FOREST CITY: The county commissioners of Susquehanna and Wayne counties met here last Friday and let the contract for the new bridge to span the Lackawanna River. The contract goes to a Pittsburg contractor and will cost from 8 to 10 thousand dollars, being let on the per yard basis. The bridge would have cost more but something more than 40 feet was taken off from each end of the contract work. The bridge has been a long felt want and has been under consideration for many years and will be hailed with joy by both counties, especially the farmers of Wayne Co., who sell produce in the mining city.

MONTROSE: The road connecting Montrose, as a county seat, with Scranton and Binghamton, is 9th on the list of state roads to be built, under the general appropriations for that purpose and work, it is stated, will be commenced next spring. The present survey follows the creek road from the northern end of the Brooklyn road, near Jack Smith’s, north to the old East Bridgewater creamery; thence to Tiffany and up the old plank road to Montrose, coming in by way of the creameries and Harrington’s; and thence down to the center part of the town. The course may take in Heart Lake, or may go by the way of Tiffany, or even another route, but in any event, Montrose will be the objective point, both north and south, although it may not be on the direct route between Binghamton and Scranton.

LINDAVILLE, BROOKLYN TWP.: Alvah Quick, who had an operation at Scranton hospital last week, died at 1 a.m., Sept. 18, at that place. Joseph Quick, of this place, a brother of Alvah Quick, died at his home at 4 p.m. the same day. A very sad coincidence. Alvah was a veteran of the Civil War and a staunch Republican. The farms of the two brothers adjoined. ALSO, (more on the Ely cottage) L. S. Ely, E. F. Ely, Ed. Ely and Chester Watrous are building a fine cottage on the southwest side of Ely Lake. It will have wide, spacious porches and it will be a fine place to pass away the hot, summer days. It is thought by many that if the trolley road from Scranton to Binghamton is built, this beautiful sheet of water will become a popular resort. Ely Lake is one of the cleanest sheets of water in the county, one being able to see the sportive pickerel, etc., in a depth of ten or twelve feet.

ROYAL: A. C. Severance, our merchant, has remodeled his auto, doing the work himself, except the painting, which was done by R. E. Wells, our carriage painter. The auto now is one of the best lookers in town. He and his auto are at the Allentown Fair this week.

GREAT BEND: There are 200,000 words in the English language, and most of them were used last Sunday by a lady who discovered, after coming out of church, that her new hat was adorned with a tag on which was written: “Reduced to $2.75. ALSO, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Miller, known as the Riding Millers, who are making a 10,000 mile bicycle ride for a purse of $1,000, stopped at Miss Fannie Reed’s school at McKinney’s Mills, near Great Bend, one day last week. They started their trip on June 3, from Toronto, and have already ridden 4,000 miles. They have a year to complete the 10,000.

HALLSTEAD: As Leon Swartz was resting quietly in his bed, he saw in the distance Cronwell Dixon approaching on his terrible aeroplane. The plane was apparently headed straight for the bed room window which it entered at one fell swoop. Fearful lest the propeller blades should convert him into a Welsh rarebit, Swartz, in a dream, of course, began to whack at the plane with the bed clothes. Despairing of escape he gave one last swipe at the man bird and then opened his eyes, nearly suffocated. During his struggles all the plaster had fallen from the ceiling of the room taking with it the lath and other debris, the whole mass almost knocking Swartz senseless. He dug his way out of the mass and summoned a doctor who found his injuries painful, but not serious.

LENOX: Sunday school at the Wilson school house and at the Chapel every Sunday; there is such a large attendance at the Chapel that it requires two secretaries to look after the books. May Peace with her white wings hover over all and let the good work go on.

LANESBORO: Mrs. Minnie Lee, charged with murder of her husband, Willis Lee, appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to the charge and was remanded to custody of the sheriff.

UNIONDALE: School opened Sept. 11 with Miss Anna Chamberlain as principal, Miss Blanche Hoppe, intermediate, and Miss Mae Chamberlain, primary.

EAST NEW MILFORD: A portable saw mill owned by J. D. White was burned yesterday morning at about 4 o’clock near East New Milford. A spark from the smokestack started the fire and it was burning fiercely when employees discovered the flames. The loss is estimated at about $400.

FOREST LAKE: Forest Lake has been stirred the past week by what has been feared is an epidemic of typhoid fever. The illness of some 14 people, more or less afflicted, gave rise to the theory that there was a general outbreak of the dread malady, but physicians, while admitting the typhoid symptoms are present, do not diagnose the cases as typhoid. Miss Louise Cole, daughter of Dr. A. B. Cole, is one of the most seriously ill. The fact that a majority of the sick were in attendance at a recent wedding in that vicinity gave rise to the belief that the malady might have been contracted through food eaten, but this theory has been disproved.

SUSQUEHANNA: The Erie Co. has issued an order forbidding trainmen to furnish playing cards and boards to passengers who have been in the habit of indulging in pinochle, solitaire, seven up and bridge on its passenger trains. Neither the card players nor the trainmen are happy over the order. The former like to while away a dull time and trainmen gathered in several dollars a day in tips. The company has no objections to the passengers bringing along their own decks and playing to their heart’s content. The company declares that the game has become a nuisance, all the best seats being preempted by the players and further declares that trainmen and conductors frequently become so interested in the games that they were liable to neglect their duties, especially when contests between players became exciting and boisterous occurrences that annoy passengers.

BINGHAMTON: Bicyclists along the Erie enjoyed seeing Aviator James Ward, in his flying machine, which was following the Erie tracks from New York to Buffalo.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal did an interesting piece in their Health and Wellness section called “Testing the Limits of Tipsy.” It involved an experiment with several attendees at a party to determine the level of their blood alcohol content over the course of the party - and it demonstrated just how difficult it is to predict with any certainty your BAC level. Basically, the article talked about how physiology of metabolizing alcohol is affected by countless factors - weight, diet, stress, sleep, gender, race and other personal characteristics.

The study looked at three separate party guests and tracked them throughout the course of the evening. First, there was Helen, who was a 5 foot, 5 inch, 145 pound, 65 year-old woman. She consumed two vodka tonics and one glass of white wine - and nibbled on shrimp, vegetables and chicken during the course of the party. At 8:30 p.m., she had a BAC reading of .01%, which increased to .06% about thirty minutes later, and then reached the level of .10% by 10:00 p.m. In other words, after those three drinks, consumed over about a three hour period of time (one drink an hour), she was over the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle. Helen had been on a low-carb, no alcohol diet for the previous 3-months. As such, the researchers concluded that the alcohol hit her particularly hard and it probably affected the manner in which her BAC level spiked so quickly.

Second, there was Katie, who was a 5 foot, 5 inch, 110 pound, 24-year old woman. She slowly consumed two vodka sodas, never even finishing the second one, and ate very little. At 8:30 p.m., she had a BAC reading of .07%, which actually dropped to .05 about thirty minutes later, but then spiked back up to .079% by 10:00 p.m. At that point, after consuming less than two full drinks over nearly three hours, she was right near the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle (.08%). If she had finished the second drink, she would have likely been over the legal limit. Katie had the least to drink of any of the subjects studied, but still ended up with one of the highest BAC levels. The researchers concluded that her slight frame coupled with her infrequent consumption of alcohol likely impacted on her high BAC level.

Third, there was George, who was a 5 foot, 10 inch, 171 pound, 58-year old man. George drank five glasses of wine and ate carrots, hummus, chicken and vegetables during the party. At 8:30 p.m., George had a BAC reading of .02%, which had increased to .04% about thirty minutes later, and finally peeked at .06% by 10:00 p.m. George was still under the legal limit even after the 5 glasses of wine. George had just returned from a business trip to Spain and the researchers believe that fatigue and dehydration may have played a role in what was a surprisingly low BAC reading. Even George registered surprise that the 5 glasses of wine were not having a greater impact on him.

The research demonstrates the unpredictable nature of BAC levels - and the difficulty for those consuming alcohol to truly know when they have had enough. The legal BAC level for adults operating a motor vehicle is now at .08% in all 50 states. Researchers continue to suggest that it should be lower and note that reaction times begin to slow at around .04%. In other countries, the BAC levels for operating a motor vehicle are much lower. In China, there is nearly a zero tolerance policy with a legal BAC level of .02% (which is the rate in Pennsylvania for those under 21 years of age). In most of India, the legal BAC level is .03%. The Journal also noted that most of the European countries have adopted .05%.

In Susquehanna County, the average BAC level of our DUI offenders has always been over .16% ever since this office started keeping that statistic - nearly double the legal limit of .08%. I would estimate that out of the 200 or so DUI cases that we do a year, less than ten of those offenders would fall into the level between .08% and .1%. It is far too common to see offenders with BAC levels over .2% and even over .3%. Unfortunately, the vast majority of our DUI offenders are not those persons who have had one too many drinks at a party - they are folks who should know that there is no way they should be operating a motor vehicle. Still, the Journal’s study provides a good lesson for everyone that there is no good way to really know what your BAC level may be - and you need to be very careful if you are out drinking and know that you have to drive home.

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/.

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. From time to time, I do a column on research about “Silly Science.” Here's another...

Hungover Surgeons

"Historically, the medical profession has had a reputation for high rates of alcohol consumption," Anthony Gallagher, of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, wrote in the Archives of Surgery. "It is likely that surgeons are unaware that next-day surgical performance may be compromised as a result of significant alcohol intake."

To measure the degree of impairment brought on by alcohol, the Royal College researchers invited eight surgeons and 16 students out for a night of revelry.

Half the students and all of the surgeons were encouraged to drink until they felt drunk. The rest of the students consumed no alcohol.

The next day, all the subjects performed surgery on a virtual reality system. Those with hangovers did worse than when they were tested before the night out.

See No Fat

Some people think they weigh less than they do, according to a study reported by the American Heart Association. In the study of women and children in an urban population, most normal-weight women and children in the study correctly estimated their body weight, but most obese women and children underestimated theirs.

With her colleagues, Dr. Nicole E. Dumas of Columbia University Medical Center surveyed women and their pre-adolescent children attending an urban, primary care center in New York City. The researchers found that 66 percent of the mothers surveyed were overweight or obese, and 39 percent of children surveyed were overweight or obese. More than 80 percent of obese women underestimated their weight compared to 43 percent of overweight and 13 percent of normal weight women. More than 85 percent of overweight or obese children underestimated their weight compared to 15 percent of normal weight children.

Anogenital Distance

Baylor College of Medicine researchers tell us that “anogenital distance”- the gap between a man's scrotum and anus - may provide information about fertility.

In a recent study, the Baylor group investigated whether anogenital distance differed in fertile and infertile men. They measured the scrotum-anus distance as well as the penis length of 117 infertile and 56 fertile men visiting a clinic.

The infertile men had a significantly shorter anogenital distance and penis length than the fertile men, the study found.

"This could represent a noninvasive way to test testicular function and reproductive potential in adult men," said Dr. Michael Eisenberg, the study's lead author. He said that more research into this subject is necessary.

"We would all like a simple, noninvasive way to predict potential problems with fertility in men, but unfortunately, this one is not ready for prime time," said Dr. Elizabeth Kavaler, a urology specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.

If you would like to read more columns, “How to be a Healthy Geezer” is available at www.healthygeezer.com.