It seems like some folks grow with responsibility. Others just swell.

October 31, 2003

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music."
--Billy Wilder

"He has the attention span of a lightning bolt."
--Robert Redford

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."
--Winston Churchill

Will power is the ability to eat one salted peanut.

Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do, but won't get you anywhere.

The modern holiday of All Hallows Eve, or Halloween, is celebrated today. Halloween is based on a Celtic holiday called Samhain marking the start of winter and the end of the harvest. Animals were slaughtered before the onslaught of the dark of winter when it was felt the spirits of the dead could haunt the living.

Christian holidays also developed at this time of the year. November 1 became known as All Saints Day, or All Hallows Day, and honored Christian saints and martyrs based on the Medieval belief that dead saints regularly intervened in the affairs of the living. On All Saints Day, churches put bones of the saints on display and held mass for the living. The night before All Saints Day became known as All Hallows Eve. Soul Cakes were baked and set on doorsteps for the poor, bonfires were ignited and lanterns carved from turnips to ward off ghosts of the dead. Pumpkins did not grow in Europe and become a Halloween symbol only after Columbus stumbled on the New World.

Pacific moisture has arrived in Southern California's mountains, bringing badly needed relief to firefighters fighting both fire and fatigue. Six fires, the most devastating in California history, continued to burn out of control in Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, but the front lines felt that the worst may have passed.

If you can't sleep well at night, there is a new drug that could make tossing and turning a thing of the past. Someone who must stay up a lot at night estimated that over 50 million Americans wake up frequently during the night or wake up too early in the morning. A new drug called Estorra improves the quality of sleep over multiple nights.

Insomnia can be caused by a number of factors, including depression, anxiety, pain and other medical conditions, as well as environmental factors such as jet lag or shift work.

In January, 2003, Sepracor submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking clearance to market Estorra brand eszopiclone 2 mg and 3 mg tablets for the treatment of transient and chronic insomnia. The NDA was accepted for filing by the FDA in April 2003. ESTORRATM was studied in the 3 mg dosage strength for adults and in the 2 mg dosage strength for treatment in the elderly population.

Pennsylvania's trapping season for coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunks and weasels started October 19 and runs to February 21, 2004. The mink and muskrat season runs from November 22 to January 10. Beaver may be trapped from December 26 to March 31. The hunting season for raccoons and foxes runs from October 18 to February 21. Coyotes, skunks, opossums and weasels may be hunted from July 1 to June 30, 2004.

If you use GMP Cable TV for your television services and live in the Benton area, you can turn to http://www.gmpcommunications.net/home.php to find your television channel programming lineup.

And while we are talking about GMP, we'll also mention that starting in February, 2004, GMP will introduce high speed cable internet communications to Benton. The standard pricing for residential service by the company is $39.95 monthly, but the company is expected to run special promotions averaging $34.95 for monthly service. Customers will need a cable modem, which can be either rented or purchased. We don't know what the national average for this type of service is, but we feel that it is in the neighborhood of $44.95 per month including modem.

And for those of you who are asking what all this means, we simply say that your internet access can be up to 75 times faster than dial up so customers can spend their time listening, learning, watching, playing and experiencing instead of waiting and waiting and reading, reading, reading. The connection is always on, always at your finger-tips as soon as you put your hand on the mouse. You never have to "dial in" or need to "disconnect." You're always connected, always online for video, music, animation and interactive options.

EPIX currently provides an ADSL connection to the Benton area at a price of $49.99-79.99 per month, including a free modem. We suspect that this price will decrease as we approach February, 2004.

Didja realize that the word rodeo, a word that has made Benton known for miles around, comes from the Spanish word "rodear," meaning "to go around," and originally meant a cattle corral where cattle were "rounded up" for counting and inspection. The word has been around since before 1850, but the word as we know it today was not used until about 1914 in the sense of an exhibition of riding and roping skills. Benton Rodeo in 2004 is scheduled for July 13-18. You can find out more about the Benton Rodeo by heading over to FEATURES or to http://www.bentonrodeo.com/index2.html .

And while we're talking about the meaning of words, we'll mention the "huckleberry." Wild blueberries in this area are frequently called "huckleberries," and are wonderful for eating and fun to pick. American colonists when they found the native American blueberry misidentified it as the European blueberry known as the "hurtleberry." The berry was called by that name, but as we have so often pointed out generations of sloppy pronunciation and spelling have coined a new word, in this case "huckleberry."

The Citizens Voice reports this morning that the 109th Field Artillery battalion of the Pennsylvania National Guard is now on alert for deployment to Iraq after January, 2004.

Didja know that Julia Child worked as an advertising copywriter for a furniture store before she became the darling of PBS?

If you aren't an "old timer," you won't understand the following:
• Miss Myrtle Crossley accepted a position as clerk in the Pennington & Seely store in September, 1903. That happened to be the same week that "Mabel W." raced against "Bradley W." for the honor of Benton against the honor of Berwick. The Benton horse was owned by Benjamin J. McHenry, and Gilbert Kishbach owned the Berwick horse. The winner of the race had to win three different half mile heats in a "best of five" series. The winner got a purse of $20. In a second race, A. H. Edgar raced his Benton horse "Kitty Washburn, against a Berwick horse. That was also a "half mile heat, three best of five, purse $20" race. Subsequent Benton papers omitted the outcome of the race, but in a Berwick paper we found that in October a Berwick horse by the name of "Surprise" took "three straight" at the Benton race track from Mabel W in front of about 600 spectators. The paper noted that "considerable money changed hands, the odds before the race having been placed at five to four on Mabel W. Horace Hile and John Baker were judges from Benton, and two other judges were on hand from Espy and Bloomsburg.
• The Exchange Hotel about this time was being outfitted with steam heat and hot and cold running water. Charles Hartman of the firm of Hartman & Mendenhall did the work, as well as install "acetylene gas" lighting in the home of Dr. M. McHenry and install steam heat in the home of Elwood Knouse. The hotel stood where the Market Square restaurant and Dr. Hutnick's office now stands. The building burned in the fire of July 4, 1910. You can read more about the hotel under FEATURES .

Penn Traffic Co. is emerging from bankruptcy and closing grocery stores in an effort to become profitable. Three BiLo grocery stores in the Williamsport area will close by mid December and the company will close an additional 25 stores in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Vermont. Penn Traffic lost an estimated $7.5 million in September. Penn Traffic operates grocery stores under the name of Big Bear, Big Bear Plus, P&C and Quality.

The political news from Harrisburg is quiet this morning. Both the Senate and House are in election recess until November 17. The rumor is that the Legislature will quickly approve "stopgap" subsidy financing for local school districts when they next get together, since the Guv's plan for low-interest loans to the schools isn't that politically popular. The biggest political news in Harrisburg today is that trick or treaters can knock on the door of the Governor's Harrisburg residence on North Front Street tonight as the First Family hands out Guv's Goodies to "Trick or Treaters."

Ohio State plays at Penn State at 3:30 PM, Saturday. You can watch it on WNEP-16.

How did you do with the color test at the top of this page?

The Guv and his lair of lawmakers continue to wrangle over how to fund public schools, with the victims being the school districts that will miss their second state payment today, forcing some of the poorest to contemplate shutting their doors. The State Secretary of Education informed school districts yesterday that "an acceptable education budget would be signed before Thanksgiving."

Web sites related to fires, forests and Southern California news have experienced huge traffic increases this week. The National Fire News site, http://www.nifc.gov, has had a 2,000% rise in daily activity since Oct. 23. The Web site operated by San Diego Channel 10, (http://www.thesandiegochannel.com/index.html), has had a nearly 900% increase in visits this week. Other fire-related sites include NASA Earth Observatory (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov,/),
California Highway Patrol (http://www.chp.ca.gov/) and Firehouse.com (http://www.firehouse.com/).

