COVINGTON TWP. — An early morning fire at an apartment building in the township started in a outside garbage can against the house, state police at Dunmore said.

The fire at 352 Route 307 remains under investigation, Trooper Jason F. Mills, a state police fire marshal, said in a statement. Ember, the Scranton Police Department’s arson detection dog, will visit the scene today.

Fire crews responded to the building shortly before 1 a.m. and contained the fire to the exterior of the home. A first floor apartment had some minor damage.

A neighbor saw the fire while out walking her dog and her boyfriend ran over the building and notified all of the tenants about the fire.

— JOSEPH KOHUT

SINGAPORE (AP) — Clasping hands and forecasting future peace, President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un committed Tuesday to "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula during the first meeting in history between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader. Yet as Trump toasted the summit's results, he faced mounting questions about whether he got too little and gave away too much — including an agreement to halt U.S. military exercises with treaty ally South Korea.

What do you think?

SCRANTON — A former Taylor councilman is headed to state prison.

Lackawanna County President Judge Michael J. Barrasse sentenced Eugene Gallagher today to 1½ to three years behind bars for assaulting a woman last October at his home and then tried to get her to drop the charges.

Gallagher, 38, pleaded guilty in March, to misdemeanor simple assault and a felony count of criminal solicitation to hinder apprehension.

Addressing the court prior to sentencing, Gallagher apologized to his victim and asked Barrasse for leniency, telling the judge he wanted to improve his life and be productive.

However, Barrasse noted Gallagher said the same things when the judge sentenced him in 2015, for DUI and election fraud-related charges. The latter led to Gallagher’s resignation from the Taylor Borough Council seat he won in November 2013.

Check back later for updates.

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

SCRANTON

The Lackawanna County coroner’s office has ruled a Greenfield Twp. man’s drowning death accidental after an autopsy Monday.

David J. Nicoteri, 24, of Greenfield Twp., died Saturday night after he while on the lake at Lackawanna State Park earlier in the day.

Nicoteri died as result of drowning, according to autopsy results. The autopsy concluded no foul play was involved.

— CLAYTON OVER

A 63-year-old Dunmore man leaned back in his car and masturbated in a Nay Aug Park parking lot Monday across from an event at which parents were dropping off children, Scranton police said.

George Haven, 525 Chestnut St., faces misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure and open lewdness, Officer Michael Morrison wrote in a criminal complaint.

A witness, Karl Wilk, told officers he saw Haven in the act while he dropped off his children at the park shortly before 10 a.m. for an unspecified event. Wilk told them he pulled out his phone and started taking photographs to give to police.

“I have you on camera,” Wilk told Haven, according to the complaint. “The cops are coming now.”

What Wilk’s photographs actually show was not clear from the affidavit Morrison wrote. Wilk told officers he would copy the photos to a CD and bring them to the police station.

Haven offered a different explanation for what Wilk saw. He told police he was listening to the radio and planning his day in the parking lot, as he usually does, became hot and sweaty and decided to take off his shorts, leaving on his underwear.

He swore he did not masturbate and offered police his cell phone so officers could look through his photos, videos and internet history. The internet history reflected he visited a pornographic website that day.

Officers handcuffed Haven and took him for processing on his charges.

Magisterial District Judge John P. Pesota set bail at $7,000 and scheduled a preliminary hearing for 11:30 a.m. Monday.

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

Calling a weekend fire at a vacant South Side home arson, Scranton police today released a handful of video clips of a bicyclist investigators are calling a person of interest in the case.

No official connection has been made linking Sunday’s fire at 514 Palm St. to the rash of arsons that plagued South Side in late April. However, there are some similarities.

The Palm Street fire is a few blocks from where most of the 10 suspected arsons occurred. Additionally, police released video of a possible suspect who set fire to a dumpster April 25 at Chimney Charm, 1424 Pittston Ave.

Both the April 25 video and the video from the Palm Street fire show a white man with dark hair or a dark cap either wheeling or riding a bicycle through a parking lot. The rider in the latest video was last seen moving west through the parking lot at Andrew Brown’s Drug Store on the 1500 block of Pittston Avenue.

