Vol.121 No. 14 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 June 3-9, 2012 ®The IDAS POST. WILKES-BARRE, PA. www.mydallaspost.com AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER Dallas High School senior Marilyn Mizenko describes the loss of both of her parents as Fellowship Church senior pastor Marc Ra- mirez listens. BILL TARUTIS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Marilyn Mizenko more difficult life experiences before the age of 18 than many have had in a lifetime. The teen from Dallas, who is preparing to graduate high school this month and attend college in the fall, has turned los- By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com has had ing both of her parents within a year into a positive experience she wants to spend her life shar- ing with others. Mizenko’s mother, Ann Lynn, had suffered from depression since Marilyn was in fifth grade, and on May 19, 2010, the mother of three took her own life. Marilyn’s sister and brother, who are 14 and 12 years older than her, respectively, were liv- ing thousands of miles away at the time. Marilyn relied heavily on her father for support while she con- tinued to work hard in school and develop a closer relationship with God through the Fellow- ship Church on Hildebrandt Road. “Then, later that year, my dad was suffering from a nagging cough,” she said. “We took him to the emergency room and they said it was food poisoning.” After a few more tests, it was Despite heartbreaking obstacles, DHS senior 1s facing graduation head on revealed that Marilyn's father, Paul had stage IV esophageal cancer that eventually metasta- sized into a brain tumor the size of a grapefruit. Chemotherapy helped a little, though Marilyn said her father began to behave very different in early 2011. “He was confused - he couldn’t even write the names of people we had known for years,” See SENIOR, Page 13 Club 1s seeking Jeterans By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com The Student Leadership in Civ- ics group at Dallas High School is looking for a few good men (and women). The club is getting a military honor roll project off the ground, thanks to help from the Back Mountain Ecumenical Men's Group. The project aims to honor military personnel from the Dal- }s School District who have Parned Gold Stars or Purple Hearts. Gold Stars are awarded to fam- ilies of those U.S. military person- nel killed in action, and Purple Hearts are given to those individ- uals who have been killed or wounded while serving on or af- ter April 5, 1917 in the U.S. mil- itary. The names, ranks and dates served of the military servicemen and women will be displayed in the high school. Club leaders, 18-year-olds An- gelina Hoidra and Aaron Weir, have begun the task of searching for those award recipients, but it has been a difficult process. “There are a few online data- bases, but the best way to find in- formation is to have the informa- tion donated to us,” said Weir, of Dallas. So far, the search has only giv- en the club three or four names, and it can be difficult to verify the information without family members. “The most important thing is that we don’t want to exclude anyone,” said Weir, vice presi- dent of the club. He said the project’s criteria is limited because the school want- ed to keep the amount of those honored to a manageable num- ber. “We have limited resources, but we still wanted to do some- thing very nice that’s respectful and significant to honor the mil- itary,” said Weir. Hoidra, of Dallas, said the club was formed three years ago and has five main goals - civics, ser- See CLUB, Page 13 0981512007949 o REMEMBERING THE FALLEN BILL TARUTIS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Ernie Priebe 1V, left, and his son Ernie Priebe V, both of Shavertown, enjoy the Dallas Memorial Day Parade. For more parade photos, please turn to page 10. Where have all the flowers gone at Chapel Lawn? REPORT MISSING FLOWERS Call the Chapel Lawn office at 675-412 for assistance with missing By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com Sandy Cooper has always been taught that placing flowers on a gravesite is a sign of respect and caring for the deceased. “My mother died when I was 1 year old and my dad used to al- ways take me to the cemetery, and I kept up the tradition,” said the Chase resident. But now Cooper is worried she won’t be able to show her re- spect for family members buried in the Chapel Lawn Memorial Park in Dallas Township, as the flowers she buys for her father- in-law’s, mother-in-law’s and brother-in-law’s graves keep dis- appearing. “This has been happening for the last three years,” she said. “I'm just wondering if it happens to anyone else.” Cooper often buys ornate ar- rangements of fresh flowers for the graves in honor of various ho- Ch 4 flowers. lidays. The cemetery, located off State Route 415, has plenty of ar- tificial flowers dotting the 16- acre site, but fresh flowers are not uncommon. The latest event happened on Mother’s Day. Cooper placed a long, rectangular flower box fil- led with a mix of purple flowers near her mother-in-law’s grave in the afternoon on Saturday, May 12 and, by early morning on Monday, May 14, the flowers were gone. Cemetery policy states flow- ers are removed from grave sites after 10 days for lawn care pur- poses. Leonard, a Chapel Lawn main- tenance employee who did not wish to reveal his full name, has begun posting signs warning trespassers of video surveillance in an attempt to prevent more Lr. flowers from being stolen. He said more people, especial- ly teens, tend to frequent the cemetery during the warmer months, but strong winds or even deer could be the culprit. Leonard said he hasnt had many complaints about stolen flowers, but wishes to prevent more incidents from occurring. Cooper was concerned about not placing flowers on her fam- ily’s graves for Memorial Day - her father-in-law was a former chief of police and her brother-in- law a former assistant fire chief, both in Jackson Township. “I don’t know what I'm going to do,” she said. “It breaks my husband’s heart, too.” Leonard said once more signs are posted, he’ll begin to ask the local police department to patrol the area BILL TARUTIS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Sandy Cooper kneels by the graves of her in-laws where flowers were removed soon after placement in Chapel Lawn Memorial Park in Dallas Township.
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