The Archives for the News from Back Home in Benton, PA, for October 2010

Saturday and Sunday, October 30-31, 2010. Keep E. Lee Remley in your prayers. Lee is a patient in Geisinger Hospital.

October 30, the birthday of Lisa Baker and Debbie Schoenhaar Harvey. Get in the mood for all the fun tonight by playing a game of Halloween hangman. Fishing Creek Players will present The Passion of Dracula on the stage of the Benton Middle/High School tonight at 8. The Orangeville library is hosting a dedication for veterans at the library at 11 AM. Bloomsburg University archivist Robert Dunkelberger will dress up like professor and lion tamer George Keller for a presentation Saturday afternoon at 2 in the Schweiker Room of Bloomsburg University's Andruss Library. Displays on the third floor of the Andruss Library document Keller's life and will be on display until December 17.

October 31, the birthday of Rick Wilson and Rod Vincent. The Benton Volunteer Fire Company will host its monthly breakfast at the fire hall starting at 7 AM. Fishing Creek Players will present The Passion of Dracula on the stage of the Benton Middle/High School this afternoon at 2. Details of all upcoming events can be found at www.bentonnews.net/events1.htm . Expect freezing overnight temperatures through Tuesday.

It is the festival of the night of October 31, which we know as Halloween. It is the eve of All Saints' or All Hallows Day which falls on November 1. This is the night when prior generations felt that witches, devils and other mischief-making beings went into the night to do their midnight errands. The ancient holiday of Halloween, once part hair-raising horror and part religious mysticism, has changed its image.

In the Middle Ages, witches were the stuff of evil and stories abounded of them boiling babies to get fat for greasing their broomsticks so they could fly off to meet Satan at the great Halloween Sabbaths. For centuries, black cats were a symbol of all that was corrupt. Now they are an accepted part of family household pets.

It all has changed. For weeks, grocery and drug stores have been gearing up with special Halloween items for parties and for trick-or-treat night. The kids will be organized Saturday night. The flood gates will open in the borough Saturday night as masked and costumed bundles of energy make their rounds of houses, ringing doorbells for the annual "Trick or treat!" Few of them know any tricks, since they are always treated. Kids treat the goodies somewhat akin to receiving Christmas presents. Last year on trick-or-treat night, most kids at our house didn't say a single word until I prompted them to say "thank you."

Homeowners have been bracing for the Halloween assault that is coming Saturday night by hoarding candy, cookies, crackers, nuts, fruit, gum and nickels for weeks.

This is a far cry from stories told about outhouses being overturned (sometimes with a person actually in the outhouse), tires being punctured, cars smashed, windows being broken, looting of stores and homes, turning in false fire alarms and throwing eggs and rotten fruit at windows and motorists. Kids from earlier generations loved to soap the trolley tracks in San Francisco.

From the days when Arley Meeker, a former police chief in Benton, and other policemen patrolled the borough streets on Halloween to protect homes from those high on the yearly Halloween mischief, this year the police will be called out to protect the children from being hit by cars on our dimly lit streets.

Scads of reference books, none of which use references to verify if it is completely true or not, talk about the earliest known Halloween celebrations in Europe by the Celtic order of Druids long before Christ was born.

The Druids were priests and observed Halloween with sacrifices to one of their gods--Samhain, lord of the dead. They caged less desirable humans, criminals mostly, and horses, then roasted them alive. November 1 was the Celtic New Year's Day, and on the last night of October, Samhain assembled the spirits of all evil people who had died during the previous year and for their wickedness had been confined in the bodies of lower animals.

After the Romans conquered Britain in 61 A.D., human sacrifices were outlawed but the sacrifice of horses continued for hundreds of years, as were black cats in wicker baskets. How did all this come to America, you ask?

The American Halloween tradition came from the Irish who were the first to make jack-o'-lanterns out of huge potatoes and turnips. Halloween took on a holiday atmosphere following the Irish potato famine of the 1840s. The Irish invented the pranks of Halloween blaming them on the fairies or "little people." Americans turned the pranks into vandalism, which eventually shook out as trick-or-treat.

The Royal Order of Raccoons' free Halloween party is Saturday afternoon from noon to 2 PM at the North Mountain fire hall. Trick or Treat Night takes place Saturday night in the Borough from 6-8. At the same time, the Benton United Methodist Church will be open to the community for Trick-or-Treat night. Each trick-or-treater will receive a bag and all are invited to come in to rest, get warm, use the facilities and grab a cup of coffee or hot chocolate.

October 29, 2010, the birthday of Amy Bierbach, Gene Shultz, Randy Hack and the woman responsible for the mural in the Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center, Dianne Derr.

The "Passion of Dracula" will be performed on the Benton High School stage tonight and Saturday night at 8, and October 31 at 2 PM by Fishing Creek Players. This is Gothic entertainment for the whole family! Tickets are $8 at the door. Directed by M.R. Daniels; cast includes Geraldine Laubach, Judy Paul, Kathleen McKenzie, Bob Ridall, Chris Diltz, Larry Paul, Emric Schultz, Marilyn Kishbaugh, Jenn Braun, Brandon Hartman, Kevin Hickman, with Jim Micklow as Dracula.

Where did these "off-the-wall" guys come from? Here is Florida, a man who couldn’t run an honest company now wants to run state government. A man who appears to have committed some real pocket-lining deals as Guv now want to head on to the U. S. Senate. Thank goodness--like poor relatives, politicians only show up when they need help. Their political promises go in one year and out the other. These guys shoot from the lip as they promise to stand for what others will fall for. These guys are the ones who make the laws, then spend hours helping their friends evade the laws. Don't think I am advocating not going to the polls--the place where you stand in line to get a place to decide who will spend your money. You need to go to the polls and vote to throw the bums out. Make them unemployed--and unemployable.

I've seen a number of politicians quit their day job and then go around making speeches about all the work he'll do if elected. Television is full of advertisements for politicians. Political speeches are all over the airwaves. Those who agree with the speeches think it over and those who don't are glad it's over.

Everett Dirksen once commented something to the effect that during a campaign everyone was concerned with what a candidate will do on this or that question if he is elected--except for the candidate who is too busy wondering what he'll do if he isn't elected. Take the candidate who based a commercial around why she wasn't a witch, and who convinced most that she had no idea the First Amendment called for the separation of church and state. And how 'bout the candidate that said "I'll take you out" to a reporter who asked questions. There is a candidate from the 15th District of New York who is heading into a November 15 ethics trial with no lawyers.

November 2 will be a hoot! My vote won't count for a whole lot, but it will be exercised. Pick the best candidates, but please come out and vote.

Quickies...

• Driving through Millville? Verizon was pulling "four bars" of service as of 1:25 Thursday.

• A Sullivan County reader, Connie Hatch, was in the borough a couple of Sundays ago and drove by the dam and the park. Connie recalled that "Ever since I can remember, I have loved dams and waterways and spillways. I guess I passed that love on to the kids. So the kids saw the dam and it was, 'DAD! Stop so we can get out!' So all of us got out and walked around." This week, Connie and family made it to the Benton Park for the first time. Their verdict? "That is one of the best parks I've ever seen."

• The Volunteer Group Leaders of the Robinson/Sordoni Gas Group are holding a meeting on Tuesday, November 9, at 7 PM at the Benton High School. This will be an informational meeting focusing on the drilling process and environmental concerns, presented by Jim Park/Environmental Advisor. Group leaders will host a general discussion related to local issues. First Columbia Bank & Trust will provide information about their financial/investment services. Engagement contracts will be available at this meeting. Group Leaders will be onsite at 6 PM.

Thirty-one road building contractors bid for the right to build a road from Benton Borough to the Luzerne County line in 1926, a distance of 22,250 feet. The new road would be called Route 235. The lowest bid came from a Meriden, Connecticut, contractor by the name of Lane Construction Company. The company had an office in Troy, Pennsylvania. The bid price was $220,748. J. Paul Laubach worked for Lane Construction as a timekeeper in Goshen, New York, for several years after college, the town where Paul and Ethel began housekeeping in their first "home."

The contract stipulated that certain of the fill had to "lay over winter before the concrete is placed." Other fill had to remain two months before paving. The contract required substantial changes to the "line of the road and the grade" called for by the contract. The new highway also required the construction of three new bridges.

The most significant of the bridges was the bridge over Fishingcreek in the Borough, not part of the Lane Construction contract. This bridge was built by the county. A new portion of road was built connecting to the old road below the grist mill to the new bridge via a road built between the George Yost restaurant (now the Hoboken Sub Shop) and the Mather Grist Mill (Benton Roller Mills). The wooden covered bridge over Fishingcreek at the east end of Market Street beside the Presbyterian Church was eliminated and with it would go the two sharp turns at the east end of the bridge. Main Street was extended from Market Street to the Fishingcreek bridge.

The Fishingcreek bridge today is officially known as "SR239, Segment 100, Offset 120 bridge." Showing signs of decay, the result of years of tree bashing on its concrete pillars, it was widened in 1971. The length of the bridge is 130', consisting of three spans of reinforced concrete I-beams.

The new road to Shickshinny generally followed the old road except the area near the lookout where the road required a lot of fill. A change of grade made it uniform most of the way. Ira McHenry and Harry Laubach owned part of the property where the road traveled. Much of the roadbed was dug by laborers specially brought in for this purpose. There were certainly many more, but Dave Floyd and Dallas Baker worked on this road. Dave was not from this area, but stayed and several subsequent generations of the Floyd family have called Benton home.

At the top of the hill that came to be known simply as "The Dug," the new road caught up with the old through the former Jacob Minier property, cutting off several bad turns, then proceeded through the property of Freas Keefer. A bridge was required over Raven Creek and a number of substantial curves and steep grades were eliminated. The road proceeded "back of the home of George Crawford and back of the Hamline church and cemetery."

The new road joined up with the old at the property of C.L. Gibbons, then formed a new location to the former Daniel Ashelman property, where a new bridge over Raven Creek was built. The road then cut through the farm of John Bray and generally followed the old road to the Luzerne County line.

Some members of Benton High School Class of 1945 held a lunchtime reunion Wednesday at Creekside Restaurant, Orangeville. Attending were Ethel Fausey Horne, Edna Bogert, wife of Ernie, Ernie Bogert, Ralph Good and his wife, Shirley, Roy Beishline and his wife, Helen, Evanna Ditwhiler Kessler and her husband, Harold, and Lena Depoe Tunaitis.

	Some members of Benton High School Class of 1945 held a lunchtime reunion Wednesday at the Creekside Restaurant, Orangeville.
	Attending were Ethel Fausey Horne, Edna Bogert, wife of Ernie, Ernie Bogert, Ralph Good and his wife, Shirley, Roy Beishline and his wife, Helen, Evanna Ditwhiler Kessler and her husband, Harold. Lena Depoe Tunaitis acted as photographer.

October 28, 2010, the birthday of Lisa Gordner, Frances Baker, Kim Baker, Frances I. Horn, Sandy Schamberger and Bill Gates of Micro$oft fame. It is the wedding anniversary of June and Alvin Lynn and the anniversary of the dedication of a copper lady dressed in robes who stands at the entrance to New York harbor, the Statue of Liberty. Last year at this time we were screaming "GO PHILLIES!" at the top of our lungs.

The Northern Columbia Quilt Guild announced the winners of its two quilt raffles during their regular monthly meeting Monday. The lucky winner of the Quilto quilt is Melody Masich, Stillwater. The other lucky winner of the Signature quilt is Barbara Bauer, Pipersville, Bucks County. The proceeds from the raffles will benefit the Benton Area Food Bank and the Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center.

"A farmer," Father liked to say, was "someone outstanding in his field." Today the definition of a farmer has changed a bit. A farmer today with land striding the Marcellus shale could be someone who has lost money every year of his life, who lives well, who can afford to educate his children and after his family has tilled the earth for generations has an outside chance of dying with some money in the bank.

Which reminds me of a story you have heard about the gas representative talking to the farmer about royalties he would receive from the Marcellus shale drilling. "What would you do with a million dollars," the landman asked the farmer. The wife thought for a second, then said, "I'd dump the farm and head off to the shopping center for the rest of my life." The husband pondered the question, then said he figured he'd "keep on farming until the money was all gone."

Most readers of the Benton News haven't a clue what it is like to rise before the sun, feed the chickens, milk the cows, haul out the manure, plow the fields--all before eating breakfast. Almost a hundred years ago, the men with a sprig of straw in their mouths and the women in their gingham dresses took a well-earned vacation from hard Summer work and headed for the town park in Benton for what they called a "picnic."

The Farmers Picnic was a big event in the upper Fishingcreek Valley. As the military conflict which came to be known as World War I festered in Europe in the summer of 1914, Back Home in Benton, PA, that July the Sugarloaf Grange used the "Public Park and festival stand" for the purpose of holding a Farmers Picnic. The use of the park was given free of charge. As the excitement built in anticipation of thousands of farmers arriving for the Farmers Picnic, the borough council arranged for the construction of two "Water Closets and three swings" in the park. Ninety-six years later, rumors are swirling of the Benton town park getting a major facelift--including actually replacing those swings--but that is a story for another day.

A well was driven for water in July 1914. With crude bathroom facilities and a place to get fresh water, the town park took on the ability to be a favorite meeting place in the upper Fishing Creek valley.

Borough council almost immediately realized that this park by the beautiful Fishing Creek would be a success. They reserved the right to charge a license for all other parties "selling or peddling." Starting in 1916, responsibility for the Farmers Picnic passed to the "Committee of Arrangements," which also had the responsibility of cleaning up after the picnic was over.

Because of the need to raise money for the Red Cross during the World War I, the annual picnic became one of the biggest affairs of its kind in the commonwealth. The history of the Benton park was closely aligned with the history of the Farmers' Picnic. Picnics during the war years raised money for the Red Cross. Picnics that followed were for the improvement and maintenance of the 18-acre park.

The Farmers Picnic became an annual event always held on the last Wednesday in July. By 1925, the crowd for the event had grown to 16,000, using estimates from the pages of the Benton Argus. The crowd was usually high because of the rain the day before kept the farmers out of their fields. Well, sure, there was no way of actually knowing how many were there, but 4,183 cars were actually parked, plus some horse-drawn vehicles. Most from the borough walked to the park.

The Morning Press came to town, too. The newspaper's article on the event commented that "the greatest crowd in the history of that fine center of up-creek out-door activities during the summer months, the eleventh annual picnic of the Northern Columbia County Farmers' Picnic Association, broke all records." The Bloomsburg paper was a little more conservative in its estimate of the size of the crowd, putting it at "14,000 persons" and noted that at 9 PM there were still 4,000 on the grounds listening to the Shickshinny Band and the Mac and Daily orchestra.

Can you picture 14,000 or even 4,000 in the park today? Can you picture parking all those vehicles?

Food is always popular at picnics, carnivals and even at the Farmers' Picnic. The dinner stand anticipated 1,000 people for the noon meal for the July 1925 picnic. When 1,080 meals had been served, the food ran out. Other food stands provided "hot dogs and the like." Workers at the dinner stand "got busy" and "provided a new supply for the supper hour."

A number of county businesses closed for the event. Even the court house was known to close at noon on the day of the big event. Nothing ever held in the Benton Park attracted more attention than the Farmer's Picnic. Even the August Ku Klux Klan picnic and the Odd Fellows and the Grange picnics didn't draw the crowds that the picnic did.

The name was officially the Columbia County Farmers' Picnic. In the early years of the picnic, speakers from Penn State and from the Department of Agriculture came to town and waxed poetic. In later years of the picnic, politicians came to make an appearance, speak to the crowds and "meet the voters."

During the 50th-year picnic, July 26 and 27, 1968, Mayor Karl Fritz was chairman of the Benton Park Commission. 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 next summer at the horseshoe pits of 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
playing on the second level of the bandstand.

Benton Park continued to be enlarged and improved in order to be used for family reunions, church picnics and other events. The park was used for the Odd Fellows picnic in July and the Grange and the Ku Klux Klan Picnics in August. The Benton Ministerium held evening services in the grandstand at the Benton athletic park during the six-week period from mid-July through August. Old advertisements for these events proclaimed that the services "were held under the vaulted arches of the park's beautiful trees, with the awe-inspiring view up the Fishing Creek valley to the North and Red Rock Mountains, with accompaniment by the music of the flowing creek waters."

Didja hear the one about the farmer who wrote to the mail-order catalog company to inquire about the price of toilet paper? The response he received suggested that he look on page 55 of the company's catalog. He wrote back, "If I had your catalog, I wouldn't be asking about toilet paper."

October 27, 2010. It is the birthday of Jeff Wilson, Pam Bangs Pearson, Charity Robbins and Elizabeth "Jayne" McCann. It is "Trunk or Treat" night at the Stillwater Christian Church from 6-8 PM. Andre Dominguez will give a "Columbia County Cemetery Locator Presentation" at The Center tonight at 7. If you signed up for the Montour Home Health and Hospice's flu-vaccine clinic this morning at the Outpatient Laboratory Services building, today is the day. The winds from the Midwest will arrive today, and by Friday and Saturday expect that Fall temperatures will finally be here.

The seventh game of the World Series was played on this day in 1991. Minnesota Twins’ pinch-hitter Gene Larkin’s tenth-inning bases-loaded single beat the Atlanta Braves 1-0 in the seventh game. The Twins captured their second World Championship in five years in three extra-inning games and five games with only one run per game. The home team won all seven games.

Please keep Carolyn Sue Remley in your prayers as she recovers from surgery. Keep Donald Rabb, a Geisinger patient, in your prayers.

Didja know that Democrats have a slim majority
in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 103-99?

The boys' and girls' soccer teams of the Benton Area Schools both made the playoffs. Here is the first-round schedule:
• Girls play Wyalusing at Athens High School today at 5 PM.

• Boys play Wellsboro at the Balls Mills Soccer complex (Hepburnville exit of Route 15 North outside of Williamsport) on Thursday, October 28^, at 7 PM.

The winners from the Benton Lions' parade Tuesday night, as reported by Lisa Campbell, Benton Halloween Parade Committee, were...

Floats
   1st place - Fishing Creek Veterinary Clinic
   2nd place - First Columbia Bank
   3rd place - Country Fresh Market
   4th place - Boy Scout Troop 51
Honorable Mention
   - Waller 4H
   - Warewolves of Nittany Mountain

Walkers
   - Jackob, Jannesa, Mike & Laura Boberski
   - Lauren & Holly Clayton & Debbie Kreischer
   - Chloe, Kaylee & Lacey Kishbaugh

Quote of the Day:
"I tried Google TV yesterday. Flying a Cessna is easier and has fewer controls than the Sony remote."
--Jon Steinberg

The Wyoming Valley Civil War Round Table meets in the lower level of the Daddow-Isaac American Legion, 730 Memorial Highway, Dallas. The Round Table currently has about 60 members. The main purpose is to promote interest in the Civil War, one of the defining events in our history. Many people who have had ancestors in this great struggle are interested in learning more about what they did and how they lived through the war years and later. This is not an reenactment group. Those who come want to learn more about the Civil War. At each meeting there is a presentation by an author of Civil-War history or first-person programs, such as President Abraham Lincoln, Gen. John Reynolds, or Gen. Gordon Mead, to mention a few.

In addition to monthly speakers, the group shares information on an informal basis among members. The organization has taken group tours and trips to battlefields and museums, and are planning more in the future. It has participated in community projects, and sponsored workdays at Gettysburg battlefield sites through the National Park Service and the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association.

The speaker November 11 is Gary Roche, the great, great grandson of Sergeant Major Patrick DeLacy of the 143^rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, who was awarded our nation’s highest military honor. Gary will present a Power Point program which will cover the history of the Medal of Honor as well as the story of Gary’s ancestor and other famous holders of the Medal of Honor. Gary is a licensed battlefield guide at Gettysburg National Military Park. For questions, call Pete at 639-1283. Everyone is welcome to attend.

The speaker December 9 is Attorney Frank Mroczka. His subject will be "The World of Collecting Authentic Relics and Artifacts." Over the past 27 years, he has visited numerous battle sites of the Civil War and has collected hundreds of artifacts of the Civil War.

Quickies...

• Have you penciled in a reminder to see "The Passion of Dracula" Friday, Saturday or Sunday presented by the Fishing Creek Players in the Benton Middle/High School auditorium? For those who love the theater, the Millville Community Players will bring "It was a Dark and Stormy Night" to life on November 5, 6 and 7 in the Millville High auditorium.

• Benton Borough residents are requested to put leaves in a pile, rather than just sweeping them onto the streets. Please do not put grass clippings on the street.

• Sally Letteer Meyer graduated with the Benton Area Schools Class of 1962. She is married and lives in Missouri. Sally is critically ill with Alzheimer's disease and with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease." Her husband plans to bring her to Pennsylvania to spend some time with her family and her Benton classmates--whether she may or may not know who they are. Sally's sister, Peggy, would like to arrange for friends and classmates to reacquaint themselves while Sally is in the Stillwater and Benton areas. Please call Peggy at 784-0662 or 204-2198 if you will be willing to meet with Sally for a short period.

We'll make a brief stop today as we continue with the early history of the borough of Benton.

• Karl Z. Hess brought a proposal to borough council in August 1921 to construct a "Dancing Pavilion" in the town park on behalf of the local post of the American Legion. After lengthy discussion, the proposal was withdrawn following strong convincing by borough council.

• Health issues were a problem for the borough over the years. In January 1922, the borough spent $12 for fumigation of houses. The Secretary of the Board of Health reported 5 cases of whooping cough; 22 cases of mumps; one case of scarlet fever; 5 cases of typhoid; and 1 case of diphtheria. The health inspector placarded 28 homes in the borough and 3 homes were fumigated. The health inspector reported that there was "not a single death from a contagious or communicable disease" during the month. Those who came in contact with the single diphtheria case were "treated with antitoxins and kept in quarantine." Fumigations in February 1923 cost the borough $91 to treat 36 homes for diphtheria and measles.

October 26, 2010. It is the birthday of Mary Ruth Daniels, John Chandlee Stowe, Barb Minutelli, Ann Lewis and State Department head Hillary Clinton. It is the wedding anniversary of Bill & Nancy Fricke, Chandlee and Grace Stowe and Trina & Calvin Miller. It is the night when the Benton Lions Club Halloween Parade takes place. The parade forms at 6 PM on McHenry Ave and moves at 7 PM. The Waller United Methodist Church will have a food stand in the parking lot between DR's and the Benton Sports Center. The menu includes hamburger, cheeseburger, hamburger BBQ, hot dogs, ham and bean soup, chili, and vegetable soup, homemade pie, apple dumplings, coffee, hot chocolate, soda and water. Mark Fritz, a member of the board of directors of the Columbia County Historical & Genealogical Society, will give the history of photography from 1839 to 1900 at the First Presbyterian Church fellowship hall at 345 Market Street, Bloomsburg tonight at 7. Warm temperatures will continue through Thursday.

Didja ever notice how our 100 senators, 435 congressmen, one President
and nine Supreme Court justices attempt to convince us that what is wrong with America
is not their fault? Didja ever wonder whose fault it is if it isn't their fault?

Life in the Treasure Coast of Florida is simply grand. Well--okay--we have high unemployment, foreclosed houses, utility costs that many feel are too high, an occasional threat of a hurricane, some nasty snakes that live in the Everglades and some people who are running for public office who appear to be crooks. Otherwise, it is grand! Now in Fort Pierce a new problem has become the butt of many jokes following the decision of the City Commissioner to fine and sentence to community service young men who wear their pants low on their body so that their underwear shows.

I remember in the days of L. R. Appleman and Ben Pollock we were not allowed to wear jeans to school. The "cool" boys often wrapped up a pack of Camels in their tee shirts sleeves and wore a duck-tail haircut with sideburns just like James Dean did. And we loved Johnny Carson on late-night television so we bought polyester by the gobs and wore leisure suits, shirts with puffy sleeves, Nehru jackets and some with more money that my family had wore bell-bottom jeans with embroidery around the bottom. Girls often wore poufy hair acquired following long periods of teasing.

We all grew out of those stages when we realized that girls didn't feel it was cool, when we went for our first job interview or when a college admissions officer gave us an "are you kidding" look. Probably the same approach would cure the problem today. Try this. Next time you see someone like that, simply look and laugh. We betcha the offenders, like those of us in a prior generation, will come around. It will certainly save on hiring more police to make an arrest for something as unimportant as having the tidy Whites showing.

Quickies...
• The City of Harrisburg reportedly needs $700,000 in loans to make payroll for its next pay period.

• True to their word, the Millville Verizon tower was powered up Monday morning, albeit only a few minutes. One Verizon employee remains on the scene. He is connecting wires for emergency-type stuff, like fire alarms and other signals. They still have to run tests with the 911 center to be sure all the equipment is compatible. The Verizon employee told Harry Watts, Millville, that cell-phone service should be "turned on" by Thursday, providing all the tests are OK. He added, "by the end of the month, for sure."

• Benton Area School District has the following anticipated long-term substitute position available: Title I Reading--beginning on or about December 23, 2010, until end of school year. Elementary and or reading certification is required. No benefits. Send letter of interest, standard application, transcripts, resume, copy of PA certification and Act 34, 114 and 151 clearances to Penny Lenig-Zerby, Superintendent, Benton Area School District, 600 Green Acres Road, Benton, PA 17814. The deadline is November 5, 2010. EOE.

The Early Years Back Home in Benton, PA, continued...

• Starting in 1917, electricity was provided by the Benton Hydro-Electric Company as granted by the issuance of Ordinance 49.

• Charlie Hess was given a permit in March 1917 to build a slaughter house at the rear of his property which contained the meat market.

• In March 1920, ten years after the fire of July 1910 in which many roofs caught on fire, the secretary of the borough council was directed to write all parties who had violated the borough ordinance regarding the roofing of buildings and to notify them they will be expected to place a fire-proof covering upon their roofs as soon as weather permits.

Bob Parks, 77, was named Volunteer of the Quarter for July-September 2010 at the Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center. Bob is Chairman of the Building/Grounds Committee and serves as the center's handyman. He was instrumental when The Center's Thrift Shop needed updating, helped with Heritage Days and is active in just about every facet of the center's activities.

Bob and his wife, Jackie, parents of 7 living children, 18 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, moved to Benton Township after Bob retired with 37 years' service from Bell Telephone of Pennsylvania in downtown Philadelphia. Bob’s first venture into volunteering was forming a New Jersey citizen’s group and serving as its president to confront a zoning change in the town where he lived.

After his marriage to Jackie in May 1985, the couple restored and lived in a house built in the late 1700s in Turnersville, New Jersey. They eventually sold that house, bought another and renovated it. Because of his ability, he began helping friends with handyman projects, and eventually turned it into a full-time business. His service to the community continued as he and Jackie worked in a local hardware store--Jackie as cashier and Bob working the floor. In his spare time, Bob did service work for store customers.

Bob took on a family-genealogy project after his retirement and is working to publish a family history book, which he calls "a work in progress." He has traced his family back to 1754. He served for ten years as President of his family Association. He produces a family newsletter and maintains the family mailing list of 500+ names.

Jackie and Bob moved to Benton Township in 1977, following in the footsteps of her brother who lives in the area. They purchased their present property with an older trailer on it. They lived in their RV for a few months while getting the property in the condition they wanted. They removed the trailer and put up their present house while living in the RV a few months while it was being completed.

Bob joined the Columbia County Covered Bridges Association after reading an article about the organization. He become the membership chairman and writes its newsletter.

He and Jackie became charter members of the Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center. Bob's community spirit kicked in again, and he volunteered to help complete the painting and cleanup for the opening. He later volunteered to be on the Buildings and Ground Committee and became its chairman after Rich Kisner left to pursue other work. This committee performs monthly maintenance and safety inspections, and is responsible for planning of building improvements. He was instrumental in assembling the skateboard park at the Center. He has actively participated in committees for the Heritage Days celebration, the annual auction and the antique show. He is an active member of the library/museum committee. He is a member of the Board of Directors of The Center..

The Center is a success because of volunteers like Bob and a host of others who contribute their time and effort in a significant way to make its success a fact.

Nancy Elizabeth (Kapec) Braun (July 25, 1940-October 24, 2010), died Sunday at her home on Jamison City Road, Sugarloaf Township, Benton. She was 70. Nancy was born in Allentown, a daughter of Myron Kapec and Bettie Jane (Kitchen) Wessner. She graduated from Allentown High School. She had worked for The Nut Hut Shop, Air Products, Allentown, and Greyhound Bus Company. She had also worked at the Ricketts Glen Hotel.

Surviving are her daughters Tiffany E. Braun, Clawson, Michigan, and Kristin H. Stauch (Christopher), Rochester Hills, Michigan; along with grandchildren Ava and Vaughn Stauch; a sister, Carol A. Wieder, of Emmaus; brothers Michael M. Kapec, Alaska, and Monte Kapec, Delaware. Also surviving is her longtime companion, Harold Downs, Central.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her step father, Robert H. Wessner, who died September 10, 2008.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, October 28, at 11 AM with viewing preceding at the McMichael Funeral Home. Burial will be in the Benton Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to the American Diabetes Association., (Juvenile Diabetes Division), PO Box 4383, Bethlehem, PA 18018. For online condolences, visit www.mcmichaelfuneralhome.com .

Monte Hittle, airport manager at the Benton airport, reported that about 60 airplanes showed up at the local field Saturday for the "Fly-In." A rough count showed that about 300 people attended. There were several aerobatic planes strutting their stuff and most planes that left did a goodbye fly-by. Several groups came in like a gaggle of geese before breaking formation to land.

The event is growing. Last year at this time, there were no airplanes because of weather. In the spring, 33 airplanes and about 150 people turned out. If the local pilots have one next spring--and Monte Hittle says they "probably will--the entire rodeo grounds parking lot will be mowed. The airport was "just about maxed out" at one point on parking airplanes. Some airplanes were even parked in Nancy and Ken Laubach's yard. It was a good mix of classics, experimental, utility, aerobatic, helicopters and "just plane fun" aircraft.

Pilots flew in from New York state, New Jersey, Potter County, Duncannon, Philadelphia, State College, Allentown, and other parts of the state. Monte commented that "It was truly a memorable day, and if we can duplicate it, I think it will be something people look forward to every spring and fall." The attraction to the pilots was the location, the type of airfield, the meal served, the scenery, all of which was not typical of the normal fly-in. Some of the local neighbors commented that they've never seen anything like it. Monte observed that it is "nice to share with the community what we as pilots get to enjoy when we go to other airports for their fly-ins."

Not only was the turnout good, the people friendly and the food was great, but everybody seemed to have a smile on their face. One of the biggest smiles was on the face of Elizabeth (Lizzy) Stewart, 5, who attended her second Benton Fly-In with her Pop Pop (Dan) Stoneham. She took a ride in a single-engine plane owned by Dick Karshner. She went up alone with the pilot, as there wasn't another seat for Pop Pop. Pop Pop said that she did not even hesitate to go alone. She hopped in, introduced herself to the pilot, and up she went. When questioned what part of the experience she liked the best--the take off, being up in the air, or the landing--she said "EVERYTHING!" Pop Pop called Grandma (Betty Lou) Stoneham to tell her to look up and wave when Lizzy flew over the house. He asked Lizzy when she was back on the ground if she saw Grandma and she said "No, but tell Grandma I did. I was just a tiny speck." She didn't want to hurt Grandma's feelings. Lizzy's parents are Brian and Carey (Stoneham) Stewart.


Elizabeth poses by the airplane before her ride. Pilot Ted Farwell flashes one of his characteristic smiles before revving up the engine for take-off. This is a real adventure for a five-year-old girl.

October 25, 2010. It is the birthday of Susan Fausey, Bill Kindig, Marilyn Campbell and Robert D. Hutchison, a man most in the upper Fishingcreek Valley call "Rob." It is the anniversary of the Windows XP computer-operating system, released by Microsoft on October 25, 2001. Daytime high temperatures in Benton will be approximately the same as the nighttime temperatures in Port St. Lucie, Florida, for much of this week.

Quickies...
• Natural gas prices slipped to a new low as U.S. supplies grew more than expected last week. The Energy Information Administration said natural gas in underground storage expanded by 93 billion cubic feet and natural-gas futures dropped to a 52-week low of $3.372 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

• A "Columbia County Cemetery Locator Presentation" will be given at 7 PM at The Center October 27 by Andre Dominguez, Bloomsburg, Vice-President of the Columbia County Historical & Genealogical Society. The presentation is about the people who helped compile the booklet on the cemetery locator for Columbia County, how it was created and how to use the book. The booklet will assist you to find any of the 102 cemeteries or three single-grave sites in Columbia County. The booklet contains maps, photos and specific information about each cemetery, including the GPS coordinates. Booklets will be available for sale at the end of the presentation. The presentation is open to the public. Donations are appreciated.

• The home that Lisa Urie is going to purchase is featured on an HGTV show called Real Estate Intervention. The episode will air October 31 at 2 PM. You can view the episode on-line.

• Members of the Benton High School Class of '58 were recently on YouTube. Go here and see if you recognize anyone.

Didja ever notice that the promise of change
apparently meant that the promises would change?

This publication is known as the "Benton News," but rarely is any news divulged. The web site is somewhat of an "all the news that fits, we print" kind of publication. We have been providing snippets of history about the early years of the borough. Future editions will cover the former "Farmers Picnic" and the extensive findings of uranium in the area. If readers have anything to contribute in these areas, please feel free to send that information to us. Today is a hodgepodge of history about the area, starting with the former Opera House in the borough.

• The Opera House became the "Town Hall," and was the location on Third Street of the meetings of the borough council until October 1918. The second floor was from time to time used for entertainment, although the borough council turned down requests from roving theatrical groups to use the facility for entertainment. The roving "Oregon Players" were turned down for unspecified reasons, as an example. But in October 1916, L. R. Appleman approached the borough about using the building for "Halloween entertainment" and the request was granted. Beginning in 1917, the Red Cross was granted the use of the Council Room and the band room for its headquarters free of charge.

• Beginning in October 1918, all regular and special meetings of the borough council were held in the rooms of the Community Club in the bank building "to conserve fuel, light and janitor services. On this day in 1918, the Allied Fall offensive on the Western front began and conservation became the name of the game back home in Benton, PA.

• The effects of the fire of July 4, 1910, were felt in the borough for a long time. In October 1916, the borough tired of waiting for owners to clean up their properties from the fire. The borough placed a "railing" around the Second and Market Street sides of the old Exchange Hotel lot of D. J. Donovan. Dr. J. B. Hess was told to place a guard rail around the old foundation on his property.

• The requirement to remove snow from borough sidewalks within six hours first appeared in council minutes in January 1917. In June 1917 the borough secretary was instructed to send statements to all persons owing the borough for snow removal and to take necessary legal action to collect outstanding snow-removal bills.

• Permission was granted to Harry Knouse on December 4, 1916, to erect a cider press in the Colley Addition to Benton. That permission was revoked one year later because of objections lodged against him and his cider mill.

We'll continue this subject in Tuesday's edition.

Edna Louise Boudman (July 2, 1946-October 22, 2010), Pine Street, Selinsgrove, died Friday at the Orangeville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center where she had been a resident since June. She was 64. Edna was born at the Bloomsburg Hospital, one of two children of Victor F. and Eva Marie (Brown) Boudman. She attended the Stillwater School and graduated from Benton High School with the class of 1964. She then moved to Selinsgrove where she was employed at Susquehanna University until she retired. She was a member of Ebenezer Bible Church, Selinsgrove.

Edna is survived by her brother, Donald V. Boudman (Bonnie); a niece, Connie Boudman; and her great niece, Andrea Turner, Stillwater.

