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Fleeing home from violence

Garden Party, Dodgeball Tournament, Movie Night

Syrians seek refuge from relentless rebel forces

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User: maed Time: 07-29-2012 23:31 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 07-30-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_f PageNo: 1 A

The Times Leader timesleader.com

WILKES-BARRE, PA

2012 LONDON OLYMPICS

find a community so beautifully Beauty in details for the working class.

Mocanaqua miners homes will old history buff said. designed for a company’s workHis layout for 50 single-family While most other mining opThe properties had chain-link be missed, history buff says.

Frank Evina will mourn the loss of up to 26 tiny Mocanaqua bungalows in the upcoming flood buyouts because they were part of an unusual coal mining community.

“This place was special. It breaks my heart,” the 60-year-

erations around the turn of the century built monotonous rows of standard salt box or doubleblock company homes for workers and their families, the West End Coal Co. brought in architect Grosvenor Atterbury to try something different.

Atterbury had designed mansions and estates for the wealthy but also dabbled in beautifying tenements and other housing

homes in the Mocanaqua section of Conyngham Township known as “The Settlement” featured two cul-de-sacs, a park, vacant lots for open space and access to the Susquehanna River, Evina said. The structures had indoor plumbing and furnaces.

Atterbury added variety to the clapboard siding by mixing in a few homes with cedar shake.

fences and arbors over the gates.

Some had trellises around the windows. Pops of color came from fruit trees, Wisteria, Honeysuckle, rosebushes and other landscaping. Porches were added to encourage socializing.

“This was not your typical coal-mining patch,” Evina said.

“It looks like a little storybook village. I don’t think you’ll ever

ing-class employees. The guy was an artist, ahead of his time.”

Evina, who is retired from the Library of Congress, wanted to get a historic designation for the community and create a walking tour, but isn’t sure if the loss of more than half the structures will make that possible.

One of the houses was deSee MOCANAQUA, Page 8A

Station plans will get airing

DOWN-AND-DIRTY FUN

Paige Selenski and Team USA began the hunt for an Olympic field hockey medal on Sunday, facing Germany in the opener for both teams. PAGE 4B

UGI Energy Services’ West Wyoming compressor facility focus of hearing.

By MATT HUGHES mhughes@timesleader.com

TV SCHEDULE NBC Swimming - Gold Medal Finals: Men’s 200M Freestyle, Men’s 100M Backstroke, Women’s 100M Backstroke and Women’s 100M Breaststroke; Men’s Gymnastics - Team Gold Medal Final; Men’s Diving Platform Synchronized Gold Medal Final., 8 p.m.-Midnight (EDT-PDT) Swimming - Semifinals; Canoeing - Whitewater Qualifying Heats, 12:35 a.m.-1:35 a.m.

(EDT-PDT) BRAVO Tennis - Early Rounds (LIVE); 7 a.m.-3 p.m.

LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS

Medal count

K

6

4

2

12

United States 3

5

3

11

Italy

2

3

2

7

South Korea

2

1

2

5

France

2

1

1

4

North Korea

2

0

1

3

Kazakhstan

2

0

0

2

Australia

1

1

1

3

Brazil

1

1

1

3

Hungary

1

1

1

3

Netherlands

1

1

0

2

Russia

1

0

3

4

Georgia

1

0

0

1

South Africa

1

0

0

1

Japan

0

2

3

5

Britain

0

1

1

2

Colombia

0

1

0

1

Cuba

0

1

0

1

Poland

0

1

0

1

Romania

0

1

0

1

Taiwan

0

1

0

1

Azerbaijan

0

0

1

1 1

Belgium

0

0

1

Canada

0

0

1

1

Moldova

0

0

1

1

Norway

0

0

1

1

Serbia

0

0

1

1

Slovakia

0

0

1

1

Ukraine

0

0

1

1

Uzbekistan

0

0

1

1 AP

Critics also fear the loss of school tax revenue could be as high as $12 billion which everyone agrees would be a staggering amount to make up through other levies.

The Senate bill is the same as House Bill 1776, debated by House members this spring but currently stuck in the Finance Committee.

To compensate for the lost school

The third company seeking to place a compressor station in Luzerne County to speed transportation of Marcellus Shale natural gas to market will bring its plans to the Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board on Aug. 7.

UGI Energy Services Inc. wants to construct three natural-gas fueled compressors on a 14-acre plot of land in an A1 agricultural district off Fire Cut Road. The site, purchased from Joseph P. Kalinosky of Fire Cut Road, will also contain natural gas meters, storage tanks, a radio transmission tower, an odorant building and associated equipment, according to plans submitted by UGI Energy Services.

The company needs a special exception from the board to build the station and a variance to build a radio communication tower up to 150 feet tall.

The last two companies proposing similar facilities, both before Dallas Township’s Zoning Board, changed their plans in the face of heavy public opposition. UGI will likely face its own packed house when it meets with county’s zoning board at the Luzerne County Courthouse. The county zoning hearing board handles zoning decisions for West Wyoming and 22 other municipalities in the county.

“We expect a big crowd,” zoning hearing board member Anthony Palischak said.

Luzerne County Planning Director Adrian Merolli described the wood loca-

See TAXES, Page 8A

See UGI, Page 8A

BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

evin Crawn of Exeter drives his 1988 Jeep Wrangler through the pit Sunday afternoon during Mud Bog 2012 in Plymouth Township. For the story, see page 3A. For CLICKS, see page 2A.

Lawmakers put off school-tax bills

Action risky to legislators because of costs to districts, other taxes.

as of July 29 China

50¢

More area history lost to flood

By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@timesleader.com

Drums’ Casey Eichfeld came oh so close to advancing to the semifinals in the C-1 canoe slalom event. But a two-second touch penalty dropped Eichfeld out of contention. PAGE 4B

MONDAY, JULY 30, 2012

By TOM BARNES Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

HARRISBURG -- The state Legislature can’t bring itself to vote on the thorny issue of eliminating school property taxes, and yet it can’t stop battling over the idea either.

"We have met the enemy and it is us,"

5

state Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, quipped last week at a hearing on Senate Bill 1400.

He’s a co-sponsor of the bill, which is risky to lawmakers because it would cost state school districts at least $9 billion a year, while shifting the job of collecting property taxes from the 500 local districts to state officials. Opponents wonder if the state will send back to local districts the full amount they are owed.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK

>> DO YOU FEEL PRETTY?: Fans of musical theater are in luck this week. The Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming Seminary will be putting on “West Side Story” Thursday and Friday nights at the FM Kirby Center. “West Side Story” is a timeless classic about young love set in Kingston, Edwardsville and Pringle and the trials and tribulations …. What? It’s not about Kingston? It’s set in the Upper West Side of New York City? In the 1950s? … Nevermind. Shows start at 8 p.m. >> REMAKING RECALL: When movie scholars look

back at great acting performances in history, they often look at Arnold Schwarzenegger’s classic delivery of the line “Who the hell am I?” from 1990’s “Total Recall.” Then they

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laugh, and watch an old Jack Lemmon movie. If you’d like to hear that line uttered without Austrian seasoning, then check out Hollywood’s brand-spanking new remake of “Total Recall.” The sci-fi tale of spies, implanted memories and mutants opens this Friday and stars Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale.

>> FULL METAL JACKET: If Perry Como, Mel Torme and Nat King Cole were still living and went on tour, they could call it the “Unisom, Chamomile Tea Totally at Ease Festival.” So, what would you call it if you rounded up such hard rock stalwarts as Slayer, Motörhead, Anthrax and others?

Why the “Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival,” of course. If you like music that can literally blow you out of your socks, then head up to Montage Mountain at 1 p.m. Saturday and embrace the Mayhem. >> KICKING IT OFF: Daffy Duck and Bug Bunny can argue till they’re red, blue and plaid in the face about whether it’s rabbit season or duck B SPORTS Scoreboard Weather C CLICK Birthdays

2B 8B 3C

Television Puzzles D CLASSIFIEDS

season, but come this Sunday, there is no doubt what season it is. It’s football season. Real, live, red-blooded, American NFL season. The Cardinals and Saints kick off the 2012 campaign in the annual Football Hall of Fame Game. Of course, the game doesn’t count. And, of course, only ninthstring players will take the field. But it is football. And it means the regular season is on the way. The game starts at 8 p.m. on the NFL Network.

>> HOORAY, UNDERWEAR!: There are things in this

world that are

just meant for each other: Peanut butter and jelly. Chips and dip. Ikes and Mikes.

Joan Rivers and The Beverly Hills Center for Plastic Surgery. To this list you can also add two “holidays” that are both “celebrated” this Sunday. It’s International Beer Day and National Underwear Day. Why, pray tell, do these days go together?

Because if you celebrate the first too much, you end up wearing nothing but the second at a Tijuana border crossing. That’s why.

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➛

PAGE 8A MONDAY, JULY 30, 2012

MUD Continued from Page 3A

ski said. “It’s a time where everyone is just here to have fun, and maybe get a little dirty.”

“We always get a pretty good turnout, though the weather hasn’t been great the past two

UGI Continued from Page 1A

tion as “very isolated.” The facility would sit 2,425 feet from the nearest residence, which is owned by Kalinosky.

What: The Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board hears testimony on UGI Energy Services’ plan to build a natural gas compressor station in West Wyoming When: Tuesday, Aug. 7, 7 p.m.

Where: The Luzerne County Courthouse, second-floor jury room

NATURAL GAS COMPRESSOR STATION KINGSTON TWP. o vert Car

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Emissions concerns But residents, environmental activists and municipal officials have all expressed reservations about the project, as they did over the last two compressor stations proposed in the county.

The first two companies seeking zoning approval for compressor stations in the county, Williams Field Services LLC and Chief Gathering LLC, decided to move those facilities outside the county after multiple hearings with Dallas Township’s zoning board, though both companies were approved to install lines tapping into the Transco Interstate Pipeline in Dallas Township. Chief’s pipeline was later acquired by PVR Partners.

Nancy Dolan of Luzerne County Citizens for Clean Air said her group is worried about emissions produced by the station, especially because the geography of the Wyoming Valley can hold pollution low to the ground under certain weather conditions.

“The communities that are going to be impacted are going to be West Wyoming, Swoyersville, West Pittston,” Dolan said.

Harris said the compressor station would not exceed federal Environmental Protection Agency emissions limits, producing a maximum of 50 percent of the EPA limit for nitrogen oxides, 9.5 percent of the limit for carbon monoxide and 18.5 percent of the federal limit for volatile organic compounds.

UGI has made efforts to address resident concerns through technology such as air-starters, which reduce emissions compared to gas or electrical starters, she said.

But Dolan said emissions from the site could grow once it is permitted.

“The trend of compressor stations is, their initial permit is for three engines, and typically that grows, to two, to three, to four, to five times that amount,” Dolan said. “So once you permit something like that operation near communities, they grow.

Why would they need 14 acres if they were not planning on growing it?”

West Wyoming Council Chairwoman Eileen Cipriani said she and other members of council plan to address the

WANT TO GO?

e Str 8th W.

Stabilizing prices Part of UGI’s proposed 27.5mile Auburn Pipeline extension project, the station would raise pressure in the line allowing gas to enter the nearby Transco Interstate pipeline. A second, 12inch pipeline would also branch away from the 24-inch Auburn line at the compressor station, carrying gas four miles to Wilkes-Barre. There, it would enter the gas distribution network of UGI’s public utility arm and bring Marcellus Shale gas to the local market for the first time.

Lillian Harris, manager of regulatory affairs for UGI Energy Services, said the project would eventually reduce gas transportation costs passed on to UGI customers because the gas would travel a shorter distance to their homes.

Customers might not see an immediate rate drop because existing transportation contracts with the Transco pipeline would carry over for some time, but the project would have the long-term effect of stabilizing already low natural gas prices, Harris said.

“These kinds of projects help keep the cost stable for the customer if not reducing it further,” she said.

years. We might be OK this time.”

Wesolowski may have been turning a watchful eye to the gray clouds that hung over the grounds most of the day, but 13year-old Sam Calder paid them no mind. In fact, if it did rain, he would’ve loved it even more. The dirtier his sneakers, the better.

“There’s nothing wrong with more mud, not for us and not for the trucks.”

WEST WYOMING PLANNED COMPRESSOR SITE

WEST WYOMING

Mark Guydish/The Times Leader

NATURAL GAS PIPELINES Planned compressor site in West Wyoming Pipeline junctions Tennessee Interstate line Existing Auburn line Proposed Auburn extension Connection to local distribution Transco Interstate line

Susquehanna

Lackawanna

Wyoming

Luzerne

Mark Guydish/The Times Leader

board.

“We have concerns regarding the emissions and the safety and well-being of our residents and the environment in West Wyoming,” Cipriani said. “And we plan to address those concerns when we attend the meeting of the zoning hearing board.”

Cipriani noted UGI has responded at least verbally to some of council’s concerns. In a letter to the company, council said it was concerned about runoff that could result from clear cutting 14 acres of mountainside woodlands. UGI has agreed to put in a retention basin to address that concern, she said.

Board’s focus The zoning hearing board might not be able to weigh all testimony at the hearing in its decision, which will hinge upon whether the permit is in accord with the county zoning ordinance.

Board member William Harris, who is also Wilkes-Barre’s planning director, said the board will consider testimony on the project’s environmental impact, health-and-safety issues, transportation impact, emergency-response plans and noise pollution.

