First Posted: 1/6/2013
Joseph Morgan and Bob Dunnigan, of Pittston, served as co-captains of what high school team in 1960?
George Shannon, of West Pittston, parked his loaded Biscontini Coal Company truck at the top of Crooked Alley just off Parsonage Street and prepared to make a delivery. Just then the truck began to roll backward down the hill.
Shannon tried the brakes and they failed.
As the truck picked up speed, Shannon jumped from the vehicle that was now headed toward the 248 Parsonage St. home of Anthony Rubin.
Moments later, the truck crashed through the front of the home, stopping a few feet from little Antoinette Rubin who had just sat down in the family’s dining room to enjoy a book.
Neighbors witnessing the aftermath originally thought the house had been swallowed by a mine cave.
The Rubin family and the driver escaped serious injury, but damages to the home were estimated at $3,000.
Mrs. Reginald Evans, of West Pittston, traveled to New York to complete a 10-day training course for Welcome Wagon Inc. She planned to bring the social service to the Pittston area to promote goodwill among residents, merchants and civic leaders.
Welcome Wagon Service was founded in 1928 by Thomas Briggs and was built on the pioneer tradition of settlers greeting incoming wagon trains with fresh water, food and supplies. Mrs. Evans met with other hostesses from Nanticoke, Plymouth, Forty Fort and Kingston to discuss the progress of Welcome Wagon in the region. In 2009, Craig Swill and Steve Goodman, veterans of the marketing and publishing industries, acquired Welcome Wagon and now utilize mail and the internet to welcome new residents to communities across the country.
The Sunday Dispatch Inquiring Photographer asked Pittston residents this very controversial question, Some men often wish they were women and some women wish they were men. Has the thought ever occurred to you and under what circumstance?
Alice Riley answered, I would wish I was a man because men can get away with more than women.
Carmen Lobrutto stated, I often wish I was a woman, because as a woman you have the fellows chasing after you while as a man you have to do all the chasing.
Walter McGraw said, I often made that statement. Women have nothing more to do than sit around all day and make themselves look pretty. When they get bored with that, they listen to soap operas.
Catherine Dorbad added, I might have thought I wish I was a man while driving a car and a man pulls out in front of me or if I was married and had to stay home all the time while my husband was gadding about the town.
Pete Adonizio said, I often said that I wish I was a woman because I don’t think they have the worries and responsibilities a man has.
After a series of burglaries at Angelo’s Grocery Store, Cocetti’s Drug Store, Miller’s Junk Yard, Frank’s Lunchroom and Falcone’s and Robert Ash Service Stations, Pittston City police officer Joseph Delaney, in cooperation with the state police, had a piece of evidence that cracked the case. Fingerprints were found on a tool used in one of the burglaries and those prints matched ones on file at the Wyoming State Police Barracks.
The match led to the apprehension of three young men who, by accounts, were just warming up for two larger robberies, one being East End Bank in Wilkes-Barre.
Fingerprint identification emerged as an important system within police agencies in the late 19th century.
Co-workers at the Pittston Post Office gave retirees Joseph Maughan, Oscar Renfer and Arthur Renfer a hearty send-off after presenting them with commendations and checks on behalf of the post office employees Goodwill Club. Assistant Postmaster Maughan retired after 41 years, Foreman of Mails Renfer after 46 years and his brother Arthur, a letter carrier, after 28 years of service.
In January 1970, David Yonki posted the top 10 tunes of 1969 in his Teen Record Revue column of the Sunday Dispatch.
You Made Me So Very Happy – Blood Sweat and Tears
Put Your Bellbottoms on – Mel Wynn Trend
The Raven – Glass Prism
Come Together – Beatles
Lodi – CCR
Worst That Could Happen – Brooklyn Bridge
Get Back – Beatles
Proud Mary – CCR
Easy to be Hard – 3 Dog Night
Soul Deep – Boxtops
In his weekly Dispatch article, Gene Zambor asked the question, Is that old gun a firearm or an antique?
The question was one of many gun collectors wrestled with after the passage of the Federal Gun Control Law of 1968. Under the law, any gun other than fully automatic made prior to 1899 was an antique and was not subject to the requirements of the act. A study made by Franklin E. Zimring for the Journal of Legal Studies stated, In 1968, after five years of debate on firear
ms control, Congress passed a Gun Control Act designed to provide support to federal, state and local law enforcement officials in their fight against crime and violence. This paper reports on an effort to study the impact of the Gun Control Act on the problems that prompted its passage.
Zimring went on to state, The study is of possible interest for two reasons. In recent years, the rate of gun violence in the United States has managed to grow to alarming proportions without the benefit of sustained academic attention and gain some perspective on the difficulties and promise of empirical studies of the legal impact.
Zimring’s study was published in 1975. To read the history of gun control and his full report, log on to http://www.saf.org/lawreviews/zimring68.htm.
What did Mrs. Joseph Gentile, of Pittston, have in her possession in 1970 detailing an event that would be coming for the first time to the Pittston Area?
Judge Patrick Toole swore in West Pittston’s first councilwoman, Mrs. Irene Campbell.
The Sunday Dispatch Inquiring Photographer feature was a staple of the paper beginning in 1948. Publisher William A. Watson insisted it be in every week in its usual position on the back page.
In 1980, some of the best questions and answers of the previous decade were published in an article entitled Philosophy of the Seventies. In 1972, the question was posed, Do you believe that you are never too old to learn something? to which Tony Demark, of Dupont, answered, Of course, I recently learned to keep my mouth shut.
In 1979, the photographer asked, If you were President Carter, how would you handle the situation in Iran? Bill Mullen, of Pittston, answered, I would place a call to Soviet Premier Brezhnev and ask him what he would do. You don’t see anybody fooling around with the Russians.
In 1972, the photographer asked, Do you feel that men are more or less romantic than women on Valentine’s Day? Al Kridlo, of Pittston, answered with a question, What’s Valentine’s Day?
Two St. John’s High School seniors Joseph Morgan and Bob Dunnigan served as co-captains for the school’s basketball team. Morgan, a four-year member guard, and Dunnigan, a three- year veteran, looked forward to their first game of the Catholic League season.
In 1970, The Northeastern Band Festival was held for the first time in the Pittston Area School District. Mrs. Joseph Gentile, of Pittston, produced a newspaper article detailing the 1939 festival held in Sayre which listed Regina Gentile, clarinet; Dorothy Ermel, coronet; Robert Pace, flute; Leonard Ermel, French horn; and Michael Salvo, flat bass horn, as five members of the Pittston High School Band who won major honors.