Author: jeff

There isn’t much change in terms of the Wyoming Valley Conference.

Tunkhannock will enter as the preseason favorite to capture the Division 1 title. Also in the division will be Pittston Area, Hazleton Area, Wilkes-Barre Area, Wyoming Valley West, Crestwood and Dallas.

Division 2 will come down to the two regular-season battles between Lake-Lehman and Holy Redeemer. Unless a divisional playoff is needed, it will be the only two meetings between the two rivals in 2025 as they are now in different classifications.

Also in Division 2 is Berwick, Wyoming Area, Greater Nanticoke Area, Hanover Area, Wyoming Seminary and MMI Prep. MMI returns back to the division after not fielding a team for the last few seasons.

There are some changes in the district for 2025.

Holy Cross, normally a Class 2A contender, is now down in Class 1A. Holy Redeemer, a Class 3A contender, drops down to Class 2A. Redeemer and Dunmore added to 2A, in addition to Elk Lake, should make for an interesting class.

Class 4A seems to be the toughest. While North Pocono moved up to Class 5A, Wallenpaupack is now in 4A. Put the Buckhorns with Tunkhannock, Valley View and what could be an improved Dallas team, and it looks to be the deepest division.

The other change is that West Scranton, a normal contender in Class 5A, moved into the Class 6A subregional.

Here is a look at the classes:

Class 1A: Forest City, Holy Cross, MMI Prep, Old Forge, Susquehanna.

Class 2A: Blue Ridge, Dunmore, Elk Lake, Holy Redeemer, Lackawanna Trail, Montrose, Mountain View, Wyoming Seminary.

Class 3A: Carbondale Area, Lake-Lehman, Lakeland, Mid Valley, Riverside, Western Wayne.

Class 4A: Berwick, Dallas, Hanover Area, Honesdale, Nanticoke Area, Scranton Prep, Tunkhannock, Valley View, Wallenpaupack, Wyoming Area

Class 5A: Abington Heights, Crestwood, Delaware Valley, North Pocono, Pittston Area.

Class 6A: Hazleton Area, Scranton High, West Scranton, Wilkes-Barre Area, Williamsport, Wyoming…

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Multiple crews were on the scene of a brush fire in the Town of Nanticoke just before 4 p.m. Wednesday.

The brush fire located on Pendell Hill Road was started by electrical wires rubbing against trees.

The flames were knocked down before spreading to nearby homes but came as close as 20 feet from a house.

A red flag warning has been in effect all day in the Southern Tier, and Glen Aubrey Fire Chief Gary Smith says it’s important to follow the rules on days like this.

“There’s a burn ban in effect for a reason. It’s dry, people think because we got a lot of rain the ground is wet, the stuff on top is not wet it’s still dry. Until these trees green up and the grass greens up you just gotta use your head. Don’t do it.”

Fire departments on scene include Glen Aubrey, the Town of Lisle, the Town of Maine, and Chenango Bridge. New York State Forest Rangers were also on scene.

No one was injured.

Multiple crews are on the scene of a brush fire in the Town of Nanticoke. The fire started by electrical wires rubbing against trees, and was knocked down before spreading to nearby homes. A #redflagwarning is still in effect for the Southern Tier until 9PM. @wicztv pic.twitter.com/dZwZKEr2FZ

— Amanda Pitts WICZ (@AmandaPittsTV) May 2, 2018

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Nanticoke Creek overflowed Tuesday morning, washing out roadways and blocking the routes in and out of the Town of Maine. Highway Superintendent Joe Dohnalek says those waters did recede giving residents a way out of town in the late morning. A state of emergency was declared for the town, which saw the brunt of the flash flooding in Broome County. 

“Right now it’s just monitoring the water as it recedes and assessing the damage,” says the Director of Broome County Emergency Services Michael Ponticello. 

The Town of Maine fire station was center of operation for first responders and officials dealing with the Maine flooding. Police, Emergency Services, the town supervisor, County Executive Jason Garnar, and the highway department all using the station as a point of deployment to the affected areas of the town. Hopping in Highway Superintendent Joe Dohnalek’s truck, we were shown the places hit the hardest by the overnight flooding. 

Driving around the barriers put up on a still closed Nanticoke Ave, Dohnalek points out the window to his left, “See all this grass is muddy, the water up through here was about 4 feet deep.”

This portion of Nanticoke Ave was under about 4 feet of water on Thursday morning.

A black pickup truck is sitting in the middle of the road. Dohnalek says the driver tried to go through the washed out portion of Nanticoke Ave and stalled out. That truck is now a good reference point for how deep the water was just hours earlier. Dohnalek points out the license plate that is now crumpled up from the force of the water. “So, it was about up to the headlights,” says Dohnalek.

Just past that truck,…

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Florence E. (Butchie) Lynch OBITUARY

Florence E. (Butchie) Lynch, 88, of the Sheatown section of Nanticoke, passed away after a lengthy illness, on March 10, 2025 at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, surrounded by her loving family.

Born on February 25, 1937, in Nanticoke, she was a daughter of the late Chester and Florence Resavy Baker. She was a graduate of Nanticoke High School Class of 1954.

She married the love of her life Lawrence E. (Larry) Lynch, on June 1, 1957. He preceded her in death on February 6, 2023, after almost 66 years of marriage.

Mrs. Lynch, had been employed by the K-mart retail store, Hanover Mall, as a front-end supervisor for many years. She later worked for Al Marcincavage Insurance Agency, until her retirement.

She was a member of St. Faustina Kowalska Parish, Nanticoke, and had been a member of Holy Child Church, Sheatown, prior to the consolidation.

Florence was an extremely loving, caring wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was a wonderful homemaker and loved reading, doing seek-a-word puzzles, and painting ceramics in her spare time. She loved watching all sports with her husband, especially the Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, and professional golf. Her favorite pastime was sitting on her front porch, in the day watching birds and admiring beautiful flowers, and in the evening watching fireflies and star gazing. She loved camping and campfires with her family as well as backyard cookouts. Her family was everything to her and she especially loved spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who called her NANNY. They were truly the sunshine of her life.

Florence also enjoyed the companionship of her beloved dog, Arthur, who was always being spoiled by her.

She is now at rest and at peace with the Lord, her…

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