Vol. 117 No. 33 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 August 13 - August 19, 2006 50¢ SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS AND LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS LOCAL GOVERNMEN Tie vote puts COG n limbo Editor's note: The following story appeared in Thursday's edition of the Times Leader. A follow-up story from the meeting will appear in next week's edition of The Post. By CAMILLE FIOTI Post Correspondent KINGSTON TWP. - One resi- dent after another stepped up to the microphone at Wednesday's packed board of supervisors meeting to state whether they were for or against the township withdrawing from the Back Mountain Area Council of Gov- ernments, a multimunicipal cooperative association that con- sists of Lehman, Kingston and Dallas townships and Dallas bor- ough. Opinions were divided, with some touting the benefits of shar- ing road equipment and emer- gency services, and others fearful f the loss of independence. Solicitor Ben Jones said after a thorough review of the issue, he discovered that members of the COG could not immediately re- spond to needs of their own mu- nicipalities individually. He gave a hypothetical example of a por- nographic store attempting to open in the township. Under ordinary circumstanc- es, the township could respond immediately to address the issue, he said. As a member of the COG, he said the other municipalities would be able to veto whatever the township plans to do regard- ing enacting ordinances, adding that three years must pass before ®- township could file an appeal o the veto. “The board of supervisors would be incapable of exercising its charter right to protect its citi- zens,” he said. Within the COG, authority is also granted to other municipalities to grant one zon- ing officer and one planning com- mission. “The concept of general consistency frightens me.” The decision was on the agen- da to be voted on, but after leng- thy discussions of remaining in the COG, the board could not come to a unanimous decision. Supervisors Jeff Box and Paul Sa- bol voted to table the issue, and Dave Jenkins and Chris Yankov- ich voted to drop out of the COG. Because of the tie, the decision could be brought up again at a fu- ture meeting. In other business: The board completed the first reading re- garding the adoption of the Adult Entertainment Ordinance. LAUREN COLLINI For The Post “Ww. ALLASTWP.-When17- year-old Samantha Mar- challenge. The St. Paul’s Lutheran Church member even put a little twist to the camp fro more than 90 campers. “The Extreme Encounter: ‘A Salva- tion Space Journey,” helped young- sters learn and experience things in- volving aircraft and space control while being educated by learning, lis- tening and discussing excerpts from the Bible. The community-wide Vacation Bi- ble School was held last week at the church on Route 118. The event for children ages 3 and older was spon- sored by churches of the Back Moun- tain Ministerium and the following churches were rep- resented — Shaver- town United Meth: odist, St. Paul’s Lutheran, Dallas United Methodist, Trinity Presbyter- ian, Prince of Peace Episcopal and Huntsville United Methodist. The Bible school featured music, crafts, stories, games and snacks. Arriving at'9 am, the campers were divided into six groups in order of age: orange, yellow, green, blue, red and purple. The kids were divided into different stations throughout the day, including a mis- sion control where the .campers learned about space and become “as- tronauts in God’s world,” according to Marquart. The Wyoming Seminary senior is no stranger to the space program. She has been involved in many events and activities involving NASA . and plans to become an astronaut. Marquart is considering attending ei- - ther Harvard University or MIT. “I like story-time because we get to color pictures and the story (“The Rocket Man”), is very good and inter- esting,” said Cameron Baltruchitis, 7. Her favorite part of camp was “sto- ry-time, games and snack.” Diederick Reitsma, 7, says his fa- vorite part of camp was “playing the game ‘Man on the Moon’ and learn- “If any- thing, | want these kids to have fun while learning as much as they can from the Bible and about space.” Samantha Marquart Bible school director > Six different denominations join for Vacation Bible School Coming together as one FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Children play under a parachute as part of outside activities at the muiti-denominational Vacation Bible School. ing about the stars.” “Yesterday, I showed my mom the big dipper, little dipper, the Northern Star and Jupiter because that’s what I learned here at camp,” he said. Marquart praised her staff of ap- proximately 30 people. “I could have never accomplished what I have if it wasn’t for my staff,” she said. “They have been terrific and I am very thankful to have them on my team.” Camp counselor Jenna Morgan has Jessica Martin amused during singing practices at the Vacation Bible School. Lori Baltruchitis, a member of the staff, was equally impressed with Marquart. “She really is excellent with these kids and has contributed so much to this program,” said Baltruchitis. “If anything, I want these kids to have fun while learning as much as they can from the Bible and about space,” said Marquart. “Because space interests me so much, I hope at least some of my passion about space-control remains with these campers by the end of the week. In fact, I have been wearing my blue NASA space suit every day just so they can see what an astronaut in uni- form looks like.” Marquart says she and the staff had a lot of fun with the kids and believes the Bible school is beneficial for the campers and the community. Mar- quart hopes to have the same success at next year’s camp. S A 1 Al § Tro i § i TT 1 ~~ MINUTES WITH Galicki looking forward to new challenges + Editor's note: This is the first in an occasional question and answer series The Post is calling "10 Min- utes With..." If you would like to recommend someone for the feature, call editor Dave Konopki at 829-7248 or e-mail him at dkonop- ki@leader.net. By DAVE KONOPKI Post Editor For more than 20 years, Frank Galicki has been as much a part of the Dallas School District as the blue and white colors and the Mountaineer mascot. The 54-year-old Mocanaqua resident came to the district in 1982 as the high school assistant principal. He served as the school principal from 1983 to 2004 be- fore being named acting superin- tendent. This school year will be Galicki’s second as superintend- ent. With students returning to the classroom for the new school year in three weeks, Galicki took a few minutes from his vacation in Las Vegas to talk about his job, the upcoming construction pro- ject involving the high school and the Dallas Elementary School, and the challenges facing the dis- trict. DK: You've been the superin- tendent at Dallas for two years. Considering all of your years with the district, what's it like to hear those words? FG: “I think it’s an honor to be the superintendent at such a great school district. The job is all encompassing. As a principal, you try to do the best job for that school, the students and the staff. When you step into the superin- tendent’s role, you're trying to do the best job for the entire district, all of the students and staff in all of the buildings. You're also deal- ing with things like budgets, and many other things all fall on your shoulders. There are a lot of balls that have to be juggled. It’s an awesome job, but I really enjoy it.” DK: You mentioned the huge responsibility. What's it like to be responsible for an entire district? FG: “At times it’s amazing that you have all of those balls to keep in the air. But it’s a rewarding job. Right now, one of my biggest jobs is looking at the construction phase and looking into the future of the district and how it’s going to impact the community. It’s some very heavy-duty stuff. But keep in mind that it’s not me mak- See 10 MINUTES, Page 10 Dallas School District superin- tendent Frank Galicki has been with the district since 1982. TIMES LEADER FILE PHOTO/DON CAREY ¥ Inside The Post 10 Pages, 1 Section s routes GS. news Obituaries Puzzles Schools Sports center stage. Two of the summer's big- gest sporting events - the W-B Triathlon and Poten- tate Tournament - take 9 Revisit the Back Mountain of old. Can you handle our puzzles? ¥ How To Reach Us News: 829-7248 thepost@leader.net 15 N. Main St. Wilkes-Barre PA 1871 Subscriptions and Delivery: 829-5000
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