RUSHVILLE: Former County Treasurer R. N. Jones’ farm house came near being destroyed by fire on Saturday afternoon. The fire was discovered, having caught from a heater, and but for the assistance of some half hundred men, who promptly formed a bucket brigade (buckets supplied from the stores of Daniel Terry and Charles Bowen) and after hard work succeeded in quelling the flames, the building would have been destroyed. The house is occupied by R. J. Haney and is located on the Wm. H. Sherwood farm, being at one time used as a hotel. ALSO, at East Rush, while enjoying the fine coasting on Newton Hill, at East Rush, Miss Anna Morley met with a serious accident. She was riding on a sled with Miss Stockholm and when going at terrific speed they crashed into a telephone pole. Miss Morley was rendered unconscious, had her nose broken and was badly bruised about the face. Dr. A. L. Hickok dressed the injuries.

HEART LAKE: A chicken house, owned by George C. Bayless, was burned this morning at about 4 a.m. It caught from some live coals in ashes that had been placed in the building, it is presumed. The lives of all the chickens were saved.

OAKLEY, HARFORD TWP.: During the late severe cold snap water pipes froze on C. L. Snyder’s and C. M. Tiffany’s farm, and unless a thaw or rain comes soon, a water famine seems imminent, as wells and streams are very low.

THOMPSON: Mr. and Mrs. C. M. Lewis, Mr. and Mrs. H. P. Mead, Miss Julia Mills and Miss Deline Fritz, have gone to Florida to spend the rest of the winter.

GREAT BEND: Dr. Frederick Brush, superintendent of the New York Post Graduate Medical School and Hospital and son of A. G. Brush of East Great Bend, has recently won first prize in Collier’s vacation story contest over 3,000 competitors. The prize was $100 and the story will be published in the spring. This is the second prize that Dr. Brush has won in Collier’s contests.

HALLSTEAD: On Thursday morning, about 6:30, the Misses Katharine Fitzgerald and Laverne Franks, while crossing the river to go to their work at the silk mill, the ice gave way and the two young ladies fell in and surely would have been drowned only for the heroic action of Margaret Murray. She also crossed the river that morning but got across safely. Miss Fitzgerald sank twice and was about to go under the third time when Miss Murray rescued her. She was removed to the home of Mrs. H. Doherty, on Railroad street, where she was made as comfortable as possible and Miss Franks was taken to her home in Great Bend. Both will be able to be out in a few days. Miss Murray deserves a Carnegie medal.

MONTROSE: One of the most interesting of the new books on the juvenile shelves at the library is entitled “Elliott Gray Jr.,” by Colton Maynard. As a successful, beloved teacher, the author had a wide acquaintance among boys, and his characters are real flesh and blood specimens. The story describes the first year at a preparatory school where athletics play an important part in making the boys not only strong physically, but true and honorable. Colton Maynard, whose untimely death brought deep sorrow to many friends, spent many of his boyhood days in Montrose as the guest of his grandmother, Mrs. Henry Warner.

WEST AUBURN: F. L. Possinger has received his commission as postmaster, to succeed A. F. Lacey, who resigned.

BROOKLYN: Miss Alice Lee, the gifted authoress of this town, is spending some time in the Bermuda Islands in company with her cousin, Miss Gertrude Resseguie, of South Gibson. Miss Lee’s new book, “Cap’n Joe’s Sisters,” will be issued this month by the Stokes Publishing House.

ELK LAKE: The men of the town are passing the days and long winter evenings playing crokinole at Stevens’ store. Lee Green is the champion player.

SUSQUEHANNA: Our new Erie restaurant, under the management of James Sherman, is largely patronized by traveling and town people. ALSO, Eisman & Hersch are remodeling and beautifying the interior of their store.

SOUTH NEW MILFORD: It was rather cool here last Saturday morning - 18 below zero and 14 below Sunday morning.

HERRICK CENTER: Several sleigh loads of people from Forest City were happily entertained at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Jones in honor of her birthday.

SPRINGVILLE: Feb. 17, at 8:15 p.m. the Orphean Musical Club, a male quartette, will hold forth at the Methodist Episcopal church. This is a magnificent opportunity to hear one of the leading musical organizations of the country. The program will be a varied one and will consist of vocal quartets, horn quartets, solos, illustrated songs and impersonations. There will also be a “Brass Quartet, consisting of a cornet, mellophone, baritone and trombone. Admission 25 cents.

UNIONDALE AND TIRZAH: Sleighing parties are the order of the day (or night rather) in this place, about every evening when the weather will permit from one to three large parties will make the night merry with songs and laughter. It must be the girls are taking advantage of leap year and taking their best fellow for a ride.

FRIENDSVILLE: Our school is progressing fine with Mr. Calby, of Montrose, as the new teacher.

FOREST CITY: Mine inspector S. I. Phillips, of Scranton, will give two addresses in the Welsh Congregational church next Sunday. The first will commence at 10:30 a.m. and the second at 6 p.m. All the Welsh people of Forest City and nearby who are interested in St. David’s day are earnestly requested to attend a meeting Sunday evening after the service.

I sat in the church pew a few weeks ago and listened as the priest read a letter written by the Bishop attacking a new federal mandate that was going to require Catholic hospitals, universities, schools and other Catholic entities to purchase health care insurance products that violated the tenants of the Church’s teachings. The letter was a masterpiece - a short history lesson in religious freedom and a reminder that liberty will always remain endangered by the totalitarian nature of governmental authority. As the words flowed, I realized that the words were echoes from the fiery sermons that our Founding Fathers heard at their little churches as the colonists struggled with the question of what to do about a tyrannical monarch that trampled upon their divinely granted natural rights. There is nothing more fundamental to the American experience than religious liberty and freedom - and the Catholic Bishops have powerfully reminded all Americans, not just Catholic Americans, that no government can trample on those sacred rights.

If you are not Catholic, you probably did not hear or read the letter - and you may have only received garbled and misleading news reports about its content. The media is working hard to make this a political issue, an election issue or something akin to a public policy debate. There are also the reports that disparage the Church and its teachings on contraception and birth control. Finally, there are also the misleading reports that this has to do with reproductive rights - not religious freedom - and that the Bishops want to deny women their right to reproductive healthcare. The bottom line is simple: this is not about employee rights as a Catholic employer does nothing to prevent an employee from purchasing whatever he or she wants to purchase outside the context of the health care plan provided by the Catholic employer.

Let me put this to you in another way, the fact that the county health insurance plan does not provide me with dental insurance does not mean that I have lost my right to seek dental care. It simply means that I have to pay for that care out of my pocket. I still have the right to get my teeth cleaned - and I have not been denied any of my “rights” by the absence of the insurance coverage. The media has so polluted the rights discussion to the point that they have mutated rights into entitlements - and once you understand this distortion, you realize just how dangerous and toxic it becomes to the very fabric of the American conscience.

The Bishop used the following language to describe the mandate that required Catholic employers to purchase products for employees that violated the tenants of the Catholic faith: “The Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty... We cannot - we will not - comply with this unjust law.. . Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America’s cities and towns, its infrastructures and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have their posterity stripped of their God given rights. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. I hope and trust she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.”

Thankfully, members from both political parties have heard the call from the Catholic Bishops and they are responding, including Democratic Senators who are willing to openly oppose their own president in an election year. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) has joined forced with Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) in the Senate to introduce “The Religious Restoration Act of 2012,” which would reverse this federal mandate. Our own Senator Robert Casey has likewise criticized this federal mandate and indicated that the federal government should not force any faith-based entity to violate its religious faith. It is rare to find something that both sides of the political aisle can agree on, but religious freedom rightly tops the list.

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/.