Big force on job as scrap drive opens

The Scranton Salvage for Victory campaign got under way when 250 men and 20 trucks fanned out in the morning from Courthouse Square to start collecting salvage metal. The men were divided up. Some went with equipment to start dismantling heavy metal items while others were sent to start collecting salvage metal at collection points in the city.

The men were to start making a house-to-house canvas of the city’s neighborhoods.

As part of the drive, the parishioners of St. George’s Church in Taylor donated the church’s one-ton bell to drive. The church had 85 members serving in the nation’s armed forces.

WPB gives go-ahead

to build war factory

The War Production Board gave the green light for the construction of the U.S. Hammered Piston Ring Co. off Winfield Avenue on the Scranton-Minooka line.

The facility was to be built by Karno-Smith Co. of Trenton, New Jersey. Karno-Smith also built South Scranton Junior High School and the State General Hospital.

Von Trapp family

to perform at Temple

The Music Department of Marywood College announced the Von Trapp family was slated to perform in Scranton at the theater at the Masonic Temple on Oct. 29. Tickets for the show could be purchased from any Marywood student, at the Diocesan Guild Studio or at the college. The college’s music department was sponsoring the show.

BRIAN FULTON, library manager, oversees The Times-Tribune’s expansive digital and paper archives and is an authority on local history. Contact Brian at bfulton@timesshamrock.com or 570-348-9140.

SCRANTON — Students at the main Whittier Elementary School building will be dismissed at noon today due to low water pressure issue inside the South Scranton school, according to the district. The school will provide lunch before dismissal.

Students at the annex building are not affected.

— SARAH HOFIUS HALL

CLARKS SUMMIT — A water main break along Brook Street may affect service at homes and businesses throughout the Abingtons.

Crews are working to repair the break along Brook Street, off Northern Boulevard in Clarks Summit, according to Pennsylvania American Water. Repairs could take eight hours to complete; customers in the Abingtons could experience no water service, low pressure or discolored water.

When service is restored, customers could experience cloudy or discolored water. The water company recommends letting water run until clear. For more information, and a map of the affected area, visit www.pennsylvaniaamwater.com and select alert notifications, or contact Pennsylvania American Water at 1-800-565-7292.

— STAFF REPORT

Outdated property assessments and an unfair tax system can hurt business and discourage new development, Pennsylvania Economy League Executive Director Gerald Cross told the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

Lackawanna County voters will decide Nov. 7 if the county borrows up to $13 million to pay for a countywide reassessment, which would update assessments for each of the county’s 101,000 parcels and bring assessed values in line with what those properties are worth on the open market. Assessments were last comprehensively updated in 1968.

Cross — addressing the subject of reassessment with the chamber board and the boards of the chamber’s affiliate organizations — explained that outdated assessments often result in higher tax millage rates, while more accurate, up-to-date assessments can allow taxing bodies to keep millage rates low while maintaining the same revenue base. A mill is a $1 tax on each $1,000 of assessed property value.

Because businesses consider tax rates when choosing where to operate, outdated assessments and resulting high millage rates can put Lackawanna County at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to courting new industries, Cross said.

“So when they go in and look at a borough on one side of the border of Lackawanna that has a 30-mill tax rate, and they go across the border to Luzerne (County) and they see a smaller tax rate, they say: ‘Ah, that’s where I want to be,’” Cross said.

High millage rates also discourage existing businesses from renovating or expanding, Cross said, noting that expansions and improvements often result in a property’s assessed value increasing in a climate with already high tax rates.

“You’re getting a higher assessment ... and you’re in that environment where the millages are high because everyone else (has) lower values,” Cross said. “So you as a business owner have a higher millage that you must pay on a property that’s valued unfairly at a higher rate than someone else with an older building. To me that’s unfair, and that puts people at a competitive disadvantage.”

Attorney Andrew Hailstone, who serves on the board of the Scranton Lackawanna Industrial Building Co., or SLIBCO — the chamber’s development arm, has seen first hand how the inequity of the county’s current tax system disincentivizes new development.

“We’ve seen companies lost (to other locations) partially because of our tax system,” Hailstone said. “They would come in and build new buildings at current rates, and they’d be competing against people who had buildings that were assessed at a fraction.”

While the chamber has not yet taken an official position on the reassessment referendum, chamber President Bob Durkin emphasized the importance of tax fairness.

“(We) are trying to help attract, sustain and grow business in Lackawanna County,” Durkin said. “The question of taxes is certainly one that more than occasionally comes up in the conversation. Fairness and equity is what business wants. We’re not looking for a break for business. What we’re saying is let’s make sure we have a system that’s fair.”

Contact the writer:

jhorvath@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9141;

@jhorvathTT on Twitter

DUNMORE — Pennsylvania American Water Company began upgrades this week to more than 6,000 feet of water main in the borough to improve reliability, reduce service disruptions and increase water flows for firefighting.

Crews began Tuesday replacing existing cast iron water mains with new, eight-inch ductile iron pipe along Spring Street. They will eventually do the same along Terrance Street, Walnut Street, Laurel Street, Oak Street, Potter Street and Evelyn Street.

