What began as a father’s quest four years ago to try to protect his children from addiction has grown to an active, hands-on heroin prevention task force with nearly 4,000 members online. Wayne County Heroin Prevention Task Force members provide Narcan training and kits to residents, speak about the dangers of opioids to students, help addicts and their families and even safely dispose of found needles at parks, playgrounds and elsewhere. The results of much of their work is seen in the lives saved.

“Early detection is not just for cancer,” said task force president Suzie Calkin Frisch.

HONESDALE — Suzie Calkin Frisch’s phone rang at 10:30 p.m.

“Suzie, I did it,” said the woman on the other end.

The woman used the Narcan kit and training Frisch’s group, the Wayne County Heroin Prevention Task Force, provided to revive her son from his drug overdose.

“She had the confidence and courage and she did it,” said Frisch, the group’s president. “It makes you do it another day for sure.”

Established in 2014, just as the opioid epidemic began gaining traction in the national conversation, the group of Wayne County residents banded together to educate others on the signs and symptoms of drug abuse, support law enforcement and provide hands-on Narcan training.

Frisch said that she knows of five occasions where someone they trained to use the opioid antidote used it to save a loved one’s life. There could be more, she said.

The opioid epidemic has ravaged the country. Wayne County has not been spared. In 2016, there were 17 drug-related deaths in the rural county, according to the annual state Coroner’s Association Drug Report, the latest finalized statistic available.

In February, the Wayne County coroner’s office said that there were 11 overdoses in 2017, but cautioned the number may rise.

The task force began after founder Gerald Margrarf watched news reports about drugs and feared for his children’s future. He passed off the group’s leadership to Frisch, his vice president at the time. The task force now has nearly 4,000 members on Facebook.

“Early detection is not just for cancer,” Frisch said.

The task force organizes events, speaks at schools, post resources and share articles. Upon Frisch’s urging, it is not uncommon for members to share where they see discarded needles and for her, and others, to go to the spot to safely dispose of them.

Many members have been personally affected by addiction, a passion that drives them, Frisch said. Some of the task force’s seven board members are in recovery.

Drew Rusich, the group’s vice president, is in recovery and became involved when Margrarf asked him to speak at an event. For many, the task force serves as a support network.

“This young girl came up to me and said ‘how do you know if someone is an addict? I think my dad’s an addict,’” Rusich said. “We talked for a few minutes and I gave her some resources. I feel like being able to talk to us was important for her.”

Frisch’s passion to help began with her son.

In 2008, her son was hospitalized for complications from his cancer treatment and became addicted to opioids. His addiction progressed to heroin and, by 2009, she sought information on a problem that no one was discussing.

People are talking about it now, even though there’s still shame, she said. They come to the Narcan training she does at least once a month. Still, she readily acknowledges there isn’t one answer to solve the opioid crisis.

“It’s like moving a piano,” she said.

It takes a group.

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

Abingtons

South Abington Twp. police and the Rotary Club of the Abingtons are offering those attending or traveling near the rotary’s annual fireworks show advice on enjoying the show and getting to, from and around the Abington Heights Middle School, 1555 Newton Ransom Blvd., Newton Twp., on Tuesday, the night of the event. The event kicks off at 5 p.m. with food and entertainment vendors, and fireworks start at nightfall. Cost to attend is $5 per vehicle:

nFor the safety of everyone at the show, show guests should not bring fireworks to the show or use fireworks at the show.

nParking will be prohibited along Newtown-Ransom Boulevard beginning Tuesday afternoon and continuing through Wednesday morning. Violators will be ticketed and towed.

nThe show will impact travel throughout the evening on Newton Ransom Boulevard, Country Club Road, Hillside Drive and Forest Acres Drive. Travel on some of these roads will be restricted to one direction for one hour after the fireworks show. Motorists who are not attending the show should consider avoiding the middle school area.

Pickup recommendations:

nParents from Newton Twp., Ransom Twp. and areas west of the school are recommended to pick up their children at the western end of the middle school property along Newton Ransom Boulevard at about 10:45 p.m.. Parents should use only the Boulevard to access the pickup location.

nParents from Clarks Summit, South Abington Twp. and other communities should plan to meet their children at 10:45 p.m. along Country Club Road near the driveway that accesses the Newton Ransom Elementary School. Parents should use Country Club Road to access this pickup location.

Should the fireworks display be rained out Tuesday, the show will go on Wednesday.

— CLAYTON OVER

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

@ClaytonOver on Twitter

Carbondale

The Greater Carbondale YMCA honored four supporters Wednesday during its Pioneer Heroes Awards program at Hotel Anthracite.

More than 250 people registered to attend the event, which honored John Cosgrove and Monsignor Joseph Quinn with Volunteer Awards, and Susan Mancuso and Dan Totsky with Lifetime Awards, Greater Carbondale YMCA development director Heather Murphy said in an email.

This is the second year that the YMCA has held the event, said marketing and membership director Lisa Burke.

“It just reinforces how much volunteers and the community mean to the Y,” she said.

Together, the four “super supporters” helped to build up the YMCA, working together weekly from 2005 to 2009 as they spearheaded the 21st Century Capital Campaign, which raised more than $10 million, according to a release from the YMCA.

The funding helped transform the YMCA from one building with a handful of classrooms and exercise rooms with a pool in the basement to what it is today, Burke said.

“It was everything,” she said.

Proceeds from the event contributed to the Greater Carbondale YMCA Endowment Fund, which allows the YMCA to continue its work, according to the release.

— FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY

flesnefsky@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5181; @flesnefskyTT on Twitter

Clarks Green

Borough residents can recycle electronics at the Borough Building later this month.

The recycling event will take place Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon behind the Borough Building, 104 N. Abington Road. Computers and components, stereos, VCRs, DVD players, cell and digital phones, fax machines and other small electronics will be accepted for free. Only flat screen televisions can be turned in. All items must be intact with power cords taped to the sides of the devices.

— CLAYTON OVER

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

@ClaytonOver on Twitter

Jermyn

Jermyn’s annual Free Community Concert will feature music, hot dogs, soda and ice cream on July 8, and everything will be free.

From 6 to 8 p.m. at Mellow Court in Callahan Park, residents will have the chance to hear Ron Morgan perform while enjoying their free food. In case of inclement weather, the concert will be held at the Jermyn Community Center, 440 Jefferson Ave.

Anyone can bring a chair or blanket to have a picnic at the concert, which has been going on for more than 10 years, and volunteers will serve them their free food, said Jermyn Councilwoman JoAnne Wilson. The borough was able to pay for the music thanks to a Lacka­wan­na County Arts and Culture grant, she said.

Morgan takes any requests from polka to Frank Sinatra to hip-hop to Elvis Presley, Wilson said.

“If you can’t dance, you toe tap or sing along,” she said, adding that last year, “everyone loved him (Morgan).”

The free event brings together every generation, whether it’s kids using the playground, parents or older generations, she said.

“Everyone gets to socialize,” Wilson said. “It’s a gathering of people, and I think this is important in a small town — knowing who your neighbor is.”

— FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY

flesnefsky@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5181; @flesnefskyTT on Twitter

Jessup

The Jessup 21st Century Association will celebrate its 23rd annual “Family Day Celebration with Fireworks Extravaganza” on Thursday at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium on Hill Street.

The event, sponsored by the 21st Century Association and borough officials, is free but donations will be accepted at the gates. It will feature homemade food and other refreshments, face painting for kids, miniature golf, basket raffles and more.

Beginning at 4 p.m., the program consists of:

n 4 p.m.: Villa Capri Car Cruise.

n 6 p.m.: Rob the Juggler.

n 6:30 p.m.: Kelly Patrick Studio of Dance.

n 7 p.m.: Double “R” Twirlettes.

n 7:20 p.m.: Boy Scout Troop 34 of Jessup will present the colors, and Valley View High School’s “Voices of the Valley” choir will perform the National Anthem.

n 7:30-10 p.m.: Live music with The Poets, along with food and craft vendors and other activities.

The fireworks display will light up the night at 9:30.

— JEFF HORVATH

jhorvath@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9141;

@jhorvathTT on Twitter

Lackawanna County

At a Lackawanna County commissioners meeting Wednesday, commissioners:

n Introduced for first reading an ordinance indicating the county’s intent to issue a series of 2018 general obligation bonds not to exceed $15 million. The borrowing would be used to fund, among other things, road and bridge work, sundry maintenance projects, including sidewalk replacement, projects at county parks, hardware and software upgrades for the county’s I.T. department and the renovation of a building at 1360 Wyoming Ave., Scranton, into the future home of Central Court.

Commissioner Laureen Cummings argued the borrowing should be placed on the ballot to give voters the choice of whether to incur the debt. Commissioners will likely vote on the ordinance next month.

n Unanimously approved a Food Services Management Agreement with Philadelphia-based Aramark Correctional Services LLC at a per meal rate. The company will provide food service at Lackawanna County Prison for at least three years, per the deal. The agreement guarantees inmates access to milk, something local inmate-advocate groups pushed for.

n Unanimously approved a resolution establishing a Lackawanna County Fair Board and transferring jurisdiction of the board to the recently established Lackawanna County Fair and Recreation Authority. The board has the ability to pursue state grants.

Commissioners approved several appointments to the fair board, including: Armand Olivetti, term expires end of 2022; Curt Camoni, term expires end of 2022; Jim Rodway, term expires end of 2022; Corey Susz, term expires end of 2021; Michael Taluto, term expires end of 2021; Dominic Perini, term expires end of 2020; Sherry Pritchyk, term expires end of 2020; Christopher DiMattio, term expires end of 2019; and Robert Noldy, term expires end of 2019.

— JEFF HORVATH

jhorvath@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9141;

@jhorvathTT on Twitter

Mayfield

The William Walker Hose Company’s annual Corn & Clam Slam kicks off July 11.

The four-day event at 803 Penn Ave., Mayfield, will run from Wednesday, July 11, through Saturday, July 14, featuring live music, carnival rides, a beer tent and food including corn, clams, fried dough, pierogies, steak and cheese, porketta sandwiches and pizza, said WWHC public relations officer Karen Bowerman.

Festivities will begin at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with an early 3 p.m. start Saturday, followed by a parade at 7.

Parking and admission are free, and there will be $12 ride-all-night wristbands for the carnival rides Wednesday and Thursday.

Musical performances will include Erich & Tyler Music Company, Better Than Bad, Pink Slip, Dani-elle and Until Sunrise.

The hose company held its first clam slam in 1995 after a member went to a clam bake and decided the William Walker should do the same, Bowerman said. They have expanded the event every year since.

They went from a one day event to four days with “food stands galore” and carnival rides, she said.

“Over the years, you just keep adding, making it better and better, she said.

The addition of the carnival added a “new element of family,” and starting Wednesday gives them the chance to work out any kinks and make sure everything will run smoothly Friday and Saturday, she said. Individuals looking for a less busy day also come out Wednesdays, she said.

The Corn & Clam Slam wouldn’t be possible without the help of neighboring hose companies and members of the community, she said.

“We support our community, and they support us,” Bowerman said.

For more information, visit www.cornNclamslam.com.

— FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY

flesnefsky@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5181; @flesnefskyTT on Twitter

Scranton

Organizers of a nonprofit that holds a charity motorcycle ride to benefit first responders recently recognized PNC Bank for contributions to the event over the years.

Michael Cammerota, representing the Never Forgotten Motorcycle Ride Inc., presented an appreciation plaque to Peter Danchak, regional president of PNC Bank, Northeast PA, for the bank’s continued support. The bank contributes $1,000 each year to the ride, Cam merota said.

Organizers formed the nonprofit to assure that officers who made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives in service to others would never be forgotten. Money raised helps first responders in need after hardships such as cancer diagnoses and house fires, Cammerota said, as well as graduating police cadets. This year’s ride is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 12, Cammerota said.

— CLAYTON OVER

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

@ClaytonOver on Twitter

Scranton resident Claudia Pitts, 16, first worked as a lifeguard for the city last summer, at Weston Park.

She was struck by how many youths showed up at that pool in North Scranton without swimsuits or flip-flop footwear, or even towels. They went into the water in their street clothes.

“There were kids who would come in full clothes,” Claudia said. “They’d go home dripping wet.”

At times, she gave her own towel away.

A member of Mary Mother of God Parish Roman Catholic Church in North Scranton, Claudia last summer coordinated through her church a drive to collect swimsuits, flip-flops, towels and sunscreen for children who needed them.

The drive collected enough items that some were given to the Weston Field pool for distribution there.

She is coordinating the same drive this summer, again through her parish community.

Donations can be dropped off at the Mary Mother of God Parish Rectory, 316 William St., on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Wednesdays, 8:30 a.m. to noon; and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Monetary donations also can be made to the church, directed to ‘Summer Swim Drive.’

She hopes that enough items are donated this summer so they can be given to children at the Weston Park, Weston Field and Connell Park pools.

Claudia also is ready to work as lifeguard again this year at Weston Park, and is waiting for that pool to open.

— JIM LOCKWOOD

jlockwood@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5185; @jlockwoodTT on Twitter

The city will provide free electronics recycling two days this month.

Residents can drop off electronic recyclables at the Department of Public Works, 101 W. Poplar St., on July 13 and July 20, from 6 to 11 a.m. both days.

Any electronic device will be accepted for recycling but must be intact, with all parts — including electric cords and plugs — still attached.

Help will be available for loading onto DPW trucks, which will take the items to the Lackawanna Recycling Center, 3400 Boulevard Ave.

For information, call Recycling Coordinator Tom Lynch at the Scranton recycling office at 570-348-4165.

— JIM LOCKWOOD

jlockwood@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5185; @jlockwoodTT on Twitter

Scranton City Council will hold its weekly Monday meetings in July at 12:30 p.m., preceded by caucuses at 11:45 a.m., at City Hall, according to recent public notices in The Times-Tribune.

The first daytime meeting this month will be held tomorrow, Monday, July 2.

City Hall will be closed Wednesday in observance of Independence Day.

Council also will recess in August.

After the August recess, council will return to weekly meetings held Mondays at 6 p.m., preceded by caucuses at 5:15 p.m., resuming Sept. 10.

Council will not meet Sept. 3, Labor Day.

—JIM LOCKWOOD

jlockwood@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5185; @jlockwoodTT on Twitter

AROUND THE TOWNS appears each Sunday, spotlighting the people and events in your neighborhoods. If you have an idea for an Around the Towns note, contact the writer for your town, or the Yes!Desk at 348-9121 or yesdesk@timesshamrock.com.

It seemed like a missing link. People who pick up opioid prescriptions and syringe packages from their local pharmacies do not get any information about where to find immediate and long-term help for addiction. Michael Arcangeletti, a recovering addict clean for almost a decade and graduate student studying social work at Marywood University in Lackawanna County, is changing that. He printed 1,000 information cards and is working with pharmacies to have the cards included with prescriptions. The cards contain phone numbers, addresses and websites for medical providers and organizations that offer addiction help. His goal is to get national pharmacies to participate.

OLD FORGE — When Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health visited Northeast Pennsylvania during a recent health provider summit, Michael Arcangeletti slipped her a card.

The bright blue card is his simple solution to help solve a complex, lingering problem — opioid addiction.

The 35-year-old Old Forge graduate student noticed pharmacies did not give clients any information about how to get help for opioid addiction.

So, he printed 1,000 cards for pharmacists and emergency workers to include with every opioid prescription, drugstore syringe package and naloxone dose to help patients find immediate and long-term help. The postcard-size inserts contain phone numbers, addresses and websites for medical providers and organizations that offer addiction help.

At first, a few independent pharmacists in Lackawanna County distributed the cards. Now, about three months later, many more participate.

“I just look at this as another means to throw a resource at this problem,” said Arcangeletti, a recovering addict clean for almost a decade who is studying social work at Marywood University.

His new goal is to get pharmacies in neighboring counties and national pharmacy chains to adopt his model.

Giving state Secretary of Health Rachel Levine a card was an important step in that direction because she helps lead Pennsylvania’s new Opioid Operational Command Center. Levine passed the card to Ray Barishansky, a deputy secretary with the Opioid Operational Command Center.

“At least it got to the Command Center what we did here in Lackawanna County,” Arcangeletti said.

His initiative comes as the opioid addiction epidemic worsens. The pharmacy often is an addict’s first contact with prescription painkillers.

Lackawanna County had Pennsylvania’s second-highest opioid prescription rate per capita in 2015 — 112 prescriptions per 100 residents, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It doesn’t have to be an abuse situation,” said Olyphant pharmacist Eric Pusey of Medicap Pharmacy, who distributes Arcangeletti’s informational cards. “It could be a normal situation where a patient forgets or may take two or innocently do something that puts them in an overdose situation.”

Pennsylvania Ambulance uses Arcangeletti’s cards because their emergency naloxone kits do not have additional information to help overdose victims after they are revived, operations manager Bruce Beauvais said.

Marty Henehan, a Scranton activist fighting the addiction epidemic and co-founder of the Forever Sammi Foundation, put his number and website on the card.

Henehan, a recovering addict whose daughter, Samantha, fatally overdosed in 2016, works in the local recovery community and helped Arcangeletti bring more pharmacies on board.

Addicts often reach a moment of clarity when they are alone and about to use drugs, Henehan said.

“There were many times in my addiction I would be reaching for that pill bottle, and, as I was turning the pill bottle, about to dump it in my hand, I was literally thinking to myself, this is no way to live,” he said. “The hope is that as they reach for that pill bottle, they see that leaflet and say, ‘Maybe these guys have an answer for me.’”

Contact the writer: joconnell@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9131; @jon_oc on Twitter.

KINGSTON — Attorney Joseph Quinn, a trial lawyer who has achieved record-setting verdicts and settlements, said it’s always important for him and his law firm to give back to the community.

After winning an $11 million settlement in a major malpractice case involving the death of a 4-year-old boy in 2005, Quinn and his firm started a fund to advocate for children’s safety.

The fund ensures hundreds of Northeast Pennsylvania children receive free bicycle helmets each year.

For the 11th year, the Hourigan, Kluger & Quinn Fund for Children’s Advocacy, also known as HKQ Kids, will distribute free bicycle helmets at the annual Fourth of July celebration at Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. An additional helmet giveaway will be held during First Friday in Scranton on Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Lackawanna County Courthouse Square.

Children must be 12 or under and accompanied by an adult to receive helmets.

Quinn and his law firm started HKQ Kids in 2005 following the settlement of the malpractice case involving 4-year-old Torajee Bobbett. He died in 2001 due to negligent care at the former Mercy Hospital in Wilkes-Barre.

“We obtained a major settlement and a very significant fee and I’ve always believed you’ve got to give back,” Quinn said. “I decided that it was time to establish this foundation and make a significant contribution so we could advocate for children’s safety and it has really taken off.”

Since the helmet program started, more than 10,000 children were fitted for free bicycle helmets. HKQ has stocked more than 1,300 helmets this year to meet the expected demand.

Sue Greenfield, business manager for Hourigan, Kluger & Quinn, would not say how much the firm paid for the helmets and where they get them, but she said the retail price if they were bought in the store would be $20 to $30 each.

If a child’s bicycle helmet hits the ground, she said it should be replaced. She encouraged parents to get new helmets for their children at the giveaways.

All helmets distributed by HKQ Kids meet U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission standards and are equipped with a user’s manual and CPSC label of certification.

Children are fitted for helmets at the giveaways and the law firm’s partners and employees make the events possible each year.

Quinn said it’s a major undertaking to pack all the helmets, load them onto trailers and get them to the events.

“A lot of our people give up significant time on holidays to do this,” he said. “One of the nice things is a lot of us bring children and grandchildren and it teaches them a lesson too about how fortunate they are and how important it is to give back.”

The helmets are appreciated by many families who cannot afford to buy them, he said.

“We take great satisfaction out of so many parents who are just so grateful to get a helping hand,” Quinn said. “What’s become so clear is there are so many families who are under so much economic stress that they can’t do what they want to do for their children.”

Last year was the first year that HKQ Kids brought the helmet giveaway to Scranton and Quinn said it was an “enormous success so we’re doing it again.”

“We thought we could help increase the number of children who were riding safely who had helmets in the event they fell,” Quinn said. “If you don’t have a helmet on and you fall off a bike or a skateboard, serious injury can occur.”

The Luzerne Foundation, which administers the HKQ Kids fund, also advocates for children’s safety through other educational outreach programs, including those that raise public awareness about child hazards.

“We’ve tried to keep the public advised about unsafe, defective products,” Quinn said. “We’ve held seminars. We’ve helped train babysitters so they not only know the importance of caring for a child but they know how to respond to some unforeseeable emergency that arises.”

Hourigan, Kluger & Quinn law firm has offices in Kingston and Scranton.

Contact the writer:

dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com;

570-821-2115;

@CVAllabaugh on Twitter

Bicycle helmet giveaway

Wilkes-Barre: Fourth of July celebration, Kirby Park from, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Scranton: First Friday, July 6, Courthouse Square, from 4 to 7 p.m.

