TARSELLI JURY BOX GETS 4TH OCCUPANT FILE PHOTO TODD TARSELLI

Solt Enjoys Being Leader Of Frisky Young Colts 
File Photo 
Ron Solt 
Injured Shoulder 
When You're 6-foot-4 And Weigh 290 Pounds, Sneaking In And Out Of Places Isn't 
The Simplest Of Tasks. After All, If Someone Doesn't See You, They'll Surely 
Hear You.

Thursday, October 29, 1992 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 3A QUICK WORDS: WALLACE 





They all love Jack &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 By &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Steve Corbett &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Times Leader staff writer &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Sometimes a tale so sordid, so wild and unnatural, comes along that it
makes me forget everything elseWelcome to WALLACEGATE. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It's a story about sneaks and politics and the way favors play in this town
and county. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Mostly, though, it's about Jack Wallace, who covers the courthouse beat for
The Citizens' Voice, the other daily newspaper in Wilkes-Barre. A fixture at
the courthouse for decades, some people see Wallace as an insolent intimidator
who snaps at press conferences and scowls his way through his beat until his
shift ends. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Others, however, consider him cute and offer their cheek for a peck offered
up the way a rich man dispenses chocolate kisses to urchins on Halloween. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Me and Jack, though, don't speak. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Just the other day he spotted me looking at him during an insanity hearing
and turned his head away only to snap it back and give me one of those ancient
Celtic evil eyes. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 You might not know any of this, however, because Wallace's byline almost
never appears on his stories. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Don't ask me why. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 There's lots of things they do at the Voice that greater minds than mine
have failed to figure out. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Let it be known for the record, though, that I have nothing against The
Citizens' Voice, read it every day and even started talking to columnist Mike
McGlynn again after his newspaper and he wrote things about me so terrible
that I refused the two beers McGlynn bought me at Donohue's Hourglass Tavern. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 That was long after the Voice printed its Aug. 1, 1991 front page
"CORBETTGATE" headline in print so big that I could see it in the corner
street rack from a block away. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 I was proud that day. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Wallace, too, who was so beside himself with glee that he rolled up a copy
and laid it out just so beneath the rear window of his blue Chevy Celebrity,
the way some people display baseball caps. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 allace was so ecstatic about that damn headline that he kept it there long
after the district attorney ruled that wiretapping charges against me and my
bosses were without merit. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 That rolled-up yellow newspaper was still in Wallace's car last week when
he parked in a specially marked parking space at the courthouse. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Recently, according to sources, Wallace was irate over not being afforded a
private parking place at the courthouse. Few people have that luxury except
judges and a few select other swells. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 So Wallace howled and suddenly County Chief Clerk Gene Klein came to the
rescue. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A smiling Jack Wallace pulled into his private parking spot. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Coincidence? &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 You decide. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 To do so, though, you'll need information that Klein refuses to provide. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Affable, yet moody, Klein now denies that he arranged for a private
prestigious parking spot to be set aside for Wallace. Klein also questioned
whether this story was news. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It's more than news. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It's big news. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 An arrogant Klein argued that the brand new spot where Wallace had parked
for a week was marked with the name "Nicholas" because it had been reserved
for a county employee the county planned to hire but didn't. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Yet, Klein refused to offer a single specific about this Nicholas or the
job for which he or she supposedly applied. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 That same day, though, county workers removed the sign and Wallace lost his
spot. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 When Times Leader ace courthouse reporter Jerry Lynott inquired, Wallace
denied everything. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Klein, too. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Then public servant Klein refused to answer further questions, so we're
still mystified about some important details. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Of this, however, I am absolutely certain. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Somewhere in the vast wilderness of both men's brains exists a portion that
controls good sense. Those lobes are posted with signs that read, "No parking
this side." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Steve Corbett's column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

They All 
Love Jack 
By 
Steve Corbett 
Times Leader Staff Writer 
Sometimes A Tale So Sordid, So Wild And Unnatural, Comes Along That It Makes 
Me Forget Everything Else.

They All Love Jack By Steve Corbett Times Leader Staff Writer Sometimes A Tale So Sordid, So Wild And Unnatural, Comes Along That It Makes Me Forget Everything Else.