The LuLac Edition #778, Apr. 8th, 2009

PHOTO INDEX: DAVID DECOSMO AND WILKES BARRE CITY HALL.

FBI CALLING

The big news today is that the FBI is calling on anyone and everyone who knows anything about political job buying (especially in local school districts) to come forward. The FBI release was terse and to the point. Whether any immunity would be offered has not been revealed. The announcement opens up all types of speculation like how will this investigation be conducted and what, if any carrots will be given to those cooperating. While there are many questions, one thing remains without inquiry: The FBI is serious and here to stay.

BOBACK'S FORUM

State Rep. Karen Boback, R-Harveys Lake, and the House Republican Policy Committee will host a public forum for business owners and taxpayers to share their thoughts and ideas on the current economic climate. The forum will take place at 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, at Misericordia University. Presenters at the event will include: Dan Meuser, former president of Pride Mobility Products Corp., Exeter; Judy Mead, Wyoming County commissioner and owner of Fitz’s Department Store, Tunkhannock; Michael Alexander, owner of A-1 Remodeling and Excavating, Wapwallopen; Maureen Dispenza, director of the Wyoming County Chamber of Commerce; Sabatini Monatesti, owner and president of E S Enterprises Inc., Salem Township. For more information about the forum, contact Boback’s Tunkhannock office at (570) 836-4777.

DECOSMO SAYS SO LONG

Former WYOU TV broadcaster David DeCosmo has said so long but not goodbye just yet. DeCosmo posted a note on Edition #774 of this site and as a courtesy we will reprint it in this edition. My relationship with David goes back to the 1960s. I was fascinated by his reporting on WILK Radio and even though I was living in Washington, D.C. at the time, I marveled at how the broadcaster put together the Flood of '72 broadcast network which provided information to many scared people in the Wyoming Valley. When David moved to WMJW in Nanticoke, I got to meet him and worked as an intern at the news outlet. The little room in the back of the Commissioner's Meeting Room at the Luzerne County Courthouse was his defacto office. If you needed to get the lay of the land on a story, a TV, newspaper or radio person would seek him out in that location. Years later, DeCosmo was the pitcher for my softball team in the Killer Bees Wilkes Barre City softball league. The team was called The Lady Killers and we were so putrid we never gave the man the run support he needed. But without fail, he took the mound every week with the same deterimination that he used in covering news events. I'm proud to know him as a team mate, broadcaster, mentor and friend. Here's his message:
Just a quick note of thanks to all of those who have called and emailed me when word got out that WYOU News was 'going dark." I had a good long run there and tried always to stick with the standards I learned in the old days.I'm just fine but feel very bad for my co-workers involved. I'm already planning a show I'm hoping to have used on Electric City TV and expect to be called in for some occassional special public service work at the old shop as well. Otherwise it's time for me to take things a little easier. Thanks to all who have watched, been available for interviews or comments,or just generally stuck with me over these many, many, years. Maybe now I'l have some time to read more of these bloggs and comment pages. Hope all your news is good!

Respectfully,

David DeCosmo

CLOUD LIFTED

Three Wilkes Barre city employees will return $6,000 in stipends they got for consulting work done for the city-sponsored, nonprofit entity created to oversee the city-wide surveillance camera project. City Administrator J.J. Murphy made the announcement in effect saying that if there would be a cloud over a stipend payment to those involved, it wouldn't be worth the suspicion hanging over the plan. Murphy said the contract for the network will be awarded and presented to the public Tuesday, April 14. Murphy, City IT Director Lou Lau and IT Engineer Frank Hershberger received $3,000 from Hawkeye Security Solutions, the non-profit overseeing the project which operates out of City Hall.