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H.S. Boys Basketball: Tunkhannock falls to Western Wayne in D2-4A third-place game

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Cakes, accreditation, new bookstore deal and repairs at LCCC trustee meeting

<p>KINGSTON &#8212; Andre Waters doesn&#8217;t think of himself as a hero.</p><p>But the Luzerne County Transportation Authority employee&#8217;s quick thinking on a frigid day last month while going about his duties earned him some very public recognition and thanks &#8212; not to mention the key to a community&#8217;s heart.</p><p>Waters was honored at LCTA headquarters Tuesday for stopping his bus on Jan. 21 to help Richard Adamchik, a disabled veteran who had fallen down outside his Swoyersville home in single-digit temperatures.</p><p>&#8220;The news is calling me a hero, but I&#8217;m not a hero. I just did something that any normal person should do &#8212; help out the next person,&#8221; Waters said following presentation of a citation from Swoyersville Mayor Chris Concert and a ceremonial key to the borough.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m just a bus driver,&#8221; Waters added.</p><p>Being a bus driver put him in the right place at the right time, however. Driving on LCTA&#8217;s Route 8 on Slocum Street, Waters saw Adamchik fall a block away.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve got eyes like a hawk,&#8221; said Waters, who has been an LCTA driver for seven-and-a-half years. &#8220;With this job you have to pay attention to everything &#8212; passengers, people cutting past you and not signalling, you have to be aware of all your surroundings.&#8221;</p><p>Waters also saw that no one else was stopping to help Adamchik and his wife, Ann Arlene, who was struggling to lift her 180-pound husband.</p><p>&#8220;So I pull the bus to the side &#8212; pop the brake so I do it safely &#8212; get out and pick the man up,&#8221; Waters recalled. &#8220;And then he&#8217;s pointing to his glasses, and I pick them up. His wife is like, &#8216;thank you, thank you.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Reached by telephone Tuesday evening, Adamchik, 75, described the incident.</p><p>&#8220;I slipped on the ice and I went down good, my glasses went flying and everything,&#8221; Adamchik said. &#8220;He picked me up and found my glasses and helped me up the stairs.&#8221;</p><p>While he was not injured in the fall, Adamchick said he has been recovering from other ailments. He did not attend Tuesday&#8217;s ceremony at LCTA or an earlier one at Swoyersville Borough earlier this month, but said he was very grateful to Waters for how &#8220;he stopped that big bus in the street and came over to help.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;d just really like to say thank you,&#8221; Adamchik added.</p><p>Waters said that once he had helped Adamchik up the steps he quickly returned to the bus to continue on his route. That wasn&#8217;t the end of the story, however.</p><p>LCTA spokeswoman Lorri Vandermark said Adamchik&#8217;s wife was so thankful that she called the authority to ensure that the driver was recognized for his heroism.</p><p>Authority Executive Director Norm Gavlick praised Waters Tuesday for going &#8220;way above and beyond.&#8221; LCTA also gave Concert a framed certificate of thanks for his efforts in recognizing Waters and supporting transit.</p><p>Concert, meanwhile, reflected on Waters&#8217; self-effacing remarks.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s not just a bus driver,&#8221; the mayor said. &#8220;I want all of my residents to be like that, whether they&#8217;re a bus driver or school board member or work at McDonald&#8217;s. I want people to help one another.&#8221;</p><p>Waters, who lives in Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s Miners Mills section, said interacting with riders is one of his favorite parts of the job.</p><p>&#8220;The passengers, they&#8217;ll talk with you, tell you how their day is going,&#8221; he said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Andre Waters explains how he helped a fallen citizen while Swoyersville Mayor Chris Concert listens. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022719LCTA2-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Andre Waters explains how he helped a fallen citizen while Swoyersville Mayor Chris Concert listens. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022719LCTA3-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Andre Waters explains how he helped a fallen citizen while Swoyersville Mayor Chris Concert listens. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022719LCTA3-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Andre Waters explains how he helped a fallen citizen while Swoyersville Mayor Chris Concert listens. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022719LCTA4-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Swoyersville Mayor Chris Concert hands LCTA driver Andre Waters a key to Swoyersville at the authority&#8217;s headquarters on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022719LCTA4-2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Swoyersville Mayor Chris Concert hands LCTA driver Andre Waters a key to Swoyersville at the authority&#8217;s headquarters on Tuesday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022719LCTA5-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Swoyersville Mayor Chris Concert thanks LCTA bus driver Andre Waters for helping a senior citizen who fell outside his home in the borough last month. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022719LCTA5-2.jpg</photo3><caption3>Swoyersville Mayor Chris Concert thanks LCTA bus driver Andre Waters for helping a senior citizen who fell outside his home in the borough last month. </caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022719LCTA6-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Andre Waters holds a key to Swoyersville given to him by borough Mayor Chris Concert. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022719LCTA6-2.jpg</photo4><caption4>Andre Waters holds a key to Swoyersville given to him by borough Mayor Chris Concert. </caption4><photoCredit4>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022719LCTA1-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Luzerne County Transportation Authority driver Andre Waters and Swoyersville Mayor Chris Concert pose for a photo inside an LCTA bus like the one Waters was driving last month when he saw Swoyersville resident Richard Adamchik fall on an icy day. Waters stopped the bus to help the man up, and was honored Tuesday by Concert and LCTA. His newly received key to the borough is seen in the foreground. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022719LCTA1-2.jpg</photo5><caption5>Luzerne County Transportation Authority driver Andre Waters and Swoyersville Mayor Chris Concert pose for a photo inside an LCTA bus like the one Waters was driving last month when he saw Swoyersville resident Richard Adamchik fall on an icy day. Waters stopped the bus to help the man up, and was honored Tuesday by Concert and LCTA. His newly received key to the borough is seen in the foreground. </caption5><photoCredit5>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit5></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Roger DuPuis</p><p>rdupuis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

LCTA bus driver honored for aiding Swoyersville man after fall