Life in the Back Mountain was busy in 2016 — let’s take a look back at some of the biggest stories featured in the Dallas Post this year.
January
Blue Chip Farm Animal Refuge in Franklin Township rolled out an Adopt-A-Kennel program to help fund the no-kill shelter. Companies and families can adopt one of 13 kennels on the property. The fee is $500 a kennel or $1,000 for one of four puppy birthing rooms. The donor will have their name put on a plaque and posted on that kennel for a year. The fee will defray the costs of food, supplies, veterinary care, heat and care for the canines who resident in that kennel for the year.
Twelve-year-old Madi Carlsson receives a special gift, her $15,000 “eSight eyewear” to correct her 2600/20 vision. The young Trucksville resident’s family and friends had been fundraising throughout the late summer and fall of 2015 to afford the pricey optical device. Madi can now see the fine details of life, such as the ornaments on her grandparents Christmas tree, her cat Felix and read a book without needing to hold it up to her face. The Carlsson family issued their appreciation to all that donated and attended fundraisers held in Madi’s name.
February
Dallas residents formed a grass-roots effort to stop the Dallas roundabout. In late January, a Facebook page called “Stop The Dallas Roundabout” raised questions about the roundabout’s feasibility. The Dallas roundabout will be located at the intersection of Main, Church and Lake streets, Machell Avenue and Route 415 in Dallas Borough. The project was proposed in 2005 as a result of the Back Mountain Area Transportation Study by Edwards and Kelcey.
Murphy’s skill of opening closed doors landed the 6-year-old canine in a dangerous situation on Valentine’s Day. When Murphy’s owner, Louis Czaja left for work, the Vizsla got to work too. He opened doors in his home and found his way out of his Dallas home. The temperatures that day were in the single digits and teens and created a life-threatening situation for the pooch. Miguel Rivera found Murphy in his yard. The good samaritan was able to retrieve the dog and took it to Blue Chip Farms Animal Refuge. Czaja was later reunited with Murphy.
March
Caddie LaBar’s celebrated 69 years of service to the residents of the Back Mountain. The family-owned business that once included gas pumps opened in 1947 by Caddie and his wife, Florence LaBar. Today, the gas pumps are gone, but LaBar’s commitment to providing quality service and products continue as five of his seven children now run the business. Larry, Woody, Don and Tim manage the company and their sister, Ruth Wolfe, works in the sporting goods store.
Harveys Lake Borough Council announced lower speed limits and pedestrian crosswalks are some of the safety measures that will be implemented on Lakeside Drive this summer. The scenic nine-mile, narrow two-lane road is a favorite for pedestrians and bicyclists but creates a hazardous situation with motorists.
April
Lake-Lehman Junior-Senior High School Theatre students demonstrated their performing art talents with the production of “Into The Woods,” on April 16 and 17 in the schools Nicholas Auditorium. The musical is written by James Lapine, music and lyrics composed by Stephen Sondheim. The story plot revolves around a Baker and his Wife, who journey into a forest to find the ingredients for a spell to lift a curse that prevents them from having children. On their route, they meet Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and many other fairy tale characters.
Dallas High School Theatre Club presented “Once Upon a Mattress,” on April 15, 16 and 17 in the school’s Performing Arts Center. The comedic musical is based on a book written by Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer and Dean Fuller with music by Mary Rodgers and lyrics by Marshall Barer. The play’s plot is a twist on the familiar story of “The Princess and the Pea.” A domineering Queen Aggravaín develops impossible tests for eligible princesses to pass as her and her husband, King Sextimus, search for a bonafide princess for their son, Prince Dauntless.
Dallas High School LifeSmarts team came home first place winners of the National Consumer League’s national championship held in Denver, Colo. The four-day competition, held April 9-12, pitted the Back Mountain team against other high school teams from across the nation. The event consisted of a series of individual and team competitions involving students answering questions about cyber security, credit reports, recycling, nutrition, consumer fraud and other life skills.
May
Heather Wertman’s first-grade class at Lehman-Jackson Elementary School in Lehman Township incorporated chicken egg hatching into a lesson centered around the folk tale of “The Little Red Hen.” The class received a dozen chicken eggs from a local farm. Wertman purchased egg-hatching supplies from Tractor Supply Company in Hanover Township. The children learned how to monitor the incubator’s temperature and humidity. Six of the 12 eggs hatched. The chicks were showcased at the school’s annual academic fair and then were relocated to a local farm.
