Open session to be held for natural resources students

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Greater Pittston duo Tony Russo and Gino Gratalo earn gold medal in bocce at Special Olympics games

<p><strong>Diamonds</strong> to the Greater Nanticoke Athletic Recognition Committee. By celebrating the area&#8217;s past champions and super-achievers &#8211; such as the 1961 boys basketball team that was to be honored Friday night, 55 years after claiming a state title &#8211; the committee&#8217;s members not only provide a good excuse for a reunion but, just maybe, will inspire today&#8217;s students to aim high. And what&#8217;s wrong with (briefly) reliving the glory days? Last month, participants from GNA&#8217;s 1990 state championship girls basketball team returned to mark the 25th anniversary of their dominant season. The newly formed recognition committee also intends to spotlight students&#8217; academic successes. Go, Trojans/Trojanettes!</p><p><strong>Coal</strong> to the Powerball &#8220;pixies&#8221; who determined Wednesday night&#8217;s winning numbers were 4, 8, 19, 27, 34 and a No. 10 Powerball, instead of the clearly more preferable numerals that we held. We had plans. Big plans.</p><p><strong>Diamonds</strong> to Luzerne County government. It speedily repaid a $20 million bridge loan that a county council majority had OK&#8217;d in November to avoid a shutdown. The county should not have been compelled to borrow the sum in the first place; however, a still-unresolved budget squabble in Harrisburg between Gov. Tom Wolf and Republican lawmakers halted the flow of money to school districts and counties. Interest payments on the loan, some people had predicted, would exceed half a million dollars. Thanks to the rapid repayment, it&#8217;ll probably tally less than $46,000. Still, that&#8217;s money county taxpayers unfairly had to cough up because of destructive gamesmanship in the state capital.</p><p><strong>Coal</strong> to the bear running loose on Wall Street. Lately, certain stockholders are feeling like Leonardo DiCaprio&#8217;s character in &#8220;The Revenant.&#8221; When will this mauling end?</p><p><strong>Diamonds</strong> to unseen doers of good deeds. An anonymous person at the R Bar and Grill in Nanticoke, for example, recently picked up the dinner tab for a family that includes a young woman with special needs. Only the person who paid the bill and the waitress know who performed the random act of kindness. Appreciated? Most definitely. And proof positive that in a world seemingly padded with people whose main goal is to grab attention, some still choose to quietly extend grace.</p><p><strong>Coal</strong> to the Powerball &#8220;pixies&#8221; &#8230; yeah, we know it&#8217;s already been said here. But, seriously, we thought for sure &#8211; <em>this</em> time &#8211; our ship finally was pulling in. Letters of resignation had been pre-written. Victory laps rehearsed. Mental to-do lists transitioned from the mundane &#8211; remember to haul recyclables to the street tonight &#8211; to the extravagant &#8211; remember to leave the landlord both keys and a couple hundred thousand to fix up this dump when we&#8217;re gone. It all seemed so possible, if statistically improbable. It was destined.</p><p>Wasn&#8217;t it?</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Ellen Bartuska, right, reacts to being introduced with her 1990 high school teammates during a ceremony last month honoring the PIAA Class 3A girls state champion Nanticoke Trojanettes. The recognition in Nanticoke marked the 25th anniversary of their accomplishment. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_NanticokeGBB_3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Ellen Bartuska, right, reacts to being introduced with her 1990 high school teammates during a ceremony last month honoring the PIAA Class 3A girls state champion Nanticoke Trojanettes. The recognition in Nanticoke marked the 25th anniversary of their accomplishment. </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader file photo | Bill Tarutis </photoCredit0></div></div>

Our Opinion: Nanticoke-area group recaptures its schools’ glory days