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The Times Leader timesleader.com

WILKES-BARRE, PA

Meat filler gets OK for lunch program

FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2012

M U LT I - O R G A N T R A N S P L A N T S U C C E S S

COUNTY BILLING

No funds for cases in 2012

Beef trimmings referred to as ‘pink slime’ safe to eat but nutrition questioned.

By MARK GUYDISH mguydish@timesleader.com

Coming (maybe) to a school lunch near you: beef trimmings – cartilage, connective tissue, stuff most people discard – ground up, treated with ammonia hydroxide and pressed into a pink paste used as meat filler.

Is it safe? Yes, at least in modest amounts, one local dietician said.

Is it avoidable? Well, sure.

Don’t eat processed meat products provided through the National School Lunch ProPeople contacted at the gram.

An epicutwo food rean fracas service firms has erupted with news providing that the U.S. cafeteria Department operations in of Agriculmost local ture plans to buy 7 million school dispounds of tricts said what one forthey had not mer USDA heard of “pink scientist dubbed “pink slime.” slime” and use it in the federal program that provides free and reduced meals to students from low-income families.

According to one news account, the official name for the stuff is “lean beef trimmings.”

It starts with the kind of stuff the average butcher – and person – would toss in the trash.

“For us, we’re a small operation and it’s cost effective” to discard ligaments, cartilage and other parts of a meat cut considered inedible, said Gerald “John” Gerrity, co-owner of Jerry and Sons Market in Nanticoke.

But large meat processing plants pile the stuff up by the barrel “and are always trying to look for a way to make more money.”

So a company called Beef Products Inc. takes the trimmings, grinds them up and treats it with ammonia “to kill pathogens,” said Geisinger Dietician Michael Kantar.

“It can go into any meat or meat-based product – ground beef, ground pork – that can be See FILLER, Page 14A

50¢

Court official worries lawyers will withdraw from cases representing parents with children in Children & Youth custody.

AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER

“At the time, it was an unbelievably difficult and emotional decision for us as parents,” said Christian’s mother, Kelly Fisher. “As a mother, you do anything to help your child to live.

A Luzerne County Court official said he’s concerned attorneys representing parents whose children are in the custody of Children and Youth Services may seek to withdraw from the cases because no money was budgeted in 2012 to pay them.

Deputy Court Administrator Mike Shucosky said he “There’s onhas been seeking to discuss ly so long the funding issue with counyou can go ty officials, but everything has been in such a flux with without paythe transition to home rule ing your own that no meetings have been bills. I don’t held.

That has left attorneys want to see who were previously appointed to represent parents parents go to continue their work, with without repno guarantee they will be resentation, paid.

“I think everyone is wait- but that’s ing to see what will be worked out, but patience is what’s going going to run out,” Shucosky to happen.” said.

Qiana Murphy The funding crunch stems Lehman from the county’s failure to Attorney include any money in the 2012 budget for the special legal services fund, which was set up last year to pay a pool of18 private attorneys who were retained to represent parents who face the possibility of having their rights to their children terminated.

The county is obligated by the U.S. Constitution to provide attorneys in parental termination cases. That representation used to be provided by the Public Defender’s Office, but it stopped accepting those cases in 2010 due to a lack of man-

See TRANSPLANT, Page 14A

See FEES, Page 14A

Christian Stone, 10, looks at photos of himself at 9 months with his brother, Blake Fisher. Christian was born with a birth defect that required him to undergo transplant surgery.

Celebration times 2 Surgeries save Courtdale boy

By STEVEN FONDO Times Leader Correspondent

COURTDALE – Christian Stone is a lucky kid; he gets to celebrate two birthdays every year. Christian was born on May 24 2001, but on Thursday, he “I know I’m celebrated his going to play 10th “re-birthday.” basketball A re-birthday is again this a term organ year, but I’m transplant patients use to denot so sure scribe the anniversary of their about soctransplant surcer.” gery.

Christian was Christian Stone Transplant recipient born with a rare gastrointestinal anomaly that left his young body unable to absorb, through his small intestine, the nutrients he needed to survive. Due to the serious nature of his birth defect and complications from extensive medical

Jacob Stone, 16, Christian Stone, 10, Kelly Fisher, Eric Fisher and Blake Fisher, 23 months, look forward to celebrating Christian’s re-birthday, which the family marks by the day he received a new liver, pancreas and small intestine.

treatment, he also needed a new liver and a pancreas.

So, at 9 months old, Christian underwent a triple-organ transplant at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh to replace the three organs, all from an infant in Kentucky who had died.

By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@timesleader.com

Synthetic pot focus of raids Various Lackawanna County locations are targeted.

By CHRISTOPHER J. HUGHES chughes@golackawanna.com

SCRANTON – Law enforcement agencies throughout Lackawanna County took part Thursday morning in raids on eight

businesses and two homes allegedly tied to the distribution of synthetic drugs in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Lackawanna County Deputy District Attorney Robert Klein and First Assistant District Attorney Gene Talerico said about 70 police officers and members of the District Attorney’s Office be-

gan the multi-jurisdictional effort dubbed “Operation: Chemical Reaction” at about 9:30 a.m.

Teams searched homes at 126 N. Bromley Ave., West Scranton, and 135 S. Washington St., Taylor.

Businesses involved included See POT, Page 14A

United Way town hall takes on Pa. budget cuts Gov.’s proposed reductions hit as putting the squeeze on those most in need.

By ANDREW M. SEDER aseder@timesleader.com

DON CAREY/THE TIMES LEADER

Tony Ross of the United Way of Pennsylvania speaks at a town hall state budget meeting on planned cuts.

Police seized synthetic marijuana, guns, vehicles and thousands of dollars in cash in a raid on synthetic drug retailers in Lackawanna County.

ing.

In a town hall meeting organized by the United Way of Pennsylvania and held at the Burke Auditorium on the King’s College campus, officials from Catholic Social Services, Commission on Economic Opportunity, Luzerne County Human Services and Child Development Council of NEPA discussed the growing number of clients they’ve seen come through their doors.

WILKES-BARRE – Dozens of representatives from local social service agencies gathered Thursday to hear how cuts to human services in Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed 2012-13 state budget would affect their agencies and those they’re tasked with serv- See UNITED, Page 14A

JASON RIEDMILLER/GOLACKAWANNA

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PAGE 14A FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2012

TRANSPLANT Continued from Page 1A

“Without the surgery he would have died,” she said. “It was a matter of days, actually.”

The pioneering multiorgan transplant surgery was successful. Christian, who has an older brother, Jason, 16, and a younger brother, Blake, 2, is now a thriving, active, bright-eyed 10year-old fifth-grade student at Good Shepherd Academy in Kingston who loves the outdoors, enjoys playing basketball, baseball and soccer and has a fondness for kielbasa.

“Football’s my all time favorite sport,” said Christian, who is a lifelong New York Giants fan and was recently cleared by doctors for full contact sports.

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power.

Michael Pendolphi, one of the 18 attorneys appointed to represent parents, said he’s unhappy with the prospect he might not be paid, but he’ll continue to represent his clients.

“Once you are appointed, you are appointed until the court issues an order letting you withdraw,” Pendolphi said. “If there is no money to pay me, I may end up going to court for people and not get paid.

But I still have to go.”

Attorney Qiana Murphy Lehman said she is also willing to continue to represent her clients because she is concerned about what will happen if she and the other attorneys drop out.

“If all the attorneys who did this work stopped, the system would grind to a halt,” Murphy Lehman said. “These parents have to be represented by somebody.”

“At the same time,” she continued, “there’s only so long you can go without paying your own bills … I don’t want to see parents go without representation, but that’s what’s going to happen.”

Fund tapped out County officials budgeted $125,000 last year to pay private attorneys to represent parents, but expenses exceeded that amount by more than $200,000. A Times Leader investigation revealed more than $144,000 was paid to single attorney, Angela Stevens.

Stevens has admitted she overcharged the county for travel fees, which she contends was an oversight. The county is seeking a forensic audit of the account, and officials have also asked law enforcement to launch a criminal investigation.

No county or court officials have been

POT Continued from Page 1A

JASON RIEDMILLER/GOLACKAWANNA

The Smokes R Us at 135 S. Washington Ave. in South Scranton was raided by Scranton police as part of coordinated effort by the Lackawanna County DA’s Office. Other Smokes R Us locations were also raided on Thursday as part of the coordinated action.

of the West Scranton storefront, faces charges of conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance. It’s alleged in a criminal complaint

FILLER Continued from Page 1A

molded or shaped,” Kantar said. “It’s pink because of the ammonia. They mix it in if it matches the color of the meat. I don’t think you’ll find it in turkey burgers.”

The USDA classifies the “pink slime” as a filler “Generally Regarded As Safe,” and as such it can be put into beef without any label advising the buyer it – or any other “GRAS” filler -- is there, Kantar said.

“It’s cheaper than buying all meat. For school foods, they have to meet a certain price point,” Kantar said. “This is one of the ways they stretch their dollar.”

Whether “pink slime” bought by the USDA actually will end up in local cafeterias could not be determined Thursday.

‘Reviewing the details’

UNITED Continued from Page 1A

“We continue to see an increased need with fewer and fewer resources,” said Bill Jones, executive director of the United Way of Wyoming Valley. He said the greater demand, coupled with dwindling state funding, continues “stretching the safety net.”

With state legislators or their representatives in the audience, some of those taking the microphone said the message needs to get back to Harrisburg that enough is enough.

“This is not our first time on the chopping block,” said Gene Brady, executive director of Commission on Economic Opportunity.

He said what is new is the governor’s proposal to combine seven human services line items into a block grant program that will cause counties, rather than the state, to determine how the county’s allocation should be spent.

Matter of perspective

S

THE TIMES LEADER

www.timesleader.com

“I know I’m going to As part of the plant organs would be recognized on a celluplay basketball again transplant lar level and present this year, but I’m not so surgery, doc- less chance of rejecsure about soccer.”

Christian also was al- tors put some tion.

“Christian’s a shining lowed to sleigh ride of the donor success story for the with his friends and bone marrow Children’s Hospital siblings for the first into Christransplant program,” time this winter.

Fisher said. “There are “Ironically, we tian’s hip and a number of people haven’t had any snow,” thigh so the who received transFisher said with a transplant plants as babies who smile. “Maybe we’ll are now in their 30s.” have to wait for next organs would Fisher said doctors year.” be recognized. in Pittsburgh want Fisher said ChrisChristian to become tian’s body responded well to the donor organs and he more involved in his ongoing takes anti-rejection medica- treatment and he is now respontions three times a week along sible for calling in his prescripwith yearly trips to Pittsburgh tion refill each month.

“He’s a normal, healthy 10to gauge his ongoing progress.

As part of the transplant sur- year-old,” Fisher said. “Every AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER gery, doctors put some of the life is a miracle. Christian’s life donor bone marrow into Chris- needed a second miracle. We’ve Blake Fisher, 23 months, looks at a poster his mom, Kelly, and dad, Eric, made to celebrate his brother Christian’s re-birthday. tian’s hip and thigh so the trans- been extremely blessed.”

FEES

Smokes 2 Go stores at 1332 Main St., Dickson City; 1610 Route 6, Dickson City; 1255 Route 6, Dickson City; 1114 S. Washington Ave.; 740 Oak St., Scranton; also St. Tropez, 2258 Scranton Carbondale Highway, Dickson City; the flea market at Sugarman’s Plaza, 600 Scranton Carbondale Highway, Eynon; and P&K Novelty, formerly known as Jay Bee Kingdom, 512 S. Main Ave., West Scranton.

Authorities arrested Patrick and Katherine Lachance, who operated P&K Novelty and resided in the Bromley Avenue home, and Joseph Nataloni of Dunmore.

Patrick Lachance, the operator

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that Katherine Lachance sold a package of “Cloud 9” synthetic marijuana to an undercover Archbald officer on March 4 at

A spokesman for the state Department of Education, which oversees the federal lunch program here, said in an email that the “Division of Food and Nutrition is reviewing the details.”

People contacted at the two food service firms providing cafeteria operations in most local school districts said they had not heard of “pink slime” and were not able to reach the right person in the company Thursday afternoon to get answers.

Proponents of the filler claim that ammonia “is a natural compound used in foods, but it is still an additive,” Kantar said.

The ammonia is added to kill dangerous microbes like salmonella and E. coli, which it initially does, Kantar said. But in the long run “it’s not very effective.

