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269696
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 A
few months ago when
staff members gathered
to discuss themes, ideas
and potential stories for Profile,
the annual progress edition pub-
lished by The Times Leader, two
consistent topics defined the
conversation.
We were excited by many
businesses, institutions and
people involved with the In-
ternet, new media and integrated
technology. Times Leader staff
members shared many anecdotes
of people improving their work,
play and lives by using tech-
nology.
There were also many stories
shared about businesses that
continue to flourish in an old-
fashioned way. There were sto-
ries about craftsmen who create
products and provide services
without mobile apps, computers
or social media. Some continue
to use the most basic tools to
provide services that can’t be
made any other way.
That’s how
we arrived at
Profile 2011:
Bricks, Mortar
and More.
This edition
of our very
popular Profile publications
provides a look at our region
thriving at many levels.
From physicians to a shoe
repairman, from the colleges and
universities to a hair salon, there
are many stories to be told and,
for Profile, we pull out the stops.
Our entire staff is committed to
telling these stories and assem-
bling an exciting publication.
There’s the Meade family of
Forty Fort that uses a computer
and the Internet to chat with
grandchildren in South Korea.
The Assembly of God Church
in Wilkes-Barre uses computers
to create multimedia presenta-
tions to present to the congrega-
tion. And the Diocese of Scranton
uses a website to communicate
more efficiently with church
members.
Technology and the Internet
have transformed many busi-
nesses in the area, from restau-
rants to public transportation,
t-shirt printers to car sales.
There are some exceptions.
There’s Tony Bonczewski, who
repairs shoes with decades-old
machines and some hand tools.
And Don Rash who binds books
in the time honored, hands-on
method.
You will find all of these stories
– and many more – in the Profile
edition in your hands now. There
is a lot to read and enjoy. Let us
know what you think with an
e-mail to jbutkiewicz@time-
sleader.com. Or you can commu-
nicate the old-fashioned way by
sending a note to: Profile, The
Times Leader, 15 N. Main St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18711.
Joe Butkiewicz
Executive Editor/News

What kinds of inventions do you expect to see in the future?

“All utensils will be silver,
flying cars will make traffic
easier and we’ll wear
clothes that light up.”
Samera Chamberlain,
Larksville
“We’ll have one phone “Energy-efficient flying
for everything, TV, cars and walking-talking
music, our computer.” toys and pencils that don’t
have to be sharpened.”
Gavin Burke, Hanover
Troy Chackan, Shavertown
“I’d like robots that
will do anything like
make dinner, my bed
and shovel the snow.”
Connor Maloney, Dallas

“We’ll have robots to
clean the house, do the
laundry and they’ll fix
our cars. It will all be
voice-activated.”
Brett McDermott,
Plymouth
“Virtual reality pro- “Remote-controlled “How about virtual
jected video games appliances with touch classrooms in your
and cars that drive by screens and on de- house with walls cov-
GPS.” mand TV in cars.” ered in Smart boards
and all virtual toys?”
Michael Conlon, Lauren Senese, Pittston
Inkerman Denise Pinto, Laflin
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272224
11
 Emily Novak,
7, and her
grandparents
Annette and
Ed Meade —
along with dog
Esther Sweet
Pea — video
chat with the
Meades’
grandchildren
living in South
Korea.

By DOTTY MARTIN John, granddaughter Emily Novak who ate of Wyoming Valley West High School.
dmartin@timesleader.com lives locally and the family dog, Esther She and her husband, Dr. John Kim, met

A
ll the technology Annette
Meade needs is in a computer
that sits on the kitchen table in
her Forty Fort home.
Using an Apple computer and software
called iChat, Meade and her husband Ed
can “visit” with four of their five grand-
children who live in South Korea.
A typical Friday night in the Meade
house finds Ed and Annette, their son
Sweet Pea, huddled around a computer.
Once the connection is made, the visiting
begins.
On the other end of the world, 14 hours
ahead of Forty Fort time, the Kim children
– Moses, 4; Rebekah, 3; Judah, 21 months;
and Nathanael, 7 months – share stories
with Grandmom, Poppy and cousin Emi-
ly. The children’s mother, Dr. Elizabeth
Kim, is the Meades’ daughter and a gradu-
in medical school at Nova Southeastern
University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. John is
an Army medical officer while Elizabeth
is a family practice doctor.
The family has been in South Korea for
a year and expects to be there until July
2012 when John will be transferred back
to the States. The hope of the two doctors
See CONNECTION, Page 13

CONNECTION
Continued from Page 12
is to one day become medical mis-
sionaries.
During a recent Friday night visit,
7-year-old Emily wanted to know if
her cousin Rebekah had received
the birthday card she sent, but Re-
bekah was more interested in show-
ing off the bright blue ribbon in her
hair and her new doll. Her brothers,
Moses and Judah, were sword fight-
ing in the background while baby
Nathanael was content to just stare
into the computer screen.
While Elizabeth tried to calm the
children enough to carry on a con-
versation with her parents, Emily
wanted her cousins to see the new
dress she had picked out for Esther
and insisted that Poppy hold Esther
up to the computer so the others
could see her bright red garment.
“It’s wonderful to be able to see
them,” Annette said of her grand-
children whose images come across
crystal clear. “But it’s hard, too. I
want to go through the screen and
just eat them up.”
The computer allowed Grand-
mom and Poppy to see the boys’
Halloween costumes in October as
Moses was all too proud of his Spi-
derman outfit while Judah sported
Superman attire. It also gave the
Meades the opportunity to see Re-
bekah in her ballet dress. Emily has
seen Rebekah wearing clothes that
were once hers.
A retired elementary school
teacher, Annette traveled to Korea
in September to meet Nathanael.
BILL TARUTIS PHOTOS/
FOR THE TIMES LEADER
Emily Novak, 7, video
chats with her cousins
Judah, Rebekah and
Moses Kim who live in
South Korea using
Apple iChat on a laptop
computer from her
grandparents’
kitchen in
Forty Fort.
Although Nathanael was born in Ko-
rea, because the army base hospital
is on what is considered U.S. soil, he
is a United States citizen.
Annette recalls how much Moses
loved the stories she would tell and
will now ask her, when visiting via
computer, to tell him a story.
On flying alone to Korea, she
says, “It’s amazing what you’ll do for
your kids.”
On visiting via computer, Annette
insists she is not technology savvy
but has learned just enough to allow
her to share special moments with
her grandchildren.
“It thrills my heart when the
phone rings and I hear one of the
kids say, ‘Grandmom, we want to
see you.’ We talk and sing and do
whatever. Sometimes, we’re on the
computer with them for a half
hour.”
 S. JOHN WILKIN PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER

Len Krappa, owner of Avenue

Diner in Wyoming, talks
about his automated com-
puter ordering system with
waitress Kim Peck.

By MARY THERESE BIEBEL they wanted anything else – drink,

mbiebel@timesleader.com dessert, check – all they had to do was

P
ictures of Marilyn Monroe and
James Dean grace the walls at
The Avenue Diner in Wyoming
where, on a recent Thursday afternoon,
the sound system was playing “Sha-Na-
Na.”
But don’t let the décor or the 1950s
music fool you. This is a place where
customers routinely bring in the cou-
pons they’ve downloaded from the res-
taurant’s Facebook page.
“We have 4,400 friends,” said owner
Len Krappa. “It’s a good way to get the
word out about specials.”
A few miles away in Edwardsville,
John and Monica Argonis of Inkerman
were finishing their soup, salad and an
“excellent” gourmet burger at Ollie’s,
An American Restaurant. They knew if
press a tableside button and their serv-
er would appear.
“It’s convenient,” John Argonis said.
Throughout the region, many restau-
rants are keeping track of inventory on-
line and using computers to record
sales so they know precisely how pop-
ular the lobster-tail dinners were on Val-
entine’s Day weekend or how many
customers took advantage of a coupon
that offered, say, $5 off a $30 order.
“It’s taken away the tediousness of a
lot of paperwork,” said Krappa, who
has been delighted to find when servers
enter orders on computer terminals, it
reduces the possibility someone will
add up the prices incorrectly on a bill.
See DINERS, Page 15

DINERS
Continued from Page 14
“I love it,” server Kim Peck of Exe-
ter agreed. “It’s much easier.”
Through the restaurant’s Face-
book presence, Krappa said, custom-
ers have found an easy way to give
him feedback.
“They might say they liked the
breakfast special, or they might say
they think the night-time crowd (the
diner is open 24 hours on Friday and
Saturday) is too wild. It’s seems to be
easier for them to tell me when it’s
not face to face.”
A few weeks ago, Krappa said, a
long-time customer e-mailed him on
a Friday to tell him about an emer-
gency. She was having a party for 50
at her home the next day and the ca-
terer she hired had just backed out.
The Avenue Diner came to her res-
cue, without the need for old-fash-
ioned talking.
“We exchanged five or six e-
mails,” Krappa said. “I didn’t see her
until I delivered the food. Two or
three years ago, that wouldn’t have
happened.”
Acknowledging people who enjoy
testing their skills while they’re wait-
ing for their food, The Avenue Diner
has a few touch-screen gaming sys-
tems set up at two tables.
“They’re kind of a state-of-the-art
replacement for a pinball machine,”
Krappa said.
At dinner time on a recent Thurs-
day, no one was using the machines,
including Lou and Dorothy Palermo
of West Pittston, who concentrated
instead on their stuffed peppers and
complimentary glasses of wine.
“The food is really, really good,”
Dorothy said, explaining why she
and her husband of 50-plus years are
regular customers.
The Argonises, meanwhile, enjoy
their outings at Ollie’s and appre-
ciate such modern touches as the
server-summoning buttons.
“I’m gonna get one of these at
home, for me and my wife (to sum-
mon each other),” John said with a
laugh.
Owner Dave Tevet likes the but-
tons, too.
“The waitress doesn’t have to hov-
er and say ‘Anything else? Anything
John Argonis
shows how the
buzzers at
Ollie’s Restau-
rant in Ed-
wardsville can
be used to
summon a
server.
else?’ and the customers don’t have
to wave and call, ‘Garcon! Garcon!’ or
ask everyone, ‘Are you my wait-
ress?’” Tevet said.
The buzzers light up a board and
the hostess knows which server to
send to a table, where someone
might have just realized they need
ketchup or sour cream or a drink re-
fill.
The only time things go awry said
server Misty Donnelly of Kingston is
when customers have a small child
with them and don’t notice that the
child has commandeered the button.
“They tend to buzz it a lot. Then
the parents say, ‘Oh my,’ and take it
away.”
AIMEE DILGER/
THE TIMES LEADER
First Assembly of
God Pastor Jason
Gornicz prepares a
clip that will later By DEREK LEVARSE
be shown on the dlevarse@timesleader.com
O
church’s projector ne Sunday, it might be a video
screens. clip. Another Sunday, it could
be photos, artwork or Scripture.
The two screens in the front of First
Assembly of God Church each have a
corresponding projector, and there is
always something new for them to dis-
play.
Before services, the screens might
show announcements. During a ser-
mon, multimedia appears on the
screens, adding a visual element for
the congregation. A third projector
and screen in the back of the church
serve as a teleprompter for the pastor.
And for those who can’t attend, the
sermon is available for download as a
podcast on the church’s website.
There is a preconception that
churches of all beliefs are old-fash-
ioned and set in their ways. But many
of these institutions are evolving along
with technology, making use of the In-
ternet and digital platforms to help
spread their messages of faith.
Such is the case at First Assembly of
God on Stanton Street in Wilkes-Barre.
“We always say we want to minister
to people where they’re at,” said Jason
Gornicz, lead pastor at the church.
“This is one effective way to engage a
generation that has grown up on this.
… I can really see it making even more
of an impact as time goes on.”
Gornicz, 37, was born in Staten Is-
land, N.Y., and grew up in the Poconos.
He served at a church in that region
and at another in western Pennsylva-
See FAITH, Page 17
Diocese website a helpful tool
Editor’s note: This information
about how the Diocese of Scran-
ton uses technology has been
supplied by the Diocese.
T
he primary mission of
the Diocese of Scran-
ton is to bring the Gos-
pel message of Jesus Christ to
people living in the 11 counties
of northeastern and north cen-
tral Pennsylvania. Technology
helps the Diocese to do that in
a variety of ways.
Diocesan offices, schools,
institutions and parishes use
computers, the Internet and
the World Wide Web to pro-
vide information and commu-
nicate quickly and efficiently.
The Diocese began develop-
ing its central website,
www.dioceseofscranton.org,
about 11 years ago. At that
time, it contained basic infor-
mation and announcements.
The site was redesigned and
expanded in 2005. Over the
ensuing years, new features
were added. For example:
· Homilies and special mess-
ages from the Bishop are post-
ed. Announcements are post-
ed to keep people informed as
news occurs.
· Parishes and their Mass
schedules are listed on the
website.
· Each issue of The Catholic
Light, the Diocesan newspa-
per, is posted. Anyone inter-
ested can read the entire
newspaper, just as it appears
in print, on their computer –
at anytime from anywhere.
· The video of The Daily
Mass from St. Peter’s Cathe-
dral, which is broadcast live
Monday to Friday by the Dio-
cese’s Catholic Television Sta-
tion, CTV, is posted each after-
noon on the website. The vid-
eos from other special Masses
and services are posted
throughout the year. For those
who cannot attend or watch
live on CTV, videos enable
people to see these liturgies at
their convenience. On aver-
age, more than 200 people
watch the daily Mass online.
· Videos dealing with specif-
ic programs or issues are post-
ed as needed. For example,
Bishop Joseph Bambera re-
cently announced a plan for
Catholic schools. The video of
his announcement can be
viewed on the website.
· Contributions to the Dio-
cesan Annual Appeal can be
made online. Registration for
programs such as marriage
preparation seminars, Pasto-
ral Formation Institute cours-
es, Fatima Center retreats can
also be completed online.
· The Diocesan Directory, a
listing of all clergy, religious,
staff, parishes, offices and in-
stitutions, is no longer print-
ed. Instead, it is posted and
maintained on the website.
This not only saves money; it
is also more efficient since it is
updated constantly as changes
occur.
Over the past year, addition-
al websites have been devel-
oped to promote Vocations,
the Diocesan Annual Appeal
and the Fatima Retreat Cen-
ter. These are linked to and
complement the main Dioce-
san website.
The Diocesan website was
recently redesigned to offer a
more contemporary look and
user-friendly, interactive fea-
tures. The goal is to provide
easy access to information.
Content is being added daily
and enhancements are being
implemented to provide time-
ly and relevant information to
Catholics throughout the re-
gion.
Many parishes, schools and
other institutions also main-
tain their own websites.
Area Catholic schools are
using technology to serve stu-
dents, faculty and parents.
Computer labs have been
standard features in the
schools for a number of years.
Over the last four years, the
Diocese has installed SMART
Boards in many classrooms.
These are electronic white
boards that enable teachers to
provide a wealth of updated,
interactive content in a variety
of subject areas. A computer-
ized information system has
been implemented to help
schools manage their records.
Another system called EdLine
allows parents to go online
and check students’ test
scores, homework assign-
ments, grades and attendance
records.
FAITH
Continued from Page 16
nia before moving to Mountain Top and
relocating to Wilkes-Barre last February.
At those previous stops, Gornicz saw
the positive impact an updated, interac-
tive website can have on a church.
Beyond helping people find a place to
worship, the site provides links to affil-
iated charities, a calendar of events and
allows people to submit prayer requests.
Gornicz stressed that faith is the driv-
ing force behind the church, but added
that technology can be a useful tool to
help further it.
“All of it was set up before I got here.
So it was already an accepted thing (in
the congregation),” Gornicz said of the
website and projection screens. “There
has been very little negative feedback.
“When I did a series on The Tabernac-
le of Ancient Israel, we were able to
show pictures of it to help people who
had never seen it,” he continued. “I had
people say how cool it was to see the pic-
tures – that it was easier to learn about
that way. To me, it’s a positive thing.”
As technology continues to spread,
however, the challenge for church lead-
ers such as Gornicz will be to strike a
balance between reaching more people
while maintaining a personable atmo-
sphere.
“Some of these things are not only go-
ing to become commonplace throughout
America, but I believe it’s going to grow
even more so as the technology grows,”
Gornicz said. “I know some places that
almost have – you might call it a drive-in
service. People pull into the parking lot
and take in the service without leaving
their cars. I think that’s going a little too
far. You’re missing out on the fellowship.
“I think as technology grows, we’ll al-
so have some questions to wrestle with,”
he added. “The potential is there, and
it’s great. But as it grows, we have to sit
down and discuss how we’re going to im-
plement it and how we can best use it to
augment our ministries.”
That means keeping an open mind to
new ideas and methods.
Gornicz, for example, said he has had
conversations with people about creat-
ing a Facebook page for the church and
having video of sermons recorded and
posted to the Web, something the
church has done in the past.
“I’d be more than open to (social
media). I’d be open to using laptops in
Sunday School,” Gornicz said. “Hey, the
sky’s the limit, as far as I’m concerned.”
By TOM VENESKY
tvenesky@timesleader.com

H
ickory Run State Park is comprised of almost
16,000 acres of pristine woodlands, clear trout
streams and unique natural features. It’s a place
where one can go for a true wilderness experience.
And, like many of the parks managed by the state De-
partment of Conservation and Natural Resources, its users
are relying more and more on technology to enjoy one pop-
ular form of outdoor recreation.
Geocaching is a high-tech form of treasure hunting that
combines technology with outdoor recreation. The prem-
ise is simple – locate a hidden container, or geocache,
planted somewhere amid the vast acreages in many of
DCNR’s state parks and record the finding online.
But finding a geocache hidden in thousands of acres of
wilderness can be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
That’s where the technology comes in.
Geocaching seekers utilize GPS devices to guide them
to as close as a few hundred feet of the hidden treasure,
which is usually a small trinket placed inside a coffee can
or Tupperware container.
The activity has become so popular that several local
state parks offer courses on geocaching, complete with
hands-on GPS training.
“Every time we do an introductory geocaching course,
we get more and more people,” said Diane Madl, an
environmental education specialist supervisor for
DCNR’s Nescopeck State Park/Hickory Run State
Park Complex. “We’ve done the GPS component for
hunters and adapted it to school groups, where we let PETE G. WILCOX PHOTOS/ THE TIMES LEADER

them take a GPS unit on a scavenger hunt in the park ABOVE: Diane Madl
to look for caches.” oversees various
There are four official caches hidden in Hickory instructional programs
Run, Madl said, and hints on where to find them can such as geocaching at
be found on the website www.geocaching.com. the environmental
Once you log onto the website, coordinates for each education center at
cache are given, which can be entered into a GPS. Nescopeck State Park
To save a little time, Madl offered a few clues. RIGHT: Geocaching is often
“One is at the Hickory Run Cemetery, another is on described as a ‘game of
the CCC site and a third is on the General Trexler high-tech hide and seek,’
sharing many aspects
See TREASURE HUNT, Page 19 with benchmarking,
trigpointing, orienteering,
treasure-hunting, letter-
boxing and waymarking.
 TREASURE HUNT
Continued from Page 18

Trail,” she said.

