Vol.117 No. 19 May 7 - May 13, 2006 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 : i | : . : S ; : Cf NS ] 4» a 0 OST, SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS AND LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS Lehman teacher has doggone good time Raina Wensell and Rob Heist, a couple from Dallas, practice their steps during a ballroom dancing lesson. In step with the times Packed ballroom dancing class a sign of its popularity By JENNA PREKEL For The Post DALLAS - Ned Hartman was on leave om military duties in Korea when he met Lois Miller in January 1953. The couple had a great time dancing the night away in Ply- mouth. Nine months later, Hartman was dis- charged. Four months after that, the couple was married. And they're still dancing together. The Dallas couple gave ballroom dancing lessons to 25 people at Apple Tree Terrace in Newberry Estate earlier this week. Hartman and his wife Lois recently started Ballroom Barn, which offers group ballroom dance lessons every Tuesday night. “We used to dance in the basement of St. Therese’s Church,” said the 77-year- i “| Sr old Hartman, a retired insurance agent. “We went from square dancing to round ° dancing to ballroom dancing. We love to dance. We kept getting better and better.” y Hartman yelled simple com- / mands over the ballroom music “quick, slow, quick, quick, slow” and “forward, togeth- 4 er, recover” as he taught 4 4 beginners how to dance. £ He says the exposure of allroom dancing on tele- jy g be wo “I think the number of movies and television shows that have come out about ballroom dancing have opened people's eyes. The pop- ularity is mushrooming. People are jumping on the bandwagon.” By M.B. GILLIGAN Post Correspondent It’s probably safe to say that few people from Northeastern Pennsylvania are terribly excited about a dogsled race that takes place in Alaska every year. That is not the case, however, with one local resident who recently fulfilled a lifetime dream by at- tending the famous Iditarod. “It was fantastic,” said Judson Holdredge, a teacher at Lehman- Jackson Elementary School. “I had special passes from the Ca- belas tour group to be close to the trail. I was able to stand right alongside it.” The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race — known as “The Last Great Race” — takes mushers and their team of dogs along 1,151 miles of trail from Anchorage to Nome. This year’s race featured 83 mushers, each with a team of 16 dogs. The race began March 4 and winner Jeff King crossed un- der the “burled arch” on March 15 to earn his fourth career victo- ry. He finished the course in nine days, 11 hours, 11 minutes and 36 seconds to win $69,000 and a new truck. ° Holdredge has been interested in the Iditarod for years and in 1990, started to get his students involved. “Every year we collect toys from McDonald's and we send them (to Alaska),” said Hold- redge. “The mushers put them out on the trail wherever they stop and the Eskimo children come and get them. They really appreciate it.” Each toy has a postcard at- tached and many of the recip- ients have returned the cards, usually with some information about their lives in Alaska. Holdredge has collected a lot of memorabilia about the race, the dogs, and the mushers. He even has a dogsled and in past winters when there was enough snow, treated his students toa lo- cal dogsled race. This year, he finally made the trip to Anchorage with his wife Ellen. He enjoyed it so much that he’s already making plans to re- turn. “I was so impressed with the whole thing, but especially with the dogs,” said Holdredge. “You would think with 58 teams there would be a lot of barking but they were really quite. It was unbe- See IDITAROD, Page 4 Ned Hartman Ballroom dance instructor vision and the big screen has led to its in- mushrooming. People are jumping on the creased popularity. “I think the number of movies and tele- vision shows that have come out about ballroom dancing have opened peo- { ple’s eyes,” he said. “The popularity is | CAE 4 3 ska bandwagon.” Lois Hartman described the crowd as a “nice young group that seems to be having fun.” FOR THE POST/JONATHAN J. JUKA Local historian Charles Petrillo talks about amusement parks in the Back Mountain during a recent meeting of the Back Mountain Historical Association. Instructors Lois and Ned Hartman perform one of the moves during the ballroom dancing PHOTOS FOR THE POST/ JONATHAN J. JUKA “It’s a great form of exer- # | ciseanditsa J great social activity,” she said. John and Jean © Moses enjoyed them- ' selves and are looking forward to next week’s dance class. Jean stated ' she would wear short sleeves because dancing is like exercise. The Hart- man’s believe this healthy An overflow crowd of more than 200 people packed the Banks Student Center’s Kennedy Lounge at College Misericordia last week to hear local historian Charles Petrillo talk about for- mer amusement parks in the Back Mountain. The presentation “Amuse- ments of the Back Mountain” took place during the bi-annual meeting of the Back Mountain Historical Association. Petrillo discussed the attractions at the bh See BALLROOM, Page 4 STAPLES GUEST SPEAKER AT AUTHOR LUNCHEON Neeser Pennsylvania resident Suzanne Fisher Sta- ples was the special guest speaker at the 18th annual Luncheon with a Special Author at Apple Tree Terrace, Newberry Estate in Dallas. The event was sponsored by The Friends of the Back Mountain Me- morial Library. More than 160 peo- CIVIC TYBWS iis itinssbsdisssssisobssmiiniiionsintessinsonbotis a siadrsonsaness 4 ple attended the luncheon. Staples DAHAS NONOLE FOM..ovsisninssiiinimisrssmmmissisestassitpmmatisesrsasarsies 6 is a former news reporter, editor Lake-Lehman honor roll... iiiiiidin niin iim 8 and author of six award-winning PZ ZIBS i i aii lor reibns des liteiangerates iat snies sins tenet rarest on tases 2 books. She was born in Philadel- SPOTS ices. icrppiississinpiokbsansesnvintbaibesdtpeibosmisgsisnbensrisantssrsaniasassin 7&9 phia and grew up at Chapman Lake. She has worked for United Press International and The Wash- ington Post. Her books include “The Green Dog,” “Under the Per- simmon Tree,” “Shabanu Daughter of the Wind," “Haveli,” “Dangerous Skies,” and “Shiva's Fire." At right, Staples discusses a book with Iris Levy and Sally Kishbaugh. \ state’s largest natural lake — such as Hanson’s Amusement Park. The author of the book “Harveys Lake” also discussed for former Fernbrook Park. The Back Mountain Historical Association collects history of the Back Mountain and works in Learning about local history conjunction with College Miser- icordia and the Luzerne County Historical Society to collect pho- tographs and oral history inter- views. To review the photograph data- base, log on to www.backmoun- tain.org. If anyone is interested in donating photographs to the da- tabase, contact Harrison Wick, College Misericordia archivist, at 674-6420. The association holds meet- ings twice a year, usually in April and October. The next meeting will be held Oct. 25 in Kennedy Lounge. The topics will be Hill- side Farms and the former Himmler Theater. For more in- formation about the Back Moun- tain Historical Association, call Marion Rogers at 674-3341. FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK V¥ Inside The Post 10 Pages, 1 Section How To Reach Us News: 829-7248 thepost@leader.net 15 N. Main St. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 18711 Advertising: 829-7101 Subscriptions and Delivery: 829-5000
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