Sunday, February 3, 2008
THE DALLAS POST
PAGE 5
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Trucksville Pharmacy on Carverton Road, a Back Mountain landmark and family-run business for
over 50 years, has closed.
PHARMACY
Continued from Page 1
took part in the family busi-
ness when possible.
Without the customers,
however, the pharmacy
wouldn’t have lasted this
long.
“The customers made
Trucksville Pharmacy,” Billek
said. “Without my customers,
it’s just a building now be-
cause I'm not there with the
day-to-day interaction and
that’s the part I miss the
ost.
"On a recent Sunday eve-
ning, Billek, who never plays
the lottery, scratched off lot-
tery tickets she received for
Christmas. When one of the
tickets was a winner, she
called a customer who was an
avid lottery player at the
pharmacy. Billek knew she
wouldn’t see the woman at
the pharmacy, so she phoned
her to let her know and to
talk.
During another instance,
Billek noticed a regular cus-
tomer had not refilled her
.medicine as usual so she
called the woman’s house to
make sure everything was al-
right only to find out she was
in the hospital.
Billek has even gone as far
as to make weekly visits to an
elderly woman’s house to do a
medication planner for her.
When she noticed the wom-
an, who had Alzheimer’s, was
forgetting to take pills, Billek
called the woman’s doctor to
let him know.
Billek wants her customers
to know she is still a pharma-
cist and is always available to
answer questions about drugs
or just to chat.
For now, she plans to focus
on her new position as expe-
riential coordinator of phar-
macy at Wilkes University.
She stresses her part-time
job at Wilkes is not the rea-
son for the pharmacy’s clos-
ing and says her old position
as adjunct instructor of phar-
macy took up the same
amount of time. Billek will
also keep her hand in retail
and work as a fill-in pharma-
cist when asked.
The future status of the
Trucksville Pharmacy build-
ing and lot is up in the air.
Billek is not sure what will
happen and says, for now, she
and her family are still ad-
justing to the closure.
Rebecca Bria, a staff writer for the
Dallas Post, may be reached at 970-
7436.
SCHOOL BRIEFS
Kindergarten Program
slated at Lake-Lehman
The Lake-Lehman School
District has scheduled the sec-
ond presentation of the Kin-
dergarten Readiness Program
for children planning to enter
kindergarten next fall.
The program will feature
Math Readiness and an explana-
tion of kindergarten registra-
tion.
Faculty from each building
will conduct the presentation.
The schedule is: Ross Elemen-
tary at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb.
5; Lake-Noxen Elementary at 9
a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 6;
y~ehman-Jackson Elementary at
¥, a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7.
Register for the second in-
stallment of the program by
calling Ross Elementary at
477-5050 or 256-7897, Lake-
Noxen Elementary at 639-1129
and Lehman-Jackson Elemen-
tary at 675-2165.
. This program is only for chil-
dren who will be 5 before Sept.
1, 2008 and who are planning to
enter kindergarten for the 2008-
2009 school year.
Band, Chorus sponsor
spaghetti dinner
The Dallas Middle School
Jazz Band and Select Chorus
will hold a spaghetti dinner
from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday,
Feb. 5, in the Dallas Middle
School cafeteria.
Takeouts will be available at
4:30 p.m.
Ticket prices are $7 for adults,
$4 for children between the ages
of 3 and 11 and free for children
under the age of 3.
'. Tickets can be purchased
from Sharon Ellis at 696-3094 or
Lisa Stull at 674-7740.
Tickets will also be available
at the door.
Wyoming Seminary
plans visitation day
The Wyoming Seminary Up-
per School in Kingston and
‘Lower School in Forty Fort are
@ ering area elementary, middle
and high school students and
their families an opportunity to
visit the schools on Monday,
Feb. 18.
Registration will begin at 8:30
a.m.
Visiting students will attend
classes, tour campus and have
lunch in the school cafeteria.
Tours of the Upper and Lower
Schools for parents also will be
offered.
For more information or to
sign up for the day’s events or a
tour, call the Lower School
Admission Office at 718-6610
and the Upper School at 270-
2160 or visit www.wyomingsem-
inary.org.
Four Dallas High School Band members
earn the right to compete at Regionals
sa ET
hook
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
These four Dallas Senior High School band members have a lot to toot their horns about having
won a place in the state's regional competition. From left, seated, are David Balmer and Cara Ison.
Standing, Anthony Roppa and Bethie Martindale.
On to Band Regionals
Four members of the Dallas
High School Band will partici-
pate in the Region 4 State
Band Festival Feb. 20-23 at
Mountainview High School in
Susquehanna County.
Two of those students will
also compete in District Cho-
rus Feb. 6-9 at Mid-Valley High
School while one of those stu-
dents will participate in the
District 9 Jazz Band Festival.
As a result of their accom-
plishments at the District 9
Band Festival in Montrose, se-
nior clarinet player Anthony
Roppa, junior clarinet player
Elizabeth “Bethie” Martindale
and sophomore trombone play-
ers David Balmer and Cara Ol-
son will represent Dallas High
School in the regional band
competition.
Balmer and Martindale will
represent the Mountaineers at
this week’s district chorus com-
petition.
Balmer is a bass singer while
Martindale is a piano accompa-
nist.
Balmer, along with fellow
student Micah Cameron, will
also compete in the District 9
Jazz Band festival Feb. 15 and
16 at Tunkhannock High
School.
According to Todd Hunter,
who has served as director of
the Dallas High School Band
for 20 years, the Mountaineers
place someone in the regional
band competition “almost ev-
ery year.”
Hunter explained that audi-
tions for district band and or-
chestra competition begin in
the fall with the musicians’ ac-
complishments at that level de-
termining whether or not they
advance to regional competi-
tion.
Martindale is the daughter of
Karis and Larry Martindale of
Shavertown, Roppa is the son
of Phillip and Jeanette Roppa
of Dallas, Balmer is the son of
Ken Balmer of Pittston and
Cheri Balmer of Dallas and Ol-
son is the daughter of Laura
and Jeff Olson of Dallas.
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