Standard-Speaker from Hazleton, Pennsylvania • Page 25

AUGUST 31, 1997 HAZLETON, PA OCA Editorial C4 Obituary C6 Police C6 Standard-Speaker I 1 A Two years after transplant, city man 'walking miracle' i 1 Liz 1 -II i nia Hospital. By JIM DINO Standard-Speaker When he had the surgery, Weidenbach said doctors told him he would live five years, and be able to do 75 percent of what Jeff Cox he had done before. They tell me in Philly I'm a walking Legacy of miracle, Weidenbach continued. "I learned do what you want to do, because life is short. I know I'm going to die some time.

But if I die tomorrow, I tell people I was happy with the two years I got. the yahoos The yahoos are out there, and It has been two years since Charlie Weidenbach had a double-lung transplant. Every breath he takes every second he lives is a bonus. And the Hazleton man is in much better shape now than before the operation on June 27, 1995. Then, Charlie was barely alive.

Plagued by a combination of smoking and being a carpet installer breathing in tiny carpet fibers for years caused his lungs to be almost closed. "I was there and came back," said Weidenbach, two years and two months after he received two new lungs in a transplant operation at the University of Pennsylva In those two years, Weidenbach's once- drawn face which was filled in by a full beard is now full on its own, minus the they think their time has come. Hunter S. Thompson beard. In fact, looking at him two years ago, you may not know him now.

His disease caused him to go down to a mere 118 pounds. He now weighs 152 ELLEN OCONNELUStandard-Speaker Charlie Weidenbach sits in his West Green Street, Hazleton, home and talks about the double-lung transplant surgery he underwent two years ago. See CHARLIE, C2 0 rt ri rt Eli If GDI? ill SCMflDUS 1995 was a watershed year for yahoos. In fact, it was the year they took over. If Franklin Delano Roosevelt was still living and he and Eleanor had a place around here, he would call '95 a Year That Will Live in Infamy.

Even in his toughest days, FDR never had to deal with as many yahoos as Hazleton-area residents do these days. If he had, he would have found there is more to fear than fear itself. There are the yahoos. The reason I raise the specter of the Year of the Yahoo is that much has happened lately on the local political spectrum, and somebody needs to come up with a plausible explanation. So, here it is.

I believe all the patent silliness and sleaziness going on is 4 a -tr- JUL Ay '--L 11 iw the legacy of the Year of the Yahoo. It has spread like a drunken Principal Margie Tripp poses inside Immanuel Christian School, which took over the former Locust Street Elementary School last year and is continuing to make improvements to the building. cancer throughout Southern Luzerne County and has turned several of its governing bodies into jokes better than anything 4 you ever heard from Jerry Sein feld or Uncle Miltie in a dress. Painfully familiar faces of Immanuel Christian keeps a school on Locust Street years gone by are stretched across the political landscape, twisted and distorted like they are perennially trapped in a house of mirrors, taking their rightful places once again among the Hazleton-area politi By MIKE JESKY Standard-Speaker cal elite. This is what local politics is these days.

The great debates of our time are being led by yahoos. It is a disconcerting thing. But this is what we wanted. These are the folks we brought into governmental office in the 1995 election, either directly or perhaps by proxy, in which we allow the yahoos to appoint their yahoo brethren to control the fates of many otherwise-fine organizations like the Hazleton Housing Start with one unwanted, aging school. Add a new heating system, some fresh paint and lots of elbow grease.

What you end up with is the new Immanuel Christian School, the former Locust Street Elementary School. One year after purchasing the building for $50,000, administrators at Immanuel Christian School are pleased with their purchase. The Rev. Ted Tripp, school administrator, said the new school which is much larger than their former rented space at Grace Fellowship Church in Chapel Hill, Hazle Township has worked out well after one year. "We've been thankful for the space," Tripp said.

"What we realized is that we have to do things incrementally," he said, referring to the big repairs the school still needs namely, a new roof and repointed brickwork. The new natural gas heating system was the biggest hurdle undertaken so far, but it's been successful, Tripp said. Using natural gas rather than the original coal heat, it cost Immanuel less to heat the school this past year than the district had paid before, Tripp said. The system is computerized and lowers the heat automatically at night and on weekends. Throughout the building's three floors, 12 small gas heating units keep the school warm via brand new ductwork that hangs from the high hallway ceilings.

A drop ceiling is going to be installed, Tripp said, to keep the ductwork out of view. Authority, the Greater Hazleton Joint Sewer Authority, the I Hazleton City Authority, and other municipal entities. 1 Many of these boards, com- missions and authorities per- form important functions but are becoming increasingly popu- lated by yahoos, or at least in the HCA's case, overseen by taxpayer yahoos. In 1995, we set the process in motion. It was one of the strangest i elections I have ever witnessed, even odder than the 1988 presidential race, when two yahoos named George Bush and DAVID C.

HAUPTStandard-Speaker Second-grade teacher Anthony Pecora cleans the floor of his classroom in preparation for the start of this week. Teachers and students help out at Immanuel Christian, which has no full-time custodian. See IMMANUEL, C2 Michael Dukakis ended what Hunter S. Thompson declared "The Generation of Swine" by conducting the weaselliest, most vacuous, idealess campaign in the nation's history. Mayor has plans for A.D.

Thomas In 1995, we in the Hazleton area declared our despise for the "outsiders" and embraced the "insiders." Marsicano said. "A lot of people are concerned about the kids not having anything to do in. the winter time," he continued. 'This building will give residents year-round recreation It will be a recreation center owned by the City of Hazleton." With his plans for a police sub- Because of that horrible year, the Hazleton Area School District boasts the most yahoos per capita of any school district in the country. Of this I am sure.

Lots of yahoos, who also ben efited from the '95 election, work their trades in and around the Luzerne County Courthouse, too. i i We have the best opportunity to take a building like this and make it into a place that is really nice. -Councilman Jake Ripa The yahoos up there came up two-fold," he said. "Next year I'm going to allocate $140,000 for recreation and we're also looking into getting Community Development (block grant) funds." Since the school district will have the building for another year, the mayor said that gives the city time to finalize its plans and secure funds, so it can be ready as soon as the actual takeover is effective. "The time structure is perfect, well have everything in place by the time they (the district) give it to us," Marsicano said.

City Council President Phil Andras said although he does not know the details of Marsicano's plan, he is fully in favor of enhancing recreation in the city. "There are two things that I am in favor of," Andras said. "One is seeing that these old school buildings can be converted to a useful purpose, and the second is the aspect of recreation." Andras said he will work with Marsicano to see the center become a reality. "If he has a workable See THOMAS, C2 By FRANK ANDRUSCAVAGE Standard-Speaker A The A.D. Thomas Elementary School will once again be serving the City of Hazleton not as a school but as a community building.

Last week, the Hazleton Area School District sold the building to the city for $1. That sale, according to Mayor Michael Marsicano, will be a shot in the arm for recreation in Hazleton. "We're taking the building over so we can increase the amount of recreation in the community," he said. "We'd open it up to whatever type of use the community would want." Among his plans for the building, Marsicano said he would like to see a police substation, city offices, and a home for a community theater along with recreational activities. Since residents pay taxes for recreation annually, activities should be made available year round, he said.

"Basicallywe want to create 12 months of recreation for the people of Hazleton because they pay taxes 12 months a year," with a deliciously evil idea last week naming the new hockey team at the soon-to-be-built arena the Wilkes-BarreScranton Penguins. I- I i 1 .1 I 1 1 I I 1 i 1 E- Scranton has not contributed one penny to this project. Regardless, it gets to have its soot-stained name on the team station, the mayor said officers will have a better presence in the city and higher visibility in areas around the building. Another possible use is making space available for tutors to teach interested residents young and old alike in the areas of music and theater arts. Marsicano has given serious thought to how the renovations to the old school will be paid for.

"I'm going to increase the budget logo. (I am, by the way, a big fan of the arena, a referendum vote on which was, not coincidental-ly, part of the Year of the ELLEN O'CONNELLStandard-Speaker Hazleton's mayor wants to turn AD. Thomas Elementary School into a recreation center. Yahoo. The arena lost, then it See COX, C2.