Having a methadone clinic in a neighborhood is safer than having active drug addicts living there, a local drug and alcohol counselor says. Ed Pane, executive director of the Serento Gardens drug and alcohol program in Hazleton, lauded the approval by Luzerne County Court of a methadone clinic in Plains Township. Pane said such a clinic is desperately needed in Luzerne County. "We are losing 97 percent of the heroin addicts we treat here because we can't keep them," Pane said. "The heroin overdose death rate in Luzerne County is higher than the rate in Brooklyn. Aside from alcohol, heroin is the second biggest problem we have." [continues 251 words]
So now we know. For more than eight months, Hazletonians were asking why police had not made an arrest in a shooting that happened on busy North Wyoming Street last October. City police and Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas wouldn't say much about the investigation, although Hazleton Police Chief Edward Harry kept promising that an arrest would be made. In July, police announced that a suspect had been arrested in New York, but they wouldn't identify him. Law enforcement officials were hinting privately that there was a good reason for all the secrecy. On Tuesday, they cleared up the mystery. [continues 373 words]
Talk about overreacting. The Hazleton Area School District is poised to use a bazooka to blow up an anthill, all over a student giving her friend a Tylenol because she wasn't feeling well. Imagine - the girl who dispensed the over-the-counter medication that can be bought at nearly any store might get kicked out school, and permanently, for this seemingly innocent mistake. That's because the district has a strict policy about students giving each other medication, regardless of the circumstances. That goes for anything from an aspirin to ecstasy. The penalty for such infractions is uniform - expulsion, after a hearing in front of the school board. [continues 262 words]
Last year in this space we floated a theory that area residents feel safe in their neighborhoods. Actually, the editorial concerned dwindling attendance at West Hazleton Crime Watch meetings and it pointed out, "we're not aware of any burglary or vandalism sprees, the kind of crimes that strike fear into neighborhoods." Things have really changed in a few short months. We don't think we're stretching the truth when we say that Hazleton area residents no longer feel safe. In fact, the fear is almost palpable. [continues 568 words]
The story of "Mike," the convicted drug dealer from the Hazleton area profiled in this week's Standard-Speaker Sunday, made for some disturbing reading. As reported by our Shawn M. Kelly, Mike told a sordid story of an area that is easy pickings for drug dealers. Distributors from New York, Ohio, New Jersey and Philadelphia know the Hazleton area well as a haven for drugs, Mike says. With too few police to try to put a lid on the trade, dealers and junkies thrive on the small-town setting Hazleton provides. [continues 375 words]
One thing Carbon County Commissioner Thomas Gerhard's critics can never say about him is that he's not consistent. Like a clock that never loses its time, Gerhard sticks to simple things in his life as a public servant. He is a strong believer that government should play virtually no role in the private lives of its citizens - that too many tax dollars go to fund goody-goody programs that never seem to work. Unfortunately, the commissioner sometimes turns his wrath toward efforts that deserve better. Once more, Gerhard has opposed county funding of drug and alcohol treatment programs. He voted Thursday against a "purchase of service agreement" involving the county's Children and Youth Services agency and a Pittsburgh firm that would direct its prevention efforts toward substance-abusing youths. [continues 387 words]
