`violin Lady' Grew From Experiences

Airport  Retailer: Plan Still  On Table/ Airport, Commissioners Are Leaning
Toward Proposal Of Current Eatery Owner

By DAVID WEISS dweiss@leader.net
 Saturday, December 10, 2005 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1A 





WILKES-BARRE - Pete Bielecki's spacecraft has landed. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The mock spacecraft that disappeared from his North Pennsylvania Avenue
scrap yard was found just a mile away in the back yard of a Mineral Street
home Friday morning. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Everything is back to normal," Bielecki said. "She's back on the launch
pad." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Bielecki noticed on Monday the spacecraft was stolen from his recycling
center. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Police think they know who removed the fixture from its home. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Lt. Steve Olshefski did not release the suspect's name, but said the
individual is out of town. Police plan to interview the individual and
determine whether charges are warranted. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But Bielecki said he won't press for charges in the case. He's just happy
to have his prized spacecraft back on the roof of his recycling center. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Bielecki will ask the suspect to pay for recovery fees. He couldn't give an
estimate of that cost, but said he had to take five guys and a dump truck up
to the home to retrieve the 400-pound aluminum spacecraft that stands 7 feet
high. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I don't know if he flew it there, or what, and crash landed," a jovial
Bielecki said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Around 8 a.m. Friday, an anonymous caller phoned the scrap yard and told
office worker Janet Lyons that she was looking out her window and could see
the spacecraft on Mineral Street. The caller then hung up. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Two hours later, Carlo Ciotoli, a Times Leader employee, came to Bielecki's
office and told him where the spacecraft was located. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It took Bielecki and his crew two and a half hours to retrieve the shuttle
and perch it back on the roof. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The shuttle came to Bielecki's scrap yard three years ago. He's not sure
who decided to get rid of it. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But he decided to keep the shuttle with his other odd treasures of unwanted
items brought to his scrap yard. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He and his staff cleaned the shuttle with mops and emblazoned the craft
with black decals that read "#1 USA." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Bielecki wired the shuttle to several pallets and placed it on the roof
above an American flag. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Two months ago, the shuttle crashed from the roof and rolled onto the
street. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Police pushed it onto the sidewalk and Bielecki hid it behind a building
until he could reposition the shuttle back on the roof. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But Bielecki was too busy to hoist the shuttle back up to the roof at the
time. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It wasn't until Monday that he noticed the shuttle was stolen. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

`spaceship' Whooshed Back/ A Wilkes-barre Scrap Dealer Regains His Prize, Thanks To A Couple Of Helpful Mineral Street Residents.