WILKES-BARRE — When someone suffers a stroke, Jefferson University Hospital neurologist Dr. Omar Shah says “time is brain.”

That’s why a new telemedicine collaboration with Commonwealth Health is important for local patients and could save lives.

Speaking from a screen on a high-tech mobile robotic system, Shah demonstrated the telemedicine technology Tuesday at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital by communicating with emergency room doctor Dr. David Grasso and mock patient Jill Cook, the hospital’s interim ER director.

In addition to Wilkes-Barre General, the stroke telemedicine program also is in operation at four other Commonwealth Hospitals: Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton, Regional Hospital of Scranton, Tyler Memorial Hospital in Tunkhannock and Berwick Hospital Center.

The technology provides local patients with access to Jefferson Health’s comprehensive stroke program and an immediate link to top neuroscience specialists around the clock from Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

“This allows smaller community hospitals advanced stroke care within minutes,” Shah said. “It allows patients to stay closer to their homes and still get up-to-the-minute very advanced care very quickly.”

Through the telemedicine program, an emergency room physician at Commonwealth Health places a call to Jefferson and requests a consultation.

Within minutes, the Jefferson neurospecialist on call uses a computer or iPhone to connect via the robot to see and speak with the attending physician, patient and family members.

The Jefferson physician obtains the patient’s medical history, examines the patients, reviews CT scans and lab results and provides recommendations for immediate treatment.

A decision is then made to either admit the patient to a Commonwealth Health facility for continued care or to transfer him or her to a hospital such as Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience for more advanced care.

Shah said providing this advanced care quickly is important because every minute someone has a stroke, he or she is losing 1.9 million brain cells.

“Every minute, you’re aging around three weeks,” Shah said. “Time is really important to stroke management.”

Commonwealth Health’s collaboration with Jefferson Neuroscience Network reduces the amount of time it takes for a neurologist to see a patient who suffered a stroke, Shah said.

Smaller community hospitals have fewer neurologists and it takes time for them to come to emergency rooms to see a patient who suffered a stroke, look through the imaging and make recommendations, he said.

Contact the writer:
dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com;

570-821-2115;

@CVAllabaugh on Twitter

SCRANTON

A 25,000-square-foot downtown office building is up for sale or lease.

PenFed Credit Union put its administrative and branch offices and at 315 Franklin Ave. on the market.

PennFed will continue to serve members in Northeast Pennsylvania, but officials are “exploring opportunities to better manage the space in the Franklin Avenue building through sales and/or leases,” said Jamie Gayton, executive vice president of member operations.

The three-story building’s former occupant, Valor Credit Union, merged with Virginia-based PenFed in 2017.

— JON O’CONNELL

JESSUP — During its first comprehensive plan committee meeting of the new year on Tuesday, members discussed plans to poll the public and weighed in on a proposed zoning ordinance in the borough.

The 12-person committee hired Bethlehem-based Urban Research & Development Corp. to guide the borough through the comprehensive planning process, including rewriting the borough’s existing zoning ordinance to reflect the findings and goals established by the comprehensive plan. URDC drafted a public survey to gather opinions from residents and nonresidents about Jessup’s future.

The survey would be available online and in print. Among the questions, respondents will be asked to choose the top three types of business they would like to see in the borough, the types of new housing they believe is needed and types of parks and recreation improvements they want in the borough.

URDC Vice President Charles Schmehl noted that more trails is always the top selection in these surveys.

Participants will also answer whether they live in the borough or a nearby community, and if they own businesses or property in Jessup. The committee plans to approve the poll next month.

Additionally, committee members weighed in on an upcoming “downzoning” ordinance in the borough.

Borough officials have not yet set a public hearing date, but the zoning ordinance aims to keep industrial zoning above the Casey Highway.

Current M-1A zoning, which includes businesses like warehousing, machine shops and meat packing, would be reclassified IAC, which stands for an “interchange activity center.” That tightens zoning in the area between Breaker Street and the highway. From Breaker Street to the Lackawanna River, the zoning would become residential under the proposed ordinance.

Schmehl explained the importance of keeping trucks off Hill Street.

“The goal all along has been to put as much of the truck traffic right on the highway without passing through residential streets,” Schmehl said.

The committee also discussed keeping a small portion of M-1A land near the border of Archbald borough, but committeeman Jeff Smith argued against doing so. Smith raised concerns over the potential for a developers to leverage their M-1A land to pressure for the line to move over time by lobbying to expand their M-1A land into more restrictive zoning.

