A controversial Wayne County church that advocates gun ownership is illegally using the trademarked symbol of the Unification Church to promote its religious and political agenda, according to a federal lawsuit.

Attorneys for Unification Church say the Newfoundland-based Sanctuary Church promotes a gun-centered theology that is “repugnant” and a “perversion” of the Unification Church’s beliefs. Its continued use of a symbol similar to the church’s “twelve gates mark” has caused the public to confuse the two religious organizations, causing extreme harm to Unification Church.

Sanctuary Church is led by the Rev. Hyung Jin “Sean” Moon, whose late father, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, and his wife founded the Unification Church in the 1950s.

“Sanctuary Church’s conduct is willful, deliberate (and) in bad faith,” the church’s attorney, Adam Shienvold, says in the suit. “Unless restrained by the court . . . (it) will continue to cause serious irreparable injury” to the church.

The suit, filed Monday, comes five months after Sanctuary Church, also known as World Peace and Unification Sanctuary, held a highly publicized “marriage commitment” ceremony in Newfoundland, Dreher Twp., that encouraged couples to bring an AR-15 or other similar semi-automatic rifle to the event to be blessed.

That ceremony was preceded by a pro-gun “thank you” dinner for President Donald Trump in Matamoras arranged by Rod of Iron Ministries, an affiliate of the church. Both events took place shortly after the mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and were denounced by gun control advocates.

Also known as Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, the Unification Church does not lobby for gun rights or incorporate guns into its religious ceremonies, the suit says.

That’s in stark contrast to Sanctuary Church, which Moon’s son founded in 2015, after he was suspended from the Unification Church for violating its tenets. Sean Moon and other church members sometimes attend church events armed with semi-automatic rifles and wearing crowns made of bullets, the suit says.

The Unification Church has used the twelve gates mark to symbolize its teachings since 1965, and trademarked the image in 2009. The Sanctuary Church’s symbol, which it displays at religious services, political demonstrations, newsletters and videos, is virtually identical, the suit says. The only difference is Sanctuary Church changed the color from red to gold and sometimes sets the mark against a background of guns and other weapons, the suit says.

The Unification Church tried to resolve the dispute without filing a lawsuit. Sean Moon refused its demands to stop utilizing the image, arguing he is the “true heir” to his father’s ministry, therefore he owns the symbol, the suit says. His father died in 2012.

The issue came to a head after the marriage commitment ceremony and Trump thank-you dinner drew extensive media coverage. News organizations “did little to nothing” to differentiate between the churches, which led some members of the public to believe the Unification Church was tied to the events, the suit says.

“Defendants expressly… political exploitation of its marks at gun rights events have, cumulatively, brought this matter... to a level that it is causing irreparable injury,” to the Unification Church, the suit says.

Tim Elder, Sanctuary Church’s director of world missions, said the church follows the teachings of Sun Myung Moon, therefore “it would be natural we also want to use that symbol.” He declined to comment further.

The lawsuit seeks an order forbidding Sanctuary Church from continuing to display the image. It also seeks monetary damages on several counts, including trademark infringement and unfair competition and punitive damages.

Contact the writer:

tbesecker@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9137;

@tmbeseckerTT on Twitter

If you sliced up West Scranton and laid it on a bun, it would be a Catalano’s hoagie. For 93 years, Paul Catalano’s family has sold simple sandwiches at reasonable prices.

They’re 5 bucks apiece and just filling enough to keep you coming back. Hot or sweet, get there before they run out.

Like many descendants of Italian immigrants, Paul, 75, is a rock-ribbed Republican. By the time his ancestors began arriving here, the Irish had locked up Democratic politics and taken to treating their Italian counterparts as shabbily as earlier bigots who insisted “Irish need not apply.”

Paul served as chairman of the Lackawanna County GOP from 2002 to 2010. An Old School Republican, Paul gives high marks to the class clown tossing spitballs at the world and redefining the American presidency.

“I think Trump’s doing a good job,” Paul said Monday. We were sitting at the legendary round table in a corner of the store, a basket of pretzels and potato chips at the center. Eric Trump, the president’s other son, is said to love Catalano’s hoagies. I asked Paul if Eric is a hot or sweet guy. He laughed and said the shop has a “confidentiality policy, like HIPPA.”

I sat down with Paul and Angelo Blasi, a 93-year-old retired paint salesman who as a kid worked for Paul’s father for 75 cents a week. Angelo is a Democrat and not a Trump fan. Next to him sat Bill Montgomery, another Old School Republican and councilman in Dalton, where Chrissy and I live and pay taxes.

“I’m here on a Visa,” Bill joked. He’s happy with Trump, too. Like Paul, he thinks I’ll eventually feel the same.

“Did you like everything your dad said and did?” Paul asked. “Later on, you found out he was right. I think down the road, you’ll see Trump is doing the right things.”

I doubt that. My father, God rest his soul, was the antithesis of Donald Trump. Dad was a veteran and family man who went to work every morning and came home every night. Dad paid his taxes, took care of his own and did what he could for others. He never asked for more than he earned and rarely got what he deserved.

