Forest City – On Account of high water there was no work the fore part of the week in the Clifford and Dunmore veins of our mines. The pumps were put to work at full capacity day and night to rid the mines of the water and every effort was put forth by the company to insure the safety of the workers for which they are commended. Also two children of Joseph Stifinia arrived from Italy last week. They were unaccompanied and seemed to have enjoyed the voyage across the deep.
Montrose – Roger S. Searle, son of the late Daniel and Johanna Stark Searle, was born in 1825 and died the 26th of March, 1914. Born in Pittston, Luzerne county, he came to Montrose with his parents where he received a liberal education, attending the Moravian school in Nazareth, John Mann’s Academy at St. Joseph and the Montrose Academy. His father manufactured and shipped large quantities of lumber and Roger succeeded him in the business, which he continued until his enlistment during the Civil War. He furnished lumber for the Smithsonian Institute, supplied the D. L. & W. with wood for fuel and shipped lumber largely to Baltimore and Richmond. In 1861 he entered the army as a sergeant major and recruited a company for the 12th Pennsylvania Reserves. His health being impaired, he was assigned to hospital duty and in 1862 served as drill master at Camp Curtin. He was offered a commission as major but declined owing to continued ill health. Mr. Searle was a president of the Susquehanna County Agricultural Society, a member of the Horticultural Assoc., a prime mover in organizing the Susquehanna Grange, of which he was the first master, and was a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
Harford – Lynn Forsythe is home, suffering from an attack of acute indigestion. His brother, Halley, has gone to Scranton to work in his place in the Grand Union tea store. Also our genial and enterprising dealer, Robert Manson, operates two meat wagons which are very popular with a large number of customers.
Elk Lake – George Ridley and family have moved into their new house near the cranberry marsh. G. Ray Bishop is the tenant on the farm.
Hopbottom/Foster – Martin Deuel of Binghamton, formerly of Rush, has purchased the Valley View House at Foster, which Fred Toepfer has conducted the past year.
Hallstead/Great Bend – The first of the week the high water along the Susquehanna covered the flats between Hallstead and Great Bend, the only means of communication between the two towns being by boat. Passengers on the trains coming from Susquehanna were obliged to go to Binghamton on Monday in order to reach Montrose.
Clifford – Oney T. Rounds, superintendent of state highways in Susquehanna and Wayne counties, has been having his troubles in keeping the roads on his route—which covers a distance of 200 miles—open this winter. He is one of the kinds of superintendents who believe in setting the pace, and when it comes to shoveling snow he can move as much with the shovel in a day as the best of them. He has also been giving some good instruction in “plowing” it out.
Bridgewater Twp. - Joseph West and W. A. Lathrop have purchased a tract of land from Chas. Post, just below the L. V. R. R. on Bank Street, and plan to develop same along several lines. A chicken farm will be the specialty. Fruit orchards will be planted and the raising of green vegetables [will be] engaged in on a large scale as soon as the farm can be gotten in shape. The operation is to be an extensive one.
Susquehanna – The bridge near the electric light plant was washed out by the high water. Also U. W. Wescott, of Oakland, has accepted a position in the New High School building in Binghamton and started with his team for that place Monday morning.
Springville – The bank here seems assured, the following being the officers elected: President, R. L. Avery; 1st Vice President, Herbert Fish; 2nd Vice President, Dr. H. B. Lathrop; Secretary,
E. A. Lemon; Directors – Henry Tague, Stephen Loomis, Charles Conrad, Mrs. Albert Lyman, Emory Taylor. ALSO Wilmot Fish, the new proprietor of the Springville Hotel, received his license Tuesday and took possession. Mr. Fish was born and lived here until fourteen years of age, but for the past 50 years has resided in Illinois. He is a most agreeable gentleman to meet and says it is his intention to make the Springville Hotel an up-to-date hostelry.
Uniondale – It is rumored that the railroad company will install signal bells at two crossings here. As the railroad company has taken into consideration our safety in crossing tracks, think we should do something to beautify our town. What about an improvement association. A nice little park, with flowers and band stand, and make our town more attractive. Someone pick the cover off and let the sunshine in.
Thompson – School reopened this morning, after being closed four weeks, on account of the measles epidemic. ALSO The following Mansfield students from Thompson and vicinity are spending the Easter vacation at their homes: Ethel Bryant, Ruth Stone, Anna Harper, Jessie Wilmarth, Helen Weir and Floyd Stearns.
Jackson – The following pupils were present every day during the month at the Maple Ridge school: Raymond Wilcox, Loyd Blaisdell, Jay Decker, Esther Quick, Loyd Hall and Robert Washburn. Earl, Ruth, Nellie and Harlie Hall were absent part of the month owing to measles existing in the home. We are sorry that it was necessary for them to be absent as this is the third year in succession that Ruth had been present every day and the second that Nellie had.
East Kingsley: Our mail carrier, Bert Sterling, is filling the bill in delivering the mail these days, but has the pleasure of traveling through the lots, over stone walls, across plowed fields, back yards and lots, opening gates and letting down bars at his leisure [because of snowed in roads].
News Brief: The Pennsylvania Railroad last year paid out $5143.40 on account of accidents to passengers who tripped over other passengers’ grips placed in the aisles on trains. That is one of the reasons why the company instructs its trainmen not to permit luggage to remain in the aisles of passenger coaches. ALSO Go back to the 100 Years column of March 20 and you will find, in the Montrose news, the article about a bank note of the Susquehanna County Bank, at Montrose, dated Jan. 1st, 1849. That same bank note was brought to our Society this week by Tom Calcaine, who purchased it in California. The note left Montrose during the Civil War, went to Washington, D.C., then to Kansas City, then to California and back to Montrose.
“The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.” A few weeks ago, I received this quote in an email from the Patriot Post – it was attributed to John Adams. It speaks to one of the core values of the early American Republic – private property ownership.
This quote stuck in my head and came back to me when I read some of the commentary on the recent Supreme Court arguments as to whether a private employer must provide health insurance to employees that includes contraceptive products that violate the tenants of the employer’s beliefs (or, in the context of a corporate entity, the tenants of the corporate shareholder’s religious beliefs). From the legal standpoint, the case boils down to an interpretation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and/or the First Amendment – but it seems to me that the media has largely ignored the secular question of private property rights.
What do I mean? As I have said, I come from parents who operated small businesses – I watched the hard work, long hours, stress, toil and heartache that go into making a successful business. I also had the privilege to run my own business for a period of time – and the list of things for which the government (state, federal and local) demands a ransom is seemingly endless – until you realize that it continues to grow and grow and grow. Yet, the contraception mandate is simply one more example of the government telling private business what they have to do – and there are very few things that the government mandates that does not result in higher costs and expenses to the business owner – which obviously results in a loss of the business owner’s property, i.e., his or her earned revenue.
Then, a friend sent me an email that echoed some of the sentiments of John Adams regarding property rights. He argued that as an employee, he was free to negotiate with his employer about what he wanted covered – and what he did not want covered. As he said, the government cannot possibly know what his (the employee’s) needs are – and yet the government has made a decision to divert the resources from the employer in order that the employer provide a product for which the employee may have no interest whatsoever. The argument actually goes even further as most employees pay a portion of their health insurance costs – which means that the government is diverting property from both the employer and the employee without consideration of what either of those parties are interested in purchasing.
In demonstrating the absurdity of this position, my friend rhetorically asked “why not make all employers buy steel-toed boots for their employees even if they do not want them or believe they need them?” Some employers provide eye and dental insurance – some do not. Some employers provide disability insurance – some do not. Some employers provide life insurance – some do not. Some health insurance plans have large deductibles – some do not. Some health insurance plans have limited networks – some do not. Some employers offer pensions, some profit sharing, some deferred compensation, some 401(k) plans – some offer nothing whatsoever. As a society, how did we get to the point of forcing or compelling employers to provide contraception and/or abortifacients to their employees?
