Hyder keeps his job

Split saves Hyder's job

A divided prison board on Monday reappointed Sam Hyder as deputy warden, with the key swing votes coming from the two lay members of the board.
Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla, a Democrat, again allied herself with Republican minority Commissioner Stephen Urban in calling for Hyder’s ouster. But they were outvoted by Democratic Commissioner Greg Skrepenak, who garnered the support of board members Wister Yuhas and Robert Payne in reappointing Hyder.

Yuhas and Payne were also on that now infamous trip to Las Vegas when Hyder used his county debit card to buy a round of drinks at a strip club. So you have to ask who was he buying drinks for? Where these guys with him that night? And who was at that famous dinner at Paris Las Vegas La Rotisserie that cost $896.88 that the county solicitor James Blaum coughed up $300 to cover the booze bill?

The CV has a list of all of Sam Hyder's debit card purchases. If my math is right he had 81 charges to the card with 61 lacking receipts. On December 17th the Prison Board gave him 60 days to produce receipts or pay back the money but today they rehired him before the deadline expired. Only in Luzerne County.

His 3 day trip to check out a prison in the finger lakes region of NewYork also stinks to high heaven. The warden of the jail said the tour he does usually takes a couple of hours not 3 days. And I picked up on this tidbit, on his way there he spent $42.52 at Wellington’s Pub, Clarks Summit, for a meal. He couldn't make it past Scranton before he had to eat? Reading the list I was taken aback on how much he spent on food. He certainly likes Subway (no receipts). He's a big guy and I'm shure he needs 3 squares a day but some of these charges are nuts.


Oct. 1, 2006: MacGregors Grill & Tap Room, Canandaigua, N.Y., $86.18, meal, no receipt

Oct. 3, 2006: Dinosaur Bar B Que, Rochester, N.Y., $93.78, meal, no receipt.

Oct. 3, 2006: The Lodge, Canandaigua, N.Y., $102.85, meal, no receipt.

And so on. I wish I could eat this well.

Greg Skepnak and the other board members are willing to forgive him because he does such a great job at the prison. Steve Urban has been calling for his head since this all broke and Maryanne Petrilla seems to get it.

I believe that as a leader in the county, I have an obligation to the residents to chose leaders that will bring confidence in our government," she said. "We need leaders that will bring confidence that their hard earned tax dollars are not being frittered away. I don't need the Secret Service to tell me that a policy was grossly abused. I have not heard one legitimate excuse for actions that I consider inexcusable. Our taxpayers and residents have high standards for their elected and appointed public officials, and as a result I cannot support this action."

A friend comments:

By that logic, she should be asking for the resignations of Mr. Brace, Mr. Piazza, and the rest of the debit-card holders who abused the system. Commissioner Urban called for those folks to be fired in December. Can we expect that all of those involved, because of Petrilla's statements today, will be out of a job after the next commissioner's meeting?

Urban voted to oust them when he knew that he was going to be out-voted 2-1 at the December meeting, but he failed to make the motion to fire those involved at the January Commissioner's meeting. If Commissioner Petrilla is so adamant about making changes and HOLDING EVERYONE WHO HAD A DEBIT CARD ACCOUNTABLE, I guess we can expect that she and Mr. Urban will send the rest of them packing, FINALLY, next month when one of them makes the motion to fire the debit card holders and the other seconds that motion.

Or, maybe Commissioner Urban and Commissioner Petrilla will provide us with another excuse?
I guess we shall see.