75 Years/Salute to WWII by Dave

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Trump issues executive order on virus aid

Pittston Twp. veteran recalls WWII combat missions

Trump’s order will allow some pay for those unemployed and also defer payroll taxes. BY JONATHAN LEMIRE AND ZEKE MILLER ASSOCIATED PRESS

BY BOB KALINOWSKI STAFF WRITER

atrick Solano engineered 23 bombing missions over Germany during World War II and flashbacks of his heroics gripped him while cleaning out the family homestead last year after his sister’s death. He found his brother’s Army uniform. “It was like a dream,” the 95-year-old said recently at his Pittston Twp. home.” When I found my brother’s clothes up in the attic, it brought me back like nostalgia — like it was yesterday — and I remember it all.” As the 75th anniversary of the war’s end approaches Friday, Solano knows he’s among the dwindling few still around to tell personal stories of the war. “I don’t think there are too many of us left that were in combat. You can’t be younger than 94 or 95,” Solano said. “When you think of it, God was good to you to live this long.” Drafted into World War II in 1942 after graduating from Pittston Twp. High School, Solano was given his pick of fighting in Europe or the Pacific.

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World War II veteran Patrick Solano, 95, stands outside his Pittston Twp residence last month. “I took Europe because I can’t swim,” Solano recalled recently sitting under a poolside cabana in his backyard. He couldn’t swim, but he sure knew how to fly. A member of the U.S. Army Air Corps, Solano served as flight engineer on 23 combat missions over Germany in a B-17 bomber. He was the senior non-commissioned officer who aided the pilots in every aspect of the missions. “I sat in the ‘monkey seat’ between the pilot and copilot. If a bomb hung up, I had to go in the bomb bay and drop it,” Solano recalled.

The planes constantly took on anti-aircraft fire, he said. “When you are young, you say you’re not scared,” Solano said. “If I had to do it years later, I’d be scared to death. But at that time, we were all full of vinegar.” Solano pointed to a mission on March 18, 1945. “That raid there we had over 1,250 bombers, 750 fighters going in on Berlin. All in one shot. That was the largest armada to this day in bombing of a city. I was on that raid,” Solano said.

75 Years

Please see SOLANO, Page A3

I don’t think there are too many of us left that were in combat. You can’t be younger than 94 or 95. When you think of it, God was good to you to live this long.

Saluting the end of WWII

The Citizens' Voice is profiling local veterans to commemorate the end of World War II, which was announced Aug. 14, 1945. Today we profile Patrick Solano, 95, of Pittston Twp., who flew 23 combat missions over Germany. This is the first in a sixpart series. COMING MONDAY: John Wrazien, 97, of Dupont, who stormed the beaches of Normandy.

PATRICK SOLANO, World War II veteran

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Vote-by-mail worries persist in many states Issues with primary elections are doing little to instill confidence. BY FRANK BAJAK AND CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON — Brace yourself for what’s expected to be the first U.S. presidential election conducted mostly by mail. It could be messy. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, voting by mail in a contactless and socially TED S. WARREN / ASSOCIATED PRESS distant way seems like a no-brainer. Vote-by-mail ballots are shown in States have made the option widely sorting trays last week at the King available — only 10 now require voters County Elections headquarters in to provide an excuse beyond fear of Renton, Wash. COVID-19 when requesting a ballot by

mail — and some three in four Americans are expected to embrace the option for the Nov. 3 presidential election, up from one in four in the 2018 contest. But running a vote-by-mail election is surprisingly complicated, and there’s a lot of room for things to go wrong. Validating and counting a deluge of posted ballots in an open and accountable way presents a major challenge, one that only about a half dozen states are fully prepared for. It doesn’t help that President Donald Trump has waged a vigorous offensive against the idea via a barrage of baseless tweets alleging the imminence of massive voting fraud. Please see ELECTION, Page A3

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SOLANO: Continued public service after war FROM PagE a1

Solano said he usually kept his war stories to himself until he was interviewed for a WVIA-TV documentary several years ago. “All my kids said, ‘Why didn’t you ever tell us this stuff ?’ Well, it seems like the World War II guys never talked about it until (Tom) Brokaw came up with that ‘Greatest Generation,” Solano said. When the war ended in Europe — Victory in Europe or V-E Day — in May 1945, Solano wasn’t there to experience it. He was on leave in London. “How do you like that?” Solano said. Solano, then 19, said he did some deserved celebrating. Maybe a little too much. “We didn’t get back for two days. The British took care of us. I didn’t know where we slept or what we were doing for two days. They had a bonfire 150 feet high in Piccadilly Circus. Everything we n t b e d l a m , ” S o l a n o recalled. Solano said his unit was all ready to join the war in the Pacific, but instead they started flying over Africa and the Mediterranean Sea to make new surveillance maps.

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MORE ONLINE Find video of World War II veteran Patrick Solano with this story at citizensvoice.com.

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World War II veteran Patrick Solano, 95, went on to work in state government after the war, serving in the administrations of nine governors. It was during that time when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, causing them to surrender on Aug. 15, 1945 there, or Aug. 14 in the United States. Solano said there was much less celebration among his comrades since they weren’t close to the action in the Pacific and didn’t take part in the fighting.

“It seemed like two different war zones where we were only concerned with our own. We never knew too much about what was going in the Pacific,” Solano said. “Most of us knew it was going to end. We knew they had them, so it wasn’t much of a surprise.” After the war, Solano went on to work in state government. He served in the

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Pike 1,927 526 administrations of nine gov212 ernors. At one point, he 21 Luzerne headed the Department of 3,438 Monroe Environmental Resources 184 1,624 and later the Department of Carbon Conservation of Natural 124 Resources when that agency 370 split into two. He ended his 28 career as senior counselor to northampton Schuylkill Republican Gov. Tom Ridge. 3,918 909 Lehigh Ridge asked Solano to join 292 51 him in Washington D.C. 4,934 when Ridge was appointed 337 to head the new Department of Homeland Security after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But Solano decided to call it a career. “I was in public service all my life. I always tried to find the common ground on stuff. I look at people today and they can’t get a long on anything. There’s no middle,” Solano said. I’m a RepubliBY KENT JACKSON the spread of COVID-19. StaFF WRItER can by title. But I dealt with Since then, their regional the Democrats all my life. An upswing in cases of partnership inspected 140 They like me and I like COVID-19 reawakened senti- businesses and heard safety them.” nels watching for a resur- concerns raised by more gence in Luzerne County. than 400 workers, according Contact the writer: bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com Last week, leaders from to state Sen. John Yudichak, 570-821-2055; @cvbobkal Hazleton’s hospital resumed I-14, Swoyersville, who weekly meetings with elected helped organize code offirepresentatives, business cers. leaders and school officials When the virus declined, after the virus began to rise so did tips from the public. “In March and April, they that,” Meadows said Friday as again locally. Testing for the disease has drove me nuts. I was getting talks broke down. “But it is all that we can do and all the pres- increased at local hospitals anonymous calls, emails. ident can do within the con- and statewide since April, Then all of a sudden it fines of his executive power, although a national logjam stopped,” Hazle Twp. Superand we’re going to encourage slowed time for receiving visor James Montone said. “I results. haven’t had a complaint him to do it.” Pennsylvania Department since the middle of May.” Trump said the employee Montone thinks the bump portion of the payroll tax of Health publishes an Early would be deferred from Aug. 1 Warning Dashboard, which in cases last week came through the end of the year. contains information that because people are congreThe move would not directly helped residents track fluctu- gating, especially on vacaaid unemployed workers, who ations of the disease but tion, rather than from condido not pay the tax when they wasn’t available during the tions in workplaces. At local workplaces in are jobless, and employees will first wave. Also companies, labor April when cases were need to repay the federal government eventually without unions and municipal code higher, companies had trouan act of Congress, where officers continue to moni- ble purchasing masks and there is bipartisan opposition tor local industrial parks, protective equipment. Since w h e r e c a s e n u m b e r s then they’ve equipped on Capitol Hill. In essence, the deferral is an helped indicate that Hazle- workers, rebuilt work stainterest-free loan that would ton had become a hotspot tions to separate workers or install barriers between have to be repaid. Trump said in April. Back then, leaders from them. They’ve also adjusted he’ll try to get lawmakers to extend it, and the timing would Lehigh Valley Hospital- schedules to avoid crowdline up with a post-election Hazleton, city hall and the ing, bolstered cleaning lame-duck session in which Greater Hazleton Chamber crews and purchased scanCongress will try to pass gov- of Commerce were holding ners to take employees’ virtual meetings daily about temperatures. ernment funding bills. Whenever the COVID-19 “If I win, I may extend and the coronavirus. The meetterminate,” Trump said, ings tailed off as cases pandemic ends, those mearepeating a longtime goal but declined but resumed after sures will continue protectremaining silent on how he’d July 29 when case reports ing workers. “Taking temperatures fund the Medicare and Social refocused attention on HazleSecurity benefits that the 7% ton. Of the 34 new cases in before going to work, that’s tax on employee income cov- Luzerne County, 19 came not going to go away. It’s not ers. Employers also pay 7.65% from zip codes 18201 and just for COVID, it’s the flu of their payrolls into the funds. 18202 that cover Hazleton, and who knows what’s down West Hazleton and much of the pike. Basic cleanliness; Hazle Twp. it’s staying,” Scott Kostician, code officer for Hazle Twp., Code enforcement said. F ro m H a z l e T w p. t o When Kostician last Under a major Trump donor Hanover Twp., code officers checked in June, he was findnamed postmaster general in banded together on April 9 to ing infection rates of below June, cost-cutting plans are check whether workplaces 4% at companies. already triggering delays in complied with new rules set ordinary mail. A surge of to protect workers and slow Please see CASES, Page A6 mailed ballots could put the system under extraordinary strain. “The pipeline that moves mail between voters and election officials is very leaky,” Charles Stewart III, a political scientist at the MassachuStaFF REPORt 813 additional positive cases setts Institute of Technology, Luzerne County has 29 of COVID-19 statewide, wrote in a 2010 study. In a new positive COVID-19 cases bringing the statewide total July update, Stewart estimat- and no new deaths, accord- to 118,092, and 16 new deaths, ed that roughly 4% of mail ing to information released increasing the statewide ballots were lost through this Saturday by the state’s COVID-19 death count to process in the 2016 general department of health. 7,313 election. The county has 3,438 posiThe number of tests States including Wiscon- tive cases and the death toll administered within the last sin are now scrambling to remains at 184. 7 days is 150,527 with 5,231 add USPS “intelligent mail” The department reported positive cases. bar codes to their systems so ballots can be tracked COVID-19 BY THE NUMBERS through the mail. In states including Florida, Ohio, a quick glance at the global spread of the coronavirus as of aug. 8. North Carolina and Georgia, counties are adding ballotWorld cases United States cases tracking software that gives voters more precise ballot 19,497,292 4,994,276 status all the way to election (up from 19,282,972 (up from 4,937,441 authorities, said Steve Olsen, on aug. 7) on aug. 7) CEO of BallotTrax, the leading provider. World deaths United States deaths But such measures aren’t yet widespread. 723,854 162,381 In some states, voters who (up from 718,851 (up from 161,248 don’t trust the mail can use on aug. 7) on aug. 7) drop boxes instead. But box— NUMBERS REPORTED AS OF 7:30 P.M. SATURDAY es have been vandalized and FROM JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY poorly secured. Some RepubEDITOR’S NOTE: the Johns Hopkins university website relies licans say they invite fraud. upon publicly available data from multiple sources that do not The Trump campaign is always agree. More frequent updates of the map often result in suing Pennsylvania over higher case numbers than may be available from other sources that are updated less frequently. plans to use them in November.

