storm basin ra fn -_ i EE HI ———————— SRE 5 a Pa aon Ue EE ee oh ——r DIE ES yee i... au a LL Ls & He explained one pound of Sunday, August 21, 2011 THE DALLAS POST PAGE 3 HARVEYS LAKE Borough will install By EILEEN GODIN Dallas Post Correspondent Borough council discussed the installation of a new stormwater basin and strengthening the zon- ing ordinance to address gas drill- ing at its meeting Tuesday night. A nutrient-separating baffle box will be installed on Wood Street in * September. The baffle box is de- signed to filter sediment and phos- phorus from rain run-off before it enters the lake. The $73,969 cost of the box and its installation will be covered by a 319 grant the borough received in 2008 under the Clean Water Act, said Fred Lubnow, director of Ag- uatic Programs at Princeton Hy- dro. The Wood Street site is one of 23 chosen to reduce sediment and phosphorus around the lake. Princeton Hydro has been hand- ling the borough’s grant funding to implement a storm water plan to limit the amount of sediment and DALLAS BOROUGH Council approves law updates By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com Dallas Borough Council approved two ordinance updates Wednesday night in an effort to keep borough code up to date. One ordinance updates language to increase enforcement for a stop sign at the corner of Elizabeth and Sunset streets that has been there for years. Another will tweak the legal lan- guage in an open burning ban ordi- nance to establish limitations on the exceptions, change penalties and en- forcement provisions and repeal con- flicting ordinances. Borough Manager Tracey Carr said there haven't been issues in the bor- ough that would spur these changes but over the past few years council has been working to update all laws within the borough. Council approved a switch of compa- nies handling the borough’s plan re- view and uniform construction code enforcement services from Building In- spection Underwriters to Barry [sett & Associates Inc. Building Inspection Underwriters had served the borough since 2004. Carr said council looks to change UP NEXT The next Dallas Borough Council meet- ing will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 21in the municipal building. various service providers every few years to find the best rates and services for residents. Last year the borough switched engineers and a few years ago council hired a new solicitor. “We just try to get the best benefits for the taxpayers,” Carr said. Carr was authorized to prepare a questionnaire to give to residents con- cerning storm water drainage issues and road improvement needs. The bor- ough will be eligible for a 2012 housing and urban development grant from the Luzerne County Office of Community Development. “We know those are two issues in the borough, so that’s what we want to spend the money on,” said Carr. Council approved the inclusion of Lake Township in the Back Mountain Regional Emergency Management Agency and appointed Dennis Barney Dobinick as assistant regional emer- gency management director in the group. The Back Mountain Regional Emer- gency Management Agency currently serves Dallas Borough, Jackson Town- ship and Lehman Township. Council agrred to pay Verdin $590 to provide two maintenance visits to the Dallas Borough clock during 2012. Don Wilkinson Agency/CENTAX was appointed as the borough's tax col- lector starting on Jan. 1, 2012, pending final solicitor approval. In other news, council... e Approved and recognized the fi- nancial requirement and minimum municipal obligation budget for 2012 for both the uniformed and non-uni- formed plans in the amounts of $25,861 and $8,447 respectively in compliance with Act 205 of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. ¢ Accepted receipt of the Jan. 1, 2011 Act 205 actuarial valuation reports for the uniformed and non-uniformed pen- sion plans as prepared by Beyer Barber Co. through Thomas J. Anderson & As- sociates and authorized the following payments: $2,700 for preparation of each actuarial valuation report and $300 for each initial fee to generate bi- annual participant statements. ¢ Approved and authorized the ap- propriate borough official to execute material quotations with American As- phalt Paving Co. to purchase various asphalt materials under the state coop- erative purchasing program. phosphorus entering the lake. Lubnow said the long-term goal is to reduce 230 pounds of phospho- rus entering the lake. phosphorus has the potential to produce up to 1,100 pounds of cot- ton candy-like algae. “I like saying we are putting the lake on a diet,” he said. “We are half way there.” Lubnow said baffle boxes effi- ciently remove phosphorus and sediment and are easy to main- tain. Council will be inviting propos- als from different insurance com- panies for a liability insurance pol- icy. Chairman Francis Kopko said the council is satisfied with the current provider, but wants to see what other packages and prices are available. A change from Sprint to Verizon for cell phone coverage was ap- proved. Kopko said the change was something the council want- ed to do for better coverage. He said costs between the two compa- nies are about the same. In other news, council an- nounced the hearing board on gas drilling received a draft of changes to the zoning ordinance address- ing the natural gas drilling indus- try. Kopko said the draft includes items such as buffer zones and road use to protect citizens in the event of natural gas activities in the borough. ) The draft was just received earli- r this week, he said. It should be ready for public review by next month. Also, due to rain, homecoming festivities scheduled for Aug.7 have been rescheduled for Sept. 4 at the former Hanson's Amuse- ment Park area. Mayor Clarence Hogan an- nounced a memorial marking the 10th anniversary of the Sept.11 at- tacks is being planned. Details will soon be released. Council is seeking any residents with construction or engineering experience to serve on a board of appeals. The board of appeals would hear disputed cases of resi- dents who don’t accept the deci- sion of Pasonick Engineering, the borough's third party engineer in- spector. Interested residents should call the borough office at 639-2113. CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Tauna Thomas, Trucksville, washes cars for free during a customer appreciation day at Frontier Communi- cations in Dallas. mployees of Frontier Communica- tions veered away from their everyday work duties on Aug. 4 and washed cars as part of the company’s Frontier Com- munity Appreciation Day. A variety of spe- cial events were hosted to mark the one- year anniversary of the company’s acquisi- tion of new community service areas, a transaction that resulted in Frontier tripli- ng its size nationally. More than 1,000 Frontier employees throughout Pennsylvania and New York, Frontier’s Northeast region, held free activ- Frontier gives back ities for the community. Customers, community members and local police and emergency responders were invit- ed to have their vehicles cleaned up, courtesy of Frontier. and appreciation day. Wayne Devine has a special request to wash this cus- tomer’s car at Frontier Communication’s free car wash LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL BOARD School board OKs slate of personnel hires and transitions By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com \ The Lake-Lehman School Board ap- " proved several hires, resignations and leaves of absence at its meeting Monday evening. Mallory Griggs, of Factoryville, was hired as temporary mathematics teach- er at the Lake-Lehman Junior/Senior High School with a salary of $42,181, ef- fective Aug. 24. Griggs is a graduate of Lackawanna Trail High School and received her bach- elor’s degree in business from Penn State University. She received her teaching certificate from Keystone College. ship and this will be her first long-term teaching position. The board also approved the follow- ing substitute teachers for the 2011-12 school year: Lesley Baltimore, of Shaver- town, with certifications in elementary and special education; Amanda Boice, of Harveys Lake, with a certification in En- glish; Paul Broody, of Edwardsville, with a certification in special education; Alli- son Connell, of Forty Fort, with certifica- tions in elementary and special educa- tion; Nicole Height, of Wilkes-Barre, with a certification in secondary mathe- matics; Kimberly Leary, of Forty Fort, with a certification in secondary mathe- matics; Rachel Rost, of Jenkins Town- Griggs is a former substitute teacher ship, with a certification in elementary Wilkes-Barre, with certifications in ele- mentary and special edycation. Esther Liuzzi, of Kingston, was ap- pointed as a district health assistant at a rate of $11 per hour for 186 days per year, effective Aug. 25. The board accepted a letter of retire- ment from Irene Race, elementary mu- sic teacher, effective Aug. 1. The board accepted letters of resigna- tion from Maureen Devine, head swim coach, and Sandra Boyle, varsity assist- ant field hockey coach. The board voted to advertise for the position of head swim coach. The board approved an unpaid leave of absence for Sandra Hoffman, second- ary special education teacher, to begin at period of 12 weeks. Michelle Russo, elementary special education teacher, was approved for an unpaid leave of absence to begin at the start of the 2011-12 year and end on Nov. 1 The board approved an extended un- paid medical leave of absence for Mi- chelle Keiper, part-time custodian/food service worker to begin at the start of this school year and not to exceed 60 days. A motion made at the board’s March 21 meeting for a leave of absence for Kim- berly Chopyak, Ross Elementary teach- er, through Sept. 23 was rescinded. Su- perintendent Jim McGovern said Cho- HARPIN' ON THINGS HARP HEFFERNAN Nothing goes untracked in today's world Strolling