Work will take place weekdays between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. During construction, customers might experience temporary service interruptions, discolored water and/or lower than normal water pressure.

The company expects to complete the water main installation, including transfer of all customer services, final restoration and paving, in early 2018.

— STAFF REPORT

The graduation date for Abington Heights seniors will remain June 13 — for now — as the district adjusts its calendar to make up school days lost during the teachers strike.

On Wednesday, the board voted on an adjusted calendar that maintains a week-long Christmas vacation and includes make-up days at the end of the school year and around holidays. The teachers went on an eight-day strike beginning on Sept. 12. Picketing ended on Sept. 22 but the threat of another strike beginning on Jan. 2 looms unless a contract is settled before then.

“We tried to keep graduation the same and so we treated the eight days as if we were out eight snow days,” said Superintendent Michael Mahon, Ph.D.

Abington Height’s last day of school typically is scheduled several days before graduation. School was set to end on June 7, but the last day is now moved to June 13, the same day as graduation.

Students also will be in class on: Nov. 28; Martin Luther King Jr. Day; Jan. 15; Presidents Day; Feb. 19; and April 3.

Early dismissals for students on Nov. 22 and Dec. 22 for teachers’ Act 80 days are now full days.

Abington Heights received an email from the Pennsylvania Department of Education rescinding its Act 80 days — time used for teachers professional development — because of the strike.

Students must be in class for 180 days a school year, according to PDE. Act 80 days are an exception to that rule and are not considered instructional days, the department said. So when a strike occurs and PDE decides how many days a strike can last, it does not calculate the Act 80 days towards the 180 days of instruction.

With winter on the horizon and the possibility of bad weather, the district will have to reassess make-up days and the graduation date, said Mahon. The district’s new calendar states that the final graduation date will be confirmed in April.

“We kind of extinguished our plan for a bad winter so we’ll have to get back to the drawing board,” Mahon said.

For an updated calendar, visit the district’s website at ahsd.org.

Contact the writer: kbolus@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5114; @kbolusTT on Twitter

A Scranton resident suing the city, Dunmore and two law firms involved in the $195 million sale of the municipalities’ sewer system claims the sale’s proceeds were improperly disbursed and should be returned to the Scranton Sewer Authority.

The plaintiff, Anthony Moses of Fisk Street, names Scranton, its special counsel for the sewer sale, the Abrahamsen, Conaboy & Abrahamsen law firm of Scranton, Dunmore and its borough solicitor, the Cummings Law firm of Dunmore as defendants.

Moses is represented by Philadelphia attorneys Simon Paris, Patrick Howard and Charles Kocher of the Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky law firm.The lawsuit filed Thursday

in Lackawanna County Court claims that under the state Municipal Authorities Act, the sewer authority was only allowed to expend money for purposes directly related to its mission. State law prohibited the authority from transferring sewer sale proceeds to Scranton and Dunmore “for their general welfare,” and for paying their sewer-sale legal bills out of net proceeds, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit seeks the return of all net proceeds to the sewer authority, which includes about $70 million transferred to Scranton, $17 million to Dunmore, $200,000 paid to the Abrahamsen firm and $256,000 paid to the Cummings firm. The authority also should be ordered to place the returned money in escrow, “until the SSA properly settles all outstanding claims against it as required” by law, the lawsuit says.

One such claim is a separate, class-action lawsuit filed by the Saltz law firm last October, against the sewer authority over an issue involving missing sewer-line easements. Moses also is one of the class-action plaintiffs in that earlier lawsuit, which remains pending in Lackawanna County Court.

Scranton special counsel Edwin “Ned” Abrahamsen said Moses’ lawsuit has no merit and is being used as leverage in the class-action lawsuit.

“Although we have not had a full opportunity to review the complaint, note that plaintiff’s law firm is the same law firm which brought the class-action suit regarding sewer easements,” Abrahamsen said in an emailed response to a Times-Tribune reporter’s request for comment. “This appears to be an attempt to force an unreasonable settlement of the class action upon the citizens of our city. We intend to vigorously defend this baseless claim.”

Attempts to reach Dunmore Borough solicitor Thomas Cummings and Scranton city solicitor Jessica Boyles were unsuccessful.

The authority’s sale of the sewer system to Pennsylvania American Water closed on Dec. 29.

Moses’ lawsuit does not name the Scranton Sewer Authority as a defendant. The lawsuit notes that despite a city ordinance in late December authorizing termination of the sewer authority, it remains in existence. Since the agency has not been terminated and its outstanding claims remain pending, the transfers of sale proceeds to the city and borough should not have occurred, the lawsuit says.

It also notes that state law allows a ratepayer to an authority to seek the return of money expended by that authority in violation of that law.

The authority also placed $17 million of sale proceeds in an escrow account, of which $12 million was set aside for resolving the class-action lawsuit over easements. Moses’ lawsuit says it’s unclear how that $12 million escrow was determined and “whether it will be enough to compensate all the property owners who have undisclosed sewer lines on their properties and, in some cases, directly underneath their homes,” such as Moses.

Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5185; @jlockwoodTT on Twitter

HONESDALE — A couple will spend up to decades in state prison after a judge found them guilty in July of a slew of child sexual abuse charges, including statutory sexual assault.

Michael Thomas Schwartz, 35, will serve between 12 years and five months and 45 years in state prison. Jamie Lynn Schwartz, 29, will serve between 11 and 40 years, according to Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards. Both must register as sex offenders for life.

The couple sexually abused two boys, who were both under 14 at the time, from 2011 to 2013 in their former Damascus Twp. home. Michael Schwartz told the boys not to tell anyone about the abuse, because they had a “circle of trust,” prosecutors said.

— FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY

Lackawanna County officials still have five weeks to educate voters about the reassessment question that will appear on the Nov. 7 ballot.

It may not be enough.

The first round of three informational sessions on the upcoming referendum Wednesday showed many residents are confused and have misconceptions about both the question and the countywide property revaluation process voters would set in motion by approving it.

Three additional sessions are scheduled today.

The ballot question will ask voters whether the county should borrow up to $13 million to perform the first comprehensive reassessment of all real estate in the county — more than 101,000 parcels total — since 1968.

The county kicked off its pre-election outreach effort at the commissioners’ meeting Wednesday morning, where it debuted a roughly 13-minute video that explains the question and what reassessment is, why it is important and how it might affect individual property owners.

Joan R. Price, a reassessment attorney hired by the county who is featured in the video, told about 25 people who attended an afternoon informational session in Old Forge that the hallmark of every reassessment is fairness by updating values so that similarly situated properties are assessed similarly.

“That’s the goal, to make certain that property owners are paying no more or no less than their fair share of real estate taxes,” she said. “That is the purpose behind it.”

The rule of thumb is that, after a reassessment, about a third of tax bills increase, another third decrease and the final third stay roughly the same.

“Generally speaking, counties have seen that,” Price said. “From my experience, I have generally seen it play out.”

Ralph Chase, who chaired the county Board of Assessment from 1971 to 1984, questioned the necessity of the reassessment, pointing out property owners who believe their assessments are too high already have a potential remedy by appealing.

“My educated guess here is at the end of the process of putting a reassessment in place, we are not going to end up with a heck of a lot better than what we have now,” he said.

The only people who will benefit from a reassessment, he said, are those who have allowed their properties to deteriorate since the last one.

Among those who will be “punished” by reassessment is “the old lady who has been in her house for 50 years and done all she can to improve it,” he said. “Now she is at the end of her line and her house suddenly jacks way up and she can’t afford to stay in her house.”

“Well, not necessarily,” Price told him.

Conrad Bosley, representing the Greater Scranton Board of Realtors, told Price he is familiar with the inequity in the current assessments after having served for four years on the county assessment appeals board. His organization supports the reassessment, he said.

“We just think it’s long overdue,” he said.

In response to a question from former county planner Harry Lindsay of Moosic, Price said the county might be able to use the data collected a decade ago when Commissioners Robert Cordaro and A.J. Munchak launched a formal reassessment that was suspended in 2009 by Commissioners Corey O’Brien and Mike Washo.

However, she said she would be “uncomfortable” relying heavily on data that is now 10 years old.

“I would want to ensure through the data collection process that the information we were using is correct,” she said.

Old Forge resident Ray Kempa said county officials need to simplify their explanation of reassessment and make it clear to voters that while assessments will increase, tax millage rates will fall.

“We are voting for fairness,” he said. “What’s better than fairness? Are we all going to vote for unfairness when it’s time to vote?”

A second public information session at North Pocono High School also drew residents who were trying to wrap their heads around the complex and archaic reassessment process and what it would mean for their tax bills.

Jefferson Twp. resident Bill “Beeper” McGee hoped the administration could share a formula that residents could use to get an idea of what their updated assessments would be based on features of their home, but Price said there isn’t a uniform model.

The attorney responded that evaluators would look at the same factors Realtors consider when selling a house, but the process also involves studying sale prices of comparable homes in the same neighborhood.

“An acre of land that sells in Moscow is not going to be valued the same necessarily ... as an acre of land in Clarks Summit,” she said. “Sometimes you can go from street to street even within the same ... municipality, and the market may change dramatically. You go three blocks over, and you may get a totally different market.”

The county’s video takes pains to stress that reassessments are, by law, revenue neutral. That means the revenue collected by taxing bodies the year after a reassessment must be essentially the same as the amount they collected the year before. The county, municipalities and school districts are required to adjust their tax rates to make that happen.

“No one should assume that reassessment will result in an across-the-board tax increase for everyone. Some tax bills may rise, some may fall, some may stay the same,” Price says in the video.

Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com, 57-348-9132

Get informed

Lackawanna County will hold three more informational sessions today on the reassessment ballot question:

■Scranton City Hall, 340 N. Washington Ave., at noon.

■Dickson City Borough Building, 901 Enterprise St., at 3 p.m.

■Abington Heights High School, 222 Noble Road, Clarks Summit, at 6 p.m.

MARRIAGE LICENSE

■ Michael Fredrick Samuels and Elyse Christine Casey, both of San Francisco.

PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS

■ John and Delores Wehrum, Dunmore, to Frances Rafter, Jefferson Twp.; a property at Moosic Lakes, Jefferson Twp., for $32,000.

■ John M. and Bernadine T. Soroka, Forest City, to Edward J. and Kathleen R. Calafut, Vestal, N.Y.; a property in Vandling for $38,000.

■ LGP Realty Holdings LP to Dunne Manning Realty LP; a property at 1435 N. Washington Ave., Scranton, for $198,000.

■ LGP Realty Holdings LP to Dunne Manning Realty LP; two parcels in Dunmore for $2,200,000.

■ LGP Realty Holdings LP to Dunne Manning Realty LP; a property on North Keyser Avenue, Scranton, for $902,000.

■ LGP Realty Holdings LP to Dunne Manning Realty LP; a property at 300 Meadow Ave., Scranton, for $870,100.

■ Joseph and Sharon Koezeno, Lackawanna County, to Louis T. Vitucci and Alicia M. Vitucci, Lackawanna County, as tenants in common; a property on Washington Avenue, Jermyn, for $35,000.

■ William J. Graham, Scranton, to Maria M. Juca Avila, Mastic Beach, N.Y.; a property at 431 River St., Scranton, for $28,000.

■ Samuel Hugh and Sandys MacDonald Davidson to Antoine and Najat Kristen Naim; a property at 520 Fairview Road, South Abington Twp., for $427,000.

■ Mary Ellen and James Morris, Scranton, Mary Ann and Gerard Ruane, Scranton, William Dougherty, New Jersey, Daniel Dougherty and Julia McLaughlin, Virginia, to William M. Naughton, Scranton; a property on Crown Avenue, Scranton, for $56,400.

■ Donna Marie Vilogi, Mary Ann Hayes, Cynthia Gattens, also known as Cynthia Gatten, and Denise Davis, all of Pennsylvania, to Tara B. Adhikari, Pennsylvania; a property at 618 Brook St., Scranton, for $78,000.

■ Villa Inc., Old Forge, to Michael F. IV and Diana M. Martinelli, Old Forge; a property in Old Forge for $65,000.

■ Caliber Real Estate Services LLC, attorney-in-fact for LSF9 Master Participation Trust, Irving, Texas, to Xin Hua Pan, Scranton; a property at 1008 Clearview St., Scranton, for $27,000.

■ Bayview Loan Servicing LLC, Coral Gables, Fla., to Roundwoods Realty LLC, Scranton; a property at 1438 St. Ann’s St., Scranton, for $30,000.

DIVORCES SOUGHT

■ Kassie Mars, Dunmore, v. Keion Mars, East Orange, N.J.; married March 1, 2012, in East Orange; pro se.

■ Kristin Nallin, Jermyn, v. Kevin Michael Nallin, Jermyn; married July 24, 2002, in Lackawanna County; Ann Marie Howells, attorney.

ESTATES FILED

■ Angelo Mazzino, 155 Westgate Drive, Apt. L6, Carbondale, letters of administration to Robert Mazzino, 234 Elm St., Dickson City.

■ Robert Tocki, also known as Robert G. Tocki, 401 Delaware St., Mayfield, letters testamentary to Barbara Tocki, same address.

■ John Hitchcock, 131 Valley View Drive, Peckville, letters testamentary to Sonya J. Hitchcock, same address.

■ Michael O’Neill, 311 Green St., Scranton, letters testamentary to Kate Lynn O’Neill, 604 Chestnut St., Dunmore.

■ Stephen Walsh III, 514 Greenwood Ave., Clarks Summit, letters of administration to Gail Walsh, same address.

■ Louise T. Ott, 930 Hemlock St., Scranton, letters testamentary to Bernard M. Ott, same address.

ONLINE: thetimes-tribune.com/courts

Dalton

Book sale: Dalton Community Library book and bake sale, Oct. 21, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; adult and juvenile fiction and nonfiction, magazines, paperbacks and recordings; 570-563-2014.

Moosic

Reformation celebration: Hope Church reformation celebration, Oct. 28, 4:30 p.m. featuring a candlelight dinner with foods and music typical of the times, and costumed “guests” pay a visit with a short program following the dinner; free; seating is limited and reservations are a must; Cheryl Straka, 570-689-7245 or 570-647-6393, by Oct. 20.

Moscow

Pasta dinner: North Pocono Knights of Columbus annual pasta dinner fundraiser, Sunday, 12:30-4 p.m., St. Catherine’s Church Hall; adults, $8; takeouts, $8; seniors, $7; children, $5; children under 6, free.

South Scranton

Church sale: St. Paul of the Cross Parish Society rummage and bake sale, today and Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Parish Center, Prospect Avenue; to order haluski, Theresa Volski, 570-347-0850, or Jim Kryzanowski, 570-346-4265.

Free meal: One hot meal at St. Stanislaus Youth Center, Saturday, 1-3 p.m., 530 E. Elm St.; 570-343-6017.

Sterling

Rummage sale: Sterling United Methodist Church rummage sale, today-Monday, 9 a.m.-noon, 567 Sterling Road, $2 bag sale, Monday.

West Scranton

Dramatic reading: Anthracite Heritage Museum presents John Mitchell: An American Hero, dramatic reading written and performed by Robert Thomas Hughes, Oct. 28, 2 p.m., at the museum, McDade Park, off Keyser Ave.; $5 per person; reservations suggested, Bode Morin, 570-963-4804.

CLIPBOARD ITEMS may be emailed to yesdesk@timesshamrock.com or mailed to Clipboard, c/o YES!Desk, 149 Penn Ave., Scranton, PA 18503. YES!Desk, 570-348-9121.

PSU professor presents overseas

Renee Bishop-Pierce is the Keystone Note speaker at the Breaking the Surface (BtS) conference in Croatia.

An associate professor of biology at Penn State Worthington Scranton, Bishop-Pierce will present her research, “The Impact of Subterranean Groundwater Discharge on Coastal Productivity,” today.

The presentation will focus on Bishop-Pierce’s findings on multiple possible causes of destabilization of aquatic ecosystems based on her current studies, according to the university.

The conference is an international interdisciplinary field workshop of maritime robotics and applications since 2009 and serves as a meeting place for experts, professors, scientists, industry reps and students from various fields.

Attorney honored during Mass

Mary Theresa Gardier Paterson, secretary and general counsel for Marywood University, will be honored with the Attorney Sheila Flanagan Sheils Memorial Award during the annual Red Mass today.

The award, presented from the St. Thomas MoreSociety of the Diocese of Scranton, is given to a member of the society for exhibiting the values, steadfast faith and conscience of St. Thomas More, the patron saint of lawyers, statesmen and politicians.

Paterson is an attorney and member of Lackawanna Bar Association board of directors.

Bishop Joseph C. Bambera will be the principal celebrant while the Rev. Herbert B. Keller, S.J., interim president of the University of Scranton and rector of the Scranton Jesuit Community, will serve as homilist.

All are invited to the Mass, today at 12:10 p.m. in the Cathedral of St. Peter in Scranton. The Scranton Prep Choir will offer the music ministry. The diocese invites members of the bar associations in the 11 counties that comprise the diocese and the Diocesan Tribunal staff to participate.

High notes

Brian Loughney is the newest member of the Greater Scranton YMCA board of directors.

Loughney was inducted on Sept. 27 during the organization’s 2017 annual meeting at La Buona Vita in Dunmore.

New officers of the board of directors were also announced including: Richard Davidson, treasurer; William Dempsey, vice president; Erica Weaver, secretary; and Joseph Tomko, chief volunteer officer.

Trish Fisher is CEO of the Greater Scranton YMCA.

HARRISBURG — The Northeastern Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike will be closed to traffic from Oct. 13 through 16, according to the state Turnpike Commission.

Motorists are asked to make alternate plans or to expect a long detour as crews demolish and replace a 131-foot bridge at mile 57 in Lehigh County.

Between 9 p.m. Oct. 13 and 4 a.m. Oct. 16, northbound motorists will be detoured at Exit 56 and southbound motorists will be detoured at Exit 95. The detour route takes drivers to U.S. Route 22, state Route 33 and Interstate 80.

The commission warns the detour will add more than an hour to travel times.

— JAMES HALPIN

Broadway Theatre League of Northeastern Pennsylvania will hold the first in a new series of free informative talks Friday at Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple, 420 N. Washington Ave.

A Toyota Talks event will take place a week or two prior to each of the league’s shows this season and tie in to the production’s theme. The first, “What’s So Funny,” looks at what makes people laugh and the style of musical comedy present in “A Gentleman’s Guide To Love & Murder,” which opens the league’s season Friday, Oct. 13, at the cultural center.

Dr. Paulette Merchel and Heather Stuart of Marywood University will present the lecture in the Shopland Hall lobby at 5:30 and 7 p.m. For details, call 570-342-7784 or visit broadwayinscranton.com.

— CAITLIN HEANEY WEST

CPC members asked to resign positions

Scranton Mayor James Walsh sent a letter to each of the members of the City Planning Commission asking for their resignations in order “to restore domestic tranquility to our city, and in order to give the city a fresh new start in the planning area.”

The members of the commission were Joseph A. Kane, Joseph E. Peters, Bernard B. Blier, George J. Decker, William M Donovan, Sidney Grabowski, Thomas F. Kane and Morris Goodman.

Blier, a member of the planning commission and the executive director of the Scranton Redevelopment Authority, said he would not resign his position and suggested Walsh should be looking into “shadow groups which are attempting to divert the positive community mission of the City Planning Commission into a special interest playground.”

Walsh gave no clear reason why he asked for the resignation, only citing “an accumulation of things.”

FBI joins troopers

in search for bandit

The FBI joined state police from the Dunmore station and New Milford in the investigation of an Oct. 5 robbery at the Lawton branch of the Grange National Bank.