Upswing in cases sets off warnings in Hazleton area

ORDER: Move could face legal challenges FROM PagE a1

Trump’s Democratic opponent in the presidential race, Joe Biden, said the president had issued “a series of halfbaked measures” and accused him of putting Social Security at risk.” The executive orders could face legal challenges questioning the president’s authority to spend taxpayer dollars without the express approval of Congress. Trump largely stayed on the sidelines during the administration’s negotiations with congressional leaders, leaving the talks on his side to chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Trump’s embrace of executive actions to sidestep Congress runs in sharp contrast to his criticism of former President Barack Obama’s use of executive orders on a more limited basis. And the president’s step-back from talks with Congress breaks with his self-assured negotiating skills. Now, Trump, who has not spoken with Pelosi since last year, sought to play the role of election-year savior, with the $400 weekly assistance, as well as a deferral of payroll tax and

federal student loan payments and the continuation of a freeze on some evictions during the crisis. “It’s $400 a week, and we’re doing it without the Democrats,” Trump said, asking states to cover 25% of the cost. Trump is seeking to set aside $44 billion in previously approved disaster aid to help states maintain supplemental pandemic jobless benefits, but Trump said it would be up to states to determine how much, if any of it, to fund, so the benefits could be smaller still. Many states have been facing budget shortfalls due to the coronavirus pandemic and would have difficulty assuming the new obligation. The previous unemployment benefit was fully funded by Washington. The president had said at his club on Friday night that “if Democrats continue to hold this critical relief hostage I will act under my authority as president to get Americans the relief they need.” Democrats had said they would lower their spending demands from $3.4 trillion to $2 trillion but said the White House needed to increase their offer. Republicans have pro-

posed a $1 trillion plan. White House aides have watched the talks break down with apprehension, fearful that failure to close a deal could further damage an economic recovery already showing signs of slowing down. Friday’s jobs report, though it beat expectations, was smaller than the past two months, in part because a resurgence of the virus has led to states rolling back their reopenings. The president’s team believes the economy needs to stabilize and show signs of growth for him to have any chance at winning reelection. Aides were hoping to frame the expected executive orders as a sign that Trump was taking action in a time of crisis. But it also would reinforce the view that the president, who took office declaring he was a dealmaker, was unable to steer the process to an agreement. Trump said Saturday the orders “will take care of pretty much this entire situation, as we know it.” But they are far smaller in scope than congressional legislation, and even aides acknowledged they didn’t meet all needs. “This is not a perfect answer — we’ll be the first ones to say

ELECTION: ‘Buckling under the weight’ FROM PagE a1

Turmoil in the U.S. Postal Service has only heightened concerns surrounding the ability of the nation’s myriad election systems to manage a presidential vote. Oregon, Colorado and Washington have held successful all-mail elections for years and others including F lorida and Califor nia expanded capacity long before the pandemic. Nearly everywhere else, the technical and logistical challenges loom large for budget-squeezed election officials with limited experience. Chaotic events during this year’s primaries did not instill confidence. Untold thousands of absentee ballot requests went unfulfilled, and tens of thousands of mailed ballots were rejected for multiple reasons including arriving too late to be counted. “The system is buckling under the weight of the dramatic surge and demand for absentee mail ballots,” said Wendy Weiser, director of the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “It hasn’t been built to withstand that high of a volume.” Among the major concerns: n Although Congress has sent $400 million to help states deal with pandemicrelated pressures on election systems, it’s well short of the estimated $2 billion experts say officials need to be ready

for November. n Not all states are equal when it comes to letting voters fix mistakes that lead to rejection of their ballots, such as failure to sign the mail-in envelope. In a New Jersey special election in May, a whopping 10% of mailed ballots were rejected. n The rapid introduction of new technologies and processes in state voting systems heightens the risk of foreign interference and insider tampering. That’s true even if simple human error or local maneuvering for political advantage are more likely threats. n The slower count of mailed ballots could clash with voter expectations of a clear Election Night winner. Election officials have already warned voters across the country that it could take days after the polls close to count all the votes. n In general, voting by mail is much less forgiving than the in-person method, where a voter’s identity is verified on the spot and any difficulties can be handled by poll workers. To ensure success, all the pieces of mail-in balloting systems have to be in place well before Election Day. That’s because processing absentee ballots is a complex, multistep process in most states: Voter fills out application, mails it to local election office; local election office verifies voter’s eligibility, sends back

ballot; voter completes ballot, signs envelope, returns it. Election office verifies ballot’s authenticity, counts it.

Ballot requests Ahead of multiple primaries this year, some election administrators were buried under an unprecedented flurry of absentee ballot requests. Some blank ballots got misaddressed; others were lost. In Georgia’s Fulton County, which includes Atlanta and is the state’s most populous, thousands of absentee ballots didn’t reach voters until after the polls had closed, according to local news reports. Washington, D.C., voters were similarly afflicted. In Wisconsin, requested absentee ballots never got to thousands of voters who asked. Jonas Zahn, a 46-yearold IBM executive, risked his health to vote in person on April 7 after twice requesting absentee ballots. “They still haven’t come so they must still be in the mail,” the Beaver Dam resident said in late July. In Milwaukee, nearly 2,700 absentee ballots were never mailed because election staff goofed and halted a batch printing of mailing labels, the state election commission later reported. It was just one of multiple snafus.

Mail reliability Will the U.S. Postal Service be up to processing and delivering an election-eve flood of tens of millions of ballots?

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CALL FOR ACTION Family, friends and activists seek justice for Mackey

States already facing budget crunches due to pandemic.

BY ERIC MARK STAFF WRITER

WILKES-BARRE — Shaheen Mackey was more than a hashtag or a number on a jail uniform, his family members said at a Sunday rally in front of the Luzer ne County Courthouse. Mackey died in June 2018, two days after being restrained by corrections officers at Luzerne County Correctional Facility, after he suffered an apparent violent seizure while jailed for an alleged violation of a protection from abuse order. County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis cleared the corrections officers of any criminal wrongdoing and the manner of Mackey’s death was ruled natural causes. H o w e v e r, i n J u n e Luzerne County council approved a $3 million settlement of a civil rights suit brought against the county by Mackey’s estate, and a video that showed the encounter between Mackey

75 Years

Saluting the end of WWII

The Citizens' Voice is profiling local veterans to commemorate the end of World War II, which was announced Aug. 14, 1945. Today we profile John Wrazien, 97, of Dupont, stormed the beaches of Normandy. This is the second in a six-part series. COMING TUESDAY: Frank Steinberg, 95, of Kingston, who suffered permanent wounds in the Battle of the Bulge.

