Heart Lake – A cantata entitled “Santa Claus’ Cure’ will be given by the Sunday school at the M. E. church Christmas eve. There will also be a 15 cent social at Horton Reynolds’, Friday evening, Dec. 27, for benefit of pastor’s salary.

Kingsley – Three of the new books purchased by the Book Club for the coming year are: “The Wind Before the Dawn,” “The Mountain Girl” and “Corporal Cameron.” Also The frequent dynamite blasts, jarring the houses to the foundation, denote that work is progressing on the cut-off.

Brooklyn – The teachers and pupils of the Creek School, in West Brooklyn, are to give an entertainment at the schoolhouse on the afternoon of the 24th, beginning at one o’clock sharp. All come. Also The reading of Dickens’ Christmas Carol in the Presbyterian church last Monday evening, by Rev. Forman, was one of the finest evening entertainments Brooklyn audiences have been permitted to hear.

Clifford – Our teacher, Miss Robinson, is driving a brand new top buggy.

Dimock – T. B. Williams, who is nearly 90 years old, seems to be slowly failing. Also when you want a good book or a paper to read, go to the Dimock free library at the pleasant home of Isa Mills, near the cemetery.

Towanda - In the last session of criminal court Mrs. Granger, of Monroeton, was found guilty by a jury of being a common scold. [A person, especially a woman, who habitually uses abusive language]. This is the first case of its kind brought to public view in many years. Years ago such cases for trial were not uncommon and in those days the old fashioned ducking stool was the means of punishment.

Susquehanna – The State constabulary is doing good work, having practically cleaned out the gang of hoboes and alleged burglars, yeggmen and “bad men” which have inhabited Canavan’s Island for years. They are also looking after petty thievery cases of that region and the first of the week arrested several “Smoky Hollow” men who had raided the chicken roosts of L. R. Blodgett at Oakland. The men were caught in the act of preparing the chickens for market, at a barn in Great Bend township. When the constabulary arrived on the scene, 42 chickens were dressed ready for sale, eight others lay dead on the floor, and a total of 75 chickens were in the barn where operations were going on. About 50 belonged to Blodgett. The three men—Andrew Shields, Chas. Taylor and Lee Baker—were given a hearing before Justice Williams at Susquehanna and each gave bail in the sum of $300 for their appearance at court.

Springville – Last Wednesday morning as Mrs. Fred Risley was driving away from the milk station, the team became frightened and ran away, throwing her out of the wagon, and as consequence she received several very ugly cuts on the head and was unconscious for some time. Dr. Lathrop was called and dressed the wounds and she is doing nicely now.

Rushboro – One more chapter was added to the long list of hunting accidents when Willie, the 18 year old son of Mr. and Mrs. James Galvin, received the contents of a shot gun in his arm. Young Galvin, having “holed” a bunny under a large, flat rock, with the muzzle toward him, and getting a stick, proceeded to “poke” him out. Very soon the rabbit appeared, making a quick run for liberty. The young man grabbed the gun by the muzzle and in drawing it across the rock a hammer caught and the barrel was exploded, the full charge grazing the lower part of the arm, tearing flesh and muscle in a terrible manner. Doctors Hickok and Gardner dressed the wounds and sent him to Sayre hospital for the prevention of blood poisoning. If poisoning does not set in he will entirely recover and have the full use of his arm, we are told.

Thompson – One new member, Mrs. James Buchanan, was added to the Women’s Christian Temperance Union on Thanksgiving day. Also, six gentlemen were enrolled as honorary members, Rev. E. A. Gillespie, F. W. Springstein, A. H. Crosier, Ray Gelatt, C. M. Clapper and H. M. Bloxham.

New Milford – C. S. Clark, the hardware man, believes in having things move and move lively. Sunday night the fire in his stove did not burn as fast as he thought it should, so he proceeded to hurry it. He did. The other occupants of the block thought an earthquake had come to town and the stove pipe in Chas. O’Byrne’s kitchen, over the store, was blown clear across the room. We are not going to print what was said, but all agree that Clark started things.

Franklin Forks – Rev. Dickerson and wife invited the Franklin Hill Aid Society to meet at their home at Mud Lake last Thursday, the day being so cold only Oscar Skinner went.

Harford – Miss Maude Darrow has returned home after spending several weeks at the sanitarium in Scranton. She is very much improved in health, her many friends will be glad to learn.

Uniondale – Andrew Corey was injured Wednesday evening by jumping from a coal train. In some way he stepped into a hole causing him to fall, cutting his face quite badly.

