Vol.121 No. 39
THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889
December 2 - 8, 2012
el he
Partas Post.
WILKES-BARRE, PA.
www.mydallaspost.com
AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER
Enrique Gonzales clears snow off the family car by hand after a
two-inch snowfall delayed school buses and iced roads.
School
gr no
school?
By MEGAN SCHNEIDER
mschneider
@mydallaspost.com
Superintendents Frank Gal-
icki of the Dallas School District
and James McGovern of the
Lake-Lehman School District
he men ultimately in charge
w safely students travel to
school during inclement weath-
er.
When our area saw its first
brush with snow of the season
this past Tuesday, Lake-LLehman
remained on its regular schedule
while Dallas called a two-hour
delay.
That isn’t the way things are
normally done. It all comes
down to planning and timing.
Jim Gurzler clears sidewalks on Machell Avenue near Dallas
center after a two-inch snowfall on Tuesday morning.
2%
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
A two-inch snowfall delayed school buses and inconvenienced shoppers like Kyle Niccum, left, who
trudged up Church Street Tuesday morning.
Galicki explained that all
schools communicate before
and during storms or anticipat-
ed weather to coordinate sched-
ules as much as possible.
“There is a network; the West
Side supers contact each other,”
he said.
Usually, the decision to call a
6 a.m. Galicki explained that
since Tuesday’s snow didn’t
start until
late morning,
delay or cancellation is made by
See SCHOOL, Page 10
DALLAS TOWNSHIP
Visioning session
allows residents
a say In
By MEGAN SCHNEIDER
mschneider@mydallaspost.com
Residents from Dallas Town-
ship and members of the town-
ship’s planning board met with
Jack Varaly from Varay Associ-
ates on Nov. 28 to begin the
process of building a compre-
hensive plan for the township.
Varaly was hired by the town-
ship to help prepare a plan to
map out a vision for the future.
The meeting was held to en-
courage residents to express
their concerns and opinions re-
garding issues of zoning, hous-
ing, land use, natural resources
and other topics and allow resi-
dents to volunteer for ad hoc
committees to help gather
ideas for the plan.
“The most important thing
that goes into the plan is identi-
fying the vision of what they
want the township to become,”
Varaly said about residents.
He added that the majority of
the township is zoned Al agri-
cultural and advised that,
when committee volunteers
consider rezoning, they expect
slow but steady growth and not
the kind of boom the area has
experienced during the last 20
years.
Census data for the township
is available on the township’s
website. Elizabeth Martin, vice
chairman of the Dallas Town-
ship Board of Supervisors, said
she would post more specific
information on the jobs of com-
mittee members and offer ex-
amples of other comprehensive
plans so people have a better
understanding of the process.
“Citizen participation is very
important,” said Martin.
Carl Kaschenbach asked sev-
future
FOR MORE INFO ...
For more information on joining
the ad hoc committees in Dallas
Township, visit the township web-
site at www.dallastownship.com.
eral questions about how the
process worked. He also posed
a question regarding rezoning
and wetlands, expressing a de-
sire to know how accurate area
maps are in regard to showing
wetlands in the township. Af-
ter much discussion, it was un-
derstood that every property
would have to be assessed by a
professional to determine ex-
actly where wetlands are locat-
ed.
Kaschenbach said, “We are
shooting in the dark a little bit
then.”
Varaly explained that, re-
gardless of rezoning, safe-
guards are built into other ordi-
nances that will protect the
wetlands not mapped from be-
ing built on or destroyed.
The township had approxi-
mately 10 volunteers for com-
mittees during the meeting, in-
cluding Kaschenbach, Walt Ko-
chen and Mary and Al Rodri-
guez. Martin expected more
volunteers to step forward be-
fore the end of the week. Com-
mittees will meet approximate-
ly once a month but times and
dates have not been set. Varaly
said the process should take
about three months to com-
plete.
He clarified that the compre-
hensive plan does not imple-
ment any changes but gives su-
pervisors a direction. Every de-
cision will still have to pass
through a public meeting be-
fore anything is made official.
HARVEYS LAKE BOROUGH
Community continues to be divided on police station
FROM THE COUNCIL PRESIDENT
Read a letter written by Harveys Lake Borough Council president Larry
Radel explaining his position on the police station issue on The Dallas
Post website. Log onto www.mydallaspost.com
By MEGAN SCHNEIDER
mschneider@mydallaspost.com
Once again, the possible move
and renovation of the Harveys
Lake Police Station was a topic of
contention at the borough coun-
cil’s regular meeting on Nov. 20.
Resident Danny Blaine
brought up the topic during the
public comment portion of the
meeting when he presented
council with a letter written by
resident Ed Williams. The letter
was in regard to the homeowners
of Marina Pointe. Blaine read
part of the letter aloud, stating
that Marina Point residents are
against moving the police station
to Little League Road.
“It doesn’t seem logical to me
and I disagree 100%,” said Blaine
of the proposed move.
Guy Giordano said he saw esti-
mates for the renovation of the
current station that the borough
received last week and thought
6'"B09815120079
they were wrong.
Judi Williams Spagnuolo then
asked council about floor plans
available for public inspection on
a back table in the room. The
floor plans are for the renovation
of the recreation center on Little
League Road. Spagnuolo
checked with council to be sure
original bids for both buildings
had come in over the allotted
grant money. She raised the
question about cost and whether
that would result in a tax in-
crease.
“As a taxpayer, I can’t afford to
pay,” she said.
Mayor Clarence Hogan stated
the floor plans on display were
drawn prior to receiving esti-
mates from contractors and they
were only on display because the
police station issue was a topic
on the agenda.
This sparked debate in the
meeting room that continued for
approximately 15 minutes. Coun-
cil President Larry Radel defend-
ed the proposed moving of the
members Michelle Boice and
Thomas Kehler tried to explain
that estimates for the current
station are exaggerated and in-
clude an addition that is “unnec-
essary.”
Radel defended the addition in
the estimates, saying engineers
are trying to make the square
footage of the buildings the same
for comparison purposes. Radel
said, “The reality is we don’t
know how much it’s going to
cost.”
Kehler added that if the esti-
mates of the current station are
taken into consideration, the
cost of renovation is about
$87,000, almost the same as ren-
ovating the recreation center.
During the debate, resident
Carol Culver scolded Council
President Radel for “rolling his
eyes” while other council mem-
bers were presenting their view-
points.
Council member Amy Wil-
liams reported the borough is
preparing to send certified let-
ters to all residents who have
over $500 in unpaid garbage fees
and that the borough is short al-
most $80,000 in garbage fees.
Council member Ed Kelly
quieted the situation by stating,
“We won’t have to raise taxes if
we can get people to pay their
fair share.”
Boice proposed to have a pro-
See STATION, Page 10
The Harveys Lake recreation
building now houses Charlotte's
Reading Room but is being con-
sidered as a possible site for a
new police station.
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
The current Harveys Lake Municipal Building on Route 415 as seen from the west side.
i