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User: rstouch Time: 11-03-2012 22:51 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 11-04-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_f PageNo: 1 A
The Times Leader timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE, PA
SPORTS SHOWCASE
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2012
2012
After 49 years, local adopted twins Maria and Danny Palumbo are reunited with their birth mother in Italy
Mamma Mia!
ELECTION
Are you ready for the election? 13 questions you may need to know the answers to, fielded by county election manager.
ND 29, PITT 26 Everett Golson scored on a quarterback sneak in the third overtime as No. 4 Notre Dame came back from a 14-point deficit to beat Pittsburgh 29-26 on Saturday and keep its hopes for a national championship alive. PAGE 1C
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PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER
Twins Danny and Maria Palumbo were born in Milan, Italy in 1963, were adopted, and recently reunited with their biological mother and other siblings in a trip to Italy.
I
SHEENA DELAZIO sdelazio@timesleader.com
magine being separated from your mother for nearly five decades and then having the opportunity to reunite … in Italy.
“It was a dream come true,” Maria Palumbo said of her and her twin brother Danny Palumbo’s experience. The Palumbos, of Plains Township, knew since they were children they had been adopted. Born in Milan, Italy on Aug. 10, 1963, babies Danny and Maria – through a misunderstanding – were adopted and came to America at 18 months old to live with their new parents, Josephine and Daniel Palumbo, Sr., on Carey Street, Plains Township.
What the 49-year-old twins didn’t know is how their adoption came to be and if family still existed in Italy. Their questions were answered, thanks to Maria Palumbo’s boss, Anne Marie Kravitz, who successfully navigated an Internet search that See REUNITED, Page 12A
Maria Palumbo, right, and twin brother Danny Palumbo with their biological mother, Lia Magistrelli.
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Romney, Obama spar near the end Presidential candidates square off over voters in final 72 hours of campaign. By JIM KUHNHENN and NANCY BENAC Associated Press
MENTOR, Ohio — Reaching for the finish line, Republican Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama embarked Saturday on the final 72-hour haul of their long, grinding quest for victory, swatting at one another over what should motivate Americans to vote, which candidate they can trust and offering dueling pictures of what the next four years should bring. Romney sprinted through a New Hampshire-to-Iowa-to-Colorado day faulting Obama for
Obama
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telling supporters a day earlier that voting would be their “best revenge.” “Vote for ‘revenge?”’ the GOP candidate asked in New Hampshire, oozing incredulity. “Let me tell you what I’d like to tell you: Vote for love of country. It is time we lead America to a better place.” The Republican nominee sounded the same message in Iowa and released a TV ad carrySee CAMPAIGN, Page 9A
Local man saves sea life from storm Hanover Area grad protects creatures at N.J. aquarium By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@timesleader.com
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Q: With all
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Matt McGloin passed for 321 yards and two touchdowns to help Penn State defeat Purdue 34-9 on Saturday. Brandon Moseby-Felder had six catches for 129 yards, Zach Zwinak ran for 134 yards and Michael Zordich ran for two touchdowns for the Nittany Lions (6-3, 4-1 Big Ten), who bounced back from a loss to Ohio State. PAGE 1C
A NEWS: Local 3A Nation & World 5A Obituaries 8A
April primary.
the confusion over By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES the state’s jandes@timesleader.com new voter ID law, A total 194,121 Luzerne what idenCounty residents are registered tification is to vote in Tuesday’s general required election, when voters will WITH MARISA Tuesday? choose the next president and CRISPELL A: Everyother federal and state officials, –BARBER one will be according to fresh tallies from County election asked for county contracted election manager identificamanager Marisa Crispell-Bartion, but identification is NOT ber. required except for first-time The county has 110,903 voters. registered Democrats, 63,940 Q: Who is a first-time voter? Republicans and 19,278 Independent and third-party voters, A: Someone who never voted in that precinct before, never she said. voted in our county before or Voters in three municipalnever voted period. If you ities also will decide referendum questions about the addi- voted in Wyoming County and moved to Luzerne County and tion of two supervisor seats in haven’t voted in Luzerne CounButler Township, home rule ty before, you’d be a first-time charter amendments in Kingston Township and a proposed voter. If you moved from one precinct to another in the same switch to home rule in Pittmunicipality since you last ston. voted, you’d be a first-time Crispell-Barber provided voter in the new some of the need-to-know basics about voting in TuesSee ELECTION, Page 9A day’s election, particularly for the nearly 5,000 new voters the county has added since the INSIDE: Election preview, Views 1E
NITTANY LIONS POUND PURDUE
INSIDE
$1.50
The flooded Jenkinson’s Aquarium in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. Area native Evan Mooney and seven coworkers huddled in a pump house during Sandy as they were surrounded by floodwaters.
Evan Mooney debated whether to stay or flee as Hurricane Sandy neared Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., where he has worked at a boardwalk aquarium since graduating from Hanover Area High School in 2011. The 19-year-old’s desire to help protect the 1,800 sharks, penguins,
seals and other sea creatures at Jenkinson’s Aquarium ended up outweighing fears about his own safety. Mooney He later questioned his decision when the hurricane-fueled Atlantic Ocean blew out a basement
wall of the building. “We were scared to death. Me and the people I was with thought we were going to die,” Mooney said. Mooney and seven coworkers huddled in a pump house because they were surrounded by floodwaters. Their boss got stuck trying to rescue them, and 911 disSee AQUARIUM, Page 11A
User: rsheposh Time: 11-03-2012 22:45 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 11-04-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_06 PageNo: 12 A
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PAGE 12A SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2012
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REUNITED Continued from Page 1A
found their roots. That led to a 10-day trip in September to Italy that was a joyful reunification of a family that had been separated for decades. Maria said it was a long-awaited dream of hers and Danny’s to meet their mother, sister, three half-brothers and several nieces and nephews. Mom’s plight in 1965 Shortly after Danny and Maria were born – as Marco and Antonella Magistrelli – their mother, Lia Magistrelli, now 70, was going through a thorny time in her life. She was a single mother with a daughter, Rossella, who was 2 and now had twins to add to the family. The children’s father wasn’t in the picture from the beginning and has since passed away. Magistrelli made a difficult decision to send the twins to an orphanage to be taken care of until she could get a job and provide for them. Magistrelli, the twins say, signed a paper that she believed gave temporary custody of her twins to the orphanage. “But, it was really a paper allowing us to be put up for adoption,” Danny said. Magistrelli tried time and again to return to the orphanage to get her children after obtaining a cleaning job and saving some money, but workers there wouldn’t allow her to take her children. “At 18 months old, we were adopted and brought to New York in April, 1965,” Maria said, noting she and her brother are likely two of possibly hundreds of children who were adopted in a similar way in the ’60s. Good life in Plains Twp. Josephine and Daniel Palumbo raised Maria and Danny as their own. Unable to have children, the couple paid a total of $900 to adopt the twins. Danny and Maria grew up like other children in the Wyoming Valley, and the Palumbos provided a loving home. Around her teenage years, Maria began to wonder about her natural parents, but never pushed the issue with her adoptive parents. When Josephine died in December 2000, the twins began cleaning out her home and came across adoption and naturalization papers. The discovery sparked an interest, and Maria said she began trying to find out about their family in Italy, but continued to come up shorthanded. It wasn’t until this past May, while going through a divorce, that Maria’s attorney asked her where she was from. She told him she was born in Milan, Italy. Maria’s boss, Anne Marie Kravitz, became aware of the information and began a search. During some research, Kravitz typed Maria’s birth name into Facebook
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Maria Palumbo, left front, and twin brother Danny Palumbo, left, second row, during their visit to Italy to reunite with their biological mother, Lia Magistrelli, center, front, and their siblings. Sister Rossella, far right, and half-brothers Stefano, Massimo and Alessandro, second row.
PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER
Danny Palumbo shows a photo of himself and his twin sister, Maria Palumbo, as infants that their mother has kept since their adoption at 18 months old.
and hit the proverbial jackpot. In just a week’s time, Kravitz had located Maria’s sister, Rossella, who now lives in Sicily. Kravitz provided the key information that led to the reunion, Maria said, adding she herself had all but given up trying to locate any family when her supervisor at Boscov’s Department Store stumbled upon a Facebook page. Birth names critical The Facebook page said a woman was searching for her brother and sister who were born the same date Danny and Maria were and had the same birth names. “If we didn’t have our (birth) names, we wouldn’t have been able to find (our family),” Maria said. Their mother and sister had been searching for them for at least 15 years. After making contact on Facebook, the twins had a telephone conversation with their sister but waited to break the news to their mother. Rossella told them she had
been told various stories that the twins were split up in the adoption – one supposedly was in the United States while the sibling was still in Italy. Others told Rossella one of the twins had died in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City. The family then arranged a Skype conversation over the Internet – and they were able to see each other for the first time in nearly 49 years. “Our mother wondered every day where her kids were and celebrates our birthday every year,” Maria said. When their mother saw the twins in the Skype conversation, she asked them to take off their glasses, and put their faces close to the computer screen so she could get a good look at them. “She wanted to see our face, our feet, our lips, comparing how we look to her,” Maria said. “She wanted to hold us, and kept saying she wished she could.” The twins could communicate with their mother through a translator only – their niece Irene – who also translated back to
their mother so she could understand them. “The two and a half hours flew by,” Maria Palumbo said. Regular contact begins Keeping in touch via Facebook and telephone regularly through the summer months, the twins’ family in Italy soon began to plan a trip so they could be reunited. The twins said they didn’t think it would be possible – money is tight and plane tickets are expensive. “But, they arranged everything,” Maria Palumbo said. “They sent us a link on Facebook to print out the plane tickets.” On Sept. 21, the twins arrived in Sicily. While waiting to pick up their luggage, an automatic door opened and the twins could see their family members on the other side, waving and shouting. “I nearly started to cry when our luggage was taking so long – I just wanted to see them!” Maria Palumbo said. The twins were given the warmest of welcomes. After a 50-minute drive to Ros-
sella’s home, the twins did what Italians do – ate well. The family made Danny a steak while Maria feasted on Sicilian staples – cheese and olives – and then it was time to rest after a long day of travel. Their first day in Italy was spent packing 49 years of missed time into one day – and fun, of course. The twins said they visited the beach, met with a reporter from an Italian newspaper who was writing an article about their story, met the town’s mayor and had a surprise welcome party. The party – called a “champagne party” – took up a city street, included family members and friends, food, free lemon Italian ice and of course, champagne. “My niece Irene said they had a surprise for us, but she couldn’t say what,” Maria Palumbo said. When they arrived at the party, a sign hung above a tent that said “Welcome Marco and Antonella!” The twins did some sightseeing, but mainly the trip was for spending time with their family. Dinner was an important time, and the twins ate everything from eggplant to octopus, visited historic temples where their brother-inlaw works, and enjoyed the culture Italy has to offer – including its beloved Limoncello liquor. Life was different in some ways. There’s school on Saturday, narrow streets with small cars that drive way too fast, Danny said, and no carpets in any homes – just tile. The twins used their cell phones to help translate words when someone wasn’t around who spoke both English and Italian. And the family waited on them hand and foot, Maria Palumbo said. Danny Palumbo said when it was time to leave, the tears began and they were sent home with a touching note from their sister. “We’ll go back within the next couple years,” Maria said. Their niece Irene has already said she hopes to make a visit to the United States to see her aunt and uncle. Their mother, who told the twins she wished she could have found them sooner, would likely not make the trip here, the twins said, noting she is in good health at age 70, but the trip may be a
LOOKING FOR LOST LOVED ONES? For Danny and Maria Palumbo, searching for their biological mother and family members was a lot of trial and error. Doing endless Internet searching, calling adoption agencies and looking up adoption records based on what their adoptive mother saved nearly led the twins to a dead end. It was thanks to modern technology in the form of social networking that finally led them to their large family it Italy. Maria Palumbo said had it not been for Facebook, she would have ended her search. Thankfully, she and her brother knew their birth names, which helped greatly in their search. Their sister even had a copy of their birth certificates. Palumbo says the more information you know, the better off your search for family is. Knowing your birth name, where you were adopted, the hospital you were born at or the agency that handled your adoption are all helpful. Other ways to find family can include: • Questioning your adoptive parents • Contacting the agency or state that handled your adoption • Gathering any and all available documents to aid in searching • Registering in national and state reunion registries, such as the International Soundex Reunion Registry, so your name and what you are trying to find can be accessed by other people looking. • Joining an adoption support group or mail listing • Hiring a private investigator • Using websites like ancestry.com to search for information if you know your birth parents’ names • Using social networking sites like Facebook to create a page of who you are and what you’re looking for.