The product is still at risk of being contaminated again.”

Asked if the filler is safe, Kantar said, “In small doses it probably isn’t going to be harmful.” So a little of it in a school

able to explain why no funding for the attorneys was included in 2012 budget.

The controversy surrounding Stevens does not appear to have played a role, however. The budget was passed on Feb. 15. The information about Stevens did not become known until The Times Leader reported the results of its investigation on Feb. 24.

Shucosky and President Judge Thomas Burke have said the funding issue has to be resolved by County Manager Robert Lawton and the county council.

Lawton, who started work last week, has been dealing with a multitude of pressing issues. He did not return a

Sugarman’s, and she is expected to be charged with delivery of a controlled substance.

Further details on Patrick Lachance and Nataloni were not available at press time.

At least six more individuals whose names were not released Thursday were being processed, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The amount of synthetic marijuana taken off of the shelves was “voluminous,” but officials had no concrete estimate of the amount of product seized or its street value. Packages of synthetic marijuana were sold for $15 to $30, depending on the size and potency of the product.

“We’re still in the process of going through all of the evidence,” Klein said.

In the “small sample” of “box after box” of evidence, packages

lunch likely won’t be anything to worry about.

The real risk, Kantar said, would be in eating food containing the ammonia “five or six times a day.” And at that point, the other health risks from eating so much processed meat – more saturated fats, more sodium, stuff like that – would likely be greater than the risk of the ammonia, he added.

In fact the plan to use “pink slime” in school lunch meats comes at the same time new rules are being implemented on what those school lunches must contain.

“They are good changes, focusing on incorporating more fruits and vegetables,” Kantar said, which in turn could curb the consumption of processed meat, further mitigating any risk from the ammonia-treated filler.

While the focus is on school lunches, Kantar noted the filler is being used elsewhere – McDonald’s recently stopped using it.

phone message Thursday seeking comment on the status of discussions regarding the attorney funding.

Shucosky said, so far, no attorney has asked to be excused from a case due to the funding issue, “although one has indicated he no longer wishes to accept any new cases.”

He said it’s clear something needs to be done soon to address the issue.

“We have an ethical obligation as attorneys to represent these people and the county has a legal obligation,” Shucosky said. “It’s really a problem for the county. I don’t think they’ve started to address it yet.”

Thursday, officials said. stamped with a bio-hazKlein indicated that ard symbol and sold un- Northeastern Thursday’s raids and arder the names “Flame,” Pennsylvania rests were the start of “Captain America,” and something larger origi“Nightmare” filled two was hit by a nating in Lackawanna tables in a conference surge of synCounty. room. thetic drug “This investigation Northeastern Pennsyl- abuse in early will lead to additional vania was hit by a surge investigations going up of synthetic drug abuse 2011. the chain,” he said. in early 2011. GovernHe also acknowlment agencies united to pass local ordinances banning edged that additional retailers the sale and possession of “in- still exist, but he issued a warncense” and “bath salts,” or syn- ing to those that remain.

“If anyone out there in Lackathetic marijuana and synthetic wanna County is still selling methamphetamine.

Synthetic cannabinoids were these products after they see this, deemed a controlled substance let them be on notice,” Klein under Schedule 1 in a law passed said. “Synthetic cannabinoids by the Pennsylvania legislature and synthetic drugs are illegal in Pennsylvania and they’re not goin August 2011.

Complaints from the commu- ing to be tolerated in Lackawannity resulted in the six-week in- na County. We will find you, and vestigation that culminated we will prosecute you.”

Seek reputable butchers And without any labeling requirements, consumers might buy ground meat in a grocery store and never know the filler is there.

“That’s why sourcing meat from reputable butchers or food purveyors makes sure you get 100 percent meat,” Kantar said. Gerrity couldn’t agree more.

His said his store uses no fillers or preservatives, even though federal rules allow up to 10 percent filler. “When people come in and say it’s more expensive, that’s why,” Gerrity said. “You’re getting real meat.”

Kantar said the filler may be safe, but that doesn’t make it right to use it.

“It’s probably not the most healthful thing to incorporate into a daily regimen, that’s the biggest take-home message I can give,” he said.

That, and a reminder that whatever AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER “pink slime” is, it’s not beef. It’s falsificaGerald ‘John’ Gerrity grinds beef at tion of a product to say it’s 100 percent of Jerry and Sons Market in Nanticoke. something when it’s not,” he added.

He said he uses 100% meat.

W H AT ’ S N E X T

Business leaders, nonprofits, volunteers, board members, clients and elected officials listen at a United Way town hall state budget meeting Thursday at King’s on how planned cuts in the governor’s proposed budget will impact the local social services.

The United Way is traveling the state this month holding town halls on the budget and will be in Scranton today at the Koppelman Auditorium inside the Jewish Community Center, 601 Jefferson Ave. Future stops include the Lehigh Valley, the Harrisburg region, Erie and greater Pittsburgh.

While that flexibility is being hyped by the governor’s office as a good thing, those who will be responsible for determining who gets what see it from a different point of view.

“You’re really pitting one program against another,” Brady said.

On top of that change is a 20 percent proposed reduction in overall funding to the counties.

“It’s a lot easier just to say I’m going to cut something and pass the money on than it is to decide who’s going to be cut,” Brady said.

The cuts will hurt the state’s “most vulnerable” citizens,” said Susan M. Dinofrio, executive director of the Child Development

DON CAREY/THE TIMES LEADER

Council.

Not only will overall funding be slashed but some believe that taking money away from one program, puts a strain on another.

Mary Dysleski, acting director of Luzerne County’s Human Services Department, noted that less money for rent assistance or other aid that helps keep people in their own homes will mean another person who will likely be requesting homeless services in the future.

“You cut here and you create a problem here,” Dinofrio said.

Among the legislators in the audience was Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, who received a loud ovation after he spoke about the proposed cuts and chided the governor and others for not taxing gas drillers at a higher rate or for closing the Delaware Loophole that allows corporations to avoid paying Pennsylvania income tax.

Some estimates suggest that closing the loophole and raising the extraction tax would raise close to $800 million annually.

“I believe there are pockets of

West Pittston mayor who now serves as the deputy director of the governor’s Northeast Pennsylvania office, said the budget is just a proposal, a starting point for legislators to use in negotiations to reach a final plan.

Many of the panelists urged those present to contact legislators and the governor’s office to express the importance of social services and the reasons to maintain current levels of funding at a minimum.

“Twenty percent,” said DyslesNegotiations coming ki, “that’s really going to be devBill Goldsworthy, a former astating to us.”

dollars out there that can be tapped,” Pashinski said.

He noted the budget has been cut year after year, with the notion that abuse and waste are being targeted.

He said while that might have been the case originally, “I think the fat’s gone. I think we’re now down to the bone.”

“Our needs are not going away.

If anything, our needs are increasing,” he said.

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Here’s a cure for brain freeze

What baby names are most popular?

Dr. Hecht knows just what to do for ice cream blues

Reality television puts a dent in top names of 2011

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WILKES-BARRE, PA

SPORTS SHOWCASE

By BILL O’BOYLE boboyle@timesleader.com

76ERS DRAW EVEN

WILKES-BARRE – As the city and its parking authority move toward a possible parking lease, a lesson can be learned from Chicago – proceed slowly, read the fine print and protect taxpayers’ dollars.

Chicago and its mayor, Rahm

Emanuel, are challenging ap- lion they say they’re owed unproximately $27 million in der obscure provisions of the charges its leasing company – wildly unpopular 2008 deal Chicago Parking Meters LLC that privatized metered park(CPM) – says it is owed for rev- ing and caused rates to soar, reenue lost when streets are shut cords show.”

The city adminisdown and parking meters are unavaila- INSIDE: Wilkes-Barre tration already is in to request proposals arbitration over a ble. $13.5 million claim According to a sto- for Sterling demoliover free parking ry that ran on the tion. Page 12A that CPM says it front page of the Chicago Sun-Times on May 4, “The provided to people displaying private investors who run Chi- disabled-parking placards or licago’s parking meters are … de- cense plates in 2010, the Sunmanding an additional $14 mil- Times story reported. The city

disputes the claim, saying CPM is seeking “a windfall to which it is not entitled.”

According to the Sun-Times story, private investors who paid $1.15 billion to lease Chicago’s 36,000 parking meters are demanding $14 million for revenue lost from parking revenues the meter company says it lost when the city took meters out of service last year because of street repairs, festivals and other city-sponsored activities.

Public policy, economy group to give annual report, mulls going beyond Luzerne and Lackawanna counties.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

By ANDREW M. SEDER aseder@timesleader.com

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CLARK VAN ORDEN PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER

After Brad Dunn abandons ship, Yuriy Boris can do little else but hang on as the 10th-grade Coughlin geometry students’ homemade cardboard canoe flips in the water of Kistler Elementary pool on Monday.

WATER PROOF

By MARK GUYDISH

mguydish@timesleader.com

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ILKES-BARRE – Oh, they were confident of their watercraft: two cardboard pontoons straddled by a cardboard cube capable of housing the kitchen sink, all wrapped in enough duct tape to conceal a canoe. The only problem was, Yuriy Boris and Brad Dunn didn’t leave any place to sit and paddle.

See BOATS, Page 12A

Learning Works Pop Up Shop set

By ANDREW M. SEDER aseder@timesleader.com

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Breanna Kemmerer and John Jones of Coughlin make their way across the pool without their canoe coming apart.

Year after year, the Institute for Public Policy&EconomicDevelopmentreleases a report on how things are going in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties. The group that continually preaches regionalism might soon be heeding its own advice.

Teri Ooms, REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP the institute’s executive direcThe Institute for tor, said the two Public Policy & Ecocounties are nomic Development finding more is a partnership common bonds among Keystone with surroundCollege, King’s College, Luzerne County ing communiCommunity College, ties.

Marywood University, “The objecMisericordia Unitive would be to versity, Penn State grow and exWilkes-Barre, The pand and proCommonwealth Medical College and vide service to a the University of broader region” Scranton, and is that could inmanaged by Wilkes clude Monroe, University.

Wyoming, Schuylkill and other counties, Ooms said in the institute’s Scranton office.

The idea, she said, didn’t come from her, though she’s been thinking about it for some time, but was actually brought upbytaskforcememberswhokeptmentioning that there are bonds and economic links that expand past the LackaSee INSTITUTE, Page 10A

Downtown W-B store to be run by students in Volunteers of America’s after-school program.

6

Here are some of the events that necessitate parking bans in the city: • Fine Arts Fiesta • Downtown Collegetown Party on the Square • Summer’s Cool on the Square • Saint Patrick’s Day Parade • Christmas Parade • NEPA Car Cruise • Farmers Market Parking is also lost during construction on city streets and emergencies.

Looking outside borders

Coughlin students test cardboard craft

RANGERS 3 DEVILS 0

YANKEES 8 ORIOLES 5

DOWNTOWN PARKING BANS

See PARKING, Page 12A

NHL

AMERICAN LEAGUE

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‘Chicago way’ not the best way Wilkes-Barre taking note of what Windy City got wrong in its parking lease deal.

Evan Turner made the go-ahead layup with 40.4 seconds left and Philadelphia held off Boston the rest of the way with six straight free throws as the 76ers evened the second-round Eastern Conference series with an 82-81 victory Monday night. Turner finished with 10 points, including his layup that put the Sixers up 76-75. He added two free throws with 12 seconds to go. 5B

TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

WILKES-BARRE – Six months ago, Joseph Reiser’s grades were suffering and he was struggling in school.

Now, after participating in the Learning Works program, his grades have dramatically improved, he has his sights set on following a road map that will

lead him to college and he is thinking more positively.

“I’ve seen a big improvement,” said Joseph, 11, taking a break from helping to create some signs and banners that will be hung inside a South Main Street storefront that will be home to a Learning Works Pop Up Shop that’s set to open Thursday. “I’m taking better notes, learning how to be better organized.”

The fifth-grader at the Kistler Elementary School is one of 32 students chosen to participate in a federally funded after-school program created by Volunteers of

America thanks to a $141,000 grant obtained through the Luzerne-Schuylkill Workforce Investment Board.

The program was created by Shannon Doyne, a Pringle resident who works as the project manager for Learning Works.

Run in conjunction with the Wilkes-Barre Area School District and King’s College, the program started in December and runs into June.

