Montrose – John M. Anderson was born in Kentucky, in 1832, and died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. B. F. McKeage, June 13, 1916. Mr. Anderson was a Confederate soldier, serving in Forrest’s Cavalry, an organization which furnished its own equipment and was composed of some of the most daring and intrepid young men of the South. He was a relative of the late, great American humorist, Samuel W. Clemens (Mark Twain) and resembled him much in looks. Members of the Four Brothers Post, G. A. R., attended the funeral in a body, paying their last respects to one whom they had once opposed on the field of battle, but who in the passing years had won not only their respect, but honor and feelings of kindest regard. Interment was in Montrose cemetery. ALSO There surely is a silver lining to every cloud. The streets of Montrose are terribly muddy, but the ladies, we observe, are not obliged to lift their skirts at crossings to prevent them becoming soiled. ALSO “The Misleading Lady,” a motion picture drama in five parts, will be shown at the C-Nic theatre. This is a story of cave man methods introduced into modern society.
Brooklyn – F. B. Jewett owns a dog that is wise beyond its years or generation, for when it was despoiled of the greater part of its tail the other day, for aesthetic reasons, the dog refused to be comforted until it had found the missing portion of its appendage. “Mike,” that’s the dog’s name, after going through the hands of the amputator refused to be comforted and seemed to mourn his loss exceedingly. For two days he refused to eat and seemed downcast but on the third day, when his demeanor changed, Mr. Jewett wondered what could be the reason. Investigating, he found that “Mike” had recovered the portion of his tail that had been removed and was carrying it around in his mouth wherever he went, carefully nursing it as he would a sore paw.
Fairdale – All those who are interested in the Fairdale cemetery will be there on Tuesday, June 20, for the purpose of cleaning up the yard, mowing, raking and cleaning up in general. The ladies will serve dinner in the Grange Hall. ALSO Mr. and Mrs. Guy DeWitt are rejoicing over the arrival of a little baby girl, born to them June 7th—Ruth Brink DeWitt.
South Montrose – Rural District Carrier George Carey reports that the roads over his route were, on Tuesday last, almost impassible—worse than he had ever before experienced. He has a new Ford, which does capital service, but he was way behind on his run that day.
Lynn, Springville Twp. – Lynn is going to have a 4th of July celebration—the biggest it has ever had.
Crystal Lake – Contractor Peter Stipp, of Scranton, has the contract for the erection of an elaborate home on the old Fern Hall property here, for James Johnson, of New Brunswick, N. J. The old hostelry, which was closed to the public several years ago, has been torn down and will be replaced by a beautiful stone and brick structure.
Dimock – C. W. Barnes has a new sign placed in front of his blacksmith shop, announcing his readiness to do all kinds of work in his line of business.
Great Bend – Burke’s ball team, the Silver Stars, played the Susquehanna Church Hill team Saturday afternoon on the School house grounds. Score, 7 to 13, in favor of the Silver Stars.
Forest City – The graduation exercises of the class of 1916 of the Forest City High school were held in the auditorium, Monday evening, June 12th. The class is composed of two young ladies and six young men, as follows: Beatrice Lott, Matilda Wolfert, Max E. Freedman, Sol Joseph, John M. Kelly, Paul H. Maxey, James V. McCloskey, Joseph P. McGrath. The class officers are: Beatrice Lott, president; Matilda Wolfert, vice president; Paul Maxey, secretary, and John Kelly, treasurer. First honors were taken by Sol Joseph and John Kelly and second by Beatrice Lott and Paul Maxey.
Thompson – Several of our town people will attend commencement exercises at Mansfield next week. The following are among the graduates: Misses Nora Brown, Anna Harpur, Ruth Stone, Jessie Wilmarth and Helen Weir. Miss Weir is one of the honor students.
Lathrop – Victor, son of B. L. Oakley, broke his arm recently, being thrown by a calf he was leading. He broke the arm in the same place last winter while riding down hill.
Susquehanna – Miss Mary Curtis has been elected Class Historian of the graduating class of the National School of Chiropractic, of Chicago.
Hop Bottom – Who said Hop Bottom was behind the times? Just keep a look-out for advertisements of the big celebration, 4th of July. A parade, an auto hill climbing contest, a fine dinner, a lively ball game, field contests, generous prizes, a good supper and a first-class entertainment in the evening. Two railroads and a half to accommodate the public.
Auburn 4 Corners – There will be a Fourth of July celebration at the Corners this year. A chicken dinner will be served; also races and a ball game. Everybody invited to come.
Gibson – F. W. Barrett purchased the hotel property of Mrs. C. C. Lupton last week and will continue business in the good temperance way.
Glenwood – The M. E. Church, at Upper Glenwood, is being taken down prior to being rebuilt near G. N. Bennett’s store.
Stevens Point – Albert Rockwell is moving and raising his barn. He will have an underground stable, which will be quite an improvement.
Uniondale – Miss Hazel Walling, of Orson, and Harold Morgan, of this place, were united in marriage June 1st, at the home of the bride’s parents. ALSO Announcement has been made of the marriage of Miss Margaret Gillett, of Milford, and Mr. Glen Wolfe, of this place. The ceremony will occur on June 24th, at the home of the bride’s parents.
200 Years Ago – from the Centinel, Montrose, Pa., June 18, 1816. ST. JOHN’S. The Free and Accepted Masons of North Star Lodge, No. 119, will celebrate the anniversary of St. John the Baptist, at the house of Joseph Washburn, in Gibson, on Monday the 24th day of June inst. Brothers of other Lodges, who can make it convenient, are respectfully invited to join in the ceremonies of the day. Truman Clinton, Joseph Washburn, Nathaniel Claflin, jr. ALSO
Found, In this village, a new pair of thick SHOES—the owner can have the same by calling at this office and paying for this advertisement.
Baltimore police officer Caesar Goodson, Jr, is currently on trial for homicide in connection with last year’s death of Freddie Gray while Gray was being transported in the back of a police van. The prosecution contends that Officer Goodson failed to properly secure Gray with a seat belt prior to transportation and that he also failed to get immediate medical attention for Gray.
While six police officers were charged, Goodson is the only officer charged with homicide, second-degree depraved-heart murder under Maryland law, along with other lesser offenses. Goodson was the driver of the police van – and the prosecution contends that Goodson failed to buckle Gray’s seat belt and then operated the police van in a manner that placed Gray at risk of death or serious injury.
Officer Goodson opted to have his case tried in front of a judge – not a jury – and the judge is now involved in not only hearing the evidence in the case as the factfinder, but also having to deal with the legal issues that swirl around the prosecutor’s discovery obligations.
During the trial, it came to light that the prosecution had not disclosed a prosecution interview of another suspect, Donta Allen, who was being transported in the back of the police van with Freddie Gray. Prosecutors had a meeting with Donta Allen and Allen’s attorney, but the prosecution never informed the defense attorneys about this particular interview. Allen’s attorneys notified the Goodson’s defense attorneys about the interview. In response, the Goodson moved to dismiss the prosecution based upon an alleged discovery violation.
The judge did not dismiss the case – but expressed displeasure over the failure of the prosecution to disclose the existence of this meeting. Based on one media report, the judge posed the following rhetorical questions to the prosecution: “Isn’t that you duty, counsel? To turn over things? What else is out there that you didn’t turn over?” Again, based on media reports, this is not the first time that the prosecution has been caught not disclosing information to the defense in this case.
The Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure imposes similar requirements upon prosecutors – to disclose any statements that the prosecutor has obtained from any witness. Moreover, there are Constitutional obligations requiring prosecutors to produce and disclose to the defense any evidence that may be exculpatory for the defendant. When considering the a prosecutor’s constitutional discovery obligations coupled with those imposed by the Rules of Criminal Procedure, a criminal defendant has wide access to a prosecutor’s case file.
In this regard, there are many prosecutors who simply provide a defendant – through his or her defense attorney – access to the prosecutor’s entire case file. This is known as an “open file” policy. This discovery approach provides the prosecutor with the assurance that there will be no suggestion that the prosecutor was intentionally seeking to hide any information from a criminal defendant. It insulates a prosecutor from allegations of misconduct or even inadvertent discovery violations.
While I was a prosecutor, my office always maintained an “open file” policy with the defense – it just made things simpler and, perhaps even more importantly, fairer. Certainly, an “open file” policy also protects a prosecutor from having to explain to a judge why evidence was not disclosed to a criminal defendant - and the implication that arises from any non-disclosure that suggests a prosecutor is “hiding the ball.”
Study says opioids do little for lower back pain
Harry, 46, came into the pharmacy with a prescription for Vicodin®, an opiate he has been taking for almost 2 years to control his lower back pain. “These pills don’t work very well at all,” he told the pharmacist. The pharmacist replied that long-term studies have never been done on the use of opioids and lower back pain.
Indeed, according to a 2016 analysis published in JAMA Internal Medicine that looked at 20 studies involving the use of opioid narcotics to control lower back pain, none of the studies went beyond 3 months in length. Many people, like Harry, have been taking narcotics for years. In the analysis, the drugs relieved pain slightly, but the effects were not clinically significant, and the medicines did little to improve disability. Some studies showed that larger doses worked better, but most trials had high dropout rates, some up to 75%, because of adverse side effects or lack of effectiveness. Measured on a 100-point scale, the magnitude of relief did not even reach the 20-point level the researchers defined as clinically effective, similar in effectiveness to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen and naproxen. According to many of the studies, one is more likely to become addicted to opioids than to get relief from chronic lower back pain.
The causes for lower back pain not linked to an injury or other condition can be difficult to determine, and the evidence that opioid drugs, alleviate symptoms of the condition is weak at best. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changed its recommendations for opioid drugs earlier this year, suggesting chronic pain patients are at higher risk to develop a dependence on the drugs while their conditions are unaffected.
Overall, the studies showed opioids can benefit patients with chronic low back pain on a short-term basis, but that even at doses much higher than recommended the benefits are moderate. With 80% of people who abuse painkillers saying they do so for pain management, and a strong link already established between chronic pain treatment and prescription drug abuse, researchers say finding other, more effective methods of treatment is warranted.
The CDC also cited a lack of long-term studies on the drugs examining their positive or negative effects, posing a potential concern for patients with chronic conditions. Researchers in the new analysis, as well as the CDC, suggest pairing opioid drugs on a short-term basis with other forms of pain management, including non-pharmaceutical therapies, if opioids are to be used at all.
Non-narcotic forms of pain control include over-the-counter NSAIDs or prescription muscle relaxants such as cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril®), methocarbamol (Robaxin®) or tizanidine (Zanaflex®), all of which are available as inexpensive generics. Avoid carisoprodol (Soma®) because it is associated with a high risk of abuse and addiction potential not seen with other skeletal muscle relaxants.
If one wants to avoid drugs as much as possible, consider activities such as yoga, stretching, acupuncture, pilates or meditation. Massage can work also. In one study, people who had 1 hour of massage once a week for 10 weeks had fewer symptoms, were more active, and spent less time in bed than people who had traditional treatments. Getting massage therapy regularly can help one feel less back pain for up to 6 months. Posture is important as well, both sitting and standing.
Harry was interested in these alternative techniques for alleviating his lower back pain. He told the pharmacist that he would speak with his doctor about getting off the narcotics which were not working anyway.
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.
