Vol. 121 No. 6 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 February 28 - March 6, 2010 EAS POST. Serving the communities of the Dallas and Lake-Lehman School Districts www.mydallaspost.com HONOR ROLLS INSIDE Administrators from both Dallas and Lake- Lehman High Schools have released the names of students who have achieved Honor Roll sta- tus for the second marking period of the 2009- 2010 academic year. Please turn to pages 7 and 9 inside today’s paper to see if the name of your favorite student appears on these lists. pDisagrees with board over public notification of theft of pantry deposit. By REBECCA BRIA rbria@timesleader.com The director of the Back Moun- tain Food Pantry has resigned from his position following a let- ter to the editor he sent to two ar- ea newspapers. Mark Stull, who had been di- rector of the pantry since July 2008, quit Tuesday after he alleg- es members of the pantry’s board became angry that he sent a let- ter to the editors of The Dallas Post and The Times Leader. The letter acknowledged and ad- dressed a recent theft that oc- curred at the pantry. The newspapers, both owned by the Wilkes-Barre Publishing Co., have agreed not to publish the letter at Stull’s request be- cause he is no longer the pantry’s director; however, the letter may be viewed on the newspapers’ Web sites. Stull was a volunteer and was not paid for his position at the food pantry. “That’s how I think,” Stull said of the letter in which he men- ioned the theft but promised the antry would continue to serve those in need. “I believe those words. I felt the Back Mountain Food Pantry and any volunteer organization like that needs to be an organization of honesty, integ- rity and openness.” Founded in 1977, the Back Mountain Food Pantry serves residents of the Dallas and Lake- Lehman School Districts. It is op- erated by the Back Mountain Ministerium, which is comprised of 24 interdenominational churches. According to Kingston Town- ship Police Sergeant Michael Mo- ravec, Trucksville United Metho- dist Church and the Back Moun- tain Food Pantry were both the victims of theft earlier this month. The pantry leases storage and office space in the basement of the church on Knob Hill Road in Trucksville. A police report regarding the theft stated the Rev. Lori Steffen- son, who is pastor of the church, informed an officer that two thefts occurred between Feb. 2 and Feb. 9 from the church learn- ing center offices. The report states that Steffenson said $477 was taken from the business of- fice and that another $1,153 in & checks to be deposited were sto- len. In a separate incident, a theft occurred sometime between Feb. 3 and Feb. 4 when a vestibule money box was broken into and approximately $40 stolen at St. 680981512007 90g "] RR Food pantry director Its Mark Stull has resigned as director of the Back Mountain Food Pantry. READ STULL'S LETTER To read a letter to the editor writ- ten by former Back Mountain Food Pantry Director Mark Stull, please log on to www.mydallaspost.com. Therese’s Roman Catholic Church on Pioneer Avenue in Shavertown, Moravec said. Moravec said it is not believed the incidents are related and that neither church wishes to prose- cute anyone. Both cases are closed. Joe Hardisky, president of the food pantry’s board of directors, said Stull was appointed manag- er of the pantry and was not a di- rector. Hardisky said Stull had no authority to speak to the media and needed the board’s permis- sion before doing so. “We really love Mark dearly and we’re really concerned with some of his personal issues too, but it’s just the fact that he just didn’t seem to fit into our organi- zation as perhaps we had hoped to,” Hardisky said. Hardisky said he will be the in- terim manager of the pantry and the board will meet to reorganize and eventually select a new man- ager. When asked by a reporter if it was a problem when Stull spoke to the media in the past about positive issues regarding the pan- try, Hardisky said it was not. When asked if it was a problem this time because the theft was negative, Hardisky told the re- porter he wanted to end the con- versation. Stull said he was under the im- pression that he was the director of the pantry. He said the “per- sonal problems” he has been ex- periencing involve having to put his mother into a nursing home recently. In addition, one of his daughters likely needs to have thyroid surgery. Those issues did not factor in- to his decision to leave the pantry in any way, Stull said. “It was time for me to move on,” Stull said of his decision to leave the pantry. “I did my work there. There’s no shortage of need of volunteer