New Milford – News of the death of Col. Charles C. Pratt was received yesterday morning with deep sorrow. His death came quite suddenly following a two weeks’ illness with grippe, at his winter home, 95 Oak Street, Binghamton. His age was 62 years. He was one of New Milford’s leading citizens and was well known throughout the county. His wife, who was Miss Lillie B. Goff, died about five years ago. Three daughters and one son survive. Charles was the son of Ezra and Mary Fink Pratt and was a native of New Milford. The Pratt public library, which was a gift to this town, stands as a monument to his worth. He served the Fourteenth district well in Congress for one term. It has been truly said of him that he was too “good a man to be in politics,” in the sense that he was incapable of resorting to any method to gain an end which was not strictly honorable.

West Harford – C. G. Rhodes has bought the Orphan School farm. Also in North Harford the senior class of Harford High school went to Heart Lake last Friday night in a sleigh load, but as they found poor sleighing, it required some little time to reach their destination. They arrived at the Lake all safe and sound and were nicely entertained at the home of Misses Blanche and Agnes Gay. A sumptuous chicken pie supper was served and a splendid time enjoyed by all. The sleigh-ride party arrived in Harford in the early hours of the morning, a tired but happy lot. Hurrah! For the class of 1916.

Silver Lake – Frank Dougherty reports the skating fine at Quaker Lake. Also Miss Loretta Giblin has accepted a position with Johnson City Shoe factory. ALSO Edward Kenelly had a narrow escape coming from Montrose last week, when his sleigh slid over the Factory bridge at Richmond Hill.

Clifford – On account of the ill health our teacher, Miss Morgan, dismissed school last Wednesday and was not able to resume during the rest of the week. She expects to be able to be in the school house again today.

Springville – Homer Youngs went to Rush one day last week to deliver a new car to Wilbur Terry. People have done very little motoring here this winter on account of the bad condition of the roads. Some places no snow at all, others, deep snow banks making it dangerous to travel. ALSO In Lynn, the stock holders of the Baker Creamery Co. have built a dam across the White Creek near the Creamery for the purpose of getting ice for their plant. Also In Lynn, our health officer, F. S. Greenwood, is kept busy these days quarantining and disinfecting people up around Parkvale and Dimock of late. Mumps and diphtheria are prevailing in that quarter, it is said.

Alford – The old wooden trestle is being removed. Many of the passengers over the Montrose branch were very nervous when passing over this bridge, always expecting to be precipitated into the mill pond over which it crossed, sooner or later.

Montrose – Isaac Fuller, a native of this place, died at his home, in Scranton, on Wednesday evening. He was the first engineer to run a passenger train over the Pocono mountains on the Lackawanna railroad’s southern division. He had lived in Scranton for about 60 years and was a son of Hon. Geo. Fuller, who was a member of Congress from this county in 1844. Also Mary Elizabeth Rogers, formerly of Montrose, passed peacefully away January 15, 1916, at her home in Los Angeles, California. Interment was made at Denver, Colorado, beside her husband, Andrew N. Rogers. Andrew was a civil engineer, identified with the building of the Lackawanna and other eastern and southern railroads. He went to the Rocky Mountains in 1864. The following year his wife and two eldest sons, then boys of 5 and 7 years, went from Montrose to join him in the west. Mary’s parents, James and Ann Elizabeth Seymour, are laid away in the cemetery at Montrose.

Hallstead – Andy Carrigg, whose legs were recently cut off by the cars, is slowly improving.

Susquehanna – In the case of Rudolph Kuhn, a boy of 16, charged with malicious injury of railroads, the boy acknowledged throwing a stone, in a boy-like impulse, and breaking one signal. The court put him in the custody of Chief of Police T. J. McMahon, of this place, upon his promise of going to work and giving his wages to his mother.

Civil War Veterans’ Deaths: Auburn Four Corners – We were sorry to hear of the sudden death of Drake Emmons. He was an old soldier. He had a stroke last Monday and died Thursday. Also John H. Tiffany, of Hop Bottom, died at his residence January 6th, 1916. He was born in Brooklyn township, Feb. 15th, 1841. He taught school as a young man and for several years was associated with the late Edson Tiffany in the mercantile business at Hop Bottom. On March 5th, 1864 he enlisted in the Signal Corps of the U. S. Army and was honorably discharged August 21st, 1865. He married Miss Ida Blakeslee, of Dimock, on April 30th, 1871 and to them were born three children. Interment in the Squires Cemetery in charge of Lieut. Rogers’ Post G. A. R. ALSO Jesse Bagley passed away in Elmira, N. Y., Dec. 31st. The funeral was in charge of Baldwin Post, G. A. R. of which he was a member, having served with honor many years in the Civil War. He was captured and spent some time in Salisbury prison. Mr. Bagley was born in Brooklyn, PA in 1827 and he passed his boyhood days among the sturdy pioneers of that town. He learned the trade of blacksmith and went to Carbondale to work when that town was but a hamlet. After the war he settled in Elmira. Also another old soldier and respected citizen has left us. Philip H. Rifenbury, of West Auburn, died on Friday, Jan. 21, 1916, following a stroke of apoplexy. He was a private in Co. H., 151st Pennsylvania Volunteers. He was buried in the West Auburn cemetery.

Court News: Decisions in the [liquor] license petitions, where there were remonstrances, were handed down by Judge R. B. Little, in court Monday morning. The following licenses were granted: Silas Kintner, Rush; Daniel Curley, Hallstead, Clune’s Hotel, which he has leased; P. H. Flynn, Herrick Center. W. E. Carpenter was granted a license for the Walker House, at New Milford, which has been “dry” for the past few months. Mr. Carpenter has been the proprietor of the Phinney Hotel for the past year. Hallie Lewis, who has been the clerk at the Walker House the past year, gets a license for the Phinney Hotel, in New Milford. Licenses refused are: Henry Lisi, Susquehanna; Joseph Zaverl, of Ararat; W. J. McAvoy, of Auburn Corners; C. W. Lewis, South Gibson; W. C. Lord, Hop Bottom; Abbie Smith, Thompson; Lewis Webb, Valley View Hotel, Hop Bottom. The wholesale applications of Louis Gardella and Joseph Busenll, Jr., of Forest City, were also refused. The wholesale application of the Brockwell Distributing company, of Forest City, was granted.

On September 7, 2011, a state trooper in York County received a report of a sexual abuse of an adult woman (P.B.) who had Downs Syndrome.  P.B. reported that her stepfather had sexually assaulted her on numerous occasions.  The trooper requested her stepfather, Robert Lee Duvall, to come to the barracks to discuss an investigation – and Duvall agreed.

Duvall was interviewed by two troopers in a kitchenette area of the barracks – and the interview lasted approximately 90 minutes.  Duvall was reminded that he was there voluntarily and that he did not have to answer any questions.  At that point, the trooper told Duvall about the specific nature of the sexual abuse allegations – and that preliminary forensic results from a rape kit had revealed that P.B. had engaged in recent sexual activity.  This was not true – but Duvall was not aware that no rape kit had been performed.

Duvall denied any involvement in sexual activity with P.B.  The trooper responded by again falsely stating that the rape kit demonstrated that sexual intercourse had occurred – and that it was likely that the final DNA testing would confirm that Duvall was the person who had sexual intercourse with P.B.  After the initial denials, Duvall confessed to having sexual intercourse with P.B., provided a written statement admitting to the conduct, stated that it was a mistake, and he concluded by promising that it would never happen again.

Duvall was then charged with rape of a mentally disabled person – and Duvall sought to suppress his confession when he discovered that there was no rape kit and he had been misled by the investigating trooper.  The trial court denied the suppression motion and a jury convicted Duvall.  He was sentenced to a period of incarceration of 5 to 10 years in a state correctional facility.  Duvall appealed his conviction – again asserting that his confession had been involuntarily given based upon the false information that he had been provided by the state police.

When a defendant challenges the voluntariness of a confession, he must demonstrate that “the interrogation was so manipulative or coercive that it deprived the defendant of his ability to make a free and unconstrained decision to confess.”  In assessing the voluntariness of a confession, there are a multitude of factors that a court will consider: duration of the interview, location of the interview, the defendant’s physical and mental health, the attitude of the trooper, as well as any other factors that “could drain a person’s ability to withstand suggestion and coercion.”