“We take into account every word,” William Harris said. “We take notes. Whether we can use it or not, we take notes. We’re like judges in a way.”

Board members Larry Newman, vice president of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce, and Anthony Palischak, a retired Wyoming Valley West High School teacher, declined to comment on the application before the hearing.

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THE TIMES LEADER

www.timesleader.com

MOCANAQUA Continued from Page 1A

stroyed by fire in the 1930s, and two more were demolished in a previous buyout, leaving 47, he said.

Although Evina wants the settlement to stay intact, he understands some residents can’t handle a repeat of September’s record flooding, which brought several feet of water on the first floor of numerous cottages and blew out some foundations.

Tom Briggs, who lives with his fiancé in one of the Pulaski Circle properties, feels the absence of mostly elderly neighbors in his small cul-de-sac.

“It’s like a ghost town. I hope everyone receives a fair buyout offer,” said Briggs, who has lined up a job in New Jersey when he relocates after the expected buyouts this fall.

Mocanaqua resident Frank Evina stands near one of 47 bungalows that were part of an unusually attractive mining patch town commissioned by the West End Coal Co. Evina lives in one of the homes purchased by his grandparents in 1931 and is saddened many others will be leveled due to upcoming flood buyouts.

‘Double-edged sword’ Luzerne County Planning/Zoning Director Adrian Merolli, who grew up in one of the settlement homes on River Street, said the loss of history from warranted buyouts is a “double-edged sword.”

He recalled many summers riding bikes and playing with neighborhood children along Italy Street as adults relaxed and caught up with each other on their front porches.

“Many of the people who lived there were either related through blood or marriage. It was a closeknit community,” he said.

Evina’s maternal grandparents, Apolonia and John Zandarski, a miner, purchased106 Italy St. from the coal company for $1,500 in 1931.

West End Coal had rented out the homes since 1917 and opted to

sell to the families of its miners, who were mostly Eastern European immigrants, Evina said.

The Zandarskis raised nine children in their home. The structures had two small bedrooms upstairs, and some families squeezed in more than nine children plus boarders from the mine, he said.

Evina’s parents, Henrietta and Frank, inherited the home. An only child, Evina returned to the property to care for his 86-year-old mother, who lives in an assisted living facility. He regularly brings her back to sit on her porch and share memories of her youth.

An original lilac bush still survives in the backyard. Evina purchased an arbor replicating the first one above the front gate.

The structure had1foot of water on the first floor in September, compared to basement flooding in the prior record 1972 flood. The

DON CAREY/THE TIMES LEADER

PHOTO COURTESY OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, DIVISION OF RARE AND MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS

Architect Grosvenor Atterbury added shrubs, arbors and sidewalks to the Mocanaqua coal-mining village known as ‘The Settlement’ because he believed in beautifying working-class housing.

months of post-flood cleaning and “I’m the third generation. We repairs weren’t enough to tear him had a good life here. We’ll take our away from his heritage. chances,” he said.

STORY

IF YOU GO What: ‘West Side Story’ When: 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday Who: The Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming Seminary Where: F.M. Kirby Center, Public Square, Wilkes-Barre Tickets: $20, $12 Info: 270-2186

Continued from Page 3A

The cast sympathizes with Tony, who recently abandoned the Jets in favor of a job at a neighborhood store, and with Maria, younger sister of the lead Shark, who notices Tony during a dance in the “neutral territory” of the local gym.

“In the moment she doesn’t even realize he’s a Jet,” said Kelly Jesikiewicz, 15, of Mountain Top, who plays Maria. “She’s only seeing him.”

Their attraction is immediate, and almost otherworldly, said Justin Mazzella, 21, of Charleston, S.C., who plays Tony. “Look at the words in the script and you’ll see a kind of magic,” he said. “Tony quit the Jets a month ago. He’s been feeling a restless yearning for a month or so. Maria came to town a month ago.”

Influenced by Maria, Tony tries to bring peace between the gangs. That doesn’t end well.

Then, despite mourning the death of her own lover, Maria’s friend Anita tries to help Maria and Tony escape together.

That doesn’t end well, either.

PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER

The ‘West Side Story’ cast rehearses the dance-at-the-gym scene in which Tony and Maria first meet.

“That scene is so intense, it scares me,” said Aleni Mackarey, 18, of Clarks Summit, who, as Anita, changes her mind about helping Tony when the Jets begin to assault her at Doc’s store.

What would it take, for a better outcome?

“Love,” said Noah Sunday-Lefkowitz, 16, of Shavertown, who plays youthful gang member Baby John.

“Look past the differences,” Mackarey said. “Maybe we can’t

BEAT Continued from Page 3A

vance.

• County Councilman Rick Morelli told assessment director Tony Alu people occasionally approach him with reports of property owners who aren’t on the tax rolls – tips that may or may not be accurate.

Alu encourages citizens to contact him at 825-1869 if they have information about potential missed structures on the county’s 169,000 parcels, saying he fully investigates all leads.

• Councilman Edward Brominski told assessment appeals board members last week he’s pleased all three preside over all appeals because he believes the board wrongly split into separate groups to hear appeals individually in the past – a prac-

TAXES Continued from Page 1A

taxes, both bills would increase the state’s personal income tax rate to at least 4 percent from the current 3.07 percent. They also would increase the statewide sales tax rate to 7 percent (or possibly higher) and would eliminate many popular sales tax exemptions - possibly including longtime exemptions for food and clothing. Allegheny

all love, but we can all accept.”

“And understand,” Jesikiewicz added.

Highlights of the show include music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and the choreography of Jerome Robbins whose efforts combined to form what director Bill Roudebush describes as “one of the best musicals of all time. There’s not a song you don’t come away humming.”

Providing the “overwhelming-

tice he says was “illegal.”

• Councilman Stephen A. Urban has twice made references at council meetings to Brominski’s past decision to plead the Fifth Amendment, though most audience members don’t recall the specifics.

Brominski took the Fifth in a 1982 bribery case involving then-Exeter Councilman Robert Clapps, a Wyoming Area teacher accused of offering a school board member a job for his wife at the county nursing home in exchange for votes.

Clapps allegedly said Brominski, then a county commissioner, would back the deal. Brominski has said he did not testify on the advice of a county solicitor, though he later said he regretted that decision.

He also said he had no information that could have helped prosecutors, other than his insistence he never offered a job.

Clapps was later acquitted.

• The assessor’s and sheriff’s office swaps are complete. The sheriff’s office

County’s sales tax, now at 7 percent, would go to at least 8 percent.

Such changes, obviously, have legislators nervous about how their constituents will react.

"Everyone wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die," said Sen. John Wozniak, DCambria, referring to legislators’ desire to eliminate school taxes but their fear of residents’ anger over raising the income tax or sales tax.

Much of the impetus to eliminate school property taxes is

ly powerful” score for this production is a 28-piece orchestra filled with professional musicians who have been teaching for the past few weeks at Wyoming Seminary’s Performing Arts Institute.

“If you went to Broadway you wouldn’t find an orchestra like this,” Roudebush said.

Guest artists include Kenneth Kurtz, a stage designer and professor emeritus from the University of Miami who plays Tony’s employer, Doc, and actor Joel Kolker, a veteran of “Miami Vice” and “Cape Fear,” who plays Lt. Schrank, a police official who does little to hide his disdain for both Sharks and Jets.

With adults added to the cast, Roudebush said, he was able to fulfill one of his goals. “My idea was, I only wanted a kid to play a kid.”

moved into the former assessor’s space in the courthouse basement to increase security presence in the courthouse. The assessor’s office will be closer to deeds in the new location on the second floor of the courthouse annex on River Street.

• Lawton and county Prothonotary Carolee Medico Olenginski clashed in emails last week over her proposal to reclassify a union clerk position, which would require a $1,000 salary increase.

Lawton denied the request, saying the county “faces a significant budget deficit” this year.

“Prudent managers and dedicated staff are already responding through vacancy control and the redistribution of assignments. I trust you will join your colleagues in meeting this challenge,” he wrote in reply to her email.

Medico Olenginski defended her management skills and said the denial was “short-sighted” and “disappointing.”

coming from eastern Pennsylvania, where rising home values have increased the school tax burden to as much as $10,000 a year. Older homeowners on fixed incomes loudly complain that rising school taxes are forcing them to sell the homes they’ve lived in for years.

Getting rid of school property taxes "is easily the No. 1 issue at public meetings in the six counties I represent," Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill, said at last week’s Finance Committee hearing. "Over 2,300 people in just

my Senate district have signed petitions against school taxes."

He and Sen. Mike Folmer, RLebanon, are leading the effort in the Senate, while Rep. Jim Cox, R-Berks, is sponsor of the now-tabled House bill.

Neither the Senate nor House bill is expected to come up for action when the Legislature returns in late September for the final few days of the 2011-12 session. Pressure to get rid of property taxes as a school funding mechanism will bring the issue back for discussion in January.

User: ljones Time: 08-07-2012 23:50 Product: Times_Leader PubDate: 08-08-2012 Zone: Main Edition: Main_Run PageName: news_f PageNo: 1 A

They broke the jinx but …

Chicken thighs, legs have more flavor, protein than breast.

Wyoming Valley League defeated by District 1 1.

TASTE, 1C

SPORTS, 1B

771263

Cross over to the dark side

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The Times Leader timesleader.com

WILKES-BARRE, PA

2012 LONDON OLYMPICS

UGI presents plans for West Wyoming facility WILKES-BARRE -- UGI Energy Services Inc.’s testimony before the Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board on Tuesday night indicated West Wyoming residents will hardly notice a natural gas compressor station the company wants to build in the borough.

They won’t be able to see or hear it from the nearby thoroughfares, and the emissions will have little to no impact on public health, they said.

But the room was packed with residents of West Wyoming and neighboring Kingston Township who turned out for a hearing on UGI’s application to show they have noticed, and they don’t

want the station near their homes. Testimony on the application continued for more than three hours and had not concluded by press deadline.

UGI Energy Services is seeking to build the compressor station containing three natural-gas fueled compressors, natural gas meters, storage tanks, a radio transmission tower, an odorant

READY FOR ANYTHING

LUZERNE COUNTY COUNCIL

Shifting from nuts and bolts to strategy

Medal count as of Aug. 7 S

Members look forward to setting priorities, making broad changes.

By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@timesleader.com

Wright Township, was a passenger in the Kia. An autopsy determined he died of multiple traumatic injuries.

In a court filing Tuesday, attorney Jamie Anzalone asked a judge to approve a settlement of the wrongful death and survival actions of the original lawsuit involving Fredmund and Rushinski.

Anzalone said in the filing that Madry’s parents filed an underinsured motorist claim with USAA Casualty Insurance and were successful in receiving

With the drafting of home rule codes and other grunt work out of the way, Luzerne County Council members are starting to focus on broad changes they’d like to see in county government.

“Now we can step back and examine where we want the county to be in the long-term and how to Bobeck get there,” said Councilman Jim Bobeck.

Council members have been bogged down in the first seven months of the new home rule government with cumbersome but necessary McClosky Houck procedural work, including creation of a public interview process to fill vacancies on outside boards and authorities and revision of the new personnel, ethics and administrative codes, Bobeck said.

Kelleher “I think the biggest frustration for many council members is they had projects they wanted to get to

See MADRY, Page 10A

See STRATEGY, Page 10A

AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER

O

NBC Men’s Volleyball – Quarterfinal, U.S. vs. Italy; Men’s Water Polo – Quarterfinal, U.S. vs.

Croatia 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Track and Field - Finals: Women’s 200M, Women’s 400M Hurdles, Women’s Long Jump and Men’s 110M Hurdles; Women’s Beach Volleyball - Final; Women’s Diving - Platform Qualifying; 8 p.m.-midnight NBC SPORTS NETWORK and NBC OLYMPIC BASKETBALL CHANNEL Men’s Basketball - Quarterfinals (LIVE) including U.S. vs.

Australia, 9 a.m.-8 p.m.

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ne-year-old Nathan Rybak poses for a picture for his mom on the front of a fire truck Tuesday during a National Night Out observance in Plains Township. Fire, police, ambulance and military vehicles were on display at the Solomon/Plains school as part of National Night Out. The annual crime-fighting event was held in several communities around the area. For photos, see Page 8A.

Madry suit partly settled for $500,000 Suit filed by parents of Brian Madry, who was killed in crash in July 2011.

By SHEENA DELAZIO sdelazio@timesleader.com

WILKES-BARRE – A lawsuit filed nine months ago by the family of a 16year-old killed in a fiery car crash in July 2011 has been partially settled for more than one-half million dollars.

Carolyn and Daniel Madry, parents of the late Brian Madry, filed the suit in November against: the driver of the vehicle,

now-17-year-old Adam Fredmund; Kenneth Rushinski, 22, of Luzerne, who has been charged with supplying alcohol to the teens; and the Glen Summit Co. that owns Fountain Lake, where the teens were drinking.

Fairview Township police and county detectives said Fredmund had been drinking alcohol at a party before crashing a 2004 Kia Optima on Lake Road, an isolated road in the Glen Summit section of Fairview Township, early in the morning on July 18.

Madry, of Evergreen Lake Drive,

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ITHACA, N.Y. — No surprise for Northeast residents sweating out the summer after a winter barely touching their snow shovels: This is the hottest year on record in the region so far.

The Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University reported Tuesday that the average temperature in the12-state region was 49.9 degrees from January through July. That’s the warmest seven-month period since 1895, the year systematic record keeping began.

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compressor station is needed to increase pressure in the Auburn line, allowing the gas to enter the Transco pipeline.

A smaller, 12-inch pipeline would branch away from the 24inch Auburn line at the compressor station and carry gas to the distribution network of UGI’s public utility arm.

The company needs a special exception from the board for the

building and associated equipment on a 14-acre plot of land in an A1 agricultural district off Fire Cut Road.

The station is part of UGI’s proposed 27.5-mile Auburn Pipeline extension project, which will link the Tennessee pipeline in Susquehanna County to the Transco interstate pipeline in Luzerne County. The See STATION, Page 10A

ALL-U.S. WOMEN’S FINAL SET ON BEACH April Ross and Jennifer Kessy, above, in their first Olympics, will play for the gold against two-time Olympic champions Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty MayTreanor in women’s beach volleyball. The loser of that match will win silver. On Tuesday, Ross and Kessy rallied from a first-set loss and a four-point deficit in the second set to beat reigning world champions Juliana and Larissa of Brazil. Earlier in the day, Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor beat China 22-20, 22-20 to advance. 1B

TV SCHEDULE

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Public raps compressor station

By MATT HUGHES mhughes@timesleader.com

AMERICAN RAISMAN WINS GOLD ON FLOOR U.S. women’s gymnast Aly Raisman won the gold medal in floor exercise, the first American woman to do so, and took a bronze in balance beam on the last night of gymnastics competition. 1B

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2012

INSIDE

The second-warmest comparable period was 1921, when the seven-month average was 49.2 degrees.

“We’ve had a long stretch of warm,” said Kathy Vreeland, a climatologist for the center.

The data comes as the Northeast endured a sweltering July with record-breaking temperatures around the region.

On a single day, July 18, LaGuardia Airport in New York City hit 101 degrees, Baltimore and Newark, N.J., recorded 104 degrees and Philadelphia 100 degrees, according to the climate

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center.

But Vreeland cautioned against reading too much into a small set of data covering a single region.

“It could be global climate change. It could be an anomalous year, or anomalous run of years,” she said.

Breaking the warm spell down by state, it was the warmest first seven months of the year in the six New England states, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and AP FILE PHOTO New York. It was the second warmest such period in Pennsylva- A New York City firefighter cools off on July 17. This is the hotnia and West Virginia. test year on record in the Northeast, observers said Tuesday.

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Iodide pills are being passed out Free tablets available to those within 10-mile radius of nuke plants.

Times Leader Staff

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is providing free potassium iodide tablets on Thursday to help citizens be prepared for public health emergencies involving nuclear facilities.

Pennsylvanians who live, work or attend school within a 10-mile radius of one of the state’s five nuclear power plants can get free potassium iodide, or KI, tablets.

Taken as directed during a radiological emergency, KI can help protect the thyroid gland against harmful radioactive iodine. Individuals should take KI tablets only when directed to do so by state health officials or the governor.

Locally, KI tablets will be distributed at the Butler Township Community Center, 411 W. Butler Drive, Drums section of Butler Township; and at Luzerne County Community College’s Public Safety Institute, 1333 S. Prospect St., Nanticoke.

Four 65-milligram tablets will be provided to each adult. Smaller doses will be given for children, based on their age. Individuals can pick up KI tablets for other family members or those who are unable to pick them up on their own. Directions detailing when to take the tablets and how to store them will be provided.

Anyone can take the tablets as long as they are not allergic to KI. They are safe for pregnant women and those who are breastfeeding, people on thyroid medicine, children and infants. Individuals who are unsure if they should take KI should ask a health care provider.

Those unable to get tablets Thursday can pick them up any time at county and municipal health departments or state health centers.

In addition to the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station in Salem Township, Pennsylvania’s nuclear power plants are Beaver Valley Power Station, Limerick Generating Station, Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station and Three Mile Island.

For more information, visit www.health.state.pa.us or call 1-877PA-HEALTH (877-724-3258).

Ex-foster child files suit vs. county, agency Times Leader staff

SCRANTON – A man who claims he was abused by foster parents as a child has filed a federal lawsuit against Luzerne County and Children and Youth Services, alleging the agency failed to protect him.

The man, identified as T.A.P., alleges he endured severe physical and psychological abuse at the hands of two foster parents and a foster care home from 2004 to 2008.

According to the suit filed by attorney Edward Ciarimboli: The man was12 years old when, in October 2004, he and a sibling were placed in foster care after police found drugs in their family home. The house was found to be in deplorable condition. Over the next four years, Children and Youth Services placed him in foster homes in West Hazleton and Mifflinburg without first assessing the safety of the homes.

The man alleges he was subject to severe physical and emotional abuse at each of the homes. At the Mifflinburg home, he says he also was denied food and forced to perform extensive physical labor at the foster parents’ home and the home of the foster parents’ relatives.

The suit alleges the man advised caseworkers of the abuse, but they failed to take action to protect him.

The suit names several county offices as defendants, including Children and Youth Services and its director, Frank Castano; Mary Dysleski, interim director of Luzerne County Office of Human Services; and Children and Youth caseworkers Cathy Stamets, Marilyh Wilkinson and Becky Silvers-Roads. The foster parents accused of the abuse are not named as defendants.

Castano did not immediately return a phone message Tuesday seeking comment.

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EXETER BOROUGH COUNCIL

Exeter seeks aid to address debt woes W H AT ’ S N E X T

By B. GARRET ROGAN Times Leader Correspondent

EXETER – Facing a serious budget shortfall, borough council on Tuesday night agreed to apply to the Pennsylvania Governor’s Center for Local Government Services’ Early Intervention Program.

Council member Larry Dellegrotto reminded the public of the borough’s difficult financial situation during Tuesday’s regular council meeting.

The borough’s general fund is at $14,000 while its outstanding bills currently add up to $151,000. After these numbers were shared, Dellegrotto reit-

The next regular meeting of Exeter Council will be Tuesday Sept. 4, at 7 p.m.

erated his statement from July’s council meeting at which he stressed the seriousness of the municipal debt.

Council unanimously voted to seek the intervention program in an attempt to address Exeter’s need to raise revenue and reduce spending.

The purpose of the program is to prevent a local government from entering distressed status. The program could potentially fund some or all of the ex-

penses involved in hiring a qualified financial consultant to help the borough establish feasible multiyear plans to address debt.

Although the borough is able to make payroll, and bills are paid when the money is available, Dellegrotto acknowledged the very real possibility the borough may have to cut services in the near future to reduce its deficit.

In another matter, council passed the completely symbolic motion to voice its concerns about the possible establishment of a natural gas compressor station in nearby West Wyoming.

Opposition to the natural gas drilling

industry has been consistently expressed in Exeter over the past several years. Even when the contentious debate over a possible Wal-Mart in the borough seemed to split the town, both sides tended to come to an agreement in voicing their intentions to prevent gas industry involvement within the borough or any of the adjoining municipalities.

Resident Nancy Dolan of the Luzerne County Citizens for Clean Air even utilized council chambers for presentations on the potential for natural gas drilling and transport-related pollution.

STRATEGY Continued from Page 1A

PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER

Casey Monagan of Quad3, standing, shows plans to the Luzerne County Zoning Board panel for UGI’s proposed building site in West Wyoming of a compressor station during Tuesday’s zoning hearing board meeting.

W H AT ’ S N E X T

STATION

Should the station receive the zoning hearing board’s approval, UGI Energy Services will require further approvals from the Luzerne County Planning Commission, the Luzerne County Conservation District and the state Department of Environmental Protection. DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said a public hearing will be held on UGI’s permit request, probably in September or October.

Continued from Page 1A

station and a variance for a radio communication tower up to 100 feet tall needed to maintain contact with the pipeline.

UGI revised its height variance request at the hearing, having initially requested a 150-foot tower.

A special exception is a use that is envisioned by the governing zoning ordinance while a variance is required for a use outside the ordinance, board member Larry Newman explained. Newman said before the hearing that the board must limit its activity to those rules outlined in the state municipal planning code and the Luzerne County zoning ordinance, and it cannot alter existing law.

More than 100 onlookers packed the jury room of the Luzerne County Courthouse for the hearing, most to voice their opposition to the station or stand in support of those doing so.

Four representatives from UGI testified they did not believe the compressor station presented a threat to public health, noting that the station would greatly exceed federal emissions standards. UGI projects the station would produce a maximum of 50 percent of the EPA limit for nitrogen oxides, 9.5 percent of the limit for carbon monoxide and 18.5 percent of the federal limit for volatile organic compounds.

It would also meet Federal Energy Regulatory Commission noise limits at 350 feet, while the nearest home to the station is more than 2000 feet beyond that horizon, Engineering and Construction Director Michael E. Smith said.

Casey Monagan, an engineer with engineering and architecture group Quad 3 Group Inc., called the proposed station location “remote,” saying it was approximately one-half mile from the nearest homes and roadways.

He said the 100-foot communications tower would not be visible from 8th Street or Shoemaker Avenue, and would have a smaller footprint than the PPL electricity transmission lines passing near the station.

But residents who testified did not buy into the company’s assertion the station presents

Casey Monagan of Quad3 shows plans to the Luzerne County Zoning Board panel for UGI’s proposed building site in West Wyoming of a compressor station.

a minimal impact on the borough.

Janet Wasson, a West Wyoming resident who said she has a degree in Earth sciences and chemistry from Misericordia University, received a standing ovation after she pointed out the potential harmful effects of some of the emissions produced by the station, including benzene and carbon monoxide.

“The gas company may believe I as well as everybody in the back of me here is expendable,” Wasson said. “But I do not believe that I should be collateral damage for the sake of the industry’s profit.”

Brian Katula of West Wyoming stated he could find no longterm, longitudinal public health studies on the human health impacts of compressor stations, and said UGI should be able to prove the station will not have an adverse impact before it is allowed to construct it.

“Is anyone on your research staff aware of one research study that says that these are safe facilities?” he asked.

Francis O’Shea said the station will emit the equivalent of 71 public buses running 24 hours per day, “far exceed (ing) all traffic emissions in our area.”

Other residents expressed concerns about declines in their property values and the result of an accident at the station.

Ruth Likowski of West Wyoming said explosions at compressor stations “are not uncommon,” citing the explosion in March at the Lathrop compressor station in Susquehanna County. The West

Wyoming Fire Department is not staffed 24 hours a day, and responders could be slowed if debris from a large explosion blocked access to 8th street.

West Wyoming Council Chairwoman Eileen Cipriani spoke on behalf of the borough council and residents, stating that the municipality does not support the compressor being constructed in West Wyoming.

She also requested that if the board does approve the station, its approval be conditional upon nine factors: a feasibility study determining if electric motors could be used at the station; an on-site water retention basin; a 100-foot natural vegetation buffer around the station; capping pollution levels at the projected 18.5 percent of the EPA limit – meaning no additional emissionsproducing equipment at the site; independent emissions monitoring; developing emergency preparedness plans with local emergency crews; fast-acting shutdown valves to isolate the compressor from the pipeline in the event of an emergency; check valves to prevent backflow of gas from the Transco pipeline, and a 6foot fence around the station.

Cipriani also took issue with UGI’s characterization of the area surrounding the station as remote, saying West Wyoming is approximately 3 1/2 square miles in size and has a population of close to 2,700.

“There is cause for health concern, and it is a densely populated municipality,” she said.

State Rep. Phyllis Mundy also urged the board to deny the application through spokesman Omeed Firouzi.

By press deadline, the board was still hearing testimony from “individuals with standing,” or residents of West Wyoming. The board said it would hear testimony from those without standing afterward.

when they came into office, but we already had a list of things we had to get done,” Bobeck said.

The 11-member council formed a new strategic initiatives committee to brainstorm proposed priorities. Bobeck was selected chairman of the committee during its first meeting Tuesday.

Uniform employee benefits and perks, a budget reserve and a county credit rating that would allow the refinancing of at least some of the county’s more than $410 million in debt are among Bobeck’s suggested priorities.

Restoring trust in county government, strengthening infrastructure and enhancing quality of life top committee member Rick Williams’ list. He also has pushed for consistency in employee benefits.

Committee member Linda McClosky Houck said fiscal responsibility and reorganization of the government under the new home rule structure must be among the priorities.

Councilman Eugene Kelleher, also a committee member, said the group will be more equipped to lay out priorities after county Manager Robert Lawton presents his mid-year financial analysis and deficit avoidance plan on Aug. 14.

The committee tentatively planned to meet again Aug. 21 to discuss priorities.

Lawton attended Tuesday’s meeting and said he will try to incorporate council’s priorities into the 2013 budget. The administration also will report quarterly on its progress meeting each target, he said.

Bobeck stressed it may take years for the administration to carry out the strategy ultimately adopted by council. For example, the county must demonstrate several years of sound budgets and a healthy emergency reserve to obtain a credit rating.

The strategic committee spent most of its first meeting – more than two hours – finalizing detailed proposed operating rules and procedures for council.

The committee recommended council members should be deemed tardy if they aren’t present for discussion of the first voting matter on a meeting agenda.

Council members may opt to publicly reprimand colleagues who are habitually tardy, according to the proposed rules.

Council members also should be limited to three minutes, or the amount of time allotted for citizen public comment, when they make statements at the end of meetings, the committee agreed.

