Wvw Swimmers Off To Fast Start, Trounce Hazleton

Advertising Employee Is Times Leader's '94 Best

By P. DOUGLAS FILAROSKI; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Tuesday, December 13, 1994 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1A 





WILKES-BARRE -- All's quiet in front of Dave Hoffman's South Main Street
furniture store, where as recently as September women cat-called as they
solicited sex from men in passing cars. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Hoffman's activism helped prompt the City Council's passage of a loitering
law and sparked a police crackdown on prostitution along that commercial spoke
from Public Square. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Now, when Hoffman leaves his store at night, he no longer has to endure the
profanities he says were lobbed his way by the prostitutes he was trying to
put out of business. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Unfortunately, however, those nuisances have moved two blocks up and one
block over from Hoffman's store to a residential area around South Franklin
and Sullivan streets. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Neighbors there say that, contrary to appearances, prostitution hasn't gone
away. It's simply moved on. Police patrol there too, but are waiting for a
court decision before cracking down. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Basically, what they've done is pushed it from one part of the city into
our neighborhood," said Bill Dohman, who says prostitutes now work the area
near his Sambourne Street home. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 On any given night, Dohman can stand on his porch, look down Sullivan
Street, and see women proposition men near a bar on South Franklin Street. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I've got a 12-year-old boy and he sees this stuff," Dohman said. "This is
not the kind of thing I want him around." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Although largely residential, the location -- a block from the main
thoroughfare of South Main Street -- still serves as a suitable, less
conspicuous marketplace for prostitutes to do business. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Most of their business comes through word of mouth, said Wilkes-Barre
Police Capt. William Maguire. So once customers learn the new location, they
simply move there to pick up prostitutes. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Maguire said residents should not be surprised prostitution sprang back up
in a new part of town after a couple months of dormancy. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I've been saying this to people for 20 years -- we will never get rid of
prostitution," Maguire said. "We focus on it, shut it down for a while, and it
springs back up. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "These people aren't stupid. They go where there is less heat," he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The "heat" applied to prostitutes on South Main Street over the past six
months consisted of several police sweeps, netting both prostitutes and their
customers, or "johns." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 One particular sting in September resulted in the arrest of 21 men who
police say solicited sex from undercover female officers. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In November, police began using the newly enacted loitering ordinance to
try to stem the problem, nabbing two women formerly convicted of prostitution
as they hung out on South Main Street. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Both cases await disposition by District Justice Michael Collins of
Wilkes-Barre, who is expected to decide on at least one case this week. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Many police officers say they're waiting for Collins' decision before
continuing to aggressively enforce the ordinance, not knowing if their arrests
will stand up in court, Maguire said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Before its passage, the law had been criticized by the American Civil
Liberties Union as potentially unconstitutional. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Guys on patrol are waiting for the decision on the loitering," Maguire
said. "(They) don't like to take a guy's liberty until they know the law can
be upheld." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Meanwhile, members of a Sambourne Street crime-watch group recently managed
to convince Mayor Lee Namey and city officials to install another street light
on their block. The neighborhood has not only had recent prostitution
problems, but it was also the area where a pizza delivery driver was beat up
and robbed by several assailants with baseball bats a few weeks ago. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Hoffman, who formed Concerned Citizens of Wilkes-Barre, doesn't think the
prostitution problem on South Franklin and Sullivan streets is as serious as
it was on South Main Street. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Besides, with cold weather setting in, the activity is bound to slow down
for the next several months, Maguire said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But t

Sex Trade Finds New Location In City 
The Loitering Law Seems To Have Curbed Soliciting On South Main Street, But 
Residents A Few Blocks Away Say Prostitution Has Drifted Their Way

Sex Trade Finds New Location In City The Loitering Law Seems To Have Curbed Soliciting On South Main Street, But Residents A Few Blocks Away Say Prostitution Has Drifted Their Way