In addition to weekly home visits from Volunteers of America See SHOP, Page 12A

AMANDA HRYCYNA/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

Jaylynn Lombardo, 11, Haylee Cleary, 12, and Kyla Mann, 12, of Wilkes-Barre, work on a banner for The Learning Works Pop Up Shop.

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THE TIMES LEADER

www.timesleader.com

City to put out request for proposals for Sterling W-B mayor says approach will result in an exact cost to raze unstable landmark.

of funds. CityVest spent most of a $6 million loan from the county to make the parcel larger, tear down an attached high-rise and remove hazardous material from the original 114-year-old former hotel.

The city has not identified ad-

ditional funds beyond the $250,000 in state gaming money already committed toward demolition, and the other government entities have designated nothing to date, he said.

“We’re investigating multiple

ways to try to get money for this.

We’re all working together,” Leighton said.

County council members voted last month to accept county Manager Robert Lawton’s recommendation to cancel the alloca-

WHAT’S NEXT

list.

Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton, who proposed the idea of leasing the city’s parking assets and with the hope of a $20 million upfront payment, said the city is well aware of the issues that Chicago is facing and the bills that it is disputing.

“The lessons of the Chicago lease were a part of our research and analysis from the start of our exploration of the lease,” Leighton said.

“Special events are an integral part of the community, and I want to make sure that the city will not be penalized for holding such events or responding to evolving needs like infrastructure repairs.”

‘We are on top of it’ Leighton said the concerns will be addressed with any potential bidders as a contract is negotiated; however, he said it’s premature in the process to discuss what types of protections will be in the deal before bids have been received.

“We identified this early and we are on top of it,” he said.

As Chicago battles with its leasing company, New York City is again considering leasing its parking assets, using Chicago as the model of how not to do it.

In a story in Monday’s Wall Street Journal written by Ted Mann, New York City “is taking tentative steps toward turning over the operation of its nearly 39,000 parking meters to a pri-

vate company, with a cautious eye toward avoiding costly missteps made in other cities.”

The WSJ story said Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration “hasn’t made a decision to go ahead with a deal. But it will put out requests (RFQs) in the coming weeks to weigh the capabilities of potential bidders.”

Mann’s story said NYC officials are “aware that privatizing parking meters has been fraught with problems — and political fallout — in other cities, most notably in Chicago.”

The WSJ story said New York City officials said they aren’t looking for an upfront balloon payment. New York’s meters brought in $149 million in revenue in the last fiscal year, a

spokesman for the city told Mann.

The Sun Times reported former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, his corporation counsel and two top press aides “subsequently joined a Chicago law firm that took in $822,760 in legal fees from City Hall in Daley-engineered deals that privatized the Chicago Skyway, the city’s downtown parking garages and Chicago’s parking meters. The parking meter deal has been a political cause célèbre since Daley rammed the deal through the City Council in record time.”

A spokesperson in Mayor Emanuel’s office said any parking lease agreement should include strong language that protects taxpayers.

bursable meal for the district.

In other business, the board honored several students, including those who participated in the regional and state History Day competition.

History teacher Mike Novrocki said two projects will compete in the national competition in Maryland in June, including Shelby Foster for an individual historical paper and Hannah Cross, Ceila Fine and Shauna La-

hey for their group exhibit. The project completed by Cross, Fine and Lahey was also chosen to represent Pennsylvania to be displayed at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. The board also honored the indoor color guard for placing second at the Atlantic Coast band championships in Wildwood, N.J. recently, and Rebecca Rosser earned the all-state band recognition for voice.

By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@timesleader.com

Wilkes-Barre officials soon plan to release requests-for-proposals for the Hotel Sterling demolition to come up with firm costs to tear down the structure, city Mayor Tom Leighton said Monday.

Luzerne County officials had estimated demolition at up to $1.5 million, but pulled out of the project before seeking bids from contractors.

Leighton said the exact cost is needed because city, federal, state and county officials are still meeting to try to scrape together funding.

“The point is to get a true cost and exactly what’s needed to get to the next step,” Leighton said.

Wilkes-Barre is on the hook for the demolition because the city condemned the property at the corner of River and Market streets.

Government intervention is needed because the building’s nonprofit owner, CityVest, is out

PARKING Continued from Page 1A

Provisions in W-B Tom Torbik, executive director of the Wilkes-Barre Parking Authority, said items such as shutting down meters would be included in the concessionaire’s agreement, which would be part of Phase 2. Torbik said the authority has yet to decide if it will proceed to Phase 2.

“That document hasn’t even been seen yet,” Torbik said. “But anything that has to do with income – whether it be to shut down for the St. Patrick’s Day parade, or for construction because of a broken water line -- has an af-

POLICE Continued from Page 4A

Sunday and were told that the injured man was walking away.

Police said a woman told them “he deserved it.”

Police found Scott Kowaleski with a stab wound to his back in the area of West Shawnee Avenue.

Blackhawk admitted to police she stabbed Kowaleski when he refused to leave, the criminal complaint says.

Kowaleski was taken to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township.

HAZLETON – A man was

SHOP Continued from Page 1A

staff members who help with homework, studying, time management and life skills, the students, who are in grades five through eight at three WilkesBarre Area elementary schools, also get weekly one-on-one tutoring and mentoring from King’s students.

Career and college preparation are also emphasized each week and a career dinner that allowed parents and students to meet area professionals to discuss jobs, the importance of education and internships was held recently.

All the students were selected by school guidance counselors and needed to be failing in two classes and below the poverty limit to qualify to participate.

Giselle Hage, a Volunteers of America staff member who is one of two learning coaches who makes weekly visits to the students’ homes, said she has seen marked improvement in attitude and grades from the students and increased involvement from parents and siblings, too. She said she also has been asked to help families with issues including translating some

“There are multiple ways to take this building down. The proposals will help determine the cost and manner it would come down,” he said.

Care is required because a primary city-owned storm/sewer system runs beneath the roadway near the Sterling.

The basement walls of the Sterling must be maintained and braced because they serve as retaining walls that will support River and Market streets after the building is gone. Implosion may not be an option because intense vibration could jeopardize the structural integrity of nearby century-old buildings.

CityVest’s insurance coverage on the building expires in November.

City officials have met with downtown merchants concerned about congestion caused by traffic barriers around the site, Leighton said.

The mayor said “everybody fears” Market and River streets will be completely closed around the building.

“It’s a main emergency route to get in and out of the city. It’s in everybody’s interest to address this quickly. It’s at the top of everybody’s list,” Leighton said.

tion of up to $1.5 million in county community development business loan funds to demolish the structure.

Lawton said county’s funding denial hasn’t changed, though the county continues to meet with the city and other leaders. The county engineer’s office is providing some technical assistance to the city to prepare the demolition proposal, he said.

A few county officials have questioned why the city can’t fund the Sterling demolition with some of the estimated $20 million in revenue Leighton expects from the city Parking Authority’s planned leasing of its assets.

Leighton said the parking lease won’t be finalized until the end of the year or early next year, and the Sterling must come down before then.

The city will require contractors to obtain engineering services to design the demolition.

Before withdrawing, county officials had planned to retain an outside engineer to design the demolition, which would then provide the scope of work for contractors.

Leighton said the city approach allows contractors to suggest various options.

PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER

Concrete barriers create a buffer between West Market Street and the Hotel Sterling in WilkesBarre.

The Wilkes-Barre City Parking Authority meets today at noon at the North Parking Garage, North Main Street.

fect on income. When they can’t collect on certain dates, that will lower their bids. It’s strictly a business deal.”

Torbik said authority members have received a copy of the proposed Request for Qualifications and will discuss it at today’s meeting. He said the financial data has not yet been analyzed by Desman Associates, the Chicagobased parking consulting firm retained for $5,000. On the Desman website, the City of Chicago is not listed on the company’s client

nover Township. Romanelli was westbound on Fellows Avenue and stopped when he saw the girl near a stopped LCTA bus.

Police said the girl suffered facial injuries and was taken to a local hospital.

No citations will be filed, police said.

• Police arrested Eric Steven Sipple, 23, of Larksville, on HANOVER TWP. – Township charges he conspired to steal scrap metal from a garage on police reported the following: Breaker Road early Monday • An 8-year-old girl was injured when she ran into a vehicle morning.

Sipple was charged with crimwhile crossing Fellows Avenue inal attempt to commit theft, on Monday morning.

Police said the girl was trying criminal conspiracy to commit to cross Fellows Avenue at about theft, loitering and prowling at night and defiant trespass. He 8:42 a.m. when she ran into a was released on $2,000 unse2003 GMC Envoy, driven by cured bail.

Christopher Romanelli of Ha-

arraigned Monday on charges he assaulted his wife.

Jose Minyetty, 26, of North James Street, Hazleton, was charged with simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct.

He was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $2,500 bail.

“Their grades are going up … they’re specifically talking about education and talking about the future, I see a big difference.

Giselle Hage Volunteers of America staff member

documents for Hispanics and helping with homework for siblings if needed.

“Their grades are going up … they’re specifically talking about education and talking about the future, I see a big difference,” Hage, of Wilkes-Barre, said.

Two of those students who said they’ve benefited from the program are Tah-Sjaye Williams and Naomy Olmedo, both 11, and fifth-graders at Kistler.

Williams said her grades are improved, she is doing well in her classes and she has no doubt she wouldn’t be saying that if it weren’t for the program. Naomy said she is excited when the Volunteers of America worker visits her home each week and she has been encouraged to think about her future.

Though the funding for the program runs out in a month, Summer Krochta, from Dallas,

the administrative director at Volunteers of America in Wilkes-Barre, said she is hopeful the funds will be available again, and if they are, a submission will be made to continue the program.

Doyne is not only hopeful that the funds will be there, but also that the program will expand in the future to other school districts in the county.

The announcement of whether funds will be available for next year won’t be made until July 1, but the Volunteers of America staffers are not worrying about it.

They have other things to occupy their time, including Thursday’s opening of a temporary store that will sell T-shirts, stickers and postcards that celebrate Wilkes-Barre and its history.

The store will be open the same hours as the Fine Arts Fiesta: this Thursday to Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It will also open on the weekends of May 26 and 27 and June 2 and 3, though those hours aren’t set yet.

The shop, at 60 S. Main St., will be staffed by the students, who will get a real-world experience in sales, interacting with customers, business plans and public speaking.

LEHMAN Continued from Page 3A

different requirements for students to eat fruits and vegetables, as well as new sodium and whole-grain requirements.

The changes will result in an increase to the cost of school lunches, and they will also change what consists of a reim-

BOATS Continued from Page 1A

Thus as they boarded their mathematically designed vessel in front of fellow Coughlin High School students in a swimming pool, the duo found themselves kneeling, one on each pontoon, leaning face to face over the cube, unable to paddle with any efficiency. It didn’t help that they were laughing … at least until they fell in. Then they laughed harder.

Where did they go wrong?

“Not enough duct tape,” Boris said with a grin.

Duct tape was primarily meant to be the waterproof coating and to help hold the shape, Coughlin college prep geometry teacher Jenifer Kemmerer said.

The goal was to apply knowledge of surface area, volume, shape water displacement, and how it all relates to flotation.

About 45 students worked in teams to design crafts in theory, then in reality, and got to test them Monday by putting their bodies where there brains were – inside the cardboard “canoes.”

Students got graded on the effort, and on the success of the design, primarily by measuring the water line before and after the craft was boarded to see if their displacement calculations were accurate, Kemmerer said. They did not fail if the craft didn’t make it across the pool.

Which they all did, except for the SS Boris and Dunn, though it looked close for the shallowwalled ship John Jones and Breanna Kemmerer boarded.

When Breanna decide to hop in

CLARK VAN ORDEN/THE TIMES LEADER

Some of the cardboard canoes before they hit the water.

knees first rather than step in, the thing appeared ready to take on water before the first paddle stroke. After making it across, they conceded the design was a little shaky.

“We had a different plan,” Jones said. “We were going to make a cube, but then it ended up being a rectangle.” Why a cube? In theory, “there was more height and less chance for water to get in.”

Lack of paddling style Alisabeth Pickett had a solid boat but a not-so-solid paddling technique, quickly spinning around at the speed of her giggles. “How do I move forward?” she asked. She figured it out without getting an answer, weaving a semi-straight path to the other end.

Should she have made the sides of the ship a bit shorter?

“Yeah, definitely,” Pickett said.

But more important, “I just don’t know how to paddle that good.”

By comparison to most vessels, Niko Chiverella had built a yacht, complete with cup holder.

