May, 2007, Archives for the Benton News

 

May 31, 2007.

In 1889 on this date in a river valley 185 miles southwest of Back Home in Benton, PA, a neglected dam pelted by driving rain led to a catastrophe in which 2,209 people perished and Johnstown was nearly wiped off the face of the earth.

Johnstown is located where the Little Conemaugh River and Stony Creek meet, downstream by 14 miles from Lake Conemaugh owned and maintained by a hunting and fishing club known as South Fork. The earthen and largely untended South Fork Dam held back Lake Conemaugh. When rains hit the area in late May, 1889, the dam began to disintegrate, and the water level of the lake began spilling over the top of the dam and the dam began to erode away. Word was sent by riders to evacuate the valley, but the warnings were generally unheeded, except perhaps to move valuables to second floors and to hunker down until the storm passed.

At 3:10 PM, the dam broke. Twenty million tons of water whooshed toward Johnstown wiping out small communities of South Fork, Mineral Point, Woodvale, and East Conemaugh and taking along for the ride rocks, trees, houses, barns, railroad cars, animals, and people, both dead and alive. The 30-foot high wall of water took almost an hour to reach Johnstown, but when it arrived, it was nearly half a mile wide and 1,500 Johnstown buildings fell like dominoes. The city flushed in ten minutes and 2,000 people were drowned or crushed. The old Stone Bridge in Johnstown was piled 40-feet high in debris. A total of 2,209 died as a result of the disaster.

The Central Pennsylvania Business Journal reports in their Wednesday edition that executives of PPL are warning residents and businesses to brace themselves for a "massive jump" in electricity rates (later defined as about 30%) at the end of 2009 when the state requires the utility to purchase power on the open market after a decade-long process of deregulation.

Would you like to know at what time sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset will occur? Want to know more about the Moon's phase? You can by going to http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html and specifying the date and location.

The Central Susquehanna Community Foundation's Berwick Health and Wellness Fund recently gave a grant to the Benton Area School District Camp in the amount of $4,972 in support of Camp Ophelia. The purpose of Camp Ophelia is to educate girls about relational aggression and how to integrate this knowledge into their lives in and out of school. The camp also deals with middle-school bullying. The purpose is to build positive relationship skills, safe places and people students can use as resources. The goal is to decrease absenteeism and increase class participation. There is a one-week camp during the summer. There are senior-girl mentors. Erin McHenry Sorber and Kelly Kocher coordinate the program.

We continue to be unable to send email editions of the Benton News via the Topica distribution system, and we are unable to send any email from our present location. We are therefore giving up in our effort to produce today's Benton News. May all your news, from whatever source derived, be good news.

 

May 30, 2007, the 150th day of the year, with 22 days until the official start of summer. Tomorrow night is the full moon. Regretfully, my travels are such that I am not currently able to send email, although I can receive it.

Public hearings continue this morning at 11 about the state’s building code. The House of Representatives’ Labor Relations Committee held a public hearing Tuesday regarding several proposed bills that would alter the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code. The hearing resumes at 11 PM in Room G-50 of the state Capitol Complex’s Irvis Office Building.

One afternoon last week I was walking across the bridge over Fishingcreek when a yellow stream of school buses bounced their way down Park Street toward the bridge, then, hardly slowing, they streamed onto Route 487 and fanned out to their respective destinations. Lots of thoughts raced through my head--yellow daisies in a field, Carl Grimes at his post as children approached his former crossing-guard post, the joy of late May, the happiness that the end of school always brought. It seemed like only a few seconds transpired before the Taste Crème filled with mothers and children out to scoop up ice cream in the warm afternoon. The boys and girls will soon be underfoot for the summer, I thought, and many will begin their first jobs.

It is the time of the year when as a child I loved to walk among the bloodroot plants and mayapples along the creek, when I would hunt for the dark and wonderful wild strawberries to eat (which I loved) and later pick the domestic strawberries that Mother sold (which I hated to do) and still later to eat pints of huckleberries while my "gathering bucket" for the family slowly filled. It is the time of the year for rhubarb, a vegetable we love in the north, but is rarely grown in the south. Soon the peas will be ready, which I always loved to eat right off the vine, pods and all.

It is the time of the year when outdoor cooking begins and I thought back to the days of building a pyramid of charcoal and trying to get it to "catch" fire. If it started too soon, I ran out of charcoal. If the charcoal wouldn't start, I was not ready when the hot dogs and hamburgers were ready to "put on." Few meals prepared inside match grilling done outside.

With summer came a distinctive smell, a musty smell, sometimes a smell of mothballs. Clothes lines groaned with the weight of blankets, clothes, draperies and other pieces of cloth hanging to "air out." Rugs were spread on the lawns. The inside moved outside as soon as the summer dryness set in. Lilacs were often planted near the front door of houses so that when the "airing out" took place the lovely smell of lilacs hid the stale smells coming from the cloth. The wild flower, which Mother always called "wild flocks," arrived as the lilacs were ending their spring bloom. It was the time of the year when a tin can filled with kerosene would be prepared for dunking the Japanese beetles.

It is the time of the year when it stays light until 9 or so and with the full moon tomorrow night it should be easy to think how our ancestors came home late at night guided simply by landmarks. A lady from New York City once asked me how I find my way around over our endless hills. Actually, I have no idea how she finds her way around in her city! Tonight would be a great night to sit outside with television off and just think and talk about people, to find out what makes them tick, what they feel, what they think.

I can't think of a better place
To bring up a little child
Than on a farm with its animals and trees
And all its flowers growing wild.

I was raised in such a setting
Beside Fishingcreek where water ran free
Sweet smelling lilacs and flat-topped mayapples
Shaded by an old walnut tree.

My favorite was elderberry, always sour,
Good in wine or Mother's delicious pie.
The wild roses grew by the roadside
Providing security for birds as I walked by.

The grape vines hung from branches,
Nature's swing for little folks.
The buttonwood trees along the creek
The stately maples and the magnificent oaks.

We loved our stream called Fishingcreek
Rocks on the bottom, but clean and clear,
Where we learned to fish and swim
When the summer arrived in mid year.

What could give us a better education,
What could provide more fun and charm
Than living and remembering your childhood
In as wonderful a place as a farm?

 

May 29, 2007. Leslie Townes Hope was born on this date in 1903 in Eltham, England. Most of us knew him as "Bob." In 1917 on this date, John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was born in Brookline, MA. It is the birthday of Kevin Karnes, Rohrsburg.

Around the State...
• Ricketts Glen State Park will be featured on a 30-minute Pennsylvania Cable Network segment July 6. The network known as PCN will show a 30-minute segment on Leonard Harrison State Park on June 9 at 2 and 8 PM. The park is west of Wellsboro on the east rim of the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, The show will demonstrate what each of the park amenities are and what is available. Eleven of Pennsylvania's 117 state parks were chosen for the series, based on natural beauty, historical significance and outdoor activities.

• Put the Miffinburg Buggy Museum on your list of local places to visit this summer. William A. Heiss operated a successful buggy-making business from 1883 to 1920 until the demand for automobiles outgrew the demand for horse-drawn vehicles. The factory closed when he died in 1931, and mostly remained forgotten for almost 50 years when the doors were reopened to reveal an original shop with belting and pulleys, tools, machinery and forges. William Heiss and his workers were not there, but otherwise his factory was intact.

This fascinating attraction in Buggy Town is open this summer through October/ The Visitor Center and historic buildings are open Thursday through Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM, Sunday afternoons from 1 to 5. The last tour begins no later than 4 PM. The museum is closed for the winter. Additional information is available at 570 966-1355.

• A picnic sponsored by the Historical And Preservation Society of the Greater Shickshinny Area will be held June 10 at Bonham’s Nursing Home Park, Register. There will be a sign dedication for the New Columbus Academy and Patterson Grove historical markers. Election of officers and the board of directors also will be held. There will be a catered picnic consisting of sausage and peppers, meatballs, BBQ chicken, cole slaw, potato salad, pasta salad, vegetable tray, rolls and butter, drink and desserts. Those planning to attend should contact Cheryl Bach, 542-7458. Present and new members are welcome.

Alice M. (Jacques) Grimes (December 1, 1929-May 27, 2007), died Sunday at her Third Street home. She was 77. Born at Harris Hill, Trucksville, she was a daughter of the late Floyd DeWitt Jacques and Sarrah Caroline (Schooley) Jacques. She was a 1947 graduate of Falls-Overfield High School and a 1951 graduate of the Bloomsburg State Teachers College. Mrs. Grimes taught school for 30 years in schools including Tunkhannock, Warrior Run and the L. Ray Appleman Elementary School. She started the first kindergarten program in the Benton Area Schools in 1967 and taught it for 12 years. From 1979 until her retirement in 1991 she served as the Chapter I reading teacher.

Surviving are her husband, Carl H. Grimes, with whom she would have celebrated her 55th wedding anniversary on June 8; and a son, Stewart H. Grimes (Lori), Waller. The grandchildren are Matthew, Tyler and Kia Grimes, Waller. Mrs. Grimes has a sister, Betty Garey (Howard), Falls; a brother-in-law, Raymond Grimes, Bloomsburg; and one niece and one nephew. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by a brother, Robert Jacques, and a stillborn twin brother. Funeral services will be Wednesday at 3 PM with visitation preceding. at the McMichael Funeral Home, Inc. Burial will be in Elan Memorial Park, Lime Ridge. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to the L. Ray Appleman Elementary School Library Fund, 600 Green Acres Road, Benton, PA 17814.
--Obituary courtesy of the McMichael Funeral Home. A complete obituary will be published in the Press Enterprise May 29, 2007.

From time to time when the mood hits me and the "git up and go has got up and left" I take the time to sit and read old newspapers. Here are a collection from Monday's reading that I though worth noting...

• October 21, 1921, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
"Never in years have bear and deer been as numerous as they are this year in the upper end of Columbia county, with William Johnson, night watchman at the Jamison City tannery, coming forth with the best bear story of the season to date."

"Walking out of the tannery office during the night he stumbled and fell over a big black bear that was sleeping on the steps of the office. The bear lumbered off into the woods unconcerned as Johnson gazed in amazement. The animals have come down from the mountains and are working havoc in the fields where the corn has not yet been hauled in."

• November 7, 1878, The Leader.
The "Columbus Male and Female Academy," New Columbus, advertised for students for the eleven-week term beginning August 12, 1878. Tuition for "common English branches" was $4 and for each of the "higher branches" was $1. Instruction in music was by Miss Jennie Wadsworth.

• May 5, 1904, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
An advertisement under the category of "Resorts" listed the Exchange Hotel, Benton, Pa., describing it as being "thoroughly modern in equipments. Located on the line of the Bloomsburg and Sullivan R.R. in the beautiful Fishing Creek valley, near the Allegheny Mountains. Good fishing and pleasant drives. Large, airy rooms. A desirable country summer home. Six trains daily connect with the Reading and D.L.&W. R.R. at Bloomsburg, Pa. Rates reasonable for the first season. For further information address A. A. Overholtzer, Owner and Proprietor."

• August 15, 1945, The Morning Press.
The headline of the paper read in the boldest of bold print, "History's Most Destructive War Ends With Unconditional Surrender Japan," with the secondary headline in type larger than a normal day's headline "Truman Released News Last Night at 7 o'clock; Wild Aclaim (sic); MacArthur to Accept Japanese Terms; Be Commander."

• June 26, 1899, Wilkes-Barre Times.
An article reported on storm damage in Fishing Creek Township where the barns of "Prof. Pealer and Dr. Sutliff were blown down and many fruit trees were damaged or destroyed. Almost seventy windows were blown out of the New Columbus Academy and a number of dwellings more or less damaged." The article said that in Fairmount Township, the corn crop was entirely ruined by hail. Two barn roofs in Ross Township were blown off. The stage that ran between Bloomingdale and Shickshinny "was considerably delayed" by trees blown over the road by the storm.

 

May 28, 2007. It is the birthday of Scott Wary, Stillwater, Pam Karnes, Rohrsburg, and twins Randy Karschner, Derrs Road, and Robby Karschner, Austin Trail, their 40th. It is the day set aside to honor the veterans of the United States. It is Memorial Day. Let us spend the day honoring those who died serving their country.

Some say Memorial Day originated when organized women's groups in the South decorated graves before the end of the Civil War. A hymn published in 1867, Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping, by Nella L. Sweet, carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead."

The earliest documented account of Decoration Day took place in Boalsburg. A woman named Emma Hunter, whose father commanded a regiment at Gettysburg, placed flowers on his tomb when she met a woman named Mrs. Meyer who was placing flowers on her son's grave. The two women agreed to meet the following year and once again decorate the graves. Over the years, other town people joined in and decorated graves in the cemetery. The Federal Government gives credit for the idea of Memorial Day to Waterloo, New York, even though there is documented proof of other towns having similar celebrations before Waterloo. President Lyndon Johnson officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day in Waterloo, New York, May 5, 1968.

On Sunday at noon, a Memorial Day parade that began on North Street slowly made its way down Main Street past Columbia County Farmers National Bank and the Veteran's Monument just off Main Street. The parade then proceeded up Cemetery Hill.

There, the crowd stood proudly for the playing of the Star Spangled Banner by the Benton High School band under the direction of Jennifer Welliver. Past Commander Fred Long read a patriotic poem. Rep. Karen Boback (R-Columbia/Luzerne/Wyoming) delivered the Memorial Day message and emphasized the weekend as a time when we pause to remember our veterans who have died defending our country and our freedom.

Rep. Boback addressing the VFW, Memorial Day, 2007

Roy (Bud) and Marion Davis, Hartford, MI, sent an email about living in pint-sized towns, and the virtues thereof! Heck, we aren't a small town. I heard about one town that was so small that when they held a beauty contest, none of the girls came in first, second or third, a place so small that there was absolutely no place to go where you shouldn't. When they had a beautiful body contest, a John Deere won.

There are so many things to tell you about, I could write something for the next three weeks before I needed something new. Much of what is on the Benton News isn't new, as most readers know. Much of what is in the pages of the Benton News actually happened years ago when Benton was practicing to be a sleepy town along the tracks of the old Bloomsburg and Sullivan Railroad. When the train came along about 8 at night and blew its whistle, the town fathers made them stop. Seems that it was waking too many people! A night on the town back then took about 15 minutes. Things haven't changed much now that we have perfected the art of living in a sleepy town.

I started the Benton News as a result of Brother Dayne and others never remembering what the News was from Back Home in Benton, PA. I would call Dayne from somewhere and ask what was new. Dayne always responded the same, "I can't think of anything new here." He seemed to live by the assumption that there was nothing new every minute. Still, Benton is a fine place to live and will be a finer place later then summer as the activities begin at the rapidly developing Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center. In a couple of days, I'll take you on a walking tour via the internet of that fine building under construction on Community Drive.

Roy Davis never lived in Benton, but enjoys reading all of the "goings on" in the area. He spent many summer vacations with his Aunt Hope Merrill in Jamison City. He met and partied with Leland and Edith Hess, friends who were active in the Readers' Club and the Garden Club. There were people like Arthur and Anna Cole, Ella Treasure, Lula Laubach, Martha Kile, Guy and Eleanor Kocher, Donnie and Delilah Kocher, Bill and Pauline Mather, the Hilleys "and so many others."

Roy remembers that one day Bill Bailey and wife Pearl Bailey were visiting and Pearl complained about sitting near the front of the church. Bill had a habit of nodding off if he got bored. It was Communion Sunday, and the ushers passed along a large plate of tiny glasses of grape juice for everyone during communion. When the plate came by, Pearl poked Bill in the ribs to rouse him. He saw the plate, pulled out two dollars and laid them on it, thinking it was collection time. Pearl said, "I was so embarrassed I didn't know what to do!"

Roy ended his email in a reflective mood. "Benton, Central, Jamison City--all dear to our hearts. Like the legendary town in "Brigadoon" that came to life only once every hundred years your country came to life every summer when we visited Aunt Hope. Our kids swam in the mill pond, and we explored for antiques. The magic is still there for us, even though the old friends have slipped in to the shadowed part of The Great Circle of Life."

Well, Roy, we have our share of problems, too. Like firecrackers burning down shrubbery against a vinyl-clad house, kids skateboarding on private property such as the inside of churches, on park benches and at filling stations and gas stations. We have some drug issues and some rental property where the owner just doesn't give a hoot and therefore neither do the tenants. The area doesn't have a lot of money--and the prospects of that changing are not good. One resident in his seventies still enjoys chasing girls. His wife said she didn't mind, there wasn't any reason to be upset. She explained by saying that her "hound still chased cars, but he couldn't drive."

This 'n That...

• The children's fishing derby comes up at Mill Race Golf Course June 2 starting at 1 PM. Children 12 and under can fish with almost guaranteed results and it is all free. Call 925-6001 for more information. No state fish hatchery is more popular than our own fish hatchery at the Mill Race Golf course, maintained and run by the Fishingcreek Sportsmen's Club.

• The Timber 2007 Forest Products Equipment and Technology Exposition is coming up June 1-2 at Penn State's Ag Progress Days site at Rock Springs, Route 45, nine miles southwest of State College. Parking and admission are free. For information on Timber 2007, call 814 863-2873.

Ruth C. (Lamoreaux) Farver (January 14, 1923-May 26, 2007), Clyde Road, Benton, died Saturday at the Geisinger Medical Center. She was 84. Born in Hunlock Creek, she was a daughter of Late Devaultson and Carrie (Kocher) Lamoreaux. She was preceded in death by her husband, Glenn A. Farver, Sr. in April, 1986; a step son, Sidney Farver; and by three siblings. Mrs. Farver had been employed by the former Dockey Shirt Factory, Benton, and later by Hanover Brands. Surviving are her two sons Glenn A. Farver, Jr. (Sharon), and Gail A. Farver, all of Benton. There are nine grandchildren and numerous great grandchildren. Funeral services will be held Wednesday at 11 AM at the McMichael Funeral Home, Inc. with visitation prededing. Burial will be in the Raven Creek Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to the Benton V. F. W. Ladies Auxiliary.

 

May 27, 2007. Happy anniversary to Hobe and Jesse Whitenight and to Scott and Julie Lyons. Birthdays that fall between May 21 and June 21 are said to fall under the astrological sign of Zodiac associated with the constellation Gemini. Gemini, the third sign of the Zodiac, is associated with youth and versatility. Individuals born under this sign are often sociable, fun-loving, versatile, cunning, lively, communicative, liberal, intelligent, mentally active and friendly, but at times prone to moodiness, nervousness, inconsistency, superficiality, restlessness, immaturity and laziness. In short, these people are nice, good listeners, lovers not fighters, but will still knock you out. They are trustworthy, always happy. Loud. Talkative. Outgoing and very forgiving with a beautiful smile. Generous. Strong.

The Veteran's Parade begins today on North Street at noon, then will march down Main Street to the Memorial at the Columbia County Farmers National Bank. It will pause in memory, then resume the march to the cemetery. The Benton High School Band will play, the Benton Fire Company will have equipment in the parade and in one of the vintage car will be Rep. Karen Boback (R-Columbia/Luzerne/Wyoming), the featured speaker at the cemetery. There has been little publicity for the parade. Please come out and support the local veterans.

Benton Community Vacation Bible School (non-denominational), sponsored by the Benton Council of Churches, will be held June 18-22 at the Benton Christian Church from 6 PM until 8:30 PM. The theme will "Son Force Kids" (spies & secret agents). The closing program will be held on Friday, June 22, at 8:30 PM. All children from age 4 to those in 6th grade are welcome.

Four new members of the 2007 Benton Area Schools Hall of Fame were inducted at the Alumni Banquet Saturday night in a ceremony dedicated to the memory of Dayne Kline, a member of the reunion Class of 1937 who died earlier this week. The inductees were Eloise Marinos (1977), Andrew Vincent (1982) and Christine Stackhouse Thomas. (1983). The honorary inductee was Richard Sibly deceased, with son John Sibly, 73, accepting. You can get full details in Sunday's Press Enterprise, in a front-page article entitled, "Benton's Best."

John Sibly accepting on behalf of his father, Richard Sibly

. Richard Sibly (December 5, 1905-April 26, 1996) graduated from Old Forge High School, received a two-year teaching certificate from Bloomsburg Normal School in 1932 and a Bachelor's Degree and his elementary teacher's certification from Bloomsburg State Teacher's College in 1934. He received a Master's Degree in School Administration from Bucknell University. He began his teaching career in Sugarloaf Township following the jointure in 1954 and retired in 1971 from the Benton Schools after a teaching career that spanned 41 years. John spoke without notes about a subject obviously close to his heart as he told of his father's career.

. Eloise Marinos, AIA/NCARB, North Canton, Connecticut, a Benton graduate in the Class of 1977. Eloise is an architect whose work encompasses historic preservation and residential, commercial and public-use structures.

Eloise received an associate of Applied Science Degree in Art and Design from the Rochester Institute of Technology, a Bachelor of Architecture from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with advanced courses at SUNY Albany and the Fashion Institute of Technology, with a Master of Science Program in Structural Engineering from the University of Connecticut. She now owns her own firm in North Canton, Connecticut, specializing in general architectural practice. Her accomplishments in the field of architecture and historic preservation are impressive. Eloise is the daughter of Peter Marinos, deceased, and Irene Bernes, Lightstreet

. Andrew Vincent, Colorado Springs, Colorado, served as class president in 1981, participated in multiple clubs and activities, lettered in three sports, and was selected to the PA All-State Soccer Team.

