ALLIGATOR ATTACKS WOMAN, PG. 3 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1492 April 1- April 7, 2007 °The DALLAS POST 50¢ SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS AND LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS Dallas School Board OK's $128 million mega school DAVE KONOPKI Dallas Post Editor DALLAS TWP. — An unhappy Dallas School Board unani- mously voted to scrap all con- struction plans submitted by ar- chitects from Crabtree, Rohr- baugh & Evelyn. The firm had been hired by the district to build a new high school and an addition to Wycallis Plementary School. The decision was made dur- ing a meeting held in the back room of the Farmer’s Inn. At the meeting, the board also decided to go ahead with plans submitted by the innovative, but highly-controversial firm of Strangelove and Orwell, Inc. of Rochester. The plans call for the building of a $128 million high @ and a multi-use sports fa- ty. Due to the high cost of build- ing the new high school, the Wy- callis expansion has been placed on hold. Students who currently attend Wycallis Elementary School will be home-schooled until the new high school is completed — in approximately 2011. Strangelove and Orwell, Inc. came under some scrutiny 12 years ago when a high-rise apartment complex for senior citizens it had designed sudden- ly collapsed. “That’s all in the past,” said @ nr architect Ei- Pen Slightly, who will oversee the project. “Thank God there was enough money left over af- ter the trial to keep things go- ing. We've had better luck with schools. Well, mostly anyway.” The current high school and middle school will be razed to make way for a mega-school, which will include an artificial turf football field and transpor- tation chutes from the parking lot to the Ted Jackson Learning Center. The state-of-the-art cafeteria will feature a menu of seven en- trees daily, including food in pel- let form and freeze-dried astro- naut ice cream. A high-tech ma- chine will deliver the food to the students though pneumatic tubes. “I believe the children are the future,” said one board member, who asked not to be identified. “Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside. Give them a sense of pride to make it easier. Let the children’s laugh- ter remind us how we used to be.” Things will also be high-tech in the classroom. Each teacher and student in kindergarten through 12th grade will be furnished with a post-silicon nano computer — as soon as they're invented. All of the information in the universe will be contained in the space the size of a marshmallow peep. Several board members have expressed concerns about the price tag. Taxpayers can expect an increase of approximately 215.2389 mills over the next three years. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of assessed value. Dallas taxpayers can calculate their ap- proximate tax increase by tak- ing the amount of their take- home salary, dividing it by 17 percent, subtracting the ages of their children, and adding the last three numbers of their So- cial Security number. The tax increase could be sig- nificantly reduced, however, if the district finds a buyer for all of the asbestos lining the walls of the current schools. Others, however, say it will be money well spent. “Trust me,” said the school board member. “When all of this is done, people will remember the name Dallas.” ARTIST RENDERING BY STRANGELOVE AND ORWELL Crosby to play in Harveys Lake BY DAVE KONOPKI Dallas Post Editor HARVEYS LAKE - Like many of his Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins teammates, Jean-Francois Jacques grew up in the heartland of America, skating and playing hockey on the fro- lakes and ponds in the Midwest. Next winter, Jacques and his team- mates will get an opportunity to relive their childhoods — and Back Mountain residents will get the chance for an up close and personal look at Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby. The NHL will debut its “Re- turn to Our Roots” program in Northeastern Pennsyl- vania, with Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins playing the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins in an exhibition game on the frozen water at Harveys Lake. The game will be played when the ice is thick enough to hold the event, most likely in mid-February. Dubbed the Jones Potato Pancakes Classic, the game is expected to draw more than 10,000 fans, says NHL com- missioner Gary Bettman. Temporary bleachers will be installed on the ice as soon as safety permits and several luxu- ry boxes will be available atop Grotto Pizza. “With Harveys Lake being the largest @ lake in the state — and the fact at real Penguins really do play on ice — we thought this would be a perfect fit,” Bettman said. “If everything goes well, we can foresee future games being played on Lake Erie, Red Lake in Minneso- ta or possibly Chapman Lake.” The Florida Panthers was the first orga- nization to submit a proposal to host the inaugural game, said Bettman. Several committees, which included some of the best minds in hockey, were formed to look into the proposal. “But after several months of deep thought and intense study, we came to the conclusion that wasn’t feasible,” Bettman said. The winner of the game will receive the Hanson's Cup, named after the former amusement park that once was the showcase of Harveys Lake but closed a few decades ago. Cros- by says he’s thrilled about the possibility of winning the Cup. In an era of many self- { absorbed, shallow ath- ° letes who try to fake their way through interviews even though they know nothing about the subject, Crosby seemed to have a genuine interest —and knowledge — of Harveys Lake and Hanson’s Amusement Park. “I remember coming here with my fam- ily as a young boy of about 9 or 10 and rid- ing the roller coaster at Hanson's,” said the 19-year-old phenom. “It was so much fun. About a mile or two before we'd reach the park, we'd see the bright metal of the roller coaster shining in the sunlight and we'd get all excited. We came back last year and it seemed as though nothing had changed. We had a wonderful time on the rides and playing the games. I won a huge stuffed li- on for my girlfriend on the ring toss game.” The $4.8 million ex- pansion project at The Meadows Chuck E. Cheese joins The Meadows BY DAVE KONOPKI Nursing Dallas Post Editor Center on Center Hill DALLAS - Thanks to a grant Road will from Pennsylvania's new “Bridg- includea ing The Gap” program, little ChuckE. boys and girls throughout the Cheese's Back Mountain will be able to restaurant. enjoy pizza — and spend time with Grandpa. The $4.8 million expansion project at The Mead- ows Nursing Cen- ter on Center Hill Road will include a Chuck E. Cheese’s res- taurant. The deci- sion was made to bring the young — and the young at heart — together, said one member of the expansion project commit- tee, who asked not to be identi- fied. “Bring on the pepperoni,” he said. “We're thrilled.” In preparation of the project, all nursing center residents will be given a crash-course on video games, including how to whack a fake mole with an oversized soft hammer. The benefits of the nierg- er will be many, according to sev- eral inside sources. The American Heart Association recently pub- lished a 40-page report that con- cluded jumping around in multi- colored plastic balls is a great source of cardiovascular exercise. But not everyone is happy. Members of the Meadows Aux- iliary are concerned about the “Market On The Pond” fundraiser sharing space with an oversized mouse that eats pizza and distrib- utes game tokens. The owners of Pickett’s Charge Restaurant are concerned about their hard- earned reputation for scrump- tious, mouth-watering prime rib dinners being compromised by the fast-food mentality, while of- ficials at Agway are hoping the smell of pizza won’t make its way into the hundreds of bags of fertilizer they sell. Greg Manusky is the new head football coach at Dallas. Manusky 86's the Forty Niners By DAVE KONOPKI Dallas Post Editor DALLAS TWP. — Greg Manusky began his storied football career in the stadium adjacent to Dallas High School. He plans to end it there, as well. Less than three months after be- ing named the defensive coordina- tor for the San Francisco 49ers, the former Dallas standout made a stun- ‘ning announcement Wednesday af- ternoon in front of a small group of family, friends and reporters at Mountaineer Stadium. Manusky is the new head coach at his alma mater. He will replace highly-successful veteran head coach Ted Jackson, who decided to step down and de- vote more of his time to his true pas- sion —stamp collecting. With 192 ca- reer victories, Jackson was just eight wins away from reaching the presti- gious 200-win plateau. GAR coach Tony Khalife offered to give Jackson five of his career wins, Wyoming Ar- ea coach Paul Marranca offered two more, and Lake-Lehman coach Carl Kern offered ... his sincerest wishes for a bright future. Manusky said the decision to for- go a high-profile and lucrative NFL coaching career really wasn’t diffi- cult. “C'mon,” he said. “They wanted me to live in San Francisco. San Francisco!” The former Colgate University All-American came to his decision while spending a few solitary hours driving along the California coast. “Finally, I asked myself two ques- tions,” said Manusky, who earned degrees in education and geology. “First, where am I going to be the happiest? And second, is there really a difference between partly sunny and partly cloudy?” Manusky, who was a linebackers coach with the Washington Red- skins and San Diego Chargers, says it won't take long before his pres- ence makes an immediate impact on the program. “We're going to get down to busi- ness right from the beginning,” he said. “The first thing we’re going to do is throw away those new home uniforms. God, they're awful.” Although he hasn't named a coaching staff, Manusky has stated he wants uniformity among the coaches. Therefore, all assistants must be former college All-Ameri- cans, honor students with dual de- grees, have 13 years of NFL playing experience, and six years of NFL coaching experience. “I'm not asking anyone for any- thing more than what I accom- plished,” he said. During his high school, college and NFL playing days, Manusky earned a reputation as a hard-nosed, no-nonsense linebacker and special teams player. His all-out style earned him a spot on the prestigious All-Madden team. At Dallas, Manusky is demanding that everyone on the team play — and look — like him. Each player will be required to get a Mohawk-style haircut and grow a Fu Manchu mustache — two traits of Manusky during his early playing days in the NFL. And what about the kids who can’t grow a mustache? “There’s always soccer,” he said.
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