Elk Lake – Warren B. Lathrop, age about 75, a well-known and highly respect resident of this place, dropped dead on Wednesday afternoon. He was at work drawing a load of hay with a horse, when the animal fell down. Calling a neighbor, Edward Logan and Mr. Lloyd and his son, they proceeded to extricate the animal from its difficulty. The animal was no sooner on its feet , when Mr. Lathrop, stepping to its head, fell over lifeless. It is probable that exertion and excitement overtaxed his heart. Mr. Lathrop was a veteran of the Civil War and a member of Auburn Post No. 3, G. A. R. He was a man of fine personality and an ardent worker in the Grange. His wife, who is in feeble health, alone survives. As she is in frail mental condition as well, her case is particularly sad. They had reared four children by adoption, two of whom had died, and in her old age there seems no one to make a home for her. The funeral will be held from the house and interment in the Brooklyn cemetery.

South Montrose – Percy Ballantine gives a big banquet tonight to all of his employees and their families at Louden Hill Farm. Chefs from Hotel Casey, Scranton, serve the supper. A city band will furnish music.

Harford – The Odd Fellows, having gas lights in their meeting room, have donated their 12 lamp chandelier to the High school. Also George Richardson surely earned his money last week, driving the school sleigh, but he was right on time, every day, although he had all kinds of weather to contend with.

Gelatt – There is in the neighborhood of 80 cans of milk and cream buried in the snowbanks between here and Orson. Sometimes it is worth a few cents on a hundred pounds of milk to have a market nearer home.

Middletown – Our neighbor, Randall Owen, is visiting with his family. Mr. Owen is attending the Toronto Veterinary College and is to graduate the coming year. Also we have first-class sleighing since the snowstorm. Some of our roads were badly drifted, but the supervisors have rushed the opening of all roads. Several of our young men have recently purchased new cutters. We are sure we will hear the merry sleighbells on our streets this winter.

Laurel Lake – The recent storm made the roads in this vicinity nearly impassable but that did not stop our mail, thanks to the efforts of carrier James O’Day.

Forest City – Forty-eight applications for liquor licenses have been made in this county, the smallest number in many years. There are two applications for new wholesale liquor licenses in this place. They are Louis Gardella and Joseph Buceneli, Jr. Also Tuesday, Brant McLaughlin delivered to his customers, ice taken from the pond in the morning. It was a foot thick.

Alford – Marion Slocum, of Nicholson, will soon move into town, in the house he has lately purchased of J. M. Decker. He has a permanent job here as towerman.

Springville – Word was received here at an early hour on Monday that Oliver Squires’ barn was on fire. The report proved true, and the building, with its contents, except the livestock, which was gotten out with great difficulty, was entirely consumed. The origin of the fire is reported to be from thawing out a gasoline engine used in cutting stalks. Mr. Squires is an elderly man and was confined to his bed at the time.

Montrose – Bethel Church, an old landmark on Chenango street, which served for many years as a place of worship for the colored people, has lost its “landmark” appearance and is being converted into a building to be used for other purposes. This old church at one time had a flourishing congregation, but death and change of residence made sad havoc and but one of two of its former members are now living in Montrose. Also Theda Bara, who featured in “A Fool There Was,” at the C-nic theater, was born on the Sahara desert. Her father was Guiseppe Bara, an Italian sculptor and her mother a French actress.

Auburn – E. C. Parker, of this place, is a grand nephew of the late John Deans, who was an early settler and Methodist preacher in this county, his farm being below South Montrose and near the site of the Louden Hill farms. Henry Deans, one of the two remaining sons of John Deans, is a valued employee at the famous Bowery Mission in New York city.

Hopbottom – Miss Lillian Rose has returned home from Bristol, where she has been visiting her sister, Mrs. Flower.

South Ararat – Winter has surely come. The blizzard this week struck this place quite hard. The roads in some places are drifted full. The milk teams from there didn’t reach Orson until seven o’clock in the evening. They stayed all night, returning the next day.

Hallstead – Sunday morning, fire whistles were blown when flames were discovered coming from the large ice house just across the river bridge, on the J. Fred Carl farm. When the fire was discovered it had gained too much headway to be extinguished and the entire building and contents, which consisted of saw dust, a large quantity of hay, wagons, and farming implements, were totally destroyed, cause unknown. Also the river is frozen over above the bridge and the ice is 5 or 6 inches thick.

Thompson – A special train arrived here on Friday last, from Mansfield Normal school, carrying students over the Erie railroad and connecting lines to their respective homes for the Christmas vacation. Six of the students were left here: Anna Harper, Jessie Wilmarth, Helen Clark, Nora Brown, Helen Weir and Ruth Stone. The special continued to Carbondale over the branch line.

Glenwood – Santa Claus passed through this place last week enroute to Cameron’s Corners with a piano to help break the monotony for some little girl. Santa is a dear old fellow and looks upon a piano as being a necessity instead of a luxury.

Susquehanna – The store windows here are looking very pretty, all dressed in their holiday attire. Also Miss Lelia Reiley, who was the pianist at the Hogan Opera House, has relinquished her position. She is succeeded by Ruth O’Connell.

Clifford – The snow storm last week made only 7 or 8 inches on the level, but the wind played pranks with it until many of the roads were impassable. Thursday night it commenced raining and kept it up until Saturday noon, when the wind shifted to northwest and commenced snowing again. The mails have been very irregular; the one from Carbondale making only part of its route for several days but managed to get through to Clifford by private parties. The east branch of Tunkhannock creek became clogged with ice on Saturday, but Supervisor W. J. Bennett, with helpers, cleared it after an arduous struggle. Sunday brought us beautiful sunshine and we are now promised some fair weather, but the roads are very rough.

Marriage Licenses: Fred Fritz, Summersville and Mary Davis, New Milford; Ernest W. Benjamin, Kingsley and Rena M. Galloway, Hallstead; Guy L. Harris and Zelpha J. Benedict, both of Susquehanna; Tracy I. Potter and Cora E. Starbird, both of Thompson; Charles E. Allen and Nina A. Burchell, both of Thompson; Aloysius G. Doherty and Genevieve M. Condon, both of Susquehanna; Fred Magee and Grace Warner, both of Fairdale; A. W. Chamberlain and Ida May Davison, both of South Montrose; John McCarthy, Jr., Hallstead and Alice Carver, Great Bend

For many years, the Village of Mundelein, Illinois, displayed a nativity scene in the lawn of its village hall during the Christmas season.  In 1987, after questions were raised concerning the propriety of the display, the Village added a Santa Claus, a sleigh, carolers, snowmen, lights, wreaths, and two nutcracker soldiers.  The secular additions did not satisfy one resident, who then filed suit in federal court for a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.  In 1989, the Seventh Circuit heard the case stating that it had to determine “how to best characterize a crèche that is part of a display – and inevitably will be seen in the context of an ensemble of seasonal symbols – located on the grounds of city hall.”

The Seventh Circuit noted that the crèche was placed amid an array of holiday symbols – it was not an isolated religious display.  Moreover, the display occurred outdoors – not inside the government building itself – and observers would see an outdoor ensemble of mostly secular symbols and an isolated crèche consistent with the theme of the Christmas holiday season.  The Court noted that it is difficult to draw lines in these kinds of cases, but ultimately concluded that a crèche snuggled amid other secular holiday decorations in an outdoor display on government property did not violate the Establishment Clause.

Judge Coffee, concurring in the result, noted that religious decorations had historically been a part of all Christmas holiday displays – and that “the erection of a holiday display incorporating religious themes, merely recognizes the broad Christian tradition to which many members of this society belong.”  In concluding his concurring opinion, Judge Coffee stated: “Attempts to suppress this recognition [of the broad Christian tradition] are the very antithesis of the values of respect for the religious conscience of others and religious tolerance which underlie the Establishment Clause.”