Funeral services will be Tuesday at 1 PM with viewing preceding at the McMichael Funeral Home. Burial will be in the Stillwater Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to the American Cancer Society, PO Box 3125, Williamsport, PA 17701. For online condolences, visit www.mcmichaelfuneralhome.com .

Saturday and Sunday, October 23-24, 2010. Expect tolerable weather through Tuesday.

October 23, the birthday of David Chapin, Jason Gerhardt and Shirley Ritter. It is the wedding anniversary of MikeLanne and Michael Welliver and Richard and Jan Jost.

Here are some of the activities scheduled locally for today.

• Pick up Angel Food orders at the Benton United Methodist Church.

• The Zion Church will hold a chicken bar-b-que in the church community hall. The price is $9 for adults and $4.50 for children. Under six eat free. It takes place from 4 PM. Take-outs are available.

• There will be a ham-roast picnic Fly-In starting at noon featuring a cured pig roasted on a rotisserie. In April, more than 150 people and 33 airplanes showed up to enjoy the excitement that the Benton airport can generate. Airplane rides will be available, weather permitting, and there will be a static display that kids and adults can sit in to get an idea of learning to fly and how the controls work.
• Tonight is the Hotel California Eagles Tribute Band appearing in the Celebrity Artist Series, Bloomsburg University.

• Come to the Benton town park from noon to 5 PM for fun, food, crafts and games at the Slaughterhouse Boyz Fall Festival to benefit the Benton Elementary wrestlers. There will be craft vendors, food, games and a basket raffle! Support our youth and have fun while doing it! Events include...

12:30--Judging for chili cook-off contest.

2:00--Costume Contest. Wear your costume and enter the contest to win prizes!

3:00--Duck Derby. Buy a duck and watch it race to the dam for a chance to win!

4:00--Judging for Pumpkin Carving. Bring your carved pumpkin by noon and let the public choose the best one!

4:30--Drawing for basket raffle. Lots of chances to win!

• The North Mountain Fire Co. will draw the winning tickets for gun prizes at a gun-raffle party at the North Mountain Fire Hall, 11:30 AM to 5 PM.

October 24, the birthday of Mark Burke, Greg Horne, Elwood Erney, Gloria Mincemoyer and Dale Ruckle. It is the wedding anniversary of Robby and Jody Karschner.

•Montour Home Health and Hospice is hosting a flu-vaccine clinic on Wednesday, Oct. 27, from 8 AM to noon at the Outpatient Laboratory Services building in Benton, PA. The clinic is open to everyone 6 months and older who would like the vaccine. The vaccine is covered by insurance plans Medicare Part B, GHP, and GHP Gold. Payment options for all others will be $28 cash. Call 784-1723 to make an appointment or for flu-shot clinic information.

• Two reliable sources, citing workers on the job, predict that the Benton Verizon tower could be on the air in two weeks. The Millville tower should be online Monday, October 25

• In March 1915, the borough advertised to plant "one hundred or more sugar maple trees" from 2" to 3" in diameter. Bids came in from B. W. Cole, Warren Davis and Silas Hess. The low bid was from Silas Hess who furnished and delivered the trees for 40 cents each. The trees grew quickly and five years later, in July 1920, the borough had to notify property owners regarding limbs of trees handing over sidewalks interfering with pedestrians.

• The year 1915 was when movies came to the borough. Chas. Johnson "was granted the privilege of operating a Moving Picture Show in the Borough for the sun of $1.50 per month." The "Public School" was given permission to bulb a tennis court in the new addition to the park in April 1915.

The full moon had people in orbit many centuries before Bumper 2, the first rocket launched from Cape Canaveral in July 1950. There have been people in ancient times who thought that the moon was a god or goddess, a habitat of demons, a rotating bowl of fire, a turner-on of witches and werewolves. People have squinted at the moon and concluded they saw the image of a man, a woman, a cat, a donkey, a frog, a rabbit or just about anything else that struck the viewer's fancy.

In my lifetime, I have heard farmer's talk about planting according to the moon, have seen the sap of humans somehow rise with the lifting tides and have more than once seen "lunatic" activity coincide with the full moon. Now before you conclude that I have lined up with hungry green-cheese freaks waiting to book a seat on a lunar flight, read on.

Father claimed that his father planted potatoes in the dark of the moon. The logic was that anything that matures under ground should be planted in the dark of the moon, while things that mature above ground should be planted in the light of the moon.

Perhaps it only makes sense for a person of my age, but when I was a pup there was lots of discussion about the "man in the moon" and how ignorant he was. "I haven't a clue, Father, how the scratch got on your car. I don't know any more than the man in the moon."

Whether the tides are high or low, whether the moon is made of green cheese, people of all walks of life stopped from Florida to Pennsylvania last night to see the full moon and look at reflections of the full moon on the water.

There were many versions of the man-in-the-moon from when I was a pup. One such legend was that the figure was a horse thief who was taken up by the moon when he persisted in stealing after being warned, and another legend has it that the man was only stealing peas in a cow pasture when he was stolen by the moon.

People of a prior generation believed that sleeping in the moonlight was conductive to light-headedness. Persons supposedly affected by the moon were called lunatics and were said to be "moon-struck."

Scientists have estimated that it would take 600,000 full moons to equal the brilliance of the midday sun. Last night's Hunter's Moon came close to that intensity. It was beautiful.

October 22, 2010, the birthday of Dianne Hewitt, Charles Parks, Almedia, and the wedding anniversary of Ed and Susan Cole. Overnight temperatures will dip toward the frost level. Tonight is the full moon.

Today's comedy is from Abbot & Costello. The comedy team explains the stimulus plan for workers. Go here to watch.

For sale: A Long (Benton) Wagon Works box and tongue. The box needs repair, the tongue is in very good shape. The tongue is made out of oak. The owner will take offers. You can email the owner at logs_2_lumberATyahoo.com or 441-3232.

Didja ever think that wrinkles are something other people have--
similar to my character lines?

There is a great deal going on this weekend. In case you didn't hear about it, the semi-annual church supper at Zion United Church of Christ, a chicken bar-B-Que, takes place just off route 487 North of Orangeville Saturday from 4 PM. The pies are homemade. Adult admission is $9, children between 6-12, $4.50. Under 6 get in free. Takeouts are available. The supper goes on rain or shine, so come about 4 and chow down.

The Benton Airport Ham Roast Fly-In takes place Saturday. There will be signs on Main Street as a reminder. If the weather is good, there is a good turn out of planes. Scenic rides will be available, weather permitting. As always, complete information is available on the upcoming events page.

The Benton News is currently in a series of articles about the early development of the community. Today's discussion relates to streets.

The streets of Benton Borough were surfaced with sand and gravel in the early years, just as concrete, brick and asphalt pavements were used in more prosperous communities. For most of the country roads, ordinary gravel was the most common material used for surfacing.

Father always said that the best gravel should be hard and tough and in different sizes, from the size of sand to pieces less than three inches in length. The stones needed to be hard enough not to break when struck together. Gravel taken from a pit was usually better than that taken from a stream bed since the pieces were not so round and were of a better size. A test of gravel was to notice if when dug the gravel left stood up in the bank or kept rolling down. If it stood up, then it was likely to pack well in a road.

The concept of road building using sand and gravel (or simply gravel) has changed over the years. Early roads in the borough were left slightly lower in the center with shoulders on each side. The shoulders held the gravel in place. After the road was graded and crowned, gravel was dumped and spread evenly about eight feet wide and eight inches deep. It was sometimes spread by hand, but was cheaper to spread with a team of horses pulling a harrow or "road machine." Gravel was not put on roads full of ruts and holes. The road surface was first drug to level.

The thinking changed over the years on the road surfaces so that gravel roads were kept crowned and ditched. The water flowed from the road and did not remain on the road. Sand roads here in Florida tend to be better roads when they are wet. Often the loose sand roads that meander through the hinterland of the Sunshine State have bushes and trees that are not cut back so that the roads stay moist longer.

Borough council of Benton paid my grandfather, Harry H. Kline, 50 cents in July 1920 for five loads of gravel. In November 1921, he completed delivery of 387 loads of gravel at 15 cents per load which resulted in income of $58.05. Every pebble and every grain of sand was dug by hand, shoveled onto wagons by hand, carted to where needed by a team of work horses and shoveled to the street by hand. The roundtrip brought 15 cents into the family coffers. Yesterday in Florida, I planted two palm trees, broke into a sweat in the 86° temperature and took a nap after my work for the day.

George D. Yost started Yost's Restaurant, now the Hoboken Sub Shop. George was a blacksmith whose shop was close to the location of Becky Green's house. My father dug all the sand and gravel for the foundation of the building and delivered it with a team of horses, then shoveled it into a cement mixer. He did this when he was not working at his full-time job as a farmer, his full-time job as a rural mail carrier and his part-time job as a director of the local bank.

When we return with the weekend edition. we'll tell you about the planting of sugar maple trees in the borough. Many will remember when Main Street was lined with sugar maples. Others will only remember how upset borough residents got when former Mayor Larry Houseweart had them removed from Main Street.

The class of 1980 of the Benton Area Schools had a reunion weekend September 24-26. Friday evening was a get-together hosted by Dena Ritter Hess and Ann Young Bower at Dena’s home in Bloomsburg. Saturday was dinner and dancing at the Comfort Inn & Suites at Buckhorn in the River Room. During cocktails, Webb Kline, Husband of Stacy Griffith Kline, entertained. Sunday a family picnic was hosted by Lori Kinney and Jim Cardennis at Lori’s family farm. Several of the other classmates helped with the set up of tents and tables. Glen Hess, also a classmate, Stacy & Webb Kline and others entertained.

The second picture includes classmates who arrived later and the guests of the classmates.

October 21, 2010, the birthday of Robert Rabb and Kathleen Harvey. David and Linda Bronson and Pat and Dennis Threlkeld celebrate their wedding anniversaries. The Benton Township Zoning Hearing Board approved Williams Production Appalachia, LLC's request for a water-withdrawal operation with storage tanks on the Inez Moss property at 1200 Upper Raven Creek Road, Benton.

There are many old pictures of Market Street and Second Street (now Main Street) as dirt roads. This view is of the Exchange Hotel at that intersection.

Popular pictures included oxen pulling carts and one picture showed what appeared to be a three-legged horse on the dirt in front of the former Rabb's Drug Store. Roads in the borough were not in great shape in November 1918. P. A. Shultz lost his team and wagon when it went over the bank near the "slaughter house." The borough reimbursed Mr. Shultz for 25 bushels of lime lost at that time.

In February 1915, the borough council made an application to the state highway department for state aid in placing 7,084 feet of macadam road in the borough. The macadamizing of the road cost $10,694, with the state paying half, and the county and the borough each paying half. In June of the following year, property owners along Main and Market Streets received notices about the placement of "permanent cement gutters" in front of their properties. The newly paved streets were "top-coated" beginning in June 1916. The cost to the borough was $612. By October 1916, the top dressing was failing on Market Street and the borough went back to the highway department for resolution.

With the improved streets came the ability to drive faster. A notice was inserted in the Argus in July 1915 "warning all autoists to sound their horns when approaching street crossings in the borough." As more cars arrived in the borough, there was more need for gasoline. The Benton Store Company was given permission to install a gasoline pump in front of its store in March 1917. J. P. Laubach installed a gasoline pump in front of his garage on Center Street in June 1918.

Street crossings in the borough have a long history of being ignored. I once rode with brother Dayne to his house and as we passed the stop sign at North and Park Streets at 20 miles an hour, I asked Dayne why he didn't stop. After all, the stop sign had been there two months. He glanced in the rear-view mirror and slapped his hand to his forehead and said he had never noticed it before. Residents of the borough at Market and Third Streets complained for months about motorists not stopping at the stop signs at that intersection. Crossing signs on Main Street are largely ignored to this day. It was also a problem in 1917.

In October 1917, two "Silent Policemen" were purchased as an addition to the local traffic force. The "silent policemen" were deployed for duty at the East approach to the county bridge over Fishing Creek and at the intersection of Market and Second Streets. Councilmen Klase and Belles were appointed to "place" the "silent policeman."

For readers who might not know the term, a "silent policemen" was a concrete stand with a red signal on its top. In some cases, the standard was red, placed on an iron plate, topped by a red flag by day and a red light at night. It was used as an aid in direction of traffic at crowded corners. Some looked at the casing sticking out of the street and joked that it was the town well plunked in the middle of the intersection.

One manufacturer used these words about their product: "That's the last word in silent cops, so respect him, stranger; he's as big as Taft and stubborn as Wilson. Let 'im alone."

The problem with this traffic enforcement was that people tended to run into it. The Pawtucket Times in its edition of July 30, 1917, told of Justice Albert Clark of the Lee (Massachusetts) District Court who ran into a silent policeman. The "officer" was so battered that Justice Clark took him to the blacksmith shop for treatment. The newspaper speculated how the accident would temper the administration of justice in his court. The local silent policeman had its share of whackings.

By March 1918, the borough council was authorizing repairs to the silent policeman (and by the same token, motorists were nursing bruised front ends of cars). Traffic control worsened and in May 1918, the council issued this notice:

Warning is hereby given to all drivers of automobiles that the laws and ordinances governing the driving of autos will be strictly enforced. Special attention is called to the speed limit of fifteen miles per hour in the borough limits and the observance of the law of "keeping to the right" at the places designed by the "Silent Policeman."

By July 1918, the borough began sending repair bills to those who ran into the silent policeman. Clem Henrie had the honor of receiving the first bill. In August, Fred Dodson was paid $2.55 to repair damages to a silent policeman and in April 1920 he received another $5.25 and again in September 1920 there was more damage. The iron structure damage was became increasingly serious and the borough had to purchase replacement panels from the manufacturer, Traffic Sign & Signal Co. Additional repairs were necessary in June, July and December 1921.

The borough in September 1920 had to increase the pay to make repairs of this nature and to handle the construction and improvement of streets. The street work was increased to thirty cents per hour. Team work on street dragging sixty cents per hour, regular team work fifty cents per hour and street commissioner's salary thirty five cents per hour.

Another silent policeman and parking signs were ordered in March 1922, but $7.50 was needed by May 1922 to repair the new silent policeman. Repairs were again needed in January 1923. Two more silent policemen were ordered in April 1923 from Traffic Sign & Signal Co. for a total of $15, but repairs continued in October 1923 and April 1924. Inflation had set in. A new silent policeman was now needed and with parts the bill came to $36.55. There were additional expenses for repair of older units. The location of the silent policemen were by now well ingrained in driver's heads and no more repairs were reported until December 1925.

In April 1926, the Columbia County commissioners elected to build a new bridge across Fishing Creek in Benton borough, which included a sidewalk. This meant that Second Street no longer abruptly made a 45° turn at its intersection with Market Street. The abrupt turns would be a thing of the past and the silent policemen would no longer be required. But the events which then took place can wait for a future edition of the Benton News.

George W. Miller (October 30, 1929-October 19, 2010), formerly of State College, died Tuesday at his residence in Millheim. He was 80. George was born in Bloomsburg, a son of Truman R. and Marie L. (Utt) Miller. George was a 1947 graduate of Benton High School and a 1951 graduate of the Williamsport Technical Institute as an Electronic Technician. He was an electronic technician for Penn State at the Ordinance Research Lab (now known as Applied Research Lab) from 1951 to 1986. For his first eleven years, George did research for the government on a Navy contract in Key West, FL. He traveled extensively over 35 years to Bermuda, Caribbean Islands, Spain, Portugal, Iceland and Nova Scotia. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. George was the nursery leader for 10 years caring for the children from 18 months to 3 years of age. He enjoyed roller skating, crocheting, woodworking, dry-wall finishing and could fix anything. George was very active all of his life. A tribute to his amazing character and beliefs is how well he handled the many challenges he faced in the last two years of his life after becoming a paraplegic. He met several of his friends a couple of weeks ago at The Brass Pelican for his favorite plate of buckwheat cakes. He generally ate about a dozen.

On September 24, 1949, he married Helen L. Ingram of Emporium, who survives at home. George and Helen enjoyed traveling in their motor homes. They visited every state in the union with the exception of North Dakota, Alaska and Hawaii. George is also survived by daughters Patricia (Dennis) Beckenbaugh, Millheim, Daisie Miller, Millheim, and Virginia Price, Harrisburg; one brother Donald Miller (Betty), Grove, OK, seven grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren.

A visitation will be held Saturday morning, October 23, from 9 to 10:30 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 842 Whitehall Road, State College, with the funeral immediately following at the same location. Interment will be in Centre County Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Home Nursing Agency, 450 Windmere Dr., Suite 100, State College, PA 16801 or to the American Heart Association, 777 Penn Center Blvd, Suite 200, Pittsburgh, PA 15235. A guest book can be signed or condolences sent to the family at www.heintzelmanfuneralhome.com .

Marian S. O'Brien (June 18, 1924-October 19, 2010) died Tuesday at Saucon Valley Manor in Hellertown. Marian was born in Benton, a daughter of Paul and Francis (Davis) Shannon. She was 86. She graduated from the Benton schools with the class of 1942 and from the Geisinger School of Nursing. She served as a registered nurse stationed in Pensacola, Florida, in the Navy during World War II.

She was a long-time resident of Hunterdon County, New Jersey. She was the owner and operator of Annandale Country Store from 1975 and 1983. She is survived by children Donna Foran, Flemington, New Jersey; David Hay, Milford, NJ; and Donal Hay, Chesterfield, VA, her sisters Esther Vincent and Ann Fantanarosa, both of Benton. She had six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her first husband, Donald Hay, her second husband, John O'Brien and two sisters, Nancy and Shirley.

The family will receive relatives and friends at a memorial gathering on Saturday, October 23, from 10 AM to 11 AM at Martin Funeral Home, Clinton, New Jersey. The memorial service will begin at 11 AM followed by interment at Evergreen Cemetery, Halstead Street, Clinton.

In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to Alzheimer's Association, 400 Morris Avenue, Suite #251, Denville, NJ 07834-1365.

October 20, the 293rd day of 2010. There are 62 days until the official start of Winter. It is the birthday of Edward Lee Cole, Monica Diltz and Bill Johnson. The local Red Hats meet this afternoon at the Hoboken Sub Shop at 2.

The President of the United States faced a dilemma on this day in 1973. Demands by law professor Archibald Cox, the first Special Prosecutor for the Watergate scandal, threatened the Executive Branch. Cox had to go and the president decided he should be fired. The president reasoned that the firing of Cox, an authority on constitutional law, should come from someone in the legal side in the Executive Branch. President Nixon started making phone calls to his cabinet looking for a volunteer to do the firing, but he got turned down more than a kid with acne. When you say no to a president, you almost have to end the conversation with the words, "I respectfully resign." Elliot Richardson, William Ruckelshaus and four others did that. The president worked his way down to the Solicitor General, an acknowledged legal scholar, law professor and expert on the Constitution. The Solicitor General said the firing was legal under the constitution. He fired Archibald Cox. The Solicitor General's name was Robert Heron Bork, later nominated to be the nation's 104th Supreme Court justice by President Reagan. Bork is now employed as a lawyer, law professor and author. Interested in reading more about what came to be known as the "Saturday Night Massacre?" Go here.

It will soon be Halloween. Here are some reminders about Halloween in Benton.

• The Benton Lions Club Halloween Parade is Tuesday, October 26. The parade forms at 6 PM on McHenry Avenue and moves at 7 PM. Those interested in placing a float in the parade can register by calling 864-3638. Floats must be pre-registered. If you need additional information, contact Lisa Campbell of the Benton Lions Club, LCampbell2ATlyco.org .

• Trick or Treat Night in the Borough is Saturday, October 30, from 6-8. From 6 until 8, the Benton United Methodist Church will also be open to the community for Trick-or-Treat night. Each trick-or-treater will receive a bag and all are invited to come in to rest, get warm, use the facilities and grab a cup of coffee or hot chocolate.

The St. James Church Roast Pork Supper will be back November 6. The homemade applesauce has been prepared. It takes place at St. James Church Zaners Bridge Road, Bendertown, Saturday, from 4 PM. The menu includes roast pork, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, lima beans, corn, pickled cabbage, homemade applesauce, iced tea, coffee and pie for dessert.

This is another reminder for borough residents. Please put nothing but leaves--no grass clippings, limbs or landscape trimmings--on the street. Please rake leaves in a pile. Do not blow them out into the street.

The Benton United Methodist Church, Main Street, will hold its Election Day luncheon on November 2. Members of the church will be serving from 11 AM until 2 PM. Take-outs are available. The menu includes ham and bean soup, vegetable beef soup, ham barbeques, hamburger barbeques, ham-salad sandwiches, hot dogs (sauerkraut), broccoli salad, macaroni salad, cake, pie, coffee and iced tea. You can also eat your lunch or dinner at the Grassmere schoolhouse. The Christ United Methodist Church will serve food, including baked items.

Over the years in Benton Borough...

Didja know that it was in August 1912 that the Borough council agreed to pay for half of the lighting of the town park for the following July 4 celebration? This was the first lighting of the town park. The total light bill for lighting the borough streets in August 1912 was $19.34. The provider of the electricity was the Benton Electric Light Company. In November 1912, the Benton Electric Light Co. placed outdoor electric lights at the intersection of North and First (Park) Streets and on First Street at its intersection with Ikeler Alley. It was not until July 1913 that the bill for street lighting changed, even with the addition of additional lighting. In July 1913, the bill was reduced from $19.34 to $15.34 because "a number of street lights were not in service for the previous month."

Caroline Geiser McHenry donated a plot of ground first used as the Presbyterian Church in 1903. Eleven years after the church was built and three years after it survived the July 4, 1910 Benton fire, on May 16, 1913, fire gutted The First Presbyterian Church of Benton. Borough council offered $500 for the arrest and conviction "of the party or parties guilty of the crime of setting fire" to the church. A $5,000 task of renovation began in 1914, and services resumed in the present church on March 16, 1915. Like the Benton fire of July 4, 1910, the person or persons responsible were never found.

The "Water Works" came along in July 1913 when a bond was taken out in the amount of $5,000 to protect the borough from "damage suits." F. W. Kendig began placing "fire plugs" in the borough the following month. The first installations were strategically placed at the school house, Appleman's Wagon Works, William Follmer's shop, and at L. S. Cromis. The original ordinance granting Mr. Kendig the franchise called for the placement of 30 "plugs." A contract was signed with Mr. Kendig in September 1913 to provide fire protection to the borough. The Consumers Water Co. soon had its share of problems, with an occurrence (I did not determine what) on November 2, 1913, which drained the reservoir until 7 AM November 3.

It was in August 1913 that the license to "peddle" in the borough was raised from a dollar to $5 per day. Because no licenses were issued the next month, the council reduced the fee to $3 a day in September 1913.

Telephone service in the borough was provided in November 1913 by the Columbia and Montour Telephone Co. This company had its share of problems and was reminded from time to time that "poles were in a dangerous condition."

Utility service in the borough remained on uneven ground into 1914 as did our nation as it crept closer and closer to World War I. In March, council took action "relative to the failure of the Benton Electric Co. and the Benton Water Co. to supply the borough with light and water. John F. Stone, President, and Glen Appleman, Supt., were notified that the "borough and its citizens were without water for fire protection and domestic use, and that the auxiliary steam boiler in connection with the power house must be put into operation at once."

In 1914, Benton was supplied with electricity by a company of which Charles Bellas was president and manager; C. B. Whitmire, vice president; G. L. Hess, secretary and treasurer. A concrete dam, 280 feet long, had been built by 1914 at the site of the old Swartwout mill, and the powerhouse contained a 75-kilowatt generator, operated by a 100-horsepower turbine. The Benton Electric Company provided electricity to Benton until the 1920s when it became the property of the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company. The Pennsylvania Power & Light Company sold the building to Terrence Smith, who retained the water power.

We'll return from time to time with a continuation of the history of the borough of Benton.

Lynn Posey (October 1, 1920-October 18, 2010) died Monday at his home on Posey Hill Road, Orangeville (Fishing Creek Township) following a lengthy illness. He was 90. Lynn was born in Brock Road, Virginia. He was a son of Emery Richard Posey and Armentis Alice (Arbogast) Posey. He owned and operated a farm and a tree nursery in Fishing Creek Township for many years. He served as a Fishing Creek Township supervisor for nearly 30 years and was a member of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.

Surviving are his children Theodore L. Posey, Orangeville; Eva Joann Miller, Ivan L. Posey (Susan); Argil C. Posey (Diane); Rick L. Posey (Tina); a granddaughter that he and his wife raised, Melody Danko; all of rural Orangeville; 13 additional grandchildren; 19 great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife of 55 years, Anna (Mausteller) Posey, on September 3, 1996, and by a granddaughter, Angela Parks, on August 19, 2002; a brother, Clive R. Posey on July 20, 2009; a sister, Jewel Moss Gregory, and a niece, Helen Posey Billhiem.

Funeral services will be held Friday at 11 AM with viewing preceding at the McMichael Funeral Home. Burial will be in the Rohrsburg Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to Columbia Montour Home Hospice, 410 Glenn Ave., Bloomsburg, PA 17815. For online condolences, visit www.mcmichaelfuneralhome.com .

Tuesday, October 19, the birthday of Carole Fornwald Whitenight, Joey Sue Laubach, Virginia Kline and Becky Davis.

The Museum of Modern Art, on this day in 1961, hung its newest and proudest possession: Le Bateau by Henri Matisse . The museum and New York city considered it a big deal that the public was allowed to see Le Bateau. The event received a lot of publicity and over the next 48 days more than 100,000 people trooped past the celebrated painting. A stockbroker pointed that it didn't look like it did in the book. There was a good reason for that. The museum staff had unknowingly hung it upside down and for 48 days no one noticed the difference. When questioned about the upside down painting, a museum guard responded, "You don't know what's up and you don't know what's down and neither do we."

We live in a topsy-turvey, upside down world. Mother, when she took one of her infrequent trips, liked to send post cards to her friends. She knew there wasn't much privacy on a post card, but she improvised by writing upside down on the photo side of the post card, reasoning that unintended people whose hands touched her card would be more interested in looking at the picture than turning the card upside down to read its message.

Flying the American flag upside down is a permissible way of showing distress and has been used over the years by various ships. We saw a man carrying an American flag upside down in protest over a political candidate. I think that the person should have "stood on his head" in that public place, rather than flying the American flag upside down. Perhaps then he would have received the help that he apparently needed.

It makes little difference now whether a stamp is fastened to a letter the right way up or upside down, but in my high-school days an upside down stamp meant that a person loved the person to whom the card or letter was sent. In some parts of the world in the last century, it was a crime to affix a stamp showing the queen's head upside down.

It is the time of the year when the frenzy of political advertisements drives most of us wild. Little has changed over the years. In 1898, the flag over the state capitol in Kansas was flown at half-mast upside down. The janitor who did it apparently figured that it would signify not only political inaction but utter demoralization.

To celebrate our upside down world, spend some time understanding modern economics, hang what you learn upside down on your wall and wait for the financial pages to record a plunge in the stock market before the end of the year.

A friend is in trouble with his mortgage. It is one thing to see a house potentially empty and unloved, a victim of foreclosure. It is quite another to see the home of a friend become a victim of the current mess we're in. Sure, it is necessary to comply with the mortgage agreement that was signed at the closing, but there seem to be too many cases where there was a little hanky-panky involved on the part of the institution that made the loan. In some cases, the burden of foreclosure rests squarely on the shoulders of the mortgagee. But that isn't the whole story in other cases. And now the administration is arguing that many of the current foreclosure problems stem from "sloppy paperwork," while not bothering to mention the probability that systemic fraud was involved. Didja notice that the government didn't bother to look into the situation when it first came up? Why isn't jail time and fines and punishment of the guilty being ladled out?

Many big banks are insolvent. No, I don't have the facts and figures to prove that, but there isn't any way in the world that all the mortgage defaults will permit these Titanics to remain afloat. Bank of America had a $7.3 billion loss for the third quarter and other major banks post their third-quarter results this week.

Major lending institutions pushed for the placement of "no-doc" loans, previous credit history was often overlooked, the placement of "no qualifying loans" was loony and half a bubble away from criminal. Huge bonuses continue to go to the crum-bums who got us into this mess. Read more on this subject by going here. We aren't talking about the small, independent, financial institutions that serve our local area, by the way.

I certainly hope that my friend will find a way to make his payments so a foreclosure isn't the outcome. If he and others like him can find a way of doing that, lenders will be repaid and the banks can become profitable again and the need for future government assistance in a bailout will be eliminated. This can happen if we can find a way to return to full employment and consumers again begin to buy. If this means that we have to return to the days of Roosevelt to find employment, if this means that we have to do with one or two bathrooms instead of three, if this means that we drive our six-year old car rather than borrowing to get a new one by trading in an old clunker of ours--so be it.

October 18, 2010, the birthday of Mike Minjack and Nicole Steiner-Stevens. It is the wedding anniversary of Richard and Jan Jost. Leaf pick-up in Benton Borough begins today. Only leaves will be picked up--no grass clippings or brush. Please help the maintenance crew by not parking on piles of leaves.

The work of Merrill Wagner Ryman is on exhibition at Larry Becker Contemporary Art , 43 North Second Street Philadelphia. Merrill has done volunteer work at The Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center. Merrill and her husband, Bob Ryman, enjoy leisure time in the local area. You can learn more about the art of Merrill Wagner by clicking on this link.

Angel Food orders are out early this month! Ordering will be on November 6 with all orders in by November 11. Delivery date will be on November 20. Pick up is Saturday, October 23, for all who ordered food this month. It is still not to late to order a box for October. This needs to be done today online .

The Community Outreach Ministry of Benton (COMB) of the Benton United Methodist Church will hold its annual Thanksgiving meal at the Main Street church on Thanksgiving (November 25) at noon. The meal is free and everyone is welcome. Please call the church at 925-6858 or a member of COMB to make your reservations.

Come to the Benton town park from noon to 5 PM on October 23 for fun, food, crafts and games at the Slaughterhouse Boyz Fall Festival. The Slaughterhouse Boyz will host their Fall Festival to benefit the Benton Elementary wrestlers. Support our youth and have fun while doing it! Events include...

12:30--Judging for chili cook off contest. Look for an application and enter the contest so you can have bragging rights!

2:00--Costume Contest. Wear your costume and enter the contest to win prizes!

3:00--Duck Derby. Buy a duck and watch it race to the dam for a chance to win!

4:00--Judging for Pumpkin Carving. Bring your carved pumpkin by noon and let the public choose the best one!

4:30--Drawing for basket raffle. Check out all of the baskets we will have to raffle off, lots of chances to win!

There will be many craft vendors, lots of food, games and a basket raffle!!! What a great way to spend the day and help our organization.

Check out Slaughterhouse Boyz on Facebook here.

Roy Davis loves small towns and returns to Jamison City whenever he can. Roy emailed when he found out we are in the land of "palm trees, bikinis, and water bugs" to tell us about "a miscreant getting his just desserts." Roy referred to it as when the "biter gets bitten." Roy explained that a friend lives in Atlanta, Georgia, a city where there are some good parts and some bad. Let's just let Roy tell the story...

"Our friend had just moved to that town, so decided to buy a house. Found a great one too--a sort of Cape Cod bungalow. The price was more than fair, so she closed the deal. Then after she moved in, little uncertainties began to creep into her consciousness. There were unsavory characters hanging about. And some of the homes were occupied by people with no visible means of support.

"Her worst fears were realized one evening when she came home; and as she walked up to her front door, two nondescript men approached her from behind. One said, 'All right, Lady, just give us your purse.'

"She gulped and said, 'I can’t...it’s in my car.'

“'Go back and get it!' Which she did, and handed it over, heart hammering. They ran off immediately, and she went in to sit down, trembling, and call the police. They assured her they would address her problem with all speed, but there had been an epidemic of such behavior, so it would take time.

"After a sleepless night, our friend decided she would never feel safe in that part of town again. So she got in touch with a realtor, rented a nice condo in another area, and listed her place for sale or rent. And she has been successful in finding tenants who could make rent payments to build her equity. She now feels more safe, and has gone about rebuilding her life.

"And something interesting has happened. From the safety of her vantage point she heard about another incident in the old neighborhood. Quite close to her former home lives a man who decided, like the guy in the film, that he’s mad as hell, and is not going to take any more of that stuff.

"First, he went to an appliance store and asked them if he could have some empty cardboard boxes. They gave him the containers for sold appliances--TV, Blue Ray, DVD, a whole entertainment center. He took the boxes home, piled them out at the curb for the next trash pickup. Aha! Someone in that house must have bought some real goodies.

"Then he parked his car at a friend’s house on the next street and entered his house quietly through the back door. Now this guy is an avid sportsman and hunter. He even goes so far as to load his own ammunition. He had with him his 12 gauge automatic pump shotgun, a pocket full of shells loaded with rock salt and buck shot. He also had a six pack of beer and soft drinks, chips, and other assorted snack foods. He set up operations in his own living room and loaded the shotgun with two shells filled with rock salt, and behind that some deadly buck shot. And he waited.

"Thirty six hours went by before some wayward criminals took the bait. Oh, they had been watching all right. Those electronic goodies newly installed, and their cartons piled up for the trash man! Patiently, patiently, and they finally decided the owner must be gone for a few days. His car, always in the driveway, was missing. Two would-be robbers silently slipped up to the front door and picked the lock. Because it was night, they felt little fear of detection.

"When they were in and starting across the front room, suddenly the lights all came on--they were confronted by a man sitting in a recliner facing them, and with the deadly barrel of a shotgun pointed their way. They stood dumbfounded.

"'All right,' he said, 'This gun has two shells loaded with rock salt, and behind that some real lead! Down on the floor and stretch out!' One reckless robber made a move toward his pocket, and then two ear-shattering blasts.

"When the police arrived, called from the home-owner’s cell phone, they found two trembling robbers, lying prone, and bleeding all over his rug from some stinging salt wounds! I don’t know if they were the same guys who robbed our friend, but wouldn’t it be pretty to think so!"

"Pretty drastic solution to a problem, but it is kind of nice once in a while to see the biter get bitten. And that there is a chance of eventual evening of the score as we live our lives in these story-book towns."

The Pennsylvania House bill (H.B. 1196) which suspended the requirement in 2011 to install sprinklers in new homes was passed by the Senate Thursday. The fire-sprinkler mandate is currently part of the state’s Uniform Construction Code which uses many standards set by the International Code Council (ICC). The sprinkler requirement was widely disliked by those in the construction industry as being cost prohibitive and a deterrent to new construction in the local area. Let's hope that the Legislature makes the requirement go away forever.

Saturday and Sunday, October 16-17, 2010. Please keep Calvin Follmer and Donna Laubach in your prayers. Calvin has pneumonia and Donna just concluded a ten-day stay in intensive care for pneumonia. And add a special prayer for Lynn Shaw and Shirley Keller as they recuperate from Friday operations and to Shirley's brother Ed Kocher, recovering from problems with his hip that required a ride in the ambulance to the hospital to correct the problem. Saturday will continue with the Friday windy and cool weather.

October 16, the birthday of David Keller, Rebecca J Musselman and Pedro Coen, son of actress Frances McDormand and filmmaker Joel Coen. Pedro is the grandson of Rev. Vernon McDormand. It is homecoming at the Benton Area Schools. There is a ham buffet at the Fairmount Twp. Vol. Fire & Ambulance Co., 671 State Route 118, beginning at 4 for $8 for adults and $4 for children. Katy's Fall Fest is from noon till 5 PM at Katy's Church in the 140 year old historical German Church. The Ol' Country Barn's 24th annual Pumpkin Festival takes place today and Sunday from 10 AM until 5 PM, rain or shine! There is free parking, free admission, free hayrides (with the option to pick a pumpkin for a minimal fee from the pumpkin patch), and free entertainment!! There is great food, unique crafts, fantastic antiques, beautiful jewelry and much more! The "Barn" is located six miles north of Benton just off of State Routes 118 and 487 at 9 South Comstock Road (off Fritz Hill, behind the Benton Foundry).

Scott and Janice Maguire will hold their final flea market for the season today a half mile South of the borough on route 487 at the former Bubb Laubach farm. Heck, as popular as these sales are, just watch for all the cars. There will be lots of treasures waiting to be found, whether you are buying or selling. Food will be available for your dining or snacking pleasure, including chili, cheesesteaks (chicken and beef), homemade pies, bread, sticky buns and apple dumplings.

“Penns Woods and the Gas Rush”, the first ever statewide conference for all those concerned about effects of drilling in the Marcellus Shale will be hosted by PennAction and the PA League of Conservation Voters. The conference is from 11AM – 5 PM Saturday at the Radisson Hotel Harrisburg, 1150 Camp Hill Bypass. Details are here. We are now finished with Saturday. Let's move to Sunday.

October 17, the birthday of Ken Peterman. The Benton Bible Baptist Church will host a Friend Day on Sunday at 10:30 AM. A dinner will follow the service. The Jerseytown Bluegrass Jam at the Jerseytown Community Center starts at noon. Auditions for adults and children will be held Sunday afternoon from 1 to 3 PM for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" produced by Fishing Creek Players to be presented at The Center in December. The Benton Council of Churches' crop walk begins at 1 PM from Christ the King Catholic Church parking lot. For more information you can go to www.cropwalk.org . Complete details for all upcoming events are listed on the upcoming events page of the Benton News.

A list of upcoming Penn State cooperative extension seminars related to the natural-gas industry in our Commonwealth can be found here.

The subject for Monday's North Mountain Historical Club meeting will be "digging in outhouses," a replay of subject but not content from a previous popular program at the Brass Pelican. The buckwheat cakes are on the table by 8 and the speaker begins about 9 AM. The program is free and open to the public.

The Benton Volunteer Fire Company will host its monthly breakfast on Sunday, October 31, at the fire hall starting at 7AM. The fire company will serve eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, French toast, sausage gravy, coffee, juice, buttermilk pancakes and buckwheat cakes.

Kay and I have been too busy having fun to mention some of the things we have been doing lately. Jim Remley noticed that we were in Abingdon, VA, and mentioned that one of the two medi-vac helicopters operated by the Virginia state police is based there. The other is based in Chesterfield County, which is just outside of Richmond, VA. That is the one Jim worked on. It is interesting that the helicopters were basically free to ride. They were funded by a "two-for-life" program which took two dollars from every car registration fee in VA. Jim remarked that "if you have any idea how expensive it is to operate a helo what a great service that was to the residents of VA."

This edition of the Benton News comes from Port Saint Lucie, Florida. Marcia Kay and I have been on the road and have had little time to prepare the Benton News. To make matters worse, collective thoughts for today's edition were dictated into my cell phone and sent to my EverNote account so I could write something later. I then deleted my sent emails in the cell phone and when I opened EverNote last night I hit the delete button--an unforgiving %^&$%&*(. I apologize to those who sent news to me and don't see it here. Please feel to send it back to me and I'll try to do a better job in the future. Don't ever get old! Dumb things happen...

Speaking of making mistake, the date for Madelyn Chiolan's auction at Steve Letteer's Meadowbrook Farm, is Sunday, October 24.

Dorothea E. (Stout) Swank Mather (March 21, 1919-October 14, 2010),a truly genteel and gentle lady, died Thursday evening at her home on Jamison City Road, Benton. She was 91. Dorothea was born in the village of Central, Sugarloaf Township. She was a daughter of Leon Otta Stout and Hattie Gertrude (Giberson) Stout. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Franklin A. Swank, on March 24, 1977. She married her second husband, William "Bill" Mather, Jamison City, on November 9, 2002.

Dorothea was educated at the Sugarloaf School, Grassmere, and graduated from Benton High School with the class of 1937.

Dorothea had been employed by the AC&F Berwick during World War II. She later worked for the Stahl Toy Factory and for U. S. Radium, retiring in June 1985. She is a member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Nescopeck, and an associate member of Christ United Methodist Church, Central. She has been a resident of Almedia, Nescopeck and since 2001 a resident of Jamison City.

Surviving are her husband, William "Bill" Mather, and nephews Wayne Adams, Espy, and Wendell "Sam" Adams, Orangeville. Along with her first husband, she was preceded in death by a sister, Virgie Adams, in 1968.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday afternoon at 2 with viewing preceding at the McMichael Funeral Home. Burial will be in the Pine Grove Cemetery, Walnut Street, Berwick. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to the Christ United Methodist Church, 605 Camp Lavigne Road, Benton, PA 17814. For online condolences, please visit www.mcmichaelfuneralhome.com/ .

Thursday and Friday, October 14-15, 2010.

October 14, the birthday of Patty Russo and Kris Karl. William Penn, Dwight D. Eisenhower and e. e. (Edward Estlin) cummings were also born on October 14. The Wyoming Valley Civil War Round Table meets at 7 tonight in the lower level of the Daddow-Isaacs American Legion, 730 Memorial Highway, Dallas. The speaker is Phil Lechak, a licensed battlefield guide. Everyone is welcome.

October 15, the birthday of Lee Iacocca and Emeril Lagasse.

Take the sun and sky and clouds of June
And gather all the flowers of July together,
You still won't rival for even a minute
The joy of October's bright blue weather.

Well--that is the way the poem goes. In actuality, today will bring rain, some of it heavy, along with cooler weather. Showers will remain through Friday.

Leaf pick-up begins in Benton Borough October 18. Residents are asked not to place leaves in the street until that date. Only leaves will be picked up--no grass clippings or brush. Please help the maintenance crew by not parking your vehicles on the piles of leaves.

Oil paintings by Larry Ney II are on exhibit at Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center through November. Larry is an artist and electrician from Bloomsburg. There will be a "Meet the Artist" reception at The Center on Sunday afternoon, November 14, from 2 to 4. The public is invited.

Fishing Creek Players will present The Passion of Dracula on the stage of the Benton Middle/High School October 29, 30 and 31. The Passion of Dracula cast includes Bob Ridall as Dr. Seward; Chris Diltz as Jameson; Emmerich Schultz as Van Helsing; Marilyn Kishbaugh as Helga Van Zandt; Larry Paul as Godalming; Kevin Hickman as Renfield; Jenn Braun as Wilhelmina; Brandon Hartman as Johnathan Harker; Jim Micklow as Dracula. The production is directed by M.R. Daniels. The play is a tongue-in-cheek adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. First pictures of the rehearsals of the Passion of Dracula were caught on camera and can be seen here. The crew has started to install the set. This show will take two weeks of preparation on stage to get ready. Special effects come next week. The production needs a large crew to install the effects and operate them for the show. Please contact MR Daniels at mrdanATepix.net if you can help!

The Fishing Creek Veterinary Clinic, Stillwater, will hold an open house October 23 so that everyone can see their new facilities. Representatives of various suppliers will be on hand. More will be provided when available.

Hats off to the very brave miners of Chile who safely made it back to fresh air Wednesday, and to the employees of Center Rock Inc., Berlin, PA, a small drilling company so remote that the employees didn't even have cable television to watch the rescue efforts. The company first gained national attention with a similar rescue in the flooded Quecreek Mine. Center Rock makes a low-profile drill which makes the 28-inch wide canisters that function as the bit. Each canister contains four air hammers and four drill bits that move in tandem to dig through rock. Another Pennsylvania company, Schramm Inc., West Chester, makes the drill used to make the hole.

Madelyn Chiolan has been in the business of collecting antiques for 40 years. Steve Letteer is holding an auction of many of her favorite pieces on Sunday, October 24, at noon at Meadowbrook Farm, 266 Derrs Road, Benton. Steve has the entire list on his website at www.letteer.com . Treasures include pottery, depression, Roseville, etc. Furniture will include a cherry hutch, oak open- and glass-door bookcases, 50's chrome leg tables, marble top stands, glass, bottles, furniture, collectibles, McHenry bottles, Pennington Store Company items, an unusual winter children's carpet, and much more.

Summit Tower’s telecommunications tower for Verizon North of the borough is now in the air. Pictures provided by Edward Cole and Robert Parks are here. The question now is when will they be on the air.

The Patriot News said it this way: "The hyperbole, the distortion, the misleading claims--the blatant lies." The newspaper was describing the political poison being spread between the two major candidates for the Senate from our Commonwealth. The paper continued, "Turn on the television these days and you’re certain to hear a barrage of negative campaign ads from candidates claiming their opponent wants to flush your future down the toilet and sell your first-born to a child labor camp." We actually missed those two advertisements, but the rest is certainly true.

Tuesday and Wednesday, October 12-13, 2010.

October 12, the birthday of Ann Bower, Margie Floyd Hardnes and Corey Becker.

October 13, the birthday of Taylor Shires, Bill Danilowicz, Art Search, Mary Gaye Kline, Rose Zimmerman and Jill Byrum, known better as Lacy J. Dalton. It is the third anniversary of the Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center. There are bow classes at the Berwick Offray Ribbon & Bow Outlet tonight beginning at 5:30 PM. Call 784-1985 for more information.

Movie night at The Center will be on Friday, November 5, featuring the 1951 classic "The African Queen."

The state Senate comes back into session today (plus Wednesday and Thursday) before it ends its current two-year legislative session. If it is to become law in this session, it will have to be acted on this week. Look for a possible reintroduction to the debate over a tax on the Marcellus Shale. We have to wonder how much of a job killer it will turn out to be, how high the severance tax will be and how much will be returned to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh--the areas from which the gas did not originate! I continue to maintain that the high severance tax proposal is primarily to fund the overspending that Harrisburg has been doing.

Didja ever notice that Government and Marcellus-related work
are the only two places where job growth is taking place in the Commonwealth?

For someone like me who is claustrophobic, Wednesday will be a big day as the Chilean government begins plucking 33 miners from the mine they've been trapped in since August 5. A special-rescue capsule outfitted with its own oxygen supply will lower a doctor to check the workers' health before removing the miners. It is hot 2,300 feet into the earth, but the real heat will come to the 50-year-old miner who will find out when he gets to the surface that both his wife and his mistress are waiting with their kids to greet him. That should be a television moment to remember. Another miner has a first wife he never divorced, a live-in partner, a baby mama and a girlfriend. We suspect there isn't much "chillin'" going on tonight in those households. The rescue capsule will rotate almost full circle ten to twelve times before exiting the 28-inch opening. The twisting, 20-minute ride for 2,041 feet to the surface is expected to take about an hour per round trip.

Saturday, October 15, at 6 PM at the Sullivan County courthouse in Laporte there will be a meeting concerning eminent domain and other issues relating to the Millennium Interstate Pipeline which will go through Bradford, Sullivan and Lycoming counties. Hundreds of gathering pipelines will be necessary as it passes through various townships. Public and environmental safety issues will be raised at this meeting.

If you want to know more about horizontal natural-gas drilling, take the time to watch the video on the subject by clicking here.

Scads of people are spending loads of money on the mid-term election November 2, but the day that follows is just as important. That is the day when the newly elected prepare in earnest for taking over the responsibility that comes with being a politician. That is the day that the downhill slide begins for many of them. We should not elect someone and then not keep our eagle eyes focused directly on them.

October 11, 2010. It is the birthday of retired teacher Beatrice Marie Roberts, Jan Swan and Mike Rudick. It is the wedding anniversary of Philip and Susan Shultz and Peter and Sharon Shultz.

Quickies...

• Everyone, it seems, is forwarding an email about bed bugs that claims that bed bugs are entering the United States by clinging to foreign-made garments. Before you forward that email to others, please take the time to read the article about that email.

• Donald Baker tells us that his grandson, Baker Swedenburg, is the kicker at Mississippi State University. His proud grandfather says that he is a "good student and a guitar player (has played at one wedding) and is a drummer as well."

Didja ever know that a favorite Eskimo saying is
"You never really know your friends from your enemies until the ice breaks?"

Barbara King proudly stood with her daughter, Kathy Hummel, and Bert Getz walked beside his sponsor, Alice Strauch, at a recent Lions Club induction. Dean Kelchner presided.

The art of Diana Lehr in paintings and video will be on display at the Packwood House Museum October 16-23, with an artist's reception October 16 from 6 to 9 PM. The museum is located at 15 North Water Street, Lewisburg. Learn more about Ms. Lehr's work at www.dianalehr.com.

“I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.”
--George Herbert Walker Bush

Betty Lou Stoneham made the front page of the Press Enterprise Sunday when she cried "foul" to reporter Mike Lester about the pungent odors from the acres of broccoli planted beside Route 487 North of Benton. Betty Lou was quoted as saying that "next year if broccoli is planted on a nearby field" owned by Brian Campbell she is "moving out." Two crops of broccoli were planted this year north of the borough by Campbell, also known as Farmer Moofie. He planted 300 acres of cauliflower and broccoli in the local area and harvested it in July. The older, unpicked broccoli "took your breath away" before it was plowed under. A second crop in the same fields is nearing time of harvest and will be picked in November.

Seasoned businessman Dan Stoneham, Betty Lou's husband, left his house Sunday morning before he read the newspaper and was caught unaware that Betty Lou had taken such a strong stand. Friends told Dan about the article and his wide-eyed response was similar to the response customers get when they tell him about their tire problems at the local Steve Shannon Tire Store. Dan had an "I can fix this" expression on his face.

When I last saw Dan, there was little doubt that both Betty Lou and her patient husband would be Benton residents next year--broccoli or not. After all, there is no chance that new grandmother Betty Lou will move far from her darling grandchildren.

My mother's secret to minimize odor when cooking cabbage, broccoli or cauliflower was to set a bottle of vanilla on the kitchen counter with the top off.

She was very careful not to bring broccoli from the garden if the plant was too old. The plants that had yellow flower buds or very woody stalks with open cores were avoided. These were, Mother claimed, signs of age, which translated into a strong flavor and an unpleasant odor. The vegetable is healthful but should not be old or overcooked.

Rosalie Hunter Harrison passed away peacefully October 9 after a long battle against colon cancer. There will not be any services. The family is asking instead of sending flowers or food to the house that you please make a donation to the American Cancer Society or Hospice Community Care , 601 Wyoming Avenue, Kingston, PA 18704.

Rosalie requested that a song be played after she passed away. Her family hopes you find the comfort in it as much as they do. You can find the song here. An obituary will be provided when available.

Barbara King proudly stands with her daughter, Kathy Hummel, and Bert Getz stands beside his sponsor, Alice Strauch, at a Lions Club induction. Dean Kelchner, on right, presided.

Everyone, it seems, is forwarding an email about bed bugs that claims that the bugs are entering the United States by clinging to foreign-made garments. Before you forward that email to others, please take the time to read an article about the validity of that email.

Saturday and Sunday, October 9 and 10, 2010.

October 9, the birthday of Beth McHenry and Tracy Meade-Rekus. It is the wedding anniversary of John and Sandy Kogut. The Dow closed at 14,164.53 three years ago, 8,579.19 two years ago and 11,006.48 Friday.

October 10, the birthday of Sandra Musselman, Loraine Hartman, Don King, Dottie Rabb, Frank Edson, and Jerri Ann Danilowicz.

It is the weekend for the 29th annual Covered Bridge and Arts Festival, Knoebels Amusement Resort, Elysburg. The eagerly awaited fish supper is tonight at the Grassmere schoolhouse. The Boogie Wonder Band Celebrity Artist Series is on tonight at Bloomsburg University. Jeff Steinberg shares his message through singing, humor and encouragement at the Lighthouse, Lightstreet. There is round and square dancing at the Jerseytown Community Center starting tonight and running mostly every Saturday night until Spring. The Fairmount Springs United Methodist Church will hold a ham supper. The "Send Water's Edge to Nashville" concert is at the Benton High School Auditorium. This is a benefit concert--with music from other local artists, door prizes and refreshments--to raise financial support to meet the group's goal of $25,000 for the production of its CD in Nashville. The Military Heritage Weekend and Freedom Festival is on Saturday and Sunday at the Endless Mountains War Memorial Museum, Sonestown. The 30th annual Sullivan County Fall Festival at the Sullivan County fairgrounds takes place in Forksville.

Residents of Wysox Township roughlocked over concerns of hazardous chemicals and increased traffic at a public hearing Thursday for a proposed treatment plant by Eureka Resources LLC, Williamsport, to process waste water from the hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells. An estimated 60 tanker trucks would bring waste water daily to the facility. Solid wastes would be hauled to a landfill. Concentrated brine water would be trucked to disposal wells in Ohio The hearing will continue October 26 in the Wysox Township municipal building.

The Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a candidate forum for the Pennsylvania House 109th District race on Thursday, October 28, at 7 PM in the Berwick High School auditorium. Representative David R. Millard (R), and challengers Daniel Rae (D), and Thomas Anderson (L), are scheduled to participate in the event. Stephen Phillips, Executive Director of the Berwick Industrial Development Association, will moderate. Questions will not be taken from the audience.

We return to the year 1927 in today's edition where we'll discuss athletics as permitted by the members of the Benton Township Board of Education and the Benton Borough Board of Education which constituted the Benton Joint School Board.

Back row:
Carlton Roberts, Roy Evans, Boyd Hartman, Howard Coleman, Carl Weaver, Elmer Miller.
Middle row:
George Cockey Hess, _____ Keeler, Ed Cole, Joseph Follmer, Howard McCern, Garrett Edwards, Frank Keeler, Arden Blaine
Front row:
Carl Hess, Joseph Seward, Marion Smith, Kermit Shultz, Raymond Baker, Roy Miller

TB, Davis; QB, Kermit Shultz; FB, Carl Hess; TB, Raymond Baker

E, Emerson Stoneham; T, Marion Smith; G, Joseph Seward; C, Eugene Treasure; G, Hartman; T, Frank Keeler; E, George Hess

Back row:

Guy Miller, Paul Young, Elmer Miller, Kermit Shultz

Middle row:

Marion Smith, Edward Hess, Zerbin Peeler, Frank Beishline, Carl Hess

Front:

Ed Cole, Emerson Laubach, George Hess, Joseph Follmer, Grant Patterson, Ross Smith, Rub Keller

You can learn more about the graduation years of these class members by going here.

The year 1927 was the first for the original Benton brick school building built by W. H. Cramer. The high-school building was built with a sense of community spirit. The school was made possible through the efforts and public spirit of a few people backed with their own personal resources and effort, not by a public-school tax. Much of the credit for the brick school went to Byron S. Keller and Dr. I. L. Edwards, but area residents worked together in what they called a "school frolic" in August 1927 to cut costs and get the school site ready for construction. The village had a huge sense of accomplishment. The Argus headline read, "HUNDREDS OF WILLING WORKERS BUSY AS BEES" and "REAL COMMUNITY SPIRIT."

The year 1927 was the year that the two-room Columbia County Jamison City Grammar School, "over the bridge," was torn down and lumber taken to help build the Sugarloaf school. If you have your fish supper tonight at the old Sugarloaf school house, take the time to reflect on the history of the place. The Center proudly displays the lobby of the former post office from “Jameson City” and “Jamison City, thanks to a donation from Miles and Esther Little. The post office was disestablished September 30, 1927. Railroad tracks from Jamison City to Benton were torn up in 1927 and in the following year the Bloomsburg and Sullivan Railroad Company was sold at a sheriffs sale to the Reading Railroad Company. The year 1927 is the year Edgar Baker began his teaching career in Upper Pine. Jim "Ivory Knuckles" McHenry began his musical career that year when he appeared in a show called the “Big Apple Minstrel” where he got his first taste of show business. The Long Wagon Works steadfastly refused to install laminated safety glass (invented in 1927 for automobile windshields), but used latched windows in what they produced.

We mention the year 1927 because that is the year we feature, thanks to pictures provided by Phillip and Susan Shultz of the local school's baseball, soccer and football teams.

Fred Ervin Brown (November 30, 1930-October 7, 2010), Martenas Road, Orangeville, died Thursday at the Geisinger Medical Center. He was 79. He was born in Briar Creek Township, a son of Freeman J. and Hattie R. (Evert) Brown. He attended the former Mt. Pleasant one-room schoolhouse, the Stillwater school and Benton Area schools. He served his country during the Korean War in the U. S. Army. He was employed in his younger years by the GLF Canning Company, Bloomsburg, and later worked in construction as a heavy-equipment operator for Lycoming Construction Company.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 55 years, Mary Lucille (Stackhouse) Brown on December 16, 2005, and by brothers and sisters Eva Marie Boudman, Millard John Brown, Harry Thomas Brown, Roy Lincoln Brown, Lester Karl Brown, Charles Robert Brown and Edna Mae Sholley. Surviving are numerous nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Monday at noon with viewing preceding at the McMichael Funeral Home. Burial will be in the Raven Creek cemetery with military honors accorded by a joint veterans group. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to the American Cancer Society, PO Box 3125, Williamsport, PA 17701. For online condolences, visit www.mcmichaelfuneralhome.com .

October 8, 2010. It is the birthday of Don Baker, John Fogg, Jr. and Marissa Whitenight. The 29th annual Covered Bridge and Arts Festival, Knoebels Amusement Resort, Elysburg, kicks off at 10 this morning and runs to 5. It returns Saturday and Sunday.

On this date in 1871, The Great Fire of Chicago broke out at the barn of Catherine and Patrick O'Leary when Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over a kerosene lamp. Or was Daniel "Peg Leg" Sullivan responsible? The fire traveled quickly on the West Side, jumped the Chicago River traveling at speeds estimated up to 30 mph at times, while sending fire and superheated air into the air. By October 10, more than three square miles in the heart of the city were destroyed, property damages were $200 million, about 100,000 people were homeless, and nearly 300 were dead.

One dark night, when people were in bed,
Mrs. O' Leary lit a lantern in her shed,
The cow kicked it over, winked its eye, and said,
There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight.

An Act providing for the protection of consumers from having spyware deceptively installed on their computers and for criminal and civil enforcement, sponsored by Sen. John Gordner, now moves to the Guv for his signature. Read the bill here.

Four pieces of free advice for today:
   A worm is the only animal that can't fall down.
   You can't get lard unless you boil the hog.
   Don't hang your wash on someone else's line.

A drought usually ends with a flood.

The upper Fishing Creek valley dodged a lot of rain misery last week. This is a good time to look at the history of flooding in the area.

Hurricanes and other tropical storms that have affected our part of Pennsylvania in the past 50 years include...
   • Hurricane Hazel, October 1954. Maintained wind speeds of more than 100 mph as it passed through central Pennsylvania. Killed more than 600 people in the United States, Caribbean and Canada.
   • Hurricane Diane, August 1955. Brought inland flooding to Pennsylvania, the damage concentrated in northeastern counties. The storm was blamed for nearly 200 deaths and billions of dollars in damages nationally.
   • Hurricane Agnes, June 1972. Drenching rains across Pennsylvania, close to 20 inches in some areas. President Nixon declared the entire state a disaster area. Floods and fires destroyed 68,000 homes and 3,000 businesses, and left 220,000 state residents homeless.
   • Hurricane Eloise, September 1975. Severely affected 29 counties. It was blamed for 76 deaths in the United States and Caribbean.
   • Hurricane Floyd, September 1999. Damaged at least 1,000 structures and left more than 4,000 Pennsylvanians homeless. Winds reached 50 mph and about 4 inches of rain fell locally. About 288,000 PPL customers lost power.

Looking at the floods in the area by year...

1835-36

Berwick was incorporated in 1818, the same year as the completion of a covered bridge connecting Berwick and Nescopeck, a 1,256 foot long, 28-foot wide structure. The bridge was destroyed by ice in the winter of 1835-36. The second of four bridges (1838-1904) was destroyed by an ice flood.

1848

Ida Albertson wrote in her diary July 2, 1848: "The awful flood in Fishingcreek." A grist mill built by Isaiah Cole in 1799 and operated for almost half a century was destroyed by a "cloudburst and flash flood." A covered bridge in Stillwater built in 1823 for a cost of "under $500," was destroyed by the "Kauff flood," named for members of the Kauff family who were flood victims. The flood of 1848 was sometimes referred to as the "Great Freshet." This flood probably was the all-time record high water for the Fishing Creek valley. Records written by the McHenry family indicate that the flood "followed a cloudburst" and destroyed many "buildings and carried away every bridge on Fishingcreek from North Mountain to Bloomsburg."

1850

Emmons was located in Davidson Township, Sullivan County, five miles west of Central on the west branch of the Fishing Creek. George W. Baum in the 1840s erected a sawmill and called the area Baumtown. In 1850, a flood destroyed the mill and adjacent property and the business terminated. These waters flowed South through the Borough.

1889

The "great flood of 1889" created havoc from Williamsport to the local area and wiped out mills, lumberyards and other businesses. Jamison City experienced hard times during 1889 as unemployment and debts mounted.

Mid-1930s

The concept of a park in Benton began a century ago when a civic-minded person gave an acre of land along Fishingcreek for a place where the public could gather. In the mid-1930s, the Work Progress Administration (WPA) built a flood-protection dike along Fishingcreek. That dike keeps the waters of Fishingcreek from flooding the borough.

1936

For many years, the local area associated the word "flood" with the year 1936. The flood of 1936 ripped out about 40 feet of the center of the Benton dam. The dike along Fishing Creek and the Benton park was nearly completed at the time. High water swirled around the up-steam side where work was still in progress. The homes of Lee Kline and John Baker, the Presbyterian manse and the Presbyterian Church--all on Market Street--were surrounded by water. Before the construction of the dikes, high water rushed through the Benton Athletic Field each spring, flooding Benton Park and Park Street homes. After flooding Main and part of Market Streets, the water eventually made its way back into Fishing Creek through a large pipe on the creek side of the Presbyterian Church. The labor force that constructed the stone-fronted earth bank proved to be very effective. Regretfully, the Government is now instrumental in preventing the Borough from repairing the dike. But that is a story for another day.

1960s
The former Benton Kiwanis Club took on the task of rebuilding the dam. That effort paid huge dividends in the safety and stability of the dam.

June 1972

Heavy rains overflowed the banks of streams, ponds and lakes--then into the swollen waters of the Susquehanna. The storm was classified as a hurricane; twelve hours later it was in the "extra tropical" stage. Wilkes-Barre's river gauge tells the story: at 7 AM on June 22, the water was at 8.3 feet, at 4:30 the water depth was 17.16 feet and by 10 PM it was at 28.80 feet. By Friday at 6 PM, the water rose to 38.5 feet and finally crested at 7 PM two days later at 40.6 feet. Nineteen feet was flood level in Bloomsburg; the Susquehanna reached 31.2 feet (compared with the high mark in 1936 of 28.7 feet). Danville declared martial law when the river crested 12 feet over flood stage.

In late June and early July 1972, major flooding caused by the exceptional rainfall associated with Tropical Storm Agnes ravaged the Middle Atlantic States. Problems were huge ten miles north of Benton in the Elk Grove area. Agnes wiped out the steel and concrete bridge in Central over the west branch of Fishing Creek taking with it the utility pole carrying phone and electricity service. The flood threatened the "light-plant" dam south of Camp Lavigne, Edson's dam (Brewington dam) north of Benton, the WPA dike along Fishing Creek in the borough and the pride and joy of Benton--the Benton dam. Sandbags piled on the west wing wall of the dam prevented the fill behind the wall from being eaten away. Water came over the top of the dike in a number of places. This was the first time water flowed over the dike about a mile north of the dam. Green Acres development in Benton Township flooded, as did the elementary school grounds (there was 6.5 feet of water and mud in the furnace room), the athletic field and Benton Park. Ten feet of the dike south of the Benton dam washed out and flooding took place at the east end of Market Street. Firemen quickly constructed a dike to protect the lumber at the Little Lumber Company. Adjacent to the lumber company, anything that was solid was piled on the creek bank. Downstream, dozens of cabins flooded between Maple Grove and Orangeville. The "iron bridge" at Orangeville was a casualty. Valuable antiques from the West Main Street Magee Museum were lost as water cascaded through the plate-glass windows. Bloomsburg Fairgrounds were under water. Hurricane Agnes was the costliest natural disaster in the United States at that time. Damage was estimated at $3.1 billion and 117 deaths were reported. Hardest hit was Pennsylvania, with $2.1 billion in damages and 48 deaths, making Hurricane Agnes the worst natural disaster ever to hit the state. The damage over Pennsylvania was so extreme, the entire state was declared a disaster area by President Richard Nixon. 1972, the year Tropical Storm Agnes flooded our area. In that year, nearly 60 inches of precipitation was measured in many areas.

1975

One of the biggest fires in the Borough in our lifetime happened on September 26, 1975, during the time of violent flooding of Fishingcreek in a storm referred to as "Eloise." The front wall of the Benton Hotel was left standing but the interior of the hotel was completely gutted and exposed as a result of the wall of the adjacent pharmacy collapsing. Norman Gelb, a Dallas resident, was the owner of the Benton Pharmacy. Both structures were total losses. The blaze was discovered about noon on the fifth day of heavy rainfall. Much of the community was under water and firemen fought the blaze in knee-deep water to save the hotel and adjacent pharmacy, along with offices and apartments within the structures. The fires were not brought under control until about 4 PM. During that fire, a portion of the road washed out near Orangeville, Route 487 was cut off at the Friendly Tavern near the golf course. A Forks cabin used by Warren Hause, Jr., Berwick, one of four cottages destroyed on land owned by Blair and Jean Hile, was swept from its foundation. A section of the dike above the Benton dam washed out, spreading water throughout the Borough.

June 28, 2006. An East coast "no-name storm," was one of the heaviest rain systems to hit our area in more than 100 years resulted in the Susquehanna is more than 13' above flood levels. The Borough of Benton and flood-prone municipalities were, for the most part, evacuated. Residents of the Stillwater area were "pushing water with their headlights" in order to get to higher ground. Zaner's Bridge was reported to be underwater, but still standing.

January 2010
West Creek and Fishingcreek raged out of their banks and caused a great deal of flooding. See the pictures here. Most of the rest of the town had more than they could handle. The schools were surrounded by water and the students had to remain there until the waters receded enough to get the buses in to take them home. Rain of about three inches Sunday night saturated the ground. Some of the ground was frozen, which kept the ground from getting saturated. Monday afternoon, the water suddenly erupted as if a dam upstream had let go. Mayor Swan had no water on North Street in front of her house and within two minutes had seven inches flowing by her residence. SR 487 in Sugarloaf Township between Saint Gabriel Hill Road and the Inn Under flooded. The Inn Under took water and the residence of Nina Baker was surrounded by water. Water started flooding in the borough at Mendenhall Lane.

Water came over the dike on the West side of Fishingcreek. The water severely damaged the dike in a number of places, several of which were the same places where the flood of 2006 did damage to the dike system. A portion of Park Street was damaged from overflowing water. The street was undermined by three to five feet in an area eight- to ten-feet wide. The street was barricaded and school busses for a time were not able to travel this portion of the street.

October 7, the 280th day of 2010. Dave Riley turns 70 today. Julie Pennington turns--oops, we aren't allowed to say how many years old she is. We'll try it this way. Julie is 1,577,836,800 seconds or 26,297,280 minutes or 438,288 hours or 18,262 days old. Brian Laubach and Josephine Wilson are celebrating their birthdays today. Phil Malhoyt turns 65. The German Heritage Society of the Susquehanna Valley will hold its regular monthly meeting tonight at 7 PM at the Degenstein Library, Sunbury. The GHSSV program will include review and discussion of the movie "Das Wunder von Bern" (The Wonder of Bern) which documents the unexpected World Cup soccer championship victory of the German National Team only a few years after the country’s defeat and devastation in World War II. Members and guests are invited to join this free program. Susquehanna Valley WW2 veterans meet for lunch at the Creekside Restaurant, Orangeville. The group meets the first Thursday of each month at the same location and the same time. For complete information on all upcoming events in the upper Fishingcreek valley, turn to www.bentonnews.net/events1.htm . The rain should be over for a few days, with actual sun showing today. Friday and Saturday daytime temperatures should reach the 70s. Ronnie Thompson is happy about this. He said, "As far as I am concerned, it can stay in the 70s until May--and then warm up."

Drive slowly across the Fishing Creek bridge as you enter Benton from the South and look at the beauty of the Benton dam. Turn North on Park Street and see the improvements made to the creek bank as you head upstream toward the dam. Look at the landscaping and the water cascading over the dam. Continue driving North toward the school and look how beautiful the park looks as we enter into a period of fall colors. The park has never looked nicer. We sometimes take this beauty for granted, but we are frequently stopped by people who have driven "to town" simply to marvel at the dam and the park. When we gather tomorrow for a cup of coffee with the Benton News, you'll find out that it wasn't always this way.

Quickies...
   • For those looking for a gift for that special someone, there are Council of Church cookbooks for sale. Contact one of the local churches and ask about them. The cookbooks make a great gift for only $7.

   • Thanksgiving services have been changed from Sunday evening (November 21) to Wednesday evening (November 24), Thanksgiving eve, at 7 PM at the Benton Methodist Church, with Rev. Al Lumpkin as speaker, with music by the Christ the King Catholic Church choir.

   • The area churches are collecting 8 oz antibacterial jell for give-away at the November food bank. Please have to your church by November 7 and delivered to The Center by November 12. Mime Christy will give a demonstration on the proper use of these jells.

   • Local churches are collecting cake mixes for the food bank in December. Please have them to the church by December 12 to be delivered to The Center by December 17.

   • The Northern Columbia Quilt Guild is holding a Bake Sale Friday, October 8, at the Benton branch of the First Columbia Bank during regular bank hours. There will be a variety of home-made baked goods as well as raffle tickets for two quilts made by the guild. Proceeds from the bake sale and raffle ticket sales will benefit the Northern Columbia Community and Cultural Center and the Benton Area food bank.

• How 'bout Philadelphia's Roy Halladay pitching a no-hitter in a 4-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of their division baseball-playoff series? Halladay threw the second no-hitter in postseason history and the first since Don Larsen had a perfect game for the Yankees in the 1956 World Series. Go Phillies!

The wraps are off a box called Revue, the first device to bring Google TV to television sets. The device brings programming and movies from the internet, broadcast providers, PCs and mobile devices to the large-screen television. Google TV software will blend internet surfing with TV programming. Google claims that the platform will revolutionize the way people watch television by merging the internet and television into a single interface. If you want a particular program, the box will search listings from TV channels, YouTube or DVRs, or stream movies and TV shows from Netflix or Amazon, or head for Facebook or Twitter. You'll be able to listen to radio from sites like Pandora, check stock prices or read newspapers and magazines from the internet. The New York Times, USA Today, Turner Broadcasting, HBO and the NBA have signed up. Android will become available next year, opening up the device to games and applications. You'll be able to watch TV and run an application simultaneously; you be able to read about Harry's hernia in Harrisburg on Twitter while you are watching a televised program, or you can use the installed Chrome browser to surf the web. Connections to the TV set or DVR use an HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) port, standard issue on the latest computers and television sets. The price isn't bad. It will retail for $299.99, and will start shipping by the end of this month, Learn more here and here.

