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Vol. 122 No. 3
THE BACK MOUNTAIN’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889
MARCH 24 - 30, 2013
ALLAS POST.
WILKES-BARRE, PA.
www.mydallaspost.com
AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER
By SUSAN DENNEY
Dallas Post Correspondent
Rock Stahovic, of Plains, was skepti-
cal at first. When he found a message on
his answering machine telling him he
had won a grand prize, he wasn’t sure
he believed it. “I didn’t call back right
away,” he said.
“The message didn’t give a whole lot
of information,” Stahovic explained. “It
said I was the winner of a sweepstakes
through my ShurSave loyalty card.”
But Stahovic had never entered a con-
test.
The message said Stahovic had won
100,000 Boxtops for Education which
translates into $10,000 for the school of
his choice.
The message asked him to verify that
he didn’t work for Associated Whole-
salers Inc. (the parent company of the
Shursave/Shurfine grocery cooperative)
or for General Mills which sponsors the
Boxtops for Education program. The
caller also needed Stahovic’s age, ad-
dress and the school he would choose to
receive the money.
“That was it,” Stahovic said.
He and his wife, Robyn, decided not
to respond immediately to the call. Ac-
cording to Robyn, they almost deleted
the message.
But after a week of thinking it over
and doing some Internet research, the
couple decided to return the message.
And are they glad they did!
The Stahovics are winners of the only
prize in a tri-state area that includes
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.
They have chosen to donate the $10,000
to their children’s school, the Trucks-
ville Early Childhood Education Center,
affiliated with the Trucksville United
Methodist Church.
*$10K sweepstakes goes to education center
Once Rock called in the information,
he learned he had been automatically
entered in the tri-state sweepstakes by
using his loyalty card at either Schiel’s
Market on George Avenue in Wilkes-
Barre or Gerrity’s in Luzerne. Both
stores issue ShurSave rewards cards and
the winning entry could have come from
either store.
The next step was for the Trucksville
school to send in an affidavit.
Director Marjorie Adams said that ev-
eryone at the school is ecstatic about the
See SWEEPSTAKES, Page 12
By DOTTY MARTIN - dmartin@mydallaspost.com
s if 33 degree air temperature and 39 degree
water temperature weren't cold enough,
Gerry Finnerty dumped six blocks of ice into
Harveys Lake - just to make sure he really was
participating in a Polar Bear Plunge.
Finnerty and about 100 other brave souls weathered
cold, wind and even snow to make the Ninth Annual
Polar Bear Plunge, held March 16 at Garrity’s Real Es-
tate office in Harveys Lake, a success.
Monies raised from the event, which has raised be-
to top the $7,000 mark.
See PLUNGE, Page 10
POLAR BEAR PLUNGE PARTICIPANTS BRAVE COLD, WIND AND SNOW
BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE DALLAS POST
Kathleen Pajor, center left, of Luzerne, Russ Keeler, of Kingston, and Gerry Finnerty, of Harveys Lake, jump into 39-degree water at Harveys
Lake for the Polar Bear Plunge to benefit the American Cancer Society.
TAKING THE PLUNGE
tween $5,000 and $7,000 every year, benefit the Ameri-
can Cancer Society. This year’s organizers were hoping
Started by Allison Boris in 2005 in memory of her fa-
ther, Buddy, who passed away from cancer, the event
has become the senior completion project of Lake-
Lehman students every year since. Only once in the last
nine years was the event cancelled because of weather.
/
J
4
/
& DOTTY MARTIN
dmartin@mydallaspost.com
The little girl and her best
friend, Sarah, liked most of the
same things - peach pie, pick-
ing pepperoni off pizza and
playing Frisbee.
What made them different
was that Sarah rolled while her
friend walked.
The two met when Sarah
was the new girl at school and
their teacher asked the little
girl to show Sarah around. The
little girl wasn’t sure what to
do at first because Sarah was
in a wheelchair. It wasn’t long,
though, before she was pushing
Sarah around the school and
the duo became known to ev-
eryone as “two peas in a pod.”
The girls loved to go for ice
cream, even though they dif-
fered on flavors, and enjoyed
pajama parties where they
hid under the covers and read
spooky stories by flashlight.
“I saw only the wheelchair at
first,” the little girl said of her
Learning about disabilities
new best friend. “Now, I see
Sarah first and she’s cool.”
Sarah and her friend were
introduced to children at the
Back Mountain Head Start
Center by Sandra Wegrzyno-
wicz, program specialist, and
Colleen Kustrin, program
director, from Step By Step
Inc., a private, non-profit cor-
poration devoted to providing
community support services
to children and adults in Penn-
See LEARNING, Page 12
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Quinn Lyons, Autumn Krochta, Addyson Jacobs and their Head Start
teacher Tanya DeWolf are read to about children with disabilities.
ALVIN CRAGLE
ean PAR
ORR
Alvin Cragle has financially
manuevered Lehman Twp. as
treasurer for the past 35 years.
Alvin Cragle
counts up
service to
community
By SUSAN DENNEY
Dallas Post Correspondent
When Alvin Cragle began
his job as secretary-treasurer of
Lehman Twp. 35 years ago, his
office technology consisted of a
calculator. He used handwritten
ledgers and disbursements and
all checks were written by hand.
Today, he serves Lehman
Twp. as treasurer and works
from a fully-equipped home of-
fice, equipped by the township
with a personal computer and
all the peripherals and software
he needs. The township also has
a full-time secretary now.
But whether low-tech or high-
tech, the job is one Cragle feels
he does well. “I invite anyone to
audit my books at any time,” he
said.
Cragle, 77, has lived in Lehm-
an Twp. for 57 years. He and his
wife, Phyllis, both graduated
from Lake-Lehman High School.
When they married, they settled
in the township.
“We built our own house,”
Cragle said of the house on the
same road his wife grew up that
the couple has lived in since
they were married. Cragle grew
up in Hunlock Creek.
The Cragles raised two sons
in the township. Kevin, and his
wife, Debbie, live in the Falls
area. Todd and his wife, Wanda,
live in Lehman with their two
daughters, Cassandra, a sopho-
more at Wilkes University, and
Taylor, a sixth-grader at Lake-
Lehman Middle School.
Cragle was in the steel busi-
ness when the position of Lehm-
an Twp. treasurer opened. His
boss at the time was council
president in Clarks Summit and
told him, “Anytime you have the
opportunity to do community
service, take it.”
When that boss, the president
of McGregor Architectural Iron
Company, became ill, he turned
his company over to Cragle to
run. For Cragle, it was a case of
being in the right place at the
right time. But he points out
that it was the wrong time, too,
because of the illness and subse-
quent death of his employer, a
man he greatly admired.
While Cragle pursued his
career, he worked as secretary-
treasurer of Lehman Twp. for 15
years before pleading for help.
Then, the late Jon. Rogers took
over the secretarial duties.
Cragle was quick to point out
his valued relationship with Rog-
ers and with township supervi-
sors David Sutton, Raymond
Iwanowski and Douglas W. Ide.
“These guys are the best three
See CRAGLE, Page 12
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