Dad didn’t brag. Didn’t lie. Didn’t cheat, steal, whine or blame. Donald Trump is everything Dad raised me not to be.

All that said, Dad would love Catalano’s hoagies and feel right at home at Paul’s round table. Paul is a veteran, too, a family man who takes care of his own and does what he can for others. Dad loved his country. So does Paul and so do I.

The president is coming here Thursday to boost the flagging campaign of U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, who is running to unseat U.S. Sen. Bob Casey. Trump will stand in an arena and say Barletta is a great patriot and that John Kelly’s son and my colleagues in the media are enemies of the people.

The president’s jawing would be better spent on a Catalano’s hoagie, but Paul’s table is small and he expects visitors to treat each other with respect.

CHRIS KELLY, the Times-

Tribune columnist, is a hot and sweet guy. Contact the writer: kellysworld@timesshamrock.com, @cjkink on Twitter. Read his award-winning blog at timestribuneblogs.com/kelly.

MARRIAGE LICENSES

■ Sara Rose Krukovitz and Joshua James Burney, both of Olyphant.

■ William Monge-Ayala and Massiel Vargas-Gallardo, both of Scranton.

■ Neal Anthony Nowakowski Jr. and Ashley Nicole Keller, both of Bryn Mawr.

■ Robert Pfender Jr. and Christina Maria Cicco, both of. Philadelphia.

■ Vrajani Arun Patel, Scranton, to Kishan Suryakant Patel, Iselin, N.J.

■ Kushtrim Shabani, Lake Ariel, and Qerime Sherifi, Middletown, Conn.

PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS

■ Patricia Valunas, Scranton, to Christine Ann Gabello and Nadyne Marie Gabello, Spring Brook Twp., as joint tenants with rights of survivorship; a property at 1341 E. Elm St., Scranton, for $55,000.
■ Mary Anne Duffy, Scranton, to Mobina, Shaheryar and Bilal Akhtar; a property at 740 Hick­ory St., Scranton, for $60,000.

■ Robert Jensen to Nathan L. and Laurie A. Gross; a property at 99 Vine St., Taylor, for $145,000.

■ Dean W. Vaughn, Scranton, to Pankaj Karki and Hema Rai, Scranton; a property at 114 Penwood Drive, Scranton, for $82,000.

■ Sean Flood, individually and as executor of the estate of William John Flood, also known as William J. Flood, also known as William Flood, Archbald, to Travis Frazier, Carbondale; two parcels in Archbald for $132,500.

■ The estate of John D. McAndrew Jr., also known as estate of John F. McAndrew, Scranton, to Bhakta K. Ghalley, Syracuse, N.Y.; a property at 617 Campbell St., Scranton, for $90,100.

■ Mary Kathleen Clarke, executor of the estate of Marian L. McGraw, Dunmore, to Jake Mancuso and Gianna Muracco, Archbald; a property at 519 Shirley Lane, Dunmore, for $215,000.

■ The estate of Bonnie Lee Gayda to Christopher, Brian J. and Eileen C. Grassi; a property at 1506 Pine St., Scranton, for $60,000.

■ Douglas Long and Eugene Francis Reed, Scranton, to Cassandra M. Pugh and Nadine Novak, Scranton; a property at 1653 Ruane Ave., Scranton, for $76,550.

■ Diane Milazzo, Roaring Brook Twp., to Lauren R. Bros­toski, Throop; a property at 301 Circle Drive, Roaring Brook Twp., for $300,000.

■ Michael and Mary Elizabeth Sokoloski, Jessup, to Melanie McAndrew, Archbald; a property at 305 First Ave., Jessup, for $127,000.

■ Ronald J. Legg, Covington Twp., to Aaron Sepkowski, Covington Twp.; a property in Covington Twp. for $170,000.

■ Thomas A. and Cheri A. Magistro to Joshua Bryer; a property at 424 W. Church St., Archbald, for $266,000.

■ Ann Marie Salva to Christo­pher M. and April Krzak; a property in Blakely for $35,000.

DIVORCE SOUGHT

■ Jill A. Kucharski, Archbald, v. Christopher S. Kucharski, Archbald; married May 16, 2003, in Scott Twp.; Ernest A. Sposto Jr., attorney.

ESTATES FILED

■ Michele H. Curtis, also known as Michele Curtis, 539 Main St., Eynon, letters testamentary to Autumn Rieman, same address.

■ Bayard B. Williams, 1248 Main Ave., Old Forge, letters testamentary to Bianca L. Williams, 1109 Rundle St., Scranton.

■ Joseph C. Abramovitch, also known as Joseph Carl Abramo­vitch, also known as Joseph Abramovitch, letters testamentary to Francis P. Mickavicz Jr., 408 Harriston St., Taylor.

■ Robert F. Simmons Jr., 85 Sturges Road, Peckville, letters testamentary to Steven W. Simmons, 1010 Limbeck Lane, Midolothian, Va.

■ Michael P. Jugan, also known as Mike Jugan, 306 Wheeler Ave., Scranton, letters of administration to Sara J. Vinskofski, 1231 Throop St., Dickson City.

