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Protests for black lives continue More than 100 hit the streets in W-B, with more events planned

BY STEVE MOCARSKY STAFF WRITER

WILKES-BARRE — More than 150 people filled Public Square for a rally Saturday before marching to Kirby Park to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.

Some in the crowd, a fairly even mix of blacks and whites, held handmade signs declaring “black lives matter.” Others quoted Floyd’s words in a video showing an officer kneeling on his neck for nearly eight minutes: “I can’t breathe.”

Still other signs in the crowd implored officials to “police the police” and “stop police brutality.”

Darrian Tyson, 19, of WilkesBarre, said he attended the rally

MORE inSiDE ■ protesters nationwide flood streets in huge, peaceful push for change. Page A10 ■ The president blames ‘antifa’ for protests, but records show little evidence. Page A12 dAvE SChERbEnCo / STAFF phoTogRAphER

because “what’s going on in the world has been lingering for far too long.”

“You’ve seen instances like this in the ’60s … in the ’90s. And today, history is repeating itself. This is my girlfriend, who is a black woman,” Tyson, who is white, said while gesturing to Lydia McFarlane, his girlfriend. “My brother is 3 years old and he is a little black boy.”

Protesters chant during Saturday’s Black Lives Matter rally on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre.

“I don’t want to have to worry about my girlfriend going to work or my brother growing up and having to be afraid of the police. I’m here to try to make a difference in the world and not have this repeat itself,” he said.

McFarlane said she attended the rally “to promote peace and togetherness.”

“We just need to love each other as humans and disregard skin color, because I shouldn’t be 17 years old fearing for the lives of my little brother or my dad just because of the color of their skin.

I’m just sick and tired of this,” she said.

The Rev. Rodney Harraway, a pas-

tor at Salvation Christian Church in Wilkes-Barre and one of the protest organizers, spoke of meeting hate with love. The crowd joined him in praying for peace as well as for every police officer in the city and in Luzerne County.

Total recycling reported in W-B dropped in 2019

‘SHE’S MY ANGEL’

Plains Twp. man credits doctor for saving his life amid COVID-19 battle

The city is trying to boost reporting of commercial recycling.

STEVE MOCARSKY STAFF WRITER

MARk MoRAn / STAFF phoTogRAphER

Leonard Buonsante, co-owner of Annarella Pizza and Pasta in Dallas Twp., said he owes Dr. Lakshmi Saladi a few pizzas — and his life — after a difficult battle with COVID-19.

P

BY BOB KAlinOwSKi STAFF WRITER

how happy they were that I was alive,” Buonsante said, recalling his discharge.

Buonsante puts Dr. Lakshmi Saladi at the top of the list of all the health care professionals to whom he’s indebted. During the most critical points of his hospitalization, she made the calls and treatment plans that enabled Buonsante to survive.

“She’s my angel,” Buonsante said.

Buonsante and Saladi reconnected for the first time during a group telephone call with a reporter for this story, along with his sister, Margaret, who was his leading advocate during his ill-

Please see RAllY, Page A5

ness, even if she couldn’t be with him in person because of social distancing rules.

“Thank you Dr. Saladi, you saved my life,” Buonsante said.

Saladi recalled that’s the first thing Buonsante told her after he was taken off the ventilator.

“I remember the day I got the tube out, you kept saying that. It feels good hearing that from a patient,” Saladi said. “You don’t always get a chance.

It’s really inspiring to hear these stories from a survivor.”

izza shop owner Leonardo Buonsante jokes that he owes his intensive care unit doctor a few of his “famous” grandma pies — a longtime tradition of his Italian family.

When he’s serious, he says he owes her his life after helping him overcome a tough bout with coronavirus.

Buonsante, 51, co-owner of Annarella Pizza and Pasta in Dallas Twp., said he’s lucky to be alive after being stricken by the virus less than a month ago.

Weak and disillusioned at the time, he said he barely remembers calling 911 Please see SuRViVOR, Page A7 for an ambulance on May 7 when he first started thinking he might have the virus.

His time in Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Twp., he said, was a blur. After doctors initially controlled his symptoms, Buonsante suffered severe complications and was placed on a ventilator for three days in the intensive care unit. But the Plains Twp. man rebounded quickly and was well enough to be discharged by May 18 following a parade in a wheelchair past a team of nurses who treated him.

SubMITTEd phoTo “It was unbelievable. I was crying leaving because all the nurses were Medical staff cheer and applaud as Buonsante was wheeled out of clapping and screaming and saying Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Twp. on May 18.

An initiative to boost reporting of commercial recycling in Wilkes-Barre — and potentially qualify for larger state grants — resulted in 14 previously nonreporting establishments participating this year.

Unfortunately, close to a dozen commercial, institutional or governmental establishments that did report their recycling to the city in 2019 failed to do so this year by the Feb. 28 deadline. And the total tonnage of recycling reported in the city dropped 16% from the previous year — from 3,369 tons to 2,843 tons.

Mark Barry, city grants

coordinator, said he cross-referenced the 2018 annual recycling report mailing list with city’s current business tax account mailing list to increase the number of businesses reached by the 2019 annual recycling report notice mailing.

Barry said using the updated mailing list resulted in 14 new businesses submitting annual recycling reports that had not submitted one the previous year. He said reminder notices will be sent to the commercial entities that did not submit a report this year.

The updated mailing list did not included the city’s entire business tax account mailing list; it had to be revised to include the eligible commercial entities that are required to report, Barry noted.

Please see RECYCling, Page A7

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FROM PAGE A1

SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2020

THE CITIZENS' VOICE A7

RECYCLING: City could see smaller grants due to lack of reports From page a1

The 2018 mailing list included 120 addresses, while the most recent 2019 mailing list included an additional 230 addresses.

Barry had said last year that the city’s annual mailing of reporting forms was based on a list of establishments that previously reported recycling numbers, and that the list would be updated as city officials become aware of new businesses.

Barry had agreed that cross-referencing the recycling list with the business tax account mailing list could potentially increase participation.

The change came after an investigation by The Citizens’ Voice last year revealed deficiencies in the commercial recycling program.

Most businesses in the city had not been submitting annual recycling reports as required by state law.

Act 101 of 1988 requires all municipalities with 10,000 or more residents to have both residential and commercial recycling programs.

The law also requires all commercial, institutional and municipal establishments within such a municipality to recycle high-grade office paper, corrugated paper, aluminum, leaf waste and any other items that the municipality deems appropriate.

A review of city records last year revealed that less than 100 such establishments were listed in the city’s commercial recycling reports for 2014 through 2018 despite 1,070

last year may no longer be in business.

NEW PARTICIPANTS

mark moran / StaFF photographer

Environmental services supervisor Jessica Wiley and Joseph Garvey, back, toss cardboard into a recycling bin at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre on Thursday. businesses and more than 100 Joe Valenti, president of nonprofit entities operating in Waste Reduction & Recycling the city. in Hanover Twp., had said he charged a minimum of $75 for Grants jeopardized monthly recyclables pickup.

Lack of an enforcement pro- He suggested that the city program also jeopardizes the vide bins for entities whose city’s recycling performance monthly or weekly recycling grant. The grant program volumes didn’t surpass a prerequires municipalities have determined threshold and pick an enforcement program that up the recyclables for a fee. periodically monitors particiMore than a year later, no pation, receives complaints executive or legislative action and issues warnings to has been taken on these fronts. required participants.

Mayor George Brown has The state Department of said revamping the 2020 city Environmental Protection can budget, dealing with the coroassist a municipality if a busi- navirus pandemic and overness refuses to recycle or seeing repairs to city hall after report tonnage and the DEP a freak windstorm tore off can assess civil penalties rang- part of the roof in April have ing into the thousands of dol- taken up the majority of his lars on entities that are in vio- first five months in office. lation of Act 101.

Lost revenue Council members Bill BarIn addition to non-complirett, Mike Belusko, Tony Brooks and Beth Gilbert ance with state law, the city McBride had all said last year could see smaller recycling perthey would consider amending formance grants, given that the thecity’srecyclingordinancein state awards them based partly an effort to increase participa- on the amount of materials tion while not burdening small recycled in the city the previous year. businesses and nonprofits.

these 14 establishments reported a combined 363.1 tons of recycling for 2019, but did not report for 2018.

— 0.5 tons ■ Ceekay auto — 16 tons ■ Corocoran printing — 51.5 ■ mcDonald’s — 12.5 tons ■ pet Supplies plus — 7.8 tons ■ Deemer’s Discount grocer- tons ■ Small Wonders — 3.1 tons ies * — 10.9 tons ■ Valley Seafood — 1.9 tons ■ Domino’s pizza — 6.2 ■ Wendy’s — 12.5 tons tons ■ Westmoreland Club — ■ geisinger South Wilkes31.2 tons Barre — 199.9 tons ■ Leonard’s kielbasi market ■ Wilkes-Barre general hospital — 7.6 tons — 1.5 tons * opened in 2019 ■ maternal & Family health

New participants While the cost of a hauling contract might deter some business owners from recycling, at least one small business owner didn’t let it deter him.

Edward Balicki, owner of Leonard’s Kielbasi Market on Kado Street, reported that his three-employee establishment recycled 1.5 tons of corrugated cardboard in 2019.

“This is the first year the form was ever sent to me. I had no knowledge the information was required before now,” Balicki said last week.

“1923 is when grandfather opened this business. I doubt if there was recycling back then, but we’ve been recycling voluntarily for years,” Balicki said. “If I would have known (about the reporting rules), I probably would have been doing it a lot sooner.”

While Balicki’s recycling tonnage was among the lowest reported this year, other new participants had a much larger impact.

Geisinger South WilkesBarre, which did not report for 2018, recycled over 198 tons of corrugated cardboard and nearly 2 tons of high-grade paper last year.

“Geisinger is proud to partner with Wilkes-Barre in our efforts to keep this beautiful city clean and green,” Dan Landesberg, vice president of operations for Geisinger’s northeast region, said in an email.

THE DROP-OUTS these 14 establishments reported a combined 245.8 tons of recycling in 2019 but none this year. Listed is their reported recycling for 2018.

■ thomas C. thomas * — ■ autoZone — 6.5 tons 0.9 tons ■ Big Lots — 27.5 tons ■ tractor Supply Corp. — ■ Burlington Coat Factory 9.3 tons — 44.5 tons ■ turkey hill minit markets ■ riverstreet manor — — 81.7 tons 25.8 tons ■ Valley Chevrolet — 0.5 tons ■ Scentsations — 3 tons ■ Service electric Cable tV ■ Wilkes-Barre City hall — 4.4 tons — 3.7 tons ■ Fine Wine & good Spirits ■ Sheetz — 24.8 tons Shoppe — 2.8 tons ■ taco Bell, kidder Street * Closed in 2019 — 10.4 tons

ONLINE EXTRA Find Wilkes-Barre’s complete 2019 commercial recycling report with this story at citizensvoice.com.

