`wheels On Wheels' Helps Disabled With Area Travel

Accounting Firm Hired To Audit Borough

By JOHN DECKER AND CHRIS SCHNEIDMILLER; Times Leader Staff
Writer
 Saturday, January 24, 1998 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 3A 





WILKES-BARRE- Joshuah Goodwin said he thought he was going to die on Jan
16. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He avoided death, but not unscathed. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Four men allegedly burst into the Meyers High School senior's Carey Avenue
apartment. For 45 minutes they beat him with guns and slashed him with a knife
while demanding money, he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 One attacker- a man Goodwin said he knows- kept telling the others to shoot
the 17-year-old student. Another appeared ready to kill him as the men left
the apartment. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I thought when he was about to leave he was going to shoot me. He just
said don't move," Goodwin said. "I guess they thought I was going to die
anyway because I was bleeding so bad." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Goodwin on Thursday walked with a severe limp. He has numerous gashes, cuts
and stitches on his head and face, along with bruising to his arms and ribs.
Other effects are less apparent: fear his injuries will deny him a chance for
a college track scholarship; and concern for his reputation. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Wilkes-Barre Police said marijuana was found in Goodwin's apartment at 260
Carey Ave. Nearly 2 pounds were later found with a man driving Goodwin's
stolen car. Goodwin could face drug charges, police said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Goodwin said he has never used or dealt drugs. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Goodwin said he was evicted from his apartment, without notice, after The
Times Leader published an article on Jan. 17 about the attack. He is staying
with his mother, but has been unable to retrieve his belongings. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Everybody that knows me knows I'm not affiliated with drugs," Goodwin
said. "I'm not a drug dealer. I was the victim. Now everybody's looking at me
negatively. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Slowly but surely I'm getting over it," he said. "I just look at it that
I'm living. That's it." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 An officer told him the "small amount" of marijuana found in the apartment
might have belonged to one of his attackers, Goodwin said. Police did not take
up Goodwin's offer to be tested for drugs, he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 No charges have been filed against Goodwin. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We're investigating the beating and the robbery and we're looking at the
whole situation," said Capt. Robert Mitchell. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Goodwin said he believes he was beaten because a "crack head" knew he
recently received about $1,000 for college from a wealthy uncle in Ohio. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The man is known as a drug dealer and user, said Goodwin, who lived next
door to him on North Washington Street a few years ago. Their families were so
close, Goodwin attended the funeral of the man's mother about a year ago. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It was the acquaintance who was first through the kicked-in front door of
Goodwin's apartment. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "The first one in, he was coming in real fast at me with the gun," Goodwin
said. "I jumped up and he slammed me back on to the bed." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Three men held Goodwin to his bed, beating him with the butts of their
handguns, yelling insults and asking where he had the money. The fourth
trashed his living room, he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 They took $200 of Goodwin's rent money, then demanded more. The men began
using a knife to slash Goodwin. One bit his foot when he began kicking the
wall in hopes a neighbor would hear, he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "It wasn't like a 10-minute thing. They were in there 45 minutes, just
torturing me," Goodwin said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The robbers left after tying up Goodwin, taking the cash, a television and
video cassette recorder, he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 They left him with damage to his legs that could hurt his scholarship
chances. Stitches were removed from his legs Thursday. Goodwin said an
orthopedic doctor will examine him in about a week to determine any long-term
damage. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Lamont Twyman of

Teenager Fears Effects Of Beating, Robbery Police Say They Continue To Look At `the Whole Situation' Relative To The Jan. 16 Incident