Pine Glenn, Rush Township – Mrs. David Haney had quite an experience Saturday with a black snake. As she opened the screen door it fell on her then dropped to the floor. The snake was killed and measured [could not read] feet in length.

Lenoxville – Our school directors closed the Green Grove school last week because of a supposed case of smallpox. Dr. Hunt, of Harrisburg, was called and it proved to be a false report. The doctor diagnosed the case as Hungarian itch.

Kingsley – The new hotel built by Stearns Bros. is now open to the public.

Brooklyn – E. S. Eldridge sold the apples in his orchard for $1006 on the trees.

West Bridgewater – Lamont Fisk, of Illinois, is visiting his old schoolmate, M. N. Seely. Mr. Fisk has not been in Pennsylvania for over 50 years until this fall.

Springville – Mail Carrier Swanick had a breakdown with his car, on Tuesday, and had it hauled in by [horse] team.

Prospect Hill, Jessup Twp. – Mr. Howell, while letting the cows out of the barn of A. L. Rogers, last Sunday night, was hooked in the eye by one of the cows. Although painfully hurt, Dr. Wilson thinks the sight is not injured.

Susquehanna – Charles Ash, Jr., has returned to the Columbia University in New York.

Forest City – Anthony Judge was caught beneath a fall of rock in shaft No. 2, Saturday afternoon, fracturing his skull. He is recovering from his injuries. ALSO Forest City horsemen are interested in establishing a driving park. A committee has been appointed to see about selecting a site, which will probably be located on the flat south of Farrell’s Hotel, if the project materializes.

Montrose – Christopher Columbus is here and will meet the people at the Cnic Theatre this afternoon and evening. The Coming of Columbus is one of the strongest and most elaborate pictures ever shown. It is an extraordinary picture, posed for by scores of good Christians who exercised the greatest care in its setting. It cost thousands of dollars to produce, which has met the approval of the greatest religious thinkers today. Adults ten cents, children five cents. Good music.

Uniondale – Meat, meat, everywhere but not a bit to eat. Four slaughter houses in our little villages and meat being taken to Forest City every day, and still the people have to depend on an outsider to furnish them meat and that, only once a week.

Fowler Hill, Auburn Twp. – Henry Hitchcock had the misfortune to lose a fine cow Thursday.

New Milford – Business is booming along the rail road line making lively times in town.

Herrick Township – October first will be moving day for several Herrick families. At that time Jerry Kishpaugh will move into the house he has recently bought, now occupied by Clarence Springstein, and Mr. Springstein’s people will move into Alford Bowell’s house. Mrs. Emory Miller will move into property recently purchased, now occupied by Gabriel Parks, and Mr. Park’s family will probably move to the little Myers house, where Mrs. Miller now lives. There are also two or three other changes likely to be made.

Hop Bottom – Mrs. Ollie Loomis had her fall opening of millinery, etc., on Saturday, Sept. 21st. We bespeak for her a large patronage.

Jackson – Miss Anna, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Brown, of Jackson, was yesterday afternoon, at 4 o’clock, united in marriage to Raymond Barnes, of the same place. The Rev. Mr. Renville officiated. The couple was attended by Miss Wanetta Brown, of Starrucca, and Cecil Barnes. There were nearly 200 guests at the wedding. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes have gone to Washington on a wedding journey.

South Harford – A party was held at Ernest Harding’s, Sept. 19, in honor of his father, Philander Harding, to help him celebrate his 90th birthday. About 40 relatives and neighbors were there bringing presents and 100 postcards. The evening was spent visiting and singing and listening to instrumental music. He wishes to thank all for their kindness and is planning to have a big celebration for his 100th birthday. He is digging his own potatoes and cutting his corn. Who has a man in their neighborhood to beat that?

[Philander died March 15, 1920 and is buried in South Gibson.]

Nicholson – The first regular car for the carrying of passengers over the Trolley line left here at 5:30 o’clock Monday morning, Sept. 23d. The schedule provides for a car leaving every hour, on the half, up to 10:30 o’clock in the evening. Cars will leave Scranton for Nicholson at 6 o’clock in the morning and on the hour up to 11 o’clock at night. The fare from Nicholson to Scranton and return is 75 cents. The one way fare is 40 cents.

