Investigators said Lamar Brown, 37, and Keith Fox, 30, sold their drugs in parking lots in the Wilkes-Barre Township retail district to customers who drove from Lackawanna and Wayne counties.

Brown and Fox would dilute their heroin so they could charge a cheaper price, thus prompting people to drive long distances for the drugs, said Frank Noonan, regional director for the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office in Wilkes-Barre.

“Because they were charging such a low price, word was getting out in the heroin community that this was the place to go,” Noonan said.

Noonan said the two were selling bulk heroin to other dealers from Lackawanna and Wayne counties. He said the arrest likely will be an immediate dent in the heroin trade.

“I think there’s a lot of people today that are scrambling,” he said.

During a drug raid Thursday, police seized 2,675 bags of heroin, 16 grams of raw heroin, 75 grams of cocaine, a .357 Magnum revolver, and $11,655, police said.

Brown and Fox are New Jersey natives who were staying in the Wilkes-Barre area.

Brown was charged with possession of heroin, possession with the intent to deliver heroin, delivery of heroin, possession of cocaine, and possession with the intent to deliver cocaine. He also faces firearms charges. He was jailed in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in lieu of $200,000 cash bail.

Fox was charged with possession of heroin and possession with the intent to deliver heroin. He is jailed in lieu of $25,000.

1/30/2008
By MARTHA RAFFAELE
The Associated Press

The House ended its session in the afternoon without revisiting the
tax cut debate that has dominated House action this week.

House Democrats have placed a property tax cut bill high on their
election-year agenda, even as Gov. Ed Rendell’s administration has
stressed that slot-machine gambling revenue will deliver tax cuts to
homeowners — and workers who pay Philadelphia’ s wage tax — in the
2008-09 fiscal year.

Democratic leaders criticized a plan that was overwhelmingly approved
Tuesday to dedicate the slots money — an estimated $1 billion a year —
exclusively to tax breaks for lower-income senior citizens. The
measure needs another favorable vote to be sent to the Senate, and
other amendments are awaiting consideration.

The plan sponsored by Rep. John M. Perzel of Philadelphia, a veteran
Republican floor strategist, undercut a proposal that would have
given all homeowners lower property taxes in exchange for higher
sales and income taxes.

Perzel’s amendment would provide full tax cuts for seniors with
household incomes of as much as $40,000 but would not reduce taxes
for about 2.7 million families now on track for such reductions.

Rep. David Levdansky, chairman of the House Finance Committee, said
Perzel’s measure also ran counter to the promise of lower taxes for
all Pennsylvanians that was embedded in the 2004 state law that
legalized slots.

“The property tax reform train needs two rails: It needs to both
provide assistance to seniors, and it needs to help provide
assistance for everybody else,” said Levdansky, D-Allegheny. “John
Perzel’s amendment derailed the train last night.”

Republicans said they were disappointed that no further debate would
take place. They defended Perzel’s proposal as a remedy that would
provide tax cuts to the neediest homeowners without raising taxes.

“Maybe (the Democrats) feel that because it’s our idea, not theirs,
they’re kind of embarrassed, ” said Rep. Mario Civera of Delaware
County, the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee.

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, said Perzel’s
plan was worth considering.

“I think the concept is fundamentally sound,” Pileggi said.

It was unclear when the House might take up the measure again,
although House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese said Democratic leaders
would try to negotiate a compromise with their GOP counterparts.

“The debate will be ongoing,” said DeWeese, D-Greene.

http://www.pennlive .com/newsflash/ pa/index. ssf?/base/ news-
59/1201730413284080 .xml&storylist= penn

Insurance coverage on the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain was canceled when Montage Ski Resort was sold to Sno Mountain LLC, according to the amphitheater’s insurer.

Charles Volpe Jr., president of Foxco Insurance Management Services Inc. and attorney for Housing & Redevelopment Insurance Exchange, said the policy in question — dated July 15, 2006 — was canceled effective Dec. 1, 2006 .

The roof of the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain collapsed under the weight of snow Feb. 15. Former majority Lackawanna County Commissioners Robert C. Cordaro and A.J. Munchak never filed a claim.

A claim filed Jan. 17 by the new administration was denied this week, but Commissioners Corey O’Brien and Mike Washo said they expect to collect.

“We’re confident in our position, and we will take all required action necessary to recover the funds,” Mr. O’Brien said.

The cancellation was disclosed in a letter Tuesday to Rick Jones, the county’s new deputy director of insurance and risk management.

Mr. Jones submitted a claim Jan. 17 to Housing & Redevelopment Insurance Exchange for $1.6 million spent on the amphitheater roof.

On behalf of the county, Joe Durkin, of J. Durkin Insurance Consultants, managed the policy that covered both the ski resort and the amphitheater.

Dominic Verrastro, an insurance agent with Foxco, was on retainer as an independent insurance coordinator with Lackawanna County. Mr. Volpe explained that HARIE and Foxco can be considered the same entity, because HARIE is a nonprofit managed by Foxco.

In a letter Wednesday to Lackawanna County, Mr. Volpe said Mr. Durkin called Foxco to inform Mr. Verrastro the county had sold the mountain property. Mr. Durkin asked Mr. Verrastro to cancel the policy effective the date of the sale, Mr. Volpe said.

Efforts to reach Mr. Durkin were unsuccessful Thursday.

There is no question about whether the policy was canceled, Mr. Volpe said.

“Mr. Verrastro knew it was canceled. Mr. Durkin knew on behalf of the county that it was canceled,” Mr. Volpe said.

Mr. Volpe said he met with Mr. Cordaro “around Feb. 23, 2006.” At the meeting, Mr. Cordaro was told the coverage had been canceled, Mr. Volpe said. Mr. Cordaro acknowledged the cancellation and said the county should have requested a new policy at the time of sale, Mr. Volpe said.

Mr. Cordaro said Thursday the coverage should not have been allowed to lapse, but that in February 2007, he “was operating under the assumption it was canceled appropriately.”

Mr. Cordaro acknowledged he was told by Mr. Volpe, Mr. Durkin and Mr. Verrastro that the insurance was canceled.

“I told them, ‘I don’t know who, but someone will pay,’?” he said, referring to each of the three insurance entities having its own liability insurance.

Mr. Volpe said written notice of the cancellation was delivered to Mr. Verrastro on Jan. 15, 2007, about a month before the roof collapse.

Contact the writer: gwintermantel@timesshamrock.com

Original Writer, 115th District candidate Paul Dudrich(no website listed)

HB 1275 was essentially defeated by not being allowed out of the House Appropriations Committee this week. This bill was voted down by Reps. Shimkus, Wansacz,Smith, and Staback. Rep. Carroll of the 118th District also voted against the School Property Elimination Tax Act.
This bill that was supported by the Pa. Taxpayers Cyber Coalition and the Lackawanna County taxpayers Association made great sense but unfortunately the special interest groups once again won out over the common people. The result of this type of action is why I am challenging Ed Staback in the 115th District. I urge you to contact these legislators from Lackawanna County and voice your disapproval of their vote.

stopNEPAcorruption.org has reviewed this legislation and feel that it could pave the way for the exact relief that some of these guys campaigned on when it comes to Property Tax. Why vote for someone who says one thing and does another?

“We collected several items and are going through them,” said Sgt. Gregg Mrochko, of state police at Swiftwater. “We’re not going into details and not getting into specifics.”

Sgt. Mrochko said no additional dumping sites were discovered Thursday, but officials also said they had not recovered all of the body.

A glove and a black trash bag were among an assortment of items plucked by troopers as part of Thursday’s search along Interstates 380 and 80 in Lackawanna and Monroe counties.

Cadaver-sniffing dogs, volunteer firefighters, detectives and a state police helicopter were among the resources deployed as more than 50 people set out on the expansive search, which covered about 15 miles and included areas beyond the highways.

“We covered a large area,” Sgt. Mrochko said. “I feel a little more confident (with what we’ve gathered.)”

At about noon, the glove was discovered along the Tobyhanna exit ramp. It was photographed and placed in a yellow evidence envelope.

On Wednesday, the Monroe County coroner along with a forensic pathologist released details about the body, which they described as being that of a heavyset woman with dark hair with gray strands, who stood 5 feet 7 inches tall.

The coroner ruled cause of death as homicide by multiple violent injuries.

A composite sketch is being prepared and will be released soon, state police said Thursday.

However, the woman’s identity, and that of her killer, remains unknown. Police ask anyone with information to call state police at Swiftwater at 839-7701.

Contact the writer: kmontone@timesshamrock.com

Two months before Louis A. DeNaples was charged with perjury and banned from entering his Mount Airy Casino Resort, he was attempting to transfer ownership of the casino to his children and grandchildren.

The request to state gambling regulators was made in November as Mr. DeNaples’ attorneys were unsuccessfully seeking a state Supreme Court order to shut down the Dauphin County grand jury that lodged a four-count perjury indictment against him this week.

But the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board never acted on the request to sell 98 percent of the $412 million hotel/casino complex to Mr. DeNaples’ relatives, Mount Airy spokesman Kevin Feeley said.

Mr. DeNaples on Wednesday was charged by a Dauphin County grand jury for allegedly lying to state gambling regulators when asked whether he had ties to organized crime figures.

Mount Airy remains open under supervision of the Gaming Control Board, but Mr. DeNaples has been barred from the Monroe County resort.

State regulators will not act on his transfer request while Mr. DeNaples’ license is suspended due to the perjury charges, Mr. Feeley said.

Mr. Feeley said Mr. DeNaples’ main motivation for the November transfer request was his advancing age — 67. But he did not rule out that the grand jury investigation might have played a role.

“I can’t get in Louis’ head. I can’t enter his mind,” Mr. Feeley said.

Mr. Feeley said Mr. DeNaples proposed the transfer shortly after Mount Airy opened in October as a matter of “succession planning” and “estate planning.”

“Once Mount Airy was up and running, the next logical step was ‘What about the future?’” Mr. Feeley said.

“Let’s not forget Louis DeNaples is the sole owner and he’s 67.”

State oversight

State officials have, moved forward with steps to ensure the casino continues to operate in the meanwhile.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has added 12 individuals — in addition to five permanent employees — to oversee operations at Mount Airy Casino Resort since the emergency suspension of Mr. DeNaples’ license, said Kevin Hayes, the agency’s director of gaming operations.

The staff additions include accountants and enforcement staff.

The emergency suspension will remain in place until a hearing Tuesday morning, when the gambling board plans to decide whether to uphold the order that was issued by its executive director, Anne Neeb. At that time, the board will likely appoint a trustee who would be responsible for ensuring the casino continues to operate.

In the meantime, it was business as usual Thursday at Mount Airy.

“I do not think that the order will have any effect on day to day operations of Mount Airy Casino,” Mr. Hayes said.

He had confidence that safeguards that are always in place at the casino will continue to promote its lawful operation.

“In the interest of being overly cautious, we have dispensed additional staff,” he said.

Members of the management team that runs the casino were not present at a press conference Thursday.

Ms. Neeb has met with the team, which includes CEO Joe D’Amato, development Vice President Lisa DeNaples — Mr. DeNaples’ daughter — and the independent audit committee in an attempt to clarify the board’s role in operations.

An escrow account has been created for Mount Airy’s profits, which generate $1.4 million in tax revenue weekly.

Contact the writers: djanoski@citizensvoice.com rheydarpour@timesshamrock.com

What a sick man!  Its great that this guy got caught