Lynn – We are having a nice run of sleighing now and good old fashioned winter weather as well. Also in West Auburn it would appear that winter has at last settled upon us. A fall of snow Sunday has started the sleighs and the automobile is now laid by.
Susquehanna – Good for Susquehanna. It is said that 100 more girls can secure a position at the silk mill if they make application by January 2, 1915. By the way, that was all that was in the way of a nice industry in Montrose—girl help. The factory was closed down for the want of girls. Also the fire on Tuesday in the upper end of Jackson avenue makes one think that our city fathers should get busy and make the water company place a hydrant up there. If it had not been for the timely assistance of the neighbors, in carrying water, the house would have burned, as the fire company could do nothing.
Lanesboro – Michael Ziegler, who resides near here, was instantly killed at Stevens Point, Pa., by a D & H train. Mr. Ziegler, who is an aged and highly respected citizen, was taking his milk to the creamery at Stevens Point, and as he was passing over the railroad crossing, a D & H train struck his wagon, throwing Mr. Ziegler about 25 ft., where he struck on his head. Life was extinct when the unfortunate man was picked up. The wagon was demolished and the horse slightly injured. The body was taken to Dooley’s undertaking rooms in Susquehanna.
Brooklyn – The Tunkhannock New Age has the following flattering mention of one of Brooklyn’s talented and well known ladies. Miss Alice Louise Lee, Brooklyn, Pa., has been visiting her cousins, Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Tewksbury, for a few days. Miss Lee is not only a young lady of pleasing personality, but an authoress of considerable note. Several of her productions are published in book form, such as Cap’n Joe’s Sister, a series of Co-Ed books and others. Her shorter stories are sought after by such high class publications as the Youth’s Companion and the like. Among the first of her stories in that paper was “Ma Staples,” the chief character being modeled from Mrs. Tewksbury. Miss Lee’s stories are vibrant with life, her characters clean and wholesome and her pen work is not only interesting but elevating.
Lenox – Mr. and Mrs. Ed Oakley are moving to South Gibson, as we understand he is going to be our new stage driver. The ladies of this vicinity met with Mrs. Charles Pickering and made a quilt for Mr. and Mrs. Oakley, who lost nearly everything when their house burned a few weeks ago.
Heart Lake – A little son has arrived at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn E. Mead. Also Bert Brown has attached runners to his motorcycle and makes high speed on the lake. The ice is about 5 inches thick.
Shannon Hill, Auburn Twp. –P. D. Shannon and wife were given a pleasant surprise, Saturday evening, Dec. 5, they being the oldest couple in the neighborhood. Fifty-four friends came with well filled baskets, which were soon spread on two large tables by the many willing hands and then the company partook of a most excellent chicken pie dinner, after which all repaired to the parlor, where several appropriate speeches were made Rev. Transue, P. F. Klotner, S. L. Overfield, and others. The couple was presented a purse of $18 as a token of the high esteem in which they are held by the community.
New Milford – DeWitt C. Vail, proprietor of the motion picture theatre here, is an experienced electrician and his advertisement appears in the issue of this newspaper relative to wiring homes and business places for lights. His wireless station in New Milford attracted much comment in the press a few years ago, being one of the first established in the east by an amateur. He tells us the recent ice storm broke down one of the main poles, putting the apparatus temporarily out of commission.
Montrose – On Monday D. L. Robinove received a postcard from his sister, Mrs. Kaplan, of the province of Vilna, Russia, the first word he had received since the outbreak of the terrible war in Europe. Mrs. Kaplan is in good health and is longing for the day of peace to dawn over the war torn nations. Her son, Sam, who had been visiting his uncle, Mr. Robinove, was in Alford in route for New York when the postcard came, but was phoned for and came back to Montrose to read the line from his mother from whom he had not heard since last April. Mr. Robinove says the message from his sister is the only Christmas present he wants.
South Gibson – Jesse Pickering met with a very painful accident while working in the mill. He was in the act of putting on a belt when in some manner the belt caught his clothing and tore it from his body, breaking his shoulder and splintering the collarbone.
Forest City – Nearly a whole train of cars loaded with Christmas trees passed through here Thursday morning. The trees were cut in Vermont and shipped to various points west of Chicago and to intermediate points. The original cost was from five to eight cents per tree. They will retail for from seventy-five cents to two dollars a tree.
Clifford Twp. – The Christmas exercises of the Welsh Congregational church will be held Christmas night at six-thirty sharp. A silver offering will be taken. The program consists of a Christmas drama entitled, “A Santa Claus and Mother Goose Reception.” Recitations, solos and songs, lots of candy and presents for the youngsters.
Rush – Mrs. S. B. Stark, of Rush, has purchased the Peirson millinery store on Church street in Montrose and will soon take possession. We understand that the Misses Peirson will remove to California.
Hop Bottom –Santa Will Visit Hop Bottom: Drawing near the close of nineteen fourteen/Hop Bottom looks forward to see Santa Claus’ team/Down the chimney he’ll find in Loomis’ store/ Candy, nuts and toys by the score/The furniture dealer just next door/Has beds and tables and then some more/Roberts & Bertholf across the street/Has everything fine, spick, span and neat/Should Santa’s harness break to Hettes he’ll go/And there find good robes to keep off the snow/To Glen Roberts & Bisbees’ next he will go/For they have cut glass and handkerchiefs to show/Right over the roof of the National Bank/And down at the clothier’s clickety clank!/Sweaters and mittens, gloves and hats/Well supplies old Santa Claus’ pack/A peep into Brown’s at the Art Display/Then quickly he jumps into his sleigh/Into the Drug Store and out in a trice/They have brushes, combs, and everything nice/Barber Bell will shave him swift and neat/And the quick lunch gets him something to eat/Then he bids good-bye to our little town/And pulls off for Nicholson six miles farther down.
Over the years, I have received some interesting questions from readers looking for some answers to legal questions. A few weeks ago, I received an inquiry into the misuse of “business reply mail” envelopes, i.e., an envelope where the postage has been prepaid by the business as a means of encouraging you to respond to their solicitation or billing. The reader asked whether there was any prohibition against simply putting a different address on the envelope and using it so that you do not have to pay the postage – but the initial business that provided the envelope is stuck paying the tab. In other words, the business pays for your personal postage by your misuse of the envelope that they provided. Apparently, this trick made it onto a cable television show called “Extreme Cheapskates.” The reader wanted to know if this was a criminal violation, a moral violation, both or neither one.
From a moral perspective, I would only suggest that the use of a business reply envelope outside its intended purpose – and with the knowledge that the business is going to foot the bill for your personal postage – seems to me to pretty clearly be an immoral act. You can slice and dice it any way you want – but you are stealing from the business when you misuse its envelope in a manner that assures that the business is stuck paying your postage. From a moral framework, there is little way to justify such conduct unless you believe that stealing is permissible. This is not about being frugal – it is about taking money out of someone else’s pocket without their knowledge and consent.
The regulations relating to business reply mail envelopes from the United States Postal Service indicate that the envelope must be used for its intended purpose. If it is apparent to the Postal Service that the envelope is being misused, then the Postal Service will categorize the use of that envelope as improper, an act of waste, and simply throw it out. Prior to the regulation, there were people who would “brick” the business who was soliciting them, i.e., they would mail a large item in the mail back to the business by taping the envelope to it and thereby assuring that the soliciting (and annoying) business was hit with a big bill for a useless mailing. The Postal Service has put an end to “bricking” businesses – and this means that a postal worker notices that an envelope has been misused, it may simply end up in the garbage and the cheapskate’s mail will never get to its destination and the business will not be charged.
If the misused envelope is not detected, however, the business will be charged for the postage for a mailing that they never received. I did some quick research to see if I could find any case where a person had ever been charged for the misuse of a business reply envelope – and I did not find any reported cases. This does not mean that it has never occurred, only that no defendant has ever appealed a case to an appellate court after being charged with improperly using a business reply envelope.
What would the charge be? Under Pennsylvania law, the deceptive practice of altering a business reply envelope for your own personal gain would constitute a theft offense, and a variety of the theft offenses could arguably fit this conduct. Theft offenses are pretty simple: you unlawfully take property belonging to another person. The best fit is likely theft by deception, namely, you acquired the property of another person through deception. In this case, the altering of the address on the business reply envelope deceived the Postal Service into charging the permitted business for a mailing that they never received. The property that you took would be the postage that the business has to pay to the postal service for your personal mailing. Given the amount of the postage, the theft offense would constitute a misdemeanor of the third degree because the property obtained (postage) was under $50. While this is a relatively minor offense, it does carry a potential time of incarceration of up to 1 year in prison and a $2,500 fine.
For the extreme cheapskates out there, do not mail your Christmas cards in business reply mail envelopes. The post office could potentially simply throw them out if the misuse is identified. Even if this does not occur, the idea of expressing Season’s greetings through stolen postage is an odd way to celebrate with family and friends. If you simply cannot resist reusing envelopes received in the junk mail pile, then you can add your own stamp to it and alleviate any potential argument that you are a thief.
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/.
Are Brand Name Drugs Better Than Generics?
Mrs. Thomas took her prescription for her heart medication to the pharmacy to have it filled. “I don’t want one of those generic drugs either,” she stated. “I want the real thing.” So, are brand name drugs really better than generic version?
According to recent information published in Consumer Reports, the answer is an emphatic no. To win approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the manufacturer of the generic medication must show that the drug has the same active ingredient and that it is identical in strength, dosage form, route of administration and labeling as the brand name drug. The company must also demonstrate that individuals absorb and excrete the medication at the same rate. Says a pharmaceutical scientist who worked for decades at the FDA, “People may think that brand name products are better because they’re more expensive, but the body doesn’t know whether the drug came from a brand name or a generic company.”
When a medication goes off patient, other pharmaceutical manufacturers are free to create generic versions of that drug. The consumer can save considerable money by switching to the generic form of that drug. But the price of the drug does not go down immediately after the generic is released to the market. Let’s take a mythical medication, Fatnomore, used for weight loss, as an example. The brand’s retail price for a month’s worth of Fatnomore is $220. Then it goes generic. After one year, the generic price is about half: $110. After 2 years on the market, it goes to $48. After 3 years, the price is $12. Why does it take so long for the price to go down? When a drug is about to go off patent, manufacturers file lawsuits to challenge the patent. The company that wins obtains a 6-month period to sell that generic exclusively. When that period is over, other generics houses can produce that drug, forcing the prices even lower. Today, 8 out of 10 prescriptions filled in the US are for generic drugs, says the FDA. Cost is a big factor because generics can be as much as 85% cheaper than their brand counterparts.
Mrs. Thomas’ pharmacist explained the generic process to her and she agreed that perhaps the generic form of her pricy heart medication was as good as the “real thing” and she agreed to switch to the generic. She was pleased at the money she saved, as well as the confidence she gained from her pharmacist’s counseling.
Ron Gasbarro, PharmD is a pharmacist, medical writer, and principal at Rx-Press.com. Write him at ron@rx-press.com.
