Times Leader 04-26-2012

Draft Day Everyone knows that Andrew Luck will be the No.1 pick i n the NF L Draft. Sports writer John Erzar will tell you where every one else is going to go. Page1B SPORTS SHOWCASE NATIONAL LEAGUE METS 5 MARLINS 1 PHILLIES 7 DIAMONDBACKS 2 CARDINALS 5 CUBS 1 AMERICAN LEAGUE MARINERS 9 TIGERS 1 ORIOLES 3 BLUE JA YS 0 C M Y K WILKES-BARRE, PA THURSDA Y, APRIL 26, 2012 50¢ timesleader.com The Times Leader 7 5 2 0 3 5 $ 7 0 VOUCHER FOR ONLY $ 35 Hershey edges out Penguins with tense Game 3 victory SPORT S, 1B Calder Cup PLAYOFFS Area parks offer a welcome romping spot for one and all LIFE, 1 C SLIDE into spring SCRANTON – Attorney Steven Labovitz, the chief baseball nego- tiatorfor Lackaw annaCounty,told an audience of approximately 100 intere sted citizens Wednesd ay nigh t theagre eme ntto bevotedon toda y reg ard ing the sale of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees is a “better” deal than the original Memor andum of Under standing in Novemb er 201 0. TheLackaw annaCountyMulti- Purp ose Stad ium Aut hori ty is scheduled to meet at 8 this morn- in g to vo teon thefina l app ro va l of the $14.6 million sale of the Tri- ple-A baseball franchise to SWB Y ank eesLLC,a join t ven tur e ofthe New York Yankees and Mandalay Basebal l Proper ties. In preparation for that meeting , the Lackawanna County commis- sioner s and the StadiumAuthority held a public hearing Wednesday nightat theScranton Cultur al Cen- ter. Labo vitz was the first of five speak erswho described the partic- ula rs of thedeal and itsassocia ted rec onst ruct ion of PNC Fie ld in Moo sicin a pre sen tati on thattook one hour , 18 minutes . “Y ouare goi ngto beableto ke ep the team here in a state-of-the-art bal lpar k for30 yea rs– andpossi bly 50 years – in a deal that is better than what was originally negotiat- ed, ” he said. Labovitz led a team of negotia- tor s thatrepr esente d thecountyin dealingwith SWBYanke esto final- izethesaleaftertheunderstanding betwe en the parties in 2010. He bro ugh t manyconce rnsof thenew coun ty comm iss ione rsinto thene- gotiati onsand saidhe believ esthat fro m the Y ankees ’ rea ctio n, the or- ganization is committed to its fu- ture here. Proceeds from the sale of the teamcombi newitha stat e gra ntto pa y fo r th e bu lkof th e co st s inthe $43millionrecon stru ctio n of PNC Fie ld. Theagree mentincludes the team leasing the stadium and, in one of the improvements to the deal for local taxpayers, commit- ting to share in costs of mainte- nance andfuturerepai rs. The Scra nto n/W ilk es- Barr e Y ankee s are spending the entire 2012seasonontheroadtoallowfor the stadiumreconstruction . “Theyputtheirteamontheroad at the cost of millions of dollars,” La bo vi tz sa id . “The y re al ly Official: Deal will keep SWB Yanks here Vote on franchise sale this morning By TOMROBINSON For The Times Leader See YANKEES, Page12A INSIDE A NEWS Obituar ies 2A, 8A Local 3A Nation & World 5A Editor ials 1 1A B SPORTS Business 9B Weath er 10B C LIFE: 1C Birthdays 3C Television 4C Crossword 5C D CLASSIFIED There are plenty of reasons why U.S. Rep. Tim Holden lost his bid to earn an 11th term in Congress. The anti-estab lish- ment sentiment of vot- ers , hund red s of tho u- sands of dollars spent by outside committee s at- tack ing his voti ng re- cor d, and a poo rly run campaign that rested on Holden’s record and se- niority rather than concentrating on get- tinghismessag e outto vot ersin newparts of his congressional district all were cited by political pundits the day after Moosic atto rne y Mat t Cart wri ghtpulledoff an up- set victory in the Democratic primary. But one political consultant with years of campaignexperien ce saysHolden could hav e runa flawles s camp aig n andstill lost Experts fault run by Holden Geography, poor campaign just two reasons for loss offered by pundits. By ANDREW M. SEDER aseder@ti meslead er.c om See HOLDEN, Page12A Holden Super PACs played key role in 17th ByANDRE W M. SEDER aseder@timeslea der. com 2012 ELECTION Y oucouldcallitabigbubble, a sphere, an orb or maybe just a gig anti c, infla tabl e ball. Rand y Knap pman of King sto n climbedinside earlyWedne s- day afte rnoo n, str appe d him- se lf to the har ne ss and – tha nk s to a he art y pus h fr om his friends Chris and Wendy Tu rcotte -- soo n tumb led head-over -heelsdownthe lev- eeinto Kir byPark. Whe w! “Thatwaswild, ” hesaid after wa rd , lau gh ing as he climbed out. “My heart’s go- ingfast.” “Oh,I ha d nocon tr ol , bu t I sa w a flat field ahead of me,” Knappman, 29,said,explaininghewasconfident the ball would stop rolling near the basebal l field. Just last month the Tur- cottes,wholiveinKingston, invest ed $3,700to purchas e two large balls, each with a diameter of 10 feet, as well as six smaller ones, from a Chinesecompany. With a websi te set up at goofballz .net, they planned to mar ke t them sel ves as “Goofballz…. NEPA ’shome of th e Zor b bal l,” and to showofftheballsatareafairsandba- Plan for fun ride running into snags CLARK VAN ORDEN/THE TIMES LEADER Chris Turc otte of Kingston adjust s the straps on the inside of one of the larger Zorb balls in which he and Wen- dy Turcotte hope to give rides. A ba d bo un ce By MAR Y THER ESE BIEBEL [email protected] For more in- formation about Wilkes-Barre’s Cherry Blossom Festival , see Friday’ s enter- tainment Guide in The Times Leader FESTIVAL PREVIEW

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