The addition of Eric Matthew Frein to the FBI’s list of its Ten Most Wanted fugitives came with a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading directly to his arrest.

No one collected it.

A team of deputy U.S. marshals conducting a routine search captured Mr. Frein on Oct. 30 at the Birchwood-Pocono Airpark near Tannersville in Monroe County, where they surprised the unarmed fugitive in an open field near the abandoned hangar where police determined he had been hiding.

Carrie Adamowski, an FBI spokeswoman in Philadelphia, said the reward was not paid based on the circumstances of Mr. Frein’s arrest.

“It hasn’t been and it won’t be basically because of the way in which he was found and who found him,” she said, referring to his capture by federal law enforcement authorities. “Unfortunately, we are all exempt from that stuff.”

Before investigators identified Mr. Frein, 32, 308 Seneca Lane, Canadensis, as the suspect, the nonprofit Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers offered a separate reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to an arrest in the Sept. 12, 2014 ambush at the state police Blooming Grove station in Pike County.

Crime Stoppers later increased the reward cap to $75,000.

Coordinator Kira Lemmons confirmed a reward was paid through the Crime Stoppers program, although the organization would not disclose the amount or the recipient.

Crime Stoppers president Jeffrey S. Fagan said in a letter to The Times-Tribune the program operates on an anonymous basis; reward recipients who provide case-solving information are identified only by a code number, and they are paid cash without having to identify themselves.

Although Crime Stoppers may verify that a reward was paid, neither the date nor the specific amount of the payment are revealed, he said.

The money to pay the reward related to Mr. Frein’s arrest came from private donations, Mr. Fagan said.

Contact the writer:

dsingleton@timesshamrock.com

The Downtown Senior Center will continue operating as a tenant in the Penn Avenue building it sold to downtown developer Art Russo.

The private nonprofit that owns and operates the center sold the building at 305-311 Penn Ave. to an entity headed by the developer for $350,000. Mr. Russo plans to convert upper floors to apartments.

The former B. Levy portion of the building consists of three stories, each about 3,000 square feet. A more recent two-story concrete block addition sits on the north side. The center didn’t use the upper floors. They had been used as offices and storage when it was B. Levy.

Mr. Russo’s tentative plans call for loft apartments with a rooftop patio and gardens on the two-story portion. Busy with a number of other projects, Mr. Russo said he may not be able to turn his attention to the Penn Avenue project until next year.

The Downtown Senior Center will continue operations as usual as a tenant in the first floor of the building, said center attorney Donald J. Frederickson.

Faced with cuts in state funding and increases in expenses, the center board made the decision to sell the building.

“We don’t use the entire building, yet we have to pay to heat it and worry about it,” Mr. Frederickson said. “We did this to keep the doors open.”

The center has a one-year lease that is renewable, he said. The center provides meals, lectures and activities for seniors, generally from the downtown high rises.

Charles Hibble, who owns a building on the block that includes offices and apartments, welcomes the project.

“That building needs a facelift and the demand for apartments downtown is strong,” Mr. Hibble said. “It’s exciting news and I have faith in Art.”

Contact the writer:

dfalchek@timesshamrock.com

Her words come from what Darla Dickson calls a mother’s heart.

A year ago today, a sniper opened fire outside the state police Blooming Grove barracks in Pike County, killing her oldest son, Cpl. Bryon K. Dickson II of Dunmore, and seriously wounding Trooper Alex T. Douglass of Olyphant.

If the shock of her loss has subsided with time, Mrs. Dickson’s pain has not.

“I know for me, I’m just the mom, but I have my moments when I miss him terribly,” Mrs. Dickson said this week.

She said she and her husband, Bryon Dickson Sr., have filled their days since the ambush remembering their 38-year-old son’s sacrifice. They have been present for several public tributes, but there has been time for quiet, private reflection, too.

Still, she wonders where the time has gone since she and her husband answered the late-night knock at the door of their home in Wyoming County’s Exeter Twp. and learned of their son’s death.

“You just relive that and go, ‘Wow, it’s a year,’ but it seems like it was a moment ago in time,” Mrs. Dickson said. “When they’re here, a year passes slowly. When they’re gone, it’s like, what happened to this past year? The calendar just flipped and here we are.”

Cpl. Dickson’s widow, Tiffany, and their young sons, Bryon III and Adam, are doing well, Mrs. Dickson said. While her daughter-in-law and grandsons attend events honoring Cpl. Dickson, Tiffany is also protective of the boys. She declined to be interviewed.

“Her perspective is to give them hope for the future and a positive outlook on life,” Mrs. Dickson said. “There is a certain point where she does not want them to be constantly be reminded of death but to remember life.”

Mrs. Dickson and her husband have spoken publicly in the past about their forgiveness of Eric Matthew Frein, the Canadensis man accused of carrying out the deadly attack, though Mrs. Dickson said they have had no contact with the suspect or his family.

But forgiveness is not justice.

Mr. Frein, 32, of 308 Seneca Lane, is awaiting trial in Pike County Court, and Mrs. Dickson said he is innocent until proven guilty under the law. The law also allows the prosecution to seek the death penalty if Mr. Frein is found guilty of first-degree murder, which she said both she and her husband believe would be justified. Mr. Frein pleaded not guilty in January.

Hatred provoked the killing, Mrs. Dickson said.

“That’s why forgiveness is important. Forgiveness actually multiplies and increases love in the area where your humanness can’t go or even fathom, but it has to be done,” she said. “Otherwise, you just teach the world to hate.”

Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com

ARCHBALD — From standardized testing requirements to paying the bills during the budget impasse, area educators looked to local legislators for help on Friday.

At a superintendents’ meeting at the Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit, regional school leaders discussed some of the issues that are taking time — and money — away from education.

Joined by Sen. John Blake, D-22, Archbald, and Reps. Mike Carroll, D-118, Avoca, Frank Farina, D-112, Jessup, and Sid Michaels Kavulich, D-114, Taylor, superintendents called for a resolution to the budget impasse, now in its third month. Senate and House leadership plan serious budget negotiations on Monday, and pension reform has remained an obstacle, Mr. Blake said.

Along with having to take out loans to pay bills during the impasse, some districts have received downgrades to their bond ratings. Districts also struggle to make future pension payments without state funding. The Public School Employees’ Retirement System warned that late payments will be subject to a 6 percent penalty.

The NEIU has an $800,000 payment due and will be out of cash in six weeks, Executive Director Robert McTiernan said. Carbondale Area does not have the money to make its payment, Superintendent Joseph Gorham said.

Along with budget concerns, superintendents remain frustrated with standardized testing, specifically with changes made to tests taken in the spring. With the switch to a more rigorous curriculum and a new standard for proficiency, school districts statewide saw significant declines in passing rates on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests. Those results have yet to be released publicly, but some districts saw proficiency declines of as much as 80 percent.

This week, the state announced it would impose a one-year moratorium on using the 2015 PSSA scores to calculate School Performance Profile scores and teacher effectiveness ratings.

“In one year, a sense of failure comes over a district that has grown for a decade,” Susquehanna Community Superintendent Bronson Stone said. “Good schools in Northeast Pennsylvania don’t become bad schools overnight.”

Several superintendents also expressed concerns about the expense of cyber charter schools. When a student elects to enroll in a cyber charter school, districts must pay. Hundreds of local students are now enrolled in the schools.

Mr. Blake said the problem is the “manipulation of public dollars for private benefit.”

Contact the writer:

shofius@timesshamrock.com, @hofiushallTT on Twitter

Food Truck Rally set for Sept. 24

WILKES-BARRE — The city’s first “Food Truck Rally” will be held at the River Common on Thursday, Sept. 24, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The event features seven area food trucks and will raise money to support the Commission of Economic Opportunity, a nonprofit agency dedicated to alleviating poverty in Northeast Pennsylvania. Representatives from each truck will serve their signature menu items and sell dollar donation tickets that benefit Commission of Economic Opportunity.

Food trucks that will be attend include the Wandering Chef, What the Fork, Southwest Savory Grill, Taste Time to Love Us, Sweet Lush Cupcake Camper, Boyer Brothers BBQ and Deli and Triple S Gourmet.

More details can be found on the Food Truck Rally Facebook page.

— DENISE ALLABAUGH

Hop Bottom

Thanks picnic: The Sleeping Bag Project thank-you picnic, Sept. 19, noon, covered dish.

Keyser Valley

Seniors meet: Keyser Valley Senior Citizens meet Monday, 1 p.m., Community Center, games and refreshments follow.

Scott/Greenfield Twps.

Seniors meet: Scott/Greenfield Twps. Senior Citizens meeting, Monday, 1 p.m., B&B Restaurant.

Scranton

Downtown planters: Downtown Scranton planter fall mum planting, Sunday, noon; volunteers needed to work with Penn State Extension master gardeners; materials, plants, tools provided; meet at the County Annex Building, Adams Avenue and Spruce Street, downtown

planters@gmail.com.

Block party: St. Paul’s Parish annual block party, today, 6-10 p.m.; Sunday, 1-6 p.m., parish grounds, Penn Avenue and Marion Street, nightly entertainment, vendor fair; 3 on 3 basketball, today, noon; Monsignor Feldcamp 5k and family fun run, Sunday, 3 p.m.

Organ recital: St. Stanislaus Cathedral’s Director of Music and Organist Peter V. Picerno recital to commemorate the organ’s 30th birthday, Sunday, 4 p.m., 529 E. Locust St.; music by J. S. Bach, John Rutter, Leo Sowerby, Maurice Duruflé, Louis Vierne, providing a tour of the organ’s tonal resources and music not usually heard in the context of church services; free.

South Scranton

Free movie: St. Paul’s United Methodist Church free movie Sunday, 3-6 p.m., church hall, Birch Street and Prospect Avenue; snacks provided.

Wayne County

Fundraising event: St. Joseph Church fundraising Tupperware party social, Sunday, 1-3 p.m., Lookout Fire Hall, 2625 Hancock Highway (Route 191); games, refreshments, bake sale, benefits building project; 570-224-4934.

West Scranton

Pierogi sale: St. John’s Auxiliary potato cheese pierogi sale, Oct. 5, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., 310 Broadway St.; $8/dozen, pre-orders by Thursday, also taking orders for the Dec. 7 Christmas pirohi sale, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., must order by Nov. 19; 570-343-8820.

Fall festival: SS. Peter & Paul’s annual fall festival/bazaar, Oct. 18, 11:30 a.m., chuch hall, 1309 W. Locust St., ethnic foods, bake sale, theme baskets, children’s stand.

Pierogi sale: St. Michael’s Ukrain­ian Orthodox Church pierogi sale, Fridays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., 540 N. Main Ave., 570-961-1795.

Ethnic foods: St. Michael’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church ethnic food festival, Sept. 27, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., 540 N. Main Ave., ethnic foods and desserts; 570-961-1795.

50/50 bingo: St. Michael’s Ukranian Orthodox Church 50/50 bingo, Sunday, 1-5 p.m., 540 N. Main Ave.; refreshments available; 570-961-1795.

Seniors meet: Sloan Senior Citizens will meet Tuesday, 1:30 p.m., SS. Peter and Paul Church Hall, West Locust Street. Refreshments and bingo will follow.

CLIPBOARD ITEMS may be emailed to yesdesk@timesshamrock.com or mailed to Clipboard, c/o the YES!Desk at 149 Penn Ave., Scranton, 18503. YES!Desk, 570-348-9121.

DUNMORE — A 43-year-old Luzerne County man is charged with using his girlfriend’s personal information to open credit cards and rack up debt with no intention of paying it back, Dunmore police said.

Doyle Lewis, 1814 Scarboro St., Exeter, is charged with three felonies — access device fraud, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property, according to a criminal complaint.

Police accused Mr. Lewis of using the credit cards to charge $3,672 on accounts linked to Dana Barrett’s name and Social Security number.

Ms. Barrett investigated in July when she received letters from creditors saying her accounts were canceled for defaulting on the debt.

Mr. Doyle was released on $5,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

— JOSEPH KOHUT

A Scranton man who watched a juvenile girl while she showered pleaded guilty to several charges Friday, but avoided convictions for more serious underage sex crimes.

Appearing in shackles before Lackawanna County Judge Vito Geroulo, Frank E. Fornaszewski, 44, pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He faces a maximum of 14 years in prison and $32,500 in fines.

The charges stem in part from incidents where prosecutors said the defendant acted violently toward the girl’s mother, putting the girl in potential harm.

In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop a list of more serious charges, including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, aggravated indecent assault of a child, indecent assault of a person less than 13 and unlawful contact with a minor.

Mr. Fornaszewski had originally been accused of sexually assaulting the girl when she was 8 or 9 between 2007 and 2009, including reaching into her underwear when she was in third grade. The Times-Tribune does not identify the victims of sexual assault.

The victim, now 17, testified about the incidents in February at a preliminary hearing.

Mr. Fornaszewski “vehemently denied” the sex crimes, his attorney Curt Parkins said after the Friday hearing.

Though the victim’s testimony was the “primary piece of evidence” in the case, it would have been enough to achieve a conviction for the sex crimes, Assistant District Attorney Mariclare Hayes said after the hearing.

“However, when we have an individual who is willing to take a responsibility for criminal acts, we sort of balance the benefit of the certainty of conviction with the guilty plea versus going to trial,” she said.

“The reality of trials is that they are extremely challenging for the victim to have to relive the experience in front of the offender,” Ms. Hayes continued, “so we certainly would have the benefit here of (the victim) having some sort of closure knowing there is a conviction without her having to testify again.”

The prosecutor noted the defendant is facing a long state prison sentence with his guilty plea.

Mr. Fornaszewski has the right to be sentenced within the next 90 days. He will not have to register as a sex offender.

Contact the writer:

pcameron@timesshamrock.com,

@pcameronTT on Twitter

Lackawanna County residents got a new leader for their court system and Judge Michael J. Barrasse got a nice birthday present.

The judge turned 59 years old Friday, the day his fellow judges unanimously chose him to take over the job of president judge come Jan. 1.

Only Judge Barrasse sought the job, said current President Judge Thomas J. Munley, who will remain the court’s leader until the end of the year.

The president judge leads the county court system, setting policies and helping craft its annual budget.

“Obviously, I’m honored and have a lot of gratitude for the support of my fellow judges,” Judge Barrasse said.

The judge, who was elected to a five-year term, said the court will face challenges keeping up a busy court schedule with Judge Carmen D. Minora and Judge Robert A. Mazzoni stepping down from full-time duty at the end of this year, Judge Munley perhaps at the end of next year and Judge Vito P. Geroulo at the end of 2017.

Judge Barrasse said he is working on a plan to get people who enter the court system help more quickly by coordinating the responses of agencies that provide alcohol, drug abuse and mental health treatment and services to children sooner.

Judge Munley praised Judge Barrasse’s contributions to creating existing specialty treatment courts that aid veterans and people with mental health and drug addiction problems.

“I think Mike is very innovative,” Judge Munley said. “I think he’s going to be an excellent president judge. What I’m happy about is we voted today so he can spend the next three months working with me on the budget and learning the ropes.”

Judge Munley, 68, said he might have sought another five-year term as president judge, but state rules for courts limit judges to serving one term in counties with more than seven judges. A county judge’s salary this year is $176,572.President judges in counties with six or more judges — Lackawanna has nine — earn a little more: $178,111 this year. Their salaries rise, but never fall, depending on annual inflation.

Judge Barrasse, a Republican, was elected district attorney in 1989, after District Attorney Ernie Preate was elected state attorney general. He served as district attorney for 10 years, but ran unsuccessfully for the state Supreme Court in 1995. Gov. Tom Ridge nominated him in 1999 to fill a judge vacancy and the state Senate confirmed him, but he turned down the nomination before his election that November and assumed the judgeship in January 2000.

He won a yes-no retention election in 2009, and faces another in 2019.

Judge Minora said Judge Barrasse used his experience as district attorney to set a standard as judge that other counties follow.

“He was instrumental in setting up the treatment courts,” Judge Minora said. “I don’t think anybody appreciates how cutting edge he had been. ... He’s engendered a lot of respect among his colleagues. His colleagues recognize him for the asset that he is.”

When Judge Barrasse was district attorney, District Attorney Andy Jarbola was his first assistant.

“I have faith in his leadership skills,” Mr. Jarbola said. “He taught me a lot as an assistant district attorney.”

Mr. Jarbola will soon join his former boss on the county bench. He is unopposed for election to the county judgeship held by Judge Minora in the November election.

“I look forward to working with him and the other judges on the bench,” he said.

Peter Cameron and Kyle Wind, staff writers, contributed to this story.

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com

A Scranton man on parole for manslaughter was caught Thursday trying to sell drugs in a Hill Section bar, Lackawanna County detectives said.

Joseph Lee Powell, 32, 302 South Keyser Ave., planned on selling a half-ounce of marijuana and a half-ounce of cocaine for $750 inside the Glass Onion bar on Prescott Avenue around 4:20 p.m. Thursday, detectives said in a criminal complaint.

Detectives and members of the Lackawanna County Drug Task Force conducted surveillance in the area and took Mr. Powell into when they saw him approach.

Detectives found more than 15 grams of cocaine and 14 grams of marijuana in his left front pocket and $869 in his right front pocket.

The narcotics field tested positive for cocaine and marijuana.

Detectives learned Mr. Powell had absconded from state parole supervision.

Mr. Powell was sentenced in 2012 to 2½ to five years for his role in the October 2011 beating death of Rene Ramos Rosario in the driveway of the Pepsi Cola Bottling Co., 2015 N. Main Ave.

Detectives said Mr. Powell helped assault Mr. Rosario after an argument stemming from a night of drinking in Scranton. His cause of death remained undetermined for three months until Lackawanna County Coroner Tim Rowland ruled he died of a myocardial insufficiency caused by severe coronary artery disease. He ruled the death a homicide.

Initially charged with criminal homicide, Mr. Powell pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

Mr. Powell is in Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $75,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, @jkohutTT on Twitter

Archbald

Borough officials honored a young gymnast from Archbald last week who dominated the competition earlier this year at the state championship meet in Philadelphia.

During borough council’s regular meeting Wednesday, Mayor Shirley Barrett presented 9-year-old Luci Toczydlowski, a fourth-grader at Valley View Intermediate School, with a proclamation recognizing her achievement.

Luci, who in the summer trains almost 20 hours every week at United Sports Academy in Dunmore, was 8 years old in March when she took part in the USAG Junior Olympic state competition.

With her parents, Joseph and Lori, videotaping the presentation, and her brothers and grandfather proudly looking on, Luci quietly and graciously accepted the proclamation from Ms. Barrett.

“Congratulations on behalf of myself and all of council. You did a wonderful job for Archbald,” Ms. Barrett said. “We’re so proud of you.”

Winning gold medals in all four events, Luci swept the competition in the balance beam, floor exercise, bars and vault categories, earning the highest score of any gymnast in her division — 38.85 out of 40 points.

Now that school’s back in session, she still trains five days a week and hopes someday to become a professional gymnast.

— JON O’CONNELL

joconnell@timesshamrock.com, @jon_oc on Twitter

Dickson City

Cameron Calogero finally got a replacement for his stolen bike.

In late August, the 5-year-old’s aunt, Krystina Mecca, reported the theft to Dickson City police via Facebook without realizing she was in contact with another Dickson City — in Tennessee.

Authorities in the southern state posted images she shared, which caught the eye of a donor, who took a new bike to the department. Ms. Mecca didn’t realize the miscommunication until she went to the local police station to pick it up.

Undeterred, the Dickson City police in Tennessee took the bicycle to a Wal-Mart and got a gift card, which they used to order the bike Cameron wanted from the Wal-Mart in Lackawanna County’s Dickson City.

Dickson City police announced it arrived and posted pictures on Facebook of the happy child with his new bike.

— KYLE WIND

kwind@timesshamrock.com, @kwindTT on Twitter

Lackawanna County

Lackawanna County commissioners on Wednesday approved a telephone service agreement for the prison that will raise the county’s cut of commissions of money collected from inmate calls from 15 percent to 65 percent but also requires the county to pay a new maintenance fee.

The agreement extends through July 31 an existing deal with DSI-ITI, formerly ITI Inmate Telephone Inc., but changes some of the terms.

ITI will pay the county $150,000 upfront to amortize commissions, county Chief Financial Officer Thomas Durkin said.

Controller Gary DiBileo presented a telephone audit to the prison board late last month, which noted the county’s 2014 commission was $78,171 and described various charges for inmates to make phone calls.

Judge Vito Geroulo expressed surprise that inmates have to pay $4.55 for 15-minute prepaid or collect local calls.

“It just seems like it’s an awfully stiff amount to make a local phone call,” Judge Geroulo said.

The new contract charges inmates only 21 to 25 cents per minute for local calls, but prisoners have to pay $6.25 to make a deposit for prepaid calls.

