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Month: December 2019

A perfect New Year’s Day wish

December 31, 2019Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

Charlie Rokosz. Those two words come to mind every New Year’s Day and just the sound of them brings a smile to my face and surely to the face of anyone who knew him. Charlie Rokosz was Father Charles Rokosz,… Continue Reading →

A Christmas tradition is ending

December 27, 2019Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

A Greater Pittston Christmas tradition of more than 20 years is about to come to an end. I received an email from John Grill that this is the last Christmas he will light the 60-ft. evergreen tree in front of… Continue Reading →

And so this is Christmas

December 25, 2019Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

Christmas fell on a Sunday in 1988 and that’s the first time I wrote “the football helmet” story in my column. I’ve repeated it from time to time, the last being 2016 when Christmas again fell on a Sunday. I’m… Continue Reading →

Speaking of bells

December 20, 2019Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

Christmas makes me think of bells. And bells make me think of a joke. A joke that has nothing to do with Christmas. But I’m going to tell it anyway. Credit, or blame, goes to Father Jim Nash, who told… Continue Reading →

Something to say

December 19, 2019Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

This time of year presents an dilemma. It seems half the people are offended at “Merry Christmas.” And the other half by “Happy Holidays.” What’s a “person of good will” to do? Well, I was in New York City on… Continue Reading →

Putting the “X” in Christmas

December 15, 2019Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

My wife and I listened to a Christmas music channel on Sirius radio in her Subaru Outback when we went for our Christmas tree last Sunday. It was okay, but it cannot compare to the Christmas mix played on WSFX,… Continue Reading →

A good, good man

December 11, 2019Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

Not enough people in Greater Pittston got to know Rev. Gary Mensinger. I was one of the handful who did. Father Gary, who passed away last Friday, was pastor of two Byzantine Catholic churches: St. Michael the Archangel on North… Continue Reading →

78 years ago, everything changed

December 7, 2019Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

War, to paraphrase the words of my friend Al Kridlo on the night he learned his son Dale had been killed in battle in Afghanistan, has a way of changing everything. It certainly did for the Ackermans of White Haven.… Continue Reading →

Take it all off

December 5, 2019Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

A few years ago I was driving to the college on Interstate 81 one winter morning the day after a big snowstorm. I pulled into the left lane to pass a tractor-trailer and just as I neared the back of… Continue Reading →

About the Optimist

Ed Ackerman Ed Ackerman, a consulting editor and columnist for the Greater Pittston Progress, has served the people of Greater Pittston for 48 years, starting in the newspaper field at age 17. The Pittston resident will share his thoughts in this blog and in a weekly column published in the Progress. greaterpittstonprogress.com

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