The city received performance grants totaling $77,185 and $72,184 in 2017 and 2018, respectively, and last year was awarded $350,000, which included 90% of the cost of a new leaf vacuum truck.

Barry saidanumberof variables can affect the city’s overall recycling tonnage:  Businesses may not receive annual recycling statistics from their recycling hauler before the reporting deadline.

That’s why City Hall’s recycling was not included in the 2019 report.  Some businesses take their recyclables directly to a recycling center and do not get documentation about the amount of recyclables dropped off.  Contracting with a recycling hauler may be cost prohibitive for some businesses.

Contact the writer:  Businesses that may have smocarsky@citizensvoice.com submitted a recycling report 570-821-2110, @mocarskyCV

SURVIVOR: Plains Twp. man was on ventilator for three days From page a1

Likewise, Buonsante said he was getting chills hearing about his recovery.

“This whole story is giving me anxiety,” Buonsante said.

“This is the first time I’m hearing this story.”

Buonsante, who’s family started Dino’s Pizza at the Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre Twp. decades ago, said he was stricken ill even after practicing social distancing and wearing masks and gloves while running his pizza shop on Route 415 near Yalick Farms.

He felt sick and lethargic at first, but didn’t have any respiratory issues or coughs, so family assumed it wasn’t the coronavirus. But the condition continued to the point he got tested on May 5.

By May 7, even before the results were in, he was so “out of it” and bedridden for several days that an employee that hadn’t heard from him in days demanded he call an ambulance, or she would, Buonsante’s sister, Margaret Belmondo said.

“He said to her, ‘I feel like I’m dying,’” Belmondo recalled. “She screamed at him, ‘You have to call 911 now.’”

Buonsante was transported to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Twp., where he tested positive for the coronavirus.

Following a visit to the emergency room, Buonsante was placed in the progressive care unit, one step down from intensive care. Hospital workers used a high-flow oxygen mask on him.

He started experiencing an irregular heartbeat. While taking blood thinners, Buonsante participated in a clinical trial using a convalescent plasma treatment.

“He started to improve significantly,” said Belmondo, who regularly got updates on his care during cell phone video chats.

That was the hard part. No family could be by Buonsante’s side.

Buonsante’s nurses, who plastered his room window with signs that read “faith” and “hope,” threw him a birthday party on May 10 when it looked liked his bout with coronavirus would be mild.

Another day came and went, and his prognosis looked good. Then, Belmondo got a call at 2:30 a.m. that her brother took a “quick turn for the worst.”

His lungs severely inflamed and he needed to be put on a ventilator, the nurses said.

“You hear things that if you get put on a ventilator, you’ll never get off a ventilator. I thought, ‘Oh my God, we’re losing my brother.’ It was scary,” she said.

Buonsante was then transferred to the intensive care

unit and that’s where he first met the doctor who he says saved his life.

“You were like my family there Dr. Saladi, because I didn’t have any family there,” Buonsante said during the recent phone call.

Saladi made the call to not treat Buonsante with the drugs hydroxychloroquine or remdesivir, but instead use steroids.

Buonsante responded well and, under Saladi’s treatment, was taken off the ventilator within three days, she said.

“There are patients like Leo who respond,” Saladi said.

“There are other patients who require ventilators for a few days to a few weeks.”

Belmondo credited Saladi and the Geisinger staff for their life-saving work in saving her brother.

“Oh my God. I don’t even know how to give thanks. He was in the best hands possible.

I would never wish this on

anybody, but if I had to do it over again, I would put him in the same hands. We feel very lucky he was in the best hands,” Belmondo said.

The virus affects everyone differently.

While he has high blood pressure and took anxiety medication, Buonsante said he was in decent shape prior to his sickness and worked on his feet at least 12 hours a day at his business.

At some point, his mother, Anna, 72, who he lives with, contracted the virus as well.

She was battling stage 3 colon cancer, but never had to be hospitalized. She’s been living with Belmondo in Bryn Mawr, Montgomery County, in recent times as she recovers.

“How come she didn’t get it bad? Why did I get it bad and my mother didn’t while going through stage 3 cancer?”

Buonsante asked Saladi.

Saladi reiterated that every-

Saladi said is an incredible rebound for a coronavirus survivor.

He plans to donate at least 30 pizzas to the staff of Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center as soon as he reopens.

But Saladi will be first, he said.

“Dr. Saladi, I’m going to make you the best pie you ever, ever had,” Buonsante said.

“My grandma pizza is very famous.”

one reacts to the virus differently.

Buonsante told Saladi he’s worried about contracting the virus again.

“Can I get it again? I’m afraid to go outside,” Buonsante told Saladi.

She said it’s possible.

“It’s unpredictable at this time if you have the antibodies to fight it off again,” Saladi said.

Buonsante says he expects to be back working and running his pizza shop within the next two weeks — which even

Contact the writer: bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2055; @cvbobkal

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the citizens’ RUSSIANS EAT BURGERS IN GLOVES. SHOULD EVERYONE? B5 College town perils: Abandoned campuses can cripple the economic life of the communities they’re in. Page A8

Monday, June 22, 2020

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TRANSPARENCY ON DUTY W-B mayor: Body cam initiative will ‘come to fruition’

More local officials considering acquiring policing tool

BY STEVE MOCARSKY STAFF WRITER

BY STEVE MOCARSKY STAFF WRITER

Wi l ke s - B a r r e M ayo r George Brown and his staff are in research mode, trying to find the best bodyworn cameras for police that the city can afford and the best policies for their use.

Brown said he charged city Administrator Charlie McCor mick and g rants coordinator Mark Barry with working together to pursue funding to outfit the 81-member department.

“I don’t want to put this on the back burner. It’s not just an idea that’s pie in the sky. This will come to fruition,” Brown said.

The mayor on June 11 announced his intent to for m a citizen advisory board to work with the police department and to seek funding for body cams after multiple protests in the city calling for police accountability after the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody and protests — in Wilkes-Barre and across the nation — that followed.

Brown has said he hopes his initiatives will “address some of the issues that we’re currently dealing with and also will be a way we can more or less build up trust” in the community.

Body cam use has grown nationwide since a 2013 federal court ruling that New York City police wrongly targeted minorities with a stop-and-frisk program.

T he cour t ordered the nation’s largest police department adopt body cameras.

In the last five years, a Justice Department program awarded 420 grants worth nearly $83 million to help agencies pay for body cameras, according to a spokeswoman.

Wi l ke s - B a r r e M ayo r George Brown isn’t the only local official looking to bodyworn cameras for police officers after renewed calls for police accountability have risen on a national scale.

Nanticoke Mayor Kevin McCarthy and Pittston Mayor Mike Lombardo also have been having discussions on the possibility of acquiring the policing tool.

“I see body cams as a tool to protect our officers on a multitude of levels,” Lombardo said in an interview last week, noting that he has a brother who is a state trooper who was wounded in the line of duty, and that his sister and her husband work as deputy sheriffs in Florida.

While Brown stressed last week that the city will definitely start a body camera program after he announced on June 11 that he intends to seek grant funding, the other mayors are still considering the initiative.

Although Lombardo said he’s received no calls from Pittston residents asking that the city outfit officers with body cameras, Lombardo said he was discussing the issue a few days ago with his cousin, Councilman Mike Lombardo, whom he said has a strong background in public safety.

One or both of them, he said, will look into options and costs.

“We have to make smart decisions, and public safety is a high priority,” he said.

While he sees body cameras as a means to help hold officers accountable and improve public trust, Lombardo stressed that the cameras would also help officers to do their jobs more effectively and avoid unfounded complaints.

Please see CAMERAS, Page A3

SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Above: Rice Twp. patrol officer Phil Collotty wears a body camera at the start of his shift at the Rice Twp. police station Thursday. Below: Police Chief Robert Franks works with body cameras, worn by police officers on their shifts.

SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Policy on filing police complaints not always clear

BY JAMES HALPIN STAFF WRITER

Filing a complaint against a police officer for alleged misconduct can be an enigmatic process that in many cases, to an outside observer, might seem to result in little action.

Pennsylvania State Police offer a detailed webpage explaining how to file a complaint — in person, by mail or phone, or online — and some local departments, like

Dallas Twp. police, also offer online resources for doing so. But many other local police departments do not have a readily accessible procedure for lodging a grievance against one of their own.

The City of Wilkes-Barre, for instance, does not have online instructions for filing such a complaint. Mayor George Brown said citizens are able to file complaints by going to the police headquar-

ters and filling out a written form.

Following an internal investigation, the complaint is then forwarded to the police chief for action, he said.

“We handle internal violations of our policies and procedures,” Brown said.

“If it’s a complaint that we think is criminal we forward it to the district attorney’s office. Those things are given to an outside agen-

cy, for obvious reasons.”

The City of Nanticoke likewise does not have an online procedure for filing a report. Mayor Kevin Coughlin said citizens should contact the police chief, who would then conduct an investigation and bring the findings to the mayor.

“We’d discuss it all and do an internal review,” Coughlin said.

Contact the writer: Please see POLICY, Page A3

smocarsky@citizensvoice.com 570-497-3968; @MocarskyCV

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2nd wave of virus cases? Experts say we’re still in the 1st

BY MIKE STOBBE ASSOCIATED PRESS

What’s all this talk about a “second wave” of U.S. coronavirus cases?

In The Wall Street Journal last week, Vice President Mike Pence wrote in a piece headlined “There Isn’t a Coronavirus ‘Second Wave’” that the nation is winning the fight against the virus.

Many public health experts, however, suggest it’s no time to celebrate. About 120,000 Americans have died from the new virus and daily

counts of new cases in the U.S. are the highest they’ve been in more than a month, driven by alarming recent increases in the South and West.

But there is at least one point of agreement: “Second wave” is probably the wrong term to describe what’s happening.

“When you have 20,000plus infections per day, how can you talk about a second wave?” said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health. “We’re in the first

URGENT CARE 7 DAYS A WEEK

MARK LENNIHAN / ASSOCIATED PRESS

A fence outside Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery is adorned with tributes to victims of COVID-19 in New York on May 28. wave. Let’s get out of the first wave before you have a second wave.”

Clearly there was an initial infection peak in April as cases exploded in New York City.

After schools and businesses were closed across the country, the rate of new cases dropped somewhat.

Please see OUTBREAK, Page A4

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Monday, June 22, 2020

THe CITIZenS' VoICe A3

CAMERAS: Important to have good policies on body camera use FRoM PaGe a1

Body cams in use locally Police in one Luzerne County municipality have been using body-worn cameras for the past three years.

“For us, I personally think body cams are a godsend,” Rice Twp. police Chief Robert Franks said last week.

“When there are issues on what somebody may have done or not done, we invite people to come in and watch the video,” said Franks, a 41-year law enforcement veteran and township police chief since 1994. “I would highly recommend them to anyone.”

Franks said he pushed for a body cam program following protests and riots after a white police officer shot Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man, in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.

“I believed it would create a better liability situation.

The video tells the truth,” Franks said.

The chief said four body cams for the department’s six full-time officers cost about $4,000, which included software and docking stations. Online video storage costs about $1,600 annually.

The township bought the cameras from Axon Inc., whose cameras sell for about $500 to $700. Docking bays for charging and video uploads cost about $200.

The company offers a range of additional services and features at additional cost. For example, with a feature called “Signal Sidearm,” after an officer’s firearm is drawn from the holster, a sensor is triggered and alerts all Axon cameras within a 15- to 30-foot range to begin recording.

MORE ONLINE Read case studies about the benefits of body cameras at citizensvoice.com

Operation and storage At the start of their shifts, Rice Twp. officers log in to a cloud network to activate their camera. It remains in standby mode until an officer engages with the public and begins recording by pushing a button on the camera twice. Vibration and flashing lights let the officer know the unit is engaged.

Officers can switch back to standby mode as needed, if, for example, they are denied permission to record when entering someone’s home or they’re using a restroom, Franks explained.

When an officer is logged in, the camera is always recording and saving the most recent 30 seconds of video. So, when an officer hits the record button, video will be saved from 30 seconds prior to that time.

Newer models have the option to pre-record for up to two minutes.

Officers also have the ability to upload and save segments of video for various lengths of time. For example, they might save video from a traffic stop for 60 days and video from a criminal arrest for one year or until the case is resolved.

Axon sends the department a list of videos the company will automatically delete on a monthly basis for officers or the chief to approve, so storage space isn’t wasted.

Sean MCKeaG / STaFF PHoToGRaPHeR

Police Chief Robert Franks retrieves video footage collected by body cameras, which are worn by police officers at the Rice Twp. police station on Thursday.

body cams not only help hold officers accountable, they often assist officers in report writing, and the video can be used as evidence in court cases.

For example, a year-long study on the benefits of body-wor n cameras by Cambridge University on the Rialto Police Department in California found a 59% drop in use-of-force incidents and an 87.5% reduction in complaints.

But according to recently published research by George Mason University’s Center for Evidenced-Base Crime Policy, the use of body cameras alone is unlikely to significantly improve police performance, accountability and relationships with citizens.

Franks said it’s important to have good policies Studies support on body camera use — and cam use police procedures in generSome studies support al – in place. He said he Franks’ contentions that reviewed policies from

POLICY: People should always make own copies of complaints FRoM PaGe a1

Attorney Barry Dyller, who specializes in police misconduct cases, recommended that for criminal matters the complaints be filed with the involved department along with the state police, attorney general’s office or the district attorney’s office.

He stressed that people should always make their own copies of whatever complaints they file, and should write down the name of the person who accepted it.

“They have a tendency to disappear. So it’s important that they be kept,” said Dyller, whose Dyller Law Firm has represented some of the alleged victims of former police officers Mark Icker and Robert Collins, who were charged with using their badges to pressure women for sex.

Icker, who was a part-

time officer in Ashley and Sugar Notch, has pleaded guilty to federal deprivation of rights charges as part of a plea agreement that calls for a sentence of 12 years in prison.

Collins, who was a Wilkes-Barre city officer, is still awaiting trial on rape charges.

To highlight his point about keeping copies of everything, Dyller said that he had a client who sued Collins in a separate case and kept a copy of the complaint that was filed.

Then Dyller’s firm requested a copy of Collins’ personnel file from the city, he said.

“That complaint wasn’t there,” Dyller said. “That’s why I say they have a way of disappearing. I think they get filed in the garbage can, frequently.”

Even when officers are disciplined for misconduct, the complainants aren’t

Vehicle hits pedestrians working on car in Pa.; 4 people seriously hurt aSSoCIaTed PReSS

SCOTT TOWNSHIP — Authorities say a woman and two men trying to get a car started in western Pennsylvania were struck by another car, sending four people to hospitals in critical condition.

Allegheny County police say the crash happened at about 4:45 p.m. Saturday in Scott Township.

Investigators said a subcompact car was heading south on Noblestown Road

Breaking news: citizensvoice.com

likely to find out. Under the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law, “written criticisms” of an employee are specifically exempted from being released.

Contact the writer: jhalpin@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2058

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when it struck the 37-yearold woman, her 70-year-old father and his 61-year-old friend as the two men were working on the battery of the woman’s car.

Authorities said the three and the 47-year-old female driver of the subcompact car were transported to hospitals in critical condition.

Investigators said they will consult with county prosecutors to determine whether any charges are warranted.

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numerous cities that use body cameras and “took bits and pieces of theirs and added things from others.”

The township solicitor, the Luzerne County District Attorney and ultimately the township board of supervisors approved them.

Transparency and trust In order for body camera footage to be used to hold police officers accountable and strengthen public trust, community leaders, attorneys and others say transparency is essential.

An investigation by The Associated Press has found that police departments routinely withhold video taken by body-worn and dashboard-mounted camera s t h a t s h o w o f f i c e rinvolved shootings and other uses of force. They often do so by citing a broad exemption to state open records laws — claiming

that releasing the video would undermine an ongoing investigation.

To be sure, some departments voluntarily release videos of high-profile incidents, sometimes within days or weeks. They also are forced to share them during civil rights lawsuits or air them when suspects face trial. Many also routinely release videos that show officers in a positive light, such as when they rescue people from accidents and fires. But how requests are handled when they are requested by citizens, reporters and government watchdogs varies widely.

Wilkes-Barre civil rights attorney Barry Dyller said that if officers have discretion to turn off their cameras, there should be strong policies in place doling out “severe consequences” if an officer’s camera isn’t engaged when it should be.

Dyller said every encounter police have with the public should be recorded, and anytime an of ficer writes a report on an incident and/or files charges, video of the incident should be retained.

Dyller also said there’s no reason police should use an internal investigation of a use-of-force incident for withholding video from the public.

Brown said he intends to research police body camera policies currently in use and consult experts in the field.

“We’ll be looking at all the pluses and minuses. We want to build off other people’s successes, both for the body cameras themselves and the policies and procedures,” Brown said.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: smocarsky@citizensvoice.com 570-497-3968; @MocarskyCV

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AID UP IN THE AIR Republicans split as virus aid package may rise past $1 trillion. A8

RESTRICTIONS FORCE BOARD GAME CAFE TO CLOSE. C1

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

NEWSSTAND 50¢

Trump: Virus in US will get worse

President says there are difficult months ahead for nation, supports masks.

BY ZEKE MILLER ASSOCIATED PRESS

DAVE SCHERBENCO / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Wilkes-Barre Deputy Fire Chief Alan Klapat demonstrates the AeroClave Decontamination System on a city fire truck Tuesday at fire headquarters.

SAFETY FIRST

Wilkes-Barre’s pandemic spending tops $500,000

BY STEVE MOCARSKY STAFF WRITER

WILKES-BARRE — City fire officials on Tuesday demonstrated a new device that is keeping first responders and residents safer during the coronavirus pandemic.

Fire Chief Jay Delaney briefed Mayor George Brown and his senior staff on the department’s newly acquired AeroClave Decontamination System at fire headquarters on East Ross Street, noting that WilkesBarre’s is the first municipal fire department in Northeast Pennsylvania to have such a device. Only 11 others are in use statewide.

Deputy Fire Chief Alan Klapat fired up the unit, which was set up on a table near the bay door, and onlookers saw an aerosolized mist of

ONLINE EXTRA Find a summary of WilkesBarre’s COVID-19 spending and the city’s June financial report and watch video from the AeroClave decontamination unit demonstration with this story at citizensvoice.com. distilled water spray into the patient compartment of a city ambulance.

Normally, a firefighter would place the unit inside the ambulance, turn it on, close the doors and let an aerosolized sanitizing solution circulate in the air for six minutes before the machine turned off automatically, Klapat said.

Please see SAFETY, Page A11

Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown described the decision to purchase the portable decontamination system as ‘a no-brainer.’

Please see VIRUS, Page A5

Bloomsburg Fair officials apologize

Inside today

Business . . . . C1 Health. . . . . . . B5

Organizers say Levine impostor went for a ‘Marilyn Monroe look.’

Classified C4-12 Horoscope . . C3 Court Notes A11 Lottery . . . . . . A2 Crossword. . . C2 Obits . . . . .A10-11 Editorial . . . . . A9 World/Nation A8

High 90º Low 71º

DAVE SCHERBENCO / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

BY JAMES HALPIN STAFF WRITER

B6

Clouds and sun © 2020 The Citizens’ Voice

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that the “nasty horrible’” coronavirus will get worse in the U.S. before it gets better, but he also tried to paint a rosy picture of efforts to conquer the disease that has claimed more than 140,000 American lives in just five months.

He also professed a newfound respect for the protective face masks he has seldom worn.

He pulled one from his TRUMP pocket in the White House briefing room but didn’t put it on.

After a three-month hiatus from his freewheeling daily virus briefings, Trump returned to the podium, keeping the stage to himself without the public health experts who were staples of his previous events but keeping close to scripted remarks prepared by aides.

Besides declaring support for masks as a way to fight the pandemic, he admonished young people against crowding bars and spreading the disease.

It all marked a delayed recognition by Trump that the economic reopening he’s been championing since April — and, more importantly, his reelection — were imperiled by spiking cases nationwide.

Bloomsburg Fair officials apologized Tuesday for a Facebook post that compared

BY JAMES HALPIN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER a man in women’s clothing to Bloomsburg Fair President Randy Karschner, left, and state Department of Health Superintendent of Grandstands Brian Wawroski Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine, claiming the comparison address the media Tuesday.

was the result of a poor attempt at a Marilyn Monroe costume.

“These gates at the Bloomsburg Fair are open to everybody in the world,” Fair President Randy Karschner said.

“But over the weekend we had a carnival, and there was a dunk tank there, and it went from a good fundraiser and it turned out to be a social media nightmare for us, and we apologize for that.”

The fair came under fire

Monday after posting images of a man in a black and pink dress in a dunk tank at the Fireman’s Relief Carnival at the fairgrounds on Saturday.

“Dr. Levine? Thank you,” the fair’s official Facebook page had as a caption for the images. “You were a hit and raised a lot of money for the local fire companies. Wonder why so many were trying to dunk you.”

Please see FAIR, Page A11

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OBITUARIES / NEWS

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Christian Joseph Michael Mercadante

THe CITIZens' VOICe A11

Coroner’s office searching for kin of Antonio Cruz

Nancy E. Kane

Denise Bartolacci

Joseph A. Fessler

July 20, 2020

Antonio Cruz, 72, of WilkesFamily or friends are Nancy E. Kane, 62, of Private arrangements are Barre, passed away Wednes- asked to call the Luzerne Larksville, passed away Mon- by George A. Strish Inc. day, June 17, 2020, in Wilkes- County Coroner’s Office at day, July 20, 2020, at her Funeral Home, 105 N. Main an Funeral and Cremation.

570-825-1665. home.

St., Ashley.

Interment will be in St. Barre General Hospital.

Mary’s Cemetery.

