1960 – 59 YEARS AGO
An article in the Sunday Dispatch took exception to a newspaper article published in the Scranton Times about a man, who will remain nameless, accused of involvement in a plot to attack a prominent Scranton man and bomb his home. The man was described as an Old Forge resident. The part of the story to which the Dispatch took exception was the paper also described the man as an “habitué of the Pittston Section,” which means a resident of or frequent visitor of Pittston. The Dispatch felt the additional remark unnecessary and added to the frequent “belittling and degrading of Pittston.” The Dispatch article went on to state, “Pittston has its normal faults, evil things happen in Pittston as in every community. However, why do they always impute something “off-beat” about Pittston. When actually the city or its citizens have no connection with the occurrence.”
W&M Railing captured the post season softball championship of the Greater Pittston Softball league by defeating Dave’s Recreation. Members of the Railing Team were Tony Traglia, manager; William Litzi, Lou Pace, Tony DeGeralamo, Tony Peck, Bob Charney, Charlie Salvo, Charlie Shandra, Bob Wasalewski, Pat Salvo, Joe Gaurneri, Bob Peck, bat boy; Pat Charney, Paul Morganti and George Morgan.
John C. Kehoe, Sr., publisher of the Sunday Dispatch, welcomed 3,000 guests to his Harding estate for his annual Old-Timers Clambake. Walter McNulty, a former Pittston resident, traveled from Arizona to attend.
1962 – 57 YEARS AGO
George Bianco, Joseph B. Boyle, William Langan, Frank Finan, John Conroy, John Kolmansberger, Michael Loughney, Ray McGlynn and James Lenahan were just a few of the more than 60 members of the Old-Timers Club and active employees who gathered for an outing at Pascucci’s Grove in Plains Township. The men were former and active employees of the Lehigh Valley, Erie-Lackawanna, Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, New Jersey Central and Delaware & Hudson railroads. With the reduction of rail service over the years, the Luzerne and Susquehanna Railway presently operates over 60 miles of track in northeastern Pennsylvania in and around Wilkes Barre and Scranton. In 1994, the railway incorporated tracks from a variety of railroads, including the Pocono Northeast Railroad, Lehigh Valley Railroad, and Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad.
Arch S. Eshelman, of Wyoming, retired from the Lehigh Valley Railroad after 50 years, making his final run on the Coxton-Lehighton. Mr. Eshelman began his career as a fireman in 1912 and was promoted to engineer in 1927. He served with the National Guard during tensions at the U.S. and Mexican border, marking the first time the guard was called into federal service in accordance with the National Defense Act of 1916. Poncho Villa was raiding the border towns of the Southwest, leading President Woodrow Wilson to send 158,000 Guardsmen to the Mexican border.
1972 – 46 YEARS AGO
Wyoming Area Warriors football coach Tom Vaxmonsky was sure of one thing — his team’s offensive and defensive line would be hard to beat. The mere size and weight of his players would pose a tough obstacle. Charlie Hess, Lou Luccarelli, Bob Black, Mike Chonka, Don Hindmarsh, Harry O’Dell, Mike Pelleschi, Andy Supey, Ed Masher, Don McGinnis and Tom Nazarek, with a combined average weight of over 220, planned to hold their championship title for the third straight year.
Pittston Area Patriots coach Bob Barbieri looked to his phenom tailback Jimmy Cefalo, one of the top 100 backs in the county, to advance his team in the new season. Battling for the quarterback position were Jimmy Castellino and Sam Alba. Coach Barbieri also was counting on experienced guards Nick Chiumento, Rick Russo, Jim Blockus, Paul Maughan, Jim Reardon and Dave Breymeier and receivers Bernie Dessoye and Ron Ostrowski.
1991 – 28 YEARS AGO
The Ben Franklin Kindergarten Center started the school year with 225 students enrolled. The school was one of the first in the state to offer a full-day program. After a three-phase project to upgrade the facility, the school, which opened in 1960, accommodated all district kindergarten students. The school closed in 2013 after discovering major renovations were necessary.
1992 – 27 YEARS AGO
The Pittston Kiwanis Club and its sponsored Key Clubs at Wyoming Area, Pittston Area and Seton Catholic schools were participating in the PennDOT Adopt-a Highway Program. Kiwanians Steve Homza, Frank Thomas, Dick Pepe, Ron Faust, Earl Campbell and Bob Orlando and Key Club members Jack Dessoye, Lynn Benfanti, Nicole Zarsecki, Missy Margavage, Liz Wojcik, Marash Ekhtiarzadeh, Paul Benish, Tom Maxwell and Ian Stephenson collected litter along Oak Street from Route 315 to the Pittston By-Pass. The group hoped to generate concern among residents that litter has a negative effect on the community. According to the official Adopt A Highway website, “Highway litter poses a real danger to drivers and the environment. Litter removal is also extremely expensive for DOTs. It costs an estimated $11.5 billion each year to keep America’s roads clean.”
2001 – 18 YEARS AGO
Things that were scheduled for Sept. 11, 2001:
Duryea Scout Pack 3375 scheduled its sign-up night
Duryea Lions planned a meeting to discuss their White Cane Day
Bingo and Free Pizza were offered at the Germania Hose Company
First grade Parents Night at Pittston Primary Center
Flag football at Wyoming Area Catholic
A much-anticipated volleyball game between the Lady Patriots and Lady Warriors.
Industrial Golf League playoff between Quality Beverage and Cheers Cafe.
Pittston Area cross country seniors C.J. Remaley, Katie Conlon, Joe Meranti, Matt Felter, Ed Renfer, Mike Echalk, Steve Barnak, Joe Gentile and Joe Constantino were gearing up for their Sept. 12 opening day.
At 8:46 a.m. the morning of Sept. 11, hijackers flew the a plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, beginning a day filled with unimaginable events that changed all of our plans, our world, our lives.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
1504 — Michelangelo’s 13-foot marble statue of David is unveiled in Florence, Italy.
1906 — Robert Turner invents the automatic typewriter return carriage.
1921 — Margaret Gorman, of Washington, D.C., is named the first Miss America.
1944 — Germany’s V-2 offensive against England begins.
1955 — The United States, Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, the Philippines, Pakistan and Thailand sign the mutual defense treaty that established the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
1960 — President Dwight Eisenhower dedicates NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
1960 — Penguin Books in Britain is charged with obscenity for trying to publish the D.H. Lawrence novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.”
1971 — The Kennedy Center opens in Washington, DC with a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass.
1974 — President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard M. Nixon for any crimes arising from the Watergate scandal he may have committed while in office.
BORN ON THIS DAY
1889 — Robert A. Taft, U.S. Senator from Ohio who unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination from the 1940s until 1952
1922 — Sid Caesar, comedian and television star, best known for “Your Show of Shows,” and “The Sid Caesar Show”
1925 — Peter Sellers, English comic actor, famous for his role as Inspector Clouseau
1932 — Patsy Cline, country singer (“Crazy,” “I Fall to Pieces”)
1979 — Pink (Alecia Beth Moore), multiple award-winning singer, including three Grammys (“Lady Marmalade,” “Trouble,” “Imagine”)