During the meeting, Schmehl also recommended sequestering the borough’s heaviest industrial uses to land surrounding the Lackawanna Energy Center. Jessup is required to allow every land use somewhere in the borough.

“Our job is to allow it somewhere,” he said. “If the developer chooses not to do it, that’s not our fault.”

Committee meetings will continue every third Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m.

Contact the writer:

flesnefsky@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5181;

@flesnefskyTT on Twitter

WILKES-BARRE TWP. — More than seven months after it was heavily damaged by a tornado, Barnes & Noble will reopen in the Arena Hub on Jan. 30, according to sales and inventory manager Ariel Roos.

It’s the last of nine stores to reopen since the EF2 tornado ripped through the shopping plaza.

Construction and renovations continue at the bookstore and in the meantime, it’s operating a temporary pop-up store in the nearby East End Centre.

The nearby Wilkes-Barre Twp. Commons strip mall remains boarded up and is awaiting demolition.

Plans are moving forward for a new standalone Panera Bread to be built in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Commons at the opposite end of the shopping plaza that was destroyed by a tornado.

The plans for the new Panera Bread include a drive-through and outdoor seating, said Wilkes-Barre Twp. zoning officer Tom Zedolik.

It’s unclear when it will be built and when the damaged plaza will be demolished, however. A spokesperson for the property’s owner, Urban Edge Properties, which has offices in New Jersey and New York, did not return calls.

— DENISE ALLABAUGH

SOUTH ABINGTON TWP. — Rosie Culkin saw the figures flitting effortlessly atop the black ice from her school bus window as it traveled along Winola Road on Tuesday afternoon and knew she had to join the fun.

Skating returned to Hillside Park on Tuesday, the first time this season. The 12-year-old excitedly reported her findings as soon as she arrived home, and her mother brought her over for some ice time.

“She said, ‘They’re down on the pond, they’re down on the pond. We need to go,’ ” mom Mary Kate Culkin said from the shore. “She was so excited. It’s a perfect day for it.”

Rosie glided across the ice with dozens of others, only pausing for Mary Kate to snap a photo of her on the ice. Some skated — Rosie was working on learning to skate backward, she said from the ice — while others poked pucks with hockey sticks.

Clarks Summit resident Ken Lee, who monitors the ice and helps maintain skating gear at the park, said the ice measured four inches thick when checked Tuesday morning, the minimum thickness to open the pond to skaters. For now, anyone can show up at the park and skate as long as the ice thickness stays above the safety threshold, Lee said. People can check ice conditions daily on the Hillside Park Facebook page, Lee said.

On weekdays, skaters must bring their own skates and other ice accessories, such as hockey sticks and pucks. On weekends, volunteers will open the “skate shed,” where people can take out skates and sticks to use for free, Lee said. The shed will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, Lee said.

It looks like the ice will maintain skating thickness for the foreseeable future. High temperatures are expected to rise above the freezing mark today, Friday and Sunday, but not enough to see any rapid melting, AccuWeather meteorologist John Feerick said. A storm over the weekend will bring cold air that will drag high temperatures down to the teens early next week, he added.

Volunteers at the park could have their work cut out for them in the near future, though. Volunteers shovel snow off the ice to keep it skatable, Lee said. A storm Thursday night could bring one to three inches of snowfall to the area, Feerick said. Another storm Saturday into Sunday will bring a wintry mix of sleet, rain and snow that could leave a plowable accumulation on the ground, he said.

Anyone who would like to volunteer to run the skate shed or help maintain the ice for skating should message Ken Lee on Facebook or call him at 570-905-3599.

Contact the writer:

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

@ClaytonOver on Twitter

SCRANTON — Taxpayers won’t foot the bill for the private attorney Mayor Bill Courtright retained to represent him in an FBI investigation that involved raids last week at City Hall and the mayor’s home, officials said Tuesday.

The mayor on Sunday told The Times-Tribune he hired Paul Walker to represent him in the FBI matter.

At city council’s meeting Monday, resident Joan Hodowanitz asked who is paying for Walker’s legal services.

“Is the mayor paying for attorney Walker out of his own pocket or is this going to be paid by taxpayer funds?” Hodowanitz asked.

Council members did not know.

In separate phone interviews Tuesday,

Walker and city solicitor Jessica Eskra said taxpayers won’t pay for Walker’s private representation of the mayor.