While the winter snow put a temporary halt
on the search for caches, Madl said people fre-
quently visit the park office or call searching for
information on where to find the hidden trea-
sures.
“It became really popular about three years
ago,” she said. “People like to get out and exer-
cise and find them. It’s a hobby for a lot of people
and it’s challenging.”
The GPS unit makes the challenge more
achievable. With the coor-
dinates of a cache entered
MORE INFO into a GPS, users are guid-
To learn more ed by their units to within a
about reserving a few hundred feet of the lo-
campsite or cabin cation. The more advanced
online, check out units, she said, will bring
www.visitPApark- you even closer.
s.com.
Once in the area, the rest
of the search relies on clues given on the geo-
caching website.
Before a cache can be hidden in any state
park, a $25 permit must be obtained and the lo-
cation must be approved by DCNR personnel.
DCNR deputy press secretary Terry Brady
said the permit process was implemented to get
a handle on the number of caches being planted
and where they are located. Some places, he
said, are off limits.
“It’s designed to prevent any environmental
damage,” Brady said. “We want to avoid having
too many people going into an environmentally
sensitive area at the same time.”
While parks do allow the public to use GPS
Geocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning Sys- units during programs, Brady said they don’t of-
tem (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called ‘geocaches’ fer any through a loaner program because they
or ‘caches,’ anywhere in the world. are too expensive. Handheld GPS units can cost
anywhere from $100 to more than $600.
Geocaching and GPS units aren’t the only
ways Pennsylvania’s state parks have gone high-
tech.
In 2006, DCNR began allowing users to re-
serve cabins and campsites online, as far in ad-
vance as 11 months.
In the first year, 32.8 percent of campsite and
cabin reservations were made online. That fig-
ure has increased each year to 63.45 percent in
2010. Brady said a four percent increase is ex-
pected annually.
“It’s a pretty slick way of doing it, and it’s very
easy,” he said. “The online use has been really
heavy and we expect it to continue growing.”
JENNIFER WYCHOCK/ FOR
THE TIMES LEADER

Debbie Freas
from Travel World
in Kingston
shows how
technology has
changed within
the travel
industry.
By ALAN K. STOUT sites and all airlines, cruise that while technology has ob- looking for in their vacation
astout@timesleader.com lines and tour operators have viously also made it easier for and what’s most important to

T
echnology has changed
the way we “get away
from it all” and travel
agents say advances have had
both positive and negative ef-
fects on their industry.
Debbie Freas has worked in
the travel industry for 25 years
and has seen plenty of change.
Today, for example, she says
all travel agencies have web-
online booking engines. From
the perspective of a travel
agency, technology has made
multi-tasking easier.
“I can be talking to a client
about a future trip, and I can
be confirming something for
someone else on my computer
at the same time,” said Freas, a
co-owner and operator of Trav-
elworld of Kingston. She adds
prospective travelers to re-
search their vacation plans on
their own, she still suggests
they meet one-on-one with a
travel agent, stressing the im-
portance of the human ele-
ment.
“I believe it’s often better for
them to come in because we
can identify, by asking them
certain questions, what they’re
them,” she says. “Suppose
someone wanted to visit Ire-
land. When they come in, we
would immediately be able to
tell them the best time of year
to travel there. We could give
them options. Do they want to
rent a car and do their trip lei-
surely at their own pace, and
See TRAVEL, Page 21

TRAVEL
Continued from Page 20
stay at bed and breakfasts,
which are very popular there?
Or are they looking to really
cover the country in-depth and
hear the history from a guide,
in which a motor-coach tour
would be better? When we ask
questions, the answers some-
times provoke additional ques-
tions.”
Though Freas sees an upside
to what technology has brought
to the travel industry, she
points out the downside of fast-
changing prices. “The technol-
ogy today allows the cruise
lines, airlines, tour operators
and hotels to change their pric-
es on an hourly basis, partic-
ularity the airlines,” she says.
“If you call me for an airfare in
the morning, I’ll pull it up on
the screen to see exactly what’s
available on your dates of trav-
el, and I’ll give you the price.
Should you choose to think
about it and discuss it with
whomever you’re traveling
with, and call back at a differ-
ent time, it will probably be a
totally different price. That’s a
downside for the traveler.
“I do think it was a lot easier
10 years ago,” she added. “But
there is a lot more information
available to all of us.”
Although Barry Tenenbaum,
owner and operator of Tenen-
baum’s Travel in Kingston,
agrees with some of those as-
sessments, he feels technology
has been a big plus in some
areas. He says computer tech-
nology has allowed him to de-
velop a wholesale business -
www.nyctrip.com - which pro-
vides New York City travel
packages to other travel agen-
cies throughout the world.
“We created, on the Internet,
a booking tool,” he says. “You
can actually go on the Internet
as a travel agent or someone
from the public and select the
hotel in New York that you
want, the Broadway show that
you want, the sightseeing ven-
ues that you want, as well as a
thousand other options. Mu-
seums, restaurant reservations
... you book it all.”
Tenenbaum says that, after a
customer compares pricing op-
tions and makes selections, a
daily itinerary for the trip is
planned easily and includes ev-
erything they want to do and in
the order they’d like to do it.
“It’s unique, and it is using
technology,” he says. “We pro-
mote this on the Internet, and
then people come to the site
and book their vacations auto-
matically. That’s how technol-
ogy is helping me with my trav-
el business. And we provide
this to other travel agents who
put links to it on their websites
and then when their customers
buy through our site, the travel
agents get a commission. Tech-
nology has allowed travel
agents to do unique things to
gain revenue streams. And the
Internet has become an integral
tool for us to better serve our
customers.”
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 By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES
jandes@timesleader.com
L
uzerne County Trans-
portation Authority
bus drivers used to
punch holes in paper ticket
passes and make change with
coin holders.
Today, a computerized box
next to the driver’s seat does
all the work.
Bus riders who purchase
passes for multiple trips re-
ceive cards that are swiped as
they enter the bus.
Riders who pay cash must
feed the money – bills or
change – into the box. Swipe
card passes may also be pur-
chased on the buses.
“They’re the latest in tech-
nology of fare boxes. Our driv-
ers never touch money,” said
authority Executive Director
Stanley Strelish.
The money inside each box
isn’t just poured out at the
end of the day.
Each bus is pulled into a
“dump station.” A computer-
ized probe is first held up to
each box to read data about
the contents, including how
much cash was collected and
CLARK VAN ORDEN/ how many cards were swiped.
THE TIMES LEADER
This information is sent to a
Fred Brown of the computer to produce ac-
Luzerne County counting and rider statistical
Transportation reports.
Authority explains With at least two witnesses
computerized fare present, the fare box is then
boxes on the removed from the bus and
buses. placed into a special chamber,
where it is unlocked and emp-
tied in a safe room.
The empty box is then re-
turned to the bus and reset.
When the money is count-
ed in the safe room the next
day, the amount should
match the computerized re-
ports.
Authority buses are also
equipped with security cam-
eras purchased with federal
stimulus money, Strelish said.
The five cameras on each
bus monitor and record activ-
ity inside and outside the bus.
When a bus switches into re-
verse, the rear monitor auto-
matically appears on a screen
so the driver may verify the
path is clear.
Four monitors at the Inter-
modal Transportation Center
in Wilkes-Barre also post bus
departure times so users may
adjust their schedules, Strel-
ish said.
The authority plans to pur-
chase an automatic vehicle lo-
cator program tied to a satel-
lite system, which will allow
riders to call an automated
phone number to find out ex-
actly what time their bus will
arrive.
“We will know exactly
where every bus is at any giv-
en time,” Strelish said.
The authority also has
eight diesel-electric hybrid
buses with battery packs that
recharge themselves while
the buses are in operation.
These buses are saving mon-
ey on diesel fuel usage, Strel-
ish said.
“We’ve made a lot of tech-
nological advances here,”
Strelish said.
Martz Trailways is also em-
bracing technology.
The buses have been
equipped with Wi-Fi service,
allowing riders to access the
Internet with phones and oth-
er web-capable devices.
Martz general manager
Bob Chepalonis said the ser-
vice was added in October
2009 to enhance the riding
experience for commuters,
students and other riders.
Plans for a ticket scanning
system are also in the works
to allow riders to purchase
and print tickets online, pre-
venting the need to pick them
up or have them mailed, Che-
palonis said.
No w Ac c e p tin g P a tie n ts . www.EarthConservancy.org
• G ran u larF ertilization Dedicated to Mine Land
• W eed an d In sectCon trol Reclamation, Conservation and
• Tree & S hru b Care
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• Donated 205 acres to 20 local entities
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New Cu stom ers O n ly Earth Conservancy has multiple land listings available for a variety of
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*Referrals m u stsign u p foran an n u al L aw n M ain tain erP rogram to q u alify ford iscou n t. sites with KOZ/KOEZ designation. Check website or call 570-823-3445

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25
DON CAREY PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER
Frann Edley stands next
to the display case in
her specialty choco-
lates and confectionary
store called Sugar Plum
in Forty Fort.
Sugar Plum began as a
hobby for Edley 15 years
ago. It has continued to
expand, particularly
with the effort of online
sales.
By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER
tmorgan@timesleader.com
F
rann Edley began her business 15
years ago with a microwave and card
table.
The owner of Sugar Plum chocolates and
long-time Kingston resident had been a
full-time mother most of her life but, once
her children were grown, she searched for
an outlet to express her creativity.
“It started out as a hobby,” she said of the
business.
“I was always very creative. If somebody
needed something, they called me, wheth-
er it be decorating or something else. I de-
cided I wanted to do something for me.”
Edley began experimenting with differ-
ent recipes and opened her first store on
South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre.
She was only there for about a year be-
fore she outgrew the location and moved
her showroom to United Penn Plaza in
Kingston, where it remained for about 10
years.
During that time, the business continued
to grow.
Things really took off starting in 1996,
when Edley began offering chocolates and
other confectionaries on the Internet.
Today, the Internet sales make up ap-
proximately 85 percent of her business. To
accommodate the demand, she opened a
factory at a location on Dilley Street and
moved the showroom there about five
years ago.
Edley, 61, credits the Internet with intro-
ducing her company to a whole new mar-
ket, allowing her to reach professional par-
ty planners and consumers interested in
the unique chocolate designs she creates.
“When I started out, I didn’t even have a
computer,” she said with a laugh.
“Being on the Internet exposed us to so
many new avenues.”
Hungry for a pizza? Edley will whip up
one of her solid chocolate pizzas that
See SWEET, Page 27
SWEET
Continued from Page 26

comes delivered in, what else, a

pizza box.
Or how about a ch’up cake – a
solid chocolate cupcake that
comes in a variety of flavors, such
as cookies-n-cream and trail mix?
“I just got an idea. Cupcakes
are such a craze, we’ve got to
come up with something,” she
said.
Other successful ideas have DON CAREY/THE TIMES LEADER
come from customers. Outrageous Alphabet is a fruity tasting gummy letter made at
She recalled one day when a Sugar Plum in Forty Fort.
woman came in seeking party fa-
vors for her daughter, who was an ideas and creations. daughter of fashion designer
attorney. Edley designed a choco- Her latest invention, “Outra- Ralph Lauren.
late gavel connected to the scales geous Alphabet” - oversized al- “It doesn’t end just because
of justice. phabet letters made from a gela- we’ve been doing this 15 years,”
“We put it online and are sell- tin mix – recently made its debut Edley said.
ing a lot of them,” she said. at Dylan’s Chocolate Bar in New “We’re very innovative and al-
The business continues to York City, an upscale candy store ways looking for something
thrive, thanks in large part to new owned by Dylan Lauren, the new.”

We Know This Market....

Over 23,000 Satisfied
Buyers and Sellers Since 1975
20000
23,026
18000 18856
17661
16000 16517
15514
14000 14572
13540
12431
12000 11466
10488
10000 9586
8652
8000 7828
6904
6092
6000 5251
4432
3000
Buyers and 4000 3000
2000
Sellers Closed 2000 2000
1000
1000
1000
7000
6000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0 5000
4000
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Source: GWBAR MLS Statistics 1/1/75 to 12/31/10

23,000 People Just Like You Have Trusted

Century 21 Smith Hourigan Group..... Since 1975

Celebrating 35 Years of Outstanding Service and Results

Shavertown Mountaintop Kingston On the Web:
Century21SHGroup.com
696-11952 474-6307 287-1196
 DOWNLOAD THE
TIMES LEADER APP.
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 BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

Automotive technician
Scott Savage uses a computer
engine diagnostic scanner to
identify engine problems at
Savitski’s Auto Repair
in Miners Mills.

By JACK SMILES “You just pulled some codes and they

jsmiles@psdispatch.com didn’t really have too much data. A lot of

G
one are the days when even a
moderately handy dad could ad-
just the family car’s carburetor or
change its spark plugs in the driveway.
“You could still do it,” laughed Scott
Savage, “if you could find them.”
Savage, a full-time mechanic at Savit-
ski’s Garage in Miners Mills since he was
a junior in high school in 1989, said
things began to get complicated under
the hood when emissions controls were
mandated. “You had air pumps and stuff
that was in the way in order to do a regu-
lar tune-up.”
That was only the beginning of the es-
calation of the complexity of the internal
combustion engine. It’s an escalation
Savage has kept up with by using scan
tools and computers and attending semi-
nars.
“Back in the 1980s when I started
working here we had scan tools, but the
diagnostic specs were simpler,” he said.
the earlier cars you can only get trouble
codes.”
The scan tools have to be continually
updated at an average cost of $1,000 a
year.
These days, any car built in 1996 or lat-
er has a standard input receptacle under
the dash for the scan tool. Earlier models
require adaptors. The newer cars have a
computer that is fed information from all
the car’s systems.
“There are different sensor modules,”
Savage said. “You have a module for the
heating system, a module for the engine,
a module for the transmission, for the
power seat memory, for the windows.
There’s modules for everything. It’s a lot
more sophisticated now than it was.
“When the check engine or service
soon light comes on, that means the com-
puter sees a problem,” he added.
“There’s a reason for it and it should be
See MECHANICS, Page 31
 creasingly, online. “For example,” can go online and take a couple

MECHANICS
Continued from Page 30
checked. Plug in the scanner, input
the vehicle information of the type
of vehicle you’re working on so it
can bring up trouble codes and
sensor data and see what the val-
ues are. The trouble codes give you
the direction of how to diagnose
the problem.”
Savage said that while the car’s
computers can sometimes tell a
mechanic exactly what’s wrong,
that’s not always the case.
“It leads you in a direction, but
you’ve got to be careful because it
can lead you in a false direction,”
Savage said. “With certain cars you
might come up with an exhaust
code, like a lean mixture code. You
might go somewhere where they
do a free scan and they see a lean
code and tell you the vehicle needs
an oxygen sensor, so they sell you
an oxygen sensor. But the light
might come back on because that
Savage said, “a car I worked on be-
fore, a Town and Country van, I
had a code of PO204. So you type
in the code and it will give you an
idea what the problem might be.
The website, www.directhit.com
is based on thousands and thou-
sands of phone calls. Like a tech
support. They logged everything
into a huge database of common
problems. If it’s something I can’t
find, I call up, give a description of
the problem and they’ll call back
and give me a direction of which
way to test things. The guys you
talk to worked, or still do work, in
dealerships.”
BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
Another comprehensive diag-
Automotive technician Scott Savage interprets engine diagnostic nostic website is www.alldata-
codes using a desktop computer at Savitski’s Auto Repair in Min- .com.
ers Mills. So how does a mechanic like
Savage who started out working
didn’t solve the problem. It could do is sell a customer a part based on older, simpler cars keep up with
be a vacuum leak. The sensors are on a sensor scan without first in- the technology? “We go to a lot of
seeing a lean mixture, so it’ll flag it vestigating a simpler repair. Some training seminars,” he said. “A cou-
as a lean code. Most of time the problems can result from bad con- ple times a year we have training
code is not the reason the light nections or even a loose or cracked through AC Delco because we’re
came on.” hose. part of this TSS program, total ser-
Savage said the mechanics at Sa- The trouble codes the scan tool vice support. They supply us with
vitski’s believe the worst thing to finds are listed in books, and in- a couple of free trainings, then you
web courses.
“I started out installing points
and condensers and adjusting and
rebuilding carburetors,” he added.
“My senior year of high school I
worked here through a co-op pro-
gram with Wilkes-Barre Vo-Tech
instead of going to school.
Throughout the years, I’ve done a
lot of reading. To be a successful
technician, you have to interrupt
the data you receive. You have to
be able to read the books. You’ve
got to be able to read wire dia-
grams. It’s pretty intense.
“When I was younger I never got
overwhelmed. I love challenges. I
love the satisfaction of being able
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night if there’s a problem. I won’t
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His boss is Ed Savitski. The busi-
ness was founded in 1926 by Ed’s
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bakery business trucks. In 1936,
the repair garage, where Ed’s fa-
ther Ed worked on the bakery
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272724
 REAL ESTATE
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 REAL ESTATE
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272723
PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER
Network Solutions
customer service
representative Saundra
Perry-Wilson, seated at
her work station, with
Customer Service Super-
visor Ann Marie Paul-
shock.
By STEVE MOCARSKY
smocarsky@timesleader.com
I
magine everyone loves those
birdhouses you build for a
hobby. Folks tell you that you
should do it professionally, so
you open a little birdhouse bou-
tique downtown. But walk-in
business is slow and newspaper
and TV ads can get expensive
and reach a limited market.
What do you do to increase
traffic?
In this day and age, the obvious
answer would be to launch a web-
site. But while you know all
about warblers and wood types,
you don’t know anything about
domain visibility or search en-
gine optimization.
And that’s why companies
such as Network Solutions exist.
“When the company started
30 years ago, it was primarily do-
main registry, so just “.com-type”
of registry business is where we
started off and found a niche.
From there, we’ve been able to
add additional products to help
small businesses and medium-
size businesses to grow their
business through utilizing the
technology,” said Brad Filbert,
senior director of customer ser-
vice for Network Solutions.
“We now have e-commerce
type products that will allow
businesses to put their products
online. We have hosting products
and web-design products, soft-
ware that will assist them and
help them build their websites.
And we will host their websites
as well,” Filbert said.
The first thing a business own-
er needs to do to start a website is
choose a domain name that’s
unique and not owned by anyone
else (birdhouseboutique, for ex-
ample), choose a domain exten-
sion for it such as “.com” (pro-
nounced dot-com, as in polka dot
and the first syllable of compen-
sate), and register it.
Companies such as Network
Solutions provide that registry
service for a fee. The most pop-
ular domain extensions, which
See WEB, Page 35
 ONLINE

WEB Learn more at

www.networksolutions.com

Continued from Page 34

are used to help organize pages
on the Internet, generally cost
more to register.
Filbert said it makes sense to
register the same domain name
with all the other popular do-
main extensions such as .net
and .org so anyone who types in
the wrong extension will still be
directed to your website.
After that, the business owner
needs to design a website or find
someone or some company to
design it if he or she lacks the ex-
pertise. Businesses that don’t
have servers will also want to
find a company to host the site –
to make sure it stays accessible
on the Internet.
“There’s so much more oppor-
tunity out there on the Internet
because of how large it is, it’s
and-mortar mentality to a vir-
tual mentality,” Filbert said.
Many business owners want
to be able to sell their products
or services through their web-
site. To do that, they need to buy
or have someone provide e-com-
merce software – basically an
electronic catalog of products or
services the business is selling –
and a merchant services pack-
age, which lets people buy
things directly from the website.
“It was a change in mindset
for the small business. First you
have a store, then technology
came and now you have a web-
site and domain name and may-
be you’re pointing your current
customers to that and maybe
word of mouth is getting some
other customers to that. And
then you ask, ‘how do I get out PETE G. WILCOX/ THE TIMES LEADER

been a transition from a brick- there and be seen?’” Filbert said. Brad Filbert is the senior director of customer service at Network Solutions.

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CLARK VAN ORDEN/
THE TIMES LEADER
Cobbler Anthony
Bonczewski,
owner of Jordan
National Shoe
Repair, has been
repairing shoes
for 60 years.
By JOE HEALEY
jhealey@timesleader.com
T
he hum of the finisher and
the slightly intoxicating
smell of glue are the first
things you notice when you walk
through the door at Jordan Na-
tional Shoe Repair.
But the greeting from the man
behind the counter, a white-
haired 81-year-old cobbler with
wire-rim glasses and a cloth
apron, immediately puts you at
ease.
Tony Bonczewski, a longtime
tenant in downtown Wilkes-
Barre’s Bicentennial Building, is
one of only a handful of people
who still repairs shoes in the
Wyoming Valley.
Call him a sole survivor.
And as technology shapes most
everything we do, Bonczewski’s
machinery – the massive green
finisher, a sewing machine, patch-
er, presser, skiving machine –
hasn’t changed in decades.
He uses no modern technology.
No computers with Internet to or-
der his rubber, glue and nails. Not
even a credit card machine to
process payments, as he runs a
cash-only business. “If I got a
computer, I wouldn’t know what
to do with it.”
His shop, with random pieces
of rubber, nails, tools and, obvi-
ously, shoes scattered about, has
a scent of rubber cement, some-
thing Bonczewski barely even no-
tices.
And then there’s the finisher, a
green hulk of a machine that
looks like it’s out of a factory from
long ago.
Bonczewski has been working
with shoes since he was 15 years
old, starting out as a shoe-shine
and delivery boy. He eventually
worked with Frank Giordano,
owner of Jordan National Shoe
Repair, which Bonczewski bought
in the early 1960s, and kept the
name.
He’s been at his current loca-
tion for 34 years.
Shoe repair has specific sea-
sons, Bonczewski explained.
See SOLES, Page 37
SOLES
Continued from Page 36

His busiest season is from Sep-

tember to December. “Lot’s of peo-
ple getting ready for winter,” he
said. “I get a lot of boots.”
January, February and March are
slower months because the weath-
er is lousy and people are wearing
older shoes.
“You’ll ruin your suede shoes out
in the rain and snow.”
During April, May and June,
business picks back up and slows
down again for the summer
months. “Everyone is wearing
sneakers and sandals.”
Bonczewski scowls when he
speaks of “plastic” shoes that are
generally inexpensive and unable
to be repaired.
“They’re vinyl, but I call it plas-
tic.”
He says keeping his customers
happy is his primary goal. “It keeps
them coming back.”
As an example, he explained, a
woman who had undergone hip
surgery needed one of her shoes
raised because one of her legs was
now shorter than the other.
She had a note from her doctor,
requesting a ¾-inch lift on her right
shoe. Several days after she picked
up her shoes, she returned to Bonc-
zewski’s shop, hobbling. CLARK VAN ORDEN PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER
The doctor had apparently mis- Eighty-year-old Anthony Bonczewski trims a sole from a shoe that he is repairing.
calculated and the woman now
needed her other shoe raised ¼ perfect stride,” Bonczewski said. plains the machine’s various func- said with a smile to a patron who
inch. “It’s good to help people, to keep tions of cutting, inking, polishing, picked up a pair.
Rather than reworking her other people happy.” sanding, buffing. “I made up my mind years and
shoe, Bonczewski suggested tak- Years ago, Bonczewski lost his Throughout the morning, sever- years ago that this is what I wanted
ing ¼ inch off the repaired shoe and right pinky finger in the behemoth al customers pick up. Others drop to do,” he said.
it worked fine. finisher, but still cherishes the ma- off. “I knew I’d never be rich, but it’s a
“She walked out of my shop in chine. His eyes light up when he ex- “I’m going to take $6 off you,” he living. It’s a nice living.”
 AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER

Matthew Nelson prepares a

life-size presidential cut out for
an upcoming show.

By DAVE ROSENGRANT screen printing business in Wilkes- “That’s how we survived,” he out sized from 18 inches to eight
drosengrant@timesleader.com Barre in 1991. said. “If I was just a screen printer feet tall.

T
he Internet has changed the
way nearly every company
does business.
Stephen Taren may know that
better than anyone.
Taren spearheaded the start of
Wet Paint, a T-shirt embroidery and
Trying to survive and keep up
with rapidly-growing times, he
knew he had to do something. So he
stirred up his business.
In 2005, Taren ventured into the
world of the Internet and launched
his first website.
right now, I don’t know if I’d be in
business.”
The first website started was
www.lifesizecustomcutouts.com
where consumers are able to upload
a photo to the website and have it
transformed into a cardboard cut-
The industry has inflated so
much over the last six years that to-
day Taren has more than 200 sites.
In addition to the popular card-
board cutouts, vinyl wall graphics
See NICHE, Page 39
 A Martin Van Buren life-size
standee is cut out on an auto-
mated machine at Wet Paint.

ON DISPLAY
Stephen Taren and his company,
Wet Paint, are making cardboard
cutouts of the men who signed the
Declaration of Independence.
Those cutouts will be on display
July 4 at the Osterhout Library in
Wilkes-Barre.

AIMEE DILGER PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER

Dean Dixon works on the computer at Wet Paint where he makes life-sized cardboard cutouts.

NICHE
Continued from Page 38

are available as are heads on a stick,

customized jigsaw puzzles, car graph-
ics, T-shirts and more. These websites
are not only for customized items;
there are thousands of pictures from
which to choose, ranging from car-
toons to political figures.
“The T-shirt market was crowded
so I needed to focus on a small niche
on the Internet,” Taren added. “That’s
what everybody needs to do. When
you find that niche and apply it to the
Internet, it means thousands and
thousands of people. We got real good Julie Chomicz changes a bobbin in an automated embroidery machine at
at developing a product and market- Wet Paint in Wilkes-Barre.
ing it only on the Internet. We don’t
do trade shows, no outside sales, purchased to perform the snipping. ucts available on the World Wide Web.
nothing. Everything is about the In- “It’s something I never anticipated “It used to be that 80 percent of my
ternet.” growing as fast as it did and gaining business was local and 20 percent out-
The cardboard cutouts are the most popularity as fast as it did,” said Scott side the area,” Taren added. “Now, it’s
popular item at Wet Paint and even Paull, Taren’s right-hand man. 90-10 and it’s all from the Internet. I
the way they are produced has As for the T-shirt end of the busi- don’t have the sales force. And I don’t
changed since the company adopted ness, a press and dryer have been used do trade shows. I just develop a prod-
the concept. since the company’s inception. How- uct that has a very narrow niche.”
It began with workers fulfilling an ever, a new venture that allows con- Taren and his company are making
order by using a router and hand cut- sumers to purchase shirts online was cardboard cutouts of the men who
ting the images on the cardboard or made available when Taren purchased signed the Declaration of Independ-
the material used for a wall graphic. a digital T-shirt printer. In February, ence. Those cutouts will be on display
But it wasn’t always perfect so a large the company launched another web- July 4 at the Osterhout Library in
router machine for contour cuts was site, teedude.com, to make the prod- Wilkes-Barre.
BILL TARUTIS/FOR
THE TIMES LEADER

In this file photo,

Don Hess of
Industrial Waste
group opens a train
car valve at Pittston
Rail Yard, allowing
fracking sand to flow
into a conveyor
system for truck
transport to
Marcellus shale
wells.

By MATT HUGHES gas industry spreading like a Fracking is a major oper-

mhughes@timesleader.com colony of bees across the ation. It takes four to six mil-

Y
ou would be hard-
pressed to find a scien-
tific term that created
more buzz in Northeastern
Pennsylvania last year than
hydraulic fracturing. A proc-
ess known within the oil and
gas industries for decades, the
term burst into the popular
lexicon in the area last year,
and in some sections of Lu-
zerne County it was on the tip
of everyone’s tongue. It in-
spired cries of protest and
whispers of the potential to
strike it rich; in the end, it left
us grumbling.
The process is not a new
one, and neither is the natural
state, but both are new to our
area, and warrant a second
look.
In hydraulic fracturing, gas
drillers blast water stored in
dozens of tanks and tanker
trucks mixed with sand and
chemicals deep into holes pre-
drilled into shale formations.
The fluid fills natural faults
and fractures in the shale and
the sand or other sediment
holds open these cracks, al-
lowing gas to escape up the
well. About 12 percent of this
fluid returns to the surface as
flowback water, which must
be treated and is often used to
frack other wells.
lion gallons of water to frac-
ture a single horizontal well,
one million to fracture a verti-
cal well. Some 6,800 truck
trips are necessary to bring in
the equipment and fresh wa-
ter is needed to frack a well
and to remove flowback wa-
ter.
Increases in traffic, damage
to roads and air pollution from
these trucks are just some of
the concerns critics have
raised.
New innovations
Since the late 1940s, hy-
draulic fracturing has been
See DRILL, Page 41
 in Washington County in 2004, hydraulic-fracturing is perfectly lease holdings to the Ceasetown Amy Salansky off Zosh Road in

DRILL
Continued from Page 40
used to stimulate oil and gas
wells that had seemingly run dry,
but it was not until the late 1990s
that Texas oilman George Mitch-
ell perfected its use in extracting
gas from shale.
Scientists had known for dec-
ades that rich quantities of natu-
ral gas lay trapped in shale forma-
tions beneath the United States,
but prior to Mitchell’s innova-
tions the gas was too costly to ex-
tract using older technology.
Devon Energy bought Mitch-
ell’s company in 2002 and com-
bined hydraulic fracturing with
horizontal drilling technology to
make the process even more cost
effective, and successfully pro-
duced natural gas from the Bar-
nett Shale formation in Texas.
The first Marcellus Shale gas
well in Pennsylvania was drilled
and since 2008, enticed by both
the size of the Marcellus Shale
and its proximity to major East
Coast markets, natural gas com-
panies have poked their straws
into the ground with an ever-in-
creasing fervor.
There were 195 new Marcellus
Shale gas wells drilled in Pennsyl-
vania in 2008, 768 drilled in 2009
and 1,386 drilled in 2010, accord-
ing to the Pennsylvania Depart-
ment of Environmental Protec-
tion. Experts predict the trend
will continue for more than a dec-
ade before leveling off.
Dr. Tom Murphy, co-director
of Penn State University’s Mar-
cellus Center for Education and
Outreach, predicted in 2010 that
Pennsylvania will switch from an
energy-importing to an energy-
exporting state by 2013 due to
Marcellus Shale Development.
Environmental concerns
Many geologists, like Marcel-
lus Center co-director Dr. David
Yoxtheimer, say the process of
safe, though others, like Cornell
University engineering professor
Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, argue it
presents a threat to ground water
contamination.
Critics of the process worry
chemicals used in hydraulic frac-
turing, naturally occurring radio-
active substances buried deep be-
low ground and migrating natu-
ral gas deposits will contaminate
water supplies.
DEP investigations in 2009
and 2010 found that improperly-
sealed well casings at Cabot Oil
& Gas wells in Dimock Town-
ship, Susquehanna County al-
lowed methane gas to migrate to
the water wells of several house-
holds. Elsewhere around the
state and the country, others
have alleged well water contam-
ination from natural gas drilling.
While natural gas driller Enca-
na was active in Luzerne County,
much of the popular opposition
the company faced concerned
the proximity of its wells and its
and Huntsville Reservoirs and
other bodies of water like Har-
veys Lake.
The federal Environmental
Protection Agency concluded in
2004 that the process was safe
and didn’t warrant further study,
but that study has been criticized
because it did not study the proc-
ess generally, only its application
in a specific area. Critics also
charge its findings may have been
unduly influenced by the oil and
gas industries and by Bush ad-
ministration insiders.
The U.S. Congress ordered last
year that the EPA undertake a
new, broader study of hydraulic
fracturing, the preliminary re-
sults of which are due to be re-
leased in 2012.
Local impact still unknown
Luzerne County has thus far
seen only one hydraulic fractur-
ing operation. In the second week
of November, 2010, Encana test-
fracked its Salansky H1 well, lo-
cated on the land of Paul and
Lake Township. From that test,
the Colorado-based driller deter-
mined the Salansky well and En-
cana’s other Fairmount Town-
ship well were unlikely to pro-
duce commercial quantities of
natural gas and pulled its oper-
ations out of the state. The com-
pany also released the gas rights
to more than 25,000 acres of
property it and a partner compa-
ny had obtained.
The Wyoming Valley lies on
what scientists and gas compa-
nies consider the economically-
viable zone of the Marcellus
Shale. Encana gambled and lost,
finding it had drilled beyond the
limits of the richest shale.
Since Encana’s departure, the
gas rights to some properties on
the border of Luzerne County
have been leased by Houston-
based Carrizo Oil & Gas, which is
drilling an exploratory well in
Monroe Township, Wyoming
County, about three miles from
Harveys Lake.

An energetic group of vision-oriented business people have

formed an alliance in the South Wilkes-Barre area. Found-
ed by Rick Gazenski, Vice President of J.W. Hoban and
Associates on Carey Avenue, the SWBBA is a non-profit
group dedicated to promoting, networking and
empowering local businesses as active leaders in the South South Wilkes-Barre Area Business Alliance
Wilkes-Barre Area.
For more information contact President Pat Gazenski or Rick Gazenski at 823-0711 or visit us online at www.SWBBA.org

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BILL TARUTIS/
FOR THE TIMES LEADER

Rayco Eurospec Mo-

torcars principal Mike
Budjnoski in his ’vir-
tual studio show-
room’ in Kingston
where his staff pho-
tographs exotic mo-
torcars for sale
worldwide on the
company’s website.

By RICK NOTARI over the world. A few weeks ago, the in Zimbabwe.” that if it is not represented to the buyer
rnotari@psdispatch.com business sold a car to a buyer in Africa. Since 1997 when Rayco’s first do- the way they have seen it on our web-

L
ooking for a way to expand his
business, Mike Budjnoski of
Rayco Eurospec Motorcars ex-
perimented with a fairly new form of
technology in the late 20th century.
That technology was the Internet.
And, boy, has his business grown.
Selling and servicing exotic foreign
and domestic cars in Kingston since
1947, Rayco uses its Internet website
(www.raycoeuro.com) to sell cars all
“For years, I was trying to expand
my market outside of the Wyoming
Valley and always looked at different
ways to accomplish that,” said Budj-
noski. “I thought about relocating to a
larger demographic but then the Inter-
net came along. When I realized that I
could sell cars all over the world in-
stead of just selling them in the Wyom-
ing Valley, that was big.
“We just sold a Hummer to a buyer
main name was created, Budjnoski has
been using the Internet to sell cars.
The company’s website lists all its cars
for sale accompanied by numerous
photos highlighting every detail of
those vehicles.
The thoroughness of the website
aids buyers from as far away as Poland,
Sweden and Spain – all of whom have
purchased cars from Rayco.
“We sell a car on the understanding
site when it is delivered, then they can
just tell our driver they don’t want it,”
said Budjnoski, the company’s princi-
pal owner. “We have never had one
come back.
“Over the years we have developed a
reputation of selling pristine, low-mile
cars. Hopefully, by word of mouth,
people have heard of us.”
See DISTANCE, Page 52
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 By VAN ROSE
vrose@timesleader.com
J
oe Root knows a thing
or two about vacuum
cleaners.
CLARK VAN ORDEN
PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER
Most people would expect
that since Root owns and op-
ABOVE: Oreck erates five stores, including
store manager Cathy the Oreck Vacuums and More
Blanchard shows off
Store at the Pine Mall in
some of the heaters
Wilkes-Barre.
for sale.
Oreck has sold millions of
BELOW: Oreck vacuum cleaners nationwide,
vacuum cleaners according to Root. So it’s un-
are displayed in derstandable that Root is con-
the company’s sidered an expert at keeping a
Pine Mall carpet clean.
location. But Root’s business offers a
lot more than one of the na-
tion’s most popular vacuum
cleaners. It has expanded to
an assortment of products, in-
cluding an Amish fireplace - a
heater that covers up to 400
square feet.
Having recently opened a
new Pine Mall store, Root says
technology has played an im-
portant role in Oreck improv-
ing and expanding its prod-
ucts beyond vacuum cleaners.
“We search out the best
lightweight products and re-
search alloys that we can use
in vacuums to make them
lightweight, powerful and du-
rable,” he said. “Anybody can
make a lightweight vacuum
cleaner. The way Oreck vacu-
ums work is what makes them
so popular.”
According to Root, the com-
pany is constantly conducting
new studies.
“Oreck is always research-
ing better ways to maintain
their products and keep vacu-
um cleaners as lightweight as
possible,” Root added. “No-
body wants to push around a
50-pound vacuum cleaner.”
Root estimates that non-
vacuum cleaner products ac-
count for a least 50 percent of
his business. “All of the Oreck
products are growing by leaps
and bounds; they’re extremely
popular. They include just
about any kind of glass clean-
ers or spot removers.”
The list of items also in-
cludes infrared heaters and air
purifiers.
“The infrared heaters are
new, and the air purifiers are
relatively new,” Root said. “In-
frared heaters have been per-
fected over the past few years
to save up to 50 percent on
your heating bill.”
Oreck also offers a full line
of commercial cleaning equip-
ment for janitorial supplies
and a hard floor cleaning sys-
tem, he added.
“The cleaning system is a
professional grade liquid that
can be sprayed on hardwood
or tile floors. It has a trigger
spray that’s built into a mop.”
Oreck also provides a full
line of steam cleaning prod-
ucts.
“They are used to steam
hard floor surfaces that people
don’t have to clean with chem-
icals if they don’t want to,”
said Root. “It’s powered by
steam.”
Root also has high expecta-
tions for the Edge, the compa-
ny’s latest vacuum. It includes
See FRESH, Page 52
By GERARD HETMAN apps - devices that bring in- DON CAREY/
THE TIMES LEADER
ghetman@timesleader.com formation to mobile phone

C
an a simple phone users - that are marketed From left, Dave
and sold around the globe.
call develop into the Koziel, Bob
launch of a world- “It started with a phone Scocozzo and
wide business? call between Bob and my- Mike Martinez
If you ask Mike Martinez self,” Martinez said of the of Appalachian
and Bob Scocozzo, they’ll company’s takeoff. “It was Apps.
tell you exactly how that supposed to be a five-min-
can happen. ute call about a cell phone
problem, and we wound up
After operating for a little
more than a year, Appala- talking for two hours!”
chian Apps, L.L.C. has Located in the Ashley
flourished into one of the Furniture Building at 251
region’s most innovative Mundy St., Wilkes-Barre
employers. Together with Township, Appalachian
David Koziel, as well as anApps opened for business in
anonymous partner, Marti- January 2010, and is devel-
nez and Scocozzo have seen oping apps that have gained
their firm become a leader
in developing smartphone See SMART, Page 47

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 grow,” Scocozzo said of the com- lucrative market. The company’s

SMART
Continued from Page 46
in popularity and recognition
around the globe. The company
has 10 full-time employees, and all
three partners are local residents
and business owners. Martinez
and Scocozzo knew each other
from years of charitable work.
Martinez operates a series of cell
phone retailers in the area, while
Scocozzo is the CEO of Scent-Sa-
tions, Inc., a Wilkes-Barre-based
candle company. Koziel had oper-
ated his own computer business,
and together the three knew they
could create an exciting new em-
ployer.
“We’re tiny, but we want to
pany. “We have a great location
here, and we are all about local
people and local jobs.”
After working on small projects
in the first months, Appalachian
Apps went worldwide with a
splash, releasing its “Straight Spit-
tin’” app. A collaborative effort
with rap artist Rah Digga, the app
launched in November, and has
seen downloads in more than 20
countries.
“We knew there would be a
strong market for this app in the
U.S. as well as overseas, but it has
been a surprise when we see
where it is being downloaded,”
Koziel said of the app. “When we
saw it popping up in Russia, we
knew we had a hit.”
In terms of apps for businesses,
the trio is attacking a potentially
latest app, known as “Archie,” is
designed to give restaurant man-
agement an entirely new level of
customer interaction. “Two things
that set us apart from other app
developers is the fact that we de-
velop apps for all major mobile
phone platforms - iPhone, Android
and BlackBerry,” Scocozzo said.
“Second, with Archie, we are giv-
ing client restaurants the ability to
update and revise content on their
apps themselves, without them
needing to come back to us.”
“We’ve identified the Rah Digga
and Archie apps as our primary fo-
cus for this year, but we want to
diversify in the future,” Martinez
said of the next step for Appala-
chian Apps. “We enjoy contribut-
ing to the local job market and
community.”

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 CLARK VAN ORDEN/
THE TIMES LEADER

Courtney Day, of
Star Tresses, uses a
machine to color the
hair of Hayley Base-
ski, of Shavertown.

By KIM ROLLMAN
Times Leader Correspondent

W
hen Lindsey Kuruzovich was
looking for a new shampoo
and conditioner to enhance
her colored hair, she jumped onto
Facebook and asked the professionals
at Star Tresses Grand Salon & Day Spa
for help. Within an hour, she had an
answer from the Forty Fort salon.
Star Tresses, which has been provid-
ing services to area men and women

See EDGE, Page 50


EDGE
Continued from Page 49
since 1977, also uses its Facebook
page to offer daily tips and last-
minute deals. Log onto the page
and you may find a tip about how
to protect your hair on a cold, win-
ter day, or you might be lucky
enough to discover a $10-off certif-
icate. In addition to checking Face-
book, Star Tresses customers
watch their inboxes for daily and
weekly e-mail specials.
Cathy Ranieli, of West Pittston,
often takes advantage of the pro-
motions. “The e-mails are a very
good service,” she said while wait-
ing for her appointment at the sa-
lon. “I have gotten great massages
and have purchased many certifi-
cates to use as gifts for family and
friends.”
Ranieli also benefits from the sa-
lon’s effort to keep up with the lat-
est techniques and salon equip-
ment. With the addition of the sa-
lon’s color processing machine, she
has been able to cut her processing
time in half and has noticed a great
CLARK VAN ORDEN/THE TIMES LEADER
Carolyn Salvaggio, left, and
Hilary Forlenza are the
owners of Star Tresses
in Forty Fort.
benefit to her hair. “After coloring,
my hair would sometimes be dry
and brittle,” she explained, “but
now, with the new machine, my
hair is much healthier.”
According to Carolyn Salvaggio
and her daughter, Hilary Forlenza,
co-owners of the salon, keeping up
with the latest changes and innova-
See EDGE, Page 51
 that equipment such as the microd- just the most wonderful, relaxing vices available at Star Tresses with

EDGE
Continued from Page 50
tions in the industry is an impor-
tant aspect of their business. The
mother and daughter duo spends
hours and hours scouring the Inter-
net and trade publications for the
newest techniques and equipment.
“You have to define what makes
you different,” Salvaggio said,
pointing to the newest styling tools
and nail techniques. Forlenza said
erm abrasion machine and color
light therapy can correct skin im-
perfections and other beauty issues
that in the past could not be reme-
died.
But for Suzanne Joseph of
Wilkes-Barre going to the spa is all
about relaxation. Calling Star
Tresses her “happy place,” Joseph
spends her birthday at the spa each
year and has enjoyed, among other
things, a chocolate bath in the spa’s
hydrotherapy tub. She balances her
hectic life by pampering herself and
said the bath worked wonders. “It’s
feeling,” she said.
Anne Postupack of West Pittston
takes advantage of the salon’s rain
therapy treatment for its healing
benefit. She said the spa’s vichy
shower, a rain shower bar with sev-
en adjustable pressures and tem-
perature control heads eases her
joint pain and achy muscles. “It’s
almost like acupuncture, but with
water,” she said. Postupack feels in-
vigorated after the treatment. “You
can almost feel the toxins coming
out of you,” she said.
Postupack compared the spa ser-
salons she has visited in New York
City, Florida and California. “It’s
big-city quality right here in Forty
Fort,” she stated.
Forlenza said there is no substi-
tute for a skilled and versatile staff
and that no matter what services
she offers, being successful still
equates to the customer’s experi-
ence. “What it all comes down to,”
she explained, “is that you have to
back up what you put out there.
You have to have talent, you have to
be reliable and you have to provide
customer service.”

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FRESH
Continued from Page 45
a suction wand that allows for cleaning
edges and corners.
Chuck Termini, of Old Forge, has
been an Oreck customer for 13 years
and says its products take care of all of
his cleaning needs.
His favorite product is the No Re-
turn steam remover.
“It’s an amazing steam remover for
carpets and upholstery,” Termini said.
“It removes permanent markers and
takes any kind of stains out of shirts.
Just dab it and it works instantly.
Termini also offers high praise for
the Oreck glass and mirror cleaner.
“It’s a commercial style cleaner that
I use on car windows. It’s 1,000 times
better than other products out there. It
leaves no streaks or anything.”
Termini estimates he spends about
$50 a month on Oreck products and
has never returned any of them.
It all began when Termini bought
his first Oreck vacuum cleaner 13 years
ago.
“It still works fine,” he said. “I gave
it to my mother-in-law a few years ago
because I bought a new one.”
DISTANCE
Continued from Page 42
Beyond word of mouth, Internet search
engines such as Google and Yahoo! are a
vital part of the Kingston business as they
funnel would-be car buyers to the Rayco
website.
“We specialize in European cars so, gen-
erally, when we sell a car across a long dis-
tance, it is a rare kind of car,” Budjnoski
said. “If someone is going to look for a rare
car, they won’t necessarily find one at a car
dealer in their backyard so they look on-
line. By using a website and the Internet,
we hope to drive our brand to the top of
the search engine. People will type in the
car they are looking for and, hopefully, if
we have it, they will come to us.
“Having a business presence online has BILL TARUTIS/ FOR THE TIMES LEADER
allowed us to sell cars in Europe, Puerto Rayco Eurospec Motorcars principal Mike Budjnoski sells exotic motorcars world-
Rico, Argentina, Japan and across Canada wide on the company’s website.
and the United States, including Alaska.”
It is not just long-distance buyers using cars they are interested in and decide isn’t going to lead Budjnoski to shutter his
the Rayco website to purchase cars. Budj- where they are going to travel to and look showroom in Kingston.
noski says almost all local shoppers begin first hand. “The Internet has enabled us to sell cars
the buying process online. “I’d say close to 100 percent of local cus- to people long distances away. But we still
“Local customers from the Wyoming tomers start the car-buying process on- need to showcase our cars in a dramatic
Valley initiate the car-buying experience line. I think people have come to prefer setting and that’s the showroom. It en-
online,” he said. “They will search for shopping online. I know I do.” sures people get a positive experience
what they are looking for, print out the But the success of doing business online from dealing with us.”

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57
CLARK VAN ORDEN/
THE TIMES LEADER

Kathryn
Kessler, a
45-year-old
mother of
three works
on her school
work in the
kitchen of her
home in
Plains.
Kessler will
earn her
degree from
King’s College
this May.

By ANDREW M. SEDER enrolled in one of 201 online courses. Of that forever.”

aseder@timesleader.com the 201, 155 are fully online. In 2005, for The rate has tripled at King’s College in

E
ven as college campuses continue
to expand, the need to step foot on
one while earning a degree is be-
coming less necessary.
The number of online courses schools
offer has climbed each year over the past
half-decade and so, too, has the number of
students enrolling in them. Some are on-
line only, with no need for a campus visit.
Others are a combination of at-home and
in-class study.
At Misericordia University in Dallas
Township, there have been 2,241 students
comparison, there were 61 courses with an
online aspect and all but one of them was
fully online. There were 489 students en-
rolled.
Misericordia offered its first online
course in the fall semester of 1997 – “Intro-
duction to Psychology” – and three stu-
dents took advantage of it.
Alex Sergay, Misericordia’s manager of
online learning systems, said interest and
actual enrollment “has quadrupled the
past five years. It’s been growing exponen-
tially, but I don’t see how it can grow like
Wilkes-Barre over the past half-decade.
Five years ago, there were 37 students
registered for graduate on-line courses in
the Spring semester. This spring, it’s 121
students.
Though technology is partially respon-
sible for the boost in enrollment in online
courses, the economy and changing life sit-
uations are also factors.
“Students of the 21st century are free to
choose which learning platform works
See PURSUING, Page 59

PURSUING
Continued from Page 58
best for them, the traditional edu-
cational setting, the online learn-
ing environment, or a combina-
tion of both,” said Kathleen Pro-
vinzano, the academic coordina-
tor for leadership programs at
Wilkes University’s School of
Education, which has 11 pro-
grams available online. “This free-
dom of choice not only requires
students to think about their cur-
rent life situation, it also empow-
ers them to make decisions that
best meet the needs of that situa-
tion.”
Kathryn Kessler, 45, of Plains
Township, started taking classes
toward earning English and Com-
munications degrees eight years
ago. The mother of three takes in-
classroom courses in the spring,
fall and winter but takes online
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around her schedule and still take
care of her home and family.
She expects to receive her bach-
elor’s degree from King’s in May.
Though undergraduate offer-
ings are plentiful, the increases
are really seen when it comes to
graduate courses.
Wilkes has had significant
growth in enrollment on the mas-
ter’s and doctoral level, resulting
in a 72 percent increase in enroll-
ment since 2005. Wilkes Universi-
ty officials attribute that directly
to the increase in online course of-
ferings.
David L. Reese, the academic
coordinator for curriculum and
instruction programs for the
School of Education at Wilkes,
said, “Online courses allow stu-
dents to gain knowledge, and po-
tentially a degree, at a time and
place of their choosing. With
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dent to travel to a class at the same
time every week. This platform
provides flexibility, yet maintains
the same rigor and in many cases
more writing than a face-to-face
setting.”
Sergay said for many colleges
the expansion of online course
and program offerings are perfect
ways to increase enrollment and
revenue without having to con-
struct new buildings or expand al-
ready cramped campuses.
“A lot of campuses are finding
that they can’t expand physically,
though that’s not a problem here,
so they’re expanding online,” Ser-
gay said.
He also said that while online
courses are seen as a convenient
way to attain a degree, he noted
that enrollment for traditional
students is also increasing.
“There’s still something to be
said about actually going to col-
lege,” Sergay said.
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 PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER

Dr. Helen Davis, far left,

utilizes Apple iPads while
teaching a literature class
in Kirby Hall on the
campus of Wilkes
University.

By KALEN CHURCHER technology into their classrooms, floor of the university’s Eugene S. Studies in Romantic Literature
For The Times Leader said Dana Burnside, director of the Farley Library. “I work with faculty course, active learning means us-

N
etbooks, digital cameras
and iPads may sound like
wish list items for the
neighborhood techie, but for some
Wilkes University students, they
are all regular class components.
The university awarded five $2,000
teaching and technology grants
this semester to faculty members
interested in better incorporating
university’s Teaching Commons.
Created in July 2010, the Teach-
ing Commons was designed “to
support excellence in teaching and
to promote creativity and collab-
oration,” according to its website.
“We’re student centered, but we
don’t work directly with the stu-
dents,” Burnside said of the Teach-
ing Commons, located on the first
members to help them create a bet-
ter experience for the students.
“Our ultimate goal is to always
improve student learning.”
Through a variety of workshops
and supporting materials, faculty
can better learn how to effectively
use technology and encourage ac-
tive learning.
For students in Helen Davis’
ing iPads to conduct research on
William Blake through the online
William Blake Archive. Davis, who
was a grant recipient, purchased an
iPad with her award for use in her
classroom so her students can eas-
ily access online materials during
class.
See COMPONENTS, Page 61

COMPONENTS
Continued from Page 60
For the Blake project, the stu-
dents worked directly out of the
Teaching Commons, which also
has two iPads. Davis, an assist-
ant professor in English,
brought in two more so her stu-
dents could work in pairs to dis-
cuss the archived materials.
“Using the iPad, with the
touch of two fingers, you could
zoom in and out,” she said. “It
was really easy to manipulate
the images. It made the archival
(works) really come alive to
them.”
Loran Lewis, an assistant pro-
fessor of Communication Stud-
ies, also received one of the
grants co-sponsored by the
Teaching Commons, Office of
the Chief Information Officer,
and university Provost. Lewis,
who teaches a variety of jour-
nalism courses, is using his
grant to purchase a netbook,
video camera, digital camera
and other equipment for his
students.
The new pieces of technology
will provide students the oppor-
tunity to become backpack jour-
nalists, a term used to describe
journalists who incorporate
print, broadcast and online
media in their reporting.
“It’s become difficult to keep
(students’) attention if you’re
not using technology,” Lewis
said, adding that becoming tech
savvy is vital for aspiring jour-
nalists. “It’s become almost a “I think (using technology in PETE G. WILCOX PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER
necessity to be able to use the class) is becoming more expect- Dr. Helen Davis utilizes Apple iPads while teaching a literature
equipment in the classroom.” ed, but I don’t think that’s the class in Kirby Hall on the campus of Wilkes University.
Lewis admitted that, while reason to do it,” she said. “I
technology can be an asset in want to know how technology about technology and how it where, a classroom response
courses, there are drawbacks. can enhance the pedagogical can be effectively implemented system that gathers participant
Computers and cell phones can components of the class.” into courses. She is also willing reactions via text messages,
quickly pull students away from That’s exactly where the to share her collection of re- Twitter and other online
lectures and lure them to sites Teaching Commons can help, search journals and other teach- means.
like Facebook, a popular social Burnside said. She is eager to ing and assessment materials. “I’m sure someone is using it
networking tool. do the legwork for faculty mem- Her most recent request: to already on campus,” she said. “I
Davis agreed. bers interested in learning more find information on Poll Every- just have to find it.”
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DON CAREY/THE TIMES LEADER
Teacher Mary Kay
Kimelewski logs on to
the Progress Book
monitoring system for
parents and students
at the West Side Ca-
reer and Technology
center in Pringle. By GERI ANNE KAIKOWSKI
gkaikowski@timesleader.com
M
ary Kay Kimelewski, a
history teacher at the
West Side Career and
Technology Center in Pringle,
was asked for answers to history
questions in a recent homework
assignment.
It wasn’t a student or a history
buff making the online request,
though. It was a parent, who had
been out of school for many years
and wanted to double check her
child’s answers.
Not an unusual request for Ki-
melewski. It was just another day
of logging in to the school’s Pro-
gessBook access system and
communicating with parents and
students.
The instructor answers ques-
tions, offers suggestions, reads
comments and posts assign-
ments online in the system which
allows teachers, parents and stu-
dents to communicate through a
secure Internet portal.
Parents can literally view the
teacher’s grade book throughout
the course of the school year by
entering their name and pass-
word and viewing only their
child’s information. As Kimelew-
ski puts it, “There is no shock val-
ue in a report card anymore.’’
The 10th- and 12th-grade in-
structor says technology that
gives parents greater access to a
teacher is beneficial to the entire
learning process. It also helps
students by letting them see their
grades, assignments and class-
room notes online in the event of
absenteeism.
“They have access to every-
thing that they would have if they
were in school,’’ she said.
Kimelewski has gone one step
further by setting up her own
website for parents and students
through Wikispaces.
Parents can also e-mail the in-
structors and ask questions
See ACADEMIC, Page 65

ACADEMIC
Continued from Page 64
about a particular test score.
“It’s a great tool to increase com-
munication between teachers and
parents,’’ Kimelewski said. “The
Internet is available anywhere,
home and work computers and
even someone’s telephone.’’
The technology center has of-
fered ProgressBook to its 540 stu-
dents, freshman through seniors,
for the past four years, said admin-
istrator Betsy Ellis.
“This is a particular help to our
freshmen students because we’re a
whole new school to them,’’ she
said.
That’s not to say that online ses-
sions replace parent/teacher con-
ferences, Ellis is quick to point out.
The technology center conducts a
parents’ night each fall as well as af-
ter every quarter for seniors. She
feels the online communication
supplements the personal meet-
ings.
“Being accessible online makes
sense with our demographics,’’ El-
lis said. “We’re not the typical back-
yard kind of school. We have stu-
dents from Harding and Red Rock.
This is very convenient for those
parents.’’
The school also posts school
cancellations and events.
“Parents love it,’’ she said. “We
have some parents who log on ev-
eryday. A lot of them have really
embraced the idea of technology.’’
Parents like checking on their
child’s grades and attendance in
school. About one half of the stu-
dent body participates in Progress-
Book.
“This has created a nice online
community dialogue for parents
and teachers,’’ said Ellis. “They can
communicate face to face on the
computer without being online at
the same time. Communication is
essential for a student’s success.’’
One item Gene Manning, tech-
nology administrator for the
Wilkes-Barre Area School District,
was surprised to discover was that
parents logged in to check their
child’s eating habits.
“Many parents want to know if
their child had lunch and what he
ate,” Manning said.” If they have
money in an account for lunch,
they want to see what happened to
it and they are also concerned that
their child has eaten during the
school day.”
Grades and school lunches were
the two main topics of interest in
the district’s Skyward parental ac-
cess network, launched last year.
Since that time, about 43 percent of
the student body has accessed the
site, Manning said.
Parents can view a teacher’s
grade book and can see class as-
signments and test scores for stu-
dents in kindergarten through 12th
grade via a secure access system
with Skyward. There is also a mess-
aging system for direct communi-
cation with an instructor.
By monitoring a child through-
out the school year, a parent can
communicate with a teacher to pre-
vent the child from falling behind
in school work or failing a class or
not passing through to the next
grade.
“At the end of the grading peri-
od, Skyward gets very active,’’ said
Manning.
Manning said the system was set
up using strict security guidelines
with password connections that
only a parent would know. There is
an online form for a parent to com-
plete with information that must
match the district’s. Parents re-
ceive a confirmation e-mail that re-
quires a response.
He said the system was put in
place to assure parents only they
would have access to information
and so that students would not be
able to hack into the computers.
The district also made sure that
parents have access to computers
by suggesting they use computers
at local libraries if they don’t own
one and by helping them set up free
e-mail accounts.
“This wasn’t something that we
put out there and said we’re here
without thinking about how acces-
sible it would be to all families in
the district,’’ Manning said.
Students don’t have access to
Skyward yet, he said, but it is some-
thing the district hopes to add in
the future.
“This isn’t going to go away,’’ he
said. “We can only build on this.
The whole goal of technology is to
offer as much information as pos-
sible to a parent.’’
Wilkes-Barre Area was the first
district in Pennsylvania to offer on-
line student registrations, which
have proven successful, according
to Manning.
Kimelewski said ProgressBook
is not added work for an instructor
since “you have to update the
grades anyway. So why not post
them online, too?’’
“I graduated from high school 10
years ago,’’ she said. “It would have
been great if we had something like
this back then.”
 DON CAREY/THE TIMES LEADER

Don Rash demonstrates the

antique press in his Plains
Township shop. Rash’s interest
in bookbinding began while he
attended the University of
Deleware.

By SHEENA DELAZIO more than 30 years. calligraphy with Fritz and Trudi Rash said there are a number
sdelazio@timesleader.com Rash, 59, learned about book- Eberhardt in Harleysville and of ways to bind books.

P
lains Township resident
Don Rash has always been
a big reader.
That love of books led to his
dream job as a bookbinder.
“It’s really a lot of fun,” Rash
said of a career that has spanned
binding while in college at the
University of Delaware where he
studied American culture. A
friend told him about an ad in the
Philadelphia Inquirer seeking a
bookbinding assistant. Rash
then studied bookbinding and
eventually established his own
bindery in Lake Harmony in
1986.
He moved to the Wyoming Val-
ley in 1990 and has been at his
Plains Township location for 14
years.
Traditionally, books are
formed into “signatures,” small-
er sheets folded and then sewn
together with raised cords – sim-
ilar to twine – around the center
See BINDING, Page 69
 DON CAREY PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER

LEFT: A book sits in a press in the shop of

bookbinder Don Rash. Rash, has been in the bookbinding
business for more than 30 years. Along with his
bookbinding duties, Rash teaches a binding class
twice a month at his Plains Township shop.

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 place and covered in another, take between seven and 10 class and has a nearby house “Book repair and conserva-

BINDING
Continued from Page 66
and into boards on the cover
of the book.
That process, done for
1,600 years, is commonly
called “binding in boards,”
typically using a leather cov-
er, which is more durable and
flexible, Rash said.
There is also case binding
where books are sewn in one
a process used today, as well
as perfect binding, common-
ly used for paperbacks.
For the past few years,
Rash has been binding regis-
ters, such as ones found at
the Luzerne County Cour-
thouse, and a veteran’s death
registry he’s been working on
for four years.
He recently completed
three of them; each required
14 hours of work over a three-
week period.
Smaller books, he said, can
hours.
Right now, Rash is restor-
ing 19th century books for
the Neumann Institute in As-
ton. He received the books
around Christmas time and
expects to finish within six
months.
Rash also operates a school
at his Plains Township shop.
For about five years, he has
taught a one-week class two
times a month from March to
October.
He charges $550 for the
that can comfortably accom-
modate three students.
He recently had a student
from Singapore who works at
the Singapore National Li-
brary, as well as a student
from Arkansas.
“People don’t knock down
the door, but business is stea-
dy,” Rash said. “I’ve managed
to not go out of business.”
Rash would like to build his
binding school enough to
spend half his time teaching
and the other half binding.
tion are what people want,”
said Rash, who also pre-
serves Bibles and other keep-
sake books.
“Books need tender love
and care,” Rash added. “You
can’t automate that.”
For the $140 it costs to pur-
chase a Kindle or a Nook,
Rash said you can buy many
more used paperbacks.
“Books aren’t going to go
away,” Rash said. “I don’t see
why (books and e-books)
can’t co-exist.”

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By SHEENA DELAZIO
sdelazio@timesleader.com
S
havertown resident Debra Lozano
has always been a lover of books.
She’ll read anything from biogra-
phies to fiction, and anything in between.
And now, she reads using her Kindle.
The Kindle, sold by Amazon.com, is an
electronic device that allows users to down-
load books, newspapers and magazines at
costs cheaper than hard copies. According to
the Association of American Publishers,
eBook sales have doubled during 2010, ac-
counting for nine percent of consumer book
sales.
Amazon.com also reported at the end of
January that eBooks are outselling paper-
back and hardcover books on its website.
Lozano, 53, received her Kindle in 2008 as
a gift from her now-husband.
“I really like it. It’s convenient because you
can basically have any book, any time, any-
where to read,” she said. “I think for some-
one that reads a lot, it’s really something nice
to have.”
Lozano has an older version of the Kindle,
and says she still purchases books that she
35
35 %
%
D ISCO
DI SCO UN
UN T
MORE INFORMATION
A Kindle costs between $139 and $189, while
a Nook, manufactured by Barnes & Noble,
costs around $249.
Consumers can usually purchase a regular
new hardcover book for between $25 and
$30. Kindle eBooks range in price from free
to $14.99 while Nook eBooks go for $9.99
and under, according to each eReader’s
respective websites.
would pass on to someone or if they have a
lot of pictures, like a biography.
“I really like it and everyone I talk to who
does have one, they always love it,” she said
of her Kindle. “And a lot of times if I’m out in
public reading the Kindle, everyone is very
curious about it – they want to get one, too,”
she said.
Lozano isn’t interested in buying a newer
version – which has a voice-reading capabil-
ity – but is glad her Kindle has a Whispernet
connection, allowing her to access the Inter-
net to download purchases.
Lozano sees no reason why books and
eBooks can’t co-exist.
T
THE
THE
A X MAN
TAX MAN
“A book is a book and a Kindle is a Kindle,”
she said. “Sometimes, I still like to have a
book, something about that is attractive.
Probably because (we’re) used to it.”
Cliff Farides, executive director of the Mill
Memorial Library in Nanticoke, is all too
aware of technology’s effect on the world of
books.
Farides owns a Kindle and says that even
though the library does not he is happy to
loan his downloaded books to patrons.
“If someone were to come to the library
withaKindleoftheirown,Iwouldlendthem
(any of) the 300 books on my Kindle for a
two-week period,” Farides said.
The two-week loan period is something
Kindle and Amazon offer on certain books,
he said.
“It’s like carrying your own library in your
hand,”Faridessaid.“TheKindledeviceitself
is a perfect reading device. I don’t have any
problem encouraging people to use them.”
Farides is currently on his fifth Kindle, and
reads anything from nonfiction to popular
classics.
He hopes sometime in the near future the
library can purchase eReaders for patrons to
use, but for now he’ll try his loaning experi-
ment if asked.
Ann Barr, director of the West Pittston Li-
brary, also believes libraries should update
themselves with eReaders, but funding just
isn’t available right now.
Instead, Barr said, she’ll hold a May 24
class on “eBooks and the library” to give peo-
ple a walk-through on how easy it is to use
eReaders.
Barr owns a Barnes & Noble Nook, and
hasn’t spent a dime purchasing books.
Instead, she uses her Philadelphia Free Li-
brary card to download eBooks for a speci-
fied time period.
“It’s the same idea (as a library),” she said.
“They are still lending books and informa-
tion to patrons, just in a different format.”
Barr said eReaders and eBooks haven’t
caught on just yet in Luzerne County whose
older residents still rely heavily on libraries.
“There’s so much we can do, but without
proper funding, we can’t provide services,”
she said. “We’re striving every day to provide
the highest level of service.”
She said many library patrons frequently
ask her if she has an eReader, to which she
responds by showing them her Nook and ex-
plaining how it’s used.
“It’s an exciting time,” said Barr, who
reads mostly popular fiction and classics. .
“It’s important that libraries adapt to future
trends.”
  
 

 

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CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE TIMES LEADER

Corey McCamley, a student at the Wilkes-Barre Career and Technology Center, is instructed by veteran teacher David Namey
on how to connect a home multi-media panel board and then check the connections with a meter.

By EDWARD LEWIS er students, are studying elec-

elewis@timesleader.com trical construction at the

T
he high cost of crude oil
hasn’t been a part of the
curriculum at Wilkes-
Barre Area Career and Techni-
cal Center.
But the energy issue is hav-
ing a technological ripple ef-
fect, transforming the way
houses and buildings are
wired. That’s just fine with
John Raggi, 17, and Ryan Swee-
ney, 17, who, along with 40 oth-
school. Instructor David
Namey, in his 35th year as a
teacher of electrical construc-
tion, said the field is no longer
referred to as a construction
trade but as a technology trade.
“Electrical has changed with
technology,” Namey said.
“Think about it. We all have
computers, cable TV and, in
See TEACHING, Page 75
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 S. JOHN WILKIN PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER

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 Namey said he expects the change to teach alternative program’s second year. “We’re media centers, similar to a

TEACHING
installation of solar panels on energy wiring, not only for so- taught the basics but it’s breaker box that supplies
residential homes and office lar panels but for wind pow- changing to more technolo- electricity to a building. A
buildings will “explode” to er,” Namey said. gy.” media center is the building’s
meet demand from consum- Namey said solar panels Sweeney, a senior at Crest- central heartbeat for cable
Continued from Page 72
ers seeking alternative ener- and wind turbines, which he wood High School, said tech- television, telephone and the
some houses, satellite TV. gy in response to high oil said are becoming popular for nology is changing how Internet.
Just 10 or 15 years ago, we costs. Alternative energy wir- residential homes, can be houses and office buildings “All wires for the Internet
didn’t have Internet access or ing is something Namey is wired into existing houses are being constructed. and cable, and even wireless,
satellite TV as we do now. I slowly teaching his students. and buildings. “It has changed, especially are here in the media center
see in the near future the de- “We’re required to teach the “The course is a lot differ- with the need to wire comput- panel,” Sweeney said. “If
mand for alternative energy basics, such as pulling wire to ent than when I first started,” ers and printers and stuff like something goes down, we can
will skyrocket due to the boxes in walls, but I expect said Raggi, a junior from that,” Sweeney said. use meter tools to find where
price of oil causing that.” our core curriculum will Coughlin High School in the Sweeney is interested in the problem is in a building.”

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 free
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Minus the paper.

By MARK GUYDISH
mguydish@timesleader.com
S
ue Zerfoss waved a wand the
size and shape of a lollipop
near a small disk that
seemed to cling like a magnet to the
head of Conner Karpowicz. A little
red LED on the wand lit up. Zerfoss
gently took a hearing aid connect-
ed to the disk from the 3-year-old’s
ear and hooked it to a fancy stetho-
scope, speaking into the aid. The
wand showed the battery was ac-
tive; the stethoscope gave her a feel
for how well the high-tech hearing
aid – called a cochlear implant –
was picking up sound.
Satisfied, Zerfoss helped Conner
put the device back in place and
used a low-tech system to help the
boy – who likely had never heard a
sound before getting the implant –
pronounce basic sounds. A draw-
ing of an airplane evoked an
“aaaahh,” a steam locomotive
prompted an “ooohhh.” Conner
beamed; Zerfoss could be confi-
dent the rest of the day’s lessons
would be heard.
Zerfoss heads the Luzerne Inter-
mediate Unit’s Oral/Auditory pro-
gram in the former Dallas School
District administration building,
helping preschoolers with pro-
found hearing impairment acquire
new skills after being fitted with
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/
FOR THE TIMES LEADER
Conner Karpowicz,
of Edwardsville, has
his hearing unit
checked each morning
at the LIU hearing
facility in Dallas.
the implants. Those implants con-
vert sound picked up by an earpiece
into a digital signal relayed from
the external disk to an internal im-
plant that stimulates the auditory
nerves, bypassing a damaged co-
chlea, the delicate part of the inner
ear responsible for perceiving and
interpreting sound.
The devices must be checked
See HIGHT-TECH, Page 78
 the sounds provided by the implants – snaps open to reveal a USB stick gather around and play educational

HIGH-TECH
Continued from Page 77
each day for an obvious reason, Zer-
foss said. “If they’re not working, why
bother with the rest of the lessons?”
Those lessons are designed to help
children born with profound hearing
loss learn to deal with the world via
to talk, to think in words, to play
games and share ideas. In short, to
live like any other child. And the tech
doesn’t stop with the tests.
Zerfoss wears a high-tech micro-
phone around her neck, a white cylin-
der with a handful of LEDs, that lets
her and co-teachers remotely trans-
mit their voices to speakers, assuring
students hear instructions. She sports
a wide blue plastic wristband that
drive, a device that can download and
store gigabytes of information from
her desktop computer (informtion
pulled from the Internet) and load it
into a “Smart Table.”
What’s a “Smart Table?” Think of
the old tables that let you play Pac
Man while eating pizza or hot dogs at
some local restaurants, only with the
tech amped up several thousand
times. The tots – all preschoolers –
games on a touch-screen computer-
ized table top that lets them draw col-
ored lines, spin images and drag ob-
jects on the screen, all with their fin-
gers, giggling and cheering almost ev-
ery step of the way.
Olivia Martin, 5, called Zerfoss’
bracelet/stick drive her “teacher
thing,” and insisted they play “colors,
See HIGH-TECH, Page 79

CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/
FOR THE TIMES LEADER

Gary Vest, Olivia

Martin, Hannah
Brennan and Amber
Zimmerman play
group games on a
Smart Board.

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 number the students – mix traditional autism students need, while still push-

HIGH-TECH
Continued from Page 78
not shapes.” Each student suddenly
had an array of circles with the names
of colors printed inside. They matched
the right color with an image – an ap-
ple, say, in the center, dragging the ap-
propriate circle to the apple.
“It’s hard because it doesn’t have the
right color,” Olivia opined after decid-
ing a recycling bin was “blue.” Of
course, that’s the point. The students
can’t simply match the circle in front of
them with the picture by color. “Red” is
in a dark blue circle, “Yellow” in a light-
er shade of azure. They need to recog-
nize the letters to get it right. Being in a
class for hearing-impaired students,
they must pronounce the colors, as
well.
Zerfoss uses a more traditional
Smart Board, too, the equivalent of a
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE TIMES LEADER
Caitlin Michaels, of Swoyersville,
works on a Smart Board at the Dallas
Middle School.
touch screen computer set up like a
large screen TV. But with such young
students, parts of the screen can be out
of reach. The table tends to work much
better.
John Bubblo, on the other hand,
finds the upright Smart Boards work
quite well in his autism support class in
Dallas Middle School. He, along with
therapists and aides – in such rooms
the adults can often equal and even out-
desk materials with programs down-
loaded to the Smart Board. In fact, the
new technology is rapidly integrating
with the old.
For example, Bubblo uses a program
that helps students learn to count mon-
ey, with the numbers one to 100 in 10
rows of 10. Each square is a penny, each
fifth square a nickel, each 10th a dime.
The grid lines up nickels and dimes in
columns, and students can quickly vi-
sualize how five pennies equal a nickel,
two nickels a dime and 10 dimes a dol-
lar. Bubblo shows paper sheets with
the same grid that students can use on
their desks with real coins to further
imprint the lesson.
Similar programs teach students
how to use the calendar, count or read
basic words. “Autistic students are very
good visual learners,” Bubblo noted.
“Kids like the technology; they really
do. They have a lot of fun doing it.”
The programs offer a uniform and re-
petitive format, something Bubblo said
ing the students up the learning curve.
And parents have found the technology
means “kids like coming to school, and
they see better behavior at home.”
High tech in special education class-
es is still new, and Bubblo concedes he
is still learning the full potential. It is
supplementing, rather than replacing,
proven techniques. And it is not for ev-
eryone. In some cases, old school tech-
niques may still work best. In a few
cases – particularly in the deaf and
hearing-impaired community, there
are fundamental cultural issues for
some people, who believe it best to
learn to speak without hearing, or to
learn American Sign Language.
After years of watching a child’s reac-
tions as they learn to hear and interact,
Zerfoss sits largely in the new tech
world, but concedes there is one obvi-
ous advantage to going old school:
those who learn to cope without hear-
ing aids don’t have to worry about bat-
teries dying.

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 CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/FOR
THE TIMES LEADER
Mike Stelma
explains how he uses
a computer to read
news on the Internet
and stay in touch
with family
members. By BILL O’BOYLE
boboyle@timesleader.com
M
ore and more senior ci-
tizens are getting on-
line.
According to Nielsen.com, as
of 2009 more than six million
more people 65 years of age and
older are active on the Internet
than were five years before the
study. The study says that in
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ical news, checking personal
health care information, plan-
ning trips, searching recipes/
planning meals, reading busi-
ness/financial news.
At the Kingston Senior Cen-
ter on the corner of Wyoming
Avenue and Union Street, Mike
Stelma, Joe Kozich and Betty
Shedlock spend time at the
computers. On one particular
day, Stelma and Shedlock ap-
peared content to play a few
games of Solitaire while Stelma
kept up a Facebook conversa-
tion with his cousin in the Poco-
nos.
Stelma, 85, of Larksville, of-
ten looks up medical informa-
tion and reads The Times Lead-
er online every day.
“My computer at home is on
the fritz, so I come here,” he
said. “I go on Facebook and talk
to my family and I check out
other sites, too. And it’s free.”
Stelma took a few computer
classes , but said he picks up
other things easily.
Kozich, 72, of Plains Town-
See SENIORS, Page 81
 LCCC CLASSES

SENIORS FOR OLDER CITIZENS

Continued from Page 80
ship, just bought a computer but
needs to have it hooked up. In the
meantime, he plays a heck of a
game of Solitaire.
“I like the games, but I can’t
wait to get on the Internet and
look things up,” he said. “I like to
read and learn about all different
subjects.”
Shedlock, 75, of Plains Town-
ship, is happy to play an occasion-
al game of Solitaire.
“I have no interest in learning
more,” she said.
Sandy Acornley, the director at
the Kingston Senior Center, said
about eight people use the com-
puters daily. They play games, re-
search medical information, look
at real estate advertisements,
read hunting and fishing sites,
read newspapers and magazines
and do their tax returns with the
help of a volunteer.
Sue Spry, vice president of
work force and community devel-
opment at Luzerne County Com-
munity College, said several pro-
grams are offered there to help se-
nior citizens learn and use the
Joe Kozich enjoys a cup of coffee and a game of Solitaire on the computer at the Kingston Senior Center.
computer.
“Senior citizens could be using
computers for so much, like mak-
ing travel plans, doing their tax-
es, recipes and much more,” Spry
said.
Spry said the most popular
course is “Computers for the Ter-
rified,” which is offered to any-
one, but is mostly taken by senior
citizens.
“We call children ‘digital na-
tives;’ well senior citizens are
‘digital immigrants,’” Spry said.
“Senior citizens didn’t grow up
with computers; it was never a
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
part of their work.”
Spry said the course gets par-
ticipants introduced to the com-
puter and the Internet and re-
moves the intimidation. She said
the seniors use the computer for
living and socialization.
“Before you know it, they’re
• Computers for the Terrified:
Tuesdays 6 to 9 p.m.; through
March 29; LCCC Educational
Conference Center
• Beyond Computers for the
Terrified Tuesdays 6 to 9 pm April
19 to May 10 LCCC Educational
Conference Center
• Beyond Computers for the
Terrified - starts April 19
• Floral Session for Spring –
starts March 23
• Floral Session for Spring,
course two – starts April 20
• Getting Paid to Talk: Making
Money With Your Voice – starts
June 9
For more information, contact
Christine Donnolo, Associate
Dean of Continuing Education, at
740-0361.
communicating with family and
friends by using the social media
out there,” Spry said.
She said the “Computers for
the Terrified” class is always
maxed out – over-enrolled, as
Spry says and college is looking
at offering the course more often.

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 CLARK VAN ORDEN/THE TIMES LEADER
Kevin Sickle, a fifth-grade computer
teacher at Heights Murray Elementary
School, works with students.
By BILL O’BOYLE
boboyle@timesleader.com
W
ILKES-BARRE – Most peo-
ple are introduced to the
world of technology long
before they enter kindergarten.
Dr. Michael Speziale, dean of the
School of Education and dean of the
College of Graduate and Profession-
al Studies at Wilkes University, said
children entering the first day of
school come in “techready.”
“Most of them have already been
using mobile devices like iPads, lap-
top computers, video games and
others,” Speziale said. “In essence
they are what we call digital natives.
They come to school not only ready,
but expecting to use technology.”
But as “tech ready” as those
young students are, Speziale says
schools generally have been slow, if
not resistant to this major change in
education.
“I read a comment from an educa-
tor in Australia who said, ‘Some-
times school is like a flight from
Melbourne to Sydney. You sit in
your seat and turn off your electron-
ic devices.’ We tell our students they
can’t use these devices, but the fact
is students need to use them to
learn.”
Speziale said students have great
tools at their disposal, but the edu-
cation community has not yet
learned how to capitalize on the
many benefits they have to educa-
tion.
To put it in perspective, Speziale
said Apple Computer, Inc., recently
announced it passed the 1 billion
mark for applications sold – many of
them being educational tools.
“The point is all of this is available
and much of it is free and education-
See MOMENT, Page 86
 the education system. developing a variety of compe-

MOMENT
Continued from Page 85
al,” Speziale said. “As educators
we can no longer ignore it.”
He said in Pennsylvania, mil-
lions of dollars have been allocat-
ed to make “classrooms of the fu-
ture.” The funding is used to buy
equipment and to train teachers
how to use it. Speziale said the
U.S. has a lot of catching up to
do.
In the United Kingdom, for ex-
ample, Speziale said he learned
during a recent visit to London
that there is a heavy emphasis
there on the use of technology in
“The reality is that technology tencies not usually measured.”
is not introduced to students The study found students “ex-
when they get to school; it’s in- plored and represented informa-
troduced to them long before tion dynamically and in many
they get to school. Now we need form, became socially aware and
to develop that in our education- more confident, communicated
al system.” effectively about complex proc-
According to a recent U.S. De- esse, became independent lear-
partment of Education-funded ners and self-starters, knew their
study, the use of technology re- areas of expertise and shared that
sulted in educational gains for all expertise spontaneously.”
students regardless of age, race, Other successes in the Depart-
parental income, or other charac- ment of Education study were
teristics. A second study - a 10- rising scores on state tests, im-
year study supported by Apple proved student attendance, in-
Computer, Inc., - concluded that creased student comprehension,
students provided with technol- motivation, attitude, strong
ogy-rich learning environments study, parent and teacher sup-
“continued to perform well on port, improved student retention
standardized tests but were also and improved placement in jobs.

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89
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/
FOR THE TIMES LEADER

Dr. Fred Bloom shows

the empty space in his
front office that used
By EILEEN GODIN Record keeping at Inter- The transition took about used computerized storage of
to hold manila folders For The Times Leader Mountain Medical Group, five years to complete, said Lisa medical records since 1997.

