Vol. 122 No. 20
THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889
July 21-27, 2013
The
DALLAS POST .
WILKES-BARRE, PA.
WWW.MYDALLASPOST.COM
AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER
0
But a little tick gets in along the way
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK
Dallas Post Correspondent
By the Tuesday of the week of
the 67th annual Back Mountain
Memorial Library Auction, the auc-
tion grounds were covered with
lawn chairs, as volunteers set out
their folding chairs and a crowd of
auction-goers quickly did the same.
Gina Major posted on Facebook
“It’s already a record. Tuesday
night and 12 rows of chairs set up
from the neighborhood.”
The security guard had all he
could do to politely discourage auc-
tion fans from swamping the area
on Tuesday night, said auction
Barre, fed the crowds. Thursday
is designated Family Night. It also
is “Let’s see who’s in town night,”
said Barbara Lemmond.
Noticeably absent from her usual
painting perch was Sue Hand, who
was sick with a fever from a tick bite
that hospitalized her until Sunday. Her
students Mike Hiscox, Kayla Wanek
and Maggie Fannick stepped in to
paint for her. Hand's painting typically
brings in $4,000 to $10,000, yet the
students’ painting brought in $2,650
over the block in live bidding and, per-
haps more, as it was announced that
limited prints would be available for
$50 each after the auction.
“I'm so proud of them. They did it
Professional volunteer auctioneer Steve
Traver auctions off a very life-like flexible
antique doll on the block.
would about equal last year.
In past years the auction’s net
profit (after deducting expenses)
has been anywhere from $40,000 to
Photos by Charlotte Bartizek | For The Dallas Post
omposite painting of the library auction auctioneers painted by Sue Hand's student Mike Hiscox,
nd from right, brought in $2,000. It was the first year that Hand, third from right, was not able to
paint a painting herself since she had been in the hospital with a fever brought on by a tick bite at the
67th Annual Back Mountain Library Auction. On stage also are, from left, Joe Hand, Steve Traverwho
purchased the painting; Sue Hand, Mike Hiscox and Andrew Santora.
chairman George Finch.
Opening night brought in a cold
front which made it comfortable for
the audience and a new food ven-
dor, Anthracite Café from Wilkes-
With temperatures soaring into the high 90s last
week, activity at the Frances Slocum State Park
pool increased as people tried to stay cool.
Dallas Post photographer caught some of those
How do you stay cool?
Photos by Bill Tarutis | For The Dallas Post
Seven-year-old Matthew Sciara, of Long Island, N.Y., who is visiting his grandparents in Sweet Valley, comes down the spiral slide.
swimmers as they tried to beat the heat and humid-
ity.
The National Weather Service is calling for cool-
er temperatures this week.
ABOVE: Zackary McDaniels, 3, slides into the wait-
ing arms of his grandmother, Sandy McDaniels.
RIGHT: Lifeguard Lindsay Brown, of Mountain Top,
watches over activity in the pool.
Country bri
teve Mocarsky
smocarsky@timesleader.com
Can a little country
bridge built by a farmer
a half century ago really
cost nearly a half million
dollars to repair?
That’s exactly the
981512007 9%9
case, according to the
borough manager and
council.
Sylvia Hughes, a bor-
ough resident for 55
years, asked council
members at their July 17
meeting what their plans
are to repair a bridge on
Reservoir Road between
West Center Hill Road
and state Route 118.
The bridge was dam-
aged during a major
storm two years ago and
is impassable.
J
“I don’t think we need
the Brooklyn Bridge,
but it would be nice to
have access to that road.
It’s very inconvenient.
It can’t be that bad of a
project, can it? Have we
ever gotten a bid on how
much it would cost?”
Hughes said.
Council President
Lee Eckert said the bor-
ough has an estimate for
repairs and “it’s stagger-
ing. We just don’t have
the money.”
Borough Manager
Tracey Carr said the
borough engineer
estimated the cost at
$350,000 to $400,000.
It’s so high because, for
one thing, the bridge
crosses a Class A wild
trout stream. Streams
with this designation
and their associated
wetlands are entitled to
greater regulatory pro-
tection.
The need to have a
crane brought also adds
to the cost and overhead
power lines further com-
plicate the job.
without me this year,” gushed Hand
about her students after the bidding.
Overall and despite rain showers
on Friday night, the unofficial con-
sensus was that auction proceeds
$72,000 (in 1997).
The Saturday morning chil
dren’s auction did well, said James
See AUCTION | 8
Jammin for Jen
SARAH HITE
Dallas Post Correspondent
Jen Arellano was ready to
face the music at Jammin’
for Jen, a benefit concert in
her honor at the Boathouse
in Harveys Lake on July 14.
After a third cancer diag-
nosis, there’s not much
Arellano isn’t ready to face.
The 37-year-old Harveys
Lake resident battled the
disease in 2007 and 2010,
and learned that she had
cancer in her lymph nodes
in March of this year. Two
months later, her husband,
41-year-old Scott, lost his
job.
“To be honest, it’s been
Bill Tarutis | For The Dallas Post
Amanda Reeder, right, of Harveys Lake, and Nina Perom of Olid
Forgem blow up balloons at the Jammin’ for Jen fundraiser at
hell” said Scott. “It's been Boathouse Bar & Grill for Harveys Lake resident Jen Arellano who
six years of nonstop, one
thing after another.”
One thing weighing on the fam-
ily is the crushing amount of debt that
accompanies long-term illness. Shannon
Bogart, one of Jen’s closest friends,
decided to find a way to help.
“I've known Jen for a long time,” said
Bogart, of Nanticoke. “Our husbands
went to school together, our kids went
to Lehman together. We've been through
all of this together. I said, ‘Why not do
it?”
The day-long benefit featured eight
live bands and countless raffle prizes,
with proceeds helping the Arellano fam-
ily with incoming bills. :
“You think insurance covers a lot, but
it doesn’t,” said Scott Arellano. “My
insurance with my old job was pretty
good, but those co-pays add up. Cancer
patients have more than one doctor. At
one time, Jen was seeing three doctors
every week.”
After her first diagnosis of stage two
breast cancer at the age of 29, Jen had
a double mastectomy and full hysterec-
tomy.
“I thought that because I got it so
young it wouldn’t be so bad,” she said.
“But in 2010, I knew it had come back,
and the doctors didn’t believe me. It’s
like when you have a broken leg and you
break it again — you know what it feels
like.”
Jen, who finally bought the house of
her dreams in Harveys Lake Borough in
2007, has fears of having to move away
from the community that has supported
her all these years due to increasing
medical expenses.
Hughes said she heard
that there are grants
available from the
Carr explained that
the state taxes gam-
ing revenues from the
is battling cancer.
“I lived in apartments all my life and
finally bought my house off the lake,”
she said. “I love this house. I want to
live the rest of my life in this house. And
I'm afraid I'm going to lose this house.”
Scott is trying to find ways to squeeze
the family’s budget during these trying
times.
“Everyone says to tighten the belt
another notch, but there aren’t enough
holes in my belt anymore,” he said. “We
don’t go anywhere anymore. We don’t
do anything. This is it.”
Jen is currently undergoing chemo-
therapy until doctors can retest her in
August to find out of the cancer has
spread to her lungs. It’s a difficult time
for the family, especially for Jen's young-
est daughter.
“She tries to be strong but I know she
goes up to her room and cries,” said Jen.
“Another part of it, too, is that she wor-
ries she will get it. My cancer wasn’t
genetic but she’s still worried.”
Jen said she can see how hard it is for
the family to cope, but everyone is doing
their part to help.
“My daughter and husband do all the
housework,” said Jen. “I am just focus-
ing on healing. I have to.”
During the event, Jen had to take a
few breaks, as she has been having dif-
ficulty breathing lately. She said most of
the time she rests or sleeps.
“Thank God I have dogs, because oth-
erwise I'd have blood clots in my legs,”
she said. “I sleep and then I take them
outside.”
See JAMMIN’ | 8
dge fix too expensive for council, mayor
towards the downtown
revitalization project
and, partnered with five
other
Mohegan Sun Casino
and suggested offering
to name the bridge after
the casino if it paid for
the repair.
“Could we have a
little contest and name
the bridge after them
or something? Is there
nothing we can do?
Must we settle for the
rest of our lives to have
that bridge unrepaired?”
Hughes said
Mohegan Sun and other
casinos and those gam-
ing funds are awarded as
grants to municipalities
by the Commonwealth
Financing Authority.
The casinos have no say
in how the grants are
awarded, and there is
a lot of competition for
the grants.
Carr said the bor-
ough has been awarded
a $1.34 million grant
municipalities
in the Back Mountain
Community Partnership,
was awarded $200,000
for emergency manage-
ment vehicles.
“I don’t know how well
a single bridge in a single
municipality on a road
that’s not very traveled,
how well that would be
seen competitively.
7th Library Auction spot-on from the start