CMYK
Color: C K Y M
764977
User: rstouch Time: 06-30-2012 22:46 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 07-01-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_f PageNo: 1 A
The Times Leader timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE, PA
SPORTS SHOWCASE
SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012
P U Z Z L E AT T H E P U M P S
P E N N S TAT E
Who’s fueling who? Emails WILKES-BARRE’S UNACCOUNTED PETROL MISSING: 17,880 GALLONS (Dec. 1, 2011 to June 22, 2012)
WILD-CARD ENTRY PUTS TOGETHER PERFECT SET Absolutely perfect — 24 points played, 24 points won. In her third-round match at Wimbledon on Saturday, wild-card entry Yaroslava Shvedova, of Kazahstan, won every point in the 15-minute first set of what became a 6-0, 6-4 win over French Open runner-up Sara Errani of Italy. It’s the only “golden set” for a woman in 44 years of professional tennis. On Monday, she’ll face fourtime Wimbledon champ Serena Williams. Page 5C
10,260 7,620 D I E S E L Source: City records
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Research: Terrie Morgan-Besecker
Photo: Aimee Dilger
G A S O L I N E
Graphic: Mark Guydish/The Times Leader
YANKEES 4 WHITE SOX 0
Discrepancies startle W-B officials
NATIONAL LEAGUE
By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@timesleader.com
MARLINS 3 PHILLIES 2 PIRATES 4 CARDINALS 3 METS 5 DODGERS 0 IL BASEBALL
SWB YANKS 6 RED WINGS 4
INSIDE A NEWS: Local 3A Nation & World 5A Obituaries 8A B PEOPLE: 1B Community News 2-5B, 7-8B Birthdays 6B C SPORTS: Outdoors 10C D BUSINESS: 1D E VIEWS: Editorials 3E F ETC.: Puzzles 2-3F Movies 4F Books 5F Travel 6F G CLASSIFIED: 1G
WEATHER Lydia Mellner Partly cloudy, stray shower, T-storm. High 90. Low 67. Details, Page 12C
Wilkes-Barre city officials have acknowledged they are unable to account for nearly 18,000 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel that a Times Leader investigation revealed are mis“We sing from the thought we city’s fuel tanks had a good over the past months. checks and seven The city pumps, locatbalances ed at the Public system in Works Departplace” ment, dispensed a comMayor Tom Leighton bined total of at least 60,910 gallons of gasoline and diesel between Dec. 1, 2011 and June 22, a review of records shows. But a lack of oversight at the North Pennsylvania Avenue facility has left officials unable to identify where 17,880 gallons, or 29 percent of the total, went. Mayor Tom Leighton and other city officials said they were unaware of the discrepancies until advised of the newspaper’s findings. They vowed to investigate and take corrective action. See GAS, Page 12A
09815 10077
Leighton, DPW boss scrutinized By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@timesleader.com
AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER
The Wilkes-Barre city gas pumps are located at the Public Works Department.
WILKES-BARRE – City officials said they will consider whether tighter controls are needed to govern the use of city gasoline by Mayor Tom Leighton and the head of the public works department, both of whom fill pri- Leighton vate vehicles without any accountability for how the gas is used. Leighton and Ken Pahler, head of DPW, obtain city gas based on the fact they use their vehicles for city business. But a review of fuel records over the past seven months shows neither man has followed a policy that requires employees to fill out a log indicating how much fuel they dispensed. And neither Leighton nor See OFFICIALS, Page 12A
It will be e-asy to borrow digital books County Library System is negotiating with several e-book vendors. By MATT HUGHES mhughes@timesleader.com
6
$1.50
Anne Hogya, director of the Pittston Memorial Library, holds one of the Barnes & Noble Nooks the library is lending pre-loaded with bestsellers.
of what we already do,” Library System Director Richard Miller said. “We lend books, and ebooks are just another extension of that.” It’s an idea library directors said tech-savvy borrowers and librarians are eagerly awaiting. “It’s the future,” said Anne Hogya, director of the Pittston Memorial Library. “It’s what people want. Everybody’s so technology savvy now, and the younger generations expect a screen. Even in the school they have smart boards; they use screens.” Elaine Stefanko, information
Soon, borrowing a book from your local library may be as easy as turning on, logging in and checking out. The Luzerne County Library System is in negotiations with several e-book vendors and wants to begin lending digital books for the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook and other e-readers by fall. “It’s just really an extension See LIBRARY, Page 12A
CLARK VAN ORDEN/THE TIMES LEADER
indicate Sandusky hush-up Messages raise question of how much late coach Paterno was involved. The Associated Press
STATE COLLEGE — Emails show Penn State’s former president Graham Spanier agreed not to take allegations of sex abuse against ex-assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky to authorities but worried university officials would be “vulnerable” for failing to report it, a news organization has reported. The emails followed a graduate assist- Spanier ant’s 2001 report he saw Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy in the team locker room shower, CNN reported. Curley The existence of the emails was first reported earlier this month by NBC. The emails show athletic director Tim Curley and retired vice president Gary Schultz intended to report the allegation, then reconsidered. Spanier responded that he was “supportive” of their plan, but he worried they might “become vulnerable for not havSee SANDUSKY, Page 9A
Charters slowing legislators
Budget-related items lag as lawmakers disagree on education issues. By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG— With a deadline hours away, disagreements over publicly funded, privately run charter schools were creating a logjam as lawmakers worked to approve bills integral to the state budget and crucial to Gov. Tom Corbett’s agenda. The House and Senate, both controlled by Republicans, sent competing education bills to each other after support failed to materialize for changes Corbett sought to expand the creation of charter schools, a key part of his education agenda. But each of the bills, which were unveiled publicly shortly before being voted on Saturday, faced an uncertain future without a guarantee of support from the other chamber. Some of the provisions were similar. See BUDGET, Page 2A
User: rstouch Time: 06-30-2012 22:32 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 07-01-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_06 PageNo: 12 A
➛
PAGE 12A SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012
N
E
W
S
CMYK
Color: C K Y M
THE TIMES LEADER
www.timesleader.com
GAS
OFFICIALS
Continued from Page 1A
Continued from Page 1A
“I’m surprised at the amount of the discrepancy. We are going to have to have a meeting with the department heads next week,” Leighton said Friday. A reporter discovered the discrepancies by comparing paper logs city employees fill out each day that list the amount of fuel they pumped, to daily electronic inventory reports that show how much fuel was removed from the diesel and gasoline tanks. The review revealed that10,260 gallons of gasoline and 7,620 gallons of diesel that were dispensed from the tanks are not accounted for on the logs. The daily discrepancies were often significant – sometimes more than 100 gallons -- between the amount of fuel the employees reported they dispensed and the amount that was actually removed from the tanks. For instance, on Dec. 15, 2011 the computer-generated inventory report showed 256 gallons of diesel was dispensed, but employees listed just 73.8 gallons on the log sheets, a difference of 182.2 gallons. That same day the tank reading showed 201 gallons of gasoline was dispensed, but the logs showed just 104.1, a 96.9-gallon difference. On April 11, both the diesel and gasoline readings were off by more than 100 gallons. The tank report showed 220 gallons of gasoline was dispensed, but the paper log accounts for just 95.3 gallons, a difference of 124.7 gallons; for diesel fuel, the tank record shows 171 gallons gone, but the logs show just 48.7 gallons, a difference of 122.3 gallons. The actual amount of unaccounted-for fuel is likely higher as the newspaper was unable to determine fuel usage for 21 days in which fuel deliveries were made. Records related to the fuel deliveries were not immediately available. Without the records, it is not known how much fuel was in the tanks when fuel was added, making it impossible to determine how much was used that day. The exact dollar value of the missing fuel also could not be determined because records relating to the price per gallon in the months in question were not immediately available. Based on average cost per gallon in the East Coast on the months in question, the approximate value of the gasoline is $33,830 and diesel is $27,790 for, for a total of $61,620. The calculation excluded 31 cents per gallon in taxes on gas, and 33 cents per gallon on diesel since the city gets fuel tax free.
Mayor: Changes coming Leighton said it’s clear, given the size of the discrepancy between the logs and actual usage, that the city needs to revisit its policies. He said city officials will meet next week to determine what needs to be done to increase accountability. “We thought we had a good checks and balances system in place. “I’m confident no one is misusing gas, but it’s something we are going to have to look into and hold department heads more accountable.”
Pahler is required to keep mileage records detailing the amount of their business travel, meaning there’s no way to determine whether gasoline paid for with city tax dollars is being used for personal use. The lack of record keeping is among several issues that has left city officials unable to account for 17,880 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel that a Times Leader investigation revealed are missing from the city’s tanks from Dec. 1, 2011 to June 22 this year. The newspaper documented the shortages by comparing handwritten logs employees fill out that detail the amount of fuel dispensed to computer-generated reports from the fuel tanks that show how much fuel was removed each day. Leighton on Friday acknowledged he was remiss in failing to fill out the logs, but insisted he does not abuse the use of city fuel. He typically gets gas from the pumps about once very three weeks, he said. Leighton said he feels he’s entitled to use city gasoline because he’s on the job virtually 24-7, traveling to meetings and checking out various problems and issues throughout the city at all hours of the day. “TypicallyI’mneveroffduty.If I drive to the grocery store, I come out with five complaints. When I go to church or a restaurant, people come up to me with a complaint or something to do with the city,” he said. He noted prior mayors have had a city vehicle, but he opted to use his own car because the city is short on vehicles. Asked why he doesn’t seek mileage reimbursement, which would provide more accountability, Leighton said it would cost the city more to pay him the 55-cent per mile mileage rate than to provide him fuel, which the city gets for far below retail price because it pays no fuel taxes. “If you think I’m getting a benefit out of this, I’m a loser. I pay for my own tires, maintenance, oil changes,” Leighton said. “I drive on average 200 to 300 miles a month. Do the math. It’s cheaper.” Leighton said he could not explain why he has failed to fill out the fuel logs, but will be to do so in the future. He’s also plans to meet with department heads next week to make sure they stress the importance that their employees also fill out the logs. As for Pahler’s failure to fill out the logs, Leighton and city administrator Marie McCormick said that issue will be addressed. Pahler was investigated in 2010 after allegations were made that he used a city backhoe to remove debris from his yard. The city never revealed the results of the investigation or whether Pahler was disciplined. Drew McLaughlin, administrative coordinator, said Pahler uses his pickup truck to drive around the city, checking on employees and various work sites. McCormick said she does not know why Pahler has not filled out the fuel logs. She acknowledged there is a legitimate concern that his use of city fuel be verified. “I don’t know the history of what he’s put in what vehicle, but you are absolutely right, he shouldbemonitoredmoreclosely,” she said.
May 2011. The system currently has 3,311 titles available as ebooks or digital audio books. Luzerne County libraries have experimented with the idea. Several member libraries, including the Osterhout main branch, the Back Mountain Memorial Library and the Pittston Memorial Library have purchased e-readers and are lending them, preloaded with titles, like regular books. The Pittston Memorial Library recently purchased six Barnes and Noble Nook e-readers with funds from a gift drive. It lends them preloaded with about 50 New York Times bestsellers, library director Hogya said. “It helps the public become aware of what e-readers are,” Hogya said. “And they want to
try them out before they purchase one. We had only one negative comment; pretty much every person that’s borrowed one liked it. The majority said they like the e-reader but they still like the feel of a book in their hands.” Librarians agreed digital book distribution will not sound the death knell of the local library as a brick-and-mortar institution. “We have seen that the circulation on hard covers is less, but we’re still busy,” Carispino said of Lackawanna County’s foray into digital lending. “We still have people placing holds on the hard titles. We still place multiple orders for the hard copy of the bestsellers. I don’t think that’s going away any time soon.”
Electronic controls unused City officials were unaware any fuel was not accounted for because no one ever reconciled the handwritten logs with the computer generated reports from the fuel tanks. In interviews Friday, City Administrator Marie McCormick and Administrative Coordinator Drew McLaughlin also acknowledged an electronic fuel control system the city installed several years ago would have provided for a more accurate accounting of fuel use, but the city does not use it. McCormick and McLaughlin said they’re confident the discrepancies are a matter of poor record keeping, and not an indication of theft or unauthorized use of fuel. “I have to talk to our people at DPW, but I don’t have any reason
LIBRARY Continued from Page 1A
services coordinator for the Osterhout Library, said members have been asking for the library to lend e-books for months, and that she refers them to the Philadelphia Public Library, which lends e-books and allows anyone to sign up for a library card online. Stefanko said borrowing an ebook is just like borrowing the paper and ink variety, without the need to go to the library. Checking out an e-book gives the borrower access to the volume on his or her e-reader for a set period of time – say two weeks – after which the book is automatically deleted from the
AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER
City vehicles are seen at the Public Works Department pumps. Wilkes-Barre officials say they have no answer to the missing fuel.
17,880 UNACCOUNTED GALLONS IN 174 DAYS Gallons of fuel per month drawn from Wilkes-Barre city garage tanks with no record of where they went, from December, 2011 to June 22, 2012. Gallons of gas December
Gallons of diesel
Total gallons 1,734
1,197
January February
1,265 1,958
April
1,980 1,141
June
1,149
0
500
1,000
Source: City records
to believe any of our employees are doing anything illegally,” McCormick said. “I’m assuming they are just not diligent McCormick in signing the log … That’s a problem.” Employees are supposed to fill out the logs, which are kept at the DPW McLaughlin building, each time they dispense fuel. The log includes their name, department, vehicle number, type of fuel and number of gallons. McCormick and McLaughlin said they suspect the issue may lie primarily with employees who access the pumps after the DPW garage closes at 3:30 p.m. “They probably are not diligent enough in signing the logs after hours as they are during the day,” McLaughlin said. McLaughlin said he’s confident there’s no theft going on because the majority of city employees use the pumps during the day, when DPW is fully staffed. If an unauthorized person were to fill up, employees there would see it. “It’s very hard for the theft or abuse of the fueling system to go undetected given all the eyes and ears that monitor the facility,” he said. McCormick and McLaughlin could not explain why the city never reconciled the logs with tank reports – a common check and balance procedure utilized by other communities that have their own fuel tanks. “I can’t explain it. Obviously, going forward, we have to change that system to somehow do better monitoring and make sure everyreader. Just as with standard library books, if someone has checked out the volume you want, you’ll need to wait your turn. The library will need to purchase an individual copy of each e-book it lends which can only be lent to one cardholder at a time. The library system will purchase its e-books from content distributors who work with publishers to make titles available, though getting started with one of those services is an expensive proposition, according Miller. Startup costs, annual subscription fees and licenses for a few hundred titles will likely cost between $12,000 and $20,000, and that money will need to come at the expense of traditional book purchases and funding for other library programs.
