Abington Travel

Tracey Schraner and Lisa Lochen earned trips to Las Vegas and Aruba, after participating in the USAIR Vacations Scavenger Hunts. USAIR Vacations awards the top selling travel agencies with trips.

Classic Properties

Shannon Ambs joined the company's Kingston office. Ms. Ambs has more than 15 years of sales experience, and serves as a member of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Board of Realtors. Ms. Ambs graduated from the Pennsylvania Real Estate Academy.

Community Bank Wealth Management

Jessica LaSorsa joined the bank as a client associate in its Northeast Pennsylvania markets. Ms. LaSorsa will serve as the internal contact for wealth management clients, while also training personnel on financial services offerings. Ms. LaSorsa will also provide marketing and sales support for the financial consultants and regional sales manager, by assisting with administrative and operational functions. Before joining the bank, Ms. LaSorsa served as a relationship banker at M&T Bank. Before that, Ms. LaSorsa worked at Luzerne Bank as a loan operations associate. Ms. LaSorsa has a bachelor's degree in business administration with a minor in marketing from Misericordia University.

Edward Jones

Leigh Yanchus earned a promotion to senior branch office administrator at the Wilkes-Barre office of the financial services firm. Ms. Yanchus has seven years of experience at the firm. As a branch office administrator, Ms. Yanchus will oversee the daily operation of an Edward Jones office, which includes providing top-notch client service, supporting marketing activities for the office and staying updated on technological advances.

Frederick Memorial Hospital

Michael G. McLane Jr., formerly of North Abington Twp., will serve as director of medical and surgical services at the hospital in Frederick, Md. Mr. McLane served as a captain in the Army for six years, and worked as officer-in-charge of the Eisenhower Suite at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C. Mr. McLane also served as part of the presidential medical response team. Mr. McLane graduated from the University of Scranton with a Bachelor of Science in nursing. Mr. McLane and his wife, Kelly, live in New Market, Md., with their two children. Mr. McLane is the son of Michael and Laura McLane of North Abington Twp.

King's College

William Irwin, Ph.D., chairman and professor of philosophy at King's College, published a paper titled "Writing for the Reader" in "Essays in Philosophy." He also published "'Fight Club,' Self-definition and the Fragility of Authenticity," in "Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia." Dr. Irwin is series editor of "The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series," former series editor of Open Court's "Popular Culture and Philosophy" series and the author of numerous articles on popular cultural topics. A professor at King's since 1996, Dr. Irwin teaches courses on aesthetics, eastern philosophy, existentialism and phenomenology, among others.

M.E. Moore & Son Realtors

Whitney Lopuhovsky joined the company as an associate broker. Ms. Lopuhovsky graduated from Colorado State University with Bachelor of Science in business administration with a concentration in human resource management. Ms. Lopuhovsky started in the real estate industry in 1998. Ms. Lopuhovsky, who served as corporate training director and a director of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Board of Realtors, currently serves as publicity committee chairwoman and co-founded Advocates for Excellence. Ms. Lopuhovsky teaches pre-licensing education courses at the Pennsylvania Real Estate Academy, serves as a member of the Dana Street PTO and is a Junior Achievement volunteer.

Metz Culinary Management

Rebecca Daley joined the company as district manager. In this role, Ms. Daley will oversee higher education and corporate dining accounts. Ms. Daley has more than 10 years of experience in the food service management and hospitality industry. Before joining the company, Ms. Daley served as an area general manager of the business and industry division at Sodexo. In that role, she managed food service operations at Air Products, where she oversaw a team of three managers and 23 staff members. Ms. Daley also served as director of retail operations at Sodexo, where she managed the retail food operations for Temple University. Ms. Daley earned her Bachelor of Science in business management from La Roche College, and is ServSafe Certified and OSHA certified. Ms. Daley lives in Bethlehem.

Misericordia University

The university named Robert Cole, Ph.D., vice president of systems improvements at Allied Services, Integrated Health System to the university's Healthcare Advisory Council. Dr. Cole will represent Allied Services' 3,000 employees and join a panel comprised of 21 regional professionals in health care and higher education. The volunteers offer varied expertise in clinical, academic and service-provider settings to help the university develop topics, schedule guest speakers and improve upon existing academic programs in health-related fields of study. Advisory council members also help raise public awareness about the high quality and variety of programs offered in the health sciences at Misericordia.

MMQ

David Grega and Adam Witinski earned promotions to supervisor and senior associate, while J. Eli Hollock joined the firm as a senior associate.

As supervisor, Mr. Grega will direct and train staff members in providing audit and other accounting services in the areas of financial institutions, commercial, construction, retail and manufacturing, as well as corporate tax work. Mr. Grega has six years of experience at the firm.

As senior associate, Mr. Witinski, will oversee the conduct of bank internal audits as well as accounting and tax services to small-business clients. Mr. Witinski graduated from Wilkes University and joined MMQ in 2010.

Mr. Hollock joined the firm as a senior associate. He earned a Bachelor of Science in accounting with a minor in business administration from Wilkes University. Mr. Hollock has more than three years of experience in audit, accounting and tax services to nonprofit and small-business clients.

Lackawanna Bar Association

The association swore in attorney Malcolm MacGregor as president after his election at the association's annual meeting. Mr. MacGregor is a founding partner and trial attorney at the law firm of McDonald & MacGregor LLC of Scranton. A graduate of the University of Scranton and Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law, Mr. MacGregor served as the Lackawanna County Bar's Young Lawyers' division president, a member of its board of directors and an active participant in many of the bar's working committees. Mr. MacGregor also earned the association's Margaret Gavin Award for exemplary service. Mr. MacGregor lives in North Abington Twp. with his wife, Ann, and his four children, Joshua, Lily, Sam and Isabel.

Scranton Primary Health Care Center

Nisha Dheer, D.D.S., joined the staff of the Ed Dulworth Dental Center, 959 Wyoming Ave., Scranton. Dr. Dheer earned a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry and cell biology from Bucknell University, attended the New York University College of Dentistry and completed a general practice residency program at Bronx Lebanon Hospital, New York. Dr. Dheer serves as a member of the American Dental Association and National Health Service Corps. The dental center accepts clients for general dental care Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Times-Shamrock Communications

Cecilia Baress was promoted to assistant city editor at The Citizens' Voice. Ms. Baress grew up in Scranton and graduated in 2004 from Bishop Hannan High School. She attended the University of Scranton, where she graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in communication and political science. She previously worked as a copy editor and staff writer at The Times-Tribune and as features editor at The Citizens' Voice.

Peter Cameron joined The Times-Tribune as a staff writer, covering nighttime breaking news, after nearly two years at The Citizens' Voice. Mr. Cameron graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2005 with degrees in journalism and English. He lives in Scranton.

Tamara Dunn was promoted to assistant city editor at the Standard-Speaker. She is a 1998 graduate of Davidson Fine Arts School in Augusta, Ga., and graduated in 2002 from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., with a Bachelor of Arts in studio art. She previously worked as a copy editor at The Progress-Index in Petersburg, Va., and The Citizens' Voice. A native of Queens, N.Y., she lives in Nanticoke.

Leah Kappler joined as a Times-Tribune media consultant for downtown Scranton and West Scranton. Mrs. Kappler spent her last 23 years in advertising in both design and sales. She was previously an account executive for The Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre. She is a graduate of Wyoming Valley West and the Art Institute of Philadelphia, from which she received a degree in visual communications. She lives in Dallas with her husband, Chas, daughter, Carly, and son, Charlie.

United Gilsonite Laboratories

Chemist Sarah M. Sinkaus, Scranton, joined the Scranton laboratory as a research and development laboratory assistant. Ms. Sinkaus earned her Bachelor of Science in forensic chemistry with a minor in criminal justice from the University of Scranton. While at the university, Ms. Sinkaus studied immunology, medical chemistry, criminal motivations and theories of crime at Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia. Before joining UGL, Ms. Sinkaus worked for the state Department of Labor and Industry, Bureau of Disability Determination, Wilkes-Barre, where she maintained and managed highly detailed records, correspondence, payments and receipts of individuals eligible for government assistance. Ms. Sinkaus is the daughter of Barbara Sinkaus and the late Joseph Sinkaus and granddaughter of Mary Fisk, all of Scranton.

Wyoming Seminary

Lower School teachers attended international conferences and workshops related to education.

Lois Feibus, Wilkes-Barre, and Karen Woytach, Olyphant, preschool teachers, went to the annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children in Washington, D.C. The teachers presented their Heritage Project, now in its fourth year, which gives the families of preschool children an opportunity to share their cultural heritage with the class. Ms. Feibus and Ms. Woytach used a PowerPoint presentation that included video and photos to show their international audience how the Heritage Project at Sem helps prepare young children for 21st century learning.

Janel McCormick of Dallas, sixth-grade reading teacher, went to the Google Teacher Academy, a two-day intensive workshop at the Google headquarters in London. Mrs. McCormick was one of 43 people chosen from around the world to attend the academy, where she learned how to use new Google tools in the classroom. Mrs. McCormick earned Apple Distinguished Educator honors in 2013.

SUBMIT PEOPLE ON THE MOVE items to business@ timesshamrock.com or The Times-Tribune, 149 Penn Ave., Scranton, PA 18503.

BABY WALKERS

DETAILS: BebeLove walkers that were sold for babies age 6 months or older. They were sold in small retail stores in Arizona, California and Utah and online at Amazon.com and Overstock.com from November 2011 through July 2013.

WHY: The walkers failed to meet federal safety standards. Specifically, style number 358 can fit through a standard doorway and is not designed to stop at the edge of a step as required by the federal safety standard. Style number 368 contains leg openings that allow the child to slip down until the child's head can become entrapped at the neck.

INCIDENTS: None reported.

HOW MANY: About 3,600.

FOR MORE: Call BebeLove at 888-464-1218 or visit www.bebeloveusa.com and click on "Recall Contact."

HOODED JACKETS

DETAILS: Three styles of Sugarfly-branded hooded, woven cotton and woven polyester jackets for girls with a drawstring through the hood. They were sold at Burlington Coat Factory stores nationwide and online at Burlingtoncoatfactory.com from September 2011 through September 2013.

WHY: The jackets have drawstrings in the hood around the neck area that pose a strangulation risk for young children.

INCIDENTS: None reported.

HOW MANY: About 820.

FOR MORE: Contact Runway Global online at www.sugarfly.us and click on "Sugarfly Girls" on the top bar and then click on "Recall Info" at the bottom of the page, or send email to willa@runwayglobal.com.

COATS

DETAILS: Lion Force boys' black hooded puffer coats with dark gray drawstrings around the hood. They were sold at Burlington Coat Factory stores nationwide November 2010 through September 2013.

WHY: The jackets have a drawstring through the hood which can pose a strangulation risk for a child.

INCIDENTS: None reported.

HOW MANY: About 2,400.

FOR MORE: www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2014/Lion-Force-Recalls-Boys-Puffer-Coats or 800-638-2772.

Most days, the door is shut.

A little boy named Aidan should be in that room at the top of the stairs. He should be in school by now, learning to read. He should be playing with his younger sisters. He should be listening to his parents read him bedtime stories each night.

Instead, he is stuck in an orphanage in Kyrgyzstan, the victim of a more than five-year adoption process filled with anxiety, hopefulness and disappointment.

If he does arrive to his new home in Throop, he will be too big for the crib his parents readied for him five years ago. The baby boy clothes on the hangers in the closet are five years too small.

The door is shut because what is not inside is too much to take.

"Every time you walk by the room, it's a reminder what it isn't, what it could have been and what it will hopefully be," said his mother, Gabrielle Shimkus. "It's heartbreaking."

But there is new hope.

After two suspensions on international adoptions, the country in central Asia is once again in the process of allowing adoptions to resume. Mrs. Shimukus and her husband Frank hope their son will be home to celebrate his sixth birthday in June.

"There's nothing in this world we wouldn't do for him," she said. "We will fight for him as long as it takes."

A baby to love

When the Shimkuses married in 2008, they knew they wanted to have both biological and adopted children. Both had worked as journalists for WYOU-TV and became familiar with adoptions though the stories they reported.

They had only been married for a few months when their adoption agency sent them a photo of a frail, month-and-a-half-old boy with a severe cleft lip and palate.

He was abandoned by his mother in a hospital. His name was Azamat.

The Shimkuses had not thought about adopting a child with special needs, but something in the photo grabbed them. They asked for a medical report and received one handwritten in Russian.

The night they received it, they drove to St. Tikhon's Monastery in Wayne County and found a Russian monk who translated it for them. They held hands and looked into each other's eyes. They were ready to provide Azamat with the medical attention he needed. He already held their hearts.

First heartbreak

The Shimkuses started to prepare their home for the little boy they would call Aidan. They painted the nursery green and decorated the crib with zoo animals.

Soon, they embarked on a 24-hour flight to Aidan's orphanage in the former Soviet Republic.

They spent 11 days with the infant in November 2008, bonding with him and dreaming of the life they could provide for him in the U.S. When they met him at 4 months old, he weighed about 5 pounds.

On his crib in the orphanage, they placed the same mobile that had put on the crib in Throop. That way, he would see something familiar when he came home. All that was left was a court date, and the Shimkuses returned home and waited.

"We said, 'Goodbye, see you in 30 days,'" Mrs. Shimkus said.

Soon, the Shimkuses expected something was wrong. Thirty days passed, and then 60. Their court date had never been set, and all adoptions were shut down amid allegations of corruption in Kyrgyzstan.

"We knew it was bad, but we never thought it would be years," Mrs. Shimkus said.

Missed memories

For the next three years, the Shimkuses waited.

They shipped "hundreds of pounds" of formula to his orphanage and found a medical group that performed surgery on Aidan's cleft lip and palate.

The Shimkuses had two biological daughters through in vitro fertilization, and Emerson, now 4, and Greyson, now 3, have never met their older brother.

Framed photos of Aidan hang on the family room walls. Emerson held a photo of Aidan on a recent day.

"My brother," she said.

His smiling face is on each year's Christmas greeting and his name is signed on each birthday card. There is not any event, as big as a holiday or as small as watching his daughters on their swingset, that Mr. Shimkus does not think about what life would be like with Aidan.

Even the dining room is a reminder. The table is covered in paperwork - stacks of home studies, applications and travel documents. The family reached out to the U.S. Department of State, elected officials - even those in Kyrgyzstan - to try to bring their boy home. They found emotional support from families in the same situation. The parents called themselves the "Kyrgyz 65" for the 65 children who had been matched with families but were stuck waiting in orphanages.

The Shimkuses estimate they have spent $60,000 in the process, including losing $25,000 when the adoption agency they were using claimed bankruptcy.

In 2011, seeking a career that could help herself deal with the stress of the adoption process and make a difference in the lives of others, Mrs. Shimkus, 33, went back to school. She is now a Lourdesmont therapist who works at Scranton High School.

"A hundred Grandmas" at Trinity Congregational Church continue to wait for Aidan's arrival. Mr. Shimkus, 62, a former state representative, is co-pastor at the church.

With all of the money and heartache, a few people have asked why the couple does not give up and try to adopt a different child.

"This is not like taking something back to Target," Mr. Shimkus said. "This is our son."

'It was devastating'

In April 2012, the Shimkuses thought life with Aidan was near.

Adoptions had finally resumed and the couple flew to Kyrgyzstan. Mr. and Mrs. Shimkus spent three weeks bonding with the boy who only knows himself as Azamat. They will now call him that until he tells them differently.

They left him with photo albums of his family and the place they thought he would soon call home. He understands Russian but cannot speak it. A hole at the top of his mouth prevents proper suction for speaking and will need to be repaired in surgery.

Again, the Shimkuses were told they could return 30 days later. And again, the country suspended adoptions.

"It was devastating," Mrs. Shimkus said.

They turned to the families of the "Kyrgyz 65." Since the first adoption suspension, two children had died, 20 were suddenly adopted domestically, and 12 were able to get out during the short window in 2012. The rest, like Aidan, are waiting.

When the Shimkuses tuck Emerson and Greyson in for bed, they do not forget their brother.

"When the sun goes down, it goes to Azamat," Emerson says each night.

Another chance

In January, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Social Development announced its final regulations for authorization of adoption service providers. If all goes as finally planned, Azamat could be home before he turns 6 in June.

"I know nothing will be a guarantee until that plane takes off," Mrs. Shimkus said.

When the Shimkuses learned the latest moratorium had been lifted, they decided to start an online fundraising campaign to help with expenses. Within 10 minutes of starting the site, they had raised $275. They have now raised more than $2,300.

"We are so grateful," Mrs. Shimkus said. "It's very humbling. It makes it real. We've been waiting so long."

They will replace the crib with a child's bed. The mobile is already put away.

A suit for Azamat's court date hangs in the closet.

"He's not here. He's waiting for us," Mrs. Shimkus said. "As hard as it is for us, it's 10 times harder for him. Every child deserves a family."

To donate, visit http://www.gofundme.com/6dz3vs

Contact the writer: shofius@timesshamrock.com, @hofiushallTT on Twitter

Three homeless after Pittston fire

PITTSTON - Several family pets are dead and three people are left homeless after a fire in Pittston on Saturday.

The city Fire Department responded to a burning home at 1 Stark St. at about 5:40 a.m. Firefighters found the first floor already engulfed in flames, officials said.

While no human injuries were reported, a few cats, a puppy, a bird and a rabbit are believed to have died, said Erin Adams, daughter of the homeowner. Ms. Adams' mother and three of her mother's grandchildren lived there and will stay with family or in a hotel.

Fire Chief Jim Rooney said the fire was under control within two hours. The cause is under investigation.

Higher wage earners will face a new top tax rate, pay more in Medicare levies and have fewer deductions and exemptions as filing season approaches.

"There's some big jumps there. There's no question about that," said Joe Pigga, who operates a certified public accounting firm in Kingston.

"A lot of people are going to be in for surprises this year," said Joseph Alu, C.P.A., who owns a Scranton accounting firm.

A compromise in Congress last January averting the "fiscal cliff" boosts the top income tax bracket to 39.6 percent - up from 35 percent - for people who earn $400,000, or couples earning $450,000.

Other high-end income provisions include:

- An increase in the top capital gains tax rate on sales of assets to 20 percent from 15 percent;

- An increase in Medicare taxes of 0.9 percent for individuals with incomes above $200,000, or $250,000 for couples; and

- A 3.8 percent duty on investment income applying to single workers earning more than $200,000 in adjusted gross income or couples earning more than $250,000.

"Paying your fair share is a bigger share now," Mr. Pigga said.

The changes also may have an impact on many people who are self-employed, including small business owners.

"They will probably have some balances due, rather than break even or get a refund," Mr. Pigga said. "Everybody is grumbling already and we haven't filed any returns yet. People are already crying in advance."

Many small-business operators may pay more in 2013 taxes and will need to increase the amount of estimated taxes they will pay for 2014 to adjust to the new rates, Mr. Pigga said.

"They will have to front-load taxes for next year," Mr. Pigga said. "It's a bit of a double-whammy."

When the tax accord was reached a year ago, attention was focused primarily on the impact on upper-income groups. But small-businesses owners and people who are self-employed also feel the consequences, Mr. Alu said.

"They said there's no increase in your tax rates, but obviously there have been a few," he said.

Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com

Police seize stolen console

SCRANTON - A stolen PlayStation used to illegally access a Netflix account led Jermyn police to the address where the game console was used nearly a year after its theft.

The Netflix account belonged to the brother of the PlayStation's owner, and the alleged victims became suspicious when the account settings changed, police said Saturday.

Police traced the account to an address on North Washington Avenue in Scranton, where they executed a search warrant Thursday and found property stolen during a March 14 burglary in Jermyn.

Further information was not available Saturday. Police said the investigation is ongoing, and formal charges are pending.

The following were sentenced by Pike County President Judge Joseph F. Kameen:

n Gregory McCoy, 49, Brooklyn, N.Y., six to 12 months in the Pike County Correctional Facility and $300 fine for simple assault on Nov. 29 in Greene Twp.

n James Simmons, 24, Milford, two to 11 months in the Pike County Correctional Facility, $100 fine and six months' driver's license suspension for possession of a controlled substance on Oct. 9 in Dingman Twp.

n Tracy Crawn, 34, Scranton, six to 18 months in the Pike County Correctional Facility and $100 fine for writing bad checks on Oct. 13 and 23.

n Reanna Szelengiewicz, 21, Dingmans Ferry, one to 12 months in the Pike County Correctional Facility followed by 12 months of probation and $400 fine for access device fraud and theft from a motor vehicle on July 15 in Westfall Twp.

n Angel Rivera, 20, Port Jervis, N.Y., 12 months of probation and $200 fine for possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia on Aug. 13 in Westfall Twp.

n Mandy Randall, 27, Beacon, N.Y., 12 months of probation and $200 fine for possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia on Aug. 6, 2012 in Blooming Grove Twp.

n Michael Zayatz, 21, Lakeville, 12 to 36 months in a state correctional facility, $500 fine and six months' driver's license suspension for delivery of a controlled substance on Oct. 11, 2011, in Palmyra Twp.

n Michael Demaio, 23, Godeffroy, N.Y., two to 12 months in the Pike County Correctional Facility followed by 12 months of probation and $1,600 fine for retail theft on July 31, 2012, in Westfall Twp.

n Joseph Wharton, 37, Milford, one to 12 months in the Pike County Correctional Facility and $500 fine for forgery between March and April.

n Tyler Willsch, 19, Newfoundland, 19 months to seven years in a state correctional facility and $1,050 fine for criminal conspiracy to commit burglary, theft by unlawful taking, criminal conspiracy to commit theft by unlawful taking and defiant trespass in July in Greene Twp.

n Kyle Bathgate, 23, Shohola, 12 months of probation and $200 fine for criminal mischief on July 3 in Dingman Twp.

n Peter Sashko, 35, Olyphant, nine months to five years in a state correctional facility, $1,800 fine and 18 months' driver's license suspension for DUI and driving with a suspended license on July 4 in Palmyra Twp.

n Kyle Grogan, 20, Lords Valley, 48 hours to six months in the Pike County Correctional Facility, $1,000 fine and and 15 months' driver's license suspension for DUI and disorderly conduct on June 14 in Dingman Twp.

n Fernando Valdez, 31, Miami, Fla., 11½ to 23½ months in the Pike County Correctional Facility followed by 12 months of probation, $500 fine and six months' driver's license suspension for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance on March 15 in Dingman Twp.

n Christian Paroline, 19, Greentown, two to five years in a state correctional facility and $3,250 fine for burglary and theft by unlawful taking in July in Greene Twp.

DALTON - Four blue garbage cans sit on the chipped wood floor, about 10 feet from a bank vault and padded chairs in what is an otherwise empty room.

Just several weeks ago, five bank-teller stations lined one side of the then-carpeted room, with other pieces of furniture scattered across the former Pennstar Bank Building at 105 W. Main St. But on Thursday, borough council plans to introduce the community to the new Dalton Municipal Building.

"Our first goal was to be able to have a meeting here this month," said council Vice President Bill Montgomery, chairman of the committee responsible for transforming the former bank into a Borough Building.

"And such as it is, we are going to do that."

Pennstar Bank announced in September its decision to donate its Dalton office to the borough, providing Dalton with its own municipal building for the first time in decades. For years, the borough has paid the Dalton Fire Company quarterly rent to occupy the basement, which houses the secretary, treasurer and Police Department.

Now all borough operations, including zoning and the police, will be moved to the two-floor facility less than 100 yards away.

"I think it's exciting for the community," council President Gus Vlassis said. He said officials plan to put a sign in front of the building, identifying it as the Dalton Municipal Building. "It's perfect because it's right in the center of town."

While officials have designated side rooms for the Police Department and an office next to the vault for the secretary, the location of everything else remains in question.

Mr. Vlassis said officials could wall off an area just to the left of the front entrance for the zoning officer. And at least 25 chairs can fit along the right side of the room for anyone attending borough council meetings, he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Montgomery said officials are debating whether to get a permanent table for council meetings, and where to put it.

Eventually, officials plan to install carpet and hang a framed, colored print depicting Main Street in 1964.

On Monday, officials plan to clean the main room and arrange furniture to see how it looks. Once the Internet and phone service are installed - scheduled for this week - the borough secretary and Police Department will move into their new offices.

"We will get it where we want it, but it's going to take some time," Mr. Montgomery said.

Contact the writer: miorfino@timesshamrock.com, @miorfinoTT on Twitter

When a fire ripped through the Allman family's Dickson City home seven years ago, the community rallied to help them rebuild their lives.

Ever since, Megan Allman has been trying to find a way to give back the help her family received.

In 2012, she was invited to a fundraiser for a fellow Mid Valley High School graduate, Chris Polk, who had been diagnosed with end-stage renal failure and desperately needed a kidney. Ms. Allman knew she had to do something.

"This is it," she said. "I thought he deserved a second chance."

Ms. Allman, now 23, made a promise to herself that when she graduated from University of the Sciences in Philadelphia she would do everything she could to see if she was eligible to donate her kidney to Mr. Polk.

"I graduated in May, and a week later I was calling the transplant office to see if I was a match," she said.

In the beginning of December, Ms. Allman got word from the hospital that she passed all the tests and was approved to be a donor.

When she called to give Mr. Polk the news, "surprised wasn't even the word," he said. He said he was speechless when he found out about her plans.

The two will undergo surgery later this month.

'An ideal candidate'

Mr. Polk was a classmate of Ms. Allman's at Mid Valley but never a close friend. A year younger than Mr. Polk, Ms. Allman said during school they didn't hang out with the same people.

"He was always so nice and always full of life," she said.

After the fire in 2007, the help that Ms. Allman and her family received when they were in need is something that stuck with her.

She is also no stranger to helping out the community. Ms. Allman was a member of the Leo Club during high school, where she donated her time to various community events and local causes.

In college she was a member, vice president and president of an academic service fraternity that volunteered at the Pennsylvania SPCA and organized an annual 5K Race for Humanity. Ms. Allman said proceeds from the race went to a different cause each year.

Two years ago, she learned more about Mr. Polk's need for a kidney donor through his Facebook fundraising page, Chris' Kidney Connection. She remembered what it felt like to be helped out when she was in need and the values she learned from her family.

In August, Ms. Allman began the process of determining her eligibility to donate a kidney to Mr. Polk.

Ms. Allman went to Geisinger Wyoming Valley in Plains Twp. to see if her kidney would be compatible with Mr. Polk's system. On a five-point scale, she was a two.

"Apparently that's pretty good," she said.

"We are very careful in our donor selection," said Manish Gupta, M.D., a transplant surgeon at Geisinger Health System who will be performing Mr. Polk's half of the surgery. "We put them through a pretty rigorous selection criterion, from the medical, from the social and from the physical standpoint."

But there were a few things Ms. Allman had to do first for her own health. She had to stop taking over-the-counter pain medicine that's rough on kidneys. She also had to cut back on her smoking and shed a few pounds.

"It's making me healthier," she said.

Just a few days after Christmas, Ms. Allman delivered the good news to Mr. Polk: She wanted to donate one of her kidneys to save his life.

He had no idea Ms. Allman was interested in donating. About a year ago, Mr. Polk had a donor lined up, but it didn't work out.

"I'm ready for this," he said. "I look forward to the future, to get the past behind me already and to try to start over."

'New look at life'

On Thursday, Feb. 27, Mr. Polk and Ms. Allman will go into surgery at Geisinger Wyoming Valley.

Dr. Gupta and Chintalapati Varma, M.D., director of transplantation surgery at Geisinger Health System, will perform the surgeries.

The procedure will take about four hours, said Dr. Gupta, who has been performing organ transplants since his residency 19 years ago.

Dr. Gupta said in his experience, organ donors are usually family members or close friends.

"This is only superseded, in terms of rarity, in someone just coming off the street and saying I want to donate a kidney," he said, though he noted that has happened at Geisinger.

Ms. Allman and Mr. Polk will have surgery an hour apart. Dr. Varma will remove Ms. Allman's left kidney.

Once doctors are sure everything is functioning perfectly with Ms. Allman's kidney, Mr. Polk will be brought into the operating room and the transplant surgery will begin. Mr. Polk's insurance will cover the procedure for both of them.

The recovery process for Ms. Allman will be around six weeks; for Mr. Polk, around two months.

Life won't change much for Ms. Allman, but Dr. Gupta said it's important for her to monitor her kidney function and continue living a healthy life.

But for Mr. Polk, transplant surgery will give him a whole new outlook. He's looking forward to getting back to working a full-time job and being able to go places without having to find a dialysis facility. He's been undergoing the treatment three times a week for the past three years.

"I'm excited," he said. "It's a new look at life."

Contact the writer: kbolus@timesshamrock.com, @kbolusTT on TwitterFriday fundraiser

A fundraiser for Chris Polk will be held Friday from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Regal Room in Olyphant.

Mr. Polk suffers from end-stage renal failure and will receive a kidney from Megan Allman on Feb. 27.

Penne pasta, meatballs, salad, fresh bread, dessert, coffee and tea will be served until 7 p.m. Music and dancing goes until 9 p.m. The event will also feature a basket raffle, 50/50 drawing, a wheelbarrow of cheer raffle and live music from Indigo 6.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children 10 and under, with takeouts available from 5 to 6 p.m.

Donations can also be made to Chris's Kidney Connection and dropped off at any PNC Bank.

For advance ticket purchases, contact Joanne Polk at 570-815-2892, Jean Allman at 570-780-6370 or Megan Allman at 570-906-1566.

For more details, visit www.chrisskidneyconnec tion.org.

Allen Horton

Wanted by: Scranton District Office, state Board of Probation and Parole.

Fugitive since: Dec. 24.

Wanted for: Robbery. Sentenced to three years, six months to 10 years of incarceration; paroled July 15.

Description: White man, 42 years old, 6 feet tall, 210 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes.

Contact: Agent Michael Trently, 570-614-7287 or 800-932-4857.

David Darr

Wanted by: Scranton District Office, state Board of Probation and Parole.

Fugitive since: Nov. 27.

Wanted for: Manufacturing/sale/delivery of a drug, or possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver; sentenced to 30 months to six years of incarceration; paroled Oct. 4, 2011.

Description: White man, 28 years old, 6 feet 3 inches tall, 300 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes.

Contact: Agent Michael Trently, 570-614-7287 or 800-932-4857.

Dashir Re-Shawn Bowens

Wanted by: Scranton District Office, state Board of Probation and Parole.

Fugitive since: Dec. 15.

Wanted for: Possession with intent to deliver. Sentenced to one to three years of incarceration; paroled Nov. 8.

Description: Black man, 23 years old, 6 feet 2 inches tall, 180 pounds, black hair, brown eyes.

Contact: Agent Michael Trently, 570-614-7287 or 800-932-4857.

Darnell Freeman

Wanted by: Scranton District Office, state Board of Probation and Parole.

Fugitive since: Oct. 11.

Wanted for: Firearm not to be carried without a license. Sentenced to two to five years of incarceration; paroled Sept. 6.

