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Luzerne County forced to postpone some sales in upcoming tax auction

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Letter to the Editor: Kingston Post Office open for business, contrary to what many people might believe

<p>Get up and do something good for your community.</p><p>If you&#8217;ve long felt an impulse to contribute but haven&#8217;t had the motivation, well, you&#8217;ve run out of excuses this summer. World events have conspired to call you out for your complacency.</p><p>The pope, during a recent speech to young adults in Poland, shamed couch potatoes. &#8220;Dear young people, we didn&#8217;t come into this world to &#8216;vegetate,&#8217; to take it easy, to make our lives a comfortable sofa to fall asleep on,&#8221; Pope Francis told an audience of 1.6 million on Saturday. &#8220;No, we came for another reason: to leave a mark.&#8221;</p><p>If the pontiff&#8217;s words don&#8217;t prick at your conscience, the Summer Olympics might do the trick &#8211; 17 days of televised coverage, beginning Friday, that spotlight fit, goal-oriented people challenging themselves to perform at the highest levels of the human potential. Hmm, is there a takeaway message for you amid the medal ceremonies? Your daily routine might not allow for world-class training, but can you do something more, something meaningful?</p><p>Even the nation&#8217;s presidential contest, notable so far in 2016 largely because of its crassness, has at times contained worthwhile calls for people to get off of the sidelines and become fully engaged in civic life. The underlying notion: If you don&#8217;t like things, help to change things. Bernie Sanders&#8217; surge in the Democratic Party&#8217;s race was fueled in large part by this mindset.</p><p>Do you sense the tug of social activism or volunteerism? Are you ready to act?</p><p>If so, get involved. No matter the issue &#8211; government reform, children&#8217;s welfare, racial injustice, homelessness, health care, veterans treatment, domestic violence, public safety, hospice care &#8211; there&#8217;s probably a group in Northeastern Pennsylvania whose mission matches your interest, and whose leaders would welcome your support.</p><p>The United Way of Wyoming Valley&#8217;s website, at <a href="http://unitedwaywb.org/" target="_blank">unitedwaywb.org</a>, includes a tool for finding volunteer opportunities. An area consumer counseling agency, for instance, needs volunteers to help with data entry. Another organization seeks volunteer drivers.</p><p>Not finding your niche among the listings? Go directly to one or more of the groups active in your community: historical societies, public libraries, parent-teacher organizations, trails associations, Scout groups, civic clubs, youth sports leagues, nursing homes, environmental outfits and nonprofits dealing with any of various social ills. Each is most likely in need of energetic, levelheaded helpers.</p><p>If it&#8217;s encouragement for which you have been waiting, consider this it. Get off the couch.</p><p>You have contributions to make, and Northeastern Pennsylvania&#8217;s continued improvement depends on people like you who dare to do more.</p><style>
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Our Opinion: Pope and politicos agree on this: You need to get involved