FAIRDALE: Isaac Hart died at his home on September 22, 1911. Mr. Hart had been in ill health for some time and the second stroke of paralysis brought on a hasty decline. Mr. Hart was born in Jessup Township, in 1841, and at the beginning of the Civil War left his farm and served in Co. B of the 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry. While in service under, General Sherman, he was captured and taken to Salisbury, North Carolina prison, where he was confined until the surrender of Gen. Johnson. Mr. Hart is survived by his wife, Almira and two sons, Frederick and John. The G. A. R. Attended the burial, at Fairdale, in a large body.

MONTROSE: Chas. M. Sherman passed away on Sept. 24, 1911, at his boarding place here. He was buried on Tuesday afternoon, in the Montrose Cemetery, the services being largely attended by the G. A. R. comrades. Mr. Sherman was born on August 18, 1836, in Jessup Township, and at the time of the war became veterinary surgeon of the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry of Volunteers. He served under General Sherman in his famous march to the sea, and was among those envied veterans who marched past the Capitol at Washington, in that grand review before President Lincoln. Mr. Sherman is survived by one brother, Jesse, of Binghamton.

SPRINGVILLE: Stuart Riley can be seen daily enjoying a ride in his new car, the Ford.

HOWARD HILL, LIBERTY TWP.: Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Stanton visited their friends in this place. Mr. Stanton, who has been Supt. of the Orphanage, at Brookdale, has moved to Deposit, where he will enter the Evangelistic work.

FLYNN: If the fast-driving continues on our road it certainly will have to be widened, as it seems as though one extreme follows another. It seem as though when they are debarred on one kind of amusement on Sunday night they will take up another.

AUBURN TWP.: Chas. E. VanGorden has been a very busy man during the month. His peach orchard, of 2,200 trees, are producing a great crop again this year and it is necessary to see that they are marketed quickly when ripe. The Albertans have all been picked and later varieties are now coming on. While he has shipped a large number of baskets, the largest amount of the crop is taken by purchasers who come to the orchard. ALSO, at Bennett Corners - What we need in this section, and that badly, is a telephone. There are some fifty families here that would be glad of a phone. This ought to be an inducement to some of the lines who are near there.

KINGSLEY: The Kingsley hotel, owned by F. W. Tennant, of Clark’s Summit, was burned to the ground Thursday night and a large barn adjoining the hotel was also destroyed with all its contents with the exception of the horses. A heavy thunder storm passed over the town and it is supposed that lightening caused the fire.

HALLSTEAD/SUSQUEHANNA/GREAT BEND: August 29, a burly fellow by the name of Thomas McGarvey, a section hand on the D.L.& W., working at Hallstead, who it is said was from Philadelphia, was arrested on a charge of assault and battery, and placed in the lock up at Hallstead, awaiting a hearing the next morning. But, he never had the hearing. Very soon after being locked up, some friend or pal, with an ax or sledge, smashed in the door and liberated McGarvey, who made good his escape. However, the vigilant constable, Elmer Decker, did not despair of landing the fellow and knowing that he had a pay check coming from the D.L.& W., sent notices to Scranton and Binghamton, where he would probably sometime call for same, to be on the look out for him. Sure enough, he called at Scranton for his pay last Saturday and while he was detained, ostensibly to be identified, officials were notified. Constable Decker immediately got out a warrant against him for breaking jail, went down to Scranton and brought him to Montrose, where he will answer to the grand jury. While he did not break jail, yet he will be tried upon that charge. It is an unusual, strange case. When told that it would be much easier for him if he would reveal the man’s name who smashed in the door, he said that he did not know his name, but could identify him if he saw him, and said that the man was a short, thick built fellow.

LYNN, SPRINGVILLE TWP.: Never in the history of the oldest inhabitants in this vicinity was there ever such a crop of hickory nuts known as this year; whenever there is a hickory tree the ground is covered with them.

BROOKLYN: Mr. and Mrs. Paul Cameron will move to Scranton, Mr. Cameron having accepted a position in the Woolworth store. They are highly esteemed young people and have many friends who will regret to lose them from the community.

