11/17/2002
City Ordinances Updated and are to be placed on computer disc
Nanticoke City ordinances enacted since the 1920s have been undergoing an updating process for the last 2 years.
When the updating is completed the ordinances will become known as the Nanticoke City Code.
The new code will also be filed on compact disc for easy access.
In addition to codifying ordinances pertinent resolutions will be updated
The code will be divided into 27 chapters, with parts, sections, and subsections within each chapter. It will also have an appendix title with enactment's of a one-time or historical nature.
When the CD is available we will put all of the ordinances on this web site.

9/30/02
2 Businessmen Came To Nanticoke's Aid
The purpose of this letter is twofold. First, as a report to the residents of the city of Nanticoke regarding emergency communications in the city, and second, as a few words of thanks to local business leaders who made it possible.
Mr. Joseph Reilly, of Reilly Plating Co., Nanticoke, recently donated a 16 channel programmable Motorola repeater for the Nanticoke Fire Department radio system. Mr. Robert Luksh, of Luksh Electric, did considerable work in its installation. This system and equipment will be used by members of the fire department to communicate between the fire command officers who are positioned outside of the building and the firefighters who are inside of the structure. This is a great safety feature as it enables the firefighters to monitor all base and individual communications at fire scenes. The installation of the fire department repeater system completes a rebuilding of the city's emergency communications network. This network is a "state-of-the-art" system that allows intercommunication between not only the city's police, fire, and emergency management personnel, but also includes the city's department of public works. In addition, 'we also have radio communications capabilities with the Greater Nanticoke Area School District, which further tends to the safety and security of those students.
The importance of this type of system was recently demonstrated during the train derailment in neighboring Newport Township, access to which was gained through a staging area in Nanticoke city. Emergency responders were at times unable to communicate with each other from the scene of the derailment to the staging area due to the rough terrain in the area. A portable radio system had to be stationed at the derailment site to provide this essential communication. With the new repeater system this will no longer be a problem.
I wish to thank Mr. Joseph Reilly and Mr. Robert Luksh for their interest in the city of Nanticoke and the safety of its citizens.
Chester J. Zaremba
Chief of Police
Emergency Communications Coordinator for the City of Nanticoke

9/7/2002
Park needs more police patrols, businessman tells Nanticoke council
Business owner Kevin Czekalski approached council Wednesday night with several complaints regarding vandalism and noise in Patriot Square Park.
His business, Plains Bike South, is located across from the park on South Market Street. Czekalski was concerned with the amount of juveniles who populate the area and said their vulgar language is offensive to his customers.
"If you have three police officers working during the day shift, move one into the night shift then you have three on at night," Czekalski said.
In efforts to help renovate the appearances of Patriot Square Park, four trees were recently purchased, and there was discussion of renovating the monument, said acting Mayor Yvonne Bozinski.
Despite these efforts, vandals recently knocked one of the trees down and spray painted the monument, she said. A reward is being offered for the capture and conviction of the people responsible. The amount has not yet been reached and donations are still being made toward the final amount of that reward.
[Please Click HERE to leave information on the above]
"I want this to send the message that we will not tolerate this anymore in Nanticoke," Bozinski said.

In other news:
Bozinski discussed the cost of refuse collection. A bid for a new contract will soon be put out because the current contract is up. Increased fees for dumping are raising the city's costs.
The cost of handicap signs for parking are expected to increase. The cost now is $75 to anyone applying for the sign, but it costs the city $92 to erect a sign. It is a possibility that there will be an annual renewal fee charged to determine what signs in the city aren't being utilized, Bozinski said.
Kimberly James from Times Leader

8/17/2002
Nanticoke Zoners Give Preliminary Approval To Personal Care Facility
Nanticoke Zoning Hearing Board's approval Thursday of the first phase of a construction project and conditional approval of the project's second phase clears the way for Senior Health Care Properties, Wilkes-Barre, to begin construction in November of an $8 million, 66-bed personal care facility and a 63-unit senior independent living facility
The dual-purpose complex, as described by project engineer Russell Bilby of Design Consultants, West Wyoming, will be located on 12.75 acres at the northeast end of Kosciuszko Street.
For purposes of comparison, Lexington Village, the facility's name, according to Senior Health Executive Vice President
Michael Ortolani, "will be similar in style to Wesley Village (Pittston) or the Sisters of Mercy facility in Dallas." During questioning following the hearing, Ortolani said that once construction is completed, expected sometime in early spring or fall 2003, the facility would be operated and managed by Hallmark Properties, Pittsburgh, a health facilities management company
"We also expect that between 35 and 45 jobs will be created for the personal care portion of Lexington Village and some additional jobs to help service the senior independent living cottages," added Ortolani. Plans, designed by architect Robert Lack of Allied Engineering, Dallas, show each of 63 cottages as featuring a living room, bedroom, eating area, bathroom, porch, a garage and driveway
Ortolani said each cottage would be approximately 850 square feet.
"The personal care portion of Lexington Village will focus about 50 percent of its attention to assisting residents who suffer with Alzheimer's disease," said Ortolani.
Phase two of the project, the senior independent cottages phase, must still receive final approval from Nanticoke Planning Commission, which has gave conditional approval contingent upon the zoning board's approval for a special exception and variance for the project.
Bilby said phase one, the personal care facility, has received final approval of the planning commission and the zoning board.

8/8/2002
Times Leader
Man, Business Get Kudos For Clean Lots
A city resident and business were acknowledged for the upkeep of their properties at Wednesday night's City Council meeting.
Theresa Sowa of the recently formed Civic Pride Committee presented an award certificate to a Michael Sinco, 92, of Green Street and Bartuska's Furniture on Main Street.
"Michael Sinco has a small property, but works very hard to keep it neat. I hope he sets an example," Sowa said. She hopes that awarding these certificates will motivate others to take pride in their properties and the city.
Acting Mayor Yvonne Bozinski said city inspectors are looking at deteriorating properties and will take legal action against owners if necessary.
In other news, council passed an ordinance officially allowing Hanover Township's Fire Department to assist on calls in Nanticoke and vice versa.
Hanover Township Fire Chief Stanley Browski was present to thank council.
"We've been assisting Nanticoke for years, but this agreement will clear up any gray areas. My men and women in Hanover are here for you if you call, and I know Nanticoke will do the same. This is a good day for both communities."

8/2/2002
Towns scramble as dump fees soar
Landfill fees have tripled, putting a squeeze on area towns' trash pickup services and threatening
higher costs to residents.
Nanticoke residents won't be able to place rusty washing machines and busted televisions on the curb every Friday.
Edwardsville residents who use private haulers are paying more for trash collection. Those who use the borough's refuse service won't see their rates jump this year, but their reprieve isn't likely to last long.
The same is true in Pittston, where residents pay $120 a year to have three bags of trash, their recyclables and yard clippings taken away every week.
Higher rates and cuts in services come as a response to higher tipping fees charged to waste haulers at Pennsylvania landfills.
Tipping fees tripled on July 8 to $6 per ton - a blow to area municipalities struggling to stay out of the red.
"It's devastating to us, especially because it came in the middle of the year," said Nanticoke Administrator Richard Muessig. "If the state had given us six months, that would have made it a little easier because we could have budgeted for it, but this just came out of the blue."
The $4 per ton hike is part of a compromise reached early in July when Governor Mark Schweiker and lawmakers finalized the state's budget.
Tipping fees are expected to generate $94 million to help offset the state's $1.3 billion budget deficit. This year, $50 million from the increased fees will be used to support Growing Greener, a grant program funding a variety of environmental projects.
Muessig estimates the higher tipping fees will cost Nanticoke between $20,000 and $30,000 over the next five months. As a result, the cash-strapped city, which contracts with Apex Waste Services for trash collection and Waste Reduction and Recycling for recycling pickup, has begun cutting refuse services.
"I think we're the only municipality in the area that provided big item pickup on a weekly basis anyway," said Councilwoman Yvonne Bozinski. "In most towns, they do that once a year."
Residents will be able to put one large item out twice more this year, and the service will likely be scaled back further in 2003. And there might be other changes.
"We're going to have to take a close look at what services we do provide and decide what we can afford in the future," said Muessig.
In Edwardsville, officials are in the process reevaluating the borough's refuse services while at the same time bracing for an influx of new customers.
Until last month when the higher tipping fees went into effect, about half of the borough's residents relied on a private hauler to collect their trash. When the hauler raised its rates to compensate for the new expenses, many residents switched to the borough's refuse service, which charges $1.50 per 30-pound bag.
"I think we'll see a lot more people switching in the next couple of months," said borough Administrator Kristen Kanaske. "And that's bad for us right now, because the more we dump the more we pay."
Kanaske said there are no plans to increase the price of trash bags through this year, but next year the borough may be forced to ask residents to share a bigger part of the cost.
"It's hard because the refuse budget starts at zero and ends at zero - and with our aging equipment we don't have a lot of wiggle room."
Residents of Nanticoke can expect trash to be picked up as usual, but the city's weekly big-item pickup has been scrapped as a result of higher tipping fees at the state's landfills. Similar cuts in services and increased trash collection fees are being considered by other municipalities forced to recoup thousands of dollars in new charges

6/7/2002

A Nanticoke native and New York firefighter who died in the line of duty Sept. 11 were remembered at the unveiling of the "Heroes of 2001" stamp Friday at the Nanticoke post office. The U.S. Postal Service ceremony honored Michael Carlo, 35, who was in the south tower of the World Trade Center when it collapsed. Carlo and five other members of Engine Co. 230 in Brooklyn were killed. Michael's brother, Robert Carlo, also a New York firefighter, survived. Their mother, Phyllis Carlo, clutched a single red rose throughout the ceremony. "I'm sure he's smiling right now. He would love all the attention," she said, wearing a T-shirt with an American flag encircled by the names of the six firefighters lost from Engine Co. 230. She also accepted a stamp plaque in memory of Michael. "It's a beautiful stamp," Carlo said. The 45-cent stamp is sold at higher than first-class rates and depicts the famous photograph of three New York firefighters raising the flag amid the destruction at ground zero. For each stamp purchased, the postal service will give 11 cents to the Federal Emergency Management Agency Charity to benefit the families of emergency personnel or those permanently disabled in the line of duty on Sept. 11, said Postmaster Joe Vernoski. The first-class stamp is available at all post offices, he said. This is the second postage stamp used for charity, Vernoski said. The Breast Cancer Research stamp project raised more than $20 million in two years, he said. Vernoski presented "Heroes" plaques to a representative of U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, state Rep. John Yudichak, D-Nanticoke, and WBRE TV-Channel 28 anchorman Keith Martin, all speakers at the ceremony. "It's a small token to those who lost loved ones in the attacks," Yudichak said. "It's never going to be enough. But because we have that local connection, it's important for Northeast Pennsylvania to recognize and remember those who put their lives on the line." The Nanticoke police and fire departments also received plaques. Engine Co. 230 in Brooklyn will receive a plaque honoring their lost firefighters. Kim Smith of Wilkes-Barre purchased full sheets of the new stamp to frame as gifts for her godchildren, she said. "I thought (the ceremony) was very touching," Smith said. "It shows that heroism does exist nowadays."

