PAGE 4 THE POST EDITORIAL Sunday, August 13, 2006 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Democratic challenger is the smart choice Editor: I’m writing to comment on Congressman John Murtha’s cam- paign appearance in Clarks Summit for Chris Carney, who will face disgraced incumbent Don Sherwood this November. It’s obvious that Don Sherwood has been an embarrassment to all of us, but his irresponsible behavior isn’t the only reason not to vote for him in November. : Murtha’s announcement that Mr. Carney will be awarded a spot on the House Appropriations Committee is not something that should be taken lightly. For one thing, it dramatically weakens the argument Don Sherwood will surely be making — that he is able to “bring home the bacon” for the 10th District. Well, if Mr. Carney wins in November, he will certainly be able to “bring home the bacon,” as well. What’s more, Carney won’t have (an alleged) domestic abuse scandal holding him back from acquir- ing important funding for our area. Something else to keep in mind is the likelihood that Democrats will win back control of the House of Representatives in 2006. If this happens and Don Sherwood wins re-election, our district would surely suffer from a decrease in federal appropriations. On the other hand, if Chris Carney is elected and Democrats take back Congress, we can expect Carney to be able to bring a lot back to our area — thanks in large part to his close relationship with one of the most powerful figures in Washington, Congressman Murtha. Sherwood’s (alleged) abuse scandal aside, Carney’s the smart choice in this matchup. Molly Kerrigan Dallas MOMENTS IN TIME The History Channel ® On Aug. 18,1590, John White, the governor of the Roanoke Island colony in present-day North Carolina, returns from a supply trip to England to find no trace of the 100 or so colonists he left behind. The only clue to their mysterious disappearance was the word “Croa- toan"” carved into the palisade that had been built around the settle- ment. * On Aug. 14,1893, the world's first automobile license plates were issued in Paris, France. However, plates were not issued in the United States-for a few more years. The city of Boston was the first to re- quire its motorists to hold a license and register their vehicle. * On Aug. 16,1923, though its late founder wasn't always the best friend of labor, Carnegie Steel established the eight-hour day for its workers. ® On Aug. 19,1934, the first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio. To this day, kids from the United States and several foreign countries arrive each year with their home-built racers. Boys and girls, ages 9 through 16, are allowed to compete. ® On Aug. 15,1945, World War Il gasoline rationing in America ends. Rationing was just one of the special measures taken in the U.S. during wartime. Civilian auto production virtually ceased after the attack on Pearl Harbor, as the U.S. automotive industry turned to war production. ® On Aug. 20,1962, the first Ford Thunderbird is produced, a 1963 model. The Thunderbird was promoted as a “personal” car rather than a sports car, so it never had to compete against imports. Its name was eventually shortened to “T-Bird,” as mentioned in the famous Beach Boys song, “I Get Around.” * On Aug. 17,1978, the Double Eagle Il completes the first trans- Atlantic balloon flight when it lands in a barley field near Paris, 137 hours after lifting off from Presque Isle, Maine. The helium-filled balloon flew 3,233 miles in the six-day odyssey. (c) 2006 King Features Synd., Inc. a STRANGE BUT TRUE King Features Synd., Inc. e Worldwide, herbivores kill more people than carnivores. * According to a recent Reuters report, paleontologists in Austra- lia have found fossilized remains of some surprising creatures in the state of Queensland. One specimen, a fanged killer kangaroo, lived between 10 million and 20 million years ago. Needless to say, it didn’t much resemble its modern relatives: For one thing, it had wolf-like fangs. Also, the killer kangaroo didn't hop; its long, powerful fore- arms indicate to researchers that it galloped when pursuing its prey. ® You can check out every list of the most popular baby names ever compiled, but you're not going to find many of the names cho- sen by today’s celebrities for their children. Actor Jason Lee's son is named Pilot Inspektor, Nicholas Cage named his son Kal-el, and ac- tress Shannyn Sossamon chose the name Audio Science for her baby. * [In some states, it is punishable by fine or imprisonment to at- tempt to commit this crime, but not to commit this crime: suicide. ® Even if you've never read it, chances are you're familiar with the iconic American work “Walden: Or Life in the Woods,” by Henry David Thoreau. The book, which chronicles how the author built a small cabin near Walden Pond in Massachusetts and lived there for two years, two months and two days in an experiment in withdrawing from society, has