Road Matters – An enthusiastic meeting of the Automobile Club was held in the Court House.  The State road to Fairdale was reported to be in bad condition, the stones not having been removed.  Chairman Foster, of the roads committee, was voted to attend to it at once.  C. F. Watrous reported that work was being done on the road towards Brooklyn and that the road was to be honed.  A number of Brooklyn men were reported as offering their services or making cash donations in improving the road.  It was reported that little had been done in removing stones from the road towards Franklin Forks.  The club has donated $20 and some of the citizens in that location are making donations and offering their services to improve the road.  Percy Ballantine reported the road towards Dimock as greatly improved by the work done by Harmon Stone and a force of men.  The Summersville road to Hallstead was recommended by members as being the best route to take in going to that town.  Members discussed the excellent law lately put on the statute books of New York State requiring all vehicles to carry lights when on the highways at night.  This not only as a protection to autoists, but to the occupants of horse-drawn vehicles, as well.  New York State, it was noted, shows greater courtesy to automobilists than in Pennsylvania.  The promptness with which wagons drew aside in the Empire state when an approaching automobile sounded the signal that they desired to pass them, was mentioned.  Drivers of horse vehicles [in Pennsylvania] also fail to follow the law of the road about keeping to the right, and this is a cause of autos running into vehicles.

Steven’s Point – Mrs. W. J. Seamans passed her 82nd mile stone and is well and much spryer than many a younger one.  She is visiting relatives at her old birthplace, Rushville.

Forest City – Lightning caused a loss of $125,000 Wednesday evening, when the E. A. Bloxham lumberyards were burned, together with adjoining buildings.  The residences of Mr. Bloxham, Joseph Betts and Jacob Weisburger were also totally destroyed, together with the sawmill, barns and sheds.  Four horses and six cows in one of the barns were incinerated before they could be released.  The heat was so intense the rails on the Erie tracks were warped and twisted and new rails had to be laid before trains could pass the spot.

Harford – Last week Jay Fancher caught a pike in Tyler Lake that weighed 4 lbs, 5 oz.  Also there will be a basket picnic at Tingley Lake on July 4th.  Clay pigeon shoot and other sports, to make the day enjoyable.

Little Meadows – E. J. Butler purchased a new touring car last week and Michael Butler has purchased a new traction engine to run his sawmill.  Everyone is anxious to get their logs sawed.

Heart Lake – In 1877 Heart Lake celebrated its first July 4th and every year since there has been a successful celebration.  This year has every indication of being the banner year.  Better attractions.  Better time.

Howard Hill, Liberty Twp. – Omar Howard has raised his barn and will put in basement stables, a decided improvement.  S. W. & B. J. Luce are the carpenters in charge.

Rush – The Rush orchestra, composed of 16 pieces, gave a strawberry social at the Rush M. E. church, Saturday evening last.  This was the first appearance of the orchestra and it was greeted by a large crowd, more than filling the church.  The orchestra is composed mostly of young people and they are to be congratulated on the evening’s entertainment, which was a decided success.

Gelatt – Robert Sparks, president and general manager of the Starrucca telephone line, is rushing the work and has the line nearly completed to this place.  Also Rufus Barnes, of Barnes & Son, millers, is a veteran and can relate some interesting, as well as hard experiences, of the days of the great Civil War.

Springville – The recently elected teachers of our high school are all new with one exception.  Prof. Hardy comes highly recommended.  Another new feature is that the assistant principal will be a gentleman instead of a lady.  The intermediate room will again be taught by Miss Lena Lyman and the primary room by Miss Etta Strickland, a recent graduate of West Chester Normal.

Uniondale – A number were baptized in Cottrell pond by Rev. Stanton, of Dundaff, Sunday afternoon.  Also H. T. Williams has a new car.  It is said there is a car for every 35 inhabitants in the borough.

Hallstead – The Hallstead troupe of Boy Scouts is arranging for a fine 4th of July celebration.  The Scouts expect to have canoe races, swimming races, tilting matches, tub races, running races and other events.  During the afternoon and evening they will serve ice cream on the river lawn.  They will also have a fine display of fireworks in the evening.

