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Issue Home September 22, 2010 Site Home

COLUMNS:
100 Years Ago
From the Desk of the D.A.
The Healthy Geezer
Library Chitchat
Rock Doc Break The Glass, Douse The Flames
What’s Bugging You?
Dear Dolly
Earth Talk
Barnes-Kasson Corner


100 Years Ago

SOUTH NEW MILFORD: On Monday of last week Stephen Davis was kicked in the stomach by a colt and badly injured. He was carried into the house and a doctor called, but his injuries were too severe and he passed away Friday afternoon. He will be missed very much, as he was a good citizen. He had been a member of the South New Milford Baptist Church for a number of years, also Sunday school supt. He leaves a wife. Mr. Davis was born in Wales and had no relatives in this country. The funeral was held at the church, with burial in New Milford.

BROOKLYN: The school was closed last Thursday to enable those who desired to attend the Montrose fair, and a large number went. It was also closed for the Harford fair. ALSO We were told that E. S. Eldridge sold the apples in his orchard right on the trees for fifteen hundred dollars. Who says it doesn’t pay to set out apple trees? It must be that kind of people that never prune and take proper care of their orchards. Good for Mr. Eldridge. We would like to sample some of those nice apples.

SOUTH MONTROSE: Mr. Hudgins, the blacksmith, has purchased the meat block factory of Abram Lake and contemplates making a residence of the same.

MONTROSE GARAGE AND AUTO COMPANY: has opened its garage at No. 23 Chestnut street, which makes a very convenient place for the same. It is a very neat and commodious building, handy of access and egress, with fine hardwood floors, making an ideal show room, which we understand will be filled with some of the latest models of the best cars on the market, so that prospective buyers may have an opportunity to inspect the car and have a practical demonstration of the same. Those purchasing cars will be taught to run them and care for them until they have become proficient themselves. They have installed an up-to-date gasoline tank and pump, with a centrifugal filter, so that gasoline bought there will be absolutely free from water or any foreign substance, as gasoline used without filtering causes an endless amount of trouble to the autoists. ALSO Last Friday afternoon the aeronauts at the Montrose fair made a successful ascension that was viewed by a large crowd. After going to a great height the parachute was cut loose and the aeronaut landed safely near the residence of J. J. Ryan on Lake avenue. The balloon sailed towards the courthouse, landing on the telephone and electric light wires, from which it was cut down. No admission was charged at the grounds, as the crowds on previous days had been disappointed in seeing a successful ascension.

LITTLE MEADOWS: Our school has opened with Morris Beebe, of South Apalachin, as teacher. We all wish him a successful term. ALSO Little Meadows was well represented at the Owego fair last week, and Fred Ailport’s horse won first prize in the running race.

SPRINGVILLE: Last Saturday evening some person or persons entered the chickery of G. P. Stang with the evident intent of carrying away some of his poultry. They were heard, however, and nearly caught. He got so near them that he was afraid to use his shotgun, but fired later. Whether anyone was hurt or not could not be determined. Barns are also being entered and grain and feed stolen. Someone will get a dose of birdshot and then the culprit will be known.

HALLSTEAD: George Lamb, of Hallstead, has been appointed to take over the run of Engineer J. W. Spence, who turned his engine over to the newcomer yesterday morning. The change had been rumored for a couple of weeks, Mr. Lamb being one of the oldest engineers in the service, having the right to select the run he chose, providing the engineer was less years in the employ of the company. Mr. Spence has been engineer on the Montrose branch of the Lackawanna practically since the road was opened some twenty years ago. Mr. Lamb has been in the employ of the Lackawanna for forty-one years and is one of their most trusted engineers. Mr. Spence plans to move his family to Scranton, taking a run on the main line.

SOUTH GIBSON: County Treasurer W. G. Morgan was here to see his sister, Miss Wordie Morgan, who was injured a few days ago in a runaway. Miss Morgan was riding from Carbondale to her home with Rural Carrier Boulter, when the horse became frightened and got beyond control of the driver. Both were thrown out, Miss Morgan sustaining a broken bone in the wrist and also serious bruises which have since confined her to bed. Mr. Boulter also was badly bruised and painfully injured.

CHOCONUT: Schools in this township mostly opened the fore part of the month. The Chalker school opened Sept. 5, Miss Mary Dunn teacher; the Donley school, Sept. 12, Miss Susie Murphy, teacher; the Golden school, Sept 12, James Hawley, teacher.

NORTH BRIDGEWATER: While Andrew Fancher and son, Leon, were driving near the North Bridgewater creamery last week, they were met by a large touring car. Their horse became frightened, throwing them out, dragging Mr. Fancher a considerable distance in his effort to stop his horse.

FRANKLIN TWP.: Edmond Webster and family attended the Webster reunion at the home of Ernest Ingram, on Howard Hill. ALSO William Smith, of Franklin Forks, one of the old veterans, started for the National Soldier’s Home, at Johnson City, Tenn., Monday morning. The state furnished his transportation.

GREAT BEND: Mrs. Henry Hendrickson defended her home against two would-be house breakers last Thursday, says the Susquehanna Transcript. Mrs. Hendrickson was alone in the farm house, which is some distance from other dwellings, when she was advised by phone that two suspicious characters were enroute toward her home. Mrs. Hendrickson at once took down her husband’s double barrel shotgun and loaded it to kill. Soon the two men made their appearance and when they discovered that a woman was alone in the house they took steps to force entrance. About that time the plucky woman unmasked her battery and the tramps or robbers beat a rapid retreat.

ELK LAKE: M. L. Biesecker and Phil Risley have both just purchased a new up-to-date steel fishing rod, new reel and lines, and now have them ready for business.

They say, look out Mr. Bass.

NEWS BRIEF: By direction of the Post Office Department, patrons have been asked to provide facilities for the reception of their mail by erecting conveniently accessible boxes or cutting suitable slots in their doors. Such action would enable the postmaster to give a more prompt and better delivery by not having to wait for an answer to their ring.

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From the Desk of the D.A.
By District Attorney Jason J. Legg

A few days ago, I received a call from a Democratic friend who wanted to talk about the column and his concerns about some of the weekly columns that dealt with political issues. He said that he was wondering whether I was allowed to be a “partisan” in the column. This raises an issue that comes up periodically over the column and the extent to which my personal views, political views, or religious views or even just a plain old opinion appear here on the written page. As I have said before, after 7 years of writing (and nearly 350 individual pieces), the column has become very personal to me - and I discuss a wide spectrum of things here from criminal justice to political issues to intensely personal feelings. It is a great privilege to have the space that the papers provide to me - but I have also said many times that the editors make the call as to whether the column gets printed, not me.

In any event, I considered whether I have been too partisan in my weekly musings. Partisan is defined as “a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause or person: especially: one exhibiting blind, prejudiced and unreasoning allegiance.” I never wanted to consider myself as being someone with blind, prejudiced or unreasoning allegiance - but I know that I am a firm supporter of my political party - even with its faults and weaknesses. In reality, we live in a two party system and no reasonable person will agree with everything members of his or her party espouses all of the time. On the other hand, there are some general principles relating to each party that we should be able to accept and firmly support. The acceptance or rejection of these principles is hopefully a decision that is based upon a knowing and considered decision - not a partisan leap of faith.

When I select political issues for the column, I have attempted to deal with them with fairness. I will admit that the columns dealing with politics normally are written with more ease than some of the more legalistic columns, and, from the reaction I receive, the political columns are the ones that more people talk about. And that is the whole point of the column - it is not necessarily the ending point in the discussion, but an invitation to a more open discussion. As I told my friend, I love whenever I get the opportunity to talk to readers of the column regardless of whether their opinion agrees with mine. I have made many friends who initially contacted me angry over something that I wrote here - and there have been lots of lively discussions and debates over things.

In terms of departing from partisan politics, there are issues out there that burn me to no end that are neither Republican nor Democratic issues. For instance, the entire idea that both political parties believe that they should maintain the privilege to have the taxpayers pay for the creation and the mass mailing of political materials disguised as “official business” is offensive to me, i.e., the franking privilege. Members of Congress can mail out any “official” mailing without paying postage - and they take incredible advantage of this privilege by sending out self-promoting campaign-like materials under the guise of “official” business.

In 2007, reports indicate that federal lawmakers spent $20 million on these mailings and other self-promotion materials. In 2009, the figure more than doubled to $45 million. While in the grand scheme of things, these numbers are small in trillion dollar budgets, the truth is that you need to start somewhere to balance the budget. Admittedly, the franking privilege has been around a very long time, but the time might have come for it to end. In 2007, there was a bill introduced to end this long standing privilege, but (surprise) it never made it out of committee. Of course, none of our “official” mailings from our elected representatives ever explained why this bill died - or even the amount of money that we could save if lawmakers stopped sending up political junk mail.

There are so many other options out there for our lawmakers to reach out to constituents that are just plain free that the continuation of the franking privilege indefensible. If a lawmaker wants to provide regular updates, submit something to the local papers (like this column) - and I guarantee that it will gladly publish it. Then you can add regular town hall meetings together with email updates to those who ask for them and the use of the internet for a webpage that can provide all kinds of valuable and important information. I suspect that this is not a partisan issue as I would bet folks from every political spectrum get a little irritated when they see these “official” mailings in their mailbox - and they think about the cost. The problem is that the lawmakers do not consider the cost - and that is a problem that spans both sides of the aisle.

Please submit any questions, concerns, or comments to Susquehanna County District Attorney’s Office, P.O. Box 218, Montrose, Pennsylvania 18801 or at our website www.SusquehannaCounty-DA.org or discuss this and all articles at http://dadesk.blogspot.com/.

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The Healthy Geezer
By Fred Cicetti

No Healthy Geezer This Week

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Library Chitchat
By Flo Whittaker

No Library Chitchat This Week

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Rock Doc
By Dr. E. Kirsten Peters

No Rock Doc This Week

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What’s Bugging You?
By Stuart W. Slocum

No What's Bugging You This Week

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Dear Dolly,

No Dear Dolly This Week

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EARTH TALK
From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

No Earth Talk This Week

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Barnes-Kasson Corner
By Cara Sepcoskiw

No Barnes-Kasson Corner This Week

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