Poppy Month
Nanticoke Mayor John Toole has designated May as Poppy Month. Ed Bieda, of Nanticoke American Legion Post 350, is chairman of the Poppy Sale and asks cooperation from the general public. The poppy is made by disabled veterans in various hospitals. By wearing one, you show honor, respect and admiration to those who have given so much of their lives for the sake of freedom and liberty of the United States of America.
Long known as the corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) because it flourishes as a weed in grain fields, the Flanders poppy as it is now usually called, grew profusely in the trenches and craters of the war zone. Artillery shells and shrapnel stirred up the earth and exposed the seeds to the light they needed to germinate.
This same poppy also flowers in Turkey in early spring - as it did in April 1915 when the ANZACs landed at Gallipoli. According to Australia’s official war historian C.E.W.Bean, a valley south of ANZAC beach got its name Poppy Valley “from the field of brilliant red poppies near its mouth”.
Whilst the red poppy is a symbol of modern times, legend has it that the poppy goes back to the time of the Mogul leader, Genghis Khan, as the flower associated with human sacrifice. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Mogul Emperor led his warrior hordes on campaigns south to India, and west to envelop Russia as far as the shores of the Black Sea. The policy adopted by the armies of Genghis Khan was simple and effective. They would isolate their enemies, surround and completely annihilate them. The legend states that on the battlefields that were literally drenched with blood, white poppies grew in vast profusion.
The modern story of the poppy is, of course, no legend. In the years immediately following World War 1, governments and the whole of society, had not accepted the responsibility for those incapacitated and bereft as a result of war. In Britain, unemployment accentuated the problem. Earl Haig, the British Commander-in-Chief, undertook the task of organizing the British Legion as a means of coping with the problems of hundreds and thousands of men who had served under him in battle.
In 1921, a group of widows of French ex-servicemen called on him at the British Legion Headquarters. They brought with them from France some poppies they had made, and suggested that they might be sold as a means of raising money to aid the distressed among those who were incapacitated as a result of the war. The first red poppies to come to Australia, in 1921, were made in France.
In Australia, single poppies are not usually worn on ANZAC Day - the poppy belongs to Remembrance Day, 11 November. However, wreaths of poppies are traditionally placed at memorials and honor boards on ANZAC Day.
The red Flanders’ poppy was first described as a flower of remembrance by Colonel John McCrae, who was Professor of Medicine at McGill University of Canada before World War One. Colonel McCrae had served as a gunner in the Boer War, but went to France in World War One as a medical Officer with the first Canadian Contingent

1/20/2002
The future is now: Large crowd turns out for supermarket's grand opening
Hailed as a major step toward the revitalization of downtown Nanticoke
By Rick Staron, Citizens' Voice Staff Writer

The act of grocery shopping took a step into the 21st century Saturday morning in Nanticoke, at the same time a major piece of the city's downtown revitalization puzzle fell into place, with the grand opening of the new Weis Market superstore.The 54,000 square-foot store, on the site of the former Mr. Z's which was closed last spring, drew thousands of shoppers from the city and surrounding communities. In fact, Weis officials opened the doors at approximately 8:45 a.m., earlier than the scheduled 9 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony because hundreds of shivering customers were already lined up waiting to get inside.Surveying the full parking lot, state Rep. John Yudichak seemed pleased with the situation, and credited the Weis corporation for its commitment to Nanticoke's downtown."They committed to the project and brought this first-class store into a first-class community," said Yudichak. "This ties directly into our other efforts at economic development in downtown Nanticoke."The next major step, according to Yudichak, is expanding the Kanjorski Center on Main Street in order to secure the jobs of approximately 300 Health Now employees and add as many as 100 new jobs."They want to expand there, but they don't have an extra inch of space right now, the building is at 100 percent capacity," Yudichak said. "So we're trying to get a 30,000 square-foot expansion and that has to be our number one priority now."The reason the expansion of the Kanjorski Building is pivotal, Yudichak explained, is that 400 permanent downtown jobs would make the area far more attractive to retail businesses. He said the idea is to attract corporations, which put people in the downtown, and retail establishments, which give those people places to shop.Yvonne Bozinski, a member of Nanticoke City Council, was shopping at the new Weis Market and agreed with Yudichak's assessment that the Kanjorski building expansion is the next step, and went a step further, pointing to the Market Street area as another focal point.She said that project will entail the demolition of as many as five buildings followed by new construction geared toward bringing jobs and commerce to the downtown. One option, according to Bozinski, is a building with store fronts at ground level and office spaces above.City council and the mayor's office, along with the Nanticoke Municipal Authority, Luzerne County officials, and Yudichak, are busy seeking funding for the Market Street project, according to both Bozinski and Yudichak.Bozinski made her comments Saturday as she was checking out her own items at the new Weis Market automated checkout self-scan system. The self-scan system, which allows customers to check themselves out of the store without having to wait for a cashier, has been a hit with customers in stores where it has been tried according to Weis director of public relations Dennis Curtin.Curtin pointed out the self-serve lanes as one of many innovations and improvements from the Mr. Z's supermarket the new Weis Market replaced.Other improvements include a greatly expanded deli; a bakery, and a full service seafood counter, as well as the addition of a pharmacy in the store."At a time when a lot of other companies are pulling up stakes, we've been around since 1912 investing in the community," said Curtin. "This has been a good area for us and we are looking to continue to grow here."

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