Dimock – Perry Mills has accepted a position in the store of his cousins, Fred and Free Mills, in Gordon, Nebraska.  Perry’s many friends wish him success.  Also Mrs. W. J. Cronk left for Mansfield to be present at the graduation of her daughter, Louanna.

Lenoxville – Harold Hartley, of the University of Pennsylvania and Olan Mittan, of the Mansfield State Normal School, are spending their vacation with their parents.

Montrose – The marriage of Frank Valentine, of Montrose, and Miss C. Augusta Beebe, of West Bridgewater, will take place at the Baptist parsonage, June 26 at 8 o’clock, the Rev. Claude G. Langford officiating.  They will be attended by Leo Donohue, of Dimock, and Miss Tillie Pickett, of South Montrose.  Miss Beebe was formerly an obliging operator with the Merchants Telephone Co. and Mr. Valentine is employed on the milk route of N. L. Parks.

News Brief:  Washington Party candidates, Gifford Pinchot for U. S. Senator, Wm. Draper Lewis, for Governor, Dana R. Stephens for Congress in the 14th district, and Girton M. Darrow, for Representative, will tour Susquehanna County on June 27.  If the weather permits, open-air meetings will be held in Montrose at 12:45 and in Susquehanna at 7:30 p.m.  Pinchot and Lewis will speak at both of these meetings. 

I received several correspondences recently regarding addiction issues – and it has been a topic that has re-occurred in this column with some regularity.  The views that people have regarding addiction vary widely – and likely have some connection to experiences – either personal or familial – with addiction.  I had one friend send me a summary of a moral lesson that she learned from a story she read in a book as a child.  The story went something like this:

 “A mother was visiting her son in prison, on the day he was to be executed.  The son asked his mother to come close to the bars so he could whisper something to her.  She complied, and the son tore her ear off.  When the hysterical mother asked her son why he had done such a thing, he explained thusly: IF you had listened to all those people who told you about the evil things I did and IF you had listened to your conscience, and took charge and punished me and guided me when I needed it, I would not be waiting to die today.”

As an aside, I would note that my daughter and I were reading some of Aesop’s fables recently – and it struck me just how dark some of those fables were – much different than current books for children.  I skipped the more violent fables – thinking to protect my daughter from the darker things – but perhaps the moral of a story is driven home all the more forcefully when evidenced in such a stark manner.

My friend went on to suggest that “parents, siblings, friends – all become enablers when confronted with addictions of all kinds.  Excuses are made, others are blamed, but the culprit goes unpunished.  He is never held accountable for his actions.  He is coddled and made to feel that he is the victim, he has a ‘disease,’ and nothing is his fault.  It’s society, the schools, the movies, his friends, the culture . . . but he’s not to blame.”

My friend was expressing obvious exasperation with a perceived societal leniency toward addictions.  In a subsequent response, my friend admitted that she had little sympathy for addicts in a society where there was so much help available through schools, hospital programs, state programs, church programs, AA, NA and other group programs.  She concluded one of her comments with a simple statement: “[The addict] is the most lucky individual alive: He has a disease which only HE can choose not to have.”

Shortly after I had that exchange, I received a letter from a mother who had a child battling addiction – and whose addiction had led the child into the criminal justice system where the child was convicted and incarcerated.  This mother’s personal view on addiction was markedly different – she stressed that there was a lack of education in this county – and in this country – on addiction.  This mother was a strong believer in treatment courts and the need for the “community coming together to help those who need it.”  I will pass on the suggestion that she made to me: watch the documentary “The Anonymous People,” which deals with addiction recovery.  She indicated that this film was “eye opening” even to her – and her family had lived through this nightmare.

It struck me that there were such divergent views on addiction – with both persons having had some personal experience within their families with addicts.  My friend had lost her patience with addicts – and viewed addiction as a failure of personal responsibility.  The other mother viewed it as a problem that our community needed to learn more about to understand and comprehend adequately.  Two views on the same topic at different ends of the spectrum – and both views have a good deal of defendable truth in them.