Vol.121 No. 13
THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889
May 27 - June 2, 2012
® The
DAL
50¢
WILKES-BARRE, PA.
www.mydallaspost.com
AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER
Facility
plans
progress
Partnership confirms plans
to move facility forward
despite cuts in budget.
By SARAH HITE
shite@mydallaspost.com
Plans for a regional emergen-
cy management facility are mov-
ing forward despite budget cuts,
the Back Mountain Community
Partnership confirmed at a
meeting May 17.
Lehman Township received a
$975,000 gaming fund grant on
behalf of the partnership in
March for a regional emergency
management agency facility to
be located in a former medical
building off Route 118.
& The partnership initially re-
juested $1.2 million for the pro-
ject. Cuts were made to adminis-
trative fees, engineering, permit-
ting and legal fees and new con-
struction costs.
A committee of partnership
members met with emergency
management agency officials to
discuss the budget and the
group agreed to increase the
amount of equipment located at
the site. This includes having
two trailers packed with equip-
ment to increase efficiency dur-
ing emergency situations.
Another major change to the
oject includes the elimination
& a pole barn in favor of build-
ing an addition to the existing
building. Chairman James Reino
Jr. said the measure saves mon-
ey, increases security and will
make the site more efficient.
The partnership also named
Quad III Engineering as the pro-
ject engineer and architect.
In other news ...
e Kingston Township Super-
visor Jeffrey Box asked the part-
nership to collectively urge state
officials to move forward with a
corridor study requested nearly
10 years ago on state routes 309
and 415.
Box said Kingston Township
received a draft of the study a
few years ago, but it was never
finalized by the state Depart-
ment of Transportation. He said
the study would be a key factor
in scheduling the roads on Penn-
DOT’s Transportation Improve-
ment Program project list.
® Partnership members also
discussed funding of the 2012-13
DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance
Education) program in the Dal-
las School District.
Kingston Township Manager
Kathleen Sebastian said the
rates would stay close to last
year’s for participating munici-
palities, though funding would
need to be approved by August
for Kingston Township DARE
officer Frank Ziegler to receive
updated training for the pro-
gram’s new curriculum.
Last year, the rates were dis-
persed so the school district
contributed 35 percent, King-
ston and Dallas townships con-
tributed 20 percent each and
Dallas Borough and Franklin
Township both contributed 12.5
percent.
Sebastian said the totals for
See FACILITY, Page 13
09815120079
> PROM TIME
BILL TARUTIS PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Senior Kaleb Taylor, left, and sophomore Alex Klinges enjoy the
Dallas High School prom.
t’s prom season and students from both Dallas and Lake-Lehman High Schools enjoyed theirs this past
Lake-Lehman junior Ashlee Barker, left, and senior Zack Titus
arrive at the Genetti Hotel & Conference Center in Wilkes-
Barre.
week. For additional photos, please turn to pages 5 and 7.
Group
VOWS to
protect
graves
By MARK GUYDISH
mguydish@timesleader.com
Standing near a proposed
hiking/bicycling trail route
that would wend its way be-
tween several tombstones in
the Sacred Heart Cemetery off
Dorchester Drive in Dallas,
Mary Jean Tarantini urged fam-
ilies who have plots on the
property to contact Diocese of
Scranton officials and request
the trail be rerouted away from
“this sacred place.”
“We are very concerned and
shocked that this has been
planned for eight years and not
one plot owner knew about it”
until recently, said Tarantini, of
Harveys Lake.
Tarantini was joined by more
than 30 people collectively call-
See GRAVES, Page 13
Poultry presentation is an egg-citing one
Backyard chickens easy to
care for, do wonders for
health and environment.
By SARAH HITE
shite@mydallaspost.com
Poultry fans found a recent
presentation at The Lands at
Hillside Farms very egg-citing.
Dr. Doug Ayers, a veterinar-
ian at the Plains Animal Hospi-
tal in Plains Township and
chairman of the farm’s board of
directors, told a small group of
chicken enthusiasts in the
farm’s Coach Barn on May 19
that it’s easy to keep hens in a
backyard, and it'll do wonders
for people’s health and the en-
vironment, too.
Chris Mathers, of Kingston
Township, attended the talk
just a few weeks after asking
the Kingston Township Board
of Supervisors if it would
change the township zoning
ordinance to allow her to raise
chickens on her property.
Mathers, whose husband Ga-
ry is a supervisor, lives in a res-
idential area and zoning laws
currently prohibit the keeping
of farm animals in such areas.
Land zoned agricultural could
house hens and other farm ani-
mals.
Mathers believes the bene-
fits of raising chickens out-
weigh any fault the supervi-
sors could find.
“There are so many bene-
fits,” she said. “You don’t need
a rooster, they eat bugs and
ticks and their eggs are high in
nutritional value.”
Mathers wants to raise
chickens to become more self-
reliant. She already tends a
garden and said raising chick-
ens is the next natural step.
“With this economy, if there
was a disruption in transporta-
tion or a natural disaster, we
have to be more self-reliant just
in case,” she said.
Ayers told the group that
keeping chickens is definitely a
step up from store-bought
eggs.
BILL TARUTIS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Veterinarian Dr. Doug Ayers interacts with a hen at The Lands at Hillside Farms prior to a presentation on how to raise chickens in
your backyard.
“In cracking the eggs, you
can see the difference in qual-
ity,” he said, holding an egg
from a Hillside chicken. “I
need a hammer to crack this
egg.”
Ayers, who was raised in
Wilkes-Barre and on a farm in
Noxen, said all chickens have
Salmonella in their bodies, and
it’s released by stress. He said
chickens kept at an industrial
farm are so stressed the chick-
ens “release it all the time.”
Ayers believes this debunks
the myth that home-raised
chickens are less healthy.
“People have it backwards,”
he said.
But Ayers warned those in
attendance that chickens can’t
be raised alone - the creatures
are naturally sociable and tend
to flock together.
The Humko family is well-
ahead of the curve - the family
tends about 30 chickens on its
Harding property.
Gail Humko decided to raise
chickens last year because she
felt the eggs would be health-
ier and cheaper to produce.
she said.
Chickens came to Humko by
accident - a third-grade science
project at Wyoming Area left
her with a few chicks at home
so she decided to keep the
peeps and make them part of
her family.
Ayers said keeping chickens
See POULTRY, Page 13