East Bridgewater – Dr. Carl Aldrich, of Clarks Summit, was engaged here Friday. Mr. Aldrich was a former East Bridgewater boy, but is now a veterinarian with a rapidly expanding practice in Lackawanna county. He often has calls from Susquehanna county.

Lenox – Wedding bells were ringing in our neighborhood last week, when Deronda Bennett and Miss Gladys McDonald were quietly married. We all wish them happiness and prosperity.

Susquehanna – Mr. Eckles, the superintendent of the Delaware Division, has been promoted to the superintendent of the Buffalo Division. Train master, J. W. Foote, of the same division, also goes to Buffalo. L. W. Rockefeller will be the new train master at this place. Also Miss Mary Fitzgerald and Wm. McClelland were married at 8 o’clock at St. John’s church, Tuesday, Dec. 28. After a short wedding trip they will reside here.

St. Joseph – The death of Miss Mary Jane Sweeney occurred at her late home at St. Joseph on Dec. 28, 1915. Miss Sweeney belonged to one of the old first families of St. Joseph that figured in the days when the college stood near the church in the valley. Her ancestry shared the joys and privileges of the college days and made many friends among the students who came from all parts of the country to receive training at the hands of the Christian Brothers who located there from Philadelphia and other places. The old convent was not far from her parents’ home—but the two landmarks have passed out of existence, and the early settlers for the most part are resting in the little cemetery which forms a part of the churchyard, which is dotted with not a few white crosses as memorials for the dead. Miss Sweeney was one of the owners of the famous spring built by the Indians on their farm many years ago, the water therefrom having been used in nearby cities and towns for several years past. The only surviving members of the family are—Miss Margaret Sweeney, an instructress in the Indian Government School, at Carlisle, Pa., and Miss Anastasia Sweeney, formerly a teacher in the Susquehanna county schools, who resides at home. Daniel, a brother, who had charge of the old spring for many years, passed away about seven years ago.

Birchardville – Morris Baker has returned to his work at the Philadelphia School of Business, after spending a week’s vacation with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. F. Baker.

Montrose – W. W. Nash, our pioneer florist, has installed a new heating plant in his greenhouses at South View gardens. A boiler house has been erected and a large seven-section boiler placed therein. This will provide the popular florist with greater “bench” space in his greenhouses—by the removal of the former heater—and will also permit a more uniform temperature. Taking time by the forelock he already has preparations well under way for the Easter trade. Also Rufus Sayre, 70 years old, died in the Southampton Hospital, at Southampton, L. I., on Saturday. He was ill only a few days with pneumonia. He was a direct descendant of the original settlers of Southampton in 1640. His parents were Captain Edward Sayre and Mary Scott Sayre. He was unmarried and lived a quiet, retired life at his home in Meetinghouse lane. A brother, the Rev. Edward W. Sayre, of Gering, Neb., and a nephew, Edward C. Sayre, of Binghamton, N. Y., survive him. [Descendants of the Sayre family also lived, and still live, in Montrose.]

Springville – There is considerable agitation looking to the building of a creamery here in the near future. Many of the patrons are dissatisfied with the prices being paid for milk at the local station.

Rush – U. W. LaRue’s garage is nearly completed. An ever-increasing business made necessary a much larger stock room. Besides his agency for cars, he will run an up-to-date supply and repair department. Also Low water in the mill pond, caused by a break in the Wyalusing dam, will make it difficult to secure ice for local supply. Plans for a new dam are being made.

Auburn Center – January 1 was the fifty-sixth anniversary of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. George Tewksbury. They are living in the same house in which the wedding took place and during the fifty-six years of their married life many changes have taken place in that vicinity. Of the twenty-five or thirty guests present at the wedding, only two are still living, Mrs. Samantha Linaberry, of Binghamton, and Mrs. Maria Bowman, of Meshoppen.

Stevensville/Auburn –Mrs. Geo. Jones, of Auburn, entertained on New Year’s, Mr. and Mrs. C. F Chase and daughter, Martin Smith, and grandson, of Stevensville, and Mrs. Emmons of Auburn 4 Corners. Mr. Smith is an uncle of Mrs. Jones and spent his boyhood days in this vicinity. He moved to Stevensville when a boy of ten. He served three years in the Civil War, and was in a number of battles among them the battle of the Wilderness, Chancellorsville and at Gettysburg. He says, in regard to the last mentioned battle, his regiment supported the artillery fire in which Pickett’s famous charge was made and of his company of one hundred men, seventy-five were killed and several wounded, he being shot through both legs. He lay on the battlefield one day and night before being brought to the hospital.

Silver Lake – Melvin Chapman, who lives in the vicinity of Richmond Hill, was sentenced to one hundred days in jail and the costs incurred in the case, by F. A. Davies, Esq., yesterday, he having made a confession that he had shot the doe in this township recently, and that his son-in-law, William Dennison, had nothing to do with the affair. Dennison, at a hearing held last week, swore that he was innocent and that his father-in-law had told him he had done it. Mrs. Dennison went to Homer, N. Y., where she located Mr. Chapman and brought him to Montrose, where the plea of guilty was entered. He stated that he thought the animal was a buck when he shot it, but when he found it to be a doe thought it high time to be getting out of this part of the country.

New Road: That the State Highway Department will build a macadamized road from Montrose to Heart Lake, and from thence to New Milford, and to Hallstead, and will begin operations just as soon as the weather will permit in the spring, is the best of news that the Democrat could bring to its readers this week—and this is practically assured. The highway department is now negotiating with Montrose borough for the lease of its stone crusher, engine, etc., to be used in this job and says the lease must start April 15th. Montrose will brick pave the street from the western end of the borough to the borough line near Harrington’s Mills in the spring; New Milford is to pave the main street of the town; a fine macadamized road already extends from the state line to Hallstead. To connect these several pieces of good roads is following a policy of the State Highway Department.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court just issued an opinion addressing the constitutionality of Governor Wolf’s moratorium on the death penalty in Pennsylvania.  The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office filed a challenge to the moratorium contending that it exceeded the Governor’s constitutional authority to grant a reprieve – and it was interfering with a death warrant issued by Governor Corbett for the execution of Terrance Williams, a man convicted of a brutal killing and sentenced to death in 1984.

The Philadelphia District Attorney (and the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association) argued that the reprieve granted by the governor was too general and open-ended as the Governor stated that the reprieve would run “until I have received a reviewed the forthcoming report of the Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Committee on Capital Punishment, and any recommendations contained therein are satisfactorily addressed.”  Because the reprieve lacked any definite duration as well as any specific defined purpose, the prosecutors argued that it was unconstitutional.

The Governor (and Terrance Williams) argued that the reprieve met the constitutional requirements and disputed the suggestion that there were limits on the Executive’s constitutional reprieve power.  In relying upon English common law, the Governor argued that his constitutional reprieve powers were not limited in scope or duration – but could be granted as under common law “from the power of the crown” (es mandato regis).

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed with the Governor’s position, stating: “We find that the historical exercise of executive reprieve power in Pennsylvania is also consistent with the common law understanding of the term and suggests no limitations as to fixed duration or particular purpose, but only that the reprieve operate as a temporary suspension of a sentence.”  The Supreme Court made clear that the reprieve did nothing to alter the original sentence of death – and that it was not permanent, but temporary in nature.  Because it did not alter the sentence death, the Governor’s temporary reprieve was found to be constitutional.  The Supreme Court emphasized that “it is not our task to address the wisdom of Governor Wolf’s issuance of Williams’ reprieve, but only its constitutional validity.”

In a concurring opinion, Justice Stevens agreed that Governor Wolf had acted within his constitutional authority in granting the temporary reprieve, but Justice Stevens expressed some concern about the direction that the temporary reprieve seemed to be traveling.  Justice Stevens quoted John Adams for the proposition that we are “government of laws, not of men.”  In this regard, Justice Stevens stressed that “the Executive Branch cannot unilaterally and arbitrarily nullify a valid, existing statute by refusing to enforce it.”

Justice Stevens also questioned whether this reprieve was truly temporary – noting that 4 years had passed since the Death Penalty Task Force had been created without a report – and 31 years had passed since Terrance Williams had “robbed, tortured and murdered” the victim.  There was no indication when the Task Force report would be released – and even after released – Justice Stevens wondered who would determine whether the recommendations had been “satisfactorily addressed” as the Governor’s reprieve contends is necessary prior to lifting it.  Thus, Justice Stevens suggested “the reprieve was not truly temporary in nature.” 

Justice Stevens stressed that Terrance Williams had received due process in the courts over the intervening 31 years – and his conviction sentence had been upheld as constitutionally valid.  He expressed concern that “families of victims are victimized again and again, this time by the failure of the criminal justice system to carry out the law.”

Justice Stevens ended his opinion with these cautionary remarks: “If there is to be no death penalty law in Pennsylvania, such decision should come from the legislative body.  Otherwise, the rule of law envisioned by our Founding Fathers as the bedrock principle of our democracy becomes unglued by being only applied when convenient and disregarded at will.”

A political saying is, “Turkeys flock; eagles soar.” The political class continues to flock, worrying about Donald Trump, even as he continues to soar in the polls. Will he be the Republican standard-bearer in November 2016? I don’t know; I have no crystal ball and I make no predictions. But what I do know is that he has lit a wildfire across the country.

I have sat back and observed his awakening of America. What accounts for this popularity?  He doesn’t speak “political-ese.” Politicians couch their words carefully and consider the impact of every syllable in every interview and speech. Donald Trump has literally broken every rule in modern political history. He grants interviews to virtually anyone who wants access. He goes on every news show that will have him. He tweets. He engages his mouth at full throttle and let’s the chips fall where they may.

What he has is urgency, compelling urgency. He communicates, quite authentically, that America is on a downward glide path--and we damn well better do something about it NOW.  That message is NOT being transmitted by his opponents, certainly not to any equivalent degree as reported in the press.

The political class of the Republican Party is notably upset and frightened by Donald Trump. The political establishment of the Republican Party expresses alarm at the Obama Administration’s dubious record of “accomplishment” in affairs foreign and domestic. Yet Republican Party leaders--certainly Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell--do nothing more than pay lip service to conservative principles, while legislating a socialist status quo agenda to the liking of President Obama and his minions.

A Uniparty, with Democratic and Republican Party wings, is fully operational in Washington, D.C. The Uniparty fully funded Obamacare, Syrian “refugee” resettlement, illegal immigrant resettlement, Planned Parenthood subsidies, corporate welfare, military-industrial welfare, carbon tax rip-offs, and schemes nearly ad infinitum. Fortune 500 corporations that lobby from “K” Street realize that on average they can get a return of $760 for each dollar spent lobbying the federal government. That makes political lobbying more profitable than expanding business or investing in capital improvements.

Meanwhile, the United States is currently confronted by a world in turmoil and flames. The Middle East is a tinderbox primed for explosion. Europe is collapsing under the weight of invasion by Islam-fascist forces; France is already in a state of national emergency.  Iran rattles its sabers while acquiring nuclear technology. Russia, China, and North Korea pursue policies fundamentally antithetical to American objectives.

Domestically, America’s manufacturing and industrial base has collapsed. Government debt and consumer debt are at all-time highs. Obamacare has devastated healthcare. The EPA proposes to regulate carbon dioxide and every potential mud puddle that could be ever-so-remotely-related to navigable waters. And President Obama speechifies that gun control will be the primary objective of his last year in office. 

The Uniparty was hoping for, and certainly expectant, that next year’s presidential election would match Hillary Clinton against Jeb Bush. Die-hards in the two branches, “D” and “R,” might argue that it was vitally important their candidate be elected. And like the last two elections, die-hards would argue that “This is the most important election in American history.” It seems remote that Jeb will be the standard-bearer for the Republicans, though Hillary remains the heavy favorite to represent the Democrats. Uniparty apparatchiks would be aghast if, for the first time since 1984, both major party candidates were not elitist-acceptable. 

What Hillary Clinton represents is Obama’s third term. Essentially if you like the job President Obama is doing, vote for Hillary. The theme of a future Hillary administration is more government intervention in every area of your life, except if you want an abortion, of course. If Americans can envision her with her finger on the button, or receiving that 3 a.m. call--like Benghazi perhaps?--she may well be the next Commander in Chief.

Donald Trump represents a vision, “I’ll make America great again!” His words evoke a self-confidence born of his success in private industry. But his “outsiderism” is just as much a part of his appeal. His nearest rivals in the Republican contest are Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and Dr. Ben Carson. Ted Cruz is the least inside of insiders, and Dr. Carson, like Trump, has never held office. But of all the outsiders, Candidate Trump is the one man who appears ready to grab politicians by the scruff of the neck to make change happen. Likewise, he personifies someone who WILL stand up to terrorists and tyrants, at least in a very different way than President Obama. 

What awakening Americans are trying to tell our government is that it has discredited itself. Do not mistake “Government” for “Country.” All true Americans love their country and want to do everything they can to make it thrive and succeed. Unlike President Obama, who claims that “Government is all of us,” many Americans recognize that “Government is NOT all of us, but only some of us, some of whom are siphoning off vast resources to the benefit of a few at the expense of the many.” It has become clear to all too many people that Government has become a private club for insiders, with the least qualified, but most-connected, manipulating everything to their advantage.

Awakening America realizes that only a radical shift in policies will save America. This is no time for half-measures. Most of the press remains asleep with the political class--or sleeping with the political class. They are those who believe their machinations can go on forever, or at least until the election after next, which is, of course, all that really matters in their calculation.

Is Donald Trump the man to make America great again? Voters will have to deliver their judgment during the primary marathon ahead. But as 2016 opens, Donald Trump remains the eagle soaring over flocking turkeys.