■ Anna Maggio, also known as Anna Mattia Maggio, 1819 Luzerne St., Scranton, letters testamentary to Randall Win­ters, 2423 Red Oak Drive, Clarks Summit.

STATE TAX LIENS

■ Sweet Home Primary Care of Scranton LLC, 329 Penn Ave., Scranton; $46,026.95.

■ George Espinal, 5004 Birney Ave., Moosic; $660.65.

■ Ruthann White, 328 Har­wood Ave., Clarks Summit; $1,485.59.

■ Robert and Debra Faraday, 117 Decker Road, Jermyn; $1,671.

■ Mohammad and Zahra Tabatabaie, 1 Dawn Drive, Scranton; $3,639.38.

■ Tiny Treasures Child Care Center, 301 Clinton St., Vand­ling; $7,460.69.

■ Scrub Oak Hunting & Fish­ing Club Inc., 683 Main St., Vandling; $54,803.50.

■ NV Petroleum LLC, 801 Northern Blvd., South Abington Twp.; $3,770.05.

■ Robert M. and Maureen T. Flynn, 2905 Colliery Ave., Scran­ton; $816.41.

■ David R. O’Hara, 26 O’Hara Road, Jefferson Twp.; $1,442.85.

■ Ronald D. Jr. and Rebecca L. Larue, 190 rear Maile Road, Greenfield Twp.; $7,303.26.

■ Nicholas P. and Patricia A. Carcione, 1306 Dundaff St., Dickson City; $385.91.

■ Christopher L. and Alison M. Rothwell, 200 Sean Drive, South Abington Twp.; $3,233.59.

■ Satish Mallik, 205 Carpen­ter Hill Road, South Abington Twp.; $6,328.43.

■ Patrick DeNaples Jr., 119 Bush St., Dunmore; $1,525.95.

■ Dale M. Robbins, 734 Albert St., Dickson City; $1,112.75.

■ John H. Horsman, 201 S. Blakely St., Suite 334, Dun­more; $6,228.59.

■ William D. Donahoe, individually and as responsible party of Panes Et Pisces LLC, 100 Grouse Hill Road, North Abing­ton Twp.; $640.50.

■ Edward J. Kaushas Jr., 337 N. Fillmore Ave., Scranton; $5,597.80.

■ A A F Inc., 139 S. Blakely St., Dunmore; $20,620.59.

■ Colarussos Pizza Xpress Inc., 305 Glenmaura Drive, Moosic; $1,304.50.

■ Bart Madans, 810 Murray St., Throop; $935.04.

■ Thomas K. Kuduk, 406 Fourth Ave., Jessup; $1,112.50.

■ Robert A. Caramanno, 1105 S. Main Ave., Scranton; $669.03.

■ Michael Parker, 14 Washing­ton St., Carbondale; $422.54.

■ Robert Smith, 735 N. Linc­oln Ave., Scranton; $1,927.59.

■ Jason Abbott, 139 Willow St., Dunmore; $2,552.30.

■ Christopher G. Sr. and Shar­on E. Langan, 1218 Country Club Road, Clarks Summit; $903.20.

■ Philip and Joetta L. Murphy, 5 Roberts Road, Moscow; $1,772.57.

■ Milissa S. Lord, 1325 Hunt­ington Lane, Dalton; $5,082.94.

■ Nichelle M. Hricenak, 111 Junction St., Clarks Summit; $893.91.

■ Douglas and Melisa Hess, 78 Spring St., Carbondale; $7,471.78.

■ Prudence Evans, 1436 Col­lege Ave., Dunmore; $5,151.09.

■ Edward J. and Angela L. Marcinkevich, Rear 130 Oak St., Old Forge; $863.65.

■ Susan Andrews, 202 Lori Drive, Archbald; $916.87.

■ John B. and Alison M. Skoff, 1621 Quincy Ave., Scranton; $6,297.16.

■ Bruce N. and Brenda Shay, 501 Winola Road, Clarks Sum­mit; $833.36.

■ Harold W. McKinney III, 319 Third St., Blakely; $981.06.

■ Edward J. Marcinkevich, Rear 130 Oak St., Old Forge; $122.35.

■ Kevin Darcy, 1135 Olive St., Scranton; $994.93.

■ Master Millwright Industrial LLC, 1294 Mine St., Old Forge; $661.30.

■ Carl J. Greco P.C., 327 N. Washington Ave., #A, Scranton; $13,404.70.

■ Russells Cool Scoops LLC, 129 Hill St., Jessup; $776.56.

■ Nicholas Stanley, 16052 Airport Drive, Dalton; $77,773.87.

LAWSUITS

■ Allyn B. and Wendy M. Carey, 472 Scott Road, Mont­rose, v. Jeremy Klinger, 236 Lee Park Ave., Hanover Twp., seeking an amount in excess of $50,000 and delay damages, for injuries suffered in an automobile accident on Aug. 1, 2017, at approximately 6 a.m. at the O’Neill Highway and Monahan Avenue in Dunmore; Matthew D. Dempsey, attorney.

