Wyoming Valley West's `public Service' Awards Were Anything But 
The Actions Of The Wyoming Valley West School Board Continue To Astound Me 
With Their Utter Contempt Of The Voting Public.

Alyce Leonard 
January 16, 1997 
Alyce E. Leonard, Formerly Of Boulevard Towers, Pittston, Died Thursday At The 
Highland Manor Nursing Home, Exeter.

Sunday, January 19, 1997 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 





`Family' values make county politics worthless &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) at last
enabled federal prosecutors to arrest and convict mob kingpins, rather than
small fryLuzerne County needs such a rule to break up its own "mob," which
trafficks in unfair influence rather than organized crime. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Call this new rule NICO. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The Nepotism Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Then use it to go after the whole Luzerne County gang, right down the line. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Don't let the Eugene Duffy Jr. scandal distract you. Duffy is the small fry
in this case. Nepotism is the kingpin: raw, unapologetic nepotism, which fuels
the Duffy/Cappellini/Wolinsky saga the way greed fires the Mafia. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 And which will keep on poisoning civil society here until citizens say, "No
more." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Think of it. Nepotism drove the Gifford R. Cappellini case into the
headlines in the first place. Cappellini, son of Luzerne County Court of
Common Pleas Judge Gifford S. Cappellini, got put on a year's probation and
was ordered to submit to drug tests after he admitted to trying to buy
cocaine. That's not unusual; kids of prominent people get in trouble all over
America. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 What is unusual is the web of family ties that brought about a state
Attorney General's investigation. Court documents allege probation officer
Duffy did not test Cappellini for drugs at the urging of Cappellini's sister
Dodie, who also worked in the probation office. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Duffy himself is the son of the county prothonotary. His boss at the time,
former probation chief Stephen Wolinsky, got appointed to his own job by a
father-in-law. Cappellini's mother served on the board of the rehab facility
where he was to have completed drug treatments. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 No wonder the county D.A. kicked the whole matter to the state Attorney
General. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The web of connections is far bigger than mentioned here, as The Times
Leader has documented on many occasions. It entangles every county employee in
some way: Though not every employee owes their job to a relative, every
employee works for or with a person who does. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 And of course the web stretches far beyond the courthouse walls. The sight
of it fills county residents with disgust. It creates a deep cynicism about
county affairs -- cynicism that shows up in such comments as, "The fix was
in," which fly every time the web seems to protect one of its own. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Those words are being bandied right now. Last week a Northampton County
judge cleared Duffy of criminal wrongdoing in the Cappellini case. And right
away people responded with cynicism: Talk shows, newspaper columns,
conversations on the street showed an acid mistrust of everything the county
does, even when a different county does it. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Nepotism bred that mistrust. Nepotism so taints county officials with
conflicts of interest, it makes people question the officials' very honor. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Nepotism means nothing the officials say will be believed. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 And that's too high a price for giving sons and daughters a job. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Eugene Duffy Jr.'s case now is in his new supervisor's hands. That
supervisor, Michael Jordan, won his appointment in a very un-Luzerne County
way: He earned it, following a sterling career with the Pennsylvania State
Police. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 We trust he'll look at Duffy's record with a clear eye. That record's
plenty weak, if you ask us. Duffy failed to make sure Gifford R. Cappellini
got drug tested as ordered by the court. Then he panicked upon learning his
work would be investigated. His own lawyer damned with faint praise the
actions that followed, saying in court, "It's not a crime to cover your ass." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Maybe not. But it's grounds for discipline or perhaps firing, in our view. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But that's Jordan's call. More important in the long run is every citizens'
call. That call should be loud, it should be clear, it should be sustained. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 And it should condemn county nepotism in every shape and form. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

`family' Values Make County Politics Worthless 
The Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations Act (rico) At Last Enabled 
Federal Prosecutors To Arrest And Convict Mob Kingpins, Rather Than Small Fry.

`family' Values Make County Politics Worthless The Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations Act (rico) At Last Enabled Federal Prosecutors To Arrest And Convict Mob Kingpins, Rather Than Small Fry.