Music in our neighborhood Mr. McFeely delivers fun at Jazz for Kids event. See Page 9A.
THE ABINGTON
JOURNAL
Coming to AMERICA Newton Ransom Elementary students like Margaret Armstrong, at left, learn about immigration. See Page 15.
An edition of THE TIMES LEADER
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
www.theabingtonjournal.com
C.S. lauds work of emergency responders
Reporting for duty, Sir.
Ten-hut! Paws and Stripes provides service dogs for military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. On April 7, The Abington Dog Park and a volunteer group from Marywood University connected the two with a fundraiser, “Operation: Tails for Troops” to raise money for the organization, which trains canines rescued from shelters. Organizer Jennifer Rojek said their goal is to raise $2,500, the cost to put one veteran and dog through the program. If they exceed their goal, they plan to make a donation to the Abington Dog Park, S. Abington Township and a local Veterans’ hospital. For more information, contact Rojek at 570.499.4940 or email jerojek@m.marywood. edu. For more photos, see Page 10A.
Borough honors Chris Yarns, Jay Miller for extinguishing a laundromat fire. By GErarD NolaN Abington Journal Correspondent
CLARKS SUMMIT- Clarks Summit honored two of its emergency first responders with a mayoral proclamation at a council meeting April 3. Mayor Harry Kelly read the proclamation at the beginning of the meeting honoring police officer Chris Yarns and Assistant Fire Chief Jay Miller, who were in attendance, for extinguishing a fire at a laundromat using a fire extinguisher, preventing further damage to the structure. “We take this opportunity to recognize Officer Yarns, as representative of the very talented Clarks Summit Borough Police Department and Jay Miller, as representative of the very dedicated Clarks Summit Volunteer Fire Company,” Kelly read aloud. The two put out a blaze that began in a dryer and was “progressing toward the walls and ceiling,” according to the proclamation. The men entered the building “in heavy smoke conditions” and used a fire extinguisher to snuff out the fire, saving property and avoiding injuries. In other business, Patty Lawler said the borough had obtained a $6,500 grant to purchase large recycling containers for the borough’s senior citizens. Lawler, who chairs the borough’s recycling committee, said recycling in the borough has taken off. The borough will celebrate earth day April 20 with a number of activities. “The whole thing is in place now,” Lawler said of the recycling program. “We just have to build on it.”
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The Abington Journal
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ArtsEtc. .................................. 9 Calendar ................................ 2 Classified .............................. 18 Crosswords ........................... 5 Obituaries ............................. 11 School....................................15,16 Sports .............................. 13, 14
AbingtOn JOurnAl/JASOn riEdmillEr
ABOVE: Remo the boxer pup gets ready for his closeup. His owner Jason Miller of Scranton brought him to the fundraiser, “Operation: Tails for Troops” to raise money for Paws and Stripes, which trains canines rescued from shelters. AT RIGHT: Former Marine Tony Avvisato and his dog Spartacus. Avvisato served two tours in Iraq.
Harvard ‘Pals’ create trivia app By roBErt toMKaVaGE rtomkavage@theabingtonjournal.com
What started as a class project turned into a successful business venture for three students at Harvard Business School. Co-founder of TrivPals, LLC, Jonathan Evans, 31, a 2000 Tunkhannock High School graduate, credited the support of the school’s new Innovation Lab for his team’s success. He and several classmates created a trivia game and mobile phone app that has been played more than 30,000 times by the general public in less than 8 weeks after its launch. “We’re excited that some people spend their precious time playing trivia against friends on TrivPals,” Evans said. He added that with all of the different options available on smartphones, including email, texting and browsing the Internet, he is humbled by the success of the app. “The community of the Harvard Business School is strong, vibrant and
generous,” Evans said. “The lab is very helpful for testing new ideas about what players would get excited about. It enabled us a safe place to develop ideas from scratch.” He is scheduled to graduate from the Harvard Business School in May 2013. Prior to that he earned his undergraduate degree from Boston College in 2004,
Shown, from left: TrivPals co-founders Karen Tang, Abhishek Agrawal and Jonathan Evans.