“I was going to bring a pina colada and some sunglasses,” he said after crossing the pool.

Nicolas Bishop plowed across the water in what looked like record time. “I figured with my wrestling background I’d be able to even out my balance and weight, and I do a lot of kayaking so I know how to paddle.

After all the boats had a crack at the pool crossing, Meyers High School teacher Sam Elias suggested a race against the clock. Kemmerer noted she had basically imported the cardboard canoe idea from a similar project Elias did last year at Meyers. Boaters took turns trying to cross as fast as they could.

This time, Boris and Dunn flipped their pontoon cube upside down and sat on the large center square a pontoon on each side like the armrest of an overstuffed easy chair. This innovation left them facing in opposite directions and, ultimately, back in the drink.

Bishop made another quick trip across the pool, but this time found his slick craft absorbing too much water and collapsing just a foot or two from poolside.

Jones had the not-so-bright idea of lying down in a boat and trying to paddle in front of himself. The craft took water all the way, but stayed afloat to the end.

Erica Kline, who had not paddled when her teams’ boat made its maiden voyage, decided to give it a go and clocked the fastest time so far, a bit more than 28 seconds. But Jones borrowed another craft and beat that by a second.

“And if someone goes faster, I’m going to do it again until I win!” he said.

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WILKES-BARRE, PA

SPORTS SHOWCASE

MONDAY, JULY 16, 2012

Area schools face new threat

Under new rules, state subsidy can be cut when students who win scholarships opt out.

By MARK GUYDISH mguydish@timesleader.com

WILKES-BARRE – It depends entirely on how the state does the final math – and even on which set of numbers used – but a preliminary analysis of state data by

The Times Leader suggests up to seven Luzerne County public schools could land on a list of “low achieving schools,” with potentially serious consequences to school district budgets.

The list is an integral part of the state’s new “Education Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit” program. Businesses can donate money to a nonprofit entity which then awards scholarships to students who live in the “at-

tendance boundary” of a lowachieving school. The student can use the money to attend another school, either public or private, that is not on the lowachieving list.

The business gets a tax credit worth up to 90 percent of the amount donated for scholarships. The student must meet income eligibility rules.

The law defines low achieving as: “A public school that ranked

in the lowest 15 percent of its designation as an elementary school or a secondary school based on combined mathematics and reading scores” from the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests. A school is designated as a high school if it teaches 11th grade; otherwise, it is considered an elementary school. Career and Technical schools are excluded from the list, as are charter schools.

MOVING ON UP Greater Pittston won its second league title in three years on Sunday with a 4-2 win over Tunkhannock at Mountain Post. Greater Pittston went unbeaten in the tournament to advance to the Region 5 Tournament, which begins Saturday at Connell Park in Scranton. Greater Pittston will take on the West Branch winner at 3 p.m. in the first game. 1B

By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER Associated Press

RED SOX 7 RAYS 3

BRAVES 6 METS 1 BREWERS 4 PIRATES 1

INSIDE A NEWS: Local 3A Nation & World 4A Obituaries 6A Editorials 9A B SPORTS: 1B Weather 6B C CLICK : 1C Birthdays 3C Television 4C Crossword/Horoscope 5C D CLASSIFIED: 1D

WEATHER Danielle Morris. Partly cloudy, afternoon rain, T-storms High 90, Low 65 Details, Page 6B

FRED ADAMS PHOTOS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

The color guard from Nanticoke American Legion Post 350 marches in the South Valley Patriots Day Parade in Nanticoke on Sunday. The South Valley Chamber of Commerce hosted the event.

Proud to be patriots Parade honors those contributing to country

By SARA POKORNY spokorny@timesleader.com

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09815 10011

INSIDE: Click photos, Page 7A

ANTICOKE -- The sun broke through the clouds and the spattering of rain stopped just in time for the South Valley Patriots Day Parade to come through Patriot Square.

“They all contribute to what makes America, America. We wanted to define it this way so that it’s broad and opens it up to celebrate more people.”

As the first trucks rolled down East Broad Street, 8-year-old Billy Emmert stood on the corner clapping, knowing full well the value of honoring those who serve our country.

Robbie McCloe waves as he rides in the “My brother Johnny is leavBirchwood Nursing and Rehabilitation ing for Kuwait in a couple The event was the first of its kind, Center float in Sunday’s parade. weeks,” he said as he sat among hosted by the South Valley Chamfriends Maddy Rowles and Jefber of Commerce as part of the organization’s community fery Engle, 11, Carleigh Kenne, 10, and chaperone for the development program. The Chamber represents 32 mu- day Sarah Engle, on a bench along the parade route. nicipalities; they will take turns hosting the parade.

Mitchell Miller Sr., 51, served in the Marine Corps in The parade is held to honor what is typically thought of 1979. He was at the parade with his children Mitchell Jr., as a patriot, those in the armed forces, but it also repre- 7, Robert, 4, and Rhiana Fravel, 9. He was appreciative of sents a much broader array of people. the day.

“We define a patriot as basically anyone who contrib“It’s always nice when they do things like this,” he said. utes to this country,” Chamber executive director Chris Several local vendors were there, from area food to Carey said, pointing out that that sentiment can reach as community organizations and businesses, as well as a DJ. far as business owners, municipal leaders, and even those The inclement weather cut the festivities short, ending who cut the grass. around mid afternoon instead of the planned 9 p.m.

5

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK

>> HORSEPLAY: When you go somewhere, do you mosey? Do you get riled up? Is the word ‘tarnation’ part of your daily vocabulary? When you order something at a bar, do you say “Whiskey. Leave the bottle?” Well, my friend, then you will love the annual Benton Rodeo. The bull ridin’, steer wrasslin’, mutton bustin’ fun starts on Tuesday and runs through Sunday. You can find the rodeo grounds off route 487 and Mendenhall Lane in Benton. (Hence the name Benton Rodeo. See?) 6

See SCHOOLS, Page 10A

Penn State and other schools are faulted over campus crime reporting.

ANGELS 10 YANKEES 8

PHILLIES 5 ROCKIES 1

In an email, Department of Education Spokesman Timothy Eller wrote that, “The percent proficient and advanced in both math and reading is combined and averaged for all the tests administered in the school building,” but would not elaborate on how the number would be averaged.

Clery law weakness revealed

AMERICAN LEAGUE

NATIONAL LEAGUE

50¢

>> MOSHED POTATOES: Ever hear of Mitch Miller or the Ray Conniff Singers? If you answered ‘yes’ to that

question, then you probably won’t be headed up to Montage Mountain this Wednesday. It’s time for the annual Vans Warped Tour, a celebration of hard rock, punk, metal and other extreme music. (That would be the “cool” definition of extreme.)

Some of the bands appearing include nongrandma-friendly names like Funeral Party, Pierce the Veil, and Vampires Everywhere.

The daylong blast starts at noon.

>> YE OLDE TOURNEY: In the colonies, we know it as The British Open. In England, they call it The Open Championship, but they do it in a British accent. It is the oldest of golf’s four major championships, first played in 1860 when Willie Park, Sr. beat Old Tom Morris -- now known as REALLY Old Tom Morris – for the title. This year’s event will be played at the very British-sounding Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in England. ESPN has coverage Thursday and Friday, and ABC takes over for the weekend. >> RISE UP!: Boy, if you thought Scranton had

For more than two decades, colleges and universities have been required to publicly share details of campus crimes and report murders, rapes, robberies, arson and other serious offenses to the federal government.

That requirement was apparently unheeded by former Penn State President Graham Spanier, other top officials and the larger ranks of university employees responsible for student safety, the recently released investigation into the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal concluded. The report by former FBI director Louis Freeh found that, outside the campus police department in State College, “awareness and Freeh interest” in the federal law known as the Clery Act was “significantly lacking.”

The 1990 law is named for Jeanne Clery, a Lehigh University freshman who was raped and murdered four years earlier by a fellow student at a campus that’s about a three-hour drive from Penn State.

National campus safety experts say such problems spread far beyond Penn State, even as the U.S. Department of Education has stepped up enforcement in recent years and teamed up with the FBI on some inquiries.

“This is a much broader concern,” said S. Daniel Carter, director of a campus safety project at a charitable foundation formed by the families of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting victims. “Penn State is a microcosm of the entire field of higher education.”

Though not mentioned by name, Carter is referenced several times in the 267See PSU, Page 10A

troubles, consider Gotham City. First, its citizens are nearly gassed into madness by a league of vigilante assassins.

Then it gets terrorized by a maniacal clown with a taste for purple suits. Now the city is at the mercy of a ruthless super villain who took the whole P90X thing a little too far. Luckily, they have a ninja-trained billionaire with bat issues to come to their aid. Sound like fun? Then hop in your personal Batmobile and head over to the theater Friday to check out “The Dark Knight Rises.” Early word is it’s deep, dark and awesome.

>> ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN:

Somewhere, lost in time, there was a 3-yearold boy whose parents woke him up on July 20, 1969, to watch fuzzy pictures of people landing on the moon. That boy could have cared less. It’s a few decades later, and that kid has (mostly) grown up and realizes that the moon landing was indeed a big deal. And to commemorate that big deal, this Friday has been deemed “Moon Day.” Just to be clear. It’s to honor the 43rd anniversary of mankind’s giant leap. NOT a day to moon people. That would be wrong.

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page Freeh report. In 2007, he helped coordinate the training of several Penn State police officers on the Clery Act while working for the advocacy group Security On Campus, which was formed by Jeanne Clery’s parents. He assisted federal education officials in developing a Clery Act handbook starting in 2003. And that same year, he notified Penn State that it had mistakenly reported that there were no sexual assaults on campus when the same federal report noted elsewhere that 11 such incidents had occurred in residence halls.

“They were resistant at first,” Carter said. “But they came back and acknowledged they made an error.”

A spokesman for the Office of Federal Student Aid said Friday that the education department has reviewed Clery Act compliance at 78 schools since 2007, with 34 of those reviews complete. That compares with an average of just two completed Clery Act reviews over the previous 10 years, according to online records.

Ten schools have been fined a

AP PHOTOS

Graham Spanier, left, former Penn State president, buried child abuse allegations, a report says. Former coach Jerry Sandusky, right, was found guilty of multiple charges of child sex abuse.

total of $1.4 million for Clery Act violations since 2007, spokesman Chris Greene said.

The offenders include Eastern Michigan University, which paid $350,000 for 13 violations in 2008, including a failure to warn students after the 2006

SCHOOLS Continued from Page 1A

How it might work To get an idea of which local schools might end up on the list – with the caveat that the state calculations could be different, and could be based on more recent test results not yet publicly available – The Times Leader combined the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced in math and reading for all public schools, removed charters and CTCs, separated high schools from elementary schools, and sorted to see what schools fell into the bottom 15 percent.

Based on that analysis, two Luzerne County high schools – Hazleton Area High School and GAR in Wilkes-Barre Area – landed in the bottom 15 percent. Five local schools were in the bottom 15 percent of the elementary list: Hazleton Elementary/Middle School in Hazleton Area; Pringle Street in Wyoming Valley West, and Dodson, Kistler and Heights-Murray in Wilkes-Barre Area. Pringle Street was closed this summer.

Wilkes-Barre Area Superintendent Jeff Namey said he would not be surprised if some district schools end up on the list of low achievers, though he has not received any notice from the state. The law requires the department of education to notify districts with low achieving schools by Aug. 1 this year and by Feb. 1 every year thereafter. The state must also post the list on its website by Sept. 1 this year and by Feb. 1 thereafter.

“It is our responsibility, no matter what the population of a school is, to educate these students,” Namey said, “but the bottom line is we are the number one school district in the area when it comes to transient population.

That complicates things more than people want to admit. We’re testing a good number of students that we never taught.”

Namey said the district is constantly working to overcome problems created by shifting demographics, and noted principals, administrators and teachers are currently undergoing intensive training thanks to a federal literacy grant funneled through the state.

Funding could be lost Namey also questioned the logic of labeling schools as low-achieving without offering to help them improve test results. “Are they going to provide additional support?” he asked.

In fact, the law is more likely to lead to a reduction in state funding. If a student attending a low-achieving school wins a scholarship and enrolls in a non-district school, the district loses the state subsidy for that student after one year. Namey said that could lead to “a significant loss” of money without a comparable cut in district costs.

“People think: ‘What’s the big deal?

