Forest City – Friday afternoon's Liberty Loan parade was a great success. The Forest City division, headed by the local police, the Forest City band, Grand Marshall, F. M. Gardiner and staff, and borough officials headed the line. They were followed by the Women's Liberty Loan committees and members of the Red Cross. The Boy Scouts were next in line followed by a soldier and sailor dragging an effigy of the Kaiser. The school children, of the public and Polish schools, over a thousand strong, each room accompanied by the teacher, made an inspiring division. The third division was the hose companies. A great patriotic demonstration, which included a parade in Vandling all totaled, according to the newspapers, 3,000 people in line. ALSO In the ripeness of vigorous manhood, Joseph Miskell, one of the best-known young men of this vicinity, paid "the last measure of devotion" to his country while serving the flag in France. He was a member of the 117 Signal Corps and was killed by an accidental explosion. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Miskell, former residents, and from infancy lived here until about two years ago.

Auburn 4 Corners and Dimock – Verdie Hibbard and family have moved over [to] the creamery, as Verdie is the new creamery man. The creamery at Dimock has started up and the [Elk] Lake people are taking their milk there.

Montrose – Carl Smith, a local colored young man, was called to army service Monday, the lone soldier to go at that time, but the citizens of Montrose saw to it that he had a great send-off, just the same. A large number gathered, including the band and patriotic organizations and escorted him to the Lehigh Valley station and gave him the same attention as if he were a regiment. ALSO John Randolph Cooley, Civil War veteran and dean of Montrose businessmen, died Friday morning, April 26, aged 75 years. Deceased was the oldest businessman in Montrose, being actively connected with the present hardware firm 45 years. Although a veteran of the Civil War he refused the office of Captain, saying that others were better qualified to fill that position. He took an active part in securing the L & M railroad here and was a faithful member of the Presbyterian church. The G. A. R. and Sons and Daughters of Veterans attended his funeral in a body. He is survived by his wife and son, Harry E. Cooley, of Montrose.

Lenox – George W. McCarty, formerly of this place, who has conducted the Central Dairy, in Scranton, is now nicely located in his new store at 701 Quincy Avenue, and a handsomer business place it would be difficult to imagine. It occupies a corner location, and George keeps everything as neat as wax.

Harford – W. H. Richardson has purchased a fine Maxwell and his son, Clarence, is chauffeur. He was sighted in South Harford with it Saturday night and drives splendidly.

Susquehanna –Susquehanna has a Liberty Loan clock that was made in the Erie shops for the local committee and placed on Main street, opposite the post-office.  The platform is draped with bunting and flags wave above it. ALSO The oldest man in this county, and one of the best known and beloved residents of this town, is Frederick D. Lyons, who lately passed his 99th birthday. He was born in Colerain, Mass., in 1819, in the home of his grandfather, David Lyons, and remembers his grandmother telling the story of his grandfather participating in the "Boston Tea Party," evidence of this being, as she related it, that she found some of the tea in his shoes the next morning. Mr. Lyons came to Lanesboro in April 1848, where he engaged in the mercantile business. [In the collection of the Susquehanna County Historical Society is a painting, circa 1848, showing a part of Lanesboro and Mr. Lyons' store.] In 1858 he removed to Susquehanna, where he also carried on a large business. He married Mary A. Hull in 1851 and celebrated almost 60 years of marriage before her death in 1911. Because of failing eyesight Mr. Lyons has been incapacitated, but until three years ago he opened his place of business every morning.

Little Meadows – Lieut. Leigh Pendleton, of Camp Meade, is home on a 15-day furlough. ALSO W. D. Minkler, chairman of the Liberty Loan committee, reports that $3,000 has been raised in this small borough.

Dimock – Pepper & Birchard, in Montrose, have just sold two fine touring cars to Percy Ballantine—a Dodge and a Nash Six. Mr. Ballantine, of Louden Hill Farms, is an authority on motor cars and his purchase of these machines ought to recommend them to others.

Springville – The commencement exercises of the High school will be held in the M. E. church on May 10. The members of the class are Misses Ruth Strickland, Vivian Risley, Ralph Button and Erlis Smales. The Springville Methodist church will also celebrate its 25th anniversary on May 10. It was dedicated May 10 1893, the Revs. Austin Griffin and Thomas Harroun preaching the sermons.

News Brief: "1918 Cake—A Wheatless Treat." This recipe for a plain cake without any wheat flour appears in the May Women's Home Companion: "Cream 4 tablespoons nut margarine, add slowly ½ cup sugar, 2 eggs well beaten, ½ cup mashed potato, and 1 ½ cups barley flour sifted with ½ tsp salt and 3 tsp baking powder.  Beat well and bake in 2 layer cake pans. Put together with jelly, spread top with a thin layer of jelly and sprinkle with grated sweet chocolate."

178 Years Ago, Montrose Volunteer, April 16, 1840.

*MARRIED, On the evening of April 14th, by Elder J. B. Worden, Ralph B. Little, Esq., to Miss Ann, youngest daughter of David Post, Esq. The Printers were remembered with a generous loaf of excellent cake, which as a luxury, could only be surpassed by "honey moon" itself.

*OWEGO CRACKERS fresh from the Bakers—12 pounds for one-dollar cash. J. LYONS.

*NEW PUBLIC HOUSE. The subscriber would inform the public that he has recently purchased and fitted up the old tavern stand formerly owned and occupied by Charles Hatch in Lanesboro; and is now is prepared to receive and entertain such of his friends as may favor him with a call—Please notice and stop at the sign of the Buck and Cascade. FREDERICK A. WARD. Lanesboro.

