Sunday, October 24, 2010 THE DALLAS POST PAGE 3 By STEVE MOCARSKY smocarsky@timesleader.com An attorney said a proposed or- dinance that would essentially ban natural gas drilling in the township contains provisions that would re- quire the township to secede from the state and the country if either government challenges it. More than 100 residents packed I the township supervisors meeting room Monday night to either sup- port or oppose an ordinance pro- posed by the Gas Drilling Aware- ness Coalition, a local grassroots group opposed to gas drilling in the township and surrounding com- munities. Supervisor Chairman Dave Sut- ton told the crowd at the start there would be no vote on the ordinance because it would have to first go be- fore the Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board for approval. Dr. Thomas Jiunta, president of the coalition, outlined the provi- sions of the ordinance, dubbed the Lehman Community Water Rights and Local Self-Government Ordi- nance which would ban any corpo- ration from drilling in the township or extracting water for drilling within the township. Jack Haley, solicitor for the township Zoning Hearing Board, said upon reviewing the proposal, he believes it would certainly be challenged in court if adopted, and Dr. Thomas Jiunta, president of the coalition, outlined the provi- sions of the ordinance, dubbed the Lehman Community Water Rights and Local Self-Government Ordinance which would ban any corporation from drilling in the township or extracting water for drilling within the township. he believes the authors of the ordi- nance also expected such. Haley said the ordinance forbids other levels of government from exercising powers to aid or assist anyone who deems the township's laws to be in violation of the rights of others. In order to do so, it provides that “any attempt to use other units or levels of government shall require the board of supervisors to hold public meetings that explore the adoption of other measures that expand local control” and that “such consideration may include actions to separate the municipal ity from the other levels of govern- ment.” “In that regard, I must suggest that the proposal needs to be amended to include not only ‘sep- aration,” and read here ‘secession from the state of Pennsylvania and also from the United States of America,’ as the federal govern- ment is likely to take the same view as the state,” Haley said. Jiunta said a virtually identical ordinance was adopted just last week in Licking Township in Clar- ion County. The local ordinance was written by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. A fund repre- sentative who attended the meet- ing spoke about the ordinance and said there are about 120 local ordi- nances in the state, some of which have been challenged, some of which folded. Shireen Parsons, Pennsylvania Gas drilling ban would likely be challenged community organizer for the fund, said the fund would defend the township in court at no charge if the ordinance was adopted and le- gally challenged. “What you have here is not a fracking problem; it’s a democracy problem,” Parsons said. “Who gets to decide in the community of Leh- man Township how safe your wa- ter is? Is it the people who live here or is it a handful of corporate offi- cers enabled and abetted by the state?” Township resident Gary Ide, president of Citizens for Cleaner Energy, a pro-drilling group, said it would be wrong to assume that drilling contaminates drinking wa- ter. ® By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com The Lake-Lehman School Board approved hires, granted tenures and celebrated stu- dents’ accomplishments at its general meeting Monday night. Superintendent James McGovern said he was “proud to read the superintendent’s re- port,” mentioning honorees and program participants he wanted to congratulate. Marching Band Director Alex Higgins and junior Chris Gerlin were on the list for win- ning first-place titles at the Drum Corps Associates Cham- pionship in Rochester, N.Y. in September. McGovern said it is very rare to have two participa- nts from the same school win the honor, and he stood up to shake Gerlin’s hand as the audi- ence applauded during the meeting. McGovern also announced that Lehman-Jackson Elemen- tary School has entered the “Power a Bright Future” con- test sponsored by Clorox bleach. The school could win a $50,000 grant for a new re- grce room. McGovern said 2 general public can vote for the school on the contest web- site, www.powerabrightfuture- Sa Accomplishments of students lauded Superintendent James McGovern said he was “proud to read the superintendent's report,” mentioning honorees and program participants he wanted to congratulate. .com. There are two weeks left to vote. Lehman-Jackson will also be closing doors soon. It’s not shutting down — the school was designed in 1975 with “open air” classrooms in which there are no doors where students are taught. Due to safety is- sues, the board voted to adver- tise for companies to bid on adding doors to the school. In other matters... ¢ The board approved the following substitute teachers within the district: April Al- drich of Sweet Valley, Allison Baur of Dallas, Janice Benoit of Shavertown, Mary Ellen Dzia- dosz of Dallas, Autumn Ford of Hunlock Creek, Melinda Gor- don of Shickshinny, Samantha Hubert of Tunkhannock, Cyn- thia Janosov of Harding, Mi- chelle Marroquin of Shaver- town, Kerianne Nafus of Shick- shinny, Kevin Olshefski of Har- veys Lake, Douglas Piazza of See STUDENTS, Page 11 By CAMILLE FIOTI Dallas Post Correspondent i The supervisors voted is unanimously Tuesday to ap- { prove the conditional-use re- quest from a developer to build a 30,000-square-foot re- tail building on the site of the Country Club Shopping Cen- | ter. Richard Holthaus, vice president of Humford Equi- ties, which owns the land, said it will take close to a year before ground is broken on f the planned strip mall, which nll house small, retail spaces 1,500 to 2,000 square feet each. | Plans for the project, which 7} will be situated between Tho- mas’ Market and M&T Bank, call for doubling the size of the parking lot, Holthaus said. Resident Dave Pellam asked the board if the heavily 1 wooded 50-acre parcel of iA township-owned land, on which a proposed gas line will i run through four acres, could be used for sustainable forest- ry, thus creating revenue for Center developer's request approved “I'd like to keep it a forest. I'd hate to see it get exploited.” Dave Pellam Dallas Twp. resident the township as well as pre- serving most of the trees. “I'd like to keep it a forest,” Pellam said. “I'd hate to see it get exploited.” The board hasn’t yet made a decision as to whether to grant permission to Chief Oil & Gas Company to lay the pipeline. Township solicitor Tom Brennan said he hopes to receive a management plan for the property, which was donated to the township dec- ades ago, from the state De- partment of Conservation and Natural Resource. In other business ... ® The board decided to fol- low the lead of Dallas School District and unanimously de- ny a request by JW. Ventures to forgive back taxes on the Mark II property. See REQUEST, Page 1l The Daily family - Megan, Bev and Noah - decorated the bank of their van as a tribute to Willie Wonka. Alyssa Angelicola, of Shavertown, gets a big surprise when a garbage can witch jumps out at her. CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Gabrielle Sabatini, of Dallas, sports the right hair color to match her family's tailgate decor. Carly Kappler, of Shavertown, has control of her candy bucket. TRUNK or TREAT he annual Trunk or Treat event at the Shavertown United Methodist Church is all about keeping chil- dren safe during the Halloween season. Those dressed in Hal- loween costumes were allowed to col- lects treats from deco- rated car trunks.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers