The LuLac Edition #368, Dec. 13th, 2007

PHOTO INDEX: LUZERNE COUNTY JUDGE ANNE LOKUTA, WYOU TV ANCHOR CANDACE GROSSKLAUS, AND WILK RADIO TALK SHOW HOST KEVIN LYNN.

INTERACTIVE INDEED!

Tonight the LuLac Political Letter had the opportunity to be part of the WYOU TV Interactive Newscast at 5, 530, 6 and 11PM. We were speaking about the financial mess in Luzerne County. Fellow guest, Kevin Lynn and I tried to sort out the story with help from WYOU TV viewers, e mailers and callers. It was a great opportunity and I'd like to thank the good people as well as Anchor Candace Grossklaus for keeping order in the spirited debate. Thank you to WYOU for their hospitality.

LOKUTA FIGHTS BACK

DAY 4

Judge Ann Lokuta said her bouts with her former secretary, Susan Weber, over her work were not meant to demean Weber.
Lokuta said she would be professional with Weber when Weber wouldn't properly perform her job. Lokuta would just ask Weber if she needed help with something.
"I would try to be instructive," Lokuta said. "I wanted to get the work done. This is my job. This is my life."
Weber, though, was "vicious, cynical, and sly" to Lokuta, though, the judge said. Weber would often threaten to file lawsuits and complaints against Lokuta, Lokuta said.

Okay, looking at this testimony, here's my reaction. The Judge was way too good with her staff. If she found that a staffers was as she puts it "sly and vicious" and threatened lawsuits, why didn't the Judge just can her then. It did Lokuta no good to stay loyal to her staff.

Judge Michael Conahan relied on an altered court document in deciding to remove a case from Judge Ann Lokuta's docket, Lokuta testified Thursday.
Lokuta was handling a divorce between John Hyder and his wife. Hyder was a longtime court clerk for Luzerne County.
But Hyder told Lokuta in court that he trusted she would rule in line with the law. That was taken down in the transcript.
Lokuta ruled against Hyder. He then asked for Lokuta to recuse herself from the case. She didn't.
Hyder then took a request to Conahan and asked him to remove Lokuta from the case. A copy of the court transcript was attached to the request. But the part where Hyder said he trusted Lokuta was deleted, Lokuta said.
Conahan still removed Lokuta from the case until later reversing his decision, she said.

Wow! How about this!!! A county official first says he'd trust the Judge's ruling, then when he doesn't get the ruling he wants, he asks for a do over? And then the President Judge gets involved? C'mon, can anyone say the words "conflict of interest?" This is indicative of the way the courts in Luzerne County are run. Doesn't the county employ outside judges? Couldn't they handle the divorce instead of Lokuta or Conahan? If you ask this dumb citizen not schooled in the law, why wouldn't you have outside judges handle complaints, court cases, divorces of county court employees? I think that is only fair and makes sense.

The TV news was reporting tonight that the Judge's testimony was filled with tear and that the Judge had a difficult time keeping it together on the stand.

If that's the case, Lokuta better get her act together. She cannot afford to come across as a whimpering victim, she needs to state her case strongly, be a little militant and defend herself and if necessary, prosecute her accusers. If she doesn't, it's all over.

GORE WARNS US

At his acceptance ceremony for the Nobel Peace Prize, former Vice President Al Gore said humanity risks sliding down a path of "mutually assured destruction."
"It is time to make peace with the planet," Gore said in his acceptance speech that evoked Churchill, Gandhi and the Bible. "We must quickly mobilize our civilization with the urgency and resolve that has previously been seen only when nations mobilized for war."
Gore shared the Nobel with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for sounding the alarm over global warming and spreading awareness on how to counteract it. "We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency -- a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here," Gore said at the gala ceremony in Oslo's City Hall, in front of Norway's royalty, leaders and invited guests.
Gore urged China and the U.S. -- the world's biggest carbon emitters -- to "make the boldest moves, or stand accountable before history for their failure to act." Disappointly, no word about a Gore run for President in 2008.

JOAN COSTELLO

Tonight we are hearing reports that Joan Costello, the former Head Librarian of the Osterhout Library passed away on Wednesday. There have been no formal announcements yet but rest assured, you will see a great outpouring of mourning for Miss Costello who guided the Osterhout for many decades before her retirement in the mid 90s.