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Crestwood School Board to discuss bus issue Friday

Their view: Hello Donald? This is the Ayatollah calling

As if the proposed closing of the White Haven State Center wasn&#8217;t enough, it was announced Wednesday afternoon that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections is planning to close the State Correctional Institute at Retreat.State Sen. John Yudichak said that the employees at SCI-Retreat were notified today that the facility is on the closure list, the only facility targeted for closure.&#8220;If both White Haven Center and SCI-retreat close, it will mean a loss of 840 total jobs and a direct economic impact loss of 105 million. This constitutes a significant impact on the families connected to both facilities and on the region.&#8221;The Newport Township facility has 384 full-time employees and nearly 1,100 inmates, according to the DOC website.Wednesday&#8217;s news marks the second time in two years the facility has been targeted by the state for closure. In 2017 it was announced that Retreat was one of two state correctional facilities that could have been closed by the DOC. <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/local/628673/officials-state-prisons-in-northeastern-pennsylvania-to-remain-open" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">In January of that year, after several stressful weeks, employees and the region&#8217;s lawmakers learned that only one of the five would close, and that SCI-Retreat was safe</a>. Yudichak and other members of the region&#8217;s Harrisburg delegation were vocal opponents of the move then, as now.Now the stress, worry and battle begin again, this time with two state facilities in jeopardy.&#8220;We have a tremendous fight on our hands,&#8221; Yudichak said. &#8220;We can&#8217;t allow this action, which will have a devastating effect on Luzerne County&#8217;s economy.&#8221;The White Haven State Center, a 112-resident home for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, is slated for closure &#8212; together with the Polk State Center in Venango County &#8212; under a plan announced last week by state Department of Human Services Secretary Teresa Miller.The White Haven Center Board of Trustees will hold a public meeting at 4:45 p.m. today in the Administration Building of White Haven Center. There will be a brief closed meeting at the beginning. and then the meeting will be conducted in an open forum.The Wolf Administration has made it clear that no testimony will reverse the decision, although a formal public hearing is slated for Thursday, Sept. 12, at 5 p.m. in Saint Patrick&#8217;s Church, White Haven.Joint statementYudichak, together with state Sen. Lisa Baker and state Sen. John Gordner, also issued the following joint statement regarding the plans:Today, we heard from unions representing SCI Retreat that a formal announcement regarding the proposed closure of SCI Retreat will be forthcoming in the days ahead from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC).The proposed closure of SCI Retreat combined with the proposed closure of White Haven State Center is a devastating and dramatic blow to the families of Luzerne County. The families and communities of Luzerne County will be forced to deal with the loss of nearly 900 family sustaining jobs and over $100 million in direct, annual economic impact.While we understand the constraints and challenges of the state budget, Luzerne County is being asked to shoulder an unfair burden of responsibility for balancing the budget.We oppose the proposed closures of SCI Retreat and White Haven State Center. We will voice our opposition through every means at our disposal, especially the recently enacted Act 133 of 2018, that requires the PA DOC to hold a public hearing to justify the closure of a state corrections facility.As we did two years ago, we will join forces to fight for the families of Luzerne County. We understand the odds are not in our favor, and historical policy trends are against us. However, we are going to make the case to the Administration that SCI Retreat and White Haven State Center are too important to the families they serve and too important to the regional economy to be shuttered.Local impactWhile neither SCI-Retreat nor White Haven is a county facility, the Times Leader reached out to Luzerne County Manager C. David Pedri to ask if he had heard the news about Retreat, and what impact he thought the closures would have on the area.Pedri said the job losses would be a &#8220;devastating development&#8221; for the community.&#8220;I will stand with Sen. Yudichak and our other representatives to remind Harrisburg that those numbers on a page are actually real people &#8212; Luzerne County mothers and fathers,&#8221; Pedri said.* * *Check back for updates and see Thursday&#8217;s Times Leader for more on this story.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">SCI-Retreat is again targeted for closure. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_SCI-retreat-9.jpg</photo0><caption0>SCI-Retreat is again targeted for closure. </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Bill O&#8217;Boyleboboyle@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div>

SCI-Retreat again targeted for closure