Lehman-Jackson Elementary School students competed in the Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest against 275,000 students nationwide. This is the third year Lehman-Jackson Elementary School entered the national contest, and the third time students placed at the state level. The state winners were Kasey Shook, second-grade, Lake-Noxen Elementary School; Giolla Biscotto, kindergarten; Finley Norconk, second-grade; Alana Palmaioli, third-grade; Benjamin Wnuk, fourth-grade; Cole Kaiser, fifth-grade; and Claire Dougherty, sixth-grade, all of Lehman-Jackson Elementary School.
Back Mountain residents hit the polls in greater numbers on April 26. Whether it was the issues of healthcare, education or jobs that attracted so many voters or the controversial presidential race, polling centers geared up for a busy 12-hour stretch to allow the public to have their say.
June
Project DJ quilters set down their stitching needles and stepped away from sewing machines for a night to celebrate the completion of 10,000 quilts on June 9. Project DJ, which formed in October 2003, has about 40 women who push past their pin-pricked fingers to stitch and sew quilts for children in area hospitals. Members meet in the basement of the Trucksville United Methodist Church on Knob Hill Road in Trucksville.
Dallas School District held a graduation for more than 200 students Friday, June 10. Students’ with career aspirations that included a forensic accountant, music educator, pharmacist crossed the stage to receive their diplomas at the 55th Dallas High School commencement. Class Salutatorian Alexandra Mae Rome reflected on the class’ many accomplishments throughout their educational careers. Class Valedictorian Christopher Allen Biesecker told classmates to “be true to themselves.”
Lake-Lehman School District honored 140 graduates at the 58th annual commencement ceremony Friday, June 10. Class President Zachary Corey welcomed families, students and faculty to the graduation ceremonies. He referenced the movie “Forrest Gump” when he told the class they get to “decide what to put in their box of chocolates.” Class Valedictorian Clayton Vasey told his classmates they are like an author and have the “power to fill the pages of their own book.”
July
The Back Mountain Memorial Library held the 70th annual auction July 7-10. The auction attracted a large crowd of patrons to the region. The 70th annual event had a theme: “Still Making Memories.” The auction featured some unique items such as a Tiffany-style dragonfly lamp, china cabinets, Spatterware Bowl, Royal Dalton character jugs and much more. This year Boy Scout Troop 281 organized a children’s toy tent instead of the annual children’s auction.
Gemma, a 1-year-old pot-bellied pig, was denied residency in Kingston Township when District Judge James E. Tupper upheld Chapter 2, Section 202 of the Kingston Township Animal nuisance ordinance. Gemma’s owner, Heather Brennan and her parents Karen and Charles Laskowski took the municipality to court over a $200 citation issued by Zoning Officer Bill Eck on May 6 against Gemma cohabiting with the family. The ordinance states it is “unlawful for any person to keep any pigs, hogs or swine at any place with the township, except those areas zoned for agriculture.”
Trucksville resident Royal Sutton was awarded the Charles D. Lemmond Jr. Community Spirit Award, sponsored by the Dallas Post. The award was named after the former senator who passed away in 2012. It is designed to honor Back Mountain residents to work to improve the lives of others through community service, public service or philanthropy. Sutton volunteers with a variety of organizations that includes the Back Mountain Chamber of Commerce, Meadows Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Shavertown United Methodist Church and the Back Mountain Men’s Ecumenical Group.
August
Many words can describe Dr. Doug Ayers — conservationist, environmentalist, educator, volunteer and veterinarian — but in 2015 he added patient following a diagnosis of Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia. In June, Ayers’ cancer was in remission when he decided to go for the only known successful treatment, a stem cell transplant. Ayers shared his story of going through the stem cell transplant process while in living in an apartment near John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md.
The Back Mountain Harvest Assembly, located at 340 Carverton Road in Trucksville, announced plans to construct a 36,000-square-foot church on the site of “The Gift.” The $3 million facility will be four times bigger than the current worship center. An amphitheater will be constructed at the same time as the worship center. The amphitheater will be the permanent home of “The Gift” in 2018.
