Montrose – Guy Brothers’ Minstrels, with wonderful band, and superb orchestra, is the attraction in town today. They will give one of their performances in Colonial Theater tonight. This company is composed of such artists as—Kinko, boneless wonder; Edwin Guy the laugh maker, Bob Laurence and Harry Prince, the tenor soloists; George Guy, soft shoe dancer; Aspen Karle, High tone baritone soloist; Charles Guy, funniest man on earth; Al Marto, fun maker and dancer; Tom Donaldson, basso profundo; three Morale Brothers, great acrobats; The Molly twins, monarchs of terpsichorean art; Allen Karle, female impersonator, and others. The price of admission is 35 and 50 cents. ALSO Marion O. Wilson, a brother of L MacLean Wilson, has been elected captain of the Princeton University football team for 1917. The Wilson brothers are great football players, Alex D. Wilson, another brother, having been captain of the Yale team last year.
Susquehanna – Susquehanna is to have a community Christmas tree
Rush – Mr. and Mrs. Harry Warner and Mrs. Jane Howell moved to Binghamton last week. ALSO A Chicken Dinner will be served in the basement of the East Rush Church on Dec. 27th,, the occasion being the 28th anniversary of the dedication of the church. Price of dinner 35 cents.
Brooklyn – The girls’ basketball team, organized by Miss Taylor, has met with great enthusiasm. The boys’ athletic association has kindly offered the girls the use of their hall for practice on Monday afternoons and Wednesday evenings. ALSO Maurice K. Packer, a young man of this place, has purchased the hardware and plumbing business of Geo. H. Terry. Mr. Terry has for a number of years been one of Brooklyn’s most prominent and active business men, a man foursquare in dealing with his patrons and fellows and he will be missed from the business circles, but has an able and worthy successor in Mr. Packer. The latter was a former employee of Mr. Terry’s and has also been employed in the McConnell hardware store in Nicholson.
Gelatt – During the hard wind of last Wednesday night, Fred Howell’s house caught fire on the inside near the chimney and did several hundred dollars’ worth of damage to household goods. Mr. and Mrs. Howell had been to Glenwood to attend Pomona Grange. Their nephew, Eugene Denney, was left to look after the chores. When Mr. Denney discovered the fire he gave a general call for help over the telephone line, and with the help of neighbors kept the fire from getting on the outside of the building.
Hopbottom – Mrs. G. B. Mathewson, of Factoryville, mother of “Big Six” Christy Mathewson, spoke at a Pre-license Court Temperance Meeting in the Foster M. E. Church, Sunday evening. Mrs. Mathewson is president of the Factoryville Women’s Christian Temperance Union and has been appointed to represent them in the No-License hearings in Montrose.
Lynn, Springville Twp. – Dean Baker hitched onto the kid-wagon and brought a load of ladies down from Springville to the Ladies’ Aid Society here last Wednesday.
Auburn – Two games of basketball were played Thursday afternoon at Auburn, between the first and second teams of Laceyville and Auburn. The scores were 16 and 3 and 10 and 6, both in favor of Laceyville. The Auburn players were as follows—1st Team: Harold Davis, Harry Tyler, Ralph Place, Perry Schoonmaker and Leland Corey; 2nd Team: John Winans, Richard Davis, Russell Lott, Irvin Loomis, and Searle Swisher. Quite a number were present from both Laceyville and Auburn to see the game. ALSO Calvin S. Gay, veteran of the Civil War, formerly Justice of the Peace of Sayre, and former resident of Auburn Twp., died Friday evening at his home in Sayre. Deceased was the brother of Jas. P. Gay, Montrose, who died only a few months ago
Jackson – Two well-known citizens of Maple Ridge are about to remove from the township. O. C. Galloway to Port Jervis and C. C. Benson to Endicott. Mr. Galloway has been an efficient member of the school board for many years.
Uniondale – Wallie Whitman is erecting a shop and garage on Main Street.
Clifford – Walter Oakley was the victim of a distressing accident last Saturday. He was operating a corn fodder cutter when in some manner his glove got caught in the cog wheels and his hand was drawn in to the gears. He was taken to the Carbondale Hospital where the first finger of his right hand was amputated.
Howard Hill, Liberty Twp. – A young snow storm on Monday night.
Springville – Frank James, of Duluth, Minn., who was called east to attend the funeral of his brother, Abijah James, was calling on friends here last week. ALSO Harry Lee is the possessor of a very fine piano, purchased of Guernsey Piano Co. of Scranton.
Bradley Corners – Everybody is cordially invited to attend the poverty social at the home of Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Gunn, at Bradley Corners, on Friday evening. Refreshments, 15 cents. Proceeds to go toward an organ fund for the Bradley School. All are requested to come dressed in rags. A prize will be given the one wearing the most ragged clothes.
East Lenox – The candy box social, held at the Wilson school Friday, Dec. 1st, was very successful. A nice little sum was received toward school room supplies.
Pennsylvania has a statute that permits grandparents to file a complaint to seek partial custody or visitation with their grandchildren. Partial custody is periods of temporary physical possession and control of a child. Visitation would be periods of time where a visit could occur in the presence of the parents. In particular, grandparents may seek partial custody or visitation with a grandchild under certain circumstances: (1) where the grandparents’ child is deceased and the other parent is refusing to allow the grandparents to have contact with the grandchild; (2) where the parents have been separated for a period of 6 months or have instituted divorce proceedings; or (3) where the grandchild has resided with the grandparents for a period of 12 months and the grandchild is then taken out of the grandparents’ home (and the grandparents filed a custody action within 6 months of the grandchild being removed).
This statute collides with the constitutional right of the parents to raise and rear their children without state interference. If a court orders that the grandparents have partial custody or visitation rights over the objections of the natural parents, then the state has acted in a manner contrary to the natural parents’ rights to raise their children. Thus, courts that have reviewed grandparent standing statutes have applied a “strict scrutiny” test to assure that the state has a “compelling interest” that overcomes the natural parents’ constitutional rights relative to raising their children.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court just considered one such challenge to the grandparent standing statute. In that case, the parents were separated and had jointly decided that the paternal grandparents should have no contact with their grandchildren. After nearly two years of having no contact with their grandchildren, the paternal grandparents filed a custody action seeking the partial custody rights relying upon the fact that the natural parents had been separated for more than 6 months. In response, the natural parents objected and raised a constitutional challenge to the statute. In essence, the natural parents argued that Commonwealth had no compelling interest to intervene into their parenting decisions simply because they had been separated for more than 6 months. In essence, the natural parents argued that there is no reason why separated parents cannot make a joint decision regarding their children in the same manner as couples that are still residing together.
At this point, it is important to note that grandparents have no standing where the natural parents remain together – unless the grandchildren had previously resided with the grandparents for a period of 12 months. Thus, the separated parents contended that their constitutional right to make joint parenting decisions for their children was violated by the state interfering without justification to order that the grandparents have partial custody rights to their children.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed with the separated parents and found that portion of Pennsylvania’s grandparent custody statute to be unconstitutional. In particular, the Court stated: “We conclude that the fact of a parental separation for six months or more does not render the state’s . . . interest sufficiently pressing to justify potentially disturbing the decision of presumptively fit parents concerning the individuals with whom their minor children should associate.” For this reason, the Court struck down this portion of the standing statute, i.e., there is no longer any standing conferred upon grandparents to seek partial custody of a grandchild merely because the parents have been separated for a period of 6 months or more. As to the remainder of the statute, the Court did not address it – or disturb it – as the constitutionality of the remaining provisions of the standing statute were not implicated in that case.
Drop the toothbrush and read the tube
Pharmacists get asked what the best toothpaste is on the market? It is an easy question to ask but impossible to answer. Walk into any pharmacy or department store and you can find an entire wall of toothpastes. How does a person select a particular type of toothpaste? Is it because it is on sale or because the design of the shiny tube tempted you? Do you know that the best toothpaste for plaque is no toothpaste at all?
Toothpaste is a cosmetic and because it is neither a food nor a drug, the FDA cannot control its ingredients, so practically anything goes. There are about 6 different reasons people use toothpaste: bad breath control, plaque and gingivitis control, tartar control, sensitivity control, for whitening and for fluoride. Many of these conditions are be dealt with by getting an "all-in-one" product.
However, people can be skittish about fluoride. Fluoride is one of the most toxic substances known to man, yet based on its inclusion in virtually every brand of toothpaste, the American Dental Association believes it is acceptable to use fluoride to prevent tooth decay. In the United States, about 90% of the population is supplied water via public water systems, and around 67% of that number receives fluoridated water. Water is fluoridated in spite of the observation that no statistically significant differences have been found in the decay rates of permanent teeth or the percentages of decay-free children in the fluoridated, non-fluoridated, and partially fluoridated areas. Conversely, although fluoride is more toxic than lead and only slightly less poisonous than arsenic, this mineral can be absorbed through the rich vasculature under your tongue and through the gums. But good news! Unless you are a child who has eaten half a tube of Strawberry Smash™ or Hello Kitty™ toothpaste, fluoride toxicity is relatively easy to reverse. Moms who are breast feeding should only use an amount of fluoridated paste the size of a grain of rice.
What other goodies are in toothpaste? Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), a popular toothpaste ingredient, is a detergent that makes toothpaste foamy. Classified as a pesticide by the FDA, triclosan is still commonly added to toothpastes for its anti-bacterial effect. While long-term research in humans is lacking, several studies of the effects of triclosan in mice and rats show that it has an adverse effect on hormone regulation such as reduced fertility and increased cancer risk. A key ingredient in antifreeze, propylene glycol acts as a wetting agent and surfactant in toothpaste. Found in many conventional toothpaste brands, it is known to cause skin irritation and contact dermatitis as well as brain, liver, and kidney abnormalities with repeated exposure. And then there are the all the artificial sweeteners, preservatives, colors, and flavors that expose you to various dangers.
If you find all this hard to swallow, you can minimize your exposure to toothpaste by dry-brushing. While bathroom brushing is for getting food off your teeth and is usually done for less than 2 minutes, dry-brushing is for removing the germs that cause plaque. Toothpaste-free dry-brushing involves brushing the insides of your teeth, where the plaque forms, with a dry toothbrush for 10 to 20 minutes or until you can feel how smooth your teeth are. You can do it while you read, or text, or even drink coffee.
Next time you buy toothpaste, read the ingredients. There are "natural" pastes out there that eschew many of the unnecessary chemicals in your present brand. Whichever kind of toothpaste you use, rinse your mouth completely after you finish brushing.
Ron Gasbarro, PharmD is a registered pharmacist, medical writer, and principal at Rx-Press.com. Visit him at www.rx-press.com.
