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Double-homicide suspect James Roche testifies in own defense

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Concert Listings: Nov. 6 to 12, 2015

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Niehajah Trout finished the free turkey dinner, tossed her disposable dinnerware in the trash can with extreme confidence and then announced what comes next.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re playing games!&#8221; the 6-year-old roared like a lion.</p><p>Which games? After all, the GAR Memorial High School gym downstairs from the cafeteria housed everything from ring toss to duck pond to a spinning wheel.</p><p>Niehajah spread her arms and puffed her chest to look twice as fierce as seemed possible for such a petite young girl, giving a grin that exposed missing front baby teeth, then answered as if making a dare:</p><p>&#8220;Everything!&#8221;</p><p>Well, why not? That&#8217;s what the Wilkes-Barre Area School District annual Harvest Festival is all about, at least partly. Free food upstairs, free games on one side of the gym and free information from 28 community organizations on the other side.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s great,&#8221; Niehajah&#8217;s mom, Alisha, said as she helped 3-year-old X&#8217;zayveon nosh on some mashed potatoes. &#8220;It&#8217;s free and the kids have fun.&#8221;</p><p>X&#8217;zayveon concurred succinctly: &#8220;Yummy!&#8221;</p><p>At the next table Caleb Veneros had decided cranberry sauce is finger food, despite mother Taryn&#8217;s best efforts to nudge him into utensil use. &#8220;He&#8217;s 2,&#8221; she said with a shrug. &#8220;Forks don&#8217;t exist to him.&#8221;</p><p>It was the family&#8217;s first visit to the festival, now in its fifth year. &#8220;We just moved back here from Colorado,&#8221; Taryn said. &#8220;My husband graduated from this school.&#8221;</p><p>In the gym, at the United Way of Wyoming Valley table, Miriam Bakewell did a brisk business enrolling tykes in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a free book-of-the month club for children younger than 5.</p><p>&#8220;I really looked forward to coming here,&#8221; Bakewell said. &#8220;We really wanted a chance to reach out to more people in this part of the city.&#8221;</p><p>At the table set up by the Wilkes-Barre Health Department, Jamison Jones, 11, sat down, rolled up his T-shirt sleeve and beamed a sanguine smile, clearly unshaken by the syringe used to provide a free flu shot.</p><p>&#8220;We were here last year,&#8221; Grandmother Ann Warman said as Jamison&#8217;s brother Caleb, 10, rolled up <em>his</em> sleeve. &#8220;The kids love it.&#8221;</p><p>The festival has become the main event of the district&#8217;s F.A.C.E.S of Wilkes-Barre initiative, short for Family And Community Enrichment Services. Spearheaded by school psychologists Jenn Welgosh and Beth Anne Owens, F.A.C.E.S. is designed to connect families to any community services they may need.</p><p>If hundreds of youngsters get free flu shots, prizes, turkey dinners and a chance to toss some &#8220;angry birds&#8221; or stomp on a free little bag to make a big pop, well, that&#8217;s a bonus.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Alisha Trout helps her 3 year-old X&#8217;zayveon eat his turkey dinner at the annual Wilkes-Barre Area School District Harvest Festival held this year at GAR Memorial High School. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL11061harvest1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Alisha Trout helps her 3 year-old X&#8217;zayveon eat his turkey dinner at the annual Wilkes-Barre Area School District Harvest Festival held this year at GAR Memorial High School. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL11061harvest2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Four-year-old Owen Veneros brushes the teeth of a stuffed animal with help from his mom Taryn and Sara Jarinko of Geisinger Health Plan. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL11061harvest2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Four-year-old Owen Veneros brushes the teeth of a stuffed animal with help from his mom Taryn and Sara Jarinko of Geisinger Health Plan. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL11061harvest3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Nicole Amos of the Wilkes-Barre Health Department gives Jamison Jones, 11, a free flu shot at the Harvest Festival at GAR Memorial High School Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL11061harvest3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Nicole Amos of the Wilkes-Barre Health Department gives Jamison Jones, 11, a free flu shot at the Harvest Festival at GAR Memorial High School Thursday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL11061harvest4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Malachi Jackson 7, points to a duck in the fish game during the Harvest Festival at GAR Memorial High School Thursday. . </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL11061harvest4.jpg</photo3><caption3>Malachi Jackson 7, points to a duck in the fish game during the Harvest Festival at GAR Memorial High School Thursday. . </caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre Area’s 5th annual Harvest Festival reaches out to the community