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Issue Home November 1, 2005 Site Home

COLUMNS:
100 Years Ago
Along the Way...With P. Jay

From the Desk of the D.A.
The Healthy Geezer

Straight From Starrucca


100 Years Ago

FOREST CITY: Morgan’s Penny arcade opened on Monday and has been enjoying bunches of prosperity so far this week. The small boys and some larger were falling all over themselves Monday to spend their pennies.

UPSONVILLE [Franklin Twp.]: Banker Brothers, raisers and dealers in blooded Devon stock, have just shipped two young cows to North Carolina and are preparing two more for shipment to Georgia. Banker Brothers’ stock are eagerly sought after by Southern cattle raisers, this being only one of many instances where they have shipped stock to Southern states.

MONTROSE: Hallowe’en was rigorously observed by the boys Tuesday night. Noise of every variety, throwing of beans, corn, etc., changing of signs and the like, all were followed out after the usual form. Outside of daubing paint on store windows there was little done which would indicate malicious mischief on the part of the youngsters. AND: W. M. Hibbard had the misfortune to lose one of his sorrel horses this week. Fred Roberts, of South Montrose, also lost a horse, as did John Munger, also. Hard luck all around.

SILVER LAKE: Oscar C. Caswell, for the past 14 years manager of the Sheldon property, has resigned and will spend the winter in California. His daughter, Mrs. Heller, has been in California since June.

SOUTH GIBSON: A birthday surprise party was given Will Resseguie on his 27th birthday, Oct. 23d, by his relatives and many friends, who left silver tokens of their friendship and good will. A goodly number were present and report a good time.

GELATT: After an absence of nearly three years in the lumber woods of Tennessee, I. J. Witter returned to his home here last Wednesday.

DIMOCK: Jerry Cokeley is building a fish pond near the old creamery. AND: Election will be held at the Dolan House next week Tuesday.

LAKEVIEW [Jackson Twp.]: Mabel, wife of Will Deyo, died at her home here on Friday night, Oct. 20th, aged 18 years. Funeral was held from the house on Monday at 1 p.m. and at the church at 2 p.m. She is survived by her husband and two children.

OAKLEY [Harford Twp.]: E. M. Loomis shipped 1600 lbs of poultry from Kingsley week before last, which was the largest shipment of the kind ever made from here at once.

BROOKLYN: Last week while the scholars were playing baseball and also football on the front campus, Willie Rozelle was hit in the eye with the baseball. Serious results were feared, but the eye is improving and he is again at school. AND: The pupils of Miss Ethel Sterling’s room are getting up a soap order for a book-case for the room.

AUBURN: Frederick Swackhamer was born in Sussex Co., N.J. in 1821 and died Oct. 8, 1905. At the age of 15 he came with his parents to Pennsylvania and settled in Auburn, where he spent the greater part of his life. Deceased had 4 sisters and 6 brothers; only one, a brother, is now living. In 1849 he was married to Mary Fulford of Standing Stone [Bradford Co.], who with 8 children survive him. In all his dealings with his fellow men he was strictly honest, to his family and friends faithful and self-sacrificing. For a few years past the infirmities of age had weakened both body and mind, but to the last the ruling principle of his life would occasionally manifest itself in the care for those he loved.

SPRINGVILLE: The parties spoken of in last week’s items as going to the “Fair Land” was intended to read as the fair land of California. Mrs. Frank Kilts has since gone to join her son Charlie at Pasadena, Cal.

HERRICK: Some low-down thief paid Liveryman Bowell a visit some time ago and took a good overcoat, a pair of mittens, a pair of new gloves and several other things. He then went to the barn of Daniel Gettle and took a quantity of corn in the ear. In the morning Mr. Gettle tracked them [him] to Orson [Wayne County] but could not find the corn.

HARFORD: The annual meeting of the Library Association was held in the Congregational church. A good programme was gone through including solos by Miss Larrabee, recitations by Miss Little, phonograph selections by R. Manson and remarks by Rev. E. E. Pearce.

HEART LAKE: The Mountain Ice Company have the ice all shipped from their large house here and are busy repairing and making ready for the new crop.

GLENWOOD: Charlie Price, of South Glenwood, while delivering milk, had the misfortune to have his horse run away, break the wagon, but did not spill the milk. It got scared at Wm. Bell’s oxen.

UNIONDALE: Ed Gilroy, of Hornellsville, formerly of this place, is out visiting his father and brother, Will. He fetched his fancy gun along and anticipates having a jolly good time during his ten days’ vacation from the police force. Ed hasn’t been out to the old homestead before in six years. His aged father ought to scold him a little for not coming to see him oftener than that.

FROM THE TRI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, Susquehanna: On January 1st next the law requiring all owners of automobiles to take out a license for their machines, will go into effect. This law will require owners to pay $3.00 annually for renewing the license. The money thus derived is to be appropriated to the use of the State highway department. The speed limit is fixed to a mile in six minutes in cities and boroughs and a mile in three minutes in townships. That is equivalent to ten miles an hour in boroughs and twenty miles an hour in townships.

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Along the Way...With P. Jay

And the beat goes on...

The cold war between the county commissioners and the Susquehanna County Railroad Authority appears to be escalating. Oh, there’s no war of words going on, at least not out in the open, but there is plenty of animosity and I am told it is only a matter of time before the railroad committee builds up enough steam and blows its cork.

I hear that, while some authority members remain gung-ho, others are ready to throw in the towel because they just don’t like the direction the authority is taking. For instance, the authority is set to hire Larry Malski, who is the director of the Lackawanna County Rail Authority, as a part-time consultant at some sort of astronomical hourly rate.

I may be wrong, but didn't the rail committee sit back and let the county commissioners get rid of Justin Taylor who was the big brother to the authority. As I recall, when Mr. Taylor got himself elected mayor in Carbondale it conjured up thoughts that he would feather his own nest first and steer prospective industrial brokers into the Pioneer City. So now we look to Larry Malski, who is a fine gentleman, but who already has a railroad, an airport, and a highway system in place as attractions for luring prospective industrialists into Lackawanna County.

And, finally, I visited the county courthouse last Wednesday as I do every Wednesday and was promptly handed the tip of the day. I can tell when something is hot and this guy was boiling. Haven’t seen anyone that excited since a bookie I once had handed me a $100-horse at Aqueduct.

“You know that new railroad authority we got,” he said. “Well, I hear tell they are going to buy land in New Milford Township for $20,000 an acre for that siding they want to build there.” I would not touch that with a 10-foot pole.

While in New Milford Borough...

Folks aren't too happy about losing the district magistrate. After years and years of being on Main Street in the borough, the county obtained a new site for Magistrate Peter Janicelli and his staff. It is located on Route 11 right about at the intersection of 706.

The original thought was that the magistrate’s new office would be in the municipal building where plans for an addition were well underway. As I get it, the borough spent a few bucks to have an architect put together a plan that would allow for an expansion program to house Judge Janicelli and his crew.

Now, if the Borough Council took it upon themselves to have plans prepared for an expansion program it was probably for a worthwhile reason. But if the county initiated the idea of having the borough hire an architect to put a schematic together showing space for the magistrate, then I would say the county should kick in some or perhaps all of the architectural costs.

Last but far from least...

My friends, I need a favor from you. On Thursday, Nov. 3, beginning at 8 a.m., the Susquehanna County Coalition for the Prevention of Child Abuse and the Susquehanna County Children and Youth Services will join hands and sponsor a all-day seminar on a most noteworthy subject. This year’s theme is “Children’s Issues In A Changing World IV.”

The objectives of this great event will be to provide information on a variety of issues affecting the well being of today’s children; and, to identify a network of resources for individuals providing treatment, care and education for children.

Call a couple of friends and take them along with you. Trust me, it will provide you with a wealth of valuable information, especially if you are a young mother or plan on becoming one some day. There will be three great speakers including Dr. Vincent Monastra, a licensed clinical psychologist, who is nationally recognized for his ADHD treatment programs designed for children, teens and adults.

It will cost you five bucks for the day but believe me it will be worth that plus much, much more. Oh, yes, you will want to know where it is. It is at Dreyer Hall at the Montrose Bible Conference.

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From the Desk of the D.A.

Civil disobedience is a form of protest where the demonstrator gets himself or herself arrested in order to underscore the purpose of the protest itself. We often see such acts on our television scenes where police are forced to arrest unruly or non-compliant protestors. In such circumstances, the protestors are arrested for such things as disorderly conduct or harassment – the types of criminal statutes that the average citizen understands and accepts. There are times, however, where civil disobedience can lead to an arrest that challenges the criminal law itself – and, under such circumstances, the public takes a hard look at the propriety of the underlying criminal statute.