Visitation is from 4 to 7 p.m.

Friday and 9:30 a.m. to services Saturday.

July 20, 2020 July 21 2020

July 18, 2020

Christian Joseph Michael Mercadante, 22, of Mountain Top, died Saturday, July 18, 2020.

The funeral is at 10 a.m. Saturday from Desiderio-Lehm-

Obituary email The email address for The Citizens’ Voice obituaries and photos is obits@citizensvoice.com. Please in-

clude the word “obituary” in the subject line of emails.

The deadline to submit obituaries is 7:30 p.m. Holiday hours may change.

Denise Bartolacci, 54, of Taylor, died Monday, July 20, 2020, in Geisinger Community Medical Center.

Visitation with social dis-

tancing measures will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at Ferri & Gillette Funeral Services LLC, 522 Fallon St., Old Forge.

Joseph A. Fessler, 93, of Wilkes-Barre Twp., passed away in Wilkes-Barre General Hospital Tuesday, July 21, 2020.

SAFETY: System delivery was delayed by pandemic FROM PaGe a1

Klapat also attached a hand-held spray nozzle and hose to the unit and demonstrated how it would be used to decontaminate a fire truck cab and equipment.

Prior to acquisition of the AeroClave unit, Delaney said, first responders used spray-on chemicals and ultraviolet light to decontaminate the interior of ambulances and equipment, which was much more labor-intensive and took about a half hour.

The device also can be used to decontaminate rooms in a structure if needed.

“If there was some contamination here — not just COVID-19, but any virus that might be here — the unit is portable enough that we can … put it in a room in the fire station and kill the virus,” Delaney said.

Delayed delivery Delaney said officials ordered the unit shortly after borrowing one from Allentown to decontaminate a city ambulance after the city’s first COVID-19 patient transport on March 31. daVe sCHeRBenCO / sTaFF PHOTOGRaPHeR The pumps used in the unit are the same pumps Wilkes-Barre Deputy Fire Chief Alan Klapat shows off the AeroClave Decontamination System on Tuesday. used for ventilators, which health officials feared would ‘If there was some to-date pandemic spending about the city’s ability to The city’s real estate be in short supply during the totaled $516,055. make up revenue lost from transfer tax revenue is contamination here Of that amount: height of the pandemic. business and other taxes or $ 1 4 4 , 9 0 9 l e s s t h a n t h e Delaney said the Federal — not just COVIDn $165,275 was spent on construction permit fees $622,764 collected in the Emergency Management salaries and overtime. during the months-long same period last year, and 19, but any virus Agency “took the pumps off n $98,419 was spent on pro- statewide shutdown of non- license and permit fees are these units to make ventila- that might be here fessional cleaning and sani- essential businesses. down $131,788 from last tors across the country, so, tizing services.

According to the June year’s year-to-date collection — the unit is therefore, we got this delivn More than $181,000 was financial report, the city col- of $622,907. Parking meter ered to us late.” spent on cleaning supplies lected $26.9 million in taxes revenue also is down by portable enough Brown said giving Delaney and personal protective and fees and spent $19.4 mil- $170,233, and fines assessed the OK to buy the machine that we can … put equipment. lion as of June 30, resulting by police are down nearly was “a no-brainer. I’m very it in a room in the Brown said the city in a cash balance of $7.5 mil- $100,000. happy to invest money into received a grant for $651,000 lion. In the same period last Surprisingly, the city colbuying this because I want to fire station and kill from the state Department of year, the city had a cash bal- lected $119,893 more in promake sure our people are Health to cover many of ance of $8.1 million after fessional business taxes and the virus.’ safe.” these expenses, and he’s con- collecting $28 million in rev- $29,755 more in mercantile The unit cost $15,248 and fident that all of the pandem- enue and spending $19.9 mil- taxes so far this year than at JAY DELANEY was paid for grant funds ic-related expenditures iden- lion. the same point last year.

Wilkes-Barre fire chief through the city health tified in the financial report The biggest loss so far Likewise, earned income department. the amount the city has spent will be covered by state or this year is in property tax tax revenue was up $190,498 revenue, which amounted to over last year’s collections.

Other COVID spending in response to the coronavi- federal grants. rus pandemic.

Revenue loss mounts $621,019 less than the $10.8 Contact the writer: The AeroClave unit repreA review of the city’s June million collected in the smocarsky@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2110; @MocarskyCV sents only a small fraction of financial report showed yearBrown’s not as confident same period last year.

FAIR: ‘Absolutely unacceptable transphobic behavior’ FROM PaGe a1

The post included a smiley face emoji suggesting participants were dunking the lookalike out of frustration with policies L ev i n e, a t r a n s g e n d e r wo m a n , a n d G ov. To m Wolf have enacted to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.

The images prompted swift condemnation online, with groups including the NEPA Rainbow Alliance, a LGBTQ advocacy group, describing the fair’s actions as “absolutely unacceptable,

transphobic behavior.”

On Tuesday, however, fair officials maintained the person in costume, whom they would not identify, had no intention of dressing up as Levine.

“I think he said Marilyn Monroe, but it was a poor example of Marilyn Monroe,” Superintendent of Grandstands Brian Wawroski said. “It was a poor example of everything.

And again, it was all in fun.”

Karschner said the Facebook post refer ring to Levine only came about

because a passer-by who saw the costume said it looked like her.

“It tur ned into where people thought we were o f f e n d i n g D r. R a c h e l Levine, and that was no intention at all, especially to cross-gender (people).

There was absolutely none of that at all. We apologize,” Karschner said. “We’ve got a lot of stones thrown at us in the last 30 hours, and we understand that because people took it the wrong way. There was no discrimination intended at all, even though that’s how it got per-

ceived.”

In response to the apology, the NEPA Rainbow Alliance issued a statement calling the fair’s response inadequate.

“We understand that today’s apolo g y by the Bloomsburg Fair was a first step in responding to the community’s outcry and criticism of their fundraising event and social media post,” the organization’s board said. “However, the apology delivered by the Bloomsburg Fair’s representatives at today’s press conference failed to

acknowledge the discriminatory and hurtful nature of their actions. We urge them to reevaluate their methods of fundraising, need for diversity and inclusion training, and ultimately ensure all vendors and patrons feel welcomed and supported in an equal, inclusive community event. Your commitment and participation in these inclusive actions will hopefully, one day, give families and this community a sense of safety to attend your events once again.”

Report: Veterans home failed to protect residents from virus

BY MARC LEVY AND MICHAEL RUBINKAM assOCIaTed PRess

HARRISBURG — A staterun veterans nursing home in Pennsylvania where 42 residents have died of COVID-19 failed to take steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, state Health Department inspectors concluded.

Health inspectors said in a report that Southeastern Veterans’ Center, a 292-bed facility outside Philadelphia, ignored state and federal guidelines meant to control the virus in nursing homes.

The lapses put 128 of the facility’s 154 residents in “immediate jeopardy,” according to

the Health Department — a legal finding that means Southeaster n placed its patients at risk of serious injury or death.

The June 9 inspection found that Southeastern didn’t isolate residents with COVID-19 from residents who had tested negative for the virus; failed to ensure that staff wore protective gear or washed their hands; shuttled nursing staff between COVID-positive units and regular units, and neglected to disinfect equipment.

The facility didn’t have a testing and tracing program, and an infected staffer returned to work two days

after testing positive, said the report, which was recently posted online.

“Watching people die was awful. We were told to wrap the residents in a body bag and meet the undertaker at the elevator,” the report quoted a nurse as telling inspectors. “We had problems, we knew some residents had something, but no one would do anything.”

The nurse also told inspectors that “we will be fired for talking to you,” according to the report.

Southeastern eventually turned to hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug that President Donald Trump

once touted as a COVID-19 preventative, according to state Sen. Katie Muth, a Democrat whose district includes Southeastern. Studies have since found hydroxychloroquine did not help hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and may have done harm.

Christina Diaz, whose 87-year-old father, Paul Ferko, was a resident of Southeastern before he became ill and tested positive for the virus in a hospital, said Tuesday the Health Department inspection validates what she and her sister had heard about conditions inside the home, but could never prove. Ferko died April 28.

Many of the staff at Southe a s t e r n s e e m e d o ve rwhelmed, said Diaz, and she and her sister came to suspect that staff members there were not telling them about the seriousness of the outbreak or their inability to contain it.

She believes that far fewer residents would have died had the nursing home had an infection-control contingency plan in place and followed it, she said.

“Whether or not my father would have been one of the few (to die), I feel the number would have been dramatically reduced had there been an adequate plan,” Diaz said.

Arrangements are being finalized under the direction of Lehman Family Funeral Service Inc., 689 Hazle Ave., Wilkes-Barre.

COURT NOTES DEEDS n Jesse Ridall Jr. et al. to Tracy Brekke et al., $200,000; sale Twp. n equity Trust Company et al. to Charles W. Waldron et al., $140,000; Hanover Twp. n dorothy Rossick et al. to alecia M. Panuski, $124,000; West Wyoming. n Ronald smith et al. to newman Organization llC, $85,500; Martin street, Plains Twp. n Raymond M. Zajac et al. to Bulldawg Property Investments llC, $135,000; nescopeck. n Ki Bum lee et al. to John a.

Correia, $224,900; Hazleton. n Charles s. Pleskach et al. to shawn Michael Potter et al., $125,000; Kingston Twp. n Bryan M. Raymond et al. to Jeremy Cohen et al., $120,000; Kingston. n Patricia Washington et al. to Heather M. Zigmund, $102,000; Conyngham Twp. n Thomas Holden to anthony Russo et al., $219,500; Butler Twp. n Trudie slimmen to stone Fortress Residential llC, $150,000; sugarloaf Twp. n Helen s. allardyce e tal. to Jason Jenkins, $143,100; avoca. n Robert J. Herron to Michael augustine, $130,000; anthracite street, exeter. n Kimberly Obeid e tal. to alicia Marie Carter, $151,500; Hanover Twp. n angela ann Hummell et al. to Bruce M. smith et al., $101,000; lake Twp. n Christopher J. layaou et al. to Taylor Jenkins et al., $200,000; lehman Twp. n deborah a. Butkiewicz to daniel Gray et al., $95,000; Kingston. n Michael Kwiatkowski to Patrick Clarke et al., $325,000; dupont. n alan P. Peterson to shelby Marie Kersting et al., $135,000; West Vaughn street, Kingston. n ellen Mattioli Frederici et al. to Tommie Kapitula, $185,000; Kingston Twp. n Judith Rose sobuta Moughan to lombardo Knowles Property Restoration llC, $70,000; Pittston. n luchi Real estate llC to Kathleen anne Fierros et al., $334,900; Jenkins Twp. n Three Whales llC to Charles V. Maraldo Jr. et al., $275,000; Harveys lake. n Tokie Oda Hessell et al. to louise yaba et al., $75,000; Wilkes-Barre. n lorraine ann King et al. to Jeffrey l. Farley et al., $285,000; lehman Twp. n Pamilee C. Chopick to James Casterline Jr., $130,000; Kingston. n Mallory a. Ward to Conrad Chapple, $85,000; swoyersville. n sean Wolfe to Brenda searfoss et al., $132,500; Ross Twp. n aJT Properties llC to James P. Mclaughlin, $194,900; shingle Mill drive, Butler Twp. n andrew Barlett to Bruce stevenson allen et al., $95,000; Wilkes-Barre.