St. Joseph – Rev. J. J. Lally, age 70, has been retired at his own request by Bishop Hoban, as pastor of St. Joseph church. He will be succeeded by Rev. William J. Gibson, of S. Scranton, who has been assistant pastor at St. Rose’s church, Carbondale. Father Lally has been pastor of St. Joseph’s parish for the past 35 years and is held in the highest esteem by all who know him.

News Brief: “Bunk” Allen, inventor of pink lemonade, was buried in Chicago last week. His right name was Henry Allott, a circus man for 40 years. His discovery of pink lemonade was brought about when he accidentally dropped a bag of red candy into a tub of lemonade. There was a bigger demand for lemonade that day than ever before and the manager increased young Allott’s wages instead of discharging him as was first intended. A coloring powder was purchased and from that time on pink lemonade became the favorite drink with every circus on the road. Also New Paris skirts are being made only 22” wide, but these will be worn only by the ladies to whom nature has not been as generous as she might have been. You must bear in mind that one of pa’s pant legs is 22” wide at the knee and pa has only one lean leg in at that.

Last week, the Susquehanna County Domestic Violence Awareness Coalition did a local police training on stalking and the technology used by abusers when they stalk their victims. Lois Fasnacht, a training specialist from the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, came up from Harrisburg to provide our local police officers with a training that included stats, investigative tips, and a huge update on the advanced technology that is widely available for stalkers. We had a great turn out from our local police departments over the course of morning and afternoon sessions – and it was a real eye-opener.

First, the training provided a backdrop of the stalking statute to remind everyone that stalking involves a variety of behavior – not simply following the victim, but it can include any course of conduct aimed at causing the victim to be in substantial fear. As I noted to the officers, our last three stalking cases in Susquehanna County have involved inmates at the Susquehanna County Correctional Facility sending letters to their victims – even while they were incarcerated for abusing the same victim. In those cases, the defendants would send letters to third parties (or address them to a child in the residence) and get it out to the victim. Given that the inmates were continuing in a course of conduct of intimidation and unwanted communications, their conduct fell under the stalking statute.

Second, the training emphasized the need to take violations of protective orders seriously and to make sure that charges are filed for any violation. This is a common issue with protective orders – the abuser makes contact with the victim by telephone in a non-threatening manner and when confronted by the police will tell them that he needed to discuss a bill, a custody issue, or some other “reasonable” excuse. When the communication itself is non-threatening, there is a tendency to not consider it a “serious” violation of the protective order. During the training, we were reminded that what may not seem serious to us is very serious to the victim – who has a history of being abused and controlled by the abuser. When the police or the prosecutor do not respond to a violation of the protective order, it sends the wrong message to both the victim – and especially to the abuser who is testing the limits of the protective order to see what he can and cannot do before the police respond.

Third, we were reminded that a prior violation of a protective order serves to increase the grading of a stalking offense. If the defendant has a prior conviction for contempt of a protective order relating to the same victim, the grading on any subsequent stalking offense is increased from a misdemeanor offense to a felony offense. The prior protective order violation can also serve as important evidence to demonstrate the defendant’s course of conduct toward the victim.

Fourth, the training also reviewed substantial advances in technology that allows abusers to monitor their victims’ movements, conversations, computer activities and nearly everything else. This included things like GPS bugs that can be placed on a victim’s car – or anywhere else for that matter – so that the abuser can know exactly where a victim is every moment of the day. We reviewed a countless array of computer software that can track everything that a victim does on the computer. We learned that there are programs out there that can download spy software onto a cellphone - and then the abuser can listen to the victim’s calls. We saw different cameras that are sold that would allow the abuser to watch the victim inside of her house – and they are in everyday household items that you would never even consider being a camera.

Finally, the training included a crash course on the different websites out there that allow people to mask their identity when stalking a victim. These website services include the ability to make a telephone call and have another person’s number come up on the caller ID on the victim’s phone. There are also services that allow you to send text messages that appear to be coming from another party – and the same thing can be done with emails. There are actually businesses that sell these services – and abusers have used it to make the victim appear to be the violent or threatening one through the use of bogus emails, text messages or calls. The training highlighted what to look for and unmask these actions so that the abuser does not escape responsibility.

In the end, I was grateful that we had so many local police departments take the time to send their officers to the training as I am sure that it will assist all of us in Susquehanna County in dealing with this very dangerous class of abusers – those that continue to stalk their victims. The most telling statistic was that 76% of women who were killed by an intimate partner were stalked prior to the murder – and 54% of those women reported the stalking to the police prior to the homicide.

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/.