Sunday, March 25, 2012
THE DALLAS POST
PAGE 3
Wo changes are
made to calendar
By SARAH HITE
shite@mydallaspost.com
Despite parents’ requests, the
Lake-Lehman School Board
will not make changes to this
year’s academic schedule.
A resolution to change the
2011-12 calendar was printed on
the agenda for Monday’s meet-
ing, but Superintendent James
McGovern said it was removed
from the recommended action
list because of a lack of board
support.
The graduation date is set for
June 13, seven days after the last
day of school. The date is often
further from the last day of
school in case there is need to
add extra days to the calendar
for snow and other cancella-
tions throughout the year.
For example, the 2012-13 cal-
endar approved on Monday eve-
ning sets June 3 as the last day of
school and June 7 as gradua-
tion. McGovern said if there
aren’t any snow days, the date
could be changed next year.
Parent Amy Spess said the
2011-12 graduation date should
be moved to June 6 to corre-
spond with students’ schedules.
McGovern said there were
several issues at hand, from stu-
dents’ families making plans to
the cost of transporting kids to
and from graduation practices
throughout the week. He also
said there’s a chance the week-
long break in between the dates
could affect graduation attend-
ae.
®: said he never expected the
winter to be as mild as it was af-
ter the two tropical storms that
delayed the start of school a
week in late August and early
September. The school calen-
dar had enough days scheduled
to make up for this occurrence.
McGovern said the issue
would have to have been voted
McGovern said there were
several issues at hand, from
students’ families making
plans to the cost of trans-
porting kids to and from grad-
uation practices throughout
the week. He also said there's
a chance the week-long break
in between the dates could
affect graduation attendance.
on Monday because a gradua-
tion date change in April would
be too short of a notice for stu-
dents’ families.
McGovern also announced a
Vera Bradley bingo event that
was set for March 24 at the high
school. Vera Bradley handbags
were to be chanced off during
the event, which benefits the
Last Knight Lock-In. McGovern
said if $5,000 is raised, he will
shave his head.
“I want everybody to go, but
not really,” he said, laughing.
He also acknowledged the fol-
lowing students for winning
awards in the 31st Rossetti Art
Competition at Luzerne County
Community College: Kristen
Boyle won the Bradford Award
for Excellence, Cayle Spencer
won the Award for Acrylic, Da-
nae Sutliffe won two Bristle
Brush Awards for Detail and the
Rosemary Engle Memorial
Award, Sela Fine won the Award
for Excellence in Landscape;
Callie Grey won the Triple Blue
Society Award for Creativity,
the Award for Best Use of Color
in Water Media and a $250 Se-
nior Art Scholarship, Austin
Shultz won the Swetland Insur-
ance Agency Award for Excel-
lence, Hanna Cross won the Ge-
orge Fillman Memorial Award
See CALENDAR, Page 12
BILL TARUTIS PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Nancy Wunderlich, of Shavertown, center, greets Lorena Langan, right, of Trucksville, as Joyce Bellas, of Dallas, joins them at the
Cross Creek Community Church Friend Day.
Ted Healey, of Shavertown, left, chats with Jackie Rinehimer, of
West Pittston, as Rinehimer looks over some snacks at the Cross
Creek Community Church Friend Day.
Friend Day at Cross Creek Church
arishioners of the Cross Creek Community Church in Trucksville introduced friends to their religion when the church held its annual
Friend Day on March 18. Between the two church services, parishioners and their friends gathered in the fellowship hall of the church
for snacks.
oh
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Eighteen-month-old Luke Aulisio, left, and his mom, Susie, both of
Old Forge, pay a visit to the Cross Creek Community Church
Friend Day in Trucksville.
BILL TARUTIS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Dallas High School LifeSmarts advisor Kevin West, left, quizzes, from left, sophomores Sara Hudak, Amber Habib, Samuel Reinert,
Decklan Cerza and junior Gates Palissery during a practice session for the Dallas state champion LifeSmarts team Friday afternoon
before they enter the national competition in Philadelphia in late April.
Lifedmarts program teaches just that
By SARAH HITE
shite@mydallaspost.com
The LifeSmarts program is
true to its name.
