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Diocese of Scranton bishop to ordain 11 permanent deacons

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Four-way stop a go on South Franklin Street after Wilkes-Barre man’s push

<p>&#8226; Coal, and as much of it as you can fit in a dump truck, to child-shoving defendant Marlenea Uravage, of Nanticoke. She was recently sentenced to four to 20 months in prison for violently shoving an innocent 12-year-old girl outside a Wilkes-Barre convenience mart in May. Uravage couldn&#8217;t have handled herself in a more shameful manner during her Tuesday court appearance. She had to be prompted by the judge to apologize to the girl. And when she did, it was such a half-hearted, unconvincing attempt, Luzerne County Judge David Lupas said it was obvious Uravage had &#8220;absolutely zero remorse&#8221; for her mind-boggling actions. There is absolutely no excuse in the world for what she did, and she must pay the price with prison time. Let&#8217;s just hope her young victim is not too traumatized. Hopefully, Uravage will use her time behind bars to reflect on what she did. Based on her comments in court, it&#8217;s crystal clear she doesn&#8217;t get it.</p><p>&#8226; Diamonds to a beleaguered borough council in Plymouth, but we will need to explain ourselves a bit at this point.</p><p>We certainly would not usually hand out our weekly accolades to a municipal body that is considering a roughly 9 percent to 21 percent tax increase.</p><p>But in this instance, when council says it has exhausted all options, we indeed believe that&#8217;s the case. Plus, the borough is facing what&#8217;s seen as a pressing need: more police protection.</p><p>Council member Gary Kochinski says before considering the hefty tax hikes, he and his colleagues passed an ordinance to strip themselves and the mayor of their salaries. That money now goes to policing.</p><p>We still hope the tax hike can be whittled down for the sake of residents, but at least these elected leaders are willing to bear some of the pain with the folks they represent.</p><p>&#8226; Hats off and diamonds to the many people who spent part or most or just about all of their Thanksgiving Day in the noble pursuit of serving others. And we mean &#8220;serving&#8221; literally in this instance, as in serving up a great meal with all the trimmings.</p><p>Over at the Keystone Rescue Mission in Wilkes-Barre, longtime volunteer Kathy Regan wasn&#8217;t surprised to have enough help to serve about 70 who came by for a free meal.</p><p>&#8220;This seems to be the thing to do on Thanksgiving,&#8221; said Regan. &#8220;People are grateful for what they have and they want to help others.&#8221;</p><p>Frankly, we think it&#8217;s corny when people use the tired, old &#8220;Valley with a Heart&#8221; expression. But you know what, it&#8217;s tired and old because it&#8217;s been said a lot and it&#8217;s true.</p><p>Credit to all the groups, including the Commission on Economic Opportunity, who went above and beyond to help people for Thanksgiving.</p><p>&#8226; We are not the least bit impressed by Dallas teachers calling off their Nov. 22 strike date, instead rescheduling it for Jan. 22. All that means is that a black cloud continues to hang over the district. So, for them, we offer a heaping helping of coal this Thanksgiving weekend.</p><p>Make no mistake about it, this dispute hinges on health care. Dallas teachers don&#8217;t want to contribute a dime to their premiums, while we know people in this area who are paying more than $500 per month for their coverage.</p><p>Teachers deserve to be well-compensated for their important work. No one would argue that. But the union&#8217;s stance on health care is impractical and smacks of arrogance. Hey, Dallas teachers, you really think you are that much better than the rest of us?</p><p>Taxpayers and school board, please don&#8217;t give in. Make the teachers start contributing, even if it&#8217;s just a modest amount of $50 or so monthly.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Marlenea Uravage is escorted from the Luzerne County Courthouse this week after being sentenced to prison for shoving a 12-year-old girl. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/web1_TTL112217Uravage1-8.jpg</photo0><caption0>Marlenea Uravage is escorted from the Luzerne County Courthouse this week after being sentenced to prison for shoving a 12-year-old girl. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>

Our View: Lots of coal for woman who pushed child