An anonymous donation of over 200 backpacks to the Lake-Lehman School District was received in July to help elementary students prepare for the new school year. The book bags were split among the district’s three elementary schools, Ross, Lake-Noxen and Lehman-Jackson. Eligible students were contacted by the schools and asked to come to their designated schools to choose from a selection of name-brand backpacks.
September
Dallas Education Association announced the Dallas School District’s first teachers’ strike date ever — Sept. 28. The date pushed the school board and union leaders into the headlines for the rest of 2016. The teachers did not strike on Sept. 28, or Oct. 25, Nov. 23. They did, however, hit the picket lines on Nov. 14 and stayed on strike beyond the Dec. 13 return date that was issued by the state Department of Education.
The 54th annual Luzerne County Fair offered a variety of attractions including the Hansen’s Spectacular, a family trapeze show, as well as carnival rides, games of chance, agricultural and livestock displays. A mechanical bull ride called the Raging Bull offered a challenge to many fair-goers, including 10-year-old Trevor Radvanyi who rode the bucking bull for 21-seconds.
October
Madison Chulick, Kailee Steele, Aidan Kukosky, Robert Lugiano and Jay Martin, all Lake-Lehman Jr./Sr. High School students, participated in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 9 Ninth-grade Honors Wind Ensemble on Oct. 5 at the Lackawanna Trail High School. The local students formed an orchestra with over 50 freshmen from eight different schools. The students rehearsed together the entire day before performing for family and friends.
Dallas Township resident Jackie Siperko, 42, went from a quite life to being the center of attention for several fundraisers to help her afford a hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) that could halt the progression of multiple sclerosis. The medical procedure costs $54,500, which includes the transplant, an apartment that is sanitized twice a day and special dietary meals. Sipeko is scheduled for the procedure in June but must pay for it by April.
Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were in the spotlight since they tossed their names in the political race. But some language used by the candidates could be considered risqúe for a high school classroom. Lake-Lehman social studies teachers, Brian Gorski, urged his students to speak freely about the candidates and their comments. Two of Gorski’s classes tore into the candidates giving a general opinion that Trump and Clinton’s campaigns are disappointing and their disparaging remarks pain a rueful image of America. The candidates spend too much time digging up dirt on each other, said 15-year-old Jacob Prest.
November
“Conjunction Junction,” “Interplanet Janet,” and “The Great Melting Pot,” are just some of the Schoolhouse Rock songs that came to life on the stage of Lake-Lehman Jr./Sr. High School’s Nicholas Auditorium Nov. 12 and 13. The performance was centered around a first-time teacher, played by junior Courtney Richards. The songs are thoughts being played out in the teacher’s mind as she works to build up her confidence and calm her jitters before meeting her class for the first time, Richards said.
Nearly 175 Dallas School District teachers walked a picket line that encompassed Hildebrandt Road and Conyngham Avenue in Dallas Township. The teachers have been working without a contract since the end of August 2015. The teachers’ union, known as the Dallas Education Association, wants the district to fund the teachers’ healthcare program 100 percent, new salaries and early retirement incentives.
Eighty-seven years of the Dallas Post stored in the Back Mountain Memorial Library are being cataloged and prepared to be digitized, pending the availability of grant funding. Newspapers spanning back to 1929 are carefully being counted and the condition of the pages logged by former Dallas Post owner Ron Bartizek and King’s College professors and students. Bartizek said the first step to seek grant funding is to count the pages of each edition and note any marks or tears on the pages, which could affect the digitizing process. The Dallas Post first published in 1889 and is the oldest weekly in Luzerne County.
December
Seventeen-year-old Andrew Schukraft wants three things for Christmas — time with family, friends and chocolate. The Dallas Township teen’s holiday wish list may seem modest, but he received the best gift back in February when a kidney donor was found, ending his cycle of dialysis and giving him a new lease on life. Christmas 2016 is Andrew’s first with a new kidney. In August 2015, Andrew was diagnosed with IgA Nephropathy. The following months were a whirlwind of visits to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, dialysis, special dietary needs for Andrew and placed on an organ donor list. The hectic routine ended when a matching donor was found for Andrew in February 2016.
