School's Back in Session August 28

Classes will begin in the Greater Nanticoke Area next Tuesday, August 28. This means police will be out in force, ticketing people who exceed the 15 mph School Zone speed limit on Kosciuszko Street (which normally has a speed limit of just 25 mph, anyway.)

Students at Luzerne County Community College should be aware that police preferentially ticket vehicles heading south on Kosciuszko Street, towards L.C.C.C. While reasons for this are unclear - students driving towards the High School also exceed the speed limit on a regular basis, both at the beginning of the school day and after school lets out in the afternoon, when many of them also show off by stunt driving through the streets surrounding the school - there has been some speculation that it is connected to the fact that while most of the students attending the John S. Fine High School probably have relatives, or friends, or relatives of friends or friends of relatives who have city connections who would be able to get a speeding ticket overturned, most L.C.C.C. students are from outside of Nanticoke and do not.

On a related note, it seems unlikely that the construction on Kosciuszko and Main will be completed by August 28, so expect some congestion as a result of that. L.C.C.C. students should plan accordingly, allowing extra time to reach the school or considering an alternate route along Middle Road (exit 2 off of Route 29, heading west.) Note that Middle Road is a long, narrow, winding road through a residential area, and also has speed limits which are sometimes strictly enforced.

One last point: the street sign indicating "Kosciuszko Street" has been removed as part of the construction project, so incoming students may be confused as to where they should turn to get on this road. It is the north-south road that intersects with Main Street at the traffic light on the east side of Nanticoke. Just to make things more confusing, where the street continues north of Main Street for 50 feet towards the river, it is actually called "Jefkin Street" - and that sign is in place.

Pope John Paul II school library sale, September 8 - 10

The recent realignment of Catholic schools throughout the Diocese of Scranton has left many closed schools in its wake. One of those is Pope John Paul II school, located on the corner of Church and Hanover Streets, next to Holy Trinity Church. (This is the former Holy Trinity school building, but it was PJP II for at least the last 25 years, perhaps 27.)

There are many books that were a part of the Pope John Paul II school library that will not be being transferred to the new, central Catholic school for the region. These books are being put up for sale to the public.

The sale will be held at the former Pope John Paul II school at the corner of Hanover and Church streets in Nanticoke. The days of the sale will be:

Saturday, September 8, 3 PM to 6 PM
Sunday, September 9, 9 AM to 1 PM
Monday, September 10, 12 PM to 3 PM

Prices will be $0.10 - $0.25 for softcover books and $0.50 - $1.00 for hardcovers.