How to get help

For information about opioid addiction and its treatment options:

Statewide

Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs

PA Get Help Now helpline:

800-662-HELP (4357)

PA Get Help Now website: apps.ddap.pa.gov/gethelpnow

Lackawanna and Susquehanna counties

Lackawanna/Susquehanna Office of Drug and Alcohol

Programs

Scranton Electric Building

507 Linden St., Fifth Floor

Scranton

Call: 570-963-6820 (days); 570-840-8475 (after hours)

Luzerne and Wyoming counties

Luzerne-Wyoming Counties Drug and Alcohol Program

111 N. Pennsylvania Ave.,

Second Floor

Wilkes-Barre

Call: 570-826-8790 (days); 570-829-1341 (after hours)

Wayne County

Wayne County Drug and Alcohol Commission

318 Tenth St.

Honesdale

Call: 570-253-6022

Monroe and Pike counties

Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug & Alcohol Commission

724 Phillips St., Suite 203,

Stroudsburg

Call: 570-421-1960 (days); 866-824-3578 (after hours)

Regional

HelpLine crisis and information and referral: 888-829-1341

Grief Recovery After Substance Abuse Passing, Northeast PA Chapter: 570-991-7199

Other useful websites

Overdose Free PA:

www.overdosefreepa.org

Commonwealth Prevention Alliance Campaign to Stop Opiate Abuse: pastop.org

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: www.samhsa.gov

Forever Sammi Foundation:

foreversammi.org

Narcotics Anonymous:

www.na.org

Grief Recovery After Substance Passing: grasphelp.org

Treating and preventing opioid addiction: pa.gov/guides/

opioid-epidemic

SCRANTON — Yasmin Ramirez and Marytere Quintana are too young to vote, but they are old enough to feel heartbroken.

The 15-year-old Scranton residents, born in the U.S. after their parents moved from Mexico, protested U.S. immigration policy during a rally downtown Saturday.

“We’re all humans,” Yasmin said. “No one deserves anything like this.”

At an estimated 700 rallies across the U.S. on Saturday, thousands of people called for reuniting family members who had been detained and separated after crossing the U.S. border illegally. Though President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end the practice last month, those who rallied encouraged compassion and prompt reunions between parents and their children.

More than 200 people attended the Families Belong Together rally at Lackawanna County Courthouse Square. As the temperature reached 90 degrees, people held signs and chanted loudly.

U.S. immigration policy has brought “terror to families, inflicting evil on children,” said the Rev. Rebecca Barnes of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. “This isn’t America. But the sad truth right now is that it is.”

Mary Theresa Malandro, executive director of Catholic Social Services in the Diocese of Scranton, spoke on behalf of Bishop Joseph C. Bambera.

“We all have to do what we can. This is a moral choice, not a political one,” she said. “Families seeking asylum in our country need protection, not detention.”

Speakers urged others to become activists in their communities and put pressure on elected officials.

“For the sake of humanity, we cannot stay silent,” said Pedro Anes, chairman of the Scranton Human Relations Commission. “We feel the pain. We’re going to stop it.”

The rally ended as attendees began to sing.

“You gotta put one foot in front of the other and lead with love.”

Contact the writer:

shofius@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9133;

@hofiushallTT on Twitter

Pike County Judge Gregory Chelak sentenced the following:

■ Donald Dries, 42, Dingmans Ferry, 12 months of probation and $100 fine for retail theft Nov. 4, 2016, in Westfall Twp.

■ Christian A. Caliente, 42, Allentown, one to 12 months in the Pike County Jail and $600 fine for criminal trespass and criminal mischief May 14 in Dingman Twp.

■ Joy Rivezzi, 48, Greeley six months of the IP Pike Care Program, including 30 days of house arrest, a $750 fine and 12 month driver’s license suspension for DUI on Oct. 18 in Greene Twp.

■ John Henry Farro, 52, Bush­kill, $500 fine for harassment Jan. 2, 2017, in Lehman Twp.

■ Jason E. Daniels, 41, Mil­ford, four to 12 months in the Pike County Jail and $300 fine for simple assault March 26, 2015, in Dingman Twp.

■ Nicole Marie Doerrie, 34, Lake Ariel, one to five years in the Pike County Jail and $2,700 fine for DUI and driving while operating privileges are suspended June 25 in Greene Twp.

■ Teresa L. Beers, 35, Buskill, $200 fine for harassment Oct. 4 in Lehman Twp.

Wayne County Senior Judge Raymond L. Hamill sentenced:

■ Peter John Tomasetti, 19, Lake Ariel, 24 months of probation, $250 fine, restitution and counseling for one count of corruption of minors for an incident between Aug. 30 and Sept. 2. in Salem Twp.

■ Robert Kuester, 23, Hones­dale, 18 months of probation, drug and alcohol evaluation for two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia Aug. 17 in Texas Twp. and Jan. 9 in Hones­dale.

■ Destiny Fraschilla, 22, Way­mart, 48 hours to 6 months in the Wayne County Correctional Facility, 12 months of probation, $1,000 fine, Alcohol Highway Safety Program for one count of DUI and three counts of possession of drug paraphernalia Sept. 29 in Palmyra Twp. and Oct. 13 and Oct. 29, in Honesdale.

■ Brittani Gilpin, 30, Moscow, 12 months of probation, cost of prosecution, $200 fine, drug and alcohol evaluation, 50 hours of community service for one count of possession of controlled substance for an incident Oct. 11, in Texas Twp.

■ Deena Whitfield, 33, Lake Ariel, 5 days to 6 months in the Wayne County Correctional Facil­ity, a $700 fine, drug and alcohol addiction program, Alcohol Highway Safety Program, 50 hours of community service for one count of DUI and one count of driving while operating privilege suspended or revoked for an incident April 8, 2017, in Texas Twp. She had a 0.145 percent BAC.

■ Richard Souder, 27, Egg Harbor, N.J., 12 to 60 months in a state correctional institution, $2,160.09 in restitution, submit a DNA sample for one count of forgery for an incident Jan. 24, 2017, in Lehigh Twp.

■ Michael Keane, 27, Hawley, 12 to 36 months in the Wayne County Correctional Facility, $1,000 fine, resolve all warrants within 30 days of parole, drug and alcohol evaluation, 100 hours of community service, DNA sample for one count of delivery of a controlled substance — heroin for an incident April 25, 2017, in Paupack Twp.

■ Faith Collins, 25, Ashley, 36 months in the Intermediate Punishment Program, $1,800 restitution, 6 months of electronic monitoring, a drug and alcohol evaluation, DNA sample for one count of theft by unlawful taking or disposition for an incident between Dec. 16, 2016, and Jan. 8, 2017, in Honesdale

■ James Webb, 28, of Cleve­land, Ohio, 6 to 36 months at a state correctional institution, $1,017.54 in restitution for one count of receiving stolen property for an incident March 26, 2015, in Texas Twp.

■ Jospeh Wolfe, 32, Lake Ariel, 1 to 18 months in the Wayne County Correctional Facility, $2,850 restitution, drug and alcohol evaluation, mental health evaluation, resolve all outstanding warrants for two counts of theft by deception — false impression incident Sept. 7, 2017, in Lake Twp.

