Home → Columnists ( July 29, 2026 )
Montrose – Fiddlers met in the Community Building to rehearse for the Grand Opening Medley Overture to be played at the County Fair, September 9th and 10th. This promises to be the most unique musical festival ever promoted in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Those outside the building were able to catch the pulsing strains of such old familiar tunes as “Money Musk” “Turkey in the Straw,” “The Irish Washerwoman,” etc. There was music in the air. ALSO William Henry Clemons, aged 82 years, a native of Montrose, died at his home in Helmetta, NJ, on July 23. Deceased was the son of Henry and Eunice Clemons, the family residing at the corner of South Main and Wilson streets, where he was born February 11, 1844. The house was later moved to its present location on Wilson Street, being a part of the Corfield property, and is now occupied by Irwin Cogswell and family. Mr Clemons went to Helmetta in 1889 and became associated with the American Snuff Co., manufacturers of snuff. His funeral was held at the home of his cousin, Henry S. Patrick, in Montrose.
Hallstead – The bridge over the Harmony creek has been closed while repairs are under way. This bridge has high approaches and heavy trucks, in leaving it, has forced the structure out of plumb for some distance. It is being relocated and more securely anchored.
Dimock – A most interesting game of baseball was played by the Binghamton Athletic Club and the local town team, scores resulting 11-5 in favor of the Dimock team. The Binghamton team will come here for another game, as they are playing a series of five games, and each team has won a game. Lineup is Bush, c.f.; Benninger, c.; Grow, 1st b.; Hall, 2nd b.; Very, s.s.; Blancher, 3rd b.; Newcomer, r.f.; Winans, l.f.; Roderick, p. Roderick had twelve strike-outs.
Lanesboro – Repairs are to be made to the river dam here. Heavy planking is to be placed on the dam, and the work will be rushed while the river is at a low stage.
Welsh Hill, Clifford Twp. – D. J. Jones is helping Elmer Davis do his haying, as they are exchanging work. This very thing will have to be done in the near future, as help around here is scarce.
Lawsville – Children playing with matches on the Harold Beemer farm set the barn on fire and one of the three small youngsters, Robert, two and a half years old, was burned to death. The mother heard the cries of her oldest son, Charles, and looking towards the barn saw that a load of freshly cut hay was blazing. She rushed to the aid of the children and snatched up the boy, who was four years of age, and his brother, William, less than six years old, and then went back to find the youngest child. She searched frantically but could not find him. Being burned on hands and arms, she left the building and her husband attempted to rescue his child but the heat made it impossible. The two children were burned badly about the chest and face, and their sight may have been affected. The farm is located on the back road leading to Hallstead. There was no insurance on the barn or contents. The community sympathizes with the stricken family.
Rush – Dr. and Mrs. A. G. Gary, of Walker, Iowa, and Dr. and Mrs. B. H. McKeeby, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will spend a month with relatives in Hallstead, Vestal, Rush, Birchardville and Montrose. [Dr. B. H. McKeeby was the model for Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” painting. Dr. McKeeby was Wood’s dentist. He was born in Birchardville in 1867 and died in Cedar Rapids in 1950. His parents were Alfred and Rosanna Gary McKeeby.]
Hop Bottom – The barn of Joseph Filan was moved from its foundation last Thursday by the wind.
Fair Hill, Forest Lake Twp. – The wind storm missed us last Thursday, but it blew a silo down for Raymond Smith, one mile south of here.
Birchardville – A little daughter arrived at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Fearnley, last week.
Forest City – An automobile accident occurred in Vandling with Ignac Grum, Hugh Melvin and George Kilpatrick occupying the car. They had started for work and one of them, having forgotten his dinner pail, were returning to get it. Traveling north at a lively clip, when at the street intersection east of Bartholomay’s store, their wheel caught on the bumper of Grant Oakley’s Dodge car, which was turning into Second Street. The Ford was swung around, rolled over and rested upside down with the wheels still spinning. People in the neighborhood went to the rescue of the young men, expecting them to be seriously injured, but they escaped with slight injury to one of Kilpatrick’s fingers and a shaking up and hair raising experience for all of them. The Ford was not greatly damaged and Oakley’s car escaped with a bent bumper.
News Brief: Robert Todd Lincoln, only surviving son of President Abraham Lincoln, died at his summer home in Manchester, VT. He would have been 83 years old August 1st. He was for many years president of the Pullman Co. He was secretary of war under Garfield and Arthur and minister to Great Britain during Harrison’s administration.
A letter from the University of Virginia states, that the disease of which Mr. Jefferson died was diarrhoea, of long continuance; that he was buried on the 5th inst. without any pomp or procession, in compliance with his dying request, in the cemetery of Monticello; and that he left a Memoir of his Life, which it is believed will be put to press immediately, and numerous papers, that are intended for publication some years hence. Major H. Lee has announced in the National Intelligencer, that the day of Mr. Jefferson’s birth was the 2nd of April, Old Style, which answers to the 13th of the New. The Faculty and students of the University of Virginia, have, severally, passed resolutions expressing their profound sorrow for his loss and their exalted opinion of his abilities and services, particularly with regard to the University and the cause of Science in general.
FORGIVING HUSBAND. Joseph Mathews, of Gardiner, says, “Where’s my wife Irena, like Noah’s Dove, has returned to my bed, and behaves as a pleasant wife, this is to revoke my former advertisement.” As he forgives so freely, does he forget as easily?
To the heirs and legal representatives of Labon Capron, in the county of Susquehanna, deceased. TAKE NOTICE, that an inquest will be held at the late dwelling house of Labon Capron, deceased, in the township of Harford, in the county of Susquehanna, on Monday the twenty-eighth day of August next, at ten o’clock in the forenoon of that day, for the purpose of making partition of the real estate of the said deceased, to, and among his children and representatives, if the same can be done without prejudice to or spoiling of the whole; otherwise to value and appraise the same according to law, at which time and place you are required to attend if you think proper. SAMUEL GREGORY, Sh’ff. July 10, 1826.
The Susquehanna County Historical Society will have a Civil War talk entitled “Susquehanna Union Volunteers” at 6:00pm on August 4th, at the Society, 18 Monument Street, Montrose. This is a free event.
The Punxsutawney Hunting Club owns 4,400 acres and the Pitch Pine Hunting Club likewise owns another 1,100 acres in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. Both Hunting Clubs posted their property against trespassers. Over many years, the Hunting Clubs were frustrated that game wardens would simply appear on their private property to conduct investigations for game violations, including placing a game camera surreptitiously on the property attempting (unsuccessfully) to obtain photographic evidence of violation against one of the Hunting Clubs. There is statutory authority that allows game wardens access to real property without a search warrant to enforce the Game Code. The Hunting Clubs collectively filed an action seeking to establish that these statutory provisions were unconstitutional, i.e., that game wardens could not come onto their private, posted real property without a search warrant.
The Hunting Clubs had one big problem: the open fields doctrine. Since 1924, the United States Supreme Court has held that there is no expectation to privacy in open fields, and, as such, there is no Fourth Amendment protection in open fields. To put it more simply, under federal constitutional law, there is no requirement that a police officer have a search warrant to lawfully enter open fields because there is no constitutionally protected privacy interest in the open fields. What constitutes an open field? Anything outside of the curtilage of a house or other building. What is curtilage? The maintained area around a building that is regularly used for daily activities. Anything outside the curtilage is open fields – even if posted with no trespassing signage by the property owner.
Many years ago, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined that the Pennsylvania Constitution provided the same protection as the Fourth Amendment as it related to open fields. Thus, the open field doctrine applied in Pennsylvania – and there was no constitutionally protected privacy interest in open fields that existed outside of the curtilage of a residence. Because Pennsylvania followed the open fields doctrine, the statutory provisions that empowered game wardens to enter real property to conduct Game Code investigations were constitutionally valid. The Hunting Clubs were requesting that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court revisit the open field doctrine – and reject it.
On July 21, 2026, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court complied, reversed its prior case law, and concluded that the Pennsylvania Constitution does not recognize the open fields doctrine, i.e., the Pennsylvania Constitution provides greater protection over a citizen’s real property than does the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court concluded: “[T]he scope and protection afforded under Article I, Section 8 [of the Pennsylvania Constitution] to a landowner’s open fields extends to private land located beyond the curtilage over which the landowner has demonstrated a reasonable and legitimate expectation of privacy by taking sufficient steps to exclude intruders therefrom. Government officials, therefore, must obtain a warrant based upon probable cause or satisfy one of the many recognized exceptions to the warrant requirement before entering the private land of any landowner that has taken such steps.”
What does a landowner have to do to create this expectation of privacy in his or her open fields? The Supreme Court focused on the clear manner in which the Hunting Clubs posted their properties, including the use of the “The Purple Paint Law,” which provides Pennsylvania landowners with “the option to use purple paint, rather than ‘no trespassing’ signs, to post their properties to alert others that trespassing is not permitted.” The Hunting Clubs likewise fenced areas of their real property as well as installed locked gates to keep unwanted vehicles off their roadways. These actions were sufficient to create a reasonable expectation of privacy in the open fields of the Hunting Clubs. The Supreme Court cautioned: “[W]e reserve for another day the question of whether the privacy protections afforded by Article I, Section 8 extend to landowners who have taken fewer steps that the Hunting Clubs, or even no steps, to exclude intruders from their properties.”
This decision will have significant reverberations throughout the criminal justice system. While this case dealt solely with provisions of the Game Code, the open field doctrine was used in all types of law enforcement investigations. The lower courts will be left to determine in each case whether a landowner took sufficient steps to create a reasonable expectation of privacy in their open fields. The more steps taken, the more likely that the reasonable expectation of privacy arises.
Good day Dear Hearts, I Love You. The Christian faith rests on many profound truths, but few are as central or as mysterious as the doctrine of the Trinity. Christians confess that God is one Being who exists eternally as three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is not a mathematical puzzle or a theological riddle. It is the very heartbeat of the Christian story, revealing who God is and how He relates to us. Last Sunday, we explored the one thing God desires most from His people, obedience. Not reluctant compliance, but loving, trusting obedience that flows from relationship. Today, we take a step deeper and discover something remarkable, obedience is not only something God asks of us, it is something modeled within the Trinity itself. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relate to one another in perfect unity, perfect love and perfect willing obedience. Understanding this helps us understand God. And understanding God helps us understand ourselves. The Bible teaches clearly that God is one. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one,” Deuteronomy 6:4. Yet Scripture also reveals three distinct Persons acting together in perfect harmony. At Jesus’ baptism, the Son stands in the water, the Spirit descends like a dove and the Father speaks from heaven (Matthew 3:16-17). Jesus Himself commands His followers to baptize in the singular “name” of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). The Trinity is not three gods. It is not one God wearing three masks. It is one divine Being who exists eternally as Father, Son and Spirit; co-equal, co-eternal and united in love.
Scripture presents the Father as the initiator of divine action. He creates the world, calls His people and sends both the Son and the Spirit. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” John 3:16. The Father’s authority is not harsh or domineering. It is loving, purposeful and rooted in relationships. Does the Father obey? Scripture never speaks of the Father obeying the Son or Spirit. Instead, He is the One whose will is perfectly wise and perfectly good. His role in the Trinity is loving authority, the One who purposes redemption and invites His people into fellowship. Jesus Christ, the Son, is fully God. “In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was God,” John 1:1. He is eternal, divine, and equal with the Father. Yet Scripture also reveals that Jesus willingly submits Himself to the Father’s will. “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me,” John 4:34. “He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” Philippians 2:8. Jesus’ obedience is not forced. It is voluntary, joyful and rooted in love. He obeys because He and the Father are one. He obeys because He delights in the Father’s will. His obedience is the expression of perfect unity within the Godhead. This connects directly to last week’s message: when we obey God, we are imitating Christ Himself. Our obedience mirrors His trusting, loving and relational. The Holy Spirit is not a force or an energy. He is the third Person of the Trinity, fully God, fully personal. He teaches, speaks, guides, comforts and empowers. Jesus says something remarkable about the Spirit’s role: “He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak,” John 16:13. The Spirit does not act independently or contrary to the Father or Son. He acts in perfect harmony with them. His obedience is seen in His mission: He comes when sent, glorifies the Son, convicts the world, empowers the church and intercedes believers. Just as the Son obeys the Father, the Spirit carries out the will of the Father and Son with joy and unity.
Last week we said obedience is the simple thing God wants from us. Today we see why; obedience is woven into the very nature of God Himself. The Father commands in love. The Son obeys in love. The Spirit acts in love. This is not hierarchy, it is harmony. Not domination but devotion. Not coercion but communion. The Trinity models the kind of obedience God desires from us; obedience rooted in relationship. Obedience expressed in trust. Obedience is empowered by the Spirit. Obedience that glorifies God. When we obey, we participate in the life of the Trinity. We imitate the Son, walk in the Spirit and honor the Father.
The Trinity is not an abstract doctrine. It is a living reality that shapes our everyday walk with God. The Father loves us with perfect love. The Son saves us through perfect obedience. The Spirit powers us with perfect presence. We do not obey a distant God. We obey a relational God, who Himself lives in eternal relationship. The Trinity reveals a God who is united, loving and relational. And within that divine relationship, obedience is not a burden but a joy. As we follow Christ, we echo His words, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” May our obedience reflect the unity and love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God bless.
Dear Lord, we praise and glorify your name. We lay all our prayers before your feet and ask your will be done. Bless our town and watch over us. Amen.