Home → Columnists ( April 22, 2026 )
Ararat – Many Susquehanna County people are probably not familiar with the fact that in their county is one of the most remarkable feats of railroad engineering skill that was ever consummated. It is in Ararat Township on the Jefferson branch of the Erie railroad. There are veteran engineers and contractors who recall the great fill that was necessitated on the Jefferson branch when it was under construction. The road was constructed in 1872-73. One night during the course of building a stretch of track a quarter of a mile or so sank out of sight, an apparently bottomless bog appeared where the roadbed had been. Into this hole 10,000 car loads of gravel and more than 500 trees, branches and all, were dumped without visible effect toward forming a solid bottom. It was then decided to resort to pile-driving. A pile 40 ft. long was driven its entire length into the sink. Upon it another of the same length was placed and driven all the way down, and still no sign of solid bottom. One on top of the other, four of these timbers were forced down before a solid foundation was found. This showed that the depth of the mysteriously formed bog was 160 ft. The existence of this curious formation at this spot was the more remarkable because it was on the summit of a ridge. When the depth was found, a row of piles was driven after the manner of the test piles on both sides of the space intended for the roadbed. They were set close together and formed subterranean booms, which held in place any material dumped into this enclosure. A hill of four acres was leveled to obtain material for the fill. Months of time and hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on the work. Unquestionably, it was the most remarkable thing of its kind ever known in the history of railroad building in Pennsylvania. (From the Philadelphia Public Ledger and reprinted in the Democrat.)
Susquehanna – The most disastrous fires to visit this place in some years occurred when the C. W. Deakin & Son lumber yard, mill and two garages, owned by John T. McMahon and John C. Birdsall, were burned. The loss is estimated at from $75,000 to $100,000, partially insured. When all of the local fire companies responded and as the flames were so widespread it was feared they would leap all bounds, a call for help was sent to Windsor. The flames rose high in the air and attracted hundreds of people to the conflagration.
East Rush – E. A. Crisman has traded his team of horses to Thomas O’Brien, of South Montrose, for a road horse.
Fair Hill, Forest Lake Twp. – Sixty-nine years ago, the 21st of this month, we had nearly four feet of snow on the level. A picture of it as it was that morning can be seen on the county map, taken by W. B. Deans from one of the upper windows the brick block in Montrose. (That would be the 1858 wall map of Susquehanna County.)
Hallstead – The Hallstead ferry is now being operated from 5 in the morning until midnight. After May 25th the ferry will run continuously.
Franklin Forks – O. P. DePue reports the Snake Creek road in very good condition, except for a short distance near the pump station at Lake Montrose.
New Milford – The New Milford water company has been directed by the Pennsylvania Public Service Commission to install a complete new water supply system. The old water pipes must be taken up and new ones installed and the reservoirs cleaned and sterilized. The health department contends that only by so doing will the typhoid fever germs be completely eliminated.
Thompson – A temperance sermon will be delivered by Rev. MacBaine next Sunday morning. Subject, “If Prohibition Does Not Prohibit, What Must We do?”
Montrose – In response to the county violinists’ convention Henry Birchard wrote, “Hope you will have Theodore F. Mack in the contest. Over 50 years ago, when I was tooting cornet, I accompanied him at many dances. Mr. Mack is one of the oldest fiddlers of this section and it is hoped he may be seen and heard.” Interest continues to grow and I. W. Oakley says violinists are enrolling each week.
Hop Bottom – G. A. Roberts, of Hop Bottom, and Mrs. Fay Robinson, of Lenoxville, were married on April 17. They will reside in Hop Bottom where Mr. Roberts has established a wholesale candy store.
Forest City – The Lincoln Construction company began work on the paving of the road north of the borough. The section between Forest City and Stillwater will be built first. ALSO The road from Forest City to Crystal Lake has been blocked practically all winter and the Lincoln Construction Co., in bringing its road machinery across from Clifford, was compelled to shovel through five big drifts. A drift nearly four feet high at the top of Dundaff Street was removed by the use of the big traveling crane. It has been many years since the snow remained so late into the spring. ALSO The Slovenian Market House is selling Peters Shoes, at their store on Main Street. Advertised as the finest shoes for all.
News Briefs: The famous Emperor Charlemagne was placed, after his death in 814, in a great tomb where he was seated on a marble throne and clothed in imperial robes. His body was found well preserved in 1001. ALSO Montrose Newspapers to Merge: Corporation to be formed to take over The Republican and The Democrat. Plans contemplate a $10,000 Webb Printing Press, other improved equipment, and changing to a paper issued either semi-weekly, thrice-a-week or daily.
