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COLUMNS: CLIFFORD: Harvey M. Birchard of the Register’s office, was a business visitor in Forest City and reports an exciting adventure in the “wilds” of Clifford Township, between Carbondale and Forest City, where the trolley cars ran off the track, and he had to “hoof it” the remaining three miles to the city. Harvey says the walking was good. BIRCHARDVILLE: Benj. W. Clark arrived here last evening from the National Soldiers’ Home, Johnson City, Tenn. Mr. Clark says that all the “boys’ at the home from this vicinity are well and getting fat. SHANNON HILL, AUBURN TWP.: Will Overfield and Lena McGavin were married last Wednesday by Rev. Father Kelly. They visited Binghamton and Wilkes-Barre friends on their wedding trip and returned Sunday evening. They will reside with Mrs. Overfield’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. James McGavin. BROOKLYN: The Ladies Aid of the Universalist church will serve a “Corn Supper” at the Austin House on the evening of March 8. The menu will consist of mush and milk, hulled corn johnnie cake, hominy and cake. A free offering will be the only charge. RUSH: A sleighload of Rush people went to Camptown last Saturday to visit their former neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Theron Hardic. Among them was Mrs. Abbie LaRue, who met with an accident that might have proven very serious. As she was going in the bedroom to put on her wraps she opened the cellar door by mistake and plunged to the bottom of the cellar. She was badly shaken up and bruised about the head and chest, but is now considered out of danger. MONTROSE: Mrs. Abel (Adelia) Turrell, our oldest resident, passed away on Saturday, aged 93 years. She was the daughter of Erastus and Polly Wright Catlin and was born in Bridgewater Township on Butterfield Hill, near South Montrose. Mrs. Turrell’s father and his brother, Luther, came to this county about 1810 from Litchfield county, Conn., their cousin, Putnam Catlin [father of the famous Indian painter, George Catlin], having preceded them and was then acting as land agent for the Wallace estate. Erastus later removed from Bridgewater to Crystal Lake. After the death of his wife, the family returned to Montrose where Adelia has since resided. Her earliest ancestor, of record, to come to this country, was Thomas Catlin, who arrived in Hartford, Conn. in 1732, the family having held property in County Kent, England, from the time of the Norman conquest. Her marriage to Mr. Turrell occurred Oct. 19 1843. He was one of the most prominent in the town’s history. They commenced housekeeping at once in the new home, built at the corner of Maple and High Streets, where she lived until her death. Mr. Turrell died March 7, 1891. One son survives, Edgar A. Turrell, who has been a practicing attorney in New York city for the past 40 years. SOUTH NEW MILFORD: Martin Decker has moved on the Blanding Farm and Charles Darrow took charge of the poor farm in New Milford on March 1. FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP: A. E Stockholm, who has conducted the Titman boarding house for some months past, intends to return to his farm in Franklin in the spring. Mr. Stockholm’s son, Harry, has secured a position with J. R. Munger and will be employed on Mr. Munger’s farm the coming year. SILVER LAKE/BIRCHARDVILLE: At the cow judging contest at Cornell University, Feb. 22, in a class of 50 contestants, Charles B. Dayton of “Sheldoncroft,” Silver Lake, won first prize and George Dayton, of Birchardville, won 5th prize. GIBSON: W. H. Estabrook has one more set of bobsleds for sale. Call and examine them. ALSO, some of our progressive farmers in S. Gibson are getting out their sugar-making apparatuses and will get busy as soon as the sap commences to run. KINGSLEY: Lawrence Goss, a pupil of the graded school and janitor of that institution, is confined to his home by illness. LENOXVILLE: S. B. Hartley has his gristmill and sawmill in running order and the buzzing saw makes a pleasant sound for the passerby. ALSO, in West Lenox, Wm. Bell, an old soldier, was buried in the Tower cemetery on Monday. They are going down the valley one by one. SOUTH MONTROSE: Dr. J. F. Butterfield, our veterinarian, has purchased an orange grove at River Side, Cal., consisting of 10 acres, and the doctor expects to come east and close up his matters here and to return to River Side about the first of May. THOMPSON: Mrs. Samuel Hubbard fell over her grandson’s hand sled, left on the porch recently, putting her shoulder out of joint and breaking a bone, but she did not put the sled out of commission. ALSO, a little episode in this quiet town Saturday evening - A young man more used to telegraph wires than to lines of a harness, took his best girl out riding with liveryman Bloxham’s best rig. All went well until they reached town on their way home when he turned out and drove by another rig and the horse went on around the corner, [up] the hill, across the track, turned in home and up against the barn and fell dead. The couple sitting in the cutter the meanwhile unhurt. We judge the best girl was frightened, for when she was lifted from the cutter, she went home and through the room where her papa was sitting and to bed without telling him a word about the affair. This is the second good horse Mr. Bloxham has lost this winter, but he has his number complete at this writing. HERRICK CENTER: On Saturday, Feb. 18, the Baptist Sunday School went for a sleigh ride and picnic over to west Herrick. There were in all seven loads and a very enjoyable time was had by all. CHOCONUT VALLEY: The Donnelly school is dismissed on account of their teacher being sick. MIDDLETOWN: Patrick Reilly, one of the oldest and most respected citizens of Middletown, died at 11 o’clock at his home, Sunday morning, Feb 19, after an illness of two days with asthmatic jaundice. He was born in Ireland 88 years ago.