Students in grades nine
through 12 learn tidbits of infor-
mation in five different catego-
ries related to consumer affairs —
personal finance, consumer
rights and responsibilities,
ealth and safety, technology and
environment — that can help
em when they want to do
things like set up a retirement ac-
count or fix a computer.
In other words, students don’t
gain book smarts or street smarts
from the program run by the Na-
tional Consumers League — they
learn life smarts.
But the Dallas High School
team might be more prepared
than most young people to take
on those tasks — the team recent-
ly won first place in the state Life-
Smarts competition and will
compete in nationals for the third
time.
Five team members — Gates
Palissery, Amber Habib, Sara Hu-
dak, Samuel Reinert and team
captain Decklan Cerza — will at-
tend the national competition
April 21-24 in Philadelphia.
Kevin West, LifeSmarts team
coach, said it’s “very exciting” to
have the team represent Pennsyl-
vania at the national event in
their home state.
“Two years ago we went to na-
tionals in Miami, Florida,” he
said. In 2010, the team placed
10th out of 32 teams across the
nation. The team also traveled to
Orlando, Fla. in 2003 and placed
third in the country.
West said the team won at the
states this year without being
able to size up the competition.
Although usually held in Harris-
burg through the state Office of
the Attorney General Bureau of
Consumer Protection, this year’s
state competition was held on-
line this year due to lack of funds
for the program, West said.
The state competition involves
nine of the top-scoring teams
from across the state. The stu-
dents couldn’t see who their com-
petitors were, but managed to
still finish on top.
West quizzes the students with
questions that have been previ-
ously asked, but students know
the difference between memoriz-
ing the questions and learning
the principles behind them.
“There are questions that are
similar, like with the cooling off
rule in which you can cancel pur-
chases three days after making
them if you were under emotion-
al distress,” said Palissery, 17, of
Dallas. “They’ll ask you how
many days do you have to cancel
See PROGRAM, Page 12
Gary Booth named
to deputy
By EILEEN GODIN
Dallas Post Correspondent
Lake Township supervisors
addressed water run-off and
junk car problems while ap-
pointing a deputy emergency
management coordinator at
their monthly meeting March
19.
Last week, supervisors were
notified about storm water run-
off crossing county-owned
Main Road and flooding a resi-
dent’s property and home, as
well as flowing into Maple
Grove Cemetery.
In an effort to resolve the is-
sue, a meeting has been sched-
uled for April 11 with State Rep-
resentative Karen Boback (R-
Harveys Lake), the county engi-
neer and other officials to deter-
mine the best solution for the
problem, Supervisor Amy Sa-
lansky said.
EM post
“The area will need some sort
of drainage system,” Salansky
said. “It is a low spot.”
Supervisors authorized Mark
McNealis, township attorney,
to send a registered letter to
property owners of 171 Maple
Tree Rd., regarding several junk
cars on the property.
Salansky said the township
ordinance states a property
should not have more than two
unregistered vehicles at a time.
When asked the amount of vehi-
cles on the property, Salansky
said there are more than two
and it is unsightly.
In other news, Gary Booth
was unanimously appointed
Deputy Emergency Manage-
ment Coordinator to represent
Lake Township in the Back
Mountain Emergency Manage-
ment Agency.
The Back Mountain EMA is
See BOOTH, Page 12
KINCSTON TOWNCUHID
RNINUDOIVN IUNTNONIYF
Move will save $40K
By SARAH HITE
shite@mydallaspost.com
The board of supervisors ap-
proved the outsourcing of the
township’s payroll and a motion
to combine two administrative
positions at a special meeting
Tuesday, expecting to save tax-
payers more than $40,000.
The board voted to outsource
payroll duties to Diversified
Payroll at a cost of $2,138 per
year.
The board also approved a
motion to amend the adminis-
trative code to include a pro-
posed combination of the town-
ship tax collector and assistant
manager, which will be filled by
interim assistant manager and
current tax collector Karen
Rose upon the completion of
her training.
Chairman James Reino Jr.
said the actions will save the
township about $40,676 this
year, admitting it’s too early to
tell how the move will affect the
current operating budget.
After last year’s number-
crunching budget meetings,
many of the township’s capital
See MOVE, Page 12