Meeting attendance by telephone or video will be permitted, but council members must be “engaged” from roll call to adjournment, the group decided.

The committee also will recommend designating the council meeting room on the first floor of the courthouse as the primary public meeting location for council.

Council meetings have been held at the county’s Emergency Management Agency building, largely because it holds larger crowds. Lawton said the administration will eliminate an elevated platform designed for the former commissioner government to free up more space in the courthouse meeting room.

AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER

Dan and Carolyn Madry hold a photo of son Brian earlier this year. Brian was 16 when he was killed in a car crash last year.

MADRY Continued from Page 1A

$400,000.

Madry’s parents have also agreed to accept the tenders of GEICO Insurance Co. and AAA Mid-Atlantic, which insured Fredmund and Rushinski, for a total of $125,000.

Tuesday’s filing requested that the Madrys be permitted to accept the $125,000 and continue the suit against the Glen Summit Co. Because the portion of the suit against the Glen Summit Co. is not settled, Anzalone wrote, there “could potentially be a jury trial to resolve” that matter.

The Glen Summit Co., the suit said, is responsible for Madry’s death because it failed to provide “appropriate security for Fountain Lake” when man-

agement should have known that “underage residents and non-residents conducted drinking parFredmund ties” there.

The company should have alerted police to the activity, the suit says.

The suit also says the company failed to listen to residents’ complaints about providing security at the lake at night, and that because there was no security, the company “maintained an attractive nuisance ... in the evening hours.”

Judge William Amesbury approved the settlement Tuesday, as well as any attorney fees and reimbursement costs.

After attorney’ fees and costs are paid, Anzalone wrote, the Madrys will receive more than $85,000 from the insurance companies.

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Where were you this weekend?

Kids get buggy with it

The path to recovery

Presentation held at Frances Slocum State Park

Region still plagued after Isaac makes its way out

Friday night football fans, La Festa Italiana, Insect program

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WILKES-BARRE, PA

SPORTS SHOWCASE

By JERRY LYNOTT jlynott@timesleader.com

JENKINS TWP. – Police on Sunday afternoon located the car involved in a double fatal hit-and-run crash that occurred early Sunday in Pittston Township and charged a Wilkes-Barre man power washingtheBuickLeSabrewithtamperingwith evidence.

DanielAntoninisaidtheownerofthecar

admitted being involved in an accident and did not remember what he hit, according to arrest papers.

The owner, Walter Raven, 59, of Industrial Drive, Jenkins TownWalsh ship, has not been charged in the crash, but Sgt. Lena Angelella, officer in charge in Pittston Township, said her investigation is ongoing.

The deadly hit-and-run crash on state Route 315 in front of the McDonald’s res-

taurant was the fourth in the area since June.

Angelellasaidsearchwarrantswillbeexecuted as part of the investigation into the deaths of Donnie Pizano, 38, and Robin Walsh, 39, both of Plains Township.

Pizano was operating a motorcycle travelingsouthonstateRoute315around12:30 a.m. Sunday when it collided with the car, Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said. Walsh was a passenger on the motorcycle.

See FATAL, Page 10A

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BREWERS 12 PIRATES 8 AMERICAN LEAGUE

ORIOLES 8 YANKEES 3 IL BASEBALL

Zoning members to act on gas compressor station in West Wyoming.

SWB YANKS 6 PAWSOX 2

INSIDE A NEWS: Local 3A Nation & World 5A Obituaries 2A, 6A Editorials 9A B SPORTS: 1B C CLICK : 1C Birthdays 3C Television 4C Crossword/Horoscope 5C D CLASSIFIED: 1D

WEATHER Kelly Grevera. Cloudy with rain High 74 Low 64 Details, Page 6B

By MATT HUGHES mhughes@timesleader.com

DON CAREY/THE TIMES LEADER

Kevin Morris, fire chief/borough EMA manager of the Shickshinny Volunteer Fire Department.

A first-hand look First responders recall impact of flooding

Within hours of the river cresting at 42.66 feet on Sept. 9, 2011, ohn Janczewski can Janczewski’s home and the homes sum up in one word his of his two daughters had several feelings after the Susfeet of water. quehanna River began Water also crept up toward to recede in September 2011: Janczewski’s other home – the Sick.

Spring Street Fire Station – where The West Pittston Hose he ended up spending some Company fire chief is one of nights. dozens of first responders in “We couldn’t get near our AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER Wyoming Valley who worked homes, so what do you do until the tirelessly throughout the six- Sheri Slusser looks through photos of her water goes down?” Janczewski day flood event assisting resi- home after the 2011 flooding in West said. “My family was safe, so we dents and overseeing other Pittston. were here at the fire station, helpemergency personnel. ing other people.”

He also was a victim of the rising water of the Susquehanna River who had to deal with flooding in his own home.

September to remember “During the Agnes Flood (of 1972) the water didn’t Janczewski had about 9 feet of water in his York Avecome near any houses (in his neighborhood). So, we See FLOOD, Page 10A thought it would be no big deal,” Janczewski said.

By SHEENA DELAZIO sdelazio@timesleader.com

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Tuesday is judgment day for UGI Energy Services’ plan to build a natural gas compressor station in West Wyoming.

The hotly contested proposal is awaiting zoning approval from the Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board, which is set to render a decision at the Luzerne County I F YO U G O : Courthouse at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The What: The Luzerne County Zoning Hearing three-member Board renders its deciboard heard more sion on UGI Energy than five hours of Services’ application to testimony from build a natural gas UGI representacompressor station in West Wyoming tives supporting Where: The Luzerne and local residents, County Courthouse, elected officials Council Meeting Room, and environmental 1st floor advocates passionWhen: Tuesday, 7 p.m.

Testimony: No new ately opposed to testimony on UGI’s the project at an application will be acAugust 7 hearing. cepted at the meeting.

UGI Energy Services is seeking a special exception to build a station containing three natural-gas fueled compressors, natural gas meters, storage tanks, an odorant building and associated equipment on a 14acre plot of land in an A1 agricultural district off Fire Cut Road that borders Kingston Township. The company also needs a variance for a radio communication tower up to 100 feet tall.

UGI hopes to begin construction in the spring on the compressor station and the associated Auburn pipeline, which will extend south from Susquehanna County into West Wyoming. The company anticipates comSee WYOMING, Page 10A

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK

>> LOVE OF LABOR: Today is Labor Day. And if you have the day off, you can thank a man named Maguire. Or McGuire. The holiday was first proposed in 1882, that much we know. But whether the idea came from Matthew Maguire, a New York labor official, or Peter McGuire, of the American Federation of Labor, is a bit hazy -- like London pea soup fog in the dark hazy. But 130 years later, the “who” isn’t as important as the “no work” thing. Enjoy the day.

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FRED ADAMS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

A car owned by Walter Raven, 59, of Jenkins Township, was seized by investigators.

Board to decide on UGI plan

BRAVES 8 PHILLIES 7

RODDICK NOT RETIRING YET Andy Roddick’s retirement party rocks on.

The 2003 U.S. Open champion, who last week announced he would retire after he was done at Flushing Meadows, advanced to the fourth round Sunday with a 7-5, 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4 victory over Fabio Fognini of Italy. Page 1B

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Police find car in double fatal

Owner of car not charged in crash that killed two from Plains Township.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2012

>> CONVENTIONAL LOGIC: Last week it was the Republicans’ turn. This week, the Democrats get their moment in the prime-time political sun. The Democratic National Con-

vention begins Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C., and runs until Thursday. If you’re wondering what’s in store, take all the “OBAMA, FIRE. BAAAD!” speeches from the GOP shindig, and change them to “ROMNEY, FIRE. BAAAD!” Oh, and replace all the elephant balloons with donkey ones. And make sure the seven-second delay button works before Joe Biden says anything. >> FOOTBALL IS HERE: If you’ve been counting the days until the 2012 NFL season kicks off, you can thank President Obama that there’s one less. Because his nomination speech is set for Thursday, the NFL was nice enough to move up the season opener to Wednesday night. Yayyy, NFL! As has become tradition, last year’s Super Bowl champ gets to host the season’s first game.

This year, that would be the New York Giants who welcome the Dallas Cowboys to East Rutherford. The game starts at 8:30 p.m. on NBC. >> STAND UP: It’s not often the television networks agree on anything -- unless it’s a common desire to inflict bad reality shows on an

unsuspecting public. But this Friday night, dozens of networks will get on the same wavelength (literally) to cooperate on something that will really help a lot of people. “Stand Up To Cancer” is a live fundraising special that will air at 8 p.m. on all the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) and a host of cable outlets. Viewers can donate by phone, text or online and, the producers promise, all money goes directly to the fight against cancer. Sounds like must-see TV. >> OUT THERE AND LOVING IT: You know that crazy uncle you don’t like to talk about? The one who still wears a Members Only jacket to weddings, is making a Noah’s Ark out of lint and once spent a weekend teaching Norwegian to a parrot?

This Sunday, go and find that uncle and give him a big ol’ hug. Why? Because it’s “Wonderful Weirdoes Day,” silly. It’s a day to appreciate those among us who scoff at being normal, who think outside the box of sanity, who march to a different trombonist, or wear socks on their ears. Or are named Kardashian.

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FATAL Continued from Page 1A

The car was traveling north on the roadway and turned left into the McDonald’s fast food restaurant, Salavantis said. The car fled the scene after the collision with the motorcycle.

“We have possession of the vehicle,” Salavantis said.

Deputy county coroner Dan Hughes said autopsies were done on the victims, who died from multiple traumatic injuries.

The manner of death is pending the police investigation.

Police filed unrelated drug charges against Raven, who was arraigned by District Justice James Tupper in Kingston Township and committed to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of bail totaling $30,000.

Antonini, 46, of Gilligan Street, was arraigned on the tampering charge and committed to the county prison for lack of $5,000 bail.

As he was led from the Jenkins Township Police Department to his arraignment, Antonini said, “I don’t even know why I’m here.”

According to arrest papers: Antonini said he received a call from Raven to come to Raven’s house and help him power wash his car.

Antonini, who agreed to speak to police, said “Walter told him that he was driving last night and was in an accident and he did not remember what he hit.”

Antonini also said Raven was “very weird about telling him what had happened in regards to the accident.”

Before cleaning the car with the power washer Antonini brought from his house, he noticed blood all over the car, broken glass and damage to the passenger-side rear door and roof.

FRED ADAMS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

Police filed a charge of tampering with evidence against Daniel Antonini, 46, of Wilkes-Barre.

Antonini told police he knew the car was involved in an accident and “that he was just trying to help his friend as he usually does.”

When Jenkins Township officer Dion Fernandes took Raven into custody, the officer found two pill bottles and a plastic baggy containing pills.

According to the arrest papers filed against Raven: One bottle was marked Nitrostat and contained what was believed to be nitroglycerine pills. The other bottle also was marked Nitrostat but contained suspected morphine pills. The baggy also contained suspected morphine pills.

“They’re my prescriptions,” Raven said at his arraignment.

Police did not have to file the drug possession charges if they allowed Raven to go into his house to get the prescription, he said.

“I never make that mistake,” Raven said of putting the pills in the wrong bottle.

Raven was also arrested on an outstanding warrant from Exeter police on drug charges.

He allegedly sold 8 morphine pills to a confidential informant at the Turkey Hill in Exeter on Feb. 8, 2011.

FRED ADAMS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

Hundreds of motorcycle riders took part in the Valley With A Heart Motorcycle Run benefit Sunday in Sheatown. The event is held to support local children with serious illnesses and their families. For Click photos, see Page 8A.

through the Luzerne Foundation and benefit local children.

This year’s event featured live entertainment by a number of local bands, food and Continued from Page 3A merchandise vendors, as well as a charity dunk tank and metals.

All funds are administered chanical bull rides.

RIDE

FLOOD

Shickshinny suffers, too Likewise, in Shickshinny, fire chief and EMA director Kevin Morris said his station was busy around the clock taking care of his flooded hometown, even though his own home was safe up on the Shickshinny mountain.

“We didn’t know it was going to get that bad,” Morris said, noting that with Shickshinny’s proximity to the river, flooding isn’t uncommon. “But then we realized we needed to get to work … and fast.”

With flood water creeping up West Union Street, Morris knew

a few inches of water might reach the fire station.

Important things that could be moved were put on table tops, and Morris’ son, Ryan, moved documents dating back to1897 to their home for safekeeping – including original deeds for the station.

Flood water ended up reaching about 4 feet in the fire station, forcing the town’s entire emergency response team to relocate to other buildings up the street.

Morris and Shickshinny Mayor Beverly Moore had met with residents and urged them to evacuate before the water began to rise.

Even so, Morris said 22 people and six dogs had to be rescued from homes with the help of his son, Ryan, who is a volunteer firefighter.

Rescues included several people from the high-rise apartment buildings, two families and two workers from the UGI plant in Hunlock Creek.

At times, Ryan Morris said, the department’s 18-foot boat couldn’t get around because mud in the water clogged the engine.

Stopping to clean the motor quickly became a problem, and boat rescues at night were not

phen Menn said the concept of legal “standing” is open to some interpretation but that the group would at least include all residents of West Wyoming.

“Is it possible that someone from Kingston Township has standing? I would say there’s a possibility, but I would say somebody from Philadelphia doesn’t have standing,” Menn said. “I would say that someone from a municipality that’s not very close would not have standing.”

Spokeswoman Lillian Harris said that if the zoning application is not approved, UGI Energy Services will decide whether to appeal after it reviews the board’s written decision.

Zoning approval is also only the first, albeit significant, hurdle UGI must clear before construction can begin. The company also needs permits and approvals from the Luzerne County Planning Commission, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Luzerne Conservation District.

County Planning Commission Director Adrian Merolli said UGI has not yet submitted a subdivi-

sion land development plan for the commission’s approval, which is contingent on UGI securing zoning approval.

“Nothing has been applied for and typically that process takes months,” Merolli said. “The engineering review is very detailed and comprehensive.”

The Planning Commission’s approval is based on UGI satisfying land development requirements such as stormwater control, driveway access and parking availability. While the commission’s meetings are public and the commission would consider public input with relevance to the issues considered, Merolli said the commission’s decision will be based primarily on technical engineering questions.The main permit UGI will need from DEP is an air quality permit allowing the company to release airborne emissions from the compressor station.

DEP will base its decision on emissions guidelines set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, said DEP Northeast Regional Office spokeswoman Colleen Connolly. UGI represen-

tatives told the zoning hearing board and previously stated the compressor will far exceed those levels.

DEP also will consider concerns about public health and safety, including emergency response plans and access routes, and though it doesn’t regulate either, concerns about noise and odors.

Connolly said the department has received multiple requests for a public hearing on the permit, including requests from West Wyoming officials, state Rep. Phyllis Mundy and state Sen. John Yudichak, and will schedule a hearing if the station receives zoning approval.

“Many of my constituents and I are concerned that this compressor station may impact air quality in both the immediate and surrounding areas,” Mundy said. “A public hearing will give us important information and allow us to express our concerns to DEP.” Yudichak said the hearing will ensure that the local public, a significant portion of which opposes gas drilling, is fully informed about the project and that all in-

SUNDAY: A look at flood-control systems and the red tape involved in getting them built.

AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER

John Janczewski, left, Sheri Slusser, Gary Slusser, John Hood and John Hood Jr. remember last year’s flooding.

were pouring in.

Janczewski said that in a threeday period his station got more than140 flood-related calls, many from people requesting water to be pumped from basements.

The firehouse on Spring Street was the town’s command center.

Cleaning supplies, food and water were being distributed to those in need, and six to eight people were always on hand to help in any way they were needed.

John Hood said that during the flood some people had to be rescued, including one family stranded on their first-floor porch and an elderly woman he carried from her home in chest-deep wa911 calls poured in ter.

While waters inundated West Six boats were stationed at the Pittston, 911 emergency calls nearby Montgomery Street

WYOMING Continued from Page 1A

pleting both projects by fall 2013.

The board will review written summaries of testimony made at the Aug. 7 hearing prior to rendering its decision Tuesday but will not accept new testimony.

Despite that, outspoken opponent of the project Nancy Dolan of Exeter, a member of Luzerne County Citizens for Clean Air, said she plans to attend to hear the outcome herself, and expects at least some others to do so, too.

“I think I’ve seen enough people that are concerned about it that want to hear the board’s decision and what they have to say,” Dolan said.

“It affects so many people,” she added. “It affects me; it affects other people. What they’re asking for is to use agricultural land for industrial uses, and if that is permitted by the zoning board of Luzerne County, what is the point of having zoning at all?

“The intent of zoning is to protect citizens; the health, safety,

welfare and property value of citizens in Luzerne County, and if you’re going to allow industrial, polluting operations in areas with dense populations, then we have to seriously reconsider our laws.”

West Wyoming Council President Eileen Cipriani said she also will attend to hear the decision.

The council is opposed to the plan and submitted testimony asking the board to reject UGI’s application or, failing that, approve it only if the company agrees to meet a list of conditions.

“I don’t really have a feel for which way they’re going to rule,” Cipriani said. “Obviously, we said we’re opposed to the compressor station and were hoping it doesn’t go through, but I really don’t know ... . We’re just sort of in a holding pattern right now.”

Regardless of which way the board’s decision swings, the determination may be appealed to the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas by UGI Energy Services, the Borough of West Wyoming and individuals “with standing.” Board solicitor Ste-

Event organizers want to thank the many volunteers who donated time, money and merchandise to make the 2012 benefit a success.

Visit valleywithaheart.com for additional information or donations.

safe because of debris in the wa- Family treasures gone ter and strong currents.

Gary Slusser said what was hardest for him and his wife Praying, staying busy wasn’t replacing couches, repairWhile firefighters prayed their ing electrical work or throwing headquarters would survive the out nearly everything the river flood, they stayed busy for days water touched – but having to helping Shickshinny residents. throw away 90 percent of their Then, receding waters re- daughter’s toys. vealed a path of devastation and “I didn’t know how I would be months of work. able to bring my kids back into “We’re still trying to get things our house,” Sheri Slusser said, back in order, putting files back noting her youngest daughter where they belong,” Morris said. has referred to the river as “evil” The building was eventually since the flood. re-done, work having been comFriends, family, and co-workpleted in April, Morris said, not- ers would show up for days, helping it took longer than expected ing the family restore their home. to fix the firehouse because memAs the seasons change, the bers were helping residents in the Slussers noticed things they once community. had are now missing – like a lawn Morris said that on the weekmower and holiday decorations. end of Sept. 10, the fire station “We’re happy with the progress was scheduled to hold a chicken we’ve made,” Sheri Slusser said. dinner – 250 halves of chicken “But, there is still a laundry list of were on hand for the feast. things that need to be done.”

Had it not been for a local high If one good thing came of the school football quarterback club September 2011 flood, Janczewasking what the department needed, Morris said he didn’t ski said, it’s that attitudes in the community have changed for the know if there would be food.

The club cooked the chicken better.

The area has seen devastation and offered everything in its conand knows what it’s like to live it. cession stand to those who re“But, if it happens again, I don’t mained in Shickshinny. think I could do it,” Janczewski “They were our first real ressaid. cuers,” Morris said. “If we didn’t The rest of his family is right have that food, I don’t know what behind him. we would have done.”

“I grew up here, we all grew up “It was really nice to see the here.

I don’t want to leave,” Sheri community come together durSlusser said. “But, I don’t think I ing such a tragic time,” Morris can go through it again. It takes a said. toll on you.”

MORE FLOOD COVERAGE

Continued from Page 1A

nue home’s cellar, while his daughter Vicki Hood and her husband, John Hood, West Pittston’s assistant fire chief, had 10 feet of water in their home, just doors away from Janczewski.

Janczewski’s other daughter, Sheri Slusser, and her husband, Gary, also a West Pittston firefighter, had their entire basement filled with water, and about 14 inches on the first floor of their Linden Street home.

“My dad always says bad things happen at bad times,” Sheri Slusser said.

Fortunately for the family, the Hoods were in the process of moving to a Franklin Street home, out of harm’s way, and the family was able to stay there during the flood.

Janczewski said that thankfully he has a dirt cellar, but lost a new furnace and a water heater.

“And 38 years of Christmas decorations,” said Sheri Slusser, who noted her mother felt that was the biggest loss.

“You can’t replace things me and my sister made when we were little and that our kids made for (their grandparents),” Slusser said.

“Bikers are good people,” said John Campas of Campas Collision, who participated in several charity rides each summer.

“Whenever my friends call, I come out to show my support.”

School and were used daily.

Janczewski slept at the fire station most nights, while Gary Slusser and John Hood responded to dozens of 911 calls.

formation about the station is fully disclosed.

That hearing will proceed regardless of whether the board’s decision is appealed, Connolly said.

“If there’s an appeal, we’ll still move,” Connolly said. “We can’t deal with what-ifs; we’ve got to deal with the concrete.”

UGI also needs an erosion and sediment control general permit for the compressor station site and waterways encroachment permits for areas where its pipeline will cross wetlands. Though not required, DEP will accept testimony on those permits at the planned air-quality permit hearing, which is tentatively scheduled for October.

The company also will need erosion and sediment control approval for the construction phase of the station and pipeline from the Luzerne Conservation District as part of its DEP permit application. Conservation District Manager Josh Longmore said representatives of the district will hear testimony at the DEP hearing.

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Popular eatery coming back

Squash made into fritters and frittata, salad and stuff

Following 2011 fire, Grico’s in Exeter is going to reopen.

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9 recipes for all that zucchini

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WILKES-BARRE, PA

SPORTS SHOWCASE

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Fatal vehicle owner has drug past

Records: 4 impaired driving convictions

By EDWARD LEWIS elewis@timesleader.com

AMERICAN LEAGUE

RAYS 5 YANKEES 2

The owner of a vehicle authorities say was involved in a double fatal hit-and-run crash early Sunday morning has four drugged-driving convictions since 2003, according to court records.

Walter Paul Raven, 59, of Industrial Drive, Jenkins Township, was arrested Sunday on charges unrelated to the crash that claimed the lives of Donnie Pizano, 38, and Robin Walsh, 39, both of Plains Township.

Pittston Township police allege Raven’s

Pizano

Walsh

Buick struck a motorcycle Pizano was operating on state Route 315 at about 12:20 a.m. Sunday. Walsh was a passenger on the motorcycle.

Pizano and Walsh were not wearing hel-

did not remember what he had struck, according to arrest records.

After the Buick was found, police learned there was an arrest warrant for Raven charging him with selling eight morphine tablets to an informant in Exeter in February 2011. Raven was allegedly found on Sunday with pills without a prescription.

Raven was charged with drug offenses and jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $30,000 bail. Antonini was charged with tampering with evidence and jailed for lack of $5,000 bail.

Court records say Raven has four con-

mets, according to the Luzerne County Coroner’s Office.

Autopsies revealed Pizano and Walsh died from multiple traumatic injuries related to the crash.

Jenkins Township police officer Dion Fernandes spotted the Buick while Raven and Daniel Antonini, 46, were allegedly using a power washer to clean it Sunday afternoon at Raven’s residence.

Antonini told police Raven called him Sunday afternoon and asked him to help wash the Buick. Antonini stated Raven told him that Raven was in an accident but See FATAL, Page 12A

GETTING THE POINT ON FIRST DAY OF CLASS

ORIOLES 12 BLUE JAYS 0 INDIANS 3 TIGERS 2 NATIONAL LEAGUE

REDS 2 PHILLIES 1 CARDINALS 5 METS 1 RAIN DELAY’S RODDICK’S MATCH

PAGE 1B

INSIDE A NEWS: Local 3A Nation & World 5A Obituaries 2A, 8A Editorials 11A B SPORTS BUSINESS: 7B Weather 8B C TASTE Birthdays 4C Television 6C Crossword/Horoscope 7C Comics 8C D CLASSIFIED

WEATHER Nathaniel Wren. Showers, partial clearing. High 78, low 70. Details, Page 8B

1st lady: Obama is man to trust

Speakers bash GOP’s Romney as Dems open convention.

Andy Roddick’s

fourth-round match against Juan Martin del Potro at the U.S. Open has been suspended because of rain and is scheduled to resume Wednesday.

Play was halted right after Roddick went ahead 1-0 in a first-set tiebreaker Tuesday night. A little more than a half-hour later, the tournament called off play for the day.

50¢

By DAVID ESPO and MATTHEW DALY Associated Press

J

PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER

ulia Chessman pokes Cash Harrison in the cheek Tuesday during play time on the first day of classes for toddlers at the Wyoming Seminary Lower School in Forty Fort. For the story on how the first day went, see Page 12A.

Collector criticized over own back taxes

By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@timesleader.com

Fairmount Township tax collector Dorethea Dohl owes $13,725 in back taxes on her own properties, prompting public criticism from Luzerne County Councilman Edward Brominski.

“Tax collectors should be above reproach. It’s a travesty,” Brominski said Tuesday.

Dohl, who was appointed by township officials after the sudden retirement of the elected tax collector, said Tuesday her family has been struggled financially operating a dairy farm.

“It’s a very difficult business,” she said.

The family is in the process of selling its

dairy cows to focus solely on grain crops, which should yield a profit, she said.

Dohl said a township official approached her about the tax collector post because others had declined the job after Theresa Roman’s retirement.

She said she accepted the post in February because she has financial experience at the farm and another family business.

Dohl said she didn’t discuss her delinquent taxes with township officials, and they didn’t mention the issue. She said her personal finances were examined to obtain a required bond, which protects taxing bodies if property taxes are lost or stolen.

She said her experience as a delinquent taxpayer helps her better relate to town-

ship property owners who also are struggling to pay. Dohl also said she’s not ignoring the obligation.

“They’re being paid,” Dohl said.

Dohl and her husband, Larry, signed up for a repayment plan last month with the county tax claim office because their seven properties, all in the township, were listed in the Sept. 20 back-tax auction. Taxes are owed for 2010 and 2011, records show.

Their next payment installment of $1,236 is due Sept. 28, records show.

Property owners can keep their properties out of a sale if they stick to payment plans, though the option is off-limits for See TAXES, Page 12A

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — First lady Michelle Obama lovingly praised her husband Tuesday night in a primetime Democratic Convention speech as a devoted husband and caring father at home and a “man we can trust” to revive the nation’s weak economy as president, beckoning the country to return him to the White House despite agonizingly slow recovery from recession.

Obama “He reminds me that we are playing a long game here ... and that change is hard, and change is slow and it never happens all at once,” she told a na- Castro tion impatient with slow economic progress and persistently high unemployment of 8.3 percent. “But eventually, we get there, we always do,” she said in a speech that blended scenes from 23 years of marriages with the Obamas’ time in the White House.

Mrs. Obama, given a huge ovation See CONVENTION, Page 12A

UGI compressor application denied

By MATT HUGHES mhughes@timesleader.com

6

09815 10011

WILKES-BARRE – UGI Energy Services cannot go forward with its plan to build a natural gas compressor station in West Wyoming, the Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board declared Tuesday evening.

In a decision that brought a roar of applause from the close to 100 opponents of the controversial project assembled at the Luzerne County Courthouse to hear it, the board voted unanimously to deny the company’s application for a

special exception to build the station and a variance for an associated 100-foot communications tower.

UGI Energy Services will have 30 days to appeal the decision to the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas.

The pipeline company hoped to build the station in a14-acre wooded area off Fire Cut Road owned by Joseph Kalinosky, the nearest resident to the site. It was planned as part of UGI’s $150 million, 27.5mile Auburn Pipeline extension project, which will link the Tennes-

see interstate pipeline in Susquehanna County to the Transco interstate pipeline in Luzerne County.

The company also planned to join the Auburn Pipeline with the gas distribution network of sister company UGI Utilities through a smaller line extending from the compressor station to a measurement facility on Saylor Avenue in Wilkes-Barre.

The company’s solicitor, attorAIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER ney Joseph L. Persico of Rosenn, Jenkins & Greenwald, said UGI Most attending the Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board meeting See STATION, Page 12A

on Tuesday to hear the decision on the UGI Energy Services compressor station zoning application applauded after it was denied.

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➛

PAGE 12A WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

FATAL Continued from Page 1A

N

E

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TAXES Continued from Page 1A

those who defaulted on a prior payment plan within the last three years.

Brominski said he sympathizes with property owners facing financial difficulties but said all tax collectors should be current on their own properties because urging timely payment is one of their primary duties.

He raised the tax delinquency issue at last week’s county council meeting during a discussion on options for county tax collection.

County officials have been stressing the need for all tax collectors to strive for high collection rates. Some tax collectors contact property owners by phone to remind them to pay.

The county’s new home rule government gives council the power to stop using 69 elected tax collectors or reduce their pay. Elected tax collectors are paid $3.50 per bill.

Council members said they need more research and discussion before voting on the matter. A decision must be made by the end of the year because tax collector seats are on the ballot in 2013.

S

THE TIMES LEADER www.timesleader.com

Toddler program starts at Sem

victions of driving under the influence of controlled substances from 2003 to 2005, and a drug trafficking conviction from 2006.

Walsh, an employee in the Luzerne County Clerk of Courts Office, likely handled Raven’s license suspensions.

Her duties, among others, included processing license suspensions with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

According to court records: • Raven was sentenced Sept. 11, 2008, to one to two years in county prison when Wilkes-Barre police said he was under the influence of cocaine while operating a vehicle on North Pennsylvania Avenue on Dec. 1, 2005. He was paroled in March 2010.

• A county judge sentenced Raven to 72 hours in jail on charges he was driving a vehicle while under the influence of cocaine in Wilkes-Barre on Sept. 12, 2004.

• He was also sentenced to 48 hours in jail on separate counts of DUI on Dec. 31 and Nov. 29, 2003, according to court records.

Preliminary hearings are scheduled on Sept. 11.

For obituaries for Pizano and Walsh, see page 8A.

PETE G. WILCOX PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER

Maggie Hornung meets the class pet in residence, Ringo the Guinea Pig, during the first day of classes for toddlers at the Wyoming Seminary Lower School in Forty Fort on Tuesday.

Ringo’s the star F

MARK GUYDISH mguydish@timesleader.com

ORTY FORT – Go ahead; try not to smile with a guinea pig named Ringo on your back.

Maggie Hornung beamed like a little cherub as the class pet gave new meaning to the term “piggy back” during the official start of Wyoming Seminary’s new “toddler program” Tuesday, nestling briefly on the back of the youngster sprawled on the floor.

Soft carpet under you and fuzzy fur ball on top? Maybe they’ve invented a new relaxation technique.

The new program takes in children from 18 months to 3 years old, up to five days a week – the school is flexible on how many days a child shows up, as long as the total count per day stays at 10 tykes, Director of Admissions Katie Callahan said. That’s five for each of the two teachers.

The goal is to give the toddlers early lessons in independence, self care and social skills, as well as a head start in their education.

“She’s already learning letters,”

Gigi Ruderman, 23 months, visits with her mom, Katie Callahan. Callahan is the director of admissions at the school.

one proud mother said while watching her child through a one-way window set up to let parents check on their children without being seen.

That’s one of the features built into a converted home next to Wyoming Seminary’s Lower School, which now houses both the new toddler program and the existing pre-school for 3- and 4year-olds. There’s also a changing station with hide-a-way stairs the youngsters can use to get onto, a kid-size bathroom area separated by a wall high enough for toddler

privacy but still allowing adult supervision, and alarms on the exterior doors that give a gentle but firm notice someone is leaving.

And there’s a super-soft play area outside, made of artificial turf on top of extra bouncy rubber.

Maggie headed straight for the Playskool cop car. Cash Harrison opted for the pint-size sliding board, only he didn’t want to take time running around the back to the ladder; he started working his way up the slide before turning around at the top and enjoying the descent. The new early education building – officially dubbed “Arlington House” – sits across the Lower School parking lot, fronting Arlington Road. It currently handles 13 toddlers and 19 pre-school children. Along with a full day of activities from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., there is beforeschool care beginning at 8 a.m. and after-school care until 5:30 p.m., Callahan said.

Being the class pet, Ringo attends full-time.

STATION

CONVENTION Continued from Page 1A

and describing herself as the “mom in chief,” made no mention of Republican challenger Mitt Romney. But those who preceded her to the podium on the first night of the president’s convention were scathing.

“If Mitt were president, he’d fire the reindeer and outsource the elves,” declared former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland in one biting speech.

Tapped to deliver the keynote address, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro said Romney was a millionaire politician who “quite simply, doesn’t get it” when it comes to the needs of the middle class. Referring to the Republican’s support for mandatory health insurance when he was governor of Massachusetts, he added, “Gov. Romney has undergone an extreme makeover, and it ain’t pretty.”

Polls made the race for the White House a tight one, almost certain to be decided in a string of eight or10 battleground states where neither the president nor Romney holds a clear advantage. There was ample evidence during the day of an underperforming economy, including a report that said manufacturing activity declined for a third straight month and the government’s debt exceeded $16 trillion at the close of the business day.

There was no end to the appeals for donations to Obama’s re-election campaign, falling further behind Romney in cash on hand with each passing month. “If you think Barack’s the right man for the job, please show your support with a donation of $5 or more today,” the first lady emailed supporters a little more than 90 minutes before her speech.

She walked out to the crowd’s cheers as the band played Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,” the song he sang onstage at Obama’s Denver convention ifour years ago.

“Believe it or not, when we were first married, our combined monthly student loan bills were actually higher than our mortgage,” she told the convention.

“We were so young, so in love and so in debt.”

She confided that at family dinners in the White House with her and their daughters, the president joins in “strategizing about middle school friendships.”

Mrs. Obama’s poll numbers are better than her husband’s, and her speech was aimed at building support for him, much as Ann Romney’s remarks at last week’s Republican National Convention were in service to her husband’s presidential ambitions.

“When it comes to rebuilding our economy, Barack is thinking about folks like my dad — who worked at a municipal water plant — and his own grandmother, a bank secretary,” the first lady said.

Referring to her own children as well as those of others, she said, “If we want to give them that sense of limitless possibility, that belief that here in America there is always something better out there if you are willing to work for it, then we must ... stand together for the man we can trust to keep moving this great country forward, my husband, our president, President Barack Obama.”

Castro, the first Hispanic chosen to deliver a keynote address, was unsparing in criticizing Romney, suggesting the former Massachusetts governor might not even be the driving force on the GOP ticket.

“First they called it ‘trickle down, the supply side,’ ” he said of the economic proposals backed by Republicans. “Now it’s Romney/Ryan. Or is it Ryan/Romney?”

“Either way, their theory has been tested. It failed. ...Mitt Romney just doesn’t get it,” Castro said. Romney’s running mate is Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan.

Republicans did their best to rain on Obama’s convention, whatever the weather.

Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan spoke in Westlake, Ohio, standing behind a lectern bearing a sign that read “Are you better off?”

Republicans released a web video that interspersed images of Obama and the economy’s weak performance with slightly out-of-focus video clips of former President Jimmy Carter discussing the nation’s economic woes when sat in the Oval Office more than 30 years ago.

CONVENTION NOTEBOOK

Continued from Page 1A

Energy Services was “obviously… disappointed” with the board’s decision, but said the decision of whethertoappealtherulingwouldbemadebyUGI after reviewing the important facts of that ruling.

Reached by email after the meeting, UGI Energy Services spokeswoman Lillian Harris said the company “will be considering an appeal of the decision.”

“UGIES continues to maintain that this project is beneficial to the Wyoming Valley and it will be pursuing the project to fruition,” Harris said.

Harris and Persico said UGI considered a number of possible station locations and selected the West Wyoming site because its proximity to the both the Transco pipeline and the Saylor Avenue facility would provide for an efficient flow of gas.

“As the testimony explained at the last hearing, thatnotonlywasaremotearea,butanefficientarea as well,” Persico said.

The many residents of West Wyoming and surrounding communities opposed to the project, however, took issue with UGI’s characterization of the site as remote.

“I think it’s more just a nice quiet neighborhood; it’s not a remote area,” said Janice Metzo, a Fire Cut Road resident whose property borders Kalinosky’s.

“An industrial park would be more appropriate – somewhere where there’s not so many people.”

“This is important for the future of my grandchildren,”saidMarionPacovski,anotherFireCutRoad resident who lives just over the West Wyoming border in Kingston Township. “Hopefully, they’re going to be someday living where I’m living and we don’t want this industrial activity in our area. It belongsinanindustrialarea,notanagriculturalarea.”

During an Aug. 7 public hearing that lasted more than five hours and was attended by well over 100

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AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER

UGI Energy Services attorney Joseph L. Persico on Tuesday awaits the three-member zoning boards decision on the UGI compressor station. The board denied the utility’s proposal for the facility in West Wyoming.

opponents of the project, area residents also expressed concerns about the volume of emissions the station would produce, its potential impact on public health, its effect on property values, emergency access routes and storm-water runoff.

Nancy Dolan of Exeter, a member of Luzerne County Citizens for Clean Air, challenged the location of the facility in an agricultural district on zoning grounds at that meeting.

“My hope is that UGI as a responsible corporation considers the message the people have sent and looks for a reasonable alternative for the placement of a polluting facility like this,” Dolan said after Tuesday’s meeting.

The West Wyoming Borough Council and state Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Kingston, also publicly opposed the project.

“The residents of West Wyoming were not in favor of this, so we’re pleased with the decision,” West Wyoming Council President Eileen Cipriani

said.

At least one area resident attending Tuesday’s meeting, though, said he supported UGI’s plan and was disappointed with the board’s decision. Wayne Weaver of Northmoreland Township, Wyoming County, said he has signed a gas lease but thinks the delayscausedtoprojectslikethepipelinelessenthe likelihood that a well will be drilled on his property.

He added that Kalinosky should have the right to use his property as he sees fit.

“He owned that property; he paid taxes on it, and people who had nothing to do with it shouldn’t be able to tell him what to do with it,” Weaver said.

UGI’s compressor station would also require approval from Luzerne County Planning Commission, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Luzerne Conservation District, but UGI cannot begin building the compressor station without zoning approval. Natural gas pipelines do not require zoning approval.

• U.S. Sen. Bob Casey told the Pennsylvania delegation Tuesday morning the focus is on preserving Medicare “as we know it.” The senator said there is a “stark difference” between the Democrats’ plan for Medicare and the Republicans’ proposal.

“This is not just an issue in the presidential race,” Casey, D-Scranton, said. “This is a major issue in my race and in all other congressional races. The Democratic Party wants to assure that the guaranteed Medicare benefit doesn’t change.”

• Matt Cartwright, Democratic candidate for congress in the 17th District, a pro-life candidate, missed the first day of the convention to attend Labor Day events in his district. He said he received a “special invitation” to Charlotte to “rub elbows” with Democratic Party big-wigs.

“I felt I needed to be there to help become an effective congressman in 17th District,” he said.

• David Gliddon, 35, of Nanticoke, is a voting delegate at the convention. He’s a professor in the Colorado Technical University online program.

Gliddon said he has been busy since he got off the plane in Charlotte.

“Ever since I got here I’ve been attending meetings and events,” he said. “I’m focused on learning as much about the party’s education platform. I’m also interested in learning about innovations in leadership and creating jobs. It’s definitely going to be a learning experience.”

• Gliddon said he and other members of the Northeastern Pennsylvania convention delegation are constantly sending out messages on Twitter.

He said the messages can be accessed at: barackthevalley#.

One tweet noted “Our Barack the Valley Women’s Caucus members heard Nancy Pelosi, Sandra Fluke, and Ashley Judd speak today.”

Bill O’Boyle

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Easygoing crooner remembered for gold albums, hit TV series

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WILKES-BARRE, PA

SPORTS SHOWCASE

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

UGI pulls application for permit for station

AREA TEEN SUICIDES

AMERICAN LEAGUE

YANKEES 8 TWINS 2

County board had denied exception for W. Wyoming gas compressor station.

