About Third District
By Scott Aldinger , Third District Trustee
The Third District is made up of the almost 400 members serving the northeast corner of Pennsylvania . Beautiful mountains , state parks , Lake Wallenpaupack and the Appalachian Trail make this a vacationer ’ s paradise . The mountains and lakes attract tourists all year round for skiing , boating , hiking and hunting . In fact , our history once rich in anthracite coal , iron and steel , farming , railroads and industry has evolved into an economy dependent on tourism , shopping and a short commute to New York , New Jersey and Philadelphia for better paying jobs . This often makes life interesting working with out of state insurance plans .
The latest wave of new ventures in this corner of the state is the many new vineyards and wineries . Many are open for tours with free tastings . Wine festivals are cropping up across the area each summer to rival the county fairs . Third District has sent many fine leaders to PDA , including Drs . Harry Snyder , Herman Aqua and Nicolas Saccone . Famous residents include Paul Sorvino ( yes , Mira ’ s father ), Jack Palance of City Slickers fame , and speaking of city slickers , Robert Casey , William Scranton , Hillary Clinton and
Joe Biden hail from our district . You can watch all of these famous people on your cable television , a wonderful innovation that started in our area . Somebody on the top of a hill with an antenna that got great reception decided to run a wire down the mountain and share his programs with those less fortunate living in the valley . Thanks to him , we all write a check every month for something that used to be free .
The largest of our five locals is the Scranton District Dental Society . Often called the Electric City , Scranton was the home of the nation ’ s first successful continuously operating electric streetcar system in 1886 . One can visit the Steamtown National Historic Site and spend hours in the train museum . Recently , Scranton has become home to the fictitious Dunder Mifflin paper company in the NBC sitcom The Office . Due to the area ’ s large Irish community , Scranton is home to the nation ’ s fourth largest St . Patty ’ s Day Parade . Famous playwright Jason Miller based his award-winning play “ That Championship Season ” in the Scranton area . Historic area colleges such as Marywood University and the University of Scranton have recently been joined by The Commonwealth Medical College . Can a dental school be far behind ? Local area volunteer dentists serve the community at the Jewish Family Services Clinic in Scranton . BusinessWeek . com has named Scranton one of the top 50 places in America to raise children in 2010 . PNC Field is now home to the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees minor league baseball team . It is a great stadium to catch a game and not lose your wallet .
The next largest local in our group is the Luzerne County Dental Society , centered in the Wilkes-Barre area . This is the home of the Wilkes-Barre Penguins , a minor league ice hockey team , and an area surrounded by coal mining history . Spend a few minutes 300 feet underground in the Lackawanna Coal Mine , when they turn out the lights and you can ’ t see your hand six inches in front of your face , and you will understand some of the hardships our ancestors lived within the coal region . The discovery of anthracite coal in the 1800s in the area led to Wilkes-Barre being nicknamed “ The Diamond City .” Wilkes-Barre was home to the Planters Peanut Co . founded in 1906 . Wilkes-Barre is also home to Wilkes , Kings and Misericordia Colleges .
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November / December 2010 • Pennsylvania Dental Journal
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