BY MATTHEW BARAKAT ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Lamont Williams, of Wilkes-Barre, leads a Black Lives Matter protest, across Pierce St. in Wilkes-Barre, in support of Shaheen Mackey, a Luzerne County Correctional inmate who died after he suffered an apparent violent seizure in June 2018. and the corrections officers sparked outrage after it was leaked to social media last week. It also inspired Sun-

day’s rally, which started at the county jail. More than 100 people marched, chanting loudly and holding protest signs aloft, to

the nearby courthouse. to harm anyone at the jail T a t i y a n e e M a c k e y during the incident that recalled her father as a led to his death. gentle man who loved his family and who did not try Please see RALLY, Page A5

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Whether President Donald Trump has the constitutional authority to extend federal unemployment benefits by executive order remains u n c l e a r. Equally up in the air is whether states, which are necessary TRUMP partners in Trump’s plan to bypass Congress, will sign on. Trump announced an executive order Saturday that extends additional unemployment payments of $400 a week to help cushion the economic fallout of the pandemic. Congress had approved payments of $600 a week at the outset of the coronavirus outbreak, but those benefits expired Aug. 1 and Congress has been unable to agree on an extension. Please see PLAN, Page A4

Dupont native looks back on storming beaches of Normandy BY BOB KALINOWSKI STAFF WRITER

At age 97, John Wrazien vividly recalls storming the beaches of Nor mandy, France, on D-Day in June 1944 amid heavy German gunfire. He doesn’t care who believes him. “Who is going to say I’m lying about where I’ve been and what I’ve done?” Wrazien said recently. “If they were with me, they are either too old or dead.” Wrazien, a Dupont native who now lives at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Plains Twp., said he was with a squad of 12 infantrymen when his ship landed on Omaha Beach.

They immediately tried to take cover behind a “breakwater,” a barrier set up near the water’s edge. German gunfire burst from “pillboxes,” a series of concrete bunkers built atop the cliffs overlooking the beach, he said. “From our squad of 12, four of us survived. The other eight were killed. That’s how dangerous it was,” Wrazien said. “When we landed on the beach, our lead officer was killed. Our lead sergeant was killed. I was second in command so I actually took over the squad. When you’re in combat you don’t think it’s going to happen to you until it does happen.” Asked how he survived, he

said he had “no idea.” “Lots of luck I guess,” Wrazien said during a recent interview conducted online via video conference due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Wrazien and his unit fought through France, Germany and Czechoslovakia. He was in Czechoslovakia when the war ended in Europe in May 1945. “We had a big party in Czechoslovakia and drank Czech beer,” Wrazien recalled. Wrazien figures to celebrate again on Friday, which marks the 75th anniversary since the end of the war in Japan was announced in the United States. “What am I going to do?

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John Wrazien, 97, was with a squad of 12 infantrymen when his ship landed on Omaha Beach. Whatever they have planned for us. Maybe play bingo,” Wrazien said. In addition to Europe, Wrazien also served in Africa. During his years of service, Wrazien said he was shot in the shin, suffered eardrum damage after being hit with shrapnel and con-

tracted malaria. Wrazien said he’s proud of his service in helping win World War II. “I’m amazed that I remember,” Wrazien said. “There’s not too many of us left.” Contact the writer: bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2055; @cvbobkal

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CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS

State guidance for reopening schools relies on case totals SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

World War II veteran Frank Steinberg, 95, was injured in the Battle of the Bulge.

WWII veteran wounded for life in Battle of the Bulge Frank Steinberg, of Kingston, was shot through the arm. MARK MORAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Dallas School District Superintendent Thomas Duffy stands outside the Gerald J. Wycallis Primary Center on Monday. Officials at Dallas and other school districts might reconsider their plans for reopening during the coronavirus pandemic after the state issued new guidance on Monday. BY STEVE MOCARSKY STAFF WRITER

Officials in some school districts might reconsider reopening plans after state officials issued new pandemic-related guidance on Monday. Luzerne County ranks 12th and 15th highest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties in two risk factors that the state secretaries of health and education now say should be considered when reopening schools. The secretaries said at a press conference that superintendents should stay apprised of the percentage of COVID-19 tests that come back positive in their counties over the most recent seven-day period, and the number of positive tests per 100,000 county residents (the incidence rate) over that same period. Those metrics show the level of community transmission of coronavirus in a county, according to state Sec-

students or staff; READ MORE ■ A hybrid “blended learning” ■ Hanover Area halts sports for model that incorporates more remote two weeks due to confirmed learning to reduce the number of stucoronavirus case. Page B1 dents in school buildings to accom■ Dr. Rachel Levine says though modate social distancing; ‘important’ for kids, sports are ■ A full remote learning model in ‘not worth the risk’ this fall. which all students would be engaged Page B1 in learning remotely. The departments designated three MORE ONLINE different thresholds for community For more on local spread of COVID-19 to determine school reopening which educational model school displans, visit citizenstricts should use: voice.com/news/ education/reopening ■ Schools in a county with a low level of community transmission retary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine. over the last seven days (less than 10 Secretary of Education Pedro Rive- new positive COVID-19 cases per ra said schools may choose one of 100,000 residents, and less than 5% of three instructional models for the COVID-19 tests coming back positive) upcoming school year: should have “full, in-person” instruc■ A traditional, in-person model tion or use a blended learning model. with schools open every day and remote learning available for at-risk Please see SCHOOLS, Page A4

W-B Area students must pick school option by Friday BY BOB KALINOWSKI STAFF WRITER

Wilkes-Barre Area students have three options for returning to school next month: ■ Option 1: Traditional in-person instruction. Masks are required at all times except in classrooms where social distancing of six feet or greater can be

maintained. Parents/ guardians required to prescreen children. Temperature scans will be conducted at entrances. Hand sanitizer will be located in all classrooms. Every other row of desks will be empty. ■ Option 2: Remote distance learning. Students will be given a traditional schedule and be required to log

into classes at scheduled times. Camera will be pointed at the teacher and front of the classroom, not classmates, but students will be able to participate and interact in real time with the class. ■ Option 3: Cyber schooling. Students can enroll in the Wilkes-Barre Area Cyber Academy virtual school. Wilkes-Barre Area stu-

dents have until Friday to determine what schooling option they want for the upcoming academic year. Those attending in-person classes can also wear patterned masks that go against the school’s dress code that requires only solid colors. Please see OPTIONS, Page A4

Telemedicine shines during pandemic but will glow fade? Medical workers expect telemedicine to become a greater part of routine care. BY TOM MURPHY ASSOCIATED PRESS LAUREN SHELL VIA AP

Lauren Shell, a breast cancer survivor, was able to arrange a quick virtual visit with her doctor via the Zoom platform.

Racked with anxiety, Lauren Shell needed to talk to her cancer doctor. But she lives at least an hour away and it was the middle of her workday. It was also the middle of a pandem-

ic. Enter telemedicine. The 34-year-old Leominster, Massachusetts, resident arranged a quick video visit through the app Zoom in May with her doctor in Boston. He reassured her that he was confident in their treatment plan, and the chances of her breast cancer returning were low. “It was really great to be able to talk to him about what I was feeling,” she said. She felt comforted afterward

BY BOB KALINOWSKI STAFF WRITER

At 95, the image remains seared in Frank Steinberg’s mind: his first glimpse of a dead American soldier as a teenager while in combat against the Germans during World War II. “I still think about it,” Steinberg said recently at his home in Kingston. “A few tears came down my eyes, but things were so busy, you had to keep going.” Steinberg followed behind the front-line soldiers who took part in the D-Day invasion at Normandy, France. By November, he was involved in hand-tohand combat. He took part in the infamous Battle of the Bulge, a final German offensive seen as a key turning point in the war for Allied powers. The battle proved to be his last. He was shot through the left arm, ripping apart his ulnar nerve. The wound left him with a “claw hand” for life. “Just my thumb works,” Steinberg said. After being wounded, Steinberg was sent back to the United States. He was recovering in an Atlantic City, New Jersey, hospital when word broke in May 1945 that the Germans surrendered and the Allied forces had won the

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COMING WEDNESDAY: Judge Richard Hughes III shares his father’s letters from Bastogne. war in Europe. “There were big celebrations on the boardwalk,” Steinberg recalled. At the time, much of Atlantic City had been transformed into a main basic training and medical care center for the United States military. He might have been hurting, but Steinberg wanted to take part in the celebration along the boardwalk. He just needed to do so without letting his nurse find out. Steinberg just had another surgery, and she ordered him not to leave his room. Please see VETERAN, Page A4

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“knowing that I wasn’t alone.” This is how doctors and health care researchers envision telemedicine evolving after the COVID-19 pandemic fades. They see the practice — which has grown explosively this year — sticking around to replace many in-person visits and become a greater part of routine care. Please see TELEMEDICINE, Page A4

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The Citizens' Voice is profiling local veterans to commemorate the end of World War II, which was announced Aug. 14, 1945. Today we profile Frank Steinberg, 95, of Kingston, who suffered permanent wounds in the Battle of the Bulge This is the third in a six-part series.

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VETERAN: Thinks of the war ‘quite a bit’ FROM PagE a1

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Protective shields such as this one on a desk in a classroom at Wyoming Area Secondary Center in Exeter will be utilized by the district to protect students and faculty during the pandemic as schools resume instruction this fall.