But if you read any reports from the Supreme Court oral argument last week – Justice Sotomayor questioned whether employers were really forced to do anything. The compulsion only occurred for employers who wanted to provide health insurance for their employees. The solution for an employer with religious reservations regarding a particular plan would not be to alter the plan – but to simply drop coverage for their employees – and pay the penalty/tax to the government for not providing health insurance. Justice Sotomayor also noted that this was probably a good business decision as the tax/penalty would be far less than the cost of providing health insurance to the employee. It is a win-win for everybody – the employer saves money, the government makes money . . . and the employee, well, he or she can go search for their own health insurance on the government exchange.
Thus, if you accept Justice Sotomayer’s argument, no employer has been compelled to do anything – if you find something morally objectionable in the government-mandated employee health insurance plan – simply drop the coverage and tell the employee to hit the marketplace – alone and with no group bargaining power. The government’s intervention thereby significantly impacts on the property rights of both the employer and the employee – the law no longer protects those property rights – it coerces a choice that potentially neither the employer nor the employee want. John Adams was right.
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/.
“My eyes are an ocean in which my dreams are reflected”~ Author Unknown
Eyes --eyes , famed in song and story (“Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain”—“When Irish Eyes are Smiling”) and according to a Yiddish proverb, are the mirror of the soul. The reason eyes are this column’s topic is to let you know that I’ll be “Out of commission” for awhile. You see, your “dog-eared, tattered covered columnist will have had eye surgery on March 26th and April 2nd. I won’t be back writing the column until late April…but I will be back. I want to thank all of you for following the column and, moreover, for supporting your Library—for without you, programs and services we provide would not be possible. While we await Spring’s beauty, please make a date with your family to visit your local Library Branch and see all of the marvelous things they have to offer.
The month of April brings you a chance to help the Hallstead/Great Bend Branch Library. With the state budget cuts being what they are, sometimes there isn’t money enough for the necessities in the Library, just as we experience in our own homes. An “April Shower” will be held at the Hallstead/Great Bend Branch Library for the entire month of April. Donations of multi-purpose paper, pens, pencils, markers, scotch tape, construction paper, paper clips, paper towels, post-it notes, notepads—even toilet paper would be appreciated. Any type of office supplies and cleaning supplies (window cleaner, all-purpose cleaner,etc.) will be gratefully welcomed by Angie and Valerie. I understand that this type of “shower” is sometimes called a “Paper Drive”—but, so there is no confusion and the ladies find bundled newspapers on the doorstep—it shall be referred to as an “April Shower”. If you’re not in the Hallstead/Great Bend area and wish to donate similar items to your local Library Branch, I know they would also be gratefully received,
The drawing for the “Spring into Romance” basket has taken place and the lucky winner is: Cheryl Matulevich.
Many thanks to all who purchased chances and, especially to Kensington Publishing for their continuing generosity and support of our Library System, Special cudos to the creative souls who added hot cocoa and mugs plus yummy chocolates which made the basket one sweet prize! Congratulations Cheryl. We hope you enjoy your scrumptiously romantic prize.
A reminder for all those who are doing their Spring cleaning. The Library Auction is coming up on April 12th and we will accept all sorts of items with the exception of clothing, large appliances and furniture. If you wish to donate, please contact the Main Library. All proceeds from the auction will go to support the Susquehanna County Historical Society & Free Library encompassing all locations including Montrose, Forest City, Susquehanna and Hallstead/Great Bend.
If you have not registered your children—the Spring St0ry Hour at the Hallstead/Great Bend Branch Library is in full swing and will continue until April 8th. You can join us on Tuesdays at 10:00 am.Please call or stop in to register.
The Susquehanna Branch Spring Story Hours will take place on the five Tuesdays of April at 10:30am. If interested, please call the Library to register.
As we rejoice that Spring has finally arrived and we impatiently await for daffodils to poke their sleepy tendrils out of the ground, I leave you with this thought:
“The eyes have a property in things and territories not named in any title-deeds, and are the owners of our choicest possessions” ~ Amos Bronson Alcott
Flocks of Geese—Garden plans—Forcing Forsythia
Enjoy.
