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COLUMNS: NORTH JACKSON: The laying of the corner stone of the annex on the North Jackson M. E. church will take place June 6, at 2 p.m., with appropriate services. Rev. J. S. Crompton, of Providence, will deliver the address. Dist. Supt. Rev. L. C. Murdock, Rev. B. R. Hanton and others will also take part. Every Sunday school scholar is especially urged to be present as this annex is to be used as a Sunday School Room. FOREST CITY: Benjamin F. Maxey was appointed by Judge R. B. Little as the first mine inspector of the newly created eighth mining district comprising the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne and Sullivan. Mr. Maxey was the only one of the four candidates to qualify, three other candidates from the Scranton region taking the examination. The candidates were required to answer a list of 100 questions pertaining to mining, at least 90%, of which must be answered correctly. Mr. Maxey has been a resident of Forest City the greater part of his life. For 25 years he had been a mine foreman and for some years has held the position of inside foreman at No. 2 shaft. He opened the first mine at Forest City and all the mines which have since been opened. MONTROSE: M. S. Dessauer, on Saturday, closed his dry goods store after being continuously in business for the past 47 years. His wish was to round out a full half century, but he was prevailed upon by his family to retire and enjoy his remaining years free from business cares. Mr. Dessauer’s head clerk, William Beck, is to go into business for himself, handling a line of clothing, dry goods and carpets. Mr. Beck worked in the Dessauer store more than thirty years. HEART LAKE: The resort is now open for the season of 1911. The resort has been much improved and is now in first class condition for picnics, excursions, house parties, reunions, etc. On Memorial Day a large number visited the lake and enjoyed boating and fishing. In the evening Proprietor Frank T. Mack opened the season with a dance in the pavilion which was well patronized by the young folks. SUSQUEHANNA: A young Italian woman named Angelo, while picking coal on the Erie tracks here, last Saturday morning, was ground to death under the wheels of the cars. Her head was severed from her body, falling through a trestle to the road below, both legs were severed and the body terribly mangled. It is believed she was under a car picking coal, when another car was shunted down and she was unable to crawl from beneath the wheels. She was married only a few months ago. HARFORD: The old veterans gathered at Odd Fellows Hall Sunday morning and were escorted by a large body of Odd Fellows to the Congregational church, where they listened to an eloquent memorial sermon by Rev. F. G. Webster. The church was filled with citizens gathered to do honor to the surviving few. The following old soldiers were present: Capt. A. T. Sweet, Dr. Brundage, William Patterson, L. Hawley, T. M. Maynard, Wm. Ira Carpenter, E. R. Flint, Charles Felton and Mason Richardson. KINGSLEY: Dr. E. M. Carpenter, of Mexico, but recently of Jersey City Heights, arrived in town Tuesday to visit his brother, H. E. Carpenter. ALSO, W. W. Wilmarth and son are moving the Horace Sweet house from the Sweet farm, lately purchased by them, to their home farm for a tenant house. HERRICK CENTER: Nelson Tonkin and family arrived from California Monday, after an absence of over seven years. Friends and relatives here welcome them cordially. AINEY: Percy Ballantine, of South Montrose, while returning from Scranton with a large truck automobile, got ditched near Frank Taylor’s. He was assisted by Eddie Millard and Olin Taylor, who with their teams drew the car onto solid ground, and Mr. Ballantine and men returned the next morning and took it home. [Mr. Ballantine is constructing barns, lighting plants, etc., on the 600 acre farm - specifically a large horse barn, the building for the water system and the building for the lighting system. Among the contracts to be let will be the large buildings for the use of the dairy, cows, etc. The property later became known as the Louden Hill Farm. Mr. Ballantine was the founder of P. Ballantine & Sons brewery and built his summer home at this location.] SPRINGVILLE: The last train south on Sunday broke a couple of rails at this point. The section men were hastily called and soon got the track in shape for the train to proceed. ALSO, in Niven, Springville Twp., Mrs. Sarah Palmiter, for many seasons past, has had the prettiest lawn of anyone for many miles around, flowers of all kinds being in great abundance at all seasons. RUSH: Mrs. Benjamin Anderson has opened an ice cream parlor at her home in the Almira Smith house. She handles first-class factory cream. AUBURN FOUR CORNERS: Mr. and Mrs. Tracy Darrow, of Binghamton, with their four daughters, visited at the home of Mrs. Fred Russell on Saturday, remaining until Tuesday. Mr. Darrow made the trip in two hours with his new touring car. HALLSTEAD: Memorial Day was appropriately observed by the Civil War Veterans, Spanish War Veterans, Odd Fellows and Red Men of this place. UNIONDALE: This writer did his best to find out how far this town can go back in years, and found that it is as old as any in the county. There is no whipping post now but something like a twin brother. A certain man, who does not keep a horse to our knowledge, went to borrow one from a certain family to make a trip of about one mile, so he said. The horse did not return at the time he should have, so the owner tried to locate his whereabouts and found that the fake driver had driven him a great many miles instead of only driving to the railroad station as bargained. The owner of this fine young horse sent his wife and she found the animal tied, hitched to a wagon, when this certain man had just told he was in the stable and well cared for. She saw by the looks of the horse that he had had most unkind usage. Quick as a flash she got a rawhide buggy whip and put it on the fellow for certain. This is just what he should have had long ago, only much harder. There is an old saying, “every dog has his day.” We wish there were more ladies like her living in our town, to repeat the same treatment. NEWS BRIEF: Too many political platforms are made up of gang planks.
From the Desk of the D.A. I received an email the other day from a reader who wanted me to explain what type of checks and oversight were in place to provide a check against public corruption. The question referenced the public scandals arising out of Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties which raise the obvious question: How did the system fail so badly? Given the interest expressed by the reader, in future columns, I will address some of the different systems in place to provide some level of oversight over county government. In this column, I will focus on only one - victim advocates. When I served on the 11-member Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice, this was a question that we spent 9 months trying to understand. There are countless rules and regulations that should have prevented what happened in Luzerne County. There are also agencies charged with oversight of the county government that should have spotted and corrected the abuses that were occurring in Luzerne County. But none of this supervisory structure worked to prevent the scandals. In response to the Commission’s request for input, some experts advocated for the creation of a separate state agency, an ombudsman office, to oversee juvenile court. In other words, such an ombudsman would have become a monitor for the players in the juvenile court proceedings to assure that the things were done properly, i.e., an independent observer who sat in the courtroom and simply watched and noted what was happening. In the end, the Commission declined to accept that recommendation as it was believed that other means could accomplish the same result without the significant fiscal obligations that the creation of a whole new state agency would have demanded. Moreover, the court system already has some advocacy groups that currently serve a similar function. One such advocacy group in Susquehanna County is the Women’s Resource Center, which provides services for victims of physical, emotional and sexual abuse. The Women’s Resource Center has trained advocates that appear with victims in court proceedings to provide support to the victim throughout the proceedings. These advocates are there to fight for the victims - and, at times, that means fighting against the prosecutor for the victim’s rights where it is believed that a prosecutor is not taking the appropriate course of action. For the past decade, I had the privilege of working with Martha Cuomo, who served as a dedicated advocate for abuse victims in Susquehanna County through the Women’s Resource Center. I cannot even begin to approximate the number of victims that Martha sat next to over the course of the past ten years providing them with much needed support. Martha was a fierce advocate for the rights of abuse victims and she was relentless in her pursuit of justice. When you watched Martha work, you knew that her advocacy was more than just a job - it was an extension of her personality. As with any good victim advocate, she cared about the people she was helping. Martha made sure that things were done right - she was there before the proceedings to battle for the victim, she was in court beside the victim during hearings and trials, and she was there afterward for sentencing proceedings. While Martha and I had our share of battles, I can also say that her advocacy also provided a bridge between the criminal justice system and the victims themselves that tremendously assisted in my ability to communicate with the abuse victims. I was just a young prosecutor when I met Martha - and she began to school me on how imprecise words affected victims. What I understood I was saying was often different than what the victims would be hearing. Martha opened my eyes to the different perspective from which abuse victims see the world. This has been a continuing process - and even in a recent case, Martha called to tell me how what I thought I was communicating was not conveyed. Given the level of trust that a prosecutor needs to have with an abuse victim, Martha’s advocacy helped me build better relationships with victims who have no reason or inclination to trust a judicial system that has generally failed to protect them. This type of advocacy is hard work - emotionally and physically - and it takes its toll. Martha recently announced that she was taking a break and stepping away from the advocacy world. I am hopeful that she will recharge her batteries and be back in some capacity. The criminal justice system needs advocates like Martha, not only to keep an eye on what we are doing, but to be the eyes, ears and voice of victims. Martha and victim advocates like her throughout the Commonwealth are one mechanism that helps to keep the system working properly. 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 As a health reporter, I have to follow as many studies as I can to stay on top of the latest research. The best part of this self-education is reading some of the weird stuff going on in academia. It occurred to me that I should share some of these reports with my readers. So, from time to time, I'll do a column on what I call “Silly Science.” Here goes... I Believe, Therefore I'm Fat A study by researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago found signs that people who attend religious services put on more weight. The researchers reported that 32 percent of those who attended services the most frequently became obese by middle age. Only 22 percent of those who attended services the least became obese. One theory for the difference in poundage was that many eating traditions surrounding religion involve constant feasts or desserts after services or at holidays. Another possibility, researchers said, was that people who attend services, Bible study and prayer groups aren't getting enough exercise. (None of the scientists involved considered the fact that most sins burn off calories.) Breast-Feeding Makes Bigger Brains Researchers at the University of Durham in England found that brain size relative to body size was most closely associated with the length of time a mother breast feeds and carries her offspring in pregnancy. According to the research, the amount of time spent breast-feeding affects brain growth after birth; the length of pregnancy determines an offspring's brain size at birth. They also said the findings from their study of humans and 127 other mammal species offer further proof that breast-feeding is good for brain development and support the World Health Organization's recommendation that babies should be breast-fed exclusively for their first six months of life, followed by continued breast-feeding with other foods up to age 2 or longer. "We already know that large-brained species develop more slowly, mature later and have longer lifespans, but what has not always been clear is why brains and life histories are related," lead investigator and anthropology professor Robert Barton said. “One theory is that large brains increase lifespan by making the animal more generally flexible in its behavioral responses to unpredictable challenges.” (I'm waiting for a study that explains why larger brains seem to lead to more self-destructive behavior.) Contagious Itch At Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina, researchers investigated the causes of contagious itch. "It is conceivable that the neuronal networks or mechanisms underlying contagious itching may be similar to the ones involved in contagious yawning, a phenomenon that is still intensely studied, but not exactly clear," dermatologist Dr. Gil Yosipovitch said in a medical center news release. "The brain has such a powerful contribution to itch, and by understanding it, we may be able to develop future therapies that can target these areas and relieve the itch impulse," he added. The researchers said it was especially interesting to find that visually induced itch led to scattered, whole-body distribution of scratching. (What I want to know is why I get an itch in an unreachable place in my back just as I'm going to sleep.) If you have a question, please write to fred@healthygeezer.com.
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