activities out there. Hopefully, the food pan- try’s is in equal or better shape to- day than it was when I started.” purchased him from Ideal Po- HEY, THAT LOOKS LIKE FUN! CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Cary Vailes makes bouncing a balloon on his nose look easy during a Kids Carnival at Dallas High School. The carnival raised funds for Candy's Place, a resource center in Forty Fort for cancer patients and their caregivers. The event was the senior completion project of Dallas High School seniors Gary Anderson, Arielle Belski, Chelsi Hunter and Ali Snider. Children attending the carnival enjoyed games, prizes, raffles and food. For more photos, please turn to page 3. Aron 1s newest member of police force By REBECCA BRIA rbria@timesleader.com The newest member of the Dallas Township Police De- partment is a little different than his fellow officers. Aron comes from Slovakia and, although he understands some English commands, German is his first language. He has specialized training in narcotics and can detect drugs in a way that no other officer in the department can. Aron’s extraordinary sense of smell surpasses that of any human's. Officer Brian Feeney and Chief of Police Robert Jolley introduced Aron, the depart- ment’s new K-9 dog, at the Dec. 15, 2009 supervisors meeting. The 2-year-old black German Shepherd was certi- fied as a K-9 dog on Jan. 25 after undergoing training since early October. “It's a great asset to the community,” Jolley said of Aron’s involvement with the police department. Feeney has been a police of- ficer with Dallas Township for 19 years. He has had pet dogs his entire life and volun- teered to be the K-9 officer when the opportunity arose. “It was an interest I've al- ways had for years and we had the opportunity when Macko was purchased with a grant,” Feeney said of his former partner. The Dallas Township Po- lice Department purchased its first K-99 dog, Macko, in 2005 with a grant from the U.S. Office of Homeland Secu- rity. Macko was diagnosed with lymphoma at age 4 last year and was put down in September. “The people know that the other one was gone and we didn’t have it for a while,” Feeney said of the dogs. “It deters crime as far as I have seen it the past four years.” Aron was born at an un- known dog breeding facility in Slovakia. The township FARE CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Dallas Township Police Officer Brian Feeney shows off his new K-9 partner, Aron. lice Canine of Muncy, Pa. on Oct. 1, 2009. The dog cost $11,000 which included his training. Roger Stipcak, who owns Ideal Police Canine, is Aron’s trainer. Both Feeney and Aron visit Stip- cak twice a month to further their training in addition to the ongoing training they do on their own. The new dog is trained in gen- eral patrol and narcotics detec- tion and has his own bulletproof vest. Macko was also trained in general patrol but his specializa- tion was in explosives detection. Jolley said the department chose to train its new dog in drug detection because there are now more dogs with explosives training. Also, drug arrests are increasing and the township is seeing larger quantities of drugs, he said. Although Macko had no train- ing in drugs, Jolley said Macko contributed to four drug arrests simply because the perpetrators voluntarily gave up their drugs when they saw the dog. Feeney said Aron completed four weeks of drug detection training. The training started by introducing various drug odors one at a time on a scented towel. The trainer and Aron would play fetch with the towel. The trainer would then hide the towel so Aron would have to use his nose to find it. The dog performaned close to 600 repeti- tions with the towel and, eventu- ally, the trainer hid drugs that Aron had to find. When he is off duty, Aron lives with Feeney and his family where he gets to “just be a dog” and plays with Feeney’s three tain has a K-9 unit.” Ria other dogs. “They know the difference be- tween when they’re at work and when they're at home,” Feeney said of the K-9 dogs. According to Feeney, it’s im- portant never to approach a po- lice dog without permission. “They’re not a pet and people get upset because they're not al- lowed to pet him,” Feeney said. “He’s very protective and, if you just walk up to him, that’s a good way you'll get bit out of the blue.” Jolley said the department is willing to share some of its K-9 resources, such as its bite suit, to other departments interested in developing a K-9 unit. “I'd like to see one of our neighbors get one,” Jolley said. “No one else in the Back Moun-
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