NEW MILFORD TOWNSHIP: P. K. Harding, an esteemed and prosperous resident, together with his family, will go to California in the early part of October, where they will remain for the winter, and if conditions please them, and they find that they deem an advantageous purchase of real estate, they will make their home in California hereafter. They have a son who has lived there two years and is very enthusiastic about California.

FOREST LAKE: The Warner school is closed for sometime on account of the illness of the teacher, Miss Cole. Dr. Gardner and a nurse, from Scranton, are caring for her.

HOP BOTTOM: A moving picture show took us by storm last week, judging by the large number of people in attendance.

GREAT BEND: Aviator C. P. Rodgers landed here on Friday afternoon on Carl’s Flats, on his way to Binghamton. It was a splendid exhibit and about twenty-five hundred people quickly gathered to look the aeroplane over. A large number wrote their names on the machine. A purse was made up and presented to Mr. Rodgers before he sailed away. Everyone there wished Mr. Rodgers success in reaching the Pacific Coast.

NORTH BRIDGEWATER: A demonstration of farming with dynamite will be given Friday afternoon, Nov. 3, at 2 o’clock, by the DuPont Powder Co., on S. D. Warriner’s farm. They will demonstrate stump blasting, as dynamite will remove these cheaper and quicker than stump pullers. Also, boulder blasting, ditching, draining swamps, subsoil plowing and breaking hardpan and planting orchards.

It is funny how ideas for this column originate and the best ones always come from the readers. I was at a local eating establishment the other day for lunch when a reader came up to me to discuss the column - and I thanked her for reading and encouraged her to let me know if there was anything she wanted addressed. She did have an idea and we ended up in a political discussion regarding taxes, spending and government. In particular, we had a nice debate on the issue regarding increasing taxes on the “rich” under what President Obama is now calling the “Buffet Rule.” She asked that I do a column on it.

If you missed this priceless political theater, Warren Buffet recently did a “op-ed” piece where he argued that it was not fair that he had a lower tax rate than did his secretary. Some people have run with this idea to suggest that Buffet pays less in taxes than his secretary - which is obviously not true. What Buffet is talking about has to do with the difference between the capital gains tax and the income tax. Because Buffet is an investor, he generally pays capital gains taxes on the returns from his investments - not income taxes. Because his secretary is receiving an income from her employer (Buffet), she pays an income tax. Thus, Buffet argues that because the rate of taxation of capital gains is lower than the rate of income tax, it is not fair that he pays less than his secretary.

There is a fundamental flaw in Buffet’s argument - Buffet is talking about money he is making on his investments, not monies he is earning from his employment. Where did the money to make the investments come from? Well, it was earned at some point and time - and for most Americans, it is money that they have managed to save from their paychecks. The money that we invest is the left over disposable income that we manage to save after we pay federal income taxes, payroll taxes, state income taxes, local income taxes, local property taxes, sales taxes, mortgage payments, car payments, utility bills, gas costs, grocery bills and other ordinary expenses.

The money that most Americans invest has already been taxed by the government the first time it was received as income - and we then get taxed again when we wisely invest that money in a manner that generates a positive return. Investment return is obviously different from actual income from daily employment. The question is whether the tax code should treat it the same or different. The issue really has nothing to do with Buffet and his secretary - that is nothing more than a diversion from the real issue which boils down to how great of a percentage should capital gains be taxed? It has been masked under the guise of the “Buffet Rule” so that folks do not think about their own retirement accounts and just how much this increase in capital gains will cost them down the road.

In any event, I told the reader that I knew a lot of people who would be considered “rich” under the new $200,000 a year standard now being floated out there for increased taxation - though most of them do not live anywhere near Susquehanna County. I can say categorically that the “rich” folks that I know are not opposed to paying more taxes to help this country get out of its problems. It stings them to be criticized for not sacrificing enough - especially when they know that they pay the bulk of all income taxes already and nearly half the population does not pay a dime.

They would be willing to sacrifice more for their country in terms of taxation. Even though I do not fall above the new mythical definition of rich folks, I would also be willing to pay more in taxes in order to help my country. I would say that everybody I know regardless of their income would likely be willing to kick in a little more money to save this country. Americans will sacrifice for the right reasons - we are the most generous country in the world - and our charitable giving demonstrates it time and time again.

