Vol. 122 No. 47 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 January 22 - 28, 2012 50¢ WILKES-BARRE, PA. www.mydallaspost.com AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER Who's responsible for notifying residents about gas’ By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com Williams Field Services LLC isn’t the only corporate entity in Dallas Township required to notify residents and township officials about its work, but the natural gas company has come under fire recently due to lags in its communication process. Residents who live on Fair- ground Road in Dallas Town- ship, a dead-end road located off Conyngham Avenue, storm- ed the township board of super- visors meetings in September and earlier this year due to two incidents in which residents were not notified of work on the pipeline. Residents said they heard loud noises and smelled natural gas, and called 911 as a precau- tion. Helen Humphreys, communi- cation specialist for Williams, said she attended township meetings voluntarily after According to the law, companies must notify state and local emergency management if there is an accident or incident that results in the release of a hazardous material, which includes a laundry list of details about the incident. The county officials must then notify the fire chief in the local municipality in which the accident or incident took place and with all the (aforemen- tioned) details. those incidents to apologize, but she said the company is working with the township to provide information as soon as it’s available. “I think we have some work to do to demonstrate we meant it (when we said we’d notify res- idents),” said Humphreys. “I think it’s appropriate for people to hold us accountable for that, but I don’t think the one time that we were unsuccessful in meeting that goal eliminates all the times we tried to reach out to residents.” As a result, newly-seated township supervisor Liz Martin is working with emergency management officials to devel- op a website that will provide up-to-date information for resi- dents about any work, includ- ing routine maintenance, on the Springville Gathering Line. “We’re anticipating both Chief (Gathering LLC) and Wil- liams will work with us to help us inform the public whenever there is activity on the pipe- line,” said Martin. “It will be for anything, any kind of notifica- tion, and the primary reason for it being built so that we can in- form residents.” See GAS, Page 13 Bowling In support of autism By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com ®.. . Middle School student Daniel Shannon likes vid- eo games, reality T.V. game shows, action figures, swimming and playing piano. The 13-year-old from Tunkhan- nock said he’s not defined by the fact that he has Asperger’s Syn- drome, and everyone else should celebrate who they are despite whatever condition they might have, too. That’s why Shannon is hosting the “Be Yourself Bowl-A-Thon” today from noon to4 p.m. at Shad- owbrook Lanes in support of Au- ism Speaks, an autism science id advocacy organization. & = Asperger’s Syndrome is a neur- ological disorder on the autism spectrum which affects a person’s social skills. Shannon is hosting the event as part of a requirement needed to receive confirmation from St. Ma- ry of the Lake Church in Tunkhan- nock. Shannon’s mother, Melinda Shannon, describes her son as a bright boy who sometimes has trouble communicating and is working on his social skills, but maintains a steady group of friends and never needed to be in a learning support class. Melinda said her son was diag- nosed with the condition at'the age of 6, after she and Daniel's teachers noticed irregular behav- ior. “He was brilliant in school and his teachers said sometimes real- ly smart people just have odd per- sonalities,” said Melinda. “His first words were, ‘Go away.” Melinda did a lot of independ- ent research after that initial diag- nosis, and eventually learned how to deal with teachers, other students, and Daniel himself. “He lets us know when he needs his alone time, and he still won't shake hands with people in church,” said Melinda. “But he tries to figure out how the world works by himself.” Melinda said Daniel does have fixations, such as reciting lists of things, collecting little action fig- ures and Pez dispensers and be- ing “unreasonably terrified of spi- ders,” but the teenager doesn’t worry about being different. “He doesn’t notice that he has it,” she said. “He’s happy with himself.” IF YOU GO .. Who: Daniel Shannon, coordinator What: Be Yourself Bowl-A-Thon When: Noon to 4 p.m. today : A CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Daniel Shannon, a 13-year-old middle school student from Tunkhannock, holds his favorite colored bowling bowl at Shadowborok Bowling Lanes, hoping many will join him today from noon to 4 p.m. for a “Be Yourself Bowl-a-Thon" to benefit Autism Speaks. Where: Shadowbrook Lanes, Tunkhannock Why: In support of Autism Speaks, an autism science and advocacy organization Thebowl-a-thon will raise mon- ey for Autism Speaks through in- dividual donations, concessions sales, business sponsorships of bowling lanes and raffle tickets. Melinda also said three tro- phies will be handed out during the event, but she’s not sure what the criteria for winning will be just yet. “We’ll definitely have one for the most donations,” she said. Daniel enjoys bowling, too, and hopes the tournament will help improve his game. Melinda said her bowling aver- age can’t be helped, but she hopes the event will help spread aware- ness of Asperger’s Syndrome and autism. : “We really need more outreach (locally),” she said. Safety task By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com Parents have demanded a specific evacuation plan tai- lored to a natural gas emer- gency for the Dallas School District, ‘and district officials recently announced