T
containing patient
records. Those records hose labyrinths of
have been transferred shelves holding manila
to a computer system. folders with brightly col-
ored tabs are becoming a thing
of the past in doctors’ offices.
Many physicians are using com-
puter software to store medical
records.
headquartered in Kingston
with offices throughout the
Back Mountain, is 100 percent-
computerized, said Mark Ste-
phens, president and CEO. Phy-
sicians no longer carry a pa-
tient’s file with them into the
exam room.
Bleich, director of support ser-
vices. Stephens said it cost
about two to three million dol-
lars for software, hardware
servers, training and laptops.
One of the larger medical
networks in the states, Geisin-
ger Health Care System has
Each exam room and work area
of Dr. Frederick Bloom’s prac-
tice on Wyoming Avenue in
Wyoming is equipped with a
flat screen computer and the re-
ception area is free of file fold-
See STORAGE, Page 91

STORAGE
Continued from Page 90
ers.
The move to the electronic
storage of health records is part
of the economic stimulus pack-
age put in place during the early
part of President Obama’s term,
Stephens said.
“Incentives are being offered
through Medicare and Medicaid
for physicians to become elec-
tronic,” he said. “Over the next
couple years, $44,000 per physi-
cian will be made available by
Medicare and Medicaid if physi-
cians can prove ‘meaningful
use.’” Offices must make these
changes by 2014 to be eligible.
Some of the criteria showing
meaningful use include connec-
tivity to insurance providers, an-
cillary departments such as ra-
diology and pharmacies, Ste-
phens said.
Benefits include greater abili-
ty to measure clinical perform-
ance and level of care. The im-
mediacy of test results and abil-
ity to review a patient’s unex-
pected emergency room visits
can help the physician have
more understanding and pro-
vide a quicker diagnosis of a pa-
tient’s ailment.
Bloom said the system allows
him to communicate more effec-
tively with patients, resulting in
better preventive care.
“If I notice a patient with dia-
betes has not been in to receive a
flu shot or if a patient is due for a
mammogram, an e-mail can be
sent to them stating they have a
message from their doctor,” he
said.
The patient can log onto “My-
Geisinger” using a secure Inter-
net connection, view the mess-
age and schedule an appoint-
ment. They can also ask their
doctor a question, request a pre-
scription refill or review their re-
cords. InterMountain Medical
Group is working to reach this
level, Stephens said.
“If they do not view the mess-
age within a week, the e-mail
bounces back and a phone call is
made,” Bloom said.
Reports on lab results or re-
search on a patient’s health can
be generated with a click of a
button.
“In the past, to gather a com-
plete record, a nurse would have
to go through all the test results
and memos in a patient’s folder,”
Stephens said.
The ability to access a pa-
tient’s test results in a timely
manner, without waiting days, is
revolutionary, Bloom said.
Dr. Durelle Scott, a doctor of
internal medicine with the Inter-
Mountain Medical Group, ad-
mits to being wary of the new
system but now loves it.
“Now, I cannot live without
it,” he said. “It is very efficient.
You can type in more detailed
notes.”
Bloom said, laughingly, when
the new system was first intro-
duced, “some doctors did not
know how to type.” Patients
were apprehensive, too, asking
him who would be able to view
their personal information.
How secure is patients’ infor-
mation? The software used,
called SAGE, is very secure, Ste-
phens said.
The vendors go through rigor-
ous review from a security stand-
point and bring that to the pro-
viders so there is never a breach
of confidentiality, he said.
Bloom said Geisinger uses soft-
ware called EPIC with strict se-
curity levels.
Pulling his keys out of his
pocket, Bloom showed a “key
fob,” a small hard plastic digital
tab with a digital number combi-
nation, which changes every
minute. When he is home or
away from the office, he is able to
access his patients’ records by
logging onto a computer with
his username, password and the
key fob number.
“Security is taken very seri-
ously,” he said.
Geisinger Health Care System
physicians and staff are moni-
tored as to whose medical re-
cord they are viewing. If a pa-
tient’s privacy is breached, the
staff or physician is fired, Bloom
said.
“Even though I have a secure
access to Epic, I’m not allowed
to look at any record I desire. For
example, I cannot look at my
family’s records,” he said
The system is also changing
the face of the physician’s office.
The need for large open spaces
to store medical records is not
there anymore. Bleich said, al-
though the system has allowed
InterMountain Medical Group
to go paperless, the thought of
not needing medical record per-
sonnel in offices is untrue.
“They have been converted in-
to someone scanning every
piece of paper that comes into
the office,” she said. “No one has
been let go.”
 DON CAREY/
THE TIMES LEADER
Certified
Veterinary Tech
Lindsay Hughes,
left, assists Dr.
Sharon Finster as
Finster demon-
strates the use of an
endoscope machine
at the Northeast
Veterinary
Hospital in Plains
Township.

By SARAH HITE care is capable of in the 21st century, The staff is celebrating its recent Before Finster joined the staff in
shite@timesleader.com and desktop computers in every ex- acquisition of a digital endoscope, a April 2009, the facility was primarily

R
over and Fido don’t have to
worry about unnecessary eu-
thanasia or dangerous misdi-
agnoses anymore. Animal care has
advanced at such a rate within the
past 20 years that medical technology
in your local vet’s office can rival that
of any human hospital.
The Northeast Veterinary Referral
Hospital in Plains Township is a
prime example of what veterinary
am room are just the tip of the iceb-
erg.
The 24-hour emergency care facil-
ity is the only one of its kind in Lu-
zerne County – last year, the hospital
logged more than 27,600 patient vis-
its. It offers emergency, surgical and
internal care for beloved furry
friends, including neurological sur-
gery, chemotherapy and cardiology
EKG tests.
long, flexible device with a video
camera and light used to look inside
the body. With patients that tend to
eat inanimate objects, it is a less inva-
sive and more efficient emergency
care tool. This alternative to surgery
makes life less worrisome for pa-
tients and pet owners alike.
“It’s a huge boost for our practice,”
said Dr. Sharon Finster, emergency
medical director at the hospital.
a surgical service for pets. Lindsay
Hughes, certified veterinary techni-
cian at the hospital, said the atmo-
sphere was much calmer and more
organized than the fast-paced, con-
stant stream of activity happening on
a daily (and nightly) basis for the
staff.
“With the emergency service, there
See FRIENDS, Page 93
 care in a gentle manner. DON CAREY/

FRIENDS
THE TIMES LEADER
“My dog was only under anesthesia
for less than 10 minutes,” she said. Dr. Sharon
Some things in veterinary care Finster
haven’t changed - there’s no replace- prepares a
Continued from Page 92 blood sample
ment for the comforting voice of a com-
are (more) procedures inhabiting the passionate veterinarian or a few pats to be tested
same physical space we’ve had before,” on the head from a friendly vet tech. in a Nova
said Finster. Finster said the human-animal bond is Biomedical
Plans to expand the hospital and in- sometimes undervalued, and the ad- Machine
at the
clude more services such as CAT scans vanced care offered at the hospital only
Northeast
and MRI technology are part of the hos- reflects what pet owners can do to
Veterinary
pital’s future, but for now the staff is show their appreciation for man’s best
Hospital in
working to create speedier and more friend. Plains
effective care for animals in distress. “I have told my dog he cannot make Township.
When Finster’s dog Jack, the hospi- me make difficult decisions in terms of
tal’s mascot, had a malignant tumor on his care,” Finster laughed. “But if some-
his back, she knew the team at the hos- thing does happen, there’s a team here I
pital could provide the most effective trust most.”

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By CAMILLE FIOTI
For The Times Leader
T
he primary technique
of a chiropractor in-
volves manual manip-
ulation of the spine, other
joints and soft tissues. Now,
advances in technology such
as laser therapy, surface
electromyography (sEMG)
and thermography are said
to be radically improving the
diagnosis and treatment
process.
“Whatever I was able to
do before, I can do it faster
and better now,” said chiro-
practor Virgil Thomas. Since
1978, Thomas has treated
patients who suffer from
back pain, sciatica, neck
pain, shoulder pain, head-
aches, sports and work-relat-
ed injuries in his Kingston
office.
For the last two years, he
has used Lite Cure 1000, an
advanced Class 4 deep tis-
sue laser therapy. The
LCT-1000 works by penetrat-
ing heat into damaged tis-
sues with monochro-
matic light to stimu-
late cells so they can
heal faster. “It’s really
helping the body cure
itself,” he said. “It
gives it a push.”
Thomas has had
Class 3 laser therapy
in his office for some
time, but upgraded to
Class 4 because of its
power to reduce or
eliminate pain faster.
“In my 32 years of
practice, I’ve never
seen anything like it.”
The procedure
takes about 10 minutes, Tho-
mas said. “Some people feel
results immediately.” The
therapy is often used by vet-
erinarians for dogs with
joint pain and inflammation
as well as podiatrists for
treatment of fungal infec-
tions. It is also used by a lot
of professional sports teams,
including the Toronto Blue
Jays and the Philadelphia
Phillies, he said.
“The best results are re-
ceived after about eight ses-
sions,” he added. “Much of
this technology is way ahead
of what insurance compa-
nies will pay.”
In addition to Class 4 la-
ser therapy, Thomas uses
state-of-the-art diagnostic
thermography to measure
the skin’s surface temper-
ature on the spine, helping
to evaluate the function of
the nervous system. “It can
find hot spots,” he said,
pointing out that hot spots
show irritation or subluxa-
tion (mini dislocations.)
When a chiropractor ad-
justs a patient’s spine, a
clicking or popping sound is
often heard. “That sound is
the opening of a channel of DON CAREY/THE TIMES LEADER
energy in the spinal cord,” Chiropractor Dr. Virgil Tho-
said Thomas. “When you re- mas shows off the laser ther-
duce subluxation, you re- apy machine he uses in his
duce irritation on nerve.” practice. Since 1978, Thomas
Thomas also measures the has treated patients who
function of the muscles sup- suffer from back pain, sciat-
porting the spine using sur- ica, neck pain, shoulder pain,
face EMG, a test that shows headaches, sports and work-
the pattern of how energy is related injuries in his King-
distributed through muscles, ston office.
which are controlled by
See CURRENT, Page 95
Health care agencies reach out via web
By JOHN KRISPIN member to have access to his or her infor-
CURRENT
Continued from Page 94
jkrispin@timesleader.com ONLINE
mation. nerves. “For instance, it might find that

L
ocal health care agencies are looking The website for Blue Cross of Northeastern By enhancing the way information can one side of the spine has too much nerve
to the free World Wide Web as a Pennsylvania can be viewed at www.bcne- be accessed, patients can send and receive energy, in that it is spastic,” he said.
means to, once again, reach out to pa.com. The MyGeisinger website can be e-mails from their doctors about a checkup “In doctors’ offices or hospitals, they
customers. viewed at www.mygeisinger.org. through the MyGeisinger website, lessen- measure nerve energy by sticking needles
Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylva- ing the time between going to the office and in you,” he added. “That’s very effective
nia launched an Internet application on its ary, the website generated more than sitting in the waiting room. but also very painful.” The sEMG helps
site that helps consumers better compre- 10,000 page views since it launched late last The MyGeisinger online registration is identify areas of abnormal tension and
hend new and existing policies during the year. available to Geisinger patients ages 18 and stress.
transition of the health care reform, along The site also features a tax credit calcula- older. Thomas said investing in cutting edge
with information on their benefit packages. tor that can help small business owners Parents or caregivers of a Geisinger pa- technology has increased the size of his
Blue Cross spokesman Anthony Matris- learn more about the tax credits available to tient may be required to provide additional practice by 25 percent. “In these economic
ciano said BCNEPA wants everyone to un- helpmakecoveragemoreaffordableforem- information to process a MyGeisinger reg- times, you need an edge to do something
derstand their coverage. ployees. istration. nobody else can do,” he said. “The newer
“We are trying to provide information for Geisinger Health System also offers on- According to the MyGeisinger website, technology is light years from what we
any resident…looking for more informa- line tools for those who would like to know some of the information available to pa- had in the past.”
tion on the health care reform,” he said. more about their coverage plans. tients includes online medical records Although he still performs manual spi-
The “AskBlue Health Care Reform” pro- Public Relations Coordinator Matthew and lab results, account balances, online nal manipulation, Thomas has seen much
vides information on specific provisions of Van Stone said the website has plenty of in- payments, health and fitness information success using the new technology. “I seem
the health care law based on a user’s an- formational tools on diseases and Geisin- and ways to communicate with a doctor’s to be able to treat people faster, better and
swers about gender, age, insurance and de- ger has links in place for people to browse. office for prescription renewals, appoint- more completely,” he said. “How’d you
pendents. With this program, a patient can arrange ment requests and medical advice for like to feel better in three days instead of
Matrisciano said that, by the end of Janu- for a power of attorney or designated family non-urgent questions or concerns. three weeks?”

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BY JERRY LYNOTT
jlynott@timesleader.com
I
t’s a story told often by dif-
ferent people with similar
results.
What they have in common
is that they were treated at the
Heart and Vascular Institute
at Wilkes-Barre General Hos-
pital.
“We do about 375 open
heart surgeries and 2,500
catheterizations a year,” said
Tom Norton, director of car-
diovascular services.
The doctors, nurses and
technicians who play a critical
role in performing the proce-
dures rely on machines,
equipment and technology to
do their jobs.
“We have fantastic services
that are some of the best in the
region,” Norton said.
Fantastic in that, in one
sense, they are extraordinary
and, in another, beyond imag-
ination of what was once
thought possible.
Treatment of cardiovascu-
lar disease takes on many
forms, from accessing the
heart from the outside
through surgery or from the
inside through angioplasty or
stents to improve blood flow.
Technology enables medi-
cal professionals to view real
time images of the heart and
blood vessels in order to make
diagnoses.
“It’s amazing how far every-
thing has come,” Norton said.
The technology extends be-
yond the hospital to the emer-
gency medical service person-
nel who transport patients.
From an ambulance, EMS
personnel can transmit elec-
trocardiograms that measure
the electrical activity of the
heart from which a doctor can
determine whether there are
irregular beats or other prob-
lems, explained Diane Kroli-
kowski, assistant chief execu-
tive officer of the hospital.
“I’m an old nurse who’s
been in health care for 37
years,” she said. “Those kinds
of things didn’t happen.”
But they are the norm today
and technology makes it pos-
sible.
In the lab, doctors can look
at one monitor showing a pa-
tient’s heart in its present
state and compare that to an
older study displayed on a sec-
ond monitor, she said.
From the time someone
comes through the hospital
doors to when they are under-
going angioplasty treatment
in the catheterization lab
takes 61 minutes, said Nor-
ton. He called it “door to bal-
loon time” referring to the in-
sertion and inflation of a bal-
loon in a coronary artery to re-
lieve a blockage.
“It’s one of the things we
pride ourselves on,” he said.
The staff of cardiac sur-
geons, cardiologists, techni-
cians and nurses is trained in
using the latest technology
and the hospital updates the
equipment.
“For instance, we just re-
placed a cardiac cath camera
with the best available,” said
Norton.
Each new generation of
equipment is better than the
previous one and in demand.
“It’s what patients expect,”
BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
Norton said.
Wilkes-Barre General Hospital Cardiac Catheterization Lab Clinical Director Rich Weaver
demonstrates the use of the Philips Allura Xper FD20 fixed X-ray system in the recently-opened
Interventional Cardiology/Peripheral Specialty Lab.
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 CLARK VAN ORDEN PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER

Dr. Robert Szulborski of Eye

Care Specialists performs a
cataract surgery at the
Kingston Surgery Center.

By SARA POKORNY posed to looking at it from specializes in retinal proce-

spokorny@timesleader.com above. This machine high- dures at Eye Care Special-

T
echnology in the med-
ical world is constant-
ly evolving, and it’s
no different in the eye care
field. From large micro-
scopes and lasers to the ti-
niest of lenses implanted in
the eye, the area’s eye ex-
perts have all bases covered.
Before any procedure can
be done, the overall health of
the eye must be determined.
Technology has helped to
make the process easier as
well as all-encompassing.
“The eye is not perfectly
flat; it has nooks and cran-
nies, kind of like the outside
of an orange,” said Cheryl
Summa, of Eye Care Special-
ists in Kingston. “We have a
machine that scans the eye
and color codes the high and
low areas.”
One of the machines takes
a side view of the eye, as op-
lights the nine layers of the
eye by sending infrared light
through it so that all layers
are visible. This can show
separations, fluids, or holes
in the eye.
Fluorescein angiography
assesses how an eye reacts
to treatments. During this
process, flourescein dye is
injected into the eye and
tracked as it passes through
the retinal vessels. This is
used to show the overall
health of the eye and also see
how an eye is reacting to
treatments.
The PASCAL laser treats
retinal conditions, including
diabetic retinopathy, macu-
lar degeneration and retinal
blockages and tears.
“It’s almost the same tech-
nology as the scanner you
see at the supermarket,”
said Dr. Erik Kruger, who
ists. “Instead of firing into
one spot, it very quickly
makes a pattern of spots at
one time.”
This makes the procedure
more efficient.
“The PASCAL laser allows
us to treat mostly diabetic
patients that need to be la-
sered in a way that’s faster
and with a little less discom-
fort,” Kruger said.
A very common eye sur-
gery is LASIK, a refractive
procedure intended to re-
duce a person’s dependency
on glasses or contacts by re-
shaping the cornea.
This type of surgery often
blends with cataract sur-
gery, which is removing the
clouded lens of the eye and
replacing it with a lens im-
plant.
See EYE, Page 99
 When talking about cataract

EYE
Continued from Page 98
In order to accomplish these
procedures, doctors rely on
technology. One machine that
Dr. Frank A. Bucci Jr., of Bucci
Laser Vision in Wilkes-Barre, us-
es is a microscope called the
Lumera.
“When you send light into the
eye, you get what’s called a red
reflex, which really helps you
see during the cataract surgery,”
Bucci said. “This machine’s red
reflex is tremendous, and it’s
certainly affected the quality of
my surgery here.”
LASIK surgery requires more
than one laser.
“There’s a bladeless femtose-
cond laser, which uses tiny, tiny
high energy light waves to cut
the protective flap of the eye,”
Bucci said. “Then an excimer la-
ser, which uses light waves of a
different length, reshapes the
cornea.”
surgery, Dr. Bucci likens the cat-
aract to an M&M candy.
“The hard, outer covering of
the M&M is the front part of the
cataract and the inside is the
chocolate,” he said. “For cata-
ract surgery, we take the M&M
covering off, then send sound
waves in to break up the choco-
late, which we then suck out.
That leaves an empty pouch that
we insert the lens into. The
pouch shrink wraps onto the
lens, and it’s there for the rest of
your life.”
Even the smallest lenses in-
serted in the eye during these
procedures can be considered
technology.
Some lenses are referred to as
premium lenses because of their
various functions.
“These lenses not only im-
prove your distance vision, but
also give you intermediate and
up-close, so that you don’t need
any glasses at all,” Bucci said.
Some lenses can also correct
astigmatism, or an irregularly
shaped cornea, that would re-
Dr. Frank Bucci looks for a
particular vitamin patients use
for eye health.
quire glasses.
In cataract surgery, sound, not
light, waves break up the cata-
ract; however, this will change
very soon.
Dr. Bucci said that, by year’s
end, a groundbreaking technol-
ogy will likely be available in the
United States that uses light
waves instead of sound waves to
remove cataracts, replacing a
manual aspect of the procedure.
“There’s a membrane that we
tear manually with instruments,
which is an integral part of the
surgery,” Bucci said. “The end
result of the surgery depends on
the quality of that cut. If the cut
Dr. Frank Bucci is pictured in his surgery center on Wilkes-Barre
Township Blvd.
is not an absolute circle, it may
be a little oblong, the lens you
implant might not be centered
perfectly, so you won’t get the
perfect result you’re looking
for.”
In the new technology, the la-
ser will make this cut.
“It makes the circular wound,
takes the cap off, then puts ener-
gy in different patterns into the
AIMEE DILGER PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER
eye to fragment the cataract.
This will be true, all-laser cata-
ract extraction.”
Bucci said this will be a major
paradigm shift in technology.
“There are 3 million cataract
surgeries a year, so you’re taking
the most frequently performed
surgery and completely chang-
ing the main technology as to
how it’s done,” he said.