■ Alicia and Arthur Kuehner Sr., 2216 Boulevard Ave., Scran­ton, v. Seliman Abdul­qader, 111 Ponderosa Drive, Lexington, Neb., and Motor Carrier Grand Transport Services, 1239 Wel­lington Court, Buffalo Grove, Ill., seeking an amount in excess of limits for referral to arbitration by local rule, plus interest, costs and punitive damages on two counts, for injuries suffered in an automobile accident on May 1 at approximately 6:32 p.m. at the Spruce Street Complex Expressway, Scranton; Edwin A. Abrahamsen, attorney.

ONLINE: thetimes-tribune.com/courts

WILKES-BARRE — After Kim Woodrosky appeared on the front page of The Citizens’ Voice in November 2016 proudly defending her vote for Donald Trump in the presidential election, media from around the country and world sought to interview her.

She was in demand.

Woodrosky fit the profile of the people credited with making Trump’s victory possible: Longtime Luzerne County Democrats who overwhelmingly flipped to vote for the brash Republican businessman.

“It was a snowball effect. It really was,” Woodrosky said. “I had people reaching out to me from all over the place.”

Days prior to Trump’s Thursday visit to Luzerne County, Woodrosky recalled her time in the media spotlight after the election.

She appeared in Time Magazine’s 2016 “Person of the Year” edition about Trump — after an eight-hour photoshoot that included 13 wardrobe changes. She then appeared in a follow-up edition of the iconic publication.

Newspapers from Portugal, Japan and France visited to interview her.

Bloomberg News selected her as one of eight United States voters to profile and track after the election. She has given continuous commentary on a Bloomberg webpage, where she gives Trump a score of eight out of 10 in job performance.

“I think if he runs in 2020, he’s probably going to be a shoe-in. I think he’s doing a great job,” Woodrosky said. “The Democrats don’t have anyone to put against him that would be worthy enough to beat him.”

Woodrosky, 54, a property manager and real estate investor, also was interviewed extensively by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ben Bradlee for his upcoming book, “The Forgotten: How the people of one Pennsylvania county elected Donald Trump and changed America.”

That one is Luzerne County.

Contact the writer:

bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2055,

@cvbobkal on Twitter

Local cadet honored

Senior Cadet David W. Bors was presented the Lackawanna Bar Association’s Stanley W. Kennedy Memorial Award at the annual ROTC Awards ceremony at the University of Scranton.

Bors is a senior at the University of Scranton and is a National Distinguished Military Graduate, who ranks in the top 20 percent of cadets nationally, a four year national scholarship winner who excels academically as a physical science major and is a member of the National Science and Mathematics Honor Society.

The award is presented in honor of Kennedy, a long-time chairman of the LBA’s veteran’s committee, who died in January, 2017. Kennedy was an ROTC graduate of the University of Scranton and a career Army Officer, who achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Kennedy worked tirelessly on behalf of veterans throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Bors is active in student government and is a member of the university’s cross-country, track and swim teams.

High notes

During Leadership Lackawanna’s Celebration of Leadership at the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center, the achievements of participants in the Leadership Lackawanna Executive Program, Tomorrow’s Leaders Today and the Leadership Lackawanna Core Program Class of 2018 were honored.

Core Program Class includes: Mark Barbernitz, Boys Scouts of America NEPA Council; Julie Bialkowski, Penn State Scranton; Mark Bonfiglio, NOTE Fragrances; Terilynn Brechtel, United Neighborhood Centers; Kevin Brislin, Lightspeed Technologies; Lisa Browning, Community Bank NA; Jeff Cavanaugh, Office of State Senator John Blake; John Dean, AllOne Health Resources; Sara Dellecave, Penn Foster Career School; Kim Fanning, Sordoni Construction Services; Christine Gabello, Keystone Community Resources; Kayla Guilford, Lackawanna College; April Guse, Bedrock Technology; Logan Hansman, Fidelity Bank; Carlyle Hicks, Keystone College; Amy Hnat, Electric City Escape; Matthew Horvath, Tobyhanna Army Depot; Gary Howell, Baker Tilly Virchow Krause; Amy Kelley, FNCB Bank; Christopher Krape, Weiler Corporation; Rob Krukovitz, Benco Dental Co.; Sarah Mann, Barry Callebaut; Amanda Marchegiani, Northeast Regional Cancer Institute; Allie Marroquin, Lackawanna Susquehanna BH/ID/EI Program; Elizabeth McGill, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine; Jannette Moran, Wells Fargo Bank; Gene Munley, Prudential Retirement; Matt Nied, Penn State Scranton; Tara Priest Rhodes, Kim Rollman, TMG Health; Bill Ruddy, Tobyhanna Army Depot; Mileise Sabbatini, NET Credit Union; Mike Stremski, Reuther+Bowen; Linda Tregea, Benco Dental Co.; and Alicia Wang, Gertrude Hawk Chocolates.

Lackawanna and Luzerne counties each will have at least two licensed facilities that grow and process marijuana for medical treatment.

