Apolacon – Apolacon township is one of the most sparsely settled sections of this county.  A purely farming section, and not far from the Binghamton industrial plants, the young men are attracted by the weekly pay envelope, and leave good farms with quite frequently only the old folks to look after their up-keep.  Lusty men are at a premium and some farms are “abandoned.”  By a will just filed in the register’s office, Philema Kile, of Apolacon, evidently seeks to increase the inhabitants of that region.  She wills 30 acres of her farm to a relative, and the remainder in two-acre plots to any “self-supporting, law-abiding, adult, man or woman” who will build a home thereon.”  It is stipulated that improvements on the land may be sold, but the land cannot be transferred.  Also, the homes must be kept orderly and no intoxicating liquors sold.

Hallstead – Mowing machines are causing very distressing accidents this season, one occurring about two miles from this place. Arthur Green owns a farm on the Lawsville road, and he has four children, George, aged 15, May, aged 12, and two younger.  Monday afternoon George was cutting hay with the machine and his sister, May, was touching up one of the horses for him with a whip so that it would pull even with the other animal.  In some manner she slipped in front of the cutting bar and before the horses could be stopped the left leg was cut entirely off between the ankle and knee.  May was carried to the house and Drs. Merrill and Blair amputated the limb a little closer to the knee.  The accident is a most unfortunate one, as Mrs. Green is in poor health and May was the mother’s main help.

Montrose – Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Cox returned from Atlantic City, where they had spent the past ten days.  Will reports a “magnolious” time, and says the bathing costumes were never prettier than this year.  We’ll bet there was a big swell in the ocean when Will took his “dip.”  ALSO  Families wishing school girls, who will work for their board, or a portion of it, should correspond with Miss Martha Davey, head of the Domestic Science Department, Montrose High School. [Children who lived outside Montrose, who wanted to continue their education in high school, had to board with a family in town].

Springville – W. E. Stevens, foreman of State road section No. 12, has just received a letter from Harrisburg, instructing him to go the entire length, removing all advertising signs along the highway within the road limits—that he must give his attention to it at once.

Rush – Rush has always been exceptionally fortunate in having good men to look after the stage line between that place and Montrose.  Even the younger generation can recall Reynolds Bros., and Light Bros., who faithfully and conscientiously carried on the route for many years each.  Owen Bros., the present stage drivers, are keeping up with the times in every respect and giving fine service.  The young men have just purchased a Pullman touring car, which they will use in their passenger and mail service.

Fleetville/Harford – J. Wallace Tiffany, one of Lackawanna county’s grand old men, who has lived more than 60 years in Fleetville, has gone to Topeka, Kansas to reside for the future.  Mr. Tiffany was born in Harford, 83 years ago, and has always been an ardent Republican.  He will accompany his son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Seely, to Kansas, where Mr. Seeley has taken a position with the Wells-Fargo Express company.

Friendsville – Mother Mary Veronica, of the Franciscan Order at Kingston, Jamaica, was the guest of her sister, Mrs. Maurice Fitzgerald.  Mother Veronica has been in the order many years and is a devoted missionary to the cause of Christ.  She was in Kingston during the terrible earthquake.

West Auburn – A new use for the automobile has been found.  Claude Swisher hitched his new Ford on to the hay fork and unloaded a large load of hay in his barn in four minutes.  ALSO We learn that Arthur Lacey, a former West Auburn boy and graduate of Yale, has gone to the Mexican border with his company.

Susquehanna – Since G. D. Dephew has been appointed shop superintendent of the local Erie shops many changes have been made which greatly benefit our local workmen.  A large number of men who have been employed elsewhere have been given their old positions here, and this is all due through the efforts of Mr. Dephew.  Several of our townspeople have been appointed foremen, and everything done for their men by the new shop superintendent shows that he is a man of great ability, sound judgment and is capable of handling men.

Franklin Forks – Franklin Forks and Salt Springs schools will commence September 4, with Miss Mae Smith and Miss Sara Bailey as teachers.

Uniondale – The store of J. N. Cable was burglarized Monday night.  Several dollars’ worth of cutlery, shoes, etc., were taken.  Uniondale/Forest City – A resident of Uniondale [who will go unnamed] was charged with assault and battery and wantonly pointing fire arms, was brought before Judge Denny and laid the whole blamed business on his wife.  He declared he never had trouble with anyone but her, and he never would have drank had she not nagged him.  He is a tall, large man, and it was ludicrous to say the least, to have him lay all the blame on a frail little woman.  Upon his promise to cut out the booze, get rid of his guns and keep sober, the Judge dealt gently with him, sentencing him to pay the costs, a fine of $5 and 15 days in the county jail.  When he said he lived at Uniondale, Judge Denny asked him how he could get drunk in that place, and where he got the whiskey.  He said, “Oh I get it most anywhere, I went to Forest City, and I had a pint bottle.”

Middletown – The base ball game between Brogan Hill and Middletown, held on the Coleman diamond, was a decided victory for our boys, the score being 11-16.  T. Golden pitched fine ball and F. Guiton hasn’t lost his eye for batting yet.  Curley’s fast fielding and Watson’s work on first won much credit for the team.

News Briefs: More hay has been cut in Susquehanna county this year, in all probability, than ever before within the memory of the “oldest inhabitant.”  The barns have proven inadequate to hold the enormous crop, and huge stacks of hay may be seen in almost every farm barnyard. ALSO Gasoline has dropped a cent a gallon, and a drop of another cent is predicted.  About the time it gets low enough so the average man can buy a Ford, it will go up again. ALSO One of our valued subscribers, C. S. Gates, of Gordon, Neb., writes us: “In the notice of the death of James P. Gay, the writer states that Calvin C. Gay and M. H. VanScoten are the only survivors of the company.  I had the honor of belonging to that company and feel very alive yet.”

200 Years Ago, The Centinel, Montrose, PA, August 20, 1816 

MARRIED – At Plymouth (PA) on the 13th inst., by Noah Wadhams, Esq.,  Mr. Charles C. Curtis, of Kingston (PA), to the amiable Miss Olive Ransom, daughter of Col. George P.
Ransom of the former place.

Who wants to buy a good FARM? The subscriber will sell his Farm, situated one mile and a half from Montrose, very cheap, to any one that will purchase.  The said farm contains ninety five acres, twenty five acres of which are under improvement, with 25 bearing apple trees and a nursery of about 300 trees, principally large enough to set, and a considerable number of peach trees.  The farm is well watered and timbered.  The terms of sale will be easy and a liberal credit given.  For further particulars call on the subscriber who lives on the premises.  SIMEON COOK.  Bridgewater, August 20, 1816

Last week, we took a look at the use of technology in the jury selection process and what kind of restrictions, if any, a court might place on counsel to limit their access to prospective juror identification prior to jury selection to eliminate the ability of litigants to mine social media for “private” information relating to each prospective juror.  In the recent litigation involving Google and Oracle, a federal district judge prohibited any social media “mining” of prospective juror information until after the jurors had been warned and given the opportunity to adjust their settings on any social media sites so as to make them private.  Only after the jurors were provided with this warning and opportunity to protect their social media sites did the judge allow the litigants to begin their Internet investigations of each potential juror.

But the question then arose what happens when a litigant potentially has internet search information about prospective jurors acquired over years without the prospective juror ever really considering that such information was being gathered and saved.  The judge had to struggle with this question as it related to Google as a litigant.  Given the popularity of its search engine and its data collection practices, there was the potential that Google could use its own Internet data in the jury selection process.  To the extent that Google could identify a prospective juror’s use of its search engine, Google could then discover what searches the prospective juror conducted to discover “interests in politics, careers, hobbies, dating, shopping, travel or other intimate facts.”

Google represented to the Court that it had no intention of using its data for such a purpose, but the Court was still concerned that jurors might “speculate” about what Google was capable of uncovering through the use of its software.  The Court determined it was also necessary to explain to the jurors that neither litigant would be permitted to conduct any investigation into prospective jurors search engine histories – not only on Google – but any search engine.

The Court ultimately determined that the prospective jurors would have full knowledge as to what, if any, Internet investigations were conducted by the parties.  The Court placed the litigants in the position of having to explain to the prospective jurors what Internet searches were conducted in connection with investigating the prospective jurors.  Obviously, if the litigant planned on social media mining, this placed the litigant in the position that they had to notify the jurors that they had done some snooping into the prospective jurors’ private – yet public – Internet lives.  If you were counsel for one of these parties, what strategic decision would you make relative to how you were going to conduct your jury selection?

Would you want to stand in front of a prospective juror and notify that juror that you had “mined” their social media accounts to find out more information about that juror?  Would you be concerned that if the prospective juror ended up being selected that the juror’s knowledge of the social media mining activities might have left a bad taste in the juror’s mouth?  What if you decided to do it and the other side did not do it?  Would you be concerned of how the prospective jurors would view your Internet snooping while the other side appeared to take the higher ground in seeming to respect the jurors’ privacy?

While this case involved two high-tech giants in the computer industry, the question of social media mining in the jury selection process is one that the Courts will have to address with more and more frequency.  In authoring his opinion, Judge Alsup noted that there is little case law addressing this question, but his decision provides other courts with an approach to balancing juror privacy against the litigants’ right to a fair and impartial jury.

Can you ignore your high cholesterol?

Mr. Bodkin, 74, came into the pharmacy and asked for a refill on the medicine he takes for cholesterol, a statin. He said to the pharmacist, “I wonder if this is keeping me alive. My bad cholesterol is still high and my doctor is threatening to raise my dose. What do you think?”

The pharmacist said he had just finished reading a clinical study report that amazed him. A new study published in the British Medical Journal analyzed the medical records of over 68,000 people, ages 60 and older. The study revealed that older people with high levels of “bad” cholesterol, known as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), live as long, and often longer, than their peers with low levels of “bad” cholesterol. 

That does not mean you should flush your Lipitor and inhale 4 banana splits. But it does raise the question as to whether LDL-C levels need to be driven down after a certain age. Says neuroscientist Dr. David Diamond who led the study, ”We have known for decades that high total cholesterol becomes a much weaker risk for cardiovascular disease with advancing age. In this analysis, we focused on the so-called ‘bad cholesterol’ which has been blamed for contributing to heart disease." According to the authors, either a lack of association or an inverse relationship between LDL-C and cardiovascular deaths – either from heart attacks or stroke – was present in each of the studies they evaluated. Subsequently, the research team called for a reevaluation of the need for drugs, such as statins, which are aimed at reducing LDL-C as a step to prevent cardiovascular diseases.

"We found that several studies reported not only a lack of association between low LDL-C, but most people in these studies exhibited an inverse relationship, which means that higher LDL-C among the elderly is often associated with longer life," said Diamond.

This research suggests that high cholesterol may be protective against diseases which are common in the elderly. For example, high levels of cholesterol are associated with a lower rate of neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Other studies have suggested that high LDL-C may protect against some often fatal diseases, such as cancer and infectious diseases, and that having low LDL-C may increase one's susceptibility to these diseases.

An earlier study from 2010 that combined the results of 11 studies found that taking statins did not lower the death rate for people who did not have established heart disease. Approximately 95% of people who take statins do not have established heart disease. Great for the drug companies! A waste of money for us. If your physician or nurse practitioner recommends taking a statin, talk to him or her about the risks and benefits for your individual situation.

Meanwhile, the reigning monarch of England, Queen Elizabeth II, now 90, remains healthy and hard-working on a completely different diet to that recommended to her elderly subjects. She likes her food cooked in butter and cream, eats meat regularly, but skips the carbs. Mr. Bodkin had heard enough and was going to speak with his doctor.

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.