New York man charged with child sex trafficking of two Wilkes-Barre minors

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Pets of the week

<p>MOUNTAIN TOP &#8212; Henry Rishkofski just wants to say thank you.</p><p>A 91-year-old World War II veteran who has seen his share of good and bad in his lifetime, Henry told me a story Tuesday.</p><p>He was at the Wyoming Valley Mall on Dec. 3 taking care of a few errands and purchasing Christmas cards for his seven great-grandchildren.</p><p>Henry parked his car close to the entrance, but when he entered the mall, he realized he had to walk the entire length of the place to get to the card store. Although he claims to be a good dancer, Henry said he sometimes gets tired when he has to walk a lot. He walked a lot that day.</p><p>&#8220;I felt like I was back in boot camp and had just finished a 10-mile hike,&#8221; he said.</p><p>After purchasing the cards, Henry headed back to the other end of the mall when he realized he wasn&#8217;t sure which entrance he used, therefore he wasn&#8217;t sure where he had parked his car.</p><p>Henry asked a few people for help, but none obliged. It was then his guardian angel &#8212; his Good Samaritan &#8212; saved the day.</p><p>Henry stopped a woman as she walked into the mall, told her his dilemma and asked if she would help him. She never hesitated, took Henry by the arm and the two went outside to find his car &#8212; a 1998 Buick Henry said runs real good, but is held together with &#8220;duct tape and baling wire.&#8221;</p><p>Henry kept hitting his key fob to see if he could hear his car horn. What he didn&#8217;t realize was he was hitting the &#8220;open trunk&#8221; command.</p><p>Once he realized the error, Henry hit the horn command a few times &#8212; and he and his new best friend found the car &#8212; with the trunk open. Once the woman got Henry safely into his car, the two said their goodbyes and Henry pulled away.</p><p>Henry was driving home when he realized he didn&#8217;t get the woman&#8217;s name. He would like to contact her and &#8220;properly thank&#8221; her for helping him.</p><p>He would like to buy the woman and her husband/boyfriend/significant other tickets to his church&#8217;s &#8220;Sweetheart Dance&#8221; in February.</p><p>I asked him how he could dance when he can&#8217;t walk well.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve always wondered about that, too,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Henry likes to read the paper and watch TV every day but all the bad news in the world sometimes gets him down. He wanted to tell a nice story about what happened to him and how a total stranger helped him when he needed help.</p><p>He recently read about a man who pointed a gun at police, forcing them to fire at him. And he was upset to read about a 32-year-old mother who tried to kill herself and her two children by running a garden hose from her car&#8217;s exhaust pipe into the car. He&#8217;s tired of reading about shootings and stabbings and drug deals.</p><p>Happy to find his car so he could get home, he was overwhelmed by the woman&#8217;s kindness. Now he just wants to thank her.</p><p>&#8220;This is a nice story,&#8221; Henry told me. &#8220;It&#8217;s good to know in these crazy times that there are still nice people out there.&#8221;</p><p>Sitting in his kitchen with American Legion magazines on the table and American flags everywhere, Henry showed me pictures of himself in the Army. He served in World War II, seeing battle in Germany, Belgium and Czechoslovakia.</p><p>He showed me his wedding picture from 1945 when he married the love of his life, Pauline Olshefski. They had two children, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren during their 63 years of marriage. Pauline died in 2008 and Henry misses her every day.</p><p>He showed me a framed poster of &#8220;The Soldier&#8217;s Creed&#8221; &#8212; the standard by which all U.S. soldiers are expected to live. It talks about never accepting defeat, of never quitting and of never leaving a fallen comrade behind.</p><p>That unknown woman wouldn&#8217;t leave Henry behind in his struggle to find his car. And Henry will never give up trying to find her. He won&#8217;t quit until he can thank her for her kindness.</p><p>Henry hopes the woman contacts him so he can buy her those tickets to the Sweetheart Dance in February.</p><p>He said it would be a good time &#8212; just his way of saying thanks.</p><p>And, maybe before the last song is played, the Good Samaritan will save a dance for Henry.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">O'Boyle</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Columnshot-1-1-1-4.jpg</photo0><caption0>O'Boyle</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL121615GoodDeed-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Henry Rishkofski, of Mountain Top, talks about a woman who helped him find his car in the Wyoming Valley Mall parking lot when he forgot where he parked it. Rishkofski would like to thank the woman for her kindness. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL121615GoodDeed-3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Henry Rishkofski, of Mountain Top, talks about a woman who helped him find his car in the Wyoming Valley Mall parking lot when he forgot where he parked it. Rishkofski would like to thank the woman for her kindness. </caption1><photoCredit1>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>WWII vet grateful for help finding his car</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

In Focus: Maybe Henry Rishkofski’s Good Samaritan will save the last dance for him