In his own concurring opinion, Judge Estabrook was more blunt: “[T]he use of religious symbols has long been a part of government and remains so today.  If Christmas may be a holiday – that is, if states may celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ – it is difficult to condemn the government’s display of a nativity scene together with other symbols of the day.  The crèche depicts the event that the day commemorates.  That this symbol has religious meaning is obvious, but once we admit the holiday (mounted at great expense in holiday pay for civil servants), the display of symbols pales.  Christmas has acquired a secular meaning (it celebrates shopping, the national pastime, as well as generosity) while retaining its religious meaning. The Constitution does not simultaneously allow the state to declare a holiday in honor of this religious event and command it to pretend that the day has only secular meaning, or allow it to sponsor a display but compel it to hold the icons at a symbolic arm’s length by moving them to the other side of the street.  If there may be a holiday, and a display, at all, there is no constitutional virtue in the ten-foot pole.  Governments display the appropriate symbols for other occasions; the holiday celebrating the life of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., brings readings from his sermons, unabashedly sectarian in nature.  When the government speaks but does not compel others to worship or penalize those with different views, there is no serious threat to religious freedom.”

Judge Flaum dissented and found that the placement of the crèche did violate the Establishment Clause because of the placement of the display.  Judge Flaum argued that the crèche was placed too close to the government building and its close proximity to the government building represented an impermissible endorsement of the Christian religion.  Judge Flaum stated the argument simply: “Of course, the likelihood of identification [of impermissible endorsement of religion] diminishes as distance and space intervene.  But where the distance is negligible, and no significant separating elements exist, the identification is unmistakable.”

The strong language advocated by Judge Estabrook has never been adopted by the United States Supreme Court – and the law in this arena remains unclear.  As Judge Griesbach of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin stated in 2010: “And so the annual ‘Christmas wars’ that have become so much a part of the American holiday tradition will continue as one of several fronts in the much wider cultural debate over the role of religion in our nation’s history and its well-being, and the degree to which government may constitutionally recognize that role.”

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.

“Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then smile and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven's making.” ~Leigh Hunt

The staff of the Susquehanna Branch Library wishes a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of our Patrons and Supporters! Patrons, we thank-you for joining in another year, of enjoying great books and tremendous Community Involvement. To our Supporters, thank-you for all that you do to help our Library be such a wonderful, welcoming place, whether it be through your generous donation of time or funds, it is all very much appreciated.

A special thanks goes to the “Friends of Susquehanna County” for their generous yearly donations.

We, at the Hallstead/Great Bend and Montrose Main Library Locations, want to wish a very “ Merry Christmas” and a “Happy and Healthy New Year” to everyone in our wonderful communities and beyond, and thank-you all for your support, kindness and generosity throughout the year. We could not do, what we do, without you! Our most fervent wish is that you and your Family will find some time in the upcoming year to come in, visit and enjoy some time at your Library and experience all it has to offer.

As your “Dog-Eared, Tattered Cover Columnist” I want to wish the Library Staffs of all three locations, all of the Library Patrons and Friends who read this column, the folks at Kensington Publishing and Random House/Penguin for their kindness and donations for Library Raffles, and the “County Transcript” for their generosity of time and space, the “Merriest of Christmases” and a “Bright and Beautiful 2016”!!

As I hang up my stocking, with a wish for “Peace on Earth”

and a hope for no coal in the toe, I leave you with this thought:

"It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!” Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!" ~Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Following the Star---Angels---Santa’s Reindeer

Merry Christmas!!

Happy New Year!!

Recall this famous opening line, “Good morning, Mr. Phelps. Your mission, Jim, should you choose to accept it is to . . . Good luck Jim." Congratulations, if you instantly recognized those words you probably enjoyed dozens of those “Mission Impossible” episodes dating back to the 1960’s. In a former life in times and places long distant I used a variation of that opening line each day in my naval career. As the Leading Chief and/or Division Officer I would call upon more junior sailors or Marines to carry out assorted assignments.

Similar to Mission Impossible’s opening, I would present the lucky selectee with these words, “Good morning, Petty Officer Umpteesquat. Your mission should you choose to accept it is to do (whatever the broad or specific assignment). Some “opportunities to excel” went to my stellar performers who immediately grasped the urgency and gravity of the situation, saluted smartly, and swiftly executed.

Of course, many missions, while important, were not of such consequence that they required the attention of my top-of-the-line performer. In such instances I would often invite less-skilled section leaders to accept a mission so as to improve his or her skills, as well to cross-train them both professionally and as future leaders. Invariably, some junior sailors were not overly confident of their abilities to carry out the mission laid before them. In those cases, I provided more detailed information, ensured the mission leader had the necessary resources available, and made clear that the mission was not to be construed as voluntary, but as mandatory.

That last clause was always a clincher for the hesitant mission leader; if it wasn’t apparent beforehand, it suddenly dawned upon him that I was making him an offer he couldn’t refuse. So where am I going with this long lead-in? I’m about to make you an offer, and I’m hoping you’ll accept the mission. The mission is by no means mandatory; you may take part only half-heartedly or not at all. But I’m hoping you’ll accept the mission when you grasp its urgency.

Before I present you with the mission, let me share the scope of the problem. We have a federal government completely out of control. Ours is no longer the Republic established by our forefathers. It can no longer be assumed to be the Guarantor of our God-given natural rights. Our federal government has decayed and deformed into a collectivist tyranny based on relativistic principles constantly changing. It is a complex socialistic system of immeasurable complexity almost never held accountable for its actions and inactions, though ever destructive of liberty, voluntarism, free enterprise, and free association.

Article I of the Constitution defines the legislative powers We the People grant to Congress. By design, the legislative branch takes preeminent place after the Preamble. Congress was given specific duties and responsibilities. Chief among them were the raising of revenue and passage of an annual budget. Yet, by any metric Congress has lost touch with reality. Annual deficits number in the hundreds of billions of dollars. The national debt is bearing down on $20 trillion. Unfunded liabilities top $200 trillion; and Congress has signed the American people on to responsibility for somewhere in the ballpark of $2 quadrillion. No hint of financial or monetary responsibility can be detected in this once august institution.

Article II of the Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in a President. While every President--some more, some less--since Herbert Hoover has exceeded his Constitutional authority in the name of expedience, we have now a president so drunk with power that he has hardly resisted any impulse to tyranny. He aggregates unto himself the power to determine who shall live and who shall die (kill lists for drones). He assumes power to intervene in and destroy foreign governments (witness Libya, Egypt, Ukraine, Syria, etc). He implements treaties (now called “deals”) not ratified by two-thirds consent of Senators present. He has issued executive orders (including EO 13603) which empower him to take total control of all transportation, communication, industrial, and agricultural sectors of the economy, and make redistribution of them without regard to private property rights, whether in time of national emergency or peace. He has signed legislation (December 31, 2011 NDAA) which empowers him to detain any person without due process, notwithstanding rights of due process in the Bill of Rights. No hint of humility can be detected in this once honorable office.

Article III vests judicial power of the United States in a supreme court and inferior courts as the Congress may ordain and establish. The branch of government arguably the weakest--because it is the least accountable to We the People--has seized authority never granted to it. The Supreme Court and its various circuit courts have transmuted into a system of judicial tyranny, having super and supra-legislative powers capable of writing and rewriting laws, as well as imposing an agenda completely at odds with the Constitution. A few sitting justices even insist that they consult foreign laws and international norms as part of their process in deciding cases before the court. Clearly we are unmoored from the Constitution when as few as five people in robes seize power to impose laws, standards, and customs upon a population of over 300 million people. No hint of judiciousness can be detected in this once admirable court.

Article IV of the Constitution guarantees to every State a Republican Form of Government, and guarantees that the United States shall protect each state against invasion. Just how is each State capable of a Republican Form when states have been reduced to mere appendages of the Federal Government. States are compelled to educate, feed, clothe, shelter, and medically care for refugees who have not been carefully vetted, but also for aliens who have illegally entered this country or remained beyond their legal stay? Every State’s integrity is now imperiled, not to mention the safety and liberty of every citizen who is exposed to the criminal acts of those here illegally. No hint of respect and equanimity exists between federal and State governments.

What I am telling you, Gentle Readers, is that the firewalls of the first four Articles of the Constitution have been breached. Neither the Congress, nor the President, nor the Supreme Court has any interest in rolling back the powers they have seized. They cannot reform themselves and it is an absolute certainty that they will not. Voting in a new president or a new congress will have no discernable effect on returning power to We the People. Yet we know we cannot stand idly by as our beloved country commits national suicide.

What can be done? The solution is found in Article V of the Constitution. The applicable section reads, “The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of threes fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress.”