Shavertown resident Ryan Ashley Malarkey applied her artistic eye and tattoo talents to earn the title of “Ink Master.” Malarkey competed against 30 other tattoo artists on Spike TV’s reality show “Ink Master” and left with the show’s ultimate accolade. Malarkey operates a studio connected to her oddities parlor, The Strange & Unusual in Kingston. Her winning design was a chest tattoo of dueling hot rods in a colorful ’90s new-school style.
Dallas School Board announced at its Monday, Dec. 12, meeting that school would be closed indefinitely due to union leaders stating teachers would remain on strike passed the Dec. 13 date. The Dallas Education Association was instructed to end the teachers’ strike and return to the classrooms on Dec. 23 by the state Department of Education. The teachers remained on strike four more days before returning to the classrooms on Monday, Dec. 19. That same day, the DEA issued a second “intent to strike” date of Feb. 27.
Tyler Steve and his mom, Judy, center, visit Ivy, a Coonhound mix, at Blue Chip Farm Animal Refuge in Dallas earlier this year for the kick-off to the non-profit’s Adopt-A-Kennel program. Blue Chip volunteer Cordie Braun is pictured at right.
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Tyler Steve and his mom, Judy, center, visit Ivy, a Coonhound mix, at Blue Chip Farm Animal Refuge in Dallas earlier this year for the kick-off to the non-profit’s Adopt-A-Kennel program. Blue Chip volunteer Cordie Braun is pictured at right.
Pete G. Wilcox file photo | Dallas Post
Alison Carlsson adjusts the new e-Sight glasses on her daughter Madi.
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Alison Carlsson adjusts the new e-Sight glasses on her daughter Madi.
Aimee Dilger file photo | Dallas Post
Showing she’s happy to be back home, Murphy, a 6-year-old Vizsla, licks her owner Louis Czaja, Dallas, right. The dog escaped from its house and was rescued by Miguel Rivera a neighbor, left.
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Showing she’s happy to be back home, Murphy, a 6-year-old Vizsla, licks her owner Louis Czaja, Dallas, right. The dog escaped from its house and was rescued by Miguel Rivera a neighbor, left.
Charlotte Bartizek file photo | For Dallas Post
Members of the LaBar family still operate the garage and store in Dallas. From left are Timmy LaBar, Donny LaBar, Woody LaBar, his wife, Brenda LaBar, Sean LaBar and Larry LaBar.
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Members of the LaBar family still operate the garage and store in Dallas. From left are Timmy LaBar, Donny LaBar, Woody LaBar, his wife, Brenda LaBar, Sean LaBar and Larry LaBar.
Charlotte Bartizek file photo | For Dallas Post
Dallas High School LifeSmarts team won first place at the National Consumer League’s National Championship in Denver, Colo. earlier this year.
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Dallas High School LifeSmarts team won first place at the National Consumer League’s National Championship in Denver, Colo. earlier this year.
Submitted photo
Auctioneers Steve Traver and Jeff Townsend work the auction block during the opening night of the 70th annual Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction.
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Auctioneers Steve Traver and Jeff Townsend work the auction block during the opening night of the 70th annual Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction.
Clark Van Orden file photo | For Dallas Post
Gemma, a 1-year-old pot-bellied pig, is not permited to reside with her Kingston Township family by District Judge James E. Tupper.
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Gemma, a 1-year-old pot-bellied pig, is not permited to reside with her Kingston Township family by District Judge James E. Tupper.
Submitted photo
Dr. Doug Ayers shared his story of going through a stem cell transplant with the Dallas Post in August.
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Dr. Doug Ayers shared his story of going through a stem cell transplant with the Dallas Post in August.
Submitted photo
Cole Hampel, 4, of Sweet Valley, snags a fish in the Drag-a-Shark pool at the Luzerne County Fair to win his 2-year-old sister a stuffed animal.
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Cole Hampel, 4, of Sweet Valley, snags a fish in the Drag-a-Shark pool at the Luzerne County Fair to win his 2-year-old sister a stuffed animal.
Charlotte Bartizek file photo | For Dallas Post
Dallas School District teachers walked a picket line along Hildebrant Road in Dallas Township on Monday, Nov. 14.
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Dallas School District teachers walked a picket line along Hildebrant Road in Dallas Township on Monday, Nov. 14.
Charlotte Bartizek file photo | For Dallas Post
By Eileen Godin
egodin@timesleader.com
Reach Eileen Godin at 570-991-6387 or on Twitter @TLNews