The LuLac Edition #717, Feb. 8th, 2009
PHOTO INDEX: THE OFFICIAL FIREWATER OF KING'S COLLEGE. 
FATHER O'HARA'S DRUNKS
Most people had a nice break this weekend with the warm weather temperatures. Unfortunately residents of the Northend section of Wilkes-Barre did not. Homeowners of North Main Street were inflicted with a mini riot shortly after midnight. More than a five dozen young people stormed the streets, shouting obscenities, starting fights and disturbing the peace. Last I heard that was a crime but apparently not on North Main Street in Wilkes Barre. Police were called to the scene and 4 cruisers showed up. Just as the cars were near the gang, they turned their sirens and flashing lights on. Like warm weather rats, the gang fled into the night. I have never questioned the courage of a police officer and I will not here. But why give the offending parties warning so they can flee? Chief of Security Dale Rinker at King's told a source, "We've got to start citing people, then this will stop". How do you cite people when you can't catch them after giving them warnings? Some neighbors have told me that they feel there is a "deal" between the Leighton administration and King's College so as to not arrest or cite drunk and disorderly KIng's students. More than a few have mentioned that to me, I see it as a cynical way to look at things but after seeing the police action tonight, I have to wonder. Rinker also said that King's would pay for an on duty officer to do several passes through the neighborhood to prevent problems again. An hour later, after the police had cleared, another mini altrecation broke out. Sure enough a police car came by and things quieted down. A jeep pulled up on the opposite side of the street and parked the wrong way. It was obvious to all in the neighborhood but the police vehicle that drove by. If that was a neighbor parking there, a citation would have been issued. None was. Neighbors have identified problem houses and told me they are intent on shutting them down. One of them is reportedly located at 247 N. Main Street, a home owned by an absent Jersey landlord according to reports. This home was at one time owned by the late City Councilman Joseph Williams and his family. They'd never recognize it now. It is true that not all students living in the Northend are violent, riot inciting drunks. As a former King's student (now I try to downplay the place I graduated from because it is much different than the school I remembered) I understand the need to blow off steam. But to keep an entire neighborhood up past 2AM with these antics is a crime. A criminal act that no one seems to want to cite. When I went to King's, on our first day Professor Francis Swingle told us he had a mistress. He said that mistress was King's College and if we as students did anything to dishonor his mistress, we would cease to be King's Students. Many have criticized me for referring to the offending parties as Father O'Hara's Drunks. I'm sorry, but they are. Father O'Hara is the face of King's College as its President. It was his admission staff that recruited some of these people to enter the college he is in charge of. It is his professors who have to impart morals and the respect for the community that these students are guests in. It is obvious that he has failed. More importantly, his students have failed him and the long ago admonition of the late Francis Swingle. No one can control off campus housing to the maximum. But there has to be an effort made and so far, residents of the Northend aren't seeing it. Maybe its because these students and their mommies and daddies pay such huge prices for tuition. My suggestion is to take some of that money, buy up the entire 200 block of North Main Street (we'll gladly move elsewhere, I'm kind of thinking about Jamaica) and you can have a whole block of houses inhabited by drunks. (By the way as I write this, it is 2:11 AM and there is more screaming in the streets. Lovely. Can't wait for spring!) But untill that day happens, the many wonderful King's scholars not misbehaving will be painted with a broad brush, at least to people in my neighborhood, as one of Father O'Hara's Drunks!
posted by David Yonki @ 1:38 AM
13 comments
13 Comments:
Yonki, you were like a regular Andy Mehalchick there gathering news. I agree, these kids are out of hand, no respect for the neighborhoods they live in. And while the Mayor has his downtown lofts, the neighborhoods are over run with hoods. Think A.J. Soprano and multiply that by 50!
IN RESPONSE
you were like a regular Andy Mehalchick there gathering news.
YOU GIVE ME WAY TOO MUCH CREDIT. I STOOD ON MY FRONT PORCH AND MANY PEOPLE APPROACHED ME WITH THE INFORMATION. NO SHOE LEATHER NEEDED, JUST MY NEIGHBORHOOD'S DISGUST AT THE SITUATION.
Fireballs lead singer named Larry Henley. Later wrote The Wind Beneath My Wings among others. Had the office nxt door.
