Standard-Speaker from Hazleton, Pennsylvania • Page 31

II Hazleton Standard-Speaker, Tuesday, April 18, 2000 29 IT Sir f.Vy'riinM. ERIC CONOVERStandard-Speaker Seventh-grade students in Jeffery Attick's language arts class at the Valley Middle School collected 200-pounds of aluminum cans Saturday to be recycled as part of an Earth day project. The students are planning to build a flower garden at the school. Students who collected the cans are, from left: Carl Singley, Dylan Yurista, Christina Castiglione, Christina Griffith, Janene Cain, Kayla Weidick, Jeff Attick, (coordinator) Joe Jacome, and Tyson Davidson. Also part of the collection were: Melissa Potts, Mark Scalise, and Tom Murray.

Above, some of the 50 students at the Keystone Job Corps Center worked last week to clean up Hazle Township Community Park as part of National Youth Service Day. The students raked leaves, picked up trash, and cleared some areas of brush. Below, Keystone Job Corps Center students Lester Wilson, left, Dorian Lawson, center, and Chris Cavanaugh cut and clear an aic jsain, wucic a I1C 4v imMmsfKK el lip' 1 it I i fx i i Financial reimbursements to county prison top $205,000 ICS PARTICIPATES IN ACSI SPEECH MEET On March 17, Immanuel Christian School participated in the ACSI Elementary Speech Meet at Shalom Christian Academy in Chambers-burg. Students from grades two to sixth participated in the meet. The speeches were entirely memorized and the categories were as follows: Bible Memory, Dramatic Bible Prose, Poetry, Fables and Folklore, Patriotic Address and Original Speech.

Attending the meet helps students learn valuable skills. Some of the valuable lessons are poise in front of an audience, communication skills, and most importantly thankfulness to God for the ability to communicate and compete. Clinton announces big computer firms7 gifts to poor communities rfs 4 3 ERIC CONOVERStandard-Speaker er companies to bring technology to young people in schools and community centers, pledged to expand from 19 to 250 sites nationwide. AOL said it would provide 100,000 accounts for use at PowerUp, and the Waitt Family Foundation said it would donate 50,000 Gateway computers. Other, smaller pledges came from Cisco, Applied Materials, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International, and People PC.

The Kaiser Family Foundation will create a public service campaign to urge young people to learn computer skills. The ads will feature former basketball star Magic Johnson and current women's star Rebecca Lobo. Microsoft Corp. donated more than $2.7 million in software and cash to be divided among eight Indian tribal colleges. On the net: Commerce Department digital divide: http: 1 1 www.digitaldi-vide.gov Plugged In computer center: http: 1 1 www.pluggedin.org Palo Alto: http: 1 1 www.city.palo-alto.ca.us East Palo Alto: http: 1 1 www.ci.east-palo-alto.ca.us Navajo Nation: http:www.navajo.orgnnhomep g.html across to the Journal Record Building," she said, pointing to the still scarred building near the former Alfred P.

Murrah Federal Building. For others, like Monica and Harold Swink of Oklahoma City, the memorial offered a welcome reprieve from memories still filled with pain. "We came down a couple times right after they stopped searching for victims and it's not hard to remember that," said Monica Swink. "It's one of those things that will be burned in your mind forever. And that's why it's so nice to have this calmness." Where the explosion struck the nine-story Murrah building, there is now a grassy hill with nine rows of empty bronze-and-stone chairs one for each of the 168 people killed in the bombing.

SSI i I 7 ill Kim. '-4 out of poverty more rapidly than ever before. Or we can allow access to new technology to heighten economic inequality and sharpen social division. Again I say, the choice is ours." Asked by a young boy about his own computer use, Clinton said, "I confess I don't use it much for e-mail but that's for very personal reasons." "If you work for the government you don't use e-mail very much unless you want it all in the newspapers," the president said. The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the White House failure to review thousands of e-mails that may have been under subpoena.

Clinton was joined in East Palo Alto by computer and civil rights leaders. He said Gateway would provide technology training to 75,000 teachers, including every teacher in East Palo Alto, while Novell would donate $20 million in software for nonprofit organizations helping Hispanic organizations. Hewlett-Packard will invest $15 million in a new "digital village" initiative in three underserved communities, including East Palo Alto. Qualcomm will commit $25 million to bridge the digital divide in San Diego, where it is based. PowerUp, a partnership of America Online, Gateway and oth Wrr-- pclVlllUU Wilt UC DUHCi which included 446 men and 51 women.

The prison had 509 inmates when it stopped accepting federal prisoners. Fischi reported first quarter receipts of $89,956 from inmates on work release paying $10 a day for room and board. Currently, 115 inmates are on work release. Inmates at the main facility paid $1,462.52 for room and board during the report period, $2,820.73 of restitution and $19,000 for telephone charges. The board accepted the retirement of full-time correctional officer Teresa Petriga of Larksville and appointed Thomas Hart, Exeter, as a per diem correctional officer to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Judith Doble of West Pittston.

March bills totaling $945,257.20 were approved for payment. Zoners (Continued from page 19) plans. Rossi and some Beaver Meadows residents were opposed to the original location of the tower, one block off the borough's main street, Route 93. "The tower's basically at the geographic center of town," the council president said of the Rose and Hazle streets site in February. "It's going to be an aesthetic disaster for the community." The zoning board granted Nex-tel's request for a continuance at March's meeting and again on Monday.

Wright (Continued from page 19) Abuse Resistance Education rally on May 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Wright Township Park. Announced the township's Environmental Advisory Committee has selected its officers for the next two years. They include Dale Hildebrand, chairman; Jacqueline Chambers, vice chairman; Marie Ducloset, treasurer; and Joan Schmidt, secretary, Frascella said.

