Parkville, Dimock Twp. – We had a real old-fashioned blizzard, snowing and the wind blew very hard, Saturday.
Fell Twp., Lackawanna Co.- The body of Ralph Burdick was found Monday by children on their way to school, near the John Russell farm on the Crystal Lake road, shortly before nine o’clock. It is surmised that Mr. Burdick became exhausted traveling through the snow on his way home to the Consolidated Water company’s farm at Newton lake. The snow was drifted quite deeply where the body was found. Mr. Burdick rode to the Russell farm at noon Sunday with John Beck, proprietor of the Falls hotel, and when he arrived there told Mr. Beck that he was going to visit at the Russell home. He left there after a short visit and this was the last time he was seen alive. Deputy Coroner W. S. Johnson, of Carbondale, was called when the body was discovered and he ordered it removed to the Burdick home at Newton lake.
Susquehanna– At a meeting of the Dairymen’s League, held at Utica last week, Attorney J. D. Miller, of Susquehanna, was chosen one of the directors. Fully 1000 delegates from New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey assembled to consider their best interests as milk producers.
Forest Lake – The first young patriot from this county to give his life in the present war is Ray Brobst, son of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Brobst, of this place, whose death occurred at Camp Wadsworth, Georgia, on Dec. 8, after a short illness of pneumonia. A military service was held at the camp before his body was sent north for burial. A service was held at the Fair Hill Methodist-Episcopal church and interment was made in Fair Hill cemetery.
Bridgewater Twp. –At a meeting of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, Mrs. A. E. Hollister and her mother, Mrs. [Marion Bagley] Evans, joined the Union. Mrs. Evans’ age is 94 years, and we are justly proud of our oldest member. [Mrs. A. E. Hollister, first name Clementine, lived to her 100th birthday and died 12 days later, in December of 1958.] ALSO Lyman Bunnell died at his home in this place, Oct. 17, 1917, after several weeks’ illness of a complication of troubles. He was the son of James A. and Mary Ann (Hall) Bunnell and was born in New Preston, Connecticut, Jan. 20, 1848. His father and mother moved to Pennsylvania the following year and settled in Dimock, on the farm now owned by James W. Bunnell. He married Ruth, a daughter of Deacon Mason and Lydia (Frink) Tingley and was the father of two children, Louise and Charles E., a Federal judge in Alaska [later founded the University of Alaska].
Salt Springs – The Salt Springs school will have a Christmas tree on Friday afternoon, Dec. 21.
Springville – Trade at the “Busy Corner.” Pay cash and save money. Cranberries, 15 cents a quart. Nearly a ton of Xmas candies at 20 cents to 50 cents per pound.
Montrose – The death of Mrs. Mary J. Bunnell occurred on Nov. 22, 1917, at her home in Montrose. Born in Dimock in 1835 and married to William Bunnell, she was the mother of four children. She came of good old New England stock. A daughter of Isaiah and Polly Williams Main, her father was in the war of 1812 and his father was a soldier of the Revolution. Her mother was a descendant of Governor Eaton, first governor of the New Haven colony.
Gelatt – Will Whitmarsh, who has spent some time at an officers’ training camp, is home on a furlough before going to Washington to report for orders.
South Auburn – Scarlet fever seems to be making its appearance in our neighborhood. The children of Jack Champluvier are now sick, and also a son of Charles Woodruff.
Kingsley – A. E. Tiffany had two more sheep killed by dogs last week. He had 26 and they have been dropping out, one and two at a time, until he has only 11 left. Good encouragement for any one to go into sheep raising for a farm industry. ALSO H. W. Jeffers and family accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Frank MacMane, of Plainsboro, N. J., spent a few days last week with friends in this vicinity, hunting and making merry, generally, and ate Thanksgiving turkey dinner with Mrs. B. M. Jeffers, at the Jeffers farm.
Harford – Skating parties are very fashionable now. ALSO Frank Peck, of South Harford, and Mrs. Emmaline Cynthia Tower DeSwarte, of North Harford, were married in Montrose by F. A. Davies, Esq. ALSO The coldest storm of the season visited us Saturday, breaking trees, fences and windows for several different families.
West Auburn – The Wyalusing Rocket prints the following concerning a prosperous Auburn farmer. Raymond Dibble, formerly of Wyalusing, has been making extensive repairs and improvements to his home the past week. New siding and windows add much to the appearance of the structure and a large plate glass door, placed at the front of the house, is a very material improvement. He has seventeen cows and several head of blooded young cattle.
Thompson – The stores in town have put on quite a Christmas appearance, notwithstanding the hard times and the urgent appeal for economy.
Forest City – Leo O’Hara is acting as Erie section foreman, a position held by his father, the late Patrick O’Hara, for many years. Daniel O’Hara left Monday for camp at Spartansburg, S. C. His brother, John, left yesterday for his home in Rochester, N. Y. ALSO A sugar famine has struck the town and many a household is sugarless.
Uniondale – Robert Spencer was severely injured Monday afternoon by being kicked by a horse. He was leading two horses from the town water kettle and dropped the halter of one of the steeds and in picking it up was kicked in the face by the other horse. The calk of the shoe struck him just below the eye and opened his cheek so that five stitches were required to put it in place.
News Briefs: Ice, nine inches in thickness, is reported on nearby lakes and ponds and if the cold weather continues it is probable ice cutting will start next week. The first of the week the mercury registered from two to eight degrees below zero in some places, which is very unusual for so early in the winter. ALSO There is a big local demand for stove wood, and farmers are busy in the woodlots these days. The price runs from $2.50 to $3.00 per cord, according to quality. ALSO Pennsylvania has more recruits than any other state. About 275,000 men have enlisted since the outbreak of the war. ALSO Between August 1 and December 1 the railroads transported 1,500,000 men to training camps and embarkation points. To insure the safety of the men in transit the railroads have adopted an average speed of 25 miles an hour except when freight cars needed for the transportation of equipment are included in the trains. The speed is then reduced to 20 miles.
John Brumbaugh and Judy McClintock had a romantic relationship for over nine years and were living together when John died in November 2015. John’s mother, Marjorie Brumbaugh, could not find a will so she petitioned for and obtained letters of administration for John’s Estate. Several months later, Judy petitioned to probate a document that she contended was a photocopy of John’s handwritten will. If Judy was allowed to do so, the letters of administration that had been previously issued to Marjorie would be revoked. Marjorie objected to the probate of the photocopied document.
If you have not guessed at this point, the intestacy laws would have assured that Judy would receive no portion of John’s estate because they were not married. On the other hand, Marjorie as a mother of John was a potential heir of John’s estate under the intestacy laws. Thus, the decision of whether to probate the alleged photocopied will would have a dramatic impact on how John’s estate was distributed.
Judy testified that she had located this photocopied document in a “zippered bank pouch” where John kept “important papers.” The notary public who had sealed the document testified to its authenticity and verified that John had appeared before her and signed the document. The notary public also stated that John intended the handwritten document to be his Last Will and Testament.
The Register of Wills of Bedford County accepted the photocopied will and probated it. Marjorie appealed to the Court of Common Pleas, which reversed the determination of the Register of Wills, denied Judy’s request to probate the will, and reinstated the grant of letters of administration to Marjorie. Thereafter, Judy appealed to the Superior Court contending that the photocopied will should have been probated.
The Superior Court noted that where a testator keeps the original will and it then cannot be found after his death, a presumption arises that the testator revoked and destroyed the will prior to his death. Thus, Judy had to overcome the presumption that John had destroyed his original will prior to his death in order to get the photocopy probated. In order to do so, Judy had to prove the following elements: “(1) [John] duly an properly executed the original will; (2) the contents of the will were substantially as appears on the copy of the will presented for probate; and (3) when the testator died, the will remained undestroyed [and not] revoked by [John].” Judy had to prove each of these elements by “positive, clear and satisfactory evidence.”
