SILVER LAKE: All the cottages are closed for the season except the Corbett cottage.

OAKLEY, HARFORD TWP.: The “blessed sunshine” was never more welcome than after the long rainy spell. ALSO, E. E. Titus’ dog, Max, pays his own tax and some besides. During the past month he has brought to his master the carcasses of 40 woodchucks and one skunk. Last week he put a gray fox up a tree, where George Palmer shot it.

GIBSON: The Gibson Star Grange presented “Pumpkin Pie” during the Lecture Hour. Sister Ethel Manzer presented a very interesting essay on “The Pumpkin.” Then Sister Benson recited a piece telling us how to eat pie in Pennsylvania. A prize of a pumpkin pie was offered to the one who brought the largest pumpkin. Sister Grace Davis received the pie. Pumpkin pie and cheese were served at the close of the meeting.

AUBURN TWP.: One of the prettiest weddings of the season occurred at St. Bonaventure’s church, Auburn, Oct. 11, 1911, when Miss Margaret, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Cavanaugh, was united in marriage to Mr. Wm. L. Thayne, of Auburn Corners, by their pastor Rev. M. J. Kelly. Miss Winnifred Thayne, sister of the groom was bridesmaid, while Edward Burke, of Meshoppen, acted as best man. The bride was attired in silver gray silk poplin and carried a gold rosary, while Miss Thayne was gowned in Alice blue messaline, both wearing black plumed hats. They will go to housekeeping at once at Auburn Corners, where the groom is a successful farmer.

CHOCONUT: Mrs. Charles Downs and five children, owing to the death of her husband, expect to remove to Little Meadows. Mrs. Downs was formerly Miss Reardon, a teacher in the township school of this county.

MONTROSE: Messrs. N. A. Warner and O. R. Cook have been engaged in painting the court house tower the past week or ten days - between rains. The face of the old clock is brighter and approves of the work being done. The steeple of the Presbyterian church has also been watched by many people, with interest, during the past fortnight, while a “steeple Jack,” from Binghamton, was giving the steeple, which towers into the air considerably over 100 feet, a coat of white. The entire church is being repainted. Photographer Bronson took a snapshot of the daring painter at work on the top of the pinnacle.

RUSH: Virgil Burch, of Aspen, Colo., arrived at the home of his father-in-law, A. D. Gary, Saturday evening. Mrs. Burch and children have been here the past few months, and we understand they expect to locate somewhere in the East.

ALFORD: Joseph H. Page, one of the best known contractors in this region, died at his home here, Oct. 20. Mr. Page was born in New Milford 76 years ago, the 29th of last July. He resided for a time in Vermont, coming here in 1849. He became a contractor on the DL&W railroad when the double track was laid between Scranton and Hallstead. He had a contract between Alford and New Milford, afterward taking the contract for building a section on the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg railroad in western New York. He had the contract and built the Laurel Line from rocky Glen to Scranton. Later he had charge of building the branch of the DL&W from Keyser Valley at Scranton. He is the last of three men who lived on adjoining farms in the northern part of Brooklyn township, who were successful contractors in railroad building and construction work.

FOREST CITY: O. F. Coyle’s Pot Luck Club had a spread last evening. Warren Crandall, of Uniondale, and his fiddle, made music. “B’ar” meat was on the bill of fare. ALSO, quite a number of the [coal] company houses have been repaired and painted. This is an improvement.

DIMOCK: E. L. Titman and E. O. Bailey were at Tunkhannock last Saturday to hear Gov. Woodrow Wilson, of New Jersey, speak.

ROYAL, CLIFFORD TWP.: John Bennett’s auction sale of cattle and horses, last Friday, was well attended. He had 20 cows and five horses. The cows averaged $21; the best horse brought $186. Almost everything was sold for less than it was worth.

SOUTH MONTROSE: P. P. Osborne, one of our progressive citizens, is talking of putting steam heat in his home. Mr. Osborne believes in having some comfort of life as we go along.

BROOKDALE, LIBERTY TWP.: Our school house was improved during institute week, by the walls being nicely papered. Charley Southworth, of Lawsville, did the work.

JACKSON: Don’t forget the Hallowe’en social to be held at Roberts Hall, on Oct. 31. Everyone is requested to mask. A good supper will be served.

HOP BOTTOM: What came near being a sad drowning accident occurred at the county bridge at Foster (Hop Bottom) about 4 o’clock Tuesday afternoon, as the children were returning from school, when Albert Pratt fell into the creek at the bridge. The water was very high and running swift, on account of the late rains, and the boy was at once swept off his feet and was lost in the rushing waters. About 40 rods below, a small foot bridge crosses the creek and the alarm was given, and a gentleman, of whom we did not learn his name, rushed to the middle of the bridge just in time to see the helpless boy rushing by, unconscious. Without a moment’s hesitation he jumped into the water and rescued the boy. He was resuscitated by Dr. Taylor.

NICHOLSON: The Lackawanna Railroad Co. is planning to build, at Nicholson, a concrete viaduct over the Tunkhannock creek, which it is said will eclipse the Starrucca Viaduct, which has been the pride of several generations in this section. The viaduct at Nicholson will be 2,700 ft. long and 235 ft. above the creek. The piers will be 240 ft. from center to center. This will be the largest viaduct in the United States. It will take a large force of men between three and four years to construct it.

DUNDAFF: E. P. Chambers, our oldest citizen, who is nearly 90 is slowly recovering from the injuries he received by being knocked down by a bicycle.

SOUTH ARARAT: Last Thursday, while Mrs. Geo. Wells was visiting Mrs. Henry Davis, some “light fingered person” entered her home and stole her son, Basil’s bank, which was said to contain about $15.00.

I had someone send me a short news blurb on a study by the American Red Cross where nearly 60% of all American teenagers polled supported the use of water boarding and sleep deprivation as investigatory tools, and a similar number of teenagers indicated that they did not oppose killing captured enemies who had killed American citizens. The blurb was titled “Torture and Teens,” and it asked the following question: “How do we explain this streak of brutality?”

The title of the article and the rhetorical question basically tells you the writer’s perspective. The writer opined that today’s youth are so “brutal” as a result of television programs and movies, video games, and even “Bush era” policies supporting “torture.” In particular, the writer “brutally” attacked the television serious “24” and the main character, Jack Bauer, for desensitizing American children to violence and torture. The writer called Jack Bauer a “ruthless ‘hero’” who “killed 266 people onscreen to protect us from ‘terrorism.’” Yes, it was Jack Bauer and President Bush who made our children love torture.

Even since I received it, this news report has been sitting in my email inbox fermenting as I struggled with how to address the issues raised in it. The recent capture and apparent prisoner execution of Moammar Khadafy (I know that there are lots of different spellings of his name) brought it back to the forefront, along with the recent reports of the United States now openly using assassinations (American-born radical Muslim cleric and terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki) as a foreign policy tool.

A few years ago, I wrote a column about torture in response to a comment that Justice Scalia had made suggesting that torture may not violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. I received a few angry letters concerning my endorsement of “torture.” As with most columns, the intent was not to endorse “torture” as an investigatory tool, but to generate some thought on what constitutes torture and how to define it - and how do we balance the use of uncomfortable investigatory tools to protect the public against the individual right to be free from torture. Admittedly, this is no easy task.

Frankly, I would suspect that if you asked a teenager if they opposed torture, the teenager would likely tell you that they did oppose it. As any pollster knows, how you ask the question will likely determine the response to it. If you ask about specific acts like water boarding or sleep deprivation, as opposed to the broader term torture, it is fairly predictable that you will get responses that suggest more support for those activities. I don’t think that Jack Bauer made them do it - though I suppose we should not rule out President Bush as they claim he caused everything from unemployment, to deficits and debt, to failing banks, to mortgage foreclosures, to unclear air and water, to teenagers supporting the use of sleep deprivation as a tool to save American lives.

As noted by many commentators, President Bush never authorized the assassination of an American citizen living abroad. Moreover, when Saddam Hussein was captured during the Bush Administration, he was accorded a trial under Iraqi law before they put the rope around his neck and hung him. If the writer of the article was concerned about the “brutality” of the Bush Era policies having a negative effect on teenagers, I wonder what the writer is thinking after Moammar Khadafy’s execution when he was a prisoner and the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki. What will the teenagers think?

If polled, I suspect that the majority of teenagers will again approve if the question is asked the right way. I know that while I have some reservations, my general reaction would be approval as well, and if there is something wrong with that, then I can always blame it on President Bush. But then again, as Jimmy Buffet once said, it might be my own damn fault.

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/.

An organization cannot remain static. It has to change to meet different circumstances. This year the Susquehanna County Historical Society and Free Library Association (SCHS & FLA) has revised its by-laws. In years past, the Association has held its Annual Meeting in Montrose the last Saturday in January - an iffy time of year for traveling in this county.

One significant change resulting from the revised by-laws is that the Annual Meeting will now be held on Saturday, November 5 from 2 to 4 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (60 Church Street) in Montrose. Everyone is invited to join us and refreshments will be served. You can take this opportunity to meet the Association’s Board of Trustees and hear reports on the SCHS & FLA’s 2011 activities and its future plans. Following the business session, there will be a talk about the Montrose Historic District given by Jeffrey Marshall, Chief Preservation Officer of the Heritage Conservancy.

Another anticipated change that you will be seeing at all of our library locations (Forest City, Hallstead/Great Bend, Montrose and Susquehanna) in the next couple of months will be a new circulation system. Libraries throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are in the process of switching to this new system. Once implemented, the new system will mean some mandated changes in library policies, such as most fines will change to 25 cents and that the borrowing period from videos and DVD’s will be one week. Check out a preview of this new system and other upcoming events at the library’s website www.susqcolibrary.org.