On this date in...
1940, Ida May Fuller, Ludlow, Vermont, received the first Social Security payment check issued by the U.S. Government. The amount was $22.54. Fuller, a high school classmate of Calvin Coolidge and later a legal secretary, retired in November 1939 and lived to be 100 years old after working for the Social Security Administration for only three years.

1953, a combination of gale force winds, a deep depression and a spring tide burst through the dikes and over the banks of low-lying coastal areas of eastern England, northern Belgium and southern Netherlands. Over 1,800 drowned in Belgium and the Netherlands. Thousands lost their homes, hundreds of animals died and farmland was unusable for years as a result of the North Sea's saltwater. Only the receding waters of low tide had prevented the River Thames from flooding central London and killing thousands more.

Students at Benton Area High School will perform the Frank Loesser version of Guys and Dolls on February 11, 12, and 13. Guys And Dolls was a successful 1950 musical with 1,200 performances on Broadway. The film version starred Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra and Jean Simmons. The story is based on the short story, The Idyll Of Miss Sarah Brown. The story revolves around Nathan Detroit, the organizer of a floating crap game in New York (played by Joe Schultz), who bets Sky Masterson (played by Sam Dressler), a fellow gambler, that he can't make the next girl he sees fall in love with him. The next girl turns out to be Sarah Brown (played by Adrian Wright-Fitzgerald), a pure-at-heart Salvation Army-type reformer. The part of Adelaide is played by Jessica Swidinsky. There is an entire evening of complications with this musical!

Rehearsals are in full swing in the new auditorium at the high school. These kids are playing their hearts out for this production, and rehearsed Sunday, as an example, from 1 to 6 PM, took an hour dinner break, and then the kids in the Crap Shooter's Ballet began rehearsals. The production is under the skillful direction of Ms. Jennifer Bates. Tickets go on sale today at the high school. Let's all get behind this production. Buy your tickets early!

Though we visited many places
It always seems to me
That the little towns are special
A wonderful place to be.
We love the rolling hills and gardens,
The huge expanse of sky,
We prefer this to city streets
Where buildings tower high.

We enjoyed seeing and hearing Kim Keller, a dynamic spokesperson for Keller's Taxidermy, on Pennsylvania Outdoor Life on channel 16 last night. The reproduction of life-like three-dimensional animals that husband David produces is always top drawer. Most of the animals displayed at the Early-Bard Sports Expo and on the TV show used actual skin, fur and feathers of the specimen. And speaking of the Early Bird Expo, we wish Tom and Mary Lou Ausin the best as they proceed toward retirement. The couple announced that they have sold the show and this will be the last year they produce it. The couple produced a fine outdoors and sports show for the past 17 years, and we wish them the very best.

Another month passes today and we feel a little older. Actually, last summer felt hotter and this winter seems much colder. We're racking our brain for happy thoughts to write on our pad, but lots of things come to mind that make us sort of sad. There was a time not long ago when life was quite a blast. Now we mostly concentrate on living in the past. We used to go to weddings, south-sea islands and lunches. Now we go to funeral homes, and after-funeral brunches. When we used to go out dining, we couldn't get our fill. Now we ask for bowser bags, come home and take a pill. We used to travel to romantic places near and far. Now we get sore bottoms just from riding in the car. We used to love shopping for clothes at the mall but now we never bother for all the sizes are too small. That is how life is, and now that our tale is told, enjoy each day and live it up before you, too, are just too old!

Didja know that the area where Fort Augusta, located where the west branch and the main Susquehanna meet near the present day Sunbury, was at one time known as Shamokin? The area was a meeting place for several major Indian trails and an important stopping point for the Iroquois and the eastern and western Delawares. Fort Augusta was the largest fort in Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War, even bigger than the French Fort, Duquesne, in what is now Pittsburgh. Constructed of logs in 1756, Fort Augusta was 204 feet across. The fort had a moat, an outer stockade, four blockhouses, and a covered walkway leading to the Susquehanna River. Eight companies of 50 men each were garrisoned there.

The fort was presumably named after Princess Augusta, window of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and mother of the future monarch, King George III.

Fort Augusta became a center of peaceful Indian activity. The American Indian Chief Shikellamy lived in the area in the mid-1700s. Shikellamy was the vice king of the Six Nations of Iroquois Indians, first coming to the Susquehanna Valley around 1728. Shikellamy was friendly to the white man and often went to Philadelphia and the Iroquois capital of Onondaga with American Indian interpreter Conrad Weiser. Shikellamy was essential to keeping the peace between settlers and American Indians preceding the French and Indian War. He died in 1748, and following his death the relationship between while and red man changed.

John McHenry, a name of local importance, served as a major in the First New York Battalion in the French and Indian War of 1756-57 and he and four of his sons served under George Washington's Revolutionary Army. In 1773, the family settled along Chillisquaque Creek in Northumberland County. The Wyoming Massacre forced them to flee to the protection of Fort Augusta.

January 30, the 30th day of 2005. There are 335 days left in the year.

On this date in 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, the same day Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park, NY, in 1882. Roosevelt was our only president to be elected to four terms. He appointed nine Supreme Court Justices while in office.

On this date in 1941, vice president Dick Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. He earned his bachelor's and master's of arts degrees from the University of Wyoming. His career in public service began in 1969 when he joined the Nixon Administration, serving in a number of positions at the Cost of Living Council, at the Office of Economic Opportunity, and within the White House. Mr. Cheney served on the transition team for Gerald Ford, and later was Deputy Assistant to the President and White House Chief of Staff, a position he held throughout the remainder of the Ford Administration. He served as the state's sole Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives and was re-elected five times.

In 1814, after capturing Washington, D.C., the British burned the U.S. Capitol, destroying the Library of Congress and its 3000-volume collection. In 1815 on this date, President James Madison approved an act of Congress appropriating $23,950 to purchase Thomas Jefferson's library of 6,487 volumes. A second fire on Christmas Eve of 1851, destroyed nearly two thirds of the 6,487 volumes Congress had purchased from Jefferson.

Readers who attended the Innovata Brass benefit concert for Rick Martin at the Benton Elementary School will have fond memories of that evening, fond memories of Rick Martin, of Benton High School graduate and Innovate leader Michael Milnarik, and of all of the talented musicians in the group. One of those talented people, Innovata trumpet player Karen Antonio-Muenzinger battled cancer for almost five years. Eleven months ago her cancer returned and it prevented her from performing with Innovata for most of their concerts during the 2004 summer season. Karen performed with many orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout New England, has been heard on numerous New England television and radio broadcasts, and was a member of the faculty at the Brookline Music School. She performed classical music, and performed with Mariachi bands and an all-female rock band. She holds degrees from Boston University School of Music and Keene State College.

Karen Antonio-Muenzinger passed away January 29, 2005. Friends may visit on Monday, January 31 from 4:00-7:00 PM at the Brown and Sons Funeral Home, 36 Trapelo Road, Belmont, MA. A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, February 12 at 10:00 AM at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 15 Ledgewood Place, Belmont, MA. For more information and directions visit www.innovatabrass.com. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Karen's memory to The Christian Children's Fund, 2821 Emerywood Parkway, Richmond, VA 23294-3728.

We are back to thinking of Florida, and we may be able to take off for the Sunshine State in the upcoming future. It will be nice to jump in the water, eat a fresh orange or climb on a friend's boat. Do you know why boats are called "boats?" It means "bring out another thousand!"

We remember two years ago near Ft. Myers Beach when we first noticed a girl who was at the beach every day. She wasn't unusual, nor was the travel bag she carried, except for one thing; she would approach people who were sitting on the beach, glance around furtively, then speak to them. Generally the people would respond negatively and she would wander off, occasionally someone would nod and there would be a quick exchange of money and something she carried in her bag. We assumed she was selling drugs, and debated calling the cops, but since we didn't know for sure we just continued to watch her. She only went up to people with boom boxes and other electronic devices.

We decided to get a towel and our radio and lay down on the beach to figure things out. It wasn't long until the girl walked up and sat on the sand. It only took seconds for me to find out that she was a battery salesperson and was simply selling C cells down by the sea shore."

Here are some basic rules for good email...
1. Always ask the recipient first before you send a large file attachment. You're not going to make many friends if you cause them to wait 5 minutes while your file attachment downloads to their email program. It never hurts to ask permission if sending a large file.

2. Never send an executable file; i.e., ".exe." Executable files can contain viruses and most users have email filters set to delete (.exe) files as they arrive. Your message could go straight to the trash can without being seen. eGreeting cards are common culprits. If you are going to send someone something "cute," then just send them the Web address (http://) to it and let them visit it there IF they want.

3. Check your email program preferences to see which folder or directory it is storing received email attachments to. If you receive a lot of file attachments, over the course of several months these can take up quite a bit of unnecessary space on your hard drive. Keep only what you need and delete the rest regularly from that directory.

4. If you receive a virus notification from someone that has been forwarded on to you, NEVER forward it on to anyone. Most of such notices are hoaxes, such as one recent one that told unsuspecting recipients to delete a file that was part of their operating system. If you receive a notice that you yourself have a virus, run your anti-virus software to check for it and expunge it. If you receive a forwarded message from someone that looks like it is a chain letter, do not forward it. It's easy enough to verify its validity by visiting one of the anti-virus sites online and just typing in the name of the virus.

Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858) was a U.S. Senator and a national figure in the Jacksonian era. He came from Hillsboro, North Carolina. As a young man, Benton helped farm, taught school, and studied law. He was licensed to practice law in 1806, became state senator in 1809, made lieutenant colonel during the War of 1812, and served on the staff of Andrew Jackson. Benton became editor of the St. Louis Enquirer in 1818. With the backing of conservatives, he was elected U.S. Senator from Missouri in 1820. He rapidly became recognized nationally for his support of Jacksonian principles. Benton sought to guard against any encroachment of federal power within a state. By 1850, Benton had fallen out of favor in Missouri and was defeated for reelection to the Senate, though he served one term in the House of Representatives from 1853 to 1855. His later years were devoted to writing, and he died in Washington, DC.

Benton Township was formed from part of Sugarloaf and Fishing Creek Townships in 1850. The new township drew its name from Thomas Hart Benton, U.S. Senator from Missouri, a brother of Elizabeth Benton Mendenhall, wife of local resident Eli Mendenhall.

"To select well among old things is almost equal to inventing new ones."
--Trublet

"I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm."
--Franklin D. Roosevelt

If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,
There'll be twa (two) winters in the year.
Scottish Couplet

If the groundhog sees his shadow
we will have six more weeks of winter.

Candlemas, forget spinning, eat supper by daylight.

When it storms and snows on Candlemas Day,

Spring is not far away;

if it's bright and clear,

Spring is not yet near.

Nearly all of reader's complaints are about their computers running slowly, and nearly everyone who writes in seem to know what is going wrong, but somehow don't get their problems solved. So often the problem has something to do with too many programs running in the start-up menu. Many readers get confused when they go to START, RUN, and type in MSCONFIG in the run dialog box. We suspect it is because they don't expect so many programs to be running and they can't identify the ones that are running.

The programs that must be keep running are ScanRegistry, TaskMonitor, SystemTray, LoadPowerProfile, and whatever antivirus program is being used. Antivirus programs, like Norton, are easy to spot. Antivirus programs usually have more than one routine running in MSCONFIG. Check all the rest of the entries in this online database: www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php .

Friday morning Back Home in Benton, PA, we had a very cold -14°, but we were not alone. Up in Stowe, Vermont, at the annual Winter Carnival, an ice-sculpting competition turned too cold for good ice-making weather. The ice became brittle and many ice sculptures were ruined.

It turns out that we haven't seen the last of the Mohegans. The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority has completed its acquisition of Pocono Downs as well as five Pennsylvania off-track wagering operations in Carbondale, East Stroudsburg, Erie, Hazleton and Allentown.

The Guv and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney have set the stakes for a friendly wager without food or drink. It does include a song. The First Family of the losing team in Super Bowl XXXIX will sing the National Anthem on the winning team’s home basketball court when the Philadelphia 76ers play the Boston Celtics in April, wearing the opposing teams jersey. The New England Patriots play the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX on February 6. The unusual wager, so the rumor goes, would not agree to more conventional bet of, say, a Philadelphia cheese steak, saying that the cheese steak was too--gasp--unhealthy. Sounds like Romney wasn't real confident that his team was going to win!

It is always fun to review the list of famous Pennsylvanians, and--although your name and my name are not included--here is a partial list: Marian Anderson, Maxwell Anderson, George Blanda, James Buchanan, Andrew Carnegie, Rachel Carson, Perry Como, Bill Cosby, Thomas Eakins, Stephen Foster, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, Martha Graham, Milton Hershey, Gene Kelly, Grace Kelly (Princess Grace of Monaco), Dan Marino, George C. Marshall, Chris Matthews, John J. McCloy, Margaret Mead, Andrew W. Mellon, Joe Montana, Stan Musial, Joe Namath, John O'Hara, Arnold Palmer, Robert E. Peary, Mike Piazza, Tom Ridge, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Fred Rogers, Betsy Ross, Will Smith, Jimmy Stewart, Jim Thorpe, Johnny Unitas, John Updike, Honus Wagner, Andy Warhol and Benjamin West.

The Borough of Punxsutawney celebrates a custom on the second day of February that dates back to the dawn of Christianity in Europe. According to Catholic tradition, February 2 is Candlemas Day, the feast day commemorating the purification of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of Jesus in the Temple at Jerusalem. It is named after the candle light procession which precedes the mass.

In Gaelic, Candlemas is known as "The feast day of Brìghde of the Candles." Bìghde is Bridget of Kildare, the Celtic goddess of fire, the hearth, smithy, fields, poetry and childbirth. She also gives blessings to women who are about to marry. On the feast day, Bridget would visit and bless homes. If the sun was seen on this day winter was over but if the sun was hidden behind clouds winter was still to come. "If the sun shone on Candlemas Day, then a hedgehog would see its shadow," forecasting six more weeks of winter weather.

If Candlemas day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas day be clouds and rain,
Winter is gone, and will not come again.
--E. Holden, old English song

Candlemas had lots to do with candles. Traditionally candles were set in all the windows of the home and lit at sundown and burned until dawn. The British Isles still honor this practice in many locations.

The groundhog forecast in the United States is based on a German tradition brought to Pennsylvania in 1887 that held that some burrowing animal would come out on Bridget's Day to get a reading on the weather. The settlers brought the tradition, but not the hedgehogs. Groundhogs took over the job and Groundhogs' Day was born.

In 1887, the Punxsutawney Groundhog known as Phil was proclaimed the official weather-predicting groundhog. Phil's fans fancied financial freedom and fame, and people with nothing better to do started coming to Punxsutawney early each February. The 1993 movie Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray, brought much green stuff to the town.

The television cameras will record Punxsutawney Phil emerge from his heated burrow at precisely 7:25 AM on February 2 for Phil's Prognostication. The events this year will be held starting today through Wednesday, February 2. You can watch the events from your computer on February 2 via the webcast at www.visitpa.com/groundhog.

On this date in...
1934, the man who invented the gossip column, Walter Winchell, complimented a disk jockey in his newspaper column, resulting in the red-headed disc jockey receiving offers from talent scouts and producers. The disk jockey was eventually adored by millions who listened on CBS radio and TV. Strumming a ukulele and delivering commercials for as long as it took to convince the listener to buy the product endeared him to fans. Some readers will recall Arthur Godfrey strumming "I wanna go back to my little grass shack..." Through the late 1940s and 1950s Godfrey significantly assisted the careers of Pat Boone, Tony Bennett, Eddie Fisher, Connie Francis and Patsy Cline and others.

1942, "Sighted Sub, Sank Same" was the message sent by Donald Francis Mason from the USS Bowfin. Mason believed that he had sunk a German U-boat off Argentia, Newfoundland. Three years later, a total of 181 German U-boats gave up, and another 217 were destroyed by their crews. During the course of the war, 699 more had been sunk by the Allies, and another 82 had been lost through accidents of war.

1986, 73 seconds after launch from Cape Canaveral, the space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing seven astronauts. The Challenger was nine miles into space when the ship's liquid hydrogen tank exploded.

In response to a reader's question, comedian Groucho Marx was Johnny Carson's first guest on October 2, 1962. Groucho introduced Johnny as the new host of the show, and then sat down next to him. Carson's first words came in response to the thundering applause the audience gave him: "Boy, you would think it was Vice President Nixon." Other guests that night included Rudy Vallee, Joan Crawford, Mel Brooks and Tony Bennett. Bette Midler was Johnny's last guest.

We have talked before about stand-ins during the Civil War. We ran across a Monroe County Historical Association article about John Summerfield Staples, Stroudsburg, who became President Lincoln's "representative recruit."

On March 3, 1863, President Lincoln signed the Conscription Act, which compelled American citizens to report for duty in the Civil War--unless they had the money to buy their way out. This was the country's first "mandatory" draft, a somewhat misleading term since conscripts could pay a "commutation fee" to be exempt from service or they could hire a "substitute soldier." Whether a Union soldier was a draftee or a substitute soldier was irrelevant.

The law empowered the War Department to draft males ages 20 to 46 for the Union Army, but the military obligation could be waved for a fee of $300. Popular with the rich, unpopular with the poor, the program was instituted in part because of the high rate of desertions. The program raised revenue for the war effort. Previously, bounty jumpers would enlist, take the cash the Army provided, then desert, change names and find another regiment in which to enlist and the process would start over again.

Lincoln issued an order that all office holders in his administration should enlist substitute soldiers. Other persons not required by law to perform military duty could also be represented in the Army. The President set the example by having Provost General James Frey find someone to enlist and serve for the president. Frey asked the president of the District of Columbia's Third Ward Draft Club, Noble D. Larner, to find a willing volunteer. John Summerfield Staples, a native of Stroudsburg, turned up a few blocks from the White House.

Staples had served as a substitute soldier and had been honorably discharged at New Bern, North Carolina, after he contracted typhoid fever after about a year of service as a substitute for a Monroe County man. His first discharge in 1863 was for "great disability and a broken down constitution, result of typhoid fever of nearly four months continuance." Staples and his Union chaplain father had moved to the District of Columbia to work at the Washington Navy Yard. The young man agreed to serve as Lincoln's Representative Recruit.

The Provost Marshal arranged for an ceremony in President Lincoln's office on October 1, 1864. The sergeant to whom Staples then reported for duty allegedly remarked about the short soldier, "Aren't you just the first installment?"

The official notice read, "Whereas, Abraham Lincoln, a citizen of the District of Columbia, a citizen of the United States, not being required by law to perform any military service, has voluntarily and at his own expense furnished John S. Staples, in the District of Columbia, as a representative recruit to serve in his stead in the military forces of the Union, he is in accordance with the foregoing order, entitled to this official acknowledgement of his disinterested patriotism and public spirit."

Staples was paid approximately $750 for his service as a prison guard and clerk, a private with Company D, Second District of Columbia Infantry, stationed at Alexandria, Virginia, in the defense of Washington. He saw no combat. Again he fell ill and was honorably discharged after about six months of service, but never received a military pension since his records were lost and his request was denied. Staples declared that he was suffering "with disease of the head, catarrh, disease in one eye producing partial blindness, and partial paralysis of the whole system." by "reasoning of injuries, received in the service if the United States."

Staple's father met the discharged soldier in Philadelphia and took him to Stroudsburg where he recovered fully over the next several months. In April, 1864, he returned to Washington to work with his father as carpenters in Arlington and at the government vessel repair yard in Georgetown. Staples and his father later returned to Stroudsburg and were employed as wheelrights. Still later, Staples worked in railroad car shops and on January 11, 1888, he dropped dead at the age of 43 from a heart disease thought to be a result of the illness he came down with during his first service in the Army.

Staples is buried in the Stroudsburg Cemetery where his tombstone is inscribed that he was the "Representative Recruit for President Abraham Lincoln." A historical marker dedicated to Staples stands at the corner of Main Street at Dresher Avenue, Stroudsburg.

Pennsylvania provided 125 recruits during the Civil war for men including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, Joshua F. Speed, Edward Everett, and Davis Wilmott.

Not until 46 years after Staple's death did Staples get any recognition, but even that was short lived. On Armistice Day of 1933, the Knights of Malta placed a bronze plaque in his memory on the new John Summerfield Staples Bridge over Pocono Creek on West Main Street. The bridge and its plaque were both lost two years later in a flood.

A tablet honoring Staples now guards the gatepost at the entrance of the Stroudsburg Cemetery in memory of Mr. Lincoln's "substitute."

"We must have the men. If I go down I intend to go like the Cumberland, with my colors flying."
--Abraham Lincoln

"I feel bound to tell you it is my purpose to see the draft law faithfully executed."
--Abraham Lincoln

"You who do not wish to be soldiers do not like this law."
--Abraham Lincoln

"I do not appreciate this matter of rank on paper as you officers do."
--Abraham Lincoln

"I'm a millionaire myself. I got a minority of a million in the votes cast last November."
--Abraham Lincoln

"It is necessary for you to learn from others' mistakes. You will not live long enough to make them all yourself."
--Admiral Hyman G Rickover, US Navy.

"The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war."
--Admiral Hyman G Rickover

"Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience."
--Admiral Hyman Rickover

A "normal person" is anyone you don't know very well

Rickover was born in 1900, immigrated to the US at the age of six, graduated from the Naval Academy in 1922, received his Master's Degree from Columbia University, served on active duty with the United States Navy for more than 63 years while serving under 13 Presidents, and rose to the rank of Admiral. As director of the Naval Reactors Branch, Rickover developed the world's first nuclear powered submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN 571), which went to sea in 1955.

Adm. Rickover directed all aspects of building and operating the nuclear fleet. Prior to Nautilus, submarines were powered by a combination of batteries (for submerged operations) and diesel engines (for surface operations and recharging the batteries). The need for air to run the diesel engines and the noxious fumes from the diesel engines meant that subs could only operate on (or near) the sea's surface, making them vulnerable to the enemy.

Rickover was exempt from the mandatory Navy retirement age due to his building of the United States Navy's nuclear surface and submarine force. Admiral Rickover died in July, 1986, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. At the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, students still rub Rickover's nose on a bust for good luck before tests.

We remember the first time we sat in Admiral Rickover's office. It was certainly a moment of worry, not knowing what this important Naval officer would ask--or pull. The chair to which he directed us had one leg sawed off about half an inch shorter than the other three, so that we had difficulty sitting level. The chair was primarily used for new recruits to the submarine force, to test their ability to function effectively in an unexpected situation. Should I pretend to not notice my inability to sit level, or should I tell the "great one" that his chair was askew--a fact that certainly he knew? Several of my answers to questions were momentarily disrupted when my chair would suddenly tilt to starboard as I scootched uncomfortably!

We also fondly retain a memorandum he wrote on January 20, 1970, to the Chief of Naval Material, commenting on a proposed instruction on the subject of "Human Factors." Paragraphs 3, 4 and 7 are quoted below, in order for readers to better understand the man.

3. "It appears that the HUMAN FACTORS "program" is another of the fruitless attempts to get things done by systems, organizations, and big words rather than by people. It contains the greatest quantity of nonsense I have ever seen assembled in one publication. It is replete with obtuse jargon and sham-scientific expressions which, translated into English from its characteristic argot--where this is possible--turns out to be either meaningless or insignificant. It is about as useful as teaching your grandmother how to suck an egg."

4. "Those who compiled the instruction demonstrate a lack of knowledge as to how work in this real world is actually done. They assume that engineers who design naval equipments have no awareness that these are to be operated and repaired by average human beings, and for this reason, they need the guidance of Human Factors "engineers." With the elucidations such "engineers" will give, the simple everyday problem will become incomprehensible."

7. Those of us who are compelled to work with ordinary people and with real technical problems do not have time to become familiar with rarified and abstruse words such as you have used in your memorandum. Therefore, it would be most helpful if, in future, you write memoranda to me in ordinary English."

Adm. Hyman Rickover probably contributed more to the postwar defense of the United States than any other single man. Several chiefs of naval operations tried to fire him and more than one president tried to retire him, but the feisty Rickover never changed his beliefs.

Happy birthday, Admiral...

On this date in...
1886, Karl Benz patented the first auto powered by an internal combustion engine. The first public test-drive took place in July, 1886. The engine had one cylinder with a 91.4 mm bore, 150 mm stroke and a 984 cc displacement. Its output at 400 rpm was 0.9 hp, producing a top speed of 10 mph.

1918, an explosion occurred in the Number 2 Workroom at the Naval Torpedo Station on Goat Island, Newport, Rhode Island, in a building used to store fuses and detonators. This was one of eight similar incidents at military installations along the eastern seaboard that day. Thirteen people were killed on Goat Island, among them Pat Wary's great uncle, John Henry Connolly. He had been employed at the Naval Torpedo Station only a few days. Newspaper articles from the Providence Journal said that the base had replaced the regular guards with double the number of Marines two weeks earlier apparently suspecting some form of sabotage. The New York Times later stated that a Naval Court of Inquiry determined it was an accident and found no evidence of a plot.

