack Creek. By CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Post Correspondent He’s a conformist that lives by the rules. In accordance with the stanine psycho- logical profiles required in the airline indus- try, Jackson Township resident Fred Murray, a retired flight engineer after 34 years with American Airlines, likes to see that things are done right. And he’s spotted something that strikes him as wrong. Murray thinks the creek signs placed at the beginning of Shady Hill Road in Jackson Township by the Luzerne County Conservation Commission have misnamed the creek that runs through his family’s 33- acre property. The signs are a project of the Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation and Development Council. According to Josh Sizemore of the county commission, munic- ipalities were contacted to see which creeks needed signs. “Jackson Township was one of the towns that was interested and they told us which streams and where they wanted signs placed,” he says. U.S. geological topographical maps from 1999, says Sizemore. The maps carry the name East Fork Harveys Creek. But even map makers have made mistakes. Small tributaries with local names may not have been known to the U.S. geologists, he says. Murray refers to the 1950 deed to his fam- ily’s land, which calls the stream Bidlack Creek. “It’s Bidlack Creek until it goes into Drake’s Creek where it finally merges with the East Fork of Harveys Creek,” he says. Sizemore doesn’t disagree, but offers lit- See CREEK, pg 3 New tax on workers has limited appeal Adopted, yes. Collected? No. Most employees will see the usual $10 Occupational Privilege Tax deduction from their first paycheck of the year. Some will see another $42 taken out, once munici- palities that have adopted the new Emergency and Municipal Services Tax establish a collection procedure. The State Legislature adopted the Emergency and Municipal Services Tax Act 222 in the waning days of 2004. It gives municipalities and school districts the right to impose the EMS tax of up to $52 per year in place of the $10 Occupational Privilege Tax. Both taxes are levied by the place of work, not of resi- See TAX, pg 2 in township and borough budgets next year. Jackson and Lehman townships plan to collect the maximum-allowed $52 yearly EMS tax. The occupational tax was a maximum of $10. Both taxes are levied on individuals based on where they work, not where they live, making it especially attrac- tive to communities that host a lot of workers who do not live in them. Dave Sutton, chairman of the Lehman Township supervisors, said See LIMITED, pg 2 Only 2 townships opt for the new $52 Emergency and Municipal Services levy. By RONALD BARTIZEK Post Staff FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK BACK MOUNTAIN — So far, few municipalities in the area have chosen to adopt the new Emergency and Municipal Services Tax, replacing the Occupational Privilege Tax. Others are considering the switch, and it’s almost certain it will show up Down and dirty Jeremy Young, of the Henckels & McCoy Co., worked in the trenches at Main and Mill streets in Dallas last week, installing cable ducting for Commonwealth Telephone lines. H ‘ ; q ¥ Inside The Post Wyoming Memorial and honor books added to the shelves v How To Reach Us 10 Pages, 1 Section Seminary at Back Mountain Memorial Library. i Se al Calendar... vv. vu. 10 | Preschool Page 6 gpost@ieacsrne ChUTCR Can SE, ih 9 | kids put on : ae i) Vo es i i . » . : lHKes-parre Editorials ............ 4 a play. Back Mountain Senior High Catholic Youth dvertising: 829-710] Obituaries... Jovi 5 Page 8 : : Pater Dack Advertising: SChool ii iy Sey 8 Council dedicates a tree to Dr. Peter Decker. Subscriptions Page 9 | and Delivery: 829-5000
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers