State police said a 29-year-old Luzerne County woman reported that in mid-December she blacked out and then woke up tied up in the back of a vehicle.

The woman, whose name was not released, said she was picked up at her home in Wilkes Barre on Dec. 17 and driven to an unknown location where she drank alcohol, state police said.

The woman said she blacked out and woke up in the back of a vehicle on Milford Road in East Stroudsburg. According to state police, she said she was bound with her hands behind her back with a rope. She was able to free herself from the rope, exit the car and call 911, she told troopers. The entire incident spanned a 15 hour period from about 9:30 p.m. Dec. 17 to 12:30 p.m. Dec. 18.

The incident remains under investigation.

matt.coughlin@mcall.com

Twitter @coughlinreports

610-820-6564

Copyright © 2018, The Morning Call

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A lawyer for the former Pennsylvania attorney general convicted of leaking secret information then lying about it says the special prosecutor who investigated her had too much power.

Kathleen Kane's attorney told a panel of appeals judges in Philadelphia on Wednesday that the decision to give the special prosecutor grand jury authority violated rules about separation of powers.

A prosecutor countered by calling Kane's argument "window dressing" and says some of the most important evidence in the case didn't come from the grand jury.

Kane, a Democrat, resigned in 2016 after being convicted of two counts of felony perjury and seven misdemeanor counts, including obstruction and conspiracy.

Her lawyers are seeking dismissal of the charges or a retrial.

While the appeal is pending, she's free on bail and hasn't begun serving her 10-to-23-month sentence.

SCRANTON — A North Scranton man will spend three to six years in state prison for his role in the abduction and beating of another man he accused of stealing his PlayStation video game system.

Roberto Vazquez-Baez, 26, was sentenced today by Lackawanna County President Judge Michael J. Barrasse after pleading guilty Oct. 2 to felony kidnapping and a misdemeanor count of simple assault.

He will spend eight years on probation after his release from prison.

Vazquez-Baez and three other people — Jancarlos Borrero, Christopher Rosario and Alejandra Perez-Salgado — were arrested in February after city police say they hatched and carried out a plot to kidnap Edgar Sierra.

According to investigators, Vazquez-Baez had a falling out with Sierra, whom he accused of taking his PlayStation, and the suspects wanted to get back at him.

On the night of Feb. 9, Sierra drove to Pittston Avenue in his 2001 Acura to meet with Perez-Salgado, who expressed an interest in buying the car.

As they met, Vazquez-Baez and Borrero pulled up in a Mercury Mountaineer driven by a third man, police said. They choked Sierra and threw him into the Acura as the Mountaineer pulled away.

Vazquez-Baez and Borrero then drove away in Acura with Sierra, beating him and threatening to kill him, police said. The victim eventually escaped by jumping from the car on the McDade Expressway.

Vazquez-Baez did not speak in court but provided Barrasse with a written statement.

In pronouncing sentence, the judge ordered Vazquez-Baez to have no contact of any kind with the victim.

Vazquez-Baez was the last of the defendants to learn his punishment.

Last month, Barrasse sentenced Borrero to an identical three- to six-year state prison term in the kidnapping case, plus an additional four months to one year for an unrelated simple assault, and sentenced Rosario to 13 months to three years in state prison.

Perez-Salgado received time-served — 150 days — plus three months of house arrest as part of a three-year restrictive intermediate punishment sentence.

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

SOUTH ABINGTON TWP. — Township police arrested a 70-year-old township man Tuesday for selling and possessing illegal painkillers and marijuana.

Police found 90 Hydrocodone pills, 26 Oxycodone pills and a single Percocet pill in a lunch bag in Anthony J. Graziano’s Jeep, according to an arrest affidavit.

Police said he sold marijuana and a five Oxycodone pills to an undercover informant outside a township convenience store.

Graziano, who faces three counts of delivery of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and related charges, remains in Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $10,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is slated for Jan. 25.

— BORYS KRAWCZENIUK

ROARING BROOK TWP. — Someone broke into Gardecki Masonry’s garage Tuesday evening in the township and stole the company’s 2014 Ford box truck.

The theft happened about 9 p.m. The thief kicked in a side garage door to get to the truck and drove away along Route 435, police said. The company’s name is painted on the truck’s sides.

— BORYS KRAWCZENIUK

SCRANTON — A Wayne County man who helped his wife steal thousands of dollars from his mother-in-law’s bank accounts was sentenced today in Lackawanna County Court to four years of intermediate punishment, with the first three months on house arrest.

Jonathan M. Miller, 20, Equinunk, was charged by Archbald police in July with conspiring with his wife, Kyra, to obtain funds from Carolyn Matala by forging checks on her accounts. He pleaded guilty Oct. 18 to receiving stolen property.

Miller’s attorney, Thomas Farley, told President Judge Michael J. Barrasse it was “pretty obvious” his client was manipulated by Kyra Miller.

As part of his sentence, Jonathan Miller will be required to make still undetermined restitution, the judge said.

Kyra Miller, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to receive stolen property, is awaiting sentencing.

— DAVID SINGLETON

SCRANTON — Times-Tribune Staff Writer Joseph Kohut will appear Friday on an episode of “Mysteries & Scandals,” a true-crime documentary series on the Oxygen Network.

Airing at 9 p.m., the episode explores the case of Randy Stair, who fatally shot three coworkers in June, at the Weis Market in Eaton Twp., Wyoming County, before taking his own life.

NBC Universal flew Kohut — who wrote about the Stair killings and the massive online cache of materials he left behind — to Los Angeles last year to be interviewed for the program, which is hosted by Soledad O’Brien.

— JEFF HORVATH

SCRANTON — Ambulances were temporarily rerouted to other hospitals after city fire crews responded to Regional Hospital of Scranton on Wednesday afternoon to evaluate a water leak that affected electrical panels there.

There was no fire at the hospital, though hospital officials diverted ambulances and parts of the hospital ran on generator power as fire officials investigated, hospital spokeswoman Renita Fennick said.

Crews left the scene at about 5:40 p.m. and the facility started accepting ambulances and emergency room patients shortly thereafter.

— CLAYTON OVER

The largest snowfall so far this winter dumped up to nine inches across the region, closed schools and clogged roads Tuesday evening into Wednesday.

Police reported scattered fender-benders but no crashes with serious injuries. By Wednesday afternoon, the sun peeked out.

That is it for snow the next few days at least, with consistently warmer weather finally on the way, AccuWeather meteorologist Jordan Root said.

Expect sunshine today through Sunday with highs of 28 today, 33 on Friday, 44 on Saturday and 45 on Sunday, Root said.

The snowfall substantially beefed up the winter total. Only 14 inches has fallen since Dec. 1, at the Wilkes-Barre/International Airport, according to the National Weather Service.

Weather service spotters measured 5.8 inches in Beach Lake in Wayne County, New Milford in Susquehanna County and Duryea in Luzerne County; six inches in Moscow; seven inches in Wilkes-Barre and Milford in Pike County; and nine inches in Exeter.

Much of the snow arrived Tuesday. Originally, the National Weather Service in Binghamton, New York, said the official 3.5 inches Tuesday broke the Jan. 16 record of 3.3 inches in 2013.

The service corrected that when a reporter pointed out the service’s website says the record is 4.1 inches in 1954.

Either way, 4.1 inches seems a pretty modest record for a January day, but five other daily records had less snow — 2 inches on Jan. 5, 1912; 3 inches on Jan. 6, 1962; 3.8 inches on Jan. 21, 2012; and 4 inches on Jan. 10, 1974 and Jan. 31, 1949.

Nothing promotes skiing like snow, with local resorts reporting brisk business.

“No doubt the best advertising for skiing is a good snowbase and certainly natural snow makes it great,” said Gregg Confer, general manager of Elk Mountain in Susquehanna County.

Elk’s season started slowly because the ski resort couldn’t make snow for two or three days last month as the resort complied with Pennsylvania America Water. Co.’s request to voluntarily conserve water after months of below-normal rains.

At the Montage Mountain Ski Resort, retired high school teacher Patrick Joyce, 65, skied in “the best conditions of the season.”

Two snow days this week has Abington Heights School District Superintendent Michael Mahon worried they might have to delay the June 15 high school graduation. Because of an eight-school day strike in September and four snow days, the district already delayed graduation two days and used up snow days built into its school calendar, Mahon said. Only Good Friday remains for making up further lost days, he said. Another teachers strike could really shake things up. Teachers plan to strike March 1, if they don’t get a new contract.

The Scranton School District has lost only two days to snow so far, not enough to require extending the school year, Superintendent Alexis Kirijan said.

Contact the writer:

bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9147;

@BorysBlogTT on Twitter

A Clarks Summit man responsible for monitoring, testing and reporting on water and sewage systems at facilities in six Northeast Pennsylvania counties will surrender his water treatment operator certifications after he admitted to submitting false water treatment reports to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

In 2015, J. Robert DeSandis knowingly submitted 27 false test results for chlorine levels in samples he took from the drinking water systems at the Village of Four Seasons in Herrick Twp., Susquehanna County, and the Dallas Mobile Home Park in Dallas Twp., Luzerne County, according to the DEP. At least one of the samples would have resulted in a boil-water notice for residents.

DeSandis also operated eight wastewater facilities: Edgewood Mobile Home Park in Glenburn Twp., Outhouse Springs LLC in Benton Twp., St. Gabriel’s Monastery in South Abington Twp., Tall Timbers Village in LaPlume Twp., Lackawanna County; Deer Haven in Palmyra Twp., Pike County; Village of Four Seasons in Herrick Twp., Susquehanna County; Stillwater Sewer Corporation in Coolbaugh Twp., Monroe County; and Stone Hedge Sewer Company in Tunkhannock Twp., Wyoming County.

DeSandis also admitted to filing false discharge monitoring reports that indicate the volume of sewage being discharged from treatment facilities and the level of contaminants, according to the DEP.

The false reports constituted violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Streams Law and DeSandis’ certificate. The DEP entered into an agreement with DeSandis requiring him to surrender his water and wastewater systems operator certificate and not to seek reinstatement or a new permit.

DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly declined to comment on whether the agency had referred the case to any law enforcement agencies.

DeSandis could not be reached Wednesday.

Contact the writer:

cover@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5363;

@ClaytonOver on Twitter

So what?

Way back in October, state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale delivered the toughest audit in Scranton School District history.

Among the many causes he cited for the district’s disastrous financial state was a no-bid busing contract awarded to DeNaples Transportation of Dunmore.

DePasquale found that a no-bid busing contract awarded to DeNaples cost taxpayers $26.1 million over 10 school years — more than $4 million of which was for a mysterious fuel surcharge.

Finding no official documentation authorizing the surcharge and no hard evidence the school board ever voted on it, DePasquale presented the pact as an example of a School Board Gone Wild.

Reacting to unfamiliar public outrage, Louis DeNaples commissioned his own audit, performed by Robert Rossi & Co. of Olyphant. The Rossi audit posits that a contract addendum and extension actually saved the district money — about $1.1 million between 2011 and 2016.

DeNaples Transportation also provided the district with $1.7 million in interest-free financing, the Rossi audit claims. District officials were well aware of all terms of the DeNaples contract. If documentation is scarce, that’s on the district.

Joe Rossi, a CPA and partner in Robert Rossi & Co., told me DePasquale’s audit was “unfair and inaccurate.” He stood by his firm’s findings and challenged DePasquale to debunk them.

DePasquale told me his team is still reviewing the DeNaples-commissioned audit, but his initial response to the Rossi report was:

So what?

“I have no problem with any business that got tagged in an audit taking another look at the numbers,” DePasquale said. “That might be very instructive for DeNaples Transportation in determining what it can do better, but I don’t see how it helps the district.”

DePasquale noted that district officials — who declined comment — were not even aware of the DeNaples audit, much less involved. The same bystander approach led to the problems at hand, DePasquale said.

“If DeNaples is telling the truth, then district officials have been lying or at least keeping their mouths shut,” he said.

Debate about the busing contract could have been avoided if the board had sought competitive bids, as recommended by the past two auditors general.

“We can quibble about the little that can be saved around the edges, but it always comes back to this — if you seek bids, you get a better deal. That is not debatable,” DePasquale said.

“In the five years that I’ve been auditor general, I have found $60 million in school district overspending on transportation alone. About $4 million of that was in 481 districts who seek competitive bids. About $56 million was spent by 19 districts that don’t seek competitive bids.”

Scranton is one of those 19 districts, and School Director Bob Lesh is the lone board member who was there when the DeNaples Transportation contract took effect.

“I was a minority member then,” Lesh said Tuesday. Surprisingly, he said he would welcome an independent investigation into the findings of DePasquale’s audit, particularly the DeNaples Transportation contract and its many addenda.

“It’s like a dead dog that’s stinking up the whole place,” Lesh said. “Let’s get some answers.”

While he thinks DePasquale’s audit raised some worthy questions, Lesh is no fan of the auditor general’s scorched earth approach.

“He can kiss my royal American ass,” Lesh said. “When I run out of toilet paper, I’ll use his audit.”

CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, wonders what the attorney general will step in and sort this mess out. Contact the writer:

kellysworld@timesshamrock.com. Read his award-winning blog at timestribuneblogs.com/kelly.

Lackawanna County District Attorney Mark Powell named the first female first assistant district attorney in county history Tuesday and hired a highly experienced former Luzerne County prosecutor as the office’s first senior trial counsel.

Judith Gardner Price, 62, of Scranton, a former county assistant district attorney with 37 years as a criminal and civil lawyer, will become first assistant district attorney.

Daniel P. Pillets Jr., 61, of Dallas Twp., a former Luzerne County first assistant district attorney, will serve as senior trial counsel.

“Judy and Dan are both highly accomplished criminal trial lawyers who will play key roles in developing policy and professionalizing the DA’s Office,” Powell said in a statement. “Their vast amount of collective experience, knowledge and wisdom will be a tremendous asset to our office, and I am thrilled that they both agreed to come on board.”

Efforts to interview Powell were unsuccessful.

The district attorney’s office has long had a first assistant district attorney, the job that entails administering day-to-day details, but the senior trial counsel position is new.

Price is a founder and partner of the law firm of Dougherty, Leventhal & Price. She also served as solicitor to Lackawanna County Children & Youth Services. A magna cum laude graduate of College Misericordia, now Misericordia University, she earned her law degree from Temple University School of Law. In law school, she interned on the U.S. Attorney’s organized crime strike force.

In Powell’s statement, Price and Pillets said they were honored to get the jobs.

“I am eager to serve the public and help Mark achieve his vision of implementing significant changes to the philosophy and policies of the DA’s office and the criminal justice system in Lackawanna County,” Price said.

Pillets served as first assistant district attorney from 1992 to 2000 to Luzerne County District Attorney Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. Between August 1983 and April 1988, he served as a deputy district attorney or assistant district attorney under district attorneys Robert J. Gillespie Jr., Bernard Podcasy and Correale F. Stevens.

A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Scranton, he earned his law degree from Temple University School of Law.