In this case, there was really only one factor that Duvall was relying upon to suggest his confession was involuntary – the false information concerning the rape kit.  The Superior Court noted that police are permitted to use “artifice or even intentional misrepresentations to obtain a confession” provided that the false information “does not produce an untrustworthy confession or offend basic notions of fairness.”

In reviewing the circumstances of this case, the Superior Court concluded that the confession was voluntary.  While false information was provided by the state police, the Superior Court noted that there circumstances surrounding the interview did not suggest that the use of this false information “was likely to cause an untrustworthy confession.”

Duvall countered by noting that he initially denied the sexual abuse – but the trooper would not accept his denials.  The Superior Court dismissed this complaint by noting that Duvall did not “grasp that the point of the interrogation process is to elicit a confession.  The volleying back and forth is a standard part of that process, and does not, in itself, give this Court cause for concern.”

The Superior Court agreed that the Commonwealth had demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence that the confession – even though elicited through the use of some false information – was voluntary.  Duvall then appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court – and on October 27, 2015, the Supreme Court agreed to consider the question of whether the use of false information rendered the confession involuntary.  The ultimate decision by our Supreme Court will have a significant impact upon the interrogation methods utilized by law enforcement – one way or the other.

The Scriptures make it clear that each day begins at the setting of the sun and ends with day’s last light. That’s not the way we usually think of a day in Western civilization, but what that reveals is that the Almighty’s ways are not our ways. His ways are set-apart (holy) from man’s ways and we can fathom His character only faintly. That day begins with darkness and transitions to light is the way life proceeds. We begin life in darkness and over the process of time, study, work, and experience we proceed to enlightenment (understanding). Out of chaos comes order, and that is as it should be, for the TeNaK makes clear that that is how creation occurred.

Out of the American Revolution came a new order embodied in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. As Scriptures provide moral and spiritual light to people of faith, so too do our foundational political documents provide structure for the most ingenious and virtuous system of governance devised by man. Unfortunately, our system of constitutional governance was devised for a moral people who were willing to keep their governmental officials accountable and on a short leash. Through long-standing neglect our federal government, not to mention state government also, has become detached from reality and accountability.

The system under which we now live is scarcely less than a full-blown collectivist State in which politicians have weaponized fiat money and used it to conquer all but the last vestiges of liberty. When gold and silver (the only “Constitutional money”) were withdrawn from circulation, the only thing left to circulate was “Substitute money.” Paper money unbacked by wealth, i.e., tangible assets, is nothing but a claim on True Wealth. But True Wealth is never increased simply by the printing of paper or digitized dollars.

Here’s what is happening. The Federal Government, by means of the Federal Reserve (a private, foreign banking cartel) funnels Substitute money to favored classes (Too Big To Fail Banks, Hedge Funds, Foreign Entities, etc.) which use the Substitute (phony) money to buy up real, tangible assets and concentrate wealth into fewer and fewer hands. A leveraged buy-out of the world is in progress. Besides which, politicians, who generally go along to get along are cut into various influence-peddling opportunities and find that when they leave office, their bottom line looks a whole lot better. Can you think of any politician in modern times who left office poorer than when he took office?

But wait, there’s more! In the destructiveness of weaponized substitute money, there is no end to its utility or quantity; so politicians engage in active programs of addicting the American people to government handouts. The unlimited printing of (Substitute) money has spawned handouts in food assistance, medical care, and college tuition costs, to name just a few. In fact, there is virtually no limit to federal government intervention in any area of life nowadays. And while many people may view government intervention as nothing more than a benevolent act manifesting to meet their entitlement (right), there is a very real price that is being paid.

No matter where one looks today, economic distortions are gathering strength. Government intervention by way of unlimited Substitute money has effectively transferred countless wealth from producers to those who receive handouts. For those who are beneficiaries of government largesse (theft) mass docility and a loyal voting class are the end result--except of course, when resentment (inflamed and instigated by self-serving race hustlers) periodically rears its head in places such as Ferguson or Baltimore. In any case, the federal government--and the politicians and bureaucracy who run it-- are engaged in a program of collective corruption that relentlessly and inevitably destroys the nobility, character, and virtue of handout recipients.

For society’s producers on the other hand, the end-result is alienation and anger. The bedrock “middle class” is shrinking day by day as it is destroyed by unbearable taxation. The Wal-Mart’s, the K-Mart’s, the McDonald’s, and the Macy’s continue to close. Oil is crashing; rail rates are the lowest in years; container ships remain tied up or anchored offshore. The American economy, the European economy, the Chinese economy, the World economy is in cardiac arrest. American corporations retain trillions of dollars in stranded assets overseas to avoided crushing levels of taxation.

Against this backdrop OXFAM released its recent study, “An Economy for the 1%, How privilege and power in the economy drive extreme inequality and how this can be stopped.” The report is available online and runs to 44 pages, but I’ll give you the highlights. According to the report, “The richest 1% now have more wealth than the rest of the world combined. Power and privilege is being used to skew the economic system to increase the gap between the richest and the rest. A global network of tax havens further enables the richest individuals to hide $7.6 trillion. The fight against poverty will not be won until the inequality crisis is tackled.”

But here’s the kicker from OXFAM’s report. To cure the inequality they have so correctly observed, they recommend MORE governmental intervention. And it’s not just more governmental regulation by national governments; it’s WORLD governance. This problem, they say, requires a “global approach” Their descriptions of the unfair world we live in are correct, but when one considers their solution, “. . . the establishment of a global tax body under the auspices of the United Nations . . . ,” you might well consider that the solution is worse than the problem.

Like the OXFAM organization, so-called do-gooders (really, socialists) propose to cure America’s (and the world’s) inequality by taking from “the rich” and redistributing it to the poor. Never mind that redistributionist programs have failed in every country where they have been tried, from Mao’s China to the old Soviet Union, from Castro’s Cuba to present-day Venezuela. Socialism has a track record of failing every time. Socialists see people as cattle to be managed. The cattle, in their eyes, aren’t very bright, and are incapable of knowing what is best for them; hence the “intelligentsia” are required to establish a command and control economy which will insinuate itself into every facet of every person’s life.

What collectivists further cannot comprehend is man’s capacity to create incalculable wealth through innovation and imagination. Wealth creation is a dynamic function in free markets; in a socialist utopia there exists not a static, but an ever-shrinking economic base that must be continually redistributed among competing factions. The crowning achievement of socialism is the illusion of perpetual wealth creation through inflation of the (Substitute) money supply, and ever-increasing confiscation of tangible wealth from the ever-declining class of producers. While it is said that the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money, present-day socialists merely run out of value in what they pass around as (Substitute) money.

If there is anything we CAN learn from our current departure from the Constitution, it is that no system in the world works better than voluntary exchange of goods and services (exchanging value for value). What has made possible the concentration of wealth into a few hands is the cartelization of entire industries through favored cronies, and through the massive vote-buying of low-information individuals addicted to government handouts. Capitalism isn’t the cause of our problems; it’s the solution. But Constitutional Republicanism requires a moral people committed to the rule of law. There can be no moral government without such a commitment; and there can be no return to True Capitalism until Substitute money is withdrawn from circulation and replaced by Constitutional money.

To restore the federal government to its moral foundation, and provide a basis for economic equality of opportunity for all, I endorse three basic actions espoused by Dr. Ron Paul.

(1) Repeal the income tax, and enact a constitutional prohibition on any future income tax.

(2) Eliminate the Federal Reserve and prohibit any national central bank.

(3) Enact legislation that the federal government cannot commit any crime that it punished other people for. Dr. Paul puts it this way, “It’s wrong to steal and hand people’s property over to other people, no matter how much people who do that win the applause of others.”

Dr. Paul has noted that liberty-loving Americans don’t have to wait for 51% of the population to agree with these ideas. A winning movement needs only 7% to 8% of the population to wield influence and make a difference. That was the case during the American Revolution, and it remains the case today.

It is sure that the world is currently in darkness, but if America never awakens neither will the rest of the world. The long night through which we struggle will return morning to America. But prayers, faith, and promotion of liberty must come first. Spread the Word. Be an 8 Percenter! (If you’d like more information on real liberty, put “Mises Institute” in your online search engine and feast on wisdom.)