become immensely popular. It's required reading for many high-school students today, and it's been translated into nearly every modern language on the planet. You may not realize, however, that when it was first published it was considered an abys- mal failure, selling only 256 copies in its first year in print. @ 00 Thought for the Day: “A book, if necessary, should be a hammer [or] a hand grenade, which you detonate under a stagnant way of looking at the world." - Wole Soyinka Tae POST TIMES®LEADER Community Newspaper Group 15 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 18711 ® 570-675-5211 thepost@leader.net Richard L. Connor David C. Konopki PUBLISHER EDITOR Trish Roe ADVERTISING FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Peer past the petals, pink and ripe and beckoning a bather to cool off in a secluded pond. In the lily's depths, is the final sunset of summer looming? Program to help kindergarten students Have fun preparing your 4- year-old for kindergarten in 2007 with a special “Kindergarten, Here I Come!” yearlong calendar filled with monthly activities to do with your child. Pick one up at the Kindergarten Readiness Program at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 22 in the Children’s Room of the Back Mountain Memorial Library. Luci Callahan, a kindergarten teacher in the Dallas School Dis- trict, will explain the benefits of the calendar and inform parents and caregivers about the require- ments for kindergarten registra- tion. The calendars run from Sep- tember 2006 to August 2007. Ev- ery month contains four weeks of activities that use simple ma- terials or ideas that you can do at home with your child. Each one of the activities focuses on a readiness skill for your child’s entry into kindergarten. The activities are linked to the Pennsylvania Early Learning Standards that include ap- proaches to learning, creative arts, language arts, logical math- ematics, personal social, physi- cal health, science and social studies. These activities will give your child the foundation for positive and happy future school activities. Call the library at 675-1182 to register for the program. You may attend with or without your preschooler. Refreshments will be served. ® 6 Summer story times will end the week of Aug. 14. Registration for fall story times will be accept- ed after 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 6. Fall story times will be- gin the first week of October. Ja- net Bauman, children’s librarian, has a need for persons interested in conducting an evening 3-5- year-old story time and a toddler story time at 11 a.m. Tuesdays. Call the library if you are inter- ested. ® 0 The Slightly Read Bookshop is having a summer sale. All fic- tion books are 50 percent off and nonfiction and paperbacks are all at special prices, too. Come out to the Farmer’s Market from 9 am. to 2 p.m. Saturdays for some good eats and come down to the Bookshop from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for some good reads. ® 0 0 All participants of the Young Adult Book Discussion Group are asked to read “Under the Per- simmon Tree” by Suzanne Fish- er Staples for discussion at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 14. Staples, who resides in Nicholson cov- ered Afghanistan and Pakistan as a news reporter. She is the au- thor of many acclaimed books for young readers including Shiva’s Fire, Dangerous Skies and the Newbery Award winning Shabanu: Daughter of the Win ® 0 0 Teens participating in “Relax and Read” are reminded they have until Aug. 15 to read and submit reviews for the program for a chance to win the $50 Tar- get gift certificate. The Back Mountain Memorial Library news column is written by volun- teers at the library. It appears every other week. 70 Years Ago Aug. 7, 1936 \ DOLL NAMED TEACHER AT DALLAS TOWNSHIP Ronald Doll, former principal of Dallas Borough schools, was unanimously elected teacher of English in Dallas Township schools for the coming year at a meeting of Dallas Township school board on Monday night. Flowing at a rate of 20 gallons a minute, 10 gallons a minute better than officials had expect- ed, the Shepherd well on Ma- chell Avenue was put to service by Dallas-Shavertown Water Company on Saturday night. With the addi- tional sup- ply of water from this source, offi- cials expect to over- come any water shortage at oth- er wells brought on by prolonged dry weather. YESTERDAY At least two communities, Dallas Borough and Kingston Township will vote on local op- tion at the November election if plans adopted by various units of the W.C.T.U. are carried through to conclusion. At the meeting of Dallas Borough Council, a pet- ition bearing 87 signatures was presented asking that the issue be placed on the ballot for the coming election. 