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and bought raffle tickets for a chance to win prize baskets that included an Xbox 360 and cell phones. The event’s grand finale was the distribution of more than 200 bags of school supplies, including pencils, pens, crayons, markers, notebooks and pocket calculators. “I enjoy seeing the kids’ faces every year,” said Food for the
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“We’re the first in the state for education to collaborate like this,” Shisko said. “We have about 50 members and each presentation is individualized for that district because some are larger than others or have different needs.” Shisko said the task force also
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“Talk about coming together. We really are coming together here. … This is our community right here. This is us.”
before. I hope they come back next year.” “I think it’s nice,” said 15-yearold Jessie Gibson, of WilkesBarre. “We tried to put it out on Facebook. It’s a nice turnout for what it was.” “Talk about coming together. We really are coming together here,” Roberts said. “This is our community right here. This is us.”
hopes to begin including state legislators at its conferences, and it’s hoped some will be included at a Sept. 29 meeting at Wyoming Valley West Senior High School. The most recent meeting was Wednesday at St. Michael’s School in Falls. “I can see us doing more presentations, specifically to agencies, principals and guidance (counselors),” Shisko said. “Collaboration is ongoing. I don’t see it
stopping, because things change every year so dramatically.” The task force even hired a consultant from Washington, D.C., in an effort to outline what the group would offer. Shisko said the conferences are a plus for local school districts because current financial issues have eliminated resources at the schools. “It’s a really important time for schools to realize there are servic-
es out there,” Shisko said, adding she hopes to get the task force out to every local school district over time. “It takes a lot of planning.” In the most recent draft of a mission statement put together by the task force, the group said it hopes to “ensure the integrity of our juvenile justice system through collaboration among diverse systems representing juvenile offenders, crime victims, their families and the community.”
mining heritage, which helped fuel the industrial revolution. “At least they are moving in the right direction,” he said. “I applaud it.” Over the years, committee members have received responses back from the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee.
The photo, taken in Sept. 2007, is a “bombsight view” of a roundhouse at the Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton. It was originally taken for John Gussenhoven’s book, “Crisscrossing America,” first released in 2009. The photo is one of 15 selected by the U.S. Postal Service for a set of stamps titled “Earthscapes” due to be released in October 2012 and one of five from Wark – the most of any single
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start to finish. Neighborhood residents collected $350 worth of cans to put toward the purchase of school supplies, and residents and businesses also contributed cash and prizes for the raffle. “It’s good for the community; something different for the kids,” said Omar Lee of WilkesBarre. “Some probably never experienced anything like this
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Soul volunteer Tina Tirado of Edwardsville. “Their reaction is amazing,” added her daughter, Brittany Tirado, 17. “It’s something so small, but when they get it they’re so surprised to see that everything they need is there.” Roberts has hosted the event for the past six years in Kirby Park, but she decided to move it closer to her home on Grove Street this year because many children in her own neighborhood who needed the supplies couldn’t make the trip across the river. But this year’s event was a community affair from
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Pastor Diane Roberts of Food for the Soul Ministries
The committee was formed in 1957 for the purpose of evaluating stamp proposals to ensure their appeal to the American public. Namey said some of the responses his committee received from the committee were eyebrow raising. “Over the years, we have received responses such as ‘Coal miners are not deserving of a stamp’ and ‘Stamps are made of only heros,’ ” he said. Thousands of men and boys worked in
photographer -- or satellite-captured image. The others showcase the Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone National Park; a castle butte in the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park in southeastern Utah; barge fleeting in a Houston, Texas port; and a series of Manhattan skyscraper apartments. Wark founded Air Photo in 1990 after his retirement, and his son, John, now operates the business. The former Navy lieutenant who served as a pilot in the states from 1954 to 1958 and former 12year air show pilot combined his prior experience in geology and
mines in the region and other parts of the county to extract the coal that once fueled the country. Namey said two grandfathers and several uncles worked in the mines. “These people put their lives on the line the minute they entered a mine,” he said. Miners, he said, were often immigrants who worked hard to provide for their families. A stamp commemorating them would also honor their commit-
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“You’re in a great place. You can go to big cities. You can go to out-of-the-way places. There’s just a little bit of everything right here.” Medeiros said he has seen a number of changes in his years covering high school sports. Where he once had to go through coaches and school districts to reach high school athletes, it’s easier to track them down on Facebook these days, he said. Also, he has seen a rise in specialists, kids playing and training for one sport the whole year through, versus traditional three-sport student athletes. But the things he loves about covering local sports will never change. “When the kids are doing sports, it’s pure,” he said. “They’re just out there com-
ment to strong family values and a strong work ethic. Public support for a coal miners stamp is strong. Namey said that when ever they set up a petition booth, “Nine out of 10 people will stop and sign our petition.” State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, DWilkes-Barre, co-sponsored a bill for a coal mining stamp. “For some reason, they are unwilling to recognize the role of coal mining in the industrial revolution,” Pashinski said.
