Jackson – Lightning struck the general store of H. M. Benson during a fierce storm Thursday night and started a fire that destroyed several business places and did more than $15,000 damage. The blaze started in the upper story of the Benson store and quickly spread to stores owned by Roberts Bros. and the Central hotel. The opera house was also destroyed. A bucket brigade did noble work but was unable to cope with the flames. The blaze was first discovered by H. M. Roberts, proprietor of the Central House. The telephone in his dining room was on fire and after extinguishing this blaze he rushed out doors and discovered the flames bursting forth from the Benson block, situated across the driveway from his hotel. The store had been closed for the night when struck. People came from every quarter until hundreds were at the scene of what proved to be a most stubborn and disastrous conflagration. The hotel seemed doomed to destruction and the furniture was removed, but the heavy rain and the never failing hotel well and the great work by willing fire fighters at last saved the building, but in a wrecked condition. No insurance was carried by Mr. Benson. He had been in business for almost 50 years. The Jackson Postoffice was on the first floor and it is reported to be a total loss. The second story was occupied jointly by Freedom Lodge, F. & A. M. and I. O. O. F., which met here for almost 50 years. All their records and furniture were destroyed. At the rear of the Benson block was the opera house, occupied by the G. A. R. and P. O. S. of A. No insurance on this building. A few feet north of the opera house was the large hotel barn owned by Roberts Bros. But one store now remains in Jackson, that of E. W. Pickering. About 5 years ago the Howell House and the Harris homestead burned, in which Miss Eunice Harris was burned to death. [Photographs of the fire are on the Historical Society’s Facebook page.]
St. Joseph – Thomas McNerney returned to Binghamton Saturday after spending two weeks vacation with his father, Cornelius McNerney. Although a merchant now, Tom knows how to handle the rake and fork in the hay field.
South Montrose – Last week’s Democrat had this item: Wm. Bell has the banner cow in the neighborhood. The type must have been set wrong as it was written by the correspondent. Wm. Bell has the banner corn in the neighborhood, not cow.
Glenwood – It is reported that Grover Lawrence, of West Lenox, is hired to teach the fall and winter term at Wright school house. He is just the one we need and wish him success.
Montrose – Miss Zelda Conklin sold her baby Shetland pony, two months old, to the Uncle Tom’s Co. showing here Monday, getting $50 for it and her grandfather, ex-Sheriff H. S. Conklin, put the money in the bank for her the next morning. The pony was a little beauty and captivated the show management.
Springville – Stuart Riley and son, Minot, were in Montrose, Tuesday, coming up in a handsome Apperson “Jack Rabbit” car. The latter has the sale of this famous make of car in Susquehanna county.
Susquehanna – The contract for the paving of Main, East Main and Front streets has been awarded to Contractor W. E. Bennett, of Lanesboro, for the sum of $21,467. Also A telegram from New York says that Mrs. Emma Franklin, of Susquehanna, and her sister, Mrs. Eliza Johnson, of New York, whom she was visiting, were both burned to death Sunday, when kerosene oil exploded in their rooms.
Lawton – The Lawton Fair Association’s handsome catalogues for 1913 are out and contain much interesting matter about this popular agricultural society’s coming exhibit, premium list, etc.
Bridgewater Twp. – The road from Montrose to Heart Lake, via Tiffany, has been worked under direction of the State Highway Department and is in splendid shape. Another gang of men are working from Tiffany towards Brooklyn. The road has been worked to the East Bridgewater church already.
Howard Hill, Liberty Twp. – The people of this place were grieved when the news came that Mrs. Lizzie Risley, formerly of Stanfordville and Miss Lena Kennedy, daughter of Rev. Preston Kennedy, of Binghamton, were among those who perished in the big fire of the Binghamton Clothing Company.
Brushville – The berry season opened with a large company of young people at J. H. Hartt’s and B. B. Washburn’s. On Monday of last week, the Hartt Bros., with 21 pickers, picked and shipped 25 bushels of raspberries.
Hop Bottom – Mrs. Esther Tiffany celebrated her 83rd birthday on Saturday. The family and a few friends gathered at the old homestead, at Lindaville, for a house party in honor of the occasion. The homestead is now the summer home of Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Loomis, daughter and son-in-law of Mrs. Tiffany. Also the ice cream social held at the home of Griffin Brooks, a few evenings ago, was a decided success in every particular. About 200 people assembled and a nice sum of money was realized towards the pastor’s salary.
Fire Victims Laid to Rest: The funeral services for the victims of the recent terrible fire in Binghamton were held in the Stone Opera House, in that city, on Sunday afternoon. Long before the hour of service hundreds were waiting for admission and in 15 minutes the doors had to be closed to the general public. Admission then was only to relatives who held tickets. After hymns remarks were made by ministers of all denominations and Father Porubasky, of Sts. Cyrill and Methodius’ church, addressed the people in four languages—Slovak, Italian, German and English. While the services were in session the work of removing the 21 caskets, containing the unidentified bodies of the girls who perished, was being made from Dibble’s undertaking rooms to the funeral cars. Thousands of people thronged the route and Court street was a surging mass of people. There was sadness pictured in every face. The burial was made in Spring Forest cemetery and as the cortege wended its way into the cemetery, many women and girls fell in a swoon. The bodies of the fire victims were placed in separate graves, forming a circle. In the center of this plans are being made to erect a handsome monument to the memory of the dead. The bodies were lowered into the graves at sundown.
When you look at media reports of any criminal matter, you should always remember that you are only getting a small part of the entire story. While journalist strive to provide the essential information, the necessity of fitting a news story into a short narrative often results in things being left out. Moreover, journalists attempt to come up with catchy headlines that often attract the reader – but can also mislead the reader as well. If you think that something a particular result does not make sense, than you probably need to do what Paul Harvey so famously provided – you need to get the rest of the story. There is always the possibility that a particular case was resolved with a crazy disposition that makes no sense whatsoever, but more often than not, if you did some digging, you would likely find that there was a reason that the case ended up the way it did.
I was thinking about this when I saw a recent news report entitled: “State Court Tosses Speeding Conviction in 120 mph Chase.” The headline jumped out at you: How could a person not be convicted of speeding when he was driving 120 miles per hour as the police were chasing him? If you looked at the comments online to this particular story, then you found that the average reader was having a similar reaction. The people were attacking the appellate judges involved in the decision – there were accusations of fraud, abuse, corruption coupled with name calling and other abusive language. If you looked at the facts of the case – and then the law itself – it was really a pretty straightforward decision.
Pennsylvania State Trooper William Wagner testified that he was investigating an unrelated crash scene at approximately 7 p.m. on November 27, 2010 when he heard an “ungodly sound.” The sound turned out to be Michael Homan racing by in his Porsche – and Trooper Wagner immediately gave chase with lights and sirens blaring in his marked patrol car. Trooper Wagner testified that he pegged his speedometer – 120 mph – and was not gaining on Homan before he lost the Porsche in a series of S-turns. After backtracking, Trooper Wagner found Homan’s car crashed into a tree about 300 feet into the woods off one of the S-turns. It turns out that Homan was also a drunk driver with a BAC of .086 percent. After a trial, Homan was convicted of the DUI offense as well as three summary offenses.
Because Homan had prior DUI offenses, the Centre County judge sentenced him to 90 days of house arrest followed by 21 months of probation – as well as a $5,000 fine for the DUI violation. The defendant also received fines for his summary offenses of Reckless Driving, Careless Driving and Speeding – but they were plainly minor when compared to the DUI offense itself.
On appeal, the Superior Court affirmed all of the convictions except for the speeding violation. The reason that the speeding violation was not affirmed was that the law requires the police to use a speed timing device, i.e., radar, in order to verify the speed of the motorist’s vehicle. Obviously, Trooper Wagner did not have time to use a speed timing device prior to engaging in his chase of Homan’s Porsche. The other option for a speeding conviction is to use a properly calibrated speedometer within the patrol car – and verify that the Trooper followed the suspected motorist for at least three-tenths of a mile to confirm the speed. Again, Trooper Wagner never had time to use his speedometer in that manner – the Porsche was gone before he really had a chance to “clock it” with his speedometer. With the record before it, the Superior Court followed the law and reversed the speeding conviction.
The headline made it seem like Homan had somehow escaped responsibility for his ridiculous and dangerous behavior. In reality, however, the Superior Court affirmed every conviction except for the speeding conviction as the record simply did not support that charge because there was no sufficient time to verify Homan’s speed as required by the law. If the Trooper had charged it differently, then there would not have been a problem. For instance, if the Trooper had charged Homan with driving at unsafe speeds (as opposed to a speeding violation), then there would have likely been a conviction for that offense as the Commonwealth only had to prove that he was traveling at an unsafe speed which was evidenced by the crash itself that resulted in the car being propelled 300 feet into the woods and striking a tree. Because the Trooper went with a specific speeding violation, the proof had to be more particularized – and the measurement of that speed had to be conducted in an approved manner – which had not been done.
The result of the decision does not mean that the Superior Court judges do not care about speeding drivers – or public safety. Rather, they followed the law – and the headline did a grave disservice by suggesting that this driver somehow escaped justice as a result of a legal technicality. You actually had to read the entire article – it was not until the 10th paragraph that you learned that he was convicted of a misdemeanor DUI offense as well as the summary traffic violations. There was nothing particularly extraordinary about the story – it was simply the Superior Court doing its job – but the headline attempted to make it into something entirely different. The criminal justice system is far from perfect – but there are usually very good reasons for how cases are resolved. Sometimes, you just need to know the rest of the story.
"I remember his burlesque pretense that morning of an inextinguishable grief when I wonder that I had never eaten blueberry cake before, and how he kept returning to the pathos of the fact that there should be a region of the earth where blueberry
cake was unknown." ~William Dean Howells (1894)
The 2013 Library Raffle drawing was held on July 20th at the Harford Fairgrounds, during the Cabot Picnic. The total number of tickets sold was 960. Congratulations to all of the lucky winners—a list may be viewed on www.susqcolibrary.org. Many thanks to all who participated and to the many volunteers who make events like this a success. The Raffle is a fund-raiser for the Library Building Fund.
Montrose is turning Blue!!!
The 34th Annual Blueberry Festival is right around the corner on Friday and Saturday, August 2nd and 3rd, starting with a yummy Pancake Breakfast at 8 am both mornings. The Festival will be held on the Village Green and Library Lawn in Montrose, and encompasses two days of entertainment, food, crafts, and games for the young and young at heart. Admission is free! Lunch and snacks will be available for purchase as well as homemade baked goods, including scrumptious Blueberry Muffins and Pies. Many thanks to the local growers who donate fresh blueberries and all of the Volunteers and generous donors who make this annual event a success. The Basket Raffles grow in number year after year with many unique prizes to be won. Don’t forget to peruse the filled to overflowing Used and Antique Book Sale—remember, Winter’s coming and you’ll want to stock up for some cozy nights of reading. New books will also be for sale. Among the entertainment will be the “Memorial Massed Band Concert” on Saturday at 2pm. There will also be a Silent Auction and White Elephant Sale!! Last, but not least, everyone’s friendly Blueberry, “Newberry” will be on hand to greet everyone. The Festival is sponsored by the Susquehanna County Historical Society and Free Library Association, and helps to raise the money needed to provide the programs and services of our County-wide Library System and Historical Society.
Something of special note—Each year during the Blueberry Festival, a drawing is held for a beautiful handmade, heirloom-quality quilt—and this year is no exception. The 2013 quilt has a lovely blue and white star design, crafted by the Crazy Country Quilters and quilted by Marlene Lyon. Tickets may be purchased at any of the four Library Locations and are 2.00 each, 3 tickets for 5.00, 7 tickets for 10.00 and 15 tickets for 20.00. Remember---you can’t win if you don’t play!!
Don’t forget to find us on “Facebook”: (Susquehanna County Library) and look us up on “Pinterest” for lots of interesting nooks and crannies to explore and now, if you “Tweet”, follow us on Twitter (@susqcolib) to check out event information, local scoops and much more.
As I settle back with a “cozy” mystery in the midst of all of this humidity and cheer on the enlarging tomatoes, I leave you with this thought: “Blueberries as big as the end of your thumb, Real sky-blue, and heavy, and ready to drum In the cavernous pail of the first one to come! ~ Robert Frost
Kayaking—Fishing—Cloud Formations
Enjoy!!
