Vol. 118 No. 52 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 December 30, 2007- January 5, 2008 The DAIIAS POST. SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS AND LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS By CAMILLE FIOTI ith only five minutes to go, the frenzied beauty contestants rushed around backstage. “There’s no way I'm gonna be ready for this,” Foxy Faye, aka Joe Pretko, said nervously. “Yo'll be alright,” an- other contestant assured. Pretko and 12 fellow male seniors at Dallas High School competed re- cently in the “MISSter Beauty Pag- eant” in the school’s packed audito- rium. The event, sponsored by the school’s mini- THON club, raised over $1,000 to benefit The Four Diamonds Fund, which raises money for childhood cancer. The club has almost 100 student member and holds several fund-raisers throughout the year, including a dance marathon and a powder puff football game between the ju- nior and senior girls. It has met its goal each year since it began four years ago, said chair- person Nicole Clemson. This year’s goal is $15,000 and all proceeds are donated to the Penn State Children’s Hospital at the Her- shey Medical Center : Clemson, a junior at Dallas, along with fel- Dallas Post Correspondent DON CAREY/ THE TIMES LEADER The Male Beauty Queen Pageant at Dallas High School raised funds for Mini-Thon. Collini said he and the other contestants practiced for a week how to walk, talk and dance like girls. The guys chose their own “female” names and opted to wear sneakers or flip-flops instead of high heels to make the transition a little easier. Collini was proud to be part of the event. “It'sfora good cause,” he said. “Its actually a lot of fun, working with everyone.” Ryan “Deanna” Duddy sported a black and white striped mini skirt and a turquoise tank with “Wild” emblazoned across his chest and, after having some trouble fasten- Tag his A A-cup bra, sucniinbed to the assist- ance of two of the pageant’s organizers. Seyi Relolals me MISSter Pageant raises $1,000 for kids cancer “I am just happy that I was in it. | knew the money was A family affair: | the beat goes oi Warrington Family Band plays English, American, and Celtic music. By REBECCA BRIA rbria@timesleader.com Ian Warrington threatened to quit playing the violin when he was 13 years old. When family friends Margaret Bakker and Rob Lewis heard that, they offered the young man a job playing in their country dance group, the Back Mountain Reelers. Ian’s family went to see him per- form at dances and before long, they were all playing instruments and the Warrington Family Band was formed. The band will play at a New En- gland Contra Dance at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 5 at the Church of Christ Uniting in Kingston. A New England Contra Dance is an American folk dance that descended from English, French and Scottish dances. "It's so cool. You just forget all your worries and you “Pt a V-two @ es prepared homemade ethnic food for hundreds at the Annual International Dinner. low classmates Leigh Ann Amico, Molly Gil- ligan, Mariel Adams, Jill Jackson and Stacey Stepniak, organized the hilarious show, which took a year to plan. Students and their fam- ilies donated the clothing and local department a storesdonatedsomeofthe §£ wigs from mannequins, By CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Dallas Post Correspondent Food, glorious food, was the order of the day at the Lake-Lehman Senior High School Annual International Dinner. The foods were all homemade (some even hand-made) and repre- sented the culinary traditions from nine countries that the student groups chose. The event is the culmination of three months’ work for the 62 10th- grade students and fulfills their re- quirements in an honors humanities class at the high school. The contest featured a swimsuit and eve- ning gown competition and a group dance See BEAUTY, Page 10 DON CAREY PHOTOS/FOR THE DALLAS POST BELOW: Ryan Duddy struts his stuff during the Male Beauty Pageant at Dallas High School. -L. students taste diversity Brian Gorski, chairperson of the his- tory department, is delighted at the turnout and the work the students have accomplished. “The kids were under the gun this year because of the strike to do the re- search, cooking and present their skits,” he said. But it all came together brightly. The students rented costumes, the meals were cooked, each country had its own recipe book compiled by stu- dents and the skits performed after dinner even included language seg- ments. Looking around the overcrowded going to a good place.” KEVIN "ANGEL" ARNAUD “MISSter Beauty Queen 2007." PICTURED ABOVE The local dance with dance is spon- Sd bo un people. Northeast Penn- YOU Can't sylvania Folk- ted MV. lore Society and resist. the Chicory Jean War- House, a non- rington profit coffee house. Dances are held on the first Saturday of each month from September through June. The Warrington Family Band, which offers English, Celtic and American country dance music, is comprised of parents, Peter and Jean; sons Ian, 27; Ben, 24; and daughter Lucy, 20. Ian and Lucy play the fiddle, Ben plays the banjo and the piano, Jean plays the guitar and Peter plays bass. “It’s so cool,” Jean said of contra dancing. “You just forget all your worries and you dance with peo- ple. You can’t resist. The beauty of it, I think, is how people dance with each other - they hold hands. It’s a wonderful community thing to do. And you don’t have to be an experi- enced dancer.” The Warringtons lived in the Wyoming Valley for 16 years before moving to Philadelphia in 2002. Peter was an obstetrician at Nes- bitt Memorial Hospital and Jean worked for 10 years as director of the Wyoming Valley Montessori School. Peter has since left obstet- rics and now practices geriatric See FAMILY, Page 8 school cafeteria, Gorski wondered out loud, “As you can see, it has expanded. We expect to serve 750 to 1,000 peo- ple. The school may have to consider a bigger location next year.” The event started about 25 years ago in the kitchen of Jean Lipski (a So- cial Studies teacher at the time) as a madrigal dinner, thought Sandy Way- man, a language teacher involved with the dinner. It has since been included in the curriculum of the history and humanities department. CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST The food is all fresh and made from Manning the Egyptian booth at the Lake-Lehman International See FOOD, Page 10 Dinner are, from left, Ranya Grzyboski, Alyssa Cornell, Seanna Schweitzer, Nicole Melnick and Brie Harris. L
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