Also appointed to the committee is Jerome Yatsko, who will serve until Dec. 31. Yatsko replaces member Steve Rademan who was unable to continue to serve on the committee. Approved a raise for police officer Kristen Paulshock who has completed one year of service on the force. Paulshock's new rate will be $11 per hour.

Awarded a paving contract to Slusser Brothers Inc. of Hazleton for $65,521. Slusser's was the lowest bid out of five received. The paving work is for Yegar Road and Grandview Avenue. WILKES-BARRE Financial reimbursements made to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility since the beginning of the year total $205,654.58.

Warden Gene Fischi told the Luzerne County Prison Board Monday the reimbursements include $88,860 received from the U.S. Marshals Service for housing federal prisoners. The prison stopped accepting federal prisoners in early March because the inmate population had grown to near capacity over the winter months, creating a shortage of bed space. The warden said the current inmate population was 497, Planners (Continued from page 19) tion of a gymnasium to the Arthur Street School. Degenhart and Bognet are both vehemently opposed to the Hazleton Area School District's plans to build the gym and locker room adjacent to the 8th Street side of the school.

Degenhart is also a school board director. No district officials were at the meeting. They both had a list of reasons to oppose it. They argue it would cover a side of the historic building and put that side of the school in darkness. Degenhart criticized the plans' lack of bleachers or seating.

To carry out the existing proposal, the district would have to purchase 8th Street, a commission member noted. Degenhart commented: "That's okay, the district should pay for it," he said. "They got lots of money." Bognet recommended two alternatives. One would build a gym on the site of a parking lot and field with a covered pedestrian bridge over the 9th Street connecting it with the school. Bognet's second recommendation would have the district to buy an alley alongside the school, the row of homes on it, and expand the campus allowing plenty of room for a gym with seating.

Degenhart said other school board members are appear to be willing to do without bleachers. "You ask the girls on the school board, they'll tell you the kids don't need bleachers," he said. "They say the gym is just for (physical The Standard Speaker will pay $10 for the best news tip of the week. If you know of some- tliing newsworthy phone 455-3636 any time, day or night, seven days a week. Call Today 455-3636 By TERENCE HUNT Associated Press EAST PALO ALTO, Calif.

-Pushing to bring high-tech benefits to places missing out on America's prosperity, President Clinton won more than $100 million in pledges from the computer industry Monday. He also promised $1-a-month telephone service to 300,000 American Indian households. "No one has to be bypassed this time around," the president said. "The choice is in our Clinton said, "This is one of those fortunate times when by doing the thing that is morally right, we actually help to keep America's economic expansion churning forward." On a chilly, rain-threatening morning, the president came to East Palo Alto, a pocket of poverty in technology-rich Silicon Valley, to dramatize the "digital divide" of inequality between computer haves and have-nots. More than 24 percent of youngsters in East Palo Alto live in poverty and over 80 percent are eligible for the free-lunch program.

Schools have just one computer for every 28 students. Later, Clinton was heading to a Navajo reservation in northwest New Mexico. American Indians rank far below the national average in their access to telephones, computers and the Internet. In the Navajo Nation, only 22.5 percent of households have home telephone service compared with to the national average of 94 percent. The Navajo high school dropout rate averages 20 percent for 9th graders, and only one-quarter of adult Navajos have graduated from high school.

Clinton was announcing a plan to provide basic telephone service to American Indians for $1 a month. That would be financed by raising universal service assessments on interstate and international carriers by 0.4 percent. Gene Sperling, head of the president's National Economic Council, said long-distance users would pay about a penny a month more if carriers pass the charge on to consumers. "This is a very worthwhile investment," he said. In East Palo Alto, speaking at a community technology center called Plugged In, Clinton said, "We can truly move more people Stephen J.

Hischar III Scout earns Arrow of Light award Several boys in Pack 790 had recently received awards for their recent accomplishments. A Blue Gold banquet was held in their honor at the Pa. National Guard Armory in Hazleton heights. The Arrow of Light, which is the highest award in Cub scouting, was awarded to Stephen J. Hischar III.

At this ceremony, Stephen also graduated from Webelos Pack 790, and was welcomed into Boy Scout Troop 790 by scouts Dean and Donald Campbell. Other Webelos awards went to Dominic Merola and Josh Gattine, for earning their Webelos badges and Communicator activity badges. Robert Sholtis earned his Webelos badge, as well as his Communicator, Handyman, and Outdoors-man activity badges. Sean Boyer, Joseph Pacelli, and Tev Simmons received their Webelos badges. Eric Fairchild received his Bobcat badge, and Scholar activity badge.

Christian Bennett received his Outdoorsman badge. The following Wolves received their Wolf badges, Jeremy Hischar, Alex Cann, and Christopher Fairchild. Bears Daniel Kane, John Irving, Justin Nemshick, Kevin Kocher, and Ricky Green, received their Bear badges and a red achievement bead. James Guidash also received a red achievement bead. The Tiger scouts had also received awards, but their individual names were not available.

For Correct Time Temp. 455-201 1 Standard Speaker Onlookers, last-minute details mark finish of monument work By THOMAS MULLEN Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY With the opening of the Oklahoma City National Memorial still days away, hundreds of people spent a cloudless Sunday afternoon gazing over its grassy, meticulous grounds, the site of the worst terrorist attack on American soil. Some tried in vain to connect the quiet landscape, dominated by trees and a black reflecting pool, with the gritty images of smoke and horror they saw on their televisions April 19, 1995. "It's not the way I pictured it," said Kristin Welbaum, a visitor from Minneapolis. "It's been so cleaned up and made into such a monument that you don't get a feel for the devastation until you look i.