1. Scranton City Council wants the operators of the city’s parking system to offer downtown residents a discount on the monthly garage fee. What is the fee?

A. $90

B. $326

C. $20

D. $150

2. Lackawanna County agreed to a $60,000 settlement of a federal lawsuit. What did a woman claim?

A. She was wrongfully terminated as a lifeguard

B. She slipped and fell in front of the courthouse

C. She was sexually abused by several prison guards

D. She spilled hot coffee on her lap at the 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament

3. County of Lackawanna Transit System officials said ridership declined sharply over the last five years. If trends hold, the decline could drop COLTS below how many riders for the first time in at least a decade?

A. 10,000 riders

B. 100,000 riders

C. 1 million riders

D. 2 million riders

4. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court said a decision to hold up the release of a major grand jury report on sexual abuse in how many Roman Catholic dioceses is the result of challenges filed by “many individuals”?

A. 1

B. 6

C. 8

D. 15

5. Longtime New Jersey resident John Chrin, the Republican candidate for Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, spent $256,000 to buy a townhouse in what county?

A. Passaic

B. Luzerne

C. Wayne

D. Monroe

6. The unemployment rate in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton metro area did what as it leveled off with the state rate?

A. Plunged

B. Skyrocketed

C. Stayed the same

D. Moved slightly higher

7. The Lackawanna County commissioners approved a bid from whom to buy the six-story Administration Building?

A. Art Russo

B. Don Mammano

C. Charlie Jefferson

D. John Basalyga

8. Katie Dammer and Jackson Danzig were named The Times-Tribune’s Female and Male Athletes of the Year. What high school did both attend?

A. Scranton

B. Scranton Prep

C. North Pocono

D. Abington Heights

9. A vacant, condemned home in the Green Ridge section of Scranton nicknamed the “Castle House” is owned by ...?

A. Manhattan artist Hunt Slonem

B. AFA Gallery

C. Russian artist Elena Flerova

D. The Andy Warhol Foundation

10. When costs jumped unexpectedly, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport board delayed paying the full amount for what part of a construction project?

A. Moving walkway in the terminal

B. Blast fence to stop blowing debris

C. New fleet of jet refueler trucks

D. Runway lights

Answers: 1. A; 2. C; 3. C; 4. B; 5. D; 6. A; 7. C; 8. D; 9. C; 10. B

The Philadelphia Phillies Caravan rolled into Hazleton on Feb. 11, 1976. The caravan was made of players and team executives such as third baseman Mike Schmidt, left fielder Greg Luzinski, center fielder Garry Maddox and Manager Danny Ozark.

About 200 members of the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs of Hazleton and the news media were on hand for the event at Genetti’s Imperial Room.

That season, the Phillies would capture their first National League East title with a record of 101-61. They would lose the National League Championship to the Cincinnati Reds.

July 1, 1943

Peckville pilot, five others die in crash

Staff Sgt. William Evans Jr., a pilot in the Army Air Force from Peckville, died in a plane crash near Saxe, Virginia. The other five passengers aboard the transport plane were Army officers. Evans was the co-pilot on the flight.

According to the War Department, the plane left Fort Benning in Georgia en route to Washington, D.C.

Evans had recently been promoted to sergeant, having served in the Army Air Force for the previous two years. He was survived by his mother, Lydia, and his three sisters, Ida, Grace and Hazel.

One too many chiefs at hospital

Scranton State General Hospital had one too many chief residents.

The hospital’s board named Dr. Victor Mallory as chief resident, but Dr. Oscar Reynolds, who was to be chief resident until Sept. 1, was not giving up the position.

The chairman of the hospital’s staff, Dr. Joseph Comerford, said it was up to the hospital’s board to select which doctor they wanted for the chief resident position. Hospital Superintendent Irving Lewis said it was a matter for the board to settle and that there had been dissension on the staff since Reynolds was appointed chief resident two years before.

Reynolds had said on several occasions that other physicians at the hospital were out to get him.

Coldest July 1

The Scranton office of the U.S. Weather Bureau reported a temperature of 46 degrees at 6 a.m. The low temperature beat the previous record of 48 degrees on July 1, 1923. The record low followed several days of record-breaking heat with temperatures in the mid-90s.

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.

Newsrooms have documented the opioid epidemic’s soaring numbers for close to two decades. Now, a special project marshaling their combined strength focuses on what Pennsylvanians are doing to reverse this most deadly trend.

This week, newspapers, websites, TV and radio stations are using their platforms to spotlight the ways every region of the state confronts this immense challenge. The project was months in the making. Words, videos and photos shared by journalists covering more than 50 counties outline a wealth of strategies and initiatives that show promise.

The Sunday Times sent a dozen reporters and photographers into local communities throughout Northeast Pennsylvania to chronicle solutions to the opioid epidemic as part of its “Seven Days of Solutions” series, beginning today and concluding Saturday. The series and reports from other media outlets throughout Pennsylvania are available at thetimes-tribune.com/opioid.

SCRANTON — For Edie Weinstein, hugging is rehabilitative — both physically and emotionally.

Weinstein, of Dublin, Pennsylvania, joined the Hugging Army on Lackawanna County Courthouse Square in Scranton Saturday afternoon to cap off the final day of Queer NEPA’s Pride Month events with Hug Fest. About a dozen people stood around the square at North Washington Avenue and Spruce Street, holding signs offering free hugs, blowing bubbles and spraying water guns to cool off in the heat. Motorists honked their horns to show their support as they drove past, occasionally stepping out of their cars for a hug.

“The energy is phenomenal here,” Weinstein said. “It’s a wonderful experience because it’s like a feedback loop. It comes from the heart, goes through the heart.”

Clad in a T-shirt reading “eat, sleep, hug,” Weinstein began using hugging as a form of physical rehabilitation after suffering a heart attack in June 2014.

“As part of my cardiac rehab, I started walking around town and doing this because hugs are not just cardiac friendly, but they’re emotionally heart friendly,” she said. “I do it several times a year — as often as I can.”

Weinstein has her own hugging group based in Dublin known as the “Hug Mobsters,” bearing the slogan “armed with love.”

She came to Scranton on the urging of Hugging Army founder Vanessa White Fernandes after the two were introduced by a mutual friend. White Fernandes has been running the Hugging Army for about three years and has given free hugs on Courthouse Square about half a dozen times, she said.

“We just wanted to yet again think of a way to connect with the community and bring people together,” she said. “I love it. I love seeing it. I love feeling it.”

Hugging is “the universal connection” she said.

Tim Maloney, of Queer NEPA, organized Hug Fest as part of the group’s Pride Month events.

“I thought it would be nice to collaborate with the Hugging Army to have a finale event to wrap up Pride Month and end the month on a positive note,” he said.

He praised White Fernandes’ passion and dedication for spreading positive messages around Scranton and across the East Coast.

“I thought it was necessary because being LGBT in the area isn’t always positive, and things like this can lift people’s spirits,” Maloney said.

Jade Slater of Duryea agreed that Hug Fest was a good conclusion to Pride Month in Scranton.

