Howard Hill, Liberty Twp. – Elmer Bailey, who has been in poor health for some time, went to Binghamton last week for medical treatment. Monday his friends and neighbors gathered at his home with their mowing machines, teams, wagons, etc., and assisted in finishing his haying.
Flynn, Middletown Twp. – The few Taft republicans who were here have taken to the brush and it is almost impossible to find one.
Brooklyn – Geo H. Terry is getting the right of way for laying gas pipes for a town plant. ALSO Tracy V. Stephens left Sunday for Nebraska, where he has a position.
Lenoxville – We are fortunate in securing the services of Miss Ruth Jeffers as teacher for the coming term.
Dimock – Thomas Dolan has purchased the trotting horse “Skeeter” from James P. Collins, of Mehoopany, the latter having bought a Ford car.
Montrose – Judge R. B. Little directed the hotel keepers of Montrose to close their bars at 11 o’clock each night and keep them closed until 5 o’clock in the morning. Also to keep their houses clear of loungers of known intemperate habits. The bowling alley and shooting gallery conducted in the Tarbell House basement was ordered closed, which was done the same day. The judge’s order is a good one and will benefit all parties concerned, including the hotel men.
Lake Mont Rose, Bridgewater Twp. – The Consumers’ Water Co. is about to construct a new gate in the dam which holds back the water of the small pond just below Lake Mont Rose. The work of removing the old gate was done on Wednesday afternoon by G. W. Rutan and Neal Chesley, who secured five eels, two suckers and a large pickerel, when the water drained off. Two of the eels weighed five pounds each and the suckers between two and three pounds each.
Hallstead – B. B. Handrick says that the Montrose Republican has been in the Handrick family as a constant weekly visitor for about 75 years. He states that he can remember when it was delivered on horseback, before the days of the stagecoach and locomotive. ALSO Arthur Tallon was drowned in the Susquehanna River, Saturday afternoon, while learning to swim. It is believed that he was taken with cramps or suffered a sudden attack of acute indigestion. Accompanied by George Nichols, who was to act as his instructor, Tallon went to the vicinity of the old stone piers marking the place where the old railroad bridge crossed from Hallstead to Great Bend some years ago. The men were splashing about in the water, when Tallon suddenly sank from sight. Nichols dove for him, along with others on the river bank, and his body was taken from the water about five minutes later. A physician was called but could not resuscitate him. Tallon was 28 years old and is survived by his wife and two children.
New Milford – F. W. Dean held up Lackawanna railroad employees one day last week with a shotgun, while the latter were planning to commence grading for the new cut-off over his land. He looked so business-like that they withdrew and a preliminary injunction was issued by the court on application of the railroad’s attorneys, restraining him from using a gun to retain possession of his land. On Saturday quite a large number of residents of that vicinity gathered at the hearing before Judge Little, where it was argued that the railroad had a special title to the land, a private indemnity bond having been given by the railroad to Mr. Dean. It was shown, however, that Mr. Dean had refused the bond, returning it with a written refusal to C. M. Shelp, the company agent. E. W. Safford, counsel for Mr. Dean, moved for dissolution of the injunction, and the court decided that as the bond had not been accepted the injunction would not be continued.
Springville – At a meeting of the Ladies’ Aid on Friday last, the pastor, Rev. Taylor, gave notice of his intended marriage, in the near future, to Miss Bessie Cogswell, one of the many fair ones of Lynn, and tonight there is to be a real variety shower, whatever that means, tendered them, at the home of the bride to be. Everybody’s doing it. Lynn, Springville Twp.& Bridgewater Twp. – Lemuel H. Bushnell, of Lynn, and nephew R. M. Bushnell of Auburn, were guests during the week of the former’s niece, Mrs. Girton M. Darrow. Lemuel is 85 years of age and was born in Bridgewater, near where he has been visiting. His father, David Bushnell, erected the house at the foot of Bank Hill (Bank St.), now occupied by M. G. Parmentier, the year that Mr. Bushnell was born. One of the men employed in its erection was the late Horace Brewster, who was then a carpenter’s apprentice. Tradition relates that Mr. Bushnell intended using the house for a hotel, but becoming converted at a revival during the process of its erection, refused to make a licensed house of it and occupied it as a dwelling.
Elk Lake – Miss Juliet Arnold and Mr. Hirschberg, of New York city, are the guests of Richard Arnold. The latter is the champion fisherman of Elk Lake, having captured a channel catfish which weighed two pounds, the largest one of the species ever landed here.
Elkdale – John L. Jones is suffering from a badly sprained arm. While returning from Clifford, Saturday night, part of the harness broke and his team ran away, throwing him from the wagon.
Uniondale – Mrs. E. Burns has picked over 2000 quarts of cherries from her orchard of less than an acre. The amount realized after expenses were paid was over $100. And yet some people say that fruit culture does not pay.
News Brief: As a result of protests against the attempt of railroads in the country to charge excess baggage rates on pieces exceeding 45 inches in height, the Interstate Commerce commission has decided to allow the former schedule of rates to continue until Nov. 1.
Savannah Dietrich is a 17-year old Kentucky girl who was raped by two male juveniles after she had passed out at a party. The juvenile rapists also saw fit to take pictures of the sexual assault and later shared those pictures with their friends. Given that it was a juvenile matter, the names of the juvenile offenders were never released – and Savannah’s name would not have been released but for her own decision to bring the case into the public arena.
In the end of June, the two juvenile offenders entered guilty pleas to sexual assault and voyeurism. Savannah contends that she was never contacted prior to the plea proceeding and she was understandably upset that the juveniles, in her words, “got off very easy.” Savannah was informed that the juvenile proceedings were sealed and that she could not reveal the identities of the juvenile offenders. While the juvenile offenders were scheduled for a sentencing proceeding in August, Savannah could not wait that long. In her anger and frustration with the juvenile system, Savannah took to the Twitter-world where she not only revealed her identity as a sexual assault victim, but she unmasked the identity of the juveniles who raped her.
In her message, Savannah admitted that she had been told that she was ordered not to disclose the juvenile’s names and that she was threatened with incarceration if she took those steps, but she was past the point of truly caring. Savannah defiantly declared: “So I’m waiting for them to read this and lock me up.” At another point in her cyber-messaging, Savannah stated: “There you go. Lock me up. I’m not protecting anyone that made my life a living Hell.”
In what can only be described as legal idiocy, the attorneys for the juvenile rapists filed a contempt petition seeking to have Savannah punished for contempt of court, which under Kentucky law carries imprisonment of up to 6 months and a fine of up to five hundred dollars. What probably would have flown under the radar as a local story suddenly became a national story as a result of the legal brilliance of the defense team. One of the defense attorneys was lamely quoted as suggesting that he had filed the motion to enforce the law that protects juvenile offenders. After the national barrage of media attention and outrage, the defense attorneys later withdrew the contempt petition but they were adamant that the media coverage had nothing whatsoever to do with that decision. Yeah, right.
So if it was not the media coverage, what made these astute legal eagles decide it was time to withdraw the petition? The learned defense counsel was quoted as saying: “The horse is out of the barn. Nothing is bringing it back.” My good fellow, the horse was out of the barn before you filed your ridiculous contempt petition – the only thing you accomplished was to make certain that the horse started running like Secretariat at the Belmont Stakes.
The defense attorneys represented two juvenile rapists who not only took sexual advantage of an unconscious teenage girl, but decided to document their depravity with photographs which were later shared with their friends. Despite the gravity of the crime, the prosecutor and the judge agree to some lesser charge – apparently over the victim’s objections. With the sentencing date looming, the distraught victim lashes out through social media and identifies the juvenile offenders, albeit in violation of a court order. What defense strategy involves publicly seeking contempt charges against a rape victim before your client has even been sentenced? I can just hear the argument now: “Your Honor, my clients are terribly sorry for the horrific acts that they have perpetrated upon this poor girl and the manner in which they shared photographs of her being raped with their friends, but we are here today because my clients have been victimized by this heartless woman who brazenly identified them to the world in violation of this Court’s order, and she needs to be punished in order to protect the integrity of this Court.” Sounds like a real winner of an argument to make right before you move on to the sentencing proceeding for your clients – victimize the victim one last time before sentencing and then look for some compassion and mercy from the Court.
If you are wondering, under Pennsylvania law, the identity of these young sexual predators would not be protected under the Juvenile Act provided they had been adjudicated (juvenile lingo for convicted) of a felony offense. The media reports are a little vague as to how Kentucky classifies the sexual assault, but it does appear to be a felony offense. Under Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Act, if you are over 14 years of age and adjudicated of a felony offense, then the Court must release to the public the “name, age and address of the child, the offense charged and the disposition of the case.” Given the conduct described, the offenses would have been felonies under Pennsylvania law, and thus not protected from public disclosure under the Juvenile Act.
Many interesting things have happened in August. Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877. The Model T Ford, the first mass produced car, went on sale in 1908. The Panama Canal was opened to traffic in 1914. Hawaii became our 50th state in 1959. Richard M. Nixon became the first U. S. President to ever resign from office in 1974.
However, August is the one month of the year in which there are no holidays, but there are many festivals. The Susquehanna County Historical Society & Free Library Association picked the month of August for its annual Blueberry Festival. This year our 33rd Blueberry Festival will be held on Friday, August 3rd, and Saturday, August 4th , from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Green in Montrose.
Featured activities include our famous pancake breakfast from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. daily, the giant book tent on the Green and an overflow location (the old Liberty Carpet Building) filled with paperbacks and audio items, games for children, the massed band concert at 2 p.m. on Saturday, the White Elephant sale and plenty of food to go around. It is a fun time for all.
Funds raised through this Festival are used to operate the Historical Society, the Library with its four locations in Forest City, Hallstead-Great Bend, Montrose, and Susquehanna, the Outreach Service Department, the County Museum and a genealogy research center.
Community support is more important than ever in these tough economic times. Mark your calendar and join us in this community celebration.
