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Luzerne County officials hear arguments for and against union labor construction agreements

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Double, double, toil and trouble; King’s College presents ‘Macbeth’ Feb. 24-28

WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Faced with relocating on short notice, the Lighthouse Resource Center didn&#8217;t have far to go to find a new home for its afterschool program for kids from around Sherman Hills.The move Saturday will be a short walk to the Keystone Rescue Mission Alliance on Parkview Circle from the converted storage room of a grocery store on North Empire Court, at the entrance to the low-income apartment complex.Rev. Wayne Morgan Jr., the Northeast regional director of the National Network of Youth Ministries, said he got word Wednesday night that the move was approved.&#8220;We&#8217;re very thankful for the Rescue Mission to open up the doors for us,&#8221; Morgan said Thursday during a break building a closet to store Lighthouse&#8217;s material.&#8220;We only have to adjust our schedule from a Monday-through-Wednesday to Tuesdays through Thursdays,&#8221; he said.Three days a week, school-aged children, many of them from Sherman Hills, look for the sign outside the store indicating the Lighthouse is open at 3:30 p.m. During the 90-minute program, they can do their homework, play games, have a snack and participate in a Bible lesson.Morgan and Carrie Haverlock, Lighthouse&#8217;s coordinator, said between 20 and 30 kids regularly attend the program that started in October 2014.&#8220;The big thing for this kind of program is momentum,&#8221; Morgan said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve got the momentum now.&#8221;But he and the others who volunteer for the program risked losing that momentum if Lighthouse had to relocate far from the complex. On Monday, they got word they would have to move.Fabian Sanchez, the tenant who has the store, is closing after four years. He said the past problems of shootings and violence at Sherman Hills affected his business. He has had a rough time keeping current on his rent, he said.Josh Gottlieb, director of asset management at Treetop Development, the New Jersey-based owner of Sherman Hills, said the matter was simply a landlord-tenant issue. He added that the real-estate company would reach out to Morgan about offering some space for the Lighthouse program.Morgan said he spoke with Gottlieb, but Lighthouse is still going through with the relocation.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Jerry Lynottjlynott@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott</shirttailMeta></div>

Lighthouse afterschool program finds new home still close to Sherman Hills