Walker said he was not immediately prepared to discuss details of his engagement as Courtright’s private attorney in the FBI matter. Walker expects to make a statement soon, possibly today, about his legal representation of the mayor and Courtright’s intent in the FBI matter going forward.

“I can assure you, it will not be paid out of city funds,” Walker said of his legal representation of the mayor.

Eskra also said she could not discuss the FBI matter.

Efforts to contact Courtright on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Hodowanitz raised the question because county taxpayers have been picking up the tab for legal bills stemming from a state investigation of the county prison.

“Now, I ask this because you remember at the Lackawanna County level, with the investigation into the prison, that’s being paid for by the taxpayer. And as of Jan. 9th, the running tab is $691,891 and counting,” Hodowanitz said.

At the Jan. 9 county commissioners’ meeting, county Controller Gary DiBileo

reported the county’s legal bills stemming from the statewide grand jury probe into sex abuse at the county jail totaled $691,891 to that point. Those bills account for about 16 months of legal work performed by various law firms representing the county and current and former employees relating to the ongoing probe.

Some of the county’s legal fees were incurred for attorneys who accompanied former and current employees when they testified before the grand jury. Others stem from the hiring of a firm to determine which of more than 13 million emails seized from the county’s server during a September 2017 , raid might be pertinent to that investigation.

Contact the writer:

jlockwood@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9100 x5185;

@jlockwoodTT on Twitter

SCRANTON — A Scranton man who investigators say grabbed the wheel and deliberately steered his girlfriend’s car over a steep embankment as she drove last fall in Taylor will face a rescheduled preliminary hearing next week.

David Isaac Maroni, 24, 1307 Luzerne St., is charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault and other offenses in the Nov. 10 incident in the 1300 block of South Main Street.

Maroni’s preliminary hearing on the charges was continued for a third time Tuesday in Central Court. It is now set for next Wednesday at 1 p.m.

Taylor police accused Maroni of grabbing the steering wheel of girlfriend Winter Eisenhart’s Dodge Avenger and deliberately sending the vehicle off the road as she drove south on South Main around 12:04 a.m. on Nov. 10.

The car careened down an embankment near the entrance to Walmart, leaving Eisenhart with a concussion and other injuries, police said.

Eisenhart told police she and Maroni had been out with friends in Scranton when Maroni became very drunk and started arguing with her because he wanted to drive, Taylor Officer Eugene Mentz wrote in the arrest affidavit.

Maroni continued yelling at her and became more agitated as she drove first to his home in West Scranton, where he refused to get out of the car, and then as they continued toward her house in Taylor, the affidavit said.

Eisenhart said when she told Maroni she was done, he replied, “I’ll wreck your ... car,” and grabbed the wheel, according to police.

Maroni, who left but returned a few minutes after the crash, originally denied touching the steering wheel but later told police he grabbed the wheel because Eisenhart was swerving, the affidavit said.

Eisenhart said she was not swerving, and a witness who saw the car go off the roadway told police it was traveling in a straight line before making an abrupt 90-degree turn over the embankment, the affidavit said.

Maroni, who is held in the Lackawanna County Prison on $100,000 bail, was initially charged with aggravated and simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.

Investigators amended the criminal complaint to add attempted homicide after a forensic analysis of the car’s airbag control module provided data consistent with Eisenhart’s statements, police said.

Contact the writer:

dsingleton@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9132

Carbondale police arrested a city man Thursday on charges of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

Alfred H. Pratt IV, 35, 16 Drummond Ave., Carbondale, is charged with statutory sexual assault and related charges.

On Nov. 14, 2017, Carbondale police received a ChildLine report that Pratt sexually assaulted the teen starting around Oct. 16, 2017.

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

During one incident, Pratt supplied the victim with alcohol, beer and cigarettes and, afterward, had sex with her, police said. The victim cried and said she’s been having nightmares. She said Pratt made her promise not to tell anyone and encouraged her to lie if anyone ever asked about what happened.

During a forensic interview at the Children’s Advocacy Center of NEPA, on June 26, 2018, the victim said Pratt had sex with her, police said.

Carbondale Police investigators repeatedly attempted to contact Pratt, who, on, two separate occasions, canceled the interview, the affidavit said.

Pratt is charged with statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 16, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors and inducement of minors to buy liquor/malt beverages.

Pratt was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge George E. Seig on Jan. 10 and remains in Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail.

A preliminary hearing is set for 11 a.m. Jan. 16.

Contact the writer:

drosler@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100, x. 5365;

@droslerTT on Twitter

SCRANTON — A city man who was arrested last week on charges of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl now faces additional charges involving a second alleged victim.

