Vol. 116 No. 37 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 September 11 - September 18, 2005 & Girl gets to meet harness racing legend. SPORTS PAGE 9 50¢ PHOTOS FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Rick Koval, a naturalist with the North Branch Land Trust, measures a 2-century-old white oak in Trucksville. This bark has some serious hite By CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Post Correspondent TRUCKSVILLE - Ancient, land- ark trees grace the Back Moun- tain, a testament to natural tenac- ity. They are stoic witnesses to the area’s his- tory and may have genetic qualities that make them worth preserv- ing and propaga- ting. She's a real And some - tre~ hugger. based on their Lori Womer size — might be tries to esti- state champions. Jer of this Mountain area @ the diam- The Back uzerne Coun- was originally ty champion forested with ex- blue spruce cellent trees for that sits on lumber, accord- the property of ing to historian Omar Hallsson, pA Waters. In ownerofthe piqhistory of Dal- Castle Inn. las, Waters a “particularly un- ON THE usually large spe- WEB cies of pine tree, ay: that grew to a www.dcnr.state. height of 200 pa.us/statepark feet, with no Joaturs limbs below 150 feet, the diame- ter being five or six feet at the ground.” Hicko- ry, chestnut, ma- ple and oak also grew abundantly in the area. A remaining example is on the property of Ann Holak of Knob Hill Road in Trucksville. According to neighbor Patty Kresefsky, this gi- t tree was 250 years old when the laks bought the property 30 years ago. That could make the tree 285 years old, a mere baby tree in 1720. See TREES, Page 3 Marilyn Rudolph, former chil- dren's librarian, is presented with a letter of congratulations from First Lady Laura Bush while library board president | . N . . Joseph Stager applauds. L— — ho FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Members of the Back Mountain Memorial Library's board of directors who attended a dedication of the gazebo to Marilyn Rudolph, from left, first row are Wallace Stettler, Jill Kryston, Fred Krohle, Marilyn Rudolph, Joe Stager, Ron Moran, Sandy Weyman and Raelene Olszewski. Second row: William Grant, Vi Gommer, Karen Boback, Martha Butler, Bennie Matchett, Shirley Moyer, Pauline Kutz and Ernest Ash- bridge By M.B. GILLIGAN Post Correspondent Marilyn Rudolph always thought it would be nice to have a place to sit outside of the Back Mountain Memo- rial Library. ’ She got her wish. The library’s board of directors formally dedicated the library’s new gazebo to the former children’s librarian earlier this week. Rudolph recently retired after 35 years of service. “Several times over the years Marilyn had mentioned how nice it would be to have a place outside the library and the board kicked around some ideas and did some shopping,” said Joe Stager, board president. “Cleary For- est Products of Dallas helped us out with the price of the gazebo and we also had some donations towards this me- morial for Marilyn when she retired.” The board members and the Friends of the Library hosted a retirement brunch for Rudolph in the spring. “There was a covered picture on an easel and they brought me over toit,” she said. “When they removed the covering, there it was, a picture of the gazebo. I always thought it would be so nice to have something like that here.” The beautiful wooden structure was built by the Amish in Lancaster and shipped to the library on a flatbed truck. It was put to use almost as soon as it arrived. “We used it for ‘Music Under the Moon’ and some of the children’s activities,” said library director Martha Butler. “We also used it for some of the Little Tykes activ- ities during the auction and it’s a nice place for the staff to eat lunch.” The dedication ceremony was highlighted by a pre- See GAZEBO, Page 7 Inside The Post SHAVERTOWN SISTERS HELP HURRICANE VICTIMS Shavertown youngsters Abbie, Angela, and Amelia Bendick organized a lemonade 12 Pages, 1 Section wo! of artistic community Tunkhannock center town raised $41 through sales and dona- tions. Abbie, 8, is a third grade student at Dallas Elementary, while Angela, 6, is a first grade student at the school. Amelia is 2 years old. Working behind the counter, from left, are Abbie, Amelia and Angela Bendick. Did your family, civic organization, church, or school do something special to raise mon- ey for the victims of Hurricane Katrina? If so, we want our readers to know about it. E-mail a photo and information to thepos- t@leader.net. All photos must be JPEGS with resolution of at least 300. You can also mail photos to The Post, attn. editor Dave Konop- ki, 15 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 18711. ¥ How To Reach Us News: 675-5211 thepost@leader.net 15 N. Main St. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 18711 Advertising: 829-7101 Subscriptions and Delivery: 829-5000 stand and bake sale on Labor Day, with all Sling SER é proceeds being donated to the American mb MRI 4 Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. The daugh- Schools 8 By Frank Wilson ters of Mike and Jackie Bendick of Shaver- 0 S Inquirer Staff Writer TUNKHANNOCK - When Ernest Bentley, foun- der of the Primavera Fine Arts Foundation, wanted Editor's note: The following story was published in the Sept. 4 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer. to reproduce Russian artist Natalia Tsarkova’s painting La Madonna della Luce (Our Lady of Light), one of the last works of art person- ally blessed by Pope John Paul II before his death in April, he wanted nothing but the best. He did some research and learned about a scanning system developed in Ger- many by Cruse Digital Equipment. “So I called the See ARTISTIC, Page 8
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers