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By BRIAN MALINA; Times Leader Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 04, 1997     Page: 3A

WILKES-BARRE — Less than a week after rumors surfaced that the proposed
arena/convention center might be moved downtown, Mayor Tom McGroarty says it
won’t happen.
   
“I think that’s a dead issue,” McGroarty said in a phone interview Monday.
    McGroarty last Thursday said members of the Luzerne County Convention
Center Authority told him the board was considering moving the planned arena
from its Wilkes-Barre Township location because of sewage and water run-off
problems.
   
He would not say which members approached him, but told a reporter Monday
that the member was a Republican.
   
Authority Vice Chairman Pat Judge, a Republican, said he spoke with
McGroarty last week, but said it was the mayor who mentioned the alternative
location. Judge also denied telling McGroarty about problems at the Highland
Business Park, home of the proposed $44 million arena.
   
“It’s pretty secure at the site. I don’t know of any problems,” Judge said
Monday. “I’m grateful for the mayor’s interest in the project. It’s always
good to keep your options open.”
   
State Rep. Kevin Blaum, D-Wilkes-Barre, vehemently has denied any move
since the rumor first surfaced last week in a television news report.
   
“It’s never been an issue. There’s no truth to it. We’ll never have 5,000
cars driving down Coal Street and Wilkes-Barre Boulevard” to a downtown arena,
said Blaum, who chairs the authority.
   
“I wouldn’t do that to the people of Wilkes-Barre. It would be a (traffic)
nightmare.”
   
Thomas Lawson, of Borton-Lawson Engineering, said “some issues” need to be
resolved at the Wilkes-Barre Township site, but said they were “nothing
insurmountable.”
   
Bob Dunn, executive vice president of Hammes Co., said sewage was not a
major problem at the site. He said Hammes, the project manager, has yet to
determine how it would channel sewage from the arena to a treatment plant four
miles away in Hanover Township, but six options were being considered.
   
He would not say what the options might cost.
   
Dunn said he has discussed the alternatives with officials in Wilkes-Barre,
Plains Township and Wilkes-Barre Township.
   
McGroarty said he does not want sewage going through city lines. “They’re
maxed out. We’re not going to put any additional water or sewage” in the
lines.
   
Dunn said use of city sewer lines was among the options under
consideration.