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<p>DALLAS &#8212; Nearly 20 residents faced the decision of how to tell the story of the Dallas area during a WVIA &#8220;Our Town Dallas&#8221; community meeting Thursday.</p><p>Inside the Back Mountain Regional Emergency Services building on Route 118, story ideas about landmarks, history and community hot spots such as churches, the Dallas School District and the Back Mountain Memorial Library were discussed and assigned to volunteers.</p><p>Douglas Cook, vice president of television and promotion at WVIA, led the brainstorming session and wrote story ideas on three white poster board-sized papers taped to the wall.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m going to be the devil&#8217;s advocate,&#8221; Cook said. &#8220;When you give me a story idea, I am going to ask you &#8216;why is this unique?&#8217; and &#8216;why should people outside of Dallas know about this story?&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>The first topic on the board was the story of how the 1972 Agnes Flood that devastated parts of Wilkes-Barre and the West Side spurred a population explosion in the Back Mountain.</p><p>&#8220;I think this is the first time we had a flood causing a population increase,&#8221; Cook said.</p><p>Local businesswoman Lynn Banta explained how the community has a very active Chamber of Commerce that fosters business growth and hosts cultural events.</p><p>&#8220;The chamber holds an annual fall cultural event,&#8221; Banta said. &#8220;Proceeds benefit the school district.&#8221;</p><p>The Dallas School District&#8217;s high standing academic record and its vocational program also made it onto the board.</p><p>The program has developed an alliance with the business community to expose high school students to different professions, Banta said.</p><p>Dallas resident Sue Van Horn volunteered to tell the story of Commonwealth Telephone Company, formerly located on Lake Street in Dallas. Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises, which included Commonwealth Telephone Company, was acquired by Frontier Communications in 2007, according to the Federal Communications Commission.</p><p>&#8220;Frontier&#8217;s Pennsylvania headquarters is still based in Dallas,&#8221; Van Horn said.</p><p>Story ideas flowed steadily from residents for over an hour. At the end of the evening, the white board listed over 25 stories to be covered.</p><p>WVIA producer Liza Mazzarella recapped the group&#8217;s progress and noted several story ideas were not assigned.</p><p>&#8220;If we do not have any representation to carry a story, it will be dropped, unfortunately,&#8221; Mazzarella said.</p><p>Volunteer storytellers and videographers have until Dec. 6 to gather information and materials.</p><p>Residents interested in participating in &#8220;Our Town Dallas&#8221; may Mazzarella at 570-602-1164.</p><p>The&#8221;Our Town Dallas&#8221; episode will premiere Feb. 7 at WVIA Studios in Pittston Township.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Eileen Godin</p><p>egodin@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Eileen Godin at 570-991-6387 or on Twitter @TLNews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Ready, Action! WVIA held brainstorming session for ‘Our Town Dallas’ Thursday