SCHOOLS: Luzerne County in moderate level FROM PagE a1

■ Schools in a county with a moderate level of transmission over the last seven days (between 10 and 99 new cases per 100,000 residents, or less than 10% of all new tests coming back positive) should follow a blended learning model or a full-remote learning model. ■ Schools in a county with a substantial level of transmission over the last seven days (100 or more new cases per 100,000 residents, or 10% or more of new tests coming back positive) should use the full-remote learning model. With its most-recent positive test rate of 5.4% and 45.3 positive COVID tests per 100,000 residents, Luzerne County is in the “moderate” level of community transmission. Forty other counties also fall in that category. As of Friday, only Union County fell in the substantial transmission category with an 11.8% positive test rate and 185.3 positive tests per 100,000 residents. Twenty-one counties were in the low transmis-

SCHOOL REOPENING PLANS ■ Crestwood: In-person learning beginning Sept. 2 ■ Dallas: In-person learning beginning aug. 26. ■ Greater Nanticoke Area: Hybrid model with students physically going to school on two days beginning aug. 31 ■ Hanover Area: Virtual instruction until Oct. 1 beginning aug. 31. ■ Lake-Lehman: In-person learning beginning Sept. 8 ■ Northwest Area: Plan not finalized ■ Pittston Area: Hybrid model with students physically going to school on two days ■ Wilkes-Barre Area: Students have three options and need to choose one by Friday: In-person instruction, remote distance learning or cyber schooling. ■ Wyoming Area: Hybrid model with students physically going to school on two days beginning Sept. 8. ■ Wyoming Seminary: In-school beginning aug. 31. ■ Wyoming Valley West: Hybrid model with students physically going to school on two days beginning Sept. 8. sion category. Levine said the metrics the state is using to determine community spread are “the national standard. We’re using exactly the same metrics as the White House Coronavirus Task Force.” The metrics for each county can be viewed online on the state Department of Health’s Early Warning Monitoring System Dashboard, which is updated every Friday.

transmission category. They said they developed the recommendations because school district officials had asked for data-based guidance for re-opening schools. Dallas School District Superintendent Thomas Duffy said the new guidance, because it is based on data, “is appreciated” and “will have tremendous implications for reopening and possibly revising the plan for reopening in the 2020-21 school year.” The Dallas School Board approved a reopening plan on July 13 that set Aug. 26 as the first day of school for students, with “a complete return for all students every day.” Duffy said district officials will “spend a great deal of time reviewing and discussing the ramifications” of the new recommendations, but he expects any changes to the reopening plan will be communicated to parents sometime this week.

Levine and Rivera stressed that the guidelines are only recommendations, and Levine said she doesn’t foresee issuing any orders to use or switch to remote learning if school district officials don’t follow the educational model guidance. Department officials will, however, reach out to school districts if the metrics for their county increase Contact the writer: substantially and push them smocarsky@citizensvoice.com near or into the substantial 570-821-2110; @MocarskyCV

New bills aim at school, sports shutdowns aSSOCIaTEd PRESS

HARRISBURG — Republican state lawmakers in Pennsylvania say they want to give parents more power to let their children repeat a year of schooling if they feel their child didn’t get the education they needed or missed out on a year of athletics amid shutdowns during the pandemic. Rep. Jesse Topper, R-Fulton, said Monday that his forthcoming legislation applies equally to parents motivated by education or athletics. Currently, schools and parents make a joint decision as to when a student can repeat, Topper said. But Topper said

his legislation gives that sole decision-making power to the parents. So, for instance, a parent whose high schooler misses a season of football, baseball, basketball, soccer, field hockey or some other sport — and a chance to make their case for a college scholarship — can have them repeat a year, Topper said. Also, a parent whose elementary school student fell behind during the months after school buildings shut down in March and isn’t ready to move to the next grade can also choose to have their child repeat the grade,

Topper said. “We have to get this right,” Topper said in an interview. “We’re talking about kids that are going to be a year behind academically.” Gov. Tom Wolf ordered schools to shut their buildings as the pandemic hit Pennsylvania in March. Companion legislation being introduced by Rep. Mike Reese, R-Westmoreland, would give school districts the power to decide whether fall sports and activities can go on, including whether spectators are permitted. It would take that decisionmaking authority away from

the state or the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. Wolf on Thursday recommended that youth sports, including school athletics, not resume until January in an effort to prevent gatherings that would spread the virus. Wolf, however, did not order a halt to youth sports, and the PIAA on Friday postponed mandatory fall sports activities for two weeks just before they were to start. Wolf’s administration also has ordered that sporting events at all levels be held without spectators, unless it approves a team’s plan.

OPTIONS: More than half opt for in-person FROM PagE a1

So far, more than half of Wilkes-Barre Area students have opted to return to school for in-person classes next month, district superintendent Dr. Brian Costello said Monday during a virtual school board meeting. About 40 percent have signed up to take part in live online classes, he said. And about 10 percent of students will participate in the Wilkes-Barre Area Cyber Academy, Costello said. All students must inform the district of his or her decision by Friday or they will automatically be enrolled in the remote option for the first half of the year, Costello said. “Please contact your build-

ing principal — have a conversation if there are any questions or concerns about choosing any of these options,” Costello said. Classes are set to resume Sept. 11. Should there be a large spike of coronavirus cases in Luzerne County, the district could be forced to switch to all remote learning. If the county experienced 100 new cases per 100,000 people in a seven day span or surpassed a 10 percent positive test rate, the state would require a return to all remote instruction. For nearly 90 minutes, Costello read questions from parents and guardians about plans for the new school year. The ensuing debate and rest of

the agenda lasted another two hours and 45 minutes. Most of the questions had to deal with dress codes and masks for students who return for in-person classes. Some parents expressed concerns that masks they purchased for their children have designs that run contrary to the school’s dress code that requires solid colors. Costello and board members agreed an exception should be made. “Anytime we can get our students to want to wear masks — whether it be polka dots, an animal superheros, a taco — I most certainly think that is something we should consider,” Costello said. The board later voted to allow masks that run contrary

to the current dress code as long as they are not deemed offensive and inappropriate. The mask issue started a debate about relaxing the dress code all together for this school year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some parents said finances are tight right now, their kids grew since last year and they can’t afford new school clothes. The board plans to reach out to district principles and have the policy committee possibly draft an amended dress code. School officials said plans to bus students to school and provide meals to students working remotely are still being worked out. Contact the writer: bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2055; @cvbobkal

MMI will hold classes in person and online BY KENT JACKSON STaFF WRITER

Students at MMI Preparatory School can choose to study in person or online when classes resume Aug. 25. To prepare for students who will arrive in person, the Freeland school beefed up cleaning routines and air purifiers. Each classroom now has a video camera, too; and teachers this summer took a master class in online learning to help students who want to study from home. At home, students will

have an option of following lessons live or watching recordings later. “You could easily start online and come to school when you feel more comfortable,” Justin Kleinheider, the head of school, said Monday when discussing MMI’s health and safety plan for resuming education during the pandemic. The plan says students and faculty will check their temperatures with infrared thermometers when they arrive. They will wear masks throughout the day except when eating

snacks or lunches, which will be served in classrooms rather than the cafeteria. Furniture has been moved and other accommodations made so students can keep physically distant during classes. Students will stay apart and follow one-way arrows when changing classes or arriving and leaving school. Gyms and the cafeteria have been rearranged for larger gatherings, and an adjoining room was opened to provide a lab for engineering classes.

Maintenance workers will follow schedules for cleaning rooms after each class and for sanitizing frequently touched surfaces throughout days and evenings. “We’ve committed to everything from PPE to wipes to thermometers to air scrubbers. We spared nothing to make sure we can do as much as possible,” Kleinheider said. MMI purchased an electrostatic sprayer to disinfect the school daily. Contact the writer: kjackson@standardspeaker. com; 570-501-3587

“I snuck out one night to go to the bar,” he recalled. “Who walks in, but her. She looked at me, pointed and said, ‘Back!’” The nurse, who he had been growing fond of, walked him back to the hospital. “Well, we started going out together,” Steinberg said, “and after a few more months, we were married.” Steinberg was still hospitalized when the war ended in the Pacific with Japan’s surrender in August 1945. Friday marks 75 years since the announcement in the United States. At that time, another big celebration broke out on the boardwalk, he said. The surrender after the United States dropped the atomic bombs was a “good day in history,” Steinberg said. “It hurt Japan, but Japan hurt a lot of Americans,” Steinberg said. “You know darn well dropping the atomic bomb stopped us from fighting. We saved a lot of men’s lives.” Steinberg said he thinks about the war “quite a bit.”

