Forest City – The school directors of Susquehanna county proved their interest in education by braving the blizzard and coming to Montrose, 174 strong, to elect a Superintendent of Schools for the county. Miss Clara Winans, the assistant superintendent; F. H. Taylor, principal of the Forest city schools and A. A. Killian, principal of the Susquehanna schools, were nominated for the office, Miss Winans withdrew. The result was 97 votes for Taylor and 77 for Killian. It was pointed out that when Prof. Taylor came to Forest City nine years ago he found Russians, Italians, Bohemians, Slavs, Jews, Syrians and other nationalities attending a third class school. By hard work he brought the school up to a first grade high school in a few years' time, and it stands today as one of the very best schools in this region.
Montrose – A Montrose young man, G. Carlton Shaver, owner of Camp Susquehannock, is now holder, with King Smith, of the National indoor tennis doubles championship. Messrs. Smith and Shafer played a brilliant series of games at the big tournament in New York city last Saturday and came out victors. ALSO Robert Welden, who lately enlisted in the aviation service, has been sent to Camp Winfield Scott, Cal. ALSO A right sharp young winter has developed this week. There are four or five inches of snow on the level, and more falling. Its lightness indicates it will not carpet the ground long.
Franklin Hill – A fairly large quantity of maple syrup has been made in this vicinity. Lately the run has been quite good. Among those tapping their sugar bush are Frank Wilson, Ralph Kerr, John Webster and Charles McKinney.
Auburn Twp. – Dogs attacked the flock of sheep of James McAvoy recently. Out of ten sheep and three goats only four escaped, two of the goats also being victims.
Nicholson – The Nicholson High School building was burned to the ground on Friday morning. The building was discovered in flames at about 4 o'clock, and being a two-story frame structure was speedily consumed. The loss is placed at about $20,000, an insurance of $10,000 being carried on it. It was erected about 20 years ago. Origin of fire is unknown.
Springville – A choral society has recently been organized here with about 25 members, under the efficient leadership of Mrs. Harry Turrell. Rehearsals are held each Tuesday evening in the High school auditorium. Miss Emma Avery is the accompanist.
East Kingsley – The maple sugar season just closed was a good one, sap being unusually sweet. Within a radius of two miles of here there were seven camps worked. W. H. Wilmarth's camp led them all, producing 60 gallons of fine syrup from 150 trees.
Gelatt, Gibson Twp. – George Page has the biggest sale in county's history. 53 head of Holsteins bring $16,000. Fred S. Williams, of Gelatt, bought a $600 cow, and Manzer Benson, of Jackson, got one for $575. The yearlings and calves were all daughters and sons of the famous $10,000 bull, King Pontiac Alcartra Pietje, owned by A. E. Robinson & Son. Frank E. Resseguie, of South Gibson, bought Mr. Page's interest in King Pontiac at a private sale and what he paid, they say, would buy a good farm. Mr. Page was pleased that the highest priced animals were bought by his neighbors, nicely showing their faith in him as a breeder of high-class cattle.
Silver Lake – Misses Norene and May Coleman have returned to their home in Middletown after teaching school in the Snow Hollow and Laurel Lake schools, which were closed on Saturday last.
Hallstead – An auto bus has started making regular trips between here and Binghamton, carrying passengers. This with train service gives good connections with no long waits.
Dimock – Wallace Fish, who is past 82 years old, seems to be smart for a man of his age, doing his chores, chopping his fire wood, and also attending his large garden in the summer time, besides making daily trips to the store and postoffice.
Susquehanna – Quite an excitement was caused about 8 o'clock Monday night by the blowing of the fire whistle and the lighting up of the sky from a fire close to the Erie shops. It came from a train backing into another one, ready to start out. The caboose was set on fire, and burned fiercely till consumed, but the fire company got the hose on it after some trouble, as the cars were in a bad shape to reach and soon got the fire under control and prevented more of the cars from catching fire, although others were very near burning from the intense heat. ALSO Several troop trains passed thru here last Sunday and many of the soldiers left the cars and engaged in drilling on Main street. Much praise was head in regard to their soldierly bearing and fine marching.
Harford – The many friends and admirers of F. O. Miller will be interested to know that the has purchased the interests of the other partners in the Harford Supply Co., and will continue at the old stand as sole proprietor. Mr. Miller has the necessary attributes of a successful merchant.
Uniondale – The borough council has appointed Chas. Carpenter supervisor for this year; and work on the roads will be started at once. There is some pressure being brought to bear to have the borough tax valuation increased, as the present tax revenue is insufficient to take care of the many demands made on it, while the price of materials and labor used by the borough have steadily advanced. The borough is badly in need of a stone crusher and it is hoped that there will not too much protest made to the contemplated project.
The Montrose Centinel, 200 Years Ago for April 12, 1818 is not included in this week's article. The Historical Society's research and reference rooms are packed (including microfilm) and will be moving to the first floor and basement the week of April 9th. We hope to resume our regular hours in the near future. Please consult our website www.susqcohistsoc.org or call 570-278-1622 for updates on hours or closings.
Adam Briggs, Paula Briggs, Joshua Briggs and Sarah Briggs (Briggs family) own 11 acres in Harford Township, Susquehanna County. Southwestern Energy Production Company (SWN) operates numerous natural gas wells on real property that borders the Briggs family's real property. SWN does not have a lease to extract natural gas from the Briggs family real property.