THE Bridgewater Yeoman Guards are hereby commanded to meet at the house of D. Curtis, in Montrose, on Monday the 8th day of May next, at 9 o’clock in the forenoon, armed and equipped for military duty. ASA C. LUCE, Capt. April 19, 1826. ALSO THE Montrose Artillery will parade for duty, completely equipped, at the house of D. Curtis, in Montrose, on Monday the 8th day of May next, at 9 o’clock am B. J. DIMOCK, Capt. April 19, 1826.
WHEREAS my wife, Rhoda, has left my bed and board, without just cause or provocation, I hereby forbid all persons harboring or trusting her on my account. PHILIP CRATAR. Brooklyn, April 18, 1826.
WHEREAS my wife, Phoebe, has left me, I do hereby forbid all persons harboring or trusting her on my account, as I am determined not to pay any debts of her contracting, after this date. DANIEL HARRIS, March 15, 1826.
COOPERING. THE subscribers keep constantly on hand most kinds of COOPER WARE, and will attend to all calls in all its branches, both wood and iron bound, on the shortest notice. GIDEON AND RUSSEL SOUTHWORTH. April 13, 1826.
In January 2022, a juvenile trial was scheduled on assault charges against J.D. for physically assaulting his mother. On the night before the trial, the father of J.D. posted a message on his Facebook page referencing the juvenile proceeding. Mother and Father were no longer in a relationship, and Mother had blocked Father so that she did not see his Facebook posts. Mother’s sister, however, saw the Facebook post, became concerned and forwarded the post to Mother.
The post itself is somewhat cryptic unless you understand the slang and/or lingo used, but Mother was able to decipher the post as a reference to her upcoming testimony. Father made a comment that Mother should not refer to certain things or he would give her a “150” so that she would remember what she had done every time she looked “in the mirror.” Apparently, Mother understood the term “150” as a reference to a scene in a movie where someone’s face was cut from the ear to the mouth. Father also made a reference to “on my mom,” which Mother understood to be Father making a promise on his mother’s grave. Father also stated that Mother’s accusations against their son had already led to his detention and that Father was not afraid of being incarcerated. Finally, Father concluded by noting that he would see Mother in a couple of hours, which Mother interpreted as the upcoming juvenile proceeding.
After reading the Facebook post, Mother contacted the police and informed them she would not be appearing to testify. Mother admitted she had been served a subpoena that required her appearance but she was simply too scared to attend. As a result of Mother’s report, the police investigated the post, charged Father with intimidating a victim/witness, Father was convicted by a jury, and the trial court sentenced Father to a period of incarceration of 18 months to 84 months in a state correctional facility. Father filed an appeal.
First, Father contended that he knew that Mother had blocked him on Facebook. Thus, Father argued that his communication could not be seen as an attempt to intimidate Mother where Father knew that Mother did not see his posts. Father reasoned that the criminal statute required proof that Father knew that his conduct would impede or interfere with Mother’s testimony at the juvenile proceeding. Father asserted that he was simply blowing off steam on his social media account with full knowledge that Mother would not see it because she had blocked him. If Father knew that his social media was blocked by Mother, Father concluded that the Commonwealth could not prove that he intended to intimidate Mother.
The Superior Court explained that the intimidation statute encompasses any attempts at intimidating a witness, including indirect acts. The Superior Court used the actor Clint Eastwood to demonstrate that no words are required for intimidation and that “a mere look or posture can bully, threaten, coerce, frighten, or intimidate” a witness. Further, the Superior Court used a quote from the Godfather movie to show that “an offer of benefit can be presented in such a Machiavellian manner as to contain an unarticulated act of intimidation, [i.e.], I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.” The Superior Court observed that actor and movie references are unnecessary to “understand that people may purposely intimidate in any number of ways” that constitute criminal intimidation.
In this case, the Superior Court reviewed the record and concluded: “[T]he Commonwealth presented sufficient evidence from which the jury could infer [Father] made the Facebook post with the intent to interfere with the administration of the justice system by convincing [Mother] to withhold testimony. [Father] made a Facebook post threatening harm to someone if they ‘said his name’ during a court proceeding scheduled for the following day. [Mother’s] sister saw the post and understood the post to be a threat against [Mother]... [T]he Facebook post itself was sufficient to prove Father’s intent. Whether [Mother] viewed the post first-hand is irrelevant to our intent analysis.” As result, the Superior Court affirmed Father’s conviction and sentence.