Yonks, Who the hell is tryin to burn Coatesville down and why? Did a little research. There was a black man lynched there in 1911! Way I figure it’s a spirit that’s
Burning Coatesville down. There is a racial element. Its got it all. Call out the National Guard and line the streets everynight till it stops. Oh ,Ya the Guard is tied up in a war! Centralia burned itself from the inside out, the City bombed Philadelphia a few years back and now there is a town burnin down. And that’s just PA!
If my brother was a drunk, people would say "oh that's Helen Fulbright's drunken brother". I own his behavior like it or not. So too does Father O'Hara or any head of a collegiate institution that picks and chooses its students. To me there was no need to justify the critics who tell you it isn't his responsibility. As long as he is the public face of King's, he owns their horrendous actions.
Helen Fulbright
Dave,
Have the neighbors get out their video cameras, combine and edit the shots, post it on Youtube - under an alias of course - my suggestion: SKYKING - intro soundtrack? Kinks - "Alcohol" - then let the street audio take over.
Post it and title it "King's College Midnight Antics" and tag it with King's College, O'Hara, King's University, Kings Gone Wild, Monarchs on Martinis, (you get the point). The very last thing Fr. O'Hara needs is the alumni seeing what the campus is doing to the community. That is key: the alumni.
Right now: no more $$$ from me.
See if you can get access to the 1966-1967 WB Record archives and check out what a big deal they made of a couple of nickel bags of pot! In 1973 our keyboard player almost got jailed over $200 in parking tickets. If the police are looking the other way in 2009 it is because their "superiors" are setting the tone.
You are on the right side of this one my friend.
Rock & Roll!
Was anyone attacked by a tree? I still love that one.
Father O'Hara should remember the old saying 'the fish stinks from the head down.'
You are being ridiculous. How do you know any of that was actually King's College students. A brawl in Wilkes-Barre? Sounds like a normal night on the town to me. This town has been on the outs since the day of the flood. The only life this town has seen since the flood has been these students. Fr. O'hara has done nothing but try to build this area up and save it from its inevitably doomed future. Of course in a college setting there will be drunk college kids trying to escape from their classes. However, to lump the entire college, and the president whos saved it together, is just wrong. Just because you are in a college setting does not mean that every noise you hear on a Friday night is Kings students. If you wanted to help the community instead of complaining about noise, you should bring to the township's attention the crack dealers on Madison St. as well as the guns being pulled on North Street. Or how about you ask them to patrol the streets better so girls aren't getting raped at night. You have another thing coming if you think the biggest problem in this town is the noise caused by Kings students. If you want to do this town a favor maybe you should move to Jamaica.
Mr. Yonki,
As a Kings College graduate you think you would owe the college for your higher education in radio and communications that have taken you so far, a little more respect then bashing the now president of the school and its current students. You really should "be ashamed of yourself." Plane tickets are very cheep now a days you should make that move to Jamaica.
Yours truly,
Wilkes-Barre resident
Holy crap Yonk!! Between your comments on the Bishop and King's College, you pretty much aced yourself out of Holy Communion and a nice obit in the King's Newsletter when you kick!!!!
Yonk! You're an idiot!!!!
Your narrow-mindedness is painful. You say that "the many wonderful King's scholars not misbehaving will be painted with a broad brush," and clearly you mean this in every way: cars parked the wrong way on the street, loud noises in the night, and any sort of altercation in the area. But this is only because you don't venture farther than your front porch to gather your information. Walk half way up the block and take a look at Beaumont Street and you'll see cars parked the wrong way and cars parked on yellow curbs, but they're not all students' and none of them get citations. The students can be loud, I hear them too sometimes, but I've heard locals yelling at ridiculous hours too. And as far as fights, I'd rather college students be involved in a few fights on Main Street than have any of them involved in a stabbing on the corner of Washington and North. Who was that? A couple of locals. And as for 247, not only are you placing on them an unfair blame, but they're being scapegoated for issues they've had no involvement with whatsoever, because of you. If you've got such a serious issue with things going on in your neighborhood, maybe you should get out from behind your computer and do something productive about it.
DOES ANYONE HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO SAY? I don't see anyone talking now that some real facts have been presented .... so again does ANYONE wanna say anything else....?
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