Vol. 122 No. 1 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 February 13 - 19, 2011 The DareAs Post. ® Serving the communities of the Dallas and Lake-Lehman School Districts | www.mydallaspost.com Zoning hoard postpones compressor decision Meeting moved to Dallas Middle School auditorium to accommodate crowd. By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com Hundreds packed the Dallas Middle School auditorium as tes- timony began Wednesday eve- ning for Chief Gathering LLC's application for special zoning ex- ceptions to build a natural gas compressor station 1,150 feet from the Dallas School District campus. A natural gas compressor sta- tion takes gas from faraway wells and pressurizes it to send through the Transco pipeline and to market. Chief Gathering LLC submitted an application for spe- exceptions to Dallas Town- p on Jan. 21 because the zon- ing district does not explicitly permit or prohibit the type of fa- cility proposed. The board did not make a deci- sion on the station and the hear- ing concluded with a plan for members of the board, the Dallas School District and the public to visit the company’s Barto com- pressor station in Lycoming County at 1 p.m. on Feb. 18. The Dallas Township Zoning Hear- ing Board will continue to hear testimony for Chief Gathering LLC's application for zoning excep- tions at 7 p.m. on Feb. 23 in the Dallas Middle School auditorium. Prior to the start of the hear- ing, Dallas Township Zoning Hearing Board Solicitor William McCall announced that disturb- ances would not be tolerated as witnesses testified, and such dis- turbances could result in a swift end to the hearing and a move to a smaller venue that will not ac- commodate the crowd. McCall also told the audience that one of the three board mem- bers, Conrad Higgins, has a right- of-way agreement with Chief Gathering LLC and will not ac- tively participate in the proceed- ings. He will be allowed to listen to the testimony and contribute to the final decision should a third vote be needed. Ted Wurfel, vice president of Environmental, Safety and Regu- latory Affairs for Chief Gathering LLC, was the first witness called to testify by his lawyer, Jeffrey Ye- See DECISION, Page 10 S. JOHN WILKIN/ THE DALLAS POST The Dallas Middle School Auditorium was full as people listened to Ted Wurfel, vice president of Environmental Safety and Regulatory Affairs for Chief Gathering, LLC testify during a hearing with the Dallas Township Zoning Board. District officials hopeful | Calll€ras By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com State-of-the-art audio visual re- cording equipment was recently installed on 29 Dallas School Dis- trict vehicles and the woman who brought the issue of bus bullying the school board is looking for- d to progress. — Laurie Russell, of Dallas, pre- sented to the Dallas School Board in November about the dangers of bullies on school bus- es. Her concerns mostly involved elementary students — Russell has two young children and she works at Adventures in Learning curb bullying Daycare in Dallas, where she has heard many complaints from stu- dents about verbal and physical exchanges on buses. “It didn’t surprise me, but the extent. of it did,” she said. “It threw me off a bit. Everybody is more vicious these days.” Russell said she’s heard stories about children getting punched in the face and shoved on buses. She said bus drivers might not be able to handle the situation on the road because their attention is focused on driving. The new cameras have given drivers more eyes. Three cam- eras equip each bus — one in the front of the bus, one in the back and one in the middle. The dig- ital cameras, purchased through the Wolfington Body Co. in ac- cordance with the state coopera- tive purchasing program, record audio and visual images and store information for up to 30 days. “We took a look at a couple im- ages and they are extremely clear,” said = Superintendent Frank Galicki. “We saw elemen- tary students playing with iPods and games. It was great to see the kids getting along and, hopefully, we won't have any cases or prob- lems with bullying.” See CAMERAS, Page 10 CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Bill Hartman, a driver for Emmanuel Bus Service, points to a camera above him. Dallas School Dis- trict has had the bugs on its school buses installed as a safety consideration. CHRIS WELCH ~~ The Dallas Post asked second- graders at Dallas Elementary School who their special Valen- tine will be this year and why. Some students wanted to express 0981512007989 o LOGAN DAVIS their love to their parents. Others had secret class crushes they could not reveal to us. Either way, the youngsters are celebrating Valentines Day with the ones they love. Here’s what they had to say: “Everybody is my Valentine.” Chris Welch a “My mom and dad are my Val- entines because I like them and they're nice to me.” Logan Davis KACI HOCKENBERRY Dallas “My friend Cooper in my class is my Valentine because he’s al- ways nice.” Clint Smith Dallas “My mom is my Valentine be- cause she does lots of things for me and I love her a lot.” Meagan Manzelli Shavertown “My dad and mom are my Val- entines because they do lots of things and I love them.” ’ entines because they are nice to LAURYN LOMBARDO Kaci Hockenberry Dallas “My mom and dad are my Val- entines because I love them and they help me do stuff.” Lauren Palfey Dallas “My mom is my Valentine be- cause she loves me and I love her, too.” “My dad and mom are my Val- ABBY JAYNE ”» me. Abby Jayne Wyoming “Somebody in third grade is my Valentine — I don’t know his name. He has a crush on me, too.” Natalya Raczkowski Shavertown “Abby is my Valentine because she’s really nice to me.” Lauryn Lombardo Dallas “I can’t say who my Valentine is — she’s in my class. She’s really LAUREN PALFEY Second-graders weigh in about their most favorite Valentines nice to me.” Zachary Luksic Shavertown “My sister and brother are my Valentines because they're al- ways nice to me.” Elizabeth Conofrey Dallas “My sister is my Valentine be- cause she’s nice all the time.” Daniel Cochran Dallas See VALENTINES, Page 10
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