Worried Mother Zane tells us that son John (Mac) Unbewust, a resident of San Diego County, is in Alaska for ten days at the very moment when all eyes are on that Southern California area. His residence is safe at the moment. Others in Southern California include Richard Strauch and the former Christina Savage.

Kim Komando told the story in her October 25 column about a man walking home at night when he heard "Bump! Bump! Bump!" He looked back and saw an upright casket banging down the street. Terrified, the man ran toward his home, the casket pursuing him. He opened his door and locked it behind him. The casket crashed through the door, with its lid clapping. The man rushed to the bathroom and locked the door. He heard the casket coming. Bump! Bump! Bump! It crashed through the door! Desperate, the man hurled a bottle of cough syrup against the casket. It worked! The coffin stopped!

A reader is looking for a cabin to rent during the spring and fall in the Jamison City/Central area. Can a reader help?

It is nice to be Back Home in Benton, PA. where many of us call friends by a nickname and not by a given name, where many a corn field has seen cars make emergency one-minute stops, where from time to time we see grown men ride through town on riding lawn mowers, where local stores don't even ask for identification when they cash checks. Some of our teachers remember teaching our parents, still call us by our older sibling's names and tell students to work on the farm during the summer to get ready for soccer and wrestling seasons. If you are looking for someone, you can probably find him at the local gas station. You divide people into "town" people and "country" people, especially when you are in school. You don't buy dark cars because of all the dust kicked up on dirt roads. If you give directions by streets or numbers, they are often wrong; like telling someone to turn on Hiscox Road, or by the Pied Piper, or by Yost's Restaurant, or by Barcheck's Market.

Near Harrisburg yesterday, a man was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after police said they saw him run a stop sign on his bicycle. A BUI charge was considered... Meanwhile, over in Hazel Township, a man is suing a Luzerne County judge and the county Sheriff's Department for $3 million for making him stand up straight in court.

Bob Parks reminded us of the FTC website that lists the ten top con artist scams. At the end of it there is a connection to report scams. Go
to: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/dotcons.htm .

A reader correctly pointed out yesterday that Defrag needs to run when nothing else is running, and that we neglected to mention that yesterday in our Windows XP tip of the day. A full-length article at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=15600170 starts with the basics for those new to Windows and XP and ends with some advanced ideas that can let your PC perform multiple automated unattended maintenance tasks all for free, using only the tools built into XP! You can have your PC automatically wake itself up every night, clean up your hard drive, backup all your files, defrag every disk or partition in your system, and then go back to sleep.

Marvin Albertson reminds us that about the year 1830, Savilla Pealer started a Bible class in the old Stoker school house, which was kept up for years and finally developed into the present Zion Sunday School. She may, therefore, be regarded as the founder of the Zion Sunday School, and perhaps in a certain sense is the founder of the Reformed Church in that neighborhood, as the Sunday School gave rise to formal preaching.

We missed the following birthdays and anniversaries while we were away. October 28: Emma Lou Funk, birthday. October 26: Chandlee Stowe, birthday; Chandlee and Grace Stowe, anniversary. Robbie and Jody Karschner. October 23: Shirley Ritter, birthday; Richard & Jan Jost, Anniversary. October 22: Ed and Susan Cole, Anniversary. October 21: David & Linda Bronson were married 31 years; it was Robert Rabb's birthday. October 20: Edward Lee Cole, Birthday. October 19: Joey Sue Laubach, Birthday

Upcoming:
The Benton United Methodist Church will have the Hometown Collectible, the Benton Roller Mill, ready for pick-up at the church on Election Day from 9:00 AM-6:00 PM. The price is $17.00. For more information call 925-6903 or 925-2513. Eat homemade vegetable soup and read the inscription on the back at the same time. You can also read about the Benton Roller Mills under FEATURES right here on the Benton News Web Page.

A Pomona #5 Grange Planning Meeting will be held Saturday, November 1, 2003, at The Benton United Methodist Church at 7 PM courtesy Of Benton Grange #88. For information, call Master Ray Harned at 256-3264 or Secretary Marjorie Diettrich at 784-4469.

Quote of the Day:
"My grandmother is over eighty and still doesn't need glasses. She drinks right out of the bottle." --Henny Youngman

The new California Governor-elect has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the state. Arnie the Actor's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as "Austrionics." In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favor of the "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with the "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter. In the 3rd! year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away. By the 4th yer peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru. --Sen on ze internet.

"There are things that are known and things that are unknown; in between are doors." - Anonymous.

"Just because your voice reaches halfway aroung the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar."
- Edward R. Murrow

On this date in 1929, "Black Tuesday" hit the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed as panic selling wiped out thousands of investors and America's Great Depression began. The mood of optimism and confidence in the United States economy that Herbert Hoover brought into office in 1928 was over.

Quote of the Day:
"The nation is marching along a permanently high plateau of prosperity."
--Yale University economist Irving Fisher, 1929

Father Joseph Hess, a member of the Columbia County Pioneer Hess family and well known to the members of St. Gabriel's Church, provided today's historical perspective based on a highway Marker at the foot of Penn Street in the City of Chester, next to the spot where the Chester Creek empties into the Delaware River. The marker reads simply: "Oct. 29, 1682, soon after finishing a two-months' voyage, William Penn first set foot on his colony of Pennsylvania, granted by Charles II the Year before. The site (of the actual landing) is a block south."

Penn sailed from England in the ship Welcome in August 1682. The ship arrived at New Castle, Delaware, on the 27th of October in 1682. His next stop, the first landing in his colony of Pennsylvania, was in Chester. Soon after his arrival he traveled by boat up the Chester Creek to the village of Upland where he visited his friend Caleb Pusey. Next he was transported by open boat or barge to Philadelphia landing in the area known today as Penn's Landing. After Penn's arrival, this area became the center of Philadelphia's maritime and commercial district, but now has become a riverside park and the place where Philadelphians gather in the summer to hear music and to usher in the New Year.

"The Huntley-Brinkley Report" premiered on this date in 1956 as NBC's nightly television newscast, replacing "The Camel News Caravan." Few readers of our rag will remember the Camel News program. John Cameron Swayze was the newsman, but not the image the networks give us today. Swayze was the man the sponsor wanted, and in those early days in television the sponsor could even impose its cigarette brand in the title of the network newscast: "The Camel News Caravan." In fact, the broadcast would end with the screen filled with a close up shot of a burning cigarette in an ashtray, its smoke curling up as an announcer happily told the audience that the program had been"produced for Camel cigarettes by NBC News." The sponsor did have some restrictions: no live camel could be shown, since real camels were dirty, the sponsor thought; no "no smoking" sign could appear on screen; and no cigars were allowed, although a specific dispensation to cover news of Winston Churchill as Prime Minister of Great Britain was granted by Camel for the famous Churchill cigar.

From the "Terrible Verse of the Day" department:
Here's our thoughts on what needs to be done
On the merits of having a gun:
Ask anyone harmed
By a thug who was armed
If he wishes he, too, had one.

A decade and a day ago, a devastating fire wiped out the hills of the Los Angeles area and by the time it was finished almost 600 houses were destroyed. The fires have returned like an unwanted Trick or Treater, almost to the day, and the cycle has been repeated. This time well over a thousand houses have been lost and about 16 people are dead and about 10,000 brave men and women wearing firemen's uniforms are slinging scarce water on the fires. Something like 80,000 people are evacuated in San Bernardino County alone this morning. As we drove through the Los Angeles County hills yesterday trying to see the interstate through the smoke as we approached the Burbank Airport well before daylight, we thought about the cycle of life in those hills.