Judge Geroulo called the new rates an improvement.

— KYLE WIND

kwind@timesshamrock.com, @kwindTT on Twitter

■

The Lackawanna County Salary Board on Wednesday approved the creation of five part-time correctional officer jobs at $16 an hour and approved a salary increase for the secretary of court administration from $38,618 to $51,118, retroactive to Jan. 1.

Judge Carmen Minora said the raise is the result of Dina Brazil taking on additional duties after other staff left and calculated a net savings to the county of $33,713 after the pay bump.

President Judge Thomas Munley also addressed the salary board.

“I want everybody to know ... that I looked at this completely,” Judge Munley said. “I talked to Judge Minora about this in detail. I looked at the budget. I looked at the savings that Judge Minora presented to me, and I’m wholeheartedly endorsing the motion that Judge Minora is presenting to this board.”

— KYLE WIND

kwind@timesshamrock.com, @kwindTT on Twitter

Scranton

Scranton’s roots run nearly 150 years deep, and organizers of sesquicentennial celebrations want to give future generations a gift of 150 trees that will grow and stand proud and tall for decades.

A project titled “Scranton: 150 years, 150 trees” is the idea of former Mayor David Wenzel, who has a treehouse named in his honor at Nay Aug Park, said sesquicentennial committee member Joe Riccardo.

Mr. Wenzel has teamed with the civic group Scranton Tomorrow to have 150 trees planted throughout the city for its 150th anniversary next year.

Native and non-native species of trees will be planted at city parks and public schools and along the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail in Scranton. Around 10 trees already have been planted, along Lackawanna County Courthouse Square and at McDade Park.

The rest of the trees likely will be planted in a spring blitz around April 23, the 150th anniversary of the city’s Charter Day founding, and possibly to coincide with or involve Earth Day and Arbor Day, Mr. Riccardo said.

Several trees will be dedicated to Scrantonians who have distinguished themselves in service to others, including fallen police and firefighters who have died in the line of duty.

“I’m really honored to be helping Mayor Wenzel (on the tree-planting project). It’s been his brainchild,” Mr. Riccardo said. “We feel the benefit of this project is it will have a lasting effect on future generations.”

The project is estimated to cost $35,000, and the committee is seeking a $22,500 grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Tree Vitalize program.

The group also is seeking donations from the public. Donations may be made to Scranton Tomorrow, 1011 North Main Ave., Scranton, Pa. 18508.

For more information, see scrantontomorrow.org.

— JIM LOCKWOOD

jlockwood@timesshamrock.com, @jlockwoodTT on Twitter

■

Mayor Bill Courtright continues to fill out a revived Human Relations Commission, with two more appointments: Hal Donohue of Vine Street and Michael Hanley of Woodlawn Street.

City council on Thursday introduced resolutions concurring with the mayor’s appointments of Mr. Donohue and Mr. Hanley.

Council also adopted resolutions backing the mayor’s earlier appointments of Susan Blum Connors and Robert Johns to the commission, which disbanded in 2008. The mayor and city officials hope to revive the commission to enforce a 2003 anti-discrimination ordinance that extends civil rights protections to people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identification.

Council introduced ordinances for the following:

■ Authorizing a stop sign, with “except right turn” below it, at the northwest intersection of Ridge Avenue and Ash Street, replacement of one-way signs at Ridge Avenue and Myrtle Street, and an additional one-way sign near 927 Ridge Ave.

■ Transferring $63,477 from a contingency fund to reimburse $19,750 firefighter/EMT cadet training costs and $43,727 Fire Department capital expenditures.

Council advanced on second reading an ordinance to sell a tax-delinquent, vacant buildable lot at 1427 Capouse Ave. for $4,001 to FMP Realty LLC of Scranton. The lot was appraised as having a fair market value of $4,000.

Council adopted resolutions for the following:

■ Endorsing the mayor’s appointments of Marion Gatto and Linda Aebli to be the city’s representatives on the newly created Lackawanna County Land Bank. This authority will aim to reduce red tape often associated with developing abandoned and blighted properties.

■ Applying for a Lackawanna County Community Re-Invest Program grant of $61,625 to restore and replicate the World War I Doughboy statue.

■ Authorizing a $17,425 contract with Urban Design Ventures LLC of Homestead, which was the lowest of five proposals received, to perform an analysis of impediments to “fair housing choice.” The federal Housing and Urban Development agency requires such a review as part of fair-housing planning.

■ Applying to the state Department of Transportation for modifications to a traffic signal at Green Ridge Street and Capouse Avenue.

■ Authorizing a one-year contract from Sept. 1 through Aug. 31 with A&M Electrical Construction Inc. of West Wyoming for maintenance of traffic signals.

■ Applying for 2015 state gaming funds for a $713,435 grant toward the purchase of an aerial truck for the Fire Department, to replace a 2001 aerial truck. A new truck would cost $1,042,706. Of that amount, $225,000 would come from 2014 gaming grant funds, and the city would contribute a 10 percent share of $104,271.

— JIM LOCKWOOD

jlockwood@timesshamrock.com, @jlockwoodTT on Twitter

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

348-9121 or yesdesk@timesshamrock.com.

While operating as a retail store for more than a century, Tuck’s Army & Navy Clothing Store at 125 Penn Ave. in Scranton seems an unlikely cradle of American retailing and discounting.

The dark, cluttered store violates many of the retail principals forged there 140 years ago, when Charles Sumner Woolworth, at the behest of his brother Fredrick Winfield Woolworth, came to Scranton, hoping to replicate success in Lancaster. He opened Woolworth’s Great 5¢ Store and added 10-cent products soon after, making it one of the first five-and-dimes. He used it as a retail laboratory, developing the way people would shop for the next century.

From a safe on the floor, Marshall Rosenberg, owner of Tuck’s, removes an old F.W. Woolworth Co. annual report with the chain’s history that includes a pen-and-ink likeness of his property, including the distinctive Italianate upper floor windows.

Everything about the small store was revolutionary, right down to the fixed pricing. In the late 19th century, several retailers were experimenting with fixed pricing, a new and controversial concept, said author Marc Levinson, author of “The Great A&P.”

“Commonly, you would be waited on by a clerk who would tell you the price. It was an elite experience and left some with the suspicion that different people got different prices,” Mr. Levinson said. “The Woolworth approach of a fixed, low price was something people appreciated.”

Retail pioneers

Known as C.S. or Sum, Mr. Woolworth pioneered innovations people take for granted today: using front windows to display merchandize and “self-service” stores where people browsed and could handle products. The same year Woolworth’s opened on Penn Avenue, the electric light was introduced in Scranton, first at the Dickson Locomotive Works, then other factories and eventually through an electric utility.

Mr. Woolworth quickly realized how abundant artificial light would be used in stores, and in future years made brightly lit Woolworth’s stores a company-wide standard. He also partnered with his longtime friend, Fred M. Kirby, to open a shared-ownership store in Wilkes-Barre, called Woolworth and Kirby, in an early form of franchising in an era before chain stores were common. Mr. Kirby eventually bought out Mr. Woolworth’s share and solely operated the store.

