`damn Yankees' To Light Up Kirby Stage 
Play Ball! 
It May Not Be Springtime Quite Yet, But Anyone At The F.m. Kirby Center On 
Feb. 21 Will Welcome An All-time Favorite Sport And A Great Broadway Play, All 
In The Same Evening.

2 Luzerne County Men Indicted On Drug Charges

Friday, January 30, 1998 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 





Territorial imperative: Consolidate for progress &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 When the last developer, shell-shocked from repeated go-rounds with the
zoning board, planning commission and board of supervisors crumbles up his
blueprints and heads south, screaming, on I-81When the last college graduate
collects her diploma and heads east on I-80 for a job that does not involve a
paper hat and a deep fryer. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When they bury the unemployed rest of us under a mountain of old culm,
there's no question about the epitaph they'll carve on Wyoming Valley's
headstone: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Small-town politics kills progress. Consolidate or die." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 There is no better example of the obstacles to economic development
presented by our patchwork of 76 municipal governments than the recent dust-up
over Earth Conservancy's plans for 116 acres in Hanover Township. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The Conservancy, charged with reclaiming 16,300 mine-scarred acres at the
valley's southern end, has been more than reasonable in its quest to open the
unused land, adjacent to an existing industrial park, to development. It
altered its original request in order to bar heavy industry in response to the
concerns of nearby property owners. And it has conscientiously considered, if
not totally satisfied, the environmental concerns of other taxpayers. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The Conservancy won approval from the township zoning and planning boards,
but ran up against small-town politics at its worst when reaching the final
hurdle- the township board of commissioners. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A 4 1/2-hour hearing in July failed to resolve the issue. Another meeting
before the board on Monday degenerated into a shouting match, largely thanks
to minority Commissioner Frank Ciavarella. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Ciavarella walked out of the meeting, denying the board a quorum. And while
Ciavarella says he has yet to make up his mind on the merits of the
Conservancy's request, he has managed to hold up progress on procedural
grounds. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Here we have a project of immense economic and environmental impact being
held hostage by political grandstanding. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The parcel of land in question is part of a larger 600-acre tract the
Conservancy says must be developed in the next five years to help fund its
long-range goal of creating 15,000 jobs, $14 million in annual tax revenues
and 10,300 acres of "green areas" in the next 25 years. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 While we have not always agreed with Earth Conservancy or its methods, we
support its plans in this case. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The Conservancy, formed with federal grant money, has taken great care to
develop a coherent, comprehensive, environmentally sensitive program. Had its
16,300 acres, formerly owned by the bankrupt Blue Coal Corp., been sold
piecemeal, odds are that the best parcels would have been developed while the
most damaged would remain a bitter, polluted legacy of the coal industry. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Those acres lie across various municipal borders. We hope the Hanover
fiasco is not a foreshadowing of what the Conservancy may face before other
municipal boards. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Luzerne County already operates zoning and planning boards that handle
those issues for municipalities that do not have their own boards. Local
boroughs a

Territorial Imperative: Consolidate For Progress 
When The Last Developer, Shell-shocked From Repeated Go-rounds With The Zoning 
Board, Planning Commission And Board Of Supervisors Crumbles Up His Blueprints 
And Heads South, Screaming, On I-81.

Territorial Imperative: Consolidate For Progress When The Last Developer, Shell-shocked From Repeated Go-rounds With The Zoning Board, Planning Commission And Board Of Supervisors Crumbles Up His Blueprints And Heads South, Screaming, On I-81.