You don’t have to teach them anymore.’ But the fact is we lose the money but our costs don’t necessarily go down.” A few students may leave a classroom, but if the reduction isn’t enough to eliminate a teaching position, costs are the same.

Hazleton Area Acting Superintendent Francis Antonelli saw another problem with the new law: Allowing all students within a low-achieving school’s “attendance boundary” to seek and use the new scholarships could prove overly broad.

murder of a student, which the school denied for months. In June, the department levied a $110,000 fine against Tarleton State University, a part of the Texas A&M University system, for three unreported sex offenses among more than 70 campus

“For example, if our high school is deemed low performing, its attendance boundary is the entire district,” Antonelli said, questioning if that meant any student in the district could use scholarship money to attend any school.

Antonelli also noted the law seems to allow a student already attending a private school to use the scholarship money at that private school. If that’s the case, students who live in Hazleton Area’s boundaries and attend MMI, a private school in Freeland, could apply for and receive a scholarship even though they may never have attended a district school.

The law also allows students in attendance boundaries of low-achieving schools to use scholarship money to enroll in other public schools that have signed up with the state to participate in the scholarship tax credit program.

Antonelli noted that means a Hazleton Area resident could use the money to attend, for example, Crestwood High School, and questioned how that would affect Crestwood’s budget.

According to the law, in such a scenario Crestwood would be paid up to the equivalent of its per-pupil state subsidy through the scholarship, but the student would not count in the district’s “Average Daily Membership,” an attendance calculation used by the state in determining a district’s annual subsidy.

Lastly, Antonelli noted, the new program may not directly use tax dollars to send students to private schools, but a business that donates to a scholarship fund pays less in taxes, reducing the amount of money going into the state’s general fund, and thus how much is available for public schools.

“With the tax credit going into a scholarship fund, you’re diverting money away from public education into the private and parochial school sector,” Antonelli said.

Seen as ‘choice’ Proponents of the program tout it as giving students trapped in poor schools more choice. The school choice advocacy group American Federation for Children hailed it as “an important milestone on the road to creating more comprehensive and broadbased private school choice in the Keystone State.”

Gov. Tom Corbett’s office dubbed this and other education laws passed in a flurry of activity June 30 “legislation that will bring sweeping changes to improve the quality of the state’s education system.”

But critics contend tax dollars are essentially leaving public schools and going to private and charter schools that aren’t held to the same standards.

The state also is implementing a new, more complex teacher evaluation system in public schools, but has no such requirement for private schools receiving money through tax credits.

And in calculating the low-achieving schools, the state takes charter schools – public schools free of many state regulations – out of the equation.

In the Times Leader analysis, this move changed the outcome. When charters were included in the calculations, both Hazleton Area and GAR High School were bumped out of the bottom 15 percent, and thus would be off the list of low-achieving schools.

Going strictly by the total percentage of students scoring proficient or better in math and reading tests in 2010-11, 37 charter high schools and 24 charter elementary schools were in the bottom 15 percent statewide.

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THE TIMES LEADER

crimes not publicly disclosed.

But Virginia Tech, fined $55,000 for its decision to delay campus warnings of a gunman who would kill 33 people in April 2007, saw its $55,000 fine overturned by an administrative law judge in March. And a federal judge reduced an $82,500 Clery Act fine against Washington State University to $15,000.

The Department of Education has been investigating Penn State since November, when the scope of Sandusky’s misconduct emerged after the release of a scathing grand jury report. The former assistant football coach is awaiting sentencing after being convicted last month of sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years in his home, on team trips and in school locker rooms. The school could be fined up to $27,000 per violation and have its federal student aid withheld.

“Our investigation covers not just the Sandusky allegations but all potential sexual offense issues at Penn State,” Department of Education spokesman Justin Hamilton said. “We’ll continue working with all relevant individuals, including campus officials and law enforcement personnel, to determine whether or not there were any violations of the Clery Act. We are taking a close look at the

POLICE BLOTTER HANOVER TWP. – Police Sunday said Michael Palchanis, 30, of WilkesBarre Street, was arrested on violating a protection from abuse order. Police said he harassed and threatened his ex-girlfriend at her residence on Fellows Avenue around 12:20 a.m. Sunday.

He also damaged the woman’s vehicle,

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Freeh report as well as all relevant information to determine how it may aid our investigation.”

The Freeh report documents several unsuccessful attempts

by Penn State campus police to persuade university leaders to boost their Clery Act efforts.

From 1991 to 2007, the university relied on an untrained crime prevention officer to oversee the program. When the officer told a supervisor he needed help or “we could get hurt really bad here,” he was told there was no money for such support.

The university created an online reporting system for Clery Act crimes that same year. By 2011, just one report had been submitted. Broader campus training sessions and outreach efforts drew little participation, and the school’s Clery Act policy remained in draft form in November — even as Spanier boasted to Freeh’s investigators that Penn State was “big on compliance, more than other universities.” The school has since hired a Clery Act compliance coordinator.

In a statement released by the campus safety group she helped create with her late husband, Connie Clery expressed her disappointment at the rampant abuse that unfolded on the campus just 170 miles from the

police said. Palchanis was taken into custody and was being held in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility to await an arraignment, police said.

HAZLETON -- Police said a summons was filed against Stanley Arthur Jr., 72, of Harleigh, directing him to respond to a district justice on a misdemeanor charge of illegally selling fireworks on July 9. Arthur was working at Pure Platinum Fireworks at the time on

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school her daughter attended, and in the state where she continues to live.

“I am saddened that these events occurred in Pennsylvania, where (my husband) Howard and I started our campus safety efforts 25 years ago,” she said. “Even so, I am heartened by the knowledge that there are many colleges and universities that are now considering their own policies and procedures and making changes in an effort to protect their students.

“There are valuable lessons for institutions to learn from this tragedy,” she added. “Students can only have a secure learning environment if the entire campus community makes their safety a priority.”

Alison Kiss, executive director of what is now known as the Clery Center for Security on Campus, suggested that the aftermath of Penn State could offer schools a belated chance to shore up their approach to taking crimes on campus seriously, just as the Virginia Tech shooting spurred improvements in threat assessment and emergency planning.

“Sad but true, we are a very reactionary society,” she said.

“More needs to be done to institutionalize campus safety. It should not fall just on the shoulders of campus police.”

South Pine Street, police said. He must respond to summons at District Justice Joseph Zola’s office, police said.

WILKES-BARRE – Police Saturday said two 10-feet lengths of copper welding leads were cut from the rear of a truck parked near the intersection of George Avenue and Parkin Street. The theft occurred between 10 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday, police said.

AP PHOTOS

Dozens of elderly Poles who helped save Jews during World War II were celebrated and praised for their heroism at a lunch in Warsaw, Poland, on Sunday.

Rescuers of Jews honored Poles who risked their lives to help neighbors are recognized.

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland — For decades, nobody really talked about them: the thousands of Poles, mostly Roman Catholics, who risked their lives during World War II to save Jewish friends, neighbors and even strangers.

Those discovered by the Germans were executed quickly, often with their entire families. And then, under communism, there was silence. The Jewish survivors would send letters and gifts in gratitude. But the Polish state ignored the rescuers. And they themselves kept quiet, out of modesty, or shame or fear of anti-Semitism. Sometimes they worried gift packages from the West would arouse the jealousy of neighbors in a period of economic deprivation.

“It wasn’t considered anything to be proud of,” said Ewa Ligia Zdanowicz , an 81-year-old whose parents hid a Jewish teenage girl in their home during the war.

That era is over.

A moving gathering of dozens of the rescuers on Sunday in Warsaw shows just how much has changed in Poland in the 23 years since communism fell. Dozens of Polish rescuers were celebrated and dined over a kosher lunch in an upscale hotel where Jewish representatives took turns praising them in speeches for their heroism.

The rescuers themselves deny that they are exceptional. With each other, they discuss other things, often their failing health, avoiding memories of executions and other brutality that they witnessed and which still bring them to tears.

“We did what we had to do,” said Halina Szaszkiewicz, 89. “There was nothing heroic about it.”

But the Jewish officials honoring them see it differently.

“You, the righteous of the world, think your behavior was ordinary, but we all know it was something more than that. It was truly extraordinary,” Stanlee Stahl, the executive vice president of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, the group that organized the luncheon, told them in a speech.

Those in attendance have all been recognized by Israel’s Yad Vashem as “Righteous Among the Nations,” non-Jews sometimes referred to colloquially as “righteous gentiles.”

These days it isn’t just grateful Jews who remember. The Polish state also honors and celebrates them, as appreciation grows for Poland’s vanished Jewish community — the largest in the world before the Holocaust. It is treated as long overdue recognition befitting a democratic nation.

But it’s also clear that officials seize with pride on this historical chapter to fight the stereotype of Poland as an antiSemitic country — a label that is painful to many Poles and which carries some truth, but also masks a hugely complex

Ewa Ligia Zdanowicz is one of dozens of Poles who helped save Jews.

reality.

Many Jews today still remember antiSemitism that their families suffered in Poland, not just from Germans — who carried out the Holocaust — but also from Poles whom they had lived alongside for centuries. Yet Poland also produced the greatest number of rescuers.

To date, more than 6,350 non-Jews in Poland have been recognized by Yad Vashem, more than any other country, Israeli Ambassador Zvi Rav-Ner said.

The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, based in New York, was founded in 1986 to provide financial help to those who rescued Jews during the Holocaust.

Today, it sends money to more than 750 elderly and needy rescuers in 22 countries.

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SPORTS SHOWCASE

By MARK GUYDISH mguydish@timesleader.com

The concern that a weekend suicide of a Pittston Area High School student resulted from years of bullying remained more anecdotal than fact Monday.

But the district was taking no chances by conducting interviews with students in tandem with an ongoing police investiga-

tion and looking into an extensive revamping of the 2006 antibullying policy, Superintendent Michael Garzella said.

There’s likely good reason to radically rework the policy: State statistics suggest student bullying has long been either overstated by those who insist it is rampant or is underreported by schools.

The discrepancy is so wide a West Chester state representative proposed a new law last week that would sharply tighten requirements for school anti-bullying efforts.

Garzella did not reject the con-

tention voiced by many and suggested on a Facebook memorial page that the 16-year-old student committed suicide after years of bullying, including on or near school grounds.

But Garzella did say that, at least initially, there was no concrete evidence of bullying, though the district was still investigating.

Garzella said a 2009 YouTube video apparently of the student being bullied on a school bus seemed less conclusive than some have suggested.

“It’s very difficult to hear the audio, and it’s hard to tell wheth-

BULLYING: OVERSTATED OR UNDERREPORTED?

Annual state “School Safety Reports” filed by local school districts must include the number of incidents of bullying. This chart shows bullying is a very small part of total incidents reported.

Bullying incidents Total incidents Bullying as percent of total Pittston Area Greater Nanticoke Area Luzerne County 2011 3 82 3.66% 0 34 0% 18 663 2.7% 2010 0 26 0% 0 82 0% 12 892 1.35% 2009 0 57 0% 0 74 0% 6 770 0.78% 2008 3 96 3.13% 0 68 0% 18 640 2.81% 2007 1 50 2% 1 80 1.25% 26 666 3.9% Source: Pa. Department of Education

Ex-coach sues Dallas over firing

YANKEES 6 TWINS 3 WHITE SOX 5 INDIANS 4

Ted Jackson was relieved of his duties as head football coach in a move he calls political.

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In response to the suicide, the er the child is being bullied or the kids are just messing around,” he district brought in crisis counselsaid. Still, he added, “that’s one ors Monday and converted the piece of evidence; we’re not disSee BULLY, Page 10A missing anything.”

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Ethan Nape of Nancy McAndrew’s second-grade gifted class at Chester Street Elementary in Kingston calls on a classmate during a game of occupation charades, during which each student was given an occupation to act out.

Altogether gifted

Advanced students have self-contained classes

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By SUSAN DENNEY Times Leader Correspondent

INGSTON – Isaac Bolan, 7, couldn’t pin down the best thing about school at Chester Street Elementary.

“There’s a lot of them because I like school,” said the second-grader, who is participating in Wyoming Valley West’s gifted program. He said he wants to be a scientist.

Unlike other gifted programs in Luzerne County, the district provides a self-contained classroom for gifted students in grades one through five where gifted children with similar abilities are grouped together.

One is fifth grader Hannah Maxwell, 10. She said the best thing about school is “learning with my friends.” She – like Isaac – has lofty goals.

“I’d like to be a writer,” Hannah said. “I want to write realistic fiction.”

