Missing statue found
By Patrick Sweet day. Once police arrived, they
Staff Writer
WILKES-BARRE — A con-
crete statue of a Marine, stolen
from a Larksville home, was
found near the Virgin Mary.
The statue disappeared
from Florena Sorokas’ front
yard early Saturday morn-
ing, leaving her in tears.
The Marine was a gift from
her two grandsons, both serv-
ing in the Marine Corps, just
before they deployed to
Afghanistan. It stood in her
front yard for six years.
A day after it went missing,
though, a man found the stat-
ue after recognizing it from a
story in The Sunday Voice.
The statue was standing on
the walkway leading to the
front porch of Anthony
Morales’ home and a statue of
the Virgin Mary belonging to
Morales’ landlord. One of
Morales’ neighbors saw the
statueand,afterfailingtoreach
Larksville and Wilkes-Barre
police, tracked down Sorokas.
“He called me up and said,
‘I’m looking at your statue.
It’s in my neighbor’s yard,’”
Sorokas said.
The neighbor who called,
Sorokas said, went and psweet@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2117 installed after the waters receded. And the new River Com-
grabbed the Marine from the
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verified the statue belonged
to Sorokas and the Marine
was on his way home.
How the statue traveled the
more than 4 miles between
FROM THE BOOK ‘WRATH OF AGNES’ SUSAN KOOMAR / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
each home, though, is a mys-
Pilings mark the water level where the Susque-
tery to Morales. “I didn’t A car drives along the street next to a new levee
hanna River topped levees on June 23, 1972 dur-
know if the landlord put it wall constructed in South Wilkes-Barre after the
ing the Agnes Flood on June 23, 1972, and eventu-
there or if it was a prank,” 1972 flood. The reconstructed levees were built
ally broke through to swamp South Wilkes-Barre.
Morales said of when he first higher to prevent future flooding.
saw it out front of his home.
After a night of drinking
with his friends, Morales said
he saw the Marine when he
returned from work Saturday
evening. Morales said a lot of
his friends like to pull pranks
and this could have been one
that went a little too far.
“I asked one of them, and
he said he didn’t know any-
thing about it,” Morales said. SUSAN KOOMAR / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
He and his friends were drink- FROM THE BOOK ‘WRATH OF AGNES’ A surviving building on Charles Street from the
ing in the Larksville area the
Damage on Charles Street in Wilkes-Barre is Agnes Flood in 1972 still stands today. Several
night the statue was stolen.
seen near the spot where a swollen Susquehan- of the homes destroyed by the floodwaters were
Sorokas is thrilled to have
na River burst through a levee. replaced with the Charles Street Park.
the Marine back. It wasn’t
Tour commemorates Agnes Flood
damaged during its journey, mon is touted as a lavish new public park, but it also comes
she said, but Sorokas sent it with a new levee system intended to ward off rising tides.
to a shop to get cleaned up On Wednesday, the 38th anniversary of the flood, Wilkes-
The memory of the Agnes Flood in 1972 lingers like a ghost
before she has it cemented to Barre Mayor Tom Leighton will lead a walking tour of neigh-
its original spot. around Wilkes-Barre. Along Charles Street, one home borhoods in the south section of the city along the levee to
remains from the many crushed in a deluge of water when a
“I’m glad I got the same Barney Farms. The tour will start at 6 p.m. in the lobby of
levee gave way 38 years ago. On Public Square, the paving
one back,” Sorokas said. the Wilkes-Barre YMCA, located at 40 Northampton St. The
stones being torn to make way for a new street escape were 2-mile walk is expected to last for the duration of 90 minutes
or more.
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