A message left for Police Chief Carl Graziano was not immediately returned. The police made the announcement through their Facebook page, Be Part of the Solution.

The arsonist has not been arrested.

Fire Chief Pat DeSarno said his inspectors have not yet made the call to him to confirm it is arson. However, the fire was certainly suspicious. No one in his department is saying the Palm Street fire is linked to the April fires, he said.

The Palm Street home caught fire a few minutes after midnight on Sunday and caused extensive damage from the first floor through the attic. No injuries were reported. The building sat vacant for years, neighbors said.

A few blocks away, beginning April 21 and 22, brush fires and small fires set in or near dumpsters began cropping up, including the Chimney Charm dumpster fire. Police believe the fires are linked.

Those fires, which did not cause injury, were quickly extinguished but they had the potential of becoming more serious. However, an April 26 arson fire that scorched 1630-1632 Pittston Ave. displaced four people.

Authorities have received some anonymous tips but are still investigating.

Anyone with information on Sunday’s fire or the other arsons is asked to contact Inspector Martin Monahan, the city’s fire marshal, at 570-558-8318 or submit an anonymous tip on the Scranton police website.

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

A Moscow man was charged today with attempting to solicit a person to kill his estranged wife’s boyfriend.

Robert Malpasse, 49, 110 Keen St., was charged with solicitation to commit homicide, aggravated assault and in connection with a scheme to kill Matt Gregory, no age or address listed.

According to a criminal complaint, Malpasse attempted to convince a woman he was dating to meet Gregory at a bar on June 1 and slip a “white powder” into his drink. Malpasse told the woman there was a sufficient amount of the powder to kill Gregory. The woman refused to go along with the plan and later contacted Malpasse’s wife, Allison Malpasse, to advise her she was in danger.

District Attorney Patrick L. Robinson identified the woman as a co-conspirator in a press release. In a phone interview today, First Assistant District Attorney Deborah Rothenberg said she and Robinson have not yet decided if the woman will be charged.

Malpasse also is accused of conspiring with the woman to place a GPS tracking device on his wife’s car, to plant drugs on Gregory and to obtain compromising photos of Gregory and send compromising text messages to Gregory and Allison Malpasse. In addition, Malpasse and the woman took three bags of garbage from Allison Malpasse’s residence.

Authorities learned of the scheme on June 11, when the woman Malpasse was dating called Allison Malpasse. In a phone call that was recorded by police, the woman detailed the plan to kill Gregory and admitted to taking part in other activities to harass her and Gregory.

The woman agreed to meet Allison Malpasse and Gregory at the state police barracks in Honesdale. She agreed to allow police to record a phone call she made to Robert Malpasse in which she reiterated the activities they took part in to harass his wife and Gregory. Robert Malpasse either confirmed or did not deny her statements.

Malpasse was arraigned at 3:45 a.m. today before Magisterial District Judge Ronald Edwards, court records show. He was taken to the Wayne County jail, where he is being held without bail. He faces a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Linus Myers on June 20 at 9 a.m.

Check back for updates.

Contact the writer: tbesecker@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9137; @tmbeseckerTT on Twitter

Authorities found 148 LSD hits and other drugs Monday at a Blakely home where a 2-month-old lived, police said.

Marcus Santarelli, 29, and Jennifer Franco, 25, both of 922 Lincoln Ave., each face charges of child endangerment and various drug-related offenses following their arrests by borough Officer Peter Petrucci, according to criminal complaints.

Lackawanna County Probation and Parole Officer Kenneth Keib did a house check Monday on Santarelli, who is under supervision by that office, after he received information that Santarelli may be selling LSD. Police did not specify for what Santarelli is under supervision but court records show he pleaded guilty in three criminal cases in the last four years — two related to theft, the other drug-related.

During the house check, probation officers found various stimulants used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a cut straw lined with blue residue and a box of plastic bags — common drug paraphernalia, police said.

Franco told Petrucci the pills belonged to her to treat ADHD, but she did not have a prescription for them. Santarelli later admitted to giving them to her.

A county Office of Youth and Family Services case worker took custody of the 2-month-old child.

Police received a search warrant and combed through the house. In addition to the stimulants, officers found 21 grams of marijuana, a digital scale, a hypodermic needle, three grams of hallucinogenic mushrooms and 148 “hits” of LSD. Police also found $6,000 in cash in a safe in the bedroom closet and $558 in his wallet.

Most of the money seized were proceeds from drug sales, Santarelli admitted to police.

Franco has nothing to do with selling drugs, Santarelli told investigators.

Magisterial District Judge John P. Pesota arraigned and jailed them both in lieu of bail — $75,000 for Santarelli and $20,000 for Franco. Preliminary hearings are scheduled for June 21 and Monday, respectively.

SCRANTON — A state wine and spirits shop in Scranton is closed for the summer.

The shop at 210 Meadow Ave. closed Sunday and will undergo an expansion and rebranding project over the next few months, Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board spokesman Shawn Kelly said today.

As part of the project, the shop will add 2,000 square feet and capacity for several hundred more products, he said.

Construction is expected to wrap up by the fall.

— JON O’CONNELL

SCRANTON — A Scranton man accused of sexually assaulting a sleeping woman last summer has pleaded guilty to a less serious charge.

William Joseph Speck, 35, entered the plea Monday in Lackawanna County Court to one count of unlawful restraint, according to court records. No sentencing date was set.

City police charged Speck on Sept. 27 after the woman told investigators she awoke at his South Webster Avenue home on Sept. 12 to discover her pants and underwear removed and Speck fondling her.

During the struggle that followed, he placed a razor blade against the woman’s neck and said he would harm her if she tried to leave, police said. He later agreed to take her home.

— STAFF REPORT

SCRANTON — Summer pool season starts Saturday at several local public facilities, including Scranton’s Nay Aug Park Pool.

The city’s other pools — Weston Park, Weston Field and Connell Park — do not have opening dates because all the lifeguards have not yet been hired, said city Parks & Recreation Director Brian Fallon.

Fees start a $5 for a single pass for a city resident and $75 for a family season pass. The pool operates seven days a week from noon to 6 p.m. through the summer. For more information, visit www.scrantonpa.gov/parks.html.

Lackawanna County will open all four of its swimming facilities — the McDade Park pool and the lake beaches at Aylesworth, Covington and Merli-Sarnoski parks — on Saturday. County residents get in free; all county pools and lakes are open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m

Lackawanna State Park’s William W. Scranton Pool Complex opened on Memorial Day weekend.

— STAFF REPORT

SCRANTON — Police arrested a Throop man twice in three hours today for huffing compressed air duster in public, police said.

At 3:39 p.m., city police responded to multiples calls of a man lying in the grass outside of Sam’s Club on Viewmont Drive and found William James Barlow, 36, of 211 Pancoast St., Throop, unconscious with a can of air duster in his hand, police said. When asked why he was lying there, Barlow told police, “because I’m high.”

After being released from processing, Barlow purchased more air duster and was arrested just after 6 p.m. on the 400 block of N. 9th Ave., Scranton, after police received a report of a man rolling in the grass with a spray can. Police watched Barlow inhale the air duster before taking him into custody.

Bail and preliminary hearing information was not available tonight.

— FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY

WILKES-BARRE — Michele Gay remembers the morning of Dec. 14, 2012, as a day that her daughters were excited to go to school to participate in holiday activities.

Her youngest daughter, Josephine, had suffered a concussion on the playground, and Gay considered not sending her to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that day.

Gay said her daughter, however, wanted to go to school and “it was no surprise to me because this was a wonderful place.”

Josephine, 7, a first-grader at the elementary school and a special needs child, was one of 20 children and six teachers who were fatally shot that day by 20-year-old gunman Adam Lanza in a tragedy that still haunts the nation more than five years later.

Gay, a former elementary school teacher, came to the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre on Monday to tell her story and recount the lessons she learned in 2012 and in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Gay’s daughter was autistic, and she described her as “affectionate, amazing and brilliant.”

Showing four photos of Josephine from the seven years and three days she was alive, Gay said she was always smiling.

“She was known for that smile,” Gay said. “She was also known for being an incredibly persistent child and never giving up.”

