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COUGHLIN’S SHELLEY BLACK

EARNS 2 GOLDS AT PIAAs. B1 PERFECTION Phils’ Halladay tosses
perfect game. Page B1

MAY 30, 2010

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WHAT
Defender
examining
office’s
resources

NOW?
By Michael P. Buffer
Staff Writer

Luzerne County Chief

Public Defender Al Flora Jr.
is reallocating resources in
the public defender’s office to
improve legal representation
of juveniles, but he isn’t sure

BP’s top kill effort fails what the long-term cost will
be and whether the changes
can continue.

to plug Gulf oil leak

By Matthew Tresaugue
Houston Chronicle
HOUSTON — BP failed again
Saturday to plug a runaway well
in the Gulf of Mexico with heavy
drilling mud and cement, marking
another setback in its efforts to
stop the worst oil spill in Ameri-
can history.
After pumping mud into the
damaged well shaft for three days,
the London-based oil giant conced-
ed that the procedure, known as a
“top kill,” was unlikely to work in
the mile-deep waters off the Loui-
siana coast.
“This scares everybody, the fact
that we can’t make this well stop
flowing, the fact that we haven’t
succeeded so far,” said Doug Sut-
tles, BP’s chief operating officer.
“Many of the things we’re trying
have been done on the surface
before, but have never been tried
at 5,000 feet.”
BP’s next option involves cut-
ting and removing the leaking ris-
er at the top of the blowout pre-
venter, the five-story contraption
above the wellhead. Engineers will
then install a cap that would be
connected to a new pipe from a
drillship on the surface.
Suttles said he is hopeful the
procedure would capture most of
the oil escaping from the well. It
should take four to seven days to
complete the maneuver.
At the same time, BP is continu-
ing to drill a relief well, which
experts say is the surest bet to stop
the flow, but may take until August
to finish.
After the announcement, Presi-
dent Barack Obama said in a state-
ment that ongoing flow of oil is “as
enraging as it is heartbreaking.”
Obama said the new plan to cap-
ture the oil is risky, but “we will
continue to pursue any and all
responsible means of stopping
this leak.”
The oil is gushing from BP’s
Macondo well, which blew out
April 20, toppling the Deepwater
Horizon rig and killing 11 work-
ers.
The ruptured well has spilled
between 18 million and 40 million
gallons of oil into the Gulf over
the past five weeks, fouling more
than 100 miles of coastline, based
on official estimates.
The ecological toll of the spill
thus far includes 478 birds, 224 sea
turtles and 25 marine mammals,
according to the latest federal tally.
But officials cautioned that tests
are ongoing to determine how
many died from oil exposure.
The failure of the top kill proce-
dure was perhaps the toughest
blow in the series of unprecedent-
ed steps to stop the leak. Some
experts said it was BP’s best option
to end the slow-motion saga before
the completion of the relief well.
“We’re all very disappointed,”
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary
Landry said. “All of us want to see
this well capped.”
See LEAK, page A12
Flora, who has been in
charge of the
office since
longtime
chief Basil
R u s s i n
resigned
March 17,
said he is pre-
paring a
r e p o r t f o r Flora
county com-
missioners on the office. The
report should be done in a
few weeks.
“I am compiling for the
commissioners a complete
breakdown of our caseload
and workload,” Flora said.
“It will give them a good
understanding of what our
needs are. That has never
been done before. … We are
still trying to pull data on the
operation of the whole office,
JAE C. HONG / ASSOCIATED PRESS so they’ll have it in front of
Michael LaBlanc fixes caution tape Saturday as workers clean them, and they can make
up oil residue along the beach in Port Fourchon, La. appropriate decisions on how
to deal with this office.”
County Commissioner
GULF GLANCE
A summary of events on Saturday, the 38th day of the Gulf of
Chairwoman Maryanne
Petrilla said she is pleased
Mexico oil spill: Flora is preparing a report
on the office and is keeping
! NO GO: BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles says ‘top kill’ commissioners informed of
procedure failed to stop the leak. More than 1.2 million gallons of office issues.
mud were used in the attempt. “Awesome,” she said. “I
think it is important that we
! UNPRECEDENTED: In the six weeks since the spill, the leak has do that going forward.”
dumped between 18 million and 40 million gallons of oil into the A state panel charged with
Gulf of Mexico. investigating the kids-for-
cash scandal issued a report
! ENRAGING, HEARTBREAKING: President Barack Obama, in Thursday and concluded that
response to BP’s failed procedure, said his administration ‘will not former Judge Mark A. Ciava-
relent until this leak is contained.’
rella, who presided over juve-
nile court for 12 years, was

Former Nanticoke resident

able to incarcerate juveniles
at twice the state average,
many on minor charges, in
part because public defend-

describes initial rescue effort

By Patrick Sweet
Staff Writer
From 40 miles away,
Nanticoke native Dustin
Bernatovich could see the
flames from the Deepwa-
ter Horizon oil rig paint
ASSOCIATED PRESS
the night sky above the
Dustin Bernatovich said his participation in the res- Gulf of Mexico.
cue effort at the Deepwater Horizon was ‘by far the Bernatovich is a U.S.
hardest thing I’ve ever done.’ Coast Guard aviation sur-
vival technician — a res-
cue swimmer — and was a
member of the second
helicopter crew to arrive
at the rig when it exploded
April 20.
“I was just released to
go home,” the 29-year-old
said Friday in a phone
interview. “Ten minutes
after I left, I got a call
from the air station say-
ing an oil rig had explod-
ed.”
As part of the back-up
crew that night, Bernatov-
ich didn’t anticipate the
call. He rushed back to the
New Orleans station while
a fellow guardsman tossed
his gear into the helicop-
ter.
See RESCUE, page A12
ers didn’t object and paid lit-
tle attention to juvenile court.
Ciavarella and former Judge
Michael T. Conahan are
accused of accepting $2.8 mil-
lion in kickbacks for placing
juveniles in two for-profit
detention centers.
F lora didn’t want to
respond to report findings of
the office when Russin was
in charge. The Interbranch
Commission on Juvenile Jus-
tice concluded that Russin,
who resigned earlier this
See DEFENDER, page A4

Dam repairs will again dry out Laurel Lake

By Kristen Gaydos
Staff Writer
While Rice Township hom-
eowners around Laurel Lake
have rejoiced in recent
months at witnessing the
reflections of their homes in
the lake’s surface rather than
pools of muddy swamp water
on the lake’s floor, it’s not yet
permanent.
The lake’s high water level
will be brought down in com-
ing days, returning the lake
to the drained state it must
linger in until repairs to an
overflow dam are complete,
said Mark Carmon, spokes-
man for the state Department
of Environmental Protec-
tion.
Those repairs, however,
cannot happen until the Lau-
rel Lakes Watershed Protec-
tion Association finds at least
$50,000 to finish work on the
concrete dam, possibly from
the pockets of those who are
affected most by the lack of
water in the lake — the prop-
erty owners.
DEP’s Bureau of Dam
Safety authorized the repairs
in October 2007, including
rehabilitating the spillway
and regrading the embank-
ment. It was estimated to cost
$150,000; at the time the asso-
ciation planned to seek grant
funding from the state
Department of Community
and Economic Development
for the remaining $50,000 of
repairs.
Association President
Michael Nardone said he
understands residents have
been frustrated the lake has
been empty so long, but get-
ting the state to cough up
that funding has been a bat-
tle.
The DCED grant that was
supposed to be approved has
been pending indefinitely
since the state budget
impasse last year. Now, Nar-
done said the best way to
fund the repairs might be to
WARREN RUDA / THE SUNDAY VOICE
turn to the residents who live
there. A view of Laurel Lake from the Rushton residence in
Rice Township. Joanne Rushton said she didn’t realize
See LAKE, page A5 how much she missed the lake until it returned.

