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COLUMNS: LANESBORO: What may result in a murder trial has been uncovered in the alleged poisoning of Willis Lee. Coroner Ray Lyons performed an autopsy on the dead man’s body and found traces of arsenic, the stomach having been sent to Philadelphia for positive proof that the poison was present. The Lees are said to have had domestic troubles, Lee only recently returning from a month’s absence, it being alleged he had eloped with another woman. Lee’s death occurred Monday under circumstances that indicated arsenic poisoning. A resident stated that only a few days previous Mrs. Lee had asked him to buy some of the poison, handing him the money. The records at Mitchell’s drug store, Susquehanna, show he purchased it. Mrs. Lee, however, when questioned by the coroner, said no arsenic had been in the house for two years. She said she was also ill at the same time as her husband, alleging ptomaine poisoning from canned tomatoes which both had eaten. If poisoning is established, interesting developments are expected. HARFORD: The large creamery, of the Harford Dairy Co., was burned to the ground last Saturday, igniting from the smokestack of the engine room and the ice house nearby was also destroyed. The buildings were consumed in about an hour’s time, it being impossible to cope with the flames with the town’s water supply, the only water available being the creamery supply, which is received through an inch and a half pipe. The creamery is one of the largest in this section of the state and does a big business. Milk and cream are now being processed in the Gibson plant. Besides milk and cream the creamery also did a large business in butter and cheese. It is planned to erect, at once, a new building equipped with the most modern machinery. The creamery is the main business factor of the town. ST. JOSEPH: The dead body of Mrs. Earl VanCamp was found in the front yard of her home on Monday afternoon by two boys, sons of a neighbor named Sweeney, who were passing the house. Mrs. VanCamp had gone to the yard to feed some turkeys, her husband being at work in the field, and as she was a victim of epilepsy, her death was doubtless caused from an attack. Mr. VanCamp has been doubly bereaved within the past few months, an infant son dying during the winter. The couple were married a year ago last New Year’s day. GREAT BEND: A rattler with nine rattles and a button, and over 3 ft. long, was killed on the farm of C. H. Brant, near Great Bend, one day last week. UNIONDALE: Mrs. E. Morgan has accepted the position of teacher in an Ararat school. SUSQUEHANNA: Miss Laura C. Southwick, of Stamford, Conn., has been elected matron of the Barnes Memorial Hospital, to succeed Miss Bertha M. Pierce, who resigned. ALSO, Postmaster Shaeff has received notice that a Postal Savings Bank will be established in the Susquehanna office, July 28. This will be the first bank established in this vicinity. Any patron of a postoffice, which is named as a postal savings depository, may make deposits. GIBSON TWP.: Frank Resseguie is very proud of the ownership of a full-blooded Holstein cow, which holds the world’s record as a milk producer. The animal’s record, as recorded by the official test, is 612 pounds of milk in seven days. ALSO, work has begun toward the erection of a new Hotel building on the spot of the one which burned some time ago. SAYRE, BRADFORD CO.: Andy Mallady, a Sayre balloonist, while making a parachute drop at Troy, Bradford county, the 4th, struck the roof of the court house in landing. He grasped an ornament on the cornice, which gave way, and he fell in plain view of hundreds of spectators to the stone sidewalk. Strong men turned their faces away and women screamed as he struck the pavement with a thud that could be heard for blocks. The ornament also fell upon him, injuring his head. Despite internal injuries and also to his back and sustaining a broken wrist, he is in a fair way towards recovery. MONTROSE: Ten new selections have been received for the Electrova, at the Cnic, and are for the benefit of the patrons fond of classic music. Five selections are from Bellini, the Italian composer, and include the best numbers from the opera “Norma.” Two numbers are also given from Guisseppe Verdi, one of them the notable “Miserere” in the opera “Il Trovatore.” Donizetti’s sextet from “Lucia de Lammermoor,” is listed with the new numbers. Mr. Caruso, proprietor of the Cnic, believes that good music and good pictures are good entertainers - and so he secures both. LITTLE MEADOWS: Our young men are making the mot of their opportunity to treat the girls to ice cream, which is served at W. D. Minkler’s every Saturday evening. BIRCHARDVILLE: George V. Owen has patented a reversible and interchangeable horse shoe calk, which may revolutionize the horse shoe business. The matter of keeping horses “sharp” in the winter, has given trouble as long as our horses have been made to perform the great work for man and this new invention may tend to greatly lessen this annoyance. Mr. Owen is a practical blacksmith, having worked at the business all his life. FOREST CITY: John Bolavitch was drowned in the Hillside Coal and Iron company’s dam, of that place Tuesday. He had gone in bathing and was seized with cramps. He is survived by a widow and two children in Poland. THOMPSON: Improvements are the order of the day with us. A new stone walk is being laid the south side of Jackson street, west of the postoffice. The public watering trough has been moved from the center of the street to one side. LYNN, SPRINGVILLE TWP.: Edward Welsh, one of old time Lynn boys, now an engineer in the Geneva yards, of the New York Central R. R. Co., was here on a visit to his aged mother and brothers, who had not seen him for some years. After spending a few days with them, he returned to his home in Geneva, accompanied by his daughter and grandchild, who live in that city. SOUTH ARARAT: An auto passed through this vicinity one day last week with a lady “at the wheel.” Now who says women are not just as smart as the men?
From the Desk of the D.A. I had a lot of questions from folks over the past week about the Casey Anthony verdict and what I thought about it. My general reaction has been the same - I did not watch the lengthy homicide trial so I cannot identify where I think that prosecution lost the jury. I did see the news reports on the trial and I have listened and read some of the statements of the jurors to the press. The jurors have explained that they did not believe that the Commonwealth established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, that there was no motive proven, and that there was no cause of death demonstrated. The comments of the jurors are always the most interesting part of any trial. If you want to learn as a litigator, then you need to talk with jurors - if they will talk after a verdict. After a criminal trial, I generally try to send out a questionnaire to the jurors seeking their input, criticism and comments in an effort to better understand how to improve as a prosecutor. I am amazed at the things that jurors notice in the course of a trial and the questions and concerns that they have during the trial. I wish that I could say that there is a level of predictability in the reaction of jurors, but it is my experience that you never know what you are going get. Every jury is a unique animal as different as the people who sit on it. In response to some of the questions about the Casey Anthony verdict, I have pointed out that there is a reason that such a high number of criminal cases are resolved with guilty pleas. It is not just a resource issue - though there are plainly not enough prosecutors, defense attorneys, jurors and judges to try a large percentage of criminal cases. We all know that there are not enough resources or public funds to pursue a large percentage of criminal trials. In every plea agreement, the attorneys, victim and defendant all know that there is one certainty - you never know what a jury will do with the case. Negotiated pleas take the mystery out of the equation and provide certainty to all the parties. The things that the Casey Anthony jurors are talking about are common themes that you hear from jurors after any acquittal. The standard of proof is a difficult one - guilty beyond a reasonable doubt - and when a case rests on circumstantial evidence, a skilled defense attorney has fertile ground to plant seeds of doubt. The defendant needs to have only one of those seeds take root in order to prevail - while a prosecutor needs to kill every single one of them. The confusion of the jurors in connection with the motive is also common. The reality is that there are times when crimes are committed without motives. There are senseless crimes that have no discernable motivation - and I would suggest the murder of a 2-year old child and then stuffing her body into a bag and dumping her in a swamp probably falls into the senseless category. Jurors make a fatal mistake when they want to ascribe reasonable thought to an unreasonable act. Defense attorneys always ask jurors: Does this make sense? In my view, criminal acts against defenseless children never make sense - and when you start looking for a motive to rationalize the act, you are engaged in a futile exercise that benefits the guilty, not the innocent. The jurors may have also been influenced by the effect that the media is having on the perception of the general public as to forensic evidence. The television shows that suggest incredible forensic test to uncover evidence are largely fanciful. In reality, most criminal cases never have any forensic evidence to support the charges. The jurors in the Casey Anthony trial lamented the failure of the prosecution to prove the cause of the child’s death, i.e., how did she die? Of course, this demand fails to note that the child was dumped in a swamp where her body decayed making any evidentiary conclusions difficult for an honest forensic expert to make. The defendant effectually got a double benefit from the jury - the jury ignored that the body was dumped (which suggests some criminal culpability) and then held it against the prosecution for failing to provide a cause of death (when the failure was more properly attributable to act of dumping the body to evade a prompt investigation). In the end, the things that jump out at me about the case are simple: (1) the failure to report a missing child for 31 days; (2) the mother’s decision to party and get a “beautiful life” tattoo when everyone else in the community was desperately searching for her child; and (3) the mother’s decision to lie repeatedly to investigators. This is old-fashioned consciousness of guilt stuff - and it is powerful and damning albeit circumstantial in nature. Obviously, there was other evidence presented during the lengthy trial - but these three things are a very strong foundation to rest a criminal prosecution. An innocent person (and parent of a missing 2-year old child) does not act that way - but a guilty person would. 