Description: Black man, 31 years old, 6 feet 2 inches tall, 160 pounds, black hair, brown eyes.

Contact: Agent Michael Trently, 570-614-7287 or 800-932-4857.

Lawrence Toomey

Wanted by: Scranton District Office, state Board of Probation and Parole.

Fugitive since: Nov. 9.

Wanted for: Escape from detention. Sentenced to 15 months to three years of incarceration; paroled Sept. 23.

Description: White man, 42 years old, 6 feet tall, 145 pounds, brown hair, blue eyes.

Contact: Agent Michael Trently, 570-614-7287 or 800-932-4857.

Region to get 1-3 inches of snow

SCRANTON - The area will get another 1 to 3 inches of snow today, AccuWeather forecasted.

There may be some flurries this morning, but most of the snow will come after 1 p.m., senior meteorologist Carl Erickson said. The snow should be over by midnight.

Temperatures should be in the upper 20s during the day and will drop to a low in the mid-teens by tonight, he said.

Gov. Tom Corbett, R-Drillers, released his fourth budget proposal last week, and, as usual, the biggest winners are his corporate benefactors in the energy industry.

The governor's stubborn opposition to a fair severance tax on natural gas extraction frees out-of-state robber barons to keep plundering our subterranean treasure at the expense of all Pennsylvanians. Drillers pay a severance tax everywhere but here. It's the industry standard, the understood cost of doing billion-dollar business.

Mr. Corbett sold us out before he was sworn in. The state belongs to the drillers. We just live here and pay the bills with what we don't blow at the casinos. Pennsylvania is in the midst of gas and gambling booms, yet still faces a $1 billion-plus budget deficit. Ponder that, unless you're prone to migraines.

Drillers aren't the only public menace to benefit from Mr. Corbett's spending plan. Cancer got a surprise endorsement with the governor's 25 percent cut in funding for regional cancer institutes.

SECRETARY: "Governor, I've got Cancer on line one."

MR. CORBETT: "Hey, Big C! How's the terminal diagnosis business?"

CANCER: "A lot better with your help, Tom! In a world that's always trying to rub me out, it's comforting to know there are people in high places who appreciate all the jobs I create."

Diabetes, epilepsy, lupus, Tourette's syndrome and hemophilia also earned Mr. Corbett's favor. He eliminated all aid to sufferers of these debilitating and often deadly diseases.

Poisons are poised for a banner year. Mr. Corbett stripped all funding for regional poison control centers. His budget should have a "Mr. Yuk" sticker on the cover. Your area poison control center offers free sheets of the lifesaving stickers. Call now, before the phones are disconnected.

Is there anything positive to say about Mr. Corbett's budget? Of course. He is up for re-election, after all. When even friendly polls rate you less popular than potholes, Being Yourself is Not An Option.

So Mr. Corbett is masquerading as the Education Governor. After taking a meat cleaver to public education funding in his first three budgets, he suddenly grasps the math: Burden-shifting + jacked property taxes = clueless kids and angry voters. Mr. Corbett proposes a $654 million overall increase in funding, which sounds like a lot of money, considering his past butchery.

But that money includes $105.3 million in mandatory spending on teacher pensions, a time bomb Mr. Corbett has bravely pushed past this election cycle. If he somehow wins a second term, he can defuse the situation by reneging on things like the combined $44 million election-year bribe he has offered to senior citizens, the physically and intellectually disabled, public libraries and victims of sexual and domestic violence.

If he doesn't win, it's the next governor's problem, which will inevitably be passed on to taxpayers.

Like the late Whitney Houston, Mr. Corbett believes the children are our future. His budget includes $9 million more for the Children's Health Insurance Program.

That's $1 million less than he budgeted for treatment of mentally ill prison inmates - a worthy cause, but unlikely to resonate with Mr. Corbett's ever-shrinking base as they pay more for gas and driver's fees to fix decrepit roads and bridges.

Mr. Corbett allocated $73 million for state stores to buy liquor. No charge for the irony.

The governor's budget bulges with ceremonial nods to chronic problems faced by everyday Pennsylvanians. It's possible some voters will be fooled by Mr. Corbett's sudden concern for his unincorporated constituents.

Most Pennsylvanians, however, can be counted on to vote their consciences along with their wallets. Such voters are unlikely to overlook the cardinal sin of the Corbett Misadministration: An indefensible, immoral opposition to a fair severance tax on natural gas extraction.

Mr. Corbett and his enablers in the Republican-controlled Legislature could ease the burden of Pennsylvania taxpayers with the stroke of a 99-cent pen. They choose not to, which presents a clear choice for voters who aren't part of Tom Corbett's corporate clique.

CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, pays taxes and attention. Contact the writer: kellysworld@ timesshamrock.com, @cjkink on Twitter

Northeast Pennsylvania residents may only need to travel to Covington Park if they want to go to the beach this summer.

Adding a beach area to part of DeSandis Pond's shore, hiring lifeguards to allow swimming, and likely renting kayaks, paddle boats and canoes to parkgoers are among new features Lackawanna County officials are planning this year.

Bill Davis, the county's deputy director of parks and recreation, is targeting June to make the new aquatic activities available at the approximately 9-acre pond, which is north of Sanko Road.

"It's going to be fabulous," said county Commissioner Pat O'Malley. "Not every family can afford to go on vacation, and this will give people a free place to go to the beach or have a picnic."

Once everything is in place, Mr. Davis expected a fleet of about a dozen boats to be available for rental and said swimming hours would be from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in a roped-off area of the pond.

Also planned for this year are two new 6-foot-wide crushed-stone trails, one connecting the pavilion and the rest of the main park areas to the baseball complex in the northwest, and another around the perimeter of the pond.

County parks personnel will do the work, from blazing the trails to depositing sand on the shore of the pond, so costs should be minimal, Mr. Davis said.

Covington Park officially opened last year after Lackawanna County invested $1.6 million in the 400-acre site it has owned since 1972.

Amenities include a pavilion that overlooks the future beach, a soccer field, a disabled-accessible Boundless Playground, a basketball court, a volleyball court and two ball fields.

"What I've seen is the park kind of has something for everybody," Mr. Davis said. "We have some people who like it just because they like taking their children there for the playground. Some people just like to go there to picnic. Some people like soccer. The Little League field got a lot of use with some of the leagues up there. In fact, there was a tournament held there at one point over the summer."

County officials are also in the early stages of planning a series of hiking and mountain biking trails in approximately 75 acres in the northern part of Covington Park, Mr. Davis said.

Steps will include getting feedback from mountain biking groups and lining up grant funding to cover the cost. It is possible the county could add trails in phases, Mr. Davis said.

"The topography really lends itself to a challenging mountain biking trail," Mr. Davis said. "There's a lot of hills and valleys in there. It wouldn't be like, for instance, the Heritage Trail, which is a very passive trail. It's flat. Walkers and bike riders can do it. We're looking at a more challenging trail."

Considering Covington Park is located near the Interstate 380 exit, Mr. Davis said the project could turn the park into a draw for mountain biking tourists in one of the fastest-growing parts of Lackawanna County.

Other future plans for the park beyond this year include:

n Adding a disabled-accessible fishing pier to DeSandis Pond.

n Creating a boat launch at the pond.

n Adding a new multipurpose football/soccer field to the eastern side of the park.

n Installing another baseball field in the eastern side of the park.

The pier and boat launch are more immediate goals, while the new fields are part of the park's master plan but will depend on usage and the community's needs in the long run, Mr. Davis said.

Contact the writer: kwind@timesshamrock.com, @kwindTT on Twitter

We all have days when we joke that it would have been better had we stayed in bed.

We call it the "Monday blues" or we say, "TGIF." These are the days when we are irritable, unfocused, unproductive. In most workplaces, it's fine for workers to have those "off" days. But what happens when the grouch who can't concentrate goes off to the hospital, the operating room or the clinic? What happens when the people who care for us feel like they don't care anymore?

Physician burnout - defined as emotional exhaustion, low sense of accomplishment and detachment - is a very real problem.

A March 2013 Medscape survey found burned-out doctors most blamed "external stressors" like "loss of control over the profession, too many bureaucratic tasks, too many hours at work, feeling like a cog in the wheel" as the chief reasons for their problems.

In response, medical schools are increasingly addressing the issue of burnout in the curriculum. The New York Times recently devoted several stories to the growing popularity of a course called "The Healer's Art," aimed at "personal in-depth exploration of the time-honored values of service, healing relationships, reverence for life and compassionate care." Typically, a course like this helps students practice "mindfulness," so they can see the humanity in the individual in front of them; or it helps students express emotions rather then bury them. In short, students are taught to cope in an immutable system.

But what if they can be taught to change it? Medscape hinted at this when it quoted Roy Poses, M.D., of Brown University, who said, "Most interventions meant to improve burnout have treated it like a psychiatric illness, not a rational response to a badly led, dysfunctional health-care system."

If the system is so dysfunctional, why should anyone consider it a victory to just "get through it?"

They shouldn't, said Jennifer Joyce, M.D., professor of family medicine and course director for Patient-Centered Medicine and the Art and Practice of Medicine at the Commonwealth Medical College. She said TCMC's goal is "transformative learning," the objective of which is "people who are going to change the system," Dr. Joyce said. "We all agree it's broken. We want our students to know they don't have to tolerate what's out there."

Dr. Joyce and Meaghan Godwin, M.A., Ph.D., assistant professor of family medicine, are working with the entire faculty and staff at TCMC to both identify candidates who demonstrate the qualities of a "change agent" and then to continually provide experiences that foster these abilities. There are many traditional tools used to encourage students: reflective writing and reflective conversations, for example. In addition, TCMC devotes much effort to students' "self care," through things like yoga, effective study techniques and meditation. These activities promote the idea that a student can both be in medical school and "have a life," according to Jackie Ghormoz, M.S.W,. C.S.W., director of TCMC's Center for Learning Excellence. However, TCMC also employs some truly revolutionary ideas.

For one thing, Dr. Joyce and Dr. Godwin note that at most schools, students must elect a burnout prevention course.

"When it's voluntary, only those predisposed to examining their values will go. People inclined to be 'objective,' to devalue relationships as part of healing, won't," Dr. Godwin said.

Consequently, TCMC has "infused" its entire curriculum with the idea of connecting science with humanity. For example, "The University of Michigan introduced the idea of elevating the ill person to the role of mentor. Being paired with a chronically ill person helps students understand the disparities and lack of access in our present system," Dr. Joyce said. Taking this idea, TCMC pairs students with a family where at least one member copes with a chronic illness. In addition, students have "community weeks," where they are paired with a human-service agency. "In this way, they know who the agency serves, how they get their funding and the critical needs they are addressing," said Dr. Godwin.

The experience is meant to open students' eyes to every service potentially available to a patient. The curriculum underscores that a patient is much more than a malfunctioning organ and the more a physician sees the entire picture - from the physical to the social to even the financial - the better he or she can work from within to bring about the changes that will ultimately eliminate the "external stressors" cited by Medscape.

"We are planting seeds," Dr. Joyce said. "It will be a while before we see what will happen. We are growing strong fishes who can swim upstream. The system is not in turmoil, it's in transformation. We give our students the tools and skills to work for that transformation."

ELIZABETH ZYGMUNT is editor of the Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal. Visit the journal's website at biz570.com and contact her at ezygmunt@ timesshamrock.com. Would you like to write for IN THIS CORNER? Contact us at business@timesshamrock.com.

Find a pet who needs a new home at the Griffin Pond Animal Shelter.

Bonnie  is a very sweet female tortoiseshell cat. She is friendly playful and easygoing. Contact the Griffin Pond Animal Shelter at 586-3700 if your pet is lost or goes astray. Staff Photo by Ted Baird

Marley is a three and a half year old male, Shepherd/Boxer mix. He has been at the shelter since April, despite being know by the shelter volunteers as one of the sweetest, most gentle dogs there. Contact the Griffin Pond Animal Shelter at 586-3700 if your pet is lost or goes astray. Staff Photo by Ted Baird

Watch the "Latest Pets of the Week" video HERE:

The Scranton area could see up to three more inches of snow by 8 p.m.

"Light to occasionally moderate" snow that started in Scranton around 3:30 p.m. will taper to snow showers by 8 p.m., leaving one to three inches behind, Accuweather meteorologist Brian Edwards said.

And this short blast of snow may not be the last Scranton sees this week. Mr. Edwards said meteorologists are keeping an eye on a developing system that may result in snowfall Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

"There's not a lot of agreement on how it may evolve," he said. "It's something we'll get a better handle on in the next day or two."

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be dry and cold, Mr. Edwards said, with a high of 25 degrees on Monday, 20 on Tuesday, and 25 again on Wednesday.

Contact the writer: sscinto@timesshamrock.com, @sscintoTT on Twitter

Dickson City

Beautification project: Neighbor Works community beautification project applications available at Borough Building.; deadline, Saturday; minor exterior home repairs/yard work to benefit elderly/disabled/modest-income families selected based on eligibility requirements/scope of work; details: 570-489-4758 ext. 4.

Honesdale

Women meet: Women's Club of Honesdale meeting, Feb. 27, 1:30 p.m., Chamber of Commerce Visitor's Center, Commercial Street; Festival of the Arts participants, high school students.

Jessup

Spaghetti dinner: Jessup Boy Scout Troop 34 spaghetti and meatball dinner, Sunday, noon-4:30 p.m., St. James Church, Church Street; takeouts, 11 a.m.; $9/adults, $4.50/4-9, free/under 4, at door, 570-479-2213 or Kristenlbv@aol.com.

Mayfield

Firefighters meet: Whitmore/Mayfield hose companies meetings, Tuesday, 7:30 and 8 p.m., respectively, company buildings.

Midvalley

Lexi fundraiser: Pasta dinner and basket raffle fundraiser to benefit family of car crash victim Alexa "Lexi" Matone, Saturday, 3-6 p.m., LaSalle Primary Center, Dickson City; takeouts available; $10; 570-430-0421, AllAboutLexi@comcast.net; donations of baskets, gift cards or certificates for raffle appreciated; monetary donations to: Lexi's Fund, c/o Fidelity Deposit & Discount Bank, 1598 Main St., Peckville PA 18452.

Pittston

Valentine's party: Knights of Columbus Home Association Sweet Heart Valentine's party, Saturday, entertainment, 8-11 p.m., by Paul's Turn, free admission, kitchen open.

Regional

Information night: Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania's information night, Thursday, 6:30 p.m., Trinity Congregational Church, 229 S. Main Ave., Scranton, for parents and guardians of girls in grades K-3; www.gshpa.org or 800-692-7816.

Meet/greet: Lackawanna Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited meet and greet, Feb. 18, 6 p.m., Tripp Park Community Center, 2000 Dorothy St., Scranton.

Scranton

Blood drive: The Commonwealth Medical College Emergency Medicine Interest Group/Geisinger Blood Center blood drive, Wednesday, noon-6 p.m., Medical Sciences Building, 525 Pine St.; appointments: Vince Giannotti, MD2, at vgiannotti@tcmedc.org, or visit www.geisingerbloodcenter.org.

Waverly

Strength classes: Waverly Community House strength training classes, ages 50 and over; Tuesdays/Thursdays, Feb. 11-April 10, 1 p.m., gym, first two classes free, $6/class begins Feb. 18.

CLIPBOARD items may be e-mailed to yesdesk@timessha mrock.com or mailed to clipboard, c/o the YES!Desk at 149 Penn Ave., Scranton, 18503. For details, call the YES!Desk at 570-348-9121.

WILKES-BARRE - Judge John M. Cleland arrived for work in Luzerne County in November 2009, nine months after federal prosecutors revealed the multimillion-dollar kickback scheme that propelled the county's juvenile court into punitive overdrive. Former judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan, the prosecutors said, had collected $2.8 million from a developer and an attorney to send young defendants to a pair of for-profit juvenile detention centers they built.

The scheme became known as "Kids for Cash," and a documentary by that name that opened over the weekend at theaters in Northeast Pennsylvania chronicles those dark days of injustice through interviews with the former judges, the juveniles they banished to the for-profit centers and the parents and advocates who questioned the terse hearings and long detentions.

Judge Cleland's role, as the chairman of a state commission empaneled to investigate the scheme and close the gaps Mr. Ciavarella and Mr. Conahan exploited in the system, was not included in the film's narrative. For two days in November 2009, Judge Cleland and a panel of attorneys, officials and juvenile justice experts, heard from juveniles and parents who experienced juvenile court under Mr. Ciavarella's iron-fisted rule. They met again in Luzerne County for two more days in December 2009 and grilled prosecutors and court officials, and met several more times in Harrisburg.

68-page report

The panel, the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice, issued a 68-page report on its findings and made more than 40 recommendations, including attorneys for every juvenile defendant, an on-the-record recitation of the youth's rights and a severe limitation on shackling. None of those was explored in the film, either.

"We had 44 recommendations and essentially all of those have been enacted in one way or another," Judge Cleland said, reciting several of the changes to state law and rules of judicial conduct. "Parents in the movie talked about the horror of seeing their kids shackled. That doesn't happen anymore, except where there's a real danger."

Judge Cleland, a McKean County senior judge and former member of the state Superior Court, said he understood the reforms were not a focus of the film, which he described as "emotionally wrenching" and a "throwback" to the hearings, which were held in a ballroom at the East Mountain Inn in Plains Twp. normally used for celebrations.

Judge Cleland, who oversaw another legal drama as the judge in the June 2012 child-sex abuse trial of Jerry Sandusky, saw "Kids for Cash" at a screening for juvenile justice officials last week in Harrisburg and said he was struck, as he was at the hearings, by the reluctance of attorneys, school officials, probation officers and others to report Mr. Ciavarella or question his methods.

"I think the important takeaway is that we all have a stake in our children," Judge Cleland said. "It's not just our children. It's our neighbor's children. The community has a responsibility to care for children."

Rushed through system

Mr. Ciavarella removed himself from the juvenile bench in May 2008, after the Juvenile Law Center, a Philadelphia-based advocacy group accused him of rushing hundreds of young defendants through the system without properly apprising them of their rights to an attorney.

Under Mr. Ciavarella, 49.1 percent of the 1,113 juveniles who passed through Luzerne County Court in 2005 and 2006 had an attorney - nearly half the statewide rate of 95 percent. The rest waived their right to an attorney.

At the time, few beside Mr. Ciavarella, Mr. Conahan and the investigators closing in on them knew of the $2.8 million in payoffs they received from the developer, Robert K. Mericle, and the one-time co-owner of the for-profit facilities, attorney Robert J. Powell. The initial wave of outrage, from parents, youth and the advocates at the Juvenile Law Center, hit at Mr. Ciavarella's wanton abuse of the system.

"The money issue aside, that's bad enough. That's terrible," Judge Cleland said. "But even if Ciavarella is right and said I never placed a kid for money, he still placed kids for all the wrong reasons."

A jury convicted Mr. Ciavarella in February 2011 on 12 of 27 counts, including racketeering and conspiracy. He is serving a 28-year prison sentence. Mr. Conahan pleaded guilty in July 2010 to a racketeering charge. He is serving a 17½-year prison sentence.

Since Mr. Ciavarella stepped aside from juvenile court (he remained in adult court until prosecutors charged him in the kids-for-cash scheme in January 2009), no youth has appeared in Luzerne County Court without an attorney, according to President Judge Thomas F. Burke Jr.

Mr. Ciavarella's departure and the reforms pushed by Judge Cleland's group also had a stark impact on the number of delinquency dispositions - the juvenile court equivalent of a conviction in adult court - and out-of-home placements in Luzerne County.

In 2008, with Mr. Ciavarella on the juvenile bench for just under five months, 921 cases resulted in a delinquency finding. The number of delinquencies fell to 727 in 2009, Judge David W. Lupas' first full year in juvenile court, and to 542 in 2012, the last year for which statistics are available. The number of out-of-home placements fell to 94 in 2012 from 212 in 2008.

Statewide, delinquency dispositions fell by 29 percent between 2008 and 2012 - from 43,754 in 2008 to 31,079 in 2012 - and out-of-home placements dropped by 30.6 percent, from 7,444 to 5,167.

Contact the writerL msisak@citizensvoice.com, @cvmikesisak

BARTHOLOMEW, ELIZABETH (BETSY) HOLMES, formerly of the Green Ridge section of Scranton, Mass, Wednesday, 11 a.m., St. Patrick's Church, Fredericksburg, Va. Interment, Laurel Hills Cemetery, Fredericksburg, Va. Arrangements: Johnson's Funeral Home, Locust Grove. Calling hours, Tuesday, 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Contributions: Nancy Kay Holmes Library Fund c/o Albright Memorial Library, 500 Vine St., Scranton, PA 18509.

BARTON, BEATRICE, Susquehanna, cremation arrangements, Jones & Brennan Funeral Home, Forest City.

BERARDIS, DOROTHY, Westlake Village, Calif., formerly of Scranton, Friday, 12:30 p.m., Cathedral Cemetery Chapel, 1708 Oram St., Scranton, by the Rev. Scott Sterowski, pastor, St. Paul of the Cross Parish. Arrangements: Brian Arthur Strauch Funeral Homes and Cremation Services, Scranton. Contributions: Velio E. Berardis, M.D. '45 Memorial Scholarship, University of Scranton, P.O. Box 1385, Scranton, PA 18501-9903. Condolences: strauchfuneralhomes.com.

BIRD, MADELINE ANN LAVELLE, Scranton, today, Mass, 11 a.m., St. Patrick's Church, Jackson Street, Scranton. Go directly to church. Interment, Cathedral Cemetery, Scranton. Arrangements: Thomas J. Hughes Funeral Home Inc., Scranton. Contributions: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude's Place, Memphis TN 38105.

COHOWITZ, WALTER S., Duryea, today, 9 a.m., Bernard J. Piontek Funeral Home Inc., 204 Main St., Duryea. Mass, 9:30, Holy Rosary Church, Duryea, by the Rev. Andrew Sinnott. Interment, Marcy Cemetery, Duryea. Contributions: Parkinsons Disease Foundation, 1359 Broadway, Suite 1509, New York, NY 10018. Condolences: piontekfu neralhome.com.

DeSTEFANO, ANDREW E., West Scranton, today, Guido-Fiorillo Funeral, 120 S. Main Ave., Scranton. Mass, 9:30 a.m., St. Patrick's Church, Jackson Street, Scranton. Go directly to church. Interment with military honors, Cathedral Cemetery. Condolences: guidofiorillofuneral home.com.

DEVERS, COL. JOHN, Army retired, Scranton, interment with military honors, Tuesday, 3 p.m., Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va. Arrive 30 minutes early for security, then to service starting location at the administration building. Arrangements: Nicholas Chomko Funeral Home, South Scranton.

DIANO, ROBERT J., Taylor, Mass, Tuesday, 11 a.m., St. Mary of Mount Caramel Church, 322 Chestnut St., Dunmore. Arrangements: Morell-LaBelle Funeral Home, Dunmore.

FIUME, ALFRED, Olyphant, Mass, Tuesday, 9:30 a.m., Blessed Sacrament Parish, 215 Rebecca St., Throop. Arrangements: John F. Glinsky Funeral Home, Throop. Donations: St. Joseph's Center.