60 Years Ago Aug. 9, 1946 BOROUGH COUNCIL DISCUSSES TRAFFIC LIGHTS A discussion of the borough’s traffic lights occupied much of the attention of Dallas Borough Council at its meeting at the Back Mountain Memorial Li- brary on Tuesday night. While councilmen admitted the lights are not perfect in every respect, they expressed confidence that any defects can be remedied as soon as they are given a fair test. They heard reports from police that the lights are keeping traffic moving smoothly and there have been no traffic jams during peak periods of travel. While Beaumont was going down to defeat in a nip and tuck 5-4 battle with St. Michaels, the Dallas Legionnaires playing last Sunday on the home field before the largest crowd of the season, lashed out against Noxen win- ning a brilliant 12-1 victory to go in first place in the Bi-County League. 50 Years Ago Aug. 10, 1956 LOCAL RESIDENTS TRAINING AT POW UNIT Four Back Mountain area resi- dents are undergoing 15 days of active duty training at this base as members of the 209th Prison- er of War Camp Headquarters Company. The four residents are: Lt. Col. Carl B. Olsen, Ter- race Avenue, Trucksville; Major John J. Mulhern, 22 Joseph Street, Dallas; Major Jack H. Ma- gee, Terrace Drive, Shavertown; and Lt. Thomas J. Moran, Pio- neer Avenue, Shavertown. Demolition of the double- planked nine-room house for- merly occupied by the McGarry family on the Gate of Heaven property, started on Monday and is going forward with a rush to make addition to the school. John Parrish, Carverton, who has the contract for razing the building, postponed another job which was not so pressing to ac- commodate Father Kane and the Somerville Construction Com- pany. 40 Years Ago Aug. 11, 1966 RARE TORNADO HITS DALLAS AREA A rare twister whistled through the Heights section of Dallas on Monday at 12:15 p.m., dipping into the yard of Joseph Kretchmer, 65 Park Street, and wrecking children’s play site. An eight-foot metal pool fastened with numerous metal ribs was twisted into a shapeless mass and thrown against the back en- trance way. Its plastic top was carried away by the capricious wind which descended from the hills, veered through an orchard next to the Andrew Roan family and singled out the pool. As it whirled away over the housetops, it ripped the roofing paper from the garage of Mr. Kretchmer, who was in the proc- ess of adding to his home. A freak accident on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 on Sorber Mountain injured Donald Hoov- er, 38, co-owner of Hoover and Milbrodt Excavating Company. Hoover, with several employees, was clearing a road to a hunting lodge to be erected by David Er- tley, “Duke” Isaacs and James Oliver. As the bulldozer felled timber, trees caught the load. Hoover disengaged the clutch in preparation of backing up. A large dead tree fell on the back of his head, fracturing a vertebra in his neck. 30 YEARS AGO AUG. 12, 1976 SHAVERTOWN ELEMENTARY SOLD FOR $102,100 A lone bid of $102,100 for the Shavertown Elementary School was received by the Dallas School District at the Board Meeting Tuesday Night. The bid was submitted to the secretary’s office Tuesday by William J. Po- well, Hickory Hills, Dallas, on his personal stationary, accom- panied by a certified check in the amount of five percent of the to- tal bid, $5,105. Powell is the brother-in-law of Edmund Davis, an official of Burger King, but the firm was not mentioned in the bid. Carol and Stanley Doknovicl Brown Manor, claim their ho; has been virtually demolished by drainage changes resulting from the Carverton Road Pro: ject. For the past 19 months em- ployees of Wyoming Sand and Stone Company, contractor of the Carverton Road Project, al- legedly cut off drain sluice in front of their ranch home, water has been coming into their base- ment. The Doknovichs claim their home, including the recre- ation room and laundry room has sustained upwards of $40,000 in damages and that they have no way of knowing the dollar damage to the brick cov= ering and structural supports. | 20 Years Ago i Aug. 13, 1986 i SOURCES SAY | BEARDE BACK AS AD | Following a week’s vacation of board meetings, Lake-Le School Board was scheduled hold its August meeting last night at the Lehman-Noxen Ele- mentary School. Despite the re: fusal of administration and members of the school board ta comment on the reappointment of Rodger Bearde to the position of Athletic Director, it was learned from outside sources that Bearde’s reappointment was on the agenda and it was an- ticipated that he would be named to the position of by a narrow majority. Dallas High School has a new band director, Steven Saive, who has already been whole-hearted- ly accepted by the band mem: bers and the majority of the band sponsors, despite many having to change their vacation plans. Saive, a native of Altoona, is a re- cent graduate of Indiana Univer: sity of PA and although this is his first position as high school band director, he assumed the p tion prepared to pick up whe former director, David Benn, left off. ;
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers