Ed Ackerman

Latest Columns by Ed Ackerman

February 4, 2012

To me, it’s one big super blur

When people hear I’m a college professor they say ‘I’ll bet that keeps you young.’ It does. But at times it makes me feel old.

January 28, 2012

He taught me all the little things

Six. Five. Four.

January 21, 2012

He had a way about him

I had encountered Timmy a few times in the hallways of the Advanced Technology Center at Luzerne County Community College, but it wasn’t until he showed up one Monday night a few years ago for my advertising class that I really got to know him.

January 14, 2012

Two Bills for the Congressman

Since 10-term Congressman Tim Holden, of St. Clair, must win a primary and then general election if he hopes to continue to represent the newly configured 17th district, which now includes most of Greater Pittston, his visit here Tuesday was obviously an attempt to win our hearts. By the end of the day, he appeared to have accomplished that. And the folks Holden met along the way appeared to have won his as well.

January 7, 2012

How it works

Two things about which I am clueless – I can hear my wife saying, “Only two?” – are whether women think a guy is handsome and whether a column I’ve written is any good.

December 31, 2011

Happy New Now

January 1.

December 24, 2011

My Atheist, my blessed atheist

My three atheist friends exhibit more Christ-like behavior than almost anyone I know.

December 17, 2011

When Herald Angels sing, I mouth the words

At no time of year do I lament my inability to sing more than at Christmas. How I wish I could join the choir at Midnight Mass or get together with a few friends and go caroling.

December 10, 2011

Those were the days

Greta was about three-and-a-half when I got the call. The regular Salvation Army Santa was sick. Would I be willing to fill in?

December 3, 2011

Milking a column, one more time

Many of you know Father Paul McDonnell as a master of the quip. About ten years ago I had just introduced Father Thomas O’Hara, president of King’s College at the time, as speaker for the annual Our Lady of Mount Carmel Holy Name Society Smoker and took my seat at the head table next to Father Paul. No sooner had Father O’Hara begun his talk when the pager of funeral director P.J. Adonizio, seated up front, went off. Startled, Father O’Hara stopped in mid-sentence and said, “Is my time up?” To which Father Paul immediately replied, “Somebody’s is.”

Latest Articles by Ed Ackerman

January 14, 2012

Congressman Holden comes to town

After viewing a slide presentation by former mayor Michael Lombardo on progress and planned development in Pittston City, Congressman Tim Holden took the microphone Tuesday night and told a gathering of Greater Pittston government officials that one slide in particular made him feel at home. It was an artist’s rendition of a proposed downtown mural depicting the area’s roots in coal mining, railroading and the garment industry.

January 7, 2012

Oh, Christmas tree!

See the tree how big it’s grown …

November 26, 2011

Cosgrove helps library launch campaign

Pittston native John P. Cosgrove was just completing his first year working for Sen. Hiram Johnson of California when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. “The next day, I walked up the hallway to hear Roosevelt’s ‘Day in Infamy’ speech,” he told a gathering at Fox Hill Country Club last Friday night. “And the next morning I went to the Navy recruiter and said, ‘Here I am.’”

August 13, 2011

The editor takes you on a taste tour of the Pittston Tomato Festival

You could call it “self control.” Some psychologists call it “impulse control.” Some even say it’s linked to intelligence.

July 16, 2011

YMCA turns to community for funds

As Rev. Paul McDonnell, OSJ, and businessman Joseph Joyce Jr. met with Tina Fisher, Executive Director of the Greater Pittston YMCA, Wednesday morning at the Greater Pittston Chamber of Commerce building to discuss strategies for raising much needed funds for the Y, right across the street some 250 people were participating in a variety of programs at the downtown facility.

March 12, 2011

Roses share their love through volunteerism

Ann and Allan Rose, of West Pittston, noted their 50th wedding anniversary in 2010. They also noted nearly 50 years of public service, both as a couple and as individuals.

March 12, 2011

Joseph Saporito devoted his life to service

“Joe’s accomplishments in life are those to which many strive by few achieve,” reads the plaque in the Luzerne County Law Library in memory of Atty. Joseph Saporito, Sr. who passed away in 2001.

March 12, 2011

Library presents expansion project in D.C.

Two years ago John P. Cosgrove, in a manner of speaking, brought Washington, D.C., back to his hometown of Pittston. Last week, Cosgrove brought Pittston to Washington.

January 8, 2011

The Roses, by any other name, would be as sweet

Ann and Allan Rose, of West Pittston, noted their 50th wedding anniversary in 2010. They also noted nearly 50 years of public service, both as a couple and as individuals. And for that they have been named recipients of the 2010 Joseph Saporito Lifetime of Service Award.

January 8, 2011

Dispatch’s first printer passes away at 90

In a February, 2007, article on the 60th anniversary of the first issue of the Sunday Dispatch, it was pointed out that only three people who played a role in that first issue were still alive: Richard B. Cosgrove, reporter at the time who later became the paper’s advertising manager and finally a columnist; and George and Lucy Zorgo, owners of Zorgo Printing, where the first issue was printed.