From the Desk of the D.A. Do you like things hanging on your rear view mirror? Are you a big fuzzy dice person? Or do you like the little pine tree air fresheners? What adorns your rear view mirror? Until recently, there was a crucifix hanging off my rear view mirror. Then, I had lunch with a state trooper and got into a discussion about section 4525 of the Vehicle Code relating to windshield obstructions. Under that particular statute, it is unlawful for any person “to drive a motor vehicle with any object hung from the inside rearview mirror or otherwise hung, placed or attached in such a position as to materially obstruct, obscure or impair the driver’s vision through the front windshield or any manner as to constitute a safety hazard.” So, what does this mean? Can you hang something off your rearview mirror? The statute does not prohibit you from hanging something off your rearview mirror, i.e., there is no outright prohibition against it. The question becomes whether the object hanging from the mirror “materially obstructs, obscures or impairs” your vision when you are driving. Frankly, there is a certain level of subjective judgment as to what “materially” means in the context of this statute. It is safe to say that large fuzzy dice obstruct one’s vision more than a crucifix or graduation tassel. But all of these items may be unlawful to hang off your rearview mirror if a court were to determine that they materially obstructed your vision when driving. Recently, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court considered this very issue in the case of Commonwealth v. Jason Holmes. In that case, Holmes had been pulled over at 9:00 p.m. by a patrol officer based upon objects hanging from his rearview mirror. During the course of the traffic stop, the police discovered marijuana, cocaine, a digital scale and a semiautomatic handgun. Holmes sought to suppress all of the evidence by contending that the traffic stop was unlawful as there was not reasonable suspicion of an ongoing traffic violation to support the traffic stop, i.e., the items hanging from his rearview mirror were not an appropriate basis to conduct a traffic stop. The trial court denied the suppression motion and the defendant was convicted and sentenced to a period of incarceration of 5 to 10 years in a state correctional facility. At the suppression hearing, the two police officers testified that there were items hanging from the rearview mirror and that the objects were obstructing the driver’s vision. The officers did not give any specific details about the exact nature of the items hanging from the rearview mirror, nor did the officers articulate as to how these items “materially” obstructed the driver’s vision. For a majority (five justices) of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, this was simply not enough. Without evidence of the specific nature of offending hanging object, the Court determined that the Commonwealth had not demonstrated a sufficient basis to support a traffic stop based upon a violation of the Vehicle Code, and the evidence was ordered suppressed and the conviction reversed. Two justices dissented from the opinion, Justices Eakin and McCaffery. Both have law enforcement ties: Justice Eakin is a former district attorney and Justice McCaffery is a former police officer. For the dissenting justices, a police officer should be permitted to conduct a traffic stop when they see something hanging from a rearview mirror to investigate further to determine whether the object materially obstructs the driver’s vision. In other words, for the dissenting justices, it is difficult for a patrol trooper to make a judgment call when they observed an object hanging from a rearview mirror as the vehicle is moving past them. The patrol officer should be provided the ability to conduct a traffic stop to determine whether the offending object does not materially obstruct the driver’s view. So, what can you hang from your rearview mirror? Well, this recent decision did not really clarify that issue - and perhaps Jason Holmes (the gun-packing cocaine dealer) had hung things from his mirror that materially affected his vision. The problem was that the officers did not document exactly what the offending object was and how it impacted on the driver’s vision. In the end, this is something of a judgment call based upon common sense and driver safety - avoid anything that will materially obstruct your vision. 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/.
The Healthy Geezer Q. My granddaughter came home with a belly-button ring. God help us all. What is going on with these body piercings? Body piercings have become more popular in the last 25 years, but they are certainly not a new thing. People in most cultures have pierced themselves for thousands of years. There are mummified remains of a human in Egypt that was pierced more than 5,000 years ago. Body piercings are also mentioned in the Bible. Piercing the body and inserting jewelry in the holes is classified as a form of skin adornment, a fashion statement. Female ear piercing has long been accepted in Western culture. Now, we see piercings of the navel, nose, eyebrows, nipples, lips, tongue and genitals. Oral and genital piercing are supposed to increase sexual pleasure. A single-use, sterilized piercing gun is usually used to insert an earring into the earlobe. A hollow needle is used to pierce a hole in the skin in other parts of the body. Jewelry is inserted after the perforation is made. You and your granddaughter should know that there are risks to body piercing. Here they are: * Any kind of piercing can lead to infection. * Jewelry can cause allergic reactions, especially if it contains nickel. Avoid jewelry made of nickel or brass. Use jewelry made of titanium, 14-carat gold or surgical-grade steel. * Tongue piercings can crack your teeth and damage your gums. * Body piercing can cause keloids, which are an overgrowth of scar tissue. * Growths called “pyogenic granulomas” can form. A pyogenic granuloma is usually a small red, oozing and bleeding bump that looks like raw hamburger meat. These must be removed. * Contaminated piercing equipment can give you AIDS, hepatitis and tetanus. * Surgery is required if jewelry gets caught on something and tears your skin. Tell your granddaughter that it is important to keep her piercing very clean. She should clean her navel area with warm water and soap twice a day. She should also use a liquid medicated cleanser while gently moving the ring around. (Oral piercings require an antibacterial rinse after meals.) Healing from a piercing can take anywhere from a few weeks to more than a year. Someone with a piercing should not pick or tug it. Never use hydrogen peroxide because it can break down newly formed tissue. Studies have shown that people with certain types of heart disease might have a higher risk of developing a heart infection after body piercing. Anyone with allergies, diabetes, skin problems, immune system disorders or infections should ask a doctor about precautions before a piercing. If you have a question, please write to fred@healthygeezer.com.