As to the second factor that required proof that the photocopy was identical to the original, the trial court had concluded that Judy failed to meet her heavy burden of proof. Marjorie presented the testimony of a forensic document examiner who raised several issues as the authenticity of the photocopied document. In particular, the expert testified that it appeared that sections of the photocopied will had been cut and pasted into the document, including John’s signature. The forensic expert testimony ran in stark contrast to the testimony provided by the notary public.
The Superior Court determined that the trial court had acted well within its discretion in crediting the testimony of the forensic expert over the testimony of the notary public. In not getting past the second factor, there was no analysis as to the third factor, i.e., proof that the will was not destroyed by the testator. This is often akin to proving a negative – the original document cannot be found, the person who possessed it has died, and there are no witnesses as to what happened to it.
For those who have possession of your original will, this case serves as an excellent example of the issues that arise when it cannot be found – and the litigation and expenses that ensue as parties with different financial interests battle for control of the estate.
The link between birth control and suicide
Mrs. Jones came into the pharmacy and said to the pharmacist, “My daughter, Megan, just started on a birth control pill about a month ago for cramping. Since then, she has been very moody and not her usually happy self. Do you think she needs an antidepressant?” The pharmacist pulled up 18-year old Megan’s profile and saw that she did start on an oral contraceptive (OC) about 6 weeks before.
The pharmacist had just read an unsettling study which revealed that those who use hormonal contraceptives are at increased risk for suicide attempt and a completed suicide. The 2017 study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, tracked nearly half a million women in Denmark for about 8 years. The researchers found the risk of attempting suicide was nearly twice as high for women taking birth control compared to those who did not.
The risk for a suicide attempt depends on the type of hormonal contraception used. Those taking oral-combined products – an estrogen plus a progestin – or a progestin-only product had a 2-fold increased risk of a suicide attempt, whereby those who used a vaginal ring had an even higher risk. Women who used the patch were over 3 times more likely to attempt suicide than those who did not use them. The researchers added that adolescent women were at the greatest risk. The association between hormonal contraceptive use and the first suicide attempt peaked after about 2 months of use; a decreasing trend was noted after 1 year of use.
The study findings are supported by previous research, including a 2016 Danish study that showed a significant correlation between hormonal birth control and the risk of depression. In that study, women between the ages of 15 and 19 were 80% more likely to become depressed. The results were less extreme for older women, but still quantifiable. Depression can lead to suicide, which is currently the 10th leading cause of death in the US. Despite the findings of these studies, the absolute risk of suicide is still quite low. Out of the hundreds of thousands of women tracked in this latest study, there were 71 suicides, according to the researchers. Yet, if one patient can be saved, then proper counseling about this rare but tragic side effect is essential.
Suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts should be added to the list of potential adverse effects with use of hormonal contraception. For example, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advises against the use of combination birth control pills in women aged 35 years or older who smoke. Additional factors that increase the risk of blood clots, which can lead to stroke, include obesity or a family history of heart disease. The patient – especially if she is on this medication for the first time – should make a visit to a gynecologist 2 to 3 months after starting on birth control to ensure good adherence with the new birth control method and to assess her mental health.
These study results underscore the importance of not making hormonal contraceptives available over-the-counter. Besides the fact that many individuals get their prescription birth control paid for by insurance – which might not be the case if OCs go OTC – these latest revelations could result in patients not being monitored for any psychiatric problems they may develop. Mrs. Jones said she would make an appointment with Megan’s doctor to see whether she needs medical intervention regarding her depressed mood.
Ron Gasbarro, PharmD, is a registered pharmacist, medical writer, and principal at Rx-Press.com. Read more at www.rx-press.com