October 6, 2010. It is the birthday of Jeff Kriner, Robert Zeitler, Tammy Earnest-Edwards and Marisa Whitenight. Today is picture day at the Benton Area Schools. The bookmobile of the Columbia County Traveling Library will stop at the L R. Appleman Elementary School from 8:45 AM to 12:45 PM and Benton Head Start from 12:45 to 1 PM, Rainbow Hill Preschool from 1:20 to 1:45 PM, Little Tiger Teachery from 1:50 to 2:10 PM, the parking lot of the Central Hotel from 2:30 to 3:30 PM and Country Fresh Market from 4 to 6:30 PM. The Fishing Creek Historical Club meets tonight at 7 PM. New members are welcome. Please bring pictures of the local area and join in the discussion. Expect to see the low 70s back by Friday and extending into Saturday. Please keep Rosalie Hunter Harrison in your prayers.

Didja ever notice that your kids are becoming you--and that your grandchildren are perfect!

Quickies...
• The tower constructed this spring in Pine Township for AT&T on the grounds of the Little Fishing Creek Rod & Gun Club, about ¾ north of Millville. has been operating for several months. Verizon plans to add its antennas to the same tower. The tower is a 250' tall three-legged one.

• Children and adults are needed for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" produced by Fishing Creek Players to be presented at The Center December 10-11-12, 2010. Auditions for children aged 6 and up will be Wednesday, October 13, from 4 to 6 PM. Auditions for adults and children will be held Sunday, October 17, from 1 to 3 PM. This is an excellent opportunity for kids to get involved in theater and for a great parent/child activity! This show will be directed by Teri Chadd. Rehearsals will be scheduled for after school and weekends. For more information, call Teri at 759-9711 or email tqchaddATaol.com

• The Benton Council of Churches is sponsoring a crop walk on October 17 starting at 1 PM from Christ the King Catholic Church parking lot. Neighbors will walk together to take a stand against hunger in our world. Hungry people in developing countries typically walk as much as six miles a day to get food, water and fuel, and to take their goods to market. We walk to be in solidarity with their struggle for existence. We walk because we want to end hunger--one stop at a time. Seventy-two dollars can provide emergency food supplies for a family of five for a month. One fourth of the money collected comes back to our local food bank! Please contact any Council of Churches member, minister or Shirley Kitchen (925-6884) if you wish to walk or give a contribution to this event. For more information you can go to www.cropwalk.org .

• There just isn't any stopping Google. The company is a leader in the field of email, search engines, document collaboration, directions and mapping, Android technology and now Google URL Shortener at http://goo.gl/ . Simply enter the URL that you want to get to a manageable size and you’re given a short URL that can be easily shared.

• It is October and time to start thinking about Halloween. The Benton Lions Club Halloween parade will take place Tuesday, October 26. The parade forms at 6 on McHenry Ave and moves at 7 PM. Floats must be pre-registered. If you need additional information or wish to have a float in the parade, register by contacting Lisa Campbell at 864-3638 or email, LCampbell2ATlyco.org . "Trick or Treat" night in the Borough is Saturday, October 30, from 6-8.

• A bill requiring identification of lawful presence in the United States as a prerequisite to the receipt of public benefits ran into opposition at a House State Government Committee hearing Tuesday. The bill would deny public assistance to those who are "undocumented as residents." H.B. 1359 would require individuals to prove they are citizens or legal immigrants by showing government-issued identification before they could receive public benefits. The Pennsylvania ACLU and some legislators from the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh area oppose the bill because "it is a form of discrimination against the elderly, the working poor and minorities."

• Sarah Jean (Hess) Honing was born January 1, 1923. She was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Mike Hess, Church Street. Mike was a brother of Charlie Hess, a local butcher. Mike was a noted hunter and outdoorsman, who also helped in the butcher shop. Sarah Jean went to school in Benton, probably as a member of the class of 1941. She left to work in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after high school, later joined the Navy and continued to work for the government until she retired in 1979. She grew up with cousins (a large family mostly boys) through school. If anyone knows of any family members still living, please contact me. Any information would be appreciated.

There will be a discussion of fracking of natural-gas wells October 8 from 7 to 9 PM in room D001, Academic Center, Lycoming College, Williamsport. Speakers include...
   • the head of Cornell University’s Rock Fracture Group, Professor Anthony Ingraffea, P. E. and Ph.D. in Rock Fracture Mechanics. Dr. Ingraffea's research concentrates on computer simulation and physical testing of complex-fracturing processes.
   • Dwight C. Baum, Professor of Engineering at Cornell University.
   • Professor and hydrologist Michael C. Boufadel, P.E., Ph.D. chair of the Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering at Temple University and head of the University’s Center for Natural Resources Development and Protection. Dr. Boufadel focuses on large-scale studies of water and air quality accompanied with advanced modeling to provide the best available technology. Free admission.

This is the weekend! The 29th annual Covered Bridge and Arts Festival takes place at Knoebels Amusement Resort, Elysburg, 10 AM to 5 PM. This annual event is produced and coordinated by the Columbia-Montour Visitors Bureau. See apple butter being made, woodcarving, blacksmithing and more as you choose from woodcrafts, wreaths, dried floral arrangements, ceramics, clothing, baskets and much more. This year's festival will feature nearly 300 crafters and more than 25 food vendors. Entertainment will include music by Jay Smar, KJ, Stained Grass Window, The Legends, and dancing by the Covered Bridge Cloggers and Susqui Squares. Visitors can tour the covered bridges of Columbia County by bike. The Visitors Bureau, in conjunction with the Dutch Wheelman Bicycle Shop, will be offering a fun ride on Sunday, October 10. This ride covers 25, 60 or 100 miles of hills and rolling terrain throughout Columbia County. The longest tour will travel through five covered bridges and pass by nine more. For more information on this ride, please contact the Dutch Wheelman Bicycle Shop at 784-6524.

A fun auction will take place on Saturday at 1 PM. Over 300 donated items will be auctioned by professional auctioneers. Items range from hand-made crafts from vendors at the festival, to merchandise and gift certificates from the Visitors Bureau's membership. Car buffs are invited to display their classic and antique cars Sunday. Registration is free and begins at 10 AM. Dash plaques will be given to the first 100 registrants. Complete your day with a scenic tour of our covered bridges. Guided bus tours depart Knoebels Amusement Resort Saturday at 11 AM and 12:30 PM, and Sunday at 1 PM. Cost for the tour is $12 per person. Seats fill-up fast; reservations are strongly recommended. And even though the official season is over, Knoebels opens many of the rides in the park on Saturday and Sunday, so there is really something for everyone to enjoy.

In addition to the Annual Covered Bridge and Arts Festival, the Visitors Bureau will also host its second annual Twin Covered Bridges Park Fine Arts Festival on Saturday, October 9 from 10 AM to 4 PM. For a less hectic pace and a more intimate setting, festival goers can visit the Twin Bridges Park in Forks, where more than a dozen local artists will celebrate the restoration of the park and bridges with a collection of fine art--everything from paintings to pottery to sculpture. Meet the artists, discuss their work, add to your collection; all while enjoying good food and free entertainment. This years entertainment at the Twin Bridges Park includes MacAlum, The Barn Cats and Red Arrow Singers.

Didja ever notice that when people say you look "Great," they add "for your age!

The Board of Directors of the Columbia County Traveling Library announced the hiring of a new director, Lydia Kegler, Bloomsburg. Dr. Kegler has extensive experience in library services. She will oversee the bookmobile-centered library outreach services. Ms. Kegler received her Master's Degree in Library Science from Kent State University and holds a doctorate in German Literature from The Ohio State University. She started her library career as a reference librarian in the corporate library at OCLC, Inc., ,a worldwide library cooperative. She worked in the cataloging and collection development division of OCLC for six years, where she specialized in the development and marketing of library services for small libraries and for libraries that serve multicultural communities.

Ms Kegler stated: "I am excited to help the library find new and exciting ways to bring a wide-range of materials and services directly to residents of Columbia County. The bookmobile service is an amazing outreach tool. As a librarian, I am eager to make a difference in the lives of our residents—especially seniors and preschoolers—by making access to books, DVDs and other materials easier."

According to Jim Patterson, president of the board: "She comes to us with an enthusiasm for our library and our community and an impressive background in library service and education. Ms. Kegler is looking forward to getting to know our local partners and advocating for the Columbia County Traveling Library."

Asked about her vision for the future of the Traveling Library, Ms. Kegler said, "We want to bring excellent library services to areas that do not have a municipal library and to those who cannot travel to a library. Free and equal access to information and entertainment broaden both the mind and the soul; we want to give our residents that opportunity. I would like more residents to take advantage of the free materials and services—it’s not just about checking out a book or DVD; we can connect people with information to improve their business, get a new job or feed their creative spirit. Teens should check out our downloadable books and music—all for no cost! More seniors whether they live at home or in a residential community could benefit from the free services of the Traveling Library. We can bring easier-to-read large-print books, DVDs and more right to them."

Ms Kegler will replace Dorothy C. Coady, the acting director for the last five months. Mrs. Coady previously retired in 2008 after serving 21 years as director.

The Columbia County Traveling Library is unique in that it is the only library in Pennsylvania with the primary purpose of operating a bookmobile. The bookmobile offers free library service to communities representing more than half of Columbia County’s population. The bookmobile makes more than 40 stops per month at senior centers, nursing facilities, day-care centers, preschools and elementary schools. The library serves the residents of the county with its free bookmobile and its library headquarters. It is accessible to residents, especially those living distant from public library facilities or in areas of the county not served by municipal libraries. Local stops include Stillwater, L R. Appleman Elementary School, Benton Head Start, Rainbow Hill Preschool, Little Tiger Teachery, the parking lot of the Central Hotel and Country Fresh Market.

For more information about the Columbia Country Traveling Library or to become a Friend of the Library, call the CCTL at 784-8782.

Monday, October 4, and Tuesday, October 5, 2010.

• October 4, the birthday of Patricia Sharkuski Evans and Stephen Becker. Happy anniversary to John and Paula Deeter and Grace and Chandlee Stowe. Tonight at 7 at the Benton Borough Council meeting, council members will consider imposing a worker tax of $52 per year on those who work in the borough making more than $12,000 a year. The tax, known as a "local services tax," replaces the occupational privilege tax. It would bring in an estimated $8,000 annually. Revenue from the tax would be used for police, fire and medical services, road construction or maintenance. There is registration for the Benton elementary wrestling program from 6-8 PM in the cafeteria at L.R. Appleman Elementary school. The Robinson Gas Group meets at Benton Middle/High School at 7 PM. There will be a special meeting of the Benton Area School Board of Directors to refinance the 2005 A & B bond issues at 6 PM in the middle/high school cafeteria.

• October 5, the birthday of Dr. Bob Sequenza, Amy Eckeret, Carol Lehet Crawford, Stacey Kline and Rosie Vincent. It is the anniversary of the founding of the Public Broadcasting Service in 1970. The Waller Community 4-H Club meets at 7 PM at the Waller United Methodist Church.

• A four-wheel drive US Army Jeep known as the Willys was manufactured from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. The rugged vehicle rode like a mechanical leapfrog on the open road or in rough, off-the-road operations. The Willys achieved a reputation in industry and agricultural service and was a workhorse where power and durability were needed. Doors could be taken off without removing bolts, pin or screws. Watch a video as six soldiers tear a Jeep apart, put it back together and drive away in four minutes.

• Didja ever think about the use of the words light, mild, and medium on cigarette packaging? Light, mild or medium cigarettes aren’t any better for you than ones that aren’t marked with those words.

• The cell phone market, dominated by Apple and Android, is now being joined by Microsoft with its Windows Phone 7

• A number of low-wage, low-margin companies hiring youthful, part-time or temporary workers in the fast food, hospitality and retail industries have employees who often remain employed only for a short while. Their medical needs are often covered by a low-cost, low-benefit insurance known as "mini-meds." These plans cover medical services for about 2.5 million people. They generally have an annual deductible or benefit cap between $1,000 and $10,000 with no catastrophic coverage. Premiums are frequently under $100 a month and cover routine expenses like office checkups and emergency room visits. These plans are far better than not having a plan. The new national health care system was predicated on the standardization of health benefits and the paying for these benefits. Expect that the mini-meds will go away under the new rules, unless an exemption is allowed, and the price of your burger with fries will go up. It all comes back to roost on the shoulders of the taxpayer.

• As the month of September ended, the stock market price of oil, stocks, bonds and gold had people smiling. Several of these are strange bedfellows...

• The average rate for 30-year fixed loans with mortgage buyer Freddie Mac fell last week to 4.32%, the lowest on record since 1971. The average rate on 15-year fixed loans fell to 3.75%, the lowest on records since 1991. Do you have a mortgage that needs refinancing? There is no better time than now. Remember the Carter years of high interest?

The Central Susquehanna Community Foundation began in 1999. You may remember it as the Berwick Health and Wellness Foundation. It was formed with the assets from the sale of The Berwick Hospital, which served 23 municipalities in the Berwick area including the boroughs of Benton and Stillwater and surrounding townships. The foundation expanded in 2003 to include the rest of Columbia County and Montour, Northumberland, Union and Snyder Counties in order to better serve a larger population. Since expanding, CSCF has added more than 70 new funds for a variety of communities and purposes. Current total endowment exceeds $34,000,000 which provide nearly $2 million dollars every year in grant awards that directly impact services and programs to people in need.

Community foundations are popular ways to make charitable gifts. There are more than 700 community foundations in the United States, with 40 of them in Pennsylvania. Each foundation reflects its own region and donors. Some community foundations are large and others small, but all share similar qualities; the interest of donors for the well-being and enrichment of their community, the administration of endowed gifts under one investment portfolio, the oversight and preservation of the donor’s wishes, and positive changes for the long term benefit of community residents.

The Berwick Health and Wellness Fund, largest fund under CSCF administration, serves its original service area of 23 municipalities including the local area. The fund has benefited the Northern Columbia Community and Cultural Center, Benton Area Little League, Benton Area School District, Benton Borough, Benton Council of Churches, the Benton Volunteer Fire Company and other smaller organizations.

The Berwick Health and Wellness Fund and the Northern Columbia Community and Cultural Center fund are currently the only two funds within the Foundation available to help meet the needs of the local area. Each fund is restricted; i.e., Berwick Health and Wellness Fund may only make grants to causes relating to health and wellness, and N4C's endowment supports only The Center. Other important needs of the community fall outside these funds and cannot be supported.

Central Susquehanna Community Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit public charity, hopes to start a local endowed fund for our area to improve the quality of life for residents of our region--today and forever. The new fund would be unrestricted and serve the Boroughs of Stillwater and Benton and townships of Jackson, Sugarloaf, Fishing Creek and Benton. The fund would have its own local advisory committee to identify and prioritize local needs and recommend grants from the fund. This local fund will be able to meet needs that Berwick Health and Wellness Fund is unable to consider. The fund can also match other grants coming into our area.

The new fund...

will be a charitable fund that serves northern Columbia County residents. The Fund uses the 501 (c) (3) status of CSCF. Grants from the Fund will help meet local needs.
A local advisory committee advises the fund.
The Fund can be established immediately, but grant distributions cannot be made until the fund reaches a minimum of $10,000 or the minimum determined by the Fund Advisory Committee.
Anyone can make a gift of any size to the Fund, including will bequests. The Fund can be added to at anytime. Recognition levels will be established for major and founding donors.

CSCF would like to hear your thoughts about such a fund. It is an excellent time to consider making a donation advantageous to your tax situation to support your community. Contact Donna Schuck at 752-3930 and give her your thoughts on the subject. Donna is director of development for the foundation. She can discuss your thoughts on the subject confidentially.

Members of the Benton High School class of 1968 met August 15 at the home of Tom and Denise Kline to celebrate their 60th birthdays. Attending were from left to right...

First row: Mary Knecht Brittain, Becky Fritz Garrison, Alice Volanski Ertwine, Dixie Puterbaugh Rosencrans, Joyce Long Sherman, Mary Ellen Spencer, Kathy Doty Houck, Randy Keller, Linda Dressler Bronson, Linda Brown Long.

Second row: John Ewald, Woody Ertwine, Harry English, Tom Kline holding grandson Landon Kline (Class of 2027), Gordon Harvey, Steve Ropel, Joe Houck, Rodney Vincent, Grant Little, Robert Rabb.

Plans are being made for next year's event.

The class would like to thank Harry English for making and sending out the invitations, and to Linda Bronson who came up with the great idea of the birthday party.

October 3, 2010. It is the birthday of Grant Gault, Louise Lewis and Eleanor Sands. Today's edition is primarily written by others and views expressed may not be the same as those usually expressed. No political candidates were harmed by endorsing or not endorsing their candidacy. Attendance at the Bloomsburg Fair Saturday was 73,683. The 2010 Fair had a total attendance of 402,286, up slightly from last year's total of 401,290.

Quickies...
• From all reports, the Friday night movie at The Center was a complete success. Reports are that the entire audience laughed throughout the film and the "pop corn was excellent."

• Microsoft released Internet Explorer 9 for users of Windows 7 or Vista with SP2. (It is not compatible with Windows XP.) The program is available for download here. One user said that he feels it is faster than Firefox and Internet Explorer 8. There is a system of warning about malicious downloads and about add-ons that slow down computer performance.

• Pictures of local interest at the Bloomsburg Fair are available here.

• The Rev. Vernon McDormand may have slowed up physically, but not in his ability to help the Benton Lions club. Rev. McDormand, a native of Nova Scotia, retired eleven years ago after serving the Benton Christian Church for 16 years with more than 50 years in the pulpit. He called practically everyone he knew this week to buy a take-out chicken dinner November 18 to benefit the basketball court at Benton Park. The dinner will be put on by the members of the Benton Lions. Tickets are $8 each and Rev. McDormand would be thrilled if you called him at 925-6066 and ordered a couple of meals.

Didja ever notice that behind every successful man is his woman?
Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

The Benton News (perhaps too) frequently gets on a rant about issues relating to natural gas (and other matters). Today, Thomas Anderson, 32, a Libertarian Party candidate for State Representative for the 109th district, takes on that task. He worries about the taxing of natural gas and cites Penn State studies showing that in-state drilling activity would be reduced by at least 30% with the tax. He argues that because "Columbia County rests on the edge of what's considered the economic zone, this tax will probably eliminate 100% of drilling and leasing activity in the county." He equates punitive taxes (cigarette taxes, tariffs on foreign goods and gas-guzzler taxes) as a way of discouraging people from buying cigarettes, foreign-made goods, and gas-guzzling vehicles without outright banning them. He wonders why "politicians don't understand that when the extraction of natural gas is taxed, you get less extraction of natural gas." The reason gas drillers are coming to Columbia County is that "we offer the highest profit margin to them. Our gas is abundant, relatively easy to get and close to market."

Thomas writes that the decision to drill is dependent upon the "probabilities of hitting sufficient quantities of gas to cover the costs of drilling and still produce a profit. That equation is highly sensitive to costs. And when the state legislature decides to add 10% of the price of the finished product to the cost, it has dire consequences for land owners who are near the cut-off zone. The marginal utility of drilling there is insufficient when you add a severance tax on top of what is already the highest corporate tax rate in the world. That doesn't mean that these land owners don't have significant amounts of pure wealth under their feet. It just means that the government is blocking companies from unleashing it for them. Perhaps they could make 5% profit by drilling there without the severance tax. But with the tax, no profit can be made, so the wealth just sits underground, untapped."

He writes that you don't need to own land in Columbia County to be impacted. "Whether you work in a retail store, own rental property, run a daycare, or wait tables, the tapping of our Marcellus Shale wealth will make you richer. If you're currently unemployed, it will bring a plethora of jobs for you to choose from." He equates the drilling to the gold rush in California where the people selling the shovels, boots, and food benefited the most. "Unlike government attempts at stimulus which amount to taking money from some people and giving it to others, drilling natural gas actually produces real wealth." Nobody will benefit when the gas companies pack their bags and move to friendlier neighborhoods. We don't get to enjoy any of our natural wealth when it's locked up five thousand feet underground. Thirty-nine cents per thousand cubic feet of natural gas nets the government zero when not a single ounce of gas is extracted. And then not only are we denied our rightful bounty, but the politicians will have to give up their pet projects anyway."

State coffers will still be "generously filled via income and sales taxes" by unlocking the wealth of the Marcellus if there is no severance tax enacted. A Penn State study concluded that the gas industry will generate over 111,000 jobs and $987 million in state and local tax revenue by 2011 if the state does not impose new taxes or regulations." Politicians want to fund "more of their pet projects without regard to the health of the economy," but only a meager portion is earmarked for the communities from which it came. The "legislature and governor made a corrupt bargain earlier this year by passing a budget with a $280 million deficit. They agreed to fill this gap by passing a natural gas severance tax by October 1. So this tax has nothing to do with environmental remediation and everything to do with politicians being unable to disappoint their special interests with spending cuts."

Thomas suggests that we can have a safe and productive extraction of natural gas if we put up minimal red tape and instead strictly enforce property rights. "We need to hold companies accountable for any damages they cause, and they need to prove sufficient assets or insurance to pay for any claims. But beyond that, we need to allow gas companies and property owners to engage in voluntary contracts to extract the gas, without unnecessary regulations or taxes to get in the way. It is the only path to prosperity for all."

Didja ever think that the information you share about yourself on social-networking profiles can make you an easy target for criminals? I recently noticed a home address and date of birth on Facebook, along with the telling information that the person was out of town for the week. Are you really sure that one of your "friends" won't break into your home while you're away and find a bank or credit-card statement? These "friends" knew the person was not home. They had the person's date of birth and full name and address. Identity theft or robbery of the house was the next step. Please be careful online about what you share and with whom you divulge that information. We suggest that you...

   • Interact only with people known to you in real life. Don't accept friend requests from strangers.
   • Don't "spill your guts" about yourself. Don't provide your home or employer's address, full date of birth or detailed family information
   • Watch the privacy settings on social networks. Don't allow sharing of information with third parties.
   • Know what information is available about you online. Every word you type is public, no matter what privacy setting you use.

Didja ever feel like writing in "Doctor" when you fill out an application
where the words are used "In an emergency, notify..."

In Kathy Arcuri's September article, she reminded folks to plant flowering bulbs for a cascade of color in spring. This month she is suggesting a different kind of bulb for a burst of flavor throughout the year.

"Garlic is one of the oldest seasonings known to man. A member of the allium family originally from central Asia, garlic arrived in Europe with the Crusaders and was brought to this country by early European immigrants. However, it was not until 1989, with the fall of the Soviet Union, that a wide assortment of unusual varieties became readily available, thanks to the USDA's purchases from formerly restricted parts of the Russian empire. Since then, garlic has become a niche crop, with area festivals and gourmet cooks celebrating this ancient palate pleaser.

"In the North, garlic should be planted by Columbus Day. Order only untreated disease-free bulbs; or better yet, use the largest cloves from the largest bulbs saved from your own summer crop. Plant the cloves pointy side up, under two inches of well-drained loose rich soil topped with mulch. As soon as growth starts in the spring, top dress with a balanced fertilizer, and keep well weeded and watered throughout the growing season. If you plant the hardneck variety (recommended for northern climes), remove the central seed scape that emerges around June, to focus more of the plant's energy on bulb size. By July, when about half the leaves have turned brown, harvest can begin.

"Cure the bulbs by hanging in a cool dry place with good air circulation for a week or two; then store in a root cellar or basement. Do not wash the bulbs for storage; simply brush away the dirt after the curing process. Most garlic does not keep for more than several months, so to carry you to spring, try pureeing one part garlic with two parts olive oil, then freeze in ice cube trays.

This fall, I'll be planting one of the easiest and tastiest of all the hardnecks--German Extra Hardy, with four to five very large cloves per bulb, ideal for the chef who wants a wallop of flavor without a lot of bothersome peeling. In spring, I can enjoy snippets of garlicy green garnishes in soups and stews. Then in early summer the seed scape will add pungency to sautés and stir-fries. By July, fresh bulbs will be ready for hummus and pesto. And cured bulbs will last through December, for all sorts of hardy winter fare. Finally, when my supply of bulbs is depleted, I'll still have my frozen cubes of pureed elixir, until the cycle of growth restarts in spring.

"So this little bulb does indeed give a full year of pleasure for very little effort. And if you are bothered by its more infamous reputation as a gift that "never stops giving," try a few home-grown fennel seeds to neutralize its occasionally pronounced aftereffects.

--Kathleen Arcuri


Construction of the monopole Verizon cell tower North of the borough, overlooking the Verbella farm on Route 487. Benton Borough is out of range of the photograph to the right of the picture.

The telcom foundation	Staging of the tower along Route 487

Saturday, October 2, 2010. It is the birthday of Jackie Becker, Erika Stauffer Campbell, Gena VanPelt Gray and Bertha Hayman. It is the birthday of Kelly Crawford, Jacksonville, Florida, stepdaughter of Carol Lehet Crawford, and step-granddaughter of Colleen Fox Peterson and Richard H. Lehet, Benton. Attendance at the Bloomsburg Fair Friday was 62,990.

Quickies...
• The Jerseytown Bluegrass Jams resume this month. The next jam is October 17 at the Jerseytown Community Center. Doors open at 10, stage starts at noon. Good pickin' and good eats. For information, call Joe Feola, 925-5201.

• Harrisburg has applied for the state's Act 47 protection program for distressed municipalities as it faces “imminent and inevitable” defaults on about $44 million in bond payments due by December 15.

• Just when we were getting used to JPG and GIF formats, along came the PNG format and we thought that we were where we needed to be. Now Google has come up with an image format they call "WebP." This format is capable of an average of 39% more compression than JPEG and JPEG 2000, without loss of image quality. Now if they would just make setting up my VCR a little less complicated...

• What is going on with Wall Street? The stock market keeps hanging in there while the U.S. economy is in the tank. Consumer confidence is down, the housing market is having a rough time finding buyers. Wall Street seems not to be noticing what is happening in the real world. We suspect that this will change in the near future.

• Hungry for a good New England meal? Chris and Denny Dawson brought about a hundred lobsters and lots of clams from Maine to serve tonight at the Old Filling Station.

• The Robinson-Sordoni gas group will hold a meeting on Monday, October 4, at the Benton High School. The meeting starts at 7 PM. Group representatives will be on site at 6 PM. Chris Robinson and Jack Sordoni will discuss recent developments and relevant group issues. All group members and interested landowners are invited to attend this meeting. New engagement contracts will be available.

We had a heck of a day Thursday, culminating in a spree of rain that totaled almost nine inches for the week.

Coffee drinkers slowly drove by Main and Market Street Friday morning looking for the "Open" sign at the Kozy Korner restaurant. The restaurant was dark, possibly meaning that there was basement water in houses on Park Street and the East end of Market Street, including the home of the restaurant's proprietor, Starlett Grassley.

Through the night, members of the Benton Volunteer Fire Company monitored the status of the dike at the northern end of the Benton Park. Water was "within one inch of going over the top." The dike breached during the last flood at this location and the top of the dike is now about a foot low at this location. It is time for some of the money in the "Save the Dam" project to be used to raise the elevation of that portion of the dike so that water does not circle the dam on the West side and jeopardize the dam and the borough.

The adverse weather made me think of "what if's" relating to the telling of what is around us. I'll never forget a cruise on an absolutely flat piece of ocean in the "The Whitsundays" off the coast of Australia when suddenly something akin to rapids in a river loomed a few feet ahead. We had reached the Great Barrier Reef--the world's largest coral reef-- larger than the Great Wall of China with 1,800 miles of this living thing visible from space. There was no real warning. Had a ship sailed into the underwater reef without knowledge that it was there, the craft would have been sliced in half.

Father spent half of his waking hours out of doors looking at the sky. Farmers, sailors and hunters watch the sky for changes in atmospheric conditions. There are certain sky signals when a winter snowstorm approaches or when a thunderstorm disrupts the making of hay. For the farmer, planting and harvesting are dependent on what the sky tells them.

But Thursday was deceiving. After all, water was "way down" in the dam, it had not rained in weeks and with the Bloomsburg Fair going on, attention for most was focused on things other than the weather. Okay, so Snedeker did give us warning of the impending storm, but what if we didn't have the benefit of television and newspapers telling us what to expect with the weather? Little did we know Wednesday that we would soon have a jolting reminder of how Raven (Raving) Creek got its name as 6.86 inches fell there the next day. As much as 7.5 inches were reported in Sugarloaf.

Father and Mother and a good many other parents of a generation ago used rhymes to lock weather forecasting into our heads. Here are some examples...

"The higher the cloud, the finer the weather."

"Halo around the sun or moon, rain or snow very soon."

"When the wind is in the East, 'Tis neither good for man nor beast."

"If wind rises at night, rain will fall at daylight."

"Red sky at morning, Sailors take warning.

Red sky at night, sailors delight."

"Evening red and morning gray, help the traveler on his way.

Evening gray and morning red, bring rain down upon his head."

"Some people are weather-wise and some are otherwise," Benjamin Franklin once said, probably just after he played with a kite during a thunderstorm. Keeping eyes open for weather conditions implies that you are sensitive to nature and willing to watch for subtle changes in the weather world. It means that you are keeping the tradition of being a weather watcher, normally forgotten in our man-made world.

"If the sun goes pale to bed,

'Twill rain tomorrow,

It is said."

October 1, 2010. It is the birthday of Larry H. Hayman, Jr., Tara Lane Kline, Betty Joe Masden, Susan Shultz, Jeremy Kishbaugh, Tarin Pinchotti Houpt, Carla Lee, Donald Baker, and Gerald Kocher. Break out the Wienerschnitzel, lederhosen, and smiles--Oktoberfest is back. Fair attendance Thursday was 13,800. The night show was cancelled because of the weather.

On this day in 2007, it was hot and dry--one of hottest and driest on record. Farmers were hurting on their yields, the water tables and the stream levels were low and all prospects were that the leaves would not be as spectacular as in many prior years. Much of the Keystone State was under a drought watch, with no rainfall in sight. This year is different. Tropical Rainstorm Nicole arrived yesterday and will be with us into early morning today. Lee Remley reported receiving 5.04 " of rain through 10:30 PM Thursday. At time of publication, residents of Park Street were voluntarily evacuating.

October was the name of the eighth month of the year in the ancient Roman calendar. When the Romans converted to a 12-month calendar, the name October remained.

Tonight The Center will screen its Oldie But Goodie movie at 7 PM. Featured will be Howard Hawks' production of "Bringing Up Baby," starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Donations are appreciated but not necessary. Fresh popped popcorn will be available. Bring your own drink or get one from the vending machines. An Oldie But Goodie movie will be shown at The Center on the first Friday of each month.

The office of U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) issued a news release announcing that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded a $15,000 grant to Benton Borough to purchase a police car.

Didja ever wish that you could take back all those times you didn't want to nap when you were younger?

Let's say right up front that people and organizations often are not what they seem to be. If we mention an organization, we believe it to be honest and above-board. But as we often say, politicians tend to tell the truth--but often it isn't the whole truth. Organizations are often somewhat the same.

With that out of the way, let's take a look at http//marcellus.money.org to see how much the natural gas industry spent on campaign contributions and lobbying efforts to sway politicians to support their causes. To find this, turn to the findings of Common Cause PA

and Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania .

On Wednesday, 104 members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted to establish a tax on drilling companies working in the Marcellus shale. The 104 who voted for the bill have taken an average of $824 from the natural-gas industry. Ninety-four legislatures voted against SB 1155. The 94 legislators who voted against the bill took an average of $2,900 from the gas industry. Democrats generally are in favor of the tax, while Republicans generally voted against. How your legislator voted can be determined here.

The natural-gas industry has spent more than $3 million on campaign contributions and $5 million on lobbying efforts in the Commonwealth.

Representatives Millard and Boback did not take any money from the lobbying group for the natural gas. The ten Democrats who voted against the bill accepted a total of $64,700 from the gas industry, an average of $6,470 each. The twelve Republicans who voted in favor of the bill accepted a total of $1,500, an average of $125 each.

Natural gas companies have contributed $359,827 to members of the House of Representatives, an average of $1,755.25 per member. Current state senators have accepted more than $407,440, an average of $8,148.80 per senator.

To find contributions made before June 7 to individual candidates, go here. Data is not yet available for contributions made after July 7.

Roses can sometimes be red
And violets are generally blue
For it's not in the rhyming
But all in the timing
That makes a dumb limerick true

Didja notice that there isn't much truth to the adage that the best time to buy anything was six months ago? One way to tell when the economic crisis is over is to watch the length of women's skirts. It always seems like when women's skirts get shorter, prices go up. That bears watching!

Didja ever wonder how it is possible to teach a man how to fold a fitted sheet?

There will be a chicken dinner to benefit the basketball court at the Benton Park November 18. The dinner will be put on by the community-minded members of the Benton Lions. Take-Outs only--to be picked up at the Benton Christian Church from 4 to 6 PM. The menu includes half a chicken, baked potato, baked beans, apple sauce, roll and desert. Tickets are $8 each, but you have to order in advance. For tickets, call Vernon McDormand at 925-6066 or see any Lions Club member. Tickets will also be available at the Benton Halloween parade October 26.

Howard Max Puterbaugh (July 10, 1930-September 28, 2010), died Tuesday Aat his 490 Hackett Road home, Benton. He was 80. He was born in Bloomsburg at the hospital. He was a son of Howard D. and Clara (Kocher) Puterbaugh, Central (Sugarloaf Township). He attended the Benton public schools and Temple University School of Engineering. Howard was a plastering contractor and owned and operated Howard's Plaster and Drywall Supply, Millville, for 27 years. Howard left his signature swirled plaster ceilings in hundreds of homes in the area before retiring in 1990. He served with the U.S. Army during the Korean War and saw active military duty in the American Virgin Islands and Korea, receiving a Commendation Ribbon for Meritorious Achievement. He earned the rank of Sergeant before leaving the military in April 1952. He served as an elder/minister with the Jerseytown Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses for 40 years and more recently with the Muhlenburg Congregation.

He and his wife, the former Faythe M. Hackett, celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary on August 14, 2010. The couple raised their family in the Millville area before moving to Benton in 2004. Surviving are children Larry Ross (Debbie), Anchorage, Alaska; Cheryl, McLucas (David), Benton; Pamela Puterbaugh, Palm Coast, Florida; Howard (Randy) Puterbaugh (Sis), Benton; Daniel Puterbaugh (Vanessa), Homer, Alaska; Bonnie (David) Bowlin, Benton; Sarah Puterbaugh, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; and Jesse Puterbaugh, Los Angeles, California. There are 14 grandchildren: T.J. Quinn and Nicole Homsey; Aaron and Jonathan McLucas; Jarrett, Megan, Austin, Joshua, Rebecca, Sunny Ann, Jennasea Puterbaugh; Zoe Ross; and Emma and Sam Bowlin; six great-grandchildren: Lilianna Quinn; Nicholas Homsey; and Ewan, Liam, Kian and Mira McLucas. He is also survived by his sister, Barbara Boose (Vernon), Reamstown; and brothers Robert Puterbaugh, Millville; and John Puterbaugh (Joyce), Lairdsville. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Rebecca, on July 16, 1970; and by brothers Wellington (Wink), Charles (Dutch), Gordon, Ross Eugene and Karl.

A public memorial service will be held on Sunday afternoon at 4 in the Jerseytown Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 244 Danville Road, Bloomsburg (at the intersection of Routes 642 and 44, approximately one mile south of Jerseytown). There will be no viewing. Memorials may be sent to Geisinger Medical Center Homecare, 100 N. Academy Ave., Danville, PA 17822. Arrangements are with the Kriner Funeral Home, Benton. To sign the guestbook or to send a message of condolence, go to www.krinerfuneralhomes.com .

The Archives for the News from Back Home in Benton, PA, for October 2010

Didja ever think that wrinkles are something other people have-- similar to my character lines?

Didja ever think that wrinkles are something other people have--
similar to my character lines?