the dallas post 06-26-2011

DALLAS POST 5 0 ¢ C M Y K Vol .122 No. 19 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 The www.mydallaspost.com An edition of The Times Leader June 26 - July 2, 2011 WILKES-BARRE, PA. Theenormousclaw of an exc a- vator leaned into the old Dallas Hi gh Sch ool athle tic loc ke r rooms on Monday as demolition began on the 50-year-old school to make way for a parkin g lot. Bri ck s cru mbled unde r its weigh t, and the jagged -toothe d piece of machiner y effortle ssly lifted metal scraps, helpless and lying limp in its grip. DallasSchool DistrictSuperin- tendent Fran k Galicki called the scene of the building’s demolition “bittersweet.” Loo ki ng at a ro om wh er e sports victories were celebrate d at onetime, Gali cki des crib ed its décor when the football team re- turn ed fro m the1993statecham- pionships in Altoona. “It’ s amazing, ” Galicki added while watchin g the claw dig into thegym wal ls.He ser vedas prin - cipal at the Dallas High School fro m 1983 unt il 2005 when he was selected for the position of superinten den t by the scho ol board. Demolit ion beganMonday “on sch edu le,”accor din g to Bob Nes - bit of Crabtree Rohrbaugh & As- sociates, the district’s architects. Nesbitsaid the230,000 squar e- foot new high school, which is about 35 feetawayfromthe demoli tion area, is “virt uall y fin- ish ed”withjust some fina l mino r ins tall atio ns and clea n ups to complete. Asbes tosabatementis ongoin g in the old building, but construc- tion crews are working on the demolition piece by piece in or- der to prepare for sidewalks in fr ont of the $38 mil li on ne w school. The old Dal las High Scho ol building will be gone but not for- gott en – the bricks and masonry will be crushed and used as base fillfor theparkin g lot, whi ch will addabout 21 5 spacesfor students CHARL OTTEBARTIZEK/FORTHE DALL ASPOST Demolition began Monday on the old Dallas High School buildin g. Dallas HS building comes crashing down By SARAH HITE [email protected] The old Dallas High School building will be gone but not forgotten – the bricks and masonry will be crushed and used as base fill for the parking lot, which will add about 215 spaces for students and faculty. See DOWN, Page14 A memor ableMass marke d the end of an unforgettable era. Gate of Hea ven School cele- brated its final day after 60 years of academics and extracurricu- lars embedded in friendship and family at a Mass on June15. Earlie r thisspring, the Diocese of Scranton announced the clo- sure of four schools – two in Lu- zerne County and two in Lacka- wanna Count y – to be enacted at the end of the 2010-11 academic school year. Students didn’t have to wear the ir unif ormsthatday,butsome don nedthe icon ic Gat or gre enas they ushered into the pews. Gradua teswho ascende d intoa high school state of mind a week and a half earlier gather ed at the church on Machell Avenue for one last good-bye. “We wanted to experience the las t day and be here for the school, ” saidCristina McFar land, 14, of Nanticoke. Student s, family, faculty and friends, past and present, crowd- ed the aisles at the service which was led by the Rev. John Lam- ber t, Epis copa l Vi carfor theEast- ern Pastoral Region and Episco- pal Vicar for School Planning of the Diocese of Scranton. Duri ng hissermon , he toldthe audience that, though this may be a “difficult time of transition, God gives us bends in the road, but never a dead end.” Former principal Mary Tigue also addresse d the audience at the Mass, sharing memories and wo rds of wis dom for the students, faculty and families. She talked about how she had tokissa pigas partof a fund rai ser for the accelerated reading pro- gram years ago. Sheremin isce d abou t howone precocious student insisted she and her husband had built the school. She even talked about decora- tions during St. Patrick’ s Day , when she asked a little boy if he had ever heard of leprechauns. “He said, ‘I learned about leprechauns at Mass. Jesus cured10 lepre chauns,’ ” Tigu e recounted as the audience laughed. Paren ts and students sobbed quietl y as Ti gue re cit ed her spee ch, ack nowl edgi ng and thanking everyone who had ever been involved in the school. Shesaid thestude nts,pastand present, are the “bricks and cin- der blocks” of the schoo l and than kedthemany aide s andstaff- ers who “answered the call.” “What you have loved, others have loved because you taught them how,” Tigue said, quoting HenryWadswo rth Longfel low, of the school’s teachers. Principal Abe Simon was also pr ais ed at the even t – Ti gue called him a “jack-of- all-trades and master of all.” She congratu- lated him on his appointment as vice principal at Holy Redeeme r High School, and said she’s glad he can cont inue his “commit- ment, dedication and gutsy hard work.” Though the Mass ended after an hour, not many attendees left the pews as many broke down in tears. The teac hers embrace d one another in the church foyer, buryingtheirfaces in eachother’s shoulders. “I am devastated,” said Anne Flasse r, of Lehman, one of the first attendees of the school in 1951. “No one will forget.” Marge Dewees, of Dallas, said three of her four children attend- edthe sc hoo l,and she ma desure to call them all that morning to share the day. “This school is a part of our lives,” she said. Joan Keating , of Dallas, a teacher at Gate of Heaven School, is comforted during a final Mass for the school. CHARLOTT E BARTIZEKPHOTOS/FOR THE DALLASPOST Members of the school choir at Gate of Heaven School sing for the last time. Gate of Heaven School is now just a memory By SARAH HITE [email protected] Graduates who ascended into a high school state of mind a week and a half earlier gathered at the church on Machell Avenue for one last good-bye. Creatures slither into Noxen By SARAH HITE [email protected] Anyone holding a state-issued snake hunting license could bring rattlers and other species to the event. The snakes were tagged and marked before being returned to their original habitat un-

the dallas post 06-26-2011

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