Vol.121 No. 18
THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889
July 1-7, 2012
® The
Paras PosST.
WILKES-BARRE, PA.
www.mydallaspost.com
AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER
Paving the way
to the auction
By SARAH HITE
shite@mydallaspost.com
Roadwork being done on
Huntsville Road should not inter-
fere with the Back Mountain Me-
morial Library Auction this week-
end, said a county official.
Luzerne County Chief Engi-
neer Joe Gibbons said the project
to reconstruct Huntsville Road
was 95 percent complete as of
June 25, and anything that needs
to get done during the auction
will be put off until after the four-
day event.
“We’ve been in close coordina-
tion with the borough, and with
the importance and community
significance of the Back Moun-
tain Library Auction, we've
scheduled the work around al-
lowing as much access as we can
during time of auction,” said Gib-
ns. “The contractor has stated
e project will be done before
the auction, and we naturally
strive to do that, but if we don’t
think we can make it, we will hold
off until the auction is over so the
community can enjoy the event
with limited disturbances.”
He said the project has been in
progress for about two years, and
it’s more than just repaving the
road. Centuries-old roads need
more work than a layer of as-
phalt, he said.
“We went from horse and bug-
gy pathways to paved cart ways,
which limited the amount of
avement structure. The roads
The 66th Back Mountain Memorial
Library Auction will be held from
Thursday, July 5 to Sunday, July 8
on the grounds of the library, 96
Huntsville Road, Dallas. For more
information, see our special auc-
tion section inside today's paper.
were not necessarily engineered
to properly handle current traffic
loading,” said Gibbons. “This
project is different from normal
resurfacing, which usually in-
cludes removing an inch-and-a-
half and replacing an inch-and-a-
half of road surface — it’s the en-
tire reconstruction of road, so it’s
assured adequately move people
and commerce.”
Gibbons said there have been
portions of the road completely
reconstructed while other struc-
turally sound areas were simply
resurfaced. In addition, new
drainage systems were ‘installed,
curbs and sidewalks have been
created, the road was widened by
five feet and guardrails have been
replaced.
Library director Martha Butler
said the roadwork hasn’t caused
much commotion to the library
auction committees and believes
the road work will not be a prob-
lem come auction time.
“With any road work, there are
minor inconveniences,” she said.
“I don’t think this will be an issue
for the auction or the set up of the
See PAVING, Page 11
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Residents and neighbors wonder if long-awaited Luzerne County
paving work on Huntsville Road in Dallas will interfere with this
year's Back Mountain Library Auction.
Live Spectacular’ during a visit to the JCC Summer Camp.
TRAINING
THE DRAGONS
at stands over seven feet tall with a 14 foot
tale, breathes smoke and can only be trained
by a Viking? It’s Baby Nadder who grows to
13 feet x 39 feet long with a wingspan up to 46 feet and
weighs in at over two tons of fire-breathing fury. Baby
Nadder was all the rage at the Jewish Community Cen-.
ter summer camp in Lehman Township on Tuesday af-
ternoon as she and her Viking trainer visited campers.
Baby Nadder and the Viking trainer are all part of
Dreamworks’ ‘How to Train your Dragon Live Spectac-
ular’ appearing at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. today at the Mohe-
gan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. The show consists of 23
larger-than-life, fire-breathing, flying dragons from the
most technologically advanced tour integrating ani-
gies.
matronics, projections, a live cast and new technolo-
wl 3 A
Baby Nadder of DreamWorks’ "How to Train Your Dragon Live
BILL TARUTIS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Dani Reiser, 10, right, of Shavertown, right, assisted by Sig the Viking, pets Baby Nadder of DreamWorks’ "How to Train Your Dragon
Spectacular’ greets 4-year-old Peter Naylor, left, of Kingston,
and camp counselor Ashlyn Reiser, of Shavertown, during a visit
to the JCC Summer Camp.
BILL TARUTIS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Sarah Bilski, of Dallas Township, a 2012 graduate of Dallas High
School, is the recipient of the Roy W. Piper Charitable Trust
Scholarship to Penn State University.
Sarah Bilski awarded largest
amount of money ever given
from Piper Charitable Trust.
By SARAH HITE
shite@mydallaspost.com
With the rising costs of higher
education, 2012 Dallas High
School graduate Sarah Bilski and
her mother Beth had concerns
about paying for college tuition
this fall.
“I was overwhelmed, didn’t
know where the money was go-
ing to come from,” said Beth, a
single mom. “All I kept thinking
about were the student loans and
the increase of the interest rates.”
Beth and Sarah no longer have
to worry about that.
Sarah, of Dallas, is the recip-
ient of the Roy W. Piper Charit-
able Trust Scholarship, which
awards her $60,000, or $15,000
for four years, when she attends
Penn State University this fall.
“I was a nervous wreck, but our
prayers were answered,” said
Roy W. Piper was a Wyoming
County businessman who died in
2007. Piper set up scholarships
for high school seniors in Wyom-
ing, Luzerne and Lackawanna
counties six years before he died.
Trustees administering the
scholarships take into considera-
tion financial need, community
service and citizenship.
Sarah filled out the application
for the scholarship after her
grandfather told her about an ad
in a local newspaper. She sent out
her information and the waiting
game began. It was a while before
Sarah heard back from the trust-
ees, asking for an interview in
Clarks Summit.
“I got an e-mail that I would be
part of the final interview with 24
other students,” she said.
After more waiting, she re-
ceived a letter, informing her she
had received the huge award —
the largest amount of money the
trust had given to one student
this year.
“I was completely speechless,”
Sarah said. “I was yelling into the
phone when I was trying to tell
GY POORRBID iid oo dim oo oii ia dd
Beth was similarly excited
about the announcement and
urged her daughter to contact
her grandfather almost immedi-
ately after receiving the good
news.
After all, Sarah’s future profes-
sion was inspired by him. Sarah
hopes to study medicine, and she
Scholarship answers their prayers
specifically wants to study kid-
ney dialysis using nanotechnolo-
gy to try to find a better proce-
dure.
“My grandfather has kidney
cancer,” she said. “He’s not on di-
alysis now but he may need to be.
See PRAYERS, Page 11
A zoning hearing scheduled
for June 25 for the Dallas Area
Municipal Authority’s applica-
tion to create a compost facility
at the State Correctional Insti-
tute at Dallas was cancelled due
to DAMA’s application with-
drawal. A hearing has not been
rescheduled.
At a supervisors’ meeting ear-
lier this month, residents ex-
pressed concerns about noise,
traffic and security at the pro-
posed site.
DAMA Solicitor Benjamin
Jones III said the application
withdrawn further
DAMA withdraws application
research and meeting with rep-
resentatives from the state De-
partment of Corrections.
He said the DAMA board
plans to resubmit the applica-
tion.
6110981512007 9%
- Sarah Hite