GARBOLINO, MARGARET ANN, Hawley, private. Arrangements: Teeters' Funeral Chapel, 505 Church St., Hawley. Condolences: teetersfu neralchapel.com.

GASPER, WALTER J. "DUTCH," Scranton and Lake Winola, Mass, today, 9:30 a.m., St. Paul's Church, 1510 Penn Ave., Scranton. Military honors after Mass. Arrangements: Howard J. Snowdon Funeral Home, 1810 Sanderson Ave., Scranton. Contributions: donor's choice. Condolences: duffyandsnowdon.com.

JONES, JOANNE M., Factoryville, Feb. 21, 5 p.m., St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 3832 Route 6, Tunkhannock, by the Rev. Lou Divis. Interment, private, Evergreen-Woodlawn Cemetery, Factoryville. Condolences, aplitwinfuneralhomes.com.

JUDGE, EDWARD J. SR., Hughestown, Mass, today, noon, Our Lady of the Eucharist Church, Pittston. Interment, St. John's Cemetery, Duryea. Arrangements: Kiesinger Funeral Services Inc., Duryea. Condolences: www.kiesing erfuneralservices.com.

KRASHNAK, VALITA (ROSE KVASNAK), formerly of Plymouth, today, 10:30 a.m., S.J. Grontkowski Funeral Home, 530 W. Main St., Plymouth. Mass, 11, All Saints Parish, 66 Willow St., Plymouth. Interment, St. Mary's Nativity Cemetery, Plymouth Twp. Contributions: All Saints Parish. Condolences: sjgrontkowskifuneral home.com.

LAVETSKY, REGINA A., Tuesday, Mass, 11 a.m., Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel, Oram Street, Scranton. Interment, Cathedral Cemetery, Scranton. Viewing, Tuesday, 9:30 to 10:30, Edward J. Chomko Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 262 Railroad Ave., Scranton. Condolences: www.chomkofuneralhome.com.

LONGO, PAULINE Y., Ballston Spa, N.Y., formerly of Olyphant, Tuesday, 9:30 a.m., Frank T. Mazur Funeral Home Inc., 601 Dundaff St., Dickson City. Mass, 10, St. Patrick's Church, Olyphant. Interment, St. Mary's Cemetery, Dickson City. Calling hours, today, 6 to 8 p.m. Condolences: mazurfuneralhome.com.

LUCARELLA, MARIE E., Pittston, Tuesday, 10 a.m., Second Presbyterian Church, Parsonage Street, Pittston. Go directly to church. Entombment, Denison Cemetery. Calling hours, today, 4-8 p.m., Peter J. Adonizio Funeral Home, 251 William St., Pittston. Donations: Second Presbyterian Church. Condolences: peterjadon iziofuneralhome.com

MAZZEI, GREG, Taylor, Mass, March 8, 11 a.m., Divine Mercy Parish, Davis Street, Scranton. Arrangements: Jacob Davis Funeral Home, 422 S. Main St., Taylor.

O'MALLEY, MARION, Scranton, Tuesday, 9 a.m., McGoff-Hughes Funeral Home Inc., 1401 Capouse Ave., Scranton. Mass, 9:30, St. Paul's Church, Penn Avenue, Scranton. Interment, Cathedral Cemetery, Scranton. Calling hours, today, 4 to 8 p.m. Contributions: Holy Family Residence, 2500 Adams Ave., Scranton, PA 18509.

PATTERSON, ESTHER L., Nicholson, services, Harford Congregational United Church of Christ, Harford, 11 a.m., Saturday. Contributions: Nicholson Fire Company or donor's choice of animal shelter. Condolences: litwinfu neralhome.com.

RASIELESKI, FRANK "RAS," Mass, Tuesday, 9:30 a.m., Immaculate Conception Church, 801 Taylor Ave., Scranton. Go directly to church. Entombment, Cathedral Cemetery, Scranton. Calling hours, today, 4-7 p.m., Vanston and James Funeral Home, 1401 Ash St., Scranton. Condolences: van stonandjames.com. Contributions: Ladies Auxiliary to Mountain View Care Center, 2309 Stafford Ave., Scranton, PA 18505.

RECHINDA, JOHN, Wallenpaupack Lake Estates, Mass, Wednesday, 10 a.m., St. Mary's Church, St. Mary's Church Road, Ledgedale. Go directly to church. Interment, St. Mary's Cemetery. Calling hours, Tuesday, 4-7 p.m., James Wilson Funeral Home, 143 Gravity Road, Lake Ariel, and Wednesday, 9:30 to Mass, church. Interment, St. Mary's Cemetery. Condolences: jameswil sonfuneralhome.com

SCHUPPER, RITA ANN, Honesdale, Mass, Tuesday, 10 a.m., St. Mary Magdalen Church, Honesdale. Interment, St. Mary's Cemetery, Honesdale. Calling hours, today, 4 to 7 p.m., Hessling Funeral Home, 428 Main St., Honesdale. Contributions: Catholic Social Services. Condolences: hesslingfu neralhome.com.

SCIALPI, DONALD "PUNKY" L., Hughestown, Tuesday, 8 p.m., Baloga Funeral Home Inc., 1201 Main St., Pittston. Calling hours, Tuesday, 4 to 8. Condolences: balogafuneralhome.com.

STEPHENS, ADELAIDE F., Falls, Tuesday, 11 a.m., Harding-Litwin Funeral Home, 123 W. Tioga St., Tunkhannock, by Pastor Michael S. Baumgardner of Falls United Methodist Church, Tunkhannock. Interment, Roberts Cemetery, Falls. Calling hours, today, 6 to 8 p.m. Chapter 74 Order of Eastern Star service, today, 7:45. Contributions: Tunkhannock Chapter 74 Order of Eastern Star, 316 Post Hill Road, Falls, PA 18615. Condolences: apli twinfuneralhomes.com.

TWIST, JOHN LESLIE, South Abington Twp., funeral with military honors, Feb. 22, Mass, 11 a.m., Our Lady of the Snows Church, 301 S. State St., Clarks Summit. Interment, later date, Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, Annville. Calling hours, an hour before Mass, church. Contributions: St. Joseph's Center, 2010 Adams Ave., Scranton, PA 18509. Arrangements: Jennings-Calvey Funeral and Cremation Service Inc., 111 Colburn Ave., Clarks Summit. Condolences: jen ningscalvey.com

ZUPKO, ANNA, Old Forge, today, 12:15 p.m., Semian Funeral Home, 704 Union St., Taylor. Services, 1, St. Michael's Orthodox Church, 512 Summer St., Old Forge, by the Rev. Peter Henry. Interment, parish cemetery. Calling hours, today, 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Memorial contributions to St. Michael's Orthodox Church, 512 Summer St., Old Forge. Condolences: semi ancares.com.

The start of the Chinese Year of the Horse, 4712, was celebrated at the University of Scranton on Sunday.

"This is the most important holiday in Chinese culture," said Shuhua Fan, one of three organizers of the New Year's event.

In its fourth year, the celebration hosted by the Scranton Chinese School was designed for members of the Chinese community to "recognize the importance of where they came from," said Chaogui Zhang, another of the event's organizers and a teacher at Marywood University.

Chinese New Year fell on Jan. 31 and is celebrated for 15 days, said Ms. Fan.

Families brought Chinese cuisine to share while the university also prepared some of the food served in Brennan Hall.

After lunch, children sang traditional Chinese New Year songs and told stories to celebrate the holiday in the room brightly decorated with multicolored balloons and Chinese lanterns.

Winston White was nervous about getting on stage but did a great job telling traditional Chinese stories with his peers. Winston attends the Academy of Asian Martial Arts, a local kung fu school. His father, David White, a part-time philosophy teacher at the university, was the host for the afternoon gathering.

"It's important for kids to know Chinese New Year and culture and have fun," said Waodung Bi, computer science professor at the university and the third organizer.

Contact the writer: kbolus@timesshamrock.com, @kbolusTT on Twitter