Her former teacher, Nancy McAndrew, said Hannah is already on her way to a writing career. She was turning in whole chapters regularly when McAndrew taught her in second grade. McAndrew is head teacher of the gifted program.

Both Isaac and Hannah have a better chance of meeting their

Murphy Pick talks with his second-grade teacher Nancy McAndrew outside the classroom.

goals, thanks to their teachers and classmates in the unique program.

Grouping gifted students Charles Suppon, superintendent of the Wyoming Valley West School See GIFTED, Page 10A

SCRANTON – Former Dallas head football coach Ted Jackson believes he lost his job leading the Mountaineers on the gridiron because some school directors have a political affiliation with his replacement.

Jackson, 61, of Dallas, through his attorney, Kim Borland, filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the Dallas School District and six school directors alleging he was fired as head coach after he spoke out against the suspension of his Jackson Sr. son, Ted Jackson Jr., as a coach in the district.

Jackson Jr. was suspended as an assistant football coach for two games during the 2011 season after receiving unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in consecutive games. He stepped down as the high school’s basketball coach in Jackson Jr. November.

The lawsuit alleges school directors retaliated against Jackson by opening the position of head football coach in December.

Jackson applied for the position and claims in the lawsuit he was asked if he would agree to “drop his son from his coaching staff if he was reappointed to the position.”

Jackson claims he replied he would abide by policy of the district’s athletic department with respect to the hiring of assistant coaches.

Prior to Jackson’s interview, according to the lawsuit, school directors changed district policy from having assistant coaches selected by the head coach to being chosen by school directors.

School directors in February hired Robert Zaruta as head football coach.

The lawsuit alleges school directors Catherine Wega, Maureen B. Matiska, Karen B. Kyle, Larry G. Schuler, Richard G. Coslett and Charles Preece, See COACH, Page 10A

Four more lawyers join Public Defender’s Office

By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@timesleader.com

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School eyes its bullying policy

Pittston Area is taking a close look at the weekend suicide of a district student.

Breezy conditions at Fox Hill Country Club didn’t bother Holy Redeemer’s Mariano Medico and Pittston Area’s Ryan Tracy during Monday’s Pre-District Golf Tournament. Medico cruised to the Class 2A championship firing a 73, while Tracy claimed his first career tournament victory with a 75 to claim the 3A title. PAGE 1B

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

Luzerne County Chief Public Defender Al Flora has hired four assistant public defenders as part of a court ruling ordering the county to provide his office with sufficient staff.

The addition of the $40,000 salaried positions comes as other departments have been instructed to hunt for personnel savings.

Personnel cuts will be neces-

sary before the end of the year to avoid a projected $875,000 yearend deficit and develop a realFlora istic spending plan for 2013, county Manager Robert Lawton told county council last month.

Lawton said he would welcome suggestions for cuts, including union concessions,

though he’s prepared to impose reductions if necessary.

Flora said the four positions were vacated when employees left, and he soon will be advertising for a fifth assistant public defender to fill another vacancy.

He declined to discuss other potential staff additions, saying lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union representing him are negotiating with county attorneys as part of court mediation.

A county judge in June ordered the county to provide adequate funding for the public defenders’ office to represent indigent defendants but didn’t specify the dollar amount or number of employees that must be added.

The order stemmed from a suit filed by Flora through the ACLU arguing the office couldn’t provide adequate defense due to inadequate staffing and funding.

Lawyers on both sides are at-

tempting to reach an agreement on what specific additions will meet the “adequate” definition.

As of Monday, the public defender’s office spent 62 percent of its $2.49 million budget this year, or $1.5 million.

With the four new staffers, the office is “not even back to 2007 staffing levels,” Flora said.

In addition to Flora, the office employs 37 people -- 13 part-time See FLORA, Page 10A

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GIFTED Continued from Page 1A

District, said research shows that gifted students learn best when grouped with other gifted students.

“They feed off of each other.

They are competitive by nature,” he said.

Suppon believes the district’s self-contained gifted classroom program is the only one like it in the state. The program goes back to the very creation of the district in 1967.

“It’s up to each individual school district how they want to implement gifted services,” Suppon said. “The job of this district is to challenge all of our students.

For this district, this is the way we feel we can challenge these kids to the utmost.”

The program begins in first grade. The first year, students cover the first-grade curriculum in the fall and the second-grade curriculum in the spring. From then on, the curriculum is advanced by a year until students complete the program in fifth grade.

“After fifth grade, students often join the honors program in the middle school with some

BULLY Continued from Page 1A

high school library into a counseling center, Garzella said. Administrators were talking to students “throughout the day,” both to help them cope with the tragedy and to listen to any information about potential bullying.

Administrators also “met with faculty on how to handle the whole situation,” Garzella said, with the emphasis on helping people cope while avoiding any attempt to “sensationalize the whole thing.”

Jenkins Township police did not return calls Monday.

Garzella said the death prompted him to look into revisions, including contacting Hazleton Area Superintendent Francis Antonelli to discuss extensive new efforts being implemented there.

Hazleton policy updated Hazleton Area unveiled a policy three years in the making by a committee spearheaded by Hazleton police Chief Frank DeAndrea, whose daughter was a victim of bullying.

Antonelli said the new policy includes a full anti-bullying curriculum taught in all grades by all teachers from kindergarten through graduation.

“It teaches the students how to recognize bullying, how to report it, how to seek relief if you’re a victim, and the consequences of bullying,” Antonelli said. “In addition to that, the committee developed training modules for every employee, from me to the teaching staff, to the custodial and cafeteria workers. Everyone must undergo the online training in unlawful harassment and in anti-bullying.”

After taking two courses, employees must take an online exam and score 100 percent; anything less and the program puts them back into training. Once they score 100 percent, they get a certificate that must be presented to their supervisor to prove the course was completed and tests passed.

Despite all the changes, Antonelli conceded the most important part of anti-bullying efforts is often having the victim or other student report it.

Bullying has grown far beyond the school halls, playgrounds and bus rides, thanks to the Internet and social networking. Students can effectively be bullied 24 hours a day through sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, and school officials may never find out about it on their own.

“The key is reporting,” Antonelli said. “The victims need to know there are reporting protocols and remedies in place.” And to make sure the remedies work, the Hazleton Area policy calls for district officials to “sit down with parents of both the victim and the perpetrator and ask if they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the proposed remedy. And if either is dissatisfied, it’s back to the drawing board to find an action plan everyone agrees with.”

Asked how the district copes with bullies who just get angrier or otherwise ignore school intervention, Antonelli was blunt:

Emma Watchilla, a second grade student in Nancy McAndrew’s second grade gifted class, draws a picture of herself as a teacher.

of the program.

AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER

Murphy Pick and Ella Krypel work on a ‘What I Want to Be’ project in Nancy McAndrew’s secondgrade gifted class.

kind of special study in a high area of interest,” said school guidance counselor Allison Cryan.

Suppon said the program is not simply accelerated. He said the curriculum is “accelerated, compacted, differentiated and enriched.”

Students also do many special projects. For example, the second

TIMES LEADER POLICY The Times Leader does not normally publish the name of a person who takes his or her own life in a private way. Exceptions include if the person is well-known or we have confirmation through official or family sources.

“You file charges.”

Few reports of bullying School districts are required by state law to include cases of bullying in annual “School Safety Reports,” which list a wide range of incidents from harassment to rape, tobacco violations and weapons. A review of data for the past five years would suggest bullying is scarce locally. Luzerne County schools reported bullying incidents that comprised as little as 0.75 percent of total incidents reported in a given year to no more than 3.9 percent.

Pittston Area reported no bullying incidents in 2009 (the year the video in question was posted) and 2010, and only one to three incidents in the other three years reviewed.

Greater Nanticoke Area, where the Sept. 18 suicide of a 13-yearold student has also been blamed on bullying by some in the community, reported only one bullying incident in the last five years: A 2007 case which comprised 1.25 percent of all incidents was reported that year.

Since 2009, the state also has required all districts to adopt or amend anti-bullying policies that detail disciplinary consequences and prevention and intervention programs. Policies must be prominently displayed in schools and online, and reviewed every three years.

The law describes bullying as “an intentional electronic, written, verbal or physical act, or series of acts” that occurs in a school setting, is “severe, persistent or pervasive,” and results in “substantially interfering with a student’s education,” creates “a threatening environment” or “substantially disrupts orderly operation of the school.”

But anti-bullying advocates contend the law falls far short, and that bullying is grossly underreported. A Monday press release from the Pennsylvania Student Equality Coalition touting a proposed new anti-bullying law cited a 2009 study by the Centers for Disease Control, which said that 19 percent of students in Pennsylvania were bullied on school grounds.

The proposed law, submitted by state Rep. Dan Truitt, R-West Chester, leaves fewer details of anti-bullying policies up to the districts, tightening definitions and reporting requirements.

But both Antonelli and Garzella warned that a district anti-bullying policy, however rigorous, can’t work alone. The effort must go beyond school walls, something Antonelli said the new Hazleton Area policy tries to do by reaching out to parents and law enforcement more aggressively.

“It really needs to be a communitywide effort,” Garzella said, “and I think that’s how we have to approach it as we talk with our students.”

grade builds leprechaun traps.

Fourth-graders build bridges.

“A lot of it requires analytical thinking,” Suppon said of the special projects.

McAndrew said the program can take getting used to for some of the students.

“My job is to challenge them.

This means not getting 100s all

the time. They’re perfectionists.

The ‘100’ syndrome is there, but they get over it quickly,” she said.

Suppon said board members sometimes question the program because of monetary concerns.

Class sizes are smaller in the gifted classrooms.

But district leaders emphasized the importance and success

They’re kids at heart McAndrew said that although the students learn quickly, they are still children. She said she sees “the contrast between talking about world history and then fighting over Legos.”

Students who qualify are provided busing to the magnet campus on Chester Street. Chapter 14, or developmentally delayed, students are also taught at the campus, along with children for whom the campus is their neighborhood school.

According to Suppon, about 50 percent of the students at Ches-

Group criticizes Catholic decree Reform group in Germany says bishops send wrong message with “pay to pray” rule.

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press

BERLIN — A Catholic reform group in Germany criticized the country’s bishops Monday for declaring that believers who refuse to pay religious taxes won’t be able to receive the sacrament, become godparents or work in church institutions.

A century-old agreement with the state adds up to nine percent to the income tax bill of Germany’s 25 million registered Roman Catholics, earning the church more than $5.2 billion annually. The same tax applies to Protestants and Jews.

The churches use the income to pay employees’ salaries and fund social work such as care for the elderly. The churches themselves aren’t taxed by the state but instead pay an administrative fee for the collection of religious tax. Donations represent a far smaller share of the churches’ income than in the United States.

The Catholic bishops’ decree in Germany last week is part of an attempt to stem the steady flow of people who opt out of paying religious taxes. It declares that they have committed a “grave lapse” and effectively left the church.

But the group We are Church — which claims to represent tens of thousands of grassroots Catholics — said the bishops’ decision to freeze believers out if they don’t pay up was “the wrong signal at the wrong time.”

“Instead of seeking to understand the reasons for the high number of people leaving the church, this decree by the bishops repre-

FLORA Continued from Page 1A

assistant public defenders and 10 full-time, a part-time first assistant, two juvenile unit social workers, a chief investigator, a deputy investigator, two staff investigators, five secretaries, a receptionist and an office administrator.

The yet-to-be hired full-time assistant public defender will bring the count to 39.

Roughly 550 indigent defendants were turned away from the public defender’s office earlier this year because Flora cited a lack of staffing, but a pool of county staff conflict counsel lawyers agreed in July to represent them to erase the backlog.

Flora declined to discuss the status of the backlog Monday, citing the ongoing media-

COACH Continued from Page 1A

who are named in the lawsuit, have a political affiliation with Zaruta.

Zaruta’s son, Bob Zaruta, is chairman of the Luzerne County Young Republicans, which supported the campaign of Stefanie Salavantis for Luzerne County district attorney.

Salavantis, a graduate of Dallas High School, won the post in the 2011 general election.

Salavantis’ brother, Stephen Salavantis, was appointed by

sents a threat to the church’s members," it said.

The group said many German Catholics choose not to pay religious taxes because they disagree with the church’s actions, not because they have lost their faith. It said the decision undermined the bishops’ own efforts to regain credibility among believers who have become disenchanted by the fact that for decades the Catholic Church covered up child abuse by priests.