Leonard William Stempowski, 25, 332 16th Ave., was arraigned Tuesday in Central Court by Magisterial District Judge Sean McGraw on charges of indecent assault of a person less than 13, indecent exposure and corruption of minors.

Stempowski is accused of fondling and exposing himself to a 5-year-old girl at a home in Scranton in 2017 or 2018, according to arrest papers filed by city police Detectives Jeffery Gilroy and Christian Gowarty.

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

The girl disclosed the assault during an interview at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania, police said. She told a CAC interviewer the fondling happened on more than one occasion and Stempowski told her it was a secret.

City police charged Stempowski on Jan. 7 with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child and other offenses for sexually assaulting a different girl, now 12, in 2013. She told investigators Stempowski assaulted her at least three times.

Stempowski, who was free on $20,000 unsecured bail after his initial arrest, was released by McGraw on $25,000 unsecured bail on the new charges.

His preliminary hearing in both cases is scheduled May 1 at 9 a.m.

Contact the writer:

dsingleton@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9132

SCRANTON — A man will serve nearly 33 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in Carbondale Twp. more than four years ago, a crime that gave the victim a life sentence, her mother wrote.

Before Lackawanna County Judge Margaret Bisignani Moyle sentenced David Anthony Venson, 46, to serve 16 to 32 years and 10 months in a state correctional facility, child victim advocate Jennifer Davis read a statement written by the victim’s mother.

“Monsters do exist, and my daughter met one,” the mother wrote, adding that the girl, now 20, has changed. “She hates to be alone, never smiles, doesn’t laugh, goes through the motions of life.”

“A life sentence deserves a life sentence,” the mother wrote.

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

State police charged Venson, formerly of Scranton, after an investigation sparked by the victim’s report that he and a 17-year-old boy assaulted her in a car on Aug. 14, 2014. A county jury deliberated less than an hour in September before finding Venson guilty of statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault and related counts.

The 17-year-old, who is white, was never charged, a fact Venson brought up during Tuesday’s sentencing as proof that his arrest and prosecution was racially motivated. He addressed Moyle during the hearing, and denied committing the sexual assault.

“We are not going to relitigate this case,” Moyle said. “Today, we are here for sentencing.”

In addition to the hefty prison sentence, Moyle also ordered Venson to register as a sex offender quarterly for the rest of his life.

Contact the writer:

drosler@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100, x. 5365;

@droslerTT on Twitter

Crestwood Superintendent Joseph Gorham wished his successor and the district well after he resigns later this week.

He has been on paid leave since Oct. 30 after a paperwork oversight kept some bus drivers from being fully certified and led the district to cancel classes for two days.

The school board received Gorham’s resignation and will act on it during a meeting set for Thursday at 6:30 p.m., board President Bill Jones said.

Jones said Christopher Gegaris, the director of operations who also has been on leave, will depart, too.

Joseph Rasmus will continue as acting superintendent, Jones said.

“We’ll evaluate everything. We’re not making any hasty decisions,” said Jones, who added that the board members will remain more involved in managing the district until they choose a permanent superintendent.

A review between the district and the state auditor general’s office found problems with paperwork for drivers, but raised other issues, Jones said. For example, instead of one person managing transportation, four people oversaw parts of transportation.

Revelations about paperwork led Crestwood officials to cancel classes on Oct. 24 and 25, when Gorham said the district acted with caution to protect students.

Voided bus contract

In November, the board voided a long-term contract with Rinehimer Bus Lines just three months after it had approved a list of the company’s drivers unanimously.

State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said responsibility for the paperwork of bus drivers ultimately rests with school administrators. He used Crestwood as an example to remind other districts to complete paperwork required by state rules.

“If you don’t do it, we’ll find out,” DePasquale said during a news conference Oct. 24.

On Tuesday, Gorham, in a statement sent by text message about his resignation, said: “I wish the next in line continued success as they navigate the ‘storm’ of public education.”

On April 5 when speaking to parents and taxpayers in a packed auditorium, Gorham described a storm of rising costs for special education, charter school reimbursements and pension payments that overwhelmed school budgets across Pennsylvania, including Crestwood.

Crestwood, which has the lowest tax rate in Luzerne County but whose students post among the highest scores on standardized tests, faced a dilemma of raising taxes or continuing deficit spending until its fund balance dried up, Gorham said.