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 [This is the second of two columns on hypnosis.] Hypnosis is one of several relaxation methods helpful for treating chronic pain, alleviated anxiety, reducing the frequency and severity of headaches, controlling bleeding and pain during dental procedures, quitting smoking and ending alcohol dependence. Hypnosis achieves focused attention. It is like using a magnifying glass to focus the rays of the sun and make them more powerful. When our minds are concentrated, we are able to use them more powerfully. Hypnosis - also known as hypnotherapy or hypnotic suggestion - has been a healing practice for thousands of years. Under hypnosis, you're more open than usual to suggestions, and this can be used to modify your perceptions, behavior, sensations and emotions. Although you're more open to suggestion during therapeutic hypnosis, your free will remains intact and you don't lose control over your behavior. Before using hypnosis, you should wear comfortable clothing to help with relaxation, and make sure you're well rested so you won't fall asleep during the session. Choose a therapist or healthcare professional to perform hypnosis. When you do find a potential hypnotherapist, ask lots of questions, such as: * Do you have training in a field such as psychology, medicine, social work or dentistry? * Are you licensed in your specialty in this state? * Where did you go to school, and where did you do your internship, residency or both? * How much training have you had in hypnotherapy and from what schools? * What professional organizations do you belong to? * How long have you been in practice? * What are your fees? * Does insurance cover your services? In general, a hypnotherapist explains the process of hypnosis and reviews what you both hope to accomplish. The hypnotherapist usually induces you into hypnosis by talking in a gentle, soothing tone and describing images that create a sense of relaxation, security and well-being. When you're in a deep trance-like state, the hypnotherapist suggests ways for you to achieve specific goals, such as reducing pain or eliminating cravings to smoke. The hypnotherapist also may help you visualize vivid, meaningful mental images in which you picture yourself accomplishing your goals. When the session is over, either you are able to bring yourself out of hypnosis or your hypnotherapist helps you end your trance-like state. A typical hypnosis session lasts about 30 to 60 minutes. You may benefit from just one session or several sessions of hypnosis. You can usually resume normal activities immediately. You may eventually be able to practice self-hypnosis. The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis recommends that you choose a healthcare provider who is properly trained, licensed and credentialed. This means that the individual has graduate training and holds a currently valid license in a healthcare field, such as medicine, dentistry, psychiatry, psychology, social work, or nursing. This generally also means that the individual holds an academic degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education, and has had supervised experience in offering professional services to clients and patients. An additional benefit of choosing a licensed healthcare provider is that your healthcare insurance may reimburse for services provided, although you should determine this in advance by contacting your insurer or asking your provider. If you would like to read more columns, “How to be a Healthy Geezer” is available at www.healthygeezer.com.
Library Chitchat During last week’s holiday celebration on the Green in Montrose, staff and friends of the Susquehanna County Library set up tents on the building’s front lawn as one of our fund-raising events. Several people stopped by and picked up applications for our third annual Library Lottery. Some people did not realize that the drawing for this year’s lottery had been advanced to July 23. A few people said that they received an application in the mail but had not sent it in yet. If you are reading this column, you have only 10 days left to participate in the 2011 Library Lottery. All monies raised from this Lottery will be used to build a new facility to serve all of Susquehanna County. The new building will house all the administrative offices and the county-wide Outreach Department as well as the Main Library and free up the entire building on the Green for use by the Historical Society. Some have said that tickets are expensive, but you need not purchase a ticket alone - a group of friends, relatives or a club can purchase a ticket together. Remember you could win one of fifty prizes from $500 to the grand prize of $50,000. This year’s drawing will be held from 3-4 p.m. at the free picnic hosted by Cabot Oil & Gas on July 23, at the Harford Fair Grounds. Applications are available at any library location or online at www.susqcolibrary.org/lottery. If you have questions call (570) 278-1881. Applications must be returned by one hour before the drawing.
Rock Doc No Rock Doc This Week
EARTH TALK No EarthTalk This Week
Barnes-Kasson Corner No Barnes-Kasson Corner This Week
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