In 1930 the Metal Trades Counsel erected a granite monument with a brass plaque to the employees of the Torpedo Station and the commands that followed who died while in the service of their country. Thirty-two names are listed on the monument, 15 with an entry date of 1918.

More about the explosion can be found here.

At some point in the 1960's, this monument was moved to the Torpedo Station Annex in Middletown, which is on the same island as Newport. Today, the "Annex" is home of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center's Newport Division. The monument stands in a prominent place alongside the command flagpole, in front of the Division Headquarters building, on the main road entering the command.

Among Pat's mother's possessions is a box which originally held chocolates. Inside the box is a pile of letters and telegrams--condolences from family, friends and the government. The chocolates were the last gift John Connolly ever bought for his mother.

Scott and Pat Wary live "over the hill from Paperdale," on a former Carter Bache farm. They have a Stillwater mailing address. Pat was originally from Connecticut. Scott's mother is the well-known local chef and author, Carol Vance.

The Christian Rock Group Evermore will appear at the Rohrsburg Christian Church Friday, January 28, the Benton Methodist Church Sunday, May 22, and the Stillwater Christian Church Sunday, April 24.

The study of the names of towns and counties in Pennsylvania is interesting. Didja know, for example, that at the end of the first 100 years of the history of the state, there were 12 counties? The other 55 were created in its second century. Here are some facts you may know, but since they will appear on an upcoming quiz we thought that we would refresh your memory.
• The three original counties in Pennsylvania were Philadelphia, Buckingham (later shortened to Bucks) and Upland (later changed to "Chester").
• Besides the two original counties of Bucks and Chester, the seven counties of Pennsylvania that were named directly for English shires are Lancaster, Cumberland, Berks, Northampton, Northumberland, Westmoreland and Somerset.
• Four Pennsylvania counties--Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Monroe--were named for Presidents of the United States.
• The counties of Franklin, Mifflin, McKean and Snyder were named in honor of chief executives of the state. All were native of Pennsylvania except for Franklin.
• Huntington and Montour Counties were named for women.
• Ten state counties have Indian names: Allegheny, Lycoming, Erie, Venango, Tioga, Susquehanna, Lehigh, Juniata, Wyoming and Lackawanna. These names have all been derived from the aboriginal names.

And here are some things that you might not know about some familiar places:
• Buckhorn, Columbia County: Battle's History of Columbia County, p. 257, says that "before any settlement had been made in this region the antlers of a deer, fastened between the forked branches of a white-oak sapling, marked the course of an old Indian trail. The tree stood on the edge of a swamp within three miles of Catawissa. The sight of this tree to the weary traveler from the distant settlement was an assurance of his nearness to friends and safety. Other way-marks disappeared, but the sapling grew apace and gradually locked the antlers in a vice-like embrace."

• Dauphin County: What is now Dauphin County was once Paxtang Township in Lancaster County. The present name of the county came from the eldest son of the French king. Louis XVI was king of France, and his eldest son, Louis, the Dauphin, was born in 1781. He was not even four years old at the time of the naming of the county.

• Harrisburg: John Harris, a Yorkshireman who had arrived in America with a total capital of only sixteen guineas, was licensed in 1705 as an Indian trader and allowed to "seat himself on the Susquehanna." He settled at what was then Paxtang, now the site of Harrisburg. The Penns gave the man who was "as honest a man as ever broke bread" 500 acres in 1725 and ten years later he received another 300. His son, John Harris, Jr., actually founded Harrisburg. He had a ferry service across the river at that point. It was known as "Harris's Ferry." Harris and his son-in-law, William Maclay, laid out a town in 1785 at Harris's Ferry and called it Harrisburg. State officials, still enamored with the Dauphin, changed the name to Louisbourg in honor of Louis XVI, but John Harris wrote, "the members of the Council may Louisbourg as much as they please, but I will never execute a title for a lot in any other name than Harrisburg."

• Sunbury: Richard Penn took the name of Sunbury from the English village of the same name. Sunbury, England, is on the Thames about 15 miles southwest of London.

• Towanda, the county seat of Bradford County, was laid out in 1812 by Williams Means and originally called Meansville and Williamston. The village was incorporated in 1828 and took the name Towanda from Towanda Township, which was named for Towanda Creek. Towandee, as it was once written is thought to be a corruption of Tawundeunk, "where we bury the dead."

If you have a question about the derivation of the name of a Pennsylvania town, township, borough or county, let us know and we'll attempt to research it for you.

Our best wishes to acting president of the Benton Town Council, Ron Roberts, as he heads into shoulder surgery this afternoon at the Bloomsburg Hospital.

Former Bentonians Ed and Mary Ann (Carey) Baker are moving about five miles east from their home in Watsontown to McEwensville. A public "contents" auction is planned for February 19 with ladies from their church serving their food specialties. Let us know if you need more information.

If you like bluegrass music, you might want to try Cybergrass, the online bluegrass magazine.

The Board of Game Commissioners is meeting in Harrisburg through today to consider recommendations for the 2005-06 hunting and trapping seasons. Final approval and adjustment of seasons and bag limits will be made in April. We wonder which policy will come out on top--the studies conducted by the Audubon Society of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Habitat Alliance, which said deer are damaging the forest, or the conclusion reached by the million or so hunters who say they can't find deer in the woods. We suspect that the Game Commission will end up doing the right thing and change their present hunting policies.

Didja hear about the man from Pennsylvania who died and went to Hell? He had been a horrible man his entire life and the devil put him to work breaking rocks with a sledgehammer in the high heat and humidity in the environment in which he found himself. The devil was aghast, however, that the Pennsylvanian was happily swinging his hammer and whistling. The man told the devil that Hell reminded him of August in Pennsylvania: hot, humid and a good place to work. The devil then dropped the temperature, creating a driving rain with torrential wind. Soon Hell was a wet, muddy mess. The Pennsylvanian, in mud up to his knees and with dust blowing into his eyes, slogged through the mud pushing a wheelbarrow full of crushed rocks telling the devil that it is like April in Pennsylvania when he worked out in the yard with spring planting! Frustrated, the devil made the temperature plummet and blanketed the inhospitable area in snow and ice. The Pennsylvanian was dancing, singing and twirling his sledgehammer cavorting in glee in the 40° below zero temperatures. The Pennsylvanian threw a snowball at the devil and yelled, "Hell has frozen over! This means the Eagles won the Super Bowl!

But if you want tickets to the Super Bowl to see the Eagles whoop up on the New England Patriots, be prepared to shell out serious money. Tickets are going for as much as $6,000 on eBay.

We sometimes forget the big names in football from years gone by when we concentrate on today's game. But think for a moment about "The Galloping Ghost," Harold Edward Grange (1903–91). The nickname, the Galloping Ghost, resulted from "Red" Grange scoring four touchdowns in the first 12 minutes of a 1924 game between the universities of Illinois and Michigan. Red was a three-time All-America at the University of Illinois (1923–25). After a spectacular college career in which he scored 31 touchdowns and gained 3,367 yards running, "Red" undertook a national barnstorming tour in 1925 that helped focus public attention on the professional game. He played with the New York Yankees (1926–27) and the Chicago Bears (1925, 1928–35). He scored 1,058 career points. He appeared in a few films, and became a radio and television sportscaster after his retirement from football. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

Forksville, where Red Grange was born, is located 37 miles northwest from Back Home in Benton, PA, via routes 239, 220 and 154. Forksville has a population of about 200 people. Grange was the third child of Sadie and Lyle Grange, a lumber camp foreman. Grange was five when his mother died and a few months later the family moved to Wheaton, Illinois, the home of his father's family where Grange's father then opened a moving business. The Grange family was forced to live with relatives until they could finally afford a home of their own. Grange and his friends occupied their time by playing football in vacant lots and basketball in converted barns. Sports became the major emphasis in his life.

After his graduation from college, Red played professional football, spending most of his career with the Chicago Bears. Grange's entrance into professional football attracted the league's first large crowds, and he is credited with helping to popularize the sport. Grange retired in 1934 and later worked as a sports announcer.

Many from the Benton area have slipped "over the line" into Sullivan County to the Forksville General Store and Restaurant located adjacent to the Loyalsock Creek and the Forksville Covered Bridge. It dates from 1851 when it was an upholstery shop, and over the years has been a barber shop and a hardware store. Today it is a genuine "mom and pop" country store with old gas pumps and a wooden bench out front where you can lick on your ice cream cone and talk about one of the town's most prominent citizens, Red Grange. There is even a place to picnic along the slowly moving creek.

John William Carson, 79, (October 23, 1925-January 23, 2005) died Sunday in Los Angeles County. Carson served in the Navy and attended midshipmen's school at Columbia University, and served as an ensign in World War II aboard the U.S.S. Pennsylvania. He entered the University of Nebraska after the war, where he played Cleopatra in a college farce entitled "She Was Only a Pharaoh's Daughter but She Never Became a Mummy." He was a writer for Red Skelton. He made a guest performance on the "Tonight" show, then hosted by Jack Paar. In 1957, he became the host of "Who Do You Trust?," an ABC game show with Ed McMahon as its announcer. In March 1962 when Jack Paar left the "Tonight" show, Carson accepted the job. Carson is survived by his fourth wife, Alexis Maas; two sons, Curt and Corey; his brother, Richard; and his sister, Catherine. Another son, Ricky, died in a car accident in 1991.

On this date in 1922, ice cream covered in chocolate was patented in Iowa. It became known as "Eskimo Pie." The patent described the product as "a block or brick or frozen confection within an edible container or shell. The core or center may be an ice cream, sherbet, sorbet, ice, or other material congealed by refrigeration." The shell was described as "like that used in coating chocolate candies, although preferably modified to harden at a lower temperature," and not too brittle."

Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,
A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange, sets again.
--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

The Gun and Outdoor Show arrives in Benton February 12, and 13. The show will feature guns, knives and related items, with 80 tables of merchandise. There will be no flea market items. The kitchen will be open for breakfast and lunch both days. Hours are 9 AM to 4 PM both days. Questions? Call 925-5542. All proceeds will benefit the Benton Fire Company.

Our best to the Philadelphia Eagles as they move toward their first Super Bowl in 24 years. Our gratitude to the Steelers, too, for showing the nation that Pennsylvania can produce top-drawer football teams.

We love hearing how local residents enjoy their winter sports. One father and son decided to go snow-tubing at Montage Mountain yesterday, drove to Scranton, chugged to the top of the mountain, got out of their comfortable car and realized that the 5 degrees with the 35 mph winds was too cold to be enjoyable. They got back in their car and drove home. Reminds us of when we were pups and drove to Amity Hall for a cup of coffee with six of our friends. At least we were warm...

We managed to get in a walk along Fishing Creek yesterday after the snow stopped falling. It was definitely winter, but we were in our artic gear and comfortable. The sky was void of clouds and the sun shown brightly. A gentle draft of air floated down the valley, barely enough to crinkle the water's surface, but an indication of high wind to follow. Dave Hilley had just told us that he intends to celebrate his 67th birthday this month by going sea bass fishing off Brielle, NJ, and the thoughts of that chilled us off. As we ventured closer to the creek, our thoughts turned to hypothermia and falling into the frigid water. The rapids in the creek were frozen in the 10 degree temperature and we wondered how the fish in the stream were making out that cold winter day.

We decided to concentrate our thinking on next spring when fishing season opens. We silently polished off a few fishing terms for those who don't fish and for those who do. Here is what we came up with...
FISHING: A disease without a cure, catching but not contagious. A disease once known only to small boys and grandfathers, savages who lived over a mile from a grocery store, and village ne'er-do-wells. The disease has now spread to presidents, people who don't even keep the fish and a couple of million others.
LIAR (as used in the fishing sense): a term used by anglers to describe other anglers, often associated with the loss of memory about length.
FISHING CAMP: a place to wear out half-used clothes and eat half-cooked food, fight insects and act macho. Usually busiest between midnight and daylight. Often spoiled by those who want to fish. Rarely found in the "lower 48," but still popular in Canada and along certain streams known for a high-fish population.
BAIT: a word used by fishermen so as not to be understood by those who do not fish, denoting a beverage carried to counteract the effects of cold, heat, and snakebites.
PLUGS: Imitations of bugs, animals, bananas and pickles.
ROD: A fancy name for a fishing pole that costs over $100. Rods are sold by weight; i.e., the lighter the pole the heavier the price tag. The object of a pole is to have it snap in half during the actual catching of a huge fish, an event of great distinction. Also see LIAR above.
REEL: a gizmo designed to come apart, get loose, out of order, or snarl at critical times.
FISH LINE: Expensive string used on a reel, which often snarls, snags or breaks, thereby providing an alibi for not actually producing the whopper that got away.
WHOPPER: a term used to describe fish that get away. Associated words are "whale," "dozy," "grandfather," and "Long-as-your-arm."
CREEL: part of a trout fisherman's uniform, this frail wicker basket can hide worms, lunch, rain gear, and occasionally a small trout. Also see BAIT.
WADERS: An effective way of carrying large amounts of water from the creek to the shore. Also an effective way to keep feet warm while walking along the shoreline in the summer and cold while doing the same in winter. Waders hold more water than boots, and are more effective in putting out camp fires.
FLIES: an imitation in feathers of nothing a fish has ever seen, usually with a fancy name. Much desired during the off season by closet moths.
WORMS: crawly things used to insert over a fishing hook, a staple in the diet of many fish who learn early how to delicately remove them from fishing hooks. Often pondered by spouses who wonder how fish can taste so good when their major meals come from things like worms.

On this date in...
1960, a deep-diving research bathyscaphe with a crew of two, known as the Trieste, descended 35,810 feet into the deepest point on earth (compare that with the top of Ricketts Glen State Park at 2,132 feet or the top of Mt. Everest at 29,035 feet above sea level). The Trieste basically consisted of a float filled with gasoline and a separate pressure sphere. The cabin was a six-foot diameter steel capsule weighing 13 tons in air, 8 in water. It was engineered to withstand the 16,000 lbs/sq. in.. water pressure at that depth. The descent took almost five hours and the two men spent barely twenty minutes on the ocean floor before undertaking the 3 hour 15 minute ascent. The men saw a foot-long fish at that depth. The record dive has stood unchallenged for 40 years. In April 1963, the Trieste was modified and used to search for the missing submarine USS Thresher (SSN-593). Trieste found the wreck off New England in August of that year, 8400 feet below the surface. Trieste is a permanent exhibit at the Navy Museum in Washington, DC.

1971 in Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska, the mercury fell to a minus 80° Fahrenheit, about 92° lower than Back Home in Benton, PA, last night.

1975, Barney Miller appeared on ABC-TV for the first of 170 episodes. Hal Linden starred as Barney and Abe Vagoda played Fish.

Quote of the Day:
"It is better to have loafed and lost than never to have loafed at all."
--James Thurber

Russia, Indonesia, Mexico and Nigeria have (somewhat) peacefully democratized their authoritarian countries. Free and fair elections are upcoming in Iraq, although Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has admitted that violence will prevent some parts of Iraq voting in this month's election. Here is what the election is designed to do:
• Give Iraq's 275-member Transitional National Assembly a one-year mandate to draft a constitution and elect a president and two deputy presidents.
• Select members from a ballot listing 111 groups that collectively field thousands of candidates. The number of members from each group will be determined by the proportion of votes that group receives.
• Permit out-of-country voting by a million expatriates in 14 countries.

Estimates are that more than 40% of Iraqis will be unable to participate in electing an interim assembly at the end of January, even though a failure at the election could bring general instability to the entire region.

A stirring email is circulating on the internet about U. S. transportation battalions delivering voting machines and ballots to villages and cities throughout Iraq during the upcoming elections. The convoys are prime targets for the insurgents because they do not want the equipment to arrive at the polling stations nor do they want the local Iraqi citizens to have the chance to vote.

The email encourages prayer for the electoral process and ends with a soldier writing that he will "pray with my soldiers before they leave on their convoys and move outside our installation gates here at Tallil. My soldiers are at the nerve center of the logistic operation to deliver the voting machines and election ballots. They will be driving to and entering the arena of the enemy. This is not a game for them; it is a historical mission that is extremely dangerous. No voting machines or ballots. No elections. Your prayer support and God's intervention are needed to give democracy a chance in this war torn country." Please don't let this soldier stand alone in his prayer...

Showing this weekend in 1925 at the Universal Theatre, Market Street, Benton, was Hoot Gibson in "his greatest movie," The Sawdust Trail.

And starting Tuesday evening, were two reels of The Fighting American, with an extra comedy thrown in, an unnamed "two-part Western."

Sunday will be the first time that two NFL conference playoff games are played in the same state. The Philadelphia Eagles host the Atlanta Falcons and the Pittsburgh Steelers host the New England Patriots. Go Eagles! Go Steelers!

From time to time we find a writer who tweaks our interest. We'll tell you about one of these writers today as we talk briefly about Carolyn Wells [i.e., Carolyn Wells Houghton] (1869-1942). We first realized that we liked her when we ran across a quote from her that went like this, "Advice is one of those things it is far more blessed to give than to receive." She once commented that "books we think we ought to read are poky, dull, and dry; The books that we would like to read we are ashamed to buy; The books that people talk about we never can recall; And the books that people give us, oh, they're the worst of all."

Carolyn Wells was a prolific and popular American author and we first came upon her in a newspaper that dated to 1904. The more that we dug into her past, the more that we realized that local homes in the early 1900s usually included collections of her books. Carolyn Wells also wrote poems and stories for children. Her autobiography, penned in 1937, was entitled, The Rest of My Life.

In 1933, Ms. Wells thought that she was dying because of a bad heart. We have included four of her poems from that era of her life in today's edition. Here is the first, entitled The Rude Cannibals.
Cannibals, exceeding rude,
Once cooked Gentle Jane for food.
Though a nature mild she had
Gentle Jane got boiling mad.
--Carolyn Wells

We drove from Harrisburg to Benton Friday, enjoying the cold but beautiful ride along the frozen Susquehanna. It is hard to think of a more picturesque drive than the one we have in our own back yard. Huge blocks of ice were piled against the backdrop of aging and unyielding Buttonwood trees, the steel blue waters of the river in stark contrast to the sky blue above. Not a single cloud marred the sky, a far cry from the 6" to 12" of snow forecast for today.

When one looks at a map of Pennsylvania and the rivers are looked at in detail, you'll notice that on the left of the map are the Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers uniting in the Ohio River. On the right of the map, the Delaware winds its course. In the middle is our favorite of the rivers, the Susquehanna. Numerous tributaries flow from the hills through the fertile valleys with their brightly colored farms and here and there are wonderful little lakes and ponds.

In the northern part of the state, the Susquehanna rushes through mountain gorges in its journey south, past the French Azilum where aristocratic refuges from the French Revolution established themselves in the grandest of styles in 1793. Its showpiece was even larger than some of the huge log homes Jack and Kay Taylor have sold: a two-story log structure eighty-four feet long and sixty feet wide with 16 fireplaces, glass windows and elegant French furniture known as La Grande Maison. There were 60 similar houses, all overwhelmingly elegant for the backwoods country in which they resided. It was apparently to be the dwelling of the Queen, and was the scene of many social gatherings with famous guests like Talleyrand and Louis Phillipe, who was later to become king. The site is just off route 6, although today nothing remains of the buildings, except for the foundation of La Grande Maison.

The anthracite country comes next, in the area of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, then the river flows further south along the Five Mountains around Shickshinny, into Columbia County where the river flows past Berwick. At Northumberland, the west branch joins up with the main river. Another half hour of driving opens a wonderful panorama of the river proceeding south to Harrisburg where the views are magnificent of the Stone Arch Bridge, City Island, the state capital, tree-covered islands, before the river spreads to lake width on its journey to the Chesapeake Bay.

The next time you drive to Harrisburg, take the time to marvel at the beauty of a ride along the Susquehanna, a view we tend to take for granted.

On this date in...
1954, the U.S.S. Nautilus, the first atomic submarine, was launched at Groton. The Nautilus had the capability of staying submerged for months at a time, unlike diesel-fueled subs whose engines required large amounts of oxygen. In 1958, the Nautilus sailed to the North Pole.

1970, a Pan American Airways Boeing 747 flew its first flight between New York's Kennedy Airport and Heathrow Airport in London. The plane had a cabin almost twice as wide as a 707 and a length of 231 feet. The cockpit and first-class section were above the first floor of passengers. The plane could carry more than 400 passengers more than 5,500 miles.

1976, the supersonic Concorde, developed in a joint venture between the French and the English, was put into service. The first two Concordes with commercial passengers simultaneously took off. At their cruising speeds, the Concordes flew at 1,350 mph, well over the speed of sound. A "mach meter" in the front of the cabin displayed the speed of the plane.

2004, we were elated to read that Alicia Schlichter had scored 26 points for Benton giving the Tigers a 51-47 win over Sullivan County in girls basketball. A year later, the girl's basketball player from the Benton Area Schools is hobbling on crutches and we understand that she may be out for the remainder of the season. Brothers Harry and Nate are continuing to plop the ball through the hoops.

We got looking at a Benton Argus for August, 1951, about the death of Frank Hosler, 51, who died at Painter Den Club while vacationing. Mr. Hosler was with his grandson, Marc Strauch, at the time. The article reported that Mr. Hosler "suffered with a heart condition for some time." He was born in Jonestown, and worked for the Department of Internal Affairs, Harrisburg. He was survived by his wife, Doris, a daughter Mrs. George Strauch; two grandchildren, Marc Strauch and Lynn Strauch (later Mrs. Tom Shaw) Shaw; and a brother, Fred W. Hosler, Lynnwood, CA.

Many readers will not remember that Frank Hosler once owned a store called the "Red Front," on Market Street in Benton. The store sold general merchandise and was located at the intersection of Fink Street and Market Street, in the building now occupied by "Sophie's Wigwam." Later, Frank opened a bar and restaurant in the building and even later "Howdy" Brewington bought the building and ran a successful bar at that location for many years. Gordon Fink operated a bar and restaurant for many years in that location. Sophie (Pavalons) Welch later bought the building and continues to operate a bar.

Doris Hosler operated a successful dress shop at the corner of Everett and Third Streets for several years. She also operated a dress shop in the building where the drug store now operates.

Sarah (Rabb) Shipman gave birth to a 7 pound 1 oz. baby girl whose name will be Audrey January 18, 2005, at the Geisinger Medical Center. The birth happened on her great-great grandmother's birthday 113 years later. You'll remember that Lola and "Doc" Rabb once owned the drug store on Main Street, where the train club now has its headquarters. Both Sarah and Baby Audrey are doing well.

Dottie Ann (Rabb) Pollock recently had her second hip replaced at the Boca Community Hospital, Boca Raton, FL. She is now nearly as "bionic" as her father, Donald D. Rabb, who previously had both hips and both knees replaced. Good progress is reported...

Life is frequently rather awkward. Take the awkward first meeting of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. She began their first conversation by saying, "I'm afraid I'm a little tall for you, Mr. Tracy." Spencer immediately replied, "Don't worry. I'll soon cut you down to size."

To mark School Board Recognition Month, Benton Area Schools Board Members were invited to a luncheon as guests of the student council at the L. R. Appleman memorial school January 20. Three school board members--Rick Posey, Phil Edson and Harold Ackerman--accepted the offer, eating with the students and then touring the school. Seven student council members acted as hosts and guides, along with Mr. Jones, Principal, and Mrs. Becky Garrison, school counselor and student council advisor.

On this date in 1937, Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to be inaugurated on January 20. The 20th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution set the date, officially, for the swearing in of the President and Vice President. The amendment was ratified by Congress in 1933.

Benton United Methodist Church, Main Street, is holding their Ham Supper, January 29 from 4-7 PM. The cost is $7.50 for adults; $3.50 for children ages 6-12; 5 and under FREE. The menu includes ham, real mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, string bean casserole, pickled cabbage, jello salad, homemade bread, pie, cake, iced tea, hot tea or coffee. Take outs are available.

We'll have a trivia quiz this morning, and all the answers have appeared over the months in the Benton News. Ten correct answers is the minimum number we'll accept in order for you to pass. Answers at end.
• What is the state animal: (a) Groundhog, (b) Black Bear, c) Raccoon, (d) White Tailed Deer
• What is the state beverage: (a) Beer, (b) Coffee, (c) Milk, (d) Grape Juice
• How many counties are in Pennsylvania: (a) 58, (b) 49, (c) 67, (d) 60
• What year did PA become a state: (a) 1787, (b) 1776, (c) 1777, (d) 1812
• Who gave Penn's Woods to William Penn: (a) King Henry VIII of England, (b) King Charles II of England, (c) John Smith, (d) Benjamin Franklin
• What county has the lowest population: (a) Bedford, (b) Tioga, (c) Forest, (d) Elk
• What is the name of William Penn's home? (a) Pennsbury Manor, (b) Mount Vernon, (c) Brandywine, (d) Cumberland
• What 2 counties have more deer than people: (a) Bedford & Somerset, (b) Cambria & Blair, (c) Cameron & Potter, (d) Huntington & Juniata
• What river in Pennsylvania flows North: (a) Susquehanna, west branch (b) Delaware, (c) Monongahela, (d) Lehigh
• What Pennsylvania city was named as the capital of the US for one day: (a) York, (b) Gettysburg, (c) Lancaster, (d) Philadelphia
• What sports event was played in Pittsburgh in 1903 for the very first time? (a) World Series, (a) national bowling congress, (c) miniature golf exhibition (d) Little League Playoffs
• After what war did England take control of Pennsylvania: Civil War, (b) French & Indian War, (c) World War I, (d) Spanish-American War
• The oldest golf course in America is where: (a) Easton, (b) Sharon, (c) Hershey, (d) Clarion
• The first white settlers in Pennsylvania were of what nationality: (a) Irish & German, (b) English & German , (c) German & Irish, (d), Swedish and Dutch

More on the deer issue...
• The eight-member Board of Game Commissioners will gather around the hunting-discussion table at 2001 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, next week to discuss the hunting season and bag limits. The 2005-06 guidelines will be given preliminary approval at the end of the three-day process.
• State Rep. Robert E. Belfanti, D-107, urged hunters Wednesday to "force the public's will" over the state's controversial deer management program by calling for the replacement of seven of the eight members of the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
• The Game Commission" reported that they "believe the feedback from hunters is indicative of a change in Pennsylvania's deer population or deer behavior."
• The Game Commission has posted a new brochure titled Waiting for answers on the 2004-2005 deer harvest on its website (www.pgc.state.pa.us). Click on the "Pennsylvania Deer Update" icon in the center of the homepage.

The Guv announced that in the event of an Eagles-Steelers matchup, he will sit on the Eagles side, and Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll, who's from the western Pennsylvania borough of McKees Rocks, will sit with Steelers fans.

Quote of the Day:
"All I can say is, if it's Eagles and Steelers in Jacksonville, and the Steelers' fans and the Eagles' fans are there for a week, citizens of Jacksonville, beware!"
--the Guv

Here are the answers to the pop quiz for today...
• The state animal is the white tailed deer, possibly the most controversial animal in the state at the moment.
• The state beverage is milk.
• There are 67 counties in Pennsylvania. The 2003 census indicated there were 64,605 people in Columbia County and 12,365,455 in the state.
• Pennsylvania become a state on December 12, 1787.
• King Charles II of England gave Penn's Woods to William Penn.
• The county with the least population is Forest. About 50% of its land mass is part of the Allegheny National Forest. Cook Forest State Park is also in Forest County.
• Cameron and Potter counties have more deer than people.
• Pennsbury Manor in Bucks County was the name of William Penn's home.
• The Monongahela River in Pennsylvania flows north from the confluence of the West Fork and Tygart rivers at Fairmont, West Virginia. It flows through the coal fields and mountains of West Virginia and into Western Pennsylvania where it joins the Allegheny River at Pittsburgh to form the Ohio River.
• Lancaster was the capital of the United States for one day. Congress has met in nine locations since 1774, when it first convened in Philadelphia. Before it established Washington, D.C. as the seat of government, Congress also met in Baltimore, Lancaster, York, Princeton, Annapolis, Trenton, and New York.
• The world series was played in Pittsburgh in 1903 for the very first time. The Boston Pilgrims and the Pittsburg (no "h" at that time) Pirates squared off in a best of nine series. Boston won, by the way.
• England took control of Pennsylvania following the French & Indian War.
• Clarion is the home of the oldest golf course (Foxburg Country Club) in America.
• Swedish & Dutch settlers were the first white settlers in Pennsylvania.

On this date in...
1825, the first U.S. patent to "preserve animal substances in tin" was issued. The cylindrical tin cans were used for storage of salmon, oysters and lobsters and fashioned out of tin plate--iron coated with tin to prevent rusting and corrosion.

1953, Lucy (MacGillicuddy) Ricardo gave birth to Little Ricky on the air, the same night that Lucille Ball gave birth to her second child, Desiderio Alberto Arnaz. The audience for the program was larger than that watching the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower the following day. Their neighbors, best friends and landlords were Ethel and Fred Mertz. In the 1954-55 season, the four took a cross-county trip by car. During the 1955-56 season, they took a trip to Europe. At the start of the 1956-57 season, Ricky opened The Ricky Ricardo Babaloo Club.

Esther Mae King, 106, (April 21, 1898-Jan. 18, 2005), Meeker, died Tuesday in Harveys Lake. Her husband, Wayne King, died in 1973. She was also preceded in death by a brother, Leroy Ruggles, and sons, John W. and Roy H. King. She is survived by children: Dorothy M. Wadas, Shavertown; Donald F. King, Benton; Richard E. King, Mount Zion; Lyle K. King, Meeker; and Ted King, Kunkle. Also surviving are 29 grandchildren, 57 great-grandchildren and 24 great-great-grandchildren. Funeral will be held Friday at 11 AM from the Curtis L. Swanson Funeral Home, Pikes Creek. Friends may call from 7-9 PM. Thursday. Interment will be in the Maple Grove Cemetery, Pikes Creek.
--Obituary from the Press Enterprise, where a complete obituary can be found.

Looking for alternative sources for internet service Back Home in Benton, PA? We recommend either cable high speed internet service or DSL internet service. In the Benton area, high-speed residential service is available from three advertised sources, subject in all cases to actual verification that the service is available at your specific location:

• Jlink Internet Services, www.jlink.net/index.htm, 1 877 335-5465. DSL service is $34.95 per month. For dial-up internet service, the price is $17.95 monthly; $49.50 (16.50 month) for three months; $84.00 ($14.00 month) and $119.88 ($9.99 a month) for one year.

• EPIX Internet Services, www.jackflash.com/about/about.asp , 1 800 374-9669. DSL service is $39.99 per month with a 1-year commitment. There is no charge for installation and free use of the DSL modem. The price for unlimited dialup service is $20.99.

• CATV Express, www.gmicable.com/home.php , 1 800 427-0705. Basic cable internet service is $39.95 monthly with an additional service called "Residential Silver" available for $69.95 monthly. Additional fees include an installation fee of $10.00, USB/Ethernet Connection Modem Rental of $9.95, and additional email account's, $4.95.

Customers in several McDonald Restaurants in the Pittsburgh area can now purchase a wireless connection at McDonald's for $2 a day, $10 per month or $25 for three months, with proceeds donated to the Pittsburgh Ronald McDonald House. Wireless Internet access is prevalent in Starbucks, Panera Bread (soon coming to the Buckhorn area) and several smaller outlets.

The first meeting of the Benton American Veterans Post will be Wednesday, January 19, at 7:00 PM at The Benton United Methodist Church. The purpose of this meeting will be to share information about the American Veterans Organization as well as the process to establish a new Post. Active membership is open to anyone who is currently serving, or who has honorably served, in the Armed Forces of the United States--to include National Guard and Reserve components--during and since World War II

The 17th Annual Early Bird Sports Expo, is upcoming for four days at the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds January 27-30, 2005. The expo is always one of the warm spots in the hearts of sportsmen, even though it comes at a very cold part of the winter.

This year the emphasis seems to be on the Pennsylvania bobcat, bass and walleye fishing, American Indians and related subjects. Hunting in Africa is about as close to the mention of deer hunting as any of the seminars get.

The three-year initiative to reduce the state's deer herd could tend to distract somewhat from the major objectives of the expo. Many hunters are giving the Pennsylvania Game Commission a hard time following the killing of about a million and a half deer over the past three hunting seasons. Hunters saw and had the opportunity to shoot few deer in the woods during the just-completed season. Many hunters feel that the deer population is seriously depleted.

Dr. Gary Alt resigned shortly before Christmas, and in past years had been a popular drawing card for the local sports expo. We can remember several years back standing in the large hall waiting to hear Dr. Alt, and thinking how lucky we were to even be able to get to hear him. In recent public appearances before sports groups, Dr. Alt was forced to wear bullet-proof vests. When the Game Commission convenes the week before the sports expo to set next year's deer hunting guidelines, a lot of hostile comments are probable from hunters, many of whom even advocate an overhaul of the PGC. A merger with one or both similar state agencies is frequently mentioned. The other side of the fence should also be vocal from those who claim that Pennsylvania's woods are being harmed by deer overpopulation and over foresting. These groups tend to minimize the problems caused by automobiles, acid rain, timbering and housing developments, and various insects. These groups lay the problems of the woods on deer density.

For an interesting perspective on this subject, log onto a chat room at www.HuntingPA.com , where it is soon obvious that those who favor the environment are out of favor! The deer issue may create a few sparks, but the sports expo will be its usual great place to convene to cuss and discuss the deer issue.

Upcoming...
• Mark your calendars for the Benton Women's Club soup sale Friday, January 28. Orders are being taken for chicken corn chowder, ham and bean and beef vegetable. The price is $3.50 per quart. Details are being finalized, so keep tuned in. In the meantime, you can call Kathy Leamont at 925-2178 or Kay Chapman, 925-6972, and get your order in.

• The Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center will host their annual benefit auction on Sunday afternoon, April 24, at the Benton Volunteer Fire Company. The best food of the finest restaurants of Fishing Creek Valley will be available, followed by an opportunity to bid on a variety of truly outstanding objects and vacation getaways. Several wonderful donations of antiques are promised for this year as the committee is making the final plans for the event. We'll keep you posted as we can release details. Remember that your donations and your purchases are tax deductible and it is all for a very worthwhile cause. The Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation whose mission is to provide a community center with gym, library and museum for residents of the Northern Columbia County in order to enhance the quality of life for residents of our community.

On this date in...
1778, on his third voyage of discovery, Captain James Cook of the British Navy arrived at a group of islands in the Pacific. He named them the Sandwich Islands in honor of his friend and supporter, John Montague, the 4th Earl of Sandwich and first lord of the Admiralty. This honor to the Earl of Sandwich was short-lived. King Kamehameha I united the islands under his rule by 1819 as the Kingdom of Hawaii. Hawaii was admitted as the 50th of the United States of America on August 21, 1959.

1911, Eugene B. Ely, flying a 50-hp Curtiss pusher, made the first landing of an aircraft on a ship. The platform was a 119-ft wooden platform attached the deck of the U.S.S. Pennsylvania in San Francisco Harbor. Hooks on the plane's landing gear grabbed ropes secured by sandbags stretched across the landing platform. After spending an hour aboard the ship, he took off and flew back to his hangar.

1950, the federal tax on oleomargarine was repealed! The tax on oleomargarine imposed a low tax on white oleomargarine and a much higher tax on yellow oleomargarine. The purpose was to drive yellow oleomargarine out of the market, since it was often sold to the public as butter.

Helen D. Fritz, 91, (March 9, 1913-Jan. 17, 2005), 198 Klinger Hill Road, died Monday at the Bloomsburg Health Care Center. She was a daughter of the late William R. and Dorothy E. (Keeler) Rider and a 1931 graduate of Benton High School. She married Albert W. Fritz, who preceded her in death on Jan. 7, 1976. Funeral services will be Thursday at 11 AM in the Dean W. Kriner, Inc., Funeral Home. Interment will be in Waller Cemetery. Friends may call Thursday, 10 to 11 AM.
--From the Press Enterprise, where a complete obituary can be found

Deborah A. (Zettle) Wedge, 40, (Aug. 1, 1964-Jan. 15, 2005), Everett Street, died Saturday. She was a daughter of the late Charles and Roberta (Belcher) Zettle. She attended Benton schools and graduated from Northeast Bradford High School. She was employed by D.R.'s Quik Mart. Surviving are her husband, Chivous R. "Chip" Wedge, and two sons: Robert D. Harrington, Benton, and Derek C. Harrington, Camp Pendleton, CA; two brothers: Benton Area School Director Robert Zettle, Benton; and Richard Zettle, Phoenixville; and her mother-in-law and father-in-law, Chuck and June Wedge, Benton. Funeral services will be held Wednesday at 2 PM at the McMichael Funeral Home. A viewing will be held in the funeral home from noon on Wednesday until the service begins.
--From the Press Enterprise, where a complete obituary can be found

If you are a US citizen, you can claim a charitable tax deduction on your 2004 tax returns for tsunami disaster relief-related cash donations you make before January 31, 2005.

The Atlanta Falcons (13-4) will fly into Philadelphia to challenge the Eagles (14-3) Sunday at 3 PM for the right to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. At 6:30 PM Sunday in Pittsburgh, the New England Patriots (15-2), defending Super Bowl champions, will be at Heinz Field to battle the Steelers (16-1) for the AFC championship and Super Bowl berth. Football in Pennsylvania is on the march toward the Super Bowl.

Alanna M. Bath, daughter of Michael and Carol Bath, Bendertown, will be performing in a voice recital with special guests of two pianists and another vocalist on Monday, February 21, at 7 PM. Alanna is a Vocal Music Education major at Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre. She is a 2002 graduate of Benton Area High School. The free recital and reception to follow will be held at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 35 South Franklin Street, Wilkes-Barre. The church is across St. Franklin Street from Boscovs and WBRE-28.

We'll conclude our story about the flooding of Johnstown in 1889.

When darkness arrived following the collapse of the South Fork dam, thousands floated on debris, while others clung to the old seven-arched stone bridge that carried the Pennsylvania Railroad over the Conemaugh. Factory roofs, railroad cars, houses, trucks, people and just about anything imaginable got entangled in the jam at the bridge. The pileup eventually took up about 60 acres. Soon the debris caught fire, possibly from stoves with hot coals floating on top of the raging river fueled by railroad cars full of oil. The stone walls of the bridge became a funeral pyre for at least 300 hundred people, many cremated in their own homes that had been carried by the rushing water a mile from the foundation of their house. The fire raged for three days.

Thousand were homeless. There was no gas, no electricity. Fires burned everywhere, telephone and telegraphs were out. Bridges, roads and ten miles of the railroad were gone.

A telegram sent before the town was wiped out resulted in the Pittsburgh Commercial-Gazette sending a train that made it to within 17 miles of Johnstown. The statistics and horror that emerged from the town staggered the nation, and the country responded to the disaster with a outpouring of assistance as early (and erroneous) reports showed the death toll "in the Valley of Death" to reach 15,000. If facts didn't exist, imagination of writers took over, fueled by an insatiable desire to learn more about the Johnstown Flood. Although not all the stores that came from the flood were true, the fact is that at a Pittsburgh fundraiser at City Hall, the city raised over $48,000 in one hour, a tidy sum for that time. New York City raised $600,000 in one week. Something over $3,000,000 was eventually raised and donated as Americans showed their ability to rally in times of disaster.

A five-foot high 67-year old spinster in muddy boots soon arrived in the valley armed with 50 volunteers. Her name was Clara Barton and the newly organized American Red Cross had arrived at their first disaster armed with a strong determination and about half a million dollars. She set up a Red Cross "hospital," and stayed for five months. When she left, the entire nation knew of the good things that her organization had accomplished. Nevertheless, the cleanup took years, with bodies found months to years after the flood. Total property damage was estimated at $17,000,000.

The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club owned the abandoned reservoir and did continuous maintenance on the old dam. The club had bought the land from the Pennsylvania Railroad. The dam dated to the 1840s when it was used for water storage for the Johnstown canal basin, part of a system of railroads and canals that once linked Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Leaks in the dam were repaired by dumping in ground, stumps, straw and limbs wherever the dam looked suspect. The club received much of the blame for the flood, but no successful lawsuits (the lawsuits were not tried in Johnstown, but were tried in Pittsburgh) were ever brought against the club or club members like Andrew Carnegie, Henry Frick and Andrew Mellon. After the flood, club members never returned to the site of their former recreation spot and the club was soon sold at sheriff's sale.

Johnstown is 185 miles from Back Home in Benton, PA, and is reached via I-80 westbound, I-99 southbound and routes 22, 219 and 56. The Johnstown Flood National Memorial is located in southwestern Pennsylvania, about 10 miles northeast of Johnstown. The park contains nearly 165 acres and preserves the remains of the South Fork Dam and portions of the former Lake Conemaugh bed.

January 17, 2005. There are 62 days until the official start of Spring. Glenda Watts Friend celebrates her birthday along with Jim Carey, 43, and old Benjamin Franklin, born in Boston on this date in 1706. Glenda is the curator at Old Washington State Historical Park, Washington, Arkansas. We observe the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. today. Schools, banks, major stock markets and U. S. Government facilities are closed.

On this date in 1985, Wendy Kriebel scored 34 points and had 17 rebounds in a 55-39 Benton girl's basketball game win over Berwick.
--from Monday's Press Enterprise

The January meeting of the Benton Red Hat society will be at Market Square Restaurant January 19 at 2 PM. The menu is Quiche, a salad, beverage and dessert. Price is $8 which includes tax and tip. Please bring a small plant for a plant swap! Hope to see you all there.

Sideways, a favorite comedy of ours, won best screenplay last night at the Golden Globe awards for Jim Taylor and director Alexander Payne. The picture also won "Best Picture, Musical or Comedy." The movie was filmed entirely in the Santa Ynez Valley of California, one of our favorite places in the United States and certainly one of the most beautiful. The movie opens nationwide Friday, so on Thursday we'll dust off our recent review of the movie and print it again.

Saturday afternoon as we were leaving the Pennsylvania Farm Show, we got word that route 11 was flooded and closed at Northumberland, and we were unable to use the highway through Sunday afternoon. Rain and melting snow caused the Susquehanna to spill over its banks between Northumberland Borough and Shamokin Dam. We realized how lucky we were when we considered the devastation at La Conchitta, California, where mudslides killed ten people earlier in the week and everyone lacked long-term solutions for the problem of continuing mud slides. Thirteen homes were destroyed and 18 others were damaged. We thought of the 96-mile-long Santa Ana River that killed dozens of people in a 1938 flood and was once considered the biggest flood threat west of the Mississippi. So far, $1.3-billion has been spent on improvements to prevent flooding across this area of Orange County in California. We thought of the Indian Ocean earthquake that occurred on December 26, 2004, that generated a tsunami that was among the deadliest disasters in modern history. At a magnitude of 9.0, it was the largest earthquake since the 9.2 magnitude Good Friday Earthquake off Alaska in 1964.

Our thoughts then strayed to the state's worst natural disaster, back on June 1, 1889, when Johnstown was devastated by the worst flood in the Nation's history. Over 2,200 died, huge numbers were homeless, 967 were missing. It was the story of the 19th century, ranking just below the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. At the time, everyone in the United States knew the story well, just as we all know about the recent tsunami. But for those who don't know the story, stay with us through Tuesday and we'll share some gruesome details with you.

Johnstown was founded in 1794 by a Swiss immigrant, Joseph Schantz (Johns) (1750-1810). The town was known as Conemaugh until 1834 when it was renamed for Johns. It became a rail terminus and its iron and steel industry developed in the 1860s. Flooding has been almost a way of life for Johnstown, with major floods in 1889, 1936 and 1977. Property losses as recent as 1977 were estimated at $200 million.

Johnstown in the southwestern corner of Cambria County in 1889 was a steel company town in the Allegheny mountains. Fast moving trout streams lined the valley that is home to the town. The population was predominantly Germans and Welsh in the town of 30,000 or so people. The community was growing, industrious and known for the quality of its steel. Blast furnaces lit up the sky each night. Johnstown began to prosper with the building of the Pennsylvania Mainline Canal in 1834 and the arrival of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Cambria Iron Company in the 1850s.

Johnstown was built on a flood plain at the fork of the Little Conemaugh, which plunges down the mountains from the east, and Stony Creek, which flows in from the east. At Johnstown they form the Conemaugh, which eventually flows into the Allegheny above Pittsburgh. The Conemaugh Valley usually flooded in the Spring.

Fourteen miles east up the Little Conemaugh and 450 feet higher than Johnstown, Lake Conemaugh clung to the side of the mountain thanks to the South Fork Dam, said to be the biggest earth dam in the country at that time, over 300 yards wide. A two-lane dirt road meandered across the top of the dam. The lake extended back three miles from the dam and in one spot was a mile wide. When the cork was pulled and the dam emptied, the water flowed out in 35 minutes.

At 4:07 PM on May 31, 1889, Johnstown residents heard a low rumble that grew progressively louder. After a night of heavy rains, the South Fork Dam had broken and 20 million tons of water were crashing down the narrow valley. Loaded with debris, the wall of flood water grew to an estimated 60 feet high, moving at an estimated 40 miles per hour, destroying everything in its path. Miles of barbed wire unleashed from a wire works further complicated the situation. The devastation and the drowning of Johnstown lasted only ten minutes, the most devastating ten minutes anyone involved had ever encountered.

To be continued Tuesday...

On this date in 1866, Everett Hosmer Barney patented the all-metal screw clamp skates, which attached to normal shoes and were tightened with a key. On this date in 1920, Prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect. The United States and its allies began bombing Iraq in the Persian Gulf War on this date in 1991.

We read where Washington, D.C.'s costs for the inauguration of George W. Bush are expected to be at least $17.3 million.

This inauguration will be quite different from the lamplight inauguration in Windsor County, Vermont, of early August, 1923. On August 2, 1923, Warren Gamaliel Harding died, the victim of a mysterious illness he got while on a cross-country trip. John Calvin Coolidge, Jr., 51, (July 4, 1872-January 5, 1933) suddenly became the thirtieth President of the United States. A telegram arrived at White River Junction, Vermont, the evening of Harding's death, at 10:30 PM--at what the Vermonters called "God's Time." A telegram operator cranked up his Model T and delivered the wire to Coolidge in person, slowed only by a flat tire he had on the way.

When the awakened vice-president heard the news, he slipped his black shoes over his white socks, adjusted his other attire appropriate to the hour of the night and dictated a statement, ending with the words, "It is my intention to remain here until I can obtain the correct form for the oath of office, which will be administered to me by my father, who is a notary public, if that will meet the necessary requirement."

The Commander of the local American Legion post arrived at the Coolidge house, and grasping the hand of the man who would shortly become President, said, "The country is without a President, Mister Coolidge: The United States has no President, no President. The country should never be without a President."

At 2:35 AM on August 3, 1923, in the flickering candlelight of Cilley's General Store, the same building where he was born, Calvin Coolidge asked for a drink of Moxie, reached into his pocket and paid the owner of the store $.10 for the drink. He stood in front of his father, Colonel John C. Coolidge, a justice of the peace and a notary who was attired without "tie or collar" and repeated the oath of office in his Vermont accent. It began, "I, Calvin Coolidge, do solemnly swear..." It was all over at exactly 2:47 AM. He did not embrace his wife or say anything to anyone in the room, other than "Good night."

The next morning, the President left a dollar bill as a tip for one of the wait staff, stopped at the burial spot of his mother and proceeded to the train station in Rutland. A special railroad car awaited to transport the President to Washington, D.C. The President curtly told the traffic manager for the railroad that "You're not running any special train for me!" Upon his return to the nation's capital, the swearing in was repeated.

A year later, the President was elected on the slogan "Keep Cool with Coolidge." Chief Justice William Howard Taft administered the oath of office to Coolidge on the East Portico of the Capitol. This time the event was broadcast to the nation by radio. "Silent Cal" never ran again and announced that decision with typical terseness: "I do not choose to run for President in 1928."

Until his father's death, he usually returned to his boyhood home during the summer months. In 1924, the upper floor of the store his father operated at the time of Calvin's birth served as his summer office.

Several buildings of Coolidge's youth are maintained at the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site , 351 miles from Back Home in Benton, PA. The town lies northeast of Albany off route 7. It is six miles south of U.S. 4 on VT 100A, about the center of the state. The site is open from late May to mid October.

After thoughts...
Grace Anna and Calvin Coolidge were complete opposites personality-wise. She was talkative and fun-loving and Coolidge was quiet and serious. Coolidge once handed her a bag with 52 pairs of socks with holes in them. Grace's reply was "Did you marry me to darn your socks?" Without cracking a smile and with his usual seriousness, Calvin answered, "No, but I find it mighty handy."

On this date in...
1929, civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. was born. He was assassinated April 4, 1968.

1943, the world's largest office building was completed in Arlington. The structure covers 34 acres of land and has 17 miles of corridors. The building is the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Defense Department. The building is twice the size of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, and has three times the floor space of the Empire State Building. The National Capitol could fit into any one of the five wedge-shaped sections. Approximately 23,000 employees, both military and civilian, work in the building each day.

1955, the first solar-heated and radiation-cooled house in the U.S. began operating in Tucson. The system was built for almost $4,000 in labor and materials. It was made using a large slanting slab of steel and glass that converted sunlight into heat, then ducted into the house. In the Summer, the cooling used the same ducts, fans and controls.

St. Frances Senior Regina Schlichter standing at 6'1" and wearing her #40 jersey recorded six points, nine rebounds, seven assists and four steals to help lead the Red Flash to a 73-58 victory over Saint Francis-NY in Brooklyn Thursday evening.

As a Junior in 2003-04, Regina played in all 31 games, scored in double figures twice during the season, sank five-of-nine shots from the field in 11-point effort versus the Blue Devils. As a Sophomore in 2002-03, Regina averaged 4.8 ppg and 2.3 rpg during sophomore campaign. She played in 28 of 31 games. She scored in double figures five times, including career-high 15-point effort at Miami-OH. As a Freshman in 2001-02, Regina played in all 31 games, including four starts. She averaged 5.8 ppg and 2.8 rpg. She shot 42.7% from the floor (70-for-164) and 71.4% (25-for-35) from the free throw line. She scored in double figures five times including against Penn State and also grabbed a career-high eight rebounds against the Nittany Lions. In her high school career Back Home in Benton, PA, playing for Don Whitenight, Regina lettered all four years, and averaged 21.6 points, 15.0 rebounds, 4.7 blocks and 3.5 steals during senior season at Benton Area High School. She earned all-conference honors in each of final three seasons at Benton, and shot 55% from the field and 72% from the line. She surpassed the 1,000-point mark as a junior while leading the conference in scoring during junior year. She led the Tigers to a 16-9 record during senior year. She was selected to Who's Who Among America's High School students and was a member of the National Honor Society. Oh, yes, she was also a four-year letter winner in softball.

The Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers attempt to advance in the National Football League playoffs at the Super Bowl in Jacksonville on February 6. We figure most of us are rooting for an all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl. The Steelers are up first hosting the New York Jets at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh and the Eagles play early Sunday afternoon against the Minnesota Vikings. Steelers' rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger plans to donate his Saturday paycheck of $18,000 to tsunami relief.

We remember saying that our new Dell computer a few years back would last until we were unable to use a computer any longer. What a joke! So now lets take a forward look at a small slice of future computing...

The future of computing includes the ability to take a picture of a recognizable object with your camera phone, email it to a server and immediately get back information on the object. For example, take a picture of the Washington Monument, sent it along and immediately get back an audio-visual narrative about the monument. When you get hungry, take a picture of a restaurant and get back a picture of the menu. Think of the possibilities for police officers who need to identify the person in front of them using facial feature comparison with iris scanning and skin texture analysis. Take a picture of a movie advertisement and get back show times for local theatres. All this is probably about a year away.

The weather around the area this morning reminds us of a story Father used to tell about a local doctor. As we remember the story, the doctor was peeved one cold night when he was roused out of his warm bed to visit a patient over on RD 3. He went to the man's house and found him in bed. The doctor examined the man, then asked him if he had made his will. The patient, quivered, then asked if he was really that sick. The doctor repeated the question and receiving another "no" suggested that the man send for his attorney in the morning. The doctor then suggested that he send for his minister, saying "I'd let him know if I were you." The patient was greatly alarmed by this time and asked if he was really going to die. "Not just yet," said the doctor. "There's nothing the matter with you. But I hate to think that I'm the only man in town who's been made a darn fool of on a night like this."

We keep hearing of shortcuts that some recommend be taken with our children and grandchildren's education. Here is a reality check, but not for the adult readers. This quiz is for the teenager in your family. Have him or her take this short quiz to figure out what necessities and what luxuries the teen will expect when they are on their own. When the quiz is over, the program calculates how much income and education would be required to maintain that standard of living. But please don't stop there. Take the time to sit down with this special person in your life and discuss the teenager's plans for continuing education.

On this date in...
1794, Elizabeth Hog Bennett became the first woman in the U.S. to successfully give birth to a child by a Cesarean section. Dr. Jessee Bennett, her physician and her husband, performed the operation without anesthesia. A second doctor declined to assist, citing excessive risk. Two field hands held the mother on a wooden table. The Cesarean operation has been traced as far back as ancient Chinese etchings that depict the procedure on apparently living women. Under Julius Caesar, Roman law decreed that all women who were dead or dying must be cut open to save the child.

1964, the first "hootenanny" was held at the White House when the New Christy Minstrels came to call on Lady Bird and the Prez, as well as Italy's President. We know we have to define "hootenanny" since we used it. Well--it is a thingumadoodle involving an informal musical performance with audience participation in somewhat of a sing-along. Or maybe it is more like a whatchamacallit--a performance of folk music by a number of artists with a degree of audience participation. The New Cristy Minstrels were named after a minstrel group started in 1844 when Edwin "Pop" Christy, a minstrel writer responsible for Goodnight Ladies, formed the Christy Minstrels. The musical director for the New Christy Minstrels, Mike Settle, left in the mid-60's and took Kenny Rogers and other with him. Together they formed the group the First Edition.

Tailgaters were set back in their haunches when the NFL awarded the Super Bowl to Jacksonville since there is a city ordinance banning drinking in public in that city. Knowing that it very well could be a Pennsylvania Super Bowl this year and that both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have the art of tailgating down to a science, a county judge declared the ruling unconstitutional. The judge, based on a case of three homeless men charged for drinking in a park, ruled the alcohol ban was selectively enforced. The judge felt that people coming to the Super Bowl would be subjected to a different standard relating to public boozing.

In a recent conversation, we used the term "Tall Poppy." The man we were having coffee with didn't understand the term, and we had to explain what we meant. We'll explain it here, too, and we suspect that you'll think of some Tall Poppies by the time that we finish.

We first heard the term when we were in Australia and happened to meet writer Robert Treborlang who used the term. As we remember the concept and as we use the term, it means a designation given to people who have risen a little higher, achieved a little more or contributed more of themselves than most. Therefore, someone wants to do them in.

Think of a field of flowers, a field of poppies, for example. The tallest flowers are always plucked first in order to make the nicest bouquets. Some people just dislike Tall Poppies. These people turn on community-minded citizens who rise too high above others, people who fill public office without compensation, for example. People who try to help out in running small community associations by donating their time and effort are suddenly branded as Tall Poppies by a few.

In fact, Tall Poppies are just like you and me, only more so! They very well might be below average height, a motivation to strive harder. If they moved from the local community where they are known as Tall Poppies, they would be known as "successes."

Running into debt isn't so bad. It's running into creditors that hurts.

The town of Millville shipped, Ted Fenstermacher once reported, 38,000 bushels of buckwheat in 1941. In one year when the railroad was still running in Millville, they shipped a reported 50 boxcars filled with buckwheat.

We'll briefly explain about the railroad in Millville. Sometime when we have more time we'll report on the entire Watsontown-Millville-Berwick branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, but for today we'll stick with only a smattering of its history in Millville. The railroad opened in mid-December, 1886, when Millville only had a meager 102 structures and a total population of 460. The train went at that time from Watsontown through Jerseytown to Millville. The entire project was accomplished using pick and shovel with wheel barrows to move the dirt.

Problems began right from the beginning. A tunnel about 200 feet long between Eyers Grove and Jerseytown had to be blasted through solid rock. When completed, it was too narrow for the emerging size of the engines. Tunnels were unknown to the wildlife of the area, and bear started hibernating in the tunnel. In March, 1887, when the tunnel completed, a huge ox roast was planned in Millville when the train arrived. The spring thaw made the ground under the track too soft, and the people coming for the roast had to be brought the final few miles by wagon. Stations with agents sprang up at Turbotville, Washingtonville (later called Strawberry Ridge), Jerseytown, Millville and Rohrsburg. Eventually the line extended to Orangeville where the train shared the Bloomsburg and Sullivan train station and then on to Berwick.

We started this segment talking about the fast-growing crop of buckwheat. The crop was grown on more than a million acres in the U.S. in the late 1800s. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew buckwheat. Russia, where buckwheat is native, has the largest current acreage of buckwheat.

Domestic buckwheat production now is mostly concentrated in the northern Plains. The crop is planted in early summer, since it is not frost tolerant. Some producers are able to grow buckwheat as a double crop after the wheat, oats or flax harvest, planting as late as August 1. The crop matures in a little over two months.

The Japanese grind buckwheat into noodles. Buckwheat can be used as a crop cover to smother weeds. Buckwheat is popular with bee keepers because of its profusion of flowers. Buckwheat is not drought tolerant, but it tends to avoid the drought by maturing after the worst of the summer dry period is over.

Buckwheat flour is often mixed with flour from other cereal grains to make breads, breakfast cereals or other multi-grain products. In Japan, buckwheat and wheat flour are used to make the popular "soba" noodles. Buckwheat is sometimes fed to livestock like hogs and has about the feed value of oats when fed to livestock. Buckwheat is normally mixed with other grains when fed to some animals like light-skinned hogs, since they can develop a rash. Buckwheat hulls are sometimes used to make buckwheat pillows for the Japanese market. Dayne and Ruth Kline once had a large freezer insulated with hulls from buckwheat.

And so we come full circle back to Millville. The gristmill that gave rise to the town of "Millville" dates back to John Eves and his son, Thomas, who also built the first house in what is now Millville. Through fires and various owners--men with names like Masters, Betz, Heacock, McHenry, Welliver, Diehl, Reece, Greenly and Maust--the mill has been an important part of the town.

We hope that as a result of this reading, you hurry out and order a steaming plate of buckwheat cakes and sausage--if your diet permits. We'll be over in the corner eating our buckwheat cakes. Wave as you go by...

January 13, 2004.

Robert J. Fallon, 53, Dallas, died Tuesday, January 11, 2005. Surviving are his wife, the former Suzanne Raski; daughter Erin, home; sister Maureen Walsh, Thoroughfare, NJ; mother-in-law Helen Raski, Benton. Funeral services will be Saturday at 9:30 AM from the Richard H. Disque Funeral Home, Inc., 672 Memorial Highway, Dallas, with Mass of Christian Burial at 10 AM in Gate of Heaven Church. Interment will be in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Carverton.
--from the Press Enterprise, where a complete obituary can be found

William the Conqueror (1066-1087) was frequently called William the Bastard, since he was the illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy and a tanner's daughter. In 1053, defying a papal ban, William married Matilda of Flanders, a descendant of Alfred the Great, which helped strengthen his claim to the English crown. In 1066, he lead the Normans to defeat the English forces in the Battle of Hastings and on Christmas Day that year, he was crowned the King of England in Westminster Abbey. Ten years later, he began the practice of beheading to England.

William became so obese that mounting his horse became an impossibility. King Philip of France described William as looking like he was "lying in," a term denoting a pregnant woman. That description got back to William. The portly gent didn't have the benefit of the Adkins or the South Beach Diet, so he went on a liquid diet (of mostly alcohol). When William had lost sufficient weight to climb on a horse, he set off for France bent on vengeance, but died in a celebration after winning a battle at Mantes, France. His horse threw William violently into the saddle's iron knob on the front of the saddle. His intestines burst and peritonitis set in. William died at the age of 60, but lingered over a period of five weeks. Servants stole everything from his residence after he died, leaving his lifeless body lying on the floor.

The funeral took place on a hot day, and in the afternoon sun the body began to swell. William's body would not fit into his custom-made stone tomb, although history records that he was eventually stuffed in.

About now, readers are asking what this all has to do with anything. It is our way of leading into a progress report on our planned Florida vacation and on our New Year's resolution to lose weight and keep it off. Our weight issue first. Our progress for the first thirteen days of 2005: we gained a pound. The situation reminds us of a Winnie the Pooh cartoon we saw once, where Winnie was leaning against the refrigerator pondering the question, "how long does getting thin take?"

And because of illness in the family, we have put off our trip to the Sunshine State for the time being. It appears from the weather forecast that lots of winter remain, so we won't be in a hurry. We had planned to catch up on our exercise in Florida.

An interesting article in the Poughkeepsie Journal referred to walking in Ricketts Glen Park as "the thrill-ride of trails." We had never thought of it that way, although we suspect that today the description would be right on the mark!

Upcoming on...
January 14, the Huntington Mills United Sportsmen Coyote hunt. Hunters can start on Friday, January 14 at 6 AM. On Sunday, a breakfast buffet will be served at the club's hall from 9 AM to 1 PM. The hall is located on Waterton Road and Cann Road, just west of Huntington Mills.

February 10, the Village Reading Group will meet at 7:00 PM at the Benton United Methodist Church. The group will discuss Jan Karon's book, A Light in the Window, the second novel in the Mitford series. This heartwarming story of Father Tim has a neighbor lady tugging at his heartstrings, while a wealthy widow pursues him with hot casseroles, and Cousin Meg moves into the rectory, uninvited. It should be a fun evening. Come on out.

Parents of children who will be 5 years old before September 1, 2005, and are planning to attend kindergarten in the fall of 2005 should call the L.R. Appleman Elementary School office to pre-register their child. Please call 925-6971 between 6 AM and 3:45 PM. Actual registration will take place in early February.

The American Professional Rodeo Association earlier this month extended congratulations to the Benton Rodeo Association for being voted the 2004 APRA Rodeo of the Year.

William Slater, President of the APRA, wrote, "The competion for this award, as always, was extremely competitive. But once again, your Rodeo won by a very large margin of votes. The top 12 cowboys in this Association once again cast their votes for your rodeo. This award is the more prestigious award that the APRA offers each year. This award is the highest compliment that the APRA, and its members, can give."

The varied talents of men and women who gather each year to make the Benton Rodeo the success deserve a lot of credit for their professionalism and support of the sport of rodeo.

The 2005 Benton Rodeo will take place July 12 through July 17. You can visit the rodeo via the web at the official rodeo site, and in a special section of the Benton News.

And speaking of horses, we wish that we were at the Farm Show Wednesday to see Jerry Hall, Benton, and Jathan Allen, Orangeville, (both 10) who participated in the Pony Pull. If you don't know anything about pony pulls, tune in the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) Thursday at 6 AM for the lightweight/middleweight division and at 8:15 AM for the heavyweight division. (We know, we know--but we just found out at 9:45 PM Wednesday). You soon discover that the pull was a hit in Harrisburg...

On this date in...
1896, Dr. Henry Louis Smith, a physics and astronomy professor, took the first x-ray photograph. In a 15-minute exposure, the x-ray showed the location of a bullet in the hand of a corpse. His approach may not have been the clinically correct: Smith fired a bullet into the hand of a corpse for the demonstration.

1926, "Sam 'n' Henry" debuted on WGN radio in Chicago with Freeman Gosden as "Sam" and Charles Correll as "Henry." The show's name soon changed to "Amos 'n' Andy" and Gosden and Correll played two black characters constantly looking for extra income. The radio show attracted an estimated forty million fans until it ended in 1948.

1943, the Office of Price Administration announced that the standard hot dogs would be replaced by Victory Sausage made of meat and soybean meal. We remember reading a story about General George Patton who was once given a choice in Europe of pheasant or victory sausage with a boiled potato and Brussels sprouts. Victory sausage was the better choice, since the alleged pheasant turned out to be a large robin.

1971, All In the Family debuted on CBS-TV. Carroll O'Connor starred as Archie Bunker, Rob Reiner as Meathead, Sally Struthers as Gloria and Jean Stapleton as "The Dingbat" Edith. The song Those Were the Days that opened and closed each sequence was actually the original title of the show.

2001, William (Redington) Hewlett (1913-2001) died, a co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company. The Hewlett-Packard Company was formed in 1939 with David Packard, a friend and Stanford classmate, in a small garage in Palo Alto, with $538 of initial capital. The order of the name of the company was determined by a coin toss. HP's first product was an audio oscillator sold to Walt Disney for making of the movie Fantasia. Hewlett's other projects involved a bowling alley foul-line indicator, automatic urinal flusher and a weight-loss shock machine.

Dog licenses are now on sale. In 2004, county treasurers and state agents sold licenses for more than 900,000 dogs. Licenses are required for all dogs more than three months old. If the animal is spayed or neutered, the license is $6. If they are not, the license is $8. Lifetime licenses may be purchased as well. Depending on whether the pet has been spayed or neutered, the price could be either $31 or $51. Senior citizens and persons with disabilities pay a reduced license fee. Submit your request by going to www.agriculture.state.pa.us, or head on over to the county treasurer's office to file an application.

Route 118 near the intersection of route 239 in Jackson Township was the scene of a fatal accident shortly after 9 AM Tuesday in which a Muncy man, Wayne Bradley, 59, rolled his Dodge truck. Winter driving conditions prevailed in the area at that time. Other accidents were reported in Sugarloaf Township and in Stillwater a white Jeep similar to one owned by a local retired teacher caused concerns until the owner of the vehicle was identified. Up to six inches of snow fell in areas north of the Borough.

From the unsubstantiated rumor department comes...
Benton Area Schools will "keep the AG program," according to teacher Douglas McCracken. The firm declaration of intent came about after the Benton News received an email asking "Why is the Benton Area School District trying to get rid of the AG program and the FFA program?" We asked members of the School Board, the school administration and the man in charge of the program and came up with the same answer from everyone: the program will continue alive and well! Doug McCracken told us that he has over 100 boys in the FFA program.

VoTech does not have an Ag program as Benton Area Schools have, although they have a "greenhouse" program and students there can participate in FFA.

From all that we could determine, doing away or seriously modifying the AG program has not been talked about at the administration level, nor has the Board talked about a change. In talking with parents and students, we found a strong positive reaction to Doug McCracken and the AG program at the local school.

Take the time to look at the Armed Services Tribute at http://home.insightbb.com/~armedforcestribute/ .

Didja know that checks were widely used in the early 16th century in Europe? Amsterdam was a headquarters for international shipping and trade. Merchants leery of keeping their money at home deposited it with Dutch bankers who then paid the account holder's debts whenever they received a written note.

The first printed checks date back to the 1700s. The British coined the word "check" after English bankers used serial numbers on the slips of paper as a means of "checking" on the notes. Eventually, cashiers agreed to pay their depositors' debts out of the money in each account, based on the depositor's written "note" to do so.

In the United States, checks were first used in 1681 when cash-strapped Boston businessmen mortgaged their land to a "fund," against which they could write checks. Check 21, a federal law that took effect in October, 2004, lets financial institutions send digital copies of checks to one another over the Internet. Banks can therefore collect payment sooner, and eliminate the physical process of moving checks across the country.

"Life would not be tolerable but for its amusements."
--George Bernard Shaw

"What is forgiven is usually well remembered."
--Louis Dudek

To err is human, but some people's erasers are wearing out ahead of the pencil!

A honeymoon is that short period of doting between dating and debting.

On this date in 1820, chemists tried to create a rust-proof steel, much like what today we call "stainless" steel. It took until 1913 to find a practical application for the endeavor when English metallurgist Harry Brearly was trying to improve rifle barrels and accidentally discovered that adding chromium to low carbon steel gives it stain resistance. The smooth, hard surface of stainless steel didn't trap dirt, bacteria or molds. The chromium in the steel combined with oxygen in the atmosphere to form a thin, invisible layer of chrome-containing oxide.

The winners of the Benton Borough Christmas decorating contest sponsored by the Benton Lions Club were...
First place: Chris Myers, Park Street.
Second place: Derl Remphrey, Third & Everett Street.
3rd place: Karen Reed, Center and Main street.

The current issue of Pennsylvania Game & Fish Magazine says port-fishing generates $50 million per year in sales and income taxes, and 75% of all fishing license buyers also buy trout stamps. Trout stamp sales account for 17% of Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission income.

Many say that the local weather has been mild this winter and point to the Farm Show week as a prime example of our usual winter. The sleet, ice and blizzard conditions that usually accompany the Farm Show are missing this year, and by Thursday we're promised weather in the high 50s. Up in Monroe, Sullivan, Carbon, Schuylkill, Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, residents can hardly wait for the ice to melt and the dirt roads to clear. We plan to take the opportunity with the unusually warm weather Thursday to slip into a forward gear and point toward the south, before the beastly weather of the west hits here. Son David tells us that in Santa Ynez, CA, more rain has fallen since the first of the year than fell during all of 2004--with another storm about ready to arrive.

In the spring of 1957, the senior class of the Benton Schools decided to take a trip--to an amusement park in Moosic known as Rocky Glen. A class outing at an amusement park might not sound special today, but in 1957 it was eagerly anticipated for weeks in advance. Amusement parks, as I remember them then, were places for the family to go together on a Sunday afternoon. Here was a chance for friends and classmates to go and unwind from twelve years of study. None of this stuff of going to a potentially culturally enriching place like Baltimore's Inner Harbor, or New York city or Colonial Williamsburg or Washington, D.C! It was off to the amusement park.

Rocky Glen Amusement Park, Moosic, PA

Rocky Glen had a 55-foot roller coaster known as the "Mighty Lightnin,'" usually advertised as "The Million Dollar Roller Coaster" that I think closed at the end of the summer of 1957. The park had an antique "dodgem" with antique cars (later purchased by Knoebel's Amusement Resort, Elysburg, or as it is usually referred to as "Knoebels Grove." We loved to stand along the side and smell the electricity arcing and the cars going ker-thud into each other. Something about seeing seniors driving into other Dodgem cars that prepares one for the open highway later in life! Other rides included the merry-go-round and the Ferris wheel, "The Hey Dey," "The Tumble Bug," "The Whip," "The Cuddle Up" and our former favorite "The Caterpillar."

We remember that day in May in 1957 when the senior class climbed into the yellow school bus and headed for Rocky Glen. Some of us didn't have dates and many of us didn't have very much money to spend on what Father called "foolishness." We didn't see much point in hanging around with the guys when we could be asking one of the very pretty girls to take a ride on something with us. So although the boys started out together and the girls started out together, sooner or later some broke ranks and joined "the other side."

In my particular case, I tried a cherry drink to quench my thirst and to boost my sagging nerve, then I "accidentally" walked near a girl I wanted to ask to go for a ride with me. I suggested The Caterpillar, a ride that went round and round and certainly would make her slide over next to me--a good start, I thought, in developing some kind of interest. The ride had possibilities since a canvas tarp automatically covered the riders at one point and kept the screams inside and the light out. This ride would be perfect!

Higher and higher and faster and faster, me on the outside of the bench seat, a very pretty girl from our class on the inside. But something seemed to be wrong. We were going too fast to talk, we were going too fast to do anything but hold on, we were going too fast to tell anyone I was getting motion sickness! Why didn't this thing stop? I had put the cherry soda out of my mind, but I could start tasting it again and suddenly the combination of the circular, high-speed motion and the sweet drink erupted into a very embarrassing situation.

Ben Sterling and his "Misses" (his term, not ours) owned the park. We remember riding on one of his jerky cars that went on a electric track through a completely black room with scary (?) things popping out at us. A similar attraction was the fun house with its crooked rooms and scary turns. Scary was a common commodity at Rocky Glen. We had great fun on the small roller coaster and played some miniature golf, took a train ride, and watched the girls ride the German Carrousel with the brass ring and watched the other boys play the games of chance. There was a fortune teller--a gypsy lady, someone said.

Rocky Glen may not have been as exciting as a trip to Washington, D.C., but it certainly brings back fond memories...

Do not trust your memory; it is a net full of holes; the most beautiful prizes slip through it.
--Robertson Davies

Troubles are like babies--they only grow if you nurse them.

Ever notice when kids want a kitten, they often ask for a horse--and get the kitten.

Grandmothers don't mind hearing the same story over and over, but other people do.

Watch out for a half truth--it may be the wrong half.

January 10 2004. Happy birthday today to Alicia Schlichter, Gertrude Stowe, and Eleanor Kocher.

Phoebe Viola (Yost) Savage, (Dec. 17, 1919-Jan. 8, 2005), 85, 138 Academy St., in the Borough of New Columbus, died Saturday. She was a graduate of the New Columbus Academy. Surviving are her son, Kenneth E. Savage, New Columbus; grandsons: Kevin E. Savage and Keith L. Savage, New Columbus; and three great-grandchildren: Cora S. Savage, Abigail A. Savage and Carson K. Savage, New Columbus. Funeral services will be Wednesday at 2 PM at the McMichael Funeral Home with burial in the New Columbus Cemetery. A viewing will be held Tuesday from 6 to 8 PM at McMichaels, Benton.
--from the Press Enterprise, where a complete obituary can be found.

St. Francis (PA) University had a dominating second half Saturday, holding the Fairleigh Dickinson University women's basketball team scoreless for eight minutes, winning 61-44. The Red Flash led 24-22 at halftime and broke the game open with a 25-6 run midway through the second half, building their lead to 18, led by Regina Schlichter's nine points. The Red Flash are now at 5-7 overall with an undefeated 3-0 mark in Northeast Conference play.

Winning the game with Fairleigh Dickinson was only half the fun for the St. Francis team! On the way to the university at Ebensburg following the win, the charter bus pulled off I-80 and came Back Home to Benton, PA, depositing 23 basketball players and their coaches at the home of grandparents Richard and Janet Kriebel, Benton Township. Regina's mother, Faith Schlichter, prepared a home-style meal for everyone and bestowed old-fashioned Benton hospitality on the visiting girls. St. Francis is 164 miles from Benton via I-80, route 220, I-99 and route 22.

It is fun to head back in time and find terms that kids today just don't understand. We get a lot of that here. It seems like a lot of teachers are asking students to read the Benton News to supplement their knowledge of local and national history, and a lot of kids are reading it on their own to pick up on trivia they don't seem to find elsewhere.

We often get questions asking what we meant by certain terms we use. Take "fender skirts" and "curb feelers" and "steering knobs," for example. Use those words with your kids or grandchildren and watch the corners of their eyebrows go up! Really shake them up by throwing out terms like "Continental kits" and explain rear-bumper extenders and spare-tire covers on a Lincoln Continental without using your hands to draw broad circles in the air. Next, explain "emergency brakes" and why we no longer have emergency brakes. Explain why the "emergency" is just a "parking" brake now. Explain about the "foot feed" and if they haven't run from the house, tell them about the "running boards" and how you used to sneak a ride on them. Explain how all these "store-bought" items "dressed" up a car, especially if the car was going "coast to coast." That term was somewhat akin to "wall-to-wall," the term we used when we covered our hardwood floors with--well you know--wall-to-wall carpeting! Then explain why people today replace their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors.

You might want to skip the phrase "in a family way," and head right for the word "pregnant," once a little too graphic for family, movie or TV talk. And we would love to listen in when you get to the part about the "stork visits" and "expecting." We still remember when David Dodson told us that he "knew where babies come from." We didn't, so we asked for more explanation. David filled us in. We thought it over carefully, asked a few questions, too, as we remember that day a long time ago. Finally, we dismissed David by telling him that "it just didn't sound right," and we didn't believe him. We consulted Father later that evening, who simply turned a very pale shade of white and told us to "go talk with your mother."

Watch your daughter start to smile when you use the term "brassiere" or other "unmentionable." Watch the kids try to figure out the real meaning of a term like "gay divorcee," or to a lesser degree "confirmed bachelors" or "career girls." They may still know what a "rat fink" is, but perhaps not. Remember the "percolator" and how much more exciting that word was than "Coffeemaker" or Mr. Coffee. How dull.

There were wonderful advertising words like "Dynaflow" and "ElectraLux" and Cinerama. The 1963 Admiral TV had "SpectraVision!" And what happened to Mother's lumbago? Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what castor oil or all of Carter's Little Liver Pills cured. And another word on the endangered list is "supper." Everybody now says "dinner." How 'bout helping to save a great word by inviting someone to supper to discuss fender skirts...

On this date in 1793, Jean Pierre Blanchard made the first successful balloon ascent in North America. He carried a letter from President George Washington from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, perhaps the first use of "air mail." President George Washington was in Philadelphia for the event, along with other notables including Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, Paul Revere and John Adams. Blanchard also made the first balloon flights in Germany, Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands. Twenty years before, Blanchard attempted heavier-than-air flying machines, including one where he rowed with oars and a tiller. In 1785 Blanchard carried out the first successful parachute experiment. An animal in a small basket was attached to a parachute, then dropped from a balloon. The descent was slow enough that the animal survived the fall. But all good things must come to an end, and in 1808 Blanchard had a heart attack on a flight over The Hague in the Netherlands and fell out of his balloon. He never recovered and died on March 7, 1809.

Verizon Communications was formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE in the summer of 2000. Area residents need to continue lobbying Verizon and other cell carriers to improve cell coverage in the local area. Visit http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/contact/index.jsp in order to send Verizon an email about the situation. Click on Contact Us in the upper right corner.

Incidentally, Verizon Wireless has launched high-speed wireless broadband internet access via cell phone network in the Greater Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton areas. Users are reporting speeds of around 4 megabits per second. The network can be found anywhere a current Verizon cellular phone works in one of the markets with the service.

Congress is posed to approve legislation to allow all money donated to a recognized charity for tsunami relief effort by January 31st to be 100% deductible from last year's tax bill. In case you don't feel this is a worthwhile contribution, please look at the pictures of the tsunami off the coast of Sumatra and the power of the water that devastated so much of the world by going to http://www.nodalpoint.net/tsunami/ .

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We are writing this morning from Painter Den Hunting Club, Sullivan County, where walking outside is a freezing chore, where tree limbs are covered with ice and hang to the ground, where the sound of trees snapping is common. Inside the cabin, we can smell the sticky buns in the oven, shadows coming from the fireplace are playing off the walls, the buckwheat-cake batter is rising, Cook Dave Moss is shaping the sausage and we are on our third cup of coffee. Now is probably as good a time as any to express some of the rules that men--tongue-in-cheek--claim to have in their relationship to women. The rules are all numbered "1" on purpose.
1. Sunday sports are like the full moon or the changing of the tides. They are gonna happen!
1. Ask for what you want. We do not read minds. Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say what you want!
1. YES and NO are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
1. What we said six months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all our comments become null and void after one week.
1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.
1. You can ask us to do something or you can tell us how you want it done, but you can't do both. If you know best how to do it, feel free to take on the task yourself!
1. Men see in 16 colors, something like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.
1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
1. If you ask a question that you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.
1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss topics like football, hunting, or monster trucks.

We haven't mentioned local actress Krysten Ritter recently, so we'll bring you up speed on her life. Friday night at 9 PM on the Fox Network, she is in the pilot of "Johnny Zero." She was featured in a recent eight-page Flaunt Magazine spread. She has 2 commercials running for Build-A-Bear and her picture is displayed in Target stores. Home life is a little disrupted, following a tornado that hit Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago damaging the roof of her apartment.

We would like you to take a look at http://www.animatedatlas.com/movie.html, a history of the United States.

Monday on the television show Price Is Right, look for Kathi Taylor and June Chapin in the audience--stage left, about 4 rows back.

On this date in 1937, Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to be inaugurated on January 20. The 20th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution set the date, officially, for the swearing in of the President and Vice President. The amendment was ratified by Congress in 1933.

Benton United Methodist Church, Main Street, is holding their Ham Supper, January 29 from 4-7 PM. The cost is $7.50 for adults; $3.50 for children ages 6-12; 5 and under FREE. The menu includes ham, real mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, string bean casserole, pickled cabbage, jello salad, homemade bread, pie, cake, iced tea, hot tea or coffee. Take outs are available.

We'll have a trivia quiz this morning, and all the answers have appeared over the months in the Benton News. Ten correct answers is the minimum number we'll accept in order for you to pass. Answers at end.
• What is the state animal: (a) Groundhog, (b) Black Bear, c) Raccoon, (d) White Tailed Deer
• What is the state beverage: (a) Beer, (b) Coffee, (c) Milk, (d) Grape Juice
• How many counties are in Pennsylvania: (a) 58, (b) 49, (c) 67, (d) 60
• What year did PA become a state: (a) 1787, (b) 1776, (c) 1777, (d) 1812
• Who gave Penn's Woods to William Penn: (a) King Henry VIII of England, (b) King Charles II of England, (c) John Smith, (d) Benjamin Franklin
• What county has the lowest population: (a) Bedford, (b) Tioga, (c) Forest, (d) Elk
• What is the name of William Penn's home? (a) Pennsbury Manor, (b) Mount Vernon, (c) Brandywine, (d) Cumberland
• What 2 counties have more deer than people: (a) Bedford & Somerset, (b) Cambria & Blair, (c) Cameron & Potter, (d) Huntington & Juniata
• What river in Pennsylvania flows North: (a) Susquehanna, west branch (b) Delaware, (c) Monongahela, (d) Lehigh
• What Pennsylvania city was named as the capital of the US for one day: (a) York, (b) Gettysburg, (c) Lancaster, (d) Philadelphia
• What sports event was played in Pittsburgh in 1903 for the very first time? (a) World Series, (a) national bowling congress, (c) miniature golf exhibition (d) Little League Playoffs
• After what war did England take control of Pennsylvania: Civil War, (b) French & Indian War, (c) World War I, (d) Spanish-American War
• The oldest golf course in America is where: (a) Easton, (b) Sharon, (c) Hershey, (d) Clarion
• The first white settlers in Pennsylvania were of what nationality: (a) Irish & German, (b) English & German , (c) German & Irish, (d), Swedish and Dutch

More on the deer issue...
• The eight-member Board of Game Commissioners will gather around the hunting-discussion table at 2001 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, next week to discuss the hunting season and bag limits. The 2005-06 guidelines will be given preliminary approval at the end of the three-day process.
• State Rep. Robert E. Belfanti, D-107, urged hunters Wednesday to "force the public's will" over the state's controversial deer management program by calling for the replacement of seven of the eight members of the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
• The Game Commission" reported that they "believe the feedback from hunters is indicative of a change in Pennsylvania's deer population or deer behavior."
• The Game Commission has posted a new brochure titled Waiting for answers on the 2004-2005 deer harvest on its website (www.pgc.state.pa.us). Click on the "Pennsylvania Deer Update" icon in the center of the homepage.

The Guv announced that in the event of an Eagles-Steelers matchup, he will sit on the Eagles side, and Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll, who's from the western Pennsylvania borough of McKees Rocks, will sit with Steelers fans.

Quote of the Day:
"All I can say is, if it's Eagles and Steelers in Jacksonville, and the Steelers' fans and the Eagles' fans are there for a week, citizens of Jacksonville, beware!"
--the Guv

Here are the answers to the pop quiz for today...
• The state animal is the white tailed deer, possibly the most controversial animal in the state at the moment.
• The state beverage is milk.
• There are 67 counties in Pennsylvania. The 2003 census indicated there were 64,605 people in Columbia County and 12,365,455 in the state.
• Pennsylvania become a state on December 12, 1787.
• King Charles II of England gave Penn's Woods to William Penn.
• The county with the least population is Forest. About 50% of its land mass is part of the Allegheny National Forest. Cook Forest State Park is also in Forest County.
• Cameron and Potter counties have more deer than people.
• Pennsbury Manor in Bucks County was the name of William Penn's home.
• The Monongahela River in Pennsylvania flows north from the confluence of the West Fork and Tygart rivers at Fairmont, West Virginia. It flows through the coal fields and mountains of West Virginia and into Western Pennsylvania where it joins the Allegheny River at Pittsburgh to form the Ohio River.
• Lancaster was the capital of the United States for one day. Congress has met in nine locations since 1774, when it first convened in Philadelphia. Before it established Washington, D.C. as the seat of government, Congress also met in Baltimore, Lancaster, York, Princeton, Annapolis, Trenton, and New York.
• The world series was played in Pittsburgh in 1903 for the very first time. The Boston Pilgrims and the Pittsburg (no "h" at that time) Pirates squared off in a best of nine series. Boston won, by the way.
• England took control of Pennsylvania following the French & Indian War.
• Clarion is the home of the oldest golf course (Foxburg Country Club) in America.
• Swedish & Dutch settlers were the first white settlers in Pennsylvania.

On this date in...
1825, the first U.S. patent to "preserve animal substances in tin" was issued. The cylindrical tin cans were used for storage of salmon, oysters and lobsters and fashioned out of tin plate--iron coated with tin to prevent rusting and corrosion.

1953, Lucy (MacGillicuddy) Ricardo gave birth to Little Ricky on the air, the same night that Lucille Ball gave birth to her second child, Desiderio Alberto Arnaz. The audience for the program was larger than that watching the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower the following day. Their neighbors, best friends and landlords were Ethel and Fred Mertz. In the 1954-55 season, the four took a cross-county trip by car. During the 1955-56 season, they took a trip to Europe. At the start of the 1956-57 season, Ricky opened The Ricky Ricardo Babaloo Club.

Esther Mae King, 106, (April 21, 1898-Jan. 18, 2005), Meeker, died Tuesday in Harveys Lake. Her husband, Wayne King, died in 1973. She was also preceded in death by a brother, Leroy Ruggles, and sons, John W. and Roy H. King. She is survived by children: Dorothy M. Wadas, Shavertown; Donald F. King, Benton; Richard E. King, Mount Zion; Lyle K. King, Meeker; and Ted King, Kunkle. Also surviving are 29 grandchildren, 57 great-grandchildren and 24 great-great-grandchildren. Funeral will be held Friday at 11 AM from the Curtis L. Swanson Funeral Home, Pikes Creek. Friends may call from 7-9 PM. Thursday. Interment will be in the Maple Grove Cemetery, Pikes Creek.
--Obituary from the Press Enterprise, where a complete obituary can be found.

Looking for alternative sources for internet service Back Home in Benton, PA? We recommend either cable high speed internet service or DSL internet service. In the Benton area, high-speed residential service is available from three advertised sources, subject in all cases to actual verification that the service is available at your specific location:

• Jlink Internet Services, www.jlink.net/index.htm, 1 877 335-5465. DSL service is $34.95 per month. For dial-up internet service, the price is $17.95 monthly; $49.50 (16.50 month) for three months; $84.00 ($14.00 month) and $119.88 ($9.99 a month) for one year.

• EPIX Internet Services, www.jackflash.com/about/about.asp , 1 800 374-9669. DSL service is $39.99 per month with a 1-year commitment. There is no charge for installation and free use of the DSL modem. The price for unlimited dialup service is $20.99.

• CATV Express, www.gmicable.com/home.php , 1 800 427-0705. Basic cable internet service is $39.95 monthly with an additional service called "Residential Silver" available for $69.95 monthly. Additional fees include an installation fee of $10.00, USB/Ethernet Connection Modem Rental of $9.95, and additional email account's, $4.95.

Customers in several McDonald Restaurants in the Pittsburgh area can now purchase a wireless connection at McDonald's for $2 a day, $10 per month or $25 for three months, with proceeds donated to the Pittsburgh Ronald McDonald House. Wireless Internet access is prevalent in Starbucks, Panera Bread (soon coming to the Buckhorn area) and several smaller outlets.

The first meeting of the Benton American Veterans Post will be Wednesday, January 19, at 7:00 PM at The Benton United Methodist Church. The purpose of this meeting will be to share information about the American Veterans Organization as well as the process to establish a new Post. Active membership is open to anyone who is currently serving, or who has honorably served, in the Armed Forces of the United States--to include National Guard and Reserve components--during and since World War II

The 17th Annual Early Bird Sports Expo, is upcoming for four days at the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds January 27-30, 2005. The expo is always one of the warm spots in the hearts of sportsmen, even though it comes at a very cold part of the winter.

This year the emphasis seems to be on the Pennsylvania bobcat, bass and walleye fishing, American Indians and related subjects. Hunting in Africa is about as close to the mention of deer hunting as any of the seminars get.

The three-year initiative to reduce the state's deer herd could tend to distract somewhat from the major objectives of the expo. Many hunters are giving the Pennsylvania Game Commission a hard time following the killing of about a million and a half deer over the past three hunting seasons. Hunters saw and had the opportunity to shoot few deer in the woods during the just-completed season. Many hunters feel that the deer population is seriously depleted.

Dr. Gary Alt resigned shortly before Christmas, and in past years had been a popular drawing card for the local sports expo. We can remember several years back standing in the large hall waiting to hear Dr. Alt, and thinking how lucky we were to even be able to get to hear him. In recent public appearances before sports groups, Dr. Alt was forced to wear bullet-proof vests. When the Game Commission convenes the week before the sports expo to set next year's deer hunting guidelines, a lot of hostile comments are probable from hunters, many of whom even advocate an overhaul of the PGC. A merger with one or both similar state agencies is frequently mentioned. The other side of the fence should also be vocal from those who claim that Pennsylvania's woods are being harmed by deer overpopulation and over foresting. These groups tend to minimize the problems caused by automobiles, acid rain, timbering and housing developments, and various insects. These groups lay the problems of the woods on deer density.

For an interesting perspective on this subject, log onto a chat room at www.HuntingPA.com , where it is soon obvious that those who favor the environment are out of favor! The deer issue may create a few sparks, but the sports expo will be its usual great place to convene to cuss and discuss the deer issue.

Upcoming...
• Mark your calendars for the Benton Women's Club soup sale Friday, January 28. Orders are being taken for chicken corn chowder, ham and bean and beef vegetable. The price is $3.50 per quart. Details are being finalized, so keep tuned in. In the meantime, you can call Kathy Leamont at 925-2178 or Kay Chapman, 925-6972, and get your order in.

• The Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center will host their annual benefit auction on Sunday afternoon, April 24, at the Benton Volunteer Fire Company. The best food of the finest restaurants of Fishing Creek Valley will be available, followed by an opportunity to bid on a variety of truly outstanding objects and vacation getaways. Several wonderful donations of antiques are promised for this year as the committee is making the final plans for the event. We'll keep you posted as we can release details. Remember that your donations and your purchases are tax deductible and it is all for a very worthwhile cause. The Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation whose mission is to provide a community center with gym, library and museum for residents of the Northern Columbia County in order to enhance the quality of life for residents of our community.

On this date in...
1778, on his third voyage of discovery, Captain James Cook of the British Navy arrived at a group of islands in the Pacific. He named them the Sandwich Islands in honor of his friend and supporter, John Montague, the 4th Earl of Sandwich and first lord of the Admiralty. This honor to the Earl of Sandwich was short-lived. King Kamehameha I united the islands under his rule by 1819 as the Kingdom of Hawaii. Hawaii was admitted as the 50th of the United States of America on August 21, 1959.

1911, Eugene B. Ely, flying a 50-hp Curtiss pusher, made the first landing of an aircraft on a ship. The platform was a 119-ft wooden platform attached the deck of the U.S.S. Pennsylvania in San Francisco Harbor. Hooks on the plane's landing gear grabbed ropes secured by sandbags stretched across the landing platform. After spending an hour aboard the ship, he took off and flew back to his hangar.

1950, the federal tax on oleomargarine was repealed! The tax on oleomargarine imposed a low tax on white oleomargarine and a much higher tax on yellow oleomargarine. The purpose was to drive yellow oleomargarine out of the market, since it was often sold to the public as butter.

Helen D. Fritz, 91, (March 9, 1913-Jan. 17, 2005), 198 Klinger Hill Road, died Monday at the Bloomsburg Health Care Center. She was a daughter of the late William R. and Dorothy E. (Keeler) Rider and a 1931 graduate of Benton High School. She married Albert W. Fritz, who preceded her in death on Jan. 7, 1976. Funeral services will be Thursday at 11 AM in the Dean W. Kriner, Inc., Funeral Home. Interment will be in Waller Cemetery. Friends may call Thursday, 10 to 11 AM.
--From the Press Enterprise, where a complete obituary can be found

Deborah A. (Zettle) Wedge, 40, (Aug. 1, 1964-Jan. 15, 2005), Everett Street, died Saturday. She was a daughter of the late Charles and Roberta (Belcher) Zettle. She attended Benton schools and graduated from Northeast Bradford High School. She was employed by D.R.'s Quik Mart. Surviving are her husband, Chivous R. "Chip" Wedge, and two sons: Robert D. Harrington, Benton, and Derek C. Harrington, Camp Pendleton, CA; two brothers: Benton Area School Director Robert Zettle, Benton; and Richard Zettle, Phoenixville; and her mother-in-law and father-in-law, Chuck and June Wedge, Benton. Funeral services will be held Wednesday at 2 PM at the McMichael Funeral Home. A viewing will be held in the funeral home from noon on Wednesday until the service begins.
--From the Press Enterprise, where a complete obituary can be found

If you are a US citizen, you can claim a charitable tax deduction on your 2004 tax returns for tsunami disaster relief-related cash donations you make before January 31, 2005.

The Atlanta Falcons (13-4) will fly into Philadelphia to challenge the Eagles (14-3) Sunday at 3 PM for the right to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. At 6:30 PM Sunday in Pittsburgh, the New England Patriots (15-2), defending Super Bowl champions, will be at Heinz Field to battle the Steelers (16-1) for the AFC championship and Super Bowl berth. Football in Pennsylvania is on the march toward the Super Bowl.

Alanna M. Bath, daughter of Michael and Carol Bath, Bendertown, will be performing in a voice recital with special guests of two pianists and another vocalist on Monday, February 21, at 7 PM. Alanna is a Vocal Music Education major at Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre. She is a 2002 graduate of Benton Area High School. The free recital and reception to follow will be held at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 35 South Franklin Street, Wilkes-Barre. The church is across St. Franklin Street from Boscovs and WBRE-28.

We'll conclude our story about the flooding of Johnstown in 1889.

When darkness arrived following the collapse of the South Fork dam, thousands floated on debris, while others clung to the old seven-arched stone bridge that carried the Pennsylvania Railroad over the Conemaugh. Factory roofs, railroad cars, houses, trucks, people and just about anything imaginable got entangled in the jam at the bridge. The pileup eventually took up about 60 acres. Soon the debris caught fire, possibly from stoves with hot coals floating on top of the raging river fueled by railroad cars full of oil. The stone walls of the bridge became a funeral pyre for at least 300 hundred people, many cremated in their own homes that had been carried by the rushing water a mile from the foundation of their house. The fire raged for three days.

Thousand were homeless. There was no gas, no electricity. Fires burned everywhere, telephone and telegraphs were out. Bridges, roads and ten miles of the railroad were gone.

A telegram sent before the town was wiped out resulted in the Pittsburgh Commercial-Gazette sending a train that made it to within 17 miles of Johnstown. The statistics and horror that emerged from the town staggered the nation, and the country responded to the disaster with a outpouring of assistance as early (and erroneous) reports showed the death toll "in the Valley of Death" to reach 15,000. If facts didn't exist, imagination of writers took over, fueled by an insatiable desire to learn more about the Johnstown Flood. Although not all the stores that came from the flood were true, the fact is that at a Pittsburgh fundraiser at City Hall, the city raised over $48,000 in one hour, a tidy sum for that time. New York City raised $600,000 in one week. Something over $3,000,000 was eventually raised and donated as Americans showed their ability to rally in times of disaster.

A five-foot high 67-year old spinster in muddy boots soon arrived in the valley armed with 50 volunteers. Her name was Clara Barton and the newly organized American Red Cross had arrived at their first disaster armed with a strong determination and about half a million dollars. She set up a Red Cross "hospital," and stayed for five months. When she left, the entire nation knew of the good things that her organization had accomplished. Nevertheless, the cleanup took years, with bodies found months to years after the flood. Total property damage was estimated at $17,000,000.

The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club owned the abandoned reservoir and did continuous maintenance on the old dam. The club had bought the land from the Pennsylvania Railroad. The dam dated to the 1840s when it was used for water storage for the Johnstown canal basin, part of a system of railroads and canals that once linked Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Leaks in the dam were repaired by dumping in ground, stumps, straw and limbs wherever the dam looked suspect. The club received much of the blame for the flood, but no successful lawsuits (the lawsuits were not tried in Johnstown, but were tried in Pittsburgh) were ever brought against the club or club members like Andrew Carnegie, Henry Frick and Andrew Mellon. After the flood, club members never returned to the site of their former recreation spot and the club was soon sold at sheriff's sale.

Johnstown is 185 miles from Back Home in Benton, PA, and is reached via I-80 westbound, I-99 southbound and routes 22, 219 and 56. The Johnstown Flood National Memorial is located in southwestern Pennsylvania, about 10 miles northeast of Johnstown. The park contains nearly 165 acres and preserves the remains of the South Fork Dam and portions of the former Lake Conemaugh bed.

January 17, 2005. There are 62 days until the official start of Spring. Glenda Watts Friend celebrates her birthday along with Jim Carey, 43, and old Benjamin Franklin, born in Boston on this date in 1706. Glenda is the curator at Old Washington State Historical Park, Washington, Arkansas. We observe the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. today. Schools, banks, major stock markets and U. S. Government facilities are closed.

On this date in 1985, Wendy Kriebel scored 34 points and had 17 rebounds in a 55-39 Benton girl's basketball game win over Berwick.
--from Monday's Press Enterprise

The January meeting of the Benton Red Hat society will be at Market Square Restaurant January 19 at 2 PM. The menu is Quiche, a salad, beverage and dessert. Price is $8 which includes tax and tip. Please bring a small plant for a plant swap! Hope to see you all there.

Sideways, a favorite comedy of ours, won best screenplay last night at the Golden Globe awards for Jim Taylor and director Alexander Payne. The picture also won "Best Picture, Musical or Comedy." The movie was filmed entirely in the Santa Ynez Valley of California, one of our favorite places in the United States and certainly one of the most beautiful. The movie opens nationwide Friday, so on Thursday we'll dust off our recent review of the movie and print it again.

Saturday afternoon as we were leaving the Pennsylvania Farm Show, we got word that route 11 was flooded and closed at Northumberland, and we were unable to use the highway through Sunday afternoon. Rain and melting snow caused the Susquehanna to spill over its banks between Northumberland Borough and Shamokin Dam. We realized how lucky we were when we considered the devastation at La Conchitta, California, where mudslides killed ten people earlier in the week and everyone lacked long-term solutions for the problem of continuing mud slides. Thirteen homes were destroyed and 18 others were damaged. We thought of the 96-mile-long Santa Ana River that killed dozens of people in a 1938 flood and was once considered the biggest flood threat west of the Mississippi. So far, $1.3-billion has been spent on improvements to prevent flooding across this area of Orange County in California. We thought of the Indian Ocean earthquake that occurred on December 26, 2004, that generated a tsunami that was among the deadliest disasters in modern history. At a magnitude of 9.0, it was the largest earthquake since the 9.2 magnitude Good Friday Earthquake off Alaska in 1964.

Our thoughts then strayed to the state's worst natural disaster, back on June 1, 1889, when Johnstown was devastated by the worst flood in the Nation's history. Over 2,200 died, huge numbers were homeless, 967 were missing. It was the story of the 19th century, ranking just below the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. At the time, everyone in the United States knew the story well, just as we all know about the recent tsunami. But for those who don't know the story, stay with us through Tuesday and we'll share some gruesome details with you.

Johnstown was founded in 1794 by a Swiss immigrant, Joseph Schantz (Johns) (1750-1810). The town was known as Conemaugh until 1834 when it was renamed for Johns. It became a rail terminus and its iron and steel industry developed in the 1860s. Flooding has been almost a way of life for Johnstown, with major floods in 1889, 1936 and 1977. Property losses as recent as 1977 were estimated at $200 million.

Johnstown in the southwestern corner of Cambria County in 1889 was a steel company town in the Allegheny mountains. Fast moving trout streams lined the valley that is home to the town. The population was predominantly Germans and Welsh in the town of 30,000 or so people. The community was growing, industrious and known for the quality of its steel. Blast furnaces lit up the sky each night. Johnstown began to prosper with the building of the Pennsylvania Mainline Canal in 1834 and the arrival of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Cambria Iron Company in the 1850s.

Johnstown was built on a flood plain at the fork of the Little Conemaugh, which plunges down the mountains from the east, and Stony Creek, which flows in from the east. At Johnstown they form the Conemaugh, which eventually flows into the Allegheny above Pittsburgh. The Conemaugh Valley usually flooded in the Spring.

Fourteen miles east up the Little Conemaugh and 450 feet higher than Johnstown, Lake Conemaugh clung to the side of the mountain thanks to the South Fork Dam, said to be the biggest earth dam in the country at that time, over 300 yards wide. A two-lane dirt road meandered across the top of the dam. The lake extended back three miles from the dam and in one spot was a mile wide. When the cork was pulled and the dam emptied, the water flowed out in 35 minutes.

At 4:07 PM on May 31, 1889, Johnstown residents heard a low rumble that grew progressively louder. After a night of heavy rains, the South Fork Dam had broken and 20 million tons of water were crashing down the narrow valley. Loaded with debris, the wall of flood water grew to an estimated 60 feet high, moving at an estimated 40 miles per hour, destroying everything in its path. Miles of barbed wire unleashed from a wire works further complicated the situation. The devastation and the drowning of Johnstown lasted only ten minutes, the most devastating ten minutes anyone involved had ever encountered.

To be continued Tuesday...

On this date in 1866, Everett Hosmer Barney patented the all-metal screw clamp skates, which attached to normal shoes and were tightened with a key. On this date in 1920, Prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect. The United States and its allies began bombing Iraq in the Persian Gulf War on this date in 1991.

We read where Washington, D.C.'s costs for the inauguration of George W. Bush are expected to be at least $17.3 million.

This inauguration will be quite different from the lamplight inauguration in Windsor County, Vermont, of early August, 1923. On August 2, 1923, Warren Gamaliel Harding died, the victim of a mysterious illness he got while on a cross-country trip. John Calvin Coolidge, Jr., 51, (July 4, 1872-January 5, 1933) suddenly became the thirtieth President of the United States. A telegram arrived at White River Junction, Vermont, the evening of Harding's death, at 10:30 PM--at what the Vermonters called "God's Time." A telegram operator cranked up his Model T and delivered the wire to Coolidge in person, slowed only by a flat tire he had on the way.

When the awakened vice-president heard the news, he slipped his black shoes over his white socks, adjusted his other attire appropriate to the hour of the night and dictated a statement, ending with the words, "It is my intention to remain here until I can obtain the correct form for the oath of office, which will be administered to me by my father, who is a notary public, if that will meet the necessary requirement."

The Commander of the local American Legion post arrived at the Coolidge house, and grasping the hand of the man who would shortly become President, said, "The country is without a President, Mister Coolidge: The United States has no President, no President. The country should never be without a President."

At 2:35 AM on August 3, 1923, in the flickering candlelight of Cilley's General Store, the same building where he was born, Calvin Coolidge asked for a drink of Moxie, reached into his pocket and paid the owner of the store $.10 for the drink. He stood in front of his father, Colonel John C. Coolidge, a justice of the peace and a notary who was attired without "tie or collar" and repeated the oath of office in his Vermont accent. It began, "I, Calvin Coolidge, do solemnly swear..." It was all over at exactly 2:47 AM. He did not embrace his wife or say anything to anyone in the room, other than "Good night."

The next morning, the President left a dollar bill as a tip for one of the wait staff, stopped at the burial spot of his mother and proceeded to the train station in Rutland. A special railroad car awaited to transport the President to Washington, D.C. The President curtly told the traffic manager for the railroad that "You're not running any special train for me!" Upon his return to the nation's capital, the swearing in was repeated.

A year later, the President was elected on the slogan "Keep Cool with Coolidge." Chief Justice William Howard Taft administered the oath of office to Coolidge on the East Portico of the Capitol. This time the event was broadcast to the nation by radio. "Silent Cal" never ran again and announced that decision with typical terseness: "I do not choose to run for President in 1928."

Until his father's death, he usually returned to his boyhood home during the summer months. In 1924, the upper floor of the store his father operated at the time of Calvin's birth served as his summer office.

Several buildings of Coolidge's youth are maintained at the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site , 351 miles from Back Home in Benton, PA. The town lies northeast of Albany off route 7. It is six miles south of U.S. 4 on VT 100A, about the center of the state. The site is open from late May to mid October.

After thoughts...
Grace Anna and Calvin Coolidge were complete opposites personality-wise. She was talkative and fun-loving and Coolidge was quiet and serious. Coolidge once handed her a bag with 52 pairs of socks with holes in them. Grace's reply was "Did you marry me to darn your socks?" Without cracking a smile and with his usual seriousness, Calvin answered, "No, but I find it mighty handy."

On this date in...
1929, civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. was born. He was assassinated April 4, 1968.

1943, the world's largest office building was completed in Arlington. The structure covers 34 acres of land and has 17 miles of corridors. The building is the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Defense Department. The building is twice the size of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, and has three times the floor space of the Empire State Building. The National Capitol could fit into any one of the five wedge-shaped sections. Approximately 23,000 employees, both military and civilian, work in the building each day.

1955, the first solar-heated and radiation-cooled house in the U.S. began operating in Tucson. The system was built for almost $4,000 in labor and materials. It was made using a large slanting slab of steel and glass that converted sunlight into heat, then ducted into the house. In the Summer, the cooling used the same ducts, fans and controls.

St. Frances Senior Regina Schlichter standing at 6'1" and wearing her #40 jersey recorded six points, nine rebounds, seven assists and four steals to help lead the Red Flash to a 73-58 victory over Saint Francis-NY in Brooklyn Thursday evening.

As a Junior in 2003-04, Regina played in all 31 games, scored in double figures twice during the season, sank five-of-nine shots from the field in 11-point effort versus the Blue Devils. As a Sophomore in 2002-03, Regina averaged 4.8 ppg and 2.3 rpg during sophomore campaign. She played in 28 of 31 games. She scored in double figures five times, including career-high 15-point effort at Miami-OH. As a Freshman in 2001-02, Regina played in all 31 games, including four starts. She averaged 5.8 ppg and 2.8 rpg. She shot 42.7% from the floor (70-for-164) and 71.4% (25-for-35) from the free throw line. She scored in double figures five times including against Penn State and also grabbed a career-high eight rebounds against the Nittany Lions. In her high school career Back Home in Benton, PA, playing for Don Whitenight, Regina lettered all four years, and averaged 21.6 points, 15.0 rebounds, 4.7 blocks and 3.5 steals during senior season at Benton Area High School. She earned all-conference honors in each of final three seasons at Benton, and shot 55% from the field and 72% from the line. She surpassed the 1,000-point mark as a junior while leading the conference in scoring during junior year. She led the Tigers to a 16-9 record during senior year. She was selected to Who's Who Among America's High School students and was a member of the National Honor Society. Oh, yes, she was also a four-year letter winner in softball.

The Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers attempt to advance in the National Football League playoffs at the Super Bowl in Jacksonville on February 6. We figure most of us are rooting for an all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl. The Steelers are up first hosting the New York Jets at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh and the Eagles play early Sunday afternoon against the Minnesota Vikings. Steelers' rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger plans to donate his Saturday paycheck of $18,000 to tsunami relief.

We remember saying that our new Dell computer a few years back would last until we were unable to use a computer any longer. What a joke! So now lets take a forward look at a small slice of future computing...

The future of computing includes the ability to take a picture of a recognizable object with your camera phone, email it to a server and immediately get back information on the object. For example, take a picture of the Washington Monument, sent it along and immediately get back an audio-visual narrative about the monument. When you get hungry, take a picture of a restaurant and get back a picture of the menu. Think of the possibilities for police officers who need to identify the person in front of them using facial feature comparison with iris scanning and skin texture analysis. Take a picture of a movie advertisement and get back show times for local theatres. All this is probably about a year away.

The weather around the area this morning reminds us of a story Father used to tell about a local doctor. As we remember the story, the doctor was peeved one cold night when he was roused out of his warm bed to visit a patient over on RD 3. He went to the man's house and found him in bed. The doctor examined the man, then asked him if he had made his will. The patient, quivered, then asked if he was really that sick. The doctor repeated the question and receiving another "no" suggested that the man send for his attorney in the morning. The doctor then suggested that he send for his minister, saying "I'd let him know if I were you." The patient was greatly alarmed by this time and asked if he was really going to die. "Not just yet," said the doctor. "There's nothing the matter with you. But I hate to think that I'm the only man in town who's been made a darn fool of on a night like this."

We keep hearing of shortcuts that some recommend be taken with our children and grandchildren's education. Here is a reality check, but not for the adult readers. This quiz is for the teenager in your family. Have him or her take this short quiz to figure out what necessities and what luxuries the teen will expect when they are on their own. When the quiz is over, the program calculates how much income and education would be required to maintain that standard of living. But please don't stop there. Take the time to sit down with this special person in your life and discuss the teenager's plans for continuing education.

On this date in...
1794, Elizabeth Hog Bennett became the first woman in the U.S. to successfully give birth to a child by a Cesarean section. Dr. Jessee Bennett, her physician and her husband, performed the operation without anesthesia. A second doctor declined to assist, citing excessive risk. Two field hands held the mother on a wooden table. The Cesarean operation has been traced as far back as ancient Chinese etchings that depict the procedure on apparently living women. Under Julius Caesar, Roman law decreed that all women who were dead or dying must be cut open to save the child.

1964, the first "hootenanny" was held at the White House when the New Christy Minstrels came to call on Lady Bird and the Prez, as well as Italy's President. We know we have to define "hootenanny" since we used it. Well--it is a thingumadoodle involving an informal musical performance with audience participation in somewhat of a sing-along. Or maybe it is more like a whatchamacallit--a performance of folk music by a number of artists with a degree of audience participation. The New Cristy Minstrels were named after a minstrel group started in 1844 when Edwin "Pop" Christy, a minstrel writer responsible for Goodnight Ladies, formed the Christy Minstrels. The musical director for the New Christy Minstrels, Mike Settle, left in the mid-60's and took Kenny Rogers and other with him. Together they formed the group the First Edition.

Tailgaters were set back in their haunches when the NFL awarded the Super Bowl to Jacksonville since there is a city ordinance banning drinking in public in that city. Knowing that it very well could be a Pennsylvania Super Bowl this year and that both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have the art of tailgating down to a science, a county judge declared the ruling unconstitutional. The judge, based on a case of three homeless men charged for drinking in a park, ruled the alcohol ban was selectively enforced. The judge felt that people coming to the Super Bowl would be subjected to a different standard relating to public boozing.

In a recent conversation, we used the term "Tall Poppy." The man we were having coffee with didn't understand the term, and we had to explain what we meant. We'll explain it here, too, and we suspect that you'll think of some Tall Poppies by the time that we finish.

We first heard the term when we were in Australia and happened to meet writer Robert Treborlang who used the term. As we remember the concept and as we use the term, it means a designation given to people who have risen a little higher, achieved a little more or contributed more of themselves than most. Therefore, someone wants to do them in.

Think of a field of flowers, a field of poppies, for example. The tallest flowers are always plucked first in order to make the nicest bouquets. Some people just dislike Tall Poppies. These people turn on community-minded citizens who rise too high above others, people who fill public office without compensation, for example. People who try to help out in running small community associations by donating their time and effort are suddenly branded as Tall Poppies by a few.

In fact, Tall Poppies are just like you and me, only more so! They very well might be below average height, a motivation to strive harder. If they moved from the local community where they are known as Tall Poppies, they would be known as "successes."

Running into debt isn't so bad. It's running into creditors that hurts.

The town of Millville shipped, Ted Fenstermacher once reported, 38,000 bushels of buckwheat in 1941. In one year when the railroad was still running in Millville, they shipped a reported 50 boxcars filled with buckwheat.

We'll briefly explain about the railroad in Millville. Sometime when we have more time we'll report on the entire Watsontown-Millville-Berwick branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, but for today we'll stick with only a smattering of its history in Millville. The railroad opened in mid-December, 1886, when Millville only had a meager 102 structures and a total population of 460. The train went at that time from Watsontown through Jerseytown to Millville. The entire project was accomplished using pick and shovel with wheel barrows to move the dirt.

Problems began right from the beginning. A tunnel about 200 feet long between Eyers Grove and Jerseytown had to be blasted through solid rock. When completed, it was too narrow for the emerging size of the engines. Tunnels were unknown to the wildlife of the area, and bear started hibernating in the tunnel. In March, 1887, when the tunnel completed, a huge ox roast was planned in Millville when the train arrived. The spring thaw made the ground under the track too soft, and the people coming for the roast had to be brought the final few miles by wagon. Stations with agents sprang up at Turbotville, Washingtonville (later called Strawberry Ridge), Jerseytown, Millville and Rohrsburg. Eventually the line extended to Orangeville where the train shared the Bloomsburg and Sullivan train station and then on to Berwick.

We started this segment talking about the fast-growing crop of buckwheat. The crop was grown on more than a million acres in the U.S. in the late 1800s. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew buckwheat. Russia, where buckwheat is native, has the largest current acreage of buckwheat.

Domestic buckwheat production now is mostly concentrated in the northern Plains. The crop is planted in early summer, since it is not frost tolerant. Some producers are able to grow buckwheat as a double crop after the wheat, oats or flax harvest, planting as late as August 1. The crop matures in a little over two months.

The Japanese grind buckwheat into noodles. Buckwheat can be used as a crop cover to smother weeds. Buckwheat is popular with bee keepers because of its profusion of flowers. Buckwheat is not drought tolerant, but it tends to avoid the drought by maturing after the worst of the summer dry period is over.

Buckwheat flour is often mixed with flour from other cereal grains to make breads, breakfast cereals or other multi-grain products. In Japan, buckwheat and wheat flour are used to make the popular "soba" noodles. Buckwheat is sometimes fed to livestock like hogs and has about the feed value of oats when fed to livestock. Buckwheat is normally mixed with other grains when fed to some animals like light-skinned hogs, since they can develop a rash. Buckwheat hulls are sometimes used to make buckwheat pillows for the Japanese market. Dayne and Ruth Kline once had a large freezer insulated with hulls from buckwheat.

And so we come full circle back to Millville. The gristmill that gave rise to the town of "Millville" dates back to John Eves and his son, Thomas, who also built the first house in what is now Millville. Through fires and various owners--men with names like Masters, Betz, Heacock, McHenry, Welliver, Diehl, Reece, Greenly and Maust--the mill has been an important part of the town.

We hope that as a result of this reading, you hurry out and order a steaming plate of buckwheat cakes and sausage--if your diet permits. We'll be over in the corner eating our buckwheat cakes. Wave as you go by...

January 13, 2004.

Robert J. Fallon, 53, Dallas, died Tuesday, January 11, 2005. Surviving are his wife, the former Suzanne Raski; daughter Erin, home; sister Maureen Walsh, Thoroughfare, NJ; mother-in-law Helen Raski, Benton. Funeral services will be Saturday at 9:30 AM from the Richard H. Disque Funeral Home, Inc., 672 Memorial Highway, Dallas, with Mass of Christian Burial at 10 AM in Gate of Heaven Church. Interment will be in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Carverton.
--from the Press Enterprise, where a complete obituary can be found

William the Conqueror (1066-1087) was frequently called William the Bastard, since he was the illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy and a tanner's daughter. In 1053, defying a papal ban, William married Matilda of Flanders, a descendant of Alfred the Great, which helped strengthen his claim to the English crown. In 1066, he lead the Normans to defeat the English forces in the Battle of Hastings and on Christmas Day that year, he was crowned the King of England in Westminster Abbey. Ten years later, he began the practice of beheading to England.

William became so obese that mounting his horse became an impossibility. King Philip of France described William as looking like he was "lying in," a term denoting a pregnant woman. That description got back to William. The portly gent didn't have the benefit of the Adkins or the South Beach Diet, so he went on a liquid diet (of mostly alcohol). When William had lost sufficient weight to climb on a horse, he set off for France bent on vengeance, but died in a celebration after winning a battle at Mantes, France. His horse threw William violently into the saddle's iron knob on the front of the saddle. His intestines burst and peritonitis set in. William died at the age of 60, but lingered over a period of five weeks. Servants stole everything from his residence after he died, leaving his lifeless body lying on the floor.

The funeral took place on a hot day, and in the afternoon sun the body began to swell. William's body would not fit into his custom-made stone tomb, although history records that he was eventually stuffed in.

About now, readers are asking what this all has to do with anything. It is our way of leading into a progress report on our planned Florida vacation and on our New Year's resolution to lose weight and keep it off. Our weight issue first. Our progress for the first thirteen days of 2005: we gained a pound. The situation reminds us of a Winnie the Pooh cartoon we saw once, where Winnie was leaning against the refrigerator pondering the question, "how long does getting thin take?"

And because of illness in the family, we have put off our trip to the Sunshine State for the time being. It appears from the weather forecast that lots of winter remain, so we won't be in a hurry. We had planned to catch up on our exercise in Florida.

An interesting article in the Poughkeepsie Journal referred to walking in Ricketts Glen Park as "the thrill-ride of trails." We had never thought of it that way, although we suspect that today the description would be right on the mark!

Upcoming on...
January 14, the Huntington Mills United Sportsmen Coyote hunt. Hunters can start on Friday, January 14 at 6 AM. On Sunday, a breakfast buffet will be served at the club's hall from 9 AM to 1 PM. The hall is located on Waterton Road and Cann Road, just west of Huntington Mills.

February 10, the Village Reading Group will meet at 7:00 PM at the Benton United Methodist Church. The group will discuss Jan Karon's book, A Light in the Window, the second novel in the Mitford series. This heartwarming story of Father Tim has a neighbor lady tugging at his heartstrings, while a wealthy widow pursues him with hot casseroles, and Cousin Meg moves into the rectory, uninvited. It should be a fun evening. Come on out.

Parents of children who will be 5 years old before September 1, 2005, and are planning to attend kindergarten in the fall of 2005 should call the L.R. Appleman Elementary School office to pre-register their child. Please call 925-6971 between 6 AM and 3:45 PM. Actual registration will take place in early February.

The American Professional Rodeo Association earlier this month extended congratulations to the Benton Rodeo Association for being voted the 2004 APRA Rodeo of the Year.

William Slater, President of the APRA, wrote, "The competion for this award, as always, was extremely competitive. But once again, your Rodeo won by a very large margin of votes. The top 12 cowboys in this Association once again cast their votes for your rodeo. This award is the more prestigious award that the APRA offers each year. This award is the highest compliment that the APRA, and its members, can give."

The varied talents of men and women who gather each year to make the Benton Rodeo the success deserve a lot of credit for their professionalism and support of the sport of rodeo.

The 2005 Benton Rodeo will take place July 12 through July 17. You can visit the rodeo via the web at the official rodeo site, and in a special section of the Benton News.

And speaking of horses, we wish that we were at the Farm Show Wednesday to see Jerry Hall, Benton, and Jathan Allen, Orangeville, (both 10) who participated in the Pony Pull. If you don't know anything about pony pulls, tune in the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) Thursday at 6 AM for the lightweight/middleweight division and at 8:15 AM for the heavyweight division. (We know, we know--but we just found out at 9:45 PM Wednesday). You soon discover that the pull was a hit in Harrisburg...

On this date in...
1896, Dr. Henry Louis Smith, a physics and astronomy professor, took the first x-ray photograph. In a 15-minute exposure, the x-ray showed the location of a bullet in the hand of a corpse. His approach may not have been the clinically correct: Smith fired a bullet into the hand of a corpse for the demonstration.

1926, "Sam 'n' Henry" debuted on WGN radio in Chicago with Freeman Gosden as "Sam" and Charles Correll as "Henry." The show's name soon changed to "Amos 'n' Andy" and Gosden and Correll played two black characters constantly looking for extra income. The radio show attracted an estimated forty million fans until it ended in 1948.

1943, the Office of Price Administration announced that the standard hot dogs would be replaced by Victory Sausage made of meat and soybean meal. We remember reading a story about General George Patton who was once given a choice in Europe of pheasant or victory sausage with a boiled potato and Brussels sprouts. Victory sausage was the better choice, since the alleged pheasant turned out to be a large robin.

1971, All In the Family debuted on CBS-TV. Carroll O'Connor starred as Archie Bunker, Rob Reiner as Meathead, Sally Struthers as Gloria and Jean Stapleton as "The Dingbat" Edith. The song Those Were the Days that opened and closed each sequence was actually the original title of the show.

2001, William (Redington) Hewlett (1913-2001) died, a co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company. The Hewlett-Packard Company was formed in 1939 with David Packard, a friend and Stanford classmate, in a small garage in Palo Alto, with $538 of initial capital. The order of the name of the company was determined by a coin toss. HP's first product was an audio oscillator sold to Walt Disney for making of the movie Fantasia. Hewlett's other projects involved a bowling alley foul-line indicator, automatic urinal flusher and a weight-loss shock machine.

Dog licenses are now on sale. In 2004, county treasurers and state agents sold licenses for more than 900,000 dogs. Licenses are required for all dogs more than three months old. If the animal is spayed or neutered, the license is $6. If they are not, the license is $8. Lifetime licenses may be purchased as well. Depending on whether the pet has been spayed or neutered, the price could be either $31 or $51. Senior citizens and persons with disabilities pay a reduced license fee. Submit your request by going to www.agriculture.state.pa.us, or head on over to the county treasurer's office to file an application.

Route 118 near the intersection of route 239 in Jackson Township was the scene of a fatal accident shortly after 9 AM Tuesday in which a Muncy man, Wayne Bradley, 59, rolled his Dodge truck. Winter driving conditions prevailed in the area at that time. Other accidents were reported in Sugarloaf Township and in Stillwater a white Jeep similar to one owned by a local retired teacher caused concerns until the owner of the vehicle was identified. Up to six inches of snow fell in areas north of the Borough.

From the unsubstantiated rumor department comes...
Benton Area Schools will "keep the AG program," according to teacher Douglas McCracken. The firm declaration of intent came about after the Benton News received an email asking "Why is the Benton Area School District trying to get rid of the AG program and the FFA program?" We asked members of the School Board, the school administration and the man in charge of the program and came up with the same answer from everyone: the program will continue alive and well! Doug McCracken told us that he has over 100 boys in the FFA program.

VoTech does not have an Ag program as Benton Area Schools have, although they have a "greenhouse" program and students there can participate in FFA.

From all that we could determine, doing away or seriously modifying the AG program has not been talked about at the administration level, nor has the Board talked about a change. In talking with parents and students, we found a strong positive reaction to Doug McCracken and the AG program at the local school.

Take the time to look at the Armed Services Tribute at http://home.insightbb.com/~armedforcestribute/ .

Didja know that checks were widely used in the early 16th century in Europe? Amsterdam was a headquarters for international shipping and trade. Merchants leery of keeping their money at home deposited it with Dutch bankers who then paid the account holder's debts whenever they received a written note.

The first printed checks date back to the 1700s. The British coined the word "check" after English bankers used serial numbers on the slips of paper as a means of "checking" on the notes. Eventually, cashiers agreed to pay their depositors' debts out of the money in each account, based on the depositor's written "note" to do so.

In the United States, checks were first used in 1681 when cash-strapped Boston businessmen mortgaged their land to a "fund," against which they could write checks. Check 21, a federal law that took effect in October, 2004, lets financial institutions send digital copies of checks to one another over the Internet. Banks can therefore collect payment sooner, and eliminate the physical process of moving checks across the country.

"Life would not be tolerable but for its amusements."
--George Bernard Shaw

"What is forgiven is usually well remembered."
--Louis Dudek

To err is human, but some people's erasers are wearing out ahead of the pencil!

A honeymoon is that short period of doting between dating and debting.

On this date in 1820, chemists tried to create a rust-proof steel, much like what today we call "stainless" steel. It took until 1913 to find a practical application for the endeavor when English metallurgist Harry Brearly was trying to improve rifle barrels and accidentally discovered that adding chromium to low carbon steel gives it stain resistance. The smooth, hard surface of stainless steel didn't trap dirt, bacteria or molds. The chromium in the steel combined with oxygen in the atmosphere to form a thin, invisible layer of chrome-containing oxide.

The winners of the Benton Borough Christmas decorating contest sponsored by the Benton Lions Club were...
First place: Chris Myers, Park Street.
Second place: Derl Remphrey, Third & Everett Street.
3rd place: Karen Reed, Center and Main street.

The current issue of Pennsylvania Game & Fish Magazine says port-fishing generates $50 million per year in sales and income taxes, and 75% of all fishing license buyers also buy trout stamps. Trout stamp sales account for 17% of Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission income.

Many say that the local weather has been mild this winter and point to the Farm Show week as a prime example of our usual winter. The sleet, ice and blizzard conditions that usually accompany the Farm Show are missing this year, and by Thursday we're promised weather in the high 50s. Up in Monroe, Sullivan, Carbon, Schuylkill, Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, residents can hardly wait for the ice to melt and the dirt roads to clear. We plan to take the opportunity with the unusually warm weather Thursday to slip into a forward gear and point toward the south, before the beastly weather of the west hits here. Son David tells us that in Santa Ynez, CA, more rain has fallen since the first of the year than fell during all of 2004--with another storm about ready to arrive.

In the spring of 1957, the senior class of the Benton Schools decided to take a trip--to an amusement park in Moosic known as Rocky Glen. A class outing at an amusement park might not sound special today, but in 1957 it was eagerly anticipated for weeks in advance. Amusement parks, as I remember them then, were places for the family to go together on a Sunday afternoon. Here was a chance for friends and classmates to go and unwind from twelve years of study. None of this stuff of going to a potentially culturally enriching place like Baltimore's Inner Harbor, or New York city or Colonial Williamsburg or Washington, D.C! It was off to the amusement park.

Rocky Glen Amusement Park, Moosic, PA

Rocky Glen had a 55-foot roller coaster known as the "Mighty Lightnin,'" usually advertised as "The Million Dollar Roller Coaster" that I think closed at the end of the summer of 1957. The park had an antique "dodgem" with antique cars (later purchased by Knoebel's Amusement Resort, Elysburg, or as it is usually referred to as "Knoebels Grove." We loved to stand along the side and smell the electricity arcing and the cars going ker-thud into each other. Something about seeing seniors driving into other Dodgem cars that prepares one for the open highway later in life! Other rides included the merry-go-round and the Ferris wheel, "The Hey Dey," "The Tumble Bug," "The Whip," "The Cuddle Up" and our former favorite "The Caterpillar."

We remember that day in May in 1957 when the senior class climbed into the yellow school bus and headed for Rocky Glen. Some of us didn't have dates and many of us didn't have very much money to spend on what Father called "foolishness." We didn't see much point in hanging around with the guys when we could be asking one of the very pretty girls to take a ride on something with us. So although the boys started out together and the girls started out together, sooner or later some broke ranks and joined "the other side."

In my particular case, I tried a cherry drink to quench my thirst and to boost my sagging nerve, then I "accidentally" walked near a girl I wanted to ask to go for a ride with me. I suggested The Caterpillar, a ride that went round and round and certainly would make her slide over next to me--a good start, I thought, in developing some kind of interest. The ride had possibilities since a canvas tarp automatically covered the riders at one point and kept the screams inside and the light out. This ride would be perfect!

Higher and higher and faster and faster, me on the outside of the bench seat, a very pretty girl from our class on the inside. But something seemed to be wrong. We were going too fast to talk, we were going too fast to do anything but hold on, we were going too fast to tell anyone I was getting motion sickness! Why didn't this thing stop? I had put the cherry soda out of my mind, but I could start tasting it again and suddenly the combination of the circular, high-speed motion and the sweet drink erupted into a very embarrassing situation.

Ben Sterling and his "Misses" (his term, not ours) owned the park. We remember riding on one of his jerky cars that went on a electric track through a completely black room with scary (?) things popping out at us. A similar attraction was the fun house with its crooked rooms and scary turns. Scary was a common commodity at Rocky Glen. We had great fun on the small roller coaster and played some miniature golf, took a train ride, and watched the girls ride the German Carrousel with the brass ring and watched the other boys play the games of chance. There was a fortune teller--a gypsy lady, someone said.

Rocky Glen may not have been as exciting as a trip to Washington, D.C., but it certainly brings back fond memories...

Do not trust your memory; it is a net full of holes; the most beautiful prizes slip through it.
--Robertson Davies

Troubles are like babies--they only grow if you nurse them.

Ever notice when kids want a kitten, they often ask for a horse--and get the kitten.

Grandmothers don't mind hearing the same story over and over, but other people do.

Watch out for a half truth--it may be the wrong half.

January 10 2004. Happy birthday today to Alicia Schlichter, Gertrude Stowe, and Eleanor Kocher.

Phoebe Viola (Yost) Savage, (Dec. 17, 1919-Jan. 8, 2005), 85, 138 Academy St., in the Borough of New Columbus, died Saturday. She was a graduate of the New Columbus Academy. Surviving are her son, Kenneth E. Savage, New Columbus; grandsons: Kevin E. Savage and Keith L. Savage, New Columbus; and three great-grandchildren: Cora S. Savage, Abigail A. Savage and Carson K. Savage, New Columbus. Funeral services will be Wednesday at 2 PM at the McMichael Funeral Home with burial in the New Columbus Cemetery. A viewing will be held Tuesday from 6 to 8 PM at McMichaels, Benton.
--from the Press Enterprise, where a complete obituary can be found.

St. Francis (PA) University had a dominating second half Saturday, holding the Fairleigh Dickinson University women's basketball team scoreless for eight minutes, winning 61-44. The Red Flash led 24-22 at halftime and broke the game open with a 25-6 run midway through the second half, building their lead to 18, led by Regina Schlichter's nine points. The Red Flash are now at 5-7 overall with an undefeated 3-0 mark in Northeast Conference play.

Winning the game with Fairleigh Dickinson was only half the fun for the St. Francis team! On the way to the university at Ebensburg following the win, the charter bus pulled off I-80 and came Back Home to Benton, PA, depositing 23 basketball players and their coaches at the home of grandparents Richard and Janet Kriebel, Benton Township. Regina's mother, Faith Schlichter, prepared a home-style meal for everyone and bestowed old-fashioned Benton hospitality on the visiting girls. St. Francis is 164 miles from Benton via I-80, route 220, I-99 and route 22.

It is fun to head back in time and find terms that kids today just don't understand. We get a lot of that here. It seems like a lot of teachers are asking students to read the Benton News to supplement their knowledge of local and national history, and a lot of kids are reading it on their own to pick up on trivia they don't seem to find elsewhere.

We often get questions asking what we meant by certain terms we use. Take "fender skirts" and "curb feelers" and "steering knobs," for example. Use those words with your kids or grandchildren and watch the corners of their eyebrows go up! Really shake them up by throwing out terms like "Continental kits" and explain rear-bumper extenders and spare-tire covers on a Lincoln Continental without using your hands to draw broad circles in the air. Next, explain "emergency brakes" and why we no longer have emergency brakes. Explain why the "emergency" is just a "parking" brake now. Explain about the "foot feed" and if they haven't run from the house, tell them about the "running boards" and how you used to sneak a ride on them. Explain how all these "store-bought" items "dressed" up a car, especially if the car was going "coast to coast." That term was somewhat akin to "wall-to-wall," the term we used when we covered our hardwood floors with--well you know--wall-to-wall carpeting! Then explain why people today replace their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors.

You might want to skip the phrase "in a family way," and head right for the word "pregnant," once a little too graphic for family, movie or TV talk. And we would love to listen in when you get to the part about the "stork visits" and "expecting." We still remember when David Dodson told us that he "knew where babies come from." We didn't, so we asked for more explanation. David filled us in. We thought it over carefully, asked a few questions, too, as we remember that day a long time ago. Finally, we dismissed David by telling him that "it just didn't sound right," and we didn't believe him. We consulted Father later that evening, who simply turned a very pale shade of white and told us to "go talk with your mother."

Watch your daughter start to smile when you use the term "brassiere" or other "unmentionable." Watch the kids try to figure out the real meaning of a term like "gay divorcee," or to a lesser degree "confirmed bachelors" or "career girls." They may still know what a "rat fink" is, but perhaps not. Remember the "percolator" and how much more exciting that word was than "Coffeemaker" or Mr. Coffee. How dull.

There were wonderful advertising words like "Dynaflow" and "ElectraLux" and Cinerama. The 1963 Admiral TV had "SpectraVision!" And what happened to Mother's lumbago? Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what castor oil or all of Carter's Little Liver Pills cured. And another word on the endangered list is "supper." Everybody now says "dinner." How 'bout helping to save a great word by inviting someone to supper to discuss fender skirts...

On this date in 1793, Jean Pierre Blanchard made the first successful balloon ascent in North America. He carried a letter from President George Washington from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, perhaps the first use of "air mail." President George Washington was in Philadelphia for the event, along with other notables including Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, Paul Revere and John Adams. Blanchard also made the first balloon flights in Germany, Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands. Twenty years before, Blanchard attempted heavier-than-air flying machines, including one where he rowed with oars and a tiller. In 1785 Blanchard carried out the first successful parachute experiment. An animal in a small basket was attached to a parachute, then dropped from a balloon. The descent was slow enough that the animal survived the fall. But all good things must come to an end, and in 1808 Blanchard had a heart attack on a flight over The Hague in the Netherlands and fell out of his balloon. He never recovered and died on March 7, 1809.

Verizon Communications was formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE in the summer of 2000. Area residents need to continue lobbying Verizon and other cell carriers to improve cell coverage in the local area. Visit http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/contact/index.jsp in order to send Verizon an email about the situation. Click on Contact Us in the upper right corner.

Incidentally, Verizon Wireless has launched high-speed wireless broadband internet access via cell phone network in the Greater Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton areas. Users are reporting speeds of around 4 megabits per second. The network can be found anywhere a current Verizon cellular phone works in one of the markets with the service.

Congress is posed to approve legislation to allow all money donated to a recognized charity for tsunami relief effort by January 31st to be 100% deductible from last year's tax bill. In case you don't feel this is a worthwhile contribution, please look at the pictures of the tsunami off the coast of Sumatra and the power of the water that devastated so much of the world by going to http://www.nodalpoint.net/tsunami/ .

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We are writing this morning from Painter Den Hunting Club, Sullivan County, where walking outside is a freezing chore, where tree limbs are covered with ice and hang to the ground, where the sound of trees snapping is common. Inside the cabin, we can smell the sticky buns in the oven, shadows coming from the fireplace are playing off the walls, the buckwheat-cake batter is rising, Cook Dave Moss is shaping the sausage and we are on our third cup of coffee. Now is probably as good a time as any to express some of the rules that men--tongue-in-cheek--claim to have in their relationship to women. The rules are all numbered "1" on purpose.
1. Sunday sports are like the full moon or the changing of the tides. They are gonna happen!
1. Ask for what you want. We do not read minds. Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say what you want!
1. YES and NO are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
1. What we said six months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all our comments become null and void after one week.
1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.
1. You can ask us to do something or you can tell us how you want it done, but you can't do both. If you know best how to do it, feel free to take on the task yourself!
1. Men see in 16 colors, something like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.
1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
1. If you ask a question that you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.
1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss topics like football, hunting, or monster trucks.

We haven't mentioned local actress Krysten Ritter recently, so we'll bring you up speed on her life. Friday night at 9 PM on the Fox Network, she is in the pilot of "Johnny Zero." She was featured in a recent eight-page Flaunt Magazine spread. She has 2 commercials running for Build-A-Bear and her picture is displayed in Target stores. Home life is a little disrupted, following a tornado that hit Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago damaging the roof of her apartment.

We would like you to take a look at http://www.animatedatlas.com/movie.html, a history of the United States.

Monday on the television show Price Is Right, look for Kathi Taylor and June Chapin in the audience--stage left, about 4 rows back.

On this date in...
1872, a patent was issued to inventor Thomas Elkins for a piece of furniture which he described as a Chamber Commode, a combination of "a bureau, mirror, book-rack, washstand, table, easy-chair, and earth-closet or chamber-stool." Two years earlier, Elkins obtained a patent for a "Dining, Ironing Table and Quilting Frame Combined." In 1879, Elkins obtained a patent for a "Refrigerating Apparatus" for "food or corpses," which provided a convenient container and method of chilling using the evaporation of water. These inventions rank slightly higher than the "Device to prevent insanity, imbecility and feeblemindedness," which later became known as the male chastity belt.

1884, the first U.S. patents for tanning hides and skins through the action of a metallic salt were issued. Tanning is the process by which skins and hides are converted into leather. The invention of a chrome-tanning process enabled leather to be tanned thinner, stronger and quicker than by vegetable tanning that dated from 3000 B.C.

Ben Roethlisberger, 22, the Pittsburgh Steeler rookie quarterback who led the Steelers to a 15-1 record this season was named Wednesday as Rookie Offensive Player of the Year in the NFL. He also has a new lady friend, Natalie Gulbis, from the LPGA golf tour.

Many readers will remember Don Hanson's Amusement Park, Harvey's Lake, at the Lehigh Valley Railroad Picnic Grounds, 26 miles northeast of Back Home in Benton, PA. The park opened in 1891 and operated until 1984. Over the years, the park included a dance hall, carousel, arcade, bowling alley, roller coaster, miniature railroad, swimming beach, and a ride with a steep slide with a pool of water at the bottom known as a "Shoot-the-Chute." Other smaller attractions also existed at Hanson's Amusement Park over the years.

The park was in the Hanson family from the mid 1930's. The second-floor roller skating rink was especially popular and other activities involved lake activities like boat races, speedboat rides, diving shows and airplane stunt shows over what some said was a bottomless lake. The train that ran around the park is now at Bonham Nursing home in the little town of Register.

Hanson's Drive-In Theater at the back of the park dated back to 1948, but only lasted three years. Hanson's second floor dance hall in the 1960s and 1970s hosted bands like Joe Nardone and the All Stars. Joe Nardone always attracted huge crowds of dancers. He is married to the former Irene Hasay, Cambra. Chubby Checker, Bobby Goldsboro, the Supremes, and Frankie Vali and the Four Seasons entertained here.

The park continued to decline in popularity through the 1970's and early 1980's. In 1980 the "Speed Hound" roller coaster was structurally damaged and this further adversely impacted upon the parks ability to draw a crowd. Camping was later added to attract more business, but the park closed after the 1984 season. The picnic grounds then turned into the 6,000 seat Bud Light Amphitheater on Lake Road, and groups entertained like Little Feat, Black Sabbath, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Deep Purple and Jackson Browne.

We often give credit on these pages to the insight of William Penn for creating the climate of freedom and the state in which we reside. Many do not know a great deal about William Penn's country home, known as Pennsbury Manor, a 43-acre estate in Bucks County. It was located to take advantage of water transportation on the Delaware since Penn often traveled by barge to Philadelphia.

Penn apparently believed that life in the country was more wholesome than in crowded cities. He wrote, "The country life is to be preferred; for there we see the works of God; but in cities little else but the works of men: and the one makes a better subject for our contemplation than the other."

William Penn and about 100 followers set sail for the new world in September, 1682. Soon after William Penn's arrival in the colony in 1682, construction began on Pennsbury Manor. His plan seemed to be to establish the sort of country estate that had been Penn's English residence, Worminghurst. There were separate buildings for baking and brewing, a large stable, a boathouse, numerous farm buildings, and the large house.

Even with all this, William Penn's time in the colony totaled less than five years. Pennsbury Manor eventually fell into disrepair. By 1736, when one of Penn's sons visited, the house "was very near falling, the roof open as well as the windows and the woodwork almost rotten." The estate passed out of the Penn family's hands in 1792. From time to time in the years that followed someone would suggest that the site should be preserved, but nothing was done until the 1930s when Pennsylvania preservationists, inspired by what was happening with the reconstruction of Williamsburg, decided to rebuild Penn's home.

We wonder what Penn would have thought if he were alive today and could look out his windows and see the sprawling U. S. Steel's Fairless Works, the next door neighbor of his former home.

The reconstructed Pennsbury Manor is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 9 AM to 5 PM; and Sunday, noon to 5:00 PM. For additional information, holiday closing periods and travel directions, write to Pennsbury Manor, 400 Pennsbury Memorial Lane, Morrisville, Pennsylvania 19067, or call 215 946-0400.

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum has launched a new Senate Web site for his constituents at http://santorum.senate.gov. The Web site is a regional map, which provides constituents one-click access to the senator's office in their area. An online quick poll permits visitors an opportunity to cast their vote on current issues and view the results of the poll instantly.

We try to avoid doom and gloom in the Benton News, but this is about one of mankind's most familiar maladies. It might be best if you would shield your eyes from our pages today and turn elsewhere if you want upbeat news.

In ancient Rome, the common cold was "doctored" by sipping a broth made by soaking an onion in warm water. In Pennsylvania in its early days you might have relied on pennyroyal tea or some concoction made from sage, coltsfoot or bloodroot. In grandma's time, lemon and honey was a favorite to treat a cold. In extreme cases, a hot toddy with rum was said to make the user feel better--and the more rum the better the user felt!

Lets look at a specific case. A man in his late 60s was out riding on December 12, 1799, a day marked by wind, rain and cold weather--a fairly typical December day. He quickly ate when he returned home, then changed out of his wet clothes and retired to his study with a cup of tea and prepared to write long into the night. When he finally came to bed, he reportedly uttered the lines that form today's quote of the day:

"I came so soon as my business was accomplished. You well know that through a long life, it has been my unvaried rule, never to put off till the morrow the duties which should be performed today."

The next morning, he had a sore throat and decided to stay inside, but in the afternoon went out and marked trees for cutting. By evening he was horse, and about 3 in the morning he awakened his wife to tell her about his chills. He was having trouble breathing and speaking. At daylight he was unable to drink the mixture of molasses, vinegar and butter that he was given by his concerned wife. A hastily called doctor extracted a pint of blood, soaked the general's feet in hot water and wrapped his neck in a salve-dipped towel. Hot compresses, mustard packs, various gargles and inhalations didn't work.

Dr. Craik, his long-time friend, drew more blood, or as his wife's grandson later reported, "bleeding was attended to." Knowing that he was dying, he told his wife, "These are my wills--preserve this one and burn the other." He then directed that his "corpse be kept for the usual period of three days." On December 14, the Father of our Country died.

What killed George Washington? Was it pneumonia or was it the common cold, brought on by excessive blood drawing and other remedies? The remedies suggest that Washington himself thought that he had a cold. Two hundred years later, we are not much closer than Washington was to the cure for the common cold.

The account of George Washington's passing was based on the writings of George Washington Custis in The Death of George Washington, 1799, EyeWitness to History. Martha Washington's grandson was then 19 and had been adopted when he was less than a year old by Washington.

Many people today still rely on a reliable family remedy when they feel a "cold coming on" during the period when most colds develop, from September to May. We consulted a family "remedy" book and find that herbal teas get top billing, including teas made from peppermint, mint and sage. Garlic was often used, as was licorice and lemon. One remedy called for molasses and Jamaica ginger, a teaspoon every hour. Onions and butter on the chest had some merit in early local remedies, and even red onions tied around the bedpost were said to work. Chicken soup is still thought to clear mucus from sinus passages. Other old wives tales involve washing out the nose with water and soap, cod-liver oil and iodine. A Lancaster inventor once discovered that wearing a cloths pin on the nose starved off the common cold, but the Food and Drug Administration didn't see fit to approve it as a cold remedy.

A cure for a cold that we saw at a local hunting camp once was to hang a hat on the bedpost and start drinking. When the person saw two hats, they were to stop drinking. Actually, alcohol has long been though to be of some help with the common cold. Advocates say it dilates small blood vessels in the skin and reestablishes circulation in the mucous membranes of the nose.

We can still remember with disdain Mother's treatment of ear aches that we often got. She blew cigarette smoke in our ear! How we hated that!

Vitamin C has long been popular, but we couldn't find much conclusive proof of it doing much good. In fact, too much vitamin C can lead to undesirable side effects.

With proper use of nonprescription drugs, cough, sinus congestion, runny nose, and other symptoms of colds can be kept in check. While these nonprescription drugs may relieve certain symptoms they will not cure any of these conditions.

For the next two days, we will publish the Benton News on an odd schedule, unknown at this time even to us. Regretfully, we are fighting a cold and we are going to take a couple of days of "sick leave." And an email from Diane Brown, about "20 minutes North of Daytona Beach" didn't help matters much. She says that the temperature has been in the 80s for the past four days. No rain, no clouds, no problem, mon! It is not that we don't believe Diane, but we think that next week we'll head on down and check it out for ourselves.

Today is the climax of the Christmas Season and the Twelve Days of Christmas, counted from Christmas Day until January 5. The Feast of the Epiphany refers to when the three wise men arrived in Bethlehem to behold the Christ child. The word epiphany comes from the Greek word for manifestation, and was chosen because this was the night on which the Christ child, called 'the King of the Jews,' was manifested to the Gentiles. The three wise men are sometimes known as the Three Kings--Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar. It is said that Caspar brought the Christ child frankincense for divinity, Melchior gold for kingship and Balthazar myrrh for humanity. Baking a special King's Cake is part of the festivities of Epiphany, especially in the French Catholic culture during the celebration of Mardi Gras.

On this date in...
1912, the territory acquired by the U.S. as a result of the Mexican War became part of the United States of America as New Mexico, the 47th state. Santa Fe, the oldest city in New Mexico, has been the capital of the area since 1610.

1930, the first diesel-engine automobile trip was completed on this day. The trip was from Indianapolis to New York City, 792 miles. The total cost for the fuel was $1.38, less than a gallon of diesel costs today.

1975, ABC-TV debuted "A.M. America." Bill Beutel with Roger Grimsby teamed up with Stephanie Edwards. The show lasted ten months. ABC then rolled out David Hartman in "Good Morning America."

1994, Nancy Kerrigan was smacked by a blunt instrument to the knee after she finished a practice session in Detroit. Four men, including the ex-husband of Kerrigan's rival, Tonya Harding, were sentenced to prison for their roles in the attack. Harding denied knowing about the attack in advance, and received probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution.

The Pennsylvania State Farm Show has been a January tradition in the Keystone State since 1936. It is Pennsylvania's farm version of a state fair. The 89th version of the week-long event starting Saturday through January 16 is billed as a celebration of the state's farming industry and the roughly 50,000 families who still farm the land. It combines livestock exhibits, more than 325 commercial exhibits, competitions, entertainment and food, lots and lots of farm-fresh food. The Farm Show features a 27,000 square foot food court. If you are unable to attend, turn to PCN for continuing video coverage. The facility has grown from 16 to 24 acres during its $86 million expansion and renovation and the duration of the show has expanded from six to eight days. When you visit, make sure that you see...
• Expo Hall, the size of four football fields, with 175,000 square feet. The facility's "old" Main Exposition Hall measures 145,000 feet.
• Equine Arena, a new arena with 1,800 blue seats and 39,200 square feet of exhibit space. The Large Arena has 7,400 seats.
• Equine Barn, which can house 140 draft horses.
• Two-level corridor, which connects the new buildings with the old 16-acre complex. The lower level is for animals and their handlers, while the upper level is for people. Near Maclay Street is more familiar territory: the Large Arena, Northeast Hall, North Hall, Northwest Hall, East Hall, Sale Arena (new name for the Small Arena), West Hall and Main Exhibition Hall.
• On the second floor of the Northeast Building is a banquet hall. The old cafeteria upstairs from the Main Exhibition Hall is a bunk room and business room.

