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September 20, 2015
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DUI cases dismissed
PoPe Francis in america
Two dozen defendants have charges dropped due to no-show cops By Terrie Morgan-Besecker staff writer
WARREN RUDA / THE CITIzENS’ VOICE
images of the pope are printed at Wet paint printing and Design in Wilkes-Barre. The images are then cut out and delivered to customers.
FRANCIS FEVER MoRE iNSiDE
o What you need to know if you’re planning to head to Philadelphia. page A6 o Perspective: Holy father challenging the world. page A7 o We welcome Pope francis to America. page B14
PAPAL VISIT 2015
LivE covERAgE o We’ll have complete live coverage of Pope francis’ visit beginning friday.
WARREN RUDA / THE CITIzENS’ VOICE
Scott paull of Wet paint printing and Design in Wilkes-Barre stands with a pope francis cutout.
Excitement grows as locals prepare to see the pope in Philadelphia
By Bob Kalinowski staff writer
When K.C. Wanamaker told his grandfather he was going to see the pope in Philadelphia next week, he was surprised by the reaction. “My grandfather, of all people, told me I need to take a selfie with the pope,” the King’s College senior said. Wanamaker doubts that’s possible, but he believes the joke illustrates one thing about Pope Francis: he’s a transformational figure who is connecting with the younger generation and making it cool to be Catholic again. The 21-year-old senior and dozens of classmates will be among the more than 1 million people expected to make the pilgrimage to Philadelphia for next Sunday’s papal Mass. “I see it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Wanamaker said.
Excitement continues to build around the area in anticipation of the pope’s visit, the first papal visit to the United States since Pope Benedict in April 2008. Churches and schools throughout the Diocese of Scranton are offering bus trips to Philadelphia to hear Pope Francis lead a Mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Some of the faithful may be lugging along life-size cardboard cutouts that a Wilkes-Barre printing company is churning out. “I’ve been selling the popes for years. It just happens this pope is a hit,” said Steve Taren, owner of Wet Paint Printing and Design on Horton Street. His company has printed, sold and shipped thousands of cardboard cutouts of Pope Francis around the world in recent weeks, he said. coNTiNUED oN pAgE A6
Pope Francis kicks off trip in Cuba, praises US-Cuba detente as model for the world By Nicole Winfield and Michael Weissenstein associated press
HAVANA — Pope F rancis hailed detente between the United States and Cuba as a model of reconciliation for the world, urging Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro to persevere in building normal ties as the pontiff launched a 10-day tour of the former Cold War foes Saturday. Francis’ surprisingly direct call for progress toward normalization came after weeks of Vatican assurances that he would not explicitly address politics during
his pastoral trip to Cuba and the U.S. He served as mediator and guarantor of 18 months of secret ne gotiations that led to the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries this year. “For some months now, we have witnessed an event which fills us with hope: the process of normalizing relations between two peoples following years of estrangement,” the pope said in a speech on the tarmac of Jose Marti International Airport.
Editorial: There’s got to be a better way. Dismissed DuIs are evidence of an antiquated casereview system that should have been abandoned years ago. page A12
Salavantis
DeLuca
edly failed to show up for the “write-up” session — a procedure in Luzerne County following the preliminary hearing at which an officer meets with an assistant district attorney to review the case. The number of disapproved cases is a small fraction of the roughly 1,200 drunken driving cases in Luzerne County each year. But to have any disapproved for that reason isn’t acceptable, Salavantis said. “I don’t want to see any of them disapproved. I want to make sure people are held accountable,” Salavantis said. “It’s pretty much disgraceful they are not showing up for write-ups.” Attorney Vito DeLuca, a Democrat who is running against Salavantis, a Republican, in the November general election, said the officers’ failure to appear is not a valid reason to dismiss a case. “You are going to take away a legitimate DUI because the cop doesn’t show up? That’s unacceptable,” DeLuca said. “The case becomes the DA’s case from the day it is filed. They have a responsibility to track it. There’s no way this should have happened.” coNTiNUED oN pAgE A5
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pope francis waves from his popemobile as he leaves the airport and arrives in Havana, cuba, on Saturday.
Eric Landolt had a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when he crashed his car into an embankment in Avoca last March, according to police. Discovered slumped over the wheel with an empty bottle of vodka on the floor, Landolt showed clear signs of intoxication, the Dupont police officer who charged him with drunken driving said in an affidavit. It was Landolt’s sixth arrest for drunken driving since 1992, meaning he faced a mandatory one year and possibly as much as five years in prison if convicted. He didn’t spend a single day in jail, however, because the Luzerne County District Attorney’s office dismissed the charges after the police officer failed to follow through with the case. He’s not alone. Landolt, of Laflin, is one of 24 defendants charged with drunken driving within the past three years who walked free because county prosecutors dropped the charges, a Citizens’ Voice investigation found. Nine of those defendants had prior or subsequent arrests for drunken driving, including Landolt and another man who each had five prior drunken driving convictions and another offender who had four prior convictions. In two instances, the cases were disapproved even though the defendants agreed to plead guilty at their preliminary hearings. District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis and her first assistant, Sam Sanguedolce, said they’re not happy the defendants escaped prosecution. They said they had little choice but to drop charges, however, after officers repeat-
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