City Oks Vehicle Purchase Over

CMYK Abeautiful day Who else is wild on your street about Harry? We take a look at life on Firm: More pics ready to sur- Wilkes-Barre’s Meade Street. face of prince’s cheeky side. AT HOME, 1C NATION & WORLD, 5A The Times Leader772320 WILKES-BARRE, PA timesleader.com SATURDAY,AUGUST25, 2012 50¢ SPORTS City OKs SHOWCASE Buffett buys Guard insurer LANCE’S LEGACY FELT LOCALLY vehicle What cancer didn’t do selling to Clal. to Lance Armstrong, his Chamber: Purchase positive for area Judd Shoval said he did decision to quit the fight not wish to comment on against doping allegations By MATT HUGHES bringing the total transaction value to $269 the sale or the company could. purchase [email protected] His about-face Thursday million. generally because he is no after years of challenging Guard Insurance Group of Wilkes-Barre That’s a significant increase in value over longer involved in the com- the allegations drew a mix has been sold to a unit of billionaire Warren the reported $135 million Clal paid when it pany’s management and of support and surprise Buffett’s company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. acquired Guard in 2007, but less than the Buffett did not want to interfere in locally and raised questions over gas Israel-based Clal Insurance Enterprises $312 million Employers Holdings Inc., of Re- the sale. about the future of his Holdings agreed Aug. 16 to sell the company no, Nev. offered for the company in August, Guard Insurance, which specializes in Livestrong brand built on his cycling achievements to National Indemnity Co. of Nebraska, a unit 2011. Employers’ non-binding offer was later small to medium-sized commercial property Decision not to allow personal and never-say- of Berkshire Hathaway, for $221million, ac- withdrawn. and casualty accounts, saw significant car use for workers comes die attitude. cording to a Clal Report to the Israeli stock Headquartered in Wilkes-Barre, Guard In- growth since its last acquisition. In 2005 the PAGE exchange released by Guard Insurance on surance and associated companies were company reported having approximately after gas controversy. 1B Friday. The sale also frees Clal from a $48 mil- founded in 1982 by Judd and Susan Shoval, lion bank-loan guarantee it promised Guard, who continued in active management until SeeGUARD, Page 14A By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER [email protected] Acity department head who TIME FOR A TASTY TREAT was caught up in a controversy over use of city gasoline will no longer drive his personal vehicle on city business and instead will use a 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee that’s being purchased by the city. City officials said the decision to buy the nearly $28,000 SUV for use by Ken Pahler is part of an overall plan to purchase more ve- hicles for certain departments in lieu of paying mileage to employees who use their personal vehi- cles in their jobs. The decision has raised the ire of two taxpayer advocates who questioned the necessity and NATIONAL LEAGUE cost effectiveness of the purchase. PHILLIES 4 Pahler will use the vehicle pri- NATIONALS 2 marily to drive around the city, checking on crews doing paving, snow removal and other road ASTROS 3 work, said Butch Frati, director of operations. Pahler will be permit- METS 1 ted to take the vehicle to his home because he is on call at all AMERICAN LEAGUE hours, Frati said. Pahler, who lives on Gilligan YANKEES 3 Street, had been utilizing his private truck and was permitted to INDIANS 1 fuel the vehicle at the city’s pumps at the DPW building on RED SOX 4 Conyngham Avenue, which is about three miles from his home. ROYALS 3 That policy changed in July, af- CLARK VAN ORDEN/THE TIMES LEADER ter a Times Leader investigation IL BASEBALL ohn Gavenonis and Rich Schall, both of Larksville, dine on steak and kielbasa sandwiches during the first day of the that uncovered missing fuel re- Jannual Kielbasa Festival on Main Street in Plymouth. For the story, see Page 6A. vealed Pahler was among numer- SWB YANKS 6 ous employees, including Mayor Tom Leighton, who failed to fill BISONS 4 out fuel logs indicating how much fuel they dispensed. He and Leighton, who also us- Solomon/Plains school a magnet for W-B Area kids es his private vehicle for city busi- INSIDE ness, also did not keep mileage ANEWS: Local 3A Afederal law allows transfers, but The students are allowed to transfer with- time, with the ultimate goal of having all stu- records, leaving no way to docu- Nation & World 5A district officials foresee a major out question thanks to the federal “No Child dents score proficient or better on math and ment if the fuel was used strictly Obituaries 8A Left Behind” law. The law requires all public reading tests in grades three through eight for city business. Editorials 13A problem in logistics. schools to meet “Adequate Yearly Progress,” and 11 by 2014. City watchdogs riled BSPORTS: 1B or AYP, goals related primarily to attendance As a result, more schools are likely to fail as rates and state test results. If a school does not the deadline approaches. In Wilkes-Barre Ar- The SUV purchase, which was BUSINESS: 7B By MARK GUYDISH meet AYP, students can transfer to another ea, all schools made AYP in 2005; in 2011 only approved by council last week, CAT HOME: 1C [email protected] school in the district, and the district must ac- one did, Solomon/Plains elementary. riled city residents Karen Ceppa Birthdays 4C PLAINS TWP. – More than 140 students in commodate. Superintendent Jeff Namey said that, sta- Hirko and Frank Sorick, who Television 6C various Wilkes-Barre Area elementary That provision of the law has been largely tistically speaking, Solomon/Plains probably closely monitor and often criti- Movies 6C schools are trying to transfer to Solomon/ meaningless locally for two reasons: Most dis- could absorb all the transferring students and cize city spending. The vehicle is Crossword/Horoscope 7C Plains Memorial School, a migration that tricts only have a few schools, so there often is stay within its state-rated capacity of about expected to be delivered within Comics 8C could cause safety issues and certainly snarl no real place to transfer, and the goals were 1,650. But the influx of elementary students the next few weeks. DCLASSIFIED: 1D bus transportation plans, Superintendent Jeff initially not too difficult to meet. But the AYP Namey said. requirements have grown more stringent over SeeTRANSFER, Page 14A SeeVEHICLE, Page 14A WEATHER Zach Connors. Partly sunny, a shower. N.Y.’s morning of blood and terror High 82, low 60. Details, Page 8B An executive is killed by a gunfire, authorities said. Wearing an olive suit and tie laid-off worker and nine The gunshots rang out on the and carrying a briefcase, Jeffrey Fifth Avenue side of the building Johnson walked up to the import others are hurt, officials say. at around 9 a.m., when pedestri- company vice president, Steven ans on their way to work packed Ercolino, put a gun to his head and sidewalks and merchants were fired without saying a word, au- By COLLEEN LONG and TOM HAYS opening their shops. thorities said. A witness told in- Associated Press “People were yelling ‘Get down! vestigators that Johnson shot Er- NEW YORK — A laid-off cloth- Get down!”’ said Marc Engel, an colino once in the head and, after ing designer fatally shot an exec- accountant who was on a bus in he fell to the sidewalk, stood over utive at his former company out- the area when he heard the shots. him and shot him four more times. side the Empire State Building on “It took about 15 seconds, a lot of “Jeffrey just came from behind Friday, setting off a chaotic show- pop, pop, pop, pop, one shot after two cars, pulled out his gun, put it down with police in front of one of the other.” up to Steve’s head and shot him,” the world’s best-known land- Afterward, he saw the side- said Carol Timan, whose daugh- AP PHOTO marks. Officers killed the gunman walks littered with the wounded, ter, Irene, was walking to Hazan This photo posted to an Instagram account shows shooting victim 6 09815 10011 and at least nine others were including one person “dripping bystander Robert Asika being tended to by pedestrians outside wounded, some by stray police enough blood to leave a stream.” SeeSHOOTING, Page 14A the Empire State Building in New York, Friday. K PAGE 2A SATURDAY, AUGUST25, 2012 ➛ timesleader.com THE TIMES LEADER www.timesleader.com 3arrested in mobile meth lab DETAILS LOTTERY MIDDAY DRAWING DAILY NUMBER – 4-4-2 Evidence collected from cle. The articles will be tested at a BIG 4 – 4-8-4-4 vehicle on East Lafayette forensic laboratory, they said, a process that typically takes from QUINTO – 7-1-4-9-1 Place in Wilkes-Barre. six to eight weeks. TREASURE HUNT The vehicle was towed by LAG 05-07-13-18-25 Towing, the city’s towing con- NIGHTLY DRAWING By MATT HUGHES tractor, to the LAG impound lot. [email protected] City police said the vehicle was DAILY NUMBER – 5-2-6 WILKES-BARRE – City police not evidence, though evidence BIG 4 – 0-4-4-9 arrested three people found sit- was collected from inside the ve- QUINTO – 6-1-0-7-9 ting in a suspected mobile meth- hicle. CASH 5 amphetamine lab on East La- The alleged drug bust began 05-18-29-32-33 fayette Place Friday afternoon shortly after 3 p.m., when Wilkes- MEGA MILLIONS and used a Taser to subdue one of Barre police officer Robert Col- the occupants after he allegedly lins said he saw the car parked on 25-34-45-46-49 fled from police.

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