For the past two years, local residents have enjoyed seeing and hearing local chef Carol Vance at the Farm Show. This year Carol will not be at the Farm Show, but the cooking and baking will continue. Several contests will feature bakers competing for ribbons and premiums. The entries will be sliced up and served free to the public after the judging. This year's food contests begin at 10 AM Saturday with the 16th annual Blue Ribbon Apple Pie Contest in the Main Exhibition Hall.

Speaking of food, we had not eaten cooked spinach in a long time, although it was served in our house while we were growing up several times a week. (And when we were growing up, we never even considered the notion of eating spinach raw in a salad!) Last night we had a craving for some cooked spinach and we boiled up a batch. Wonderful stuff with a little butter on top and lots of salt and pepper! We read somewhere that spinach consumption rose by a third when in the 1930s Popeye plunked down a can of the green vegetable. We always knew that it was spinach that gave Popeye his bulging muscles and his mighty strength. But the strength Popeye had was based purely on a simple mathematical error. Nutrition researchers in the 1890s stuck a decimal point in the wrong place--somewhat like what we used to do to Mr. Devore's blackboard when he wasn't looking. Spinach suddenly got ten times more iron than it actually contains. Spinach, in fact, is no better or no worse than most other green vegetables as a source of iron. During the 1940s, nutritionists discovered that folic acid in spinach does give strength, so all was not lost.

Pennsylvania fishing licenses for 2005 are on sale via the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's web site at www.fish.state.pa.us and at retail outlets like Jay Yorks' Sports Center, Main Street, and Fishing Creek Angler, Upper Raven Creek. Anglers 16 years of age or older need to have a signed, valid fishing license in order to fish in the state.

I'm a horse of course.
--Mr. Ed

Oh horse feathers.
--Mr. Ed

We tried some Chinese food the other night that was so spicy, it'll Szechwan fire.

Which leads us to the question, are people who are tired of Scandinavian buffets smorgasbored?

There is a big difference between holding a high office and having a high office hold us.

Whether a man winds up with a nest egg, or a goose egg, depends a lot on the kind of chick he marries.

On this date in...
1855, King Camp Gillette, the inventor and manufacturer of the safety razor, was born. In 1895, Gillette produced a crude version of a disposable razor blade. Six years later, he patented his idea and founded the Gillette Safety Razor Company, Boston. In 1904 he sold 90,000 razors and over 12 million blades.

1889, the word hamburger first appeared in print in a Walla Walla newspaper, referring to steak containing a mixture of pepper and onions. The hamburger was named after a German food called hamburg steak, as in "the steak is 'from Hamburg.'" German immigrants had brought the recipe for hamburg steak, a form of pounded beef, to this country. Americans liked the hamburg steak but used the adjective form "hamburger" without adding "steak" at the end.

1914, Aaron "Bunny" Lapin was born, the inventor who put whipped cream in a spray can and called it Reddi-Wip. First sold by St. Louis milkmen, its distribution expanded quickly across the country, and Lapin was soon dubbed the Whipped Cream King. In 1998, Time magazine listed Reddi-wip as one of the century's 100 great things for consumers (but what do you expect when Spam and pop-top cans also make the list?).

1961, a television show with a talking horse ("A horse is a horse, of course, of course," debuted with Alan Young as Ed's owner, Wilbur Post. Wilbur's wife, Carol, was played by Connie Hines. Neighbor Roger Addison was Larry Keating. The voice of Mr. Ed was Allan "Rocky" Lane--of course, of course. Mr. Ed's real name was "Bamboo Harvester." Mr. Ed did many of his scenes in one take, all the while chewing on peanut butter so that his mouth would move.

Microsoft has released MSN TV 2, an update to WebTV. The price per set is about $200. The set plugs into any TV and phone jack and slugs through a dial-up connection accessible from the family couch via a wireless keyboard and remote control (included). It can connect to broadband and a home network for faster browsing on your TV as well as access to music and photos stored on your other computers. The subscription fee is $21.95 a month for dial-up access or $9.95 a month if you use an existing dial-up or broadband connection. Pop-up ads and any virus now existing is blocked. Eleven Web mail accounts come with the MSN TV subscription. On the downside, we hear that the pages can look cluttered and prepare yourself to spend time scrolling up and down within a page.

Janus was the god of gates in Roman mythology and was thought to represent beginnings; i.e., one must emerge through a gate or door before entering a new place. As the god of beginnings, Janus also lent his name to the first month of the year, referred to by the ancient Romans as Ianuarius. Janus was pictured as two-headed, so that one head looked forward into the new year while the other took a retrospective view.

Billy Wilder once remarked that "Hindsight is always twenty-twenty." We were reading the Press Enterprise from 18 years ago this month and came across an article about giving away a Benton-area house. In its time, the building was no slouch! There was a center stairway to the second floor and a narrow stairway to the third floor. The western parlor was approximately 18' x 18' and had a fire place and mantle. There was a parlor on the east approximately 14'xl4', once heated by a pot-bellied stove. There was a spring house and a well. The outhouse had became the septic tank.

Ezekiel Cole had constructed the building from 1806 to 1810 near the spot where Coles Creek joined Fishing Creek. The adjacent mill, built by William Hess in 1795, was long gone. In 1803, a log cabin school house was built on a plot of land set aside by Cole for a school house, a graveyard and a church. The Greystone house was begun in 1806 and was completed by 1810. The log church was begun in 1810. This is pretty impressive stuff for this area! So why was the house being given away?

Greystone, when it stood near Camp Lavigne

The Columbia-Montour Boy Scout Council owned the building called Greystone resulting from a purchase made in July, 1957, but didn't have the estimated $36,000 needed to fix the problems with the building, and it didn't have the money to maintain the building if the repairs were made. No one stepped up to take the building--remember, it was a "no cash, just carry it away" transaction. Eventually, the building was torn down, but hindsight being what it is, we all lost a piece of history when it happened.

On this date in...
1809, Louis Braille, was born. Braille lost his eyesight at the age of three, following an accident while playing with an awl in his father's harness shop. Braille was a creative person, learning to play the cello and organ as a boy. In 1821, Braille was at a school for the blind and a soldier showed him a code system he had invented. The system, called "night writing," had been designed with dots and dashes for soldiers in war trenches to silently pass instructions. The army code was slow and cumbersome and Braille developed a simpler scheme using six dots and no dashes. His tool for making the dots was the same instrument that destroyed his eyesight--the awl. The position of the different dots represented the different letters of the alphabet. His work was not widely recognized until after his death at the age of 43 of tuberculosis and even at the Royal Institution, where Braille taught, braille was not in the course of instruction until after his death.

1958, the Russian Sputnik I satellite, the first man-made object to orbit the earth, fell into the atmosphere and disintegrated 92 days after launch. Sputnik, meaning "companion" or "fellow traveler," circled the earth every 95 minutes at an altitude of 500 miles at almost 20,000 miles per hour. The 184-pound satellite transmitted a radio signal picked up around the world, and carried instrumentation for temperature measurement.

1970, television history was made when Lassie was hit by a car while pushing a child away from danger. For the next month on TV, Lassie suffered from amnesia. "The Road Back, Part 1" told of a lost and injured Lassie in San Francisco's Chinatown. In "The Road Back, Part 2," Lassie wandered Chinatown searching for home without knowing where it was. In "The Road Back, Part 3," still unsure of her identity, Lassie helped a retarded girl. In "The Road Back, Part 4" Lassie got her memory back and searched for Scott.

An international automobile import/distribution company has announced an agreement with Chery Automobile Company to import a car into North America priced "30% below comparable models" with a warranty of 10-years/100,000 miles. The 2007 launch models will include an entry level compact sedan, a mid-size sedan, a crossover-type sedan, a sport and luxury coupe, and a SUV. And where are these cars coming from? The Chery Automobile Company, Wuhu, China, in the Anhui Province. And, no, Wal-Mart will not be selling them...

For those unfamiliar with the Fishingcreek Valley, it is that area north of the Susquehanna River drained by a stream of water known as Fishingcreek. It also runs northwest of Knob Mountain from Orangeville. The Pennsylvania Historical Society gives Namescesepony as the Indian name for the stream we know as Fishingcreek.

The valley was not always as peaceful as it is today. Lt. Moses Van Campen and about 20 men were directed to build a fort on Fishingcreek about three miles from Bloomsburg. The site he selected was on the south side of Fishingcreek on a farm owned by the Wheeler family and in 1778 Van Campen began the building of Fort Wheeler. It was built of logs, covered with dirt and surrounded by a stockade. The Indians attacked the fort soon after its construction.

The problems facing Fishingcreek Valley today are very different from those that faced the early settlers. Today, acid rain inflicts the damage to the stream and the Fishing Creek Watershed Association makes every effort to keep the creek in repair. The first president of the Watershed Association is stepping down after serving in that capacity for six years. Chuck Chapman has spearheaded the effort to save the stream and has collected a fine group of individuals who have accomplished a great deal in the past six years.

On Monday, January 10, the Watershed Association will gather at the Ag Center on Sawmill Road to elect the officers of the organization for the coming years. The nominating committee has recommended Rich Kisner, the former Treasurer of the organization, to be President. Susan Webster is nominated for Vice President. Harold Ackerman, Jamison City, has been nominated for Secretary and Edd Sidinger, Jamison City, nominated for Treasurer.

Quote of the Day:
"Boy, I feel safer now that she's behind bars! O.J. is walking around free, Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the one woman in America willing to cook, clean and work in the yard and haul her butt to jail."
--Tim Allen, talking about Martha Stewart

Plan ahead. It was not raining when Noah built the Ark.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers, on the other hand, believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features.

"A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road."
--Henry Ward Beecher

Happiness is looking in the mirror and liking what you see.

On this date in...
1871, oleomargarine was patented for use as a butter substitute by a man from Binghamton by the name of Henry Bradley. Margarine came into its own during World War II because of its durability in long-range shipping and storing. Some readers may remember when oleomargarine was white and was sold in plastic bags with a color tab inside the bag. The tab would be broken and the yellow color would be massaged through the oleomargarine. It was once illegal to sell margarine that looked like butter. Regular margarine must contain 80 percent fat. The remaining 20 percent consists of liquid, coloring, flavoring and other additives. Soft margarine is made with all vegetable oils, while whipped margarine has had air beaten into it. There are also many reduced-fat margarines on the market today, with from 25% to 65% less fat than regular margarine. There's even fat-free margarine, the ingredients of which include gelatin, rice starch and lactose.
1957, the world's first electric watch was introduced in Lancaster by the Hamilton Watch Company. The idea of a watch which never needed winding was an instant hit to the 1950s consumers, but by 1969, when production ended, more advanced technology made the Hamilton Electric obsolete.

Mother said that the secret of baking bread was to get flour milled from hard wheat, which is high in gluten, a stretchy substance that traps the air bubbles that make the bread rise. She always kept a plastic bag near where she was kneading the bread so when the phone rang she could slip her hand into the bag and not get flour all over the kitchen. A wet towel went under the bread board when she was kneading or rolling dough so the board wouldn't move. To get the bread to rise, she would put a pan of hot water in the oven with the bread. When the oven got turned on, the pan with the water stayed, so that the crust came out crisp. The baked bread could never set in a draft, Mother said, or it would shrink. In fact, the only shrinking of bread was when we attacked the warm bread as it cooled. They are few memories of growing up more pleasant than eating a piece or two of warm bread right out of the oven.

It is sometimes hard to put things into perspective. Take the march of George Pickett on the third day of fighting at Gettysburg in 1863, as an example. Picture the scene in Gettysburg that day. Fifteen thousand men--a mile across and half a mile deep--started moving in parade fashion from the safety of the trees into the open, sun-baked fields. Somewhat like a scene from fighting in the Middle Ages, these brave souls marched to within 200 yards of the Union forces before the Federals opened fire. Lee had ordered nearly 12,000 men (nine brigades) to march over 1,000 yards across open ground.

For more information on Pickett's Charge, pick up a copy of Peter Tomasak and Richard A. Sauers book, Ricketts' Battery: A History of Battery F, 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery.

Ever wonder how the "inch" developed? The root of the word comes from the Latin uncia, or "12th part." The Romans defined it as 1/12 of a foot, and was roughly the width of a thumb, while a foot was roughly the length of a man's foot. The Romans brought the measurement to England, where it was introduced into the English system of weights and measures. In 1305, King Edward I decreed that an inch should be the measure of three dried barleycorns placed end to end lengthwise.

Someone told us that "education" is what is left over after you've forgotten the facts. And here we thought that it was the ability to describe a beautiful woman without using your hands.

Didja know that Pittsburgh was named for William Pitt, even though Pitt never once stepped onto Pennsylvania soil? Pitt was a British war minister during the French and Indian War and his actions led to the city's founding. He committed money and troops to the war; he mapped out a strategy that included the capture of Fort Duquesne, located where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers combine to form the Ohio River. After this French fort fell in November, 1758, a British one was built--Fort Pitt, or Pittsburgh. The city of Pittsburgh still stands on that spot.

The College Park (Maryland) Fly Fishing Show is upcoming at the Reckord Armory on Route 1 on January 15 and 16. Cathy Beck will conduct fly-casting classes and will be giving free demonstrations both days. Barry Beck, Cathy's spouse and a terrific photographer, will also be conducting classes.

The show that runs Friday through Sunday at the Denver Merchandise Mart Pavilion will feature Cathy and Barry Beck. Admission is $12 daily. On Friday and Saturday, Barry Beck will demonstrate dry fly strategies. Cathy Beck will give fly-casting demonstrations Saturday and Sunday.

Jeannette Hartman was made a Trustee Emeritus during Sunday's Church at the Benton Christian Church. The title was bestowed on her for her years of dedicated service to the church.

From Sugarloaf Township...
• The Men's Group of Sugarloaf township is purchasing items for individuals with disabilities, including a rocker, sock air, 18" shoe horn, dressing stick, leg lifter and a tub bench. The items will be turned over to the Sugarloaf Ambulance Association for distribution to people in need.
• The North Mountain Historical Society will meet Monday, February 21, at the Brass Pelican Restaurant. The speaker will be Meg Gefken who will speak on the life of Eleanor Roosevelt.
• The North Mountain Fire Company will serve breakfast on the second Sunday of each month, January 9 and February 13.

On this date in 1974, Richard M. Nixon signed a bill requiring states to lower the maximum speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline supplies during an embargo imposed by Arab oil-producing countries. The embargo was lifted three months later, but the speed limits remained until 1987.

Quote of the Day:
"A writer who fixes too much attention on the correctness of his punctuation, or a reader who does the same, is missing the point: the job of text is to communicate, not satisfy pedantic rule makers."
--Michael Quinion

Outdoors writer Tom Austin, writing in Sunday's Press Enterprise, notes that during 2004, it didn't get any better than a "plate of buckwheat cakes and sausage at the Brass Pelican" and an "hour of arguing at the back counter at the Benton Sports Center." Tom gives his "Outdoor Person of the Year" Award to Brooke Lee, the Benton Prom Queen who shot a Maine moose a few days later. Tom also acknowledged her father, Bob Lee, who has encouraged youth to get involved in the outdoors, saying he "is one of those rare outdoor persons who, with a very limited time schedule, not only takes time to involve his own kids but as many young people as possible in the shooting sports."

Buster writes...
Life is very confusing. Leader can scratch whatever he wants to scratch and no one says a word. But if I scratch any part of my body, there is a big scene. My ears are especially itchy and sometimes I scratch my ears without thinking. When that happens, Leader puts me between his legs and squirts something in my ears. It doesn't hurt, but it feels funny, especially when Leader starts rubbing my ears. The only fun part is when I shake my head and get the squirt all over his pants.

Usually Leader goes out the door early in the morning while I am asleep for something he calls "coffee with the boys." Sometimes when he comes back, he has some strange doggone ideas (a little doggie humor there) about what She and I need. One very nice man Leader met when he was out takes his dogs to the woods every day to look for mousies. Imagine that! Leader takes She and I every day for walks, but we always have the string attached so Leader doesn't get lost. The string also keeps us so we can't run away and look for mousies on our own. This man told Leader to mix sulfur twice a week with the biscuits and sawdust balls that he feeds us, saying this will stop the itching. On another occasion, this man told Leader to give me something called "brewer's yeast." I heard Mother say once that she thinks that brewer's yeast may be the reason that Leader falls asleep early some nights, so I like when I take those pills. Naps are good, even when they come just before I go to sleep at night.
--Buster is a Bichon Frieze and as a staff reporter contributes articles from time to time.

Brother Dayne Kline, a member of the graduating class of the Benton Schools in 1937, told us about some of the businesses that operated in Benton when he left high school. Here is a partial list from 1937. How many names do you remember?

Fred E. Lord, Espy, provided most of the fertilizer and fertilizer materials for the area. For lumber and paint and general household goods, there was Pennington's on Main Street. Harrington and Company operated in Benton, Wilkes-Barre and Dushore, and their ice cream was sold at Benton Park, Yosts, Applemans, Smiths, and Stoddards. Washing machines came from Bloomsburg Maytag, photographs from Jack Geistwite, men's clothes from F. P. Pursel and Fred Hippensteel, women's clothes from Marietta Dress Shop or the Argus Women's Shop, all from Bloomsburg.

Closer to home, we had R. W. Rabb's Drug Store, the Columbia County National Bank and the only Democratic Newspaper in Columbia County. Food was available from Yost's Rest Room "At the bridge," Kozy Korner Konfectionery, Charles W. Hess's Benton Meat Market on Main Street, Harry W. Hess's Economy Store, the Hotel Elk Grove Inn, Harrison's Fairlawn Stores, Casey's Restaurant owned by Albert Casey (in the more northern end of the building where the ceramic shop is today), the Central Hotel owned by John Conner, and the Forks Hotel where weekly square dancing was also available under the watchful eye of owner Howard Wodock and square-dance caller Hurl Hess,, and the Hotel Moses Van Campen owned by John H. Knouse. Sutliff's Service Station sold Sunoco and Fords. Ralph Smith peddled milk from Thunderbird Dairy Farm and W. Grant Brink peddled milk from the Grant Brink Dairy at Sunny Hillside Farms.

Up on R.D. 2, C. M. Laubach & Son sold Richfield gas and Richlube oil and George Roberts sold groceries and fresh meat at the Mountain House. Ray Keeler was an optometrist where eye examinations were available "at the first hint of discomfort." The Benton Roller Mills sold XXXX Standard Blend Flour, although Mother always said that it didn't work to make homemade bread. Neil Harrison operated stores in Forks and Benton. If your radio was "on the blink," you could call 23R2 and get Hervey O. Long to come and fix you right up, or you could visit his shop is the more southerly half of what is now the ceramics shop on Main Street.

"Photographer (Paul) Hess" kept picture records of the local area from his small Main Street office on the South side of the Methodist Church. Lumber and insurance came from T. C. Smith. Shoe repair came from Art Pantalonia at the Benton Shoe shop.

Mahlon Strauch sold Country Bread, which "particular people buy--on sale at all stores." In tomorrow's edition, we'll talk a bit more about Mahlon Strauch and on the web page we'll show pictures of his original bakery in the present Masonic Hall and his later bakery on Park Street, now owned by the Benton Area School System.

On this date in...
1810, engineer Charles Ellet, Jr. was born. He built the first wire-cable suspension bridge in America, across the Schuylkill River at Fairmont, Pennsylvania. He built the 1,010 foot span suspension bridge across the Ohio River at Wheeling in 1849. He built the "Mountain Top Track" across the summit of the Blue Ridge in 1854. He advocated the use of the battering ram as a naval war vessel and converted nine steam ships into ramming vessels, then led them into the victorious Federal attack upon the Confederate fleet at the Battle of Memphis on the Mississippi River. A pistol ball shattered his knee during the battle, and he died.

1966, all US cigarette packages began carrying the health warning, "Caution: Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health."

1946, the first U.S. computer, known as ENIAC, was built at the Moore School of Engineering, University of Pennsylvania. ENIAC is regarded as the first successful, general digital computer. It weighed over 60,000 pounds, contained more than 18,000 vacuum tubes and had to be reprogrammed for each task. Six technicians replaced about 2,000 of its tubes each month. ENIAC calculated ballistic firing tables and assisted in the design of atomic weapons.

We have two places we would like you to navigate to today. The first is an excellent article entitled "How to fix Mom's computer" written by a man who went home for the Christmas holidays and got into the annual "fix-Mom's-computer event." The article gives a laundry list of steps to get Mom's computer working and secured from evil software. Worthwhile reading!

The second place we would like you to visit is http://fekids.com/img/kln/flash/DontGrossOutTheWorld.swf , where a very well-done site asks some "easy" questions about etiquette in several foreign countries. The questions are easy, but the answers come a little harder, but it is great fun.

In the email version of the January 1 Benton News and in early versions of this web version, we included the article about Donna McIntosh's concerns about her daughter and family in Singapore. If you read those versions, you'll recall that Donna's son-in-law works for American Express in Singapore. Mark and Cathy Gamble and children Bryan, 14, Mark Jr., 11, and Spencer, 6, also live in Singapore. Donna talked to Cathy on Christmas day, but they had not been heard of since. Their home phone rang but all Donna got was an answering machine. Donna has asked that the family be placed in your prayers. Because of the devastating tsunamis that swept across the Indian Ocean killing more than 150,000 people, you can understand Donna's concerns. The search has been called off, the missing have been found! Turns out the family went camping, and returned home at the end of the holiday period to find a series of frantic phone messages from Mother. Kindly divert your prayers to the millions affected by the devastation in Asia and Africa. The Gambles are safe!

Fishing license fees increase today from $16.25 to $21 for adult Pennsylvania residents and from $34.25 to $51 for nonresidents. Boating fees will increase by about 30% across the board. Gasoline will cost about $.04 a gallon more today.

We'll take a second and review the year 2004 in the state.

Smarty Jones, 3, a chestnut colt from Bensalem, galloped into the national spotlight with Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes wins, then came a length from getting the Triple Crown. George W. Bush and John Kerry ran a high-stakes race, too. President Bush visited the state 22 times in 2004, while Sen. Kerry visited 19 times, although we doubt that either come by to call as much in 2005. Kerry ended up with more than 120,000 votes than Bush received in the state.

The war in Iraq claimed something like 37 Pennsylvanians in 2004, including Nicholas Berg, West Chester, who was kidnapped and beheaded in Iraq in May. Two Pennsylvania soldiers were implicated in abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

Record flooding hit the state in September. Western Pennsylvania got slam-dunked harder than we did in the East when what was left of hurricanes Frances, Ivan and Jeanne came calling. More than 37,000 requests for federal and state disaster assistance got turned in by state residents.

In July, legislators approved a gambling bill that allows us to have more slot machines than any state except Nevada. The plan is that property taxes for state residents will go down when all the 61,000 slot machines show up. About a third of the gambling revenue is promised to go toward reducing property taxes statewide. Drugstore chain Rite Aid saw two former executives sentenced to prison and Philadelphia Mayor John Street had a rough year. A former Philadelphia city treasurer, a city council aide and a mayoral aide were indicted.

Moderate Sen. Arlen Specter survived a tough Republican primary challenge from U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey, then defeated Democratic Rep. Joe Hoeffel in the general election. Specter then opened his mouth to change feet when he said that judicial nominees with anti-abortion views would have a tough time winning Senate confirmation, then when his chairmanship got shaky, Specter fell into lock-step support for whatever Bush judicial nominees may come along. Ain't politics grand!

The Eagles and the Steelers came close--but no cigar--to winning championships in 2004. The Eagles lost a third straight NFC title game, losing 14-3 to the Carolina Panthers. Veterans Stadium, home to the Phillies and the Eagles, was imploded in March. Relief pitcher Tug McGraw, 59, died in January after a battle with brain cancer.

We lost some mighty fine people in 2004, starting with a former President of unusual stature. The world also lost swaths of land inundated by a wall of water too extensive to imagine because of an earthquake registering a magnitude of 9.0 which then generated a massive tsunami. Roads, villages and bridges vanished, and there is no point in attempting to guess how many hundreds of thousands will be lost by the time a rough, final count is complete. The devastation in 12 countries in South Asia and Africa is catastrophic and its effects will be felt for many years.

Back Home in Benton, PA, the dam held for another year, the town decorated beautifully for each season, pride of ownership is showing throughout the town, we succeeded in having the lowest gasoline prices in the state--at least for a couple of days. The Community & Cultural Center had a very successful and enjoyable auction and moved closer to actually raising the money necessary for construction. We look forward to telling you about the excitement next year!

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