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A12 THE SUNDAY VOICE
VACCINATIONS: Whooping cough on rise in California MURRAY:
FROM PAGE A3
“What they may not know
is that some 50,000 adults die
annually nationwide from
vaccine preventable-diseas-
es,” James said.
Heather Stafford, bureau
director of communicable
diseases at the Pennsylvania
Department of Health, said
it’s difficult to say how many
people suffer from whooping
cough in Pennsylvania
because it is often misdiag-
nosed for other illnesses
such as asthma and bronchi-
tis.
Whooping cough has been
on the rise in California,
where health authorities
reported the number of cases
have more than doubled so
far this year. According to the
RESCUE: ‘You could feel the heat coming off the burning rig’
FROM PAGE A1
As soon as he arrived, he
jumped into the helicopter
and changed into his rescue
gear during the roughly one-
hour flight to the rig.
Just as soon as the helicop-
ter was in the air, pilots saw
the glow of the flame-engulfed
rig through their night-vision
goggles, more than 100 miles
away. It looked like the glow of
a large city on the horizon,
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latest available statistics from
the Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention, there
unknown
were 10,454 cases of pertussis
reported nationwide in 2007.
Vaccines for pertussis are
among those which may fade
over time, said Brandi Hunt-
er-Davenport, spokeswoman
for the Pennsylvania Depart-
ment of Health. Others
include tetanus, diptheria
and varicella, and adults
should receive boosters of
these, she said.
The Pennsylvania Depart-
ment of Health is advocating
that adults consider receiv-
ing vaccinations to prevent
diseases like pneumococcal
disease, shingles, Hepatitis A
and B, tetanus, diphtheria,
pertussis and influenza.
Bernatovich said.
He felt the rush of adrena-
line as they flew closer to the
rig, he said. About 120 people
were in the water.
“This was by far the hard-
est thing I’ve ever done,”
said Bernatovich, who has
been a guardsman since 2003
and a rescue diver since
2005. “Just because of the
mass quantities of people
you have to deal with and
The Same
Superior
Service,
with a
Name to
Match.
Formerly Montour Home Comfort Services
WB_VOICE/PAGES [A12] | 05/29/10
LOCAL / NATION
Health department offi-
cials said adult vaccinations
are important because newer
vaccines have been intro-
duced over the years, immu-
nity can begin to fade over
time, age can make people
more susceptible to serious
diseases caused by common
infections and some adults
were never vaccinated as
children.
Although serious side
effects from vaccines are rare
and a British doctor’s theory
that vaccines may be linked
to autism was discredited,
some parents remain con-
cer ned about possible
adverse reactions from vac-
cines, said George Shadie,
who has a son with autism
and who serves as president
the severity of their inju-
ries.”
When they arrived at the
rig, which is owned by Trans-
ocean Ltd. and leased by BP,
pilots began circling, looking
for survivors not yet in life-
boats. They found none, and
began triaging and evacuat-
ing survivors from the boats.
“You could feel the heat
coming off the burning rig,”
Bernatovich said. “It was like
daytime out there, within a
half-mile.”
The crew lowered Bernato-
vich to a lifeboat where he
began evaluating survivors.
“When we got inside of the
boat, you just had people in
there moaning and groaning
with pain,” Bernatovich said.
The boat was filled with
charred skin and even frac-
tured skulls.
“You could just see small
indentations in their skulls,”
Bernatovich said. “… We’re
only EMT basics and they
LEAK: ‘No acceptable or appropriate plan B’
FROM PAGE A1
Aaron Viles of the Gulf
Restoration Network, a New
Orleans-based environmental
group, said the latest failure
Our Energy Serving You
22:45 | SUPERIMPWB
of Supporting Autism &
Families Everywhere, a par-
ent-run training and advoca-
cy group based in Wikes-
Barre.
“They (health officials)
acknowledge that there is a
small percentage of children
whom have adverse reactions
… but they claim the num-
bers are small compared to
the risk. Well that’s fine if it’s
not your child affected,”
Shadie said.
The General Medical
Council recently announced
its decision to discredit Brit-
ish physician and autism
researcher Andrew Wake-
field’s theory that vaccines
may be linked to autism,
which raised fears among
parents. He was banned from
needed much better medical
attention.”
Bernatovich and the crew
air-lifted the more severely
injured to shore for medical
attention. The rescue was far
removed from his original
intentions when joining the
Coast Guard. In fact, he “kind
of fell into” becoming a rescue
swimmer, said his mother,
Suzanne Bernatovich, who
lives in Nanticoke.
“He was very much inter-
ested in drug enforcement,”
she said. “He wanted to pur-
sue it by going to the Coast
Guard.”
Bernatovich graduated
from Nanticoke High School
in 1999 and attended and
played football for Wilkes Uni-
versity until 2003. He was pur-
suing a degree in criminal
justice before foregoing his
final year to enter the guard.
Once he entered the Coast
Guard, though, his plans
quickly changed.
“packs more of a punch.”
“It shows that there was no