After graduating from Bloomsburg University, Andrew was commissioned in the Air Force and earned "Distinguished Graduate" honors during Navigator Training. He spent 13 years as an Instructor WSO in F-111 and F-15E fighter aircraft including combat missions over Iraq and Bosnia-Herzegovina and was responsible for training hundreds of students. He spent the final years of his career working on the development of GPS-guided weapons and then exploiting National Capabilities at the Space Warfare Center. At one point he oversaw the development and fielding of 17 weapons programs worth $3.5B. Major Vincent retired in 2005 as a Master Navigator with 2000 flight hrs. "Drew" is now employed by defense contractor CollaborX, Inc. at Schriever AFB, CO. and is currently working on applications and techniques to improve the accuracy of precision-guided weapons. Andrew is the son of Martha Vincent, Scranton, and Spencer Vincent, Hughesville.

. Christine M. Thomas, RN MSN DNSc, Royersford, Pennsylvania, a nurse for the past 20 years who has provided compassionate care to adults with cardiac and respiratory disease and as a nurse educator for the past 14 years has trained nurses to provide competent and compassionate nursing care.

Christine is a 1983 graduate of the Benton Schools. She earned her doctorate from Widener University in 2004 and currently serves as the Curriculum Committee Chairperson at West Chester University. She serves as a test-item writer for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Christine is the daughter of Helen and Joe Stackhouse, Benton.

Theresa Hartman, 88, was the oldest of the alumni to attend and received a floral arrangement for that accomplishment.

Five members of the reunion Class of 1937 attended and 8 members of the Class of 1957 attended. Bissinger's Catering provided a delicious meal before the Alumni adjourned to the auditorium to conduct business, introduce people and induct the Honorees.

Four boys, described as bring about 16 years old, were seen driving around town last night tossing fireworks. They discharged a blast on Church Street near the alley between Main and Third Street, then proceeded down Third Street toward Market. When they reached the house of Louise Lewis, they tossed a large firecracker toward Louise's house which caught an ornamental evergreen on fire and burned the shrub to the ground. The shrub was close to the siding on the house and under an overhang. Luckily, the episode was observed and the fire company was called. The shrub burned to the ground, but no damage to the house was reported.

The episode sort of reminded me of the story of the major brush fire that broke out in a rural area and to help out a city fire company was called. The city truck siren screamed as the fire truck tore down a country lane. A farmer in a horse and buggy pulled off to the side of the road as the fire truck zoomed by. A moment later, a hook and ladder truck tore by, catching its back end on the wagon. The truck kept on going, but reduced the wagon to the equivalent of a pack of toothpicks and bruising the driver of the wagon. A policeman stopped to help the driver of the wagon. The farmer struggled to his feet, shook his head, and said, "I managed to get out of the way of the fire truck, but where in the heck were the painters going?

Geraldine H. (Wertman) Smith (October 24, 1914-May 16, 2007), Bloomsburg, formerly of Jamison City, has passed away at the Bloomsburg Hospital. She was 92. Born in Montgomery, she was a daughter of the late Harry H. and Florence (Miller) Smith. She was preceded in death by her husband, Earl R. Smith, on November 2, 1975, by their son, Ira Max Smith, on May 6, 2000, and by a grandson, Ira Max Smith, Jr., and by two brothers and two sisters. Mrs. Smith was a long-time employee of Milco Industries, Benton, where she retired in 1975. Surviving are her children Wayne A. Smith, Bloomsburg; and twins Leslie Smith Sr. (Kathy), Bloomsburg, and Lesta Barr, Unityville. Private funeral services were held with burial in the Millville Cemetery under the direction of the McMichael Funeral Home, Inc., Benton.

There once was a feller by the name of Keller.
Who made a mistake that sent him to the cellar.
His wife said to him one day, "Dear,
Just how big is my rear?"
He didn't lie, he simply decided to tell 'er!"

Lets go back in time today to the year 1918 and take a look at the national picture and then focus on the Benton area. The New York Philharmonic Society halted all works by living German composers, the Federal government appropriated $1 billion for maintenance of vital railways. Babe Ruth's pitching helped the Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. Eddie Rickenbacker downed 26 enemy aircraft. The Benton Roller Mills burned to the ground. R. J. Knox was the minister at the Benton Methodist Church and Rev. Samuel Moddy was at the Raven Creek Church . Former Benton resident Nola (Johnson) Baker was born.

Fleitz & Sproul Fruit Farms owned an estimated 1,600 acres of orchards in Vosburg, Benton and Mechanicsburg. Their Benton headquarters was on the former Pioneer Farms. J.B. Laubach was the town dentist, Glen A. Tubbs ran the "Sanitary Barber Shop," Charles W. Hess ran the Benton Meat Market, the Kleen Kool Ice Kreem Parlor served food on Main Street on the first floor and in the basement ran the Benton Hatcheries at the corner of Center Street and Main Street, the Columbia Steam Laundry under the direction of George Ash "treated your clothes white," and H. W. Belles delivered the coal to keep you warm. When someone you loved died you called the Ira R. McHenry & Son Burial Association and then called Bell Phone 56-16 for the Benton Marble and Granite Works to get a monument. Merchants in the area included the Benton Store Company Department Store, selling "Ford--the Universal Car" and John F. Wright selling the Overland "85-Four." H. W. Biddle represented the town drug store. The Benton Water Supply Company told its customers that "Pure water is the best health insurance." Rush Harrison in Forks, Pennington & Seely and Keller & Conner in Benton were the larger stores.

The Main Street building and the store can be traced into the 1880s after it was purchased from a Joseph Buckwalter and before that from the "Smith Brothers." The building was used as a store prior to Mr. Keller purchasing it. In 1926, the store did a brisk business in galvanized roofing and lightning rods. We were not able to find a death record of Mr. Keller at the Benton Cemetery, but Marvin E. Conner is listed in the Benton Cemetery as having been born in 1875 and he passed away in 1953. For the record, his wife's name was Josephine.

Keller & Conner "sold all kinds of hardware, nails and bolts, and they fashioned stove pipes so they could be replaced when they wore out" according to Dayne Kline. The store was on the right side of the building, facing from Main Street . On the left of the building was an apartment occupied by Barney Keller's daughter and son-in-law.

Leland Hess was the next owner of the building, but we should tell you as way of background that Leland was a barber before he was a baker. In fact, he started in the barbering business in 1928 and later Clark Fritz (the father of Budd Fritz and Joyce Fritz Letteer) joined in the business at the location old timers will remember as the Gene Miller Barber Shop, Main Street, and the younger generation will know as the "Paintball store." Leland eventually moved from the barbering business in July, 1935, into the bakery business. He opened a bakery in the summer of 1935 on Center Street in the entire first floor of the building where Bob and Eleanor Sands now live.

In June, 1941, Leland Hess bought the building occupied by the Keller and Conner store for $1,100 and the building went from its use as a hardware store to that of a bakery, operating until June, 1969. The store unit on the right of the building was the bakery.

Jim Laubach tells us that he is "still looking for donuts as good as Leland's honey-glazed, sweet-bread-dough donuts, and that's been for at least 60 years now."

Joyce Fritz Letteer remembers working in the bakery for three or so years during her high school years during the 1940s, selling hot rolls, bread and other bakery products. Joyce worked in the bakery until she got married in 1951. Joyce worked at the bakery at the time she got her driver's license. Leland's son, Elery Hess, gave her the keys to his new yellow convertible automobile as a birthday present and Joyce was allowed to drive to Bloomsburg to see a baseball game. Joyce remembers nursing the car up the Bloom Hill hoping that she wouldn't have to stop and then restart the car as a test of her ability with a manual transmission.

The apartment on the left of the Main Street building was occupied by Leland and Edith Hess until they moved to the Waller area. When son Elery came Back Home to Benton , PA , after World War II, he joined his father in the bakery business about 1946. Still later when Ellery married in November, 1949, the newlyweds moved into the apartment. Elery stayed in the apartment until August, 1954, when the couple bought a house on Cemetery Hill from Harold Sutliff and moved to that location.

Joyce Letteer remembers that the front part of the store had a sales counter, slicer and a mixer. The next part of the building had ovens and deep fryers for doughnuts. There was a little space, then a door that led into the bakery.

Elery eventually took over the business as Leland spent less and less time at the bakery. Leland passed away in March, 1984. The bakery equipment was eventually sold to Gary Burelli and the era of the building being used as a store ended. Elery built three apartments on the first floor of the building with a total of nine units in the building. Elery sold the Main Street building in 1979 to Nevin Hartman, who used it as a nine-unit apartment house, with an additional living unit in the rear of the property adjacent to the rear alley. The building has been vacant, unused and unloved for years.

The building is now owned by Christine Lattrell, who also owns Benton Antiques, Etc., at 235 Main Street , the former Benton Store Company Department Store. That building was later the Neil S. Harrison store and later the C.A. Edson & Sons Plumbing Store.

The Old Bakery Antique Company opened to an enthusiastic crowd Saturday morning at 10. Marcia Kay has drug me into antique shops all over the United States, and I have been in tons of shops where the prices were considerably higher. The merchandise was first quality and extremely interesting. Marble top tables and seed cabinets and Victorian lamps and other wonderful things were being eyed by many shoppers. This major antique center will be an excellent compliment to the Benton Antiques, Etc., across Main Street.

A few may remember that Frank Hosler once ran the Benton Bakery and distributed "fancy cakes" Wednesdays and Saturdays and distributed "Holsum Home-Made Bread." Others may remember the fire in March, 1961, at what was then known as the Hess Bakery. Five families were driven from their apartments and a business curtailed operations when a fire estimated to cause $7,000 in damage burned at the Main Street location. One fireman, Jim Fausey, then 23, was injured fighting the blaze and one family lost everything they owned. The five families involved in the fire consisted of 15 people. The fire started in a partition between two stairways leading from first to second floors, and was not discovered until flames followed holes around a heating pipe and broke out on the third floor. Gene Bardo was the fire chief then. Others helping fight the blaze included Donald Rabb, Jim Chapin, Elisio Giangirolami and Bruce Evans. The building set vacant on Main Street in a run-down condition for several years.

There was no evidence of its recent condition as the bright and shiny building opened for business Saturday morning.

Chris Lattrell and Dan Hess
at the opening of the Old Bakery Antiques Company

 

May 26, 2007. Carol Vance, Yvonne Unbewust Lenbergs, Laura Gould and Linnea Holdren have birthdays today. Nevin and Deb Dressler celebrate their wedding anniversary. The Memorial Day Yard Sales take place today from 7 AM to 5 PM. Houses throughout the Borough and on major roads leading into town are participating. St. James United Church of Christ, Bendertown, Christ United Methodist Church, Central, and Zion Church, Forks, will hold their annual yard sales Saturday beginning at 8 AM. Soup, baked goods and other food will be available at Bendertown and Central. The Alumni Banquet getws under way at 6 PM.

It was on this day in 1521 that the German theologian Martin Luther's writings were banned by the Edict of Worms. Luther hiccupped on the church's common practice of the sale of indulgences, which decreased the time a person had to spend in Purgatory. In 1517, the church was fundraising for money to build the Sistine Chapel, and the fever of the sale of indulgences made it somewhat akin to a modern election day campaign. Luther on the eve of All Saints Day, posted 95 theses on the door of his church attacking indulgences. In 1520, Luther attacked papal authority and the whole structure of the church and later he publicly burned a copy of canon law and a copy of the Pope's indictment of him. In May 1521 the Diet of Worms, a legal assembly of the Holy Roman Empire, declared him an outlaw and his writings banned. His writings inspired the Protestant Reformation.

Today and Sunday, June 3, are Fish For Free Days in the Commonwealth. Anyone--not just license holders or youth under the age of 16--can legally fish in Pennsylvania from 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM both days, no fishing license is needed to fish in Pennsylvania's waterways. Fish For Free Days provide a fun way to spend a day with the entire family. The May 26 Fish For Free Day was specifically designated to coincide with the Memorial Day weekend.

Pheasant propagation took a hit Thursday as fire destroyed one of four brooder houses used at the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Loyalsock Game Farm near Montoursville. The building was being prepared to house about 18,000 day-old pheasant chicks that will hatch on May 29.

On Friday, June 8, about 45 or so young men and women will walk into the Benton Area Schools for the last time ever as a group. Everyone's eyes will be straining to see the graduates. Many will sit back and relax a bit as the top three academically come to the front of the stage. The top three from the class--Morgan Thomas, Allison Rhinard, and Alyssa Killian--will then deliver a short speech. The speeches and the reading of the graduate's names and the awarding of the diplomas usually takes hours, this being their final test. The students will walk out of the school in their caps and gowns as graduates amid a group of beaming parents, relatives and friends.

The senior class of 2007 of the Benton Area Schools consists of Ryan M. Ackley, William Benjamin Bailey, Samantha M. Belles, Nadine E. Behr, Cyrus Bowman, Katrina L. Buccello, Kerri Lyn Christie, Allison Elizabeth Conner, Daniel J. Conner, Woody Thomas Covington, Christopher Diltz, Michael R. Dluzeski, William Donahue, Turin Gerhardt, Amanda Tracy Good, Michaela Anne Gorman, and Jennifer Rose Ann Hess,

Michael Vincent Kass Jr., Alyssa Lea Killian, Tara Ann Laubach, Cory S. Lee, James Michael Lee Mack, Lauren R. Marinos, Curtis Nathan Middleton, Michelle M. Miller, Rebecca A. Miller, Heather A. Motto, Sari A. Moyer, Shane P. Murray, Brandon David Record, Alison M. Rhinard, Kevin Z. Richardson, and Guy John Roberts,

Harry Gerald Schlichter, Stephanie Marie Schumacher, Nichole R. Shaffer, Tylar Spencer, Brian Joseph Stackhouse, Morgan A. Thomas, Amelia Darrow Traver, Bradley E. Vincent, Megan L. Weiss, Ashley Wemple, Amanda Yost, Mat Yost, and Rebecca Nichole Young.

We'll remember back to when we graduated and a quote from our favorite writer when we were growing up, Richard Halliburton, who said, "I'm set adrift, with a diploma for a sail and lots of nerve for oars."

Our best wishes go with the graduates as they set sail in a new course and direction. Please don't ever forget the best little village by a dam site...

My lilac trees are old and tall;
I cannot reach their bloom at all.
They send their perfume over trees
And roofs and streets, to find the bees.
-- Louise Driscoll (1875-1957)

The local area can be very happy with the Benton Antiques, Etc. and its owner, Chris Lattrell. The lovely antique mart which opened July 10, 2003, has transformed Benton into an important antique center. The area will get kicked up a notch or two this morning at 10 when Chris opens a second antique mart across the street, the Antique Bakery Company. It is a lovely building, with Kristie's Kafé now open and serving excellent coffee and desserts. Dan Hess, Shickshinny, did a remarkable job of improving the building and deserves a lot of the credit, too.

The Bakery Antiques Company Store, Main Street, Benton
will hold its grand opening Saturday morning at 10

The picnics planned for this Memorial Day weekend are reminiscent of those wonderful days when the famed Columbia County Farmers' Picnic was held on Friday evenings and all day Saturday in the beautiful Benton Park. Didja know that because there was a vital need to raise money for the Red Cross during the First World War, an annual picnic--which became one of the biggest affairs of its kind in the commonwealth--was born? The history of the park was closely aligned with the history of the Farmers' Picnic. Although the first picnic was to raise Red Cross money, those that followed were for the improvement and maintenance of the 18-acre park.

In the early years of the picnic, speakers from Penn State and from the Department of Agriculture came to town and waxed poetic, but in 1968 mostly politicians came to make an appearance, speak to the crowds and "meet the voters."

We'll tell you a little about the 50th-year picnic, July 26 and 27, 1968. Mayor Karl Fritz was chairman of the Benton Park Commission that year.

There were midget- and teener-league baseball games that Friday night and Tri-County double-headers in the afternoon between the teams fielded by Orangeville and Benton. The honky-tonk piano of Jim "Ivory Knuckles" McHenry provided the musical entertainment and Harold Yaple joined in with his excellent voice. The Berwick Colonial Band played. There was horseshoe pitching following about the same rules that will be used later this summer as the horseshoe pits open at the Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center. There were tractor-driving contests and a greased pig chase and even some turtle racing. As the theme song from All in the Family went, "Those Were the Days."

The 1968 Farmers' Picnic with The Berwick Colonial Band band playing on the second level of the bandstand.

 

Friday, May 25, 2007. Happy birthday to Brenda Conrad, Lebanon. Brenda shares her birthday with Ralph Waldo Emerson, born in Boston on this date in 1803. On this date in 1927, the Ford Motor Company announced that the Model T, known as the Tin Lizzie, would be discontinued and its replacement would be the Model A. The first Model T was manufactured in 1908 as an "inexpensive vehicle for the great multitude." It was produced on an assembly line and by 1918 half of all motor cars in the entire world were Tin Lizzies. And Ahooga to you, too!

Thursday night, a Court of Honor of Troop 755, Gambrills, Maryland, advanced Jacob Vincent to the rank of SCOUT as well as his first two merit badges and his Totin' Chip patch. Joshua Vincent, who turns 13 next week, received the LIFE Scout rank and three more merit badges.

One of the inventors of what we now know as the sewing machine was Allen B. Wilson. He developed the rotary hook and bobbin combination in 1849 and that eventually evolved into the Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine. Wilson obtained patents in 1850 and 1854, including a four-motion feed for moving the work after every stitch, far quieter and smoother than other methods. The four-motion feed is used on all sewing machines today and has a forward, down, back, and up motion.

The Wheeler & Wilson Company first manufactured sewing machines at Watertown, New York. In 1856, the company was renamed the Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Company and moved to Connecticut. Although Singer sewing machines would eventually become the most popular brand, Wheeler & Wilson machines were the most popular (and most widely copied) machines in the 1850s and 1860s. The Wheeler & Wilson company was eventually bought by Singer in 1905.

The top of Red Rock Mountain can be a most inhospitable place, as the Wheeler & Wilson Company found out during the summer of 1865 in a caper that became known as the "Wheeler and Wilson Oil Speculation." The company thought they were onto something when mysterious puddles of oil appeared on the waters of the old Dodson Mills on top of Red Rock Mountain. Following the first concerted search for oil in the state in the 1850's after a sample bottle of crude oil was extracted from a seep outside Titusville, the company thought that they had a gold mine as they explored the body of water where the Dodson Mills was located, today known as Lake Rose. The water was apparently tampered with by a man by the name of Hadley. He "salted the springs with oil balls" so that oil floated on the surface of the lake.

The Wheeler & Wilson company became very interested and financed two drill holes during 1865 and 1866. The holes were dug to 2,100 feet at the old Dodson Mills and nearby on farm ground to 1,900 feet. The company invested an estimated 40,000. Meanwhile, Hadley vamoosed to Canada and was never caught.

On Thursday, www.ancestry.com unveils more than 90 million U.S. war records from the first English settlement at Jamestown in 1607 through the Vietnam War's end in 1975. The site also has the names of 3.5 million U.S. soldiers killed in action, including 2,000 who died in Iraq.

The records can be accessed free until the anniversary of D-Day on June 6. The records came from the National Archives and Records Administration and include 37 million images, draft registration cards from both world wars, military yearbooks, prisoner-of-war records from four wars, unit rosters from the Marine Corps from 1893 through 1958, and Civil War pension records, among others..

After June 6, users will pay $155.40 a year for unlimited access to thousands of U.S. record databases.

The Benton FFA is planning several events in preparation for another trip to Mississippi July 21-29. Last year there were six kids and two adults. This Saturday, the FFA will have a "food stand" during the community yard sales in front of the Methodist Church and will be selling coffee, doughnuts, apples and oranges for breakfast. They will also be selling hotdogs, popcorn, snow cones and drinks. On June 30, the FFA will hold an ice cream social at the Methodist Church from 4-7.

Investing, both the positive and the negative sides...
• Stockholders of the PPL Corp. are happy following announcements of 26% returns for shareholders who reinvested their dividends in 2006. The dividend of $1.22 per share, is 130% higher than it was six years ago. The company feels that earnings could reach $3.50 a share by 2010, a 90% increase over the company's 2004 earnings. In 2006, PPL had a profit of $865 million, or $2.25 per share, on operating revenue of $6.9 billion.

• It is time for my periodic gloom and doom forecast of a major correction around the corner, maybe next week, maybe even a bit more out in time. I don't own a Ouija Board, so I can't even come up with a wild guess when it is coming, but mark my words it will come soon. And it won't just happen to American stock exchanges. Overseas, the China market was up last year 130% and so far this year is up almost 53%. The bulls are in charge until it happens, however. If you are a stock market investor, keep your eyes wide open.

Activities of the County Cultivators include attending the 6th Annual Columbia County Garden Tour on Saturday and Sunday, June 9 and 10. Proceeds go to the Greenwood Friends School Scholarship Fund. There will be a day trip Wednesday, June 20, to visit the iris gardens at the Winther home on Cemetery Hill Road. A trip will be organized to the Lavender Festival June 15-17 in Fairfield, PA, ten minutes west of Gettysburg. The club will attend the Danville Iron Heritage Gardening Symposium July 21 and 22. Various workshops will be offered. At the last meeting, Dave Strazdus donated two compost bins which were raffled off to members. Meg Geffken did a presentation on water gardens, designed to catch rainfall runoff to encourage natural filtration and conservation. The President of the Country Cultivators is MaryAnn Zeveney. New members are always welcome. Email me and I'll provide the details.

 

May 24, 2007. Happy birthday to Mollie Hough, Orangeville, and Ron Robbins, Benton. It is hard to believe that just a year ago the Twin Bridges and the Twin Bridges Park reopened. So much has happened to that historic spot in the last year.

On this day in...
• 1844, Samuel F. B. Morse sent the first telegraph message from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore. Morse sent the line, "What hath God wrought?," a Bible verse taken from Numbers 23:23. Long before "You've Got Mail!" echoed through homes, Morse devised a series of dots and dashes to represent the alphabet, and that code ended up being named after him. In 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph line was completed, signaling the beginning of the telecommunications industry.

• 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge opened to the public after nearly 14 years of construction. The 1.3 mile-long bridge spans the East River of New York City and links Brooklyn and Manhattan. On its first day, more than 150,000 people crossed the bridge and paid a 1¢ toll each.

Graveside services for Rev. C. Richard Taylor, born and raised on Two and a Half Street and a retired pastor of a Country Club Hills, Illinois, church, will be Sunday afternoon at 3 in the Rohrsburg Cemetery, Rev. Taylor died on November 24, 2006, at the age of 78. He was one of four children of Carl and Ruth Taylor. Local survivors include his mother, Ruth Taylor, Northumberland, and sister Elaine Hartman (Tom), Bloomsburg.

Quote of the Day:
"If everyone was like Dayne Kline, there would be no need for the 5:30 evening news."
--Ed Baker, in a tribute Wednesday during a funeral service.

Quickies...
• The Ice Capades that begin in November in about 100 major cities in the United States will include Icelandic horses on ice and Miss World 2005 will be one of the performers in many of the shows. The Ice Capades will include not just skaters, live musicians, beautiful women and singers but will include Icelandic Horses for the first time. We'll tell you more about the plans as the time approaches.

• More than 300 local departments and Pennsylvania State Police will enforce seat-belt laws for the first time ever on May 25. Under Pennsylvania law, all front-seat passengers are required to buckle up. PennDOT reminds motorists that children ages 4 to 8 must be restrained in an appropriate booster seat when riding anywhere in a motor vehicle. In addition, children ages 8 to 18 must be in a seat belt when riding anywhere in the vehicle. According to PennDOT, 611 people lost their lives on Pennsylvania roads in 2006 because they were not properly restrained.

• School-board election results following last Tuesday's vote are interesting. The only contested races involved Patriot's Voice member and former Patriot's Voice member Evy Lysk and Robert Ridall in Benton and Sugarloaf townships. Stephen E. Root, running as an independent, was also on the ballet. Ridall won easily on both the Republican and Democratic sides. Among Democratic voters, Root defeated Lysk by 9 votes. On the Republican side, Root and Lysk tied at 116 votes each. Stay tuned for developments!

• An arson attempt on Knecht’s Covered Bridge (PA-09-02), Knecht Bridge Road, Springfield, occurred around 3 AM Wednesday morning. The damage was relatively minor, but sufficient enough that the Bucks County bridge maintenance crew closed the bridge until the necessary repairs can be completed.

My father was a farmer, A strong, good man, Straight were the rows Where his sharp plow ran.		Close after God In his soul came labor, And an equal feeling For every neighbor.
Straight were the thoughts In his unschooled head, And straight out of Scripture The life he led.		My father was a farmer Who knew the worth, Of kinship with The planted earth.
Gnarled were his fingers From life-long toil, But mellow his heart That loved the soil.
--delivered by Tom Kline at his father's funeral Wednesday

John Frederick Hartranft was born near Pottstown, and became a Union general during the American Civil War. In 1861, Hartranft raised a Montgomery County regiment of ninety-day volunteers, serving as Colonel of the 4th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. When their term of enlistment was up, the regiment returned to Pennsylvania on the eve of the First Battle of Bull Run. Hartranft was humiliated by his men's decision to go home and he stayed to fight with the Army which earned him the Medal of Honor.. His citation read, "Voluntarily served as an aide and participated in the battle after expiration of his term of service, distinguishing himself in rallying several regiments which had been thrown into confusion."

He was a special provost marshal during the Lincoln assassination trials. He was elected governor of Pennsylvania in 1872 and served from 1873 to 1879. During his second term as Governor, the "Molly Maguires" incident got special attention in the anthracite coal regions. At the Republican National Convention in June 1876, he was a contender for the presidential nomination that eventually went to Rutherford B. Hayes, who had served with Hartranft during the Civil War in the same army corps. It appears that 19th century attitudes toward his German heritage may have hindered him in public life. He spoke with an accent, and, when he was briefly considered as a nominee for President, someone commented that people would not vote for someone whose name they could not pronounce.

An equestrian statue next to the Pennsylvania Capitol Building in Harrisburg honors Hartranft. Camp No. 15 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is named in his honor. Marble monuments at Petersburg and Vicksburg honor his Civil War service. A Norristown elementary school is named for the governor. A residence hall at Pennsylvania State University is named after him as is a street in the Brookline section of Pittsburgh.

The General John F. Hartranft Camp #15 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is looking for new members with family connection to a Union soldier. If you would like additional information about the organization or would like to join, please email GeneralWSH (at) aol.com.

It will be a busy weekend in the upper Fishingcreek valley...
Friday...
• The 50th class reunion of the graduating class of 1957 meet at the residence of Ed and Nancy Campbell for an old-fashioned clam bake.

Saturday...
• Community yard sales in Benton and in Orangeville from 8 AM. The Orangeville Public Library will also participate. Books, food and drinks will be sold. Christ United Methodist Churct, Central, will hold a yard sale beginning at 9 AM.

• Alumni of Benton Area Schools meet at the high school

Sunday...
• The Scottish Heritage Day servies will be held at the Benton United Presbyterian Church, Market and Park Streets, at 10:30 for Highland Tea and at 11 for Celtic worship and music with Pastor Allen Lumpkin.

. Millville will hold their Memorial Day parade at noon sponsored by Millville American Legion Post 564. Marchers will gather at the fire hall at 11 AM.

. Bingo is set for 2 PM at the Millville fire hall. Doors open at 12:30. Twenty games cost $20. Proceeds will benefit George Yea and their foster children. To buy tickets, call Melissa Bartlow, 458-0402. Tickets will be sold at the door.

• The Benton Firemen will hold their monthly buckwheat cake breakfast until 1 PM.

Marjorie R. Williams (Aug. 29, 1924-May 22, 2007), 156 W. Scott Street, Orangeville, died Tuesday. She was 82. Born in Benton, she was a daughter of the late Glen and Mary V. (Mordan) Chapin. She lived at Stony Brook Circle for 15 years and previously lived for 30 years on Third Street, Benton. Marjorie was a graduate of Benton High School in the class of 1942, the Wilkes-Barre Beauty School and served with the Army during World War II. Marjorie was last employed by Milco Industries Inc., Benton, and earlier at the former Benton Shirt Co. and the Dockey Shirt Co. for a total of 30 years.. Surviving is a son, Charles M. Williams (Marsha), Mercersburg. Preceding her in death was a sister, Eleanor Hagenbuch, and a brother, Richard Chapin. Funeral services will be Friday at 11 AM in the Dean W. Kriner Inc. Funeral Home, Benton. Private burial will be made in Canby Cemetery, Mount Pleasant Township. There will be no viewing.
--Obituary courtesy of the Press Enterprise, where a complete obituary can be found

 

May 23, 2007. Tom Kline celebrates his birthday today, and sharing his birthday are bandleader Artie Shaw, actress Joan Collins and singer Jewel.

Quickies...
• Are you trying to figure out what bird is on your feeder? Here are two good sites for identifying birds:
http://identify.whatbird.com/mwg/_/0/attrs.aspx and www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/birding123/ .

• Benton News readers receiving their daily post via the Topica distribution system are grumbling as that service continues to have problems. We continue having some trouble with the news-rendering engine, but investigations and repairs are under way. Be assured, we are doing all we can to ensure the timely delivery of the news.

• Didja know that Internet censorship is growing worldwide, with 26 out of 40 countries blocking or filtering political or social content? Readers in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa are often denied access to information about politics, sexuality, culture or religion.

Republican Senators Bob Regola and John Gordner held joint public hearings on May 8 on the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code as state officials and construction industry experts said Pennsylvania's Uniform Construction Code (UCC) is in need of repairs.

Senator Regola, (R-39), Chairman of the Local Government Committee, opened the hearing, saying "Currently, Act 45 puts even relatively minor projects, such as erecting small decks or sheds, under the scrutiny of building inspectors and code enforcement officers. This is too much government intervention and only increases the costs for small businesses and residents in the community." He went on to say that "Practically every member of the General Assembly has heard horror stories regarding the Act. Since it went into effect, the Act has been amended six times and additional amendments are currently being considered by the General Assembly."

Senator Gordner, (R-27), Chairman of the Labor and Industry Committee, said the hearing focused on specific areas of concern about the UCC, particularly: "uniformity of enforcement; fees; third party inspections; the impact on property owners; and the creation of a UCC review panel."

Department of Labor and Industry Secretary Stephen M. Schmerin called the Uniform Construction Code "uniform" in name only, agreeing that the UCC needs revisions, saying, "When you have flaws in a building, you know you have to go back, correct the problem and make it right. The same goes for our current building code."

Local contractors and home owners have struggled with understanding local construction rules and the interpretation and enforcement. The varying review and appeal processes have created additional costs to labor projects by increasing the time and money needed to secure permits or question adverse decisions. Several local contractors have experienced thousands of dollars in overrun costs because of inspection requirements and numerous projects have been delayed because of decisions made by inspectors that contradict building requirements specified by architects.

On the subject of traveling...
. Of interest to no one but me, the Skywalk at the Grand Canyon is something I wanted to visit until I did some more research on the subject. The price to go onto the skywalk is $25 and that includes a buffet lunch at Guano (meaning creature poop) Point, a location where the Indians gathered up what fell from the sky to use for makeup for their war paint. You sit in one of the windiest (and therefore dirtiest) places on earth to eat your chicken or ribs. What isn't immediately evident from reading the brochures is that it is $25 to go on the skywalk, but $50 to be on the Hualapai Indian reservation. You find this out after you travel 57 miles at a top speed of 25 miles an hour. You are now up to $75 a person to see what has been described as the "ugliest place on the whole Grand Canyon. There are no trees and below the skywalk the water is gray. You enter through a trailer and metal detector, leaving your camera and purse in the trailer. The walkway glass is cracked, leaving some doubts about the structural integrity of the rest of the cantilevered structure. There are buses leaving every quarter hour or so with up to 52 people aboard at $75 per person ($3,900 per bus) from 8 AM until 6:30 PM. That's $156,000.00 per day! The Indians do run a motel to accommodate visitors, but the sign at check in reads, ""SINCE THE TRAINS COME BY EVERY 10 -15 MINS PLEASE ASK FOR THE FREE EAR PLUGS." You might want to read a New York Times article on the subject if you are considering going.

. Walt Disney was happy in November, 1965, when he acquired some empty swamplands around Orlando, Florida, where he intended to build "A city of tomorrow" which he privately called "Project X." Walt came up with the name Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, or EPCOT for short, which would feature "new ideas and technologies" emerging "from the creative centers of American industry." Disney explained his desire was that EPCOT "would never be completed" and would "be producing, testing and demonstrating." Walt died on December 15, 1966, and EPCOT survived in an "entertainment center" fashion. EPCOT opened October 1, 1982, but was not a "city of tomorrow" as Walt envisioned it to be; it was more of a permanent World's Fair. A form of Project X finally emerged in 1996 as the "unincorporated" planned community of Celebration, Florida, a far cry from Disney's blueprint of the future.

Glenn R. Lechleitner, a former farmer in Benton Township for James A. Dildine and the late Grant Brink, died Monday at the Bonham Nursing Center, Register. He was 83. Glenn (Dec. 11, 1923-May 21, 2007), 90 Register Road, Huntington Mills, was born in Huntington Township, Luzerne County, a son of the late Oliver and Sarah (Davis) Lechleitner. He graduated from the former Huntington Township High School in 1943. He was a Corporal during World War II and received the World War II Victory Medal and the Army Occupation Medal. Surviving are his wife, the former Mae I. McHenry; two sons: Ronald G. Lechleitner (Leandra) and Donald G. Lechleitner, (Debra), both of Stillwater; two brothers: Clayton A. Lechleitner (Pearl), Stillwater; and Robert W. Lechleitner (Grace), Huntington Mills; and a sister, Ramona Bonham (James), Huntington Mills. Glenn was preceded in death by four brothers: Albert E. Lechleitner, James O. Lechleitner, Leo Lechleitner and John H. Lechleitner, and by two sisters: Edith Ross and Margaret H. Cain. Funeral services will be Thursday at 11:30 AM in the Town Hill United Methodist Church. Interment will be in Scott Cemetery, Waterton, with military honors by the combined VFW group. Friends may call at the church Thursday after 10:30 AM. Arrangements are by the Dean W. Kriner Inc. Funeral Home, Benton.
--Obituary courtesy of the Press Enterprise, where a complete obituary can be found.

 

May 22, 2007. Happy birthday to Hiram Brewer and Jenna Nicole Deitrick. Jenna Deitrick, 3, is the daughter of Rod and Tiffany Deitrick, Pine Grove Mills. She is the granddaughter of Buck and Judy McHenry, Stillwater, and the late Robert and Jean Deitrick, Benton. Ruth Brewington Sutliff is now a resident of Balanced Care Nursing Home, Bloomsburg.

Happy anniversary to Tim & Shelly Charles and Father Joe & Helen Hess. This is the 65th time that Father Joe and Helen have celebrated their wedding anniversary. They were married in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Chester, Pennsylvania, May 22, 1942. Father Joe told us, "Sixty-five years--"Doing time with that old girl of mine. Absolutely no regrets!" Father Joe says that his "health is good with the exception of a sore knee." Helen is also doing well, but has been "living in the infirmary section of Cathedral Village because her balance and ability to walk is impaired." She had a stroke which left some neurology damage which interferes with her ability to balance and walk. She can use a walker but needs assistance to get up and down. She is in a private room about five minutes from their apartment. Father Joe has been active in the St. Gabriel's Church for many years, and is a native of Central.

Many patients of former Geisinger Hospital medical doctor Raymond F. Nungesser, who practiced in Bloomsburg and Millville for several years, will be happy to know that he has been named Regional Medical Director for Geisinger Medical Groups in Centre, Clinton, Juniata and Mifflin counties. Nungesser joined Geisinger in 1995 as an associate in family medicine and was appointed department director of the Geisinger clinics in Columbia County in 2000. In 2005, he took over as department director for the Geisinger Medical Groups in Lewistown/Mifflin.

People just don't seem to enjoy their rides with me. It isn't that I tend to look at everything and therefore tend to weave a bit, it isn't that I eat or use a cell phone when I drive, it isn't that I play the music too loudly. I simply have to point out all the sights along the road, the landmarks that make our area so great. Too much information is usually provided; i.e., the year the covered bridge was built and the maiden name of the builder's mother, that sort of thing.

It came about, I suppose, from many rides with Father as he carried the U.S. Mail on rural delivery route #3 from the Benton post office. He knew every farmer on his route, knew the date the corn on the farm was planted, knew when the wheat was ripe and often predicted that a farmer would be threshing when we arrived at his farm, knew to the day when a horse was going to foal. When I started to lose interest in passing the sorted mail to him or listening to why a certain family moved to their house and how many acres the farm had, he would jolt me back to reality by telling me that "the sooner we get this job done, the sooner we can have a cone of ice cream from the Kozy Korner." With no computer keys to crunch, the promise of ice cream was an effective tool. He always ended every task we tackled with "that was a good job done."

I recently tried to remember the exact route of Father's mail route and even asked brother Dayne to help me remember. We were able to retrace it for a few miles and then we gave up in utter confusion. It was a little surprising to me, since Dayne had the unusual ability to remember almost every place he had ever visited.

When a stranger once mentioned the "Million Dollar Highway," Dayne immediately responded that he had been in Cortez, Colorado, and that he had once eaten in the Dry Dock Restaurant on Route 160. What a memory for place names. But Dayne wasn't done. He told the astonished stranger what Babe had eaten and the year the couple had been in the Four Corner's Area. This was not an isolated example. Dayne loved to travel and loved to discuss a trip. On the day he passed away, the table next to his reclining chair in front of the television set held his favorite road atlas, at the ready for the next trip that he hoped he would be able to take.

In these days of high gasoline prices, it may be necessary to limit much of our future travel to our wonderful state. Always remember the history and wonder of our own Keystone State. I betcha that you haven't seen--really seen--the Steel City, or the towns of the Susquehanna, or the Endless Mountains, or the Consignment Gallery in Carlisle, or the Amish County. Don't try to just discover the new, but revisit the old and the cherished. Head into Bucks County where James Michener wrote, Report of the County Chairman, or to the Kutztown (Folk) Festival or spend more time right here at home when the O.A.T.S. Festival people arrive June 29-July 1, or when the rodeo comes to town July 17-22, or when the water fighting begins on the last night of the Fireman's Carnival August 4 (the Carnival is July 30-August 4).

Drive around and count the number of red barns, or blue ponds, visit Clyde Peeling's Reptiland between Williamsport and Lewisburg, or the Anthracite Museum in Ashland, or Christmas Village in Bernville, or the Zippo Factory in Bradford, or the town that burned in Centralia, or--well, there are so many places. When you go, send us an email and tell us what you find.

Upcoming...
. There will be a benefit for Chad Eckroth on June 2 at the Raven Creek Community Hall, with all proceeds going to benefit the victim of a logging accident. At 4 PM, there will be a lasagna dinner served for $7 and at 6 PM will be a bluegrass show featuring the Lykens Valley Bluegrass Boys and the local group, Like Father, Like Son. There will be a $10 donation at the door for the bluegrass show. Soup, sandwiches and beverages will also be available at the hall from 4 PM and until 9 PM. Remember that all proceeds go to Chad.

. Christine's Karaoke will be at the Jamison City Hotel Saturday night starting at 9:30.

• The Benton branch of the First Columbia Bank & Trust Co. will conduct a Food Drive for the Benton Food Bank starting June 1.

` • May 27, Benton Volunteer Firemen's Breakfast from 7 AM to 1 PM. The menu consists of all the buckwheat cakes and sausage you can eat, and the firemen throw in eggs, ham, bacon, buttermilk cakes, home fries, French toast--and it is all made to order. Adults pay $6 and children pay $3. Lynn Musser, 925-2669, has details. This is the last of the firemen's breakfasts until October.

Four students represented the Benton Area Schools at the Junior National Young Leaders Conference (JrNYLC) held in Washington DC from April 13-17. Greg Harvey, Hunter Edson, Jimmy Steigerwalt and Lauren Kogut were nominated based on character, academics and community service. The JrNYLC looks at eight leadership traits and focuses on leaders in American history and social advocacy. Each session of the JrNYLC was designed to educate, inspire, and motivate students by giving them the confidence and leadership skills that will take them through high school and beyond. Greg, Hunter, Jimmy, and Lauren learned about leadership by studying the leaders of the past in an effort to become effective leaders in the future.

Students from left to right Greg Harvey, Hunter Edson, Jimmy Steigerwalt and Lauren Kogut

May 21, 2007. Happy birthday today to Colleen Bender and to L.V. Horn. Bill and Lori Lenhart and Dean and Laura Christian celebrate their wedding anniversary today. In 1881 on this day, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross. On this day in 1927, Charles Lindbergh landed his plane in Paris, completing the first solo, non-stop transatlantic flight. On this day in 1901, Connecticut enacted a driver speeding law that stipulated the speed of all motor vehicles should not exceed 12 mph on country highways and 8 mph within city limits. Today is Victoria Day commemorating the birthday on this date in 1819 of Britain's Queen Victoria who ruled Merry Old England between 1837 and 1901. The British have always celebrated the birthday of the ruling monarch. After Queen Victoria's death in 1901, Canada continued to mark her birthday to show loyalty to the British Empire. In the early 1890s, this day was known as Empire's Day. In 1947, the name was changed to Commonwealth Day. Today it is again known as Victoria Day, and it is a legal holiday in all Canadian provinces except Quebec.

Upcoming...
• May 25, 2007. Coffee House at the Benton United Methodist Church from 6 to 8 PM, featuring gospel and bluegrass music performed by the Rev. Al Lumpkin. The refreshments are free and the music is free. There will be a freewill offering. Everyone is welcome.

• June 8 and 9, 2007. Ground Hog Hunt on Friday and Saturday, sponsored by the Orangeville Sportsmen’s Club, weigh-ins Friday, 7-8 PM, and Saturday, 10 AM. to 2 PM. To register by the June 1 deadline, call 683-5219 or 683-5360.

Pennsylvania Hiking Week runs through June 3, sponsored jointly by the Keystone Trails Association and the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. This would be a good time to try some of the 26 miles of trails in Ricketts Glen State Park, including the relatively easy Evergreen Trail. The trail is about a mile long and it passes some old growth hemlock. If you have more stamina, try the 7.2 mile long Falls Trail past 21 waterfalls. The largest waterfall is the 94-feet high Ganoga Falls.

Dale B. Ruckle is a happy grandfather today. He just learned that his oldest grandson, Kevin Stout, has been accepted at the Air Force Academy with a scholarship of $100,000. Kevin is around 10th or better in academic standing as a senior in Pflugerville (Austin, TX) High School. There was an assembly at school last week with all students present. An officer from the Air Force Academy was at the assembly. He called Kevin to the stage and announced the scholarship, a very dramatic moment. His acceptance takes on more significance when you realize that Kevin had a heart problem when he was three-months old. He almost died. He had major heart surgery when he was 2½ using a new laser machine technology. It was so successful his EKG will not reveal the correction.

The end of May yard sales for the area are reaching a fever level! The area-wide yard sales starts in the entire Borough of Benton very soon. Start separating things into piles!

Although not widely known, it is a sin for a woman to make coffee. It's in the Bible. It says--"Hebrews."

Harry Dayne Kline, 88, Green Acres Road, Benton, a former Golden Guernsey breeder and farmer, Regional District Manager of the Kemper Insurance Group, member of the Benton Flying Club, and a member of the School Authority formed by the Benton Area School Board to finance the construction of the L. R. Appleman Elementary School, died peacefully at his home Saturday afternoon at 606 Green Acres Drive, Benton Township, Benton.

Dayne (May 11, 1919-May 20, 2007) was born at 605 E. 4th Street, Nescopeck, in a second-floor bedroom in the home of his grandparents, the oldest of four boys (two passed away in infancy) of Robert Eugene Kline (February 13, 1897-December 22, 1985) and Evelyn Dorothea Kishbach (December 4, 1899-August 15, 1984). He grew up living at what some know as the former Raymond Baker Farm south of Benton and loved to tell of when as a child he had to be evacuated by boat when Fishingcreek overflowed its banks. The family then moved "across the creek" to the 71-acre farm known as the Dildine Farm, which his grandfather purchased in 1901, on the northern boundary of Benton Township.

Dayne was a member of the graduating class of 1937 from the Benton High School and studied Animal Husbandry at Penn State University.

Dayne entered the Army Air Force July 23, 1942, serving in the Central Burma and the China/Burma conflict, often known as the China/Burma/India (CBI) Conflict where he received the American Theater Ribbon, Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon with two Bronze stars, Good Conduct Medal, WWII Victory Metal, and the Distinguished Unit Badge. Some of his experiences during the CBI Conflict are recorded in www.bentonnews.net/Features/CBI.htm . He was honorably discharged as a T/Sgt on November 26, 1945. Dayne was a former member of the Benton Flying Club which incorporated on May 8, 1946, and enjoyed flights with Ruth. He was a second-generation member and an Honorary Member of Painter Den Club. Dayne served as President of the Benton Cemetery Board and in 1986, Dayne and Ruth donated land for expansion to the cemetery in memory of his grandparents Harry and Dora Shultz Kline and their children, Nettie, Robert, Helen, and Lee.

Dayne married Minnie Ruth (Babe) Dietrich on January 20, 1946, in St. Petersburg, Florida, and together they had a marital union of 61 years. Ruth was born in Shickshinny, but her parents kept a summer home in the former Maple Grove School and she walked "to town" and often happened to be walking just as Dayne brought the cows in from the fields and the rest is, as they say, history. After the couple married, they jointly ran the family farm for many years until road construction on Route 487 forced them to sell their house to the state and they dismantled the barn.

Dayne and Ruth in a light-hearted moment along the banks of Fishingcreek

Dayne was a regional manager for Kemper Insurance. He was a member of Benton Lodge #667, F&AM, and was the oldest living Past Master of that lodge. He served as Master in 1955. In 2007, he became a member of Oriental Lodge, No. 460, F&AM, Orangeville, and shares the honor of being the oldest living Past Master of that lodge with C. Harold Bankes. He was a member of the Benton VFW, the Benton Rodeo Association, and Caldwell Consistory, Bloomsburg. He was a member of the Benton Christian Church. He was a President of the Benton Kiwanis Club in 1964 and a member of the Bloomsburg Elks Club.

The couple had five children
. Patricia Ann Kline (November 16, 1946-July 13, 1954), who passed away of pneumonia in an ambulance on the way to Bloomsburg Hospital.
. Thomas Michael Kline (Denise), Benton
. Kay Emily Kline, Benton.
. Robert Edward Kline (Margie), Benton
. Susan Louise Cole (Edward Lee)

Dayne & Ruth Kline

Surviving, in addition to his wife, is a brother, David R. Kline (Kay), Benton, six grandchildren and one great-grand child. One grandson, Dayne Leonard Cole, passed away in 1994.

Viewings will be held Tuesday, May 22, from 2-4 and from 6-8 at the McMichael Funeral Home and will include a Masonic Service at 6 PM. The funeral will be Wednesday, May 23, at 10:30 with interment in the Benton Cemetery. Military honors will be accorded at Benton Cemetery by a joint military group consisting of the Benton VFW, the Bloomsburg VFW and the Millville American Legion. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to the Benton Christian Church, P. O. Box 264, Benton, PA 17814.

 

Sunday, May 20, 2007. Happy birthday to Lauren Marinos, Robyn Hack, and Joe LaBonte.

On this day in 1830, a Reading, Pennsylvania, man by the name of Hyde patented the fountain pen. It took, however, until 1884 before Lewis Waterman invented a truly practical fountain pen. In the first year, 200 Waterman pens were made by hand. In 1892, George Sampson patented the clothes dryer. In 1940, inventor Igor Sikorsky demonstrated his helicopter invention to the public. In 1927, at 7:40 AM, Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, aboard the Spirit of St. Louis monoplane on his historic first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. He arrived in France thirty-three and one-half hours later.

The third Sunday in June is Father's Day in the United States and in 33 other countries. I know Father's Day is rapidly approaching. And so do the hackers. It is a certainty that there will be some exploits and malware associated with electronic greeting cards on that day. Send your father an email note instead. Pass along the greetings of the day and extend your love. Thank him for making sure you can read and be on the internet. And tell him not to open any Father's Day greeting cards because you will not have sent it. Malware is a terrible Father's Day present.

It is simply impossible to visualize the death, desolation and devastation that must have occurred in the 24-hour period of actual combat of July 1, 2 and 3, 1863. As I slowly looked at what surrounded me I saw many statues of marble and granite intended to serve as lasting memories of those awful days, but monuments hardly do justice to the carnage that once took place where I was standing.

Quote of the Day:
"Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won."
--Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), 1815.

The fighting of the second and third of July mostly took place in the fields and through the woods just to the south of Gettysburg in the general vicinity of where I parked. Just behind these forces, were the field hospitals with an estimated 22,000 wounded.

Most of us in the local area know something about the fabled Pickett's Charge, especially since it involved Robert Bruce Ricketts. But for a moment lets look at Pickett's Charge from the viewpoint of the Southerner, as recorded in the book, Southern History of the War."The steady movement of Pickett's men into the tempest of fire and steel, against a mountain bristling with guns, had nothing to exceed it in sublimity on any of the battlefields of the revolution. Into the sheets of artillery fire advanced the unbroken lines of our men. The devoted Confederates are struggling from heavy masses of infantry, posted behind a stone fence. But nothing checks their advance; they storm the fence, they shoot the gunners..."

The Southern writer continued, "In this great battle, though unfavorable to us, the enemy's loss probably exceed our own, as the Yankees were closely crowded on the hills, and devoured by our artillery fire." The writer summed up the battle by saying "The Confederates did not gain a victory, neither did the enemy."

I was listening to a guide telling me about the Battle of Gettysburg. I thought to myself that the first guides to the battlefields of Gettysburg were probably no more than farmers whose farms were devastated, or perhaps unemployed townspeople who tired of lounging around the taverns, or perhaps just someone who needed an odd job. Probably these original "guides" were completely ignorant of the famous battles or of the campaigns of the war. They knew where the regimental burial sites were and where the hospitals were, but I suspect little else.

The forces under General Lee were soundly whupped, had packed their meager belongings and were heading with due dispatch out of Adams County by the time that July 5, 1863, was over. The exhausted troops of General Meade soon took up hot pursuit and everyone moved toward the Potomac River.

At 2:45 yesterday, my battlefield tour with a modern guide, armed with facts and figures and a few humorous stories, came to an end when I received a phone call that brother Dayne Kline had passed away Back Home in His Beloved Benton, PA. Without a second thought, I took off in hot pursuit, not toward the Potomac River, but north.

Dayne had a good day Saturday, said he felt much better after an early-morning shower, talked about how much he enjoyed the Friday fish dinner from the Hoboken Sub Shop that his nephew, Edward Cole, brought to the house. He had visitors at the house, he was happy to see everyone, he was his usual self.

About 2:30, he told his wife, Ruth, that he would like to see his granddaughter, Tara Lane Kline, daughter of Robert and Margie Kline, prepare to head to her prom at the Columbia-Montour Area Vocational-Technical School with her date, Curtis Stackhouse, in Chris Hoyt's Firebelch 500 Truck. After he said that, he sighed, his head drooped and he was gone.

Here are Tara and Curtis and their chariot for the evening, the beautiful blue Hoyt's Fuel Oil Truck. Dayne would have been happy...

H. Dayne Kline, 88 years and seven days after his birth, passed away peacefully at home Saturday afternoon, May 20, about 2:45. A farmer by nature, a soldier when the call came, possessed with a keen sense of understanding and compassion, with a soft-spoken sense of humor, Dayne will be missed by many.

 

 

May 19, 2007. Joyce Letteer and Bob Milnarik celebrate their birthdays today. Please continue to keep Ruth Sutliff in your prayers as she continues her stay in the Bloomsburg Hospital

We look forward to seeing all the Alumni of Benton Area Schools as they return for the upcoming banquet. Have you turned in your acceptance to attend? Joe McHenry, with his wife, Gail, will be Back Home in Benton, PA, for their 60th class reunion for two weeks from May 24 through June 5.

Have you ever noticed that the less important you are to the place of your employment, the more your tardiness or absence is noticed?

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that House Democrats at the state level plan want to cut property taxes by something like $700 million. According to the article, House of Representatives’ Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene, will soon announce legislation to raise sales taxes by half a percentage point and earmark all of it for reductions in property taxes.

As everyone in the free world knows, Paris Hilton, 26, forgoes tanning season to report to jail by June 5 for violating the terms of her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case. The party princess had been on probation after pleading no contest to a drunk driving charge in 2006. She will most likely spend about 23 days in a "special needs housing unit," a sentence reduced from the initial requirement that she spend 45 days in jail. The sentence anticipates that she will be on good behavior, which won't be hard to accomplish since she will be separated from the general inmate population in a unit reserved for police officers, public officials, celebrities and other high-profile inmates. She'll get an hour or so each day outside her cell to shower, watch TV or talk on the phone.

Paris Hilton is the great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton and one of the heirs to his vast hotel empire. No matter, it goes to show that if you drive drunk in this country you get to view the inside of a jail cell.

Geisinger Health Systems is getting a lot of good publicity about the overhaul experiment of its ProvenCare program for Coronary Artery Bypass Graft surgery. Following the lead of automobile manufacturers and the makers of many appliances for the home, the hospital is essentially guaranteeing its workmanship by charging a flat fee that includes 90 days of follow-up treatment. Even if there are complications or the patient needs to come back in for repair work, Geisinger says they won't send out another bill.

In an age where it seems that other doctors and hospitals are asking me to come in more--and therefore getting paid more--Geisinger's approach to delivering more is refreshing. It appears to be an excellent incentive to do the job right the first time and give correct, complete and understood directions upon discharge.

Didja know that the Comet at Hershey Park was first introduced in 1946? You are likely to hear much more about that this summer as the park and the Hershey's Kiss celebrate their 100th anniversary. You probably haven't seen The Boardwalk, a $21 million new water-play area scheduled to open May 26. The attraction includes water slides and a wave pool for surfing. There is even a seven-story-high maze of watery platforms, bridges, tunnels, netting and slides for hundreds of visitors at a time. If that is too tame, consider the Storm Runner, a roller coaster that blasts riders from zero to 72 mph in two seconds. Or you can try an indoor ride on the theme of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Next year, you can visit a new museum called The Hershey Story. At Chocolate World, you can ride the Hershey Trolley Works tour, a 75-minute, $12.95-a-person voyage back in time that stops at Hershey's boyhood home, his mansion adjacent to the factory and the Milton Hershey School.

Upcoming...
• May 19. Korean War veterans will be honored from 10 AM to 5 PM at the War Memorial Museum, Sonestown. The museum houses artifacts dating back to the Spanish American War through the present. Other displays include items from World Wars I and II, Korean and the Vietnam War.

• May 19. Ice Cream Social from 4-7 PM at the Raven Creek Presbyterian Church.

• May 21. Benton's Market Street Bridge will reopen to traffic Monday. The newly-poured concrete deck needs the weekend to build additional strength.

• June 2, 2007. Children's Fishing Derby (kids 5-12), 2:30 PM, Mill Race Golf Course. Call 925-6001 for more information.

• June 2-3, 2007. Used Book Sale, Columbia Mall, Buckhorn, Friends of the Columbia County Traveling Library.

 

May 18, 2007. Ronnie McHenry and Shirley Lockard celebrate their birthdays today. Happy 58th wedding anniversary to Don and Betty Miller, Grove, OK, and to Jeff and Brenda Hubler. Please keep Ruth Brewington Sutliff in your prayers as she continues her stay in the Bloomsburg Hospital.

It was on this date in 1860 that Abraham Lincoln was nominated for the presidency by the Republican National Convention. Hannibal Hamlin was nominated for the vice-presidency. Lincoln was a Kentucky-born lawyer and former Whig representative to Congress. He gained national attention during his campaign against Senator Douglas for the Illinois senate seat in 1858 over the issue of slavery in what became known as the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Lincoln argued against the spread of slavery. Douglas argued that each territory should have the right to decide whether it would become free or slave. Lincoln lost that senate race, but gained his party's presidential nomination. That November Lincoln again faced Democrat Douglas, Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell.

Lincoln defeated his opponents with only 40% of the popular vote, becoming the first Republican President. With the announcement of his victory came the secession of the Southern states as promised if Mr. Lincoln won. By the time of Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven states had seceded and the Confederate States of America had been formally established with Jefferson Davis as its elected president. One month later, the American Civil War began when Confederate forces under General P. G. T. Beauregard opened fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

Didja know that at one time there were five large hotels in Eagles Mere, the Forest inn, Eagles Mere Hotel, the Crestmont, the Raymond, the Lakeside?

Upcoming...
. More than 800,000 people have purchased tickets to see the treasures of Tutankhamun at Philadelphia's Franklin Institute. Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs includes more than 130 rare objects from the tomb of King Tutankhamun and other ancient royals. Tickets are available from Memorial Day through Labor Day. To purchase tickets, visit The Franklin Institute online .

. Bloomsburg University has some interesting events coming up, several of which are open to the general public. Go to www.bloomu.edu/arts/ for their schedule.

. Karen Boback of the Pennsylvania 117th Congressional District makes herself available tirelessly. On the last Friday of each month, she or her representative come to the Fire Hall in Benton from 9 until 3 to meet with concerned citizens. Rep. Boback has a web site at www.repboback.com where you can get additional informaiton.

. Come to the Brass Pelican Monday morning when the North Mountain Historical Society gathers to hear Wilson Ferguson, Secretary of the Sullivan County Historical Society discuss the town of Eagle Mere. You might also want to bookmark www.eaglesmere.org/eventscal.html in order to keep on track of the events of the town upcoming throughout the year.

. At next month's North Mountain Historical Society speaker, the speaker will be Robert Dunkelberger, Associate Professor and Bloomsburg University Archivist and Historian. Robert is Coordinator of Special Collections, meaning that his job is to preserve and maintain the historical records of Bloomsburg University, collect and provide access to the Special Collections' material in the Harvey A. Andruss Library, and research and promote the history of the school as University Historian.

Robert will use a computer and audio visual aids to tell his audience about the Future Coming to Columbia County in the first quarter of the 20th century. His subject will be the transportation system that served Danville, Bloomsburg, Catawissa and Berwick at that time.

Matthew H. Larson, (July 11, 1959- May 14, 2007), Rohrsburg Road, Benton, died Monday at his home. He was 47. Born in Red Bank, New Jersey, he was a son of the late Alan Sigurd Larson who died May 2, 2006, and Eleanor “Poppy” (Popovich) Larson, who died October 14, 2004. Matt attended Benton Junior/Senior High School with the Class of 1979. He served in the US Coast Guard and then worked as a boat captain in Key West, Florida, where he had spent much of his life.

Surviving, are his brothers and sisters Michael A. Larson (Susan), Key West, Florida; Laura E. Campbell (Douglas), Jacksonville, Florida; Mark E. Larson, Key West, Florida; Lynne E. Larson, Alexandria, Virginia; Lee A. Manson (Thomas), Pensacola, Florida; and nieces and nephews Jesse Campbell (Holly); Elizabeth Campbell; Kelsey Larson; Meagan Manson and Logan Manson. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a brother, Mitchell I. Larson, in June, 2003.

A visitation will be held Saturday from noon until 1:30 PM at the McMichael Funeral Home, Inc. Services and burial will be at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to the American Cancer Society, Columbia County Unit, 1948 E. Third St., Williamsport, PA 17701.
--Obituary courtesy of the McMichael Funeral Home. A complete obituary will be published in the Press Enterprise on Friday.

We mentioned Millville's Walnut Street in yesterday's Benton News, and probably some immediately thought of the word "gang" as it is commonly used in modern conversation. But the Walnut Street Gang we were talking about consisted of the kids that lived and played on Millville's Walnut Street during the 1930s, 40s and 50s. These kids felt they were in the poor section of town, but they had more fun than the 'have's' ever did, according to Harry Watts, the reunion organizer.

Walnut Street is only a two-block long street in Millville. It runs parallel to Main Street, between Chestnut and State Streets. Dale Ruckle remembers there were only a couple of occasions where shot gun pellets landed in the backyard from hunters in the fields behind their house.

Postcard courtesy of Harry Watts

It is only a short time until the fourth annual reunion of "The Walnut Street Gang" takes place on Sunday, June 10. The (former) kids will be gathering around one o’clock at the Millville Town Park for visiting and reminiscing before they eat.

Those who want can take a short walk up Chestnut Street to the Frank Bartlow building. Tubby (Frank Jr.) and Ruth Barlow have extended an invitation to take a tour of their 1947 prototype International Harvester building. The building is a rare International Harvester building designed by the Industrial Designer Raymond Lowey. Who was Lowey, you ask? If you collect vintage Farmalls, you know who Raymond Lowey was and the role he played with the company. To bring styling to its tractors, International Harvester hired Raymond Lowey to clean up the design and appearance of its machinery, its dealerships and even its corporate logo. The resulting International Harvester Dealerships have the distinguishing characteristic of the company's standard building; i.e., in the corner are full glass windows and a tall rectangular stack for advertising the logo of the company. There are only a few of these original IH buildings left intact in the United States and Millville has one. Tubby and Ruth have offered the use of the building in case of inclement weather.

This is the late Frank Bartlow Sr.'s  IH building that he built in 1947. The picture was taken by Harry Watts and used with permission. The picture was taken when the local IH club held a show there. It is now owned by Frank and Ruth Bartlow, Jr.

Ford makes it, International shakes it.
--Old Saying Popular with Farmers

Those who intend to attend the reunion should bring lawn chairs, a covered dish, a beverage, their own plates and silverware. Pictures and memorabilia from the days on Walnut Street are most welcome.

Dale Ruckle told us that it was people like Harry Watts, Wayne Watts, Cefie Stere and Marlene Shultz Harvey that makes the reunion great. Marlene Harvey remembered some of the many of the Walnut Street Gang: "Dorothy Smith, all the Watts Family, Fred Gregory, Nancy and Ruby Taylor, Alfred Ikler, Dale Ruckle, the Stere boys, the Albertsons..."

Questions can be directed to Harry Watts, email hwatts (at) verizon.net, 570 458-6005, or to Marlene Shultz Harvey, email mimih16 (at) webtv.net, 925-2641. As you walk around the Bloomsburg Fair, the distinctive voice coming over the public address system from 8 AM to 4 PM daily comes from Harry Watts, a man former neighbor Dale Ruckle described as being "as good as Millville produced. He is as straight as they come. Just pure Millville stuff."

A popular joke of the 1930s was "You hear about the new International tractor? It's got no seat and no steering wheel. That's for the farmer who has lost his ass and doesn't know which way to turn."

 

May 17, 2007. Happy birthday today to Emily Terri Marie Notestein, born on this date in 2004. Emily is the daughter of the Kim Notestein and the late Greg Notestein. Happy anniversary to Robyn and Dean Hack. The Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival begins today.

Welcome to...
• First Impressions Printing. Annie Lukashewski., 570 441-8200 or 570 925-5990. Local printing on almost anything. The email address is Annlukas (at) epix.net. First Impressions Printing does screen printing and pad printing. "You never get a second chance to make a good first impression."

• Gary Skalla, PharmD., at the Colonial Pharmacy. The hours for Colonial are Monday-Friday 9 AM-6 PM and Saturday 9 AM-1 PM.

Brian Goode is walking Saturday for Great Strides, an organization to help raise funding for victims of Cystic Fibrosis. Brian is walking on behalf of "Olivia's Team" named after a third grader who suffers from the terminal illness and has been hospitalized several times this year, the most recent, less than a month ago. Her family was told long ago that she wouldn't be expected to make it past the age of 6 but fortunately for everyone who knows her, that was not the case. She needs daily treatments to keep her able perform everyday functions. She's lots of fun to have in the class, and doesn't let her condition get her down. If anyone can help, please sponsor Briane for the walk. His goal is to raise $150 by Saturday, but he would love to get more. Even small donations help. Here is Brian's sponsorship page, where you can find a spot to make a donation. Please read about Olivia here.

Brian raised $227 in the first 24 hours of his fund raising. Much of it came from Back Home in Benton, PA.

Dale B. Ruckle, who now lives in Plano, Texas, but was originally from Millville and was a member of the Walnut Street Gang, which you'll read about in upcoming days in the Benton News, has a son who is a very successful store manager for the Alaska Commercial Company in Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost settlement in Alaska and therefore in the United States. The Alaska Commercial Company is a "Wal-Mart" type of operation in the remote towns of Alaska. They are not in Anchorage with a store, even though that is the location of the Corporate Office. All of the products sold in Barrow by the Alaskan Commercial Company are delivered by the U.S. Postal service. The recent rate increase of 2 cents for postage raised the price of milk in Barrow by 80 cents. It is now $8.75 per gallon.

Well, hey, I'll let Dale tell the story...

"Last year they organized a football team for the first time ever. They laid out a football field on the beach and played football. You must understand there is no grass in Barrow. I might add, it is cold. They were able to play a league type of thing with other towns in Alaska. The season was 6 games played over 2 weeks with 3,600 airplane miles to get it done. The boys had a ball.

"ESPN go wind of the deal and featured it on their home page. A woman in Florida saw the ESPN clip and went into action. She raised money and donated money for Barrow to keep the thing going. She donated Astroturf for a field. (They are still trying to figure how to get it to Barrow and Barrow is trying to figure where to install it.) There are no road into or out of Barrow. Everything come in by air, except for 2 barges that come in the summer. One carries provisions and the other carries gasoline."

Thursday, "30 some boys from Barrow leave for Jacksonville, FL. They will attend football camps in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. They will return to Barrow on June 22. All of this is thanks to this woman in Florida."

Barrow has less than 5,000 people. Dale's son is "wondering where the global warming is. The natives had to trek over 2 miles of ice to get to their whale hunting grounds. That has not happened in several years. Some years they can whale from the beach. Oh! by the way. Those cuddly polar bears in Al Gores stuff! Polar bears eat meat. That means people. If a polar bear wonders into Barrow, it is shot at once. It is too close to civilization."

Dale got so excited telling the story that now he has decided that he is strongly considering going to Barrow next spring for Jason's graduation from high school. He'll have more stories to tell then.

Barrow, Alaska, with the Arctic Ocean in the background.
The arch is made from the jaw bones of a whale.

On the left is Lois Watts Artman and her late husband James Artman.
On the right are Milly and Harry Watts

The detour around the Market Street Bridge, Benton, began May 15. A Columbia County PennDOT maintenance crew is pouring concrete to fill in the open-steel decking to make it a solid deck. The concrete will need at least several days to cure and build strength. The detour may be required through the weekend of May 19 and 20.

Yesterday, someone asked me if they could ask me a question. Somehow, something seems wrong with that.

John F. Kennedy won the Pulitzer Prize for Profiles in Courage, American Bandstand made its TV debut on ABC, and Joseph McCarthy passed away. These and many other things happened in 1957. President Truman named George Marshall Secretary of State, the Presidential Succession Act was passed, and Henry Ford passed away. These and many other things happened in 1947. We'll take the time to review the upcoming activities of the Alumni of Benton High School for those years in the following paragraphs.

In fact, we think that it is such a good idea to give publicity to the graduating classes of the Benton Area Schools that we'll publish all the class pictures that are provided to us. There are some rules, but they are simple rules. First, provide us with a Microsoft Word document that includes a graduating picture of the class, with names of the members of the class. A history of the class, achievements of members of the class, current pictures of the class may also be submitted on the same Word document. We'll devote an area just for your class so that you can refer to it often. I would like a person identified, preferably with email access, to funnel information from members of the class to me. The Class of '47 is a start. Read below.

Alumni Reunions next weekend...
• Benton High School Class of 1957 will gather in celebration of their 50th high school reunion. On Friday, May 25. Nancy and Ed Campbell will host a barbeque/clambake at their Lightstreet home at 2 PM, which will be catered by their daughter, Cheri Bissinger. On Saturday, May 26, some members of the class will gather at the Mill Race Golf Course for an outing from 9 AM until 1. They will then meet at the Alumni Banquet at the Benton Area Middle/High School at 6 PM. On Sunday, May 27, the class will attend Worship Service at the Benton Presbyterian Church at 10 AM where classmate Ed Campbell is playing the Scottish bagpipes. The class will have Sunday dinner at the Old Filling Station, Main Street, at 1 PM. In September, the class and friends are taking a seven-day cruise on the Carnival Victory to Nova Scotia.

• Benton High School Class of 1947 will be marking the milestone anniversary of 60 years since they graduated. Go here to see a high school picture of the class with class member's names, thanks to Linda Haines, daughter of Darl Bender Haines. Additionally, since Benton is the only school district that still has May Day we have included what May Day looked like in 1947. The names of the seniors are identified. Some of the class members will be at the Alumni Banquet on Saturday, May 26..

 

May 16, 2007. Today is the birthday of Cecile Steiner Martin, Third Street, Marlene Harvey, Distillery Hill Road, and Harold Hess, Pennsdale. Benton's free middle school concert begins tonight at 7:30 in the auditorium of Benton High School. Drive carefully! Benton schools will dismiss students at 12:30 today, with no classes on Thursday and Friday.

Dayne Kline returned to Green Acres Tuesday afternoon from a stay in the Geisinger Hospital. In true "Dayne style," he told me that his roommate was a "dandy-fine person." As he arrived home in the family car, he looked at the grass and announced that he would need to "be a-mowing in the morning." The truth is that Dayne needs a few days of relaxation at home before he tackles that lawn!

Tuesday was Primary Election Day and Republican and Democratic voters selected the candidates who will run for election in November in county, township, borough, school district and state judicial races.

The three incumbent Columbia County commissioners will be up for re-election in November. Republicans Chris Young and Bill Soberick and Democrat Dave Kovach won big in their effort. Democratic challenger Jean Golomb, Mifflin Township, will be on the ballot with Dave Kovach. Three commissioners will be chosen from candidates Young, Soberick, Kovach and Golomb. Attorney Michael Seward, 34, lives in Berwick but has strong Benton ties. He lost by a 2-to-1 margin.

Karen Edwards lost in her bid to become Columbia County treasurer by less than a hundred votes to deputy county treasurer Shirley Turner. Turner will face Democrat Kristin Gensel, Bloomsburg, in the November general election.

Incumbent Robert Conner won the Republican nomination for a six-year term as supervisor in Benton Township. Conner beat Richard Ashelman by a 93-48 vote. With no Democrats filing for the job, Bob could be unopposed during the November general election.

Incumbents Dennis R. Threlkeld and Rick L. Posey and newcomer Kathleen J. Wells won nominations for two open Region III seats. Posey and Threlkeld won on the Democratic side, while Threlkeld and Wells won the GOP nominations. In Berwick, all five Patriot's Voice contenders seeking nominations to the Berwick School Board were defeated Tuesday.

Across the state scores of voters rejected state-mandated referendums that proposed raising earned-income taxes in exchange for lower residential property taxes. In mid-morning Wednesday, Act 1 totals have yet to be tallied in 498 school districts around the state.

In Supreme Court voting, Democratic voters picked Superior Court Judges Seamus McCaffery and Debra Todd as their nominees, while Republican voters selected Superior Court Judge Maureen Lally-Green and former Environmental Hearing Board Judge Mike Krancer.

In Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, not considered a likely winner as recently as a month ago, yesterday captured the Democratic mayoral nomination and is all but certain to become the next mayor of Philadelphia.

Some say that Pennsylvania has all four seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.

Bravo to the Dushore Fire Department and the Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Conservation Officer (WCO) who rescued a black bear cub stuck in a tree north of Laporte. The bear cub got wedged between two branches about 50-feet in the air. The mother was unable to free the cub. The Game Commission WCO for Sullivan County, William M. Williams, climbed the fire company ladder and with the aid of a fireman used a pry-bar to separate the two branches ending the nearly five-hour ordeal. Mother and cub were soon reunited and both hurried off for new adventure and a bite to eat.

Upcoming...
• May 19, 2007. The folks at Raven Creek Presbyterian Church will hold an ice cream social Saturday afternoon from 4-7 at 993 Upper Raven Creek Road.

• May 26, 2007. Orangeville will host its community yard sale and their Public Library will sell books, food and drinks starting at 8 AM.

• May 27, 2007. Millville's Memorial Day parade begins on Sunday at noon. Marchers assemble at 11 AM at the fire hall.

• June 1, 2007. A concert, Sundae Pops, is slated for 7 PM in the high school cafeteria. An all-you-can-eat sundae bar is included. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children.

• June 2, 2007. A lasagna dinner and bluegrass show at the Raven Creek Community Hall will benefit Chad Eckroth, who was badly injured in a logging accident. The dinner begins at 4 PM with the bluegrass concert beginning two hours later, at 6 PM. Dinner is $7, and a $10 donation for the show would be appreciated.

• June 10, 2007.A Home & Garden bingo fundraiser at 2 PM will help Nyssa Hittle, 15, a Benton High School student, raise money to visit England, Wales, Scotland as a "People to People" student ambassador. Twenty games cost $20. There will be a chinese aution and food sold.

• June 30-July 8, 2007. Kutztown Folk Festival. Kutztown is in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, midway between Allentown and Reading, along Route 222. It is easily accessible from all major routes.

We think that more of the wonderful properties in the local area should consider doing what is taking place on a farm in New Albany. Berryfields Farm is adjacent to Pennsylvania State game lands and the view from their property is spectacular. On the farm, the owners raise grass-fed Hereford cattle, Tamworth hogs, Boer goats and pastured poultry. Their organic garden and orchard produce an abundance of fruits and vegetables. The owner is living his dream of moving to the country and having a restaurant. The owner is the cousin of Bob Antanitis.

There are people who love spending time on farms where they can work a little, ride a lot and eat wonderful food. In our opinion, it certainly beats spending time in a Holiday Inn. If you are a farmer and can open your doors to travelers, consider a farm B&B. Begin by doing a Google search for "farm vacation."

Check out the World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, part of a world-wide effort to link volunteers with organic farmers, promote an educational exchange, and build a global community conscious of ecological farming practices. Closer to home, the Lands at Hillside Farms, Luzerne County, is dedicated to restoring the agricultural and summer estate to its original grandeur while creating an invaluable educational, cultural, and historic resource. If you are familiar with Hillside Farms, drive up and enjoy their spring festival Saturday, May 26.

 

 

May 15, 2007. Lorraine Feola and Cheryl Kelsey celebrate their birthdays today. Lorraine is the popular co-founder of the bluegrass group, Raven Creek, and the hostess of The Shed at Ivy Farms, which is now open on the weekends, by the way. Rosalie and Arden Harrison and Frank and Linda Robbins celebrate their wedding anniversaries. Make sure that you get out and vote. Today is the 135th day of the year with 230 days remaining. There are 37 days remaining until the official start of summer.

It's the birthday today of the man who wrote The Wizard of Oz, Lyman Frank Baum, sort of a cross between Doyle Pennington and Ben McHenry. He ran a general store that he called "Baum's Bazaar" where he entertained kids by telling them fairy tales and giving them candy as they crouched on the wooden sidewalk in front of his store--always with a cigar dangling from his mouth. He published a collection of Mother Goose stories, Mother Goose in Prose, and later published Father Goose, His Book (1899).

On this date in 1930, the first airline stewardess flew aboard a United Airlines flight between San Francisco and Cheyenne, WY. In 1942, gasoline rationing went into effect in 17 states, limiting sales to three gallons a week for nonessential vehicles.

Quickies...
• Columbia County Conservation District will host a free, educational, hands-on program called Bugs, Birds, and Buffers: The Secret Life of Streams Saturday morning, May 19, from 10 to 12 at Kocher Park near Lightstreet. Ages 12 to adult. Learn about life in and along your creek! Presenters will include Scott Singer, biologist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service; Steve Rier, Ph. D., aquatic ecologist from Bloomsburg University; and Catherine D. Haffner, Watershed Specialist, Columbia County Conservation District. This program is free, however registration is required. There is a 20 person limit. Please call 784-1310 x 102 to register. Bring your binoculars and waders if you have them!

• Mikelanne McHenry Welliver, White Hall Road, Turbotville, graduated from Marywood University this weekend with a Masters Degree in Social Work. She is the wife of Michael Welliver and mother of Kolbe and Carson, the daughter of Jay and Susan McHenry, Stillwater, and the granddaughter of Joyce Keller, Mayor of Iklertown.

Some May Remember...
• When "Sunbonnet Susans" were everywhere during the Bloomsburg Sesquicentennial, and milady's headdress certainly did look nice! The official song of the Sesquicentennial observance was Onward Bloomsburg, written by Janet Knorr. The "Sisters of the Swish" appeared often during the celebration. Geraldine Yost Laubach was in the Queen's Court.

• When for colds and coughs everyone used Rexall remedies from Rabb's Drug Store where "prescriptions were carefully compounded."

• When Robert Vincent sold chuck roast Grade A for 33¢ a pound, standing rib for 35¢ and hamburg for 29¢.

• When mothers made their molasses wafers from PurAsnow Enriched Flour. When Octagon Soap was 3 bars for 14¢, cabbage was 5¢ a pound, lean boiling beef was 21¢, fancy apples five-pound bag for 35¢ and oranges 40¢ a dozen. When "practical room heaters were $59.50 and up in "coal, gas and combination." And bingo was 35 games for 25¢.

We'll make two stops today, one at Forks and one at Central...

The Forks Covered Bridge, Fishingcreek Township known as PA/38-19-56 or as Forks Bridge (County #130), was a single span Burr Truss with a length of 107' and a 15'3" roadway, although other sources list it with 104'11" overall length. It was located on Winding Road (SR1020 - LR19068) until replaced by a new bridge in July, 1955. The covered bridge was demolished in July, 1955.

The Forks Bridge

The term "Burr Truss" came from a prominent Connecticut bridge builder by the name of Theodore Burr, who gained popularity when he built a bridge in 1804 spanning the Hudson River. The Burr Truss design soon became one of the more frequently used systems. The Burr Arch Truss, as the design became known, used two long arches, resting on the abutments on either end. There are more covered bridges in Pennsylvania using the Burr Truss design than the total of all other truss designs.

Matt Hamela, the Regional Architectural Historian for PennDOT, tells us that the 1931 plan for improvements to State Route 487 shows a 100-foot wooden covered bridge near the location of the current bridge in Forks. Additional information can be found on an 1894 map . A 1939 Dept. of Agriculture aerial photo and a 1941 PA Dept. of Highways county transportation map shows a covered bridge at that location and a total of 49 covered bridges at that time. Coming forward in time, there is a 1954 map that may be of interest.

The village of Central in the north-central part of Sugarloaf township was established in 1836 under the name Campbell. The town and subsequently the post office was named for a Dr. Campbell, but the post office was closed in 1850 when Dr. Campbell moved away. In 1851, the post office reopened as the Central Post Office with Peter Hess as Postmaster, and the town took the named Central. The post office was physically located two houses south of the present location of the Christ U.M.C. Later postmasters included Joshua B. Hess, in 1861; Henry Hess, in 1876; and Elijah Hess in 1886. From the nineteenth century early into the twentieth century, the adjacent hill was known as North Mountain, the northernmost of the Columbia County "mountains." Possibly as early as 1860, the area became known as Central Mountain. As the lumbering industry developed during the 1890s, the name North Mountain became less frequently used.
		The village of Central, looking south. Jamison City is to the left. Picture taken from the school yard where grades 1 through 8 were taught. The undated picture of Central is courtesy of William Mather, Jamison City
On the right of this undated pictute is the store and the lodge hall. The present Central Hotel can be seen in the left rear. The road to Jamison City is configured slightly differently from the way that it is today and the road toward Elk Grove (to the rear of the picture) curves toward Fishing Creek and the present location of the North Mountain Fire Company.
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May 14, 2007. Happy birthday to Jackie Davis and Eugene Bardo, Jr. Happy second anniversary in Benton to our postmaster, Bart Weaver. Dayne Kline remains a patient in the Geisinger Hospital. On this date in 1607, the first permanent British settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, VA, by the Virginia Company charter. The colonists were led by Captain John Smith for their first two years in the settlement. After Smith left the colony in 1609, only 60 out of 500 survived the winter.

Lois M. Conrad (August 13, 1924-May 13, 2007), 5731 State Route 487, Benton, died Sunday at the Orangeville Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. She was 82. Born in Jackson Township, she was a daughter of the late Hurley F. and Stella M. (Evans) Fritz. She lived in Sugarloaf Township since 1969 and previously lived in Benton. She had been employed at the former Crystal Fashions, Inc., Benton, and the former Dockey Shirt Co. Preceding her in death were her husband, Russell W. Conrad; her son, Roger W. Conrad; her daughter, Bonnie Jean Harvey; and her sister, Alice Yost. Surviving are five grandchildren, several great-grandchildren, and a sister, Beulah Miller, Grassmere. Funeral services will be Wednesday at 2 PM in the Dean W. Kriner, Inc., Funeral Home, Benton. Friends may call prior to the funeral. Interment will be in Waller Cemetery.
Obituary courtesy of the Press Enterprise, where a complete obituary can be found in the edition of May 14, 2007

Pennsylvania will celebrate Covered Bridges Week May 12-20, 2007. Since this time last year, the state lost three covered bridges. Two bridges were local: the West Paden Bridge, PA 19-12, part of the celebrated Twin Bridges of Columbia County, and Bittenbenders, PA-40-01) were lost in last June's No-Name Flood. One bridge was dismantled. The Guy Bard's Keller's/Rettew's Mill, PA-36-13, was dismantled and put in storage with the promise to be rebuilt at a later date.

Covered bridges in the state are threatened with vandalism, the possibility of arson, neglect, urban encroachment, increased traffic and any number of natural disasters. We must in the coming years protect and promote these vulnerable spans from our past.

Here is a span from the past, thanks to research of the Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Society of Pennsylvania, Inc. A covered bridge connected Danville in Montour County with Riverside in Northumberland County. The seven-span 1,350 ft. Burr Truss-type covered bridge was originally built in 1829 over the North Branch of the Susquehanna. On March 17, 1875, the Catawissa Bridge swept downriver and smashed into it. A replacement-covered bridge was built in 1875, a Howe Truss type. On March 9, 1904, a flood destroyed the bridge. A ferry was commissioned into use as a temporary way of crossing the Susquehanna until a new bridge was built. Today when we drive from Danville to Riverside we rarely think of the countless hours of toil it took to conquer the passage of that river.

Tuesday, May 15, is Primary Election Day. Polls will be open from 7 AM until 8 PM that day. Election of school-board directors and passage of Act 1 are foremost on most people's minds.

School Board. (All candidates have cross-filed as both Democrats and Republicans)
• Region III. Incumbents Rick L. Posey, 369 Stillwater Cemetery Road, Orangeville, Dennis R. Threlkeld, 115 Posey Hill Road, Orangeville, and newcomer Kathleen J. Wells, 3313 State Route 487, Stillwater. Two seats are open.

• Region II, Incumbent Evy Lysk, 353 Kearkuff Road, Benton, and Robert Ridall, 95 Distillery Hill Road, Benton. Two seats are open.

• Region I, Kelly O'Brien Gavin, 405 Colley St., Benton. (two-year term). Incumbent Geraldine Newhart, 132 Mendenhall Road, Benton. (Four-year term).

Act 1.
Pennsylvania’s reliance on property taxes to fund public education is a system that needs to be reformed for a number of reasons. Unfortunately, the options presented to taxpayers in the referendum Tuesday do not constitute the needed reform.

The value of property and the tax rates that apply to that value will never rise at the same rate as the cost of operating a public school, especially since property taxes are the primary means to fund municipal and county governments. What comes from that well will never be enough to sustain all the Government that tries to draw from it.

The cost of running a Government is somewhat tied to general economic conditions, so it would seem to me to make more sense to tie school and government revenue to general economic activity. On the ballot Tuesday is Act 1 which somewhat hints at doing that. Voters will decide if they favor taking some of the tax burden from property taxation to either a wage tax or a local personal income tax. The Guv casts Act 1 as a reform measure, but it won't do much to help either taxpayers or school districts. The school district won't receive any additional revenue because the measure requires a dollar reduction of property tax revenue for every new dollar in wage or income tax revenue. The public school funding still rests on the shoulders of the local school districts rather than the state government.

Our area tends to have low property values at least in part because we tend to have low income levels. I can't consider it a "reform" when in a poor district the burden is moved from property to paycheck. Now I would call it reform if the bureaucrats in Harrisburg would come up with more state money for education. The state constitution calls for every Pennsylvania child to have an adequate education. Only the state government can collect taxes based on whatever the overall statewide economic activity is and divvy it out equitably throughout the state so everyone gets an "adequate" education. But Act 1 keeps education funding at the local level, and that will always result in differing results throughout the state. And even if the state doled out some money from casino gambling to reduce the local property taxes, it certainly can't be construed as reform because it is simply a dollar-for-dollar shift.

Ah, but you say taxpayers are protected because local budget referendums must take place when thresholds are penetrated by school budgets. No dummies in Harrisburg, the state conveniently excluded the major items that drive up school budgets; i.e., health-care costs, safety considerations, pensions, items of a special education nature. Our situation is a little different from Mae West when she uttered the famous line, "When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before." Until the state government stands up and assumes appropriate responsibility for school funding, measures like Act 1 will try to get us to pick between two evils at the local level. Act 1, in my opinion, is an exercise in bad government conducted by inept leadership at the state level.

In 1963 and in 1966 the number of school districts in the state was reduced from 742 to the current 501. The system in which each county had a superintendent and each district employed a supervising principal went away. Pennsylvania's 501 school districts sometimes educate fewer than 1,000 students. It is time for Pennsylvania to adopt a uniform, equitable means of funding education rather than having 501 perpetually struggling systems.

May 13, 2007. It is Mother's Day. Celebrating birthdays today are Bob Conner, Lauren Elizabeth Andrysick, Libby Lewis, Nancy McClure and Charles Wodrig and they share their birthday with actress Beatrice Arthur. Karl and Mary Myers celebrate the wedding anniversary today.

Quickies...
• Keep H. Dayne Kline in your prayers at the Geisinger Hospital as he recovers from heart and respiratory problems. Talk about a poor way to end the day of celebration on his 88th birthday...

• Don't forget that any first-class letter mailed starting today will cost 41¢ to send to its destination.

• Benton News email subscribers who receive their daily postings via the Topica Distribution System are not receiving their email at the moment. Topica is working on the problem. A second distribution system, MessageBot, is down Sunday morning. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Didja know that Google is a...
• Search engine. Put quotes around phrases you want to search. Search on "Benton News" and the News from Back Home in Benton, PA, will pop up, for example.

• Telephone book, both yellow and white pages. The key phrase is "Phonebook:" as in phonebook:your name, Benton, PA . Don't put a space after phonebook.

• Tracking. Type (the digits only) of your UPS, DHL, or FedEx package number and click "Search." Google will give you a link to the package-tracking information.

• Calculator. Type in an equation like 1234+456*89=

• Converter. Type "teaspoons in a gallon," for example, or "centimeters in a foot." Type "cups in a gallon" or "millimeters in an inch."

• Stock prices. Type "DE" or "F" (symbols for John Deere and Ford Motor Company, but you can use any stock symbol), to see a link to current stock price, stock news, and more.

• Store Purchase. Type in the UPC bar code number of a product and "scan it" in Google.

• Flight Tracking. Type in a flight number like United 225 to see a map of a flight's progress and departure, arrival and other information. Type in an aircraft's registration number to get the full registration information for that plane.

VIN Number: Type in a Vehicle Registration Number (VIN) to get information about the car.

It is time for the Annual Goss Cemetery Cleanup and help and donations are needed to get the cemetery in tip-top shape. Donations are needed to help defray some of the costs of improving the cemetery, and possibly to have a sign made and installed at the cemetery.

Anyone interested in supporting the cause is asked to send a donation to Sheila Brandon, 1335 State Route 118, Sweet Valley, PA 18656 (note: Goss Cemetery Cleanup).

I received a couple of emails about my statement in yesterday's report asking for more information about the "contemplative monks living according to the Rule of St. Benedict and the Constitutions of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, more commonly known as Trappists," when I said that they bake the "best of all breads under the Monastery Brand."

The Trappist Monks reside on River Road in the Township of York, New York, about a mile north of Piffard, in a series of low-slung, modern buildings. The monks wear either brown or white and dress in robes and cowls, some wear hair on their face but none with hair on the top of their heads. They work in the fields and tend to their cattle and keep very busy doing all sorts of manual work--and do it all basically in complete silence. It is as if one arrived in a medieval time, far from the fox-hunt country of the Genesee Valley, far from the land first settled by Connecticut Yankees. It is, I suppose, similar to when tourists encounter the Pennsylvania Dutch for the first time.

Monks have existed in the Catholic Church from at least the third century when Egypt had large monasteries of community-type monks, as well as those who lived their life as hermits in loosely structured colonies or by themselves. Monks existed in Syria, Asia Minor and Italy. Benedict (c 480-550 A.D.) founded the monastery of Monte Cassino and wrote his "Rule for Monks," a set of prescriptions for monastic living, which, in principle, is still followed. Monks established schools and promoted studies and learning during the so-called Dark Ages.

The order, which goes back 500 years, began with a monastery in Citeaux, France, which became the center of the Cistercian Order. These monks became known as "white monks," in contrast to traditional monks, who wore black and who became known as Benedictines. From the early 17th century in the Cistercian monastery of La Trappe in northern France came the popular term "Trappist." Poverty, humility, separation from the world, simplicity of life, manual work, spiritual reading and liturgical praise are their trademarks.

I remember the story told by a female cousin about the time she and her husband decided to walk around the River Road Monastery. As she rounded the back side of a building, a person ran up and told her to leave immediately. My cousin thought the person was worried about robbery in the deserted area, but with a smile was told that the monks had only seen loaves of bread in two years and they didn't need to see any females!

In April, 1951, six monks arrived in the Geneseo River Valley to establish the twelfth of their monasteries in North America and the first in New York state. Today, the order is part of a world-wide order of monks and nuns. In 2005 there were 101 monasteries of monks and 70 of nuns on all continents. Of these, 12 of monks including the one in the Geneseo Valley and 5 of nuns are in the United States.

The monks participate in the prayers and manual work of the community and attend classes on the Rule of St. Benedict, the spirituality of the Cistercian Fathers, holy Scripture and prayer.

Trappists are not allowed to eat meat, fish or eggs. They generally eat soup, vegetables grown on the monastery, whole wheat, coffee and of course bread. They sleep for seven hours each night, fully clad except for socks, on straw laid on boards. At 2 AM, they arise to chant the official prayers of their church, which begin their devotions for the day. Four hours of manual labor follow. Work is not done on Sunday or major fast days.

In their free time, they are not allowed television, newspapers, magazines of a secular nature, movies, radio or games. They are allowed to write letters four times a year to near relatives. They live in a world of work and prayer and silence. Trappists do not make a vow of silence, but have rules of silence. The "purpose of silence is to give one space in which to pray, meditate and read and allow others to do the same. Silence is a form of charity to others, but it is not absolute. Charity may sometimes oblige persons, including monks, to speak at the right time and in the right way."

When the monks arrived in the Genesee Valley, they lived for three weeks in one of the Manor Houses of the Genesee Valley, a horse farm on River Road that dated back to 1850 known as Westerly, at the time the summer residence of Porter Chandler.

In the main bedroom on the second floor of Westerly, the second wife of John Tyler, the first Vice President to become President by the death of his predecessor, etched her name in a window the night that her daughter died following childbirth. On the cold winter night of the birth, the fireplace in the main bedroom was filled with wood in an effort to keep the room warm. Suddenly, a fire ensued and the mother was carried from the house into the cold of the night. A baby girl was born, but the mother died of shock. Julia G. Tyler etched her name as a token of remorse that night. She never returned to the house. The etching on the glass is still there.

The widow of the tenth President of the United States had come to Westerly that night in 1871 to care for her daughter Julia, who was married to William H. Spencer, Jr. Together they lived at Westerly.

The horse farm known as Westerly is still very much alive in the Genesee Valley, just south on River Road from where the contemplative monks go about their daily activities. Go to www.westerlyny.com/ to see what Westerly looks like today.

May 12, 2007. Happy birthday today to Patti Malhoyt, Alexandria, Virginia. Today is the wedding anniversary of Huber and Nancy Kline. Actress Katharine Hepburn was born on this date, as was Florence Nightingale.

We are writing today from western New York state near the crossroads community of Greigsville on Routes 36 and 63 on the gentle slope leading west from the Genesee River valley where 18-wheelers swoosh through the traffic light on their way from Geneseo to Batavia, a crossroads introduced to us by Rick Harrison when we ate with him at a rural restaurant known as "the Barn," a "Mom and Pop" hangout frequented by regulars and truck drivers, where the waitress "always knows your name" and if she doesn't will ask enough questions to at least find out why it is that you don't know diddly about an egg and olive sandwich.

Nearby, contemplative monks living according to the Rule of St. Benedict and the Constitutions of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, more commonly known as Trappists, bake the best of all breads under the Monastery Brand.

Outside of the crossroads community, farmers are turning over their fields, ignoring the 137 foot-deep vein of rock salt residing under the ground that the New York Rock Salt Company began mining in 1883.

You can read more about the timeline of the area by heading here .

The name "Genesee," according to someone who said he knew what was what, meant "pleasant banks" in the language of the Seneca Indians. As the river flows through the valley, downriver from the largest flood control dam east of the Mississippi at Mount Morris, it jigs and jags as if it is sorry to have left the state of Pennsylvania in its northward flow toward Lake Ontario north of the City of Rochester.

Readers write...
• Do you live here often?
• A divorced west-coast man with zero ties to Back Home in Benton, PA, located his ex-wife when she was mentioned on the Benton News. He had not known where his former wife was for the past 14 years. The ex-husband contacted his former wife, who then had some words for me. Google opens new vistas or reopens old wounds, depending on your perspective...

Benton Town Council meets Monday evening at 7 at the Benton Volunteer Fire Company. Frank Brennan, Chief of the Berwick Police Department, will speak to the Council and to interested citizens on preventative crime measures and will address the next wave of crime expected in the area. Township Supervisors have been invited to attend, and interested persons are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Work is progressing on the clean-up of Benton Town Park in anticipation of a June opening. Prisoners from the Bloomsburg Jail have been working for the past three weeks. Old swings are being painted and some new swings are being installed.

Vandalism continues to be a problem in the park. Two ten-foot picnic tables and three eight-foot tables have recently been smashed and were destroyed. The top of one picnic table was taken out of a pavilion, carried to the high school, propped up against some steps and used as a skateboard ramp.

Many who are retired or retiring often take pilgrimages into their past, visiting communities where they grew up, often where they began their experience as followers of Christ. Rev. Donna Laubach Moros and her husband Edgar celebrated Easter in the Benton United Presbyterian Church, the church where Donna became a member in 1951. The coming home for Donna was recorded in the Presbyterian Church publication PC(USA).

U.S. Navy Lieutenant Andy Baldwin, 30, a native of Lancaster, was not a name a few months ago that any of us had heard. But then along came the television program, The Bachelor: Officer and a Gentleman, and Andy began filming a reality program about 40 hours a week on his own time. Andy has now picked a fiancé and is now back at work, and although there are a few episodes and four candidates officially left to boost the sagging television revenue for the network, the results have not been released. (Our money is on Tessa.)

May 11, 2007. Happy birthday to H. Dayne Kline who turns 88 today, and to Steve Letteer, Ron Kelsey and Janet Whiston.

Quickies...
• The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports the cost of running the Pennsylvania Legislature was $23 for every state resident in 2005, compared to $5.83 in Illinois and $3.69 in Ohio.

• It is hard to win this spring. Drive too fast and you'll run into herds of insects that coat your windshields. Drive very far on days over 50° and you'll run into delays from road crews repainting faded traffic lines. The water-based latex paint contains recycled glass beads for reflectivity and is heated to about 120° before it is applied. Somewhere between 90 and 120 seconds later, the paint is dry, normally just seconds before some dork drives over the line.

• The Fourth Annual Scottish Heritage Day will be held Sunday, May 27, at the Benton United Presbyterian Church, Market and Park Streets. Highland tea will be served at 10:30 AM, along with oatcakes, scones, shortbread, clotted cream, scotch broth, marmalade and lemon curd. A tassie O’Tea or Coffee will be provided for refreshment. Celtic worship and music begins at 11 with Pastor Allen Lumpkin and Bagpipers Stuart Erwin, Ed Campbell and Nick Franczak. The music director for the program is Eleanor Klementik. A reception and fellowship follows.

• The Benton Volunteer Fire Co. will hold a flower sale Friday and Saturday, May 11 & 12, from 9 AM to 6 PM featuring a wide variety of hanging baskets, potted flowers, and plants.

The sweetest sounds to mortals given
Are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven.
--William Goldsmith Brown

Mother's Day is Sunday, May 13, the day we honor the wonderful people in our lives we call Mother, Mama or Mom.

The word "Mother" always was a bit confusing in our house. Father, for example, had a mother--no surprise there--but later in life Father also called my mother "Mother." Mothers can assume that role by assignment, as in the case of Father with his wife, or more generally by giving birth to a child or by adopting a child or by raising a child. A mother is born at the exact moment that a child is born. Sometimes "Mother" is simply a female ancestor, sometimes someone who holds a position of authority similar to a mother; i.e., a den mother or mother superior. Sometimes the term "Mother" simply shows wisdom and age and other characteristics of maternal love or something of great significance, as in the "mother of all battles" or "mother language."

I have one son, David, who now lives in Geneseo, New York. As David was growing up, I held down two jobs to keep the ship afloat, was in charge of yelling and screaming and was the titular "last word." David's mother, however, was the one who kept the machinery that ran the family well oiled and on course. The love that came from his mother is what made the boy do the impossible. She is the one who bundled David up when she felt chilly. The fuel and frivolity may have come from me, but she charted the direction and kept the waters smooth.

Thinking about another Mother's Day coming this Sunday, it may be true that a man's home is his castle, but "the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." Man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. A mother's song is of happiness and well-being, and although we may forget the song we'll never forget the tune.

A mother delivers her children obstetrically once, and by car from that day forward.

Quote of the Day:
A man's work is from sun to sun,
but a mother's work is never done.
--Author Unknown

Dorothy L. (Pifer) Fausey (January 3, 1928-May 9, 2007), 74 Fausey Road, Orangeville, a well-known pie baker for the former Heritage House Restaurant, died Wednesday at Geisinger Medical Center. She was 79. Born in Evansville, she was a daughter of the late George Washington and Thursa Mae (Bower) Pifer. Surviving are her husband, Wayne M. Fausey, with whom she would have celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary on June 13th. Also surviving are her five children: James E. Fausey ( Sandy), Palmyra; twin daughters: Joyce F. Maust, Danville, and Janice E. Cragle, Orangeville; Christi A. Schilling (James), Charlotte, NC; and Timothy J. Fausey (Tylee), Orangeville. Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 12, at 2:30 PM with viewing preceding at the McMichael Funeral Home, Inc., Benton. Burial will be in the Rohrsburg Cemetery.
--Obituary courtesy of the McMichael Funeral Home, Benton. A complete obituary will appear in the Friday edition of the Press Enterprise

 

May 10, 2007. Happy birthday today to Audrey Schupp and Joe Savage.

Sue Albertson Walker, the daughter of the late Robert and Sara Albertson, a graduate of Benton Area Schools, a former curriculum coordinator for the School District of Lancaster and the wife of retired U.S. Rep. Robert Walker, died Wednesday, May 9, 2007, of natural causes at Lancaster General Hospital. She lived in East Petersburg.

Sue was an educator for 37 years, following in the footsteps of her mother, Sara Albertson, the former librarian at the Benton Area Schools. When Sue was head of the library department for the School District of Lancaster, the school district won an award for best library in the state. Sue worked for that school system for 26 years, retiring as director of curriculum and instruction in 1999.

Sue earned her bachelor's degree in education in 1964 from the former Millersville State College, where she majored in library education and English. She earned a master's of library science from Syracuse University and did graduate work at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Drexel University.

Sue began her education career in 1964 as librarian for Benton Area High School, moving to Fairfax County, VA, public schools in 1968 as Falls Church High School's audiovisual librarian. She later worked as a librarian for Glasgow Intermediate School and in 1972 became media coordinator for Lake Braddock Secondary School. In 1973, Sue moved to Lancaster to become a librarian at McCaskey High School, before becoming program coordinator for library and media services in 1975. In 1987, Sue was promoted to coordinator of curriculum, the third-highest administrative post in the district. She also served as an adjunct professor at Millersville University and Drexel University, Philadelphia. Walker served on Millersville University's council of trustees from 1997 until the present. She chaired the council from 2000 until 2005 and also was co-chair of Millersville University's 150th anniversary celebration.

Following her retirement, she worked as an educational consultant and co-authored a popular education book, Standards of Practice for Teachers: A Brief Handbook.

In 1986, Walker was named president of Administrators Association of Lancaster. She received the Millersville Alumni Association's Distinguished Service Award and the Phi Delta Kappa Distinguished Educator Award.

Surviving is her husband of 39 years, Robert Smith Walker, who represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from 1977 to 1997. She divided much of her time between "the privileges and responsibilities of a congressman's wife" and her career in education. Also surviving is a sister, Anne Albertson Cairns, a member of the graduating class of 1957 of Benton. Anne lives in Newark, DE. Sue was a member of the Benton Presbyterian Church and attended the Bethany Presbyterian Church, Lancaster.

A memorial service will be held at 11 AM Tuesday, May 15, at Bethany Presbyterian Church, 25 N. West End Ave, Lancaster. The family will receive friends from 10 AM until the start of the service. Interment will be private and held at the East Petersburg Mennonite Cemetery. To send online condolences, please go here.

The 20th annual festival in celebration of the music of the late Merle Watson and his father Doc Watson, known as MerleFest, drew an enormous and appreciative audience. Total participation reached an estimate of 76,558. Ticket sales were up on both Friday and Saturday with Saturday attendance being the second largest single-day attendance in MerleFest history. A preliminary estimate calculates that the regional economic impact of MerleFest 2007 will set a record with a total impact of $17,144,109.70. Wilkes Community College will present MerleFest 2008 on April 24-27, 2008.

God could not be everywhere, so therefore he made mothers.

Kristina's Family Hair Salon, formerly known as Hair On Earth L.L.C., has opened under new ownership. The hours of operation are Monday through Friday 10 until 3, Thursday evenings 5 to 8 and the third Saturday of each month 10 to 2. Walk-ins are welcome, but appointments are preferred. The salon phone number is 925-5793. The salon is located at 3692C State Route 487, Stillwater.

On May 12, the embassies of the member states of the European Union and the Delegation of the European Commission to the United States will open their doors to the public for a celebration of the diversity and unity of Europe. From 10 AM until 4 PM, visitors will get a rare, behind the gates glimpse at the European embassies, many of which are among Washington, DC's architectural and historic highlights. A free shuttle bus service will help participants see more of Europe in DC on May 12.

The state Senate Local Government and Labor & Industry Committees, chaired by Senators Bob Regola (R-39) and John Gordner (R-27), respectively, held a joint hearing Tuesday on the subject of Pennsylvania's Uniform Construction Code (UCC). Regola reintroduced legislation to repeal the Pennsylvania's Uniform Construction Code (UCC). Both state officials and experts from the construction industry told the lawmakers that the UCC is in need of repairs. It will be interesting to see the outcome. Most area contractors and all homeowners struggling to comply with over-zealous and "by-the-book" inspectors would love to see it go away--or at least get it fixed. We were surprised at the number of local contractors and homeowners who fired off hate mail in an effort to be heard on the subject.

A reader of the Benton News asked for an explanation of the May 15 property tax swap referenda, one of the few people I have heard ask any questions about it. I conclude that not many understand what they are voting for (or against) or how it might impact the property taxes of our local school district.

We know that only 111 school districts opted into Act 72 of 2004. It will be interesting to see how many of the 498 districts will embrace the property-to-income tax shift" embodied in the Act 1 ballot questions

The Benton area school website contains several things on Act 1, including an Act 1 calculator residents can use to calculate an estimate of household tax changes if the Act 1 ballot question changes.

May 9, 2007. Today is the birthday of E. Lee Remley and Ethel Hack. These fine folks celebrate the day with actress Candice Bergen. Back in 1980 on this date, 35 motorists were killed when a Liberian freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, causing a 1,400-foot section to collapse.

On this date in 1865, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant sat in the front parlor of a brick farmhouse in the backwater town of Appomattox, Virginia, and signed an agreement to end the civil war. History records that Lee arrived first and was seated when Grant entered the room. Lee rose, resplendent in his dress-gray uniform. Grant wore a rumpled military tunic with mud-splattered trousers stuffed into muddy boots. After the paperwork was finished, Grant asked if Lee would permit him to send rations to the starving Confederate troops, and Lee accepted. The surrender took about three hours, then Lee was free to go. Lee bowed slightly to the men in the room, then walked outside to wait for his horse. He repeatedly struck his fist into his hand as he stared at his troops spread out in the valley before him. After four bloody years and half a million deaths, the American Civil War was over.

Didja know that the first drowning casualty in the county in 1945 was Beverly Ann Bucher, 2, Catawissa, R.D.#1. The youngster was out of sight of her mother for less than five minutes, according to the August 21, 1945, Morning Press. She was found at the bottom of Coles Creek in a dam. Artificial respiration failed. The child's father, William C. Bucher, was serving with the expeditionary forces in Germany. The mother and two children were spending the weekend with Mrs. Bucher's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Brobst, Benton.

Quickies...
• The free Great Beginnings concert takes place tonight at 7:30 in the L. R. Appleman Elementary School.

• The Benton United Methodist Church WILL NOT hold the election day lunch and soup sale this year!

• The Bucks County Covered Bridges Festival will take place June 9 and 10 in Erwinna, Bucks County, PA, and the 5 surrounding covered bridges. One of the bridges, the Mood’s Covered Bridge, was destroyed by arsonists in 2004, and reconstruction of the bridge is beginning. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the Festival will be used toward fire suppression systems for all of the remaining covered bridges in Bucks County, and donated to several covered bridge organizations, including the Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Society of PA.

It happened in 1946...

• The famous old bell of St. Gabriel's Church, which at the time hung in a tree, was rung for the second time by the same woman to mark the cessation of hostilities of a world war. Katharine Swartwout, 86, rang it at the end of World War I and had the distinction of ringing it the second time for what she hoped was the end of all wars. Katharine Swartwout and her sister, May Swartwout, the oldest members of the parish, lived at their home, "Pine Rest." The Swartwout family had been active in church and community affairs for over a century.

• The folks back home were not the only ones disadvantaged by the war. The French Government vowed that a bathtub and a refrigerator in every French home would bring their standard of living closer to that of Americans. Their Reconstruction Minister was quoted as saying, "The French are the worst-housed people in Europe. Our hygienic level hasn't made any progress since the time of Charles X in 1830."

• Parades were the order of the day: Millville revived its Independence Day parade--a casualty of the war. It was an outstanding event, estimated to be a mile in length. According to the Argus of July 11, 1946, much of the parade featured "motor-driven equipment." Berwick hosted "thousands of firemen" as that community ended a six-county firemen's' meeting.

• Charles Appleman, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Burr Appleman, received a Bachelor of Science degree in the curriculum of Electrical Engineering in July, graduating from Penn State University in two years and eight months thanks to an accelerated program of study. He was on the varsity soccer team for two years, and was captain of the team in 1944.

• Mahlon Strauch closed the Benton Bakery from July 14 to July 21, the first time in 21 years. Repairs were made to the bakery while his employees took a vacation. The Forks' Inn was a popular weekend eating establishment, serving lobster tails, deviled crabs, and "half-fried chicken" on the weekends. On Friday and Saturday nights, Joe Dalto served deviled crabs, lobster and clams at his Main Street restaurant. The Farmer's Picnic was held on Wednesday, July 31, featuring two baseball games, amateur boxing bouts and a log-sawing contest.

• The best movies of 1946 included The Best Years of Our Lives, The Big Sleep, The Postman Always Rings Twice and Notorious. The Roosevelt dime was issued by the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.

• A new computer was introduced, certainly a far cry from the slide rule or the abacus. At 30 tons, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator had 18,000 vacuum tubes and added, multiplied, divided and computed square roots to the tune of 5,000 steps per minutes.

• President Truman formally proclaimed an end to all hostilities in World War II on December 31, 1946.

May 8, 2007. Happy birthday to Alexa McCourt and Randy Hess today. The 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, was born near Lamar, Missouri, on this date in 1884.

After more than two years in development and testing by some 20 million beta testers globally, Microsoft launched Windows Live Hotmail, the successor to MSN Hotmail, on Monday, May 7. Microsoft will introduce another email client option for Windows Live Hotmail in coming weeks, known as Windows Live Mail beta. This will be a free consumer email client, and the successor to Outlook Express and Windows Mail on Windows Vista.

Some of the volunteers for the gym-storage addition to the Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center include Karl Barchik for footer excavation and Doug Vincent for approximately eight yards of concrete for footers. Thursday beginning about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, weather permitting. 3 or 4 new volunteers will help at the Center as blocklaying begins. The area will later be backfilled, stone and insulation placed and the slab poured. Hopefully, the laying of the blocks can be finished on or by Saturday, May 19. Volunteers are needed over the coming weeks for this area to install rigid insulation on the inside of the foundation wall, place stone on inside of foundation and backfill outside, pour concrete slab, wood framing, set wood trusses, install steel siding/roofing, wiring, receptacles and lights. install insulation, hang drywall (two layers of 5/8"), finish drywall, paint, finish electric (receptacles and lights) and make or purchase and install door/gate. Can you please help! Be there at 3 or shortly after Thursday or call 925-0163. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Eileen Thomas and Bob Parks, both members of the Columbia County Covered Bridge Association, are collaborating on a book about the history of covered bridges in Columbia County, both past or present. They are gathering stories of each bridge that would give more detail about the construction, damages, reconstruction and the demise of those which are no longer around. They are willing to come and talk with you. Call Eileen at 784-7880 or Bob at 925-6498 if you can provide information.

Didja ever stop to think that in the days when a wood shed stood behind the American home, a great deal of what now passes for juvenile delinquency was settled out of court. Well, if you think of California as a modern wood shed and Paris Hilton as the juvenile who does not know right from wrong, the next 45 days should prove quite interesting (although I doubt if she'll learn anything)!

Readers say...
. Larry Paul wrote that "Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before."
--the quote actually is from Stephen Wright

. Terry Griffith wrote that he was in the Bloomsburg Hospital in 1944 and the total bill was $10.50 for the bed and meals and $5 for lab work. Two years ago, Terry was in the hospital for three days when he suffered a heart attack and the bill was over $40,000.

Quote of the Day:
"When I first came to Nashville in 1948, I drove in with my mother, sister, brother, and a friend of the family. We shared expenses. I didn't even have enough money to rent a hotel room. The night before we were to audition we stopped outside town at a picnic site and spent the night sleeping on a concrete bench."
--Patsy Cline, quoted in Country Music Classics

Some May Remember When...
. In September, 1944, more than six tons of waste paper and rags were collected in Bloomsburg by Boy Scout Troop 21 of St. Matthew Lutheran Church. Cars stopped in Rohrsburg to look in the window of the F.C. Clewell store to see the interesting collection brought home by Lt. W.L. Clewell who had been stationed as a chaplain on Esperitu Island in New Hebrides for sixteen months.

. In 1945, Jessie Fine, Lois Remley and Earith Wenner, graduates of Benton High School, were members of the class capped at the Geisinger Hospital.

. In August, 1945, the massive headline in the Argus read The War is Over, followed by Truman Proclaims Total Victory. Rationing of gasoline and canned goods ended. The Argus editorialized that "there's sadness in the thought that FDR did not live to see the events of the past four months in which he had such a decisive part. And sadness that Churchill who saved an empire could not have remained in office for the day of greatest thrill." Other happy events were listed in that edition, including the marriage of Jerrie Hartman and Martin Appleman; the completion of rebuilding of the "Forks Road," a "fine piece of highway between Forks and Orangeville;" local movie theaters were busy, including the "Center," Shickshinny; the "Temple" and the "Strand," Berwick; and the "Ritz," Benton. In fact, advertisements for these theaters took up the entire last page of the August 30, 1945, Argus. The Benton Garden Club teamed with the Orangeville Civic Club to meet in the Benton Town Park to listen to Mrs. Charles Smith talk about the "economic aspects of bird life," Polly Pelly, Philadelphia, gave the various bird calls heard in this area. Eleanor Sands Smith read some of her poems. Horace Harrison arrived home from the war, after being released from a hospital in California. Members and guests of Painter Den Club had their "outing" at their cabin under the direction of "Earnsky Hesky," featuring an old-fashioned drumming of Bloomsburg member Fred Hippensteel and his bride.

The "Y" Covered Bridge was located on the East Branch of Fishing Creek in the northwestern part of Sugarloaf Township, Columbia County, near the village of Central. It was on Township Route 757, off Legislative Route 19075. The bridge was built in 1887 by J.M. Larish for $602. It got its name from the "Y" formation of the nearby Bloomsburg & Sullivan Railroad tracks, used for turning trains back toward Bloomsburg. The bridge was seriously damaged by the 1975 flood, then repaired. It was burned by a fire widely suspected of being arson on August 15, 1983.

The "Y" Covered Bridge, Central

 

May 7, 2007. the birthdays of Leona Bardo, Gerald McHenry and NBC newsman Tim Russert. These fine people share their birthdays with two famous composers: Johannes Brahms, born in Hamburg, Germany (1833), and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, born seven years later in Votkinsk, Russia (1840).

On this date in 1915, a German submarine sank the British ocean liner Lusitania, drowning 1,198 civilians, including over 100 U.S. citizens. Prior rules of naval engagement required warning commercial vessels before firing upon them. Public outrage over the loss of civilian life hastened the United States entry into World War I. Although the cargo list of the Lusitania stated that she carried approximately 170 tons of munitions and war material, this fact was not revealed to the U.S. public at the time. An emotional appeal in which Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane evoked the Lusitania to explain U.S. involvement in the war might not have gone over so well if all the facts were known. Luckily, this sort of thing never happens in modern government..

Upcoming...
• May 26, 2007. The annual Orangeville Library Book Sale at the library. Good food, too!
• As we approach Memorial Day, remember the veteran by going here.

Speaking of Orangeville, we are thrilled that the Press Enterprise is reprinting some of Ted Fenstermacher's articles on the local area. The one printed in the newspaper on Sunday, May 6, was about the Orangeville Male and Female Academy.

Here are a couple of tongue twisters for you to try saying quickly...
People who live in grass houses shouldn't stow thrones.
There's no plates like chrome for the Hollandaise.
The pie rates of Penn's aunts.
Transcend dental medication.
Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.
Squaw bury Shortcake.
Now I weigh me down to sweep.
Only Hugh can prevent florist friars.

Happenings in the Area...
• Two houses are under construction in Central, increasing the population by a measurable percentage.
• The Old Bakery Antique Shop will finish with interior work about Thursday of this week. Resolution of the Main Street porch overhang is still pending, but hopefully the delightful shop will open for business toward the end of the month, possibly as early as the 19th. You can sneak an advance look by sipping a coffee at Kristie's Kafe. Use the ramp entrance on the side of the building.

In May get a weed-hook,
a crotch and a glove,
and weed out such weeds,
as the corn do not love.
For weeding of winter corn,
now it is best;
but June is the better
for weeding the rest.
--Thomas Tusser (1524-1580)

During the war years, some may remember that during March, 1945...
• Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Evans and family, Orangeville, moved to the house on Market Street, formerly occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Karl Hess and family. This house is currently owned by the Puderbaugh family. The Evans family lived in Orangeville for a year, following a move from Market Street in Benton from the house now owned by Louise Lewis.

• Eleanor Klementik received word that on February 22, on its 5th combat mission, the B-24 Liberator and crew of which her husband, Dan, was a member, was forced to make an emergency landing. Fortunately, they were in Allied territory and none of the crew was harmed. After making repairs, they were able to be on their way again. The crew felt that they almost knew how it would be to be missing in action or a prisoner of war.

• Mrs. C.V. Seidel, the former Betty Crossley, Stillwater, received word that her husband, Sgt. Clarence C. Seidel was awarded the Bronze Star.

• The Distinguished Flying Cross, an award for "extraordinary achievement in aerial flight," was awarded to First Lieutenant Buddy McHenry Hartman, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. A.J. Hartman, Benton R.D.3. Buddy was a 15th AAA P-51 Mustang pilot. He was cited for his successful strafing of the Seregelyes airdrome in Hungary on October 21, 1944. Attacking the airdrome in the face of intense light flak and small arms fire, Lt. Hartman's plane was hit in both wings and a fuel tank was hit while he was making this first two passes over the field. In spite of the damage to his plane, he continued his attacks and made four more passes and destroyed two German planes, damaged four others, and also destroyed a locomotive on a siding near the airdrome. At the time of the award, Lt. Hartman was a veteran of 43 successful missions over enemy territory, flying over 224 hours of combat. He was also authorized to wear the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters. Buddy was a graduate of Benton High School and was enrolled as a student at Bloomsburg State Teachers College when he entered the AAF in April, 1943. He was awarded his pilot's wings at Napier Field, Dothan, Alabama, on January 7, 1944.

• Some flimsy little slow-moving planes of the Fourth Marine Division observation squadron skimmed only 500 feet above Japanese positions on Iwo Jima, taking great chances in directing American artillery fire and sizing up enemy strongpoints. The squadron was installed on Montoyama airfield No. 1, which only a few days before had been wrestled away from the "Nipponese" in bloody fighting. Over the headquarters' door hung a crudely lettered sign reading, "You name it, we'll do it!" It was the motto of the squadron and the flyers meant it. Cpl. Robert Vincent, Benton, was a member of that group. Bob later built the Mill Race Golf course, Benton.

--Our gratitude to Robert Lewis, who found these and other war records buried in his barn in a cardboard box. All articles and notes have been shredded by mice and moisture over the years. These and occasional future reports of the years of World War II are courtesy of Bob Lewis. On May 7, 1945--this date in 1945 and only two months after the happenings above--Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France.

 

May 6, 2007. Karen Boston, sometimes of Benton, and Alica Stackhouse, Pine Center, celebrate their birthdays today. It was on this date that the first postage stamps were issued in 1840 and on this date in 1954 medical student Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, finishing in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. On this date in 1937, the German dirigible Hindenburg burned and crashed in Lakehurst, NJ, killing 35 of the 97 people on board and a Navy crewman on the ground.

Congratulations to...
• Franklin Robbins as he retires from duties as Secretary of the Stillwater Christian Church and as Editor of the Christian Messenger and picks up duties as Membership Chair of the Fishing Creek Watershed Association.

• Deborah Hashagen as she assumes the duties that Frank has held with the Stillwater Christian Church.

• Shon Robbins, new President of the Fishing Creek Watershed Association. Shon, the son of Frank Robbins, graduated from Penn State University in 1998 with a BS degree in Environmental Resource Management and a minor in Wildlife and Fisheries Science. Shon is a Regional Wildlife Biologist with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever.

• Rich Kisner, the capable Deputy Director of Development for the Columbia County Redevelopment Authority, steps down as President of the Fishing Creek Watershed Association and picks up responsibility as vice president. Rich is a member of the Board of Directors of the Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center.

The Country Cultivators are an active local group concentrating on beautifying the community and their own homes through landscaping and flowers. The group went to Penn Tech in Williamsport in April to the gallery of the Madigan Library. Yesterday, and yesterday several members attended the Spring into Gardening show at the Lehman campus of Penn State. The next meeting is Thursday, May 10, at 7 PM in the community hall of Christ the King Church on Mendenhall Lane. This is dues and new member's month. The dues are $10 a year. The topic for June will be Heirloom Iris, with a possible tour of an heirloom iris garden. The public is invited to attend a meeting and meet new and interesting people.

Graduates of the Benton Area High School will celebrate their annual Alumni Banquet on Saturday, May 26, at 6 PM, at the high school. Bissinger's Catering, Bloomsburg, will provide a smorgasbord dinner in the high school cafeteria. The cost of the meal is $12.75 per person. Reservations should be returned to the school not later than May 16. Please indicate which class you would like to be seated with for the meal. Special anniversary classes of 1932, 1937, 1942, 1947, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1992, 1997, and 2002 will be recognized. In addition, the 50th year reunion class of 1957 and the 25th year reunion class of 1982 will be honored. The newest alumni, the Class of 2007, will be introduced and scholarships will be announced.

Four outstanding people will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year...
• Eloise Marinos, Class of 1977. Eloise earned a Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering-Structural from the University of Connecticut. She is the owner of a successful architectural firm in North Canton, Connecticut.

• Andrew Vincent, Class of 1981. Andrew earned a Master of Aviation Science, Aviation/Aerospace Management Degree from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. Andrew served in the U.S. Air Force from 1985 until 2005, earning numerous awards, decorations and honors.

• Christine Stackhouse Thomas, Class of 1983. Christine earned her Doctorial degree in Nursing from Widener University in 2004. She is currently a faculty member at West Chester University, teaching baccalaureate-nursing students the art and science of nursing. She has conduced research on heart failure, written for nursing journals and books and has written test quesitons for the national RN licensing exam.

• Richard Sibly is an honorary inductee. Mr. Sibly passed away in 1996 and is remembered as a devoted teacher who spent 41 years teaching in the Benton area. At the time of his retirement in 1971, he was the elementary school principal and continued teaching 6th grade after being named to that position. His dedication to teaching led him to tutor students even after his retirement.

If you did not receive an invitation, you are probably not correctly listed on the alumni mailing list. You can correct your address and receive additional information about the Alumni Banquet by sending an email to dkline (at) epix.net.


Sunday morning from 8 to 9 the Benton United Methodist Church will host a Fellowship Breakfast. Everyone is welcome. A free-will offering will be taken.


Foster E. Young (June 17, 1924-May 4, 2007), Waller Road, Benton, died Friday at the home of his daughter and son-in-law, Ruby and Dennis Whitmoyer, also of Waller Road, Benton. He had been in ill health for two years. He was 82.

Born in Pine Township, Columbia County, he was a son of the late Rev. Jacob Berton Young and Mabel (Baker) Young. A lifelong resident of Columbia County he was a 1941 graduate of Benton High School. Foster worked for Dallas Hess when he was in high school, and later bought the farm of Dallas and Mary Hess on Waller Road, Benton Township. Foster was a long-time dairy farmer until 1972 and was then employed by the Benton Area School District as a custodian where he retired in 1989. He also served as a school-bus driver for the Benton Area School District for 42 years and sold Northrup King farm seed for many years. In his earlier years he worked as a huckster in the Wilkes-Barre area.

Foster was a member of the Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, Talmar, where he served as a Sunday school superintendent and Sunday school teacher for many years. He was a former member of the Benton Odd Fellows Lodge and served as a Benton Township Supervisor for two terms.

He was preceded in death by one day by his wife of 54 years, Carmen G. (Force) Young, 79, on Thursday, May 3, 2007. Surviving are daughters Ruby Whitmoyer (Dennis), Benton, Ann Bower (Brian), Jonestown, and twin daughters Diane Hendricks (Dennis), Catawissa, and Denise Preston (Dan), Skippack. There are eight surviving grandchildren: Alan Whitmoyer, Alison Rhoads, Joel Whitmoyer, Neil Whitmoyer, Drew Bower, Amber Hendricks, Sara Hendricks and Rosaleen Preston; and six great grandchildren. Also surviving are siblings W. Rollin Young, Leesburg, FL; Gertrude Fox, Harrisburg; W. Gordon Young, Benton; and Ruby Marqueen Schoch, Muncy. Foster was preceded in death by an infant son and by a brother, Willis R. Young.

Joint funeral services for Foster and Carmen Young will be held Tuesday at 3 PM at the McMichael Funeral Home, Inc. Visitation will begin Tuesday afternoon at 1 and will continue until the time of the service. Burial will be in the Benton Cemetery.
--obituary courtesy of the McMichael Funeral Home. A complete obituary will be published in the Sunday edition of the Press Enterprise

 

Cinco de Mayo, 2007, a date of great importance for the Mexican and Chicano communities, the day that celebrates the victory of the Mexicans over the French army at The Battle of Puebla in 1862. It is also the day for the running of America's most famous horse race, the Kentucky Derby, in Louisville, Kentucky. The two-minute race over a mile and a quarter is the first event in the "Triple Crown" series, followed by the Preakness (the second Saturday after the Derby) and the Belmont Stakes (the fifth Saturday after the Derby).

Upcoming Events...
May 20 through May 23, 2007. Rev. Jim Ellsmore will be at Bible Baptist Church for Chalk Evangelism Meetings, Sunday, May 20, through Wednesday, May 23. Sunday services will be 9:15 AM, 10:30 AM and 7 PM, and also at 7 PM on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Bible Baptist Church is located on Rt. 239S next to the Benton Township Building. Rev. Ellsmore is a faith missionary serving with American Mission for Opening Churches. He travels full time doing pulpit supply, chalk evangelism, special music and also plays the harmonica. Rev. Ellsmore and his wife, Sarah, live in Indiana, PA. For more information contact Pastor Paul Moseley, Sr., 925-2592.

June 14, 2007. The Maranatha Heritage Singers Ensemble from Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown, Wisconsin, will present a concert at Bible Baptist Church Thursday night, June 14, at 7 PM. Bible Baptist Church is located on Rt. 239S next to the Benton Township Building. The six-member mixed vocal ensemble includes Amanda Davis, Charlotte, MI; Scarlett Hammond, Mukwonago, WI; RuthAnn Ledgerwood, Watertown, WI; Dustin Shevy, Hanover, MI; Geoffrey Stertz, Beloit, WI; and Nathan Sutherland, Layfayette, IN. Mr. Eric Stanley, Independence, MO, will also travel with the group as the speaker; his wife, Christina will be the pianist. Maranatha Baptist Bible College is a four-year, coeducational institution accredited with the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Founded in 1968 by Dr. B. Myron Cedarholm, Maranatha’s mission is to train men and women for effective gospel ministry and service in local Baptist churches through a higher education program of Biblical, general and professional studies. The public is cordially invited. For further information, please call, Pastor Paul Moseley at 570-925-2592.

July 17-22, 2007, 23rd annual Frontier Days Celebration. The APRA & IPRA sanctioned championship rodeo and Bull-A-Rama.

• July 17, 2007. Fun Horse Show at the Benton Rodeo. Free admission. Presented with Keystone Team Penning Association.

• July 18, 2007. 7:30 PM, team penning. Free Admission. Presented with Keystone Team Penning Association.

• July 19, 2007. 5 PM and 10 PM, band "Alive and Well," on stage at the free band shell. The championship rodeo begins at 7:30 PM on this "family night," all ticket prices are reduced for this event.

• July 20, 2007. At the Benton Rodeo, at 7 AM is breakfast on the rodeo grounds. At 5 and 10 PM, "Johnny Jolin" will play. The rodeo begins at 7:30 PM. At 11 PM is the event everyone lookes forward to: the fireworks display, the area's biggest and best aerial and ground display.

• July 21, 2007. At the Benton Rodeo, at 7 AM is breakfast on the rodeo grounds. At 5 and 10 PM, "the Tim Johnson Band " will play. The rodeo begins at 7:30 PM. At 11 PM is the event everyone looks forward to: the fireworks display, the area's biggest and best aerial and ground display.

• July 22, 2007. At 7:30 PM is the Bull-A-Rama at the Benton Rodeo. This is a real bull-riding extravaganza.

• July 30-August 4, 2007. Benton Volunteer Fire Company Carnival returns to the Benton Rodeo Grounds. During the week, there will be a Pet and Toy Parade, 50/50 drawings, nightly drawings, business displays, Chicken Bar-B-Que, and the last night of the carnival is the famous water battle. It will take place from North Street to Center Street following the Fireman's Parade, Saturday, August 4. Bring and fill your own balloons

The Board of Directors of the Central Susquehanna Community Foundation have approved a $75,000 grant for equipment for the Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center project from the Berwick Health and Wellness Fund. The grant is for the purchase of equipment and supplies for the community center.

The Berwick Health and Wellness Fund is the original and largest fund of the Central Susquehanna Community Foundation. Its purpose is to improve the health and wellness of residents and communities of eastern Columbia and western Luzerne counties.

The interior of the Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center
May 4, 2007

Have a restful weekend...

 

May 4, 2007. Vernon McDormand and Lynn Sutton celebrate their birthdays today. On this day in 1626, Peter Minuit (1580-1638) landed on Manhattan Island to take over as the third director of the New Netherland Colony and within two days bought the island from the Indians for sixty guilders of trade goods, which someone who knows about converting guilders to modern-day dollars said was about $1 for each square mile of land. The newly-acquired land was called New Amsterdam. A path along the East river was called Pearl Street, named from the seashells that lay along the edge of the water. New Amsderdam's main street, called de Heere Straat (Gentlemen's Street) was built on an Indian Path that ran north from the southern tip of the island. The street eventually came to be known as "Breede Wegh" and that evolved into "Broadway," the name by which we know it today. The island's fort become Bowling Green where Minuit met May 6, 1626, to transact the sale of the island. Outposts of the colony were known as Staten Island and Governors Island. Peter Minuit served as director of New Netherland until 1633 and reportedly died at sea in a hurricane near St. Christopher in the Caribbean in 1638.

I was recently asked about getting a free copy of a draw program for a Windows-based computer, much like the old MacDraw program using on a Macintosh-based computer. I'll share my response here.

In the computer world, there are a surprising number of things that are completely free. Completely. Firefox is one of the best of the free programs. OpenOffice.org is another.

OpenOffice.org is a free office group of applications that will work on operating systems like Linux, Microsoft Windows, Solaris, OpenVMS, IRIX and Mac OS X. It supports the OpenDocument standard for data interchange. I'll abbreviate it as OOo.

OOo is free software that has evolved out of StarOffice, acquired by Sun Microsystems in August, 1999. It affects the dominant market share of Microsoft Office by providing a free, open and high-quality alternative to the product put out by Microsoft. The correct name of the OOo software is OpenOffice.org, since the term "Open Office" is a trademark name held by another company.

When you download Ooo from www.openoffice.org, you'll get...
• WRITER, a modern, fully-equipped word processor and desktop publisher.
• IMPRESS, for creating effective multimedia presentations with 2D and 3D clip art, special effects, animation, and high-impact drawing tools.
• MATH, OOo's component for mathematical equations. It is most commonly used as an equation editor for text documents, but it can also be used with other types of documents or stand-alone.
• DRAW, lets you do a quick sketch to a complex plan. Learn to communicate with graphics and diagrams.
• CALC, a spreadsheet program that is intuitive and easy to learn, yet has many nice advanced functions.
• BASE, a database data to create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, either using your own database or BASE’s own built-in HSQL database engine. BASE offers Wizards, Design Views, or SQL Views for beginners, intermediate and advanced users.

Quickies...
• The Northeastern Group, Pennsylvania Chapter Sierra Club, is planning a Ricketts Glen falls hike Sunday. Call Rich Lupinsky, 596-3384, for more information. Meet at 10 Sunday morning in lower parking lot, north side of Route 118, Rickets Glen State Park.

• I enjoyed reading the article about the soldiers and civilians from First Army Division East visiting Gettysburg and especially enjoyed reading about the role of Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Vincent, Noncommissioned Officer in Charge of the First Army Division East G-3 section.
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• Benton Area Middle/High School students will present a concert Sounds of Spring Saturday evening at 7:30. Admission is $3 for adults and $1 for students.

Didja know that Dollar General stores--a Fortune 500® discount retailer with more than 8,000 neighborhood stores--is a longtime backer of ProLiteracy? In fact, at every check-out counter of Dollar General are brochures telling the story of the founder of Dollar General and how to find a literacy program in the area. And if you don't know the name "ProLiteracy," know that Dr. Robert Laubach founded ProLiteracy’s publishing division. Bob Laubach is the son of adult literacy pioneer and Benton native Dr. Frank Laubach, and a lifetime member of the ProLiteracy Worldwide board of directors.

We'll remind you that Dr. Frank Laubach was born in Benton in 1884, was educated at Princeton and Columbia Universities, went to Union Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1914. With his wife, Effa, they went to the Philippines to minister to poverty-stricken headhunters, the Moros. Dr. Frank recognized how different their lives would be if they could read and write. He invented an alphabet for their language and then used picture charts to teach them the skills of reading and writing, which became the beginning of the method he called "Each One Teach One." Over forty years he spread this method in 103 countries and became known as The Apostle of World Literacy. Black tribesmen in the Congo called him the Mender of Old Baskets, their way of expressing what a difference literacy had made in their lives.

In 1955 Laubach Literacy was founded with the world headquarters in Syracuse, NY. In 2002 a merger renamed it ProLiteracy. Dr. Laubach died when he was 85 and was buried alongside his wife in the Benton cemetery. Their gravestone reads simply, "World Missionaries."

For a more complete look at the Laubach family, read Bob Laubach's book, Pieces of String, Too Short to Save, published in Syracuse by New Readers Press.

Carmen G. (Force) Young (April 1, 1928-May 3, 2007), 162 Waller Road, Benton, died Thursday at the Geisinger Medical Center where she had been a patient since Tuesday. She was 79. Carmen was born in Fishing Creek Township, a daughter of the late Hurley and Mildred (Fite) Force, but was raised by her aunt and uncle, the late Harry and Pearl Davis. Carmen was a 1946 graduate of Benton High. She was employed by the former Emenee Shirt Factory, Catawissa; and later by the former Dockey Shirt Factory, Dol-Ang Manufacturing and Milco Industries, all of Benton. She retired in 1991. She was a member of the Talmar United Methodist Church, a member of the former Benton Grange and a past member of the Order of Eastern Star.

Surviving are her husband, Foster E. Young, and together they would have celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary on November 8. Additionally, there are daughters Ruby Whitmoyer (Dennis), Benton, Ann Bower (Brian), Jonestown, and twin daughters Diane Hendricks (Dennis), Catawissa, and Denise Preston (Dan), Skippack. There are eight surviving grandchildren: Alan Whitmoyer, Alison Rhoads, Joel Whitmoyer, Neil Whitmoyer, Drew Bower, Amber Hendricks, Sara Hendricks and Rosaleen Preston; and six great grandchildren. She was also preceded in death by an infant son and by brothers Jack and Carroll Force.

Funeral services will be Monday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the McMichael Funeral Home, Inc. with visitation from 1 PM until the time of the service.

A bill that will make local builders and homeowners clap their hands has been reintroduced to repeal the state's building code known as the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code. A Republican Senator from Westmorland County, Bob Regola, is trying to repeal the UCC (SB832), created by Act 45 of 1999, and restore the prior standards (SB833). Senate Labor and Industry Committee chairman Sen. John Gordner, Berwick, will hold joint public hearings on May 8 at 10 AM with the Senate Local Government Committee, chaired by Regola, on the UCC. The public hearings will take place on the first floor in the Majority Caucus Room in the Capitol building. Readers who would like to provide comments to Senator Gordner should email him from the "Contact Me" section of his web page, http://gordner.pasenategop.com/ .

 

May 3, 2007. Happy birthday today to Lynn Shaw, Fifth Street. On this date in 1494, Columbus discovered Jamaica, which he called "St. Iago." In 1936, Yankee slugger Joe DiMaggio made his major-league debut and hammered three hits. Satellite TV was first used on this date in 1965, when the Today Show beamed in on Early Bird Satellite.

The Susquehanna is the longest non-navigable river in North America. Nevertheless, in 1771 the provincial assembly named the Susquehanna River a public highway and set aside money to make it navigable. The first families to come up the river were propelled by four men with setting poles, cruising about two miles an hour against the current. The steamship "Susquehanna" exploded at Berwick on this date in 1826, during one attempt to mechanize navigation of the river. Two years later digging of the North Branch Canal began in Berwick.

Some ways that you know you've reached middle age...

• Your potted plants stay alive.

• 6 AM is when you get up, not when you go to sleep.

• You hear your favorite song on an elevator.

• You carry an umbrella and watch the Weather Channel.

• Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you.

• Your dog's food comes from Science Diet instead of McDonalds.

• Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.

• Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one.

• MTV News is no longer your primary source for information.

• Grocery lists are longer than macaroni and cheese, diet Pepsi and Ho-Ho's.

Middle age comes along when you know all the answers, but nobody asks you the questions. You'll start to say things like, "in my day" and "I remember when." We can argue when middle age begins, but if we arbitrarily say it begins at 40, we also have to say that so does lumbago, bad eyesight, arthritis, and the habit of telling the same story three times to the same person. And what is the good of having something to look forward to, if you can't remember what it was?

Quickies...
• Please take the time to check your porch and other outdoor light fixtures for bird nests. This is the time of the year when bird nests built in porch lights catch fire. It doesn't take long for twigs, grass and feathers used to build a bird nest will ignite when a light is turned on.

• The lost turkey hunters on North Mountain were located Tuesday night about 11:30 by rescuers from North Mountain Fire Co., Mildred Fire Co. and the Columbia County Rescue Task Force.

• Geraldine Laubach and son Jeff just returned from Trier, the oldest city in Germany, founded under Caesar Augustus. Settlement of the area began around a wooden bridge about 18 B.C. at the site of a ford and soon occupied the valley. Geraldine hopes to go to Bastone this weekend, which older readers will equate with the Siegfried Line and the Battle of the Ardennes, known to the general public as the Battle of the Bulge. We look forward to seeing pictures of Geraldine's splendid spring.

• The Mill Race Golf Course kitchen is open for the summer from 11 AM to 4 PM Friday through Sunday under the direction of Joey Weis. The kitchen is not open Tuesday through Friday, but cold sandwiches are available those days. Management and players are looking forward to the new year. Alicia Schlichter is now on board to join the staff. The greens were aerated a few weeks ago and they are coming back wonderfully. The course is in immaculate shape thanks to Jim Hartkorn and his crew.

• We always try to educate readers on different aspects of the computer. Today, it is the curser. You'll learn by moving the cursor around the arrow when the download is complete. Go here.

Each year about this time, some well-meaning people send out emails suggesting that a one-day boycott of gasoline on May 15 will help lower gasoline prices and ask the recipient of the email to forward it to everyone in their address book. Any long-time reader knows that the original writer of this email didn't give a hoot about lower gasoline prices, he simply wanted to collect email addresses so that he could send them spam in future emails. I am not going to climb up on my soap box today and ask you not to send it to me--you know that I don't read this sort of thing and don't want to receive it. I use a spam filter and all I have to do is quickly scan the incoming email and delete anything that appears to be spam. But not everyone has talked with their ISP (Internet Service Provider) about connecting a spam filter. For most, nonsense like this is a pain.

Those who don't buy gasoline on a particular day don't affect oil companies in any way since the "gas out" doesn't call upon people to use less gasoline, but simply to shift their date of purchase. Consumers would not be giving anything up, only buying it on a different day. Gasoline users might vent their anger this way, but would not accomplish anything, except maybe to wipe out profit at an individual gas station.

But lets look at the real problem. Every email sent in response to this request, where the emails in the address book are clearly shown in the "To:" column of the outgoing email, have the potential of being collected by a spammer and then used to send spam to all those email addresses. By sending an obviously flawed email like this to your friends, you are asking spammers to send them spam. What kind of a friend would do that? Here is the point of this paragraph: if you must send an email with multiple addressees, consider sending it as a "Bcc:", meaning that the email is send without divulging who else is receiving the email.

We continue to recommend that when one of these cockamamie emails ends up in your inbox you make sure that if you feel compelled to forward it you check it at www.snopes.com for validity first. Here is a homework assignment: you may have heard that margarine is one molecule away from plastic or that margarine was invented as a turkey fattener. Check whether that is true at www.snopes.com/food/warnings/butter.asp .

May 2, 2007. The Full Flower Moon, named for May's abundant blooms, takes place tonight. Happy wedding anniversary to Bruce and Darla McMichael, and happy birthday to Lori Lenhart and Miles Cole. Abigail LeValley, Stillwater, turns 1 today.

As we go to press Tuesday night, search and rescue personnel continue to comb North Mountain for two hunters lost near Cherry Ridge Road, North of Elk Grove. With the adverse weather in the area, we hope that they are soon found and that newspapers can report a positive outcome in the Wednesday editions.

On this date in 1775, Benjamin Franklin completed the first scientific study of the Gulf Stream. When Franklin was deputy postmaster of the British Colonies he found that ships took two weeks longer to bring mail from England than it took to take it the other way. Franklin spent a lot of time sailing to Europe and became very interested in both ocean currents and shipbuilding and was one of the first people to chart the Gulf Stream. He measured its temperature on each of his eight voyages and was able to chart the stream in detail.

Before we go any further, we'll remind you that today will hopefully be the last day we have problems with the Benton News web site. We are keeping our fingers crossed. We are indeed unhappy about the inconvenience.

Here is our favorite poem from our trip to North Carolina. It goes like this, if we can remember the way that we heard it told...

Said the little red rooster to the little red hen,
"You ain't laid an egg since God knows when.

Said the little hen to the little red rooster,
"You don't come around as often as you uster.

A Southern reader took us to task when we implied that most people from the south eat grits in the morning while many of us from the north prefer buckwheat cakes. The reader wrote about the "old timey Southern breakfast," which included buckwheat cakes. The writer noted that for those who had "gone to bed early and hungry, slept a night of the just, and risen to a frosty morning," buckwheat cakes were used in lieu of grits. We had several exchanges of email on the subject and a phone call, and over the course of a few days I found out that a favorite breakfast for him consisted of country ham, bacon or sausage, biscuits, waffles and coffee--and buckwheat cakes.

The well-intentioned writer had obviously never eaten "bucks" as we eat them around Benton, but I took great care not to get into an argument over his version of how we consume buckwheat cakes in the north. The writer--I should say that I am not using his name, since he asked that I not, I suppose out of fear that someone like Whittier Letteer, or Dave Moss or Dick Karschner or Monica Diltz might drive south with a batch of batter--referred to what we eat as a "plate o'w'eats" served with "puny little sausage links." He implied that the buckwheat mix we use comes from "ready-made mix" in a "paste-board box" and moves from the carton to the griddle with no further alteration

Now understand that I am attempting to avoid another war between the north and the south, especially over a subject like buckwheat cakes, but I was feeling my mental state rising taking with it my blood pressure. I asked for his recipe for buckwheat cakes. He didn't exactly have one, but he was firm on the basic ingredients: "'east cake,' potato water, some flour that is white and some that is black, water-ground buckwheat flour in the evening, and in the morning milk, black molasses, baking powder, soda and a "fraction" of salt. I suspect that a "fraction" is akin to the measurement a Pennsylvania German lady once supplied to me when I asked her for a recipe. She started with the flour. "Throw the flour to it," she said. So much for that recipe!

I asked about syrup on the cakes. I was told that the buckwheat cakes were never "adulterated" by any kind of syrup. They were to be eaten with a "stick of butter" on the top and a piece of country ham on the side, or mixed with "salt herring roe mashed in butter." It was becoming obvious that the two versions of buckwheat cakes were as different as day from night.

We parted our last conversation by me inviting him Back Home to Benton, PA, to enjoy a "plate of bucks," but my invitation was declined when the southern writer allowed as how he didn't think the concoction sounded very tasty. Before an invitation was extended to me, I allowed that his concoction sounded like something that I would pass on, too. As close to an agreement as we could reach involved Cracker Barrel Restaurants, with both of us agreeing that breakfasts there were quite agreeable.

Janice Dietrich wrote that this "southun gal" loved your "buckwheats" and even tolerated the scrapple (a little!). "But," she writes, "I would still rather have my medium fried egg and grits (mixed together, of course) and crisp bacon (not fat bacon) and rye toast with 'a stick of butter' and homemade marmalade or sourwood honey. A glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice would complete this feast."

Frederick Mitchell, who spent his formative years in and around Benton, moved to Lancaster County when he was 16 and now lives in Florida, did an Air Force tour of duty in Alaska.

"Sometime around 1978 or 79," Frederick recalls, "I did sample some rather excellent buckwheat pancakes while visiting a hunting and fishing lodge in hinterlands of Alaska. With some investigating, however, I learned the chief cook was a little old lady who'd grown up in Luzerne County 40 odd years before I was born. You'd think she give me her recipe, seeing as we were practically next door neighbors, wouldn't you. Well, she wouldn't, family secret; though I did wheedle the salmon cakes recipe out of her. There are few breakfasts better than a stack of buckwheats and platter of fresh caught salmon cakes and home fries."

Frederick concluded, "Call it nostalgia or a faulty youthful memory, but I've never found any buckwheat pancakes to brag about in anyplace I've lived or visited other than those griddled up in Benton, PA, or by folks that lived and grew up thereabouts."

May 1, 2007. Happy birthday to Jay McHenry and a very happy anniversary to Noreen and Vernon McDormand.

The Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center took in over $20,000 in Sunday's Village Sampler, "the best auction ever," although accounting is not yet complete for all ticket sales, the auction, the silent auction and the equipment sales from the Christmas tree. To all who worked so hard Sunday evening--A BIG THANK YOU.

Congratulations are in order to...
• Nicholette Doliva, Shickshinny, a graduate of Benton Area Schools, a communications major and English minor at Wilkes University, named to the Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges based on her "academic achievement, service to the community, leadership in extracurricular activities and potential for continued success."

• Jill McHenry, who recently acquired her second pin on her DAR ribbon. Not only has it been proven that Daniel fought in the Revolutionary War but his father, John, did as well. It is very honorable to have two grandfathers who fought to free our country. Hubby Dean Kriner surprised Jill with a trip to Ireland to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. They leave tomorrow and land in Ireland on their actual anniversary, May 2. Jill tells us that when "we arrive and I step on the ground that my ancestor's have walked on, it will be surreal, bittersweet and very sentimental. I am VERY proud of my heritage!"

We conclude there are many similarities between the North and the South. For example, the North has coffee houses; the South has waffle houses. In the North, we have double last names, while in the South they have double first names. Some in the North eat their Cream of Wheat, while virtually everyone in the South eats their grits. You have to get used to the singular "y'all," the plural "all y'all," and to show possession a smattering of "all y'all's." Strangers are quickly told that they "ain't from round here." And with that we'll be leaving North Carolina today.

Quote of the Day:
"There is time for departure even when there is no certain place to go."
--Tennessee Williams

My most exciting memory of our trip was where I think I heard something that sounded like "you came on up out from back down in under there" when I stood up after looking at a wooden carving on a floor. What I saw on the floor reminded me of coal carvings that I used to see when I was growing up. From early man, carvings from wood and clay and rock were made by craftsmen and that applied to early Pennsylvania miners who sculptued heads, busts and figurines. The art appears to be lost today.

Like those who tell of the folklore of the state, the people who tell stories through the carving of woodcraft and iron craft are disappearing. Some of the "old-timers" reappear briefly at the Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for a short period around the Fourth of July each year and at the Kutztown Folk Festival during the same period of time. The festival at Kutztown is my favorite.

The theme is German, make no mistake about that. The language, musical instruments, hobbies and amusements of the fun-loving Pennsylvania Germans are very evident in Kutztown. There are musical instruments like fiddles and harmonicas and bow zithers, all making wonderful music of the German tradition. The iron workers will be hammering out tavern signs, fireplace utensils and the like.

You are likely to see real Seneca Indians in full costume performing some kind of a warrior dance that is likely to make it rain or make the mother of the family fertile or bring income to his donation plate. Sometimes there are Swedish folksongs representing the first of Pennsylvania's white settlers who arrived in 1638--forty-four years before William Penn made his purchase from the Indians.

The only group missing from the festival will be the Quaker incorporators who gave our state its name. This group believed in plainness and purity of spirit. They built no folk-lore, frowned on anything that appeared frivolous and didn't go in for the decorative arts.

I am not sure if it was the food of Percy Brown's cafeteria or the shopping in Fowler, Dick & Walker--the Boston Store," or the expectation of seeing the Planters Peanut Man "on the square" that drug our family to Wilkes-Barre as I was growing up. But wherever I went "up in the Valley" were carved mementoes from miners. I wonder where they all have gone.

The Columbia County Traveling Library will be making its Benton rounds this week, stopping this afternoon at the Rainbow Hill Preschool from 1:20-145, the Little Tiger Teachery from 1:50-2:10, Central Hotel from 2:30-3:30, and ending up at the Benton Riverside Market, 4-6:30. The Bookmobile will be back Wednesday to the L.R. Appleman Elementary until 12:45, Benton Head Start, 12:45-1:15, and Benton High School, 1:15-1:30.

We have written two articles for publication in the near future. As always, we like to give readers a chance to contribute pictures or personal stories before we begin publication. The first article is on post cards of the local area, and pictures of local post cards, humorous sayings found on old post cards, history of local post cards, etc. would be appreciated. The second article is on bottle collecting in the local area, bottles found in strange places and bottles found in places you might not want to go, the interesting history of some of the bottles found. Again personal contributions of things related to bottles you might think others would enjoy would be appreciated.