Almost 3 million German Catholics have opted out of paying church taxes in the past two decades. In 2010, at the height of abuse revelations in Germany, some 180,000 took the step — the highest yearly number ever recorded.

On Wednesday, Germany’s top administrative court is scheduled to hear the case of retired German theology Professor Hartmut Zapp, who wants to leave the church as an institution but remain a member of the Catholic community.

“The decree clarifies that one cannot partially leave the church,” the bishops said last week.

When a German Catholic decides to stop paying religious tax, their parish priest will in the future send a letter outlining the costs of such a decision. These include being denied a church burial “unless you have shown remorse in some way before your death,” according to a template of the letter posted on the website of the German Bishops’ Conference.

“Maybe you haven’t considered the consequences of your decision and would like to reverse this step,” the letter adds, inviting the believer to seek out their priests for a clarifying chat.

tion in his court case.

The county administration allowed Flora to follow his selection process, instead of the one in the county personnel code, because the hirings were part of the court order, officials said.

The county’s personnel code involves the county human resources department in the initial screening and subsequent selection process and requires the development of “knowledge, skills and abilities,” or KSAs, for the rating and ranking of all applicants.

Instead, Flora said 11 of the 45 applicants who responded to a public advertisement were interviewed by a panel that included several senior lawyers from his office and Mike Zimmerman, of the county’s Juvenile Task Force. County Human Resources Director Andrew Check also participated in two of the three panel interviews, he said.

Applicants were required to submit writ-

school directors in February as a volunteer assistant football coach, according to minutes of the school board’s meeting.

Salavantis did not return a message for comment on Monday.

The suit alleges the named school directors supported Salavantis’ candidacy but does not specify how.

A review of Salavantis’ campaign finance reports did not show any contributions from Zaruta and school directors named in Jackson’s lawsuit.

Jackson claimed he has been head coach at Dallas since 1984, winning district and conference titles and the 1993

ter Street receive either gifted or special education.

All students come together for music, art, computer training, library visits, physical education, recess and lunch.

Cryan said students can enter the gifted program through a parent or teacher referral. Then the student is screened by testing.

Irvin DeRemer, director of elementary education for the district, said, “Most of the kids are identified as first-graders.”

He also said that allowances could be made so that other children in a family could attend the same school with a child in the gifted program.

POLICE BLOTTER BUTLER TWP. – Police reported the following incidents: • A resident of Dogwood Lane in Bentwood Village reported holes were drilled in the gas tank of his vehicle during the early morning hours of Sept. 12.

• A resident of Trapper Springs Lane in the Beech Mountain Lakes development reported his vehicle was entered the night of Sept. 15, but nothing was stolen. The resident told police he was alerted by the family dog to someone near in the area.

• A laptop computer was stolen from a residence on Maple Street.

The computer belonged to a 20-year-old woman from Hazleton who stored it at a friend’s residence. The theft of the Dell Inspiron 15 computer with serial number 3266466061 was discovered Thursday.

• A driver who avoided a deer on St. John’s Road Wednesday night lost control and crashed into several trees. Ryan Kotansky, 18, of Drums, suffered minor injuries. His vehicle sustained severe damage and was towed from the scene.

ing samples and information about the types of court cases they’ve handled. Panel members marked observations on a rating sheet and collectively recommended six applicants to be interviewed by Flora, he said.

Flora said he interviewed each of the six for about an hour and contacted multiple references.

He selected the following full-time assistant public defenders, who are receiving the union-mandated starting salary of $40,000 plus benefits: Nancy Prescott, Jena Piazza, Maura Armezzani and Caelie Sweigart.

The same selection process was followed for the past hiring of juvenile lawyers, he said.

“It really works well. I thought it was a very thorough process, and we hired the best qualified with no cronyism involved,” Flora said.

Class 2A state title, and has assisted numerous student athletes in going to college. He was replaced by Zaruta, who did not have any head coaching experience at the varsity level, according to the lawsuit.

Zaruta and Dallas school district solicitor Benjamin Jones did not return messages for comment.

Jackson alleged high school principal Jeffrey Shaffer in 2010 gave him a “Satisfactory” report of how he conducted himself coaching the football team on-and-off the field in 2010. Shaffer noted on the 2010 report, “Mr. Jackson has done an excellent job of coach-

ing his team this season.”

Shaffer’s assessment of Jackson for the 2011 season was “Unsatisfactory,” noting Jackson failed to follow policies, used expletives during games, and failed to assist athletes in the process of gaining scholarships for college.

Shaffer noted in the 2011 evaluation that Jackson told the football team he was “not sure he if was going to coach the Oct. 22 (2011) game v. Pocono Mountain as he was mad about suspension of assistant coach (Ted Jackson Jr.),” the lawsuit says.

Jackson has an overall record of 221-74-3.

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Area schools’ state test scores fall

Local officials cite cuts in tutoring programs, though state sees another reason.

By MARK GUYDISH mguydish@timesleader.com

Not only did the majority of local schools miss state academic goals this year, most of them actually slid backwards in math and reading test results, with the percentage of students scoring proficient or better dropping more often than rising compared to last year.

The slip mirrors a statewide trend that state Secretary of Education Ron Tomalis attributed to a crackdown on suspected test cheating and implementation of new test protocols. But local officials cite a different culprit: Cuts in state money that helped struggling students.

“The biggest issue for us was loss of the Accountability Block Grant,” Dallas School District Director of Curriculum Paul Reinert said, referring to a chunk of state money annually given to districts with limited strings attached. That grant was cut by the

Jobless rate is up again

Corbett administration last year, though some money was restored this year.

“We used that money to fund before-school tutoring programs,” Reinert said, programs often tailored to help students struggling with material in the state tests.

Dallas saw the percentage of students scoring proficient or better in reading slip in all four schools, while the percentage in math tests slipped in two. The one big success: high school math, where the percentage scoring proficient or better climbed

from 60.2 percent to 68.7 percent.

High school Principal Jeffrey Shaffer said he believes the success stems from a daily effort to incorporate lessons geared toward the state math tests.

Shaffer also lamented the loss of state money that funded tutoring programs. “Any time you lose face time with the student, lose tutoring time, it can hurt,” he said.

Wyoming Valley West Superintendent Chuck Suppon suspects a big drop in math and reading results at State Street Elementary

GOING BACKWARDS IN STATE TESTS

Most area schools saw the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced in state tests decline this year.

Percent of schools with increase Percent of schools with decrease

Tomalis

Reading

Reinert

may have been caused in part by disruption as the school was expanded to absorb students from the now-closed Pringle and Main Street elementary schools. Most of the construction work was

80% Math 63%

See TESTS, Page 8A

Mark Guydish/The Times Leader

DPW boss disciplined, W-B says

A FUN WAY TO FIGHT BULLYING

The region’s unemployment rate hit 9.4 percent, the highest in a year.

A photo of a privately owned truck on a city lift brings admission of action.

By ANDREW M. SEDER aseder@timesleader.com

By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@timesleader.com

The unemployment rate in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Statistical Area continued a four-month rise in August, hitting 9.4 percent, the highest in a year. August also was the 29th consecutive month the local jobless rate was highest among Pennsylvania’s 14 large employment markets.

Pennsylvania’s rate increased two-tenths of a percentage point over the month to 8.1 percent, while the nation’s rate decreased twotenths, to 8.1 percent. The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre rate was unchanged over the year, as was Pennsylvania’s, while the U.S. rate was down a full percentage point.

Seasonally adjusted total non-farm jobs in the region increased by 1,300 over the month to 258,700 and 4,000 over the year, an increase of 1.6 percent. That made this one of only three regions in Pennsylvania to post positive job gains both month-tomonth and year-to-year, along with Philadelphia and Reading.

WILKES-BARRE – The head of the city’s Department of Public Works was disciplined last year after evidence surfaced that he had used city employees to work on his truck at the DPW garage, a city official confirmed Monday.

The incident involving Kenneth Pahler is the latest of several controversies surrounding his employment with the city that have led to disciplinary action.

In 2010, Pahler faced disciplinary action after the city learned he had used a backhoe to clear debris from his home. Most recently he and Mayor Tom Leighton have come under investigation for failing to document their usage of city fuel in their private vehicles.

The disciplinary action taken relating to the truck repair had remained secret until Monday, when Drew McLaughlin, administrative coordinator for the city, confirmed the action after being provided a copy of a photo that shows Pahler’s truck up on a lift at the DPW garage.

The photo was provided to The Times Leader

by Frank Sorick, president of the Wilkes-Barre Taxpayers Association.

Sorick said someone recently sent him the photo anonymously. He said he released it in hopesitwouldpromptaninvestigationofPahler, not knowing the city was already aware of the issue.

McLaughlin said the city was provided a copy of a photo of Pahler’s truck on the lift about a year ago, though he could not be certain if the photo is the same one The Times Leader received.

“It was brought to the attention of a city official

AIMEE DILGER PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER

A

BOVE: Dressed as the school mascot and wearing a parachute pack, West Hazleton Elementary-Middle School Principal Jocelyn Podlesney gives students high fives.

RIGHT: Montrell Edwards and fellow kindergarteners shield their eyes from the sun as they watch a parachutist jump from a plane – a planned surprise for the students – as they line up to spell out ‘kNOw Bullying’ on the school baseball field on Monday morning to open the school’s anti-bullying initiative. Read Times Leader Director of Interactive and New Media Nick DeLorenzo’s take on cyber-bullying in his Tech Talk column on Page 7B.

See PAHLER, Page 8A

See UNEMPLOYMENT, Page 8A

Unemployment rate

Seasonally adjusted rate for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre labor market 9.6% 9.4 9.2

9.4%

9.4%

Monthly rate, Sept. 2011-Aug. 2012

9.0 8.8 8.6 8.4 8.2

S O N D J F M A M J J A

SOURCE: Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Center for Workforce Information & Analysis

Mark Guydish/The Times Leader

INSIDE

Stakes high as presidential debate nears

By JULIE PACE Associated Press

HENDERSON, Nev. — Nearing their first face-off, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney are hunkering down for intense preparations ahead of Wednesday’s presidential debate, where the GOP nominee hopes to change the trajectory of the White House race.

Obama was huddling Monday with top advisers at a desert resort in Nevada.

Romney had practice planned in Massachusetts, where he also spent most of the

A NEWS Local 3A Nation & World 5A Obituaries 6A Editorials 9A

weekend working with his debate team.

The Republican challenger was then headed to Denver, the site of the first debate, later Monday for a rally and more preparation for the high-stakes event.

Five weeks from Election Day, polls show Romney trailing Obama in many of the nine states that will determine the outcome of the White House race. The three October debates give Romney one of his best opportunities to stem Obama’s momentum and convince the public to back his vision for the nation’s future.

Cloudy with showers

High 66 Low 55 Weather, 8B

B SPORTS Weather 8B B BUSINESS Stocks

7B

INSIDE: Debate issue divides Barletta, Stilp, Page 3A.

“What I’m most concerned about is having a serious discussion about what we need to do to keep the country growing and restore security to hardworking AP PHOTO Americans,” Obama said during a rally in Las Vegas Sunday night.

President Barack Obama, center, apAs the candidates prepped for a debate pears with the musical group Mana at focused on domestic issues, Republicans campaign event at Desert Pines High School on Sunday. He was in Nevada to prepare for the first presidential debate against GOP challenger Mitt Romney.

See DEBATE, Page 8A

C HEALTH Birthdays Television Puzzles

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Comics

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User: maed Time: 10-01-2012

23:11 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 10-02-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_01 PageNo: 8 A

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PAGE 8A TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012

The majority of local schools saw a decline in the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced in state math and reading tests this year.

NA - No data available, usually because school did not teach grades Increase Decrease tested Math 2011 2012

Bear Creek Charter 71.2% CRESTWOOD High School 59.5% Middle School 85.5% Fairview El. 88.9% Rice El .