Pillets worked as senior law clerk to Luzerne County Judge Fred A. Pierantoni III from March 2014 to October 2016, and senior law clerk to the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas from January 2010 to March 2014. He has also served as senior law clerk to Olszewski for 10 years after Olszewski was elected judge in 2000.

As first assistant, he helped Olszewski prosecute major crimes, including the infamous case of Joann Curley, who pleaded guilty in 1997 to poisoning her husband, Robert.

Contact the writer:

bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9147;

@BorysBlogTT on Twitter

NANTICOKE — After more than 73 years, there is renewed hope of determining the fate of a Nanticoke soldier believed to have been killed during World War II.

Private Anthony Laskowski and 32 other men were thought to have been killed in a horrific explosion and inferno on Oct. 10, 1944 near Ajincourt, France. But the remains of Laskowski and 12 others were never recovered. They’ve been considered missing in action ever since.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency recently recovered remains in that area and are trying to link them with the missing through family DNA testing. The organization recently reached out to the Nanticoke Historical Society to help track down relatives of Laskowski.

Chet Zaremba, the group’s vice president, said he’s been having little luck.

“They are trying to identify them so they could bury them properly,” Zaremba said.

Relatives can contact the Army’s Past Conflict Repatriations Branch at 1-800-892-2490.

— BOB KALINOWSKI

A regional development company beefed up its arsenal with seven more years of tax breaks to lure new and expanding firms.

Government officials granted the Scranton Lackawanna Industrial Building Co., or SLIBCO, Keystone Opportunity Zone extensions for nearly 100 acres in three parts of Lackawanna County.

The Keystone Opportunity Expansion Zones give SLIBCO, the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce’s development arm, one more tool to use in attracting companies.

Following local approval, the state Department of Community and Economic Development recently approved the KOEZs for SLIBCO’s unoccupied land, preserving a number of state and local tax waivers to lure companies until Dec. 31, 2024. The initial KOZ designations expired at the end of 2017.

The incentive helped attract a number of high-profile companies, including Invenergy to build its Lackawanna Energy Center power plant in Jessup, and the large Chewy.com distribution hub in Hanover Twp.

During the length of the KOEZ, any business that occupies the space could see their tax bill eliminated almost entirely with deductions, abatements and credits for property and income taxes among others, according to the state.

Three lots totaling 13 acres in Archbald at the corner of Betty and Chestnut streets, two lots totaling 22 acres in the Valley View Business Park, and seven lots totaling 62 acres in the Scott Technology Park will enjoy the tax incentive for seven more years.

To receive the extension, Valley View and Lakeland school district officials and municipal leaders from Archbald, Jessup and Scott Twp. signed off on the plan.

Lackawanna County Commissioners also had to OK the KOEZs.

“Certainly they take away the tax revenue, but they’re very valuable in the long run,” said Valley View School Board President Ellen Nielsen. “It brings businesses into the community and stirs the economy. We’re in desperate straits around here anymore. We do need the business.”

Valley View raised school taxes last year to help plug a $1 million budget shortfall, and although any new firm would be free from school taxes until 2024, Nielsen says she’s thinking about the future.

“You might have to wait 10 or 15 years to get the money, but you know it’s coming,” she said.

Chamber Assistant Vice President Amy Luyster extended gratitude to local officials such as Nielsen for supporting the effort.

“This is really a work in collaboration,” she said. “To position our area to be competitive with other sites across the commonwealth, KOZ is an added benefit.”

Contact the writer:

joconnell@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9131; @jon_oc

Stars and stripes

After 30 years, Scranton native Master Sgt. Sean P. Sargeant has retired from the U.S. Marine Corps.

Sargeant, who attended Central High School and graduated from West Scranton High School in 1988, enlisted in the Marines in October 1987.

He served as an infantry and civil affairs staff non-commissioned officer; and his notable assignments include: as a security guard on the Battleship New Jersey BB-62 in Long Beach, California; in the infantry, 3rd battalion 1st Marines, Camp Pendleton, California; as operations chief of the Wounded Warrior Battalion West; and in the 1st Civil Affairs Group.