The Briggs family filed a civil complaint for trespass and conversion against SWN contending that SWN was wrongfully removing natural gas from underneath the Briggs family real property through the hydraulic fracking process. SWN filed a motion for summary judgment contending that the Briggs family's claim must fail because the "rule of capture" barred the claim. Under oil and natural gas law, the rule of capture provides that SWN would have no liability for "drainage of oil or gas from under the land of another so long as there has been no trespass and all relevant statutes and regulations ha[d] been observed." The trial court agreed with SWN and granted SWN's motion for summary judgment thereby ending the Briggs family's case. The Briggs family then appealed to the Pennsylvania Superior Court.
On appeal, the Briggs family argued that the hydraulic fracking process is different that the "conventional process of tapping into a pool or reservoir of fluids that flow according only to high and low pressure." In contrast to conventional wells, the Briggs family contended that SWN's natural gas wells were created through "forced extraction" and but for SWN's "forced extraction" the natural gas would have remained under Briggs family's real property undisturbed and unabated.
SWN countered that it could not be held liable for trespass because it never entered upon the Briggs family's real property. SWN also disputed the claims that the hydraulic fracking process was different than conventional drilling and that rule of capture applied to any natural gas that naturally seeped from the Briggs family's real property into the bordering natural gas wells operated by SWN.
The Superior Court noted that the rule of capture recognizes the unique nature of natural gas, i.e., it can escape from an owner's property despite the absence of any action by the owner. When natural gas (or oil) naturally escapes from an owner's real property, the owner is no longer the owner of the natural gas (or oil). In such circumstances, the person who "captures" the escaping natural gas (or oil) is the rightful owner. In reviewing the common law relating to oil and natural gas, the Superior Court noted that there is nothing that prevents a landowner from placing a well upon a property border and attempting to draw natural gas or oil from a neighboring property and that "the adjoining landowner's only recourse is to go and do likewise."
In reviewing the nature of shale gas, however, the Superior Court concluded that "hydraulic fracturing is distinguishable from conventional methods of oil and gas extraction." Because shall gas is trapped, it does not migrate in the absence of outside intervention, i.e., it does not escape and need to be captured. In light of those differences, the Superior Court concluded "that the rule of capture does not preclude liability for trespass due to hydraulic fracturing." Thus, it is possible for SWN to have committed a trespass upon the Briggs family's property, i.e., if "subsurface fractures, fracturing fluid and proppant cross boundary lines and extend into subsurface estate" of the Briggs family's real property and thereby resulted in the unlawful extraction of shale gas. The Superior Court remanded the case to the trial court for further development of the record to determine whether there was any evidence that SWN did trespass under the surface of the Briggs family's real property.
Earworms – "I Wish I Were an Oscar Meyer Weiner"
Julie came into the pharmacy for refills and said to the pharmacist, "Did you ever have a tune stuck in your head for weeks or months? I am hearing the same jingle over and over and cannot stop it." In fact, she was hearing it now. "I wish I were an Oscar Meyer weiner. That is what I truly want to be…"
The pharmacist told Julie she had an earworm, which is not an invasion of a creepy crawly, much to Julie's relief. An earworm is a catchy piece of music that continually repeats itself through a person's mind after it is no longer playing. Earworms are not the rare medical condition caused by damage to the temporal lobe of the brain that results in auditory hallucinations. Rather, they are quite common, according to researcher James Kellaris, PhD of the University of Cincinnati, with as many as 98% of people experiencing them at one time or another. Women are subjected to longer and more irritating earworms than men are. Those with an interest in music suffer through them the most. Slightly neurotic people also seemed to suffer more.
An earworm can result from hearing any type of music: a TV or radio jingle, a popular tune, or a song from the past. A study done at the University of London revealed that earworms correlated with exposure to the music, having heard the song recently or frequently. They can also be triggered by experiences that release the memory of a song, such as seeing a word that reminds one of a song, hearing a few notes from the song, or feeling an emotion one associates with the song. "Cause if I were an Oscar Meyer weiner, everyone would be in love with me..."
Tragically, there is no cure for an earworm. No vaccine. No support groups. No online chat rooms. According to Dr. Kellaris, when people battle their earworms, nearly two-thirds of the time they attempt to recall another tune to dislodge the one that is stuck. A person can try to distract herself from hearing the stuck song by chewing gum, listening to other songs, or watching loud TV. More than a third of people with songs stuck in their heads try to get medical help with their affliction to no avail. Some people try to complete the song in their heads in an effort to get it to end. "Oh, everyone would be in love, everyone would be in love with me."
While there are no actual statistics that show how long people have had a certain earworm, there are stories to be told. For example, Jean Harris, famous for the 1980 murder of her ex-lover Herman Tarnower, cardiologist and co-author of the best seller The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet, had an earworm due to the song "Put the Blame on Mame", which she first heard in the 1946 film Gilda. The tune played in her mind regularly for over 33 years and she could hold conversations with others while that broken record revolved through her mind. Even the pharmacist had an earworm. A TV insurance ad would set it off. Whenever the ad would come on, the pharmacist would lunge for the remote to hit the "mute" button. But it was too late. The ad blared in his skull for hours.
Dr. Kellaris performed a study with college students to find out which earworms were most stubborn. The top culprits were "Who Let the Dogs Out", "We Will Rock You", the Kit-Kat candy-bar jingle ("Gimme a Break ..."), the "Mission Impossible" theme, "YMCA", "Whoomp, There It Is", "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", and "It's a Small World After All." With that, Julie walked out of the pharmacy with her refills in hand, humming the earworm with which she was stuck. "I wish I were an Oscar Meyer weiner…"
Ron Gasbarro, PharmD, is a registered pharmacist, medical writer, and principal at Rx-Press.com. Read more at www.rx-press.com