“Hugs are a great way to wrap up Pride Month — literally,” Slater said.

Contact the writer:

flesnefsky@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9100 x5181;

@flesnefskyTT on Twitter

SCRANTON — Crews quickly put out a fire inside an exterior wall at a home on Church Avenue late Saturday night.

Firefighters responded to 1828 Church Ave. at 11:24 p.m. to find heavy smoke coming from an exterior wall on the porch, officials said.

There were no injuries, and the two-story home sustained minimal damage. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The treatment of opioid withdrawal has joined the state Health Department’s list of approved uses for medical marijuana.

Its potential as a tool in weaning addicts from drug addiction was explored during a public forum at the East Stroudsburg University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
 
“There’s an evolving body of evidence that would suggest that you can heal the brain using cannabis.” Dr. Bruce Nicholson, director of the division of pain management at Lehigh Valley Health Network, told the audience. “Rewire those circuits altering that desire as far as changing the neurochemistry of the brain, and reduce the likelihood of recidivism,”
 
Panelist and cannabis expert Ry Prichard said he’s witnessed its therapeutic powers.
 
“What I’ve found in the cannabis industry is people who have been regular users of cannabis have always found healing benefits for it, whether or not they were using it recreationally,” he said. “People have been familiar with the healing powers of this plant for thousands of years. When people don’t have the education to know about the natural alternative they won’t take it.
 
“We are the leading pill swallowing country in the world,” said Prichard, who co-hosts Viceland’s “Bong Appetite,” TV’s first show on cooking with cannabis.
 
Prichard said depression, anxiety and other chemical imbalances are actually a result of endocannabinoid deficiencies.
 
“Not only is it a way to treat pain but restore balance in people's lives,” he said.
 
State Sen. Michael Folmer, the Lebanon County Republican who sponsored Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana law, also spoke at the forum.
 
“I came across a 2015 study by Dr. Colleen Barry of Johns Hopkin’s who discovered that in states that were using cannabis as an alternative to long term pain management, that their prescription drug overdoses dropped by 25 percent in the first year and continued in subsequent years,” Folmer said.
 
According to Folmer, California, Oregon, Washington and Colorado’s combined Medicaid prescriptions decreased by $432 million in 2015. These are all states that have legalized cannabis.
 
“One thing I weeded out when I was researching this was medical cannabis,” he said.  “This was the common denominator. On these other medications people would say, ‘I felt like a zombie.’ Another medication, ‘I didn’t want to get up in the morning. Here I feel like a human again. I want to get back to work.’ It’s anecdotal, so we want to understand that and bring it under study under the proper stewardship.”
 
Folmer discussed what he saw as the next step for the industry.
 
“We have to get the feds off their duffs and move cannabis from a schedule one to a schedule 2 substance and allow our banks to do business,” he said. “We don’t want to have all this cash flying around.”
 
But there are deeper implications for reclassifying cannabis.
 
“We are constrained,” Nicholson said. “We can’t do randomized controlled trials. We can only do observational trials.”
 
“I would argue for descheduling it. It is medicine and it always has been,” Pritchard said. “The way to spread it is to deschedule it. It opens it up to research.
 
“It’s just a plant. It’s just a flower.”
 
Medical marijuana is also legal in Pennsylvania for the treatment of a limited number of diseases including; autism, cancer, Crohn’s disease, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV and AIDS, ALS, Huntington’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Sickle Cell Anemia.

BUTLER TWP. — An unwanted fate connects them.

Together, they try to accept.

Called “Moms of Cherished Angels,” group members lost a child or a family member to drug overdoses.

Besides the support the women offer each other, they also try to help those battling drug addiction.

Meetings began last fall at the Butler Twp. home in Luzerne County of Judy Provanzo, whose 22-year-old son, Michael, fatally overdosed in August.

While there, they eat and openly talk about their losses and feelings.

“We understand one another,” Provanzo said. “There are times we’ll say, ‘Did you get out of bed today?’”

Losing a loved one is one thing. Losing a child, another. Losing a child to addiction, Provanzo said, is a nightmare.

Provanzo and her husband, Joseph, shared Michael’s struggle with addiction in his obituary:

“We do not want his death to be in vain. Michael did not want to be an addict. His demons were more than he could handle. Addiction is a disease and does not discriminate... Many loved ones did everything they could to get him to stop but the drugs won their battle.”

Provanzo received supportive calls and cards soon thereafter. Some were from mothers who also lost a child to addiction. That spawned her group.

“We’re kind of like a sisterhood,” said Patti Goralewski, of Freeland, whose daughter, Jayne Baran, fatally overdosed in 2016.

A few weeks into their meetings, the group decided to fill backpacks with toiletries and donate them to those entering rehabilitation centers.

“We decided we wanted to do something to keep our children’s memories alive and help others suffering with this horrible disease,” Provanzo said.

Besides toothpaste, shampoo, notebooks and more, they include notes about their children’s struggles with drugs.

In her note, Provanzo writes: “The day Mikey died, a part of me and his father died with him. I’m sharing this with you in hopes it helps you along your journey. Mikey always thought he had his addiction under control and this wouldn’t happen to him. If you’re feeling like you want to give up, please think of Mikey and how my heart is breaking not having him. Remember you are loved and you can do this one day at a time.”

Group member Lisa Bertolette shares about the battle her daughter, Nikki, faced. She spent four years in and out of rehab and was doing well until she relapsed. She died in June 2017.

“I miss her every day,” Bertolette’s note says. “I’ve cried every single day since June 2017.”

Kim Janeczek, of Kline Twp., writes about her son, Matthew, and his heart of gold. He died in last July at age 21.

“If we can save just one person, it’s worth it,” she said of the projects.

The women distributed the backpacks to recovery centers across the state.

“Everybody is different and everybody grieves differently,” Provanzo said. “We get to different places in the process at different times. But if we didn’t have this every Tuesday, I’d be in a loony bin.”

Contact the writer: jwhalen@standardspeaker.com; 570-501-3592

One of the newest treatment centers to combat the opioid crisis in Luzerne County is the Medication-Assisted Treatment Addiction Clinic at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre hospital.

The facility is similar to a methadone clinic, but uses buprenorphine (Suboxone) or naltrexone (Vivitrol) to help suppress withdrawal symptoms and cravings for opioids.

Unlike methadone, those drugs can be administered in an office setting or prescribed to take home. Additionally, patients don’t have to show up every day like a methadone clinic. Each client’s routine is different.

Since opening in September, the MAT clinic has seen 278 patients and about 60 percent of those them are still with the program today.

“We are saving lives and doing good in the community,” said Jordan Barbour, director of addiction medication for Geisinger Health System. “Patients are coming to us and we hear this sometimes, they are saying we are perceived as quote unquote ‘a stricter program,’” Barbour said.

The MAT clinic at Geisinger South, located on the fourth floor of the medical arts building, was Geisinger’s second to open in Pennsylvania. The first was in Geisinger Bloomsburg Hospital.

Geisinger’s MAT clinics are staffed by seven full-time employees per site — including a board-certified addiction physician, advanced practitioner, addiction-trained clinical pharmacist and a dedicated case-management staff.