The fires still burn, but we can tell you what will happen nevertheless. It goes like this: soon it will rain, and the burned ground from the hills will let mud slide to the bottom, in some cases taking the remaining houses that somehow escaped burning this week. Low-lying regions will flood, and houses will be lost. Soon the hills will sprout new growth and new plants which will someday dry out and burn again. And an impossibly steep canyon which now seems like a millstone around property owner's necks will be like a mecca to someone who wants to escape from most of civilization. Houses will spring up, many of considerable worth. Rain will come and flowers and shrubs will grow. Vegetation and some people perish, and the rains return, washing the dirt to the bottom of the canyons and taking with it the few remaining houses that didn't burn when the fires roared by. Many families, wiped out weeks before, make plans to rebuild. The cycle continues, but we'll move to other subjects..

Anyone who enjoys National Parks or National Monuments should bookmark http://www.nps.gov/parks.html. Simply find the park you are interested in, click again, and you are instantly transported to its website.

You may talk about your lovely girls,
With bonny hair and eyes,
With cherry lips as pure and sweet,
As the fruits of paradise;
You may talk of queens and lovers,
But we'll only take for real,
That lovely girl, that spotless pearl,
That can cook a good square meal.

We never thought that we would side with Microsoft, but we do on this issue. Microsoft no longer supports Windows 95 and 98, and we have also decided not to support these two operating systems with computer tips. The following tips are for users of Microsoft XP. These tips most generally will not work on other operating systems. Here is basic maintenance for your XP operating machine:

DSK CLEANUP.
WHAT IT DOES: Frees hard disk space including removing temporary Internet files, files in the Recycle Bin, installed programs that you don't use, and old Restore Points.
HOW TO USE IT: Double-click My Computer, right-click the hard disk on which you want to free space, and select Properties. Click Disk Cleanup on the General tab. On the Disk Cleanup tab, click to select the check boxes of the files that you want to remove, click OK, Yes, and OK. When done, click the More Options tab. Here, you can remove Windows components that you do not use. On the More Options tab, you can also remove installed programs and restore points, too.

CHKDSK:
WHAT IT DOES: ChkDsk scans the hard drive for errors. It should be set to correct any errors automatically. The most common type is orphaned data located on the hard drive. This is most often caused by an improper shutdown or system crash.
HOW TO USE IT: Click Start, then click My Computer. Right-click the hard drive you want to check, and click Properties. Select the Tools tab and click Check Now. Check both boxes. Click Start. You'll get a message that the computer must be rebooted to run a complete check. Click Yes and reboot. Chkdsk is not a fast process, so run it when you don't need the computer. Chkdsk was called ScanDisk in earlier Microsoft operating systems.

Always start with Chkdsk, but run Chkdsk in conjunction with Disk Defragmenter at least monthly.

DISK DEFRAGMENTER:
WHAT IT DOES: Bits and pieces of saved files can be scattered on the hard drive. Disk Defragmenter puts the bits and pieces in contiguous order, so the files are all together. Disk Defragmenter shares the Tools tab with Chkdsk.
HOW TO USE IT: Click Start, then click My Computer. Right-click the hard drive you want to check, and click Properties. Select the Tools tab and click

The New York Times, in an article dated October 28, reports some bargains in new car purchase. The difference last month between the sticker price and the price a buyer paid after rebates, incentives and haggling was 18.6%, knocking the price of a $29,000 vehicle down to $23,600, according to www.edmunds.com, a Santa Monica-based web site that offers buying advice to consumers. Some vehicles commanded far bigger discounts, including the Lincoln Navigator, a luxury S.U.V. With a sticker price approaching $58,000, a typical Navigator went out the door for $45,000. That meant savings of about $13,000, about the price of a Ford Focus.

Southwest Airlines apparently will begin operating out of Philadelphia with as many as 40 flights a day beginning in May, 2004. The discount carrier moves more passengers than any other airline except for Delta, as we found out flying the airline yesterday from Burbank to Baltimore.

The Benton Lions, members of the community and the VFW will host the Benton Halloween Parade tonight. All floats are welcome. The parade will form at 6:30 PM: floats on North Street, West of Main toward 3rd Street; walkers on North Street, East of Main toward Park Street. The parade will move at 7 PM from North Street down Main Street, West on Market Street, North on Third Street. Let's make this a great parade. Please come out, either as a spectator or as a participant.

The CHURCHES area of this web sitge needs to be updated. If you are a member of a local Church, please review the church area of the web site and if you feel that your Church needs to update their listing, please have a member of the congregation contact the web meister.

Looking for a Christmas present for someone? Nothing beats a book.

Consider getting up close and personal with Twin, Lewis and Sullivan Falls located in state game lands 13 in Sullivan County, just west of Ricketts Glen State Park. A new book that would make a nice Christmas present is entitled Hiking the Endless Mountains: Exploring the Wilderness of Northern Pennsylvania and is now available from Stackpole Books. Written by Jeff Mitchell, a Tunkhannock attorney, the book actually offers 56 different walks in the Endless Mountains. Lewis Falls, by the way, is up Heberely Run valley from Jamison City, along Grassy Hollow Road. Sullivan Falls is on the township road between Jamison City and Ganoga Lake.

On June 21, 1877, six convicted Molly Maguires were hanged in Pottsville while four more were hanged at the old jail in Mauch Chunk under what some described as a carnival atmosphere. In all, twenty Irish immigrants, suspected of comprising a secret terrorist organization called the Molly Maguires, were executed in Pennsylvania for the murder of sixteen men. There has been enormous disagreement over who the Molly Maguires were, what they did, and why they did it, as virtually everything we now know about the Molly Maguires is based on hostile descriptions of their contemporaries. Were they brutal terrorists or martyred heroes of the labor movement? A book now on the market, entitled Molly Justice, describes this turbulent era. The cost is $12.55 and is available from the Columbia Country Historical Society.

In one week, voters will enter their answers to the following questions.
1. Proposed Amendment No. 1 to the Pennsylvania Constitution: Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended to provide that a person accused of a crime has the right to be "confronted with the witnesses against him," instead of the right to "meet the witnesses face to face"?
2. Proposed Amendment No. 2 to the Pennsylvania Constitution: Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended to provide that the General Assembly may enact laws regarding the manner by which children may testify in criminal proceedings, including the use of videotaped depositions or testimony by closed-circuit television?

It used to be that it didn't make sense to trade horses with a man who made his living trading horses. Today, the same often applies to cars.

We have trouble receiving good radio reception in Benton. There are 13 radio stations within close listening range to Benton according to a radio station search engine on the internet with links to over 10,000 radio station web pages and over 2500 audio streams from radio stations in the U.S. and around the world. Have a daughter in Duluth? Go to http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/home and listen to news with a local bent.

The first in a series of eighty-five essays by Publius, the pen name of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, appeared in the New York Independent Journal on this date in 1787. The essays urged New Yorkers to support ratification of the Constitution.

It's the birthday of President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, born in New York City in 1858. He was the first American to win a Nobel Prize (in 1906).

It's the birthday of poet Dylan Thomas, born in Wales in 1914. Dylan fought a drinking problem throughout his life (and eventually died from alcohol poisoning). Once he was drinking and talking at a party and suddenly he stopped and said: "Somebody's boring me. I think it's me."

It's the birthday of comic actor and writer John Cleese, born in England in 1939. He co-wrote and starred in the Monty Python productions.

On this date in 1947, You Bet Your Life, starring Groucho Marx, premiered on ABC Radio. George Fenneman was Groucho's straight man and stayed with Marx during both the program on radio and on television. The game was played like this: three couples were brought onstage, asked four questions and given $20 to wager as they chose. There was also a "secret word" which could bring contestants extra money, and a jackpot question for the most successful couple. You Bet Your Life ran on radio from 1947 to 1956 over ABC, CBS and finally NBC. The show ran on television from 1950 to 1961. Groucho Marx died on August 19, 1977.

On this day in 1904, the first rapid-transit subway system opened in New York City and 100,000 New Yorkers spent a nickel on their very first ride. The opening ceremony began with a morning of oratory and in the afternoon the first subway train emerged from City Hall station. The subway opened to the general public at 7 PM and by the end of the evening, the system had carried over 150,000 passengers around the city. The subway operated between the Brooklyn Bridge and Broadway; from City Hall to W. 145th Street. This was the first underwater, underground rail system in the world. John Herbert Laubach remembers moving to New York in 1947, when a nickle was still the fare. Between then and the summer of 1949, it increased to 10 cents. What a bargain! For those prices, you could travel from Yankee Stadium all the way to outreaches in Brooklyn.

A thought for today, from Luke 3:11: "He that hath two cents, let him impart to him that hath none."

The Benton News web site provides an easy jumping off point for information. For example, you can navigate directly from here to find local weather, TV, movies, directions, points of interest, history, news and death notices. If you set www.bentonnews.net as your home page, all you have to do is hit the icon of the house at the top of your Internet Explorer page, and you'll always return to your home page.

A measure that will be front and center this week with the state Senate would raise the personal income tax to fund education. House Bill 200, which was narrowly passed by that body with a vote of 104-95 last week, calls for $450 million in school funding and an income tax increase. Under the bill, income taxes would increase from 2.8% to 3.2% by January and then drop down to 3.1% in July.

Anyone who reads the Benton News knows that we love to play around with words, looking into what certain words really mean and why they have taken the form they took. Thus determined, we then go right out and mutilate other words with reckless abandon. Our writing is thus only fair to middling, meaning moderately good or "so-so." The answer to the question about how you liked your sauerkraut sandwich could be "Fair to middling." "Fair" lies somewhere on the scale from poor to good. "Middling" is an adjective denoting something in the middle of a range of quality, such as wheat can be ranked as being "fine," "middling" or "poor," and so "Fair to middling," equates to "fair to fair." The range between the two qualities really doesn't exist, a quality somewhat less than Dorothy Parker's scathing review of Katharine Hepburn's performance in the 1933 Broadway play, The Lake: "Miss Hepburn runs the gamut of emotions from A to B." Something that is "fair to middling" runs the gamut from "C to C."

Poem for Today:
All rules in life have an exception, save this one:
When everything is said, all finished up and done,
The great unchanging truth for every man to know,
He is his own best friend or else his greatest foe.
--Gaines

According to an 1871 map, there were 13 post offices in Sullivan county and the towns of Lopez, Mildred and Estella didn't even exist. Post offices existed in the now forgotten towns of Fox Center, Lincoln Falls, Millview, Davidson, Muncy Bottom and Plunketts Creek. The map showed 50 sawmills in Sullivan county.

And speaking of sawmills, we'll remind you that the present Benton Roller Mills was the site of the first sawmill in Benton, built by Jesse Pennington. The town of Benton is actually a latecomer on the area scene. Benton Township was formed out of Sugarloaf and Fishing Creek Townships in 1850, but David Jackson who cut the trees and cleared the land in what is now the town of Benton didn't arrive in the area until 1872.

We took a look at a local newspaper from about a hundred years ago and realized that computer terms we use today were in use then, too. They just meant different things. Lets explain by starting with the term "log on." In 1900, it meant "making a wood stove hot." Other examples are:
Log off: don't add no more wood
Monitor: keeping an eye on the wood stove
Down load: gitten the firewood off the truck
Mega hertz: when you aren't careful gitten the firewood
Floppy disc: what you get from trying to tote too much firewood
Ram: that thing what splits the firewood
Hard drive: coming home in the winter time
Windows: what to shut when its cold outside
Screen: what to shut when it's black-fly season
Byte: what them darn flies do
Chip: what you step in if you aren't careful in the pasture
Modem: what you do to the hay fields
Dot Matrix: ole Dan Matrix's wife
Lap top: where the kitty sleeps
Keyboard: where you hang the keys
Mouse: what eats the grain in the barn
Mouse pad: the hole where the mouse lives
Mainframe: holds up the barn roof
Port: fancy flatlander wine
Enter: notherner talk for "C'mon in y'all."
Reboot: what you have to do right before bedtime when you forgot that Kitty is still outside

Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson was born in New Orleans on this date in 1911. She later worked as a domestic in Chicago and as a soloist at churches. Her singing style showed the influence of the culture, music and history she first learned in The Crescent City. She sang with the Prince Johnson singers, eventually recorded as a soloist, and spent five years touring with composer Thomas A. Dorsey as a singer of spirituals at gospel tents and churches. She performed for Dr. Martin Luther King immediately before his "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington in August, 1963. If you never heard this soprano belt out He's Got the Whole World in His Hands as she did for both President Eisenhower and Kennedy, you just haven't heard the song performed. She died of heart failure in 1972.

Nola (Johnson) Baker, 85, (Aug. 13, 1918-Oct. 24, 2003), Main Street, Benton, died Friday evening at the Balanced Care Nursing Home, Bloomsburg. Born in Talmar, she was a daughter of the late Warren and Ella (Stackhouse) Johnson, a graduate of the Benton High School, and a housewife most of her life. Gerald B. Baker, her husband of 64 years, died Dec. 18, 2001. Surviving are four children: Dr. Nancy Traubitz, Silver Spring, MD; Darla Lamoureux, Lancaster; David J. Baker, Muncy; Lon G. Baker of Midland, Mich.; six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Surviving siblings are Warren Johnson, Williamsport; Paul Johnson, Lightstreet; Wilma Ridal, Meshoppen; Lila Osman, Lewisburg. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband and brothers LaRue and Sterling Johnson. A viewing will be held from 7 until 9 PM, Tuesday, at the McMichael Funeral Home, Benton, where the funeral services will be held 11 AM Wednesday morning. Pastor Calvin Miller of the Benton United Methodist Church will officiate. Interment will be in the Wesley Chapel Cemetery, Talmar.
--from a Press Enterprise article

WPS Resources Corporation, Green Bay, Wisconsin, has agreed to sell its 216-scre Sunbury Generating Station at Shamokin Dam to Duquesne Power, L.P., a subsidiary of Duquesne Light Holdings for approximately $120 million including the plant, inventory, and related equipment. The acquisition is expected to close in the summer of 2004, after various regulatory approvals.

According to information provided by the generating plant, the Sunbury station has six boilers supplying steam for four turbine generators with a total coal-fired generating capacity of 402 megawatts. In addition, the station includes two oil-fired combustion turbine generators and two diesel generators.

Duquesne Light supplies electricity to customers who have not selected an alternative generation source.

Have you heard about the three vampires who went into a bar about this time of the year. The barmaid asked, "And what would you guys like tonight?" Vampire #1 said, "I'll have a mug of blood." The second vampire said, "I'll have a mug of blood." The third vampire shook his head at his companions and said, "I will have a glass of plasma." The barmaid wrote down each order, went to the bar and ordered from the bartender "Two bloods and a blood light."

Keep Larry Smith in your prayers. Larry is a patient in Geisinger Hospital.

Definitions from a by-gone era...
C. O. D.: Come On, DIG!

The Miracle Marlins ruled Yankee Stadium last night and snatched the World Series from the home team 2-0, to win the Series in six games.

Baseball Quote of the Day:
"You wouldn't have won if we'd beaten you."
Yogi Berra

Nathan Chandler threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, and Fred Russell rushed for 148 yards as No. 16 Iowa handed Penn State its fourth straight loss 26-14.

Berwick (8-1) beat Dallas 20-14 yesterday. Berwick can clinch the No. 1 seed in the District 2 Class AAA playoffs by beating Tunkhannock at home Friday.

Term of the Day: Footing the Bill.
Have you ever wondered why we "foot the bill" as opposed to, um,
"handling the bill?" In a financial sense, the original meaning of "foot" dates to the 15th century and meant to add up and set the total at the bottom, or the "foot," of a bill or account. Harriet Beecher Stowe used the term in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" when she wrote "The wall-paper was defaced, in spots, by slops of beer and wine; or garnished with chalk memorandums, and long sums footed up, as if somebody had been practicing arithmetic there." Over the next 300 years, "foot" took on its modern meaning of "to pay up or settle a bill,"

We continue our relaxing life in the Santa Ynez Valley of California, and last night we drove into Santa Barbara to see Dennis Miller in concert. If you don't know who Dennis Miller is, turn to http://www.hbo.com/dml/ . Son David and his bride, Heidi, took us to the charity concert, possibly after reading about "obsessed parents" on Miller's web site! Anyway, they footed the bill and off we went. The next Dennis Miller show on HBO Comedy, East, will be October 27, at 11 PM. If language is a problem, tread carefully here!

The death of Madame Chiang Kai-Shek at either the age of 105 or 106 brought memories back to Dayne Kline, memories of an afternoon and evening at the 97th Transport Squadron, near Tezpur, Assam, India. The Madame and her sister, Soong Ch'ing-ling, were dinner guests of the 97th while her husband and other Chinese were eating at the Officers Mess on the hastily prepared Thanksgiving visit in 1943. The reason for the visit was unknown to Dayne at the time, but later he remembered the TIME reporter at the Base when he read in the December issue of Time about the Cairo Conference and of the Chinese attending it. The Mess Hall was decked in poinsettias, a common flower in eastern India. The important women guests arrived after the airmen had drawn their food. The unit's 1st Sgt. introduced the two women to the soldiers and the soldiers reciprocated by individually giving their name and their home state. The ladies walked about and visited with the GI's. The older sister, Soong Ch'ing-ling, married Sun Yat-sen, the architect of the 1911 Chinese revolution. Not to be outdone, Soong Mei-ling had married one of Sun's generals, Chiang Kai-Shek, who led China until the Communist victory in 1949. For the next two decades she, her husband, and her older brother lobbied Washington to help them retake the mainland. And why were we unsure of her age? Many Chinese, who believe people are one year old at birth, could have altered her birth year.

Dayne recalls that eating with him that day in 1943 was Elwood P. Smoot, Newark, NJ, later lost in an airplane crash flying over the "Hump" and Robert T. Thompson, Marshalltown, Iowa. Dayne writes, "Ruth and I visited Bob Thompson three times in his home town but now he is gone. There was another GI by the name of Raymond Stake, Wisconsin Rapida, Wisconsin. He too may be gone for his son told me a couple of years ago his Dad would not know me or anyone else."

When you have a chance, offer Dayne a cup of coffee and ask him to reminisce with you about his flying experiences as he ferried gasoline over the Himalayan Mountains during the China/Burma/India conflict of the second world war. Make sure that you include in your conversation questions about the rate of survivors of that operation, and then be very happy that you have the opportunity to sip a Starbucks with Dayne.

In response to questions about the fires burning in the area of California where we are staying, we are not experiencing any problems. The nearest large fire is about 20 miles away. We are having high temperatures, low humidity and Santa Ana winds. Meteorologists predict more of the same today, and perhaps even a turn for the worse.

October 25, 2003

"A politician is a man who will double cross that bridge when he comes to it." --Oscar Levant

"We just won't have arthritis in 2000."
- Dr. William Clark, president of the Arthritis Foundation, 1966.

"Between changed environmental factors and better drugs, coronary heart disease will be pretty well licked by 2000."
--Dr. Irvine Page of the Cleveland Clinic, 1966.

Many candles can be kindled from one candle without diminishing it.
--The Midrash

It's the birthday of novelist Anne Tyler, born in Minneapolis in 1941 and author of The Accidental Tourist (1985). She was a published author, her career well-established, and one day she was asked by a woman, "Have you found work yet? Or are you still just writing?" Composer Johann Strauss was born on this date in 1825. Today is also the birthday of Windows XP computer operating system, released by Microsoft on this date in 2001, and the microwave oven introduced on this date in 1955 in Mansfield, Ohio, at the corporate headquarters of the Tappan Company. The manufacturer put a $1,200 price tag on the new stove that could cook eggs in 22 seconds and bacon in 90 seconds.

On this date one year ago...
The old Steve Shannon Tire Store building on Mill Street ended its career as a car repair shop, automobile dealership and a tire store.

The Guv came to Bloomsburg with a $1 million check for the technology center in the old Elks building on Market Street. A year later, politicians are still fighting over that decision.

The local area had been in a drought since early in 2002, the second severe drought in four years.

Long's Supply, route 11, Bloomsburg, was in its final days with everything at 60% off.

The Press Enterprise announced the passing of Nola Baker, 85. She died Friday, October 24, 2003, at the Balanced Care Nursing Home, Bloomsburg. Services are scheduled for 11 AM Wednesday under the direction of The McMichael Funeral Home, Benton. A viewing will be Tuesday evening.

Milton Hershey is a Pennsylvanian you should know more about. He was born on September 13, 1857, in a farmhouse near the Central Pennsylvania village of Derry Church. His descendants had come to Pennsylvania from Switzerland and Germany in the 1700s. Raised as a Mennonite, he attended school only through the fourth grade before his father, Henry Hershey, put him to work as a printer's apprentice in Gap. He soon became an apprentice to a Lancaster candy maker.

He opened his first candy shop in Philadelphia, but the business failed after six years. He moved to Denver taking a job at a caramel factory, and later opened the Lancaster Caramel Company, but also unsuccessfully owned candy businesses in Chicago, New Orleans and New York City. In early 1894, the Hershey Chocolate Company was born as a subsidiary of his Lancaster caramel business. In addition to chocolate coatings, Mr. Hershey made breakfast cocoa, sweet chocolate and baking chocolate. In 1900, he sold the caramel company for a reported one million dollars and concentrated on chocolate.

Hershey never abandoned his Mennonite values. He was never comfortable with material possessions and wealth. So as his chocolate bars became successful Hershey established a bank, department store, school, park, churches, golf courses, zoo, and a trolley system in his company town. During the hard times of the depression years of the 1930s, Hershey kept men at work constructing a magnificent hotel, a community building, a sports arena, and a new office building for the chocolate factory.

Hershey and his wife Catherine used the profits to open the Milton Hershey School in 1909. Today the school provides a quality education free of cost for pre-K through 12th grade. The 10,000-acre school serves nearly 1,100 children in financial and social need following an admissions criteria of "age, financial need, social need, potential to learn, and geographic preference." The School owns over 31% of Hershey Foods' Common Stock and controls 76% of the corporation's voting shares, and is a direct beneficiary of Hershey Foods' success.

The town of Hershey is 108 miles from Back Home in Benton, PA, via route 93 through Berwick and south on I-81.

I will spend my time in talking,
And I'll spend my time in joking.
I will spend a few hours walking
And a few hours idly smoking.
I will spend my time in playing
When I might be money getting.
But I'm very frank in saying
That I'll spend no time regretting.
--Edgar A. Guest

It is a shame when people don't act their age. Take last night for example. We had tickets for a Richard Lewis Springthorpe concert, a singer known to many outside of Australia as Rick Springfield. We remembered his music from the early 1980s, when we thought about life and rock music a lot differently than we approach life and music in general today. The setting was a huge room in an Indian casino in Solvang, California, the unmistakable stench of cigarette smoke lingering in the background. The stage was illuminated slightly when we entered, a bank of electric guitars and an impressive array of drums about all that could be seen on the stage. Our minds snapped back to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones concerts of many years ago, early heroes of Springfield. We remembered that he had played with the Jordy Boys and a group called the Wickety Wak and once dressed all in pink and played the Beatles song Eleanor Rigby with the band Zoot. We tried to remember Rick when he played Dr. Noah Drake on the daytime drama, General Hospital. His hit Jessie's Girl and Don't Talk to Strangers flashed through out memory. About that time, a strange thing happened as we felt and heard the music begin. The music didn't sound much better than a chain saw taking down a knurly old tree or fingernails scraping along a blackboard, and the sound was everywhere. There was no escape, except through the doors by which we entered, a route we eventually chose. We'll let a new generation enjoy that music from now on, thank you.

Quickies...
You all have heard the expression, Spring Ahead, Fall Behind, so there isn't any point in reminding you what to do sometime tonight, but don't forget to change the batteries in the smoke detectors, too.

The Marlins will start Josh Beckett tonight on three days' rest against Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte. The Marlins will take Carl Pavano to pitch Sunday night against Mike Mussina if the Yankees force a Game 7.

It's the birthday of American writer Sarah Josepha (Buell) Hale (1788-1879), a writer in Philadelphia and editor of the popular magazine The Lady's Book. It was largely through her influence that Thanksgiving became a national holiday. An exceptionally prolific and industrious writer, her works include poems, novels, biographical pieces, reference works, and writings for children. Her Woman's Record (1853), in excess of nine hundred pages, contains biographical sketches of notable women throughout history. One of her poems which you may remember was about a student of hers named Mary and about her little pet lamb, written as a moral lesson to her students. She helped to establish Vassar College.

Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
And every where that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go;
He followed her to school one day-
That was against the rule,
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school
--"Mary Had a Little Lamb," by Sarah Josepha Hale.

There are only a few days until the arrival of Halloween. Halloween is held October 31, the eve of All Saints' Day. The word comes from medieval England's All Hallows' eve (in Old English, hallow means "saint"). Many of these Halloween customs predate Christianity, going back instead to Celtic practices associated with November 1--the beginning of winter and the Celtic new year. Witches and other evil spirits were believed to roam the earth on this evening, playing tricks on human beings to mark the oncoming winter. Bonfires were lit, food offerings were made, and people would disguise themselves as roaming spirits. These early practices can be found in countries of Celtic influence today, such as the United States where children go from door to door in scary costumes demanding "trick or treat." This year, Halloween will be celebrated in Benton October 31 from 6 to 8 PM when trick or treating takes place. The Halloween Parade is October 28, with the parade forming at 6:30 PM and moving at 7.

Q. What do goblins and ghosts drink when they're hot and thirsty on Halloween? A. Ghoul-aid!
Q. Why do demons and ghouls hang out together? A. Because demons are a ghouls best friend!
Q. Why did the ghost go into the bar? A. For the Boos.
Q. What is a vampires favorite holiday? A. Fangsgiving
Q. What kind of makeup do ghosts wear? A. Mas-scare-a.
Q. What did the ghost say to the man at the coffee shop? A. Scream or sugar!
Q. Who was the most famous French skeleton? A. Napoleon bone-apart
Q. Where do most werewolves live? A. In Howllywood, California
Q. How does a girl vampire flirt? A. She bats her eyes.

In state news...
Would you believe that the curator in charge of invertebrate zoology for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh discovered that the beetle matching the name of the state's insect has not been definitively found in the state? The species of firefly that is the state insect has not actually been documented in the commonwealth.

The Legislative Budget and Finance Committee is expected to soon release a study the results of which are opposed by many statewide sportsmen's group. The proposal examines the pros and cons of merging the Fish and Boat Commission with the Game Commission.

Rita English and "Flip" Yannotti made the news in today's Press Enterprise article about the opening of Benton Manor.

A Microsoft Excel tip of the day...
Read this IF you are an Excel user and want to know how to use the "Fill Handle" in Excel. The bottom right corner in an Excel cell or range of cells always has a small black square called the "Fill Handle." If you enter the number 1 in cell A1 then select A1 you can left click on the Fill Handle. If you hold down the left mouse button you can drag down and this will copy the content of the cell down. You can also do this by holding down the Ctrl key, and the number will increment. If you want to increment by seven, for example, type 1 (or any starting number) in cell A1 and in cell A2 type 8 (or 7 greater than your starting number). Now select Cells A1:A2 and drag down with the Fill Handle. Try it with a date. Type in any valid date, like 10/24/02 into cell A1. Right click on the Fill Handle and drag down; for kicks and giggles, go to cell A15. Release the right mouse button and up will come a pop-up menu. Select "Series" and you will see the Series dialog box appear. Leave the "Series" set for Columns and the "Type" for Date. Check the "Weekday" option and change the "Step Value" to 3. Now click OK. The columns may need to be widened to see all the dates, but they should be only every third weekday starting from 10/24/02.

Our Favorite Bumper Snicker of the Day:
"COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, MEN ... SOME THINGS ARE JUST BETTER RICH"

The Florida Marlins are on the fringes of the wildly improbable with a World Series title at their fingertips following their 6-4 win over the Yankees last night. The series heads back to Yankee Stadium for Game 6 on Saturday and, if the Marlins lose, a deciding Game 7 on Sunday.

Have a modern or antique clock that needs repair? Ken Druckenmiller, 201 Main Street, repairs all types of mechanical clocks. All work is guaranteed and he offers free estimates. He specializes in antique clock movements and case repair. The number is 570 925-6733.

Don't forget that Del McCoury will be inducted as an Official Member of the Grand Ole Opry Saturday, October 25. For the full lineup, go to http://www.opry.com/04_info/04_weeklylineup.asp .

We saw a cowboy walking down a Santa Ynez street recently with a new pet dachshund and we asked him why a cowboy would own that kind of dog. The cowboy quickly replied that "somebody told me to get a long little doggie."

October 23, the 296th day of 2003. Shirley Ritter celebrates her 47th birthday today, her second since her retirement and the first time she has had to reverse her birthday numbers to make it come out right! Former "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson is 78 today. "Weird Al" Yankovic is 44.

Michael Crichton, 61, was born on this date in 1942. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard, taught anthropology at Cambridge and returned to Harvard for medical school. He published under the names John Lange, Jeffrey Hudson and with his brother under the nom de plume Michael Douglas. During his final year of medical school, the 6'9" Crichton published The Andromeda Strain (1969) and decided that writing rather than the field of medicine should be his career. He is the creator and executive producer of the television show ER. Many of his best-selling novels, including The Andromeda Strain, The Terminal Man, Coma and The Great Train Robbery, Jurassic Park became films.

Quote of the Day:
"To quit medicine to become a writer struck most people like quitting the Supreme Court to become a bail bondsman."
--Michael Crichton

The famous cliff swallows of San Juan Capistrano historically leave town every year in a swirling mass near the Day of San Juan, October 23. More attention is paid to their return from their winter vacation spot 6,000 miles south in Goya, Corrientes, Argentina when they land at the mission in San Juan, California, around St. Joseph's Day, March 19, to the ringing bells of the old church and a crowd of visitors in town awaiting their arrival.

Quickies...
A year ago today, Whittier Letteer had his heart cauterization and doctors found two arteries blocked. A disinfectant cleaner spilled in the basement of the Columbia County Courthouse, sickening two county employees and sending four others to the hospital as a precaution.

Friday, the Concorde makes its last commercial flight. The narrow airplane, which can soar at 60,000 feet and about twice the speed of sound, burns more than three times the fuel per passenger as the widebody 747.

Turn your clocks back before you go to bed on Saturday, October 25. Daylight Saving Time ends at 2:00 AM Sunday, October 26. Daylight Saving Time begins at 2:00 AM on the first Sunday in April and ends at 2:00 AM. on the last Sunday in October.

Trick or treat night in Benton is Friday, October 31, 6-8 PM. The Halloween Parade is October 28, parade forms at 6:30 PM and moves at 7.

The Sci-Fi Channel has a special Pennsylvania "documentary" hosted by Bryant Gumble Friday night at 9 PM. The program is about the mystery surrounding a thingie that crashed in a field in 1965 near Kecksburg, Westmoreland County.

Unlikely Marlins shortstop hitter Alex Gonzalez, hitting .094 in the postseason, hit an unlikely homer against an unlikely pitcher in the bottom of the 12th inning gaving the Marlins a 4-3 win over the New York Yankees, tying the World Series at two games apiece in Game 5 Thursday night.

Pennsylvania History Term of the Day: Onas.
William Penn was called "Onas" by the Lenni Lenape Indians. The name meant "quill" or "pen," from the fact that he governed by these instead of guns.
--History of the Lackawanna Valley, by H. Hollister, M.D., published in 1869.

Poem of the Day:
To get his wealth he spent his health,
And then with might and main
He turned around and spent his wealth
To get his health again.
--Author unknown

The excitement is building for the buckwheat cake and sausage supper at the Benton Christian Church the Wednesday after election day. The griddle will be hot from 4 PM until the cakes are all sold. Oh, sure, there will be eggs, potatoes, pies and cakes and other good things, too. Seconds and thirds are on the house. Please mark your calendar and tell your friends.

Some of you may have heard that a lawyer by the name of Strange passed away. His wife asked that his tombstone be inscribed, "Here lies Strange, an honest man and a lawyer."

The inscriber felt that the tombstone would be confusing, leading people to think that three people were buried there. The suggestion was made to inscribe the stone, "Here lies a man who was both honest and a lawyer." His logic was that whenever anyone walked by they would be certain to remark, "That's Strange."

October 22, 2003.

We are happy to report that Donald Rabb is recovering at home following a successful surgery yesterday.

Term of the Day: Poohbah
Pooh-Bah was a character in Gilbert and Sullivan's opera The Mikado (1885) bearing the title Lord-High-Everything-Else. The term has come to mean a person in high position or of great influence.

You can listen to the entire opera on the internet, or you can just remember the music to Pooh-Bah's refrain available at http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/mikado/webopera/song04.html. The refrain went like this:
And the brass will crash,
And the trumpets bray,
And they'll cut a dash
On their wedding day.
She'll toddle away, as all aver,
With the Lord High Executioner!

Any organization with both a Grand Poohbah and a Raccoonette President has to be an OK organization. Jamison City has just such an group, a non-profit organization called the Royal Order of Raccoons. The group has done community services and donated money to the food bank, school scholarships, and the needy since 2000. They hand out turkeys and trimmings to the elderly or needy, donate money to anyone who is in ill health or help the family after a death, etc. They do drawings and ticket raffles, and hold a flea market every 4th of July that is so big they even throw in a parade. They have developed a reputation for hard work and extra effort. Members are from the community and from cabins in the area. At this time, approximately 42 Raccoons and 20 Raccoonettes belong to the organization. Meeting are every 2nd Sunday of the month at Jamison City hotel at noon. The grand poohbah is Albert Schumacher and Sue Jones is Raccoonette President.

Sue tells us that The Royal Order of Raccoons and The North Mountain Fire Company will hold a children's Halloween Party for ages up to 12 years old at the North Mountain Fire Company on October 26 from 1 to 3 PM. Everyone is welcome. Prizes will be awarded for costumes and refreshments will be served. They will have a Spook House, play games, and paint pumpkins. Everything is free, by the way, compliments of the fine folks of the Royal Order of Raccoons and the hard working members of the North Mountain Fire Company.

The wet and cold spring weather impacted wild turkey reproduction in many areas of the state according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, but they still feel there will be excellent turkey hunting when the season opens Saturday, November 1. The PGC estimates the state population of wild turkeys in excess of 363,000, down from 2001 when the spring population estimate topped out at about 410,000.

A Michigan man went over Niagara Falls yesterday with only the clothes on his back in the hopes of making lots of money. He survived, but will be charged with illegally performing a stunt and could be fined $10,000. The man is the first person known to have plunged over the falls without safety devices and lived.

In the "What Is New with Google" Department comes...
Google Search By Location, at http://labs.google.com/location. Results are shown both in "list style" and mapped visually. If you want to locate various schools in the Benton area, as an example, enter the terms "school" and "17814" into Google Search By Location, and you'll get all the schools in or near Benton.

Google has introduced the "define" search command that returns definitions for word or phrases that the search engine finds on the Web, rather from traditional dictionary sources. To use the command, simply type the word "define" into a Google search box, followed by the word or phrase you're interested in, e.g. "define onomatopoeia."

Speaking of googling, more than half the U.S. population used the Internet last month, according to ComScore Media Metrix. The total number of users passed 150 million for the first time. The Census Bureau, by the way, says the national population estimate is 292 million.

In sports...

The New York Yankees went up by two games to one in the Series with a 6-1 victory over the Florida Marlins in Game 3 at rainy Pro Player Stadium last night.

Joe Paterno still has not announced who his starting quarterback will be for Saturday's noon game at Iowa.

Tyler Brewington finished 14th at the PIAA golf championship in York yesterday. Full coverage is included in the Press Enterprise today.

The Geisinger Health Plan and Bloomsburg Hospital are disagreeing about health-care coverage starting November 1, according to a Press Enterprise article in today's editions. If you are one of the 36,000 GHP members in Columbia or Montour county, take a quick read. The bottom line: GHP members could be turned away at Bloomsburg Hospital starting November 1.

The conservative Swartzentruber Amish sect has won the right to use gray reflective tape on the back of their horse-drawn buggies to warn of a slow-moving vehicle. A three-judge panel of the Superior Court ruled yesterday that state law requiring bright orange triangles is unconstitutional and violates their religious freedom, The state is expected to appeal citing overriding interest in public safety on the highway.

We often poke around old newspapers to see what we come up with, and today we found genuine rules for spoiling a child. The rules still apply today. They are...
1. Begin young by giving him whatever he cries for.
2. Talk freely before the child about his smartness as incomparable.
3. Do not know or care who his companions may be.
4. Devote yourself to making money, remembering always that wealth is a better legacy for your child than principles in the heart and habits in the life; and always let him have plenty of money to spend.
5. Feed him whatever he craves. He knows better than your doctor what his stomach is for.
Follow these rules and when he grows up he will not thank you for your thoughtfulness.

October 21, 2003.

We celebrate the birthday of the Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, (1772-1834), born in England on this date. He authored "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," in case you forgot about the albatross. Along with poet Robert Southey, the duo decided to start a utopian village along the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, free of aristocracy and based on what today we would call communistic values. Southey and Coleridge eventually abandoned this plan and instead stayed in England where they concentrated on communicating their radical ideas. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a lyrical poet, critic, and philosopher, whose Lyrical Ballads,(1798) written with William Wordsworth in 1798 started the English Romantic movement. You can read much more about Coleridge, Southey and Joseph Priestley if you go down to Northumberland to the home Priestly used for writing and experiments. It is the home where Priestley died February 6, 1804.

Quote of the Day:
"When Coleridge and I are sawing down a tree we shall discuss
metaphysics: criticize poetry when hunting a buffalo, and write sonnets whilst following the plough."
--Robert Southey

The first transatlantic radiotelephone transmission was made on this date in 1915. Admiral Horatio Nelson died on this date in 1805 from a musket shot he received in the Battle of Trafalgar. The first successful electric light bulb was lit by Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) on this date at his laboratory in Menlo Park NJ. The bulb had a carbonized cotton filament.

Tyler Brewington tees off at the PIAA state golf championships at York's beautiful Heritage Hills Golf Resort today and we wish him the best! Tyler finished last week's District 4 championships in second place. If you are going to watch the play action, the course is off I-83 at Exit 18, Mount Rose Avenue. Turn left onto Mount Rose Avenue (Route 124 east). Proceed east for 1 mile to the resort located on the right. We'll offer some advice: The 18th hole at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort & Conference Center is named Russell's Revenge, and so, as they say, It ain't over 'till the fat lady sings. Number 18 is a tough hole! This is the first time the boys PIAA championship has not been held at Penn State since 1982. The event will take place in York for the next two years.