After her daughter’s death, Gay became the co-founder and executive director of Safe and Sound Schools. She travels across the country to share her message of inspiration, recovery and school safety education and advocacy.

She told the audience Monday, “I ask you to never give up.”

“We can’t give up for the safety of those who we love, those who are our most precious, those who are our future,” Gay said.

On the morning of the shooting, Gay recalled a “snapshot moment” after dropping Josephine off at school when she watched her daughter walking hand in hand with one of her favorite teachers.

Afterward, she received an automated call from the superintendent informing her that all the schools in Newtown were on lockdown after there had been a shooting in one of the schools.

Gay waited for more information. She didn’t know which school, whether anyone was hurt or what she should do next.

She began to panic and started calling the schools, but no one answered. She headed into town, following a stream of police cruisers, ambulances and firetrucks that led her to Sandy Hook Elementary School.

“It was unlike any emergency response I had ever seen,” Gay said. “People were running every which way. There was nobody tending to people like me arriving.”

Gay quickly found her fourth-grade daughter evacuating to the nearby firehouse with her class and set out to find her first-grader, but didn’t.

For hours, she paced back and forth between the firehouse and the school. She was in shock. Her husband, who was on a business trip in Massachussetts, was on his way back home.

“It will take me a lifetime to fully accept that it happened in our sweet little town and it happened to my family and 26 others,” Gay said.

Lanza entered the school by shooting through a window and gained access to children and teachers within seconds.

Gay said some had enough time to find hiding places or run and saved their own lives. One first-grade teacher was able to close her door, and Lanza passed by that classroom. The door window was covered with black paper.

Her daughter’s classroom was the last one attacked.

Then Lanza killed himself.

Not all teachers were able to lock their doors, which was the most “critical step,” Gay said.

She said tragedies could be prevented by doing something simple such as having a key or some kind of barrier between danger and safety.

“For us, the ability to be able to lock the door quickly could have made all the difference,” Gay said. “Had our children and teachers in those first classrooms been able to lock those doors, then 20 children and four educators would still be alive today.”

She said one thing everyone can learn from the tragedy is that all everyone has in a crisis is whatever they were trained to do.

“You have the power to learn from what they experienced,” Gay said. “It’s important for us to step back from time to time and think about how are we prepared to protect the people who are most important to us, how are we prepared to protect ourselves, how are we prepared for safety.”

Her presentation was free. The Pennsylvania Department of Education, Luzerne Intermediate Unit, Luzerne County district attorney’s office, the F.M. Kirby Center, Pennsylvania State Police, Commonwealth Health and other organizations offered support to bring the program here.

For resources and information about prevention and response to a school crisis and recovery, Gay encouraged everyone to go to the website www.safeandsoundschools.org.

Contact the writer:

dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com;

570-821-2115;

@CVAllabaugh on Twitter

SCRANTON

The Lackawanna County coroner’s office has ruled a Greenfield Twp. man’s drowning death accidental after an autopsy Monday.

David J. Nicoteri, 24, of Greenfield Twp., died Saturday night after he while on the lake at Lackawanna State Park earlier in the day.

Nicoteri died as result of drowning, according to autopsy results. The autopsy concluded no foul play was involved.

— CLAYTON OVER

A 63-year-old Dunmore man leaned back in his car and masturbated in a Nay Aug Park parking lot Monday across from an event at which parents were dropping off children, Scranton police said.

George Haven, 525 Chestnut St., faces misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure and open lewdness, Officer Michael Morrison wrote in a criminal complaint.

A witness, Karl Wilk, told officers he caught Haven in the act while he dropped off his children at the park shortly before 10 a.m. for an unspecified event. Wilk told them he pulled out his phone and started taking photographs to give to police.

“I have you on camera,” Wilk told Haven, according to the complaint. “The cops are coming now.”

What Wilk’s photographs actually show was not clear from the affidavit Morrison wrote. Wilk told officers he would copy the photos to a CD and bring them to the police station.

Haven offered a different explanation for what Wilk saw. He told police he was listening to the radio and planning his day in the parking lot, as he usually does. He became hot and sweaty and decided to take off his shorts, leaving on his underwear.

He swore he did not masturbate and offered police his cellphone so officers could look through his photos, videos and internet history. The internet history reflected he visited a pornographic website that day.