PharmaCann Penn Plant LLC, a Philadelphia-based company, was one of two companies approved to produce medical marijuana in Northeast Pennsylvania in the second phase of licensing, the state Department of Health announced Tuesday.

PharmaCann plans to open at 104 Life Science Drive in Scott Twp., in Scott Technology Park. The Scranton Lackawanna Industrial Building Co., an affiliate of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, owns the property. PharmaCann applied for six licenses across the state, but the state only approved the local one.

Attempts to reach company officials were unsuccessful Tuesday.

Pier Cove LLC, a Chicago-based company, won the other second-phase northeast license for a facility in the Humboldt Industrial Park in Hazle Twp. near Hazleton.

The plant will be called the Justice Grown Cultivation and Processing Center.

Pier Cove and PharmaCann were among 13

new grower-processor licenses announced Tuesday by the state Department of Health out of 91 applications, according to a list on the department’s website.

Jamil Taylor,

Pier Cove’s chief operations officer, said the company expects to open its processing center within the state-required six months on a vacant 10-acre lot. The building, similar to a warehouse, will cover 15,000 to 30,000 square feet with the possibility of expanding to 100,000 square feet

as business grows, Taylor said.

The company expects to hire 15 to 20 people in the first phase with perhaps 20 to 25 overall eventually, he said. The jobs will include plant growers, trimmers, packagers, salesmen and managers. He declined to discuss salaries, but said the benefits would include health insurance and a 401(k) pension plan.

In June 2017, the department announced a grower-processor license for Pennsylvania Medical Solutions LLC

for a plant off Rosanna Avenue in Scranton’s lower Green Ridge

neighborhood and another for Standards Farms LLC

in White Haven in Luzerne County.

Columbia Care Pennsylvania

opened the first medical marijuana dispensary in Lackawanna County in April.

Justice Grown opened the first dispensary in Luzerne County in Edwardsville in February. The Edwardsville dispensary and the new Hazle Twp. processing plant have a partnership, Taylor said.

More than 52,000 patients registered to get prescriptions for medical marijuana with more than 30,000 of them already granted identification cards that allow them to visit a dispensary. More than 1,000 doctors registered to prescribe medical marijuana with more than 700 approved as practitioners.

Columbia Care Pennsylvania on North Keyser Avenue in Scranton is one of 16 dispensaries across the state set to sell marijuana in dry leaf form starting today. Patients may not smoke it. Instead, they are permitted to use a vaporizer.

Twelve more dispensaries, including Justice Grown Pennsylvania in Edwardsville, are supposed to have the medication Aug. 8.

Dry leaf is cheaper than other products such as oils and pills, and state officials cleared it for medical use to help lower patient costs.

Contact the writer:

bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9147;

@BorysBlogTT on Twitter

Get there early and prepare for rain — but do not bring an umbrella.

Mohegan Sun Arena has released more details about President Donald Trump’s visit to the arena on Thursday to support U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta’s campaign for the U.S. Senate.

According to an updated announcement on the arena’s website:

■ The arena parking lot, off Highland Park Boulevard, will open at about noon.

■ No vehicles will be allowed on site before the parking lot opens.

■ The arena doors will open at about 4 p.m.

■ Those arriving after 5 p.m. should use the Mundy Street entrance to the parking lot.

■ Highland Park Boulevard will be closed in both directions from the Interstate 81 exit ramp to Mundy Street from about 5 till 8:15 p.m.

■ No weapons of any kind will be allowed on arena property, including the parking lot. This includes pocketknives, chains and chain wallets.

■ As of Tuesday, no umbrellas will be allowed Inside the arena. The website announcement notes that the umbrella policy is subject to change.

■ There is no protection from the weather when standing outside the arena entrances. No one will be permitted inside until doors are opened for the event.

■ AccuWeather calls for a chance of strong thunderstorms Thursday afternoon and evening.

■ Cameras, cellphones, video and audio recording devices are permitted. However, no professional lens cameras or detachable lens cameras are allowed.

Additionally, a no-drone zone will be in effect for a 15-mile radius around the arena and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport from 5 until 10 p.m., according to Wilkes-Barre Twp. police.

— STAFF REPORT

DUNMORE — A borough police officer was injured when his police car and another car collided about 8:50 a.m. Tuesday at Jefferson Avenue and Electric Street.

An ambulance crew helped Patrolman Dan Kapacs hobble out of his cruiser and took him to Geisinger Community Medical Center, where he was treated and released. The other driver, Sandra Brady of Forest City, who drove a Lexus, was not injured.

The intersection has stop signs in each direction. Kapacs was driving north on Jefferson and Brady was heading west on Electric. Brady’s Lexus hit the police car’s passenger front door.

Kapacs was briefly trapped in the vehicle. The officer reported the crash to the Lackawanna County Communications Center and said he was unable to get out. The Lexus sustained minor damage. The police car’s door was visibly dented.

Throop Patrolman Andrew Kerecman said he investigated the crash at Dunmore Police Chief Sal Marchese’s request because a Dunmore officer was involved.

