Hallstead – We have just received a message that Mark O'Neill, son of Mr. and Mrs. P. J. O'Neill, had been killed in action in France. He was the first soldier from Hallstead to go to France. He served in the heavy artillery. ALSO Conductor Eugene F. Wilmot has been retired on a pension after 49 years faithful service with the Lackawanna railroad. He is one of the most widely known of all the men employed on the Lackawanna system and has been over every foot of the main line, from Hoboken to Buffalo, as well as all the road's branches. It is surely some record to have been in the employ of one railroad company for 49 years.
Clifford – In recognition of valor shown when he succeeded in driving off three German albatross airplanes, which attacked the machine he was piloting over the enemy's lines, Lieutenant A. J. Coyle, a native of this place, has been decorated with the French War Cross. Coyle is a member of the American flying corps in France, being among the first to enlist after the declaration of war.
New Milford – David VanBuskirk, who has conducted the undertaking business here for many years, has sold the business to A. H. Crosier. Mr. Crosier is an experienced undertaker and funeral director. F. K. Sutton will represent the new proprietor here.
Jackson – A severe wind storm, accompanied by much lightning and thunder, visited this section Sunday, May 12, and did extreme damage to fruit orchards and wooded territory; also to much valuable farm property. In North Jackson and Lakeview several farmers had roofs torn from farm buildings and several silos were blown to the ground. A number of buildings were completely demolished.
Great Bend – The commencement exercises of the Great Bend high school were held Monday evening in the M. E. church. The following were the members of the class of 1918: Mara Burke, Marguerite Sine, "Max" McCormack, Helen Miller, Edna Luce, Milly Carnegie, Kathryn Dobson and Pearl Cook.
Montrose – C. M. Read arrived on Saturday from the National Soldiers' Home, Johnson City, Tenn. Mr. Read has spent a comfortable winter and still speaks in the most enthusiastic terms of our government's care of her veteran soldiers. His brother, B. C. Read, formerly of Hallstead, is located at the same home and may spend the summer there. ALSO There will be a hop at Colonial Hall, Friday evening, in honor of the 103 drafted boys, who will leave Saturday morning. General admission, 10 cents; Dance tickets, 50 cents a couple plus war tax. Music by Mahon's orchestra. ALSO The King's Bible Class of the African Methodist-Episcopal Zion church has a service flag displayed in the church, upon which appear two stars. The members of the class now serving their country are Carl Smith and Claude Slaughter.
Brooklyn – Memorial services will be held in the Universalist church next Sunday morning at 11 o'clock. Rev. Halfacre will address the few remaining veterans of the Civil War. It will be a union service, in which the other two churches will join. On Decoration Day the exercises will be held in the M. E. church. The Odd fellows and Boy Scouts will participate in the parade as well as the Hopbottom band.
Forest City – Next Thursday afternoon, Memorial day, there will be a parade and patriotic meeting under the auspices of the Forest City and Vandling chapter of the American Red Cross. The parade will begin at 2 o'clock and the line of march will be from North Main street to Kennedy's corner in Vandling, then counter march to the Forest City High School, where the patriotic exercises will be held. F. M. Gardiner, Esq., will be Grand Marshall, with J. J. Connelly, James Dutchman, James Chudinski and William Painter, Jr., aides. ALSO An enthusiastic meeting was held in the Family theatre Sunday afternoon. The object, as stated by the Rev. J. Mroziewski, who presided, was to encourage the movement organized several months ago to build up a large force of men of Polish extraction to aid the allies in crushing the Hun. Rev. J. Mroziewski made a powerful plea and urged his hearers to aid the movement by extending their physical and financial support.
Uniondale – An invitation has been given the surviving members of Mathew McPherson Post, G. A. R., to participate in the parade at Forest city on Memorial day.
Harford – We are pleased to learn that Charles R. Labarre, of Wysox, is steadily recovering from an operation. He is a former Harford young man and was at one time the principal of the Kingsley school. Knowing him, we half surmise that his energy and ambition caused him to work beyond his strength—and he is no weakling—on his farm in helping increase food production to the detriment of his health. His brother, Frank, of Harford, is with him at present.
200 Years ago from the Montrose Gazette, May 23, 1818.
*From the Saratoga, N.Y. Republican. DIED. At Ballston, on the 24th instant, Mrs. Abigail, wife of Seth C. Baldwin. The loss which society and the church of Christ sustained in the death of Mrs. Baldwin, is alleviated by the reflection that she departed an eminent example of the power of Religion to give peace in death, and has left the most satisfactory evidence of having entered into rest. She has left a family in circumstances peculiarly afflicting. In addition to the loss of an invaluable mother, they have a few months since been reduced by the pressure of the times, from a state of affluence to poverty, and the father having separated from them at that time, from the same causes, they are cast in the morning of life, upon the world, without property and in effect parentless. **This afflicted family not knowing where to direct a letter to the surviving parent—Editors of Newspapers, particularly those in the southern and western states, are requested to give this notice an insertion in their papers. Ballston, 29 April, 1818. (The 1810 census lists Seth Baldwin, Ballston, Saratoga, N.Y., as having a total of 15 free whites, free colored, and 2 slaves living on his property.)
*STATE ROAD. Notice is hereby given that the Commissioners appointed to expend the monies appropriated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on the East and West road, so called, will attend at the house of Asa Lathrop, in Springville township, on the 21st day of May inst., at 10 o'clock, A.M. to contract with any person or persons wishing to work said road. JABEZ HYDE, JR., H. TIFFANY, JONAH BREWSTER, Commissioners.
In 2013, Lawrence Shoul was asked by a co-worker to deliver marijuana to a third party. Shoul agreed to help so he picked up the marijuana, drove it to the designated location and then delivered it as requested. Shoul did not know that the person who had requested him to deliver the marijuana was an informant for the State Police. Shoul was arrested and convicted of a felony drug delivery offense. Thereafter, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) notified Shoul that he was disqualified from holding commercial driver's license (CDL) for the remainder of his life based upon the felony drug conviction which also involved Shoul's operation of a motor vehicle, i.e., he drove the marijuana to another location at the request of co-worker informant.
Shoul challenged the lifetime disqualification contending that it violated his constitutional rights. Substantive due process requires that any legislation that infringes upon a citizen's privileges have some rational relation to a legitimate government objective, i.e., the government cannot arbitrarily enact legislation that takes a privilege like driving away without a rationally stated objective to justify the action. The trial court concluded that the lifetime disqualification was unconstitutional as there was no rational relationship between a lifetime CDL ban for a felony drug conviction and making the public highways safer. PennDOT filed an appeal to directly to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court which has exclusive jurisdiction over any appeals relating to a trial court's determination that a statute was unconstitutional.
First, PennDOT argued that the lifetime CDL ban was rationally related to legitimate government interests such as (1) making highways safer; (2) complying with federal funding mandates; and (3) deterring serious criminal conduct. In response to these arguments, the Supreme Court determined that there was no rational relationship between a lifetime CDL ban for a drug felony conviction and making highways safer. In this regard, the Supreme Court stated that the "mere delivery of a controlled substance does not, by itself, pose a direct or substantial risk to highway safety." Moreover, the Supreme Court expressed concern over the severity of a lifetime ban: "[S]imply stated, a law which plainly goes too far in pursuit of some legitimate purpose may reflect arbitrariness or may betray other, unspoken purposes."
The Supreme Court, however, accepted PennDOT's argument that the legislation did have a rational relationship to government's interest in deterring drug activity: "Plainly, just as the suspension of a driver's license for possession of a controlled substance might influence a would-be possessor of drugs not to possess them . . . the lifetime disqualification from holding a CDL for delivery of a controlled substance while using a motor vehicle might influence a would-be drug trafficker not to traffic drugs or, at a minimum, to do so without a vehicle." Thus, the Supreme Court reversed the trial court's determination that the lifetime disqualification violated Shoul's substantive due process rights.
Shoul continued to argue that the lifetime disqualification constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment as it was a disproportionate punishment to the offense that he had committed. The trial court had concluded a lifetime bad was constitutionally prohibited as it was too disproportionately harsh. The Supreme Court reviewed the record and determined that it was not sufficiently developed to support the trial court's determination or allow meaningful appellate review. The case was remanded back to the trial court to further develop the record "concerning the facts of Shoul's offense, the impact of the loss of his CDL, his sentence compared to the maximum sentence he faced, or the actual harmful consequences resulting from his offense."
Are drugstore reading glasses bad for your eyes?
Mitch was in the pharmacy trying on readers at the eyeglass kiosk. "Hey, doc. These glasses are so much cheaper than at the optical place I go to. Are they OK for my eyes?" The pharmacist explained that the readers – or over-the-counter (OTC) glasses – can be helpful if they are used correctly. Prescription glasses can correct a various problems, including nearsightedness (difficulty viewing distant objects), farsightedness (trouble seeing things that are close), and astigmatism (an imperfection in the curvature of the eye that results in distorted images). Ready-made readers, by contrast, are mass-produced and designed for one purpose only—to magnify the image in front of you. They will not correct farsightedness or astigmatism.
Make sure that the readers you buy have the correct magnification for your eyes. If the prescription from your eye doctor says something like "+2.00 sph" or "+2.00 DS," OTC readers should work fine for you. But if it says something like +2.00-1.25 X 087, those extra numbers behind the +2.00 mean you need correction for astigmatism (the second number could be a + instead of a -, depending on what kind of doctor you went to). The larger that second number is, the more correction for astigmatism you need. Readers are not recommended in those cases. However, if you are strapped for cash and your insurance does not help you, then OTC glasses would be better than nothing. But, you would be losing any correction for astigmatism, and you would probably suffer from eyestrain if you used them for any length of time.
When you look at OTC readers, the first things you will see are tags with numbers such as +1.0, +1.5, +2.25, +3.0, +3.5, +4.0. These numbers represent the corrective strength of eyeglass lenses. The units are known as diopters and are typically measured in increments of 0.25 units to differentiate stronger and weaker corrective powers. Someone who would need strong vision correction will likely need readers with a strength of +3.0 or greater, while someone who needs only minor vision correction would likely wear readers with a strength of +1.5 or less. To find the strength you need, grab a box of cold medicine or some other medication at the pharmacy and see if you can read the microscopic directions on the back of the box.
Use OTC readers safely. Choose only the power that allows you to read something at a comfortable distance. Stronger is not necessarily better. Examine the glasses for bubbles, waves, or other distortions that could bother your eyes. Use these readers for quick jobs only, like reading a label at the grocery store. If you do develop headaches, take your OTC glasses to the eye doctor so the readers can be evaluated. A 2014 study showed that OTC readers do not undergo the same quality control as prescription eyeglasses. If your readers are flawed in any way, the result can be fatigue, red eyes, eyestrain, eye pain, blurred vision, headache, and possible double vision. Finally, do not skip a regular eye exam even if these OTC readers work for you. Visual acuity is only one aspect of vision that an eye doctor will evaluate. The doctor can also diagnose potentially serious problems like diabetes and retinal detachment in their early stages when there may be no visual symptoms.
Mitch found a pair of readers that he liked. Yet, he understood that his vision will need to be checked periodically by an eye doctor. "I will need them when I read the sports pages," he quipped.
Ron Gasbarro, PharmD, is a registered pharmacist, medical writer, and principal at Rx-Press.com. Read more at www.rx-press.com