ORIOLES 12 BLUE JAYS 2

By MATT HUGHES mhughes@timesleader.com

TIGERS 5 ROYALS 4 RAYS 4 RED SOX 2 NATIONAL LEAGUE

BRAVES 3 MARLINS 0 METS 6 PIRATES 0 NATIONALS 8 PHILLIES 4 JONES LEAVES PSU TO CHASE QB DREAM For the second time this month, Paul Jones has left the Nittany Lions.

This time, he won’t be back. Penn State’s quarterback-turned-tight end has departed for “personal reasons,” according to coach Bill O’Brien.

“My dream is playing quarterback. And I’m going to chase it,” Jones posted on his Twitter account. He had quit the team after the Ohio game when O’Brien decided to move him to tight end.

Jones changed his mind later in the day. Page 1B

INSIDE A NEWS: Local 3A Nation & World 5A Obituaries 6A Editorials 9A B SPORTS: 1B B BUSINESS:7B Stocks 7B Weather 8B C LIFE: Birthdays 5C TV, Movies 6C Crossword/Horoscope 7C D CLASSIFIED: 1D Comics 14D

WEATHER Terin Conklin. Partial clearing, rain tonight.

High 68, low 58.

Details, Page 8B

BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

Chris Montagna and Brian Orth, left, console a friend during a candlelight vigil for area suicide victims at Albert West Park in Pittston on Wednesday night.

IN REMEMBRANCE Comfort sought at vigil

By MATT HUGHES/mhughes@timesleader.com

P

ITTSTON – Hundreds of Some mourners exchanged candlelights enveloped the deep hugs and sobbed on each football field at Albert West others’ shoulders as friends of the Park Wednesday evening, flicker- victims shared memories, exing in memory of four young lives pressed grief and spoke words of extinguished too soon. encouragement to the crowd Friends, classmates, relatives over the field’s public address sysand teammates of tem. four teenage suicide INSIDE: • Groups offer They rememvictims from the Pitt- their help. bered young lives • Dallas gets proactive. ston Area, Greater that burned bright• State police come as Nanticoke Area and precaution. ly, and whose flames Hazleton Area PAGE 4A were put out with school districts years of light ahead. formed an unbroken One was a football line around the muddy field as a player who loved the outdoors, light drizzle fell. whether fishing the Susquehan“I just wish that he could see all na for bluegill, hiking to the top the people who turned out,” said of Campbell’s Ledge or stealing Emily Zurek, a friend of one of into a blueberry patch for a snack. the victims and a 2011 Pittston The victim’s brother recalled Area graduate. “I wish he could seeing a bald eagle flying over the have known how many people support him and care about him.” See VIGIL, Page 4A

09815 10011

Teen suicide and bullying are subjects of public forum at Pittston Area High School.

By STEVE MOCARSKY smocarsky@timesleader.com

YATESVILLE – Samantha Neaman stood before hundreds of people she never met before Wednesday night and described the night her 13year-old son, Kyle, committed suicide five years ago.

Pittston ArGarzella ea High School senior Meredith Yozwiak told those same people how being bullied and called fat in grade school led to her eating disorder and that she was “basically committing suicide without knowing it.”

See FORUM, Page 4A

UGI Energy Services has withdrawn its application for an air quality permit for a natural gas compressor station in West Wyoming, the state Department of Environmental Protection confirmed Wednesday.

DEP received a written request to withdraw the permit application on Wednesday.

UGI Energy Services said it based its decision on the Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board’s Sept. 4 judgment against the company’s request to build the station in an agricultural zone of West Wyoming, according to DEP regional spokeswoman Colleen Connolly.

The three-member zoning hearing board voted unanimously to deny the company a special exception for the station and a variance for an associated 100-foot communications tower.

DEP was reserving judgment on the air quality permit application until a public hearing was held, but that became a “moot point” when the zoning hearing board shot down the company’s plan in West Wyoming, Connolly said. DEP would not go forward until the company received zoning approval.

UGI Energy Services still has until Oct. 4. to appeal the zoning board’s decision to the Luzerne County Court and can submit new plans for a compressor station in West Wyoming or elsewhere to DEP and zoning officials at any time.

Company spokeswoman Lillian Harris and attorney Joseph Persico, the company’s legal council during zoning hearings, did not respond to requests for comment.

Connolly said she is not aware of UGI Energy Services filing any additional applications to DEP related to compressor stations in the area.

“They could resubmit the same application,” Connolly said. “But they haven’t indicated to us what their next step is.”

The compressor station was planned as part of the company’s $150 million, 27.5mile Auburn Pipeline extension project, which will link the Tennessee interstate pipeline in Susquehanna County to the Transco interstate pipeline in Luzerne County.

The station was also planned as the starting point of a smaller pipeline connecting the Auburn Pipeline to UGI Utilities Inc.’s gas distribution system.

UGI Energy Services had said previously it anticipates completing both the pipeline and compressor station by fall 2013.

The company said the project would stabilize gas prices for utility customers and that emissions from the compressor station would be well below federal and state caps, but the project was hotly contested by many local residents and elected officials.

See UGI, Page 10A

Voter ID law in Pa. has solid support, poll shows

Nearly all of the 1,180 likely voters polled said they have the proper ID for voting.

By ANDREW M. SEDER aseder@timesleader.com

6

50¢

New poll results released Wednesday show a majority of likely voters in Pennsylvania approve of the new voter ID law.

Nearly all of the 1,180 likely voters polled said they have the proper ID that will allow them to vote without any problem on Nov. 6, according to the

Quinnipiac University/ CBS News/New York Times Swing State Poll.

“While judges and politicians debate Pennsylvania’s voter ID measure, voters are solidly in support of the measure, 62-35 percent,” said Peter A. Brown of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

The poll shows support for the bill among 92 percent of Republicans, 37 percent of Democrats and 66 percent of registered Independent voters.

Though senior citizens have been cited by opponents as voters likely to be disenfranchised,

INSIDE: Obama adds to Pa. advantage, Page 10A

the polling shows only 36 percent of those age 55 or older oppose the law. The age group that showed the greatest opposition was 18-to-34-year-olds, with 37 percent against it.

Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, said the poll results show the law is being viewed through a partisan lens.

“Among likely voters there is solid confidence that they have

the correct ID,” Borick said.

“However, it may be that marginal voters who are not being included in polls of likely voters are the least likely to have IDs and therefore not showing up in public opinion polls.”

The controversial voter ID law has spurred lawsuits and court decisions and has seen the state make changes to policies along the way.

PennDOT announced Tuesday it is easing requirements for obtaining an ID card needed to vote.

The changes came hours before a Commonwealth Court hearing on whether Pennsylvania’s law

will effectively strip some people of the right to vote this year.

In a 4-2 decision last week, the state Supreme Court ordered a Commonwealth Court hearing to determine whether the state is providing easy access to a valid photo ID, as promised by the law.

If it is not, or if the judge believes any registered voters will be prevented from casting a ballot, the judge should halt the law from taking effect in the election, the high court said.

The Commonwealth Court hearing held Tuesday in Harrisburg was continued until today.

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THE TIMES LEADER

Obama stretches lead in Pa. Smith gains on Casey in polling

By ANDREW M. SEDER aseder@timesleader.com

President Barack Obama’s lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Pennsylvania inched up slightly since August, according to a Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times Swing State Poll released Wednesday.

Obama also was ahead in the polls in other swing states including Ohio and Florida.

“Gov. Mitt Romney had a bad week in the media, and it shows in these key swing states,” said Peter A. Brown, of Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

“The furor over his 47 percent remark almost certainly is a major factor in the roughly doubledigit leads President Barack Obama has in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania,” he added.

The race that has tightened, according to the poll, is for the U.S. Senate seat held by Demo-

crat Bob Casey.

Casey’s Republi2 0 1 2 can opponent, ELECTION Tom Smith, has closed the gap by picking up voters who said they would vote for Casey when the August poll was conducted.

The survey of 1,180 likely Pennsylvania voters has a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percent and was conducted between Sept.18 and 24. It showed Smith, a Tea Party organizer and coal company owner from Armstrong County, gaining on Casey, D-Scranton.

In the August poll, Casey held an 18-point lead at 55-37. In the latest poll, Smith trails Casey 43 percent to 49 percent among likely voters.

“Today’s latest poll is further confirmation that Tom Smith’s pro-jobs message is resonating with Pennsylvania voters as Smith has clearly captured the momentum in a tight single-di-

CORBETT’S RATINGS

git race,” said Smith campaign manager Jim Conroy.

The Casey campaign cited numerous polls that have shown widely varied results.

“Public polls have been all over,” said Larry Smar, Casey’s campaign spokesman. “Tom Smith has dumped millions of his personal fortune into attack ads. A lot of people don’t yet know Tom Smith’s record of founding a Tea Party group and pushing policies to dismantle Medicare in order to give more tax cuts for the wealthy.”

Political science professor Jeff Brauer of Keystone College in La Plume said Casey will “certainly benefit from the president’s coattails in the state and the sense that PA voters are siding with the Democrats when it comes to the economy. However, it has to be at least a little worrisome that he has not broken the 50 percent barrier in this poll over a largely unknown challenger.”

The approval rating of the job Gov. Tom Corbett is doing has dropped once more. According to the latest poll, 36 percent approve of the job he’s doing while 47 percent disapprove. In an August poll done by the same polling institute, Corbett’s approval was 39 percent while 45 percent did not approve of the hob he was doing at that time. Only 62 percent of Republicans polled approve of the job he’s doing while 38 percent of Independents do and just 16 percent of Democrats.

Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, noted the Senate race is likely being influenced by Smith’s ad campaign in the state’s television markets.

“In the Senate race there is growing evidence that the race has tightened in recent weeks with Smith’s advertisements weakening Casey’s standing among commonwealth voters,” said Borick, of Throop.

THAT TIPSY FEELING

UGI Continued from Page 1A

During an Aug. 7 public hearing that lasted more than five hours and was attended by well over 100 opponents, area residents expressed concerns about the volume of emissions the station would produce, its potential impact on public health, its effect on property values, emergency access routes and storm water runoff.

State Rep. Phyllis Mundy, Sen. John Yudichak and the entire West Wyoming Borough Council all opposed the location.

West Wyoming Council President Eileen Cipriani said she has not heard from UGI Energy Services since the zoning hearing board issued its decision, and isn’t sure whether the withdrawal of the DEP permit application means the company will halt attempts to build the station in West Wyoming.

“I’m taking it as good news,” Cipriani said. “It’s great that especially the Luzerne County (Zoning) Hearing Board, and now possibly, with this application, the company (and) the gas industry, is taking into account the people who live in these areas – what their needs, what their concerns are – and I think that’s important.”

EMAILS Continued from Page 3A

examined from Sept. 1 to Sept.

19 alone.

• Former county interim Manager Tom Pribula, Dec. 25 to March 20.

• Former interim prothonotary Carolee Medico Olenginski, Nov. 1 to Aug. 31.

• Chief Public Defender Al Flora, Dec. 1, 2010, to April 12.

• Interim Clerk of Courts and acting Election Director Tom Pizano, Nov. 1 to July 26.

CMYK

Color: C K Y M

www.timesleader.com

Benton man charged with making meth Mike Mitchell, 33, arrested after call from girlfriend about suspected lab.

By EDWARD LEWIS elewis@timesleader.com

JENKINS TWP. – A Columbia County man was arrested Tuesday on charges he manufactured methamphetamine in a home on Jenkins Township’s Main Street.

Mike Mitchell, 33, of Benton, was arraigned Wednesday

by District Judge Joseph Carmody in West Pittston on two counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, and one count each of possession of a controlled substance, possession of chemicals with intent to manufacture a controlled substance, risking catastrophe and illegal dumping of methamphetamine waste.

He was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $50,000 bail.

Township police say Mitchell’s ex-girlfriend called them Tuesday alerting them to a suspected meth lab in a 2000 Buick parked in front of a vacant house. When police arrived they found Mitchell walking away from the car, with a pill bottle containing meth

in his pocket.

A search of the car turned up a large amount of chemicals, cold medicine, drain cleaner, lithium Mitchell batteries and waste associated with cooking meth.

Police said they also found other materials associated with drug manufacturing behind an adjacent occupied residence in the 1200 block of Main Street where Mitchell was arrested later Tuesday.

Mitchell admitted he helped another person, Kevin Hall, whom he identified as his meth cook, with manufacturing the drug inside the Main Street residence.

Hall, 26, of Mocanaqua, has not been charged.

Court records say Hall is free on bail on charges he manufactured methamphetamine at a Mocanaqua residence on Hill Street in January. The residence caught fire while meth was being cooked, according to arrest records.

A preliminary hearing for Mitchell is scheduled on Oct. 2 before District Judge Diana Malast in Plains Township.

Man convicted of charges related to child sex abuse It was 2nd trial for Vincent Catrone over inappropriate relationship with a young girl.

By SHEENA DELAZIO sdelazio@timesleader.com

CLARK VAN ORDEN/THE TIMES LEADER

C

harlie Bromberg, a freshman at King’s College, tries to walk the line on the sidewalk while wearing the Fatal Vision goggles as Trooper Martin Connors looks on. The state police were at King’s on Wednesday to demonstrate what a driver would be asked to do if he or she were stopped at a sobriety checkpoint and asked to submit to a field sobriety test. The goggles demonstrate what a driver under the influence would be seeing while driving. The program was part of Alcohol Awareness Week on campus.