Served in Carbondale

Gorham in his statement pointed out that Crestwood cut $1 million from the budget through attrition and new contracts with vendors during his first year. He came to Crestwood in 2016 after serving as superintendent in Carbondale Area.

While the district lost its pre-K program under Gorham’s watch, Crestwood has helped students from kindergarten, where he said youngsters were reading at the highest rates in 14 years, to high school, where more students are attending college classes.

“As for me, there is a saying about life and lemons — time for me to get a new recipe,” Gorham said.

Contact the writer:

kjackson@standardspeaker.com; 570-501-3587

SCRANTON — State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale’s Jan. 23 town hall meeting to discuss ideas for improving public schools will be held at Lackawanna College, he announced today.

“I invite students, teachers and parents to bring suggestions about how we can come together as a community to strengthen our public schools,” he said.

The public forum will be held at the Peoples Security Bank Theater, 501 Vine St. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the meeting is scheduled to run from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Individuals interested in speaking will be asked to sign up at the event. Backpacks, bags, and food and drink are not permitted in the theater.

Since his 2017 audit, DePasquale has been a vocal critic of the Scranton School District and claims the school board is the worst in the state.

— SARAH HOFIUS HALL

The Lackawanna River fell short in the Pennsylvania 2019 River of the Year contest. The Clarion River in northwestern Pennsylvania has been voted the state’s winner. It draws legions of anglers, paddlers and other outdoors enthusiasts throughout the seasons.

The Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds & Rivers oversees the annual competition, which this year pitted the Lackawanna River against three other waterways — Conodoguinet Creek and the Clarion and Delaware rivers.

A total of 14,790 votes were cast, with the Clarion receiving 5,850; Delaware River, 4,748; Lackawanna River, 2,852; and Conodoguinet Creek, 1,340.

The Lackawanna also was nominated for the statewide accolade last year, but finished third in voting.
 

WILKES-BARRE — A Wilkes-Barre man with a long history of violence was arraigned Wednesday on charges alleging he molested and beat a woman he held captive over the weekend.

Police say the woman escaped captivity at the hands of Matthew A. Gyle, 39, of 121 Conyngham Ave., by running out of his house naked and getting help from a stranger.

The woman later told police Gyle had “killed his last girlfriend by injecting her with heroin,” according to the charging documents. The complaint does not identify that person, but police say they are currently investigating the allegation.

“The case is an ongoing investigation and all aspects of the case will be looked into,” Wilkes-Barre police Chief Joseph Coffay said.

According to the complaint, officers were dispatched to an address on Laurel Street around 6:50 a.m. Saturday to a report of a woman who had been attacked at Gyle’s home.

The woman reported that she had been asleep when Gyle woke her up around 1 a.m. by calling her a “scumbag whore,” according to police.

When the woman tried to leave, Gyle stopped her and picked up what appeared to be an ice pick, saying she would not be leaving alive, police said.

The charges allege Gyle tackled the woman to the bed and forced her to undress before getting on top of her and using a finger to molest her. The woman begged Gyle to stop, but he refused, according to police.

At some point during the attack, Gyle also punched the woman in the face, police said.

The woman eventually convinced Gyle to take a shower with her, and told police that afterward she was able flee the house naked. After finding a rug to wrap around herself, the woman ran to an alley where she encountered a resident who gave her clothes and let her use his phone to call 911.

The woman was taken to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, where testing determined she had a fractured right cheek bone, police said.

Police charged Gyle with aggravated indecent assault, making terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment and simple assault.

Magisterial District Judge James J. Haggerty arraigned him on the charges Wednesday morning and set bail at $20,000. Gyle was being held at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility with a preliminary hearing set for Jan. 24.

Court records show Gyle has a volatile history. In 2012, Gyle was convicted of aggravated assault for beating his then-girlfriend and stabbing her with a screwdriver. He was sentenced to serve four to eight years in prison in that case.

In 2003, Gyle pleaded guilty to aggravated assault after being accused of stabbing two men during a fight that began over a remark about the noise his bike was making. He was sentenced to 2½ to five years in prison for that offense.

Gyle’s rap sheet also features convictions for beating a man over the head with a brick in Hanover Township, beating a woman during a Wilkes-Barre home-invasion burglary, and threatening to kill a woman and her family if she testified against him for beating her.

GREENE TWP. — A Pike County man faces charges of possessing and disseminating child pornography.

Eric John Goller, 29, Greentown, was arrested and charged Tuesday with transferring images and videos of child pornography over the Shareaza file-sharing network between May and December, state police at Blooming Grove said.