Montrose - The large barn owned by the Borden Milk Co. was burned Saturday. When discovered the building was enveloped in flames and it was impossible to save it. A number of horses were speedily taken out, but otherwise little was saved. Fifty tons of feed, hay, etc., was consumed. The loss will probably reach three or four thousand dollars. The Borden’s yearly lay aside a stated amount to cover possible losses by fire, this being their method of insuring. It is thought the fire originated from a spark thrown by the locomotive, the Lackawanna tracks running but a short distance from the structure burned. Railroad men consider this impossible, as they claim the wind was blowing in a direction that would preclude the possibility of sparks landing on the roof.

News Brief: The Superior Vacuum Cleaner has proven extremely satisfactory in a great many Susquehanna County homes the past year. The cleaner saves labor, dust and makes a sanitary home. It gathers in the germs and may save a big doctor’s bill. It makes an ideal Christmas gift.

I received an inquiry from a reader concerning the lack of “treatment courts” in Susquehanna County. The reader went further to suggest that Susquehanna County was “far behind the times in the treatment of addiction” as well as behind on “the education of addiction.” The reader was disturbed at the lack of NA or Al-anon meetings within the county itself, and the lack of AA or NA meetings at the jail. The reader went on to suggest that treatment courts provide people with the means to overcome addiction, stay out of jail and become productive citizens.

First, the concept of treatment courts has been building in the criminal justice arena for the past decade. I took the time to attend a training several years back that was put on down in Harrisburg relating to treatment courts to see if we could implement such a program in Susquehanna County. Frankly, the concept of treatment courts as utilized by the larger counties does not fit well into a small rural county framework. Generally, the treatment courts, whether for drug offenders or DUI offenders, are not aimed at the first time offender – rather they are viewed more as the last chance for a multiple offender prior to a significant period of incarceration. Thankfully, we do not have a statistically significant number of repeat offenders in Susquehanna County – we do have a few offenders that would likely benefit from a treatment court approach, but then you have to factor that number into the overall financial costs that a treatment court would entail. The overall costs both financially and from a time perspective would be significant.

Treatment courts involve a team approach to each offender with high intensity supervision and court appearances to assure compliance. The team includes the Judge, the probation officer, the prosecutor, the defense attorney, the addiction treatment provider, and potentially a mental health provider – and this team meets frequently to individually discuss the progress of each offender and how to approach the offender’s needs. Treatment courts also involve constant court time where the offender comes in to report his or her progress to the court. In a small rural county with one judge, there is not a lot of “extra” court time – not with over 600 criminal cases, 2,000 civil cases, as well as a variety of other proceedings such as domestic relations, juvenile cases, dependency matters, orphans court filings, bench warrant hearings, extradition hearings, probation violations, summary appeals, license suspension appeals as well as countless other miscellaneous court functions. When you couple the personnel resources devoted to treatment courts and the court time necessary to run such a program, it would require some significant number of eligible offenders to really justify its creation.

This is not to say that we do not offer the same services as a treatment court – we do. In any case that has some drug or alcohol abuse component, those defendants are required to undergo an evaluation and complete a treatment program. Further, my office encourages offenders to seek out treatment prior to the resolution of the criminal charges and any incarceration or supervision, and where offenders are proactive in addressing these issues, those efforts are reflected in the offers that are made to resolve their criminal cases. Further, even for those offenders who fail to seek any kind of treatment prior to their conviction and incarceration, the Susquehanna County Correctional Facility has a treatment program, which then refers them into another program upon their release from incarceration – either at an in-patient facility or an out-patient facility. We have had joint meetings with my office, probation, and treatment providers to work on developing better delivery of treatment services to our offenders. Obviously, the entire community benefits by a criminal justice system that not only punishes the offenders, but also rehabilitates them. We have worked hard to provide such a framework while also being cognizant of the costs these programs impose on the taxpayers.

After more than 13 years prosecuting cases, I would say that the old adage is true – you can take a horse to water, but you cannot always make him drink. I would not say that we are behind the times in Susquehanna County in terms of treatment programs – we have some very dedicated and terrific counselors providing services to addicted persons throughout the county. It is true to say that we do not have a specialized “treatment court” program that provides an added level of intensity and supervision to the offender. At this point, however, it does not appear that treatment courts really fit well with the level of offenders that we deal with on a consistent basis – which is actually a good thing. If we start having a significant number of serial offenders motivated by serious drug or alcohol addictions, then there will be a greater justification for creation of a treatment court and dedication of the resources and time necessary to operate it.

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/.

Let Christmas not become a thing, merely of merchant's trafficking. Of tinsel, bell and holly wreath, and surface pleasure, but beneath the childish glamour, let us find, nourishment for soul and mind. Let us follow kinder ways, through our teeming human maze, and help the age of peace to come, from a Dreamer's martyrdom.

~Madeline Morse

~~ Merry Christmas ~~

Instead of my usual column of wonderful titles and interesting authors that your local Library Branch has to offer, the Hallstead/Great Bend, Montrose and Susquehanna Branches wish to share some December event photos with you.

Hallstead/Great Bend Library Staff Member, Valerie Burdick and her Grandson Alex have a meeting with Santa to tell him their Christmas wishes

On December 12th, there was a flurry of activity at the Hallstead/Great Bend Branch Library, for a very important person in a red suit came for a visit. That’s right!! None other than the jolly old elf himself, Santa Claus!! He decided he should check up on the children of the Hallstead/Great Bend area and make sure he had received all of their Christmas wishes and checking to see also, if they have been naughty or nice (and hoping they have been reading stories with their parents—for if you don’t know, Santa is a very avid reader and pro-literacy in his “Off-time” and encourages Mrs. Claus and all of his elves to do the same.)

Pictured (l-r) is the Montrose Library Staff as well as some of Santa’s elves - MaryBeth Manns, Betty Smith, Louise Sammon, Karen Braker-Reed, Susan Stone, Shannon Gregory-Smales, Chris Hall, Amy Johnson and Liz Holbert.

The Montrose Main Branch of the library system has been busy with all sorts of projects and events. The Tuesday and Wednesday Story-Time Classes, under the direction of Karen Braker-Reed and Amy Johnson decorated pinecones with peanut butter and bird seed and trimmed a lovely tree outside the library to help our feathered friends through the cold winter months. The recent Pottery Sale at the Episcopal Church in Montrose, and the Book Sale that was held at “The Inn at Montrose” were both well attended and quite a success. These events probably helped some with Christmas gift giving as well as helping the Library reach its goal. We appreciate everyone’s support, for without your generosity, we could not offer the books and services that we do.

Again this year, “Chocolates by Leopold” have created a giant chocolate Santa ( 3 ft. tall and weighs 27 lbs.) to be raffled off in Montrose with all proceeds going to the Library. If you have not purchased your raffle tickets, they are available at the Montrose Library and the cost is $2.00 each or three for $5.00. The drawing will be held on 12/20/12. Perhaps you were on hand to witness the youngsters rolling the mold up Public Avenue in Montrose on 11/30, as the chocolate masterpiece was created during “Christmas in Montrose” weekend on Dec. 1st. Don’t delay—tickets for this super stocking stuffer will only be on sale until the drawing date. Speaking of Jolly Old St. Nick, he is due to visit the Preschool Story Hour classes next week on Wednesday and Thursday, the 18th and 19th, during the classes’ Christmas parties.

Pictured (l-r) are Susquehanna Branch Staff Members: Elizabeth Hanrahan, Amelia Paterno and Pamela Bagnall with Pierre the Library Elephant (he never forgets what he’s read or the page he was on..) dressed up in his holiday finery. Missing from photo is Sharon Hoopes and Deb Cavanaugh.

Sadly, on December 14th, 2012, at the Susquehanna Branch, we said “So long” to Staff Members, Amelia Paterno and Sharon Hoopes who have retired and Pam Bagnall who is semi-retiring. Patrons wished the ladies long and happy retirements. We will all miss Amelia and Sharon, their smiles and friendship made the Library a warm and inviting place and we hope to see Pam for a long while yet.

Last, but definitely not least, are Christmas Greetings and Wishes for you and yours.

Hallstead/Great Bend Library Branch Staff Members, Angie and Valerie wish all of their patrons “Happy Holidays” tied with a big thank-you bow for all of the kindness, understanding and generosity.

"Happy Holidays” from all of the staff and friends at the Historical Society and Montrose Library.

The Susquehanna Library Branch Staff send you this heartfelt greeting: “To Our Patrons: May peace be your gift at Christmas and your blessing all year through! “
                      ~Amelia, Pam, Deb, Sharon & Liz.

As your columnist with the well-worn, lovingly dog-eared pages, I first thank-you for reading this column and checking out some of the selections I have suggested and hope that all of you have the merriest of Christmases. My most fervent wish is that we all take a moment out of the day and remember we are blessed, by family, friends and where we live. My Husband and I realize we have more blessings than the number of lights on our tree and are truly grateful. May we never forget those who are not as fortunate as ourselves, those who gaze longingly and lovingly at an empty chair at their table this Christmas day,and the men and women in our Military, so far away, keeping us safe so we can enjoy the holiday season.

As I close for this year, I will leave you with this thought:

“Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself.”
              ~Norman Wesley Brooks (U.S. design engineer, 1923-2002)

Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy !!!