Officers handcuffed Haven and took him for processing on his charges.

Magisterial District Judge John P. Pesota set bail at $7,000 and scheduled a preliminary hearing for 11:30 a.m. Monday.

Contact the writer:

jkohut@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9144;

@jkohutTT on Twitter

President Judge Michael Bar­rasse sentenced the following defendants recently in Lacka­wanna County Court:

• Thomas Grems, 33, 341 Smith St., Dunmore, to one to two years in state prison for escape.

• Nicholas Hnatusko, 20, Jefferson Twp., to seven to 18 months in state prison followed by six years of probation for burglary, receiving stolen property and unsworn falsifications to authorities.

• Erik Laracuente-Ruiz, 24, 147 Thunderbird Drive, Apt. 31E, Scranton, to 24 months of court supervision, including three months of house arrest, for simple assault.

Judge Vito Geruolo sentenced:

• Joseph Trygar, 43, 1001 Hampton St., Scranton, to one to 17 to 33 months in state prison and $1,300 in fines for DUI-tier one, second offense, DUI-tier one, third offense and driving under suspension.

• Ray Lyman, 50, 314 Phelps St., Scranton, to 18 months of probation for retail theft.

• Damian Kellogg, 30, 137 W. Markett St., Suite 7, Scranton, to 180 days of probation for disorderly conduct.

• Karen Robbins, 36, 111 Front St., Rear, to 138 days of time served to six months in county prison and a $1,000 fine for DUI-tier three, first offense.

• Dylan Lombardo, 25, 4109 Monroe Ave., Gouldsboro, to eight to 24 months in state prison for delivery of a controlled substance and endangering the welfare of children.

Judge Andrew Jarbola sentenced:

• Danielle Wolf, 34, 1624 Pittston Ave., Scranton, to one year of probation and a $100 fine for possession of a controlled substance and retail theft.

• Jamar General, 19, 1328 Lafayette St., Scranton, to six months of probation and a $300 fine for resisting arrest and retail theft.

• Daniel Freebes, 35, 136 Vine St., Browndale, to six months of probation and $500 in fines for driving under suspension and DUI-tier one, first offense.

Judge Margaret Bisignani Moyle sentenced:

• Aquawn Rivera, 21, 532 Prospect Ave., second floor, Scranton, to 27 to 54 months in state prison and $2,709.80 in restitution for aggravated assault.

• James Hunsinger, 40, 240 Adams Ave., Scranton, to eight to 24 months in state prison for escape.

• Andres Rodriguez, 43, homeless, to 17 days time served to 23½ months in county prison for resisting arrest.

MARRIAGE LICENSES

■ Robert R. Dudick and Maureen Joan Burrier, both of South Abington Twp.

■ Andrew Edward Arvonio, Mayfield, and Kelsey Marie Gallagher, Scott Twp.

■ Erin Marie Travis and Joseph Gerard Jablonowski, both of Woodbridge, Va.

■ Stephen Patrick Gitkos and Jovanne Morales, both of Clarks Summit.

PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS

■ Theodore R. and Lorraine A. Stevens to Edmund J. and Darlene J. Carr; a property at State Route 440, Newton Twp., for $84,460.

■ Thomas H. and Rebecca T. Cragoe, South Abington Twp., to Jody Patrick and Lindsey Marie Fanning, South Abington Twp.; a property at 1193 Aduobon Drive, South Abington Twp., for $383,000.

■ Jeffrey D. and Chrstine Osborne to Oksana Batovkina; a property at 55 Ash Gap Road, Clifton Twp., for $495,000.

■ Kathryn and Paul Tomasofsky, Montvale, N.J.; Richard L. Bisignani Jr., Jessup; Maria and Ronald Harrell, Jacksonville, Fla.; and Lynn Marie and Brian Mailloux, New York, N.Y., to Jeffrey R. Jones, Lackawanna County; a property at 742 Kenwood Drive, Dickson City, for $152,835.

■ Angela Schuback, executrix of the estate of Raffaelina Borini, Old Forge, to Stephen and Ashlei Kishel, Old Forge; a property at 122 Apache Drive, Old Forge, for $147,290.

■ Gravel LLC, Clarks Summit, to Robert and Marilyn Alspaugh, Brackney; a property at Gravel Pond Road, South Abington Twp., for $30,000.

ESTATES FILED

■ Harold F. Keating Jr., 416 W. Taylor St., Taylor, letters of administration to Elizabeth A. Haduch, 238 Aston Mountain Road, Pittston.

■ Victoria Bieryla, 636 George St., Old Forge, letters of administration to Stephen Bieryla, same address.

LAWSUIT

■ April Genovese, 1431 Maple St., Scranton, v. Brittany Elko, 110 Powell St., Old Forge, seeking an amount in excess of the Lackawanna County Arbitration Limits, plus interest and costs, for injuries suffered in an accident on Jan. 23, 2017, at approximately 5:01 p.m., on Meadow Avenue in Scranton; Paul T. Oven, attorney.

ONLINE: thetimes-tribune.com/courts

PLAINS TWP.

FNCB Bank on Wednesday held a grand opening of its new full-service consolidated branch at 1150 Route 315. .

The branch is located next to Dunkin Donuts in the Richland 315 Complex. Branches at 27 North River St., Plains Twp.; 3 Old Boston Road, Jenkins Twp. and 734 Sans Souci Parkway, Hanover Twp. were closed and relocated to the new facility.

“This additional investment in our banking network demonstrates our long-term commitment to Northeastern Pennsylvania and surrounding areas,” said FNCB Bank President and Chief Executive Officer Jerry Champi.

The new office is open 9 to 5 Monday through Thursday, 9 to 6 Friday and 9 to noon Saturday. For more information, go to fncb.com or call 570-846-3652.

— DENISE ALLABAUGH

The official minutes of the Scranton School Board meeting on Aug. 28, 2006, say the board unanimously approved a two-year extension to a no-bid busing contract and an addendum with a fuel surcharge that cost taxpayers millions, a state audit found.

Three former directors who were at that meeting told me they don’t remember voting for the addendum. Two more say the addendum was never raised at the meeting, let alone approved.

“I didn’t know about it,” Susan Patte said Tuesday. “That would have had to have been discussed before any vote, there would have been questions and there would be something about it in the minutes.”

The minutes make no mention of the fuel surcharge, and only a single, vague statement about the addendum. A note to “SEE ATTACHMENT” is a reference to the addendum, current board secretary Virginia Orr explained. Maybe it is, but because the addendum’s content isn’t in the minutes, there’s no telling whether the board actually saw it. Five of them — a majority — tell me they didn’t.

Read the minutes HERE.

Former director Tom Gilbride introduced the resolution. It was seconded by Bob Lesh, a current director who has been absent from the last three meetings.

The minutes say Gilbride, Lesh, Patte, Kathleen McGuigan, Todd O’Malley, Todd Hartman and President Brian Jeffers voted unanimously with no discussion of the resolution or the addendum. Former directors Frank Brazill and Joe Garvey were absent.

“I don’t remember ever seeing (the addendum), and we would have asked questions before voting on something like that,” McGuigan said Tuesday. “I would have asked about it for sure, and that would have been in the minutes.”

Todd Hartman said he doesn’t remember the vote, but found it “hard to believe” there was no discussion noted in the minutes “unless it discussed in executive session.”

The minutes note an executive sesson that night to discuss “personnel matters” and “real estate issues,” but there is no mention of the busing contract extension or addendum.”

Todd O’Malley said he has no memory of voting for the fuel surcharge. Brian Jeffers told me he has no memory of how the addendum was approved, or signing anything related to the surcharge. He was board president at the time.

I was unable to reach Gilbride, Garvey or Lesh. Brazill died in 2010.

So far, district officials have twice fed me documents that shed no new light on the addendum and made a mockery of the public’s right to know. One of them tried to pin the addendum using a signature page from 2004. DeNaples Transportation has been more forthcoming. As I previously reported, DeNaples produced an October 2006 letter apparently signed by retired district business manager Gregg Sunday. The letter says the extension and fuel surcharge addendum passed unanimously, which suggests Sunday remembers the Aug. 28, 2006, board meeting very different differently than a majority of board members who were there that night.

Much like state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, my search for definitive documentation of how the fuel surcharge he says cost taxpayers $4 million keeps hitting dead-ends. I may as well be hunting Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster or Bob Lesh on a meeting night.

I’ll keep digging, though, until Superintendent Alexis Kirijan, Ed.D., realizes that it’s her job to either produce a definitive document on the addendum or admit no such record exists.

CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, thinks a public school district should keep better records than its vendors. Contact the writer:

kellysworld@timesshamrock.com, @cjkink on Twitter. Read his award-winning blog at

timestribuneblogs.com/kelly.

Helen Mongelia and Mike Balash hope this time North Korea means it.

After learning that President Donald Trump said Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un committed to returning the remains of Americans missing since the Korean War, Mongelia and Balash said they would love to see it happen.

“It would really make us feel good,” said Mongelia, 98, of Carbondale. His brother, Air Force 1st Lt. Raymond Plevyak, piloted a plane shot down during a bombing run March 1, 1952, and was presumed dead Dec. 31, 1953. “You still don’t know what happened … I hope everything works out.”

Balash, the former leader of a local Vietnam veterans group, said he hopes it works out for elderly survivors like Mongelia, who have waited their entire lives to see their relatives’ remains return home.

“All these years, I think it’s a guess if they’re really going to do anything,” said Balash, 70, of Franklin Twp., Luzerne County. “That’s the question everybody’s asking. Everybody’s wondered for years … Hopefully, they’ll come home.”

At least 14 local soldiers who lived in Lackawanna County and who fought in the Korean War and who remain missing in action and presumed dead. They are:

■ Cpl. John Birochak, Old Forge, Army, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, missing in action, North Korea, Dec. 3, 1950, presumed dead, Dec. 31, 1953.

■ Cpl. Robert Domaleski, Scranton, Air Force, crew, B-29A Superfortress Bomber, 93rd Bomber Squadron, 19th Bomber Wing, missing in action, March 29, 1951, East China Sea, presumed dead, Dec. 18, 1951.

■ Cpl. Joseph Nicholas Di Nardo, Scranton, Army, Company B, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, missing in action, North Korea, Dec. 2, 1950, presumed dead, Dec. 31, 1953.

■ Sgt. Albert Eppley, Scranton, Army, Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, missing in action, North Korea, Nov. 30, 1950, presumed dead, Dec. 31, 1953.

■ Sgt. Thomas McCutcheon Johnson, Old Forge, Army, Heavy Tank Company, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, missing in action, April 25, 1951, presumed dead, Dec. 31, 1953.

■ Cpl. George Langwiser, Scranton, Army, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, missing in action, North Korea, July 7, 1953, presumed dead, July 8, 1954.

■ Cpl. Robert Marion, Scranton, Army, Company C, 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, missing in action, South Korea, July 20, 1950, presumed dead, Dec. 31, 1953.

■ Cpl. John Maroni, Scranton, Army, Battery C, 99th Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, missing in action, North Korea, Nov. 2, 1950, presumed dead, Dec. 31, 1953.

■ 1st. Lt. Raymond Plevyak, Carbondale, Air Force, missing in action, March 1, 1952, presumed dead, Dec. 31, 1953.

■ Cpl. Joseph Pope, Dickson City, Army, Company A, 1st Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, missing in action, North Korea, Aug. 22, 1952, presumed dead, Dec. 31, 1953.

■ Sgt. Wilbert Simms, Lackawanna County, Army, Company L, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, missing in action, Nov. 27, 1950, presumed dead Dec. 31, 1953.

■ Cpl. Frank Wancoski, Dunmore, Army, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, taken prisoner, South Korea, July 12, 1950, died a prisoner, North Korea, Jan. 31, 1951.

■ Sgt. Robert Weaver, Carbondale, Army, Company C, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, missing in action, North Korea, March 25, 1953, presumed dead, March 26, 1954.

■ 1st Lt. E. George West, Scranton, Army, Company C, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, missing in action, North Korea, Nov. 8, 1952, presumed dead, Dec. 31, 1953.

Contact the writer:

bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9147;

@BorysBlogTT on Twitter