Pittston Township Latest News of Good and Corruption

Our home was originally a ten room Victorian, built by my greatgrandparents.
The house was unoficially divided into two in the 1930s, with passage doors to access the shared bathroom and kitchen. When my greatgrandmother passed away in the 1940s, the house was divided permanently and the doors sealed. One side was left by greatgrandmother to my grandmother, her daughter in law. The other to her blood daughter. The house was then passed on till I inherited it in 1984.

In 1986, our newly remodeled home was badly damaged by the OILY DIRT
from our immediate neighbor's badly neglected furnace,
a dinosaur which had been acting up since at least 1975.
For a mere $40, which we offered to pay, the furnace could have been checked and cleaned before it was fired up for the winter.
"Don't worry, we will have it checked and cleaned," this neighbor assured us.

We had just invested $27,000.00 in a complete renovation and remodeling.
Our house was adjoined, via a common wall, with the residence of Family A.
Family A assured us they'd had the furnace cleaned and checked prior to
turning out the heat. This turned out not to be true at all.

We were not reimbursed but didn't sue for the approximately $7,000 damage
which occurred after FA turned on their heat and BOOM -
the chimney was filthy and blocked by a dead bird.
Black, oily soot crept through the walls and common attic and
covered every brand new piece of furniture, walls and curtains.
You couldn't even turn on a light switch without getting your fingers dirty.

Our gas man, seeing it wasn't our furnace, went next door.
When he came back, he reported a furnace repair man was over at Family A's.
The repairman had parked his truck out of our site, but
he told our gas man the problems that had occurred with FA's furnace.
Our gas man came back and warned us we, including your young son, could
have died as a result of the carbon monoxide which had permeated the house.

A week earlier, in mid-November, our contractors had finally completed
an eight month, complete renovation and 12x18 addition to our side.
The total cost of the remodeling was about $27,000.00, and included
walls, windows, ceilings, carpeting, furniture, cabinets, lights - ALL new.)
Despite our anguish over the mess Family A's negligence had created, we turned
the other cheek and spent 2 years cleaning, scrubbing, painting, and having
the brand new, cream colored velvet furniture cleaned - unsuccessfully.

The only compensation we received: a few hundred dollars from Family A's
insurance company - just enough to buy the paint needed to redo every wall.
And, instead of being remorseful, and concerned that our two year old son
could have died from carbon monoxide poisoning had we been home when the
furnace backed up, Family A was actually angry at us for complaining.
How dare we ask them to have their insurance cover the damage!

Word got back to us that neighbors, and anyone who would listen, were
told that we'd gotten a "little smoke" and were complaining about nothing.
Nothing could be further from the truth.

Despite all this, the matriarch of Family A, who I'd known since childhood,
and I remained friendly. I cared about her, and my young son looked upon
her as a grandmother substitute, as my own mother had passed. We took this
woman with us to get pizza, on occasional shopping trips, etc.
It would be safe to say we loved this woman. It was her daughter, who was
about my age and who I'd also known all my life, who created
much of the animosity.

Two years or so later, a woman on our street decided to sell her home.
We were told by Family C (who tried to remain neutral in the neighborhood
skirmishes but who was also the same nationality as Family A and Family B)
that the move was the result of the animosity Family A and, especially,
Family B were exhibiting toward her since she'd began dating after her
recent divorce - and refused to tell the name of her boyfriend.

The King of Pittston Township's (KOPT) brother (BRO) bought the
divorcee's home and moved in.
At first, his next door neighbors, relatives of "Family A",
complained to me about this man and his wife.
The wife's constant "pop-ins" annoyed them, I was told.
And they were very upset that BRO had cut down a tree which had
they felt was more on their property than his. .

But it didn't take long for Family A and their relatives to realize the benefits
which came along with being aligned with BRO, a well-connected man.

About two years after BRO moved in, he and his wife got into it with
another family near their home ("Family B") over a property line.
There was screaming which carried several hundred feet.
This family, who I will call "Family B", also were related to other people
on the street - at least 3 other residences.

