![]() ![]() You are left wondering where the residents get the spirit, not to mention the energy, to face it every day. The magnitude of the clean-up task is mind-boggling. I spent the entire day last Sunday cleaning items with a power washer and when I finished it looked as though I had done absolutel y nothing. Unless you’ve dealt with it you have no idea. We’ve been back nearly every day since and each time is a learning experience. ![]() Two days later, wearing our oldest jeans and donning work gloves, my wife and I pulled up in front of the home of our friends John and Inge Markar- ian at the corner of Susquehan- na Avenue and Spring Street. We also weren’t pre- pared for driving through ver i- table canyons created by mounds of discard ed precious belongi ngs and priceless me- mories lining the wide streets. It was nighttime and we were not prepared for the eerie feeling of seeing all the majestic homes of that neighborhood completely in darkness. It was hard to eat ice cream, however, after driving through West Pittston, particularly since we took a detour along Susque- hanna Avenue. It was to have a hot fudge sundae at the Blue Ribbon Dairy Bar. And since I’m confessi ng, I might as well add that my first trip across the Susquehanna after the Fort Jenkins Bridge was re-opened to traffic was hardly an errand of mercy. But that all changed with my first venture into the West Side. 1 1 issue of the Dispatc h, the Flood of 201 1 had little effect on me and sub- sequent recovery efforts were not foremost in my mind either. I’m also not proud that, aside from pulling an all-nighter to produce the Sept. 7, the war to me was nothing more than something occasionally appear- ing in the news and not always grabbing my attention when it did. ![]() Until I found out my friend Albert Kridlo’s son Dale was serving in Afghani stan, and especially when Dale was killed in action last Nov. And it’ s some- thing I learned first hand, both with the war and with the flood. ![]() Not to suggest strong simi- larities between the two, but one thing the war in Afghan- istan and the recent floodin g of parts of Wyomi ng Va lley hav e in common is this: unless you or your loved ones are directly involved, you routinely go about your daily lives paying little or no attenti on. ![]()
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