94.4% DALLAS Dallas El. 91.4% Middle School 92.7% High School 60.2% Wycallis El. 97.8% GREATER NANTICOKE AREA Elementary Center 70.8% Education Center 88.4% K. M. Smith El. NA High School 65.3% HANOVER AREA Jr./Sr. High School 66.7% Memorial 79.6% Lee Park El. NA Lyndwood El. 74.1% HAZLETON AREA Drums El./Middle 87.7% Freeland El/Middle 74.9% High School 43.7% Hazleton El./ Middle 65.0% Heights Terrace El./Middle 74.9% Mcadoo-Kelayres El. 78.9% Valley El./Middle 87.5% West Hazleton El./Middle 80.7% LAKE-LEHMAN Jr./Sr. High School 73.5% Lake-Noxen El. 84.9% Lehman-Jackson El. 90.5% Ross El. 90.5% NORTHWEST AREA Hunlock Township El. 67.9% High School 67.2% PITTSTON AREA Middle School 80.2% High School 70.1% Intermediate Center 83.0% WEST SIDE CTC 19.7% WILKES-BARRE AREA Daniel J. Flood El. 75.7% Dodson El. 62.1% Dr. David W. Kistler El. 61.9% Meyers High School 50.5% GAR High School 50.0% Heights-Murray El. 70.5% Coughlin High School 55.4% Solomon/Plains El. 86.6% Solomon/Plains Jr. High 67.8% WYOMING AREA Kennedy El. Center 97.5% Montgomery Avenue El. 88.3% Sara J. Dymond El. 84.1% Tenth Street El. 86.2% Secondary Center 76.3% WYOMING VALLEY WEST Chester Street El. 76.5% Dana El. 88.7% Main El. 80.0% Pringle Street El. 73.7% Schuyler Avenue El. 72.7% State El. 81.1% Third Avenue El. 85.9% Middle School 66.6% High School 59.0%

Reading 2011 2012

74.6%

79.1%

8.3%

4.5%

59.3% 85.8% 91.8% 91.4%

71.3% 92.7% 80.2% 86.1%

71.4% 91.1% 84.6% 84.4%

-0.2% 0.3% 2.9% -3.0%

0.1% -1.6% 4.4% -1.7%

92.2% 87.8% 68.7% 97.1%

91.0% 87.2% 74.1% 94.5%

86.4% 85.7% 73.0% 94.0%

0.8% -4.9% 8.5% -0.7%

-4.6% -1.5% -1.1% -0.5%

73.8% 90.6% 0.0% 70.3%

65.2% 74.0% NA 75.4%

63.3% 77.1% NA 74.2%

3.0% 2.2% NA 5.0%

-1.9% 3.1% NA -1.2%

62.1% 59.5% 65.6% NA

74.0% 59.3% NA 60.8%

68.1% 48.1% 63.3% NA

-4.6% -20.1% NA NA

-5.9% -11.2% NA NA

85.3% 66.1% 41.9% 53.5% 63.5% 75.0% 85.7% 62.9%

84.2% 75.9% 61.7% 61.2% 68.8% 73.4% 85.9% 71.7%

81.1% 66.2% 57.0% 52.9% 53.6% 65.0% 81.7% 57.0%

-2.4% -8.8% -1.8% -11.5% -11.4% -3.9% -1.8% -17.8%

-3.1% -9.7% -4.7% -8.3% -15.2% -8.4% -4.2% -14.7%

70.4% 86.5% 87.6% 88.3%

83.6% 70.9% 81.9% 81.3%

77.4% 80.2% 78.3% 82.6%

-3.1% 1.6% -2.9% -2.2%

-6.2% 9.3% -3.6% 1.3%

68.0% 69.0%

68.9% 78.8%

68.8% 81.5%

0.1% 1.8%

-0.1% 2.7%

79.5% 79.7% 83.2% 7.0%

78.5% 79.4% 76.1% 22.5%

77.3% 80.8% 73.2% 21.7%

-0.7% 9.6% 0.2% -12.7%

-1.2% 1.4% -2.9% -0.8%

65.9% 60.4% 57.9% 51.7% 54.5% 51.6% 58.0% 79.9% 60.6%

59.7% 47.3% 52.2% 65.5% 58.6% 50.1% 66.4% 75.7% 71.4%

51.6% 46.0% 50.9% 61.3% 52.9% 39.8% 63.7% 68.7% 69.4%

-9.8% -1.7% -4.0% 1.2% 4.5% -18.9% 2.6% -6.7% -7.2%

-8.1% -1.3% -1.3% -4.2% -5.7% -10.3% -2.7% -7.0% -2.0%

97.1% 88.6% 81.0% 86.7% 79.5%

97.5% 80.9% 81.9% 83.0% 80.4%

80.0% 77.6% 82.3% 77.4% 77.0%

-0.4% 0.3% -3.1% 0.5% 3.2%

-17.5% -3.3% 0.4% -5.6% -3.4%

84.4% 83.9% 69.0% 56.4% 69.2% 64.8% 78.3% 63.4% 63.9%

72.9% 77.1% 67.7% 50.9% 60.3% 72.9% 74.6% 69.6% 68.6%

81.2% 73.6% 53.4% 50.9% 58.5% 56.9% 73.4% 67.1% 65.2%

7.9% -4.8% -11.0% -17.3% -3.5% -16.3% -7.6% -3.2% 4.9%

8.3% -3.5% -14.3% 0.0% -1.8% -16.0% -1.2% -2.5% -3.4%

TESTS Continued from Page 1A

done during this summer, but there was a lot of prep work and planning last year.

“It’s not an excuse, but every day they were dealing with something,” he said.

Suppon also pointed to state cuts that left after-school tutoring programs out of the budget.

“We were seeing significant improvements through after-school tutoring and that’s gone,” he said.

Upon releasing state test results Sept., 21, Tomalis noted the percentage of students statewide scoring proficient or better in math declined by 1.4 percent while the percentage in reading dropped 1.6 percent. He argued the slip stemmed from a state investigation into possible adult cheating on student tests and tighter security measures on state protocols. Tomalis made no mention of nearly $1 billion cut out of the state education budget his first year in office.

The investigation began after an older state study surfaced last year that had found statistical reasons – primarily high erasure marks changing wrong answers to correct ones -- to suspect cheating in several school districts. An

UNEMPLOYMENT Continued from Page 1A

But it was the only metro area above 9 percent unemployment.

Once again, one of the region’s best performing supersectors – categories encompassing several types of similar businesses -- was transportation, warehousing and utilities, which gained 200 jobs month-to-month and 600 year-over-year. The supersector has posted year-over-year gains for 94 straight months dating back to November 2004.

W

S

THE TIMES LEADER

www.timesleader.com

Change Math Reading

79.5%

Source: Pa. Department of Education

E

CENTRAL COURT IS NOT IN SESSION

STATE TEST RESULTS SLIP

School

N

CMYK

Color: C K Y M

Mark Guydish/The Times Leader

investigation was launched in 48 districts, including Hazleton Area.

Tomalis announced the investigation determined student answer sheets had been altered as far back as 2008-09, inflating test results, though the state has released no details. The investigations in 30 districts have been closed; the Hazleton Area investigation continues.

Reinert dismissed the notion that the investigation or new test protocols caused any drop in Dallas. He noted the district has never been investigated or accused of cheating, and said the new test procedures were not significantly different.

While the district works toward the goal of all students being proficient in all subjects, some students simply require more attention than others. “I can teach anyone to read if you give me enough time,” Reinert said.

The state not only requires a minimum percentage of students to score proficient or better in math and reading tests, those goals rose this year and will rise again each of the next two years.

“The state asks us to do more with less,” Reinert said, “when it’s hard enough to do the same with less.”

Tommy Grimes, chief executive officer of Calex Logistics in Yatesville, said business has been good as more and more merchandise is transported by truck rather than train or air. Calex, which has a warehouse in Plains Township, has added about a dozen jobs the past year and is hoping to add another 10.

“Finding CDL operators is very hard in this area,” Grimes noted. “The natural gas industry is taking a lot of drivers out of the freight industry.”

The high unemployment rate masks some good news, said Steven Zellers, an analyst with the Pennsylvania Depart-

CLARK VAN ORDEN/THE TIMES LEADER

W

ilkes-Barre Central Court officially closed last week after six years in the Thomas C. Thomas Building on East Union Street, Wilkes-Barre. Luzerne County officials closed Central Court in an attempt to save $150,000 to offset a projected $1.25 million county deficit. Preliminary hearings and arraignments were held at Central Court and have since been transferred to one of 17 magisterial district courts, depending on where an alleged offense occurred.

A worker who did not want to give his name removes the Central Court signs from the building on Monday.

PAHLER Continued from Page 1A

and addressed with the employee.

They were disciplined,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin confirmed the truck belonged to Pahler but declined to detail what disciplinary action was taken, citing personnel policy. He said he did not know why the truck was on the lift, for repair or to be inspected.

“I have no knowledge of what was done. I only know personal vehicles are not to be inspected, looked at or worked on in any way usingcityresources,”McLaughlin said.

Reached at home Monday evening, Pahler said he did not recall being disciplined in relation to the truck last year.

As for the reason the truck was on a lift in the garage, Pahler said “it could have been when it was damaged at the Murray complex or in the flood. … I don’t recall, honestly I don’t. So much has happened in the past few years.”

Sorick said he’s skeptical if any serious action was taken against Pahler.

“I imagine they pulled the ruler outofthedesk,crackedhimacross the knuckles and said ‘Don’t do it again,’ ” Sorick said. “It’s a second egregious offense and he’s still employed as a DPW manager.”

In the 2010 incident, city officials confirmed Pahler had used a city backhoe, which was being used by crews working in his

DEBATE Continued from Page 1A

were keeping up the pressure on Obama on international issues, namely his administration’s handling of the attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya that led to the death of the American ambassador and three others.

Romney, in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, repeated his criticism of Obama for having called the attack and other unrest in the Middle East ment of Labor and Industry’s Center for Workforce Information & Analysis.

While the rate matches a year ago, 6,000 more residents of Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wyoming counties are working, while the ranks of the unemployed grew by 700 people. But because 6,700 more people were looking for jobs this August compared to last year, the unemployment rate was static, Zellers said.

“Your region has 6,000 more people working this August than last,” Zellers said. He said the larger employee pool is contributing to the unemployment rate remaining high.

SUBMITTED PHOTO

An anonymous person supplied this photo, taken last year, of a truck owned by Ken Pahler, head of Wilkes-Barre’s Department of Public Works, up on a lift at the DPW garage. Pahler was disciplined for using city employees to look at the truck, a city official confirmed.

neighborhood, to clear debris out the yard of his home, which was located on Spruce Street. He now lives on Gilligan Street.

The latest controversy surrounding gasoline usage remains under investigation by the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office.

In that case, detectives are trying to determine if Pahler, Leighton or other city employees improperly obtained fuel from the gas pumps at the DPW garage.

The probe was prompted by a Times Leader investigation that

revealed the city could not account for 18,000 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel that had been dispensed between Dec. 1, 2011 and June 22 this year.

Leighton has acknowledged neither he nor Pahler, who fueled their personal vehicles, signed log books detailing how much fuel they pumped or keep mileage records, leaving no way to verify if the fuel was used only for business purposes.

Sorick said he realizes the city might be limited in action it can take because Pahler is part of the

Teamsters union. The city must follow disciplinary procedures in the union contract.

“I know it has to go by the union guidelines,” he said.

He said he hopes Pahler at least received a suspension for the truck repair case. The public will never know, however, because personnel matters are exempt from the Open Records Law. “They could say he was reprimanded even if wasn’t; there’s no way to verify that. Their word is a little tarnished, to say least,” Sorick said.

“bumps in the road.”

“Our country seems to be at the mercy of events rather than shaping them,” Romney wrote.

“We’re not moving them in a direction that protects our people or our allies.”

Both candidates were spending the days leading up to the debate in battleground states, with Romney in Colorado and Obama in Nevada.

Romney’s intense focus on foreign policy is intended to undercut what the Obama campaign has seen as the president’s ironclad international affairs creden-

tials. To that end, Romney’s advisers said he’s planning a major foreign policy speech, to be delivered sometime after Wednesday’s debate.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki was dismissive of the argument.

“There is no op-ed or no speech which we’ve heard he may or may not give at some point that is going to change the view of the American people that he has been reckless, erratic and irresponsible on foreign policy issues every time he has had an opportunity to speak to

them,” Psaki told reporters in Henderson, Nev., where Obama is preparing for the debate.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Romney’s op-ed “contains no specifics or an alternative,” adding that most of the positions Romney was advocating “are no different from what the president is actually doing.”

One possible exception is Iran, Carney said, where Romney appears to oppose U.S. policy of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation.

“The alternative is war,” Carney said.

Calex Logistics’ employee Brian Wesley loads pallets of goods onto a trailer docked at the facility’s warehouse in Plains Township on Monday.

PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER