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By BILL O’BOYLE boboyle@timesleader.com
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WILKES-BARRE
Gelbs will receive award
ois and Bob Gelb will be presented the Jewish Family Service L “Distinguished Service Award” at the
organization’s annual brunch on June 3 at the Jewish Community Center. The event starts at 11 a.m. For reservations, call JFS at 823-5137. Bob is a graduate of the Temple University School of Pharmacy and is a founding member of the PA Society of Health System Pharmacists. He has served on many boards, including Luzerne County Housing Authority, Community Counseling, Ohav Zedek Congregation, American Cancer Society, Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce, Temple B’nai B’rith, Martin J. Popky B’nai B’rith Apartments, Jewish Family Service and many others. Lois is a Wilkes University graduate and has been on the boards of Planned Parenthood, Ohav Zedek and Temple B’nai B’rith Sisterhoods, Hadassah, Advisory Council of RSVP (Area Agency on Aging), Elder Issues Coalition and the Wyoming Valley Torch Club. She served as JFS outreach coordinator at JFS for eight years and has been the senior adult director at the JCC for 22 years.
WILKES-BARRE – Mayor Tom Leighton thinks leasing the city’s parking assets is worth $20 million upfront, but according to one city Parking Authority member, the expert hired to evaluate those assets feels the number should be “way lower.” The city will release the Request for Qualifications document today as Phase 1 of the plan to lease the city’s parking assets moves forward. But Leighton will not release the report compiled by Desman Associates,
the Chicago based parking consulting firm retained by the city Parking Authority. “I can’t give you the number that Desman came up with, but let me just say it wasn’t even close to $20 million,” said Ed Katarsky, board member and a financial analyst. Drew McLaughlin, the city’s administrative coordinator, said the RFQ will be a compilation of the opinions of Desman, Fox Rothschild and Goals Consulting. “The minimum bid the city is seeking is $20 million,” he said. “Any prospective bidder will have to do their own financial analysis. We’re not going to comment on what Desman said or didn’t say.” McLaughlin said the Desman analysis was provided during a conference call
Wednesday afternoon. “There’s no physical report,” he said. “We took what Desman said and what the other consultants said in putting together the RFQ. There’s no sole author of the RFQ.” When asked what the city would do if no bidder is willing to come up with a $20 million upfront payment, McLaughlin said, “We’ll cross bridge when we come to it.” He said the RFQ is targeting a 30-year lease for the $20 million. He said a 50year lease would require a higher upfront payment, but he wouldn’t disclose that amount. McLaughlin said the RFQ will be sent out today to prospective bidders to gauge what interest there is in leasing the city’s
Salvation Army Annual Community Dinner raises funds for Kirby Health Center Family House and honors volunteers
Recovery details planned
Shickshinny Forward will unveil its long-term plan to recover from last year’s flood during a public meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Shickshinny Fire Hall. The recovery plan was developed by the volunteer group with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s guidance. WASHINGTON
Two get judge nominations
President Obama has announced the nomination of two men for federal judgeships in the Middle District of Pennsylvania -- Matthew W. Brann and Judge Malachy Edward Mannion. Mannion has been a federal magistrate judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania since 2001. Brann has been a partner at the law firm of Brann, Williams, Caldwell & Sheetz of Troy, Pa. since 1995. LEHMAN TWP.
Senior wins prom contest
Lake-Lehman High School senior Paige Vacante, of Lehman Township, won the “Safe Prom Pledge” contest sponsored by Fellerman and Ciarimboli law firm. Vacante and five of her friends will receive an all-expense paid limousine, provided by Touch of Class Limousine of Edwardsville, on her Vacante prom night. She also won a dress from Place One in Wilkes-Barre; a tuxedo rental from Tuxedo Junction in Hanover Township, and a custom corsage from Mattern’s in Kingston. Vacante won the grand prize by signing the “Safe Prom Pledge,” committing to a prom night free of drinking and driving.
Bill O’Boyle, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7218.
Bear drops in for visit in Noxen By TOM VENESKY tvenesky@timesleader.com
“I did not know what MS was,” she said. “I though, OK, another pill.” To her dismay, Bozek learned the MS treatments for her are by injection only. “I had to overcome my fear of needles,” she said. “It was hard.” Over a period of time, she began noticing an increasing problem with her right leg. “It was not coming with me when I walked,” she said. Walking became harder and harder for her. She went to the Multiple Sclerosis Center at the Lehigh Valley Hospital for
In the yard of a Noxen residence stood a hungry black bear. Nearby was a sunroom with a chest freezer and a bag of birdseed inside. Standing between the bear and the cache of food was the glass door to the sunroom. For the bear, it was only a minor obstacle. On May 9 the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Northeast Region Office in Dallas received a call from a Noxen resident about a bear that had broken through the bottom of a glass door, entered the sunroom and took frozen meat from a chest freezer. The bear also ransacked a trash can containing leftovers but it didn’t gain access to the main part of the house. The homeowner wasn’t home at the time. “It’s unique, but sometimes these things happen,” said Wildlife Conservation Officer Victor Rosa, who responded to the call in Wyoming County. “The bear broke the glass on the door, but there was minimal damage. “It’s unusual for a bear to go through so much effort to get into a house.” But not unheard of. Five years ago, WCO Dave Allen, who covers part of Luzerne County, responded to a bear call at the Stage Coach Inn restaurant in Drums. A bear had entered the kitchen, removed a large box of Goldfish from the pantry and went outside to eat the crackers in the parking lot. “There was an old door with a loose screen, and the bear stood there looking inside,” Allen said. “The cook was cooking in the kitchen, turned around and saw the bear and yelled at it. “When he yelled, the screen fell out of the door and the bear walked inside.” Allen arrived to find the bear eating the Goldfish in the parking lot. A loud bang from a thunderstorm scared the bear away, he said, and Allen never caught it in a trap he set at the restaurant. Close encounters between bears and people peak in the spring, according to PGC information and education supervisor Bill Williams. In the past week, the PGC’s region office received 48 calls regarding bear complaints that were referred to WCOs. Williams said approximately three times that many calls are received about bears but are handled by dispatchers. In every case the main factor behind the encounter is food, Williams said. Topping the list of bear attractants are birdfeeders, followed by garbage and pet food left outside. “We try to emphasize the bears are being attracted for a reason,” Williams said. “If you remove that food source, the bears have no reason to be there.” Birdfeeders can be a difficult issue, Williams said, because some people enjoy seeing birds and don’t want to stop feeding them. “They just want the bears removed,” he said. “Bringing the feeders in at night may help a little bit, but birds will kick feed onto the ground during the day and
See WALK, Page 14A
See BEAR, Page 14A
Unemployment rate drops
SHICKSHINNY
2,113 garage spaces, 160 surface lot spaces and 800 parking meters. He said the $20 million figure had been recommended by the consultants retained by the authority – Fox Rothschild, the Philadelphia law firm, and Goals Consulting, owned by former city administrator J.J. Murphy. Murphy’s brother, Patrick, is a partner in Fox Rothschild. Whatever the upfront payment is, $8 million would come off the top to retire remaining indebtedness on the intermodal and other city garages. The consulting fees paid to Wohlstetter’s firm, Desman and J.J. Murphy’s Goals Consulting also would be reimbursed.
Bruin breaks into sunroom to help itself to freezer contents, birdseed.
HARRISBURG
Pennsylvania’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.4 percent in April, down one-tenth of a percentage point from the 7.5 percent March rate. The state’s rate was below the U.S. rate of 8.1 percent. The state’s unemployment rate was down 0.5 percentage points from April 2011.
PAGE 3A
$20M parking lease figure in doubt Authority member: Expert feels number should be way lower.
Lois and Bob Gelb will be honored.
FRIDAY, MAY 18, 2012
PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER
Salvation Army Capts. Patty and Doug Richwine of the Wilkes-Barre Corps are moving on to another location in June after serving five years in the Wyoming Valley.
The spirit of service By JERRY LYNOTT jlynott@timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE – No longer will Capts. Doug and Patty Richwine worry about where to find the money to balance the budget this year for the Salvation Army. The annual community dinner held Thursday night filled the charity’s plate, raising $150,125 and provided much-needed funding for its Kirby Health Center Family House, a transitional housing program for families. The Salvation Army also honored Chuck and Mary Parente with its “Community Service Award,” and Mary and Allen Erwine with the “Others Award.” Approximately 430 people attended the dinner at the Best Western Genetti
Hotel & Conference Center and the Richwines delivered a heartfelt thank you and goodbye to them. The couple, both pastors in the Salvation Army, came here five years ago and will leave next month to head another chapter in Milton. “Well, you did it. I can truly say God has blessed us,” said Patty Richwine when she announced the amount raised. She singled out Bob Tambur for leading the dinner committee responsible for the event. Richwine’s husband shared her joy and relief in being able to balance the $1.2 million budget. “Every year I come to this dinner and every year we make our goal,” said Doug Richwine. “I will never forget this
valley. It is a wonderful, giving valley.” He encouraged the audience to continue being generous, saying, “Keep giving because times are tough.” The families who stay in the transitional housing provided by the Salvation Army need to know people care about them, said Mary Erwine. “Tonight you have proven that someone cares,” she said. The Erwines were honored for their “extraordinary spirit of service to other,” said Lt. Col. Donald Lance, who presented the “Others” award. The owners of Erwine Home Health & Hospice Inc. in Kingston have supported numerous projects and programs See DINNER, Page 14A
Walk aims to make strides for MS awareness Plains Twp. resident wants to bring attention to treatment of disease. By EILEEN GODIN Times Leader Correspondent
WILKES-BARRE – Plains Township resident Dawn Bozek, 42, admitted she was naive about Multiple Sclerosis when she was first diagnosed in 2003. By participating in the MS walk Saturday, she hopes to raise awareness of the disease and treatments available. About 400,000 Americans have MS, and about 200 new cases are diagnosed every week, according to the Multiple Sclerosis Society. The disease affects the central nervous system, causing symptoms such as numbness in limbs and/or paralysis, slurring of speech and loss of vision. On Saturday, the annual MS Walk will be held starting at the Martz Amphitheater in Kirby Park in WilkesBarre, and proceed into the downtown
area. Bozek said when she first noticed numbness in her legs, she was not too concerned. Then one morning, about 10 years ago, she woke Bozek up for work and she could not feel her legs. Her boyfriend pinched her leg and she could not feel it. “He called my mom,” she said. A self-proclaimed “big baby” when it comes to needles and doctors, Bozek went with her mother to see their family physician. “I just thought it was an enflamed nerve or something like that,” she said. “I thought he would give me a pill for it.” Instead of a pill, she walked out of the doctor’s office with an order for an MRI. This lead to further testing, including a spinal tap, Bozek said. The final diagnosis was MS.
ABOUT THE MS WALK Registration is 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday in the Martz Amphitheater in Kirby Park, Wilkes-Barre. Donations can be made by visiting, http://walkpac.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=18591.