In November 2016, Victoria Steele was a patient at Warren General Hospital in Warren County.  The Hospital filed an emergency petition seeking the appointment of a guardian for Steele as the Hospital contended that Steele was incapable of making informed decisions regarding her care and finances.  The trial court granted the emergency request and appointed a temporary guardian for Steele, namely a corporation that specialized in providing guardian services to incapacitated individuals.

Because an emergency guardianship is only valid for 30 days, the Hospital then filed a formal petition for the appointment of a permanent guardian for Steele.  Upon receipt of the paperwork, Steele demanded a jury trial such that a jury would determine whether she was incapacitated.  Steele also requested an independent medical examination because she contended that she had the capacity to act on her own even though her current medical condition "left her in a state of lethargy, numbed mental awareness, sleepiness, and caused problems with her mobility." 

Because the demand for a jury trial was not made ten days prior to the hearing date as required by statute, the trial court denied Steele's request.  Thereafter, a non-jury trial was conducted and the court determined that Steele required a permanent guardian over her person (to make decision regarding medical care and other personal care decisions) and her estate (to make decisions regarding finances).  Steele filed an appeal contending that the trial court had erred in refusing to grant her a jury trial.

The Superior Court conceded that a request for a jury trial in a guardianship hearing had to be made more than ten days prior to the hearing date.  Steele's initial request for a jury trial failed to meet that requirement.  After denying Steele's initial request for a jury trial, however, the trial court had continued the initial hearing date and Steele had renewed her request for a jury trial.  Steele's second request was made more than 10 days in advance of the new hearing date.  As such, the Superior Court concluded that the trial court had erred in refusing to grant Steele's request for a jury trial.

In reaching this decision, the Superior Court recognized that the appointment of a guardian can result in "significant deprivations of liberty" and concluded that "[t]he statutory right to request a jury trial provides the alleged incapacitated person with an important protection against that deprivation.  We should not lightly deem this protection waived."  The trial court's decision was reversed and the case was remanded so that Steele could proceed with a jury trial on the question of whether she was so incapacitated that she needed a permanent guardian.

While not addressed in the decision itself, the statutory framework for guardianship appointments provides an additional remedy for Steele.  Whenever a permanent guardian has been appointed, the incapacitated person has the right to request a "review hearing" in order to determine whether the condition that led to the need for the appointment of a guardian continues to exist.  This provision likewise provides a defense to the liberties of the incapacitated person to assure that he or she has the ability to seek a restoration of the liberty to make personal and financial decisions.

From a practical standpoint, guardianship proceedings generally require expedited hearings and impose significant time restraints.  For the trial court, a request for a jury trial made imposes a significant logistical burden in connection with the effort to empanel jurors to hear the case, i.e., selecting potential jurors, sending out notices, getting them into court, and empaneling the jurors who will actually sit to hear the case.  The statute provides that such a request need only be made more than 10 days prior to the hearing date.  When a timely request is made, the trial court has to take the necessary steps to comply with the request – even if this means continuing the initial hearing date so that a jury may properly be empaneled to hear the case.

Do lefties need more pills than right-handed people?

Joe came into the pharmacy to pick up refills for his antidepressant and his young son's ADHD medicine. He peered over the counter where the pharmacist was writing something. "Hey, doc," Joe said to the pharmacist, "I'm left-handed too. So is my son. I guess we are a bunch of southpaws. They say we are smarter than right-handed people!" 

The pharmacist was not certain that was true. A study that examined over 7,000 grade school children found no difference in intellectual ability between left- and right-handers. However, lefties may think differently. After all, with only 10% of the population being left-handed, the world is not a left-handed-friendly place—utensils, scissors, and other items of daily use are designed for right-handed people. Left-handed people have to think flexibly and come up with ways to use those tools and to navigate.

Left-handed people may be prescribed certain drugs more often. Research suggests that they have more psychiatric conditions than right-handed, such as substance abuse and addictions. For example, recent studies have demonstrated that alcohol-addicted patients are more often left-handed. Other studies have revealed lefties were more likely to have used heroin, ecstasy, amphetamines, and/or LSD.

A study has found that left-handed individuals are more likely to be afflicted with Internet gaming disorder and social network disorder. So, if an acquaintance spends hours on Facebook or obsessively plays Word Whomp, the odds are he or she is left-handed. Left-handers are significantly more likely to be depressed or have bipolar disorder than right-handers and, therefore, are more likely to take medication to control their symptoms. Schizophrenia is also twice as more prevalent in the left-handed. Such people would be more likely to be treated with an antipsychotic than right-handers. A Swedish study found that left-handedness in children was linked to a greater risk of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Hence, they would be more likely to be medicated for their disorder.

There are some benefits to being left-handed, particularly for men. One study revealed that creativity (specifically "divergent thinking") is positively correlated with left-handedness in men only, but not in left-handed women. Looking at several measures of school performance and leadership skills, researchers found a positive association with left-handedness for boys but a negative one for girls. The same pattern was found for spatial ability, that is, navigation (i.e., not getting lost), understanding or fixing equipment, estimating distance and measurement, and performing on a job. Left-handed women lost out on these parameters. In economics, left-handedness has been associated with higher wages for men but lower wages for women.

Historically, left-handed people have been considered unlucky or even malicious by the right-handed majority. In many European languages, the word for the direction "right" also means "correct" or "proper". The Latin adjective "sinister" means "left" as well as "unlucky." That people wear their wedding rings on their left hand goes back to a time when the left hand was considered evil. By wearing the ring on the left hand, evil spirits would be kept at bay, thus, preserving the sanctity of marriage.

As for Joe and his son, their psychiatric conditions may be because they are left-handed, or maybe it was just the luck of the draw.

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