[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 164 (Wednesday, November 16, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1498-E1499]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CELEBRATING 150 YEARS OF THE STANDARD-SPEAKER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. LOU BARLETTA

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 16, 2016

  Mr. BARLETTA. Mr. Speaker, it's my honor to recognize The Standard-
Speaker, which is celebrating its 150th Anniversary this year. With a 
humble beginning in my hometown of Hazleton, The Standard-Speaker has 
provided generations of my constituents with reliable and current news 
in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
  It is hard to imagine what our city would be like without The 
Standard-Speaker to keep us informed. When I was mayor for more than 
ten years, the newspaper was always there on my front step in the 
mornings, and the reporters and editors would be weighing in letting me 
know how I was doing. Now that I am a member of Congress, The Standard-
Speaker is still a good barometer of what is happening at home and what 
the people are thinking about.
  The Standard-Speaker has a long and proud history. It was founded in 
1866 as The Hazleton Sentinel, and after numerous ownership changes 
during the late 1800s and early 1900s, the paper was eventually 
purchased by former Hazleton Treasurer Henry Walser. For a time, there 
were three publications in Hazleton: The Plain Speaker, the Daily 
Standard, and The Hazleton Sentinel. After acquiring the Daily Standard 
in 1917 to create The Standard-Sentinel, Henry Walser and his new 
partner, John R. Dershuck, combined their efforts to bring The 
Standard-Sentinel and The Plain Speaker under one roof in 1961. 
Ownership was eventually consolidated in the hands of Henry's son, 
Frank, who merged not just the morning and afternoon papers, but also 
their names, to give rise to the all-day publication, The Standard-
Speaker.
  Staying true to the paper's heritage of family ownership and 
strategic mergers, in April of 2007, it was announced that the Lynett 
and Haggerty families of Scranton would purchase the paper. The company 
already owned The Citizens' Voice in Wilkes-Barre, The Times-Tribune in 
Scranton, and The Republican & Herald in Pottsville, which made The 
Standard-Speaker a natural fit for their vision of treating 
Northeastern Pennsylvania as a single region in which Hazleton occupies 
a unique spot.
  Mr. Speaker, for more than a century, The Standard-Speaker has been 
an integral part of the community in Northeastern Pennsylvania. 
Generations of families have not only relied on the paper for their 
daily news, but have been the ones working to produce it. I am 
incredibly grateful for the work of all the employees that make The 
Standard-Speaker so special, and I look forward to the paper's 
continued success and innovation in the years to come.

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