The Woolworth brothers probably cannot take all the credit for innovations such as fixed pricing, self-service stores, and window displays. Mr. Levinson said several retailers were experimenting with or advancing those concepts. Nevertheless, the Woolworth brothers deployed them to great effect.

The merchandising and management approach that served as a foundation for department, discount and dollar stores, were fleshed out in Mr. Woolworth’s small windowless office at 125 Penn Ave., through a door behind a sales counter. Now, the space is Tuck’s changing room.

Humble start

On a few occasions, people have asked Mr. Rosenberg to see C.S. Woolworth’s tiny, humble office.

“Here’s what they are talking about,” he says, pulling back the curtain and switching on the light. The upper corner of the space is cut off by a stairway to the second floor. The walls of the narrow room are covered with mirrors and 80s-era Rock-and-Roll posters.

The property has been in Mr. Rosenberg’s family since 1910, originally as Tuck’s Men’s Store and decades later Tuck’s Army & Navy Clothing Store. Mr. Rosenberg is not sure if his ornate wood shelves or tin ceiling are original to Woolworth’s.

“Hard to say. It’s before my time,” he said.

After a few years on Penn Avenue, Woolworth’s moved to around the corner on the 300 block of Lackawanna Avenue. It was not until the late 1940s, that it moved to the location most associate it with today: the 400 block of Lackawanna, which still has the red metal fascia. Woolworth’s modus operandi was to set up capable store managers, friends and family up in business to start their own mini-chains of stores. Together, they were part of a Woolworth Syndicate. In 1912, the syndicate agreed to F.W. Woolworth’s plan to incorporate under one entity, F.W. Woolworth Co., then 596 stores. C.S. Woolworth, with scores of stores, initially resisted the plan, but relented and took a spot as a director.

The new company built the Woolworth Building in Manhattan, completed in 1913, and the tallest building in the world for nearly two decades. The public stock offering made the principals incredibly rich.

Loving Scranton

As his brother and counterparts built country mansions and enjoyed private railway cars, C.S. Woolworth maintained his Scranton home at 520 Jefferson Ave., and divided time at his summer home, called Edgewood, at Lily Lake in Dalton. Although a member of the company’s board, he declined to become embroiled in corporate politics and focused on improving the stores, training managers and refining front-end operations. He was seen frequently at the downtown Scranton store, and even waited on customers and surveyed them about their shopping experiences.

He once said people could be “handicapped by having too much money, others because they haven’t any.”

After his brother’s death in 1919, C.S. Woolworth became the reluctant chairman of the board after flatly refusing the job of president and chief executive. He oversaw the affairs of the global chain of thousands of stores from Suite 620 at the Scranton Life Building. He served as active chairman until 1944, when at age 88, declining health caught up with him. Late in life, he would visit Tuck’s, peer into his old office and reminisce. In his final years, he made large donations to Geisinger, Johnson Industrial School and Keystone College.

Creating and operating the empire is the real genius of the Woolworth brothers, Mr. Levinson said.

“With no fax machine and no email, in an era where communication was difficult and expensive, the Woolworths were able to create and run a sizable chain,” Mr. Levinson said.

When he died in 1947, at the age of 91, he was hailed as a “leading citizen” and “prince” whose “welfare for the community was always a primary concern.”

“C.S. Woolworth represents one of the people of that era who came to Scranton, stayed and fell in love with it,” said Sarah Piccini,, assistant director of the Lackawanna Historical Society. “Very few local charitable or artistic groups were untouched by his philanthropy.”

Expanding boundaries

Even with the brothers gone, Woolworth’s continued to expand the boundaries of retailing. In 1962, the company opened a large suburban store format it called Woolco, credited as the first “Big Box” store. Competitors such as Walmart, Kmart and Target, followed Woolworth’s lead. Yet, after founding the format, Woolco failed. Woolworth’s model, eschewing brands in favor of bargains, eventually backfired, as well, when brands became important to consumers after World War II, Mr. Levinson said.

Although it had become global, peaking in 1979, the chain contracted through the 1980s and 1990s. The company changed its name to the Venator Group in 1997, and later to Foot Locker, once a small portion of its Kinney shoe business. The Woolworth name lives on in some other countries under entities spun off long ago.

“Retailing is a brutal business,” Mr. Levinson said of the century rise and fall of Woolworth’s. “Trends and consumer preferences change so fast and the larger a retailer is, the more difficult it becomes to adapt.”

Contact the writer: dfalchek@timesshamrock.com

Clifton Wallace

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

Fugitive since: Aug. 11.

Wanted for: Aggravated assault with serious bodily injury. Sentenced to six to 12 years of incarceration. Paroled on April 25, 2011.

Description: Black man, 49 years old, 6 feet tall, 150 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes.

Contact: Supervisor Suzanne Burke at 570-963-3107

Jacob Martin

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

Fugitive since: Aug. 15.

Wanted for: Forgery, access device fraud and criminal trespass. Paroled Jan. 13, 2014.

Description: White man, 35 years old, 6 feet tall, 220 pounds, brown hair, blue eyes.

Contact: Supervisor Suzanne Burke at 570-963-3107.

Reynaldo Oquendo

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

Fugitive since: March 5.

Wanted for: Fleeing and attempting to elude an officer and reckless endangerment. Sentenced to nine months and 22 days to three years of incarceration. Paroled Sept. 29.

Description: Hispanic man, 34 years old, 5 feet 9 inches tall, 180 pounds, brown hair, hazel eyes.

Contact: Agent Gary Demuth, 570-614-7244.

Jessica Weikel

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

Fugitive since: Sept. 4.

Wanted for: Escape. Started her two-year probation term on July 12.

Description: White woman, 27 years old, 5 feet 3 inches tall, 120 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes.

Contact: Supervisor Suzanne Burke at 570-963-3107.

Amelia Lockwood

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

Fugitive since: Sept. 4.

Wanted for: Violation of the drug court program and retail theft. Sentenced to three years and 11 months to 10 years of incarceration. Paroled on Nov. 18, 2013.

Description: White woman, 27 years old, 5 feet 2 inches tall, 95 pounds, brown hair, blue eyes.

Contact: Supervisor Suzanne Burke at 570-963-3107.

Nearly 40 years ago, Northeast Pennsylvania was getting closer and closer to a crisis.

Communities across the East Coast were suffering the coldest winter “ ‘since the founding of the Republic,’ according to the National Weather Service,” according to an article from Feb. 16, 1977. “The average temperatures for the East and the Midwest were the lowest for any January on record,” the article said.

Starting in January 1977, temperatures in our region fell to 15 below zero, straining natural gas supplies. The governor ordered schools to be closed. Businesses and factories followed suit. Other states up and down the East Coast had similar problems, leading to President Jimmy Carter proposing an emergency bill to help ease the natural gas crisis. And still the cold snap lasted.