Law enforcement officials reported that the bandit made off with $15,219.65 in cash. They said he entered the bank and warned those inside that he had a weapon. He bound three people before helping himself to the money in the tellers’ cages.

BRIAN FULTON, library manager, oversees The Times-Tribune’s expansive digital and paper archives and is an authority on local history. Contact Brian at bfulton@timesshamrock.com or 570-348-9140.

Despite a swift response and a peaceful end, staff at Marywood University did not follow an ideal procedure for notifying the campus community that a man with a gun had been reported at a school building, a university spokeswoman said Thursday.

Officials with the Scranton college met Thursday, and will continue to meet, to review protocols to “make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Juneann Greco said.

“Everyone understood why students would be upset,” Greco said.

One day after Dunmore police arrested and charged 28-year-old university student Alexander Barowski after discovering a gun, body armor and 200 rounds of ammunition in his truck Wednesday, school officials responded to criticism that the university reacted too slowly in notifying the campus and public of the potential danger.

An alert to the campus went out after the “situation” had been resolved. Many students were left to find out what happened through word of mouth.

University president Sister Mary Persico, I.H.M., Ed.D. drafted letters for the campus community Wednesday night and Thursday morning that acknowledged their concern and promised to resolve the lack of notification.

“The primary reason for this is that our Marywood Security Team thought first about our students who may have been in danger and moved quickly to the scene, where the individual was apprehended in a matter of minutes,” she wrote. “We owe them, as well as the Scranton, Dunmore, and Throop police officers, our heartfelt thanks and we cannot underestimate the selflessness of our own campus security in this matter.”

Ideally, the campus security would receive the call, notify 911 and draft an e2campus alert, a text-based notification service for campus students and staff. In this case, the first two steps were followed swiftly.

Greco said the initial notification would not have had much information, “but a notification should have ideally gone out.”

At 3:37 p.m. on Wednesday, Dunmore police were dispatched to the campus on a report that a man brought a firearm to a science building and showed a student, who was unidentified in court paperwork. The conversation between Barowski and the student then turned to his recent “breakdown” and his difficulty adjusting to life as a student.

The student found an excuse to leave the conversation and notified a university employee about what happened. The police responded soon after.

Police found and spoke with Barowski minutes later, who explained he’s had suicidal thoughts but had no intentions of harming anyone, according to the criminal complaint. Inside his truck, officers found body armor labeled “state agent,” a police-style radio, a medical kit and 13 magazines of various ammunition. Additionally, police also found a loaded handgun, a gold-colored security badge, military warfare booklets, two tourniquets, parts of an AR-15 and tools to assemble and disassemble the .223-caliber rifle.

Barowski said he “made a poor choice” by taking the loaded weapon onto Marywood’s campus.

Later, Archbald police went to his home at 329 N. Main St., where his family gave permission to search the residence. There, officers found several additional firearms, Police Chief Tim Trently said.

No one answered the door Wednesday. Booming barks from two dogs greeted knocks from a Times-Tribune reporter.

As the investigation progressed, the question of why Barowski had the gear and firearms on a college campus, which prohibits deadly weapons, was still pending.

“Not at this point and time but the investigation is ongoing,” Lackawanna County District Attorney Shane Scanlon said.

Barowski in 2012 was attached to the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in Olyphant as a private. Previously, he worked as an officer for Masthope Mountain Public Safety and an emergency medical technician with Lackawaxen EMS.

Barowski is a part-time contact security officer with Allied Universal, Mark Schaub, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin, confirmed in an email. Barowski provides security services at Lockheed Martin’s facilities in Archbald.

When speaking to police, Barowski said he has a license to carry the handgun.

Barowski has no criminal record in Pennsylvania, according to a review of state court documents.

Until Wednesday, the only court documents bearing his name were a 2015 state tax lien for a Scott Twp. property in the amount of $866.78 and three traffic tickets dating back to 2009.

On Wednesday, Magisterial District Judge Paul J. Ware jailed Barowski at Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $500,000 bail for charges of terroristic threats, simple assault, unlawful body armor and recklessly endangering another person.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Friday next week at 10:30 a.m. The case docket does not yet list an attorney representing Barowski.

Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9144; @jkohutTT on Twitter

When you have waited almost 50 years since your last reassessment, as Lackawanna County has done, property owners can expect some pain, the county’s reassessment consultant said.

Reassessment attorney Joan R. Price made the observation while fielding questions Thursday as the county wrapped up its second and final day of informational sessions — six in all — about the reassessment question that will appear on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.

Voters will decide whether to authorize the commissioners to borrow up to $13 million to conduct the first comprehensive revaluation of all property in the county since 1968.

At an afternoon session in Dickson City attended by about 50 people, a taxpayer from Madison Twp. asked Price how frequently other counties perform reassessments.

There is not a one size fits all, she replied. Absent a state mandate for periodic revaluations, some counties do them every few years, she said. Then there are counties such as Blair, which just finished its first reassessment since the 1950s.

“That is a painful process, the longer you wait,” Price said. “It’s like a Band-Aid. The longer you wait, the more it adheres and more it hurts when you take it off. The longer you wait to do a countywide reassessment, the more painful the process is going to be.”

At a night session that drew about three dozen people to Abington Heights High School, some residents worried about the fairness of spreading that pain to Lackawanna County’s senior citizens who live on fixed incomes. Others saw the current system hurting people.

“I was talking to my next-door neighbor today,” Clarks Green resident Rob Ortiz said. “His house is half the size of mine ... His school taxes are 50 percent higher than mine. There is something wrong with the system.”

Newton Twp. resident Keith Eckel added a property tax relief program for farmers through the Pennsylvania Clean and Green Act isn’t in a position to help struggling farmers in Lackawanna County because of the area’s outdated assessments.

Clean and Green limits the assessed value of property that fits specified criteria, but the caps set by the state are generally higher than Lackawanna County’s assessments that reflect market conditions from nearly a half century ago.

“As a result the benefit, which is geared toward preserving farmland on our best open-space farmland, is not going to do us any good,” Eckel said.

During an earlier session at Scranton City Hall, questions ranged from whether nonprofit and government buildings would be assessed — yes, Price said, all properties would be valued whether they are tax-exempt or not — to whether separate values would be assigned for land and improvements — again, yes, she said.

City resident Charisse Tenewitz asked whether property values would be determined during the reassessment using the same kind of location-specific criteria real estate appraisers use.

She had heard the assessments might be set using a countywide average, which she said had everybody “nervous.”

“That would be incorrect,” Price told her, saying the certified Pennsylvania evaluators who determine values understand those values change from town to town and from neighborhood to neighborhood.

“Market value is market value,” Price said. “The bottom line for homes particularly ... is if you put your home on the market, what would it sell for? That’s what the appraisers are trying to find.”

Tenewitz also questioned the wording of the ballot initiative: “Shall the Lackawanna County Commissioners incur debt not to exceed $13 (million) solely for the purpose of conducting a countywide revision of assessment so that all real estate within the county will be assessed at a predetermined ratio of 100 percent of a new base-year value?”

Speaking as a clinical psychologist, Tenewitz said the structure of the question “expects a ‘no’ answer.”

“You may want to look at the way you’ve worded that on the ballot,” she told Price and county chief of staff Andy Wallace.

Mark Stuenzi, Clarks Summit, asked why the question is on the ballot at all. By putting the reassessment issue before the voters, the commissioners are shirking their “sworn duty” under the state Constitution to ensure tax uniformity in the county, he said.

“We are putting something on the ballot that’s very, very difficult to understand and, therefore, when people have very busy lives and not enough time to really understand the issue, they’re going to vote more on impulse than they are on information. ... When you ask people if you want to add to the county debt, the impulse is going to be no,” he said.

He then asked Wallace if the commissioners would still do a reassessment if voters reject the question.

Wallace replied the commissioners thought letting voters have a voice in deciding whether to go forward with a reassessment “would be the fairest thing to do.”

“I think I can speak on behalf of at least a majority of the county commissioners who have stated if this is not approved by the electorate, they will not do a reassessment during their term of office,” he added.

Wallace later acknowledged he doesn’t know what would happen if a lawsuit attempted to force a reassessment, however, and Price said courts have ordered some counties, including Delaware and Washington, with exceptionally dated assessments to conduct them.

County Controller Gary DiBileo said he favored reassessment but coupled it with support for House/Senate Bill 76. The bill, which is pending in the Legislature, would eliminate property taxes as a revenue source for school districts, replacing them with higher income and sales taxes.

Because school taxes account for about two-thirds of most property owners’ tax bills, enacting the Senate bill and conducting a countywide reassessment “would truly be a win-win situation,” DiBileo said.

“Property taxes would be levied fairly in Lackawanna County and all taxpayers would see a reduction in (real estate) taxes,” he said.

Abington Heights Superintendent Michael Mahon, who attended the meeting at Abington Heights High School, called the current system “fundamentally unfair” but said the proposed legislation would “cement inequity.”

Lackawanna County taxpayers often pay between $2,000 and $4,000 in property taxes while people in places such as Montgomery County might pay $12,000 per year, Mahon said.

“Our region would be a very serious loser in the redistribution of resources from places like Lackawanna County to other places that have higher property taxes,” Mahon said. “Lackawanna County has low spending and high poverty school districts, and the resources would be shifted to high-spending and affluent school districts, which in my view is a fatal flaw in Act 76.”

Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9132

WILKES-BARRE — A Dupont woman is facing assault charges after police say she cut a man during a domestic dispute.

Police were dispatched to a report of a stabbing victim on South Sherman Street shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday.

The victim, a 23-year-old man, suffered a minor knife wound to the hand and declined treatment, police said.

Elsie Ann Mantush, 20, was charged with simple assault and harassment. She was released on $5,000 unsecured bail.

— JAMES HALPIN

Homeowners near levees along the Lackawanna River in Scranton’s Plot and Green Ridge sections may no longer be required to buy flood insurance, city council members said Thursday.