During his military career, Sargeant was deployed to the Persain Gulf, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, and received the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Joint Meritorious Commendation Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, Military Outstanding Volunteer Medal and NATO Medal.

He is the son of Helen Linda Dowse of Scranton and the late John Lehighton Sargeant.

Sargeant credits his mother, grandparents and sister with being positive influences in his life, along with coaches Ed Chase from Scranton Central High School football and Robert Connor from Taylor Little League.

In his retirement, Sargeant, who is married to Dolores Sargeant and is the father of Sean Michael Sargeant, is enrolled at California State University to study political science and will graduate in 2020. His future plans include receiving a master’s degree in foreign relations or political science and to work in Congress.

“None of this was possible without the trust and support of my mother, wife and son,” said Sargeant. “Some great leaders were born and raised in Scranton.”

Super students

Western Wayne students Julia Sennefelder, Cosette Talarico, Abby Gogoloski, Claudia Kovaleski, Jillian Dudley, Grace Hollister, Laura Booths, Skye Smith, Laurel Frable, Allison Mattern, Gracie Guarino, Paige Barillo, Journey Sosa, Melissa Petrilak, AJ Merone, Brandon Garnett, Gianna DeBastiani, Samantha Atcavage, Bailey Walck, Jake Ortola, Dylan Walck, Evan Coons and Ezra Tetrelaut, attended the 2017 PA State Leadership Workshop in November.

During the workshop the students, along with their peers from across the state, received tips on fundraising, running school stores, getting into college and dressing appropriately for the business world. The theme was Imagine.

They attended the opening general session together an then had their choice of a variety of workshop sessions and presentations, according to the school.

High notes

With two grants, Lakeland High School recently purchased archery equipment to teach students to learn to shoot as part of their physical education classes.

Amanda Vitzakovich was the grant writer and along with her fellow teachers, Gretchen Allan, Gary Yagelski, Jeff Wasilchak and Bill Freeman, they took part in and passed a basic archery instructor workshop.

Lakeland received a $1,500 grant from the Pennsylvania Game Commission and a $1,688 grant from the local chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation to purchase 12 bows, arrows and targets.

WILKES-BARRE — A 79-year-old Hazleton man accused of having a sexual relationship with a minor that spanned eight years pleaded guilty Tuesday to a count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.

Arthur P. Dittman had other charges against him dismissed in exchange for his felony plea, which will require him to be evaluated by the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board. Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough accepted the plea and set sentencing for April 30.

Prosecutors say Dittman sexually abused and inappropriately touched the child at locations in McAdoo, Beaver Meadows and Hazleton. During questioning, Dittman claimed that the victim came on to him and made him touch the victim, according to prosecutors.

Vough ordered Dittman to have no contact with unsupervised minors as part of his bail conditions.

— James Halpin

NEWTON TWP. — A former custodian at Abington Heights Middle School is accused of stealing a camcorder from the building.

Juanito Valentino, 53, 805 Columbia St., Scranton, is charged with theft and receiving stolen property after school officials called to report the camcorder missing. South Abington Twp. police talked to Valentino, who worked with the district as a custodian through a staffing company, at the school. He told police he stole the camcorder, valued at $259, and sold it at Jeff’s Trading Post in Scranton for $30.

Abington Heights Superintendent Michael Mahon, Ph.D., said Valentino is no longer affiliated with the district.

Valentino was charged via mail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 27.

— CLAYTON OVER

THROOP — Multiple fire companies responded to a fire at Scranton Craftsmen, 930 Dunmore St., on Wednesday evening.

The call came in about 9:45 p.m. and crews started to leave the scene at about 11 p.m. No injuries were reported, according to Lackawanna County dispatchers.

Throop fire officials could not be reached for further details on the fire late Wednesday evening.