MORE ONLINE Watch video of World War II veteran Frank Steinberg with this story at www.citizensvoice.com. “Sometimes I think of places like in Belgium and wonder, ‘Is that place still there? Are certain people still alive?’” Steinberg said. One of Steinberg’s lifelong friends Jim Walsh, a fellow World War II veteran from Wilkes-Barre, recently died at age 95. They were among 12 buddies from Kingston High School who joined the military on the same day in 1943 and stayed in touch throughout their lives. The group used to meet once a month for dinner. Now, Steinberg said, he’s lucky to have loyal daughters to still take him out. “Of the group that Jim and I were in — the Dirty Dozen — I’m the last one,” Steinberg said. “There’s not many of us left.” Contact the writer: bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2055; @cvbobkal

TELEMEDICINE: Questions linger over insurance coverage FROM PagE a1

Imagine more contact with doctors or nurses but fewer trips to the office. Patients might use telemedicine more for check-ins like Shell did or to talk to a doctor after a procedure or get a second opinion. There’s also secure messaging for quick questions and more remote monitoring of chronic health problems like diabetes. “Your care is going to get better,” said Dr. Thomas Lee, a Harvard professor and care delivery expert with the health care consultant Press Ganey. But to keep some of telemedicine’s growth, thorny questions about insurance coverage and doctor reimbursement need to be resolved. Plus, patients and doctors who were forced to try virtual care during the pandemic need to keep using it. Doctors scrambled to shift to telemedicine when the coronavirus hit the U.S earlier this year. Care providers like the Cleveland Clinic went from averaging 5,000 telemedicine visits a month before the pandemic to 200,000 visits just in April. Many insurers waived fees to encourage its use. The federal government relaxed restrictions on telemedicine’s use in Medicare, the federal coverage program for people age 65 and over. The government also started temporarily allowing visits over apps that didn’t meet patient privacy standards. That helped Dr. Jay Meizlish connect with his mostly older heart patients. At first, they struggled. He often had to hold cards up to his camera, telling patients to unmute their microphone or turn up their volume. T hen he found what worked — he switched to the more familiar and easier to use FaceTime. “That’s how they talk to their grandchildren,” the Yale New Haven Hospital doctor said. “We have learned the power of this, but whether it continues is not in our hands,” he said. Experts expect some telemedicine restrictions will return, including fees that are now waived. And some doctor practices will be reluctant to work telemedicine permanently into their practices until they know exactly how they get paid, noted John League, a senior consultant with Advisory Board, which researches health care strategy. “They have no appetite for

uncertainty,” he said. Insurers ultimately will cover more remote care because it can help keep people out of expensive hospitals and emergency rooms, said Arielle Trzcinski, a senior analyst with Forrester, which does research for insurers and hospitals, among other clients. The insurer Oscar recently announced that it will offer free primary care visits through telemedicine in coverage that starts next year. Leaders in Washington also are interested in expanding telemedicine’s use in Medicare. Trzcinski also thinks doctor groups will provide more virtual care because patients who tried it during the pandemic may go elsewhere if they don’t. With travel and time in the waiting room, an office visit can carve more than an hour and a half out of someone’s day on average, she said. “People value time,” she said. She estimates that virtual care could eventually replace up to 40% of in-person doctor visits that don’t involve hospital stays. Shell, the cancer patient, said she never would have been able to visit her doctor in person that day. She teaches veterinary science at a vocational high school. That makes it hard to break away for an in-person doctor’s appointment. She wound up using telem e d i c i n e a f ew t i m e s because of the pandemic. She hopes the practice continues. “I feel strongly that increased safety, convenience, and accessibility are all reasons to continue,” she said. Researchers don’t expect telemedicine to replace all inperson care. Millions of people don’t have access to the technology or a reliable internet connection. Some people may still be reluctant to use it. And not all ailments can be treated remotely. Alexandra Thomas tried it last spring when she woke up with vertigo that made her so dizzy she could barely walk. The nurse practitioner handling her virtual visit wanted Thomas to see someone in person. That meant the 24-year-old Charlottesville, Virginia, resident had to spend another $30 on a copayment and wait three more hours at a clinic before finally getting treated. Telemedicine, Thomas said, is “a good idea in theory, but maybe not so much in practice.”

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Then-Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., listens during a gun safety forum in Las Vegas in 2019.

Sen. Kamala Harris is the first Black woman to compete on a major party’s presidential ticket BY KATHLEEN RONAYNE AND WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS

rigor of a national campaign. The 55-year-old first-term senator, who is also of South Asian descent, is one of the party’s most prominent figures. She quickly became a top contender for the No. 2 spot after her own White House campaign ended. She will appear with Biden for the first time as his running mate at an event Wednesday near his home in Wilmington, Delaware. In announcing the pick, Biden called Harris a “fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the

WILMINGTON, Del. — Joe Biden named California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate on Tuesday, making history by selecting the first Black woman to compete on a major party’s presidential ticket and acknowledging the vital role Black voters will play in his bid to defeat President Donald Trump. In choosing Harris, Biden is embracing a former rival from the Democratic primary who is familiar with the unique

country’s finest public servants.” She said Biden would “unify the American people” and “build an America that lives up to our ideals.” Harris joins Biden at a moment of unprecedented national crisis. The coronavirus pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 160,000 people in the U.S., far more than the toll experienced in other countries. Business closures and disruptions resulting from the pandemic have caused severe economic problems. Please see HARRIS, Page A4

Local NAACP official ‘thrilled’ by pick

Constance Wynn also ‘afraid’ for Calif. senator, who will face fierce attacks. BY BOB KALINOWSKI STAFF WRITER

As a local civil rights leader, Constance Wynn is “thrilled and excited” that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden chose a woman of color for his running mate in California

Sen. Kamala Harris. However, after seeing what happened to Hillary Clinton in 2016, the woman part is what worries her for the upcoming election. “I’m happy a woman was picked, but I am afraid for her,” said Wynn, 69, former

president of the Wilkes-Barre chapter of the National Association for the WYNN Advancement of Colored People. Harris becomes only the third woman to be selected as a vice presidential nom-

Judge finds father’s WWII ‘Band of Brothers’ letters BY BOB KALINOWSKI STAFF WRITER

Luzerne County Judge Richard M. Hughes III said his late father didn’t talk much about his Army service in World War II. But he wrote extensively about his combat journey through Europe. It just took the family more than 75 years to find the writings. Hughes III recently found a stash of more than 820 of his father’s World War II letters while spring cleaning the family homestead in Fairview Twp. during the COVID-19 virus shutdown.

DAVE SCHERBENCO / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Luzerne County Judge Richard M. Hughes III holds one of the 800 letters sent by his father, Richard M. Hughes II, during his service in World War II. The letters, still in mint con- that no one knew was in a dition, were in his father’s Army foot locker container Please see LETTERS, Page A4

inee of a major political party and the first Black and South Asian American female. “She is stepping into a wonderful positive for anyone — black, yellow, green or whatever. From a civil rights position, he couldn’t have picked a stronger running mate. It’s time for a woman to have her place in

Humid

75 Years

The Citizens' Voice is profiling local veterans to commemorate the end of World War II, which was announced Aug. 14, 1945. Today we profile Judge Richard Hughes III, wo shares his father’s letters from Bastogne. This is the fourth in a sixpart series.

COMING THURSDAY: Doris Merrill, 96, of Nanticoke, served in the Navy WAVES as an intelligence stenographer.

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the hierarchy in government,” said Wynn, of Wilkes-Barre. While she doesn’t know if the pick is going to hurt the ticket, “it’s going to be doggone controversial,” said Wynn, current historian for the local NAACP branch.

Wi l ke s - B a r r e M ayo r George Brown plans to establish a police substation in every council district in the city. “When I was running for mayor, knocking on doors and talking to people, one of the things they stressed that they wanted is more police BROWN presence in the neighborhoods,” Brown said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “One way to do that is to create police substations,” he said. Brown said he had a conversation with Jody Busch and his wife, Mary McAndrew, and they offered to let the city use McAndrew’s hearing aid store in South Wilkes-Barre, Advanced Hearing Solutions, for that purpose. Police officers will be able to go inside to make phone calls, complete paperwork and use the restroom. They also can park near the store, located at 209 Old River Road, and walk patrol through the neighborhood, Brown said. The mayor said the police department established a substation at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital over a year ago during the previous administration, and police Chief Joe Coffay told him it is utilized often and mostly at night. Coffay and the mayor plan to meet with McAndrew next week to go over details, tour the store and pick up a set of keys. With one substation already established in Council District E in the North End and another going in

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HARRIS: Record as Calif. AG will be heavily scrutinized FROM PagE a1

Unrest, meanwhile, has emerged across the country as Americans protest racism and police brutality. Trump’s uneven handling of the crises has given Biden an opening, and he enters the fall campaign in strong position against the president. In adding Harris to the ticket, he can point to her relatively centrist record on issues such as health care and her background in law enforcement in the nation’s largest state. The president told reporters on Tuesday he was “a little surprised” that Biden picked Harris, pointing to their debate stage disputes during the primary. Trump, who has donated to her previous campaigns, argued she was “about the most liberal person in the U.S. Senate.” “I would have thought that Biden would have tried to stay away from that a little bit,” he said. Harris’s record as California attorney general and district attorney in San Francisco was heavily scrutinized during the Democratic primary and turned away some liberals and younger Black voters who saw her as out of step on issues of racism in the legal system and police brutality. She declared herself a “progressive prosecutor” who backs law enforcement reforms. Biden, who spent eight years as President Barack Obama’s vice president, has spent months weighing who would fill that same role in his White House. He pledged in March to select a woman as his vice president, easing frustration among Democrats that the presidential race would center on two white men in their 70s. Biden’s search was expansive, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a leading progressive, Florida Rep. Val Demings, whose impeachment criticism of Trump won party plaudits, California Rep. Karen Bass,

who leads the Congressional Black Caucus, former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice and Atl anta Mayor Ke i sh a Lance Bottoms, whose passionate response to unrest in her city garnered national attention. A wo m a n h a s n eve r served as president or vice president in the United States. Hillary Clinton was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016. Two women have been nominated as running mates on major party tickets: Democrat Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Republican Sarah Palin in 2008. Their parties lost in the general election. The vice presidential pick carries increased significance this year. If elected, Biden would be 78 when inaugurated in January, the oldest man to ever assume the presidency. He’s spoken of himself as a transitional figure and hasn’t fully committed to seeking a second term in 2024. Harris, born in 1964 to a Jamaican father and Indian mother, spent much of her formative years in Berkeley, California. She has often spoken of the deep bond she shared with her mother, whom she has called her single biggest influence. Harris won her first election in 2003 when she became San Francisco’s district attorney. In that post, she created a reentry program for low-level drug offenders and cracked down on student truancy. She was elected California’s attorney general in 2010, the first woman and Black person to hold the job, and focused on issues including the foreclosure crisis. She declined to defend the state’s Proposition 8, which banned samesex marriage and was later overtur ned by the U.S. Supreme Court. After being elected to the Senate in 2016, she quickly gained attention for her assertive questioning of Trump administration officials during congressional hearings.

PICK: Local officials praise Biden’s choice FROM PagE a1

for me” because of her past statement about banning fracking of natural gas. “That would take away an industry in which our local unions rely on for work to keep their business halls open,” Cox said. Biden has not made such a pledge himself because he knows how crucial Pennsylvania will be in November’s election, Cox said. “I’m still ‘Riden with Biden,’” Cox said. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey released a statement saying Harris would be an “excellent” vice president. “In the Senate, she’s been a leader on efforts to help working families make ends meet and reform policing in America,” Casey said. “As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, she’s held the Trump Administration accountable. I know she will fight for Pennsylvania families and jobs as Vice President.” The reelection campaign of President Donald Trump slammed the pick. “Just when we thought the idea of Joe Biden being president of the United States couldn’t get any worse, he announces that Kamala Harris, a failed presidential candidate and a corrupt former California Attorney General, will be his running mate,” the Trump campaign wrote in an email. “These two liberals are as far left as they come. Between both of their terrible records, it’s obvious that this radical duo is perfect for each other, but wrong for America.”

“For a woman, it always becomes a battleground,” Wynn said. Wynn said her sister was elated when she called after Biden announced the pick. She reminded her sister that the attacks on Harris will be fierce — and some of it will be from what she said to Biden when they clashed on racial issues during the Democratic debates. “What she said to Joe in the debate is going to come back and slap them both in the face,” Wynn predicted. Wynn, a Democrat who doesn’t vote straight party, said she’ll definitely work to get the Biden-Harris ticket elected. Kathy Bozinski, chairwoman of the Luzerne County Democratic Party, said she was “thrilled but not surprised” by Biden’s choice of Harris. Bozinski called her “the logical choice and the right choice.” “She has a distinguished record of public service, and her fearless leadership and advocacy for the American people has stood out in the Senate. She’s also experienced in being part of a high stakes political campaign,” Bozinski said. “And let’s not forget the historic aspect of her candidacy: Sen. Harris is a woman of both African American and Asian American heritage aspiring to be vice president of the United States. It’s truly significant, and it’s about time.” Cameron Cox, a former Nanticoke councilman and past secretary of the county Contact the writer: Democratic party, said Har- bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com ris’ selection was “complex 570-821-2055; @cvbobkal

daVE SCHERBENCO / STaFF PHOTOgRaPHER

Luzerne County Judge Richard M. Hughes III found his father’s letters while cleaning out a storage space at his Fairview Twp. home during quarantine.

LETTERS: Served in famous Easy Company FROM PagE a1

storage space underneath the porch of the family’s home in the Glen Summit section. “It’s been one of the amazing things that happened during quarantine. It blessed us,” Hughes III said recently. “You get such a sense of what was going on in the world. It reminds you of what a different time it was.” Hughes III’s father, Richard M. Hughes II, was a member of the now famous Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. The paratrooper unit was memorialized in a book and an HBO miniseries called “Band of Brothers.” “My father died in 1991 at age 75. It would have been such a treat to have had these letters when he was living because it would have opened a lot of discussion,” Hughes III said. Most of the letters are between Hughes II and his parents, Maxwell and Louise Hughes of West Pittston. In each letter, he addresses them as “Muddy and Dad.” The letters, beginning with when he first entered the military, detail his combat experiences in Holland and in the Siege of Bastogne in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge, a final German offensive seen as a key turning point in the war for Allied powers. That was his final battle of the war. He developed a severe case of trench foot that led to the amputation of eight of his toes, including both big ones. “Was evacuated out of the line on Christmas afternoon — with trench foot. You know, me and cold weather never

daVE SCHERBENCO / STaFF PHOTOgRaPHER

Hughes holds his father’s helmet, which is still stained with mud. did get along very well,” Hughes II wrote in a letter to his parents on Dec. 28, 1944. “Thought my ‘dogs’ would work out OK, but the (battalion) surgeon told me that if I started another day, I might have some trouble.” Hughes II didn’t have to put himself in position to be in the war. He volunteered. A 1934 graduate of Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, he got his bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1938. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania law school in 1941. When the war broke out, he enlisted in the Army infantry. While in the service, he attended Officer C a n d i d at e S ch o o l a n d became a leader of his unit. In his letters, Hughes II

often assures his parents he’ll be safe despite the up close constant combat. And he all but predicts American victory. “As I told you before, I’m a lucky guy, so please don’t ever worry about me. Am not kidding, there’s nothing in this part of the world that can even bother me,” Hughes II wrote. “The Germans are kind of foolish to hang on, but many of the Nazis still think they will win, or at least manage a negotiated peace. That’s where they will be very much surprised.” Following the war, Hughes II came home to practice law. He and his son later became partners in a law firm. Hughes III is planning to digitize all the letters and then donate the originals to

the World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. The museum has told him its the largest collection it will have of personal correspondences from the war. The judge said he’s thankful his three children were able to read the letters and get to know their grandfather. When Hughes II died, Callie was 2-years-old and Ellen was 1-month-old. Richard IV , who is attending the University of Pennsylvania like his grandfather, wasn’t yet born “For the kids to sit here and read these letters, they are getting to know their grandfather in a way they never could,” Hughes III said. Contact the writer: bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2055, @cvbobkal

LETTER EXCERPTS NOV. 29, 1944

This is the start of a long letter which, I hope, will kind of tie together all the notes I wrote you from the lines. Censorship allows us to write about personal experiences after 14 days have passed, so here goes ... We got a chance to go up to the lines and learn a great deal without first jumping into the fight. The rest of our replacement bunch ( who arrived today from England) are still 100% green. Having seen what it’s all about, I haven’t any doubts or worries about the next operation ... You know, people tend to always think of the P-troops as a dashing bunch. We aren’t. It’s just foot infantry with a parachute thrown in ... As I told you before, I’m a lucky guy, so please don’t ever worry

about me. Am not kidding, there’s nothing in this part of the world that can even bother me.

It was a very white Christmas too; and Christmas Eve was clear and very still ... The (Germans) have been making quite a driveDEC. 17, 1944 which has been stopped You see, by “sticking my very dead. The boys have neck out” a little, I gained some combat experience that made good (Germans) out will pay big dividends some- of a great many of them. time in the future … Yes, the The kids in my platoon are Germans are kind of foolish a great bunch and crack shots. to hang on, but many of the DEC. 28, 1944 Nazis still think they will win, or at least manage a Hello again. Finally getnegotiated peace. That’s ting around to continuing what they will be very much this letter. Was evacuated surprised out of the line on Christmas afternoon — with DEC. 26, 1944 trench foot. You know, me Hello Muddy and Dad. How are you today and how and cold weather never did get along very well. was Christmas? Been thinking about you a great Thought my “dogs” would deal. Spent the holiday sea- work out OK, but the Bn surgeon told me that if I son in a foxhole. There started another day I might were Christmas trees all around and my foxhole was have some trouble. So my roommate has his platoon lined with their branches. back again.

DEC. 29, 1944

Last night was very still and clear. Can’t see the sky just now but here’s hoping it’s a good day! Because when it’s a good day the bombers get going. It’s a beautiful sight to see them going over by hundreds. They fly high and glisten in the sun. then the planes come in to strafe and dive bomb and that’s good to see ... By the way, as I came out as a casualty and as the Krauts know who we were, there’s no harm in saying that I spent the holidays (text blacked out) The Germans even made propaganda broadcasts and dropped Xmas cards saying the (?) to surrender. You see, they just don’t understand the American way. At no time was anybody even mildly concerned about the situation.

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PIAA sends letter to Wolf, saying there’s ‘viable path’ for fall sports this year. B1

Thursday, August 13, 2020

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W-B NAACP seeks review of Mackey death Attorney general’s office says it needs a referral from DA to investigate. BY ERIC MARK STAFF WRITER

The Wilkes-Barre chapter of the NAACP has asked state Attorney General Josh Shapiro to investigate the death of Shaheen Mackey. Chapter President Ronald Felton sent a letter via email

to the attorney general’s office on Tuesday, asking Shapiro to investigate because the case “needs further oversight.” Mackey died June 8, 2018, two days after he was forcibly restrained by corrections MACKEY of ficers at Luzerne County Correctional Facility, as he suffered an apparent violent seizure.