culture shock to her. They are sure their sister, Rossella, would visit. “We gained a big family,” Maria Palumbo said, noting only a few cousins of their adoptive family remain in Luzerne County. Palumbo wears a watch her mother bought her during their trip, and has a necklace given to her with four hearts on it to represent the four new siblings she has found. Their half-brother, Stefano, had named one of his sons after Palumbo’s birth name, Marco. “I have closure in my life,” Maria said. “A family tree never really had meaning for me, and now it does.”
THE TIMES LEADER Welcomes WILL-EEZE SPEEDY LUBE
WILL-EEZE SPEEDY LUBE, a No Appointment Oil Change Service, recently opened at 308 Wilkes-Barre Twp Blvd, Route 309 (just below Wegmans). Owner Paul Williamson recently completed the build out of his facility and is anxious to service his new customers. In a recent interview, Williamson, commonly known as Willie, said he worked on his business plan for 2 years before he was finally able to secure the right location. My location is key to my success, as mostly every one drives by on their way to Wegman’s and the Arena Hub Complex in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Its very convenient. WILL-EEZE SPEEDY LUBE, features MOBIL and MOBIL 1 as his stock oil. “I felt, based on my research, that Mobil products were the best available, yet I found that even using the high quality Mobil products, I could still be very competitive in pricing”. In fact, my pricing beats 95 % of my competitors with the exception of one who offers a very low cost oil change yet always seems to find a brake or shock repair that is “needed”. “My research included going to all of the places that offer oil changes, with or without an appointment, and having my truck serviced, so I have all of my competitors invoices”. I was surprised to find that I could offer my oil change service at the most competitive price out there. WILL-EEZE SPEEDY LUBE is a CUSTOMER SERVICE business first, “ I pride myself on the level of service I provide my customers because thats what I would expect when I’m the customer!”. Somehow REAL service got dropped from the phrase Customer Service! “My service is continuous in that my customers are encouraged to stop in at least once every week or two for me to check the oil and the tires and wash the windshield and headlights. Thats ‘Extra Value’ and no one else does that !” In addition to no appointment oil changes, WILL-EEZE SPEEDY LUBE offers tire rotation, all light bulbs (headlights, tail-lights and blinker bulbs), windshield wipers and the Office/Waiting room is stocked with quarts of oil and other automotive products such as the LUCAS line of additives. “If you just need a quart of oil, I have it and can put it in for you, it saves you time.” WILL-EEZE SPEEDY LUBE also offers Small Fleet Management, the program designed for small business’s with up to 10 vehicles, offers the same continuous service with no contracts or service agreements. Based on frequent checks of the oil and tires, I can keep track milage and provide reporting to business owners so they can focus on managing their business with out having to manage their vehicles too. “Its a win/win for the small business community because they never ‘lose’ the car for the day as I can service those vehicle after hours or on weekends. Pickup and delivery is available WILL-EEZE SPEEDY LUBE is open 7 days a week, Monday thru Friday from 8:00am to 6:30pm, Saturday from 8:30 til 3:00 and Sunday from 9:30 til 2:00. GRAND OPENING SPECIAL $21.99 (up to 5 quarts), filter, lube top off all fluids, check tires and battery.
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