Library Chitchat No LIbrary Chitchat
Rock Doc Teaching Compromise Rather Than Science The pubic is bombarded with news reports saying that young people in the U.S. aren’t learning enough about science, especially compared to kids in Asia. I’m not sure that’s true, because I work at a large university where I see very able American students starting to excel in their scientific careers, and I hear back from them as they flourish in later years. But perhaps we really are falling behind. After all, everyone says so. How would we start to investigate that possibility? It’s tough to imagine a single science exam that we could give to kids in places as varied as China, Germany, South Korea and the U.S. Apart from the problems of translation and grading, there’s no reason for the schools in those places to cooperate with such a test. So it’s impossible to directly measure student achievement around the world. Perhaps we better just focus on kids in the U.S. and think about what their science education is like, especially in the crucial grades of high school. What are the meat and potatoes in science classes we are delivering to most of our young people? One fairly easy way to discover what is being taught to American kids about science is to ask their teachers. Biology teachers are of special significance in this regard, because many kids in high school take biology but no other science classes. I’m sad to report the recently published news of what most high school biology teachers in the nation’s public schools say they teach. According to an article published in the prestigious Science magazine, only 28 percent of biology teachers follow the recommendations of the National Research Council and teach the basic theory of evolution by natural selection. As I do the arithmetic, that means an astounding 72 percent of our teachers don’t teach the organizing principle that stands at the base of modern biological science. It’s not that the National Research Council recommendations are really so difficult to achieve. The idea behind them is just to present the evidence behind the theory. There’s a lot of evidence in favor of evolution, ranging from the fossil record that shows more complex plants and animals appearing over time to genetic similarities in groups of organisms. Humans can “make” Chihuahuas and Great Danes out of basic dog-stock by choosing which individuals get to reproduce, thus shaping the next generation of canines over time until we get what we want. We geologists have a lot of time at our disposal - because Earth history is long - so it’s easy for me to see that Mother Nature can also select mamas and papas over time in a way that leads species themselves to change. What can explain why 72 percent of our nation’s high school biology teachers don’t teach basic biological theory in class? The problem isn’t limited to one region of the country, so it’s not just a Bible-belt issue. I suspect the personal religious convictions of the silent 72 percent don’t explain everything that’s happening. I go to church every Sunday; I’ve been doing so all my life. Heck, on a good week, I even put money in the plate. So I can testify that most of the traditional, mainline Christian denominations in this country accepted evolutionary theory around the year 1900. Some high school biology teachers really are Creationists, rejecting every form of evolution. Their views, of course, are not scientific. People are welcome to religious ideas - very welcome in my book. But beliefs given to us by our faith are not what should shape science education. I suspect a lot of teachers in the silent 72 percent are simply taking the easy road. They know that if they teach evolution, some parents will be upset. If the teachers just neglect to mention the theory, who is the worse for it? But it’s our kids who suffer from the fact that we are not teaching the basic theory of biology. We’re not teaching them good science - and by our example we are teaching them cowardice. Perhaps we really are falling behind, both in the realms of science and, even more importantly, of integrity. Dr. E. Kirsten Peters, a native of the rural Northwest, was trained as a geologist at Princeton and Harvard. Follow her on the web at rockdoc.wsu.edu and on Twitter @RockDocWSU. This column is a service of the College of Agricultural, Natural and Resources Sciences at Washington State University.
EARTH TALK Dear EarthTalk: A number of federal energy efficiency related tax incentives expired at the end of 2010. Will any such programs remain in force and if not, are there other ways to save money on green upgrades? -Jen It is true that some federal tax credits for energy efficiency upgrades expired at the end of 2010, but there is legislative effort afoot to extend some of those credits - and there are plenty of other ways to defray the costs of turning over a new green leaf or two this year and beyond. One of the best known green federal tax incentives, the Residential Energy Efficiency Tax Credit - which kicked in 30 percent of the cost of household efficiency upgrades up to $1,500 on items including water heaters, furnaces, heat pumps, central air conditioning systems, insulation, windows, doors and roofs - is no longer available as of January 1, 2011. However, some lawmakers are looking to extend the credit. U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) have drafted legislation calling for keeping the program going, in a slightly revised form, for another two years. “Residential energy efficiency has been identified as the most effective strategy to enhance our energy security and save money on energy bills,” says Snowe. “The residential energy efficiency tax credits…have been key catalysts in improving the energy efficiency of homes throughout the country [and] have driven companies to produce the most advanced products current technology allows…” And if you were thinking you would save thousands of dollars on the price of a Toyota Prius thanks to federal incentives, think again. Federal tax credits also expired at the end of 2010 on the purchase of hybrid gas-electric cars and trucks. However, if you want to roll away in one of the sporty new all-electric cars, such as the Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt, you can now qualify for up to a $7,500 (depending on battery capacity) federal tax credit. The federal government now also offers a tax credit for 10 percent (up to $4,000) of the cost of a kit to convert an existing hybrid vehicle into a plug-in hybrid. All of these programs expire themselves at the end of 2011. Whether or not new federal alternative fuel vehicle incentives crop up for 2012 - when many new ultra-efficient plug-in hybrids from the likes of Toyota, Honda, Volvo and others are slated for release - remains to be seen. Regardless, many states have their own programs to encourage energy efficiency. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) regularly updates its free online State Energy Efficiency Policy Database, which makes accessing information on your state’s energy efficiency programs, standards and “reward structures” as easy as clicking on a map. Likewise, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE) is another free online resource that lists state and federal incentives for buying an alternative fuel car, greening up your home or otherwise embracing energy efficiency. And the Energy Star website details special offers and rebates from cities, towns, counties and utilities on the purchase of appliances and equipment that meet federal standards for energy efficiency. Dear EarthTalk: Aren’t environmental issues primarily about health? Detractors like to trivialize environmentalists as “tree huggers,” but the bottom line is that pollution makes us sick, right? Wouldn’t people care more if they had a better understanding of that? -Tim No doubt many of the ways we harm our environment come back to haunt us in the form of sickness and death. The realization that the pesticide-laced foods we eat, the smokestack-befouled air we breathe and the petrochemical-based products we use negatively affect our quality of life is a big part of the reason so many people have “gone green” in recent years. Just following the news is enough to green anyone. Scientific American reported in 2009 that a joint U.S./Swedish study looking into the effects of household contaminants discovered that children who live in homes with vinyl floors - which can emit hazardous chemicals called phthalates - are twice as likely to develop signs of autism as kids in other homes. Other studies have shown that women exposed to high levels of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants common in cushions, carpet padding and mattresses - 97 percent of us have detectable levels of these chemicals in our bloodstreams - are more likely to have trouble getting pregnant and suffer from other fertility issues as a result. Cheaply produced drywall made in China can emit so much sulfur gas that it not only corrodes electrical wiring but also causes breathing problems, bloody noses and headaches for building occupants. The list goes on and on. But perhaps trumping all of these examples is the potential disastrous health effects of global warming. Carbon dioxide emissions may not be directly responsible for health problems at or near their point of release, but in aggregate they can cause lots of distress. According to the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, climate change over the coming decades is likely to increase rates of allergies, asthma, heart disease and cancer, among other illnesses. Also, it is quite likely that, as global temperature rises, diseases that were previously found only in warmer areas of the world may show up increasingly in other, previously cooler areas, where people have not yet developed natural defenses against them. And the loss of rain forest that accompanies increases in temperature means less access to undiscovered medicines and degradation of the environment’s ability to sustain our species. Given the link between environmental problems and human health, more of us are realizing that what may seem like exorbitant up-front costs for environmental clean-up may well pay us dividends in the end when we see our overall health care costs go down and our loved ones living longer, healthier lives. To help bridge the understanding gap between environmental problems and human health, the nonprofit Environmental Health Sciences offers the free website, Environmental Health News, which features daily reports on research showing how man-made environmental problems correspond to a wide range of individual and public health problems. Even your local TV station or newspaper likely carries an occasional story about the health effects of environmental pollution. We don’t have to look very hard to find examples of environmental neglect leading to human suffering. But with newfound public awareness and the commitment of younger generations to a cleaner future, we are moving in a good direction. SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk®, c/o E - The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com.
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