2,269
1,004
March
May
2,469
899
1,570
901 759
1,319 2,000
2,859 2,739 2,145
1,004
1,500
2,931
2,500
2,468 3,000
Mark Guydish/The Times Leader
thing jives,” McCormick said. Fuel monitored elsewhere Officials in several other communities said they make extensive efforts to monitor fuel usage. In Kingston, administrator Paul Keating said employees fill out handwritten logs that are reconciled at least every other day with the computerized tank report. There’s rarely a discrepancy, but if there is, it’s immediately investigated. Keating said the procedure allows him to ensure no fuel is missing, as well as account for the amount of fuel used by each department for budgeting purposes. “Fuel is a highly valuable commodity,” Keating said. “We want to have controls in place to make sure nobody is using fuel for reasons other than municipal purposes … If you don’t inventory your usage of fuel, you expose yourself to theft or the improper use.” Keating said Kingston also requires employees to write down the mileage of their vehicle when they fuel up – something WilkesBarre does not require – to provide an additional level of verification. He noted the borough uncovered fuel theft by an employee several years ago by comparing mileage reports to the number of gallons he pumped. The records showed he was using far too much gasoline for the number of miles driven. Luzerne County and Hazleton keep track of fuel usage through electronic fuel control systems that track the amount pumped into each vehicle. Joe Gibbons, an engineer with the county’s Road and Bridge Department, said each county vehicle has a key card assigned to it. The vehicle operator must insert
AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER
Kingston Administrator Paul Keating points out the logs kept to track fuel usage at the Kingston Public Works Department.
the key into the pump and enter the mileage of the vehicle before it will operate. “If someone takes out 20 gallons on a Saturday at 9:30 a.m., we know who took it out,” Gibbons said. In addition each employee is required to fill out a log in the vehicle that includes their name and the vehicle’s odometer reading. The logs are then cross referenced against the pump reports to help ensure the person who is assigned to the card is the person who actually pumped the fuel, Gibbons said. “It helps us keep track which vehicle fuel is going into. You can determine by a simple mathematic calculation if the amount of fuel related to the odometer reading from the last fill-up,” Gibbons said. Hazleton utilizes a key card system similar to Luzerne County. Employees have to put the key in the pump to activate it, said administrator Mary Ellen Lieb. It then records the amount of gas pumped in. Those reports are reconciled monthly with manual gas tank readings taken by lowering a stick into the tank to measure the amount of gas, she said. System unused in W-B Wilkes-Barre has a similar electronic system that was installed in 2009, but for some reason – McCormick and McLaughlin could not explain why – has chosen not to utilize it. The city got the system at no cost from Corey Inc. of Plains Township, which has a maintenance contract for the fuel tanks and pumps. Bob Chmarney, co-owner of Corey Inc., said the company donated the system, which it got from another client which was up-
“It’s just really an extension of what we already do. We lend books, and e-books are just another extension of that.” Richard Miller Library system director
“It’s sort of a balancing act,” Miller said. “Like the old saying, robbing Peter to pay Paul. We’ll have to look at reducing content in other areas or eliminating data bases that aren’t used. Trying to secure additional funding is kind of difficult right now.” For that reason, the library system plans to start with a modest offering of a few hundred books. The idea has already seen success locally. It was introduced by the Lackawanna Coun-
ty Library System, and proved “extremely popular” with patrons right off the bat, said Marie Carispino, head of public services for the Scranton Public Library. “It was immediate,” Carispino said. “We had been asked by our patrons, when are you going to start getting e-books, so the use of the e-books was immediate.” Lackawanna County has been lending audio books in digital format since 2006, and began lending e-books with an initial offering of about 800 e-titles in
grading its system. It operates the same as Luzerne County’s. According to McLaughlin, the system was installed to track gasoline and diesel sales the city made to several nonprofit entities, including the Wilkes-Barre Housing Authority and the Wilkes-Barre Area School District. The city halted the sales in 2009 after it learned it was not permitted to sell fuel to other entities because it does not have a fuel distribution license. Chmarney said he was told the city never used the system because there was an issue regarding how it would assign employee numbers to those who utilize the pumps. “There were so many people who took fuel out, they did not know how they were going to set it up,” Chmarney said. “There was an issue trying to get employee numbers and how they were going to do it. It never came to fruition.” McLaughlin said at the time the city saw no need to continue using the system to monitor its own use of gas because it believed it already had adequate checks and balances in place.
User: maed Time: 07-02-2012 23:33 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 07-03-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_f PageNo: 1 A
A freaky kind of technology
Musicians provide a riverside serenade for W-B crowd.
Special hearing aid works ’crazy’ miracles
NEWS, 4A
HEALTH, 1C
764980
Jazzed up on the riverbanks
CMYK
Color: C K Y M
The Times Leader timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE, PA
SPORTS SHOWCASE
50¢
Missing fuel could cost W-B
The state could go after more than $6,000 in taxes on unaccounted-for gas, diesel. By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE -- The city could be liable for thousands of dollars in fuel taxes if it’s unable to document that nearly 18,000 gallons of unaccounted for fuel were SHARAPOVA OUSTED Sharapova ousted Top-seeded Maria Sharapova was overpowered in a 6-4, 6-3 loss to No. 15 Sabine Lisicki. The 2004 Wimbledon champion was bidding to become the first woman since Serena Williams in 2002 to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. 1B
TUESDAY, JULY 3, 2012
INSIDE: There’s no excuse for lack of oversight, Page 11A State does a leak check, Page 12A
used solely for municipal purposes. Municipalities, school districts and certain other nonprofit entities are exempt from paying taxes on gasoline and diesel. But they must be able to document the fuel was used for official purposes, Elizabeth Brassell, press
secretary for the state Revenue Department, said Monday. If not, the state could seek to recoup the taxes, which this year equaled 31.2 cents per gallon for gasoline and 38.1 cents per gallon for diesel, on undocumented fuel. “An entity has to maintain a daily accounting record of fuel received,purchasedandofconsumption,” Brassell said. “Whenever we come across information that the appropriate tax was not paid ... we
could go after taxes that are due the commonwealth.” City officials on Friday said they cannot explain a discrepancy between the amount of fuel reported on log sheets by employees and a computer-generated report that shows how much fuel was dispensed from the tanks between Dec. 1, 2011 and June 22. The Times Leader review showed a difference of 10,260 gallons of gasoline and 7,620 gallons of diesel fuel.
Brassell said she could not comment on whether the Department of Revenue will audit WilkesBarre, because such investigations are confidential. Speaking generally, she said the department has the authority to conduct an audit if it receives information that questions whether the fuel was used for unauthorized purposes.
See GAS, Page 12A
RAYS 4 YANKEES 3
Barletta calls out Obama
NATIONAL LEAGUE
U.S. rep. says president’s decision on illegal immigrants oversteps limits.
PIRATES 11 ASTROS 2
By BILL O’BOYLE boboyle@timesleader.com
"It’s difficult to believe that someone would have such disrespect for our flag and our veterans. They obviously don’t understand the meaning of the American flag and the sacrifices made by our veterans." U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta
AMERICAN LEAGUE
CUBS 4 BRAVES 1 IL BASEBALL
IRONPIGS 5 SWB YANKEES 4 CLARK VAN ORDEN/THE TIMES LEADER
Several American flags were stolen recently from the Vietnam War Memorial on West Main Street in Plymouth. Shown at the site is Clyde Peters of the Plymouth VFW who is one of the volunteers who take care of the memorial.
INSIDE A NEWS: Local 3A Nation & World 5A Obituaries 8A Editorials 11A B SPORTS: 1B Business 7B Stocks 7B Weather 8B C HEALTH : 1C Birthdays 5C Television 6C Crossword/Horoscope 7C Comics 8C D CLASSIFIED: 1D
WEATHER Ava Swiderski. Mix of sun, clouds. High 88, Low 55 Details, Page 8B
Valor dishonored Flags stolen from Plymouth’s Vietnam site
By BILL O’BOYLE boboyle@timesleader.com
HOW TO HELP
LYMOUTH – The theft of American flags from the Vietnam War Memorial on Main Street in this West Side community is especially upsetting to Clyde Peters. The Vietnam veteran led the campaign to raise funds to erect the memorial that bears the names of seven Plymouth residents who were killed in Vietnam. More than a dozen flags were apparently stolen overnight Sunday. “We put them up for Memorial
To obtain a flag or to help the VFW Post 1425 to buy more, contact Clyde Peters at 762-2907, stop by the post home at 111 W. Main St., Plymouth, or call 779-9327.
P
street,” Peters said. “We think some kids decided to have some ‘fun.’ Whoever is responsible should pay for what they did.” The memorial and the site that was developed to house it cost around $10,000, he said. The Plymouth American Legion Post 463 planted flowers to spruce up the display. Peters said that when the granite memorial was set in place, he installed red, white and blue lights to illuminate it at night.
Day and a lot of people would stop and take pictures,” Peters said. “And now somebody who has no respect for the flag or the sacrifices all veterans have made decided to ruin the display. “We found a couple of the flags thrown in yards just down the See FLAGS, Page 12A
HAZLETON – U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta is challenging what he says is President Barack Obama’s decision to grant de facto amnesty to as many as 1.4 million illegal aliens. In a press conference Monday at his Hazleton office, Barletta claimed Obama does not have the power to use “prosecutorial discretion” in the granting of indefinitely renewable twoyear work permits to illegal aliens who meet certain criteria. Barletta Barletta, R-Hazleton, said Congress took discretion away from the executive branch in 1996 when it passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrants Responsibility Act. “That law clearly spells out the actions that must be taken by federal officials,” Barletta said. “In other words, the discretion that President Obama claims he can use no longer exists. Congress deliberately eliminated it in 1996. “By stating they still have it, President Obama is actually ordering federal immigration officials to break the law.” The White House did not respond Monday to The Times Leader’s request for comment. Barletta is basing his actions on the opinion of Kris Kobach, the secretary of state in Kansas and the author of Hazleton city’s Immigration Reform Act. Barletta, 56, has called for hearings into “prosecutorial discretion” by two committees – Judiciary and Homeland Security. He sent letters to Chairman Peter King See BARLETTA, Page 12A
After the storm – a long wait
Nearly 1.8 million in East still take so long to get the lights back lack power, and problem could on? Nearly three full days after a selast most of the week. vere summer storm lashed the By JESSICA GRESKO and MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press
6
09815 10011
WASHINGTON — From North Carolina to New Jersey, nearly 1.8 million people still without electricity were asking the same question Monday evening: Why will it
ma.Andthetoppledtreesandpower lines often entangled broken equipment in debris that must be removed before workers can even get started. Adding to the urgency of the repairs are the sick and elderly, who are especially vulnerable without air conditioning in the sweltering triple-digit heat. Many sought refuge in hotels or basements. Officials feared the death toll, al-
East Coast, utilities warned that many neighborhoods could remain in the dark for much of the week, if not beyond. Friday’s storm arrived with little warning and knocked out power to 3 million homes and businesses, so utility companies have had to wait days for extra crews traveling from as far away as Quebec and Oklaho- See STORMS, Page 12A
AP PHOTO
Frances Lukens looks at the tangle of boards and tree limbs piercing her living room ceiling in Lynchburg, Va., on Saturday.
User: maed Time: 07-02-2012 23:33 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 07-03-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_05 PageNo: 12 A
➛
PAGE 12A TUESDAY, JULY 3, 2012
W-B fuel tanks leak checked State takes action after TL story about almost 18,000 gallons unaccounted for. By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE – Responding to a report that the city could not account for nearly 18,000 gallons of fuel, the state Department of Environmental Protection on Monday tested the city’s fuel tanks to ensure there were no leaks. DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connelly said inspectors spent about two hours at the tanks. She said the final report is not complete, but the preliminary investigation showed no gasoline or diesel fuel is escaping into the environment. Connelly said DEP decided to inspect the tanks as a precautionary measure after reading a Times Leader report on Sunday that revealed city officials could not account for a 17,880 gallon discrepancy between computerized tank reports and log reports submitted by employees between Dec. 1, 2011 and June
GAS Continued from Page 1A
The Department of Revenue previously investigated the city in 2009 after learning it had improperly resold fuel to the Wilkes-Barre Area School District, Wilkes-Barre Housing Authority and the Wilkes-Barre Career and Technology Center from January 2007 to June 2009, city officials confirmed. In that case, the city was required to pay $5,316 in taxes and penalties after the department determined it was not authorized to resell the fuel because it did not have a distributor license. City officials had believed they could resell the fuel to other taxexempt entities and did not know a distributor license was required. Recent discrepancy In the most recent case, a Times Leader reporter discovered a discrepancy between log books city employees fill out that detail how much fuel they dispense and computer generated inventory reports that show how much fuel was dispensed from
FLAGS Continued from Page 1A
“They stole the lights, too,” Peters said. “Don’t take flags from the memorial. It’s sacrilegious. It’s not the cost – show some respect for our veterans who gave their lives to preserve our freedoms.” It took decades to overcome lingering ambivalence about the Vietnam War and get the memorial built, Peters said. “We’ve finally gotten that recognition,” he said. “It took us 40 years to get this memorial here. It honors those seven guys, but it also honors veterans of all wars.” The seven Vietnam casualties are David Lee, Leonard T. Bush, Sterling K. Coates, Edison Phillips, Joseph Sinkewicz, Frank A.
HEALTH Continued from Page 9A
not through an employer, and experts say those households are the most likely to get a rebate check directly. The government says the rebates have an average value of $151 per household. But employers, who typically pay 70 to 80 percent of premiums, are likely to get most of that. • ROMNEY: “Obamacare raises taxes on the American people by approximately $500 billion.”
22. Mayor Tom Leighton and other city officials on Friday said they believe the discrepancy was caused by the failure of employees to fill out the logs. Leighton said he planned to meet with department heads this week to discuss the matter. Drew McLaughlin, city administrative coordinator, did not respond to an email Monday seeking information on whether any meetings were held or if the city has implemented any changes. The city’s pumps are maintained by Corey Inc. of Plains Township. Audrey Waxmonsky, co-owner of the company, said she is confident the tanks are not leaking because they are equipped with a leak detection system. The system does a self check each week to ensure there are no fuel losses. The tanks also are equipped with an alarm that will trigger if there is an unexplained change in fuel levels, she said. “The probes are monitoring it continuously. If there is any breach, it knows what’s happening in the tank,” she said. the tanks. If an audit were to confirm the newspaper’s findings, the city could be required to reimburse the state back taxes of as much as $3,201 (10,260 x 31.2 cents per gallon) in gasoline and $2,903 (7,620 x 38.1 cents per gallon) in diesel, if it can’t account for how the fuel was used. The Department of Revenue can review records as far back as two years, so the tax liability could be even more if it’s found the city failed to document usage in prior years as well. City Administrator Marie McCormick on Friday said she is confident the city would be able to verify how the unaccounted for fuel was used should the Department of Revenue conduct an investigation. McCormick said she believes thecity,ifrequired,wouldbeable to estimate the amount of fuel used by city vehicles to show where it went. “For instance, we know we have ‘x’ number of packers and we know how often they are used. We could estimate how much gas you would need in them,” she said. “There would be those types of things we can prove.” Glowiak and Daniel A. Witko. U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, who will present medals to six veterans from Northeastern Pennsylvania during a ceremony at the VA Medical Center today said news of the stolen flags was “disheartening.” “It’s difficult to believe that someone would have such disrespect for our flag and our veterans,” Barletta said. “They obviously don’t understand the meaning of the American flag and the sacrifices made by our veterans.” Peters said he is considering having a surveillance camera installed to prevent future occurrences or to help prosecute those responsible for such acts. He said anyone can stop by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1425 at11W. Main St. and he will give them a flag.
THE FACTS: The tax increases fall heavily on upper-income people, health insurance companies, drug makers and medical device manufacturers. People who fail to obtain health insurance as required by the law will face a tax penalty, although that’s expected to hit relatively few because the vast majority of Americans have insurance and many who don’t will end up getting it. Also, a 10 percent tax has been imposed on tanning bed use as part of the health care law. There are no other across-the-board tax increases in the law, although some tax benefits such as flexible savings accounts are scaled
N
E
W
S
CMYK
Color: C K Y M
THE TIMES LEADER
www.timesleader.com
BARLETTA Continued from Page 1A
from the House Homeland Security Committee and Chairman Lamar Smith of the House Judiciary Committee asking them to hold hearings about whether the executive branch has the “prosecutorial discretion” to not deport some illegal aliens. “President Obama is overreaching his constitutionally granted authority,” Barletta said. “In 2011, the president publicly said he had no choice but to follow federal immigration policy. “So what changed? In the last 15 months, did Congress grant the president new powers? I don’t remember doing that.” Barletta wants the government to study the impact that granting of de facto amnesty by the Obama Administration will have on a wide range of federal programs, including Social Security and Medicare. “This study takes on new importance after the Supreme Court decision that upheld Obamacare,” Barletta added. “What impact will the illegal aliens who might be allowed to stay in the United States have on the cost of a national health care law?” Barletta also unveiled two new pieces of legislation, which he introduced Friday in Wash-
PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER
U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Hazleton, held a press conference on Monday in his Hazleton office to talk about the steps he is taking to stop what he calls the granting of de facto amnesty to illegal aliens by the Obama administration.
ington: ❏ H.R. 6070, which will require a study to determine the effects this immigration policy shift would have on national security, fraud, the American worker, American students and the U.S. economy, including the impact on a wide range of government programs, including unemployment benefits, Social Security, Medicare, the new health care law, federal grants for college, work-study programs and more. The secretary of Homeland Security would
not be allowed to implement the June 15 policy memorandum until the study is completed and submitted to Congress. ❏ H.R. 6069, which will protect DHS personnel who continue to uphold current immigration policy and refuse to follow the June 15 memo because it violates the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act. DHS employees who enforce federal immigration law and ignore Secretary Napolitano’s memorandum could not lose their job, federal benefits, be denied a promotion
or other similar benefit. Barletta said the legislation would delay the Department of Homeland Security’s policy memorandum issued on June 15 regarding prosecutorial discretion with respect to illegal immigrants until a thorough study has been conducted by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO would be required to study the impact of the policy change on national security, potential fraud, the American worker and the economy, he said.
STORMS Continued from Page 1A
ready at 22, could climb because of theheatandwidespreaduseofgenerators, which emit fumes that can be dangerous in enclosed spaces. At the Springvale Terrace nursing home and senior center in Silver Spring, Md., generators were brought in to provide electricity, and air-conditioning units were installed in windows in large commonroomstoofferrespitefromthe heat and darkness. Residents using walkers struggled to navigate doors that were supposed to open automatically. Nurses had to throw out spoiled food, sometimes over the loud objections of residents who insisted their melting ice cream was still good. The lack of power completely upended many daily routines. Supermarkets struggled to keep groceries from going bad. People on perishable medication called pharmacies to see how long their medicine would keep. In Washington, officials set up collection sites for peopletodropoffrottingfood.Others held weekend cookouts in an attempt to use their food while it lasted. And in West Virginia, National Guard troops handed out food and water and made door-to-door checks. When it comes to getting the power running again, all utilities take a top-down approach that seeks to get the largest number of people back online as quickly as possible. First, crews repair substations that send power to thousands of homes and businesses. Next, they fix distribution lines. Last are the transformers that can restore power to a few customers at a time. ASafewaysupermarkettryingto stay open with a limited power supply handed out free bags of dry ice. But after two days of temperatures in the 90s, the air inside was stale. Shopping carts with spoiled food, buzzing with flies, sat outside the store. At a CVS pharmacy, Mahesh Tickledidthebesthecould.Hehad back. Of course, higher taxes on businesses can be passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. Individuals making more than $200,000 and couples making over $250,000 will pay 0.9 percent more in Medicare payroll tax and a 3.8 percent tax on investments. As well, a tax starts in 2018 on high-value insurance plans. • OBAMA: “Because of the Affordable Care Act, young adults under the age of 26 are able to stay on their parents’ health care plans, a provision that’s already helped 6 million young Americans.”
A Lynchburg, Va., city worker ties power lines above a traffic signal at Oakley and Memorial Avenues on Sunday, two days after devastating storms.
AP PHOTOS
A tree sitting atop a vehicle has a sign offering free firewood in Falls Church, Va., on Monday as cleanup continued after Friday’s storm, Nearly 1.8 million utility customers are without electricity across a swath of states along the East Coast and as far west as Illinois as the area recovers from a round of summer storms.
Baltimore city worker Joe Lane give away free bags of ice to nocashregister,sohemadechange efforts will extend into the week- residents at a Baltimore shopping center Monday. withloosebillsandcoinsstuffedin- end.
side a Ziploc bag. Tickle filled what prescriptions he could and fielded questions from customers wondering if medications such as insulin had spoiled. Some people said the destruction over the weekend was reminiscent of that caused by Tropical Storm Isabel in 2003 and Hurricane Irene in 2011. Some backup utility crews arrived Sunday in Maryland, but many were not expected until sometime Monday. That’s because the storm arrived so quickly, unlike hurricanes, which typically approach with several days of warning and give out-of-state crews plenty of time to get into place. After Isabel, it took electricity supplier Pepco eight days to restore power to most of the 500,000plus customers in Washington and the surrounding areas. About 443,000 lost power at the peak of this storm, and restoration work will likely last into the weekend. Last year, it took Baltimore Gas and Electric company eight and a half days to restore power to all 750,000 customers who lost power during Hurricane Irene. This time, the power company initially confronted more than 600,000 people without power. It said restoration
BGE said in a letter posted on its website that it would take hundreds of thousands of man-hours to clear debris and work through outages. Crews are working around the clock in16-hour shifts. “This type of widespread, extensive damage also complicates our ability to quickly provide accurate restoration times, especially when original damage assessments are revised upon closer inspection of the work required,” the letter said. Some customers were getting impatient Monday. “This has happened time after time and year after year, and it seems as if they’re always unprepared,” said John Murphy, a professional chauffeur from Burtonsville, Md., who was waiting for Pepco to restore power Monday to the homes of himself and his mother and sister, who live nearby. “The new neighborhoods are designed with underground power lines but the old neighborhoods, they don’t want to spend the money to put them underground.” Utility workers restored a steady electricityflowtoLeslieSaltsman’s homeinPotomaconMondayafternoon. But the enormous cherry tree blocking her driveway won’t be removed until later this week.
Saltsman,anursewhotakescare ofherelderlymother,watchedaslinemen in a bucket truck repaired cables above streets lined with pilesoftreebranchesandtrunksections. She said she was irritated by the heat but not by Pepco. “They’re doing as much as they can,” she said. “I’m not frustrated with the power company at all.” However, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has been blunt that the utilities must work faster: “No one will have his boot further up Pepco’s and BGE’s backsides than I will,” O’Malley said Sunday. Pepco spokeswoman Myra Oppel said the differences between storms can be significant. Two storms could have the same number of customers with outages, but the root of the problem could be downed wires in one situation and downed poles in another. But repairing poles takes a lot longer. As a result, the length of time it takes to restore power “depends on what damage has occurred, not the number of outages,” Oppel said. In the case of Friday night’s storms, crews are contending with trees that have to be removed before crews can get to damaged infrastructure.
THE FACTS: Obama is overstating this benefit of his health law, and his own administration knows better. The Department of Health and Human Services, in a June 19 news release, said 3.1 million young adults would be uninsured were it not for the new law. Obama’s number comes from a June 8 survey by the Commonwealth Fund, a health policy foundation. It said 6.6 million young adults joined or stayed on their parents’ health plans who wouldn’t have been able to absent the law. But that number includes some who switched to their parents’ plans from other coverage, Commonwealth Fund of-
ficials told the Los Angeles Times. • ROMNEY: “Obamacare is a job-killer.” THE FACTS: The CBO estimated in 2010 that the law would reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by roughly half a percent. But that’s mostly because the law will give many people the opportunity to retire, stay at home with family or switch to part-time work, since they will be able to get health insurance more easily outside of their jobs. That voluntary retreat from the workforce, made possible by the law’s benefits, is
not the same as employers slashing jobs because of the law’s costs, as Romney implies. The law’s penalties on employers who don’t provide health insurance might cause some companies to hire fewer low-wage workers or to hire more part-timers instead of fulltime employees, the budget office said. But the main consequence would still be from more people choosing not to work. Apart from the budget office and other disinterested parties that study the law, each side in the debate uses research sponsored by interest groups, often slanted, to buttress its case.
User: maed Time: 07-16-2012 23:31 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 07-17-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_f PageNo: 1 A
Sweet fruits of summer
Optimistic about Alzheimer’s
Higher temperatures mean an early harvest for farmers
New drug results may hold a new key to combatting disease
LOCAL, 3A
HEALTH, 1C
CMYK
Color: C K Y M
10 SHEETZ GIFT CARD
RECEIVE A $
When you get an insurance quote from CNG Insurance. 768030
(570) 829-1976 • 352 Northampton St., Wilkes-Barre • www.cnginsagency.com
The Times Leader timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE, PA
SPORTS SHOWCASE
TUESDAY, JULY 17, 2012
Paterno family wants inquiry Relatives of late PSU coach say they will pursue their own “comprehensive report.”
By ADAM SMELTZ The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Relatives of Joe Paterno on Monday morning expanded their response to an investigative report at Penn State University that was
INSIDE: Litigation looms, Page 10A
Freehreleasedthe267-pagedocument Thursday, saying Paterno joined other university leaders in shielding now-convicted child rapist Jerry Sandusky. “We are dismayed by, and vehemently disagree with, some of the conclusionsandassertionsandthe process by which they were developed,” the Paternos said. “Mr.
critical of the late head football coach, saying they will pursue their own “comprehensive review.” The family has asked its legal team and experts to comb materials released in the report, led by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, according to a six-paragraph written statement. See PATERNO, Page 10A
No Paterno film at Kirby By STEVE MOCARSKY smocarsky@timesleader.com
Policies can get low rate
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Some property owners can save on flood insurance if they act quickly.
YANKEES 6 BLUE JAYS 3
By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@timesleader.com
RED SOX 5 WHITE SOX 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
MARLINS 5 NATIONALS 3
INSIDE A NEWS: Local 3A Nation & World 5A Obituaries 8A Editorials 11A B SPORTS: 1B Business 7B Stocks 7B Weather 8B C HEALTH: 1C Birthdays 5C Television 6C Crossword/Horoscope 7C Comics 8C D CLASSIFIED: 1D
WEATHER Lindsey Yencha. Partly sunny, hot and humid. High 93, Low 68 Details, Page 8B
of the most-recent events surrounding Penn State University, we will not be hosting a screening of ‘The Joe We Know’ at this time.” Kirby Center Executive Director Marilyn Santarelli said
A Friday showing of a documentary film about Joe Paterno at the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre has been canceled. A statement on the Kirby Center website reads: “In light See FILM, Page 10A
SWEET RELIEF FROM THE HEAT
LITTLE LEAGUE ROUNDUP Back Mountain American used a four-run seventh inning to score a 9-8 victory over South Wilkes-Barre in the Section 5 Little League major baseball playoffs Monday. American improved to 7-0 in tournament play and can clinch a section title with a win Wednesday at home. 1B
TIGERS 8 ANGELS 6
50¢
AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER
J
acob Kincher-Brea welcomed all the wetness the splash pad in Wilkes-Barre’s Coal Street Park had to offer Monday. Pressure was restored to the splash pad when city public works department employees cleaned the filter and replaced a solenoid switch that was malfunctioning. McLaughlin said the splash pad will be routinely checked to avoid blockages or impairments that could affect its performance. The recent high temperatures, coupled with high humidity levels, have brought more children to Coal Street Park and the splash pad. The heat and humidity are expected to continue until a front passes through later this week. For the forecast, see page 8B.
Criminal unit probes missing fuel
ings. That’s because State Revenue Dept. looking into audits conducted by record discrepancies in Wilkes-Barre. By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE – The state Department of Revenue has referred the investigation into missing fuel in WilkesBarre to the agency’s auditing department and its Bureau of Criminal Tax Investigations, according to a letter sent to a city resident who sought an investigation. The letter, written by David R. Kraus, chief counsel for the Department of Revenue, assures Bob Kadluboski that concerns he has raised will be thoroughly investigated. But neither Kadluboski nor taxpayers will be advised of the department’s find-
more,” Kadluboski said. “At least we have somethe Department of one doing something Revenue are confinow.” dential, even when Kadluboski filed a they involve a public complaint with the Deagency, according to partment of Revenue on Leighton Elizabeth Brassell, Kadluboski July 3, two days after the press secretary for publication of a Times the department. Leader investigation that revealed the Information on the investigation city could not account for nearly 18,000 would become public should criminal of gasoline and diesel fuel dispensed charges be filed, however, as court docu- from its pumps from Dec. 1, 2011 to June ments are considered public record. 22. Kadluboski said he’s “not really hapThe newspaper uncovered the discrepy” that the department can’t release in- pancy by comparing logs employees fill formation, but said he’s not overly con- out that detail how much fuel they discerned because he’s certain criminal pensed, to computer-generated readings charges will come from the investiga- from the tanks that show how much fuel tion. “I’m sure if it goes criminal we’ll know See TAXES, Page 12A
The owners of more than 10,000 Luzerne County properties that will be added to high-risk flood zones in new insurance maps can lock in lower flood insurance rates if they act before the maps take effect, officials say. The new maps, part of a nationwide revision, should be impleBrozena mented by the first week of November, said county Flood Protection Authority Executive Director Jim Brozena. Property owners in high-risk zones must buy flood insurance if they have outstanding standard or reverse mortgages. A rule known as “grandfathering” allows property owners to keep lowerrisk flood insurance rates if they acquire insurance 30 days before the effective date of the new maps, said Dave Bollinger, a mitigation outreach coordinator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region 3 in Philadelphia. The savings could be substantial. The National Flood Insurance Program’s website says the premium ranges from $304 to $1,057 for a $100,000 structure with contents in a low-tomoderate risk zone, compared to a $1,129 premium for the same coverage in a high-risk zone. Bollinger cautioned the figures vary based on the property elevation and other factors and advised property See FLOODS, Page 12A
Newcomer Cartwright top area House fundraiser
By ANDREW M. SEDER aseder@timesleader.com
6
09815 10011
The most successful fundraiser of any U.S. House candidate in Northeastern Pennsylvania for the past quarter wasn’t either of the two Republican incumbents seeking reelection to a second term in Washington. Instead it was newcomer Matt Cartwright, a Democrat who knocked off the dean of the state’s congressional dele-
Barletta, R-Hazleton, and Tom Marino, R-Lycoming Cartwright for Congress Township, raised $220,077 raked in $245,130. Some of and $99,977 respectively. Cartwright’s campaign that came in the final weeks before his hotly contested pri- spent $428,808 in the period mary race with 20-year in- and still lists $447,010 in outstanding debts and cumbent Tim Holdobligations, chiefly en, whom Cart$390,000 from perwright upset with a sonal loans. It also 57 percent to 43 perlisted $1,500 owed cent victory. to Humford EquiConversely, incum- ELECTION ties for the rent on bent U.S. reps Lou INSIDE: 11th, Senate races, Page 12A
Cartwright
Cummings
gation in his party’s primary and is looking to become a freshman legislator next year. In the cycle that began April 5 and ended June 30,
2012
its former Wilkes-Barre campaign office on Public Square and $35,241 to David Browne Media in Virginia for media production costs. At the end of the reporting period, the Cartwright campaign boasted $92,735 on hand, more than three times the amount raised in the cycle by his general election opponent Laureen Cummings, an See CAMPAIGN, Page 12A
User: maed Time: 07-16-2012 23:08 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 07-17-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_05 PageNo: 12 A
➛
PAGE 12A TUESDAY, JULY 17, 2012
N
E
W
CMYK
Color: C K Y M
S
THE TIMES LEADER
www.timesleader.com
Barletta nearing $1 million mark in fundraising Republican Marino holds an edge over his challenger as contributions announced. By ANDREW M. SEDER aseder@timesleader.com
With $220,077 raised between April 5 and June 30, the Lou Barletta for Congress campaign committee moved closer to the $1 million plateau for the 2011-12 election cycle. According to the financial report filed at Sunday’s Federal Election Committee mandated deadline, the Barletta campaign received $143,435 from individual donors and $76,642 from political committees such as PACs. With the newly reported income, the committee has received
CAMPAIGN Continued from Page 1A
Old Forge resident and teaparty activist. Among the noted individual donors to Cartwright were: former Lackawanna County Commissioner Mike Washo, $250; former Luzerne County judge and current attorney Lewis W. Wetzel, $1,000; Patrick Casey, attorney, former congressional candidate and the brother of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, $300; and Assistant Luzerne County District Attorney Samuel Sanguedolce, who gave $100. Attorneys dotted the contribution section of the financial report, with plenty of lawyers from regional firms and others from Philadelphia, Washington and throughout the United States giving money to the trial lawyer from the Munley, Munley & Cartwright firm. In total, $199,071 came from individuals and $46,059
FLOODS Continued from Page 1A
owners to consult an insurance agent to determine the exact costs. Brozena said property owners should obtain insurance by the end of September to ensure they meet the deadline. He is in the process of posting information on grandfathering on the county’s website, www.luzernecounty.org. The lower rate would remain in effect as long as property owners keep their policies active, Bollinger said. Property owners also may have the option to transfer their lower-rate policies to new owners if they sell, he said. The grandfathering provision was intended to protect property owners who didn’t know their structures would end up in high-risk zones when they purchased or built them, officials said. Lending institutions are responsible for determining which borrowers require the insurance but may suggest policies that tack on unnecessary fees or don’t take advantage of the grandfathering option, Bollinger said. The new maps may be viewed in municipal offices or online at https:// www.rampp-team.com/ pa.htm (see attached instructions). Brozena said the following municipalities each have more than 150 properties added to the high-risk zone: Black Creek, Dallas, Dennison, Hanover and Plains townships; Exeter and West Wyoming boroughs. While 10,300 properties will be added to the high-risk zone in the county, 8,800 will be removed and no longer required to carry flood insurance, Brozena said. Harveys Lake, Kingston and Luzerne had the most re-
$982,158 since the start of 2011. Barletta’s cam- 2 0 1 2 paign spent ELECTION $121,414 and reported $335,910 cash on hand as of July 1. Among the well-known contributors are two former area congressmen – Joseph M. McDade, who gave $500, and Don Sherwood, who sent $1,000. Others include: Keith Eckel, a Clarks Summit farmer and member of the Penn State board of trustees, $1,000; Brandon Igdalsky, Pocono Raceway chief executive officer, $500; Richard L. Knoebel, owner of his namesake amusement park in Elysburg, $100; Rose Mattioli, owner of Pocono Raceway, $500; and Carl R. Urbanski, who on Sunday was
elected chairman of the Luzerne County Republican Party, $200. “As we approach the November election, those grassroots supporters coupled with the campaign’s strong financial position will allow Lou Barletta’s campaign to highlight his efforts to cut out-of-control spending; eliminate unnecessary, job-killing regulations; stop illegal immigration; and create a pro-growth, pro-jobs environment that puts the
came from political action committees or political party committees. Among the PACs sending money to Cartwright were those representing state Sen. John Blake, $1,000; and $2,000 from the Friends of Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House, was in Scranton last month for a fundraiser for Cartwright. Shane Seaver, a Cartwright campaign spokesman, said the event raised $29,000. He had no comment on Cummings’ report. Cummings, who runs a health care business from her home, reported $6,093 raised in the quarter, $2,000 of it from the Eagle Forum PAC, based in Alton, Ill. That PAC represents the Eagle Forum, a conservative organization that promotes itself as “pro family.” The campaign reported cash contributions from only three individuals and some in-kind donations from a few others. Cummings said she was not surprised to see how much Cartwright was able to raise.