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 RELIGIOUS
SERVICES
BACK MOUNTAIN
HARVEST ASSEMBLY
340 Carverton Road • Trucksville, PA 18708
SERVICE TIMES:
Sunday at 8:00 AM, 9:45 AM,
11:00 AM and 6:30 PM
We have various other activities for men, women, youth & children
570.696.1128 • www.bmha.org

CROSS CREEK COMMUNITY CHURCH

TRUCKSVILLE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 370 Carverton Road • Trucksville, PA
Rev. Lori J. Steffensen, Pastor www.crosscreekcc.org
Dr. Stephen L. Broskoske, Director of Music 570.696.0399
“Making Disciples for Jesus Christ” • SUNDAY SERVICES 9:00 & 10:45am • WEDNESDAY FAMILY NIGHT 6:30pm
ADULT BIBLE CLASSES ADULT BIBLE CLASSES
YOUTH & CHILDREN CLASSES REVIVE & CROSSROADS YOUTH GROUP
Sunday Schedule - 8:30 A.M. & 11:00 A.M. FULLY STAFFED NURSERY AWANA FOR KIDS!
Sunday School for all Ages - 9:45 A.M. - 10:45 A.M.
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT US ONLINE!
Church Road off Route 309, Trucksville
Phone: 696-3897 • Fax: 696-3898 • Email: office@trucksvilleumc.com www.crosscreekcc.org

WINDOWS OF HEAVEN CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Non-Denominational & Multi-Ethnic Assembly
220 Wyoming Ave., Kingston, PA 18704 SUPPORTING FAMILIES THROUGH LIFE
(Across from Walgreens) DISCOVERING TRUTH, CHANGING LIVES
Pastor Nurudeen I. Adeojo
Please come join us:
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Sunday Worship 10 AM 97 South Franklin Street, Wilkes-Barre
Tuesday Prayer Meeting 6:30 PM Phone (570) 824-2478
Children’s Church & Child Care Provided
Need More Information Call: 570-817-3962

Rev. Dr. Bob Zanicky, Minister

10:00 AM Worship Service 11:00 AM Sunday School
Nursery Provided, Handicapped Access
John Vaida - Minister of Music,
Pamela Kerns - Christian Education Director
A friendly, inclusive and welcoming church
Audio Sermons available on the web @ www.fpcwb.com
 RELIGIOUS
SERVICES
ST. IGNATIUS CHURCH CLARKS SUMMIT UNITED
339 N. Maple Ave., Kingston “Without Sunday...We Cannot Live” METHODIST CHURCH
WEEKEND MASS TIMES
1310 Morgan Highway, Clarks Summit, PA
Saturday - 4:00 pm & 5:30 pm • Sunday - 10:30 am & 12:00 pm
St. Ann Chapel Hoyt St. & Loveland Ave SUNDAY SERVICE
Sunday 7:00 am & 8:30 am 8 am & 10 am
DAILY MASS TIMES
7:30 am Monday thru Saturday & 12:10 pm Monday thru Friday SUNDAY SCHOOL
Both at St. Ignatius 9 am September through May
SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION clarkssummitumc.org
Saturday 11 am - 12 noon at St. Ignatius Church & by appointment

St. Mary’s Church of the HOLY CROSS

Immaculate Conception EPISCOPAL CHURCH
134 South Washington Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 373 N. MAIN STREET, W-B
CATHOLIC - WEEKEND SCHEDULE Father Timothy Alleman, Rector
SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY SUNG EUCHARIST - 9:00 AM
SUNDAY - 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM, SUNDAY SCHOOL - 9:00 AM
12:10 PM, 7:00 PM SATURDAY HOLY EUCHARIST - 4:30 PM
MASS DAILY WEDNESDAY - 7:00 PM
12:10 PM
Monsignor Thomas V. Banick, Pastor
HEALING SERVICE & HOLY EUCHARIST

HIGH POINT BAPTIST CHURCH OPEN DOOR

Where God’s Grace Is Transforming Lives
SUNDAY SERVICES: BAPTIST CHURCH
9:30 AM - Bible Studies for all ages 826 S. Keyser Ave., Scranton
10:30 AM - Worship & Rootz Children’s ph: 344-4553
Ministry www.open-door.net
6:00 PM - Pulse Youth Ministry
DURING THE WEEK: SERVICE TIMES:
Small Group Bible Studies SUNDAY 10AM & 6PM
Vertical Parenting Ministry WEDNESDAY- Prayer & Bible Study 7PM
Men’s Fraternity
JAM - Jr. High Ministries
Cub Scouts First United Methodist Church
1919 Mountain Road • Larksville, PA 18651 400 Wyoming Avenue, West Pittston, PA 18643 • 570-655-1083
Pastor: Reverend Janet Tiebert
570-371-4404 Office Hours: 8:30AM to 12:30PM Secretary: Nancy Heal
www.highpointchurch.info Sunday Service: 10AM • Sunday School: 11:15AM
PASSION PLAY Sunday Night Alive: First Sunday of the month at 6:05PM
“THE GOOD SHEPHERD” Youth Group: Sunday at 7:00PM
Sunday April 17 at 6:00 PM Choir Practice: Wednesday 7:00PM, Director: JoAnn Austin
Women’s Unit: 2nd Tuesday at 7:00PM, President: Janet Renna
Thursday April 21 at 7:00 PM
Class #18: 2nd Thursday at 7:00PM, President: Phyllis Bell
Friday April 22 at 7:00 PM Community Food Bank: 1st and 3rd Wednesday 9AM to 12N
Saturday April 23 at 1:00 PM & 7:00 PM
Church Specialties: Pasties and Homemade Pizza. Call Church Office for dates.
 BILL TARUTIS/FOR
THE TIMES LEADER

Radiation
Oncology
Department
Director Dr.
Uzma Malik is
pictured with
the Trilogy
linear acceler-
ator that com-
bines imaging
and cancer
treatment
technologies
at the Henry
Cancer Center
at Geisinger
Wyoming
Valley Medical
Center in
Plains
Township.

By JANINE UNGVARSKY botic urologic surgery and improved Barre locations. The new Allura units ger physicians have sought to provide
Times Leader Correspondent maternal fetal health care, Geisinger are most often used during cardiac in- with other technology, such as the Tril-

I
t’s hard to top the medical field for
the speed with which new tools and
techniques are developed or for the
impact they have on people’s lives.
At one local health care system, that
means new ways of looking for and
treating diseases can be found in vir-
tually every branch of medicine. From
clinics devoted solely to finding and
treating the source of headaches to ro-
Health System has dozens of new tech-
nological developments in the works at
almost any time, according to Public
Relations Coordinator Matthew Van
Stone.
Van Stone said Geisinger recently
signed a contract with Philips Medical
Systems for new X-ray imaging equip-
ment for five catheterization laborato-
ries at both its Danville and Wilkes-
tervention procedures following a
heart attack, giving the cardiologist im-
proved imaging and shorter procedure
times.
“This provides patients and physi-
cians with better treatment times dur-
ing cardiac trauma when every second
is critical,” Van Stone said.
It’s the kind of better treatment and,
hopefully, better outcomes that Geisin-
ogy linear accelerator used to treat tu-
mors. In the two years since Geisinger’s
Henry Cancer Center acquired the
$1.75 million accelerator, thousands of
patients have benefited from its ability
to accurately target tumors with radi-
ation.
“The Trilogy lets us treat a little tiny
See MEDICINE, Page 103
 “If we can visualize what the tu-

MEDICINE
Continued from Page 102
spot with a nice high dose of radi-
ation,” said Dr. Uzma Malik, di-
rector of Geisinger’s radiology on-
cology department. “That mini-
mizes the dosage to the surround-
ing normal areas and allows us
better overall control.”
Treating a patient with the ac-
celerator starts with a CAT scan
to get a complete picture of the
tumor, Malik said. Then the doc-
tor marks the tumor and a person
called a dosimetrist programs the
accelerator to target it. The accel-
erator can be programmed to
move the gantry with the radi-
ation beams, change the intensity
of the beam and to shape the
beam to focus on the exact shape
of the tumor, Malik said, even as
the gantry moves and changes the
angle of radiation. On-board
imaging allows the doctor to
monitor the treatment’s progress,
and the machine is flexible
enough to treat a large area such
as the pelvis, a tiny tumor in the
brain or even multiple tumors,
she said.
Don Douglas, service representative for Varian Medical Systems, checks the operation of the Trilogy
linear accelerator from the control center at the Henry Cancer Center at Geisinger Wyoming Valley
Medical Center in Plains Township.
“We can direct multiple beams
on the tumor, and as the beam
moves, we can reshape the beams
to focus on the tumor from the
new angle,” Malik said. “The radi-
ation moves during treatment. It’s
very dynamic and very accurate.”
Another feature of the acceler-
ator is called respiratory gating,
where an infrared camera is used
to track how the tumor moves
when the patient breathes. Partic-
mor is doing when the patient is
breathing, we can track it better
and target it better,” she said.
Any way of more accurately tar-
geting a tumor makes successful
treatment more likely, Malik said,
and Geisinger is also using im-
plantable sources of radiation –
sometimes called seeds – to treat
tumors affecting the prostate, cer-
vix and other areas.
“We’re excited about other new
ways of treating tumors as well,”
said Malik. “There’s the cyber
knife, which uses imaging equip-
ment and a robotically placed unit
to treat with high doses of radi-
ation.”
And Malik said Geisinger is
considering the next generation
of the accelerator, the True Beam,
which will not only allow doctors
to move and refocus the radiation
BILL TARUTIS/ FOR THE TIMES LEADER beam but will also move the
couch where the patient is lying,
synchronizing the movements of
all three to allow very focused
treatment.
ularly useful for lung tumors, re- “With all of these, it’s providing
spiratory gating allows the radi- very accurate treatment,” Malik
ation beam to be turned off and said, “and the doctor has the satis-
on, or gated, with the breathing faction of knowing that what you
cycle, which improves the accura- wanted to do for the patient is ex-
cy of the treatment, Malik said. actly what is being done.”

SERVICE SPECIALS
TIRE ROTATION.................................... $9.95
PA. STATE INSPECTION ..................... $12.95
LUBE - OIL - FILTER CHANGE ............ $19.95
PA. EMISSIONS TEST ......................... $25.95
HANDWASH & WAX........................... $34.95
*Oil Change good up to 5 quarts. Some restrictions and/or exclusions may apply. PRESENT COUPON AT TIME OF SERVICE

WE SERVICE MOST MAKES & MODELS

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655-4575 • 1-800-223-1111
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Kingston • 714-2656 Dallas • 675-8113
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VISIONARIES
E
ye Care Specialists is Northeast
Pennsylvania’s leading comprehensive eye
care practice. In fact, it is ranked in the top
2% of opthalmology practices in the United States.
The group’s ongoing success is credited to
its commitment to providing outstanding patient
care from highly qualified, medical and surgical
eye care specialists.
The doctors of Eye Care Specialists are graduates
of some of the most prestigious educational
institutions, including Harvard University, Duke
University, Scheie Eye Institute, Washington
Hospital Center, Temple University, Wills Eye
Hospital, Pennsylvania College of Optometry, as
well as many others.
For nearly half a century, the specialists have
been providing for the eye care needs of both men
and women of all ages, while utilizing some of
the most advanced eye care procedures available.
Its customer-oriented staff goes above and beyond
to ensure each patient is treated with the utmost
professionalism, care and courtesy.
These highly skilled, board-certified physicians
participate in many of the Food and Drug
Administration’s Investigational Trials. Their
participation ultimately provides patients with
access to some of the most current treatments
prior to their general release to many medical
professionals throughout the country.
One of the more recent FDA Investigational
Trials gained approval for Alcon’s ReStor®
cataract replacement lens. This lens is the premier
multi-focal lens available today. Market Scope, an
independent organization that determines market
share for Premium IOLs, found the ReStor®
lens held a 53% market share in its 2009 second
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Dr. Robert G. Szulborski, Dr. William M. McLaughlin, Dr. Donald J. Savage,
Dr. Erik F. Kruger, Dr. Patrick McGraw, and Dr. Harvey J. Reiser.
quarter report.
“It’s a breakthrough in lens replacement
surgery,” said Dr. Patrick McGraw, of Eye Care
Specialists.
According to Dr. Donald Savage, inside every
eye there is a lens that helps to focus on focal
points up close, far away, and at intermediate
distances. With age, the lens of your eye can
gradually become cloudy. This cloudiness is
called a cataract. The only way to restore vision is
to surgically remove the cataract.
“No shot, no stitch, and no patch cataract
surgery is one of Eye Care Specialists’ most
popular procedures,” said Dr. Robert Szulborski.
“Ultrasound technology is used to remove the
cataract, and the new lens is implanted through
a smaller incision than in traditional cataract
surgery.”
“In the past, cataracts were replaced with a
monofocal lens that could focus on only one
position,” Dr. Harvey Reiser added. “For 80%
of the recipients, the ReStor® replacement lens
allows patients to see well up close, at a distance,
and even in between, all without the need for
glasses.”
The doctors of Eye Care Specialists are experts
in the diagnosis and treatment of various eye
disorders, including glaucoma management and
surgery, retinal laser treatment, and diagnosis and
treatment of macular degeneration.
According to Managing Partner Dr. Erik Kruger,
the group also utilizes cutting-edge advancements
and participates in clinical studies to aid in the
written by Jonathan Knepper of Independent NEPA Magazine
ADVERTISEMENT
treatment of macular degeneration and other
retinal issues.
Macular Degeneration is the leading cause of
legal blindness in persons over the age of 60 in
the United States. Many such cases can be treated
with a variety of laser and surgical techniques,
Dr. William McLaughlin, a retinal surgeon at Eye
Care Specialists added.
The doctors specialize in elective and cosmetic
procedures such as LASIK surgery, bi-focal
implant lenses, multi-focal lens implants, and
ophthalmic plastic, reconstructive and orbital
surgery.
Dr. Harvey Reiser and Dr. Patrick McGraw
provide the correct LASIK procedures by
consulting with patients to determine which
procedure is best for each individual patient. The
initial consultation to determine candidacy is
completely FREE, with no obligation, by simply
calling 1-888-EYE-2010.
“This is one of the few practices where you
meet the surgeon before your surgery,” said
Cheryl Summa, director of marketing of Eye Care
Specialists.
Patients can enjoy one-stop shopping by visiting
its full-service optical boutiques, which focus on
providing patients with great quality products and
exceptional customer service. The large selection
features something for every budget, including
fashion-forward designer frames.
In all, the group is comprised of 25 doctors: 11
ophthalmologists and 14 optometrists practicing
in 12 locations (Berwick, Bloomsburg, Dallas,
East Stroudsburg, Hazleton, Honesdale, Kingston,
Nanticoke, Pittston, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and
Wyoming) throughout the region. Eye Care
Specialists also operates a state-of-the-art surgery
center in Kingston.
For more information or to make an appointment
at any location, call 1-800-322-4733 or visit
www.icarespecialists.com.
 Celebrating

1976
35 Years 2011

Providing Quality Legal Services To The People Of Northeast PA Since 1976

The Law Offices of
Michael I. Butera

Atty. Michael I. Butera

Proud to be acknowledged by my peers as a
PENNSYLVANIA SUPER LAWYER every year since 2005.
This recognition is given to 5% of the lawyers in
Pennsylvania by Philadelphia Magazine.
• Accidents • Social Security • Workers Compensation
• Wills - Estates • Domestic • Criminal Arrests
• Products Liability • Personal Injury • Real Estate
And All Other Legal Matters.

121 South Main Street, Pittston, PA • 654-0067