What Article V tells us is that amendments to the Constitution may originate in Congress or in the State Legislatures. Because the U.S. Congress is paralyzed, unable to pass any meaningful amendments to save our country, our last best hope rests in our State Legislatures in the several States. The Pennsylvania General Assembly has not yet made application for an Article V Convention of the States. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to acquaint yourself with the facts until you are sufficiently comfortable, and then pick up your pen or your phone. Senators Gene Yaw and Lisa Baker, and Representatives Tina Pickett and Sandy Major represent Susquehanna County. What you say or write to them is up to you. You may think it Mission Impossible to influence them, but maybe, just maybe, not all is lost. One thing is certain, if America sleeps on, all IS lost.

P.S.: Two of the many good resources for those interested in learning more about an Article V Convention of the States are these: (1) “The Liberty Amendments,” by Mark R. Levin, and (2) the website www.conventionofstates.com for those online.

When is a drug allergy not an allergy?

Mrs. Allen was new in town and she went to a pharmacy to which she had never been. She handed her prescription to the pharmacist and he proceeded to enter her information into the store’s computer. The pharmacist asked Mrs. Allen if she was allergic to any drugs. “Oh my, yes, “she replied, and then rattled off 7 or 8 drugs to which she was “allergic.” The pharmacist asked her to tell him what kinds of allergic reactions she was having. She said, “Some of these drugs make me sleepy and some make me dizzy and others make me queasy.” Are these really drug allergies?

When one starts a new medication, one you might feel queasy or sleepy, or get a rash. Is one truly allergic to the medicine, or are these just normal side effects? It's an important question to get answered, because actual drug allergies can be serious. But only a handful of bad reactions to medicine are due to an allergy.

Most side effects of drugs are not due to an allergic reaction. For example, aspirin can cause non-allergic hives or trigger asthma. Some drug reactions are considered idiosyncratic. This means the reaction is an unusual effect of the medication. It is not due to a known chemical effect of the drug. Many people confuse an uncomfortable, but not serious, side effect of a medicine, such as nausea, vomiting or drowsiness with a true drug allergy.

An allergy means your body sees the medicine as harmful. It rejects the drug with an allergic reaction. This may be mild or strong. It can happen a few hours after you take the drug or not until 2 weeks later.

Mild allergy symptoms include hives, rash, and itchy skin. Severe allergy warnings can include swelling o the lips, tongue or face, throat tightness, trouble breathing, lightheadedness, blisters, reddened skin, and whole body shock with life-threatening low blood pressure. These allergic symptoms must be reported to your doctor or pharmacist as soon as possible.

Call your doctor if you have any symptoms of a drug allergy. Your doctor will tell you to stop taking the new medication immediately. Then, he will likely tell you to come in for an exam to see if you are actually allergic to the medication. Your doctor may do any or all of the following: He may give you something to help your body fight the allergy so you feel better, such as a steroid. Let him know if side effects are making you ill. You may be able to take a lower dose of the drug. Or he can prescribe something to ease your trouble, like an antacid to calm an upset stomach, or an antihistamine for any skin problems. Or he might switch you to a different drug. Common allergy-causing drugs include:

anticonvulsants, insulin (especially animal sources of insulin), penicillin and related antibiotics such as amoxicillin or cephalexin, and also sulfa drugs.

Older people generally take more than one prescription drug because they have multiple health problems. If a couple of the drugs cause dizziness, this side effect may be more pronounced and care must be taken not to fall. Talking to one’s doctor or pharmacist about the risk of side effects and what one can to do ease them will make one’s life easier and safer.

Consider the following when you get a new prescription: Tell your doctor about any drug reactions you have had in the past. Tell him about all the medications, drugs, supplements, or vitamins you take for any reason. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if you should take your medication in a particular way, like with food or at bedtime.

Mrs. Allen thought about her previous medications and why she thought they were allergies rather than side effects. The pharmacist reassured her that side effects may be temporary and something you have to “tough out” until your body gets used to the drug.

Ron Gasbarro, PharmD is a registered pharmacist, medical writer, and principal at Rx-Press.com. Write him with any ideas or comments at ron@rx-press.com.