L Vol. 120 No. 17 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 April 26 - May 2, 2009 ‘DALLAS PosT. Serving the communities of the Dallas and Lake-Lehman School Districts | www.mydallaspost.com Making new memories New Irem Temple Country Club clubhouse will open May 12 above site of old building. By REBECCA BRIA rbria@timesleader.com It’s a place where just about ev- erybody from the Back Mountain and beyond has visited. For decades, the Irem Temple Country Club in Dallas has been the venue for hundreds of wed- dings, bridal and baby showers, funeral luncheons, graduation parties and business meetings. Although the building full of memories is being torn down, a brand new clubhouse will open on May 12 above the site of the old one. The first reception, a wedding, will take place on May 16. The Irem Shrine Center estab- lished the Irem Country Club and golf course in Dallas Township in 1923 following the purchase of the Derr estate on the land in 1922. In 2007, Irem Shrine mem- bers and the Masonic Village's board of directors decided to build a new clubhouse instead of renovating the ex- isting one because renovations would be more costly. Construction on the new 26,868 square foot facility began in July of last year and, upon completion, will be available for the general public to rent. The total cost of the project is slightly more than that.” “If I'm in the din- ing room, | can have a burger and if I'm in the bar and | want filet mignon, | can do Irem Temple Country Club general manager A porch area for golfers to relax after playing a round. There are several meeting rooms with the largest one capable of holding 90 people with auditori- um-style seating while an enter- tainment room will allow guests to socialize and play billiards and darts. Business and administrative offices, as well as offices for the Shriners, will also be on the first floor. A fitness facility is planned for the future, but no equipment will be available up- on the opening of the building. A large, wooden stairwell leads guests to the lobby area of the second floor, which leads to the restrooms. Two elegant chan- deliers hang from the ceiling and oversized windows offer a view of the valley all the way to Mike Dobbs $7 million. Mike Dobbs, of Kingston, was named clubhouse general man- ager in February. He previously managed the Westmoreland Club for 20 years and also managed Glenmaura Golf Club, Valley Country Club and Wyoming Val- ley Country Club. Dobbs recently gave The Dal- las Post a tour of the new club- house, which is almost complete. Upon entering the first floor of the clubhouse, a visitor sees the men’s and women’s locker rooms which feature oak benches, lock- ~ ers with brass and handicapped- accessible toilets and showers. Penobscot Moun- tain in Mountain Top. An eleva- tor is also available to access the two levels. Reception areas are off to the right. A small room provides ac- cess to two ballrooms separated by retractable walls. The first ballroom can hold 50 to 70 people while the second ballroom can accommodate 160. For larger events, the walls can be removed to form one grand ballroom capa- ble of seating 250 people with a dance floor or up to 300 people without a dance floor. See MEMORIES, Page 14 FRED ADAMS PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST The new Irem Temple Country Club clubhouse shines with the remains of the old clubhouse in the foreground. They’ll be first newlyweds in new clubhouse They will be the very first couple to have their wedding reception at Irem Temple Country Club’s new clubhouse. Rebecca Hoffman, 26, of Dallas, and Rob- ert Vanderveken, 28, of Tunkhannock, will marry on Irem’s first tee followed by a recep- tion in the grand ballroom at the new club- house on Saturday, May 16. “We've been engaged for three years and picking the site was the very first thing we did, so we picked this long, long ago before there was even talk of this being remodeled,” Hoffman said. Hoffman says she doesn’t know what would have happened if the new clubhouse was not finished in time for her wedding. She has known for approximately three months that the facility will be complete for the wedding. “We're really excited about it,” she said. “We love the fact that everything’s going to be brand new. At the same time, we are a lit- tle bit nervous knowing we are the first wed- din g.” The couple is expecting about 100 guests at the reception. Following their wedding, they will reside in Shavertown. Robert Vanderveken, left, 28, of Tunkhannock, and Rebecca Hoffman, 26, of Dallas, will be the first couple to have their reception at Irem Temple Country Club's new club- house. The couple will wed at the first tee followed by a reception in the clubhouse’s grand ballroom on Saturday, May 16. I:N students are K'NEX experts By REBECCA BRIA rbria@timesleader.com Rich Cronin’s sixth-grade homeroom at Lake-Noxen Ele- mentary School recently came in first place in their grade level in the national 2009 K'NEXpert Classroom Challenge Contest. K’'NEX is “a dynamic, open- ended spatial building system made up of different-sized rods, connectors and bricks.” The company’s K’NEXpert Classroom Challenge Contest » encourages students to build different models using K'NEX. Cronin’s students placed first in the building challenge’s grades five and six category, which was “Bridge Building 101.” In order to meet the cate- gory requirements, the students 0981512007989 had to build a bridge spanning a distance of at least 36 inches and able to support a non-paperback dictionary. The students constructed a suspension bridge that is a repli- ca of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif. The bridge is 11 feet long and took approxi- mately three months for the stu- dents to make. Cronin says he and his stu- dents did several experiments to test the strength of the bridge, including one where they placed over 20 textbooks on the bridge. In a different test, the class placed a two-by-four on the two center supports of the bridge and had a student walk across the bridge. See K'NEX, Page 10 ES Ye No FISHING SEASON BEGINS CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Lauren Rinehimer, of Dallas, tends the family boat before casting off at the Harveys Lake boat launch. The 2009 trout season officially began on Saturday, April18, and fishermen and fisherwomen of all ages and sizes were out in full force on area waterways. For additional photos, please turn to page 3. y~ (4% a
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