Doctors also serve as counselors, Barbour said.

“Our doctors are not going to walk in a room and spend five minutes with a patient, write a prescription and leave. They are going to talk to them about their disease,” Barbour said.

The opening of the new clinic came during a year when Luzerne County experienced a record number of 151 fatal drug overdoses, most of them tied to opioids like heroin and fentanyl.

However, the clinic is also trying to lessen clients’ use of other drugs that have a medium or high risk of abuse.

When patients enter the program, they average two such medications. After 90 days, they average 1.2, including the suboxone, Geisinger officials say

“A unique part of our program is we are decreasing the number of prescription medications patients are on in addition to addressing their opioid addiction,” Barbour said.

The program is strictly monitored. Patients who abuse their prescribed-medicine maintenance are discharged from the clinic. Clients are routinely tested for drugs.

Some clients visit the clinic several times a week. And some, who are doing well, are asked to visit far less.

“If they are doing fantastic, we can see them once a month,” Barbour said.

City officials welcomed the new clinic.

“Opioid addiction is a nationwide epidemic and Wilkes-Barre is not immune,” Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George said. “People with opioid addictions — our friends, family, coworkers, neighbors — need help. I have faith that Geisinger’s new clinic will provide treatment to patients in a controlled environment, while being respectful and responsible to the residents surrounding the hospital.”
 
bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2055
@cvbobkal

POTTSVILLE - Seeking another way to combat the opioid crisis and other forms of drug addiction, officials in Schuylkill County started the Drug Treatment Court in January 2017 using a carrot-and-stick approach to help participants beat their addictions.

Judge James P. Goodman, a former district attorney in the county, helped develop the court and presides over its weekly session each Thursday morning.

Goodman runs each session with less formality than a traditional court proceeding in an effort to make participants more comfortable and allow more participation.

People entering the 14-month program begin with inpatient and outpatient treatment. After they complete the inpatient treatment, they begin to attend the weekly court sessions, often continuing with outpatient treatment and weekly counseling sessions.

They must also submit to random drug testing and home visits, meet with probation officers and comply with directives from the court and those officers.

Each weekly court session features participants reading from their mandatory essays about a particular topic and how the Drug Court program has affected their views of a chosen aspect of the program.

Sessions also include meting out sanctions of varying severity for participants who have violated program rules and, beginning recently, having raffle-type drawings for small prizes for those who have complied with the rules during the week.

Participants often credit the program with saving their lives, which most recognize have been in a downward spiral.

As they move through the program, participants do not have to come to court every week.

No one has yet to complete the program, but some are beginning to get close. This year, the first graduates should be finishing it, according to authorities. With that completion will come dismissal of the charges against them 

So far, five participants have been expelled from the program. All have been sentenced to state prison time.

Goodman told participants at a recent session that the people in it who get in trouble generally do so for the same reason.

"The common theme is that they're not honest," he said. "You have to face the consequences. If you don't they're going to be a lot worse."

Lynn Holden, a probation officer who also serves as the treatment court coordinator, recently said that 32 people are in the program, and more are scheduled to be added.

Holden said the court is going well, with the successful participants buying into the idea early.

"Phase One is the most crucial," she said.

Chief Probation Officer Neil Stefanisko said the participants hold the keys to their own success.

"(They are) dedicated and want to succeed," he said. "The longer they're in the program, the easier it is for them to succeed."

“Journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job.”

— President Trump on Friday, too little, too late.

I read many reprehensible messages on T-shirts while covering Donald Trump’s political rallies in 2016. One naturally caught my jaundiced eye.

“Rope. Tree. Journalist,” the text said. “Some assembly required.”

A staple at Trump events, the shirt was also sold at Walmart.com for at least a year before it was pulled. Sales must have slowed to indefensible levels.

Two of my cousins — both Trump cultists — found the proposed lynching of fellow Americans who dared work in the Fourth Estate hilarious. Said cousins are dead to me now. Family is my rock, but I don’t need people like that in my life.

In the aftermath of Thursday’s murders of five journalists for the “crime” of doing their jobs, I am not in a forgiving mood. These innocent Americans were cut down by an angry misfit who hated the newspaper for publishing unflattering facts about how he chose to waste his short, sorry life.

I refuse to use the shooter’s name. He murdered Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters but spared himself. They are dead. He is alive. We are left to wonder how such a small, cowardly creature could cause such carnage.

At The Times-Tribune, editors and reporters routinely take calls from people who don’t like what we published about them. I’ve been threatened many times over my 20-plus years at the newspaper. It goes with the job. Thick skins are made of scar tissue.

What’s new is a president of the United States who gleefully demonizes the free press and works tirelessly to dehumanize the proud Americans who go to work every day at newspapers like The Times-Tribune and the Capital Gazette.

The Times-Tribune’s roots stretch to 1870. The Maryland newspaper’s history reaches back to 1727. The Capital Gazette is just shy of 50 years older than America. It was one of the first newspapers to publish the Declaration of Independence. It was the first to have a female publisher. Anne Catharine Green took the helm more than 150 years before American women won the right to vote.

The Capital Gazette is America. Every newspaper is, but Trump doesn’t see it that way. Neither do his enablers, acolytes and apologists. The president didn’t squeeze the trigger in Annapolis, but he has a lot of gall to send his condolences to victims he routinely vilifies as “sick people” who “don’t like our country” and “lie for a living.”

I’ve weathered these lame libels in person. I attended a Trump rally at Lackawanna College with a Dunmore High School senior as my “shadow.” When Trump got to his press-bashing routine, the crowd turned and howled at us like a pack of rabid jackals.

Clearly shaken, the kid asked: “Are we gonna be OK?”

Without taking my eyes off the jackals, I replied: “Probably.”

Trump was elected, but still campaigns like he’s trying to win the job. After a Thursday rally at which he again blasted the free press as “enemies of the people,” Trump tweeted:

“Prior to departing Wisconsin, I was briefed on the shooting at Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Thank you to all of the First Responders who are currently on the scene.”

Trump can stuff his thoughts and prayers. They’re as empty and insincere as anything he says. Same goes for the melodramatic lamentations of Melania, Mike Pence, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kellyanne Conway and every other Trump profiteer who sold out his or her last scrap of decency for access to the throne.

Locals who bow to “King Donald” will fill my email inbox with variations on the default response to any criticism of their infernal idol: “You just hate Trump!”

Gee, why might that be? The 45th president of the United States is everything I was raised to reject — a liar, a bully, a hypocrite, a cheat, bigot, fraud, draft-dodger and know-nothing who sees God in the mirror. Trump has spent the past two-plus years slandering me and mine as “enemies of the American people.”

What’s not to like?

Plenty. I refuse to pretend otherwise, and I’m not alone. The Capital Gazette published a newspaper Friday morning, presenting lively stories about dead colleagues whose blood still soaked the newsroom carpet.

The Times-Tribune published Friday, too. The “enemies of the American people” here at 149 Penn Ave. broke the news that taxpayers got soaked for nearly $500,000 in legal fees to defend Lackawanna County and a handful of employees in a statewide grand jury probe into sexual abuse at the county prison.