“Pennsylvania’s fuel shortage — particularly of natural gas — has assumed crisis proportions, and as a result, emergency conservation measures have been expanded and more stringent steps are under consideration,” The Scranton Times reported on Jan. 27, 1977. “Gov. (Milton) Shapp has closed all elementary and secondary schools … and curtailment of gas supplies to industries remains in effect indefinitely.”

The governor’s order came just hours after local students came back to school after a weeklong break caused when Pennsylvania Gas and Water Co. cut the schools’ natural gas supplies to cope with the dwindling supplies and continued cold weather.

Times Captured Photo Blog - Images from the Winter of 1977

The cutbacks helped. “As an example of the effect of PG&W’s curtailment of supplies to schools and industries, (PG&W spokesman) Mr. (Frank) Petrosky said the company’s ‘sendout’ — or total retail sales — was 116 million cubic feet for the 24 hours ending today at 8 a.m.,” according to the Jan. 27, 1977, Times article. “He said that contrasted with a peak sendout on Jan. 14 of 196 million cubic feet. On that date, Mr. Petrosky said, ‘everything was open, including schools and industries.’”

In addition, the governor ordered all state buildings to set thermostats to 62 degrees. Henry Kull, administrative officer at the state office building in Scranton, said about “95 percent or better” of the 450 state employees “are dressing accordingly and adjusting accordingly.”

Another article on that same date looked at other issues the cold was causing — namely, child care crises. “The on-and-off schedule of schools caused by frigid weather is creating problems for working parents,” the Jan. 27, 1977, article said.

Area social service agencies came to the rescue, the article continued, with the YWCA on Jefferson Avenue and Linden Street and the JCC in Scranton offering special day programs for kids. The YMCAs in Dunmore and Carbondale, however, were taking it day by day: Both facilities were heated with natural gas, and could be forced to close.

There was no immediate relief from the frigid weather. Lightning, thunder and strong winds ushered in another cold front that pushed the low for Jan. 29, 1977, to 15 below, according to newspaper articles.

The high that day was a mere 5 degrees.

As the cold snap continued, Lackawanna County officials began making plans for “mass care centers.”

“County Commissioner Charles Luger, who serves as director of the county civil defense program, said plans have been made with the local Red Cross chapter to provide shelters in the event people are forced out of their homes because of the lack of heat,” stated a Jan. 29, 1977, Scranton Times article.

The Scranton-Lackawanna Human Development Agency was running out of resources, too. The same article reported that the agency “assisted so many families in recent weeks that its budgeted money has been used up twice over” — most to pay for fuel deliveries or fuel bills in low income households.

The temperature on Jan. 30, 1977, shattered the record set 29 years earlier, according to a Scranton Times article. And temperatures were predicted to keep falling — a low of 10 below was expected for New Year’s Eve, 1977.

Local history blog - New York City Blackouts of 1977 and 1965

Even so, schools around the region were back in session by the beginning of February. Mr. Shapp ordered schools not heated with natural gas to reopen Feb. 1. That meant, however, that several Scranton schools remained closed — Whittier, Sumner, Morris, Jefferson, Longfellow, Stowe, Prescott, Armstrong and Audubon, according to a Jan. 31, 1977, Scranton Times article.

Three Abington Heights schools heated by natural gas were given the go-ahead to open Feb. 1, according to Superintendent William A. Valentine. But gas-heated schools in Dunmore, Lackawanna Trail and Riverside remained closed, as were several Catholic schools.

But even those schools got back in session by Feb. 3, after PG&W gave the go-ahead, according to a Feb. 2, 1977, Scranton Times article. The gas company “made the decision to reopen the schools after the Public Utilities Commission decreed … it was leaving the matter up to the discretion of local gas utilities,” that article reported. “The order is one which is welcomed by PG&W. The local gas company has been contending for several days … that it had sufficient supplies to heat all schools in its service area.”

By mid-February, the temperatures began to climb. A Feb. 11, 1977, Scranton Times article reported, “The weather forecast for the period through Thursday calls for spring-like conditions which should diminish the amount of natural gas being demanded by local homes and industries.”

ERIN L. NISSLEY is an assistant metro editor at The Times-Tribune and has lived in the area for eight years.

Contact the writer:

localhistory@timesshamrock.com

The C.S. Woolworth mansion — a piece of retail history, a hunk of masonry and a real fixer-upper in Scranton — is on the market for, well, a bargain.

The nearly 8,000-square-foot home, built in 1910, and its three-story carriage house accessible by an underground tunnel at 520 Jefferson Ave. can be had for $295,000.

A neighboring piece of property — with a level yard suitable for croquet connected by a marble stairway to a patio taken right from the pages of Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice” — is also available for an additional $150,000.

Funded by burgeoning discounter Charles Sumner Woolworth’s fraction-of-a-cent margins a century ago, the historically significant home of the cofounder of the Woolworth retail behemoth looks for a new life, new use and lots of work.

While the majority of the of the home is bare-wood floors, bathrooms gutted to subway tiling, peeling paint and exposed plaster lathe, a few first-floor rooms boast intact cornice moldings, fireplaces and solid hardwood paneling.

Real estate agent Wayne Evans has shown the property about 20 times in the two months of its listing. This part of the Hill Section allows commercial uses, and the most popular use from prospective buyers is as event space, he said. Some have been interested in using it as a private residence, he said. One interested buyer was looking for a location for a school. He declined to identify the browsers, noting that interest, so far, is preliminary.

Event space would take advantage of the unique nature of the property, Mr. Evans said.

“Some people have said they can get this up and running for $200,000, others said it needs at least $1 million,” he said. “For event space, you really only need to do the first floor. Ideally, any owner would recognize the significance of the home and preserve it.”

Unique property

Some points of curiosity include: a breakfast room enclosed by leaded glass; an elevator shaft in need of an elevator; and an upstairs safe built into the brick wall, compromised by someone who removed the bricks to tear the safe open from above. On the second floor some original walls were removed to create larger, more versatile spaces. The Lackawanna Institute, a think tank created by businessman and developer Paul Mansour, who many credit with the revitalization of East Scranton and portion of the Hill Section, owns the building. In recent history, it was owned by the Diocese of Scranton and the Scranton Counseling Center, Some work had started, including new roughed-in electrical and natural gas forced hot air.

Interior walls are solid — either poured concrete, stone or brick.

The observant may see similarities between the home and the Lackawanna Station, now Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel, which was designed by architect Lansing Holden, whose work reflected the ornate Beaux Arts style.

“It is an excellent example of that style, which is very formal and academic,” said Rich Leonori, Scranton-based architect and past chairman of the state historical and museum commission preservation board. “Scranton has a lot of grand homes and this was a residence of a first order.”

The house sits sideways on Jefferson Avenue. The building once had a half-circle driveway around the home, receiving guests on the south side and plush gardens, Mr. Leonori said. That dramatic entrance was crimped long ago by the former Catholic Youth Center, now part of Lackawanna College.

Making the Woolworth mansion a home would be a challenge, Mr. Leonori said, since what people expect from a home has changed so much in the last century. However, he thinks the building would make stately offices, educational space or a fine entertainment or artistic venue.

There is another Woolworth mansion. Mr. Woolworth’s brother Frank Winfield Woolworth built a palace in Glen Cove, New York, with walls and pillars of solid marble at a cost of $9 million, the equivalent of about $200 million today. F.W. Woolworth famously had his likeness rendered on cherubs in the home molding. His house is featured in Taylor Swift’s “Black Space” music video.

Farm boys

While viewed as a son of the Electric City, C.S. Woolworth, and his brother F.W. were born and raised on upstate New York farms. The brothers peddled huckleberries as youngsters then, as young men, worked at a general store in Watertown, New York before ambition prompted F.W. Woolworth to strike out on his own.

After a false start with a failed store in Utica, New York, F.W. Woolworth went to Lancaster and opened a five cent store in 1879, and it was a success. He sent his brother to join him and they worked on stores in Harrisburg and York, which for various reasons did not work out.

Looking for a new town to conquer, F.W. Woolworth sent his brother to Scranton.

C.S. Woolworth never left, opening stores in Scranton, Carbondale, Pittston and other locations in Pennsylvania, New York and other states.

Contact the writer: dfalchek@timesshamrock.com

When the sun sets tonight, the Hebrew year 5776 will begin and Jewish people throughout Northeast Pennsylvania and beyond will observe the holiday with family, traditional foods and thoughts of a sweet new year.

The holiday’s name, Rosh Hashana, comes from Hebrew words meaning “head” and “year,” said Rabbi Benny Rapoport of the Jewish Discovery Center in Clarks Summit.

“Like the head controls the entire body, this is the day that sets the tone for the entire year,” he said.

Sisters Samantha and Nora Seeherman of Laflin said they celebrate the holiday with family members from out of town and eat the traditional holiday foods, including apples and honey, round challah and grape juice. Apples and honey indicate the idea of a sweet new year. The round challah symbolizes a crown to indicate God is king of the Jewish people.

The girls recognize the holiday as more than just food.

“(You’re) starting fresh,” said Nora, 10.

“And you’re doing your forgiveness, and you’re getting your days to say you’re sorry to people,” said Samantha, 12.

Though everything that comes from God is good, even hardship, eating sweet foods to welcome the new year symbolizes a request for what is obviously good, Rabbi Rapoport said.

“When you put honey on your tongue, no one has to explain to you how it is sweet,” he said.

Many Jewish holidays rely on an iconic symbol, such as the Hanukkah menorah or Passover Seder plate. For Rosh Hashana, that symbol is the shofar, or ram’s horn.

In ancient Israel, the horn’s blast heralded a new king, Rabbi Rapoport said.

It also reminds Jews of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac, at God’s command. After witnessing Abraham’s faith, God stayed his hand and provided a ram in Isaac’s place.

In honor of the holiday, the JCC of Northeast Pennsylvania joined with local synagogues to hold a shofar-blowing class for children at Temple Israel’s school building in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday afternoon.

Rabbi Zvi Perlman of the Congregation Bais Tzvi Yosef in Kingston taught the students three different notes to blow on the shofar: tekiah, one long blast; shevarim, three shorter blasts; and teruah, nine staccato blasts.

“The call of the shofar, it’s not beautiful,” Rabbi Rapoport said. “It’s very raw because when you’re expressing the deepest part of you, you’re not speaking beautiful poetry, you’re crying.”

The sound signals the beginning of the 10 days between the new year and Yom Kippur, when people reflect and repent for any wrongdoings. At the end of Yom Kippur, the shofar is blown again.

“When you go to a post office, you mail a letter,” Rabbi Perlman explained. “Rosh Hashana is the day the letter is written, and Yom Kippur the day the letter is sealed.”

Unlike the secular New Year — a time to get all the partying out of one’s system before resolutions take effect — Jews see Rosh Hashana as a time for praising God and accepting life as it is, he said.

“In reality, Rosh Hashana is not a day to make resolutions but a day to accept the world as it used to be and return back to basics,” he said. “People feel like it is a time to party, but really every occasion is a festive occasion, every day is a festive day. Every day we open up our eyes and say, ‘Thank God I’m alive,’ that’s a festive day. In (the) Jewish world, celebration is really connecting with one another, with family and friends, and accepting people for what they are.”

Contact the writers: cjacobson@citizensvoice.com, bgibbons@timesshamrock.com

Facts about Rosh Hashanah:

n Rosh Hashanah is the holiest and one of the most important holidays in the Jewish calendar.

n Rosh Hashanah literally translates to “head of the year.”

n The holiday falls on the sixth day of the creation of the world, when the Torah says the first humans walked the earth.

n Hallah is eaten often in Jewish festivities, but on Rosh Hashanah the loaf is round, symbolizing a crown to indicate God is king of the Jewish people.

n Rosh Hashanah is a two-day holiday. Like all Jewish holidays, it begins the night before at sundown.

n The Jewish year has not one, but several “new years.” Rosh Hashanah is the birthday of the world and the true new year. Passover celebrates the day the Jewish people were freed from Egypt and the Torah names that the new year. Tu B’Shevat is the new year of the trees.

Source: history.com

PLAINS TWP. — A dachshund named Nathan won the first wiener dog race on Saturday at PA Oktoberfest, a three-day festival at Mohegan Sun Pocono casino and racetrack.

Nathan ran the race in costume, like many of his canine competitors — in his case, a fitted wiener dog-sized tuxedo vest. He had no comment immediately after his victory; he nuzzled his nose toward a sprawling picnic tent, which provided shelter from the drizzle that started just before his victorious scamper down the five-wide dog track set up just outside the casino.

Nathan’s owner, Angela O’Toole of Staten Island, New York, picked up Nathan and held him proudly as he crossed the finish line, ahead of competitors Hank, Rudy and Salty. She was happy to see the 4-year-old improve on his second-place finish from last year’s wiener dog races, she said, as she posed for photos with friends and the winning trophy. Nathan sniffed the damp air, in silence.

The mood among the dog owners just before the races began was cheery, even as skies grew grayer.

Maria and Ed Van Haute of Towanda planned to entice their 2-year-old dachshund, Oskar, with kielbasa as they crouched near the finish line. Oskar, in his third wiener dog race after starting as a puppy, “had a good time meeting all the other dogs” the past two years, Ms. Van Haute said.

When asked to detail Oskar’s training regimen, she replied: “We took a long walk yesterday.”

Humans also raced at PA Oktoberfest.

The Lederhosen 5K race ended just before the dogs took to the track. Some of the participants ran in Bavarian costume, as the course wended through the casino parking lot — where security guards directed traffic and kept runners well clear of vehicles — into nearby wooded trails.

As the race winners accepted cheers at the awards ceremony, best friends Mendy McGowan and Jennifer Vogel sat at the other end of the tent and spoke about their first 5K adventure together.

The women decided to take part in the race “because it sounded like fun,” said Ms. McGowan, of Exeter.

The race course was steeper than they expected, with rocks and sticks to navigate along the trail, Ms. McGowan said.

That just added to the fun, the women said.

“We’ll definitely do it again,” said Ms. Vogel, of West Pittston.

