James L. Welliver, 57, Stillwater, died February 26, 2003, at Geisinger Medical Center. Born in Bloomsburg May 17, 1945, he was a son of Harold Welliver, Pikes Creek, and the late Janice Cope Welliver. He was a 1963 graduate of the former Scott Township High School, owned and operated a vegetable farm in Stillwater and was employed by Back Mountain Bottled Gas. In addition to his father, he is survived by his wife of 16 years, the former Marion Cybulski; a brother, Theodore W. Welliver, Hobbie; a sister, Linda Hilscher, Towanda; and his maternal grandmother, Winifred Cope, Nescopeck. A memorial service will be 7 PM Saturday at the Swanson Funeral Home Inc., Pikes Creek.

Mary A. Houseweart Bardo, 87, a resident of Autumn House, York, died February 24, 2003. Born June 1, 1915, in Raven Creek, she was a daughter of the late Elmer and Cecile Houseweart. Mrs. Bardo was a member of the Raven Creek Presbyterian Church. Her husband, Maynard F. Bardo, died previously, as did a daughter, Carolyn Bloskey, and two brothers: Fred and Frank Houseweart. Mrs. Bardo is survived by a son, Richard A. Bardo, York; two daughters: Barbara Arlene Anderson, Danville; and Beverly Dutton, York; seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Private services will be held in York.

The vote on the new quarters for the Town Council will take place Monday night. If you have an opinion, it should be made to Town Council before the vote. The vote must consider all relevant costs and benefits to the community, and must be made in the best interest of the community.

We received two emails asking about the current status of the "Joe Millionaire" couple. Zora and Evan are "just friends," Fox tells us. Say it ain't so, Zo'!

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the Bush administration is preparing a request for an additional $60 billion to $95 billion to fight the war in Iraq. The magazine did an interesting examination of costs. In current dollars, as if it were fought today, the cost of the Revolutionary War would be $2 billion, the Civil War $62 billion. World War II hit $2.9 trillion. The Persian Gulf War climbed to $76 billion back in the '90s versus the $95 billion guesstimated for this war.

If you receive attachments to emails with an extension of .pps and they will not open, fear not. The files being transferred are Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. If you own Microsoft Office, they should open automatically. If you want to just read PowerPoint files (but not create PowerPoint files), you can get a free download of a reader here.

The Guv is cutting $210 million in administrative state spending as a prelude to more than $2 billion in cuts he'll propose in his state budget proposal next week. Most of the savings will come in the form of a hiring freeze. The state will not fill more than 1,500 vacant positions this year.

Seen in a Benton Argus, "President Truman has described the White House as being "the world's finest jail." On the other hand, there are lots of Republicans who would like to be sentenced there."

Quickies...
• A bolt of lightning hit a small plane carrying Florida Governor Jeb Bush from Tallahassee to Orlando Thursday night and zapped a hole in one of the plane's wings. The plane landed safely in Orlando. We don't know what it means in Florida, but up North the old-timers said that thunder in February means poor sugaring.
• The mess outside his Main Street house and continuing smoke from his outdoor furnace got Roger English in trouble. He was charged with creating a public nuisance.
• The bankruptcy of US Airways has cost the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Airport plenty. The airline owes the Avoca Airport nearly $110,000 in rental and landing fees charged before the company filed for Chapter 11 in August. The airline has offered to pay $3,750.
• If you are into seeing bones being broken, head to Wilkes-Barre this weekend for the Clear Channel Motorsports ArenaCross Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Races begin at 7:30 PM Friday and Saturday and noon on Sunday. Stunts to be preformed include riders extending their bodies off the back of the bike while grabbing their sides and other teeth-extracting tricks. Tickets for the ArenaCross are on sale at the First Union Arena box office, and through Ticketmaster outlets, including Boscovs.
• Sen. Bob Graham (Fla.), recuperating from major heart surgery, has became the ninth Democrat to join the Presidential race.
• With a 241 to 155 vote, the House voted yesterday to outlaw all forms of human cloning. The legislation would prohibit the production of cloned human embryos for medical research as well as the creation of cloned babies.
• Brother Dayne reports that Whittier Letteer hasn't minded the winter at all. Part of that may stem from the fact that he is not allowed to shovel the snow and all his family seems to be taking turns clearing the road and shoveling the walks.
• We neglected to mention that Ora Karns celebrated her 90th birthday yesterday. Ora is doing just great, and would love a note from you. She can be reached at 21 Levi Street, Bloomsburg, PA 17815.

We wish the swallows would get their butts back to San Juan Capistrano! The weather in Pennsylvania has been the same for weeks, but if you want to keep track of Pennsylvania weather, go to http://www.pennweather.com/ .

The Wilkes-Barre 911 caller said the railroad car was off on a ride by itself along South Pennsylvania Boulevard, passing through three busy intersections without mishap. A single train car made it about a mile from Butler Street through unflagged crossings on Market and East Northampton and kept right on truckin'. The Luzerne County Rail Authority now has inspectors checking all rail cars' brakes in the city. The runaway car will be returned to its Momma later this week.

Computer Tip of the Day:
Like layers of extra body fat just after the holidays, temporary internet files have a way of building. To delete temporary internet files in Internet Explorer, click on Tools, Internet options, and Advanced. Go down the page until "empty temporary internet files when browser is closed" is displayed. Add a check mark.

The Farmer's Almanac says March is going to be weather-wise like February. Drats. They also say this about storing vegetables...
• Uncut vegetables. Potatoes, beets, carrots, and other root vegetables should be brushed clean of any soil and stored in a cool, dark place. (Never refrigerate potatoes.) Clipping the tops off carrots and beets will keep them fresher longer. Onions like it cool and dry, but don't store them with apples or potatoes. Tomatoes should be stored at cool room temperature but out of direct sunlight and never refrigerate. Tropical fruits do not do well in the cold. Store bananas, citrus fruits, pineapples, melons, eggplants, cucumbers, peppers, and beans at about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Store lettuce and broccoli in the refrigerator crisper drawer.
• Cut vegetables. Most can stand overnight, immersed in water. For any longer period, cook them, then either freeze them, store them in the refrigerator for a few days, or if all else fails eat them...

The war effort is starting to hit home. Bags are packed for Taylor Remphrey and Kurt Hornstra. Taylor cannot be reached at the moment, but Kurt would love to have a "chins up" card or letter. His address is Kurt Hornstra SPC, 68th Engineer Company (CSE), APO AE 09366. If you don't have time to write, how 'bout a prayer for both of them...

We get lots of people reading the guest book on the side panel to your left (2,366 visitors since we set the system up on November 1, 2002). The problem is we have only had 53 people sign in. Well, actually, 52. Yesterday, an alert reader told us that a spammer signed in and left an advertisement. We've deleted it, of course, and there was no harm done. We would love for you to sign in...

Quickies...
• We are looking for pictures of William T. Hess, William Y. Hess, Johanne Wilhelm Hess, and Johanne Paul Hess. Can anyone help us out?
• Robert Rabb and Robbie Rabb are in Quebec riding their snowmobiles on long, cold rides. Temperatures have reached 40° below zero. Now that is cold!
• We mentioned last week that we are evaluating "Ads Gone Popup Killer." It has blocked 1,417 pop ups in two weeks on our computer and we are enthusiastic so far. The worst sites? Towanda's Daily and Sunday Review, quickly followed by The Citizens' Voice. Both of these sites are disgraces as far as pop-up ads are concerned.
• Up in Monroeton, police officer Shawn Packard could be reprimanded at Monday's Borough Council meeting after he touched off "a lot of uproar" in the community by giving out tickets to local residents.
The mayor was hopping mad. "He is not fired yet" but could be reprimanded at Monday's borough council meeting, Mayor Robert Mehalchick said. "He's on pretty thin ice," the mayor said. We wonder what the officer's new job responsibilities will include...
• Use Ctrl + W to close an active window. To completely close an active application, press Alt + F4.

Locally...
• Bloomsburg firefighters inspected the Blue Moose, Good Old Days and Hess' Tavern Saturday night and found exits "dead-bolted shut, an exit with a prybar holding it shut and an exit with a two-by-four screwed across it," according to the Press Enterprise. Bloomsburg's mayor, "Chip" Coffman, set off the inspections in the aftermath of the nightclub fire in Rhode Island and the stampede in Chicago.
• Don Garrison, 47, Orangeville, a volunteer EMT, required 63 facial stitches as well as plastic surgery after a 4-year-old male pit bull sank his teeth into the front of his face, gashing his chin, upper lip and left cheek. Garrison, freshly home after working a 24-hour shift at Berwick Area Ambulance Association, responded to the emergency call for assistance during a home birthing.
• The Columbia County Senior Band, comprised of about 115 musicians from all six county high schools, will perform "Echoes," during Friday's 7:30 PM band concert in the Millville High School auditorium in tribute to the late Rick Martin, Benton's former band director. Friday will be the first time the tribute song is played in public. Tickets are available at the door.
• Benton pulled off their second straight upset, knocking off the number 1 team in the state 52-48 in the District 4 A semifinals last night under the direction of Mike Klem. Benton will play the Muncy Indians (23-3) Saturday at 2 PM at Danville in the District 4 championship. The Indians, who have won 16 consecutive games, defeated Benton twice during the regular season, including 71-57 late last month. Get out and support your team!

Quote of the Day, Benton's side of the story:
"Muncy's the next dragon we have to slay."
--Mike Klem, Benton basketball coach.

Quote of the Day, Muncy's side of the story:
"Benton is a great team. They have improved a lot since the last time we played them. We beat them twice, so we know we can at least stay with them."
--Adam Leonard, Muncy basketball coach.

February 26, 2003. Ten years ago on this date in 1993, a bomb built by a group of Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others. Singer Fats Domino may find his thrill today at 75.

Here are some numbers for you while you balance your checkbook today. According to the Pentagon, the war and six months of occupation could cost upwards of $85 billion, not counting the carloads of cash needed for Turkey. USA Today reminds us that many states deal with their exploding deficits by borrowing record amounts of cash, rather than either cutting services or hiking taxes. Last year, state and local governments borrowed nearly 10% of their total revenue.

We are looking for names of covered bridges in Columbia County--the names of the ones no longer used as bridges. For example, does anyone know the name of the former covered bridge spanning Fishing Creek via Market Street, Benton? Can anyone help?

What a difference 102 years makes... We were reading the Benton Argus from this week in 1900, and found some interesting items, including:
. The yearly subscription for the paper cost $1; Dr. J. D. Weaver was the "Prop'r" of the Benton Drug Store; Lydia E. Pinkhams' Vegetable Compound fixed "backache and womb troubles."
. Residents of the town of Central were excited about the chair factory "about to start up," expecting it to employ "a number of hands."
. A letter to the editor came from Kansas City, written home with obvious tongue in cheek, stated: "Most of the streets are paved, the grains of corn being used for cobblestones, while the cobs are hollowed out and used for sewer pipe. The husks when taken off whole and stood on end make a nice tent for the children to play in. It sounds queer to hear the feed man tell the driver to take a dozen grains of horse feed over to Jackson's livery stable. If it were not for soft, deep soil here, I don't see how they ever would harvest the corn, as the stalks would grow up in the air as high as a Methodist church steeple. However, when the ears get too heavy their weight presses the stalk down to the ground on an average of ninety-two feet; this brings the ear near enough to the ground to be chopped off with an ax."
. An advertisement for Geo. B. Crossley, Centre Street, read "General Smithing of all kinds, at short notice and in the best manner. Horse shoeing given particular attention and made a specialty. A share of the public patronage is solicited."
. And if you could believe the headline advertisement, "SALT RHEUM CURED BY Johnston's Sarsaparilla in QUART BOTTLES," there was little reason to read the "fine print."

Lou Barletta is actively seeking re-election as Hazleton's Mayor. Barletta's past ambitions took him to the state and national level. He was mentioned for lieutenant governor and unsuccessfully ran for the seat representing the 11th Congressional District.

Down in Bloomsburg, you could catch to train and be off to see the world in 1891. The Philadelphia & Reading Railroad advertised that they burn hard coal and there "is no smoke." The July 1, 1891, schedule for trains leaving Bloomsburg for New York, Philadelphia, Pottsville, Tamaqua, was weekdays 11:45 AM. For Williamsport, weekday's, 7:35 AM. For Danville and Milton, weekdays, 7:35 AM, 3:20, PM. For Catawissa, weekdays, 7:36, 11:45 AM; 12:21, 5:00, 6:11 PM.

We betcha Keith Martin, former newscaster with WBRE-28 and honorary brigadier general, wishes he was back in Wilkes-Barre. The new homeland security director violated military regulations in his $110,000-a-year state position by wearing general's stars at a press conference two weeks ago. When Col. Martin retired from the Pennsylvania National Guard in August he was promoted to the honorary rank of brigadier general but was "strictly prohibited" from wearing the insignia and signed a statement of understanding to that effect. The Guv stepped up to the plate, announced that he asked Martin to wear the general's "stars in a box," and called the whole thing a "technical foul."

Writing a daily news article has its benefits...
. Laura Christian, who works at the Thomas Beaver Free Library in Danville reminded me that libraries around the world welcome people to use their computers to access the Internet, sometimes free, sometimes for fee.
. Helen DiBonaventura, Northumberland, reminisced about Millville's barber for 73 years, Glen Porter Black. Ed Cole remembers Porter the Barber coming to Benton for hair cuts. Helen recalled the spittoons, and kerosene lamps and the cast iron stove with hot-water tank and the four foot by 15 foot barber's mirror removed from the barber shop and now hanging in her home. The shop was in the building that was torn down in order to build Millville's barber shop.
. Don Miller lamented from Oklahoma about their old fashioned winter; i.e., 8 inches of snow Sunday, many roads closed, 20 vehicle pile up on I-44, 11 degrees this morning, more snow possible on Thursday and Friday. Sounds just like the winter we are having Back Home in Benton, PA.
. Bob Thomas refreshed our memory of the abbreviation, "lb." The ancient Romans' unit of measurement the libra became known in English as the pound. However, we kept the Latin for the abbreviation, "lb." Bob was on a roll and told us about "Ounces" from the Latin word uncia. This means one twelfth, as in one twelfth of a pound. The word "inch," one twelfth of a foot, also comes from this Latin word. The word evolved into the Italian word onza, which is where the abbreviation "oz." comes from.
. A reader threw up her hands and asked where to start on this web page. Well, I tell people to start at the top of the page under HISTORY and follow the hyperlinks.

Quickies...
. Berwick police are adding a full-time narcotics officer, thanks to a recent grant allowed the department to hire a patrol officer. The officer will conduct surveillance and photography, and will coordinate with state and federal drug agencies.
. U. S. Senator Arlen Specter is heading toward next year's Senate re-election year with a campaign warchest of about $6-million and the unqualified support of the White House.

Sarah Knorr, 80, Hanks Hollow Road, Benton, died February 24, 2003, at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. Born in Berwick February 17, 1923, she was a daughter of the late John and Amanda Gower Thrash. Her husband, Herbert Knorr, and two sisters: Cory Evans and Mary Thrash, and three brothers: James and Fred Thrash and Elmer Kingston, died previously. Mrs. Knorr is survived by daughters Carol Knorr, Benton; Joyce Hines, Wilkes-Barre; and Nancy Creasing, Muncy; three sons: Clayton and Thomas, Benton; and Arthur, New York; seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be 10 AM Thursday at the Clarke Piatt Funeral Home Inc., Hunlock Creek. Burial will be in Bethel Hill Cemetery, Fairmount Township.

Planning a trip and hate to be away from your computer? Go to http://www.cybercafes.com/ for a database of more than 4,000 internet cafes in 140 countries. The site gives a name, address, phone, email address, home page, hours of operation, prices and a brief description of where you can access the internet.

Kelly Yost collects bottle caps, and needs Ale 8 soda caps from the state of Kentucky. The soda is sold in Wal-Marts. Email Kelly.

Many local people were involved with the local railroad. Frank Klase retired from the Reading Railroad Company after 57 years of service. Frank came to Stillwater when in his teens as a telegrapher for the B & S Railroad Co. in 1889 and he stayed there for sometime until he was sent to Jamison City as Station Agent. From there he was sent to Bloomsburg where he worked in the B & S office for three years. On April 1, 1900, he accepted the position as agent in Benton and was with the B & S until it was purchased by the Reading Company in 1929. He remained with the Reading Company until October 1945 when he retired on account of illness.

Thomas J. Buck, a 1997 graduate of Benton High School, graduated from Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX, recently. Thomas was Element Leader and graduated from the Honor Flight. He is the son of John and Linda Brooke, Benton, and is the grandson of Merton and Geraldine Laubach, Vanderwagon, NM. Thomas is presently stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, studying to become a Surgical Technician. Thomas is engaged to Susan Mattern of the Selinsgrove area and an August wedding is planned. Congratulations to both.

Term of the Day: No rhyme or reason.
Something that is not sensible, as in "There's no rhyme or reason for this." One possible explanation for the saying goes back to Sir. Thomas Moore who was asked for advice on a book. Moore told the author to turn it into rhyme. The author did so and brought it back. After Sir. Thomas read the poem, he blurted out, "Tis rhyme now, but before it was neither rhyme nor reason."

The Benton Volunteer Fire Company is proudly planning for the July timeframe when the current construction of the new fire station is complete. The project is coming together nicely and everyone associated with the construction is thrilled with the progress. Benton will be very happy to have a social hall available that can easily seat 200, and the 16' x 30' kitchen should be quite adequate for serving meals. The upstairs training room should easily seat 50. We'll keep you posted as we get closer to the planned late June completion. The volunteers plan a parade of celebration and an open house, ending at the new fire station, probably in July. In the meantime, the volunteers could use some help with commercial kitchen items. They also need high chairs. If you have something that you feel they might have a use for, contact the fire company.

Town Names: Register.
Only the United States Post Office can understand why they chose this name. The local residents suggested Pine Creek and Westover, but the odd name of Register was liked by the authorities.

Agriculture Secretary Designee Dennis C. Wolff, Millville, announced that the State Agricultural Land Preservation Board voted to commit $40 million to Pennsylvania's farmland preservation program. With the preservation of 36 farms totaling 3,683 acres at the February meeting, the total number of farms preserved since the inception of the farmland preservation program in 1989 is 2,109 farms and 249,840 acres. Created in 1989, the Pennsylvania Agricultural Land Preservation Board oversees the state Farmland Preservation Program, which allows the state and counties to purchase develop rights, or easements, on farmland. The program compensates landowners for the development value of their land while permanently protecting the land for agriculture.

Sir and ma'am and thanks and please,
Have your children heard of these?
Their cost is nil,
But their usage will
Set their elders' minds at ease.

Quickies...
• The Bloomsburg building housing the old Housenick Ford dealership (the present Husky Korners) and two adjacent houses are one step closer to demolition this morning, thanks to approval of a draft of a proposed contract that set out terms for the replacement of the structures.
• The Inn at Buckhorn is gone, soon to be a new, as yet unnamed, restaurant.
• A commonwealth is a "form of administration signifying government by the common consent of the people." It has similar meaning to the word state and in the 17th century came to refer to an organized political community. Besides Pennsylvania, other commonwealths in the United States include Massachusetts, Virginia, and Kentucky.
• The 44th West Branch Builders Home Show runs Thursday through Sunday at the YMCA Pickelner Arena, Williamsport.
• Continental Connection, a partner with Continental Airlines, might soon be operating out of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport. Among other airports, the airlines serves Daytona Beach International Airport and Tampa International Airport.
• The Pennsylvania Fish Commission: "All recreationally caught sport fish in Pennsylvania are subject to a one-meal-per-week consumption advisory."

Theron S. "Ted" Wenner Sr., 83, 1720 36th St., a resident of Pennsauken, NJ for 46 years, died February 21, 2003, at the Lakewood of Voorhees nursing facility, Voorhees, NJ, where he had been admitted the day before. Seriously ill for three weeks, Mr. Wenner had lived in Pennsauken for 46 years. Born August 10, 1919, in Bendertown, he was a son of the late Ralph R. and Pearl M. Search Wenner. A 1937 graduate of Benton High School, Mr. Wenner served in the Army during World War II. Following his discharge, he was employed by Campbell's Soup Co., Camden, NJ, retiring as a supervisor in 1982 after 37 1/2 years with the company. Mr. Wenner was a member of Bethel United Methodist Church, Camden. He also belonged to the Trimble Lodge No. 117 F&AM, Camden; Excelsior Consistory, Collingswood, N.J.; the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Camden; and the High Twelve Club, Mount Ephraim, NJ. Theron Wenner married F. Wilene McHenry, daughter of T. Carl and Inez Buckalew McHenry in 1955 in the Benton Christian Church, then built a home and moved to Camden, NJ. She died May 24, 1992. Wilene's father, T. Carl McHenry, died at the age of 75 on November 4, 1963, at the home of his son-in-law and daughter in Camden. Theron's brother, Carlton H. Wenner, died Sept. 18, 1990. The last member of his immediate family, Mr. Wenner is survived by his wife, the former Maria Patterson; a son, Theron S. "Terry" Wenner Jr. and his wife Frances, Owego, NY; and two grandchildren, Preston and Lorrie Wenner. Also survived by his sister-in-law Mary Jane Wenner and nephew David Wenner, both of Benton. Relatives and friends are invited to the viewing on Tuesday from 12:00-1:00 PM at the BRADLEY FUNERAL HOME, Rt. 73 & Evesham Rd., Marlton, NJ. Funeral Service will be 1:00pm at the funeral home in Marlton. Funeral services in Benton will be at 11 AM Thursday in the Dean W. Kriner Inc. Funeral Home, Benton, with the Rev. Vernon W. McDormand, retired Christian Church pastor, officiating. Burial will take place in Benton Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Ted's name to: American Cancer Society, 1851 Old Cuthbert Rd., Cherry Hill, NJ 08034.

Quote of the Day:
"Can they hurry up with Iraq already, so they can get on with attacking us?"
--A 23-year-old Iranian student quoted from a story inside the Los Angles Times Sunday. The article said "that most Iranians are 'eager' for Saddam Hussein to be ousted from power." The paper suggests that when Iraq papers suggest Washington's resolve may be wavering, anxiety sets in.

Web page developers sometime disable their browser's back button in order not to let you off their site. Commercial sites are notorious for doing this. If you get in this situation, right click on the back button and the pages that you have visited will be displayed. Click anything on that list and you'll be back to a working page.

Forty-four men from the strongly Democratic area of Benton were rounded up and thrown in a dungeon for opposing the Civil War in 1864, George Turner, president of the Columbia County Historical and Genealogical Society, told an enthusiastic audience at Bloomsburg University yesterday. The men were snatched from their homes, marched 18 miles to Bloomsburg and imprisoned in Fort Mifflin for six weeks, without being charged with a crime. One man died in a dungeon; another went insane. Prof. Turner's must-read account of the Fishingcreek Confederacy is an important reading. Take the time today to read the story again, and read the account of yesterday's lecture in the Press Enterprise.

Term of the Day: Willy-nilly The term originally was used when something needed to be done whether the person was willing or not, probably a version of an older phrase "will I, nill I" or "will ye, nill ye." The "will" means "wanting" to do something and is used in the same sense as making a "will" leaving your assets to someone you want to inherit them. "Nill," now obsolete, was the opposite of "will," as in not wanting to do something. The phrase has evolved to where it indicates an unsure, indecisive person, not knowing whether to do something, often used in the sense of embarking on some project in a haphazardly disorganized way. The term is frequently applied to the layering of papers on my desk.

A 6.8 earthquake hit western China this morning, killing at least 95 people.

Arcadia Word of the Day: "Bee-have."
BEE-HAVE (verb). To conduct yourself in a certain way.
Usage: "Y'all bee-have or I'll take you to Arcadia, too!"

A year ago at this time I was escaping Arcadia, Florida, a town whose language I so admire and frequently quote, and was limping toward Bonita Springs, Florida, for an stay in their hospital fighting appendicitis.

February 23, 2003. There are 26 days until spring. Today is the wedding anniversary of Dick and Janet Kriebel. Bill Bailey can order from the senior menu now that he is 55 today.

We may have some small-stream, street and basement flooding from the weekend storm, but surprisingly as darkness set in last night Fishing Creek was not rising noticeably. Most of the state remains under a flood watch and we are now under a high wind advisory until 4 PM Sunday. Over in Luzerne County, the river is expected to crest at 14½ feet Monday morning, well below the flood stage of 22 feet. The soft ground will bring new problems today as wind speeds reaching 40 to 45 miles per hour are expected to down power lines and trees.

We might not be so upset about the high cost of fuel oil and gasoline if top levels of government acknowledged the oil-price crisis. And there isn't much being written about the issue in national media outlets. We are poised on the brink of open warfare with Iraq, one of the largest holders of petroleum reserves. OPEC member Venezuela is in a turmoil because of a strike by oil workers that paralyzed that nation's industry. There are strikes in Nigeria's oil industry. We hear about soldiers doing their part by going to the middle East in preparation for war, but those of us back home are doing our part by paying high fuel prices as part of what is partially at least a poorly disguised natural-resource grab. And there doesn't seem to be anything we can do about it!

Berwick's Jeremy Griffith, a two-time district champion, lost 2-1 to unbeaten defending regional champion Joe Kemmerer of Crestwood in the 112-pound wrestling final at the District 2 Class AAA championship. Kemmerer earned Outstanding Wrestler honors for his victory. Berwick won the championship. Berwick's Nick Yalch became the 14th wrestler in the 67-year history of the District 2 Wrestling Tournament to win four gold medals. Berwick sent six wrestlers to the finals and received four gold medals.

Formatting documents in Microsoft Word can be a problem when you copy the document from the Internet. When you paste into a Word document, select Edit. Then rather than selecting Paste, use Paste Special. Click Unformatted Text and OK. You can get rid of this formatting in an existing Word document, too. From Word's Format menu select Styles and Formatting and then, Clear Formatting.

Quickies...
• The Press Enterprise reports, as we reported here earlier, satellite DIRECTV subscribers in the area will get the local CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX affiliates by May or June, for an extra charge of $6 per month.
• Read the editorial in today's Philadelphia Inquirer. It is about arrogance and aversion to diplomatic solutions, it is about America sharing the heat of the conflict and the burden of the aftermath of war.

Prayers are needed today for Theron Wenner, a member of the Benton High School Class of 1937.

Berwick landed eight wrestlers in the semifinals of the District 2 Class 3A Wrestling Championships at Hazleton Area High School. Semifinals begin this morning at 11, with the finals slated for around 6:30 PM tonight. Jeremy Griffith (112), advanced to the semifinals. Jeremy is the grandson of Terry Griffith, Wilmington, DE, and Sally Diltz, Benton. Griffith meets unbeaten Joe Kemmerer of Crestwood in the final. Griffith has two district titles and Kemmerer has one. Results tomorrow.

From the history books...
• The application to have Benton incorporated as a borough was approved by the grand jury in 1894 and the town began. On April 2, 1894, the following officials were elected: Burgess, A. L. McHenry; councilmen, C. B. McHenry, R. T. Smith, C. A. Wesley, Alfred McHenry, B. G. Keller, W. M. Appleman.
• The Benton Borough Council in 1914 was composed of C. E. Yorks, Burgess; G. D. Yost, W. S. Laubach, R. T. Smith, councilmen.
• After incorporation of the town, sidewalk and street improvements were made, and contracts were let for light and water supply. In 1914, records indicate that the town had electricity by a company of which Charles Bellas was president and manager; C. B. Whitmire, vice president; G. L. Hess, secretary and treasurer. A concrete dam, 280 feet long, was in operation at the site of the old Swartwout mill, and the powerhouse contained a 75-kilowatt generator, operated by a l00-horsepower turbine.
• The population of Benton township in 1860 was 893; in 1870, 1,050; in 1880, 1,062; in 1890, 1,252; in 1900, 857; in 1910, 769. The population of Benton borough in 1900 was 635, and in 1910 it was 719.
--Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, J. H. Beers & Co., 1915.

A truck carrying a 33,000 pound load of food-grade thickening powder from the Merck Cherokee pharmaceutical plant in Riverside apparently went through a properly functioning railroad signal at a crossing near Danville and smacked into a northbound locomotive. The train dragged the truck for more than 200 yards, took out a few cars parked beside the tracks, ruined some signals, and spread powdered xanthan gum in the deep snow along the tracks. Injuries were minor to humans. A photographer who had been taking pictures of the train had set his camera up at the adjacent crossing and didn't get a single "action" shot of the episode.

Quickies...
• Pennsylvania motorists now must have their vehicle headlights on when they drive into a work zone or face a $25 fine. And as of yesterday, booster seats are required for children ages 4 through 7. Children ages 8 through 17 must wear seat belts.
• Advertisements will start running next month on the opening screen of AOL, but will not promote liquor or cigarettes.
• The Northeastern Pennsylvania Home Show is ongoing at the First Union Arena in Wilkes-Barre Township.
• The Guv says he plans to present a budget proposal to the Legislature that requires no tax increase or income from slot-machine gambling, but he offered few specifics about the spending plan he will present March 4. He hinted at "cuts that are very painful" in nearly every department of state government.
• Columbia Counties and all counties around it are on a flood watch for today. The rain was light at press time, but temperatures did stay above freezing all night.
• It has been a strange winter: cold, snow and ice storms have battered us Back Home in Benton, PA, while parts of the West racked up record or near-record winter warmth.

It's Grammy time once again Sunday night and many people try to figure out who will win the little gold record players. I simply try to figure out who the groups are and what in the world the words are they are singing! The 45th Grammy Award ceremony from New York City's Madison Square Garden can be seen from 8 to 11:30 PM on your local CBS affiliate.

Several readers didn't see a problem with dumping snow over the side of the bridge into Fishing Creek. One reader pointed out that in Philadelphia 400,000 pounds of snow--including road salt, antifreeze, oil, gasoline, brake fluid and trash--got dumped into the Schuylkill River. These readers didn't change my mind one bit...

And dumping snow overboard isn't the only thing we don't like! We don't like North Korea one little bit! North Korea sent a MiG-19 fighter jet for a two-minute romp into South Korean airspace above the Yellow Sea, and was rebuffed by South Korean jets. North Korean naval vessels have in the past penetrated the Yellow Sea in tests of will with the South, but this is the first in recent memory for a jet. The jet incident came just days after the North threatened to pull out of the armistice that has governed the two Koreas for 50 years, another in an escalating set of provocations designed to test the patience of US and South Korean forces.

From the Benton Area Schools...
• Graduation day for the Benton Area Schools has not been changed at this time.
• March 21 is now a regular school day, not a staff development day.
The staff development day has been changed to Monday, June 9.
• Easter Vacation is now Friday, Saturday & Sunday only.

February 21, 2003. The Washington Monument was dedicated on this date in 1885. We wish Darla from DR's Quick Mart a speedy recovery.

Jim Edson and Patti Boyle made their trip to Florida with no problem. The many people who wondered if they missed the storm can sleep better now. They drove South of Richmond the first night, missing the snow but getting in the middle of sleet and rain. Their car trunk was frozen shut in the morning, firming up their resolve to head for warmer climate. Early morning travel was at "30 MPH in a 70 MPH zone," but they still logged 510 miles the second day. Jim found a cardiologist in the area with credentials they respect, and they expect to stay there until at least March 15.

Wilkes-Barre General Hospital nurses returned to their jobs Wednesday after being away from work for 21 days. The registered nurses approved a three-year contract free of mandatory overtime, providing for average wage increases of about 16% over three years and capping the cost of health insurance.

Term of the Day: Vikings.
The Vikings were venturesome seafarers from Denmark, Norway and Sweden. They vigorously spread through Europe and the North Atlantic in the period of Scandinavian expansion (AD 800-1050) known as the Viking Age. The Vikings were raiders, traders, explorers and settlers. Behind them they left a legacy of archaeological remains, as well as family and place names. Evidence of them can be found in local dialects and customs, in folk tales and oral traditions, and in the genetic make up of the local people themselves. The Viking ship was their instrument of movement. With its flexible hull, its keel and sail, it was far superior to ships and boats used by other people at the time. The Vikings were originally pagan worshipers, but many became Christians, and during the 10th century they brought Christianity back to Scandinavia.

One famous Viking explorer returned home from a voyage and found his name missing from the town register. His wife complained to the local civic official who apologized profusely saying, "I must have taken Leif off my census."

The name "Funk" is common in this area and when we see it outside the area we listen up. Fred Funk is the first-round leader of the Nissan Open in Pacific Palisades, CA. No relation.

Sometimes I only open my mouth to change feet and sometimes when I type I am all thumbs. Readers aplenty reminded me that yesterday I meant Philip Fritz, not Shultz. A reader also asked for more information about Philip Fritz and Prof. Americas S. Fritz (d. 1936). Anyone have more information they can share?

Can you remember back to March 1, 1963? On that night at 10:15 PM, the roof of the Benton Athletic Park grandstand collapsed, crushed by the weight of a heavy snow that Friday night. The resultant crash was heard throughout the northern end of the community. Benton A. A. officials who entered the dressing rooms underneath to salvage equipment that would be ruined by the melting snow found snow on the infield to be better than twenty inches deep in most areas and knee-deep everywhere else.

We watched PennDoT crews shoveling snow from the route 487 bridge into Fishing Creek yesterday, a last resort action no doubt. We wonder how many other bridges and streets in the state had their snow disposed of this way. We did a little research and found that Pennsylvania and West Virginia have no rules that prohibit dumping snow into rivers and streams. Other states do have strict rules against it, including Maryland and Massachusetts. The salt cannot be good for the health of the streams.

We are on a constant tirade about spam. We handle spam this way: from the inbox, highlight all offending emails before you open them, depress the Ctrl key, lower left corner of the keyboard, and then right-click your mouse hitting the DELETE key. Spam is up fivefold over the past 18 months we read, leaving the electronic mailboxes of Internet users jammed with billions of unwanted commercial emails. AOL says they block 780 million pieces of junk email daily, or 100 million more emails than it delivers. Spam-blocking technology isn't getting the job done, and the federal government must step in.

Quickies...
• Make sure you read the sports section of the Press Enterprise and the article about Benton's Tim Newhart, who is wrestling tonight at the District 4 Class AA Tournament.
• Cold temperatures last night should postpone flooding this weekend.
We are expecting a light rain tonight, especially in the southern part of the state, with temperatures from the 30s to near 40°.
• The road along the Susquehanna River on route 147 near Millersburg is open after closing for three days, the victim of tons of loose, powdery snow that cascaded down from the hills running alongside more than a mile of the road. The main connection between Millersburg and Paxton, Dalmatia and Herndon were closed.
• What in the world is the problem with nightclubs? Another one became a death trap last night in Rhode Island. A rock concert's pyrotechnics display is blamed for causing at least 10 deaths and 100 injuries.
• We added more than two dozen pictures to the web page yesterday. A reader asked what articles will be added in the near future. We are preparing articles on Obie Savage's barn, roads and bridges in and out of Benton, and the upcoming Presbyterian Church celebration. We have been stymied for months with a picture that Ruth Brewington Sutliff gave us back in the fall and asked us to identify. We think we finally have enough information to write about the "Stag Roister D'Oister," a pre-World War I male social event unique to Benton. Contributions of material on any subject are always encouraged and welcome. Have a wonderful weekend!

In 1800, not Los Angeles, not New York, but Philadelphia was our largest city, a distinction it held until 1830. The top five were Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Boston, and Charleston, SC. And we'll buy anyone a coffee who can guess without cheating the sixth and seventh largest cities of the United States in 1800. And we'll even throw in a clue: both cities were in Pennsylvania. Answer at end.

The Benton Town Council will make a decision on the future home of the Borough Council at the March council meeting. The decision is difficult, but the decision needs to be made. The various factions need to converge on a single choice and all considerations should be carefully evaluated before the decision is made. Taxpayers who have input should make their opinions and thoughts known now and if they don't speak up now should support whatever decision is made on their behalf.

May 25, 2003, is planned for The Benton United Presbyterian Church's 100th Anniversary. The Church plans a bagpiper, joint community worship services, Barber Shop Quartet, dinner and a float in the parade. The program will also feature an historic play written by Carol Vance and staring Church members and prominent Community persons! The community is invited to the dinner. More details later. A tent is reserved for a rain or shine event.

In 1911, following the Benton Fire of July 4, 1910, the total real estate valuation of the town of Benton was $145,245. In the Borough, there were 80 horses and 33 cows according to an unnamed source who apparently had a lot of time on his hands to collect this kind of information. And while we're on this subject, a month or so ago we said there was one barn in the Borough. There are actually two.

From the pages of our history...
• John Denmark taught the first school in Jackson township in 1820-1821. The building stood near where a "Union" church stood.
• Philip Fritz taught the first school in Sugarloaf. He had a classical education and teaching in a small, crude hut he taught his students Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Prof. Fritz taught on the site now occupied by St. Gabriel's Church. Later, classes were taught in a larger building built on land formerly owned by Andrew Hess. Joseph Massey taught for several years in this location.
• When Benton Borough was incorporated in 1894, the school house was on Market Street on the lot east of the former location of the Ross Harrison IGA store. Mr. and Mrs. Bob Puterbach now live at that location. The school was a one-room school housing eight grades. John O. Appleman and Ben McHenry were graduates of this school. Soon after the forming of the Borough, a school started in the Rohr McHenry building, on the third floor. Two pot-bellied stoves kept the kids warm.

Quickies...
• Jane Pauley, the co-anchor of "Dateline NBC" and previously the longtime anchor of the "Today" show, said that she would leave NBC.
• The Mill Street Dollar General will have the ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday morning at 8:30 AM. Mayor Jan Swan will officially open the store at that time. The store, as a sign that spring is coming soon, will hand out free fly swatters to customers. They will have eight sales persons on duty for the day.
• We hope it isn't "d`ej`a vu all over again!" On January 17, 1996, the Press Enterprise ran an article quoting officials and forecasters assuring residents that a flood was unlikely. Two days later, firefighters were rescuing inundated residents with backhoes and rowboats. The forecast? A storm is expected to hit the East Coast Friday, with rain and snow through the weekend.
• Applications are being taken for music teacher to replace Rick Martin at the Benton Area Schools. Those are big shoes to fill.
• March 31 will be a regular school day. The in-service day is changed to June 9.
• Blue Cross has altered its policies to specifically exclude acts of bioterrorism and chemical warfare.
• The sixth largest American town in 1800 was Northern Liberties, now part of Philadelphia. And seventh was Southwark, now also part of the present Philadelphia. Step up for your free coffee...

Sunday and Monday's snow equates to about four inches of water. Temperatures will climb to near 40° as we get closer to the weekend, and the prediction for Saturday is for a deluge of rain. Our current temperature is 30°. We hate to be a downer this morning, but if flooding is a potential problem for you, take precautions now. Gutters will be a problem area. Small streams are generally open locally, but the Susquehanna is still frozen south toward Harrisburg and ponding water is well frozen. Knuf said...

We have updated the photo of the week, on the side panel (the Main Street boyhood home of Dr. Frank C. Laubach). We have included under FEATURES, "When Winter Sets In, Back Home in Benton, PA" an article on snowmobiles, including some pictures of very early snowmobiles. We have included a picture of three Model T Fords and a Watrous from about 1908, driven by Orvie Long, Todd Butt, Boyd McHenry, Sam Lemons and John G. McHenry, Jr. It is under FEATURES, with the Rohr McHenry article.

How does the National Weather Service measure snowfall? The old-fashioned way--with a ruler. The official measurement for Washington, DC, is made at the weather station at Reagan National Airport. A new measurement is made every six hours simply sticking a ruler into the snow. That is the way they've done it since 1941, and the Weather Service sees no reason to change.

A reader asked about the derivation of the name Punxsutawney, as in Punxsutawney Phil. The town in Jefferson County came about from the gnats, or "punkies," that annoyed the early settlers. The name is found in the journal of the Reverend John Ettwein, a Moravian missionary. In 1772 Ettwein transplanted a "colony of 241 peaceful and christianized Delaware Indians" from Wyalusing, where the "land had been sold from under their feet" by the Iroquois, to the region of "the Big Beaver River (a river south of Lake Erie)." His journal of July 19, 1772, contains the following entry: "In the evening all joined me, but we could hold no service because the ponkies were so excessively annoying that the cattle pressed into the camp to escape their persecutors in the smoke of the fire. These vermin are a plague to man and beast by day and night. In the swamp through which we are now passing their name is legion. Hence the Indians call it ponsetunik, 'the town of the ponkies.' The word is equivalent to living dust and ashes, the vermin being so small as not to be seen, and their bite being as hot as sparks of fire or hot ashes. The brethren here related an Indian myth, that a hermit and sorcerer, who had long been a terror to all Indians, had been killed by one who burned his bones, but the ashes he blew into the swamp, where they became living things, and hence the •ponkies." The Moravians called the place Ash-town, and sometimes the early settlers spoke of it as Gnat-town. The word punky has found its way into the English language as a species of minute, annoying gnats. Punxsutawney is 173 miles from Benton via I-80 to Dubois, then south on routes 255, 219 and 119.

Quickies...
• The old-fashioned winter has used up snow-removal budgets and might not leave much money to repair roads in the spring. At the state level, both Pennsylvania and New Jersey had plowed through their entire snow-removal budgets before the weekend storm dumped an excessive amount of snow. The snow has dug our budgets into a deep hole, we fear. The arithmetic is sobering. There is no good time for a megastorm, but this one couldn't have come at a worse moment. States are struggling with the worst budget deficits in a half century and the economy is fragile. Lost sales from a three-day weekend won't help the rebound...
• It has been surprising to this writer the number of men who said they watched Joe Millionaire the other night even though we recognize we were all pulling for Zora, the former Benton high school student. Nationally, forgetting about the first or rehash hour, the actual final hour of the reality series show was seen by an estimated 40 million viewers: Marriott picking Zora and dumping Sarah, Sarah in shock, Zora giving Marriott the thumbs-up, Marriott slipping the ring on her right hand and not her left one.
• A new study reveals that one out of every six copies of any opt-in newsletter like this one are not reaching their subscribers if the subscriber is using NetZero, Yahoo, AOL, CompuServe, and AT&T.
• Encourage all your friends and relatives to use antivirus software.

My forgetter's getting better,
But my rememberer is broke
To you that may seem funny
But, to me, that is no joke

For when I'm "here" I'm wondering If
I really should be "there"
And, when I try to think it through,
I haven't got a prayer!

At times I put something away
Where it is safe, but, Gee!
The person it is safest from
Is, generally, me!

When shopping I may see someone,
Say "Hi" and have a chat,
Then, when the person walks away
I ask myself, "who was that?"

Yes, my forgetter's getting better
While my rememberer is broke,
And it's driving me plumb crazy
And that isn't any joke.

And speaking of Betty Ruckle, those who gathered yesterday for the North Mountain Historical Society's meeting at the Brass Pelican restaurant were honored to sing Happy Birthday to both Betty Ruckle and to Howard Leh. Early arrivals were privileged to make a trail for the snowplows that were arriving as the meeting concluded. Because of the inclement weather, the guest speaker, Charles Chapman, was moved to the July meeting and the attendees instead spent their time telling stories and eating buckwheat cakes in preparation for the April 21 "story-tellers" meeting.

We could go on and on about yesterday's snow, but we'll just say it snowed and we shoveled. And the winter white kept the green from the stores. About 12" fell in Benton, 11" in Berwick, 16" in Bloomsburg, 17" in Catawissa, 16" in Danville. It was listed as the area's fifth-heaviest snowfall over the past 50 years but did not beat out the 24-inch snow January 12, 1964. The storm did not qualify as a "blizzard," because wind speeds did not exceed 30 mph and visibility exceeded a quarter of a mile. The old-timers always said, "No weather is ill, if the wind be still." To balance things, we should point out that on this date in 1981, New England experienced extremely high temperatures, with Boston at 66 and Providence at 72. Locally, we can expect a thaw later this week, and we hope that it isn't the melt of the millennium!

Zora Andrich, 29, said that she had $189 in her checking account before last night's show on the Fox Network's "Joe Millionaire." That all changed as Evan Marriott picked her to go on their "journey" together. The former Benton high school student and her $19,000 construction worker friend then got a surprise check made out simply to "Zora and Evan" for one million dollars.

Zora was one of 20 women who traveled to France for a whirlwind romance with a man whom they thought was a dashing millionaire. In the seven-episode, unscripted drama, the truth didn't come out until the last episode which actually was taped last Thanksgiving. The outcome was revealed at the French estate that has served as the series' home base through its seven-week run. Paul Hogan, the show's resident butler, stepped up with the million-dollar check, declaring "all good fairy tales must have a bit of magic."

Zora and runner-up Sarah found out the truth last night: that Marriott wasn't the fabulously wealthy heir he had pretended to be while choosing from among 20 lovely rivals for his affection on the hit Fox series. Reports surfaced that Sarah had starred in movies such as "Novices in Knots" and "Hogtied," and a foot-fetish film "Dirty Soled Dolls." None of these films are planned for the local NBC affiliate. The 28-year-old Marriott worked in California in construction, and photos of him emerged on the Internet posing in skimpy underwear for a catalog.

Monday's much-awaited episode ended what seemed like four commercials every seven minutes in the series finale of the Bachelor-like mating game.

Arcadia Word of the Day: Rice.
RICE (noun). A contest of speed.
Usage: "Y'all jist gettin' back from Daytona from seein' the rice?"

Exelon and British Energy of Edinburgh, Scotland, own the Three Mile Island plant on the Susquehanna River near Middletown in a joint venture called AmerGen. British Energy is debt-laden and must liquidate its North American nuclear holdings by June 30, but no buyers have been found in the past five months. On the market along with TMI are AmerGen plants in Oyster Creek, NJ, and Clinton, IL. AmerGen bought TMI from GPU Nuclear in 1999 for $100 million.

Quickies...
• Max Hartman, currently holed up near Webster, FL, will have the cast removed from his arm February 28.
• Lee and Carolyn Remley leave Alabama this morning and intend to drive to Bristol or Roanoke tonight, then to Benton tomorrow. Carolyn says they have watched the weather channel so much "I feel like the news anchors are family."
• After performing at Epcot Center, Danville's 135 band members and their 20 chaperones stayed an extra night in their Orlando hotel since they could not get relief bus drivers south. There were no complaints.
• Towanda incorporated as a Borough March 5, 1828, and will celebrate their 175th birthday all year.
• Wilkes-Barre General Hospital's registered nurses report back to work Wednesday morning.

The Federal statute designates this day as "Washington's Birthday," and President Nixon issued a proclamation declaring the holiday as "President's Day" in 1971. And, by the way, most newspaper stylebooks say President is always capitalized when referring to the President of the United States, even on subsequent references without the surname.

A crusading grammarian went ballistic when I perhaps misused the apostrophe earlier today. The reader wrote, "Are we celebrating the day of one President (apostrophe s) or all the Presidents (s apostrophe) or better yet, no apostrophe at all?"

Well, lets review the rules. We use an apostrophe [ ' ] to create possessive forms, contractions, and some plurals. The apostrophe shows where a letter or letters have been left out of a contracted verb as in "who is = who's" or "she will = she'll" or "they had = they'd."

In possessives, the placement of the apostrophe depends on whether the noun that shows possession is singular or plural. Generally, if the noun is singular, the apostrophe goes before the s, as in "The witch's broom" or "A President's Day." If the noun is plural, the apostrophe goes after the s: The witches' brooms or "all the Presidents' Days." However, if the word is pluralized without an s, the apostrophe comes before the s: "He ran into the men's room.

"It's" means it is or it has, so don't confuse it with "its," the possessive of it. And don't bother trying to make an appropriate contraction for "there are." Don't confuse "they're," which means "they are" with "there are."

An apostrophe is also used to form some plurals, especially the plural of letters and digits; i.e., • "Ernie got four A's in English and sister Sally got four 6's in the ice-skating competition."
• "Mind your p's and q's."
• "Don't forget to cross your t's."

If the plural is clear, apostrophes after upper-case letters are not necessary; i.e., • "He got four As, two Bs, and three Cs." And somewhat along the same line, temperatures in the 30s, 40s and 50s can drop the apostrophe.

It is not necessary or even correct to create the plural of years or decades or abbreviations with an apostrophe • My friend and I have identical IQs.
• John wrote his autobiography during the 1960s.
• There are fifteen PhDs on our faculty.

If you wrote Ph.D. with periods, you would add an apostrophe before the pluralizing "s": Ph.D.'s. If the abbreviation or acronym ends in "S," it's a good idea to separate this final "S" from the pluralizing "s" with an apostrophe: SOS's.

This should make all the readers with the name "Hess" speak up. What about the name Hess? Make it Hess' Hotel for the possessive, Hesses for the plural. Or just drop the whole thing and call it The Hess Hotel!

Abraham Lincoln, born in a log cabin and son of a middle class carpenter and farmer, married wealthy Mary Todd and by the time he became president was among the wealthiest lawyers in Illinois. Forbes says no 18th- or 19th-century president, except perhaps Washington, had wealth comparable to John F. Kennedy, referring to Joseph Kennedy's vast fortune, which President Kennedy could tap, but didn't own. In terms of personal wealth, Lyndon B. Johnson, homespun as he was, might have been richer than JFK, says Tim Blessing, a presidential historian at Alvernia College in Reading. Many pre-Civil War presidents were land (and slave) rich, but cash poor.

Forbes Magazine ranked the richest American presidents, recognizing how difficult it is to compare wealth across historical periods. The ranking from one to ten is at the end of the today's Benton News. Take a guess now how they will come out. And while you are guessing, tell us who the youngest president was. That answer is at the end, too--and we betcha you'll get it wrong!

And you thought that we forgot to wish Rev. Howard Leh a happy birthday and John and Zane Unbewust a happy anniversary. We remembered! Punxsutawney Phil never warned us it would be like this when he said we would have more winter! A total of four inches of snow has fallen locally at 3 AM, but in the higher elevations of California, 189 inches of snow fell during a five-day storm ending on this date in 1959, setting a single-storm record. There are currently 18 inches on the ground in Washington, and it is still snowing. Always be nice to high school sweethearts, because they may end up contestants on the show "Joe Millionaire. Read about the one-time Benton student, Zora Andrich, in today's Press Enterprise. The Wysox Fire Hall was completely destroyed by fire Saturday morning. Michael Waltrip won the rain-shortened Daytona 500 yesterday for the second time in three years.

Funeral services for Eva Marie Brown Boudman, Stillwater, will be 2 PM Wednesday at the McMichael Funeral Home, Benton. Burial will be in the Stillwater Cemetery.

On TV Tonight:
The White House: In Tune With History (PBS, 10 PM, check local listings): What's the best perk about being president? Having your own White House band, of course. This special provides a backstage pass to concerts and events rarely seen by the public. Musical tastes varied with each president, from classical to country to pop and jazz. Teddy Roosevelt requested that trumpets always play to announce the president. Franklin Roosevelt liked the Big Bands, and Jackie Kennedy wanted music in every room of the house.

Keith Martin, evening anchor at WBRE-28 until last Friday, is running into political problems in Harrisburg and it isn't even his first day of work! Gov. Ed Rendell's nominee to head the state's Department of Homeland Security resigned from Lancaster WGAL channel 8 in 1990 after he consulted for an arms dealer allegedly illegally funneling weapons to Iraq. Some of those weapons ended up being used against American soldiers during the Gulf War, according to the Harrisburg Patriot News. At that time, Martin was the managing editor and nightly anchor for WGAL. He resigned after it was learned he accepted $10,000 from International Signal and Control (ISC) of Lancaster to counsel the then-embattled company on how to handle media relations. He said then he resigned to spare the station bad publicity. The former head of ISC is serving 15 years in federal prison for fraud, money laundering and $50 million in illegal arms sales as a result of the case.

Both Texas Instrument and Intel introduced chips last week that will significantly impact the cell phone market around the world. They both announced that they now can produce a single chip that replaces most of the chips in a mobile phone. The impact on production costs of a cell phone and the possibilities now open because of the Internet on a chip are exciting. Texas Instrument says that by the end of next year the chip will be commercially available. Within a few years, we should see things happening in cell phones with digital cameras and in palm and pocket PC devices and wrist-watch based microphones. Look for the use in the future of the term "personal mobile gateway products."

Everyone ought to have a list of lists. Our favorite computer list of lists is at http://lists.gpick.com/index.html .

The wealthiest presidents:
President Term
George Washington 1789 to 1797
Thomas Jefferson 1801 to 1809
Andrew Jackson 1829 to 1837
Zachary Taylor 1849 to 1850
Theodore Roosevelt 1901 to 1909
Herbert Hoover 1929 to 1933
Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1933 to 1945
John F. Kennedy 1961 to 1963
Lyndon B. Johnson 1963 to 1969
George W. Bush 2001 to present

Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest president. He assumed the presidency in September 1901, after the assassination of William McKinley and shortly before his 43rd birthday. John F. Kennedy was the youngest elected president, just 43 when he took office in 1961.
Don't you just hate pop quizzes!

"If you want to see how bad it is in the Washington area, go to www.trafficland.com and you will get a good feel of what the roads look like down here," Diane Raski writes. "We are to get 10-14 inches today even more tomorrow with totals of up to 2 feet. This is the third major storm I have experienced since getting stationed here in 1977. This one, they are saying right now, will be in the top three of all time snowstorms and may even beat the all time storm of 1922, the Knickerbocker snowstorm." Locally, a storm system is poised to affect the region starting on Sunday and continuing into Monday with "the potential to produce a significant snowfall for the region." WBRE-28 is forecasting 5-8" locally.

Wednesday through Sunday cookie-loving monsters, counting Counts, grouchy Grouches, big yellow Birds, children and friendly monsters of all shapes, sizes and colors are invited to come sing and dance along with their Sesame Street pals in "Let's Be Friends" at the F. M. Kirby Center, Wilkes-Barre.

The AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report put the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline at self-service pumps Friday just under $1.63, two-tenths of a cent below the all-time record high price set May 30, 2001. A year ago, AAA reported prices under $1.15, and a month ago, they were under $1.48. The price of regular gasoline in Benton last night was $1.57 and $1.59. It was interesting to note the number of people who came to Benton to buy gas yesterday and then shopped at the popular Dollar General store and ate at one of the local restaurants. Many people are rediscovering our fine antique shops, stores and banks, finding that a trip out of the area is not needed.

Coriander and cilantro sure do cause a lot of confusion. They are just two parts of the same plant: cilantro is the pungent leaf and coriander is the citrusy seed.

We hear the government has assigned a "Plaid Alert" on the Homeland Security color code system for when they're just not sure what is goin' on.

The joke is going around that Secretary of State Colin Powell recently was approached by an Iraqi newspaper reporter and asked "Isn't it true that only 13% of young Americans can locate Iraq on a map?" Secretary Powell stopped, turned, and stated "Yes, it's true. But, unfortunately for you, all 13% are United States Marines."

The movie musical "Chicago" is top shelf and should walk away with the Best Picture nod at the Academy Awards, in our book. With competition either too violent ("Gangs of New York"), too popular ("Lord of the Rings") or too boring ("The Hours"), Chicago should be a shoo-in. Today would be a good day to see it, by the way.

Don't forget to include the Monday North Mountain Historical Society meeting at the Brass Pelican restaurant on your schedule. As always, breakfast is at 8:30 AM and the speaker begins about 9:20 AM. This month's speaker is Chuck Chapman. Chuck entered the corporate world at aged 16 with Hertz Corp. where he progressed to manager of the Denver operation. During this time he completed his undergraduate degree and joined the University of Northern Colorado as an instructor in English. He then went to New York as a professor of Managerial Communications. Following completion of his graduate work in Media Ecology at New York University, he joined the faculty at Bloomsburg University where he completed his academic career after 21 additional years of teaching. He served as Chairman of the Management & Marketing Department for seven years and creator and Chairman of the Institute for Comparative and International Management Studies. The Fishing Creek Watershed Association was created in February of 1998 and in 4 1/2 years has been awarded over $600,000 in grants to improve the Fishing Creek and raise the public awareness of the beauty, problems and opportunities our environment provides. Chuck has served as the only president of the Association following the years since he retired from teaching. He and his wife, Kay, live at Shady Hollow Farm, Benton, and are entering their 26th year of breeding registered Angus cattle.

Arthur H. "Pete" Hartman, 81, Tacoma, WA, died February 12, 2003, in Puyallup, WA. He was born in Jackson Township, son of the late Herman and Mildred (Sutliff) Hartman. He was a 1938 graduate of Benton High School, and later graduated from Williamsport Technical School. Mr. Hartman served in the Navy from 1942 to 1946 on the USS Gleaves. The family moved to Tacoma in 1952. Mr. Hartman worked for the H.D. Baker Co. and later at McChord Air Force Base, Tacoma, retiring in 1974. Mr. Hartman was married to Louise Frances (Young) Hartman, who died April 11, 1999. The following siblings also died previously: Robert C. Hartman, Viola R. Rudewick, and Marion L. Bach. Surviving are his three children: Lewis Hartman, Buckley, WA; Craig Hartman, at home; and Mrs. Dave (Marsha) Degenstein, Redmond, WA; five grandchildren; one great-grandson; and a sister, Carolyn L. Hartman, Benton. Memorial services will be held Thursday in Tacoma, WA.

Eva Marie (Brown) Boudman, 76, (May 2, 1926-February 13, 2003), 64 Wesley Street, Stillwater, died at the Bloomsburg Hospital emergency room. She was born in Briar Creek Township, daughter of the late Freeman J. Brown and Hattie R. (Evert) Brown. Mrs. Boudman worked at the Baltimore Ship Yards during World War II and later worked for the Magee Carpet Company and the former Char Mund Nursing Home, Orangeville. She was a member of the Stillwater Christian Church. She and her husband, Victor Franklin Boudman celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary August 5. Mrs. Boudman was preceded in death by sons Millard John Brown, Harry Thomas Brown, Roy Lincoln Brown, Lester Karl Brown and Charles Robert Brown. Surviving, in addition to her husband, are her two children: son, Donald Victor Boudman, Stillwater; daughter, Edna Louise Boudman, Selinsgrove; a granddaughter; a great-granddaughter; a sister, Edna Mae (Brown) Sholley, Selinsgrove; and a brother, Fred Ervin Brown, rural Orangeville. Arrangements will be announced by the McMichael Funeral Home, Benton.

The reminder goes out to members of "The Fishing Creek Femme Fatale Chapter of the Red Hat Society that the February meeting will be at The Filling Station, Main @ Market on Wednesday the 19th at 2 o'clock. Luncheon is $6.95 and includes beverage and dessert. Guests are welcome, but they must wear proper attire, which of course is a Red Hat and a purple outfit!

Quickies...
• The Guv. is cutting $120 million from the state budget. The cuts are needed to help offset a projected fiscal-year shortfall of nearly $600 million.
• The Wyoming Valley Health Care System and its registered nurses union agreed on a new labor contract Friday. The nurses got an average 8% more money in the first year of the three-year contract, a management-nurses committee to address staffing concerns, and a guarantee that staffing will increase.
• Substantial funds are needed for repairs to the Luzerne County Courthouse built in 1909, and on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. Leaks are getting worse, to the point where they could ruin precious artwork inside. The price for repairs could run between $7 million and $9 million.
• The Harvey's Lake Council listened to a proposal to cover the Hanson's Amusement area with a planned residential development of 125 townhouses, to be called "Villas of Waterwood."

Saying of the Day: "Fit as a Fiddle."
Very well, as in "I feel fit as a fiddle today and think that I'll head for Florida." Coined by William Haughton and printed in 1616 as "English-Men For my Money." The exact language was "this is excellent, I' faith; as fit as a fiddle!"

Jim Edson's heart doctor pronounced his patient fit as a fiddle and said that there is no reason why Jimmy could not go to Florida for the month. Jim and Pat have had the car "mostly packed since December 31," so they'll be leaving this morning as soon as the roads will support travel.

Check your supermarket purchases carefully. We read where someone whose name really is not important for this paragraph saw a package in his supermarket labeled "Turkey Kielbasa." In slightly smaller letters it said "Made with beef for better flavor."

Skip this paragraph if you are not concerned with popups, popunders, and ad banners that pop up when you surf the Internet, and most of you are not. AdsGone took immediate control of the problem on my computer. AdsGone logs and maintains statistics of its activity and registered users get automatic updates of blocked ad servers. AdsGone works with any Internet connection and provides a free trial up to 21 days with an easy download at http://www.adsgone.com/default.asp?ref=20200 . The price is $19.95 if you decide to keep it past its trial run.

There is a nice web site on chiropractic and your total health at http://www.bcchiro.com/ .

Snow? You ask about snow? Well, Eagles Mere recorded 51.05" through January.

Friday, February 14, 2003. Today is Valentine's Day and the anniversary of Bill and Elaine Rogers. TV personality Hugh Downs is 82 today, actress-singer Florence Henderson is 69, and country singer Razzy Bailey is 64. There will be a full moon tomorrow night.

Keith Martin, WBRE TV-28, leaves the area when he signs off his newscast this evening. Formerly with WGAL-TV in Lancaster, he is a just retired Brigadier General in the 28th Division of the Pennsylvania National Guard and had tours of active duty in Vietnam and Cambodia before joining the Guard. Monday he becomes the Guv's Director of Homeland Security. Martin replaces former FBI Agent Earl Freilino who has been in the job for the last year.

Bye Bye Birdie was a big hit last night at the high school and you have tonight and tomorrow night at 7 PM and Sunday at 2 PM to see it. Go here to get the story line, ask anyone who has seen the play, and get in line for your tickets. You'll be very happy you did it. The cast and crew--plus the three Jennifers--put on a great show.

Yesterday morning as I traveled from airport to airport, I read news stories that Iraq has a missile that can hit targets 114 miles away and news stories that North Korea may have a missile that can be fired all the way across the Pacific. Let me trying saying that a different way: CIA director George Tenet said during congressional testimony that North Korea has a missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. Now of the story about Iraq and the one about North Korea, which one do you think will rile me up the most?

Computers become very frustrating when changes have to be made and drivers need to be located and reloaded. A freeware program called WinDriversBackup Personal Edition may be your answer. You can get a copy of WinDriversBackup Personal Edition by go to http://www.jermar.com/wdrvbck.htm .

Quickies...
• Member of the Benton High School class of '57, Ken Bloom, 63, 188 Savage Hill Road, Orangeville, was trapped inside his pickup truck for more than an hour when he and truck flipped over a guardrail while driving on snow-covered roads near Light Street.
• The Dollar Store has been very busy since it opened earlier this week.
• A report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council says 41% of the state's 185 hospitals registered losses in fiscal
2002, up from 34% the year before.
• Northwest school district is having trouble deciding on a new superintendent from the eleven applicants for the job. Ten of the applicants have doctorate degrees. The last superintendent was paid a starting salary of $78,500.
• There is a shortage suddenly of duct tape since federal authorities listed it among key products that could provide protection against chemical or biological attack.
• Gasoline prices in Southern California where I recently spent some time went from $1.83 to $1.89 in a week. Gasoline is above $2 a gallon now in parts of the country, diesel fuel hit a record $1.715 Thursday, and crude oil for March delivery was at a 28-month high of $36.36.
• Lights were on late last night at the Flower Station. We hope that you remember your loved ones with cards, flowers, a hug, chocolate or something important to remember the day. If she doesn't cry, you haven't done enough on this Valentine's Day...

Arcadia Valentine's Day Poem:
Collards is green, My dog's name is Blue
and I'm so lucky to have a sweet thang like you.
Yore hair is like cornsilk a-flapping in the breeze.
Softer than Blue's and without all them fleas.
Them fellers at work, they all want to know,
what I done to deserve such a purdy yung doe.
Like a good roll of duct tape yo're there fer yore man,
to patch up life's troubles and fix what you can.
Yore complexion, it's perfection, like the best vinyl sidin'.
despite all the years, yore age, it keeps hidin'.
But for this man, honey, these won't do.
Cause yor'e too special, you sweet thang you.
I got you a gift, without taste nor odor,
more useful than diamonds, it's a new troll'n motor!

We'll get to the positive side of the News From Back Home in Benton, PA, in a minute, but a reader took me to task on yesterday's negativity on the stock market. She wondered how I could be the president of a local investment club, and at the same time be so down on the market and the state of the world situation. She asked for my strategy for investing in the stock market in today's world. With apologies in advance to my friends who are stock brokers, I'll say up front forget the brokers. They can't and won't help. They probably could read better than some of us could in high school, and still can. But that does not mean that they always think. Call your broker and he'll read a list of recommended stocks that have previously been shown to 84,563 other preferred customers who heard about the recommendation just after the institutional clients, pension funds, trust department clients and the broker's Aunt Elsie heard about the stock. In fact, if it has been recommended to you, it may well be about to peak and start down the other side. If the broker really knew the value of a stock, wouldn't he be madly dashing off to buy it rather than trying to get a $60 commission off you? So if you are gong to find a system that works, you pretty much have to find it on your own. And if you do find a system that works, it probably won't work for long. You can chart, you can buy on the basis of ten-year lows, you can buy stocks and sell warrants at the same time in a "heads I win, tails I win" attempt, you can buy no-load mutual funds directly from company management--but you probably won't get rich unless you started rich. No one is consistently going to pick winners. The way that you make a lot of money in the stock market is exactly the same way that you lose a lost of money in the stock market. Although no strategy always works, what seems a sensible strategy for choosing stocks is to look for solid companies in industries with no serious clouds on their horizon.

For those who like to check out cemeteries in the state, head on over to http://www.findagrave.com/state/40.html. If you want to confine your search to those in Columbia County, try the excellent site that comes from Maple Grove, http://cemeteriesofcolumbiaco.homestead.com/.
If you want to check out a specific burial in Benton cemetery, email the Benton News and as time permits we'll try to help.

We haven't said much lately about the genealogy group that is forming in Benton. There are a number of exciting things happening these days in the area of history, artifacts, and genealogy. We'll spell them all out soon. But we have tentatively reserved the first Sunday in April from 2 to 4 PM right here in Benton for an introductory session on genealogical research. The session will cost $5 and we'll say that right up front. You'll get an excellent overview from Bonnie Farver, the executive director of the Columbia County Historical Society, who will pass out a sheath of papers that you'll need to study on your own so you will know exactly how and where to start finding Uncle Elmer's history. The class will be limited to about 20 people.

Verizon Wireless, a joint subsidiary of Verizon Communications Inc. and London-based Vodafone seems to be the primary cell-phone provider for the local area. We are not advertising for the company, but we strongly advocate a better signal source for the Benton area and so we beat the drums for anyone providing acceptable cell phone service. Verizon Wireless is expanding its digital network in Pennsylvania. The Bedminster, NJ-based company has activated a new cell site along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in eastern Lancaster County and has upgraded its Harrisburg site to digital service. We hope that the Benton area is next.

This is another example of a way to start a sentence with the word "this" and end it with the word "that."

Quickies...
* When you tell a child that Washington never told a lie, make sure that the child knows you mean the man and not the city...
* Penn State had an average home field attendance last year of more than 107,000 fans per game.
* Tickets are going quickly for the February 13-16 production of Bye Bye Birdie in the Benton High School Auditorium.
* If you didn't hear Susan Q. Stranahan in person Monday night at the elementary school gym, make sure you read the Press Enterprise story this morning.

The Columbia County Band Directors are paying tribute to Rick Martin for his years of dedicated services to our community by commissioning an original band composition by composer Sam Hazo. This work will be premiered at the Columbia County Band Concert, February 28, 2003, at the Millville High School Auditorium. This will be the first playing of this music. The cost of admission is $4.00. The composer is Samuel R. Hazo, recipient of the National Band Association's 2001 Biennial Composition Award. Mr. Hazo has received commissions at the professional, university and public school levels in addition to composing original scores for television, radio and the stage. His original symphonic compositions include performances with actors Brooke Shields, James Earl Jones, David Conrad and Richard Kiley. He has also written symphonic arrangements for three-time Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams. His works for wind ensemble have been premiered at the Music Educators' National Conference (State & National), Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic, National Band Association Convention, Texas Bandmaster's Convention, and also aired in full-length programs on National Public Radio.

When the day is over
With all its care,
How refreshing it is
In the old armchair.

What uncertain and trying times we face on the national level! Economic growth is less than 1% and consumer confidence is hitting new lows. The Fed chairman has said that methods to establish curbs on deficits and on spending need to be "reinstated without delay." The president's economic package is on the verge of coming unwrapped. The stock market is in the doldrums awaiting a "war with Iraq" decision. Within the next month we could be at war with Iraq and within days the terrorism threat could become a reality, if we believe the people in charge of worrying about such things.

O. J. Simpson would certainly be in trouble today if he tried to run through airports like he used to in the Hertz commercials! It is hard to even get through airports these days.

The December 31, 1925, issue of the Benton Argus advertised for ice cream buyers at the Kozy Korner restaurant, using the catchy jingle, "Made in Sight by Men in White."

The subject of Bloomsburg's Husky Korner and whether to tear down the "historic" building drew these comments from readers...
* "Bob Brewington operated the Varsity Grill in the warehouse above the garage. It was a teenage hangout worthy of many column inches in the Morning Press. My band played there every Friday or Saturday, can't remember which. A guy named Buck Grassley jumped out the second story window one evening in a futile attempt to evade the town police.
Scummy Kerr collected your quarter when you entered. In my band was George Pavalonis from Benton and Don "Lurch" Boudman, the Mayor of Stillwater. When we met George he played the accordion. We switched him over to a more rock- and roll-like instrument, the electric organ."
* "Years before it was the Varsity Grill, animal trainer George Keller practiced his acts in that warehouse. When the Varsity Grill closed it became Keck's Drapery.
* "The town should go with the Historic Architectural Review Board."

Down in Bloomsburg, Town Council temporally deferred the question of the fate of the old Housenick garage at Main and East Streets by letting lawyers for both sides work out wording for another motion stating that if council approved demolition of the building, nothing would be knocked down until council and HARB approved the building that would replace it. The proposed tenant for the new building is Eckerd's Drug Store, by the way.

A reader asked about submitting an article for publication in the Benton News. She was concerned about "original research," since some of the information for the article she wanted to write came from "other sources." Copyright law governs the creative expression of ideas, not