through the Phila- delphia airport recently, I saw what looked like a large, lighted display stuck in a corner by itself. It turned out to be an eight foot square mini store complete with an automated robotic arm for retrieving pur- chased items, credit card swipe slot, a person- ality about the same as most checkout employ- ees and that eye-level square which surely held a mini camera. Best Buy in a box! The “store” was filled with camera memory cards, flash drives, cameras, noise-cancelling headphones, iPods and other assorted electron ic goodies. Swipe your card, grab your pur- chase and let the credit card company and everyone it shares information with know exactly where you are and what you're doing. Visions of George Orwell's “1984” flashed through my head, a book I read so long ago in an English class at Seminary with either Mr. Cabot, of “Jaws” fame, or Mr. Carver. Un- fortunately, my brain is not recalling the exact details of the class but I do remember it has to do with lead character Winston Smith and Big Brother being omnipresent and completely running everyone's life. Let's take a moment and dissect a trip you took in 1976 compared to a trip you would take today. In 1976, you picked a location, looked in the phone book for the area code, called informa- tion, talked to an actual person and asked for the name and number of hotels in the area. Then, you called several hotels, talked to more live individuals, reserved your room with good faith that you would show up and inquired about where the person taking the reservation liked to eat and hang out. Then you called your buddies and told them to be ready the next morning because the road trip was planned. Meet Big Joe Fuller, Bobby Coolbaugh, Jimmy Dimond, Greg, Stuart and a few new faces the next morning at Gorda’s Sunoco station, ask for a free road map, fuel up the Charger with eight duffel bags in the back and leave after writing a note letting your family know youd be back in a week. Everything was done with cash. Fuel, hotel room (at $19.95 a night split four ways plus a tip for the maid), tolls and meals. The only footprint we left on those trips (besides being thrown out of several establishments where we used the name of the guy from school whom everyone disliked) was at the hotel where we had to list a home address. But, we received a hand-written note, thanking us for our stay ...sometimes. Now for today’s trip. I Googled the Florida Keys on the laptop, which has installed Coo- kies to track every web page I visit. I read comments from someone I don’t know, enter credit card and billing info and click submit. Onto the airline website, where I look up rates and learn they now charge $50 a bag. I could live for a week out of a small carry-on bag, but the airlines know the habits of wom- en. Take the Mrs, for example. Three outfits a day with shoes to match, sweaters (it’s 90-plus degrees there), more clothes and accessories, including that industrial strength hair dryer which drives Florida Flicker and Flame, aka Florida Power and Light, crazy. Next, it’s the rental car company and yet another credit card entry. The whole world now knows we're going away. At the airport, you insert your credit card into a computer kiosk, boarding passes are printed and the only work the few airline em- ployees do is put a tag on your luggage in- dicating you've paid the extra fee. There's no one at the rental car counter since all you have to do is find your name on the screen and go to the highlighted parking slot to pick up your vehicle. Maps are not provided but, if there's a GPS in the car, you're in luck. Tolls in Florida are now completely auto- mated. A camera takes a photo of your license plate and charges your credit card. How did they get that info if you didn’t sign up for SunPass? The hotel takes your credit card upon arriv- al. The restaurants take your credit card for meals. The stores take your credit card for sunscreen and food. No one wants cash (ex- cept the fishing guides who love Hamilton and Grant) and, if they do, the cash register had better tell the operator exactly how many quarters, dimes and nickels to give as change since the new math being taught doesn’t touch on that subject. Big Brother can tell where you went, what you bought, what you ate and how long you were there. Just about every place we visited had overhead cameras tracking our every move. It makes you wonder just how much fore- sight George Orwell had back in 1949 when he wrote “1984.” It also makes me wonder if the web camera on this laptop is really turned off. Harp Heffernan was the associate publisher, out- door editor and chief photographer of the Sunday Independent, a newspaper that was in his family for 87 years in Wilkes-Barre. You can e-mail him at . at Lakeland High School in Scott Town- Sion and Mark Unphred, of the start of the 2011-12 school ear fora See PERSONNEL, Paiss news@myadallaspost.com.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers