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T R U S T E D L O C A L N E W S S I N C E 1 8 8 1
The News-Item
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O N L I N E A T W W W . N E W S I T E M . C O M
Shamokin, Pa. Wednesday, July 31, 2019 75 ¢ | 7 Day Home Delivery $4.27
SPORTSINSIDE
PAGE B1
GUNMAN LEAVES 2 DEAD, 2 WOUNDED
IN MISSISSIPPI
PAGE A3
WALMART
SHOOTING
PAGE A8
DOW JONES
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-19.72
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H.S. TRACK
AND FIELD
MOUNT CARMEL HOLDS ANNUAL
CAMPBAND PRACTICE
BY MARK GILGER
THE NEWS-ITEM
SHAMOKIN — A fi ve-alarm fi re Tuesday morning in the fi rst block of North Franklin Street claimed the life of a young wom-an, injured her boyfriend, left multiple people homeless and damaged nine properties.
The blaze broke out at 5:45 a.m., claiming the life of Brea Scandle, 23, of 16 N. Franklin St., due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Scandle’s identity was confi rmed Tuesday night by Northumber-land County Coroner James F. Kelley.
Scandle, a daughter of Shamokin Treasurer and Tax Collector Brenda Scandle and Bob Scandle, was pronounced
dead at the scene by Northumberland County Chief Dep-uty Coroner James Gotlob, who arrived at the scene about 7 a.m.
Scandle’s live-in boyfriend, Jarred Cortlessa, reportedly suf-fered smoke inhalation in the fi re and was transported by AREA Services ambulance to Geising-er-Shamokin Area Community Hospital, where he underwent emergency room treatment
before being released.
The couple just recently moved into the home, accord-ing to neigh-bors.
Two cats in 14 N. Franklin St. and a dog at 16 N.
CITY FIRE CLAIMS WOMAN’S LIFE9 homes damaged, multiple people left homeless on North Franklin Street
STEPHANIE BETTICK/
STAFF PHOTO
Firefighters climbed through win-dows of 16 N. Franklin St. minutes after arriving on scene amidst reports of second floor entrapment Tuesday morning.
HARRY DEITZ/
FOR THE NEWS-
ITEM
Flames leap from the roof of a house on Franklin Street in Shamokin on Tuesday.
BY C. J. GREGO
THE NEWS-ITEM
SHAMOKIN — Disaster relief is being provided to nearly 10 victims who were left homeless as a result of the deadly North Franklin Street fi re that occurred early Tuesday morning in the city’s Fifth Ward. Three different relief organizations were pres-ent at the scene in an effort to help all those affected by the blaze, which started shortly before 6 a.m.
Relief provided to Shamokin fire victims and firefighters
More photos, Pages A6, A8
ELYSBURG — Ral-pho Township police are seeking assistance in identifying two peo-ple believed to have sto-len three iPhones and $200 in cash from purs-es Tuesday at Knoebels Amusement Resort.
According to police, patrons were riding the Looper and at the direc-tion of the staff, placed a purse and cell phones near the exit.
Two individuals grabbed the purse and phones and took off through the park, dis-carding the purse in a bathroom trash recep-tacle behind Cesari’s Pizza.
The actors are described as two
Police seeking ID in Knoebels theft
BREA SCANDLE
BY ROB NAYLOR
THE NEWS-ITEM
Six skilled, educated and motivated young students converged upon Northumberland County this summer as part of the Shepherd Higher Educa-tion Consortium on Poverty (SHECP) program.
The eight-week pro-gram pairs students with nonprofi t organizations that work to strengthen distressed communities. Students are matched with agencies that fi t their intel-lectual interests in order to develop professional experience and skills for future civic involvement and employment.
Students taking part in the program live with
Internship provides students opportunity to help community
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE REV. MARTIN KOBOS
Six skilled students took part in an 8-week community-focused program that aims to aid communities in need. They were housed at the Franciscan Center in Coal Township throughout the summer. Pictured from left, are, Friar-in-residency Edward Costello, Shawn Li, Mariel Edokwe, Olivia Burke, the Rev. Martin Kobos — pastor; Elspeth Suber, Sean Mack, Victoria Yeh and Parochial Vicar Jerzy Auguscik.
STEPHANIE
BETTICK/STAFF
PHOTO
The sun rises as firefight-ers vent roofs on the first block of North Franklin Street during Tuesday’s fire.
Theft, Page A6
Relief, Page A6
Interns, Page A6
Fire, Page A6
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE RALPHO
TOWNSHIP POLICE DEPARTMENT
Ralpho Township police are seeking the identity of two people believed to have stolen three iPhones and $200 from purses at Knoebels Amusement Resort.
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African Americans, possi-bly in their late teens or ear-ly 20s with afro style hair. Both were wearing black shorts, one with a gray tank top and the other with a short tank top, possibly a sports bra. The gender of the actors is unknown.
Anyone with informa-tion as to the identities or whereabouts of these individuals are asked to contact the Ralpho Town-ship Police Department at 570-672-9892 or the Northumberland County Communications Center at 570-648-3868.
TheftFROM PAGE A1
Due to high air tem-peratures and humidity, which were magnified by the intense heat and smoke generated by the fire itself, both firefighters and vic-tims greatly appreciated any relief they received. That relief came in many shapes and forms from a national relief organiza-tion, to a specialized fire company relief tent, a local food pantry and neighbors who acted as Good Samar-itans.
Three Red Cross volun-teers were at the scene, canvasing the affected area of the neighborhood and offering assistance to fire victims.
“Our American Red Cross counselors meet with each of the fire victims. They listened and talked with them, about their needs. We offer each of them a debit card, which allows them to make immediate emergency pur-chases,” explained Edna Reinard, disaster program specialist of the American Red Cross North Central Pennsylvania Chapter.
“We also assist them in replacing any prescription medications or critical medical equipment as quickly as possible. Pet bereavement counseling is also available for those who have lost pets through a fire or other disaster,” she added.
Reinard said that the American Red Cross con-tinues to work with clients long after their ordeal in order to continue providing needed services, such as financial assistance and referrals to other agencies or organizations. She not-ed that victims seeking assistance from the Red Cross may contact her at via email at [email protected] or by phone at 570-850-4664.
“We want people to know that Red Cross disaster assistance is a free gift and
not something they are obli-gated to pay back. One of the challenges we often run into is that they feel they need to pay us back instead of just receiving the gift,” said Reinhard.
She added, “We’re cur-rently in need of Red Cross disaster volunteers in the southwestern Northumber-land County area, which includes the Shamokin and Mount Carmel communi-ties. Our volunteers have the ability to travel as far away from their area as they’re able to and desire — it’s entirely up to them.”
In addition to the Red Cross, Danville’s Continen-tal Fire Co. was on hand with their portable rehab tent which offers relief from the elements and much needed water.
“We dispatched three vehicles from our company to Shamokin this morning — our Ladder 19, Rehab 31, Squad 35,” said Danville Asst. Fire Chief Joseph Miller. “Our rehab tent is a trailer with an inflatable tent which we can setup quickly with cooling fans, chairs, coolers with ice and bottled water. We were at the scene Tuesday with a team of eight, assisting fire-fighters and victims from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.”
Miller said that his com-pany typically responds to calls throughout Montour, Northumberland and Columbia Counties. He indicated that the portable tent can be setup and opera-tional in about 10 minutes.
God’s Chuckwagon was also at the scene to offer free food and drinks for all those in need.
“Someone told us they needed water so we loaded up the bus with water, sandwiches and snacks and took it over to them,” said Janet Bowers, who along with her husband, Pastor Jim Bowers, own and operate the mobile soup kitchen, along with volunteers.
ReliefFROM PAGE A1
fellow interns within the commu-nities they serve. SHECP covers the expenses of the interns, affording the local organizations the benefit of summer labor at no cost. Housing for this particular group was provided at the Franciscan Center in Coal Town-ship.
Those taking part in the SHECP program dedicated to this area over the summer are Shawn Li, Victoria Yeh, Sean Mack, Elspeth Suber, Olivia Burke and Mariel Edokwe.
Li and Yeh have been stationed at City Hall in Shamokin, each with dif-ferent objectives.
Li, who was lauded by Mayor John Brown for his strong intellect and attention to detail, aided with the organization of ordinances within Shamokin City Hall.
Li said that he’d likely gone through 20 years worth of documen-tation during his time here this sum-mer. He also has spent time communi-cating with those in the local business community while also composing a strategic plan for potential redevelop-ment.
Li is very worldly, having been born in China, went to high school in Bos-ton and is now studying at the Univer-sity of Wisconsin.
“I enjoyed working with everyone at city hall and discussing different ways in which to modernize local ordinances,” said Li.
Yeh, on the other hand, worked with City Administrator Robert Slaby on a voter outreach program. The 21-year-old student, who studies at Middlebury College in Vermont, had a specific aim in surveying Shamokin residents and potential voters regard-ing their opinions, concerns and questions regarding Act 47 and Home Rule.
She noted she greatly enjoyed inter-acting with locals during her time in the city.
“I like meeting new people with different outlooks on life,” she said. “These past eight weeks have proved to be very beneficial.”
Yeh added that she hoped for an increased awareness and interest in
local political issues among those liv-ing in Shamokin.
“For things to move forward — peo-ple must first participate, whether that means voting or voicing their concerns so that the city can work toward addressing them,” she said.
Mack, 25, who hails from Virginia Beach, Virgina, and studies at Berea College in Kentucky, had the oppor-tunity to shadow patrolmen at the Shamokin Police Department.
The primary focus of Mack’s internship was to examine the opioid problems of the area. Mack inter-viewed local physicians and received their opinions on issues such as drug use in the area, as well as medical marijuana and its role in helping patients.
Mack was able to visit Gaudenzia Coal Township in his eight weeks here and he was very impressed with the facility and feels it could really help things out considerably.
“Gaudenzia will likely be a terrif-ic aid in helping curb drug-related issues here,” he said.
Mack said he learned a great deal in his time shadowing the officers and strongly commended their daily efforts.
“They have so much on their plate, always hard-working despite being understaffed,” he said.
Mack said he has a long-term goal of becoming a pastor/chaplain and that seeing the intense situations the police deal with every day was eye-opening.
Suber, 20, of Tallahassee, Florida, interned at Central Susquehanna Opportunities (CSO) at the Northum-berland County Career and Arts Cen-ter in Shamokin. Suber is studying at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.
Suber’s worked with CSO in an effort to expand their marketing and further open eyes to their existence.
“Everyone at CSO works to help families become more self-sufficient,” said Suber. “They have established trust with their clients — that through word of mouth, people understand and know that CSO is a safe environment with a strong repu-
tation for helping people.”Suber, who seeks to have a career
in community action, shadowed case-workers, volunteered at the local food pantry, helped with local golf tourney, aided CSO in moving to a sis-ter office in Bloomsburg and more.
Her goals in taking part in the SHECP program were to work with a non-profit that cares about their local community. She said that CSO is the embodiment of such a thing.
Burke, 20, of Center College in Kentucky, and Edokwe, 21, of Middle-bury College in Vermont, interned at North-Penn Legal Services in Sun-bury.
Burke said the experience has been both exciting and rewarding.
She said that interning at North-Penn afforded herself and Edokwe opportunities to sit in on hearings, meet judges and allowed for a firmer reality of the legal system through being right in the mix.
“I definitely sought out working with a law firm in some capacity and the SHECP program and North-Penn has allowed me to have a pos-itive learning experience,” Burke said.
Burke added that it was great meeting with and sharing experienc-es with the other SHECP program interns.
“We all bring different strengths to the table,” she said.
SHECP was formally established as a nonprofit organization in July 2012. The curriculum for SHECP begins with gateway coursework at each respective students’ home institution, followed by communi-ty-focused learning opportunities through the SHECP Summer Intern-ship program.
“Shepherd” honors the philan-thropy of Tom and Nancy Shepherd, who are founding benefactors of a prototype of the program that was developed at Washington and Lee University.
The SHECP programs credo is “Learning by Doing” and it was most certainly lived up to by these skilled students who paid our area a visit this last 8 weeks.
InternsFROM PAGE A1
Franklin St. also perished in the blaze.
The fire spread quickly to adjacent row homes along the narrow one-way street.
Shamokin Fire Investi-gator and Patrolman Ray-mond Siko II, who inspected the scene with state police fire marshals Cpl. Nicholas Lafrado and Tyler Wat-son and they’re confident they’ve identified the cause, nature and origin of the fire, but are not releasing that information at this point of the ongoing inves-tigation.
The fire destroyed 14, 16, and 18 N. Franklin St. and caused damage to proper-ties at 10, 12, 20, 22, 24 and 26 N. Franklin St.
In addition to Cortlessa, left homeless were Barry and Denise Getchey, of 14 N. Franklin St.; Victor Rut-kowski, of 18 N. Franklin St.; Kayla Schell, of 12 N. Franklin St., and Michelle Dormer, of 10 N. Franklin St.
Siko said Ken Bogutski resides at 26 N. Franklin St., which sustained smoke damage.
Properties at 20, 22 and 24 N. Franklin St. are vacant.
Heavy smoke and flames greeted firefighters as they arrived on scene and began attacking the blaze from aerial trucks and the ground. As city and Coal Township firefighters feverishly attempted to extinguish the blaze by cutting holes in the rooftops for ventilation, smoke con-tinued to pour out of the eaves. Flames later could be seen coming from the roofs and porches of some of the houses.
A siren was activated at 6:41 a.m. to alert firefighters to exit the buildings as fire conditions worsened inside.
The fire, which attracted a large crowd, stunned neighbors as news of Scan-dle’s death quickly spread.
“It’s heartbreaking,” com-mented Rutkowski, who has lived at 18 N. Franklin St. for 15 years.
Rutkowski said he was sleeping when the fire broke out. He said Amanda Wheary, a firefighter with Friendship Fire Co., which is located about two blocks away on Rock Street, woke
him up and rescued him from any harm.
Shamokin Mayor John Brown, an active firefighter, added, “Any time a fire hits the city, it’s bad. But when there is a death involved, it’s really tragic. I’m at a loss for words right now knowing who the victim was.”
Shamokin Councilman Scott Roughton, director of public safety, interim code enforcement officer and fire-fighter, said, “The conditions were very bad inside 16 and 14 N. Franklin St. I could see heavy smoke from my home on Bunker Hill when I heard the call and I knew it was bad. The fire had a good start. I want to thank all city firefighters and rescue personnel and the multiple mutual aid units who assist-ed at the fire.”
Brenda and Bob Scandle, who frantically arrived on scene about 6:30 a.m., became very distraught and emotional upon learning of their daughter’s death
before quickly being con-soled by fire chiefs, police, friends and family mem-bers.
Although deeply sad-dened by the loss of their neighbor and their homes, other fire victims were grateful they were able to escape unharmed.
Bill Dudeck, of Shamokin, who owns 8 N. Franklin St., praised all the firefighters from the different communities for responding to the blaze.
The fire was declared under control at 8:40 a.m. Firefighters remained at the scene until the afternoon as family members and friends of the fire victims secured the fire-ravaged homes.
Siko said he didn’t know if the owners and occu-pants of the properties were insured. He also wasn’t sure how many of the residents were home when the fire started.
PPL employees were sum-moned to cut power to the
damaged properties.In addition to Franklin
Street, Chestnut and Race streets, which surround the fire scene, were blocked off to traffic for several hours by fire police.
Directing firefighting efforts at the scene were fire chief Bruce Rogers, assistant chief Steve Jeffery, deputy chief Ken Pilkus and battalion chief Lester Yohe.
Siko, Shamokin Police Chief Darwin Tobias III, who helped battle the blaze as a firefighter, and Cpl. Bry-an Primerano also assisted.
In addition to Shamokin and Coal Township fire and rescue units, firefighters and emergency personnel from Kulpmont, Mount Car-mel, Mount Carmel Town-ship, Elysburg, Sunbury, and Schuylkill, Snyder and Columbia counties respond-ed to the fire.
Staff from the American Red Cross assisted in help-ing the homeless secure shelter if needed. Some of the fire victims found shel-ter with family members or friends.
A special city council meeting that was sched-uled for Tuesday night was canceled out of respect for Brenda Scandle and her family.
FireFROM PAGE A1
PHOTOS BY HARRY DEITZ/FOR THE NEWS-ITEM
Smoke fills the sky Tuesday as crews battle a fatal fire on Franklin Street in the city.
Firefighters respond with a ladder rescue bas-ket to the second floor of 16 N. Franklin St. during Tuesday morning’s fire.