RAILFEST APPROACHES The news of a U.S. Postal Service stamp honoring the Steamtown National Historic Site comes just before the park’s annual Railfest event. Set for Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 3 and 4, Railfest will include a 40th anniversary Amtrak exhibit train, tours of the downtown Scranton facility, caboose rides, excursions to Moscow, turntable
demonstrations and more. Excursion fares to Moscow cost $24 for adults, $22 for ages 62 and older, and $17 for ages 6 to 16. Children under 5 require a nocharge ticket. Reservations are recommended and available through (570) 340-5204. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/stea
love of the Earth with his aerial expertise to build a dream job. “I really wasn’t a photographer,” he admits, but that hasn’t stopped him from publishing nine books of his own work.
Three new collections are due out this fall, including “Leave No Trace: The Vanishing North American Wilderness,” which is due out Sept. 13. The business has taken Wark
JOHN MEDEIROS AGE: 41 BORN: Providence, R.I. LIVES: Scott Township EDUCATION: Virginia Commonwealth University FAMILY: Wife Susan, daughters Catarina, 7, and Ashton, 5
peting. They want to win, but if they don’t win, they just get out there the next time.” Times Leader Vice President of News Joe Butkiewicz welcomed Medeiros to The Times Leader team. “John will be a great addition to our sports department,” Butkiewicz said. “He is familiar with the scholastic conferences and sports franchises in Northeastern Pennsylvania and he understands the great interest readers have in sports. His leadership and skills, combined with the talented writers and designers already on the staff, will make The Times Leader sports coverage outstanding.”
He added he would like to see a series of stamps honoring not just the coal miners but also the steel workers and all forms of the textile industries to honor the people who helped make this country what it is. But, Namey said the stamp honoring the railroad is a step in the right direction. “After all what fueled the trains and roundtables, but Pennsylvania coal, hauled up by the miners,” Namey said.
across North America and south to Mexico, Costa Rica, Grenada and through the Caribbean. “I was pretty much living out of the airplane, making five or six trips a year averaging three to five weeks,” he said. “We slept on the ground or in country airports where they’ll usually leave it open for you and you could sleep on a couch.” In March, just before his retirement from flying, Wark was given one of the highest awards from the Federal Aviation Administration. The Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award recognizes pilots who maintain safe operations for 50 or more years. He
spent an estimated 13,000 hours in the cockpit in 56 years of flight. The plan to use his photos as a U.S. stamp has been in the works since 2007, Wark said. “It’s actually quite unusual to have photographs on stamps. Most of the stamps are either artist’s renditions or actual artworks themselves,” he said. “I had one previous stamp five or six years ago, but it was an artist’s rendition.” When the new Forever stamps are issued next fall, Wark will likely be one of the first in line. “I’ll buy a bunch of stamps, a lot of stamps of my own photos,” he said with a laugh.