His arrest followed an investigation by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation Northeast Computer Crime Unit that included the seizure of Goller’s laptop during the execution of a search warrant Dec. 18, police said.

Goller was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Shannon L. Muir on four counts of child pornography, two counts of disseminating photos or films of child sex acts and one count of criminal use of a communication facility. He was held in the Pike County Prison on $40,000 bail.

His preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 29.

— STAFF REPORT

SCRANTON — Mayor Bill Courtright, through his attorney, denied Wednesday “any wrongdoing” regarding an FBI investigation that he says involves campaign finance.

A statement issued by Courtright’s private attorney, Paul Walker, said the FBI executed search warrants Jan. 9, at Courtright’s office at City Hall and his West Mountain home.

“The supporting information to secure those warrants is unknown to us. By virtue of the nature of the requested information, it is believed that the inquiry relates to questions about campaign finance,” Walker said in a statement.

“The mayor has fully cooperated in the investigation and has answered the questions posed by the federal authorities,” Walker continued. “The mayor vehemently denies any wrongdoing and is confident that when the investigation is complete he will be exonerated.”

Attempts to reach Courtright were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Check back for updates.

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

FALLS TWP.

The search for Haley Lorenzen, the Mill City woman whose body is believed to be in the Susquehanna River, is on hold, Tunkhannock Twp. Police Chief Ed Morristell said Wednesday.

“We met with the family last night, and told them we were on hold right now,” he said. “We’re pretty much at a standstill with the river the way it is with ice, and weather conditions don’t look too favorable either.”

Phillip Walters, 31, is accused of killing Lorenzen and dumping her body off the Falls Bridge over the Susquehanna River.

Walters has been in the Wyoming County Correctional Facility in Tunkhannock since his arraignment Jan. 9.

— Robert L. Baker

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments for the second time in the case of a Scott Twp. woman challenging an ordinance that would force her to allow public access to a purported cemetery on her property.

The high court’s ruling in the case of Rose Mary Knick is expected to have nationwide impact because of the underlying issue at stake, which addresses the process a land owner must utilize in challenging a government action that impacts their rights.

The case stems from a 2012 township ordinance that regulates public access to private cemeteries. The township passed the ordinance after resident Robert Vail complained Knick denied him access to the grave sites of several relatives he claims are buried on a section of her 90-acre property. Knick contends there are no graves on the property.

Knick initially challenged the ordinance in Lackawanna County court, but a judge dismissed the case on procedural grounds. In 2014 she filed a federal lawsuit alleging the ordinance equated to an unlawful taking of her property without compensation. A judge dismissed the case based on a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court decision that says a property owner cannot seek relief in federal court until they’ve filed suit in state court and have been denied compensation.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case to revisit whether its 1985 ruling should stand. It first heard argument in October,when the nine-member court was short one justice due to the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. Since then Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the high court.

It’s not known why the justices again sought oral argument in the case. The Pacific Legal Foundation, which represents Knick, speculated it is because the justices were evenly split and need a tie-breaking vote or the court is still deciding the best legal theory to evaluate the case.

The court heard argument for about one hour Wednesday. It’s not expected to rule for several months.

“A win for me is a win for all Americans,” Knick said in a statement. “If the justices rule in my favor, I want everyone to know it’s not just about me and my private property. This is about opening the federal courtroom doors so all property owners can fight back when government takes their property without paying for it.”

The Pacific Legal Foundation is a California-based non-profit group that advocates for landowners rights. In a statement, J. David Breemer, a senior attorney with the foundation who argued the case, said he’s hopeful the court “will see the injustice caused by the inability of property owners to get a prompt hearing on whether the government has taken their property without compensation.”

Attempts to reach the township’s attorney, Teresa Ficken Sachs of Philadelphia, for comment were unsuccessful.

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

TEXAS TWP. — A Philadelphia man is accused of robbing a township store of more than $19,000 in October.

Terrell Boozer, 31, is charged with conspiracy to commit robbery stemming from the Oct. 19 hold up at Tri-State Tobacco, 350 Grandview Ave. Boozer and two accomplices are accused of committing the heist. Philadelphia police arrested Boozer after a traffic stop there last week. One of the other suspects is in custody and will be transferred to Wayne County, likely sometime next week, District Attorney Patrick Robinson said. A third suspect is still at large, Robinson said.

Boozer is held in Wayne County Correctional Facility in lieu of $150,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

— CLAYTON OVER