• Former election bureau director Leonard Piazza, Dec. 1, 2010, to April12. Some were supplied, and another 20,233 must be examined.

• All county Diversity Commission communication discussing meetings and finances.

• All emails involving county Flood Protection Authority meetings and articles of incorporation changes from June 2011 to Wednesday.

Council members Stephen A. Urban, Stephen J. Urban, Tim McGinley, Rick Williams and Harry Haas supported Morelli’s motion after Williams unsuc-

cessfully tried to get it tabled for quests.

“I don’t think there’s stonefurther discussion. walling at all. This is bogging Some opposition down the government across Council members Jim Bo- America,” Haas said. beck, Edward Brominski, Linda Bobeck said a recently fulMcClosky Houck and Eugene filled request for Piazza’s emails Kelleher opposed the motion. revealed “nothing spurious,” Councilwoman Elaine Maddon and he supports allowing time Curry wasn’t present for the vote for internal review so the county because she left around 10:30 isn’t sued for releasing an email p.m. containing information that’s exHaas expressed reluctance be- empt from public disclosure by fore voting, noting one outside law. Morelli said the county county board has resorted to must go out of its way to fulfill paying a lawyer to respond to promises to be “more open and lengthy public information re- transparent.”

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WILKES-BARRE – A Fern Glen man charged with having an inappropriate relationship with a young girl over a seven-year period – and facing his second jury trial – was convicted Wednesday of eight related charges.

Vincent Catrone, 41, of Tomhicken Road, was found guilty of three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, two counts of aggravated indecent assault and one count each of unlawful sexual contact with a minor, statutory sexual assault and indecent assault after a Luzerne County jury deliberated for about two hours.

Catrone was found not guilty of additional charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and corruption of minors.

Catrone, represented by attorney Joseph Nocito, had previously stood trial on the charges, as well as two counts of rape, in October 2009.

At that trial, a jury acquitted Catrone of the two rape charges and a mistrial was declared on the 10 remaining charges after the jury could not decide on a verdict. Prosecutors decided to retry Catrone on those charges. The

new trial began with jury selection Monday.

After the first trial, prosecutors appealed a decision by Judge Joseph Augello that precluded the testimony of Catrone’s wife. The state Superior Court reversed that decision, ruling Catrone’s wife’s testimony was relevant and should be allowed at the new trial.

Catrone faces a maximum of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 20.

Also, Catrone will be required to undergo an evaluation by the state Sexual Offender’s Assessment Board to determine if he is a sexually violent predator.

According to court papers, on October 17, 2008, the girl, at that time 18 years old, reported to state police that she had been sexually abused by Catrone, who is known to her, since she was about 10 years old.

The girl said Catrone threatened to kill her and her family members, and even himself, if she told anyone about the abuse.

Nocito said in his closing argument Wednesday the girl has been known to be an “untruthful person” and has lied about abuse she allegedly was a victim of.

Nocito said that before reporting the alleged incidents to police, the girl never told anyone about what was happening and there was no physical evidence to prove she had been sexually assaulted.

User: rsheposh Time: 09-27-2012

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IN

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BRIEF

STATE COLLEGE

Sen. Baker wins honor

S Township, was selected as the

tate Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman

2012 Legislator of the Year by the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Emergency Number Association.

The group recognized Baker for her work on a new well-site safety law, pipeline safety laws, legislation to update the emergency Baker management laws, collaborative efforts to improve the coverage of the statewide radio network and efforts to promote adequate funding of 911 call centers.

WILKES-BARRE

Taxpayers group to meet The Wilkes-Barre City Taxpayers’ Association will be holding its monthly meeting on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Parish, 316 Parrish St. Residents are encouraged to attend.

For more information, visit www.WilkesBarreTaxpayers.com.

The topic of this meeting will be property tax elimination.

Color: C K Y M

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2012 PAGE 3A

LOCAL

Hoggarth named to head new records unit

Consolidating and streamlinShe previously worked as a County manager Lawton still branch manager and teller super- ing those offices and reducing a has seven top-rank positions visor at PNC Bank from 1983 to criminal court record processing to fill under the charter. backlog will be Hoggarth’s initial 2001.

By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@timesleader.com

Luzerne County Manager Robert Lawton appointed Joan Hoggarth interim director of the Judicial Services and Records Division on Thursday – the first of eight division head selections required by the county’s home rule charter.

Hoggarth has worked for the county since 2002, first as an account executive in the controller’sofficeunderformercontroller Steve Flood and then as senior accounts manager and deputy recorder of deeds since 2005.

Hoggarth has an associate’s degree in accounting from Luzerne County Community College and also studied accounting at King’s College.

It’s an interim appointment because Lawton must officially recommend her permanent placement in the post to county council and obtain council confirmation. Interim appointments are permissible up to 90 days under home rule.

The charter created the judicial services and records division head position to oversee the deeds, wills, sheriff, coroner and civil and criminal court records departments.

priorities, Lawton said.

“I think Joan is in a position to fully consolidate the division and work closely with the courts and the staff of the divisions to continue the progress that’s been made,” Lawton said.

Lawton said he is still reviewing options for the seven other division head positions overseeing administrative, operational, correctional, budget/financial and human services and the central law and public defender’s offices.

Hoggarth, 49, of Hanover Township, said she is eager to make the offices more efficient.

See HOGGARTH, Page 12A

PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER

County Manager Robert Lawton congratulates Joan Hoggarth on her interim appointment to head Judicial Services and Records

UGI plans appeal of zoning vote

WILKES-BARRE

Deacon ritual planned Bishop Joseph C. Bambera, head of the Diocese of Scranton, will celebrate the Rite of Candidacy for 18 men who are in formation to serve as permanent deacons for the Diocese of Scranton.

The ceremony will take place Sunday during the 10 a.m. Mass in St. Peter’s Cathedral. It will air live on CTV. The 18 men to be accepted as candidates are: Thomas V. Amoroso, Most Holy Trinity Parish, Bambera Mount Pocono; Alan S. Baranski, Most Holy Trinity Parish, Mt. Pocono; William F. Behm, St. Nicholas Parish, WilkesBarre; Donald J. Crane Jr., St. Benedict Parish, Wilkes-Barre; Albert V. Giacometti, St. John Neumann Parish, Scranton; Frank H. Hine, St. Nicholas Parish, Wilkes-Barre.

Also, Michael S. Imbrogno, St. Maria Goretti Parish, Laflin; Walter G. Janoski, St. Barbara Padua Parish, Exeter; André F. Kabacinski, Nativity of Our Lord Parish, Duryea; David M. Leiby, St. Faustina Kowalska Parish, Nanticoke; James R. Meizanis Sr., Corpus Christi Parish, West Pittston; José L. Mendoza, Most Holy Trinity Parish, Mt. Pocono.

Also, Vincent M. Oberto, Holy Rosary Parish, Hazleton; Joseph P. Rodgers, Our Lady, Queen of Peace Parish, Brodheadsville; James A. Rose Sr., Corpus Christi Parish, West Pittston; Kevin L. Scheirer, St. Matthew Parish, East Stroudsburg; Thomas M. Spataro, St. Patrick Parish, Milford; Philip F. Zimich, Most Holy Trinity Parish, Mount Pocono.

HARRISBURG

New turnpike tickets Some cash-paying customers on the Pennsylvania Turnpike have begun noticing a different look and feel to the tickets issued at toll-plaza entry lanes.

Travelers will see new tickets showing up at a handful of toll plazas this week including the Wilkes-Barre Interchange (Exit 105) on the Northeastern Extension.

SUGARLOAF TWP.

Alzheimer’s walk is set The Alzheimer’s Association Greater Pennsylvania Chapter invites the public to participate in the Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s at Penn State Hazleton, 76 University Drive, Sugarloaf Township, which will host the walk beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Registration begins at 10 a.m. The Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s is the nation’s largest event to raise funds for Alzheimer’s care, support and research. For more information, log on to alz.org/walk or call 1-800-272-3900.

CMYK

Company’s request for special exception for gas compressor station denied by county board.

By MATT HUGHES mhughes@timesleader.com

PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER

Peter Jurack, unit chief, FBI’s Safe Streets and Gang Unit, explains links to crime in his presentation during Thursday’s gang awareness information session at Arthur Street Elementary in Hazleton.

Ganging up against gangs Feds partnering with state and local police to multiply impact against street gang crime, FBI agent says.

By STEVE MOCARSKY smocarsky@timesleader.com

HAZLETON – Two words: “Force multipliers.”

Those are the two most important words state Sen. John Yudichak, D-Plymouth Twp., said he took away Thursday from the fourth in a series of “Operation GangUp” community discussions to help combat gang activity in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

The event’s main speaker, Peter James

“P.J.” Jurack, chief of the FBI’s Safe Streets and Gang Unit, had told the approximately 80 audience members in the Arthur Street Elementary School auditorium there are only 829 special agents in 164 gang task forces across the country.

“That’s a Band-Aid on a gaping wound,” Jurack said after noting that gangs are spreading to rural communities and operating not in just narcotic trafficking, but in everything from mortgage fraud to prostitution.

“We cannot do it alone, which is why we partner with our state and locals to have the maximum impact. Almost like a special forces group, we work as force multipliers to do as much as we can, whether it’s on the local level, the state

ON THE NET Learn more about Operation GangUp at www.operationgangup.com.

level or the federal level,” Jurack said.

That theme of partnering to multiply the force or impact against organized street gang crime was restated and stressed in different ways by each speaker on the eight-member panel throughout the two-hour discussion, beginning with an introduction by U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta.

Barletta, R-Hazleton, said police began noticing gang activity in the city when he See GANGS, Page 8A

W-B approves energy-saving, Sterling moves Council OKs $5.9 million contract with Johnson Controls, approves $260,000 for hotel demolition.

By JERRY LYNOTT jlynott@timesleader.com

WILKES-BARRE – City Council on Thursday night unanimously approved a $5.9 million contract with Johnson Controls Inc. to implement a comprehensive energy savings plan involving upgrades of streetlights, installation of new toilets in city buildings and replacement of a fuel pump at the Department of Public Works to protect against theft.

The New Cumberland-based office of the global company will manage and oversee the city’s energy usage for 20 years and guarantee savings of $2.9 million over the length of the performance contract.

Residents Sam Troy and Bob Kadlu-

boski questioned the deal and were told it was in the best interest of the city.

Butch Frati, operations director of the city, said Johnson Controls already supplies the services and equipment and asked to analyze where savings could be made after the air conditioning system at police headquarters broke down and was replaced with a temporary fix costing between $8,000 and $9,000 a month.

“They are the largest performance and guarantee contract company in the nation. It’s in writing,” Frati said of the guaranteed savings.

The plan makes it possible for the city to replace the air conditioning unit at police headquarters and a pumping station in the Brookside section and pay for other improvements.

But Kadluboski, a frequent critic of the administration of Mayor Tom Leighton, warned council to be wary and recalled the canceled plans by the city and its parking authority to lease its parking as-

sets with the intent to raise $20 million to pay down debt, make infrastructure improvements and address safety issues.

“I’m asking council be cautious on this.

It sounds too good to be true,” Kadluboski said.

But council voted 5-0 for the Johnson Controls contract and for the city to work with Luzerne County and CityVest in the demolition of the Hotel Sterling.

The city will pay $260,000 and the county will contribute $232,729 to raze the downtown landmark. Bids have been obtained to tear down the building and a developer has submitted a proposal for the property.

With the pending demolition there will be other instances of trespassing, said Brian Shiner of Kingston. Teenagers got inside and onto the roof of the building where they had their picture taken, he said.

See COUNCIL, Page 8A

UGI Energy Services will appeal a zoning decision blocking construction of a natural gas compressor station in West Wyoming, a spokeswoman confirmed Thursday.

On Sept. 4 the three-member Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board denied the company’s request for a special exception for the compressor station and a variance for an associated 100-foot communications tower. The company is allowed 30 days, or until Oct. 4, to appeal the board’s ruling to the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas.

The company “is in fact planning to appeal that zoning ruling,” company regulatory affairs manager Lillian Harris said. An appeal had not been filed by the end of the business day Thursday, according to county court records.

On Wednesday UGI Energy Services withdrew its application for an air quality permit for the compressor station.

“The DEP air permit withdrawal … is not an indicator that we are not planning to file that appeal,” Harris said.

Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said Wednesday that UGI Energy Services can refile its air quality permit application at any time. DEP plans to hold a public hearing before issuing a decision on that permit, she said.

UGI Energy Services wants to build the compressor station in an A1 agricultural zone off Fire Cut Road as part of a 27.5-mile natural gas pipeline that will tap into the Transco interstate pipeline in Luzerne County. It needs a special exception because compressor stations are not a permitted use in A1 agricultural districts under the county zoning ordinance.

A special exception is a use that is envisioned by the governing zoning ordinance while a variance is required for a use outside the ordinance, according to zoning board member Larry Newman.

Opponents argued at an August hearing that the UGI compressor station did not fit the definition of a utility building and yard, the only special exception use allowed in an A1 district that could apply to such a project.

The more than 100 area residents attending the hearing also raised concerns about the volume of emissions the station would produce, its potential impact on public health, its effect on property values, emergency access routes and storm water runoff.