After 92 years on this earth, Rosa Parks died last week. Of those 92 years, history will remember one particular day in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, when Rosa Parks, after a hard day of work, Rosa Parks got on a bus to go home. As the bus filled, several white passengers were forced to stand. The bus driver directed Rosa Parks and three other African Americans to move to the back of the bus. The three other riders complied, but Rosa Parks refused to move from her seat. The bus driver then stated that he would have her arrested, to which Rosa Parks responded, “You may do that.” Rosa Parks was arrested, put in jail, had a trial that lasted only 30 minutes, and was ultimately fined $14. Her arrest and incarceration led to a 381-day transportation boycott of the Montgomery transportation system. History would be hard pressed to find a more effective act of civil disobedience – an act that was largely unplanned and prompted by the simple courage of one woman tired of decades of inequality. Her case was appealed, and, during the appeal, there was a 381 day boycott of the Montgomery public transportation system led by a local reverend – Dr. Martin Luther King. Ultimately, the United States Supreme Court, in an unrelated case, concluded that segregation of public transportation was unconstitutional.

As I considered the life of Rosa Parks this past week, my thoughts gravitated to the prosecutor who tried and convicted her. The historical accounts provide little guidance as to his thoughts and motivations. Prosecutors do take an oath to uphold the law – and there was no debate that Rosa Parks had violated a law – even if the law itself was repugnant. On the other hand, the Ethical Code that governs the conduct of attorneys places a special responsibility upon prosecutors not applicable to other attorneys. Prosecutors are held to be “ministers of justice” with the overriding purpose of pursuing and accomplishing justice in the criminal arena. When the charges against Rosa Parks came on his desk, did the prosecutor believe that justice required trial and conviction?

Admittedly, justice is not easily defined – it is an amorphous concept that largely depends upon the prism through which it is viewed. What a victim believes is just often differs from the view of the offender, the judge, or the public at large. In complying with ethical responsibilities, a prosecutor must weigh innumerable factors and make a difficult determination as to what justice requires in each particular case. Ultimately, however, justice must be defined through the eyes and heart of the prosecuting attorney.

Acts of civil disobedience place prosecutors in difficult positions because such acts involve often good people knowingly thwarting the law to make a larger point. The demonstrators place themselves in jeopardy for some higher goal or purpose. Generally, a prosecutor cannot condone the blatant disregard for the law without some consequence. There are rare circumstances, however, where, as a minister of justice, a prosecutor must recognize the equities of the situation require some disposition other than trial and conviction.

Did the prosecutor agonize over the decision to prosecute Rosa Parks? Did he think he was doing justice by preserving the Jim Crows laws that maintained lawful segregation? Was his sense of justice warped by the taint of racism? Five decades later, there is no way to defend or even understand the decision to prosecute Rosa Parks. The prosecutor did no justice in blindly applying the Jim Crow laws. In failing to do justice, the prosecutor failed to adhere to his ethical responsibilities. While Rosa Park’s courage should be celebrated, so to should the prosecutor’s cowardice be condemned.

Please submit any questions, concerns, or comments to Susquehanna County District Attorney’s Office, P.O. Box 218, Montrose, Pennsylvania 18801.

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The Healthy Geezer

Q. When does menopause really begin?

A woman reaches menopause when a year has passed since her last period.

Menopause, like many of the changes in a woman’s body through her lifetime, is caused by changes in hormone levels.

Menopausal transition, called “perimenopause,” is the time when a woman’s body is close to menopause. Periods may become irregular. A woman may start to feel hot flashes and night sweats. Perimenopause usually begins about two to four years before the last menstrual period. It ends when menopause begins.

Postmenopause follows menopause and lasts the remainder of a woman’s life. Pregnancy is no longer possible. There may be symptoms such as vaginal dryness long after menopause.

The process of “reproductive aging” begins around age 40. Declining levels of the hormones estrogen and progesterone change a woman’s periods. These hormones maintain the health of the vagina and uterus, and regulate the menstrual cycles

The most common symptoms of menopause are:

Period changes. Many women become irregular. Flow levels get heavier or lighter. There may be spotting between periods.

Hot flashes. These are sudden rushes of heat that can last seconds or minutes. Perspiring and shivering can follow. Flashes can be trivial or strong enough to wake a woman with “night sweats.”

Vaginal and bladder problems. The genital area can get drier and thinner. Infections can become more common. Other problems can make it hard to hold urine.

Difficulties with sex. Vaginal dryness can make intercourse painful.

Sleep problems. Some women find they may not fall asleep easily or may wake too early. Their sleep is disturbed by trips to the bathroom. Hot flashes awaken them.

Body changes. Loss of bone tissue can weaken your bones and cause osteoporosis, a disease in which the bones become extremely porous and more fragile. With age, waists thicken, muscle mass is lost, fat tissue may increase, skin may get thinner.

Heart disease is a major threat for older women. In fact, heart disease is the major cause of death in women, killing more women than lung or breast cancer.

In menopause, a doctor might suggest taking estrogen and progesterone, known as “hormone replacement therapy” or “HRT.” HRT involves taking estrogen plus progestin.

HRT may relieve hot flashes, and reduce loss of bone. However, HRT increases the risk for heart disease, stroke and breast cancer. But it appears to decrease the risk of colon cancer.

Phytoestrogens are estrogen-like substances found in soy, wild yams, and herbs such as black cohosh and dong quai; they may relieve some symptoms of menopause. The government does not regulate phytoestrogens. Scientists are studying some of these plant estrogens to find out if they work and are safe.

Be sure to tell your doctor if you decide to eat more foods with phytoestrogens. Any food or over-the-counter product that you use for its drug-like effects could interact with other prescribed drugs or cause an overdose.

If you have a question, please write to fredcicetti@gmail.com.

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Straight From Starrucca

Following is a complete list of persons printed on the November ballot of Starrucca Borough for the town council: Robert Buck, Daryl Haynes, Anthony Palonis, Fred Rhone and Kirk Rhone.

Write-ins for town council are: Bridgette D’Agati, Paul Everett, Robert Weldy and Gale Williams.

Mary Debalko is on the ballot running for mayor as Frank Mroczka is resigning.

Let’s have a better showing of voters than we had at the primaries.

Rikki Pearson, Odessa, Texas, is staying with her mother, Ruth Slocum who is recuperating from heart surgery. Hope it isn’t too long, Ruth until you’re up and at ‘em.

Pauline Salamida, 94, a patient at St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem, PA passed away on October 26. She was the mother of Marie Gurske, Starrucca. Also surviving is a son.

We were sorry to hear that Laverne Rhone suffered a slight stroke at home. He spent several days in the hospital and is now under the care of his sister, Jeanine.

Betty McLean of Windsor, NY was a caller Wednesday at the home of Charles Levchak.

The nuns report that the old pole barn above the old barn has been painted the same color as the house. They’re puzzled over the killing of their drake, while being shut up in the barn.

The activities of the Piercy family is always interesting and refreshing. Following is an example of their time so gainfully spent.

This fall has been busy for the Piercy family. It started when they arrived home from two weeks with Grandma in Marco Island, Florida and then went straight to the Harford Fair for the High School Band Day. School and football games then started immediately after the fair. Caitlin, Natalie and Harrison are in the Saber Marching Band. Along with playing for the football games, the Saber Band accompanied the Blue Ridge Raiders Band to the University of Massachusetts for Marching Band Day. They performed at halftime for the UMass vs. Rhode Island game with 3,700 other band members from all over the Northeast. Before returning home they performed at the Six Flags of New England then enjoyed the rides and roller coasters. One week later the two bands joined others and performed at West Point. An Army precision parachute team parachuted into the football stadium to begin the game, bringing the game football with them.

In between band and homework, Caitlin and Natalie have been working on their senior project. Chuck Welch from Hobbs Country Market asked the girls to help with the Masonic Lodge CHIP Program. This Child Identification Program is available to all PA children free of charge. The Masons received permission to offer this opportunity to the children in the Susquehanna Elementary School but they needed help to advertise and implement the program. So, Caitlin and Natalie agreed to help. Last week the Masonic Lodge members, Caitlin and Natalie spent two and a half days at the elementary school where they recorded 390 children’s fingerprints, picture and a video on a mini CD. The CHIP program is Amber Alert Ready and includes a DNA kit for each child. The Masons only keep the permission slip; all information taken is given to the parents to keep. With all the missing young ladies in the news  lately, this Masonic CHIP program is a great idea to protect our children. Parents are encouraged to take the information with them on vacation and if a child is lost, the mini CD can be put on the TV in minutes with the Amber Alert. The Masons also had offered the program this past summer at the Harford Fair and they recorded a total of 1,249 children.

All of the Piercy’s are looking forward to winter sledding as the season approaches.

Cheerio!

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