New Milford – The Scranton and Binghamton trolley line, which is in operation between Scranton and Montrose, and which we have been led to believe would come through New Milford, Hallstead and Great Bend, when completed to the Parlor City, is in danger of being lost to this section.  Strong pressure is being brought to bear to have the road built by the Snake Creek route from Tiffany to Conklin. Montrose would be the greatest loser by this change of route, as it would divert a large amount of business that now goes to that town. This matter should be taken up by the business men of Montrose, New Milford, Hallstead and Great Bend and an effort made to prevent the original route being changed.

Ararat – Allen Brooks, having enlisted in the coast artillery, is now stationed at Cape Henry, Va.

Franklin Hill – David Campbell, the popular mail carrier, has been laid up for some time with injuries received in a collision with a telephone pole while passing another rig in an icy spot.

Montrose – Mrs. R. L. Bush, county director of the Liberty Loan in which the women are organized, has been very fortunate in securing the services of Miss Eliza Brewster as secretary for the drive, which commences Saturday.  Miss Brewster is most competent in any position of this nature.  She was for some years private secretary to Mrs. Chas. M. Schwab. ALSO The barbers here announce that after April 15th the price of hair-cutting is to be 35 cents. This has been the prevailing price in other cities ad towns for some time, brought about by the high prices of labor and supplies used by the tonsorial artists.

Brooklyn – Dr. F. B. Miller will not locate in Stroudsburg.  The veterinarian spent a week in that place, and while the field was good, with better highways than we have, he found the stock incomparable to our county and the people also were not like the home folks, and he decided promptly that Brooklyn was the best place.  Dr. Miller has traveled all over this country and foreign lands, so does not easily get homesick. But he must be shown that there is a better spot on earth than Brooklyn.

Harford – Some of the good citizens of the town are agitating the advisability of having a community cow, as we are cut off on all corners of our supply of milk.  It might be a working proposition. ALSO Those who attended the Easter services in the M. E. church were charmed with the musical program, which was under the direction of Prof. J. A. Sophia, and the eye was attracted by the tasteful evergreens, Easter lilies, roses, daffodils, jonquils, sweet peas, etc. furnished by Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Whitney. ALSO Beginning last Monday the pupils of Harford high school have voted to have school commence at 7:45 and close at 12 p.m. to allow the older boys to help at home in the afternoon.

Susquehanna – Last week an Erie bowling team, composed of Daniel Conners, Andrew Axtell, Harry Kane and Wm. Felske, under the management of Asst. Secretary John Springsteen, of the Y.M.C.A., met and won two of three games from the Port Jervis team. Games were played at the Y.M.C.A. in Binghamton. ALSO The Catholics of this place are to build one of the largest convents and schools in the Scranton diocese. A meeting of the men of St. John's congregation was called and a decision was made to purchase the building lots at the corner of Broad Ave. and Grand St., of the Sabin estate. The price was $6,000. It is planned to erect buildings to cost about $100,000.

Uniondale – Foster Williams, a nephew of Morgan D. Daniels, is in the aviation training camp, at Miama, Fla. He writes that recently, in 7 hours and 42 minutes, 4,889 shells were fired at imaginary German airplanes. Miama, in 1890, was a town of only 100 inhabitants, but now counts over 20,000, exclusive of the military and is one of the finest towns in the state and a grand place for an aviation camp.

Auburn Four Corners – A man representing himself as manager of the New York Ice Cream and Creamery company appeared two or three months ago, bought real estate and made a big splash in the way of business. He leased the creamery at this place and also at Sankey, and bought all the milk that came—thousands of pounds.  He hired butter makers to care for the milk. About 6 weeks of such work caused him to disappear owing for every cent's worth of milk taken in.  The farmers are wondering if they have been duped.

Thompson – Miss Marguerite Gelatt, who went to New York to take up her life work after a course in nurse training, writes that she has passed her three month probationers' term, received her outfit and has been enrolled in the New York city hospital for 3 years. Miss Gelatt is the youngest student that was ever there.

Forest City – Conductor H. E. Johnson, of Carbondale, spent Sunday with his son, A. G. Johnson.  Mr. Johnson is one of the oldest conductors on the Delaware and Hudson railroad. At one time he was conductor on the accommodation train on the Jefferson branch and remembers when Forest City was nothing but a forest.

Springville – Douglas Lathrop, son of Dr. and Mrs. H. B. Lathrop, was in town on Tuesday.  Mr. Lathrop, who is pursuing his first year of studies in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has joined the reserve officers training corps at that institution.  This organization gives a portion of each day to military training and may lead to a lieutenancy.

200 Years Ago from the Montrose Centinel, April 4, 1818.

*MARRIED – On the 29th ult., by Joshua W Raynsford Esq., Mr. Israel B. Gregory to Miss Polly Lindsley, all of Bridgewater township.