with a double major in English and Human Development. Out of 150 teams in the Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development (FIELD) curriculum project at Harvard, Evans’ TrivPals mobile phone app finished in second place. In the program’s third stage (FIELD 3), each group has three months and a $3,000 budget from the school to create a startup company. Evans added that the early success of the trivia game led to bigger things. “The positive feedback we received inspired us launch TrivPals, LLC, as a little startup,” Evans said. “We revamped the game and put some of our own money into it.” Their goal was to make the game as user friendly as possible, according to Evans. “Most developers are eager to decorate their games with all the bells
April 10 to April 16, 2013
50¢
A.H. to bring in pool expert Filtration may be an issue at high school. By roBErt toMKaVaGE rtomkavage@theabingtonjournal.com
CLARKS SUMMIT- With safety concerns about the pool still being raised by a number of parents of swimmers, the Abington Heights School District plans to hire an outside expert to assess the problems. “We have to bring in an outside expert to look at this with independent eyes,” Abington Heights Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Mahon said. “We want to share with them what we have found and get their expert opinion.” The board is expected to vote at the April 17 meeting to approve an individual for the job. “When trying to understand some of the things that happened at the pool, we’ve looked very closely at the type of maintenance and some actions that have taken place leading up to the serious incident that took place with a student becoming overcome by fumes,” Mahon said. “The issue occurs when chloramines leave the water and cause respiratory distress when they settle right at the surface of the water. When athletes are heavily engaged, there are a very serious issue.” Mahon believes a circulation problem with the water is the main reason for the chloramines in the pool. “We have reams of data that show that when we test our water the chlorine is good,” he said. “We looked at our filter and came up with the idea that we are not pumping water through the pool as quickly as we should. In all likelihood, there are large dead spots of water that tend to develop the chlorimines.” Mahon believes there are two solutions to the chloramine problem. “The first, a costly one, is the replacement of our filter system,” he said. “We would like to increase circulation so that the entire pool circulates
See Pals, Page12
See Pool, Page 12
Historian fits the pieces together By JoaN MEaD-MatSuI Abington Journal Correspondent
“Digging up information is fun,” said local historian and vice chairman of the 2012 Clarks Summit Centennial, Dennis Martin. “I also do crossword puzzles.” “Finding pieces that fit together is a great hobby. When you can put two different pieces (of the puzzle) together, it’s really interesting. They’re not my family, but there are interesting stories. Maybe this is making up for the fact that I’d like to know more about my own family,” said Martin. He began doing research for the centennial by looking for information regarding Clarks Summit and Clarks Green pio-
neer, Deacon William Clark. Interesting information he found includes “when we began doing research for the centennial, I started looking for information about William Clark and I kept getting contradictory information. He came here almost over a ten -year period for the first time. ” Volumes of information in binders, the fruits of Martin’s labor, can be found in the “Local History” section at the Abington Community Library, and each story is the culmination of many hours of research by Martin and his wife, Sharleen, who transcribes information from her husband’s oral interviews. Recently, Martin completed an essay, “Deacon William
Clark First Settler,” which is a joint project of the Abington Community Library and the Lackawanna Historical Society, with financial support from the Clark’s Summit Centennial Committee. Dennis and Sharleen Martin have been active in all three groups and are informally designated as “Library’s Historians.” “I was interested in trying to figure out the real story,” Martin said, and through his research revealed some facts about William Clark and his family. For example, he was able to uncover the way the local area existed when white men first arrived. “When William Clark came here the first time, he came with two of his sons, and
AT LEFT: Dennis Martin displays his research at the Abington Community Library. AbingtOn JOurnAl/JOAn mEAd-mAtSui
Ephraim Leach and Thomas Smith. They came over on what is known as “The Morgan Highway,” because they couldn’t get a horse through the notch. It was an Indian trail and with the trees growing up next to it, they couldn’t get
their horse through it,” he said. “They got here in the spring of the year, in time for maple syrup season, because it was a
See Historian Page 12