the cre- ation of a safety task force, comprised of local first re- sponders, board members and natural gas experts, to aid in the development of a plan. * School officials say evacua- 6¢'M09815 20079 19. Ny force will evaluate evacuation plan “We provide templates to the schools and the plans are also available online. The state does make modifications every two to three years, and we let schools know when the new plan is on there and ask them to update and submit a copy to us.” tion plans have been in place for years, and companies are currently working with the district to provide more infor- mation about natural gas emergencies. Williams Field Services LLC’s Springville Gathering Line was recently completed at a site located off Lower De- munds Road, about 2,600 feet away from the district cam- pus. Another line, to be con- structed by Chief Gathering LLC, will be located off Hilde- brandt Road about 1,300 feet from the schools. Both lines will connect to the Transco interstate pipe- line, which runs through Dal- las Township. The gathering lines will transport gas from wells in northern counties to the Transco line, which then 4 Stephen Bekanich Luzerne County emergency management agency director Dallas School Board mem- ber Fred Parry, a member of the task force who lives near the schools, said the group has already met two times in Janu- ary. He said the task force is working to strengthen the dis- trict’s current emergency plan and create specific strategies in dealing with natural gas is- sues. ~ “They’re updating the flip & chart for all the buildings, up- dating the procedures manual, and they're going to be train- ing teachers and employees of the school district about how to evacuate the buildings,” said Parry. He said a representative from Williams, safety expert Paul Madey, has attended See SAFETY, Page 12 _ By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com night. 26-year resident Bill Grant. Dodson. November general election. ciation. management agency. townships. tors. Martin. gency management director. coordinators. A third member was appoint- ed to the board of supervisors and the township emergency management agency was res- tructured at a meeting Tuesday Residents packed the munici- pal meeting room before super- visors Liz Martin and Frank Wagner made their choice for a third member of the board. The two had 12 candidates to review and each chose three names. Both had one name in common: The third seat on the board was left vacant in December when longtime supervisor Phil Walter abruptly resigned. At the time, Wagner and Glenn Howell were left on the board, and both attempted to appoint former township emergency management coordinator Jack Residents cried foul, claim- ing the board violated the Sun- shine Act, and the board decid- ed to wait until January to name a replacement when Mar- tin would be a board member. Martin defeated Howell in the Grant, 58, is the chief execu- tive officer of Hildebrandt Learning Centers LLC and serves on the Back Mountain Memorial Library Board of Di- rectors and the board of the Pennsylvania Child Care Asso- Supervisors also announced major changes to the structure of the township emergency The supervisors voted to make Dallas Township part of the Back Mountain Regional Emergency Management Asso- ciation, which currently in- cludes Dallas Borough and Jackson, Lehman and Lake Martin said she was the “mas- termind” behind the project, which includes a new coordina- tor and two deputy coordina- “With what we have going on in Dallas Township, with being at ground zero for two natural gas pipelines with the possibil- ity of more, I really felt we need- éd to beef up our EMA...,” said Alan Pugh, a former Dallas Township police officer and life- time member of the Northmo- reland and Dallas fire depart- ments, was named as the emer- Dallas Fire Chief Harry Vi- vian and Kunkle Fire Chief Jack Dodson were named as deputy The board also held inter- views for the position of zoning | officer with the recent retire- ment of Leonard Kozick, who Grant is named new DT super Grant served in that position for 38 years. Carl ‘Alber was chosen as Kozick’s successor. Alber cur- rently works for Dallas Bor- ough as assistant zoning officer and code enforcement officer. In other news, residents who live on Sedlar Lane addressed the board about the condition of the road after Williams Field Services LLC recently finished construction on the Springville Gathering Line. Donna Cave said she had con- cerns about water runoff as a re- sult of the construction. Much of the right-of-way is owned by John Metz, who owns Metz Culinary Managmement in Dal- las Township, but Cave said Metz hasn’t answered resi- dents’ requests for the work the be cleaned up. She continued that multiple phone calls to Williams officials left her at a dead end communi- cation-wise. “We've addressed everything we could for (Williams), but they did nothing for us,” said Cave. : Roadmaster Ron Buchman said he has contacted Williams officials to tidy up the road, but was told that the. company “wasn’t ready” to clean debris off the road. Solicitor Thomas Brennan al- so said the planning commis- sion put stringent guidelines in- to its approval of the company’s pipeline project, and runoff con- cerns would need to be dealt with by the township engineer. Resident Diane Dreier also asked whether the zoning map could be redesigned, as pend- ing state legislation would al- low gas development in an agri- cultural district and the town- ship is primarily zoned agricul- tural. Though Brennan said it would be difficult given the in- dustry is currently “a moving target,” he said it could be put before the planning commis- sion. The next Dallas Township Board of Supervisors meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 7 in the munici- pal buildin g.
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