The county district attorney’s office cleared the corrections officers of any criminal wrongdoing and the manner of Mackey’s death was ruled natural causes. The local NAACP “is requesting a complete and thorough investigation” into the cause of Mackey’s death, Felton wrote to Shapiro. The letter was inspired by a surveillance video of the jail encounter that was leaked to social media last

week, Felton said Wednesday. Felton described the video — which shows Mackey shackled and restrained, surrounded by numerous corrections officers and medical personnel — as “gruesome” and “horrific.” “I just can’t understand why no one was held accountable,” Felton said. “The attorney general’s office needs to look into that matter.” Please see MACKEY, Page A5

Female inmate dies at LCCF BY ERIC MARK STAFF WRITER

A female inmate died at Luzerne County Correctional Facility on Wednesday following a medical episode, according to county Manager David Pedri. Pedri identified the woman as Mary Balliet, 30. She died in the medical department at the correctional facility Wednesday after-

Both districts had planned to go with in-person classes. BY BOB KALINOWSKI STAFF WRITER

Trump in debut of Democratic ticket

CAROLYN KASTER / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., arrive to speak at a news conference at Alexis Dupont High School in Wilmington, Del., on Wednesday.

TRUMP IN TOWN? President may be coming to WILMINGTON, Del. — Scranton. Page A5 Joe Biden and Kamala Harris pushed past their one- cal annals. The coronavirus time political rivalry prevented Biden and Harris Wednesday to deliver an from appearing before the aggressive attack on the large, adoring crowd that character and performance typically greets a presidenof President Donald Trump tial nominee and his or her in their historic first appear- running mate. Instead, they ance as running mates. spoke in a mostly empty The physical debut of the high school gym where Democratic ticket was with- reporters nearly outnumout parallel in recent politi- bered campaign aides and

the candidates’ family members. While the pandemic made a traditional campaign rollout impossible, it gave Biden and Harris a setting to emphasize their criticism of Trump as unable to contend with the most severe public health crisis in a century. Harris was particularly sharp in her condemnation of the administration. “The case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut,” Harris said. “This virus has impacted

Former Navy WAVE Doris Merrill, 96, recalls celebrating war’s end BY BOB KALINOWSKI STAFF WRITER

Doris Merrill and her husband were on leave from their World War II military service when it was announced on Aug. 14, 1945 that Japan surrendered and the war was over. They were thrilled — for the country and for their marriage. Merrill’s husband, Paul, who fought in Guadalcanal and Bougainville, was slated to return to combat in Japan with the Marines. “We were so happy the war was over. That meant they weren’t going to send Please see MERRILL, Page A10

almost every country. But there’s a reason it has hit America worse than any other advanced nation. It’s because of Trump’s failure to take it seriously from the start.” She added: “This is what happens when we elect a guy who just isn’t up for the job.” Harris is the first Black woman on a major party’s presidential ticket, and she and Biden noted the historical significance. “This morning, all across the nation, little girls woke

Doris Merrill holds her wedding photo from 1945. Her husband, Paul, passed away in 1982.

Some sun

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COMING FRIDAY: Sal Aliamo, 92, of Yatesville, walked the streets of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb.

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Saluting the end of WWII

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up — especially little black and brown girls, who so often feel overlooked and undervalued in their communities. But today, today, just maybe, they’re seeing themselves for the first time in a new way,” Biden said. Harris, who is also of South Asian descent, noted the “heroic and ambitious women before me, whose sacrifice, determination and resilience make my presence here today even possible.”

The Wyoming Valley West and Crestwood school districts have reversing plans to reopen schools for in-person classes next month and will start the year with all online classes. “Our big thing is the uncertainty involved. We are worried not only COVID-19 about the 49 new caskids, but the es reported adults, the in Luzerne parents at County. A5 h o m e, t h e entire community,” Superintendent David Tosh said Wednesday after the district’s school board approved the plan. “If we are going to err, we are going to err on the side of safety.” Tosh introduced the proposal at Wednesday’s virtual school board meeting, saying the idea was approved by the reopening committee. Once school starts on Sept. 8, Valley West will implement a fully remote schedule until at leastFriday, Oct.9. Atthat point district leaders will reevaluate whether it’s safe to bring students back to school, he said. The decision was made following a rise of COVID-19 virus cases locally, prompting the state to place Luzerne County in the “moderate” risk category. In that category, schools must implement a hybrid plan or go fully remote.

ADVE RTISE M E NT

The Citizens' Voice is profiling local veterans to commemorate the end of World War II, which was announced Aug. 14, 1945. Today we profile Doris Merrill, who served in the Navy WAVES as an intelligence stenographer. This is the fifth in a sixpart series.

DAVE SCHERBENCO / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Please see INMATE, Page A5

Crestwood, WVW go virtual to start year

ON THE ATTACK Biden, Harris lash

BY ALEXANDRA JAFFE, BILL BARROW AND WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS

noon, Pedri wrote in an email to county council. Balliet was brought to the jail at about 2 a.m. Tuesday by Pittston police on bench warrants for parole violations, Pedri wrote. “Upon intake, Ms. Balliet was discovered to have been suffering from a medical episode and was assigned to

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TICKET: Campaign raised $26M after VP announcement FrOM PagE a1

daVE SCHErBENCO / STaFF PHOTOgraPHEr

Doris Merril, 96, of Nanticoke, was stationed in Cape May, New Jersey, when she served in the Navy WAVES.

MERRILL: Only woman in intelligence unit ‘I loved it. I learned. Every day was different. Every day I learned so much. As long as I was learning, I was so happy.’

“Could you believe it?” Merrill said. Merrill served in the Navy WAVES, or Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, a reserve unit for women created during the war. She worked in Naval intelligence and had top security clearances. She was stationed in Cape May, New Jersey, and was privy to many secrets she said she’s never divulged even to this day. She never even told her Marine husband, she said. Merrill said she was the only woman inside the unit. “I was the only WAVE in there with all the old Navy,

FrOM PagE a1

him over to the Pacific,” Merrill, 96, recalled recently from her Hanover Twp. home just outside Nanticoke. “Most of the people on the streets dancing were wives because they knew their husbands would be coming home. It was so thrilling. Look, I have the goosebumps now.” Merrill and her husband were visiting his parents in Maine at the time the war’s end was announced. Friday marks 45 years since that news broke in the United States.

DORIS MERRILL On her Naval intelligence service

Army, Marines, everything. I learned so much from those men. I loved it. I learned. Every day was different. Every day I learned so much. As long as I was learning, I was so happy,” Merrill recalled. Merrill served from April 1944 to February 1946. She and her husband then returned home to the Wyoming Valley. She enjoyed a lengthy career as a teacher prior to retirement. Her husband died in 1982. Prior to joining the service, Merrill worked at the Luzerne

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County Courthouse as a stenographer. “I wanted to go to college, but back in those days only boys could go to college. Women were expected to stay home and cook and clean,” Merrill said. Then one day a Navy recruiter visited the courthouse with the American Red Cross, for which Merrill was a volunteer. The recruiter pitched the Navy WAVES to Merrill with an attractive offer: free college after her service. She jumped at the chance. After the war, Merrill attended Wilkes College and later obtained her master’s degree from the school. During her career, she taught at Nanticoke Area schools, Penn State University and Wilkes. Merrill said she is proud of her service to her country but it came easy to her because of her upbringing in Nanticoke by her patriotic parents. “They were the best Americans,” Merrill recalled. “I had to learn the Pledge of Allegiance when I was 3 and stand in front of them and salute. I remember I had the wrong hand up. My father said, ‘It’s OK, as long as you love your country, you’re in.’ They were so proud to be Americans and they taught us that.” Contact the writer: bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2055, @cvbobkal

For his part, Trump has struggled to land on a coherent message about the Biden-Harris ticket, casting the Democrats as simultaneously too liberal for America and yet not progressive enough for their party’s base. Trump has resorted to sexist and racist criticism, referring to Harris as “nasty” and tweeting that “the ‘suburban housewife’ will be voting for me” to keep neighborhoods safe. He also noted the two Democrats’ disagreements during the primary campaign last year. “She said horrible things about him,” Trump said Wednesday. “She mocked him, openly mocked him. That’s why I thought that was a very risky pick. Because I’m sure that will be played back.” But onstage in Wilmington, Biden and Harris showed clear affection toward one another. He called his running mate an “honorary Biden,” and Harris offered a poignant tribute to his son Beau, whom she was friends with when both served as state attorneys general. Biden seemed overcome with emotion as Harris spoke of Beau, who died in 2015, as “the best of us” and a man who modeled himself after his father. She signaled that she’ll offer a vigorous defense of Biden’s qualifications on issues of race and civil rights, though she made headlines for assailing him for his past opposition to federally mandated busing during a primary debate. Noting Biden’s own vice presidency under President Barack Obama, she said he “takes his place in the ongoing story of America’s march towards equality and justice” as the only person “who’s served alongside the first Black president and has chosen the first Black woman as his running mate.” Biden’s choice of Harris brought more than just historical weight to the ticket — it also provided a big fundraising boost for the campaign. He announced at a later online fundraiser that the campaign raised $26 million in the 24 hours since she was announced, with 150,000 people giving for the first time. Still, the day was not without its challenges. The main event started an hour late, and the gymnasium in which the