MORTGAGES n Tracy Brekke et al. from PnC Bank, $160,000; east Third street, salem Twp. n Kristopher M. lear et al. from First Keystone Community Bank, $175,000; stouts Road, nescopeck Twp. n dana M. anthony et al. from Wayne Bank, $162,006; Reynolds street, Kingston. n Charles W. Waldron et al. from equity Trust Company et al., $144,519.97; Hanover Twp. n James Gist III from Mortgage electronic Registration systems Inc. et al., $99,772; Phoenix street, Wilkes-Barre. n alecia M. Panuski from Mortgage electronic Registration systems Inc. et al., $121,754; stites street, West Wyoming. n Philip B. Homnick et al. from First Keystone Community Bank, $201,000; Main Road, union Twp. n luchi Real estate llC from Trust Bank, $220,000; Butler Twp. n david R. Hartman et al. from luzerne Bank, $150,000; lakeview drive. n Bulldawg Property Investments llC from Raymond M. Zajac et al., $125,000; nescopeck. n ann e. Kane et al. from Wells Fargo Bank, $158,280; Wyoming avenue, Wyoming. n K Investments limited from M&T Bank, $24,5000,000; sugarloaf Twp.

voice

the citizens’

Looming crisis?

Why a drop in cancer rates has experts concerned. A6

U.S. ADDS FEWER JOBS IN JULY. PAGE C1

Saturday, August 8, 2020

NEWSSTAND 50¢

TWO-WEEK TIME OUT

PIAA moves start of fall sports to Aug. 24 while it makes decision on fate of season.

BY STEVE BENNETT STAFF WRITER

The PIAA Board of Directors brought some hope to student-athletes on Friday when it voted 30-2 to delay the start of the fall sports season until Aug. 24.

The vote came one day after Gov. Tom Wolf caught the high school sports world off guard when he said

he recommends there be no sports until Jan. 1.

By delaying the start of the fall sports season by two weeks, PIAA Executive Director Dr. Robert Lombardi said the athletics organization will take the time to talk with the governor’s administration and the department of health in an attempt to open the fall sports season as

safely as possible.

“We are going to reach out to the governor’s office to see if we can meet with his staff or himself,” Lombardi said following Friday’s meeting. “We want to see if we can have discussions about what was stated (Thursday). I don’t know what they believe. We probably need to have some dialogue where the (Jan.1) date came from. Those types of things.”

Bill Marshall, from District 6, made a motion to defer the start of

fall sports for two weeks. The motion received a second and passed overwhelmingly. Jonathan Bauer, the Pennsylvania Principals representative, and Michael Allison from District 7 were the two “no” votes.

The two-week delay applies to mandatory practice dates. All voluntary workouts may continue for teams provided their respective school administrators permit them to carry on.

Please see PIAA, Page A10

READ MORE

n Our opinion: Stalling on fall sports leaves students and schools in limbo. Page A9 n WVC coaches react to the PIAA’s decision. Page B1

ONLINE EXTRA n Do you agree with the PIAA’s decision? Vote in our poll with this story at www.citizensvoice.com.

Back Mountain library auction kicks off ‘Twist on Tradition’

HELPING WILKES-BARRE’S HOMELESS

Organizers extended the event by one day due to Friday’s rain.

BY BOB KALINOWSKI STAFF WRITER

MARK MORAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Sam Orth, left, and Brian Johns, of Volunteers of America, look over what remains from a homeless camp in Wilkes-Barre on Friday.

‘THEY JUST LEFT’ Advocates worried about homeless displaced from encampment in W-B

BY STEVE MOCARSKY STAFF WRITER

WILKES-BARRE — Advocates who had been assisting homeless individuals before they were displaced from an encampment Monday are worried about their welfare.

Jodina Hicks, president and CEO of Volunteers of America Pennsylvania, said Thursday that an outreach coordinator with the organization’s Give Hope Program had been going to the encampment behind the former Murray Complex on South Pennsylvania Avenue for more than a year

to assist the residents.

Despite that relationship and the fact that she met with Mayor George Brown and city Administrator Charlie McCormick in March to familiarize them with the organization’s work, Hicks said, city officials gave VOA no advance notice of the eviction plans.

“They didn’t give enough notice so we could help,” Hicks said.

The camp drew attention a few weeks ago when a blaze destroyed one of the tents there. Firefighters had trouble accessing the fire because of

all the debris in the camp, Brown had said, adding that the site was “flooded with needles (and) strewn with feces.”

The city hired a hazardous materials team for the cleanup because it was a public health hazard.

Brown said he ensured other social service agencies and organizations were at the site Monday morning to provide any resources the camp inhabitants might need. They include Keystone Mission, Church on the Square, Mother Teresa’s Haven, Commission on Economic Opportunity, Helpline, Casey House, Luzerne County Mental Health and Developmental Services and the county Drug and Alcohol Program.

Please see HOMELESS, Page A10

US intel: Russia acting against Biden; China opposes Trump Latest intelligence assessment warns of hostile foreign involvement in election.

BY ERIC TUCKER AND DEB RIECHMANN ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence officials believe that Russia is using a variety of measures to denigrate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden

ahead of the November election and that individuals linked to the Kremlin are boosting President Donald Trump’s reelection bid, the country’s counterintelligence chief said Friday in the most specific warning to date about the threat of for-

eign interference.

U.S. officials also believe that China does not want Trump to win a second term and has accelerated its criticism of the White House, expanding its efforts to shape public policy in America and to pressure political figures seen as opposed to Beijing’s interests.

The statement from

William Evanina is believed to be the most pointed declaration by the U.S. intelligence community linking the Kremlin to efforts to get Trump reelected — a sensitive subject for a president who has rejected intelligence agency assessments that Russia tried to help him in 2016.

Please see ELECTION, Page A10

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Bill Peiffer, a member of the Back Mountain Library’s board of directors, looks over a quilt that was up for grabs as part of the silent auction Friday. For more photos, visit www.citizensvoice.com.

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DALLAS — Organizers of the Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction keep having to adapt to pull off this year’s event.

After a downpour at the beginning of Friday’s debut that likely hurt attendance, organizers quickly decided to add another day to this year’s auction, which is a scaled-back version of the popular annual event.

The 74th annual auction, originally scheduled for 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, will also be held Sunday with those same hours.

“We made the decision to

extend it,” said Bill Peiffer, of the library’s board of directors.

The biggest change to this year’s event is there is no live auctioning of items. Traditionally, people would crowd in front of the library’s stage and bid on items presented by an auctioneer.

That would have created too much of a “cluster” against social distancing guidelines in place due to the coronavirus pandemic, Peifer said.

Instead, there are 10 items for bid on stage as part of a silent auction in which people write down their bid on a sheet of paper.

Many items that would otherwise be up for bid this year are in the library’s antique barn and “priced to sell” without any bidding.

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HOMELESS: Camp was empty FrOM PagE a1

Brown said signs were posted around the camp Saturday to alert residents that area would be cleared out on Monday and that representatives from the service agencies would be there to assist them with relocating and any other needs.

“VOA is not happy they were not notified, but there was a host of people who were able to provide things.

If one (agency) was missed, there was ample support from others,” Brown said.

But camp inhabitants had abandoned the site prior to Monday morning.

“I don’t know why they didn’t stay and ask for the help provided,” Brown said.

“They just fled,” said Samantha Orth, VOA’s codirector of Wilkes-Barre programming. “I feel like they got an eviction notice and they were scared and they just left and they took what they could carry.”

Orth and outreach coordinator Brian Johns visited the site Friday morning with a reporter as haz-mat workers continued the cleanup.

Orth said VOA’s intent “isn’t to say anything negative about what happened, we just wish that we were involved because we felt like

we could have been a little more proactive about the situation and, also, we just want to make sure everyone (is) safe. We haven’t been able to find anyone that we know were here.”

Johns said he has been going to the camp every weekday since March 2019 to help residents with things like signing up for social security and disability benefits and enter mental health or rehab programs.

He thinks he could have helped them transition to a new setting with more notice.

Tara Vallet, administrator of the Luzerne-Wyoming Counties Mental Health & Developmental Services, said she made sure there was a case worker and clinician at the site Monday morning and was hopeful the camp residents would still be there.

She said McCor mick “seemed very compassionate” when he informed her of the cleanup plans about a week in advance, but city officials didn’t want service providers entering the campsite because they didn’t feel it was environmentally safe.

Asked if she thought anything could have been done differently to better help the displaced individuals, Vallet

said she “won’t secondguess the city,” but she did say “we would welcome the opportunity to be part of the planning” if a similar situation occurred in the future.

Justin Behrens, executive director and CEO of Keystone Mission, said he’s seen some of the displaced individuals this week when they showed up for hot meals.

Behrens said Brown “had to work with what he has.

He knew there was a health risk there. … I think he tried to do his best. If we had an emergency shelter, we could have sent them there, but the mayor didn’t have that luxury.”

For a similar situation in the future, Behrens recommended that city officials meet with service organizations representatives to develop a strategy. “We need to find a place for them to go. You can’t just uproot somebody without a location to go,” he said.

“We can’t dwell on what happened. We have to learn a lesson, and the lesson is that we need a place for the homeless to transition their lives,” Behrens said. “We need a permanent shelter.”

Contact the writer: smocarsky@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2110; @MocarskyCV

Police respond to reported shooting in W-B

BY BOB KALINOWSKI STaFF WrITEr

WILKES-BARRE — City police responded to a reported shooting Friday afternoon near the intersection of Lehigh and Hickory streets.

Multiple city detectives and patrol officers were on scene.

At one point, police were on the lookout for a vehicle that fled the scene.

It wasn’t immediately clear if any arrests were made.

Contact the writer: bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2055; @cvbobkal

MarK MOraN / STaFF PHOTOgraPHEr

A woman shows officers damaged glass at a house on Lehigh Street in Wilkes-Barre after a reported shooting Friday afternoon.

daVE SCHErBENCO / STaFF PHOTOgraPHEr

The Tunkhannock football team takes the field for a game against Wyoming Area on Sept. 20, 2019, at Jake Sobeski Stadium in West Pittston.

PIAA: Wants Wolf’s full backing FrOM PagE a1

The first week for football players will be used as heat acclimatization. The first football game can be played Sept. 11.

The first regular season contest date for golf is Aug. 27.

Tennis can hold its first competition Aug. 31.

Cross country, volleyball, field hockey and soccer can join football with its first competitions Sept. 11.