The Kline family of Dallas finally got a chance to attend PA Oktoberfest after several years of being forced to miss it because of work commitments.

“We wanted to come here for years; it’s really nice,” said Ellie Kline, as her parents, Madeline and Noel, compared PA Oktoberfest — which features food and beer vendors, music, entertainment and activities — to other events they shared in their 50 years together.

They endorsed the food and especially the drink.

Madeline Kline smiled as she glanced at her half-empty mug.

“This is not my father’s root beer,” she said.

Oktoberfest concludes today. It runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with live entertainment scheduled throughout the day. For more information, see: http://the570.com/pa-oktoberfest/.

Contact the writer:

emark@citizensvoice.com

Just as the burning bush reignited a spark of faith in Moses, the women of the Bethel AME Church in Scranton hoped to achieve a similar goal with its first Fresh Fire Women’s Empowerment Conference this weekend.

“Right now, we’re hungry for God,” said Tamiko Glass-Bailey, an organizer of the conference and the first lady of Bethel AME as the wife of the church’s pastor, the Rev. Tawan Bailey. “With so much going on in the world, people need to hear a word from God, to know that we can make it and it’s going to be all right.”

The conference, which featured a gospel concert Friday and a luncheon and talk from the Rev. Tameaka Reid Sims on Saturday, was intended to encourage women to come and get “an anointing, a refreshing” in their worship of God.

In the Scranton church’s basement Saturday, the Rev. Sims, of Bethel AME Church in Harrisburg, addressed a mostly female crowd of about 50, using the story of Moses as a metaphor for their own lives.

Her words echoed off the walls and ceiling and filled the small room with warm sound.

Bad decisions took Moses from “the palatial estate of pharaoh to shoveling sheep,” the reverend said, but God regained mortal man’s attention with the burning bush and helped him right himself.

The Fresh Fire Women’s Empowerment Conference will conclude today with a final service at 3 p.m. at the Bethel AME Church in Scranton. All are invited.

Contact the writer:

pcameron@timesshamrock.com,

@pcameronTT on Twitter

Auto insurance companies are always offering some kind of discount.

One company won’t raise your rates after a crash. Another will reward you for a clean driving record. And another company offers to tailor your rates to your driving habits.

Metromile launched last month per-mile auto insurance coverage in Pennsylvania, which the company says is the third-most expensive state nationwide for auto insurance.

The company has developed the insurance coverage so that low-mileage drivers are not subsidizing high-mileage drivers, Metromile CEO Dan Preston said.

“It’s more fair,” he said. “We found, in our recent survey, that more than 60 percent of Pennsylvania drivers drive less than 20 miles per day, and are considered low-mileage drivers who drive less than 10,000 miles per year. Our survey also showed nearly 48 percent of Pennsylvania residents drive less than 10 miles per day.”

Metromile said researchers analyzed 191,699 trips from 384 Metromile customers:

■ On average, they found a 6 percent decrease in driving after they switched to per-mile car insurance.

■ Overall, 54 percent of test-drivers drove less after switching to pay-per-mile insurance.

■ Looking at users who drove more than 20 miles per day, more than 80 percent drove less after switching.

With 253 million cars on the road in the U.S., if people drove six percent less:

■ We could save $6 billion on road maintenance and $26 billion in accident-related costs.

■ There would be 60 million metric tons less of CO2 emissions.

■ There would be 150 billion fewer miles driven.

Metromile tracks the number of miles a driver travels with a gadget that connects to the driver’s on-board diagnostic port and wirelessly obtains and transmits data to the Metromile driving app, which can attach to your smartphone. From the app, drivers can then access insights to personalized driving trends and diagnostics. Progressive Insurance’s Snap Shot program also offers a device to attach to your vehicle that notes the distance, time of day and how you drive.

Every insurance company offers similar discounts in different ways, said Brian Earley, a partner in the Earley-Polli Agency in Conyngham, a broker who represents several different companies. Mr. Earley said the per-mile approach is Metromile’s way.

“With any insurance company, there are rating factors tied to your driving history that determine your rates,” he said.

Residents in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas could benefit most from the per-mile idea, he said. Mr. Preston agreed.

“Drivers in the big cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have access to a wide variety of public transportation in addition to bike-friendly commute options,” he said. “Ultimately, those Pennsylvanians who own cars they rarely drive are overpaying for auto insurance.”

Pennsylvania marks the second state on the East Coast to offer Metromile’s per-mile insurance. Founded in San Francisco four years ago, it was launched in Oregon. It is also found in California, Illinois, Washington and Virginia.

Contact the writer:

jdino@standardspeaker.com

HANOVER TWP. — Bridon American has gone to great lengths to conserve energy and save money to remain competitive as a manufacturer in Pennsylvania.

The wire rope manufacturer in the Hanover Industrial Estates has completed a massive energy-efficiency project and earned the largest rebate check to date — $100,000 — from UGI’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program.

The funds will be used toward the $269,000 the company spent for energy-efficiency improvements, said Chris Dugan, president of the Americas at Bridon International.

Contractor SmartWatt Energy Inc. of Moosic installed Bridon American’s equipment, which includes a new temperature control system that shuts down air-conditioning or heat at night and brings it back on an hour before employees arrive. Drives were put on machine motors to make them operate more efficiently and additional efficiency improvements were made to the cooling tower.

The project is expected to save Bridon American more than 835,000 kilowatts of electric usage annually and $85,000 to $90,000 a year, Mr. Dugan said.

“There’s a benefit to us every year for not paying for that energy,” he said. “Every year, we start off the year by seeing what we can do to control our costs.”

In addition to the UGI program, Mr. Dugan said Bridon subscribes to a Demand Response program which rewards the company for agreeing to shut down the plant on days in which electricity demand is extremely high.

“You really have to be relentless about your costs when you’re trying to manufacture in Pennsylvania because we’re competing with people from Korea, India and China and we want to keep manufacturing here,” Mr. Dugan said.

UGI Utilities president and CEO Robert Beard commended Bridon officials for the investment made to their facility.

“Installation of innovative, energy efficiency technology is critical to the continued economic success of this region’s business and its residents,” he said. “This is an excellent investment not only for Bridon, but in the future of this community as well.”

UGI’s program is designed to achieve lower electric use and lower overall energy costs for customers, UGI spokesman Joseph Swope said. The program also includes customer rebates for fuel switching from electric to natural gas for residential space heating, water heating and clothes drying and a recycling program for older refrigerators and freezers.

Mr. Swope said Bridon’s system is impressive “because unlike some of the projects that we’ve seen, it’s really a whole plant project that encompasses energy-efficiency at every level.”

“The impressive part of Bridon’s project is that it is really designed to enhance and encourage long-term commitment to the area in terms of economic growth and in terms of keeping, maintaining and even growing jobs in the future,” Mr. Swope said.

Bridon American manufactures and sells wire and wire rope for crane, mining and oil and gas applications in North and South America. It employs about 300 workers in the U.S., Canada and Brazil and most are in Northeast Pennsylvania. Bridon also has a facility in Exeter.

Contact the writer: dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com