Contact the writer:

bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9147;

@BorysBlogTT on Twitter

SCRANTON — A 20-year-old college student occasionally dabbed away tears Tuesday as she testified how a trouserless Joel Jerome Laury, M.D., lifted her dress and touched her as she shadowed him at his Scranton medical office in June.

“He’s a very well-respected physician. ... I thought he could be trusted,” the woman said.

The student was the only witness to testify at Laury’s preliminary hearing as Magisterial District Judge Laura Turlip found there is sufficient evidence to hold the allergist for trial on misdemeanor charges of indecent assault without consent and open lewdness. He also faces a summary count of harassment.

Lackawanna County detectives charged Laury, 52, 746 N. Webster Ave., on June 26 with having inappropriate contact with the student five days earlier under the pretext of showing her how to conduct a physical examination.

Investigators filed additional charges against Laury on Friday involving two other females — one a different 20-year-old student and the other a 13-year-old patient — who came forward after his initial arrest to report he also had touched them inappropriately. His preliminary hearing on those charges is scheduled for Monday at 10:15 a.m.

The Times-Tribune does not identify victims of sexual assault.

At Tuesday’s hearing, the student, who is enrolled in a pre-physician assistant program, testified she was in her third day of shadowing a PA who works with Laury on June 21 when the doctor directed her into an exam room to demonstrate how to check for pulses and lymph nodes.

As he was instructing her in what she described as a back-and-forth process, the physician removed his shirt and undershirt and, after locking the exam room door, removed his pants, the student said.

Laury, who was wearing briefs-style underwear, directed the student to touch him along the top front portion of his thighs near the underwear line to check for pulses and lymph nodes in those areas, the woman said.

The woman, who was lying on an exam table, said Laury then lifted up her dress, pushed up the legs of the Spandex shorts she wore underneath and touched her in the same places around the groin where she had touched him.

Laury did not touch her vagina but “near, yes,” she testified.

He also felt under the front of her dress to her chest area, just below her breasts, she said, adding she was holding her bra to prevent him from going higher.

“Uncomfortable and violated,” the woman replied when Assistant District Attorney Sara Varela asked how she felt as she lay on the table.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Paul Walker, the woman testified Laury never asked her to remove her dress, shorts or bra, nor did he expose his genitals or buttocks or suggest anything sexual.

Sitting at the defense table with Walker and fellow defense attorney Gerard Karam, Laury appeared to spend most of the woman’s testimony with his eyes downcast, not looking at the witness.

After the student finished testifying, Karam argued for dismissal of the charges.

Someone stripping down to their underwear does not meet the threshold for open lewdness under state law, and indecent assault is defined as touching for the purpose of “gratifying or arousing sexual desire” for which there is no evidence, he told Turlip.

Karam called it a case about context, saying the woman and Laury had talked about physical exams before they went into the exam room so he could show her “nothing more than a routine physical exam.” While his etiquette may have been improper, the doctor’s conduct was not criminal, he said.

Varela agreed context was important, noting the assault did not happen at a general practitioner’s office or another practice where physical exams might be the norm.

“She’s at an allergist’s office. ... Nothing about the exam was routine,” Varela said.

Contact the writer:

dsingleton@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9132

THROOP — Borough police charged a man with assault, accusing him of injuring another man who asked him to leave an apartment Saturday afternoon.

Joshua Carl Davis, 27, the Peckville section of Blakely, remained in the Lackawanna County Prison on Tuesday unable to post $10,000 bail on simple assault and harassment charges.

Police say he beat up Jamie Trout, who told them Davis pushed him into a wall and hit him in the head with a glass object. Trout suffered a severe cut on the right side of his face, according to an arrest affidavit.

Davis told police he was asleep on a couch when Trout came in, asked him to leave and grabbed him by the arm, but said Trout injured himself.

Trout was not charged.

— BORYS KRAWCZENIUK

BOULDER COUNTY, COLO.

Crews used a helicopter to recover a body believed to be Carbondale native Brian Perri at Rocky Mountain National Park on Tuesday, following a nearly month-long search effort for the missing hiker, officials said.

The Boulder County Coroner’s Office will not identify the body until the completion of an autopsy, according to a news release from the park.

The hiker took a 25- to 40-foot “tumbling fall” near the summit of Mount Meeker and is believed to have died instantly, according to park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson. Crews found the body at the base of a nearly vertical drop off, and his tan and green clothing made it difficult to see him, according to the release.

— FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY

FACTORYVILLE

Veterinarian Michelle Zajac faces felony charges after an employee told police she discovered a camera in one of the hospital’s treatment rooms.

Zajac, 49, Factoryville, faces 10 counts of intercepting conversations between Jan. 3, 2017, and Feb. 23, 2018.

In February, an employee of the Bunker Hill Veterinarian Hospital, where Zajac works, discovered a camera in one of the hospital’s treatment rooms and believed she was being taped, according to criminal complaint. State police and the Pennsylvania Department of State began investigating.

