PAGE 4 THE POST COMMUNITY Sunday, December 24, 2006 MOMENTS IN TIME The History Channel ® On Dec. 28,1895, the world's first commercial screening of a film _ takes place at the Grand Cafe in Paris. The film featured short clips, including a humorous segment involving a gardener and a hose. ® On Dec. 26,1908, Jack Johnson becomes the first black Amer- ican to win the world heavyweight title when he knocks out Canadian | Tommy Burns in a championship bout. In 1912, Johnson was convicted | ! of transporting an unmarried woman across state lines for “immoral purposes” and was sentenced to a year in prison, but fled the coun- try disquised as a member of a black baseball team. ® On Dec. 29,1916, James Joyce's book “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" is published in New York. In 1918, his novel “Ulysses” began to be serialized in the American journal Little Review. Howev- er, the U.S. Post Office stopped the publication's distribution on the grounds that the novel was obscene. It was banned in the United Kingdom and the United States until 1933. * On Dec. 30,1936, “sit-down” strikes close seven General Motors factories in Flint, Mich. Rather than picket outside a factory only to be ignored or forcibly cleared away, the sit-down strike enabled work- ers to halt production and seize the plant “from the inside.” ® On Dec. 31,1941, America's last automobiles with chrome-plated trim are manufactured. Starting in 1942, chrome plating became illegal as part of an effort to conserve resources for the American war effort. ® On Dec. 27,195], the Crosley mail car is put into use by the U.S. Postal Service in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the first right-hand-drive car designed specifically for mail delivery. ® On Dec. 25,1995, actor and singer Dean Martin dies. He was 78. Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio, in 1917. In 1946, he teamed up with comedian Jerry Lewis. The duo made 16 movies together over 10 years, starting with “My Friend Irma" in 1949. (c) 2006 King Features Synd., Inc. STRANGE BUT TRUE ¢ |t was comedian Norm Crosby who made the following sage observation: “When you go into court you are putting your fate into the hands of 12 people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty.” » |f you're an eBay junkie, you may have noticed a new trend: Some pregnant women are auctioning off ad space in the form of temporary tattoos on their bellies. ¢ Aldous Huxley, British essayist and author of the famed novel “A Brave New World,” originally wanted to become a scientist; unfortu- nately, an eye disease made him almost completely blind when he was 17 years old, so he turned to writing. When he learned to read Braille, he said he loved it because he could read in bed during the winter without getting his hands cold. * The people who make it their business to estimate such things say that this year between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Americans ate more than 7 billion hot dogs. * As an adaptation to the arid environment in which it lives, the African spurred tortoise can go for weeks at a time without eating or drinking anything. When it does find water, though, it will often drink more than 15 percent of its body weight at once. ® In 1965, while he was employed by Herman Miller, a firm that designs and manufactures office furniture, Robert Propst invented the cubicle. Evidently, he didn’t realize at the time that he was cre- ating a monstrosity - later in life he regretted coming up with the idea, calling the modular office system a “monolithic insanity.” * In case anyone's counting: There are 95 Hershey kisses in one pound of chocolate. ® 00 Thought for the Day: “When | can no longer bear to think of the victims of broken homes, | begin to think of the victims of intact ones.” - Peter DeVries (c) 2006 King Features Synd., Inc. PENGUINS GOALKEEPER VISITS LIBRARY Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins goaltender Andrew Penner and announcer Tom Grace recently visited the young patrons of - the Back Mountain Memorial Library. The visit coincided with Teen Week, “Get Active @ Your Library!” Penner, an avid reader, spoke to the children and teens about the importance of reading and of continuing their education. He explained that he and fel low teammates always read on the bus between games and that he is working toward an online college degree. Penner and Grace signed autographs on helmets, hockey sticks, calendars, and jer- seys and also posed for pictures with all 31 children and mary adult fans. Penner, left, autographed the hockey stick of 6-year- old Kiana Price of Harveys Lake. Kiana is a Penguins fanand isin her second season of ice hockey at the Ice Box. She attends Lake-Noxen Elementary School and resides with her mother Maria, father Randy, and 3-year-old sister Kalani. The Dallas Post TIMES€LEADER Community Newspaper Group. ® 15 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 18711 ® 570-829-7248 news@mydallaspost.com Richard L. Connor PUBLISHER David C. Konopki EDITOR Liz Ayers ADVERTISING Dallas - it's another day on the job, albeit it merrier and brighter than usual. di T he holiday push. For some it's to decorate, entertain, please and surprise. For others - such as Bill Berkemeyer returning cartsat Mr. Z's in ONLY 70 YEARS AGO Dec. 24, 1936 HARRY PITMAN’S DEATH SHOCKS DALLAS Harry Pitman, 40, a highly popular resi- dent of Dal- las and a member of Dallas Bor- ) ough School Board, died suddenly early yester- day morning after an illness of a few hours. His unexpected death came as a severe shock to the community in which he had been held in such high esteem. Word of the tragedy stunned his friends and brought wide-spread expres- sions of sorrow from people in all classes. Mr. Pitman who was employ- ed by the Hudson Coal Co. at La- YESTERDAY - flin came home from work early yesterday morning and com- plained to Mrs. Pitman of stom- ach pains. He was unable to sleep and went downstairs. Mrs. Pitman was giving medicine to one of their children when she heard a fall downstairs and when she rushed down she found her - husband lying on the floor. He had struck his nose in fall- ing and apparently died instant- ly. A post-mortem was to be held yesterday to determine if Mr. Pit- man had died of indigestion or of a heart attack. The community observance of Christmas in Dallas will end to- night when carolers from the Ju- nior Women’s Club chorus and the choir of Dallas M.E. Church unite around the Christmas tree on Main Street at 8:30 to lead mass with the singing of Christ- mas songs. The community singing on Christmas Eve will climax a pre-Christmas program which has seen a greater out- pouring of the holiday spirit here than ever before. In other neigh- boring towns groups of young people will sing Christmas car- ols until late tonight, ushering in the holiday season. The prospects of new business activity along Main Street, Dal- las, shortly after the first of the year seemed likely this week as reports of several impending deals gained momentum. One of the major improvements sched- uled is the raising if the building now occupied by Stanley Marat’s garage and the erection of a mod- ern brick structure to take its place. Mr. Marat who has oper- * ated a garage on Main Street for a number of years, is moving this week to Luzerne. It is under- stood the building he has occu- + pied will be torn down shortly. 50 YEARS AGO Dec. 14, 1956 LOCAL CHURCHES WORK TO HELP HUNGARY Local churches of every creed are cooperating to help the coun- try of Hungary in her great need, working through many chan- nels, but with the emphasis on warm clothing. Gate of Heaven Church of Dal- las and Our Lady of Victory Church in Harveys Lake have combined to send nearly two tons of warm, wearable clothing, a product of a Thanksgiving clothing drive which netted twice the amount normally con- tributed. More than 6,000 arti- cles of clothing were shipped by Lehigh Valley freight to New York City, stoutly packed in 71 cartons. ‘Cash contributions were also sent, but the Rev. Fran- cis A. Kane says that nothing takes the place of wood gar- ments and the emphasis of the drive was placed on the clothing itself. The Rev. Frederick Eidam of St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Shavertown reported the church’s Luther League packed warm clothing for shipment to the Phillipsburg Depot for sort- ing and processing, prior to ship- ment from New York to the dis- tributing center nearest Hun- gary. The Rev. Russell Lawry, pastor of Dallas United Metho- dist Church, says the deadline for donations from his church is this week. Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts at the church are holding clothing drives. Although the number of hous- ing units built in the Back Moun- tain region during 1956 has been off a little — following the nation- al trend —dollar volume has been probably been about the same as last year. This is the opinion of Howard Whitesell, a partner in Whitesell Brothers, a company whose specialty is home con- struction. Prior to this year, the biggest demand in the Back Mountain area was for 2-bedroom homes selling between $10,000 and $11,000. But there has been a shift and now the demand is for 3- and 4-bedroom units ranging in price from $13,000 to $18,000. Whitesell believes the normal demand will be even greater be- cause more and more young fam- ilies are convinced that the Back Mountain is an ideal location in which to establish a home. 40 YEARS AGO Dec. 22, 1966 KT SUPERVISORS DISCUSS PROBLEM INTERSECTIONS The Kingston Township plan- ning commission will check sites for the purchase of recre- ational land under the proposed Project 70, said chairman LaRoy Ziegler during a meeting of township supervisors on Wednesday evening. The board of supervisors also met with the planning body re- cently and discussed the prob- lem of billboards and several in- tersections in the township. Mr. Ziegler spoke about the trouble- some intersection lights at Cen- ter Street, which were proving a headache to motorists when op- erated on the detector system. He reported an effort will be made to operate the lights on timing, which has been proven ‘more satisfactory. Approval must come from the state. In- cluded in the request will be the installation of reflectors at the Carverton Road intersection. Daddow-Isaacs Post 672 American Legion held its annual Christmas Party for children of the Back Mountain on Saturday, Dec. 17 at the Post Home on Me- morial Highway in Dallas. The doors opened at 1:30 p.m. with the festivities beginning at 2 p.m. The Dallas police depart- ment was on hand to direct traf- fic. Santa Claus was at the party to distribute prizes and refresh- ments were served. Six grand prizes were awarded this year. The event general chairman was Thomas Reese, according to American Legion commander Curtis Bynon. Reese was assist- ed by Gus Shuleski, George Cave, Bernard McDermott and Richard Staub. The honorary chairman was Paul Shaver. 30 YEARS AGO Dec. 23, 1976 ROLLER RINK WON'T BE READY FOR CHRISTMAS Anthony Bonomo Sr., owner of Crown Imperial Lanes, will not have his new roller skating rink open for Christmas.That was confirmed by his son, Ri- chard, one day last week in a con- versation with a Post reporter. Bonomo stated that the un- usually cold and inclement weather had delayed work on the building, but if no other problems occurred, it should be completed by February. He ex- plained, however, that this was the “goal” for completion. It could be later. In addition to the roller skat- ing rink, the new Bonomo Sports Complex will also have four outdoor tennis courts at the lower side of the bowling lanes. Lake-Lehman School Board President Arnold Garinger be- gan his second term of office last Tuesday night with a promise “to continue to try to keep poli- tics out of our school system.” “Let the politicians play games with highways and apart- ment buildings and non-living things that can’t feel pain,” the board president advised. “But we must continue to refuse to let them play games with the educa- tion of our young people.” In his opening remarks, Garin- ger expressed feelings of “pride and satisfaction” in such accom- plishments during the past year as a new language program in grades kindergarten through 12, expansion of the school’s athlet- ic program and the addition of a secondary class. special education Daniel Sheldon MacAvoy of Shavertown, a sophomore at Bob Jones University, Green- ville, S.C., will spend his Christ- mas vacation participating in a nine day missionary-evangelistic tour in Haiti. A 1974 graduate of Dallas Se- nior High School, he is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon Machvdly of 63 North Main Street, Shav town. There are 24 Bob Jones Uni- versity students on the Haitian team, which was organized by the faculty. The missionary tour is under the sponsorship of the Independent Gospel Mission of New Castle. 20 YEARS AGO Dec. 22, 1986 DALLAS COUNCIL PASSES BUDGET Dallas Borough Council < imously passed its final sionilf) for the 1987 budget at its month- ly meeting last week of $320, 543. The amount is an increase of approximately $30,000 to $35,000 over last years figure and also represents an increase of five mills from nine to 14. Vot- ing to accept the budget on a 4-0 decision were Ted Montross, Tim Carroll, Byron Grieves and Russell Stone. Board members Harold Brobst and Bill Berti were absent. Students in Mrs. Nulton’s third grade class and Mrs. Rod- er’s first grade class at Dallas Ele- mentary School recently en- joyed a day of writing letters to Santa. As part of the third grade English lesson in letter writing, each third grader used all the things he or she learned in help- ing first graders with these very special letters. Thus, the first graders had wonderful partners in sharing this lesson. The Christmas spirit is and well at the Dallas Elemen- tary School and the children would like to wish all the readers of the Dallas Post a Merry Christmas. Dallas Borough police officer Christ Purcell was reinstated to the department last week after an internal investigation con- cluded that he acted properly in his handling of an alleged under- age drinking party at a private residence in November. The de- _ cision was announced at Tues- day at the borough’s monthly meeting. Council metribers making up the committee which investigat- ed the incident were Time Car- roll, Byron Grieves, Bill Berti and Mayor Paul Labar. The com- mittee interviewed Miller, his daughter, Purcell and one other student. Solicitor John Fine said that based on information obtaings! from interviews conducted, cell acted in a proper manner and that the councils investiga- tion is now complete.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers