County Living

The Arts & Humanities Jury of The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International is pleased to announce the publication of the creative art works of three active members of the Beta Rho Chapter of the Pennsylvania State Organization of the Society. The DKG Gallery of Fine Arts is an online gallery of works of art which are jury selected for posting. Pat Carpenter, Amy Radford and Cindy Reynolds each submitted two pieces and both were accepted for these ladies. To realize what an honor this is to be selected, internationally 122 member artists submitted 214 works of art and 179 were accepted for the gallery.

Pat Carpenter, a retired teacher from the Lackawanna Trail Elementary Center, designed and created the "Going in Circles" crocheted baby blanket and "Cow in Buttons" on a pillow. This was Pat's first submission and she had both pieces selected.

Seasons Cadence The spring rises Its warm horizon soft colors grow Maple sweet A delicious treat warm in the glow Summer shines bright A vibrant delightful Joy full play The birch waves in verdant praise Dancing all day Fall colors set Vivid shades met oaks in blaze Cider filled mug Flannel warm hugs Autumn verse raise Winter's velvet night Moon's soft light The evergreen sleeps Stars shine array The fresh snow lay My hope keeps

Amy Radford, a teacher at Faith Mountain Christian Academy, wrote the poem "Seasons Cadence" and took the photograph "Mountain Sunset." Both of her creative pieces were accepted and this is the second time that Amy has had her submissions accepted for posting.

Cindy Reynolds, a retired teacher from the Mountain View Elementary School and charter president of the Beta Rho Chapter, submitted two photographs, "A Heart in Flowers" and "A Thistle in Bloom." In the past Cindy has had several of her photographs as well as her original watercolor paintings accepted for the Gallery of Fine Arts.

Pat, Amy and Cindy's art work can be viewed publicly along with the other international postings by going to The DKG Fine Arts Gallery.

DKG is a professional honor society for women educators with more than 69,000 members. Established in 17 member countries around the world, the Society defines its mission as promoting professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education. Its moto is "90 Years and Beyond: Advancing Key Women Educators for Life." The Society's headquarters is in Austin, Texas, where Dr. Annie Webb Blanton founded the Society on May 11, 1929.

After listening to Pro-Ag Manager Arden Tewksbury predicting prices paid to dairy farmers on January's milk could drop to $15.50 per cwt. (hundred pounds), directors and members of Pro-Ag passed the following resolutions during their conference call.

1. Be it resolved that Pro-Ag supports the introduction and passage of the Federal Milk Marketing Improvement Act. This bill would price milk on the national average cost of production as determined by the Economic Research Service, a division of the USDA. This bill would also develop a supply management program to be used only when needed.
   
   
2. Be it resolved that the US Congress should implement a floor price under all milk used to manufacture dairy products at $20 per cwt. This should be done very soon if there is no movement on passing the Federal Milk Marketing Improvement Act.
   
   
3. Be it resolved that a large portion of the funds collected from dairy farmers must be used to advertise and promote fluid milk, both flavored and unflavored.
   
   
4. Be it resolved that the Progressive Agriculture Organization goes on record opposing the continued widespread use of technological dairy processing innovations that are negatively impacting farmers and consumers. These technologies include but are not limited to milk-derivatives such as any and all ultra-filtered milk and milk-protein concentrate (MPC) ingredients replacing real, fresh farm milk in commercial milk and dairy products and the processing technologies developed to create extended shelf-life (ESL) milk. Industrial dairy product technologies have been developed to displace traditional farm milk in processing, creating inferior consumer products along with the impression that it is "overproduction" of milk by farmers causing milk prices to collapse.
   
   
5. Imitation dairy products: Be it resolved that imitation dairy products, both fluid and manufactured, must be isolated from the normal dairy cases. Mixing these imitation dairy products with real dairy products is confusing to consumers.  Unfortunately, funds collected from dairy farmers for marketing purposes are helping benefit the sale of imitation dairy products.
   

Denny Boyanowski, President of Pro-Ag, said he was pleased that these resolutions were all passed unanimously by the group, and he said, "We have complete confidence that the staff of Pro-Ag to develop and work to have them implemented by the US Congress. The number of participants on this call was one of the largest we have had, and they were from Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Vermont, Iowa and California."

Arden Tewksbury/Pro-Ag can be reached at 570-833-5776.

Hello, I am Holly Harvatine a Susquehanna County Dairy Ambassador. As you all know the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on many people in many ways. Here in Susquehanna County the Dairy Promotion Court has been working in different communities to help make sure families get their "Three Every Day" servings of dairy products. For several months, one way the Dairy Promotion Court helped was donating milk to local food banks/pantries.

At the Mountain View School, there is a Children's Produce Market. The food and other necessities are provided by the Weinberg Food Bank. Recently Dairy Ambassador Chelsea Empet and I had the opportunity to help package the food for pickup, as we are part of the Mountain View National Junior Honor Society. Among the many items packaged, we were delighted to see a "Dairy Box" in the mix! The box contained cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, butter and milk. It is very exciting to see these products being distributed to families to make sure they are able to get the nutrients dairy has to offer.

Even during tough times dairy products are an important part of your diet, whether it be a glass of chocolate milk after a workout, a yogurt parfait, a slice of cheese on a sandwich or an at home ice cream sundae.

As part of the New Year I'm reminding everyone to include dairy products each day in your meals. Stay happy and healthy during this New Year, and don't forget to get your "3 Every Day" servings of dairy, milk, cheese or yogurt.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro is alerting consumers that certain Pennsylvanians may experience delays in receiving their federal stimulus checks.

"As federal stimulus checks are being distributed to Pennsylvanians, there may be some delays," said Attorney General Shapiro. "If you're eligible for a stimulus check and haven't received one, you can call the IRS or visit their website to file a complaint."

Tax preparation companies, like H&R Block and Intuit, use temporary bank accounts when they assist with filing tax returns. Unfortunately, the IRS used that information to issue stimulus checks, and therefore, some of the checks have been held up.

Pennsylvanians who are affected by this issue and have not yet received their stimulus checks should expect to receive them after February 1, when the IRS issues a second round of payments through mailed checks.

If you qualify, and have not yet received your stimulus check, you can contact the IRS at 1-800-919-9835 or go to www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment.

Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) Acting Secretary Jennifer Berrier announced that payments for the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program in the new federal CARES Act extension will resume the week of January 24.

"Since receiving the information we needed from the federal Department of Labor two weeks ago, L&I has worked as quickly as possible to update our processing system so PEUC claimants can resume filing for benefits," said Berrier. "We know that more than 100,000 Pennsylvanians were actively receiving PEUC when the program ended in December. Our team has worked tirelessly so we can begin issuing payments to the out-of-work claimants and their families who need them during this global pandemic."

Important PEUC program extension information for claimants follows.

1. You can file for the additional 11 claim weeks during your biweekly cycle beginning Sunday, January 24
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2. if you had some of your original 13 weeks left over on December 26, you will also receive the additional 11 weeks on Sunday.
   
   
3. If you were being paid on the Pennsylvania's Extended Benefits (EB) program before December 26, 2020, you MUST complete your EB benefits before the additional 11 weeks of PEUC can be added to your claim.
   
   
4. You will automatically receive the extra $300 weekly Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) – you do not need to take any action to get this boost.
   

PEUC provides additional claim weeks to workers who have exhausted their regular Unemployment Compensation (UC) benefits. Claimants are automatically enrolled in PEUC after they have reached their maximum claim weeks for UC.

L&I announced it was issuing extended Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, benefit payments.

Claimants who have questions about their enrollment in the CARES Act extension programs or who have issues with their claims should send an email to UC staff and include their first and last name as it appears on the claim and the last four digits of their Social Security number.

1. PEUC or FPUC questions should be emailed to uchelp@pa.gov
   
   
2. PUA questions should be emailed to ucpua@pa.gov
   

For information on unemployment programs, visit uc.pa.gov or follow L&I on Facebook or Twitter. Click here for the latest L&I news.

The GROWMARK Foundation is once again offering a $1,500 scholarship program for students in the United States and Ontario, Canada, pursing two- or four-year degrees or trade school certification in an agriculture-related field.

"As our business has grown and evolved, we saw a need to provide a scholarship to students throughout the United States and Ontario, in addition to the scholarship programs already established in our core geography," said Amy Bradford, GROWMARK corporate communications manager and GROWMARK Foundation manager. "GROWMARK and the FS member cooperatives are strong supporters of youth leadership education and this is one more way we can contribute to the future of agriculture."

Applicants must complete an online application which includes academic information, community service and leadership activities, and essay questions regarding agriculture and cooperatives. Applications will be judged by a panel of agribusiness professionals.

High school seniors or students at any level of higher education may complete the application, which can be found at https://www.growmark.com/about-us/corporate-commitments.

Applications are due by midnight Central Time on April 15, 2021 and recipients will be notified by July 1, 2021.

The filing season for 2020 Pennsylvania personal income tax returns will begin on Friday, February 12, 2021, the Department of Revenue announced. The start of the filing season for income tax returns at the state level will mirror the same date the IRS established to begin accepting and processing 2020 federal tax returns.

The Department of Revenue is informing taxpayers that a new, state-only filing option is available at mypath.pa.gov. myPATH is a free, user-friendly system that allows taxpayers to seamlessly file the Pennsylvania Income Tax Return (PA-40) and make income tax payments, as well as offering other services.

"We're excited to offer a new online filing system that will make it easy for our customers to file their 2020 state returns for free," Revenue Secretary Dan Hassell said. "We encourage all Pennsylvania taxpayers to take advantage of this new, easy-to-use option."

The IRS announced that it would begin accepting and processing 2020 tax returns on Feb. 12. The agency announced the delay in the start of the filing season – which typically occurs in January – is necessary to perform programming and testing work on IRS systems.

The opening of the filing season for Pennsylvania income tax returns is typically tied to the date the IRS sets. That's because state and federal tax returns that are simultaneously filed through third-party tax preparation software or by a tax preparation service are first routed to the IRS' systems. The IRS then routes Pennsylvania state returns to the Department of Revenue at the opening of its tax season, allowing for the processing of state returns and refunds to begin.

Because that process won't begin this year until Feb. 12, taxpayers who wish to file their returns within the next three weeks may see a delay in the processing of their returns and refunds.

However, taxpayers interested in filing their Pennsylvania returns can do so by visiting mypath.pa.gov.

Using the electronic filing option available through mypath.pa.gov offers many benefits, including: Fast and free return/refund processing; The "Where's My Income Tax Refund?" system to track the status of a refund; Instant confirmation of a successful filing; The benefit of error-reducing automatic calculators; User-friendly options that are not available to taxpayers filing by paper; The ability to view a detailed Statement of Account for personal income tax.

Other free electronic filing options are available to file state and federal returns using software from a reputable vendor. More vendor information is available on the Department of Revenue's website.

Paid tax preparers and commercial tax preparation software providers offer electronic filing, or e-filing, for a fee. Check a list of vendors on the department's website for further information.

All taxpayers who received more than $33 in total gross taxable income in calendar year 2020 must file a Pennsylvania personal income tax return by midnight, Thursday, April 15, 2021.

Pennsylvania taxpayers who have personal income tax questions are encouraged to review the PA Personal Income Tax Guide, an online publication prepared by the Department of Revenue that includes detailed information on a number of PIT-related topics.

Personal income tax assistance is also available through the department's Online Customer Service Center and by calling 717-787-8201 between 8am and 5pm, Monday through Friday. The Online Customer Service Center contains answers to hundreds of common income tax questions and allows taxpayers to securely submit a question to the department through a process that is similar to sending an email.

The Department of Revenue's district offices are open in a limited capacity with social distancing guidelines in place. Appointments are required to receive in-person assistance. Please keep the following in mind.

• Taxpayer assistance hours are 8:30am to 5pm, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Appointments between 8:30am and 10am will be reserved for senior citizens.
  
  
• Taxpayers are required to wear a mask during appointments.
  
  
• Taxpayers should know that the Department of Revenue will be following health and safety guidelines established by the Department of Health to promote a clean office environment.
  

Taxpayers can check the status of their refunds online by selecting the Where's My Income Tax Refund? link on the department's homepage; or by calling 1-888-PATAXES. Taxpayers will be prompted to provide their Social Security number and requested refund amount to obtain the current status.

Free tax forms and instructions are available at www.revenue.pa.gov.

The Susquehanna County DOMESTIC RELATIONS Section has outstanding BENCH WARRANTS for the following individuals as of 8:09am on JANUARY 22, 2021. Antonio L. Alcantara, James L. Bradley, Lee M. Carter, Morgan A. Garcia, Gerald C. Hundley, Randy K. Manzer II, Stephanie C. Peck, Jordan M. Shelp, Kelly A. Skinner, Toby Sparks, Anthony Tanzini. Please contact the Domestic Relations Section at 570-278-4600 ext. 4050 with any information on the location of these individuals.

DEEDS as of 01-27-21

Rogers, James and Rogers, Margaret L to Gregory, Robert and Gregory, Heather for $53,000.00 in Bridgewater Township.

Kosko, Michael and Kosko, Jean to Miller, Neil for $65,000.00, one location in Susquehanna and one in Susquehanna 2W.

Hydrocarbons: Toma, Theodore S and Prebola, Deborah J to Amp IV LP and LPR Energy LLC for $1.00 in Dimock Township.

Hydrocarbons: Birchard, John and Birchard, Jennifer to Amp IV LP and LPR Energy LLC for $1.00 in Forest Lake Township.

Bedford, James and Brown, Barbara (NBM) and Bedford, Barbara J (AKA) and Bedford, Barbara to Millard, Angela and Millard, Roger for $1.00 in Lanesboro Borough.

Dougherty, Peter W and Dougherty, Carol S to Pawluck, Anthony for $180,250.00 in Clifford Township.

Dewey, Neil F and Dewey, Melanie C to Stento, O Donald and Stento, Sharon Ann for $282,000.00 in Lenox Township.

Herbert, Nancy L to Herbert Curtis D for $1.00 in New Milford Township.

Lynch, Diane E and Thatcher, Delores A (Estate AKA) and Thatcher, Delores (Estate) to Cole, Faye M for $85,500.00 in Hallstead Borough.

Lee, Robert E Jr to Robert E Lee Jr for $1.00 in New Milford Township.

Pearson, Jennifer M and Pearson, Jason to Sheehan, Thomas Patrick and Carpenter, Carissa Noelle for $181,000.00 in Clifford Township.

Thompson, Rodney J to Thompson, Rodney J for $1.00 in Liberty Township.

Carra, Dolores to Sibio, William J and Sibio, Sherry L for $3,000.00 in Herrick Township.

Frederici, Daniel to Getz, Shawna and Murphy, Robert for $69,900.00 in Thompson Borough.

Barney, Daniel to Komar, John and Komar, Beth for $60,000.00 in Clifford Township.

Int 34 Unit No 38: Pitarra, Patricia J and Pitarra, Lawrence L and Pitarra, Nickolas E to Bremer Hof Owners Inc for $100.00 in Herrick Township.

Int No 23 Unit No 24: Pitarra, Patricia J and Pitarra, Lawrence L and Pitarra, Nickolas E to Bremer Hof Owners Inc for $100.00 in Herrick Township.

Int No 330DD Unit No 37: Pitarra, Patricia J and Pitarra, Lawrence L and Pitarra, Nickolas E to Bremer Hof Owners Inc for $100.00 in Herrick Township.

Oil Gas Mineral and Hydrocarbon Deed: CP Royalties LLC to Endeavor Acquisitions LLC for $10.00, two locations in Auburn Township.

Barlow, Marylyn G to Ahearn, Robert J and Ahearn, Marilyn P for $425,000.00 in Silver Lake Township.

Daugherty, Dana L and Daugherty, Jennifer H to Pina, Aristides Juan for $190,000.00 in Herrick Township.

Kelly, John M to Hinds, Steven T and Hinds, Michele L for $40,000.00 in Montrose.

Choconut Business Associates Inc to Balwinder, Singh for $395,000.00 in Choconut Township.

Naylor, Clement W Sr to Naylor, Richard F Sr and Naylor, Gloria F for $1.00 in Hallstead Borough.

Kepic, Steven to Kepic, Steven and Watts, Melinda G for $1.00 in Silver Lake Township.

DeMaree, Nicholas B to DeMaree, John R for $1.00 n Silver Lake Township.

Laird, Bonnie M (Trust By Trustees) to Retta Cemetery Assn for 5,000.00 in Auburn Township.

Fenescey, Kevin and Fenescey, Anne M and Fenescey, Joan M to Phillips, Brian T for $9,000.00 in Great Bend Township.

Miner, John D and Miner, Margaret A to Daly, Linda L for $1.00 in Rush Township.

AMR South Montrose Properties LLC to Amato, Massimiliano and Amato, Marisa for $1.00 in Bridgewater Township.

Amato, Massimiliano and Amato, Marisa to AMR South Montrose Properties LLC for $1.00 in Bridgewater Township.

AMR South Montrose Properties LLC to AMR South Montrose Properties LLC for $1.00 in Bridgewater Township.

Booth, Terence and Booth, Marcia to Forest City Rentals LLC for $85,000.00 in Clifford Township.

Russell, Robert to Mineral Advance LLC for $13,500.00 in Little Meadows Borough.

Hughes, Jacob P and Hughes, Meghan E to Stockslager, William E and Stockslager, Rebecca for $245,000.00 in Silver Lake Township.

Dempsey, William and Dempsey, Constance and Dempsey, Robert and Dempsey, Mary Jane and Dempsey, Jean Marie and Carolan, Vince to Ednock, Michele for $155,000.00, two locations in Forest City.

Benscoter, Emery and Benscoter, Julie to Benscoter, Robert and Benscoter, Melaina for $230,000.00 in Springville Township.

Williams, Mark and Williams, Mary and Merrill, Jacob S to Beardsley, Alicia M for $142,000.00 in Montrose.

Because He Told Me No LLC to White Horse Construction Inc for $50,000.00 in Harford Township.

PennMarc Resources LP to AMP IV LP and LPR Energy LLC for $1.00 in Rush Township.

Diaz Family Trust (By Trustee) and Diaz, Maria F (Estate) to Diaz, Benedict F Sr for $492,900.00, one location in Lathrop Township and one in Springville Township.