acceptable or appropriate plan
B,” Viles said. “Offshore drill-
ing is a high-wire act without
a net, and we’re all paying the
price for it.”
BP officials decided to scrap
the delicate procedure after
injecting about 30,000 barrels
of drilling fluids, or mud, into
Starting at 4,969
$ County was roughly $91,000,
24’ Round
w/5’ x 13’ Fan Deck 4,469
$ Making the numbers work
practicing medicine in Brit-
ain. Yet, parents of autistic
children continue to argue
that children’s immune sys-
tems should not be overload-
ed with too many vaccines
early in life.
Shadie and other parents
have been asking pediatri-
cians to spread out the shots
over time and to not use mul-
tiple shots. Shadie said he
believes a child’s health and
immune system also should
be checked before any vacci-
nation.
For information about the
health department’s cam-
paign, visit www.vaccinesfor-
life.com or call 1-877-PA
HEALTH.
dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com
570-821-2115
Drug enforcement wasn’t
what he thought it would be,
and his friend, Tim Kessell,
was a rescue swimmer and
encouraged him to join the
program. Bernatovich was a
little hesitant but liked the
idea of the challenge.
“I’m a 245-pound former
football player, I’m not a swim- increased demand.
mer,” Bernatovich remem-
bered saying.
Nevertheless, Bernatovich
continued with the nearly
year-long training program
and joined his friend as a res-
cue swimmer. He was sta-
tioned in Miami for four years
before being transferred to the energy-efficient home hoping
New Orleans station. He is
currently on his way to a sta-
tion in Destin, Fla.
“I’m very proud of him,” What’s the cost?
his mother said. “It takes a lot
of courage to put your life on
the line for someone else.”
psweet@citizensvoice.com
570-821-2117
the out-of-control well to help price range.
create pressures great enough
to stanch the flow.
Suttles said the efforts were will be released later this
unable to consistently hold summer or in early falls
back the oil and thus prevented when a contractor is picked
the capping of the damaged to build the homes.
well with cement, but it’s
unclear why. The new plan will look south to Hazleton.
not kill the well but is intended Between 2000 and 2006, Hous-
to capture most of the oil.
SUNDAY, MAY 30, 2010
FROM PAGE A3
To keep utility bills low,
contractors will also follow
federal Energy Star stan-
dards by installing more
insulation than required, by
building codes, air-sealing
homes and installing high-
efficiency heating and cool-
ing systems.
Dovetailing trends
Building green homes
started as a niche market in
the early 1990s but has grown
over the last decade as build-
ers tout lower energy costs
alongside location and ame-
nities in new homes, said
Charles J. Kibert, director at
the Powell Center for Con-
struction and Environment
at the University of Florida.
As they tried to get a leg up
on competitors, builders
made use of environmental-
ly-sound products common
and lowered the cost passed
on buyers, he said.
For buyers, their con-
science and their wallets
“The escalating price of
energy is killing them,” Kib-
ert said of buyers.
Now, green homes are
viewed as long-term solutions
to mounting utility bills, Kib-
ert said. He said buyers are
willing to spend more for an
reduced utility costs offset the
higher sticker price.
How much more buyers
might have to pay for an
energy-efficient home in the
Murray complex remains
unknown. Housing Develop-
ment Corporation plans to
put five to six homes on the
market in summer 2011, but
the non-profit organization
hasn’t given out a projected
Gene Brady, the organiza-
tion’s CEO, said initial prices
As a reference, buyers can
ing Development Corpora-
tion sold 26 units in a another
g reen development set
around three blocks of Pine
Street in the central section
of the city where the initial
price for home was roughly
$89,900.
That price wouldn’t be out
of line in a housing market
recovering the burst of a
housing bubble roughly two
years ago. In April, the medi-
an home price in Luzerne
according to data from the
Pennsylvania Association of
Realtors.
In Wilkes-Barre, though,
the average price of a tradi-
tional home is $64,510, accord-
ing to the Greater Wilkes-
Barre Realtors Association.
Bridging the gap in price
between a green home and a
traditional structure isn’t as
daunting as it might seem,
Kibert said.
With more insulation and
less square footage, green
homes require less energy to
remain warm in the winter,
he said. During summer, Kib-
ert said windows designed to
reduce the amount of sun-
light entering the house ease
the work load for a high-effi-
ciency air conditioner.
For its part, Morris said
his firm is working with
Housing Development Cor-
poration to incorporate green
amenities and sustainable
practices, such as on-site
recycling, into construction
plans to keep the buyer’s
costs low. In the final analy-
sis, he estimated using green
design and materials result-
ing a 1.5-percent increase in
cost for the entire develop-
ment.
The amount buyers at
Murray Courtright will pay
in utilities won’t be known
until the first bills arrive in
mail boxes several years from
now and projections would
be speculative at best, Morris
said.
mharris@citizensvoice.com
570-821-2110