— CLAYTON OVER

MARRIAGE LICENSE

• Feliciano Cintron Jr., Scranton, and Mireysha Diaz, Dickson City.

PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS

• David J. Botscheller, individually and trading as Botscheller Associates, Dalton, to FNCB Bank, Dunmore; two parcels in Dunmore for $2,150,000.

• Raymond Francis and Deborah S. Eveland, Clifton Twp., to Erin C. Przywara, Gouldsboro; a property on Fawn Court, Clifton Twp., for $99,000.

• Robert J. Bruno, Clarks Summit, to Daniel John and Shawna Patrice Marx, Scranton; a property at 503 Brian Drive, South Abington Twp., for $300,000.

• Steven P. and Kimberly Dartnell Boyce, Dickson City, to Fred Champion and Kim Berkmann, as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, Clarks Summit; a property at 2 Rosewood Circle, Clarks Summit, for $230,000.

• Patricia Henley, Alexandria, Va., to Samuel and Gail Kuchwara, Dickson City; a property at Rear 945 Carmalt St., Dickson City, for $45,000.

• Michael and Joyce Conflitti, Moosic, to Kristen Petrucci, Moosic; a property at 803 Church St., Moosic, for $124,046.

• Richard R. and Barbara Farren, Scranton, to Michael Bonavoglia, Dunmore; a property at 222 E. Elm St., Dunmore, for $138,000.

DIVORCES SOUGHT

• Nelly Soberanes, Avoca, v. Yolver Salgado, Lackawanna County; married April 4, 2011, in Newport, Ore.; Brian J. Cali, attorney.

• Stephen Yakely, Archbald, v. Melissa Yakely, Archbald; married June 14, 2013; John D. Lalley, attorney.

• Douglas Rand, Dickson City, v. Matthew J. Stein, Honesdale; married June 21, 2017, in Dickson City; pro se.

• Thomas A. Scanlon, Dunmore, v. Sandra Jean Scanlon, Clarks Summit; married May 4, 1991, in Scranton; Thomas J. Nolan, attorney.

ESTATES FILED

• Mary Ann McGinley, also known as Mary A. McGinley, 1305 Amherst St., Scranton, letters of administration to Kimberly A. Bird, 1421 Luzerne St., Scranton.

• Rose Bauer, 700 Davis St., Scranton, letters of administration to Charles Bauer, 7372 North Papago Road, Douglas, Ariz.

• Mary Romayne O’Neill, also known as Mary O’Neill, also known as Mary R. O’Neill, also known as Romayne O’Neill, 334 Ferdinand St., Scranton, letters testamentary to Mary O’Neill Eckenrode, 1502 E. Elm St., Scranton.

ONLINE: thetimes-tribune.com/courts

Jan. 18, 1968

LSD story hoax, governor says

Pennsylvania Gov. Raymond Shafer announced that the story of the six western Pennsylvania college student that went blind from staring at the sun while on LSD was fabricated by Dr. Norman Yoder, state commissioner for the blind.

Shafer said that Yoder, who is blind himself, admitted to making up the story in a letter he sent to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

The hoax was uncovered by state Attorney General William Sennett.

The story on the students appeared in an Associated Press story several days ago dealing with the results of federal survey into the effects of LSD on eyesight.

Bishop Wright speaks at institute

The Most. Rev. John J. Wright, Bishop of Pittsburgh, spoke at the Mid Winter Institute at Elm Park Church.

More than 600 people of different faiths were in attendance for the lecture.

Wright focused on the future of faith and he gave 19 ideas on how people of faith can counter atheist humanism and moral skepticism.

Shopping at

Eynon Drug

General Electric heating pad for $3.88, Westinghouse 10-cup percolator for $14.88, Kodak movie projector for $79.95, two pairs of toddler’s stretch pants for $3, men’s sport shirts for $1.99, and an 8-ounce bottle of cough syrup for 79 cents.

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.