*DIED – In this town on Wednesday evening last, after a short but distressing illness, Mr. Zacheriah Price, about 56 years old.  Mr. Price removed to this place but a short time since from Wysox, Bradford County.

*SAYRE & MULFORD Give notice to the public that they have on hand an excellent assortment of GOODS, among which are Cog. Brandy, Young Hyson, Hyson Skin and Bohea Teas, Sweet scented Virginia tobacco, by the lb. or keg, Maccoboy and Scotch Snuff by the jar or bladder, all of an excellent quality; they have just received and are now receiving a good assortment of Hollow ware (from Salesbury [Salisbury?] furnice [furnace?] Con.) Stone ware and Crockery, Iron and Steel, together with almost every other article called for in the country, which they offer very low for ready pay. Montrose, Feb. 14, 1818.

N.B. All persons having unsettled accounts more than three months are requested to call and make immediate settlement or they will be under the necessity of commencing a prosecution which would be very unpleasant.

Jon Shaffer was having difficulties with his computer and he could not access the internet.  Shaffer took the computer to his local computer repair shop and indicated that he wanted the problem diagnosed.  After several attempts and telephone calls to Shaffer, it was determined that the hard drive on the computer needed to be replaced.  The computer technician attempted to transfer data from the old hard drive onto the new hard drive.  While he was performing this task, the computer technician stumbled upon child pornography.  The police were contacted and the computer technician showed the police what he had discovered on Shaffer's computer.  The police then took possession of the computer, obtained a search warrant and discovered additional child pornographic material on Shaffer's computer.

Shaffer was charged with possession of child pornography and he sought to suppress the evidence.  In his request to suppress the evidence, Shaffer made numerous arguments: (1) he did not know that the computer technician was going to access his data files; (2) he never gave the computer technician permission to access his data files; (3) he never gave the computer technician permission to show his data files to the police; and (4) he was never told by the computer technician that his data files would be accessed and that his private information could be shared with the police.  The trial court denied the suppression motion.  After a bench trial, Shaffer was convicted and sentenced to a period of incarceration of 6 months to 12 months followed by 13 years of probation.  Shaffer appealed his conviction contending that the trial court erred in refusing to suppress the evidence.

The Superior Court noted that the central issue in the case was the extent to which Shaffer had abandoned his privacy interest in his computer when he dropped it off for repairs.  In cases involving abandonment of property in the search and seizure context, the question is "whether the person prejudiced by the search had voluntarily discarded, left behind, or otherwise relinquished his interest in the property in question so that he could no longer retain a reasonable expectation of privacy with regard to it at the time of the search."  When a person knowingly exposes his property to members of the public, there is no longer any protection under the Fourth Amendment.

The Superior Court concluded that Shaffer knowingly left his computer at the computer repair shop knowing that the computer technician would be working on and accessing it.  During the course of the repair attempts, Shaffer was contacted on several occasions and apprised as to the status of the repair attempts and consented to the remedial actions.  Shaffer never specifically instructed the computer technician that he was prohibited or restricted from accessing any data files on Shaffer's computer hard drive.  Further, the record demonstrated that the computer technician had not been searching for the inappropriate material and that he simply stumbled upon it as he was performing the required work.

For these reasons, the Superior Court affirmed the trial court's denial of Shaffer's suppression motion as Shaffer had abandoned his privacy rights in his computer when he dropped it off for repairs.  In this regard, the Superior Court concluded that when a person "freely grants to a third party potential access to his computer contents, he has knowingly exposed the contents of his computer to the public and has lost any reasonable expectation of privacy in those contents."

"Long stormy spring-time, wet contentious April, winter chilling the lap of very May; but at length the season of summer does come."~ Thomas Carlyle

Judy Moody, spunky heroine of 13 books, famous for her tiger stripes and t-shirt proclaiming "I ate a shark", is getting a makeover. The series, by best-selling Author, Megan McDonald, will be celebrating 20 years soon, and has sold 22 million print copies in 17 languages, as well as being made into a full-length movie. Candlewick Press is re-launching the series to introduce the irrepressible 3rd Grader to a new generation of readers. Be sure to watch for her trademark tiger stripes on every cover, brighter and better and very much our beloved Judy Moody. Psst.---Big news---to be released in September, "Judy Moody and the Right Royal Tea Party". Is Judy a Royal? You never know who may be on a branch of your Family Tree!  Your local Library Location has "Judy Moody goes to Hollywood" and "Judy Moody, Girl Detective" on their shelves to introduce you to this delightful series and are available on request.

Just when you think you have heard everything---The Public Library Association and Community Publisher "Short Edition" will introduce a "Short Story Dispenser", allowing readers to print one, three, or five-minute stories, to their Libraries within the United States. The partnership and project is being launched with the intention of promoting reading and literary joy through Public Libraries, and to encourage diverse writers to share their work through Short Edition's digital content platform. It should be interesting to see what genres they will offer, and, if a Children's Bedtime Story may be included.

 Librarians and their Aides often find odds and ends in returned books, such as ticket stubs, photos, store receipts, etc., which have been used as make-shift book marks. How would you feel if you found a lock of hair within some pages? And, then discovered that it was a lock of hair from a very famous someone? That's what happened at the Schaffer Library in New York. Strands of what is believed to be George Washington's hair were found in an 18th century almanac.

A Librarian was inspecting the book and found the hair in a yellowed envelope with the following written on it: "Washington's hair, L.S.S. & (this part was scratched out) GBS from James A. Hamilton, given to him by his Mother, August 10, 1871." After additional research, they believe the strands were given to the book's owner by none other than Alexander Hamilton! This goes to prove that books are a wealth of treasure in more ways than one. With Spring finally here, why not make a point to visit your local Library Location on a regular basis? There are always new titles, projects, activities, and programs to explore and a helpful staff to guide you.

As I watch the weather forecasts for "April Showers" and hope they will bring May flowers soon—I leave you with this thought:

"When the April wind wakes the call for the soil, I hold the plough as my only hold upon the earth, and, as I follow through the fresh and fragrant furrow, I am planted with every foot-step, growing, budding, blooming into a spirit of spring."

-  Dallas Lore Sharp, 1870-1929

Rain Slickers—Birdhouses—Crocus Blossoms

ENJOY!!

Spring allergies – The care and feeding of Margie's nose

Margie came into the pharmacy looking miserable. "Help me! I feel like I am drowning. These allergies will be the end of me," she said to the pharmacist. Margie and anyone else who has spring allergies know the drill: runny, stuffed, itchy nose, post nasal drip, scratchy, watery eyes. In those who also have asthma, one can get the typical asthma symptoms like shortness of breath, wheezing, and cough. All of these symptoms make it difficult to work, sleep, drive, and to, basically, exist.

While many people blame their spring allergies on flowers, trees are responsible for most of the early season's allergies. Birch is one of the most common offenders in northern latitudes, where many people react to its pollen. Other allergenic trees include cedar, horse chestnut, willow, and poplar.

Margie mentioned that she gets similar symptoms from eating certain foods. The pharmacist explained that eating some nuts, fruits, and vegetables could worsen symptoms. If one has nasal allergies to certain trees, that person can you have a higher risk of allergic symptoms from some of these foods. For example, if one is allergic to birch trees, that individual may get itchiness or swelling in the mouth or around the face after eating almonds, apples, carrots, celery, cherries, fennel, hazelnuts, kiwi, peaches, pears, or plums.

Tree pollen allergy symptoms can be treated with over-the-counter or prescription drugs. For example, antihistamines relieve many symptoms by blocking the histamine the body releases in the allergy battle. Histamine can produce symptoms of sneezing, itching, watery eyes, and runny nose. Examples of histamine blockers include cetirizine (Zyrtec®), loratadine (Claritin®), and levocetirizine (Xyzal®).

Oral decongestants such as pseudoephedrine (Sudafed® and its generics) can provide relief from nasal stuffiness by lessening the swelling of the nasal tissues. Decongestants also come in nasal sprays, such as oxymetazoline (Afrin®) and phenylephrine (Neo-Synephrine®). Only use nasal decongestants for a few days in a row. Longer-term use of decongestant nasal sprays can actually worsen symptoms (rebound congestion). Some allergy medications combine an antihistamine with a decongestant, such as loratadine plus pseudoephedrine (Claritin-D®) and fexofenadine plus pseudoephedrine (Allegra-D®).

Cromolyn sodium nasal spray (NasalCrom®) can control the nose problems associated with seasonal allergy. Cromolyn acts by inhibiting the release of histamine. The drug is very safe and does not cause drowsiness or rebound nasal congestion the way OTC nasal decongestants can. It is most effective when used before symptoms begin. Some people may experience temporary sneezing, nasal burning, or a bad taste in their mouth. Another disadvantage is that nasal cromolyn must be used at least 4 times a day to reel in symptoms. Nasal corticosteroids, such as (fluticasone (Flonase®), decrease the swelling in the nasal tissues. Ideally, people who use fluticasone should note when they start experiencing symptoms during the spring and then start using the spray regularly 2 weeks prior to that time. Do not use it on an "as needed" basis. Plain saline spray (Ayr®, Ocean®) will wash out any pollen in the sinuses and can be used as often as needed. Margie, grateful for the pharmacist's advice, purchased several allergy items. She then sniffled and sneezed her way out the pharmacy door.

Ron Gasbarro, PharmD, is a registered pharmacist, medical writer, and principal at Rx-Press.com. Read more at www.rx-press.com.