Wage Increase Deceptive, Say Feds

Another Snow, Another Day Off In W-b Area

Sunday, January 16, 1994 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 





Reclaiming the pleasure of Pa.'s mountain views &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Living in the mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania is special. Not as
awe-inspiring as the Rockies, perhaps, but still satisfying. Soft refreshing
breezes cool you on hot summer days while valley people swelter or, heaven
forbid, turn on air conditionersIn fall the air almost crackles with
crispness, like a burnished autumn leaf. In October, the sky is a bottomless
blue, so clear and honest that it seems like God's artistic rendition of
Truth. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And in winter the velvet night sky wears a sparkling tiara of stars. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 That's the trick of living in these mountains: Keep your eyes to the
heavens. Try not to look around you too hard or too often. Ringing Hazleton,
Freeland and smaller communities throughout Luzerne County are abandoned strip
mines, slag heaps and slate hills; the only vegetation, a few scraggly bushes
or small stands of white birch. The glorious sky above and the brutally
scarred earth below. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Sometimes you wonder what it was like before the coal barons arrived,
before they downed the proud forests and mutilated the land. The mines are
idle now, most of the miners long gone. Only a sad disfigured ecology remains. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But perhaps for not too much longer. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Hazleton's redevelopment authority is looking into the possibility of
reclaiming the land after seven decades of mistreatment and rapacious mineral
greed, The Times leader reported recently. A study is being undertaken to
reveal what the city can do with the strip mines -- how it might be able, in
Mayor Quigley's words, "to change the face of a community." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It is still too early to tell whether reclamation can be undertaken and at
what cost. But, oh, the thought of one day breathing in this bracing mountain
air, looking upward -- and to the right and to the left -- and knowing "God's
in his heaven and all's right with the world." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 If Hazleton can heal its land, it shall heal its spirit and the mountains
will beckon again, enticing outsiders to visit, to settle -- and to drink in
the landscape's glory as well as that of the stars.

Reclaiming The Pleasure 
Of Pa.'s Mountain Views 
Living In The Mountains Of Northeastern Pennsylvania Is Special. Not As 
Awe-inspiring As The Rockies, Perhaps, But Still Satisfying. Soft Refreshing 
Breezes Cool You On Hot Summer Days While Valley People Swelter Or, Heaven 
Forbid, Turn On Air Conditioners.