Like our cousins in Annapolis, we will keep showing up, because we’re just dizzy enough to believe our work matters, and just determined enough to prove it.

CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, loves the smell of

newsprint in the morning. Contact the writer: kellysworld@timesshamrock.com, @cjkink on Twitter. Read his award-winning blog at timestribuneblogs.com/kelly.

Independence Day event set

Mayor’s Independence Day Celebration, Wednesday, Nay Aug Park pool complex, Ringgold Band, 10:30 a.m., and ceremony, 11; free American flags given to children in attendance; Joe Sylvester, 570-961-2696.

Meetings

POST 25

Gen. Theodore J. Wint VFW Post 25, today, 2291 Rockwell Ave., Scranton; canteen meeting, noon; post, 12:30.

POST 327 AUXILIARY

Olyphant Raymond Henry American Legion Post 327 Auxiliary, Monday, 7 p.m.

POST 7069

Abington Memorial VFW Post 7069, no July meeting, next meeting Aug. 2, 7 p.m.

NEPA COAST GUARD

NEPA Coast Guard Veterans Association, July 16, 6:30 p.m., Perkins Restaurant, Route 315, Pittston Twp.; Neil Morrison, 570-288-6817.

MARINE CORPS LEAGUE

Northeastern Detachment Marine Corps League and Museum, July 8, 2 p.m., detachment.

MILITARY SPOUSES

Support group for military spouses and significant others of all branches, July 26, 5:30 p.m., Gino J. Merli Veterans Center, Scranton; 570-961-4359.

Merli Center

Today: Keurig coffee, 8:30 a.m.; morning visits, 8:45; Eucharistic ministry visits, 9:15; shuffleboard activity, courtyard, 2 p.m.; catch some fun and go fishing, 3:30; relaxation music, 5; table talk, 6:30; trivia, 7:30; relaxation music, sensory room, 8:15.

Monday: Morning visits, 8:45 a.m.; Bible study visits on units, 9:30; Simon says with music, third floor, 10:15; Arby’s dine-in, 1 south, 12:15 p.m.; residential council and ice cream social, 2; food committee, 2:30; senior fitness, 3; unit visits, 4.

Tuesday: Morning visits, 8:45 a.m.; bingo social, 10:15; choir practice, 1:45 p.m.; gardening club, courtyard, 2; Catholic service, 3; unit visits, 4; trivia night, 2 north lounge, 7.

Wednesday: Independence Day. Morning visits, 8:45 a.m.; arts and crafts, 10:15; distribution of gifts to residents by 31 for military appreciation, 1 p.m.; July 4 celebration with Greg Palmer, food and beverages, 2; unit visits, 4; Bible Club, 2 south lounge, 4; poker night, 1 south, 7.

Thursday: Morning visits, 8:45 a.m.; chapel service, 10; ball toss with music, third floor, 10; baseball game, 11:15; 10; cookout, 3 south, noon; bingo social, 2 p.m.; senior fitness, 3; unit visits, 4.

Friday: Morning visits, 8:45 a.m.; coffee and doughnuts, 10:15; country ride with ice cream, 1:30 p.m.; trivia day, 2; senior fitness, 3; unit visits, 4.

Saturday: Morning visits, 8:45 a.m.; morning stretch, third floor, 10:15; Patriot Brass Ensemble concert, 2 p.m.; unit visits, 4.

VETERANS NEWS should be submitted no later than Monday before publication to veterans@timesshamrock.com; or YES!desk, The Times-Tribune, 149 Penn Ave., Scranton, PA 18503.

BLAKELY — Caesar wiggled, waiting at the door. It was 9:30 a.m. and behind it, his friends had already started their day.

A wolf of a dog, the German shepherd nearly pulled his owner through the door to meet up with his canine companions at Puppy Paradise.

“We have dogs who don’t want to leave,” said co-owner Jennifer Millan.

Puppy Paradise, a dog day care and boarding facility, started as a small operation in 2007 at Jennifer and Steven Millan’s home in Newton Twp. Since then, it’s grown to multiple locations — a 10,000-square-foot facility at 1979 Business Route 6 in Blakely that opened in 2011 and a second at 4949 Birney Avenue in Moosic that opened in 2017. The Millans also operate a dog grooming salon at 100 Lansdowne Ave. in Clarks Summit and in July, the day care portion of the Blakely location will move to a larger facility farther west on Route 6 in Dickson City that features a fenced grass yard and tall wooden ramp visible from the highway.

Jennifer Millan’s brother and wife live in Maryland. Before they would go on vacation, they would drive their dogs to Northeast Pennsylvania to stay with family. The Millans also boarded their dogs at kennels before but were unhappy with the impersonal facilities that kept their pets on concrete pads surrounded by a chain-link fence.

“They need that people interaction,” Jennifer said.

Both experiences sparked the idea to open a boarding house at their home. Steven, who says he’s not a carpenter by trade, eventually constructed a building on their property to house the animals.

“We started small but we learned along the way,” Jennifer said.

Puppy Paradise now has 42 employes many who have veterinarian technician degrees or are in school studying the veterinary fields. They receive extensive training and have biweekly meetings. The husband and wife, a former post office employee and nurse, respectively, left their jobs to run the operation.

The staff knows the different breeds and personalities and tests dogs to see if they get along with their canine companions. They separate dogs who may get nervous in a large group or like to be away from the pack. Small dogs are also kept together, away from the large dogs.

In Blakely, more than 30 dogs attend daily day care and around 46 rooms are available to board dogs overnight; around 15 dogs attend day care in Moosic. The number of dogs that board overnight at the facility changes, since pet siblings usually stay together.

Owners can chose from three suites for overnight boarding: cost is $37 for a luxury suite; $47 for a window suite; and $52 for an executive suite. There is a lesser but additional cost to board pets together. An employee is on site 24 hours a day. The suites are big enough for a large dog like Caesar to comfortably stretch and feature dog beds and even televisions.

In the back of the Blakely facility, excited barks came from a blur of brown, black, tan and spots when Jennifer Millan opened the back door.

During day care, which costs between $22 for a full day, typically over 5 hours, or $16 for a half day, the dogs have around five opportunities to run outside between 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. They go back out for bathroom breaks between 8 and 11 p.m. before bed time.

The facility is tiled to mimic how kitchens or rooms in the pets’ homes might look so that they instinctively know it’s not somewhere they can use the bathroom, Jennifer Millan said.

Puppy Paradise boards special needs dogs, she said, so the staff follows their medicine and feeding schedule. Owners are also encouraged to bring their dogs with their regular food. If a health issue occurs, the employees have the dogs’ vets’ phone numbers on hand and an emergency contact sheet.

“The goal is to make sure the dogs are happy,” said Steven Millan.

The Millans, who are natural animal lovers with two golden retriever puppies, a pug, sheltie, collie and a cat who keeps the dogs in line at home, still board some pets at their Newton Twp. property.

“It’s a hard job, not every dog is good,” said Jennifer Millan.

Once the Dickson City facility opens, the Millans plan to set aside space at the Blakely facility to board cats.

For details, visit www.puppyparadise.org.

Contact the writer:

kbolus@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9100 x5114;

@kbolusTT on Twitter