Admittedly caught off guard by Wolf ’s Thursday statement, Lombardi said the PIAA would like to have the governor’s full backing in

getting in a fall sports season.

“We would like to have full support,” Lombardi said. “It was a recommendation. It wasn’t a mandate and it wasn’t an order. If it was an order, we probably wouldn’t be having the discussions we’re having.”

Lombardi said he was bombarded with emails, phone calls and other means of communication from individuals offering support to allow the fall sports season to continue. Lombardi also mentioned that the representatives from the 12 districts that make up the state were also hearing from

FrOM PagE a1

The theme for this year’s auction is “A Twist on Tradition.”

Another big change is the size of the annual basket raffle. There are more than 120 baskets available to win on tables inside the library.

While no more than 250 people are allowed on the library property at any given

time this year, Peiffer is just glad the event is being held at all.

“It’s great we are able to do it even though it’s a much different format,” Peiffer said.

Auction chairman Gary Dymond said organizers did everything possible to safely hold the event.

“It’s the 74th year. We did not want to not have it. When it’s that old you have to keep

FrOM PagE a1

ally, and opposing Russian leader Vladimir Putin. That assertion conflicts with the nar rative advanced by Trump, who has made unsubstantiated claims that Biden’s actions in Ukraine were

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it going,” Dymond said.

Library director Martha Butler said the auction is the library’s biggest fundraiser of the year and normally brings in $65,000.

“That’s a huge loss to the library, so we are trying to make up some of that from this event,” Butler said.

Contact the writer: bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2055; @cvbobkal

ELECTION: Russia, China, Iran could interfere in presidential race

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members of their communities.

When asked about the twoweek delay, Lombardi was firm in stating that the PIAA is going to do all it can to get the fall sports season going, and is not just delaying the decision to postpone fall sports.

“The board is not kicking the can down the road,” Lombardi said. “We are trying to get as much information as possible.”

The PIAA Board of Directors are scheduled to meet again Aug. 21.

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intended to help the business interests of his son, Hunter.

Evanina’s statement, three months before the election, comes amid criticism from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional Democrats that the intelligence community has been withholding from the public specific intelligence information about the threat of foreign interference in American politics.

“The facts are chilling,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., wrote in an op-ed published Friday evening in The Washington Post. “I believe the American public needs and deserves to know them. The infor mation should be declassified immediately.”

The latest intelligence assessment reflects concerns not only about Russia but China and Iran as well, warning that hostile foreign actors may seek to compromise election infrastructure, interfere with the voting process or call into question voting results.

Despite those efforts, officials see it as unlikely that anyone could manipulate voting results in any meaningful way, Evanina said.

“Many foreign actors have a preference for who wins the election, which they express through a range of overt and private statements; covert influence efforts are rarer,” said Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence Security Center. “We are primarily concerned about the ongoing and potential activity

by China, Russia and Iran.”

Concerns about election interference are especially acute following a wide-ranging effort by Russia to meddle in the 2016 election on Trump’s behalf through both the hacking of Democratic emails and a covert social media campaign aimed at sowing discord among U.S. voters. Trump has routinely resisted the idea that the Kremlin favored him in 2016, but the intelligence assessment released Friday indicates that unnamed Kremlinlinked actors are again working to boost his candidacy on social media and Russian television.

voice

the citizens’

COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Pfizer: Vaccine is 90% effective.

Page A4

PATIO HEATERS IN DEMAND AMID PANDEMIC. C1

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

NEWSSTAND 50¢

Biden targets virus

WILKES-BARRE BUDGET

The president-elect is beginning his White House transition.

BY WILL WEISSERT, PHILIP MARCELO AND AAMER MADHANI ASSOCIATED PRESS

The five-member appointed election board started the adjudication Monday morning at the Penn Place building in Wilkes-Barre, which houses the county bureau of elections.

WILMINGTON, Delaware — President-elect Joe Biden signaled strongly on Monday that fighting the raging pandemic will be the immediate priority of his new administration, an abrupt shift from President Donald Trump’s more unworried approach to the virus, as the nation surpassed 10 million COVID-19 cases.

Biden began with a direct appeal to all Americans to wear masks, a departure from Trump, who has mocked Biden and others who make a point of always wearing protective face coverings when around others. In an official move, the presidentREAD elect formed MORE a coronavirus Trump blocks advisory cooperation board domion transition. nated by sciPage A13 entists and doctors, while Trump has had a falling out with the medical experts on his own virus task force.

The swift actions come at a critical moment in the U.S. effort to combat the coronavirus. Pharmaceutical giant Pfiz er announced progress with its vaccine trial, helping send financial markets soaring. But surging caseloads, including new infections among leading figures in Trump’s administration, offered a fresh reminder that the nation is still in the grip of the worst pandemic in more than a century.

“The challenge before us right now is still immense and growing, and so is the need for bold action to fight this pandemic,” Biden said after being briefed on the virus. “We are still facing a dark winter.”

Please see VOTES, Page A6

Please see BIDEN, Page A6

MARK MORAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A Department of Public Works employee collects recyclables in South Wilkes-Barre on Monday.

Mayor George Brown’s administration deleted the section of a previously negotiated Teamsters contract that reduced DPW starting wages by 20%.

CITY DEFENDS DPW PAY HIKE

Frati: 25% raises to 7 workers necessary despite deficit

BY STEVE MOCARSKY STAFF WRITER

WILKES-BARRE — Despite a projected $4 million budget deficit by the end of the year, Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown signed an executive order this past summer giving seven city employees 25% raises.

Director of Operations Butch Frati said the move was necessary because the city had been unable to attract and retain qualified people with commercial drivers licenses to work in the

Department of Public Works at the starting rate offered by the city.

A recent review of Brown’s executive orders since he took office in January revealed that he signed off on increasing the salaries for Shawn Carey, Teobaldo Hidalgo, Leonard Peznowski, James Rikoskie, Leonardo Taveras and Andrew Yelland from $34,079 to $42,597 on Aug. 31. They all hold the position of CDL Driver IV / Laborer.

The executive order also increased the salary

of laborer Johnicka Brown from $30,764 to $38,455.

City Administrator Charles McCormick explained that the increase in salaries was actually due to the elimination of a section in the Teamsters contract negotiated under former mayor Tony George’s administration that reduced the starting wage for new employees by 20%. He said the Teamsters were amendable to the change.

Please see CITY, Page A5

Provisional ballot count underway in county

BY ERIC MARK STAFF WRITER

WILKES-BARRE — The first day of adjudication of provisional ballots added 1,490 votes to the official Luzerne County vote count following the Nov. 3 general election.

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As of Monday evening, 151,448 votes were recorded in election results posted to the county website. That reflects a 68.5% turnout of the county’s 220,963 registered voters.

county board of elections adjudicates thousands of ballots still in question.

Trump campaign sues Most of them are provisionto block Pennsylvania al ballots cast at polling election result. A6 sites, in many cases by votThat percentage as well ers who requested a mail-in as the vote count will ballot but did not receive it increase this week, as the by Election Day.

READ MORE

Knox Mine Disaster hero dies at age 101 Bill Hastie was one of the first to respond to the disaster on Jan. 22, 1959.

BY DENISE ALLABAUGH STAFF WRITER

Bill Hastie, the last living employee of the Knox Coal Company and a hero who helped save 69 miners, died Saturday at the Community Living Center at the Depart-

ment of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Plains Twp. He was 101 years old.

Hastie, a West Pittston native and World War II veteran, was of f shift when the Knox Mine Disaster occurred Jan. 22, 1959 in Jenkins Twp. when workers were ordered to dig ille gally under the Susquehanna River. He was one of the first to respond to the tragedy and

assist with the rescue.

Robert Wolensky, adjunct professor of history at King’s College in WilkesBarre, said Hastie was the first to find miner Amadeo Pancotti, who had just climbed up and escaped through the Eagle Air Shaft and was walking along the Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks.

Please see HASTIE, Page A5

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THE CITIZENS’ VOICE FILE

Knox Mine disaster hero and World War II veteran saluted when he was honored at a 101st birthday celebration on May 28, 2020.

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

LOCAL

THe CITIZeNs' voICe A5

Committee to seek COVID-19 funding for W-B residents The mayor is seeking volunteers for the group.

BY STEVE MOCARSKY sTaFF WrITer

should attempt to find resources to provide relief for financially struggling residents, especially senior citizens, as the mayor seeks to double recycling and sewage transmission fees next year.

“I’m pleased the mayor agrees with my comments and suggestions from last week’s council meeting, and I look forward to working with the committee to bring relief to families impacted financially by COVID-19,” Brooks said Monday.

Brown said last week he was informed by the state Department of Community and Economic Development that Brooks’ suggestion of seeking a Local Share Account grant for such a purpose would not meet state grant program requirements.

Currently, Mayor’s Office said, the city health department assists senior citizens through several programs: an alternative transportation guide to give seniors with no vehicle options for transportation; wellness health checks; health and safety inspections in high-rise apartments and installation of smoke detectors; providing substance abuse programs, influenza vaccines and pneumonia vaccines.

WILKES-BARRE — Mayor George Brown is seeking volunteers to sit on a Citizens’ COVID-19 Financial Assistance Committee.

The new committee will assist senior citizens and families financially impacted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mayor’s Office announced Monday in a press TImes-sHamroCK FILe release.

The committee will identify Bill Hastie looks at old photographs from the Knox Mine, where he was on the rescue team 60 years ago when programs and financial assisthe Knox Mine Disaster happened, during an anniversary event in 2019. tance being offered through county, state and federal assistance programs as well as aid from nonprofit and charitable organizations. it will be comFrom PaGe a1 prised of five city residents “dedicated to volunteering Hastie immediately called their time and energy for the for rope so that the other betterment of the City of Wilmen at the bottom of the kes-Barre.” shaft could be pulled to the Committee members will surface. He later nominated identify, locate and oversee Pancotti for the prestigious funding sources that benefit Carnegie Hero Award. senior citizens and underpriviTwelve miners died when leged families in the city. the Susquehanna River floodCity residents interested in ed the underground mine applying for the committee while 69 others escaped. can fill out an application, Wolensky worked with which is available online at Hastie to publish mining hiswww.wilkes-barre.city/boards. Contact the writer: tory articles and they coCouncilman Tony Brooks smocarsky@citizensvoice.com authored “Anthracite Labor said last week that the city 570-821-2110, @mocarskyCv Wars,” which focuses on the area’s labor management and labor clashes during the first half of the 20th Century.

NEWS IN BRIEF “In these efforts, I was like the Kirby Center has to offer NANTICOKE so many other local history once it is safe to reopen.” researchers who have benePair charged with — STAFF REPORT fited from his extensive dealing fentanyl City negotiating knowledge and kind mentorTwo Nanticoke residents ship,” Wolensky said. golf course lease are facing drug-trafficking Wolensky said Hastie was Most of the survivors of the Knox Mine Disaster were pulled to safety through the The City of Wilkes-Barre charges after a search of their a dear friend and colleague Eagle Shaft. Here, Joseph Soltis is helped out with a rope. home turned up hundreds of is in discussions with the and “perhaps the last of the Wilkes-Barre General packets of fentanyl Monday old-time mineworker-schol- ‘Despite his fantastic memory and deep cite history mentor for him.

Municipal Authority regardmorning, according to police.

They worked together to ars.” ing a possible lease of the Tedd O. Eldridge, 43, and understanding, he was never one to brag create the 135th anniversary “Despite his fantastic Hollenback Golf Course by Stephanie Danko, 31, were memory and deep under- or show superiority. His humility was as commemoration of the Avonthe authority, Mayor George arrested when Hanover Twp. dale Mine Disaster in Plymstanding, he was never one to Brown’s office announced and Nanticoke police apparent as his steadfastness.’ outh Twp. and Hughes said brag or show superiority. His Monday. descended on their home on Hastie’s Welsh singing and humility was as apparent as The authority has shown Lincoln Avenue around ROBERT WOLENSKY both of their connections to St. his steadfastness,” Wolensky success in managing the WilHistory professor 7:10 a.m.

Monday .

David’s Society helped bring said. “The local history comkes-Barre Municipal Golf A search turned up more “beautiful” Welsh hymns to munity will mourn the loss than $12,000 in cash, 887 pack- Course in Bear Creek Twp., the event and program.

Hastie was the “epitome of a of one of its giants but we brating his 101st birthday. “and under their expertise, They also worked together ets of fentanyl stamped “New can also celebrate a long life “He will be remembered as great American.” the Hollenback Golf Course Law,” a stolen gun, marijua“He personified the Wyo- on many other projects such very well lived.” a hero for his service during can become a successful venna, cellphones and digital Wi l ke s - B a r r e M ayo r World War II and then for ming Valley where one’s eth- as documentaries about the ture,” the Mayor’s Office said scales, police said.

George Brown proclaimed aiding in the rescue of 69 nic heritage blended together Knox Mine Disaster and the in a press release.

They were both charged May 28, 2020 “Bill Hastie miners during the Knox to create what America Huber Breaker in Ashley.

Last year, Hollenback cost with drug trafficking and “His role in the Knox Mine Day” when he celebrated his Mine Disaster,” Brown said. stands for,” Brooks said. “I more than twice to run than drug possession.

Eldridge 101st birthday.

“He contributed his knowl- will miss his true grit as a Disaster saving lives was sigwas also charged with receiv- it generated in revenue. The In honor of his birthday, edge of the local mining coal miner and be forever nificant,” Hughes said. “He city spent about $268,945 on ing stolen property, possessthe medical center organized industry throughout his life grateful for his handing was an iconic figure of maintenance, salaries and ing drug paraphernalia and a parade for him and emer- and preserved the memory down of Welsh culture to the anthracite mining history benefits and received only illegally possessing a firearm. gency vehicles from Wilkes- of the Knox Mine Disaster present and future genera- throughout the Wyoming about $126,548 in revenue Magisterial District Judge Valley and I truly enjoyed Barre, Wilkes-Barre Twp. for generations to come. I tions.” generated from fees and Donald L. Whittaker Bobby Hughes, executive our time together to learn and Plains Twp. participated extend my condolences to his advertising, according to a arraigned the pair Monday to show their support for family and friends as they director of the Eastern Penn- from him and absorb any December 2019 financial morning and set bail at sylvania Coalition for Aban- knowledge he was willing to him. honor his life and legacy.” report. $250,000 each. They were share.”

Brown said Monday he Wilkes-Barre Councilman doned Mine Reclamation, The authority ended 2019 being held at the Luzerne was sad to learn of Hastie’s Tony Brooks, who also is past was good friends with Hastie Contact the writer: with $436,997 in revenue and County Correctional Facility death but he was thankful to president of St. David’s Soci- for more than 25 years and he dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com $522,069 in expenses for the with a preliminary hearing have had the honor of cele- ety of Wyoming Valley, said said he had been an anthra- 570-821-2115, @Cvallabaugh Wilkes-Barre Municipal set for Nov. 25.

— JAMES HALPIN Golf Course, representing an $85,072 deficit, according to a WILKES-BARRE financial report the authoriKirby Center to ty board provided earlier this year. launch auction From PaGe a1 at that (higher) rate, but I “It’s a job that has always ‘Every applicant — STEVE MOCARSKY can’t work for this,’” Frati been there, but we never The F.M. Kirby Center is who came in here identified it as such,” Frati launching “Shop from Home DALLAS TWP. Frati said Brown’s admin- said. istration was having a hard Frati said administrators would say, “yeah, said. “We established a new for the Holidays” online aucSchool board to time filling positions, and had their backs against the position with a title so it’s tion 11 a.m. Wednesday and current CDL IV drivers were wall as far as filling posiI’ll come to work easier to identify in the bud- ending 6 p.m. Friday on the fill vacant seat leaving — either retiring or tions, especially with an get.”

The Dallas School Board is center’s Facebook page. for the City of resigning — at the height of increase in recycling collecThe two other dual posiaccepting applications for a Auction items include the coronavirus pandemic.

Wilkes-Barre at tions are new, however, and signed posters from artists vacant school board seat. tions and garbage collections “CDL drivers are at a pre- because so many people were negotiated with the that have visited the Kirby The seat became vacant mium everywhere right were furloughed or working that (higher) rate, union, Frati noted. after the death of Mark BaceCenter, such as Sebastian n ow, ” F r at i s a i d . “ We from home and producing but I can’t work for “These changes ultimately Maniscalco, Billy Strings wicz two weeks ago. Bacecouldn’t get anybody, we more waste. result in savings to the city, and Jason Isbell among wicz, 53, of Dallas Twp., won this.”’ were losing people, so we The elimination of the but the amount is difficult to many others. Additional a four-year term on the decided to go to the union wage reduction was applied project. It depends on wheth- items to help celebrate the school board as a write-in BUTCH FRATI and eliminate (the 20% to the most-recently hired er there’s a lot of snow to holidays will also be auccandidate in November 2019.

Wilkes-barre director reduction clause from the employees — four drivers plow and how much over- tioned.

Bacewicz was a profesof operations contract) until we could get who were hired in 2019 and time is needed,” Frati said.

“Like most nonprofits and sional engineer and worked e n o u gh q u al i f i ed C D L two hired this year, Frati Laborer at $42,597 to Sign And, Frati said, DPW small businesses, the past for Susquehanna Valley Conemployees. As a CDL driver, said, adding that it was also Shop Tech / CDL Driver at “worked pretty much all seven months have been struction for more than 30 you could go anywhere. applied to a recently filled $50,960. year … up until the last few nothing short of a challenge years.

There were ads in the paper laborer position out of fair■ Daniel Culver was pro- months with four less full- at the F.M. Kirby Center,” The eight current board for $45,000 a year and a sign- ness and because laborers moted from CDL Driver / time employees than we bud- Director of Development members will appoint a on bonus. We were afraid to often are promoted to drivers Laborer at $42,597 to Heavy geted for. … We budgeted for Joell Yarmel said. “Proceeds ninth member with a term lose some of the skilled, after gaining the necessary Equipment Operator / CDL 39, and we only had 35. We from this online auction will that expires in December qualified drivers we have experience and accredita- Driver at $50,960. did have savings there. The help to sustain the daily 2021. The last day to apply for here.” tion.

■ Mark Obrzut was pro- Teamsters will tolerate that operations of the Kirby Cen- the seat is Friday.

“We actually lost one of Frati said large raises moted from CDL Driver / … but after a while, they ter while our stage is dark Applicants should submit our better drivers, who took doled out in another execu- Laborer at $49,100 to Heavy want their full complement due to the COVID-19 pana letter of interest and applia p o s i t i o n e l s e wh e r e, tive order in March were due Equipment Operator / CDL of employees based on the demic. Although our doors cation to: N. Lynn Wilson, because of that. Every appli- to promotions following Driver at $65,493. contract agreement.” may be closed, our dedicated Dallas School Board Secrecant who came in here would retirements or resignations: Sign shop tech was not a Contact the writer: tary, 2010 Conyngham Ave., staff continues to work to say, ‘yeah, I’ll come to work ■ John Campbell was pro- position listed in the 2020 smocarsky@citizensvoice.com Dallas, PA 18612. ensure that our community 570-821-2110; @mocarskyCv for the City of Wilkes-Barre moted from CDL Driver / budget.

— MICHAEL P. BUFFER will be able to enjoy all that

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Wyoming Seminary field hockey wins 3rd straight title

Flipping to blue

Edwardsville, Forty Fort go from Trump to Biden

BY MICHAEL P. BUFFER STAFF WRITER

SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Wyoming Seminary field hockey team poses with their trophy after defeating Greenwood for the PIAA Class 1A state championship in Whitehall on Saturday.

W

yoming Seminary added another chapter to its field hockey dynasty Saturday, beating Greenwood, 3-0, for the PIAA Class 1A state championship at Whitehall High School.

The undefeated Blue Knights (16-0), who also won Wyoming Valley Conference and District 2 titles, became the first local field hockey team to win three PIAA championships in a row.

Isabella Pisano, Ella Barbacci and Anna Mozeleski scored for Wyoming Seminary, which got another sensational performance in goal by Iowa commit Mia Magnotta, who made 13 saves.

COMPLETE GAME COVERAGE BEGINS ON PAGE B1.

Saving history, one building at a time

Advocates praise move to protect W-B’s historic architecture

Please see BLUE, Page A6

Judge throws out Trump bid to stop Pa. vote certification The judge said the campaign’s claims were ‘unsupported by evidence.’

BY MARK SCOLFORO ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pennsylvania officials can certify election results that currently show Democrat Joe Biden winning the state by more than 80,000 votes, a federal judge ruled Saturday, dealing President Donald Trump’s campaign another blow in its effort to invalidate the election.

U.S. District Judge Mat-

BY STEVE MOCARSKY STAFF WRITER

WILKES-BARRE — Vaughn Koter adores his 91-year-old historic home on West Ross Street, he loves the character of his neighborhood and he’s grateful the city council has taken action to help protect both.

“I remember when I was probably in junior high, King’s College tore down all the brownstones on Union Street. I remember seeing all those beautiful buildings being demolished,” Koter, a 49-year-old working in health care technology sales, said.

“I just didn’t get it. Other communities are preserving their history, but we have a way of tearing these beautiful architectural gems down and then put up buildings that don’t necessarily fit in with the landscape,” Koter lamented. “I think we’re losing a lot of our history, and it’s not a

Four years ago, Donald Trump won the presidential vote in Luzerne County by 25,971 votes and was on top in 72 of the county’s 76 municipalities.

“Ugh,” Edwardsville resident Cynthia Zimmerman said of the 2016 election.

Zimmerman voted for Hillary Clinton, who finished 44,292 votes behind Trump in Pennsylvania.

“I was very disappointed with that,” she said.

In the Nov. 3 election, Trump won the unofficial county vote by 22,056 votes, and Edwardsville is one of two county municipalities to flip to Joe Biden.

“Well four years of Trump showed the mess

he’s made of things,” Zimmerman said, explaining Biden’s success in her town.

“I certainly hope some people were swayed by the evidence before their eyes, coronavirus out of control, etc.”

Forty Fort is the other Luzerne County municipality that flipped.

“I didn’t realize it until my wife told me Forty Fort went blue. I don’t know why. I know there were a lot more Biden signs than Hillary signs four years ago,” said Mike Cherinka, a Biden voter from Forty Fort. “But there is a still a big Trump contingent here. I always thought Forty Fort was more of a Republican town.”

thew Brann in Williamsport turned down the request for an injunction by Trump’s campaign. In his ruling, Brann said the Trump campaign presented “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations ... unsupported by evidence.”

“In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state,” the opinion said. “Our people, laws, and institutions demand more.”

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Vaughn Koter stands in front of his historic home on West Ross Street in WilkesBarre. Koter bought the home two years and restored it to a single-family home while maintaining its historic features. good thing for our city.”

Koter’s home, which lies in what the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office recognizes as the River Street Historic District, and other buildings in that district are now protected from neglect that could lead to condemnation as well as from developers with plans to demolish

them and replace them with something different.

Wilkes-Barre City Council on Nov. 5 passed on final reading an amendment to the city’s zoning ordinance, authorizing an historic properties overlay for the zoning map and establishing an Historic Overlay District Advisory Committee that will desig-

nate historic properties in the city and review any applications that seek to make changes to properties included in the district.

The district can be designated to include any property in the city that the committee deems historic.

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HISTORY: Wilkes-Barre ordinance exception to the norm in Pa. FrOm PaGE a1

Applications for building permits, land development plans, land subdivisions and demolition permits for buildings in that overlay district will have to come before the committee for review, and the committee will make recommendations for approval or denial to the issuer of a permit.

“I am very glad to see the initial step of putting that into effect,” Koter said. “If we keep tearing things down and putting up parking lots or prefabricated buildings, we’re losing the charm and the blood, sweat and tears that people put into building our community.”

Protecting the past Koter used to live about a quarter mile from his current home, and he put that home on the market in 2018 with plans to move out of the city. But while he was out on a run one day, he noticed a “for sale” sign in front of the Ross Street structure, which he had always admired and had once served as the quarters for the Wilkes University wrestling team.

“I immediately called my Realtor. I wasn’t in the door three steps and I knew I was going to buy it. I think it was an overall feeling of the history of the home. And the exterior architecture is something you don’t find in today’s buildings. The brick work outside is spectacular,” Koter said.

Many homes in that area have their own historic charm that adds to the character of the neighborhood. In fact, employees of the city health department are using a state grant to develop a smartphone app that will assist users with a self-guided tour of the historic district, which runs along River and Franklin streets between Ross and North streets.

“Historic preservation is what makes each community unique,” said city Councilman Tony Brooks, who has been working with Larry Newman, executive director of the nonprofit downtown management organization Diamond City Partnership, the Downtown Residents Association and state historic officials for years to develop a local ordinance to preserve the city’s architectural heritage.

Brooks said members of those organizations and the Wilkes-Barré Preservation Society, of which Brooks is founder and president, were galvanized by a developer’s decision to demolish the his-

SEaN mCKEaG / STaFF PHOTOGraPHEr

Tony Brooks, president of the Wilkes-Barré Preservation Society stands outside the historic Irem Shrine in downtown Wilkes-Barre on Thursday. Brooks, also a city councilman, introduced an ordinance to protect historic structures in the city in October, and the ordinance was adopted earlier this month. toric Frank Clark Jeweler building on South Main Street this past summer to make way for a hotel and conference center with apartments and retail space, claiming it wasn’t feasible to preserve even part of the building’s façade.

“This has been a discussion that’s been going on for decades, literally decades,” Newman said of the zoning legislation. “It came up during the creation of the River Street Historic District in the mid ‘80s, again in the early ‘90s when there was an increase in demolition of historic properties … and in 2001 when historic preservation was one of the six basic strategies identified to advance downtown revitalization.”

“It was a long time coming but also a huge step forward for the city because, obviously, these structures don’t just tell the story of our past, they are also a key ingredient in helping us … plot a new future for the city,” Newman said, noting that all of the 250 new housing units added to the downtown over the last 10 years were constructed in historic commercial buildings.

King’s College’s recent repurposing of the historic Spring Brook Water Co. building, constructed in 1913, to house the Mulligan Center for Engineering, brought new academic programs to the city while preserving the character of the neighborhood by maintaining the building’s architecture, Newman said.

SEaN mCKEaG / STaFF PHOTOGraPHEr

The bathroom in Vaughn Koter’s West Ross Street home is all original from when the house was built in 1929.

SEaN mCKEaG / STaFF PHOTOGraPHEr

The original blueprints from Vaughn Koter’s house that was built in 1929 on West Ross Street in Wilkes-Barre.

City council’s recently-passed ordinance aims to protect historic structures such as Koter’s from demolition by neglect and unchecked development.

Preservation Office, said that unfortunately, Wilkes-Barre’s initiative to pass a local historic preservation ordinance is the exception to the norm.

“Without any regulation, private property owners can do as they please. They can demolish a building without anyone in the community saying, wait, you can’t do that. Regardless of the significance of the building,” Van Sweden said. “Developers will often seek to build something that suits the driving public without focusing on the pedestrian character of a neighborhood.”

For example, when constructing a new building, a developer might put an emphasis on putting a parking lot in the front, even though it’s been shown that Increasing value interrupting the continuity Bryan Van Sweden, com- of a streetscape consisting of munity preservation coordi- shops and offices can be “a nator for the State Historic real deterrent to people” who

are sightseeing or window shopping, Van Sweden said.

He said some people might fear that putting historical preservation restrictions on properties will deter people from buying them or developers from developing them.

“But study upon study show that this actually stabilizes or even increases the property value because it shows the community cares about these places. It gives them value,” Van Sweden said.

And when towns successfully market their historic assets, they can draw more visitors and boost the local economy.

Attracting visitors Ted Wampole, executive director of Visit Luzerne County, said heritage tourism is “a big part of what we promote at the Luzerne County Visitors Bureau.”

‘It was a long time coming but also a huge step forward for the city because, obviously, these structures don’t just tell the story of our past, they are also a key ingredient in helping us … plot a new future for the city.’

LARRY NEWMAN

diamond City Partnership

Wampole noted that a 2019 brand study survey revealed that residents in and visitors to the county ranked historical and architectural attractions among the top 10 things they like to do and places they like to go in the county.

“They’re all throughout the county, but Wilkes-Barre has several. Almost everyone points to the Luzerne County Courthouse. It’s a great architectural and historical location,” Wampole said before rattling off a list of others including the Stegmaier mansions and the Irem Temple.

Brooks has been giving tours for years to out-of-towners who take bus trips to the city for historic tours that also include a stop at Mohegan Sun Pocono casino in neighboring Plains Twp. Some sites in the city are on the National Register of Historic Places, including the former New Jersey Central train station at Market

Street Square, built in 1868.

Local developer George Albert is restoring and repurposing the building for offices and agreed to let the city establish a Planters Peanuts Museum there at no cost.

Van Sweden said restoring and developing structures on the National Register qualify developers for federal tax credits, and there are state grants available for municipalities and nonprofits to restore or develop historic sites.

Koter said he hopes more people consider buying homes and developing historic sites in the city.

“I would encourage people to purchase homes or apartments downtown,” Koter said. There are a lot of good homes looking to be occupied by people who share the same outlook.”

Contact the writer: smocarsky@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2110, @mocarskyCV

VALLEY SANTA TO REQUEST

Season of giving Valley Santa, a nonprofit organization, purchases toys for needy children throughout Luzerne County for the holidays. The program is sponsored by The Citizens’ Voice and Standard-Speaker newspapers, boscov’s department Store, m&T bank and the City of Wilkes-barre.

Valley Santa accepts monetary donations from the community and uses the funds to purchase new toys for local children whose families need help during the holiday season. The stories published here daily between now and Christmas are based on actual letters received from families seeking assistance. Names of the letter writers have been changed to protect anonymity of families.

Single mom asks for Valley Santa’s help

BY DENISE ALLABAUGH STaFF WrITEr

FraNK C. LaurI / CONTrIbuTING PHOTOGraPHEr

Santa arrives at the Wyoming Valley Mall Santa Claus arrived at the Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre Twp. on Saturday, ready to greet children and hear their Christmas wishes. Things will be different this year for the jolly old elf though, as the coronavirus pandemic has brought about changes to keep him and the children safe. Guests won’t be able to sit on Santa’s lap or hug him, and visits will be socially distanced.

All guests must also wear face coverings. Santa will still be in photos with guests. To encourage social distancing, the mall is utilizing a reservationpreferred system to avoid overcrowding. To make a reservation, visit the mall’s website, shopwyomingvalleymall.com. ABOVE: Santa waves to shoppers as he waits to greet children at the mall Saturday.

for her sons.

In the meantime, she is struggling financially and asked for Valley Santa’s help to provide Christmas presents for her 9-year-old son Peter and 6-year-old son Stephen.

Valley Santa relies on donations to purchase Christmas gifts for children in need like Peter and Stephen.

Volunteers shop for and wrap the gifts at Boscov’s in Wilkes-Barre. Everyone is encouraged to donate to Valley Santa to make this Christmas brighter for children in need.

Carrie, a single mother of two boys, is attending Luzerne County Community College while also helping her sons with virtual schooling.

In a letter to Valley Santa, she said she has struggled with addiction and moved away for a time period to rehabilitation to recover and help make her children’s lives better as well.

Thanks to the help and support she received, she said she has been sober for more than two years.

Her goal is to graduate Contact the writer: from LCCC and find a weld- dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com ing job so she could provide 570-821-2115, @CVallabaugh

Write a letter in care of Valley Santa, P.O. box 5268, Wilkes-barre, Pa 18711. Explain the need that exists in as much detail as possible. you must include your name, ages and genders of your children, your full address, zip code and telephone number. The letter must be cosigned by a clergy member, social worker, school personnel or health care personnel and must include their name, address and telephone number for confirmation purposes. requests will be considered for children 12 years of age and younger. requests must be postmarked by dec. 15. No telephone requests will be accepted.

TO GIVE Send a check or money order to The Valley Santa Fund Inc., P.O. box 5276, Wilkes-barre, Pa 18711.

Checks should be made payable to The Valley Santa Fund Inc. Visit valleysanta. org to donate via PayPal. all donations are tax deductible. monetary donations also will be accepted at any m&T bank branch in the Wyoming Valley. because Santa has no workshop or warehouse space, no new or used toys can be accepted. donors’ names will be published in The Citizens’ Voice and Standard-Speaker.

TO VOLUNTEER To volunteer with the Valley Santa program, Call Help Line at 570-829-1341.