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candidates spoke lost its air conditioning after a power outage hit the area. While most of the cable news networks took the event live, the online livestream cut out just a few minutes into Biden’s remarks. The appearance was the first in a rollout that Biden aides say blends the historic nature of Harris’ selection with the realities of the 2020 campaign and the gravity of the nation’s circumstances, which include the pandemic and its dramatic economic fallout. Harris was considered a favorite throughout Biden’s search, and she’s been a regular surrogate campaigner and fundraiser for him since he became the presumptive nominee. They’ll nonetheless have to paper over differences exposed during the primary campaign, from Harris’ initial support for a single-payer health insurance system and the Green New Deal to her deeply personal debate-stage broadside against Biden over his opposition to federally mandated busing to integrate public schools in the 1970s. Harris no longer supports a single-payer health insurance system, aligning instead with Biden’s proposal to add a public insurance option to compete alongside private plans. Still, she memorably raised her hand during one Democratic primary debate when candidates were asked whether they could back a system that scrapped private health insurance altogether. She has broadly endorsed the Green New Deal, progressives’ most ambitious set of proposals to combat climate change, but she didn’t make that an anchor of her presidential bid. Biden has moved left on his climate proposals during the 2020 campaign but has not fully embraced the Green New Deal. In Washington, Harris has advocated overhauling the criminal justice system, intensifying her efforts since George Floyd’s killing by a white Minneapolis police officer in May. And she’s called for sweeping domestic programs to benefit the working and middle class. But she has taken heat for some of her aggressive stances as a local prosecutor in the San Francisco area and for not prosecuting bank executives in the wake of the 2008 financial collapse.

TRUMP: Campaign offers no statement FrOM PagE a5

Repeated efforts to reach a spokesperson for Trump’s Pennsylvania campaign were unsuccessful. In a statement, state Democratic Party chairwoman Nancy Patton Mills ripped Trump for even considering a Pennsylvania visit. “Instead of coming to Pennsylvania and campaigning next Thursday evening, Donald Trump should do what he does best — sit on his couch and watch TV,” Mills said. “If he turns on the Democratic National Convention, he’ll see the hard-working Americans who’ve been hurt by his disastrous leadership on the coronavirus, his broken promises on health care and his failed economic recovery. And on Thursday, he’ll see a presidential candidate who will truly fulfill America’s promise, who fills Pennsylvania families with hope, and who will take Trump’s seat on Air Force One next January.” Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock. com, 570-348-9147 @BorysBlogTT

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Wolf stands by his ‘strong recommendation’ that all school, youth sports wait until next year. Page B1

QUARANTINES FOLLOW SCHOOL REOPENINGS. A8

Friday, August 14, 2020

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Major criminal trials headed to arena 2 high-profile cases will be tried at W-B Twp. facility amid ongoing pandemic. BY JAMES HALPIN STAFF WRITER

COMING SOON

THE CITIZENS’ VOICE FILE

Shaheen Mackey died at a hospital in 2018, two days after an incident at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in Wilkes-Barre.

Attorney: First portion of Mackey jail video will be released soon BY ERIC MARK STAFF WRITER

The first portion of a surveillance video showing an altercation between Shaheen Mackey and corrections officers at Luzerne County Correctional Facility two years ago will be released soon, Mackey family attorney Theron Solomon said Thursday. A portion of the video released last week — which showed Mackey shackled and restrained, surrounded by multiple corrections officers — sparked outrage after the fiance of Mackey’s sister posted it to Facebook. The Mackey family released the video to the public to show the abuse they say Mackey suffered at the hands of the corrections officers, Solomon said. Mackey died at a hospital on June 8, 2018, two days after the inci-

MORE INSIDE OUR OPINION: DA Salavantis, stop blocking probe in the Mackey case. A9 OP-ED: Mackey family insisted settlement would not bar release of the video. A9 dent at the jail. His seemingly bizarre behavior that day was the result of a violent seizure and not drug intoxication, as the corrections officers mistakenly believed, according to a civil rights suit Mackey’s estate brought against Luzerne County. The 23-minute video released last week begins with Mackey already restrained. The earlier portion of Please see VIDEO, Page A5

SUBMITTED PHOTO

Mackey’s family recently settled a lawsuit with Luzerne County for $3 million.

Pedri seeks options for independent review

Salavantis: We’ll cooperate if other law enforcement agency investigates. BY ERIC MARK STAFF WRITER

PEDRI

Luzerne County Manager David Pedri said Thursday he might hire an outside consultant to conduct a review of the circumstances surround-

SALAVANTIS

ing the death of Shaheen Mackey. In a separate development, county District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis stood by her

decision to clear corrections officers at Luzerne County Correctional Facility of criminal wrongdoing related to Mackey’s death, but said she will cooperate with any law enforcement agency that launches an investigation into the matter. Mackey died June 8, 2018, two days after he was forcibly restrained by corrections officers at the county jail

during an apparent violent seizure. A surveillance video of the encounter between the officers and Mackey sparked public outrage after Mackey’s family released it last week.

been finalized as of Thursday, according to Pedri. He said he would release more information Friday. He emphasized that the review would focus on county policies and procePedri: More info today dures, and that he does not have the authority to order The county’s plans to a law enforcement investihire a consultant to conduct gation. an independent review of the Mackey case had not Please see REVIEW, Page A5

‘Nothing but black dust and black ash’ Yatesville vet recalls witnessing atomic bomb destruction that ended WWII.

Two high-profile criminal trials will be taking place under the lights at the Mohegan Sun Arena later this year as county officials work to proceed with court matters in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. For mer Wilkes-Bar re police officer Robert Collins, 55, of Wright Twp., will stand trial at the arena before Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas starting Oct. 19. Collins is accused of using his badge to pressure eight women into performing sex acts. In November, Reynaldo Mercado, 33, of Wilkes-Barre, and 15-year-old Louisa Reyes, will stand trial at the arena before President Judge Michael T. Vough on charges alleging they murdered Fred Boote, 58, who was brutally beaten and stabbed multiple times in his Wilkes-Barre home. The moves are part of an effort to socially distance criminal proceedings involving numerous witnesses and intense media interest, Vough said Thursday. “The big criminal cases, we’re going to do them at the arena,” he said. “We’re going to social distance the entire trial.” Trials have been on hold for months because of the pandemic. Authorities previously expressed an interest in conducting trials off site because of the tight space in the courtroom jury boxes at the Luzerne County Courthouse. Vough said that at the end of the month, attorneys will begin picking jurors for September’s civil trials at the Please see TRIALS, Page A5

ADVE RTISE M E NT

URGENT CARE 7 DAYS A WEEK

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As a teenage Marine, Sal Alaimo walked the devastated streets of Hiroshima, Japan, after the United States dropped the atomic bomb that led to the war’s end. “There was nothing but black dust and black ash as far as you could see. It was unbelievable — as far as you could see. It was one big rubble,” Alaimo, 92, recalled recently in the backyard of his Yatesville home. “Basically, there wasn’t much left at all. You stood on one side of that city and looked for miles and miles.” The news of Japan’s surrender and the war’s end was

75 Years SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

World War II veteran Sal Alaimo sits outside his Pittston residence last month. announced in the United That’s when I was 17,” AlaiStates 75 years ago today. mo said. “You could never “Man, that brings back memories. I’m in my 90s. Please see ALAIMO, Page A10

Saluting the end of WWII

The Citizens' Voice is profiling local veterans to commemorate the end of World War II, which was announced Aug. 14, 1945. Today we profile Sal Alaimo, 92, of Yatesville, who walked the streets of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb. This is the last in a six-part series.

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ALAIMO: Was heading to Japan when atomic bomb was dropped FrOM PagE a1

forget the devastation. It was something you had to see for yourself to believe. When I say there was nothing, I mean nothing. I was amazed one bomb could destroy so much in one shot.” Alaimo was en route to Japan to engage in combat at the time the bomb was dropped. “We were supposed to back up the guys,” Alaimo said. “Was I scared? No. We were too stupid to be scared.” Alaimo and fellow Marines were dispatched to the leveled city to maintain order and seize or destroy weapons the Japanese had stashed in the area. He recalls military officials around the barren landscape with Geiger counters, devices used to measure radioactivity. He was well aware the area

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Alaimo said some of his comrades were killed during this time. He wasn’t able to attend their burials, which is a reason he joined the Honor Guard for the Dupont Veterans of Foreign Wars post. He remains an active member serving during funerals for veterans. “I wasn’t there for my buddies, so I figured let me give this a shot,” Alaimo said. “I’m very honored.” At 92, Alaimo remains an elected constable in Yatesville, but he’s relinquished most duties beside Election Day assignments. As the end of the war is recognized today, Alaimo said it’s still hard to believe what he witnessed as a teenager in Hiroshima. “I don’t believe it, Alaimo said. “It’s almost 100 years.” Contact the writer: bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2055, @cvbobkal

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was the scene of mass death, maybe up to 150,000 people. Through all the decades since, Alaimo said he’s been able to justify the bombing in his mind by referring to an old saying about survival at war. “Better them than me,” he said. During his time in and around Hiroshima, Alaimo and comrades were in charge of seizing or destroyed weapons left behind. They also searched Japanese citizens’ being repatriated. “They were stripped down of everything and anything that was dangerous,” he said. Many in the military considered this “clean up” duty. But soon, Alaimo was called to combat. For the next few months, he and comrades were sent to China where they had “continuous skirmishes” with communist forces.

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