On the other hand, a sacrifice has to mean something. If it does not, then it is not a sacrifice - it is an act of stupidity. Given the current state of affairs in Washington, the suggestion that taxpayers sacrifice more of their personal income to the government rings hollow as it would be an empty gesture. If there was some indication that the political leaders in Washington used our tax dollars wisely and frugally, then the taxpayer would know that their sacrifice actually had some real meaning. In the absence of any fiscal responsibility in Washington, the willingness to pay more in taxes cannot rightly be claimed a sacrifice - it can only be labeled as an act of enabling bad behavior.

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/.

It's time for a flu shot.

You can get the flu vaccine from your doctor, and at public health facilities, senior centers, pharmacies and supermarkets. The vaccine can be administered anytime during flu season. Adults over 50 are prime candidates for the vaccine because the flu can be fatal for older people.

There are two types of vaccines: the injection and the nasal-spray. There are three different flu injections available: a regular flu shot approved for people ages 6 months and older; a high-dose flu shot approved for people 65 and older; and an intradermal flu shot approved for people 18 to 64 years of age.

Fluzone, Fluzone High-Dose, and Fluzone Intradermal are all injectable influenza vaccines made up of the three flu strains most likely to cause illness during a particular flu season.

Fluzone High-Dose is a new influenza vaccine designed for people 65 years and older. Fluzone High-Dose vaccines contain four times the amount of antigen contained in regular flu shots. Antigen is the part of the vaccine that prompts the body to make antibody to fight the flu. The additional antigen is intended to create a stronger immune response.

Human immune defenses become weaker with age, which places older people at greater risk of severe illness from influenza. Also, aging decreases the body’s ability to have a good immune response after getting influenza vaccine.

Fluzone Intradermal was introduced for the 2011-2012 flu season. The flu vaccine is a shot with a smaller needle that is injected into the skin instead of the muscle. It requires less antigen to be as effective as the regular flu shot.

The nasal-spray flu vaccine is called Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine (also known as LAIV or FluMist®). LAIV is approved for use in healthy people 2 through 49 years of age who are not pregnant.

The 2011-12 flu vaccine protects against seasonal flu and H1N1 (Swine Flu), just like last year's vaccine. However, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that you should get another dose of vaccine this season.

Flu season in the northern hemisphere can range from as early as October to as late as May. The peak month usually is February.

More than 200,000 flu victims are hospitalized annually in the United States. The death rate from flu ranges from 3,300 to almost 49,000 a year.

The flu strikes the elderly the hardest. About 90 percent of flu deaths in the 31 flu seasons between 1976 to 2007 occurred in people over age 65.

Flu is a contagious illness of the respiratory system caused by the influenza virus. Flu can lead to pneumonia, bronchitis, sinusitis, ear problems and dehydration.

Droplets from coughing and sneezing spread the flu. An adult with flu can infect others beginning one day before symptoms develop and up to five days after becoming sick. Children may spread flu for more than seven days.

The best way to combat the bug is to get the flu vaccine. The vaccine does not prevent flu in all people.

Contrary to rumor, you can’t catch the flu from the vaccine. The flu vaccine is not made from a live virus. The recovery time for the flu is about one to two weeks. However, in seniors, weakness may persist for a longer time.

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

On a recent vacation, my husband and I traveled to the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. This part of our country has always interested me and I have read many books that were set in these states. In many respects, these states looked just as I thought they would with gorgeous vistas and vast range lands, and they were sparsely settled, except for the big cities.

Have you ever read a book set in a distant locale and wondered what it would be like to actually explore that location? A trip to there may not be possible, but as a library card holder, you can use your computer to learn about countries around the world.

The Susquehanna County Library has acquired a database called Global Road Warrior (GRW). This program allows you to explore the world from the comfort of your home or you can check it out at the four library locations in Montrose, Hallstead/Great Bend, Susquehanna or Forest City. By means of GRW, you can learn facts about 175 countries. It includes maps, photos, 92 data categories, food and recipes, points of interest, and much more.

If you wish to further expand your horizons, the Library also offers to library card holders an online language lessons through the interactive program Mango Languages. Check our website www.susqcolibrary.org for more details.

Don’t have a library card? Stop in today at your nearest library location. Remember it is the goal of the Susquehanna County Library to be your resource for lifetime learning.