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Prosecutors argue evidence in homicide case would had been discovered despite warrantless search

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Secretary of Human Services tours local food bank to promote food assistance programs

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The decades-old problem of a crumbling Solomon Creek wall received the attention it demanded, officials said Wednesday as they showed off the completed first phase of the infrastructure project.</p><p>Mayor Tony George marked the progress with a press conference on the Barney Street bridge that spans the creek and stands as the midpoint of the two blocks of finished work. Construction has begun on the second phase to build a pump station and 700 feet of new wall downstream of the Waller Street bridge.</p><p>&#8220;This project was in the making for 20 years and every time we tried to get funding for it, we couldn&#8217;t get it,&#8221; George said.</p><p>The collapse of a 40-foot section of wall in December 2016, not far from where the mayor stood, increased the urgency to protect the houses, businesses, hospital and schools in South Wilkes-Barre from the creek that&#8217;s flooded multiple times.</p><p>George, who made the wall a campaign issue in 2015, thanked state and federal officials for their help in securing close to $10 million to rebuild the walled channel dating back to the 1930s and the New Deal of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.</p><p>Attempts to have the federal government pay for a comprehensive fix failed and forced elected officials to devise an alternate and innovative funding plan, said state Sen. John Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township.</p><p>&#8220;For years we were promised money from Washington. Federal money was going to materialize to help us do the entire project,&#8221; Yudichak said. &#8220;That never occurred and we kept chasing that rabbit down a hole that never materialized.&#8221;</p><p>With the help of Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, local and state officials drew $4.6 million from a variety of sources including, $2.3 million in Disaster Recovery program fund and $1.4 million in Local Share Account money from revenues of the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino in Plains Township. The city set aside $4 million from a bond refinancing deal for the pump station.</p><p>The funding was not the only obstacle to the project. Tom Lawson recalled working on it back in 1978 after he returned to the area from working in Baltimore with Army Corps of Engineers.</p><p>&#8220;This was a swamp all the way down to the Susquehanna River and they started building out this area,&#8221; said Lawson, vice president emeritus of Borton Lawson, the engineer for the project.</p><p>The creek is flat, with barely any slope after it flows down from Mountain Top into the city and onto the Susquehanna River. As a result it deposits debris in the lowland area, Lawson pointed out. </p><p>The floodgates on the four bridges across the creek were retrofitted to allow for unobstructed movement and wall off the cross streets to prevent rising waters from spilling onto them. </p><p>The pump station to be built near Vulcan Street is designed to prevent street flooding. Stormwater collects in the drains and can&#8217;t flow into the creek when it rises. Lawson explained. The pump station will pump the water over the wall back into the creek, he said, adding the purpose is identical to the pumps in the levee system along the river.</p><p>Despite the first contractor being pulled from the job last year for unexplained reasons and a more than two-month delay in the spring on account of administrative misstep, the first phase was completed on time and under budget, the mayor said.</p><p>Don E. Bower Inc. of Berwick began work last October. The company submitted the second lowest bid of just over $2 million and replaced AR Popple Inc. of Wilkes-Barre, the low bidder at $1.5 million.</p><p>Bower submitted the lowest bid of $1.6 million for the wall in the second phase and $1.3 million for the pump station construction.</p><p>Separate from the wall project, Luzerne County last year awarded approximately $1.7 million in community development funds to Hanover Township for the construction of a new bridge over the creek at Division Street on the border with the city.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">State Sen. John Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, Wednesday joined Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George, far right, and others to mark the completion of Phase 1 of the Solomon Creek wall reconstruction project. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091919Wall.jpg</photo0><caption0>State Sen. John Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, Wednesday joined Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George, far right, and others to mark the completion of Phase 1 of the Solomon Creek wall reconstruction project. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091919Wall1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Engineer Tom Lawson, right, discusses the completion of Phase 1 of the Solomon Creek wall reconstruction project in Wilkes-Barre during a Wednesday news conference on the Barney Street bridge. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091919Wall1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Engineer Tom Lawson, right, discusses the completion of Phase 1 of the Solomon Creek wall reconstruction project in Wilkes-Barre during a Wednesday news conference on the Barney Street bridge. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091919Wall2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Phase 1 of the Solomon Creek wall reconstruction project along Brook Street in Wilkes-Barre has been completed. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091919Wall2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Phase 1 of the Solomon Creek wall reconstruction project along Brook Street in Wilkes-Barre has been completed. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091919Wall3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George looks out over a newly constructed section of the Solomon Creek flood wall between the bridges on Barney and Waller streets. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091919Wall3.jpg</photo3><caption3>Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George looks out over a newly constructed section of the Solomon Creek flood wall between the bridges on Barney and Waller streets. </caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091919Wall4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Phase 2 of the Solomon Creek wall reconstruction project in Wilkes-Barre is underway and will include a pump station near Vulcan Street. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091919Wall4.jpg</photo4><caption4>Phase 2 of the Solomon Creek wall reconstruction project in Wilkes-Barre is underway and will include a pump station near Vulcan Street. </caption4><photoCredit4>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091919Wall1.cmyk_.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Engineer Tom Lawson, right, discusses the completion of Phase 1 of the Solomon Creek wall reconstruction project in Wilkes-Barre during a Wednesday news conference on the Barney Street bridge. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091919Wall1.cmyk_.jpg</photo5><caption5>Engineer Tom Lawson, right, discusses the completion of Phase 1 of the Solomon Creek wall reconstruction project in Wilkes-Barre during a Wednesday news conference on the Barney Street bridge. </caption5><photoCredit5>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit5></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

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Portion of new wall along Solomon Creek built, next phase of project underway in Wilkes-Barre