The important aspect of this decision is that the intimidation statute focuses on the intent of the offender – not whether the threat itself occurred with the direct knowledge of the intended recipient. Even if Father knew that Mother would not directly see his threatening post, Father’s knowledge that the post would make its way to Mother through the social media world was enough to sustain his conviction for intimidating a victim/witness.
Good day dear hearts, I love you. For generations, Christians have looked toward the future with a mixture of anticipation and solemn reflection. The Bible speaks often about “the last days,” a period when God will bring history to its appointed conclusion. Over the next eight weeks, this series will explore the major events the Scriptures describe: the Rapture, the Tribulation, the rise of the Antichrist, the Second Coming, the Millennial Kingdom, the final judgments, and the new heaven and new earth. We begin where many Bible scholars believe the prophetic timeline begins, with the Rapture of the Church.
The word *rapture* does not appear in English Bibles, but the concept is unmistakably biblical. It comes from the Latin rapturo, translating the Greek word harpaz? “to snatch away,” “to seize suddenly.” The apostle Paul describes it vividly in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout… and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” According to Scripture, this event will be sudden, global and unmistakable. Believers, those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ will be taken from the earth in an instant. Paul calls it a “mystery” in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, saying it will happen “in the twinkling of an eye.”
The Rapture is not the Second Coming. In the Rapture, Jesus comes for His church. In the Second Coming, He returns with His church. The two events are connected, but they are not the same. Some ask, “Why talk about the end times at all?” The answer is simple: the Bible talks about it a lot. Jesus Himself urged His followers to “watch” and “be ready.” The early church lived with a sense of expectancy. And in a world marked by uncertainty, conflict and moral confusion, the promise of Christ’s return offers both hope and urgency. The Rapture reminds us that history is not drifting aimlessly. God has a plan and He is moving it toward a definite conclusion. For believers, the Rapture is not something to fear but something to look forward to, a moment of rescue, reunion and redemption.
To understand the Rapture, we must briefly look back to one of the most remarkable prophecies in Scripture: Daniel 9:24-27, often called “Daniel’s Seventy Weeks.” Written more than 500 years before Christ, it outlines God’s timeline for Israel and the world. Daniel describes a prophetic “clock” consisting of 70 “weeks”, symbolic periods of seven years each. Sixty-nine of those weeks were fulfilled with astonishing precision at the coming of Christ. But one seven-year period remains, the period Jesus called “the Great Tribulation.” Most Bible scholars believe the Rapture occurs before this final seven-year period begins. In other words, the Rapture is the event that restarts Daniel’s prophetic clock.
History is full of moments that changed everything in an instant. April 19, 1775 the “shot heard ’round the world” signaled the beginning of the American Revolution. No one knew that morning how quickly life would change. Ordinary farmers and townspeople woke up expecting a normal day. By nightfall, the world had shifted. The Rapture will be far more dramatic. Jesus said it will come at an hour “when ye think not.” People will be working, traveling, planning and celebrating life as usual. And then, in a moment, millions will be gone. For those who remain, confusion will sweep the globe. Questions will multiply. Governments will scramble. The world will enter a period of upheaval unlike anything in history. But for those taken, it will be a moment of joy beyond description. Families reunited. Loved ones restored. Faith made sight.
The purpose of prophecy is not speculation, it is preparation. Jesus never told His followers to predict dates. He told them to live ready. The Rapture is a reminder that faith is not merely a belief system but a relationship with a living Savior who has promised to return. To “live ready” means to walk with Christ daily, to love others well, to forgive freely and to keep our priorities aligned with eternity. It means recognizing that this world is temporary, but God’s kingdom is everlasting.
If the Rapture is the first major event of the end times, what follows? According to Scripture, the world will enter the seven-year Tribulation, a time of deception, judgment and spiritual conflict. But before we explore that, we must first understand the hope and promise of the Rapture itself. Next week, we will examine what the Bible says about the Tribulation: what it is, why it happens and how it fits into God’s plan for the world. For now, the message of Week One is simple: Christ is coming again, and His return will be sudden, certain and glorious. God Bless.
O Lord, we praise you and we look beyond the resurrection with the sure hope you are coming back to get us. We pray for the broken-hearted, the ones in need and pray many will turn their hearts to you before your return. Amen. Pastor Vince 570-853-3988.