Sen. Kennedy is coming to the Scranton / Wilkes-Barre area this week, which is probably a bad idea.
Back in 1969, one of the local residents attended a party with young Teddy. On the night of July 18th, there was an accident, in which the young lady died, and Ted didn't report the accident until the next morning.
This event nearly killed his career, now known as "Chappaquiddick".
Mary Jo Kopechne, the victim of this accident, is buried near-by in Larksville.
http://www.who2.com/maryjokopechne.html
Update -- Kennedy (hic) will not be stopping in N.E. PA after all:
Posted Thursday, September 16, 2004
Times Leader (Wilkes Barre, PA)
www.timesleader.comNANTICOKE: The death of Mary Jo Kopechne comes up as a possible reason.
First, Ted was coming. Now, he's not.
U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy will stump for presidential candidate John Kerry in Harrisburg and perhaps Pittsburgh tomorrow, but he won't swing through Northeastern Pennsylvania.
A hinted stop in Nanticoke by the liberal Massachusetts Democrat is off the itinerary, according to Kennedy's spokesman.
On Wednesday, local officials heard Kennedy would be in the area to campaign for Kerry, the other Massachusetts senator. By midday, the visit had fizzled.
"Senator Kennedy will not be in Northeastern Pennsylvania on Friday," said Kerry campaign spokesman Mark Nevins, confirming a local visit had been discussed, but not finalized.
Carole Lewis, director of the Luzerne County Area Agency on Aging, said she received a phone call Wednesday morning from someone asking permission for Kennedy to visit the Nanticoke Senior Center to discuss senior health care issues.
"We were just asked if he could come and speak about it, because he is a sitting official and health care is something our seniors really care about," Lewis said. "But it wasn't long after that when someone called back and said that it had been canceled."
Also, one source close to the Kerry campaign said the Kennedy visit to Nanticoke was a "done deal" as of Tuesday night.
The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the event was canceled by early Wednesday, soon after news reports of the visit surfaced.
Although no reason has been given for the cancellation, it's possible that Kennedy's ties to the area still haunt him.
Kennedy became forever entwined with the Wyoming Valley on July 18, 1969, when the car he was driving plunged off Dike Bridge into a pond on Chappaquiddick Island, Mass. His passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, a Forty Fort native and Democratic campaign worker, drowned.
Those memories stick with area residents, said one source.
"I think people who were Kerry supporters told the campaign that they were crazy to bring Kennedy here. If he comes, it's going to be a negative, black mark for Kerry."
Kerry's sister, Peggy Kerry, will visit Hanover Township on Sunday as an attendee of Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas' annual Fall Gathering at the Catholic War Veterans Grove.