Zajac’s iPhone phone had 275 listed audio recordings, but the nature of all of them were not clear, according to the complaint. However, the complaint said the recordings were “surreptitious in nature and made without the knowledge” of the people speaking.

Zajac remains free on $25,000 unsecured bail.

— ROBERT L. BAKER

UNION DALE

The Herrick Twp. municipal building appears to be a total loss after a devastating fire Tuesday, officials said.

The fire broke out about 4:45 p.m., said Dave Magliacane, Pleasant Mount Emergency Services EMS captain. No one was injured.

The building at 1350 Lewis Lake Road housed offices and a garage for the township’s heavy duty equipment. More than 12 fire companies from Wayne, Lackawanna and Susquehanna counties responded to the fire, Magliacane said.

The fire is still under investigation.

— KATHLEEN BOLUS

SCRANTON

Police found a man dead inside a home in the city’s Plot section Tuesday after they were called for a domestic violence incident, Scranton police Capt. Dennis Lukasewicz said.

Police were dispatched to 425 Grace St. around 3:18 p.m., Scranton police Lt. Marty Crofton said. A woman and three children escaped the house before police arrived, he said.

Police believed the man was armed so officers from the Special Operations Group, some with SWAT gear and carrying rifles, gathered around the home for about two hours. When police went inside, they found a man dead, Lukasewicz told reporters on the scene Tuesday. He did not identify the man.

The death appears to be a suicide, Lackawanna County Coroner Tim Rowland said.

— KATHLEEN BOLUS

After dropping lower than it has in three decades, unemployment clicked up two-tenths of a point in June.

Preliminary numbers released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor and Industry show unemployment in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton metro area increased to 4.7 percent last month even though the region added 1,600 jobs.

A big jump in the labor force, 2,100 workers, outpaced added jobs and drove up the rate.

“Typically, if the economy otherwise is doing well, then you should expect that the labor force will increase because more and more people who are hopeful of getting a job join the labor force,” said Satyajit Ghosh, Ph.D., a University of Scranton economist.

“Job creation increased too, but could not keep pace, and that happens often,” he said.

Monthly unemployment numbers offer a snapshot of economic health, but don’t reveal trends over time, the economist said. Unemployment is still down nearly a whole point from last year, when it was at 5.4 percent.

The labor force is flat from last June at 277,700, seasonally adjusted. For a while, it looked like the number of workers was trending downward, which could potentially spell trouble for the area’s economy as new and growing companies have a harder time finding talent.

“A lot of areas are actually dropping,” state analyst Steven Zellers said of labor force figures around the state, but he added that it doesn’t appear to be the case in the metro area that includes Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wyoming counties.

“The big news over the year is there’s 2,000 more employed residents, and 2,000 less unemployed residents,” he said.

At 3 percent unemployment, Gettysburg was lowest of Pennsylvania’s 18 metro areas. East Stroudsburg, which is all of Monroe County, had the highest unemployment at 5.1 percent.

The state rate dropped two-tenths of a point to 4.3 percent. The national rate went the other way, and rose two-tenths of a point to 4 percent.

In May, regional unemployment fell six-tenths of a point to 4.5 percent, the lowest it’s been since 1973.

“We think there might have been an over-happy seasonal adjustment, so to speak,” Zellers said of the May numbers. “This month is kind of the return back to … what would be expected.”

Total nonfarm jobs located within the region, seasonally adjusted, continued to set new records. Nonfarm jobs grew by 1,000, to 267,700, from the month before.

While unemployment still remains historically low, Ghosh cautions against too much excitement.

Some sectors producing new jobs, such as leisure and the food service industry, typically don’t pay workers enough to build wealth or careers, he said.

Unemployment between 4.5 percent and 5 percent would be good for this region. Historically, it’s much higher, “but nothing is good unless we see sizable wage growth,” he said.

Contact the writer:

joconnell@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9131; @jon_oc

Aug. 1, 1918

Scranton boxer

a big hit in Paris

Tommy Connors, middleweight fighter from the Bellevue section of Scranton, was victorious in a Fourth of July bout against a Belgian at a celebration at Gaumont Palace in Paris for wounded soldiers.

In addition to the boxing card, the celebration featured a jazz band and performances by Elsie Janis, Mildred Kearney and Madame Germanie Le Senne.

Connors was serving in France with the Fordham College ambulance crew.

News of the fight and celebration was relayed from another Scranton soldier, Cpl. Van Hoesen, who was known to many in Scranton as the leader of the Serenaders Jazz Band.

New meat house

to open in city

Officials from Wilson & Co. announced that their new meat house in Scranton would open Aug. 5 at Mifflin Avenue and Spruce Street. The project cost $150,000.

The three-story facility featured an ice plant, sweet pickle cooler and sausage storage in the basement. The main floor would include the sales department and coolers for beef, eggs and produce. The second floor would be home to sausage manufacturing, and the third floor was for dry storage.

Shopping list

A 25-pound bag of barley flour, $1.50; coffee, 20 cents per pound; butter, 49 cents per pound; can of Campbell’s chicken or vegetable soup, 10 cents; large jar of fancy mustard, 15 cents; fancy brick cheese, 27 cents per pound; and a 4-pound box of soap powder, 22 cents.