A few years earlier, Family B had been upset with me because I just happened
to be with one of their in-laws when she caught her husband cheating on her
with another woman. This woman had asked me to drive her around - she didn't
have a car - because she suspected the cheating.
The cheating spouse didn't get blamed by Family B, the offended spouse and
myself were to blame for catching him. Because of this, Family B were very
cold to my family for years.

Family B began to warm up to us considerably after their argument with BRO
and his wife. They were seeking allies.

From then on, it was clear it was beneficial to align with BRO.
He clearly had the power make your life better or worse through his
connection with the KOPT, who everyone understood was very powerful.
If you were out, you got no favors - not even what you were entitled to.
But if you were in, things always came out in your favor.

By the end of the first year, BRO and Family A's Aunt, and their
families, who all lived nearby, became fast friends.
They shared the same nationality, which they referenced often.
It took me a few years to realize how much nationality mattered to these people.
We consider ourselves American first and foremost, not Irish-Americans.

BRO and his wife had no use for us at all, and were icy to us without
so much as an introduction. Clearly, they'd been slanted against us.
I went so far as to bring a bottle of Peach Schnapps up there one time
as a welcoming gift. The wife told to wait on the porch but never came out.

This became a pattern on our block. Whenever anyone new moved in,
they were nice to us at the very beginning. Then, after they became friendly
with Family A or later, Family B (more on that later) and their relatives,
we were given the cold shoulder.

In 1991, we contacted Penndot about their plans for 1992.
The "Pittston By-Pass" was to be widened. We were promised the DIRT
All the necessary paperwork and permissions were granted, and we waited.
We then had a 7 year old son who badly needed a backyard
.
Our backyard was a narrow strip of land and a steep, dangerous drop-off.
We promised our 7 year old he was finally getting his basketball court.
But when the DIRT was delivered, it passed our home and went up the street...
to the King of Pittston Township's brother and his brother's neighbor.
The KOPT had used his influence to have the trucks go only to his brother's.
This was the first act, that I can recall, of abuse of power aimed toward us.

We waited patiently for weeks for our turn, then, finally, I went up
to the highway to speak with the foreman about the matter.
He looked down, embarrassed, and told me, in no uncertain terms, that
the KOPT had forbidden him from giving us any dirt.

I continued to make weekly visits to the site, and began to explain
how desperately we needed this dirt for our son's safety. The man
clearly was moved, and soon the trucks came to our yard.
We'd only gotten a few truckloads before BRO's neighbor, who'd
been getting the dirt for four months by now, came storming down
the street, screaming at my husband: "YOU STOLE MY DIRT."

Shortly after, her husband blocked access to the rear of our yard
by parking his car right on the path of where the trucks would have to
deliver.
The next day, or a day after that, a Pittston Township road worker,
came with a crew and put a sign up across from our home forbidding
any heavy trucks past this point.
Can you believe the arrogance of this?

We were very grateful for the kindness of the truckers and their foreman,
and the dirt we received helped...but there was much more needed.

Two years later, when I was eight months pregnant with my daughter,
a 21 year old speeding driver almost killed us on the Pittston Township.
This guy admitted he'd been speeding, and seemed willing to take the blame.
He apologized for driving about 75 mph - his grandmother was dying, he'd
been called out of work (up the road, in Pittston Township), and was racing
to get to her.

However, at some point, the KOPT showed up at the scene, which was on the
Pittston By-Pass and heavily trafficked. KOPT asked me what happened.
I told him about the speeding driver, etc. Then he spoke privately with
the kid who hit us, who informed him where he worked. These people were
good friends of KOPT. KOPT then told him he'd take him to a "phone" to call
for help.

The kid never came back.. But when a police officer showed up
40 minutes to an hour later, and handed me a paper to sign with his hand
covering most of it, I signed. I didn't realize there was a fairy tale
version of the accident, making me look negligent, on what I eventually
learned was a police report. I'd never seen one, knew what they were, because
I'd never been in an accident in my nearly 40 years - still haven't 20 years later.

To this day, our son has problems with his neck from that accident.
And, long story short, I ended up getting blamed for that accident...

In 1995, we again got duped out of free DIRT. One of our
neighbors, knowing what happened to us in 1992, knocked on our
back door. "They're going to be doing more highway work, but don't call
and ask for the dirt. We'll tell them to give you some when they deliver
to our house."

Again, we waited - for weeks. Then one day we overheard this neighbor's brother
telling the trucker, who asked if he should give us some dirt to even the
border, as the deliveries would soon stop. "Naw, don't bother with them."

I called the contractor the next day and asked if we could please have
some of the dirt being delivered to our neighbors.
This man was furious - he said the truckers had been told NOT to deliver
the dirt as their close proximity between two houses would violate their
insurance coverage. He told me he was immediately stopping the trucks.

I begged him not to do this, or to let anyone know I'd called.
I knew the neighbors would think I'd complained and my family would
be retalianted against, as this was customary in our neighborhood.

My pleas fell on deaf ears.
He said, "I'm sorry, but I have to stop this."

An hour or so later, I heard our neighbors digging in our yard. I couldn't
believe it! I went out, holding our ten month old daughter, and asked what
they were doing. The son was about 21, the father in his forties. Furiously,
they shouted, "SOMEONE called to stop the trucks today."

I said that I'd called to ask when we were getting our share, as I heard
the project was nearly over, and, after all, I'd been told (by their mother/wife) not to call
because they (the neighbors to whom I was speaking) would "make sure" we got
dirt.

Suddenly, the 21 year old son raised his shovel, started advancing myself
and my baby, and had a very menacing face. I turned and started to run
toward my back door. "YOU BETTER RUN BEFORE I CUT YOUR LEGS OFF."

I was terrified. I knew better than to call Pittston Township: the KOPT
would hear about this and spin things around, as he always did.
A relative suggested I call the D.A.'s office. A Luzerne County detective
insisted on coming to the house, but I told him "no", I just wanted the
incident recorded and acknowledged. I would press charges at another time
if I decided to do so.

The neighbor's mother, who had come to our backdoor in the first place, went
up and down the street that day talking to all the old neighbors.
I'd never seen her do this before, so I knew she was doing damage control.
Two years prior the lady up the street did exactly the same thing after
she'd accused us of "stealing her dirt," when the trucks finally came to
our home after we'd been denied dirt for four months.

Certainly this lady who's son threatened me would not be telling the truth
about what happened that day.

I declined to press charges as I knew the repercussions would be dangerous.
I also knew none of the other immediate neighbors would back me up -
by this time it was well known we were on the KOPT's "shit list", and
anyone who was in his favor would do anything to us - with no
repercussions whatsoever. Again, all parties, except us, shared the
same nationality.

That was an interesting summer. We had our tires slashed three times.
Someone put cat $hit in the back seat of our car on a very hot July day.
And on and on...

Over the next few years, we spent thousands of dollars on dirt for our yard.
Other incidents of retaliation occurred, including slashed tires, cat
feces placed in our car, etc.
By 1998 we finally bought, and landscaped, enough DIRT.
We'd built a beautiful basketball court and yard and fence: our dream.
Our children were only 14 and 4, and they were so happy!
The dream only lasted 4 years.

In 2002, The King appeared behind our home, directing enoumous dump trucks.
He had decided to take free dirt and build a road to his brother's home.
The dumping and pounding went on for 4 months.

By 2003 the settling and cracks was evident everywhere on our property.
Other neighbors complained, and their yards were fixed.
Pittston Township officials promised to make the King fix our property.
But it became very clear they had no intention of keeping that public promise.
We started a lawsuit, and then the punishment began with our garbage being stolen.
Oh, and there was must more - too much and too fantastic to put here.
All because the King had aligned himself with a family who didn't like us.
And everyone knows if you are on the wrong side of THIS KING, you pay.

There were so many things that have happened to us in this neighborhood.
Could it be we don't have anyone in our home who is the right nationality?

It's difficult to fight the ghost of innuendo and gossip and lies.

And someone who gives to some and takes from others - because he can.

In 2009, new problems developed with the other side of our home was abandoned.
The other owner, and her family, is very closely aligned with the KOPT.
You can read about this part of the story.

Now, could the KING be helping to make us lose our home?
Could this REALLY have happened in Pittston Township?

Threatened with Condemnation for Complaining?
It Certainly Seems So!

Our home is well maintained, and much loved.
My greatgrandparents built the (then) ten room Victorian prior to 1896.
And it's been passed down to family members for 120 years.
Yes, you read right: 120 years, and counting.

Every family member who has resided here has cherished this home.

Greatgrandmother took a stroke and passed away in 1940.
In her final illness, she was cared for by my maternal grandmother,
her daughter-in-law - herself a widow with six young children.
She left half of the (then) ten room Victorian to her real daughter, and half to
her daughter-in-law, my maternal grandmother.

The blood daughter resented her sister-in-law's inheritance, so,
when the blood daughter and her husbanded decided to relocate to NJ,
she offered her half, below market price, to another family behind my grandmother's back.

That's called a "spite sale."

The new owners, a couple in their (then) thirties
with two young daughters, moved in in 1959.
The same family has retained ownership since then.
And my family has continued to own their own side.

The other family made a few updates throughout the
years, but the five rooms and bath remain, essentially,
the same as they were when my great aunt sold the home
to this family in the late 1950s.

My grandmother held no grudge against the new owners.
Both the husband and wife worked and they had two young children
at the time they purchased the other side.
They had several relatives also living only a few houses
away both up and down our street.

My grandmother, a widow with no income of her own, but who had the
support of my parents and two of her sons, had a telephone.
The male and female owners of the other side both worked,
but claimed not to be able to afford a telephone.
The father worked the same place, for the same pay, as my father,
held a similar position and made a comparable pay.

My grandmother generously allowed this phoneless family to give out
her telephone number as their own. Grandmother would then pound on the common
wall to summon them to come over when a call came in for them.

Years passed and the male owner of the other side passed away.
The widow continued to work, as did her youngest daughter.
The eldest daughter had already married and lived a few towns away.

In the late sixties, my grandmother's doctor advised her not to live alone.
Around the time my grandmother moved in with us, my sister got married.
Grandmother offered her the use of her home.

Prior to the newlyweds moving in, my father took out a loan to
have our half completely remodeled and updated. Everyting was modernized,
including the furnace, wiring, bath and kitchen.
Dad also build a new back and front porch put on the home.

Less than a year after all this, my grandmother passed away.

My sister and her new husband got along very well with the other family.
Grandmother left her side to my parents, who continued to rent a home
and allow my sister and her husband to remain in their half of the Victorian.
After the birth of their third child, my sister and her husband felt they's
outgrown their two bedroom side, and bought a new house a town away.

At this time, 1975, my parents, my brother and I moved into the home.
My father had retired, my brother and I were still in school,
and money was very tight for my parents.
A few years after moving into our new home, the roof began to leak.
There were now three incomes for the other owners, but they refused to
put out any money for a new roof. The roofer warned my father it would be
futile to reroof only our half, so my father paid to have most of the other
owner's roof redone.

During my parents tenure, the other side's furnace also began to "blow up" on a
regular basis, and black, oily soot from their oil furnace would come over to
our side. My parents graciously cleaned up the damage themselves the first two
or three times, but when the soot ruined my brother's brand new clothes, he
insisted the other owners call their insurance company to pay for the damage.

This was the beginning of the hard feelings, in my opinion.

Thirty years ago, my husband and I took over our side of the home after my
parents both passed away and my brother got married. The furnace on the
other side continued to "blow up".
My husband and I didn't want trouble, and had begun to feel outnumbered.
The other family had several relatives on the street, and we were the only
family in the immediate neighborhood who were not of the same nationality
as the other, closest neighbors.

We remained very respectful to the older woman, and I took her, with
my young son and I on day trips and out to eat pizza.

Two years after moving in, we decided to remodel. It had been almost 20 years
since my father had renovated. We took out a mortgage, hired a contractor,
over the course of the next eight months, had our entire home remodeled, and
an addition put on.
Everything was new: windows and curtains, walls and velvet furniture and
carpeting - all done in shades of light cream and white.

The other owners, now a widow and her working daughter, were not poor.
The daughter was a supervisor at a very large, well known company, and went
regularly on cruises and out with her friends.

While we were remodeling (a job that took the contractor eight months)
we appealed to them to please make certain the furnace was safe and clean before
turning it on in the fall of 1986. We were very proud, and worried about,
our $27,0000.00 remodeling job, which was completed on Nov. 16, 1986.

We were assured by the other owner that not only had they gotten the oil furnace
completely repaired, but they were hiring a man to come and check it, and one
to check and clean their chimney.

A week after the remodeling was completed, on Thanksgiving day while we were out,
the other owner's furnace blew up once again. They never told us.
We noticed blackish soot and called our gas company, thinking it
could not possible have come from the other side. When the gas man came
and said our furnace was fine, he also informed us that there was an oil
furnace repair truck parked out of sight on the other owner's side.

"Let me go over there and see what happened."

He came back and reported that their chimney had, in fact, not been cleaned.
It had a dead bird lodged inside, and he also said their furnace was in
very bad shape. We had a two year old son, and he told us had we been sleeping
when the furnace had blown, our child might have been overcome with any carbon
monoxide which could have backed up and come over.

When I confronted the other owner, she admitted that she'd not had the
furnace checked nor the chimney cleaned.
She used the excuse that she'd called the people, but no one had called
her back. That was her excuse. We were extremely upset at how unconcerned
she was over the damage, and danger, she'd caused us.

The $27,000.00 remodeling job we had done was largely destroyed.

We decided not to sue, even though their insurance company refused to
restore our home to the pristine condition is had been in the week before.

I spent two years cleaning and repainting and repairing the best I could,
but black, sooty oil on cream velvet furniture and white walls
is impossible to restore to pre-damage condition. The furniture remained
streaked and the velvet stiff, even after we had an expensive, professional
cleaning done.

We became very insistent after that they their furnace be repaired and maintained.
This caused a great deal of resentment on the part of the other owners.
The daughter was especially indignant about our concerns.
Stories got back to us which were very disturbing about her attitude toward us.

We made every effort to keep peace with the other neighbors, as I didn't want
to give up our ancestral homestead.
I often took the mother along when my toddler son and I went out for pizza
or a meal while my husband worked. My son referred to the elder woman as
Aunt ____________, and he was very fond of her, as was I.
But the daughter resented us greatly, and stories of this got back to
us from mutual acquaintances.

The mother grew very ill shortly after she retired, and the daughter was
very devoted to her care. We were deeply upset when the mother passed away
Only a week or so before, we'd attened a party in honor of her birthday.

Shortly after the mother became ill, new people moved onto the block.
These people were very well connected in Pittston Township, and lived next
to our neighbor's relatives up the street. The male of the couple shared the
same nationality as the other owners, and formed a bond with not only the
other owners, but with the owner's relatives who lived next to them.
These new people never wanted to get to know us, and we suspected they
had been told stories about us that would cause this coldness.

This new alliance was the beginning of a great deal of trouble for us.

When our new roof leaked from the other owner's side, we asked her to
have it repaired. On the day her insurance claims person was to come,
two men suddenly appeared and climbed onto her roof. Shortly after, while
the two men were up there, we heard three extremely THUDS and our home
shook violently.
Then the men began nailing new shingles over her old shingles, hiding the
poor condition of her roof.

About the time they were finishing up, the neighbor's insurance man showed up.
He sounded angry as he asked what these men were doing on the roof.
They said they were brothers, "the R- - - o brothers, and that
(the brother of King of Pittston Township) had sent them over.
I don't think they gave the correct last name.

The next week a big rainstorm was predicted. The new neighbors laughed
and said to my young son, "Hey, it's supposed to rain this weekend."
He came home and asked me what was so funny about that.
We soon found out. The THUDS we heard were holes being pounded in our roof.
The rain came POURING in, and we've had to have it repaired at our own expense
several times.

That was just one example of what happened to us whenever we dared to complain
about the other side. We got punished, big time.

It became clear that anything could be done to us, and there would be no
recourse for us. The new neighbors assumed the role of "protectors", in our
opinion, of the other owners. We were the bad guys. And, we highly suspect,
we were also the wrong nationality.
How else could you explain that dirt from a highway project was given to
several other families of the same nationality as the King, his brother, some
other neighbors, and even people up the street and around the corner, but
denied to us??

The daughter, in the past ten years, began to suffer her own health problems.

The other side continued to deteriorate and, by 2009, the furnace appeared to
be almost non-functioning.

One frigid night in January 2009, we were called over the the neighbor at
1am. She had had a spell, was on all fours on the cellar steps, and was unable
to get the strength to get up the rest of the wooden, opened stairs. She had
been in the cellar attending to the old furnace when she grew weak.

Between my husband and I, we garnered the strength to get her up the steps and
onto her couch. She was shivering. The temperature in the home felt like it
was in the low fifties or high forties. The only heat source seemed to be
a small, ceramic heater near her couch.

We urged her to come to our home to spend the night, but she only wanted
to have us cover her with blankets. That was the last time we saw her in
her home as a resident.

Sometime in January 2009 she moved out and into HUD housing.
We had no idea she'd gone for a week or so, as she told us nothing.

Two months after she moved out, on a very cold March day in 2009, I came home
a disaster: water in our cellar which was obviously gushing through from her side.

The pipes had frozen on her side, and burst.
We ran up the street to the Aunt's house, but she said (brother of King of
Pittston Township) had the key, which he did. They assured us 911 was
called as (brother) entered the house and saw the water pouring through every
crevice, but 911 had, in fact, not been called. We had to call.

To the best of our knowledge,no major cleanup of drying out occured.
Some was done after years of us complaining and when we formally pushed
the issue in a manner which could not be ignored.
We are talking six years not of an empty house and no major cleanup.
Pittston Township officials definitely knew the home needed to be cleaned up,
and we won't go into how we know this,
but they failed to act against their friend until forced to do so.

And that is when we were threatened with condemnation of our side.

We have maintained our property meticulously.
Our side has been remodeled twice in 30 years.
Prior to that, in the late 60s, my parents also remodeled and updated
not only cosmetically, but with wiring, roof the furnace, etc.

Pittston Township has been aware of the other owner's
neglect, because we've had to ask them to enforce
minimal safety standards from time to time,
but next to NOTHING was done to protect our family's safety.

Since the other owner abandoned her side, and is safely
residing in HUD housing, things have gotten very bad.
We have been threatened with condemnation of OUR SIDE when we complain
about the other owner's issues.

We pay our taxes. We maintain our home, inside and out.
We are good citizens.
But the King (KOPT) gives to whom he wishes.
And he TAKES AWAY from those he wants to punish.
WE WILL GET VERY SPECIFIC AT THE PROPER TIME!

Not only did he take our yard away from us,
and our (then)7 year old and 17 year old,
but NOW he's hinting that our well-kept, well-maintained,
LIVED IN and loved home may be condemned.
My family has LIVED HERE SINCE 1896.

Look at the pictures below to see BEFORE and AFTER yard.
More will be coming.
SEE THE PHOTOS BELOW.
Sept. 15, 2014 Meeting:

Can you be punished in Pittston Township for complaining about a "connected" friend of theirs?

Can your home be condemned because of a "connected" neighbor's negligence?

Taxpayers allege favoritism by officials in Pittston Township

Owners of well-kept home threatened with condemnation due to neighbor's negligence.

MAJOR UPDATE COMING ON THIS STORY: photos, documents, etc.
Pittston Township Unofficial Page

This page will be UPDATED with photos, story and more.
CHECK BACK SOON!