Sunday, March 4, 2012
THE DALLAS'POST
Fn
Carfax
aE ff ‘ al 1
FE OU J 7
By SARAH HITE
shite@mydallaspost.com
The board of supervisors vot-
ed to approve a cooperative
agreement between the police
department and Carfax Inc., a
vehicular information company,
to streamline vehicular accident
reports at a special meeting
Monday.
Tyrone Parker, a Carfax spo-
kesperson, told supervisors Car-
fax would handle the reports
through a website at no cost to
the township, which would
make them available to the pub-
lic and insurance companies at
any time and would cut down on
administrative work for police
officers.
Parker also said officers would
have access to investigative tools
through the website to learn
more about stolen vehicles and
other common vehicular crimes.
He said the reason Carfax
wanted to work with law en-
forcement officers on the munic-
ipal level is because the compa-
ny currently only receives crash
information from the state, and
the added reports would benefit
the company’s vehicular history
data.
Currently, it costs $15 to obtain a police report. Parker said the
police department would still receive $15 from each report pur-
chased on the website, and Carfax would charge $5 per report as
a convenience fee. Citizens would still have the option to pur-
chase an accident report in person.
Police Chief James Balavage
felt the removal of administra-
tive work in the police depart-
ment would increase the amount
of time officers would be avail-
able to patrol.
Currently, it costs $15 to ob-
tain a police report. Parker said
the police department would
still receive $15 from each report
purchased on the website, and
Carfax would charge $5 per re-
port as a convenience fee. Citi-
zens would still have the option
to purchase an accident report in
person.
Supervisors awarded a bid to
Brdaric Excavating of Swoyers-
ville to stabilize a stretch of Toby
Creek along Carverton Road.
Township Manager Kathleen
Sebastian said the streambed be-
hind a building owned by the
township on Carverton Road has
eroded so much through the
years that the walls are cracking
and part of the creek flows un-
derneath the building.
She said the Luzerne County
Conservation District offered
the township a grant from left-
over federal monies to complete
the project.
“That was one of the areas I
suggested because we're losing
our building,” said Sebastian.
agreement will streamline accident reports
The bid was awarded to Brdar-
ic Excavating in the amount of
$61,424. Though the conserva-
tion district only offered the
township $47,500, Sebastian an-
nounced at the meeting that the
organization would provide the
rest of the money for the project.
The lowest monetary bidder
was Napcon Inc. of Wilkes-Barre
in the amount of $41,260, but Se-
bastian said Brdaric was the
“lowest responsible bidder” in
accordance with the state De-
partment of Environmental Pro-
tection and the Luzerne County
See CARFAX, Page 13
Bridge work
By SARAH HITE
shite@mydallaspost.com
The state Department of
Transportation completed re-
pairs on the Overbrook Road
overpass earlier than initially
expected.
James May, a PennDOT
spokesperson, said concrete
covering beams underneath
the 72-year-old bridge fell on-
oute 309 last Sunday and
agency had planned to
close a portion of Route 309
at night for two weeks to con-
duct the repairs.
Crews began work at 7 p.m.
Wednesday and concluded at
5 a.m. Thursday, May said. He
said all the loosened concrete
was removed from under-
neath the bridge.
He said the concrete in
question was primarily in
place for aesthetic purposes,
and the falling debris does
not pose any structural prob-
lems for the bridge, built in
940.
=
LARS
finished early
“This is one of our bridges
that is not structurally defi-
cient,” said May.
Dallas Township Supervisor
Liz Martin saw the rubble on
the side of the road last Sun-
day evening, but didn’t realize
it had come from the bridge
until Monday afternoon.
“It looked like flat stone. At
first, I thought it was field
stone or flagstone, because
there was a small pile of it in
one of the lanes,” she said.
“My main concern was that
somebody could get hurt or
killed. Remembering what it
looked like, if it had fallen on
a car or a windshield, some-
one could have been at least
hurt by it.”
May said inspectors were
sent to the location on Mon-
day to determine if any more
loosened concrete posed a
threat to motorists. Though
concrete falls did not appear
to be imminent, May said the
agency decided to pursue the
repairs.
See BRIDGE, Page 13
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
{ PennDOT crews completed work on the Overbrook Road bridge
that spans Route 309 in Shavertown. The aesthetically-placed
concrete underneath the structure had been crumbling and falling
debris threatened heavy traffic beneath the bridge.
SPORTS PAGE
OPENS TOMORROW
Great
Haircuts for Men & Boys
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Sports Page hairstylist Tracey Roche, of West Pittston, and sa-
lon owner Stephen Salvaggio, of Forty Fort, have set up their
newest shop in the Back Mountain located in the Twin Stacks
Complex. The shop will open Monday, March 5 and offer haircuts
/ from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
tain residents.
Techies
offering
expertise
By SARAH HITE
shite@mydallaspost.com
Those technologically-
challenged residents living
within the Dallas School Dis-
trict can now take solace in
the fact that help is available
to them.
The Dallas School District
Technology Department be-
gan its “Tech Guru Infosh-
are” program at the high
school to aid those who want
to learn more about comput-
ers.
“Most of the time it’s the
simplest questions, but peo-
ple were afraid to ask,” said
Bill Gartrell, the district’s
technology director.
He and others from the
technology department, in-
cluding students, teach the
class from 3:30 to 6 p.m. ev-
ery Wednesday at the high
school.
A registration form for the
class is available online, and
Gartrell asks that potential
patrons of this free service
let his staff know what they
want to learn before coming
to class.
“l wanted to give some-
thing back to the communi-
ty,” said Gartrell. “With my
stuff — computers — you can
never stop learning.”
The program takes its
name from Gartrell’s class at
the high school in which stu-
dents are taught how to fix
computers and eventually
bs
\ ek
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Bill Gartrell, left, explains to Kathy Zawatski, secretary of the Wycallis Elementary Parent-Teacher Organization, how to update her
club's website during a computer clinic held every Wednesday afternoon at Dallas High School. The program is free to Back Moun-
Charles Didgeon, right, a Dallas School District employee is assisted by instructor Dan Nestorick,
of Hunlock Creek, during a free computer help program held every Wednesday afternoon at Dallas
High School.
For more information about the “Tech Guru Infoshare” program at Dallas High School, visit www.dallassd-
.com or call 675-5201.
become part of the technol-
ogy department.
Gartrell said students are
trained and are allowedto an-
swer calls from all over the
campus, including the mid-
dle and elementary schools.
“Theyre treated like
adults, and they fix things on
their own,” said Gartrell.
Some of the students in
Gartrell’s class have ad-
vanced in certain areas on
their own and can provide
specialty instruction at the
Infoshare classes.
For example, one of his
students is a whiz with Ma-
cintosh computers and
graphic design and another
is adept at software writing
and plans to attend the Roch-
ester Institute of Technolo-
gy.
“Everyone’s got a comput-
er problem,” said Gartrell.
“But this will not be an ad-
vanced Photoshop class. It’s
more about the basics.”
Gartrell also said those
who attend the class can
bring in their own comput-
ers for free virus and spy-
ware removal. Previously,
this service was available on-
ly to district employees and
their families.
It’s also a useful program,
said Gartrell, because it al-
lows young people to get ex-
perience teaching and inter-
acting with older students.
“When it comes to com-
puters, the generation gap
goes away,” he said.