Federal and state agencies are reviewing some of the city’s newer levees, according to council President Joe Wechsler. If they deem levees in the Plot and Green Ridge high enough and stable enough, a federal requirement for property owners to buy flood insurance may be lifted.

If such a recommendation goes through, possibly sometime next year, homeowners there could each save several thousand dollars a year by no longer having to carry flood insurance, Wechsler said.

Flood insurance for some is a “huge expense,” ranging from $6,000 to $9,000 a year, Wechsler said. If it’s not required, real estate sales in affected areas could soar, council members said.

“I see the Plot expanding tremendously” if flood insurance is eliminated, Wechsler said. “Once these (homes) are freed up of the burden of the flood insurance, I think you’ll see a boom in sales down there.”

Another levee downstream, the Albright levee, falls a few feet short of gaining a no-insurance-required designation, council members said.

Wechsler said two older levee systems, in East Scranton and South Scranton, were not mentioned, but the city continues to maintain them, too. The city continues to benefit from creation of the levees many years ago, he said.

In another matter, council unanimously tabled legislation from Mayor Bill Courtright’s administration for the city to acquire a vacant, contaminated lot at 248-256 Wyoming Ave., at Linden Street.

The plan calls for the city to buy the property, formerly a commercial dry-cleaning operation, from RSM Properties LLC for $375,000. The site is at the center of a lawsuit RSM filed against the city last year, alleging city officials during former Mayor Chris Doherty’s administration reneged on an agreement to pay for building demolition and environmental remediation if RSM would agree to buy the site. The plan for the city to buy the lot now would resolve the suit, and the city would turn the land into green space.

But council delayed voting on whether to adopt the ordinance because members want more information on remediation that will be required.

Some residents expressed concern about costs of remediation and loss of a taxable property.

Marie Schumacher said the city should not buy it without knowing the full extent of environmental liability that the city would assume.

“Taking this property off the tax rolls would be a travesty and add to the burden of the taxpaying property owners,” Schumacher said. “Taking on this potential liability of addtional remediation might be considered if we knew the cost.”

“Why should we take the hit for it?” resident Dave Dobryzn said of the cost.

Councilman Pat Rogan said he was “extremely conflicted” over the issue. He sees the need to settle the lawsuit but also does not want to have a potentially valuable commercial lot taken off the tax rolls. If the city were to buy the lot, Rogan suggested the city first try to sell it to see if any developers are interested.

“I don’t want to see this property off the tax rolls. I think it’s a prime piece of commercial real estate in downtown Scranton,” Rogan said. “I would much prefer see that land being used in a commercial way.”

Contact the writer:

jlockwood@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9100 x5185;

@jlockwoodTT on Twitter

Wyoming County Court Notes appear weekly in The Times-Tribune.

REAL ESTATE

■ Joseph C. Buzunis, administrator, Robert Buzunis, administrator, Sue Marie Buzunis, deceased, Sue Marie T. Buzunis, deceased, to David H. Thorpe and Sharon Thorpe, property in Northmoreland Twp. and Exeter Twp. for $66,000.

■ Ernestine Sickler and Kenneth Sickler, AIF, to Thomas McPherson, property in Exeter Twp. for $165,000.

■ James H. Rice, executor, and Leila S. Rice, deceased, to Wyoming County Conservation District, property in Tunkhannock Twp. for $100,000.

■ Gabriel A. Serbin III and Michele Serbin to Virginia Keast, Harry Keast, Virginia Brozusky and Rachel Tunis, property in Lemon Twp. for $45,000.

■ Eric S. Darby to Anne B. Richards and Donald M. Richards, property in Exeter Twp. for $75,000.

■ Eric L. Peterson and Erika Winklebleck to Gretchen J. Reed, property in Factoryville for $105,000.

■ Debra Whipple and Richard E. Margerum to Daniel P. Huff Jr. and Diana G. Huff, property in Washington Twp. for $120,000.

■ Cheryl Pearson to Mark E. Holmes and Leslie Holmes, property in North Branch Twp. and Windham Twp. for $270,000.

■ Adam B. Barziloski and Jean M. Barziloski to Veto M. Barziloski Jr. and Adonia C. Barziloski, property in Tunkhannock Twp. for $137,000.

■ Frank E. Lawrence and Janice Lee Lawrence to Alfred Bevan, Frank E. Lawrence and Janice Lee Lawrence, property in Northmoreland Twp. for $96,000.

■ Cindy Jo Johnson, Arthur L. Johnson Sr. and Wyoming County sheriff to Guaranty Bank, property in Forkston Twp. for $2,429.

MARRIAGE LICENSE

■ Trevor Carl Mac Dougall, Harveys Lake, to Ashley Taylor Mitchell, Tunkhannock.

ESTATES FILED

■ Richard H. Driscole Sr., late of Wyoming County, letters testamentary, John J. Driscole, executor, 485 Snyder Road, New Milford.

■ Howard D. Jennings, late of Clinton Twp., Wyoming County, letters testamentary, Susan M. Jennings, executrix, c/o attorney David L. Haldeman, 1134 Lackawanna Trail, Clarks Summit.