BRIAN FULTON, library manager, oversees The Times-

Tribune’s expansive digital and paper archives and is an authority on local history.

Contact Brian at bfulton@timesshamrock.com or 570-348-9140.

The first member of a Penn State University fraternity to plead guilty in connection with the death of a pledge last year after a night of drinking and hazing has been sentenced to three months' house arrest.

A judge on Tuesday announced the punishment for Ryan Burke for four counts of hazing and five alcohol violations.

The 21-year-old Scranton resident is among more than 20 members of the now-closed Beta Theta Pi fraternity to face criminal charges over the February 2017 death of Tim Piazza of Lebanon, New Jersey.

Burke apologized briefly to the Piazza family before the sentencing.

He also was sentenced to 27 months' probation and ordered to pay fines, costs and restitution.

His lawyer says he believes the sentence is fair.

Slayer performs on Tuesday night at the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain in Scranton during the bands final world tour.      Butch Comegys / Staff Photographer

A planned Scott Twp. medical marijuana plant will employe between 30 and 40 people by the time it’s fully operational next July, an official with the company building it said today.

The jobs will entail cultivating marijuana, testing quality, managing the 60,000-square-foot plant, security and sales, said Jeremy Unruh, director of regulatory affairs for PharmaCann Penn Plant LLC. The minimum wage will start at $15 an hour with some employees earning six-figure salaries, Unruh said.

The company plans to build the growing/processing plant at 104 Life Science Drive in the Scott Technology Park. It will meet the state requirement to be at least partially operational in six months, but will not be ready for normal day-to-day operations until July, Unruh said. Construction will cost between $10 million and $15 million and should begin in the next few weeks, Unruh said.

Since June of last year, the state has awarded only 25 licenses to produce medical marijuana with two each in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties. The other Lackawanna plant, operated by Pennsylvania Medical Solutions LLC, stands on Rosanna Avenue in Scranton. One Luzerne plant, operated by Standard Farms LLC, is in White Haven with the other, licensed to by Pier Cove LLC, planned for the Humboldt Industrial Park in Hazle Twp.

The legislation legalizing medical marijuana does not allow for further standalone growing/processing plants.

Unruh and others founded Pharmacann in 2014. In Illinois, the company has cultivation plants in Dwight, south of Chicago, and Rochelle, west of DeKalb, along with four dispensaries. In New York, the company has a cultivation plant in Hamptonburgh in the Hudson Valley north of New York City, and four dispensaries. The New York and Illinois plants all opened in 2015, Unruh said.

About half the local plant will focus on cultivation, production, testing and packaging with the other half for management and sales offices.

Unruh said the plant will have cameras set for viewing at 200 angles and tight security to prevent theft and break-ins. The company will make its security camera views available to state regulators, even though the state does not require that.

“We do that voluntarily,” Unruh said.

The company will buy 18.5 acres for the plant from the Scranton-Lackawanna Industrial Building Co., the development arm of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce.

Bruce Reddock, a chamber economic development specialist, said Pharmacann asked the chamber for help finding land about 18 months ago. The company applied unsuccessfully for a grower-processor license in the state’s first licensing round last year, but continued to pursue the land for the latest round. The state Department of Health announced the second-phase winners Tuesday.

“PharmaCann is, if not the best, one of the best in the country at what they do,” Reddock said. “In all fairness, we’re looking at this as any other business given the regulations the state has set forth ... This is a company that has proven itself and we don’t want to restrict from creating a good number of high-paying or family sustaining jobs.”

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9147; @BorysBlogTT on Twitter.

SCRANTON — The first customers to buy dry leaf medical marijuana lined up outside Columbia Care in Scranton this morning an hour before the doors opened.

Patients cleared by the state to use cannabis to abate symptoms from 21 different conditions can now use dry leaf, also called marijuana flower or bud. Columbia Care is the first in Northeast Pennsylvania to have the stripped down product in hand.

The region’s other dispensary, Justice Grown Pennsylvania in Edwardsville, is to have it next week.

Patients can buy 1 gram and 3.5 gram quantities. Prices at Columbia Care range from $16 to $22 per gram, far less expensive than more processed forms of the drug such as pills or concentrates, said Columbia Operations Manager George DeNardo.

For the first two weeks, patients are capped at 15 grams per week. After that, how much they buy is up to the patients, their providers and staff consultants at dispensaries, he said.

Patients cannot smoke it, per state regulations. They must use vaporizers.

Suzanne Robinson, 49, of Lake Wallenpaupack has been using cannabis to treat symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression since her teen years, she said.

For years, she bought the drug on the black market. When Pennsylvania began its program, she got her medical marijuana ID card and started using the legal stuff, but still bought bud on the black market.

Legal leaf means she can step out of the shadows.

“I’m a mom. I’m an upstanding citizen. No one wants to be doing stuff like that,” she said. “This, to me, has freed me up in a way that can’t be overstated.”

Check back for updates.

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