“He’s a wealthy politician,” Cummings said. “I don’t have political friends and allies. He had Nancy Pelosi coming in for him.” She said that while her contribution list is a drop in the bucket compared to Cartwright’s, she is pleased with what she was able to report. “I think it’s great. Ours is from people that don’t have the money to give and yet they did. It’s amazing what people will do to save their country,” Cummings said. Seaver said the Cartwright campaign has “been building momentum since the primary and we are in a strong position financially as we head into the fall. Our successful fundraising effort shows that the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania are resonating with our message of making sure that corporations and wealthy individuals pay their fair share, so working families can get tax breaks for child care and elderly care and ensuring our children have the education needed to compete in today’s economy.”
VIEW THE MAPS The new flood maps may be viewed online at https:// www.rampp-team.com/pa.htm. Scroll to Luzerne County and click on the "preliminary interactive flood map index (sheet 1).” Use the PDF tools to zoom in to your section of the county and click inside the blue numbered box to obtain an aerial map. This map must be enlarged to identify individual properties. Any property in a blue-shaded area labeled as a flood zone starting with the letter A is in the highrisk zone requiring insurance with an outstanding mortgage.
movals from the high-risk zone, Brozena said, noting many of these impacted property owners are eager to realize the savings from cancelling insurance or switching to less costly low-risk rates. Properties in the high-risk zones are statistically estimated to have a 1 percent chance of flooding in any year and a 26 percent chance of flooding during the life of a 30-year mortgage, Bollinger said. Congress allocated $1 billion in 2003 to redraw flood maps across the country because a nationwide update hadn’t been done for more than two decades, Bollinger said. Federal legislators supported the update because they saw flooding occurring outside mapped flood plains throughout the country, often stemming from new development, he said. The boundary lines for high-risk zones are based on topography, hydrology, hydraulics and data from past flooding events, Bollinger said. Though the maps drive insurance requirements, municipalities also are supposed to use them to assess which land should remain undeveloped near the more than 800 miles of waterways flowing through the county, officials say.
Barletta
Stilp
TAXES Continued from Page 1A
was removed each day. Kadluboski’s complaint asked for an investigation into Mayor Tom Leighton, who has acknowledged he obtained fuel from the pumps without filling out the logs, and his administration. “I appreciate your effort to bring to the Department of Revenue’s attention to instances where alleged fraud or other illegal activity may result in the commonwealth not receiving tax that is legally due,” Kraus said in the July 12 letter, a copy of which was provided by Kadluboski. “The issues you raise, if
American economy back on the right track,” said campaign spokesman Lance Stange Jr. Marino Four of Barletta’s largest donations, each for $5,000, came from railroadrelated PACs: BNSF Railway Co. RAILPAC, CSX Corp. Good Government Fund, Norfolk Southern Corp. Good Govt. Fund and the Union Pacific Fund for Effective Govt. Barletta is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials. Barletta, R-Hazleton, will
face Democrat Gene Stilp, a Wilkes-Barre native who now resides in suburban Harrisburg, in the November election for the 11th Congressional District seat. Stilp’s report was not listed on the FEC website Monday and repeated messages and emails to Stilp and his campaign were not returned. In the 10th Congressional District, which currently includes a portion of Luzerne County but because of redistricting will not beginning next year, incumbent U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, R-Lycoming Township, Lycoming County, had a weak fundraising cycle but was still able to out-raise Democratic challenger Phil Scollo. Marino pulled in $99,977 while Scollo, from Dingman
Township, Pike County, reported donations totaling $60,543. But Scollo’s campaign spun the report positively, issuing a release pointing out that Scollo “raised over $10,000 more from individuals than … Marino did.” In the most recent quarter, Scollo’s campaign raised $57,245.00 from individuals, with half of those contributions coming in checks under $100. Overall, 95 percent of Scollo’s fundraising came from individuals. Over the same three-month period, Marino raised $46,677 from individuals, which was 47 percent of his total, Scollo pointed out. More than half of Marino’s contributions came from PACs and political committees.
Casey rolling in cash Republican U.S. Senate challenger Smith trails nearly three-to-one. By ANDREW M. SEDER aseder@timesleader.com
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat from Scranton, entered the summer with a nearly three-toone advantage in cash in the bank over his challenger, Tom Smith, a Republican millionaire from western Pennsylvania. If the $1.5 million Smith has loaned his campaign is discounted, the disparity is even greater. Casey’s campaign reported about $6.2 million as of June 30 after reeling in $1.9 million in April, May and June. Smith’s campaign reported almost $2.3 million in the bank as of July 1 after raising $702,881from April to June, less than half the amount he personally loaned his campaign.
proven, are serious.” Kraus notes that taxpayer confidentiality laws prevent the department from providing any information concerning any action it may take. “Please be assured that we are handling this matter promptly and seriously,” Kraus said. The Department of Revenue is the enforcement agency that ensures taxes are paid on motor vehicle fuels, which are currently 31.2 cents per gallon for gasoline and 38.1 cents per gallon for diesel. Municipalities and certain other non-profit organizations are exempt from paying fuel taxes, but they must prove the fuel was used only for official business. The Times Leader’s review revealed the city could not ac-
Smith, of Plum Creek Township, Armstrong County, spent more than $5.6 million in winning a five-man GOP primary battle for the party’s nomination. He emerged successful in the April 24 primary and must now face Casey, who has name recognition, fundraising experience and the ability to call on President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to campaign on his behalf if needed. According to the Smith campaign, 89 percent of its donations made by individuals came from within Pennsylvania. “We continue to be overwhelmed and grateful for the
outpouring of support from thousands of donors who are responding to Tom’s message of lower taxes and less debt, as well as his experience creating jobs here in Pennsylvania,” said Jim Conroy, Smith’s campaign manager. Larry Smar, campaign spokesman for Casey’s committee, said, “This is his biggest fundraising quarter of the campaign.” The Casey campaign spent $505,799 during the quarter. Of the $1.9 million raised, $1.12 million came from individuals and $321,885 came from political committees and $99,106 was transferred in from other committees. The campaigns released only the top-line numbers and not the complete reports themselves listing all donors and expenditures. Neither of the reports was available on Federal Election Commission websites on Monday.
count for 10,260 gallons of gasoline and 7,620 gallons of diesel fuel. If it cannot provide documentation of how that fuel was used, it could be required to pay a total of $6,104 in taxes on the undocumented fuel. That amount could be significantly higher if the department finds accounting problems for prior dates. It has the authority to look back at two years’ worth of records. Kadluboski also filed a complaint with Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis. Salavantis said Monday she just received the complaint from District Judge Martin Kane. She said she is reviewing the matter with her staff and expects to make a decision, possibly as
early as today, regarding whether she will launch a criminal investigation. Drew McLaughlin, administrative coordinator for the city, previously confirmed the Department of Revenue contacted the city for records related to its fuel usage. On Monday, he said that as far as he knows, no one from the city has been contacted by criminal investigators with the Department of Revenue. McLaughlin reiterated the city’s position that the missing fuel is a matter of poor record keeping. “We are confident this is merely a clerical error that we admit we have to get a tighter grip on. We will cooperate with any outside agency relating to this matter,” he said.
Casey
Smith
Man charged in deaths of 2 Mo. sisters
Clifford D. Miller faces counts covered Sunday in southwest Road in Edgerton. Police later County. found that truck near Trimble. of first-degree murder after Clinton Zahnd said Miller last Friday Authorities say they found allegedly suffocating women. smoked methamphetamine and Miller at his girlfriend’s resiMcClatchy Newspapers
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Platte County, Mo., authorities Monday charged Clifford D. Miller of Trimble, Mo., with the methamphetamine-fueled slaying of two sisters whose bodies were found in a field Sunday after they disappeared from their home in Edgerton, Mo. The 31-year-old Miller faces two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of the two women he is accused of suffocating when his attempt at a tryst went wrong. His bond was set at $500,000. A conviction would carry a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd noted he could also seek the death penalty against Miller. Authorities also confirmed the identities of the victims as Britny Haarup, 19, and Ashley Key, 22. Their bodies were dis-
went to the home where the women lived. The murder charges contend Miller admitted going to the home with the intention of having sex with Haarup, although the two had no previously sexual relationship. He entered the unlocked home unannounced and found Key sleeping on the couch, the charges state. Key awakened and confronted Miller, the charges allege, and he punched her and then grabbed an object from a table and struck her with it. Miller, the charges allege, then smothered her until she stopped moving. The charges allege Miller then entered Haarup’s bedroom with his mind set on a sexual assault, struck her with a large stick and then suffocated her with a pillow when she began to scream. Before leaving the home, the charges contend, Miller smoked more methamphetamine and then took the women’s bodies in a Dodge Ram pickup and dumped them near County Line
dence in Parkville. The sisters had noticed been missing since Friday afternoon, when Haarup’s fiance, Matt Meyers, found her two infant daughters alone in a crib at her home in northern Platte County. Haarup’s cell phone also was left in the residence, as were her purse, her sister’s purse and the shoes her sister had been wearing. On a couch was a bloodsoaked comforter. Family members said several guns were missing from the home. Authorities earlier Sunday talked to Miller, at the time calling him a “person of interest,” and served search warrants in Parkville and Trimble, Mo., as the investigation focused on a field near 200th Street and the Platte-Clay county line. There, a Platte County deputy on Saturday discovered a parked vehicle linked to the sisters’ disappearance. The women’s father attended the press conference, along with
other visibly shaken members of the family. “They’re never going to have a chance to see their mother’s smile,” Paul Haarup said. Authorities had searched since Friday for a white 2002 Dodge Ram pickup truck that had been parked outside the home that morning until about 9:30 a.m. There were no visible signs of foul play in or on the vehicle located Saturday, and an initial search of the field did not produce any additional evidence, the sheriff’s department said. The bodies, found late Sunday northeast of where the truck was parked, were transferred to the Jackson County medical examiner’s office for identification and autopsies. Prior to the discovery, Paul Haarup said the family was on “pins and needles” as it awaited the results of the investigation, which has included sheriff’s deputies from Platte, Clay and Clinton counties as well as investigators from the Missouri Highway Patrol and the Kansas City Police Department.
User: rstouch Time: 07-18-2012 00:10 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 07-18-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_f PageNo: 1 A
You can make the best steak
Will play Swoyersville today for Junior Legion crown.
Marinades: The secret for success is in the sauce
SPORTS, 1B
TASTE, 1C
768034
Nanticoke forces deciding game
CMYK
Color: C K Y M
The Times Leader timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE, PA
SPORTS SHOWCASE
By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE – Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis has decided to launch a criminal investigation into roughly 18,000 gallons of fuel that’s missing from the city’s fuel tanks. Salavantis said Tuesday she has assigned detectives Dan Yursha and Larry Fabian to the case. The detectives will interview employees and review records and video surveillance footage of the pumps to determine if any unauthorized use of fuel occurred. The criminal investigation follows a Times Leader story on July 1 that revealed the city could not account for 10,260 gal-
lons of gasoline and 7,620 gallons of diesel fuel dispensed from the pumps at the Public Works Department from Dec. 1, 2011 to June 22. “There are 18,000 gallons missing. It’s important to see if possibly an outside source might be taking from the city pumps, or if it’s just employees that are taking from the pumps who are, or are not, permitted,” Salavantis said. A reporter uncovered the discrepancy by comparing fuel logs employees fill out to tank records that show how much fuel was removed from the tanks daily. Salavantis said detectives will review those records, and will also seek to review video tapes from surveillance cameras lo-
cated at the Public Works Department. Drew McLaughlin, administrative coordinator for the city, said most of the fuel logs have been turned over to the state Department of Revenue, which is conducting its own audit and criminal investigation. McLaughlin said the city will cooperate with all agencies investigating the matter. City officials maintain the missing fuel is a product of poor record keeping. The criminal probes were prompted by a complaint filed by city resident Bob Kadluboski. Kadluboski asked Salavantis and the Department of Revenue to investigate based on the findings of The Times Leader’s investigation. Kadluboski had requested Salavantis refer the investigation to the state Attorney General’s Office based on the fact Mike Dessoye, chief of Luzerne county detec-
tives, is the brother of Wilkes-Barre Police Chief Gerry Dessoye, who was appointed by Mayor Tom Leighton. Leighton has acknowledged he obtained fuel from the city pumps, for a vehicle he said was used for city business. He admitted he did not fill out logs documenting how much fuel he took or the number of miles he drove for city business. Salavantis said she does not believe there is a conflict. The two detectives assigned to the case will report their findings directly to her. “I looked at it very closely,” Salavantis said. “There is always going to be a connection with someone in different departments or different individuals. I want to make sure Luzerne County handles more cases and does not refer them out to an outside agency.”
Leader of Dems in W-B
LONG ROAD TO FLOOD RECOVERY
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Democratic National Committee chairwoman campaigns for Obama.
YANKEES 6 BLUE JAYS 1
By BILL O’BOYLE boboyle@timesleader.com
Jenkins Township has the most buyouts – 67 – followed by 26 each in Conyngham and Plains townships, Brozena said. The five other municipalities and buyouts are: Shickshinny, 25; Exeter Township, 9; West Pittston, 5; Nescopeck Township, 4; and Hunlock Township, 1. Buyout offers should be presented to affected property owners this fall so the properties could be demolished this winter, Brozena said.
WILKES-BARRE – With 112 days until the November presidential election, a major surrogate appeared in the city to stump for her party’s candidate. U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Tuesday blasted Republican presidential candidate former Schultz Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for lying and having a penchant for secrecy regarding his time as president and chief executive officer at private equity firm Bain Capital. Schultz also painted a picture of the stark difference between President Barack Obama and Romney when it comes to helping the middle class. “President Obama sticks up for the middle class, while Mitt Romney sticks it to them,” she said. “That’s what this election is about – the difference between a president who is committed to creating American jobs and growing the middle class economy, or one who outsourced jobs, shut down factories and continues to mislead
See BUYOUTS, Page 10A
See DNC, Page 10A
WHITE SOX 7 RED SOX 5 RAYS 4 INDIANS 2 NATIONAL LEAGUE
NATIONALS 5 METS 4 IL BASEBALL
AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER
KNIGHTS 5 SWB YANKS 4
M
INSIDE
163 flood-damaged sites to get buyout offers
A NEWS Local 3A Nation & World 5A Obituaries 6A Editorials 9A B SPORTS: 1B B BUSINESS: 7B Stocks 7B C TASTE: Birthdays 5C TV, Movies 6C Crossword/Horoscope 7C D CLASSIFIED: 1D Comics 14D
WEATHER Ava Swiderski. Partly sunny, a thunderstorm. High 88, low 70. Details, Page 8B
ary Martin and Bryce Grassel, both 16, of Maryland, carry debris from inside a Main Street, Duryea, residence. The two are with a church group that spent Tuesday working in the borough. Volunteers from seven states are in the borough this week, helping homeowners still recovering from September’s flooding. For the story, see Page 3A.
Feds to handle 75 percent of cost, and state to cover 22 percent, official says. By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@timesleader.com
The owners of at least163 Luzerne County properties substantially damaged by September flooding are expected to receive buyout offers, county Flood Protection Authority Executive Director Jim Brozena said during Tuesday’s authority meeting. The buyouts and demolition will cost
09815 10011
about $14 million, he said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide 75 percent of the funding for approved properties, and the state will kick in 22 percent. The remaining 3 percent match may be covered by part of a $15.7 million federal allocation to the county to help repair damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, officials have said. The 163 properties are in eight municipalities that accepted the county’s offer to handle their applications.
Promoter upset with no-go on ‘Joe’ By BILL O’BOYLE boboyle@timesleader.com
6
50¢
District attorney to probe missing fuel
New action after TL story
LINSANITY GONE FROM KNICKS Jeremy Lin is leaving New York and taking Linsanity to Houston. The New York Knicks announced Tuesday night that they will not match the Houston Rockets’ three-year, $25 million offer for Lin, a restricted free-agent. Lin became an international phenomenon in the Big Apple. The Rockets made it tough for the Knicks to sign off on keeping him by backloading their offer sheet with a $15 million salary in the third season. If the Knicks agreed to that deal, they would’ve faced a hefty luxury tax in 2014-15. 1B
WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012
WILKES-BARRE – The promoter for the showing of the film “The Joe We Know” did not agree with the decision to cancel the Friday night event. Marti Iben took strong objection to the report that she agreed with Marilyn Santarelli, the executive director at the F.M. Kirby Center, to cancel the film that was being offered free to the general public. “The Kirby decided to cancel
the show,” Iben said Tuesday. “When I walked into a meeting on Friday, the paperwork was already done.” Santarelli told The Times Leader on Monday she, the Kirby staff and Iben made the decision to cancel as a team. Iben, who turns 49 today, has lived in Wilkes-Barre for eight years after moving here from Baltimore. She said she was asked her opinion on the scheduled Friday night showing and she said she told the Kirby officials that
she felt it should go forward. Iben said she is not aware of any other cancellations of the film. It will be shown in Harrisburg on July 27, she said. “After careful consideration and due to the sensitivity of the subject matter, the Kirby Center has decided to forgo screening the film ‘The Joe We Know’ at this time,” said Santarelli in a prepared statement Tuesday The hour-long documentary about the late Penn State coach was first shown on Valentine’s
AP FILE PHOTO
Paterno, documentary subject
Day as a present to Sue Paterno, the coach’s widow. It contains comments from 70 former Penn State players who were interviewed over 12 days in locations across the country. Iben detailed her position in a See JOE, Page 10A
PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER
Program and ticket for Kirby showing of ‘The Joe We Know’
User: maed Time: 07-22-2012 23:25 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 07-23-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_f PageNo: 1 A
Three causes for a celebration
One man goes hairless to aid a local fire department
Candy’s Place Show, Estella Rupp, Jehovah’s Witnesses Convention
LOCAL, 3A
CLICK, 1C
768622
Saying goodbye to the combover
CMYK
Color: C K Y M
The Times Leader timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE, PA
MONDAY, JULY 23, 2012
CHILD ABUSE SCANDAL
AP PHOTO
Travis Hirko pauses Sunday at a cross with the name of a friend killed in Aurora, Colo.
Manner prompts rebuff PSU awaits its fate AP PHOTO
Penn State Office of Physical Plant workers cover the statue of former football coach Joe Paterno on Sunday near Beaver Stadium on the main campus in State College.
Aurora shooting suspect tried to gain membership in gun range but raised suspicions. By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press
AURORA, Colo. — Shooting suspect James Holmes applied to join a Colorado gun range last month but never became a member because of his behavior and a “bizarre” message on his voice mail greeting, the range’s owner said Sunday. Holmes, 24, emailed an application to join the Lead Valley Range in Byers on June 25 in which he said he was not a user of illegal drugs or a convicted felon, said owner Glenn Rotkovich. But when Rotkovich called to invite him to a mandatory orientation the following week, he said he heard Holmes’ voice mail greeting that was “bizarre — guttural, freakish at best.” It identified the number as belonging to “James,” so Rotkovich said he left a message. He left two other messages but eventually told his staff to watch out for Holmes at the July 1 orientation and not to accept him into the club, Rotkovich said. His comments were first reported by Fox News. See SHOOTING, Page 10A
INSIDE A NEWS: Local 3A Nation & World 4A Editorials 9A Obituaries 6A B SPORTS: 1B Weather 6B C CLICK : 1C Birthdays 3C Television 4C Crossword/Horoscope 5C D CLASSIFIED: 1D
WEATHER Kacey Huey. Mostly cloudy with showers, thunderstorm High 85, Low 65 Details, Page 6B
By STEVE MOCARSKY smocarsky@timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE – In the late ’70s and early ’80s, Tony DiMito had high hopes for his future but not a lot of resources. Now, he’s a successful writer of music for TV shows and films. DiMito, of Nanticoke, was one of dozens of graduates of the Upward Bound program at Wilkes University who at-
5
THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK
>> TWO CAVEMEN WALK INTO A BAR: Archeol-
ogists say the world’s oldest recorded joke is a Sumerian proverb dating back to 1,900 B.C. And, to prove the ancients had minds just as dirty as ours, that joke involves a wife, a husband and a noisy bodily function that would make an 11-year-old giggle like crazy. Why is that important? It’s not, really. But it does tie in to “Tell an Old Joke Day,” which is this Tuesday. The idea is to keep “classic” humor alive by telling … well, old jokes. So dust off your best Henny Youngman routines and get crackin’. 6
09815 10011
See GAS, Page 10A
AP PHOTO
A worker walks in front of the statue of former coach Joe Paterno.
Derek Leonard, 31, a university construction project coordinator who grew up in the area. Emmert has seemingly put the Penn State matter on the fast track. Other cases that were strictly See STATUE, Page 10A
Upward Bound: 45-year success story tended the program’s 45th anniversary reunion Sunday at the school campus and credited the program for giving them the help they needed to atDiMito tend college and succeed there and in life. “It certainly helped out with the financial aid,” DiMito said. “They were really good at getting all the (paperwork) together. Berklee College of Music is where I went to school, in Boston. That
>> RATED XMAS: There are people in history who
should have been stopped before they unleashed their nefar-
By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@timesleader.com
See UPWARD, Page 7A
TATE COLLEGE— Shortly after Penn State tore down its famed statue of coach Joe Paterno, the NCAA announced Sunday it would impose “corrective and punitive” sanctions against the university in the wake of a devastating report that asserted top university officials buried child sex abuse allegations against a retired assistant coach more than a decade ago. • The NCAA, acting with rare speed, said it will spell out the penalties today. The governing body did not disclose further details.
The program’s graduates reunite and tell of their personal journeys.
Experts say W-B mayor should have kept records of use of city gasoline.
was not a cheap school, and I don’t think I would have been able to do all the financial aid stuff.” While attending the Upward Bound program as a student at the John S. Fine High School in Nanticoke, DiMito took several art and music courses at Wilkes that he said helped prepare him for school in Boston. And there were additional benefits to the program, he said. “I grew up in Nanticoke. I think I left to go to the mall a couple times, but I rarely
By MARC LEVY and MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press
abuse scandal. If precedent holds A harsh penalfrom recent cases, INSIDE: Sanctions to be historic, ty would have rePenn State will face a Page 1B percussions well loss of scholarships and a multi-year ban from bowl beyond football, whose large profgames — and with it, the financial its — more than $50 million, acwindfall and showcase that comes cording to the U.S. Department of Education — subsidize dozens of with postseason play. Yet NCAA President Mark Em- other sports programs at the mert cautioned last week that he school. The potential for a historic hasn’t ruled out the possibility of NCAA penalty also worries a reshutting down the Penn State foot- gion whose economy is built at ball program altogether, saying he least partially on the strength and had “never seen anything as egre- popularity of the football program. “It’s going to kill our town,” said gious” as the Jerry Sandusky sex
Fuel is an IRS matter
WILKES-BARRE – Mayor Tom Leighton’s failure to keep records for his use of city fuel could cause him problems with the Internal Revenue Service, two tax experts said. Under IRS rules, the fair market value of the gasoline Leighton pumped into his private vehicle should have been reported as income either on his W2 earnings form, or a 1099 form that’s used to report non-salary income. Leighton would be entitled to seek a deduction for the portion of the fuel that was used for city business. Any portion that was for personal use Leighton would be subject to income tax, said two certified public accountants who have testified as expert witnesses. Leighton recently confirmed he had been obtaining fuel from the city pumps located at the Department of Public Works building for years. He said he believed he was justified in taking fuel because he drives his personal vehicle on city business. He acknowledged he did not fill out the log book detailing how much gasoline he dispensed, and also did not keep mileage records showing how many miles he drove on city business. That’s a problem, said David Ostrove, an attorney and CPA in Beverly Hills, Calif., and Sharon McNair, a CPA from Las Vegas, Nev. “The fair market value of the gas he used for personal business is taxable. It’s just like him getting additional cash,” Ostrove said. “He has to account for it and report in on this tax return.” In an email Friday, Leighton said any gasoline he received was for “expense reimbursement.” He did not respond to a question regarding whether the city included the value of the gas on his W2 or provided him a 1099 form. In a previous interview, Leighton said he got gas about once every three weeks and that he drives about 200 to 300 miles per month on city business. He has since stopped that practice and now will seek mileage reimbursement. Leighton’s failure to document his fuel usage was partly responsible for the city’s inabilitytoaccountfornearly18,000gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel that was dispensed from the city’s tanks between Dec.1, 2011 and June 22, Times Leader investigation revealed. Ostrove and McNair said, even if every
Paterno statue gone; NCAA plans to act today
S
50¢
ious plans on humanity. Among them is the guy who invented “Christmas in July.” Yes, people love Santa, but they don’t need to see a Santa sweating so profusely that they think he’s having a heart attack. And TV networks don’t have to roll out bad Christmas specials from the 1980s, like “Alf the Red-Nosed Reindeer” or “The Gobots Save Christmas.” CIJ is this Wednesday. Celebrate if you must, but do it responsibly.
>> FUNNY DUDE: You’ve seen him on David
Letterman. You’ve seen him on Conan. You’ve seen him on “I Love the ’70s.” Now, you can see him on Public Square. The “him” is comedian Jim Gaffigan and he will be uttering funny quips and sayings this Thursday at the F.M. Kirby Center. If you feel like going, the show starts at 7 p.m. Don’t expect much Sumerian toilet humor though. He’s not into that.
>> CHIN UP, LADS. IT’S THE OLYMPICS: It’s good to be British these days. England hasn’t been at the proverbial center of the uni-
verse since their kings wore puffy pants and made a habit out of beheading ex-wives. But the eyes of the world will be on London this week when the Summer Olympics begin on Friday. The traditionally overproduced opening ceremony will be on NBC at 7:30 p.m. It would be funny if the British team entered the stadium doing Monty Python-inspired silly walks, but that’s not likely. The first medals will be awarded on Saturday.
>> HEART FELT: Take a dash of Sesame Street and The Muppets, toss in a hefty dose of real-world humor and adult situations, shake well, and what do you get? No, not “Jersey Shore.” You get the hugely successful Broadway hit “Avenue Q.” It’s got singing, it’s got laughs, it’s got drama, and, yes, it’s got puppet cleavage. Really. “Avenue Q” is at the Music Box Dinner Playhouse in Swoyersville this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. (Aka, the weekend.) The dinner part starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday. The shows at 8 p.m. and 3 p.m.
User: maed Time: 07-22-2012 22:44 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 07-23-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_03 PageNo: 10 A
➛
PAGE 10A MONDAY, JULY 23, 2012
N
E
W
S
CMYK
Color: C K Y M
THE TIMES LEADER
www.timesleader.com
Obama in role of consoler in chief
President visits with families of shooting victims following example of predecessors. By JULIE PACE Associated Press
BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
Wilkes University Upward Bound alumni gather for a 45th anniversary party of the program Sunday.
UPWARD Continued from Page 7A
example – don’t have programs,” Thomas said. The program helps students choose a college and complete applications; provides tutors; helps with personal, financial and career counseling; provides workplace and college visits; gives special instruction in reading, writing, study skills and mathematics; helps students apply for financial aid; and gives them academic assistance in high school, high school re-entry or college situations. To be eligible, students must meet the following minimum requirements: • Show academic promise and enthusiasm toward learning. • Be in the 10th grade in high school. • Meet certain educational and economic criteria set by the U.S. Department of Education. Chris Kudrak, a teacher/ counselor for Upward Bound from 2008 through 2010 who is now a biology teacher living in Newton, N.J., said he would still work in the program if he lived closer. “I really liked working for Upward Bound. … It’s almost like a family; everyone works with each other. They’re good kids and they’re motivated because they’re looking to go to college. They never cease to amaze me,” Kudrak said. He enjoyed seeing some of his former students at Sunday’s reunion, adding that it was “nice to see how far they’ve come.” Going full circle Donna Chajko was so thank-
GAS Continued from Page 1A
gallon the mayor received was used for city business, he would still be required to report it as income on his tax return, then take a deduction. “He can’t just go put gas in his car without record keeping,” McNair said. “(If) he turns in an expense report that shows how many miles he drove for business and the reimbursement is equal to that, then it doesn’t have to be put on his W2. But it doesn’t sound like that’s what happened.” Whether the IRS will look into the matter is not known. McNair said the agency might get in-
STATUE Continued from Page 1A
about violating the NCAA rulebook have dragged on for months and even years. As Penn State awaited its fate, construction workers took down the larger-than-life monument to its Hall of Fame coach — on the six-month anniversary of his death from lung cancer at age 85. The Paterno family released a statement criticizing Penn State’s decision to remove the statue, saying it was made in haste and before all the facts about Paterno’s role in the Sandusky scandal were known. “Tearing down the statue of Joe Paterno does not serve the victims of Jerry Sandusky’s horrible crimes or help heal the Penn State community. We believe the only way to help the victims is to uncover the full truth,” said the family, which
ful for the advantages the program gave her after graduating from it in 1981, she felt the need to give something back. A Wyoming Valley West High School graduate, Chajko attended Marywood University and earned a bachelor’s in elementary/early childhood education and a master’s in reading education. After working at the former St. John the BapChajko tist School in Pittston, she spent six years working with Upward Bound before taking a job teaching fourth grade in the Wyoming Valley West School District. “I went full circle – I graduated from the program and I gave back to the program, which was extremely rewarding. I mean, without Upward Bound, a lot of students would not go on to college, myself as an example. I wanted to go, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it,” Chajko said. “I’m (a) first generation (college graduate). My parents never went to college. They graduated high school … but it was like, ‘College? You really want to go to college?’ And I was like, yes! Then when Upward Bound came to the school, I thought, ‘This might get me there,’ ” she said. To start with, the Upward Bound staff encouraged her, helped her family fill out complicated financial aid forms and college applications, Chajko said. “It’s one of the most amazing programs in existence,” Chajko said, “because everyone needs a little boost.”
volved if it receives a complaint, or it could act on its own based on media coverage of the issue. McNair and Ostrove acknowledged that, should the IRS investigate, the lack of records would make it difficult to determine if there was any tax liability. “If the numbers were known, he might be getting more gas than he should, or less gas than he should. There’s no way to know if there’s no accountability,” McNair said. Ostrove said in cases like that, the IRS would likely estimate a number. “To say you used every drop for city business, you can argue that, but the IRS is never going to go along with it,” Ostrove said. “They will come up with a number.” has vowed its own investigation following the release of an investigative report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh that found that Paterno and three other top Penn State administrators concealed sex abuse claims against Sandusky. The bronze statue, weighing more than 900 pounds, was erected in 2001 in honor of Paterno’s record-setting 324th Division I coaching victory and his “contributions to the university.” Students chanted, “We are Penn State” as it came down Sunday morning. Penn State President Rodney Erickson said he decided the sculpture had to go because it “has become a source of division and an obstacle to healing.” In Washington, the White House said President Barack Obama believed “it was the right decision.” But the vast majority of fans gathering outside Beaver Stadium to watch the statue’s re-
AURORA, Colo. — President Barack Obama on Sunday sought again to provide comfort to hurting and grieving families, sweeping into Colorado to privately console relatives of the victims gunned down in a movie theater. The massacre left12 people dead, dozens injured and a nation in stunned sorrow. Air Force One touched down at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora late Sunday afternoon for the Obama’s hastily arranged 21⁄2-hour visit. A short time later, Obama began his visit with the family members at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, which treated 23 of the people injured in the mass shooting; 10 remain there, seven hurt critically. The hospital is a short drive from the site of the shooting. For a president nearing the end of his term and seeking a second one, it was another grim occasion for him to serve as national consoler in chief, a role that has become a crucial facet of the job. National tragedies can present an opportunity for presidents to show leadership and rise above partisan politics, as with Presi-
AP PHOTO
President Barack Obama talks with Aurora, Colo., Police Chief Daniel Oates as Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan, right, and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, left, watch, Sunday.
dent Bill Clinton and the Oklahoma City bombing and President George W. Bush and the Sept. 11 attacks. But in moments of sorrow, presidents can risk looking detached and out of touch. Bush’s handling of Hurricane Katrina is an often-cited example. Obama was accompanied at the hospital by Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan. A single suspect, James Holmes, is being held without bond on suspicion of multiple counts of first-degree murder after the shooting rampage, which occurred minutes into a premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises” early Friday in this suburb outside
Denver. Sunday’s trip was Obama’s second time to Colorado in less than a month to comfort residents in a state that’s critical to the November election. He made a quick visit in late June to Colorado Springs, where hundreds of homes were destroyed in the most devastating wildfire in the state’s history. “These families need that kind of contact by our elected leader,” Oates told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “It will be very powerful and it will help them. As awful as what they’ve been through and what they’re going through has been, having the president here is very, very powerful.”
“I think the president coming in is a wonderful gesture,” Hogan said on ABC’s “This Week.” “He’s coming in, really, to have private conversations with the families. I think that’s totally appropriate.” Obama already had been a frequent election-year visitor to Colorado, which he won by more than 8 percentage points over Republican John McCain four years ago. But neither Obama’s nor GOP challenger Mitt Romney’s camp expects that big a margin this time. Recent polls place Obama’s lead inside the margin of error. The shock of the mass shooting brought the presidential campaign to a standstill for the weekend. Obama cut short a political trip to Florida to return to Washington and Romney canceled interviews. Both campaigns pulled ads off the air in Colorado out of respect for the victims. “This weekend I hope everyone takes some time for prayer and reflection,” Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address, “for the victims of this terrible tragedy, for the people who knew them and loved them, for those who are still struggling to recover.” Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Sunday during a briefing on Air Force One that the Obama campaign will keep its television ads off the air in Colorado through the whole week.
SHOOTING Continued from Page 1A
“There’s something weird here,” Rotkovich said he concluded. Holmes is being held without bond on suspicion of multiple counts of first-degree murder after a shooting rampage minutes into a premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises” early Friday that left12 people dead and 58 wounded. He is scheduled for an initial hearing today and has been assigned a public defender. The gunman’s semiautomatic assault rifle jammed during the attack at the Aurora movie theater, forcing him to switch to another gun with less firepower, a federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press. That malfunction and weapons switch during the shooting rampage might have saved some lives. As the investigation into the massacre continued Sunday, the University of Colorado said it was looking into whether Holmes used his position as a graduate student to order materials in the potentially deadly booby traps that police said they found in his apartment. Holmes got deliveries over four months to his home and school, authorities have said. The university is looking into what was received at the school to assist police with their investigation, said spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery. The suspect was described as a budding scientist, brimming with potential, who pursued a graduate program even as he planned the attack with “calculation and deliberation,” police said. Holmes’ apartment was booby
trapped with jars of liquids, explosives and chemicals that could have killed “whoever entered it,” Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said, noting it would have likely been one of his officers. Oates said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he had never seen a booby trap as elaborate as what was found in the apartment. By late Saturday afternoon, all hazards had been removed from the apartment and residents in surrounding buildings were allowed to return home, police said. The exception was Holmes’ apartment building, where authorities were still collecting evidence. Holmes had recently withdrawn from the competitive graduate program in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Den-
moval disagreed. At least one woman wept, others expressed anger at the decision, and nearly all said they continued to support their beloved “JoePa.” “I think it was an act of cowardice on the part of the university,” said Mary Trometter, of Williamsport, who wore a shirt bearing Paterno’s image. Recent major scandals — such as improper payments to the family of Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush while he was at Southern California, and players at Ohio State trading memorabilia for cash and tattoos — have resulted in bowl bans and the loss of scholarships. Another question is whether Penn State — and, by extension, Paterno, major college football’s winningest coach — will have to vacate any victories. Paterno won 409 games for the school in his 46 seasons as head coach. USC lost a national title when it went on probation and Ohio State va-
cated the 2010 season, including its victory in the Sugar Bowl over Arkansas. ACC Commissioner John Swofford said he doesn’t know what the penalties will be, though many in college sports have given some thought to what they should be. “I think a lot of us in this profession wrestle with that, to a degree, because the Penn State situation is unprecedented. I don’t know of anything to compare it to,” he said Sunday. “So, it’s uncharted waters. A tragedy from every angle.” Kayla Weaver, a Penn State senior and member of the dance team called the Lionettes, said an NCAA death penalty would not only force the football players to transfer, but it would also force program changes for cheerleaders, dancers and band members and would hurt season ticket holders. “It could ruin everything that we’ve built here,” said
AP PHOTO
The sun rises Sunday between flags placed at a memorial near the the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colo. Twelve people were killed and dozens were injured in a shooting attack early Friday.
AP PHOTO
Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan, right, says a prayer with Greg Zanis as Zanis places crosses for shooting victims across the street from the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colo.
ver, where he was one of six pre- National Institutes of Health. thesis Ph.D. students at its NeuThe university said Holmes roscience Program to be funded gave no reason for his withdrawby a prestigious grant from the al, a decision he made in June.
AP PHOTO
People visit the Joe Paterno statue early Sunday. Later it was removed.
Weaver, 21, from Franklin Lakes, N.J. On Twitter, Akeel Lynch, a running back recruit who played high school football in western New York, wrote: “I still bleed blue and white,”
while quarterback Matt McGloin wrote, “The hotter the fire, the stronger the steel.” Tight end Garry Gilliam tweeted, “No matter what happens, I’m staying at Penn State.”
User: rstouch Time: 07-30-2012 23:38 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 07-31-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_f PageNo: 1 A
New car smell: Safe to sniff?
A tasty bit of Coney Island comes to Wilkes-Barre
Dr. H tells us if it’s safe to inhale in your new sedan or SUV
BUSINESS, 9B
HEALTH, 1C
769977
Hey! Get your hot dogs here!
CMYK
Color: C K Y M
The Times Leader timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE, PA
2012 LONDON OLYMPICS
Certificates for Luzerne County listed incorrect amounts of insurance.
A Pittston-area insurance broker will be under special supervision of the Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner’s Office
for the next three years after a garding covercomplaint from Luzerne Counage amounts. ty officials. Joyce is vice According to a consent order president of signed by Deputy Insurance commercial Commissioner Ronald A. Gallines for Joyce lagher Jr. and Joseph J. Joyce Insurance Jr., of Hughestown, Joyce pro- Joseph Joyce Jr. Group in Pittvided Luzerne County and ston and a CAN DO Inc., of Hazleton, with member of the politically active certificates of insurance that Pittston-area family. had incorrect information reAccording to the order, Joyce
violated a provision of law that “prohibits a licensee from intentionally misrepresenting the terms of an actual or proposed insurance contract or application for insurance.” He also violated a provision prohibiting a licensee “from demonstrating a lack of general fitness, competence or reliability sufficient to satisfy the department that the licensee is
THE ANSWER IS BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND
LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS
Medal count as of July 30 COUNTRY China
G
S
B
TOT
9
5
3
17
United States 5
7
5
17
France
3
1
3
7 4
North Korea
3
0
1
Italy
2
4
2
8
South Korea
2
2
2
6
Russia
2
0
3
5
Kazakhstan
2
0
0
2
Japan
1
4
6
11
Australia
1
2
1
4
Romania
1
2
0
3
Brazil
1
1
1
3
Hungary
1
1
1
3
Netherlands
1
1
0
2
Ukraine
1
0
2
3
Georgia
1
0
0
1
Lithuania
1
0
0
1
South Africa
1
0
0
1
Colombia
0
2
0
2
Britain
0
1
2
3
Cuba
0
1
0
1
Germany
0
1
0
1
Mexico
0
1
0
1
Poland
0
1
0
1
Taiwan
0
1
0
1
Thailand
0
1
0
1
Azerbaijan
0
0
1
1 1
Belgium
0
0
1
Canada
0
0
1
1
India
0
0
1
1 AP
INSIDE
A NEWS Local News Nation/World Obituaries
worthy of licensure,” the order states. Joyce waived his rights to a formal administrative hearing on the matter and, without admitting to allegations and conclusions in the order, agreed to comply with the insurance commissioner’s order. He was ordered to cease and See INSURANCE, Page 8A
SPORTS COMPLEX
Area is game for fields, buildings
TV SCHEDULE MSNBC Women’s Field Hockey - U.S. vs. Argentina (LIVE); Weightlifting - Gold Medal Finals; 9 a.m.-6 p.m. NBC Men’s Volleyball - U.S. vs. Germany (LIVE); Men’s Water Polo - U.S. vs. Romania (LIVE); 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Women’s Gymnastics - Team Gold Medal Final; Swimming Gold Medal Finals: Men’s 200M Butterfly, Men’s 4x200M Freestyle Relay, Women’s 200M Freestyle and Women’s 200M Individual Medley; 8 p.m.-Midnight
50¢
State will monitor insurer Joyce
By STEVE MOCARSKY smocarsky@timesleader.com
American swimmer Missy Franklin, above, won gold in the women’s 100-meter backstroke. Page 6B Meanwhile, the Chinese men, below, won their second straight gold medal in gymnastics in a rout. Page 1B
TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2012
Local group will lease land owned by Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs casino. By ANDREW M. SEDER aseder@timesleader.com
FRED ADAMS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
eslie Bullock of Noxen signs the 130-foot wind turbine blade next to the spot where BP President John Graham L wrote ‘Blow Wind Blow.’ She was also one of the speakers at the Mehoopany Wind Farm Construction ceremony held Monday at Shadowbrook Inn & Resort, Tunkhannock. Local and state officials, including U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, also signed one of the blades. On completion, the $250 million facility will be largest wind project in the state, according to BP Wind Energy and Sempra U.S. Gas & Power. For more photos, see Page 4A.
W-B mayor got mileage out of travel money Records show Tom Leighton was paid more than $2,000 for trips made in 2009 and 2010. By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE – Mayor Tom Leighton was paid more than $2,000 in mileage reimbursement for out-of-town travel in 2009 and 2010 in addition to gasoline he ob-
tained from the city’s fuel tanks, records show. Leighton made a total of 13 trips from March 2009 to December 2010, racking up more than 4,000 miles to Philadelphia, Harrisburg, WashLeighton ington, D.C., and Rhode Island, according to receipts obtained by The Times Leader. The mileage rate, which varied between
.50 and 55 cents per mile, resulted in a total payment of $2,228. He received no mileage reimbursements in 2011. Records for 2012 were not immediately available Monday. The use of city fuel has come under scrutiny since a Times Leader investigation revealed the city could not account for nearly 18,000 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel dispensed from the city’s tanks from Dec. 1, 2010 to June 22. See MILEAGE, Page 8A
The ‘oops!’ factor: Devices drive walkers to distraction
Across the country on city streets, in suburban parking lots and in shopping centers, there is usually someone strolling while talking on a phone, texting, listening to music, or playing a video game.
Fortunately there were no Emergency rooms busy with trains approaching the Philadelpeople who suffered injuries phia-area station at that mowhile walking, using gadgets. ment, because it took the man By JOAN LOWY Associated Press
several minutes to recover enough to climb out of danger. But the incident, captured last year by a security camera and provided to The Associated Press, underscores the risks of what government officials and safety experts say is a growing problem: distracted walking. On city streets, in suburban
WASHINGTON — A young man talking on a cellphone meanders along the edge of a lonely train platform at night. Suddenly he stumbles, loses his balance and pitches over the side, landing head first on the See WALKERS, Page 8A tracks.
3A 5A 2A, 6A
N.Y. beaten Yankees fall to Baltimore Story, 3B
AP PHOTO
Editorials B SPORTS BUSINESS Stocks
7A 9B
Weather C HEALTH Birthdays Television
10B 5C 6C
Movies Puzzles D CLASSIFIED Comics
PLAINS TWP. – A local group plans to develop a year-round multisport and event complex on 120 acres near the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs casino that will cost at least $12 million to build. Planned are three domes, two of which would provide fully turfed fields for baseball, softball, field hockey, soccer, football, lacrosse and track and field. The In addition to third dome the fields, the would enclose hard courts to project insupport indoor cludes a field hockey, “field house” basketball, volconcept that leyball, dodgehouses climbball, floor hockey and a mixed ing walls that martial arts would have training center. Also planned challenges for are four out- pre-school door baseball aged children fields and four to adults. softball/Little League fields. These fields would include concession and retail areas, seating and parking, according to a release issued Monday by the Ultimate Sports Group. Based in Wilkes-Barre, the company is a collaboration among partners Karen Line, president of Line Up Inc.; Brent Berger, CEO of Quad3 Group; and Stuart Bell, president of Luzerne Products. “Our intention is to create a venue for top-level sports training and competition in the kind of comprehensive complex that offers state-of-the-art facilities with every added-value comfort possible for players and their families when they visit the Ultimate Sports destination,” said Berger, whose firm has experience with youth sport complexes and 40 years of architecture and engineering expertise. The land is owned by the casiSee SPORTS, Page 8A
6C 7C 14D
6
09815 10011
User: rstouch Time: 07-30-2012 23:15 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 07-31-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_01 PageNo: 8 A
➛
PAGE 8A TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2012
INSURANCE Continued from Page 1A
desist from engaging in the activities described in the order’s findings. And the order warns that Joyce’s licenses could be immediately suspended if the Insurance Department determines he is in breach of the order or a complaint against him is accurate and he violated a statute or regulation. Joyce’s alleged violations are punishable by: • Suspension, revocation or refusal to issue a license. • A civil fine not to exceed $5,000 for every violation. • An order to cease and de-
sist, and • Any other conditions the commissioner deems appropriate. If Joyce is found to be in breach of the consent order, any of those actions could be taken, said Insurance Department spokeswoman Roseanne Placey. Companies that bid on county insurance must carry at least $5 million per claim in errors-andomissions coverage. The county underlines the word “minimum” before the $5 million requirement to emphasize the point in specifications provided to prospective bidders. The Joyce firm supplied the county with a certificate of liability insurance last year and this year stating that it had the $5 million coverage through Dar-
N
E
win Select Insurance Co., but county Controller Walter Griffith said he obtained documents from Darwin that indicate Joyce Associates never purchased that much coverage. Griffith said Darwin provided paperwork showing that Joyce Associates had $1 million in errors-and-omissions liability insurance per claim from Jan. 15, 2010, to Jan. 15, 2011, and $3 million in coverage from Jan. 15, 2011, to Jan. 15, 2012. Darwin provided the paperwork after Griffith threatened the company with a subpoena, he said. Griffith sent a letter on Nov. 2 to the Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Division requesting an investigation and he sent copies to the Insurance Depart-
W
S
THE TIMES LEADER
ment and other agencies. Griffith said he thought the insurance commissioner “would have come back with something more substantial” in terms of sanctions against Joyce, but he assumed it was a standard consequence for first-time violators of state insurance law. “I just wanted to make sure the insurance commissioners (were) aware of the problem, and obviously they followed up on my request for an investigation,” Griffith said. He noted that Joyce & Associates, which has historically handled most of the county’s insurance policies for decades, was not awarded any for 2012. Joyce did not respond to messages left for him at his office and home.
SPORTS Continued from Page 1A
no, and Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs CEO Bobby Soper said “It’s a long-term lease,” but declined to give more details. “It doesn’t interfere with our master plan for the casino, and we thought this was a good use of some of our open land,” Soper said, noting the casino has about 400 acres. More than just fields Soper praised the opportunity the project creates. “We are excited about the prospects of this project and believe that it will not only complement the entertainment destination we have developed here, but will also provide significant recreational and economic benefits to Northeastern Pennsylvania.” In addition to the fields, the project includes a “field house” concept that houses climbing walls that would have challenges for pre-school aged children to adults. Included would be more concessions, party and corporate event rooms, retail, a first aid room, locker rooms and storage. Ultimate Sports, the company developing the project, is welcoming on-site concept-related businesses such as sports medicine and rehab, child care and playground services. On-site lodging would be within the compound as well. Line said the price tag will be at least $12 million and possibly as much as $20 million, depend-
SUBMITTED PHOTO
This artist’s rendering shows the proposed sports complex to be built on land owned by Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in Plains Township.
ing on the size and scope of the field house part of the project. The project is a permitted use in this part of Plains Township, but still needs zoning and building permits, said Kathy O’Boyle, the township’s zoning officer. It would be constructed in phases over the next two years. “Northeastern PA, with its venerable commitment to youth sports, is the perfect area for this ambitious project. We look to create another economic driver on the unused land behind Mohegan Sun with a vast sports and events complex, basically a ‘sports resort,’ to support an already established entertainment destination,” said Bell. Bell had originally planned to create this type of project on 74 acres he owns off of Courtright
Street in Plains Township, but that land flooded last fall when the Susquehanna overflowed its banks. By January, the casino land was eyed and lease negotiations began. “We think we’re unique,” Line said. “We’re trying to create a venue that’s an exciting place for local community members and athletes from the region, state and even nation.” Coach praises concept One group that’s anxiously awaiting the project to get under way is the Moosic Mets, an elite travel baseball team that is overseen by Harry Nelson, an associate major league scout and former minor league baseball player. Nelson, who was traveling in
New Jersey on Monday, praised the project and the location. “It’s an ideal area for us as far as getting to and from the interstate,” Nelson said. “It’s going to be a great thing for the kids.” He said the flood set things back a year, but its timing was “a blessing in disguise” because if the project was underway or completed by last fall, a lot of it would have been ruined. In addition to the Moosic Mets, other sports organizations that have entered into conditional relationships with Ultimate Sports Group include the NEPA Miners football team, Pro Staff Baseball and Softball Enterprises Inc., and Marilyn Pasqualichio’s PRECISION 4 SPORTS, an indoor and outdoor field hockey organization.
WALKERS Continued from Page 1A
parking lots and in shopping centers, there is usually someone strolling while talking on a phone, texting with his head down, listening to music, or playing a video game. The problem isn’t as widely discussed as distracted driving, but the danger is real. Reports of injuries to distracted walkers treated at hospital emergency rooms have more than quadrupled in the past seven years and are almost certainly underreported. There has been a spike in pedestrians killed and injured in traffic accidents, but there is no reliable data on how many were distracted by electronics. “We are where we were with cellphone use in cars 10 years or so ago. We knew it was a problem, but we didn’t have the data,” said Jonathan Akins, deputy executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state highway safety offices. State and local officials are struggling to figure out how to respond, and in some cases asking how far government should go in trying to protect people from themselves. In Delaware, highway safety officials opted for a public education campaign, placing decals on crosswalks and sidewalks at busy intersections urging pedestrians to “Look up. Drivers aren’t always looking out for you.” Philadelphia officials are drafting a safety campaign that will be aimed in part at pedestrians who are looking at their devices instead of where they’re going. As an April Fool’s Day joke with a serious message, Philadelphia officials taped off an “elane” for distracted pedestrians on a sidewalk outside downtown office buildings.
CMYK
Color: C K Y M
MILEAGE Continued from Page 1A
Leighton acknowledged he obtained gasoline for his private vehicle to use in city-related travel. He never documented how much fuel he took, however, or kept mileage records, leaving no way to confirm if any of the fuel was used for personal business. The payment of mileage raises an additional question of whether he was compensated twice – once through gasoline and once through mileage reimbursement – for the out-of-town trips. It’s impossible to determine that, however, because Leighton did not sign log books when he fueled his vehicle. That leaves no way to cross check the dates to determine if he obtained fuel soon before leaving on a trip. Leighton speaks out Leighton on Monday vehemently disputed the suggestion he would seek mileage and gasoline for the same trip. “If you think I’m double dipping, absolutely not,” Leighton said. He acknowledged there’s no way to back up his statement, other than his word. “You are always going to have skeptics out there, and that’s unfortunate. It’s something I deal with every day,” Leighton said. “I would hope you would take my word because I’m telling you exactly what I did.” He said he sought mileage reimbursement because he would often use his wife’s car for out-oftowntripsbecausehehashisvehi-
JOBLESS Continued from Page 3A
Steven Zellers, an analyst with the Department of Labor and Industry’s Center for Workforce Information & Analysis, said increases were experienced in all14 regions of the state, with Johnstown seeing the largest increase at seventh-tenths of a percent. “It’s a combination of the seasonality, but also a bigger factor this month was the labor force size increasing (by 1,200),” Zellers said. Some of that, he noted, are recent graduates entering the job market. Though there were 600 fewer people working in the region in June than there were in May, Zellers noted that when compared to June 2011, jobs in the market were up 4,100, or 1.6 percent. That’s more than double the statewide over-the-year gain of 0.7 percent. So the reason the rate has skyrocketed isn’t fewer jobs, Zellers said, but more people who have been unemployed feeling like there’s a chance for them to find employment. “The confidence level is increasing and that’s inducing peo-
COURT BRIEF
AP PHOTO
Pedestrians cross K Street and Connecticut Avenue NW near the Farragut North Metro entrance in downtown Washington, D.C. Instances of pedestrians injured while talking on phones, texting, playing games or listening to music on headphones are leading to more visits to ERs.
Some didn’t get that it was a joke. “The sad part is we had people who, once they realized we were going to take the e-lane away, got mad because they thought it was really helpful to not have people get in their way while they were walking and texting,” Rina Cutler, deputy mayor for transportation and public utilities, said. When the Utah Transit Authority adopted an ordinance barring pedestrians from using cellphones, headphones or other distracting electronic devices while crossing the tracks of its light rail system on the streets of Salt Lake City, subject to a $50 fine, the Legislature refused to make it a statewide law. “Look, I get distracted all the time,” bristled Utah State Rep. Craig Frank, a Republican who opposed the proposal. “I have a smartphone, too.
Walking on sidewalks, in stores and malls, and maybe in a crosswalk sometimes I’m using my cellphone. But I try to stay connected to my environment. I never thought the government needed to cite me for using my cellphone in a reasonable manner.” Distracted walking bills in the Arkansas, Illinois and New York legislatures also went nowhere. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which provided the video of the man who fell onto the train tracks, has received reports from bus drivers and train engineers who say they nearly hit pedestrians who didn’t appear to hear them sound their horns because they were distracted by their electronic devices, said Jim Fox, the agency’s director of system safety and risk management. A University of Maryland
study found 116 cases over six years in which pedestrians were killed or seriously injured while wearing headphones. About 1,152 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms in the U.S. last year for injuries suffered while walking and using a cellphone or some other electronic device, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which receives annual data from 100 emergency rooms and extrapolates the information into a national estimate. But that’s likely an underestimate because patients may not mention they were using a cellphone or other device at the time at the time they were injured, or the doctor or nurse may neglect to include the information in their report, said Tom Schroeder, director of the commission’s data systems.
WILKES-BARRE – Attorneys involved in the case of a teen charged in the December 2009 shooting death of his greatgrandfather have agreed the 19-year-old needs psychiatric and psychological treatment. In a one-page stipulation Monday, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed that Cody Lee is in need of counseling, psychiatric services and psychological treatment regarding the December 2009 incident.
STUDENTS Continued from Page 3A
um of $42,425. The insurance, managed by Bollinger Insurance Solutions in Short Hills, N.J., also covers interscholastic sports, gym classes, intramural sports, field trips, band, majorettes and cheerleaders. Business Manager Leonard Przywara said Bollinger had agreed to a two-year contract at the start of last school year, while still giving the district the chance to opt out this year if it found a lower rate. But the claims filed last year topped $54,000, meaning Bollin-
www.timesleader.com
cle through a lease, meaning he has to watch mileage carefully. Leases come with stiff penalties for exceeding a specified mileage. “There were times I used my second car. I never, ever put any city fuel in my second car,” Leighton said. He also noted several of the trips were too far to drive on a single tank of gas, including “If you Washington, think I’m D.C., and Providouble dip- dence, R.I. Reshow ping, abso- ceipts that of the 13 trips he took, lutely five were to desnot.” tinations with Tom Leighton round trip mileWilkes-Barre age of more mayor than 400 miles. Most of the trips involved meetings with government officials or other professionals who were involved in various projects within the city. Others were for attendance at mayoral conferences. Reimbursements were based on mileage calculated by the travel website Mapquest from City Hall to the destination. Leighton said there were no reimbursements for 2011 because he traveled very little that year due to am injury he suffered to his foot. He has sought reimbursement for trips in 2012, and will continue to do so for out-of-town, as well as local travel. He said he has been more careful to track his mileage since the controversy over fuel usage erupted. He no longer obtains fuel from the city tanks and plans to submit a form detailing his mileage on a monthly basis. ple to get back in the labor force,” Liuzzo said. “People are more confident than they were a year ago.” A closer look at the report, released by the Center for Workforce Information & Analysis, shows unemployment rose to 8.6 percent in Lackawanna County and to 8.9 percent in Wyoming County. While unemployment was 1,100 higher than a year ago in Luzerne County, it was lower in both Lackawanna and Wyoming. Within the metro area, the mining, logging and construction sector gained 300 jobs month to month and 800 since last June. Leisure and hospitality jobs rose 900 for the month and 1,000 over a year. Also strong over the year was the professional and business services sector, which showed a gain of 1,300. Month-to-month jobs in this sector were up 300. In contrast, employment in retail trade has decreased, both over the month and the year. Jobs fell by 400 in June, and were down by 500 over June 2011. Zellers said this could be because some companies, seeing lagging sales, are either laying off or aren’t replacing those who have left. State police at Wyoming and county detectives alleged Lee, then 16, carried out a plan to kill his great-grandfather, Herbert Lee, 80, inside the family’s home on Meeker Outlet Road in Lake Township on Dec. 9, 2009. The attorneys also agreed Monday that any statements Lee makes during counseling will not be permitted to be used against him in any court proceeding. The attorneys are currently awaiting a decision from a county judge on whether Lee’s case should be heard in adult or juvenile court. ger lost money on the deal, Przywara said, and no other company submitted bids this year. Przywara noted some companies that looked at the district’s claims history warned premiums could jump to $70,000 or higher. And the board approved a contract with Williams Bus Lines, Wilkes-Barre, to provide service the district had been handling in house. The district has decided to shut down its own bus operation, already limited to six or seven vehicles now out for sale, in the expectation that contracting the work out will save money. Williams already handles most of the district’s bus service. Board Member Lynn Evans, who works for Williams, abstained from the vote.
User: rsheposh Time: 10-19-2012 23:45 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 10-20-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_f PageNo: 1 A
Easy ways you can clean up
Pa. man claims Bigfoot may have damaged his vehicle.
Basic methods and tools to kill the smells and germs.
NEWS, 10A
AT HOME, 1C
Buy One Dinner Entrée, Get One ½ Price! $2.00 Off One Large Pizza!
EQUAL OR LESSER VALUE. DINE-IN ONLY.
DINE-IN OR TAKE-OUT.
785399
BOLO: Big, hairy, apelike
CMYK
Color: C K Y M
The Times Leader timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE, PA
SPORTS SHOWCASE
COST OF CARELESSNESS
The state decided that two years of incomplete record keeping at Wilkes-Barre city fuel pumps resulted in back taxes, penalties and fines for missing fuel that total: Gas Diesel $25,919 Interest: $26,000 $599 FINE: $2,302 $24,000 $22,000
12,379 Gals. $3,862
$20,000 $18,000
8,183 Gals. $3,118
2012 (Jan.June)
$16,000 $14,000 $12,000
19,316 Gals. $6,027 2011
$10,000 $8,000 $6,000
ZITO SAVES GIANTS SEASON
$4,000 $2,000
Barry Zito pitched the San Francisco Giants back into the NL championship series, dominating into the eighth inning of a 5-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night that narrowed their deficit to 3-2. Pablo Sandoval homered for the second straight night and Zito made an extremely rare offensive contribution with a perfectly executed bunt for an RBI single.
17,430 Gals. $6,641 5,577 Gals. $1,740 4,281 Gals. $1,631
2010 (JulyDec.)
Mark Guydish/The Times Leader
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2012
W-B is hit with fuel bill
Tax owed on over 67,000 gallons, state says
By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE – The state Department of Revenue has slapped the city with a nearly $26,000 bill after investigators could not account for more than 67,000 gallons of fuel dispensed over a two-year period. The probe, which was prompted by a Times Leader investigation in June, determined a total of 37,272 gallons of gasoline and 29,894 gallons of diesel missing from the city’s pumps at the Department of Public Works building from July 2010 to July 2012. That’s roughly 3½ times more than the 17,880 gallons the newspaper’s investigation
initially uncovered based on a review of seven months worth of records from December 2011 to June 2012. The state determined the city owes $23,018 in taxes, plus $2,301 in penalties and $599 in interest, according to documents The Times Leader obtained Friday under the state’s Right Know Act. The city also voluntarily released additional records, even though they may be exempt from the Right to Know Act, that detailed how the Department of Revenue arrived at that figure. Those documents indicate the department calculated the missing fuel by comparing log
books filled out by employees to computer generated tank readings that showed how much fuel was dispensed from the tanks – the same methodology the newspaper employed. The state calculations show the city could not account for 9,858 gallons of diesel and gasoline dispensed from July to December 2010; 36,746 gallons dispensed from January to December 2011 and 20,562 gallons dispensed from January to June 2012, for a total of 67,166 gallons. The largest monthly discrepancy in gasoSee FUEL, Page 12A
County’s budget balanced; holds line
HOGGING PARKING SPACES
PAGE 1B
H.S. FOOTBALL
BERWICK 23 PITTSTON 20 WYO. AREA 48 GAR 15
Manager Lawton works into the night to complete the 2013 spending plan.
REDEEMER 47 HANOVER 37
By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@timesleader.com
L-LEHMAN 46 NANTICOKE 14
The foundation raised a bit more than $16,000 to buy the iPads and related equipment that connects them to a projector that displays an iPad screen onto a computerized white board. The foundation is a non-profit corporation that takes advantage of the state’s Education Improvement Tax Credit program. Businesses mak-
By the skin of his teeth, Luzerne County Manager Robert Lawton said he would fulfill his promise to present a balanced, no-tax-hike 2013 budget to county council before he left work Friday. Lawton was still preparing the proposal at 11:15 p.m. but said earlier in the day that he would not leave his basement courthouse office until it was emailed to council and posted on the county website. Lawton told council he couldn’t meet Monday’s home rule charter deadline to submit the proposal because he needed more time to meet with managers and review options to close a $6.3 million deficit. As of Monday, the administration had $116.3 million in available revenue. Lawton said Friday afternoon he had identified additional income this week that will increase overall revenue to slightly less than this year’s $122.63 million budget. The administration was “pru-
See DALLAS, Page 12A
See BUDGET, Page 12A
MEYERS 14 NORTHWEST 13 TUNK’NOCK 35 WILL’SPORT 14 WVW 42 HAZLETON 12
INSIDE A NEWS: Obituaries 2A, 8A Local 3A Nation & World 5A Editorials 11A B SPORTS: 1B B BUSINESS: 9B C AT HOME: 1C Birthdays 4C Television 6C Crossword/Horoscope 7C Comics 12D E CLASSIFIED: 1E
AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER
E
xcuse me, sir, your pig is double parked.’ Gene Stilp, Democratic candidate for the 11th Congressional District running against incumbent Republican Lou Barletta uses a pink pig bus to ham it up as he fights political corruption and government waste. Stilp pulled the bus in front of The Times Leader building and took up two metered parking spaces on North Main Street, but failed to put enough quarters in the meters. The result was a parking ticket stuck on the windshield on Friday. It wasn’t known if Stilp received one or two tickets. The city fine for violation of two metered spaces is $25, said Drew McLaughlin, the city’s administrative coordinator. Stilp removed the ticket and promptly fed the meters for enough time to meet with The Times Leader Editorial Board.
Dallas project brings students cyber-success A middle school science class is a study in what can be done with a strong civic effort.
WEATHER Jeffrey Terpak Party cloudy. Showers possible. High 60. Low 48. Details, Page 10B
By MARK GUYDISH mguydish@timesleader.com
DALLAS TWP. – Dallas Middle School teachers may feel a twinge of envy – or at least regret – when they walk by Sam Barbose’s classroom and see his students working with 30 new iPads. The computer tablets come courtesy of the 1-year-old Dallas Foundation for Education Excellence, and Bar-
bose got them simply by being one of the few teachers to take advantage of the new entity and suggest the iPad project. “We didn’t get many proposals,” Foundation Treasurer Kristin Gattuso said. “We’re hoping showing this off will encourage more teachers to apply for assistance. Anyone can submit an application for a project, big or small.”
Sandusky victim talks of basement attack Scout files show area has had
16 possible cases of sex abuse
By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
6
09815 10011
50¢
HARRISBURG — A young man whose sexualabuse claims triggered the investigation of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky says in his new book Sandusky’s wife once called down to the basement while he INSIDE: Penn was being attacked and Sandusky State trustees dismissed her by saying he was to take up busy. settlements, Aaron Fisher writes in “Silent 10A No More” that Dottie Sandusky asked her husband to fix a table upstairs but that when he replied he was fixing an air hockey table she dropped the subject. “Sarge,” Fisher wrote, using her nickname, “nevAP PHOTO er went down to the basement.” The basement, according to court testimony, is ABC’s Chris Cuomo, left, with Aaron Fisher, 18, See VICTIM, Page 12A
a victim of Jerry Sandusky during an interview Friday on ABC’s ‘20/20.’
SEE THE DOCUMENTS The database, spanning The database can be seen at decades, shows adults http://spreadsheets.laexpelled from the Boy Scouts. times.com/boyscouts-cases/ By RON BARTIZEK rbartizek@timesleader.com
Los Angeles Times lists cases by year and location. Each individual has been given a unique tracking number and in some cases a name and supporting documents. Only one of the local cases, in Berwick, includes a name. The documents, from 1971, indicate
A database compiled by the Los Angeles Times of adults expelled from the Boy Scouts of America between 1947 and 2005 for alleged or suspected sexual abuse shows 11 incidents in nine Luzerne County municipalities, and five in Berwick. The database created by the See SCOUTS, Page 12A
User: rsheposh Time: 10-19-2012 23:45 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 10-20-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_05 PageNo: 12 A
➛
PAGE 12A SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2012
BUDGET Continued from Page 1A
dent” in its revenue presumptions, he said. The proposed budget eliminates salaries for at least 41 vacant and filled positions, including18 prison job cuts that will result in eight correctional officer layoffs, Lawton told council earlier this week. Though council increased taxes 2 percent this year, Lawton said the cuts were needed because the 2013 budget must absorb several additional costs, including: • Mandated union raises. • A $2.8 million increase in debt repayments. • A $2 million increase in health care costs. • $1.4 million for legal and day reporting center expenses insufficiently funded this year. • Salaries of eight division head positions required by home rule. Edward Brominski issued an
email to his county council colleagues expressing his displeasure the budget wasn’t released by 4 p.m. as originally expected. “Why did we not get the budget Monday as required by the (home rule) charter, and why do we not have it now?” he wrote in an email to other council members around 6 p.m. Some other council members were antsy but more understanding because it was Lawton’s first budget submission, and the home rule charter mandated extensive summaries, reports and comparisons not required under the prior government system. Around 5 p.m., Lawton blamed the delay largely on continued issues fact-checking past budgetary figures. “It’s like replacing a light switch in an old house, where you end up replacing the roof,” Lawton said. He also said the county’s financial software system didn’t provide the “analytical resources” needed to prepare the budget according to charter standards. County council ap-
N
E
W H AT ’ S N E X T Budget summaries are posted on the county website, www.luzernecounty.org. Council must hold a public budget hearing at least seven days after the budget is unveiled. This hearing is scheduled at 6 p.m. Oct. 30 in the county’s Emergency Management Agency Building, Water Street, Wilkes-Barre.
proved a new software system, but it won’t be implemented until the middle of next year. Lawton worked late into the evening with county Chief Engineer Joe Gibbons and interim Budget/Finance Chief Vic Mazziotti at his side. “We’re closing in on it. We’re not leaving until the gap is zero,” he said in the afternoon. While specific figures weren’t presented to each department, all managers, elected and appointed, were informed of the administration’s need to impose cuts and reject requests for additional staff and resources, he said. “Their concerns have been heard. Management’s plans have
W
S
been discussed with all departments, so there should not be a lack of awareness, nor were the departments told to fend for themselves,” he said. The investment of additional time was worthwhile pinpointing additional revenue, he said. “County management and staff have put the last four days to very good use for the taxpayers,” Lawton said. Council must adopt a budget between Nov. 15 and Dec. 15. The charter allows council to add, delete, increase or decrease allocations, though changes can’t exceed the overall budgeted revenue. A mandatory public budget hearing was scheduled for Oct. 30 to allow time for council and the public to absorb the proposal. Lawton has said the administration will be “fully responsive” to council requests for additional information and explanation. Budget approval is a key responsibility of the 11-member, parttime council because it sets spending limits for the administration for a year.
DALLAS Continued from Page 1A
ing donations can get up to a 90 percent tax credit for the amount they contribute. Barbose said only his iPad connects to the projector and smart board, but that the others could and eventually will connect so students can collaborate on projects and show off work. He spent part of his sixth-grade science class Friday showing students how to create computerized “flash cards,” akin to the old idea of index cards with key points written on each side. Students can access the Internet through the school’s filter, “so you have to walk around the room and make sure they stay on task,” he admitted, but that advantage will allow them to email their flash cards and other work to each other or to themselves at home, as well as to research on the web. Barbose said he’d like to get software that would let students store work online so they could access it anywhere with an iPad. Blaine Rex had no trouble
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
Students in Sam Barbose’s sixth-grade at Dallas Middle School, including Jacob Noone, right, use their new iPads during the science class.
handling the simple assignments Barbose gave in creating the computerized flash cards, so much so that he sat idle for a moment while Barbose helped another student. Rex said he has a computer at home, though not an
iPad, and that “I like it.” Gattuso said this was by far the biggest project of the foundation, formed in September last year. It has also given graduates small scholarships and provided money to the high school “Moun-
taineer Marketplace,” a studentoperated school store. Middle School Principal Thomas Duffy said iPads were also purchased for 10 teachers, with plans to expand their use into other classrooms.
Rush is on to see once-secret Scout files Information on decades of abuse from 1959 to 1985 is available online. By NIGEL DUARA Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. — The online release of files showing the Boy Scouts of America’s coverup of decades of sexual abuse has created interest among Americans who want to know who the alleged abusers are and whether people who molested them as Scouts are in the files. The 14,500 pages of Scout files, from 1959-1985, were posted Thursday on the website of Kelly Clark, the Portland attorney who used the files as evidence in a 2010 lawsuit he won against the Scouts. The website got more than 200,000 hits within the first few hours of the files’ posting, crashing the site. Release of the files has also prompted a debate on the Boy Scouts’ Facebook page. Some people said they’d never allow their children to be involved in the organization and criticized the secrecy of the files. Others described positive experiences in the Scouts for themselves or their children, saying the organization’s efforts to prevent abuse have improved significantly. Clark said his firm has re-
SCOUTS Continued from Page 1A
a Scoutmaster agreed to resign when confronted with signed statements from three Scouts from Nescopeck and their parents alleging he engaged in masturbation and other inappropriate conduct with them.
ceived about four dozen emails from people about the documents. About half came from people who say they were abused when they were in the Scouts and were interested in filing lawsuits. Some of the emails have given details about alleged abuse, Clark said. There are also emails from people who tell of other alleged perpetrators who are not in the files. “We had many people say thank you for posting the documents,” Clark said. At least six people have contacted reporters for The Associated Press with questions about reporting sex abuse when they were in the Scouts. None agreed to speak to the AP on the record. The Scouts have said they plan to review every file from 1965 to the present and, in cases where it’s unclear whether the incident was reported to police, the Scouts said they’ll contact authorities. Deron Smith, spokesman for the Scouts, said Thursday the organization is currently looking through those files to find cases of “good-faith suspicions” so they can be reported to police. The Scout files are filled with unsubstantiated allegations. In their own review of the files that were released on Thursday, the Scouts found that law en-
forcement had been involved in about two-thirds of the cases. The organization is going through the remainder to find cases where there seem to be good reasons to alert law authorities. The Scouts have apologized for not following up. The files were created for the purpose of registering Scout leaders, Smith said, and were considered internal, confidential documents, which is why they weren’t always shared with authorities. Attorney Paul Mones, Clark’s colleague, said uploading the files “democratized” information that was only available to lawyers and the Scouts. “It’s a testament to the new generation of communication,” Mones said. The files have been maintained by the Scouts since soon after their founding in 1910. They consist of memos from local and national Scout executives, handwritten letters from victims and their parents and newspaper clippings about legal cases. The files contain details about proven molesters, but also unsubstantiated allegations. People paging through the files would find both. Clark says there are undoubtedly some people in the files who were wrongly accused, and the Scouts point out that many cases of abuse were
dealt with properly. For those who say they were molested, statutes of limitations in most states would prevent many people from filing lawsuits or criminal charges, Clark said. But in some cases — like a firstdegree sexual assault in New York — the state has set no time limit. Legal experts say that aside from the statute of limitations, it could be difficult to bring charges against suspected molesters in the files because victims need to be found, and they need to be persuaded to give evidence. “Trying to prosecute a case that old, you need to have a willing victim,” said Josh Marquis, district attorney for Clatsop County in Oregon. Victims of abuse years ago may be unwilling to come forward because it would create upheaval in their lives, Marquis said. With the files now available, law enforcement and the public can do their own checking, something David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said should have been available to those groups all along. “The Scouts have got to expose, list and severely punish every former employee or volunteer who ignored or concealed child sex crimes,” Clohessy said.
The Scout organization then placed the adult’s name on a confidential list of undesirable individuals and, according to a subsequent letter from a regional official, deleted his name from Scout records. While the Scout officials felt there was sufficient evidence to bring charges, they and the family agreed not to do so if the offending adult resigned. The Times Leader is not nam-
ing the person because he has not been charged with a crime. Of the five incidents in Berwick, three files were created in 1995 and one each in 1989 and 1991. Two cases from 1995 have the same case file number, indicating the same adult was involved. The 11 cases in Luzerne County include two each in Conyngham (1964, 1968) and Avoca (1991, 1992). One case
each was filed in Nescopeck (2000), Shickshinny (1992), Glen Lyon (1991), Plymouth (1989), Plains Township (2001), Exeter (1991) and Noxen (1993). None of those cases includes the name of the adult involved or any description of his or her conduct, but the case numbers indicate the same individual was the subject of incidents in Avoca and Exeter.
CMYK
Color: C K Y M
THE TIMES LEADER
FUEL Continued from Page 1A
line occurred in May 2012, when 2,678 gallons were missing. For diesel, the largest discrepancy was in March 2011, when 2,087 gallons were missing. The Department of Revenue looked at two years of data because state law requires municipalities to keep fuel records for that period of time, said Maia Warren, a spokeswoman for the department. The monetary penalties are based on the city’s inability to show the fuel was used only for official city business, which is required for it to receive fuel taxfree. The state determined the city owes $11,628 in taxes on gasoline, at 31.2 cents per gallon, and $11,389 in taxes for diesel, at 38.1 cents per gallon. City attorney to appeal City attorney Tim Henry on Friday said the city plans to appeal the citation, arguing the amount assessed is too high. “We think the fine was excessive,” Henry said. “Although record keeping was poor, we believe we can show the majority of fuel that’s unaccounted for was used for legitimate city business.” Henry said he could not detail the city’s defense as officials are still working on framing out that argument. In a previous interview, City Administrator Marie McCormick said she believes the city can estimate the amount of fuel used by vehicles to show the amount of fuel dispensed matches what would have been expected to be used on a given day. City officials have said they’re confident no theft of fuel occurred. Luzerne County District
TILBURY Continued from Page 3A
ment Agency. Gale Conrad, chairwoman of the township board of supervisors, said most residents are happy to have the access road. “First of all, they know the main road has to be fixed,” she said. “Having it reduced to one lane has been a great inconvenience and a safety concern.” Yudichak said the access road may remain as a second option, but it may be used only in the case of an emergency once Tilbu-
VICTIM Continued from Page 1A
where Sandusky abused Fisher and other boys who stayed overnight at his home. Fisher, who was known publicly for a year only as Victim 1, put aside anonymity Friday to speak about his ordeal as a child, telling ABC’s “20/20” he had contemplated suicide because authorities took so long to prosecute Sandusky, nearly three years after he and his mother first alerted school officials. Jerry Sandusky didn’t testify at trial but has repeatedly said he is innocent, and Dottie Sandusky has maintained she never saw him behave inappropriately with children. And Jerry Sandusky’s lawyer Joe Amendola said Friday, “she said they had a freezer in the basement so she would routinely go down there go get stuff to make for dinner. She said had she thought Jerry was doing anything inappropriate, she said he wouldn’t have needed the judicial system.” In the book, Fisher’s mother and co-author, Dawn Daniels, recounts meeting Jerry Sandusky after her son had spent a couple of summers at events held by his charity, The Second Mile. “When Aaron introduced us, Jerry shook my hand, put his arm around Aaron, roughed up his hair and said, ‘You got a good kid on your hands there,’ ” she said, according to the book. Fisher wrote that in an early warning sign, while swimming together he felt Sandusky’s hand on his crotch a “little too long.” During car rides, he said, Sandusky had him sit up front and would put his hand on the boy’s thigh. He first reported the abuse in
www.timesleader.com
MISSING FUEL A state review found Wilkes-Barre records routinely failed to account for missing fuel in city tanks, sometimes in excess of 2,000 gallons of gas and diesel a month.
2010 July August September October November December 2011 January February March April May June July August September October November December 2012 January February March April May June TOTAL
Gas 910 706 852 1,177 1,033 899
Diesel 652 847 653 821 591 717
962 1,173 1,927 1,360 1,579 1,755 1,600 2,047 1,970 1,609 1,546 1,788
825 1,093 2,087 1,456 1,527 1,593 1,672 1,459 1,420 1,395 1,158 1,745
1,728 1,723 2,008 2,053 2,678 2,189 37,272
1,962 1,125 1,190 1,147 1,368 1,391 29,894
Mark Guydish/The Times Leader
Attorney Stefanie Salavantis opened an investigation into the matter in July. Salavantis said Friday the investigation is continuing. She plans to meet with detectives next week to get an idea when it might be complete. Since the story was published the city has taken steps to improve record keeping. Officials met with department heads to stress the importance of properly filing out the gas logs. It also recently announced a contract with Johnson Control Systems to install a new system at the DPW pumps that would require employees to insert a key, allowing the pump to monitor how much gasoline is dispensed. ry Avenue is repaired. “The access road may become a one-way road out in the future,” he said. “There hasn’t been a final decision on that as yet.” He said the first homes were built in Tilbury Terrace as far back as the 1920s, with most of them constructed in the late 1950s. Yudichak said flood water washed out the sand and gravel beneath Tilbury Avenue, causing it to split and sink about three to four feet. “We have to fix that road,” he said. “School buses use it and emergency vehicles may have to go up there.” 2008, but he said the state Attorney General’s Office told him it needed more victims before Sandusky would be charged. He was arrested last November. The delay, Fisher said, made him increasingly desperate. “I thought maybe it would be easier to take myself out of the equation,” he told ABC. “Let somebody else deal with it.” Fisher, 18, testified at Sandusky’s trial, which ended with Sandusky convicted of 45 counts of abuse involving Fisher and nine other boys. Sandusky, 68, was sentenced this month to 30 to 60 years in prison. Fisher said he began spending nights at the Sandusky home in State College, about 30 miles from his own home in Lock Haven, when he was 11. Fisher was 15 when he and his mother reported the abuse to a school principal, who responded that “Jerry has a heart of gold and that he wouldn’t do those type of things,” Fisher told ABC, repeating his trial testimony. School officials reported Sandusky to Clinton County Children and Youth Services, which began an investigation and brought in state police. Amendola said Fisher and other accusers were motivated by money, a claim he has repeatedly made. On Thursday, Amendola filed a document contending there wasn’t enough evidence against him and the trial wasn’t fair. The post-sentencing motions attacked rulings by the judge, the closing argument by the prosecution and the speed by which he went from arrest to trial. Sandusky wants the charges tossed out and/or a new trial, saying the statute of limitations had run out for many of the counts for which he was convicted in June.