We've always loved to read poems by Edgar A. Guest (1881-1959) and his The Endless Chain is one of our favorites from the 20 volumes of poetry he authored in his lifetime. The poem goes like this...
The grocer sells us eggs and beans
And sticks the money in his jeans.
Our empty purse we view and sigh
And think that he's a lucky guy.

The plumber then presents his bill,
And he cleans out the grocer's till.
The grocer then begins to cuss;
He's out the coin he took from us.
The plumber holds it for a day.
Then comes a bill he has to pay!
He would be rich, he loudly sighs,
But for the men who sell supplies.

And so it goes from morn till night,
The cash comes in and fades from sight;
The world is filled with discontent
And nobody can save a cent.

You can read other Edgar A. Guest poems at http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poet143.html .

Today's Thought for the Day:
"Defer not till tomorrow to be wise,
Tomorrow's sun to thee may never rise."
--Unsigned, but found in a 1910 paper.

Barbara Bush's new memoir is entitled Reflections: Life After the White House. Mrs. Bush must take a place in history as the only woman since Abigail Adams to marry one president and give birth to another. If you get the time, buy Newsweek Magazine and read about the new book, or turn to either
http://www.msnbc.com/news/NW-front_Front.asp?ta=y or the side panel of this web site and read it. And speaking of the side panel of the Benton News web site, take the time to read other national magazines and turn to the guest book from the web site. If you see a name on the guest book that you recognize, you can simply double-click on the person's email address and you can send that person an email.

Penn State receiver Tony Johnson, 21, was arrested by Penn State University police last Friday and charged with driving under the influence. Johnson is the son of PSU defensive line coach Larry Johnson and the brother of former Lions star tailback Larry Johnson. PSU was off last week and should be preparing for Saturday's Big Ten game at Iowa. A quick check indicates that Johnson is still listed as the Lions' starting split end.

A new website will provide teachers with access to agricultural educational materials and give up-to-date agricultural educational resources, event listings and useful information about Pennsylvania agriculture. Pennsylvania will be the only state in the national with a website of this type. We thought it was well done at the first visit to www.Marketplaceforthemind.com, but on two subsequent visits, the web site was down.

Overnight in Harrisburg...
The state House of Representatives adjourned its Monday session and opened its Tuesday session at 1:45 this morning considering a bill affecting property tax reform. A bill passed 148 to 54 and now goes to the Senate that would provide immediate increases in school subsidies. It would require districts seeking property tax reduction aid from the state to match anticipated state assistance for those reductions with an equal local shift of current property taxes to Earned or local Personal Income Taxes. State funding for property tax relief payments to local school districts would be dependent on revenue from "slots" legislation or some other tax to be enacted by the legislature.

The House, voting 104-95, early today passed HB 200 (104-95) to increase the state's income tax to 3.25% from the existing 2.8% on January 1, a new tax on cell phone use and other hikes of taxes and fees. Voting yes were 25 Republicans and 79 Democrats. Voting no were 83 Republicans and 12 Democrats. Not voting were 1 Republican and 3 Democrats. Locally, John Gordner voted no. The bill now goes to a currently uninterested Senate. The estimated total new tax bill on Pennsylvanians in calendar 2004 is estimated in excess of $1-billion according to the House plan.

Shortly after passing the tax increase, the House passed a revised state spending plan 143-59 with increases in a variety of human services and educational programs, and restored some earlier cuts. The budget for the current fiscal year would be $840-million over last year under the House plan, but the bill now heads to the Senate for consideration

We know that it was a long night, since a wire service reported that one Representative allegedly proclaimed that he had been a Member "under five Governors: three Republicans and one Democrat!"

They don't have Michael Shoemaker to worry about any longer. He was bounced from the Shickshinny Council Monday evening citing missed meetings rather than recent drug-related arrests.

Do you NTK what an acronym stands for? The Acronym Finder, a database of over 313,000 acronyms and abbreviations with their definitions, is the place to search for abbreviated meanings, IMHO. Hurry on over to http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?String=exact&Acronym=ntk&Find=Find

The historical figure whose birthday we celebrate today is that of English architect Sir Christopher Wren, born in 1632. London's Great Fire of 1666 gave architect Wren a chance to present a scheme to rebuild the city. In 1669 Charles II appointed Wren Surveyor General of the King's Works. As Surveyor General he supervised all work on the royal palaces. Plague and fire swept through London in 1665 and 1666 and Wren set out to restore London, especially the medieval cathedral of St. Paul's. Over a period of 35 years, he concentrated on the restoration of St. Paul's, with its magnificent dome. He was knighted in 1673.

The Old Farmer's Almanac predicts a cold, snowy winter, with average temperatures 2 to 3 degrees below normal and well-above-normal precipitation and snowfall. But don't rely on this one source only when you are discussing the weather over your cup of Maxwell House! Sprinkle your conversation with other old wives tales, like "A thick husk on corn means a long, cold, hard winter," or "If the chickens molt first on the forepart of the body, the early part of winter will be severe. If on the rear first, then the end of winter will be severe, or "If when the breastbone of a goose is held up to the light it shows dark all over, winter is likely to be long and severe," or if a groundhog sees its shadow on February 2, it will head to its hole and six weeks of cold weather will follow." For us, we'll just try to find a wooly bear caterpillar and base our unscientific conclusions on that.

In News from Harrisburg...
+ The Guv and other politicians in Harrisburg have apparently agreed to hike the state's personal income tax from its current rate of 2.8% to 3.25% for the first 6 months of 2004, but later cut the taxes back to a permanent 3.1%. And while the politicians are playing with these taxes, they apparently also decided to sharply raise revenue from traffic violations. The new revenue is needed for additional spending planned by the current administration.
+ The first state payment of school subsidy dollars to local school districts was not made, and the state's second payment is scheduled in ten days.

Buds will form on a Christmas cactus when it is kept at a constant temperature between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit or when you give it at least 13 hours of complete darkness each night. If you can achieve either of these conditions at this time of the year, you'll have December blooms.

It is always nice to learn about your neighbors and we recommend that you head on over to http://www.jobcorpsregion2.com/ to read about the Job Corps Center on top of Red Rock Mountain. Red Rock Job Corps Center has nine dormitories and trains more than 450 students each year. Pennsylvania's four Job Corps centers are located in Drums, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and at the former Benton Air Force Station. You can call 1 866 JOB-CORPS if you know someone between the ages of 16 to 24 who is economically disadvantaged and otherwise eligible. The benefits include vocational, academic and life skills improvements.

The article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer is about South Jersey, but it could have been about the upper Fishing Creek valley. The article is about disappearing dairy farms in New Jersey: "from 450 a decade ago to 250 last year and just 130 today." Enterprises like the Thunderbird Farms on Lower Raven Creek road are slowly closing and converting to charming five-acre parcels with unsurpassed views of other five-acre parcels with unsurpassed views. Dairy farmers have sold their land or intend to sell because of pressure from developers, taxes, debt, low milk prices, and a lack of willing help. The lovely silos that dot our countryside are being converted into other uses, like guest houses or they set lonely waiting for their owners to figure out a use for them. Nationally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says we are down to 105,000 dairy farms in 2000, half of the number existing in 1990 and a small fraction of the four million after World War II.

In sports news...
+ With no major upsets this weekend, the top five teams remained the same in this week's Associated Press college football poll. Oklahoma kept its season-long grip on the top spot following a 34-13 win over No. 24 Missouri on Saturday. Miami is close to the top after beating Temple 52-14. Unbeaten Virginia Tech was third, followed by Georgia and Southern California.
+ The Washington Redskins lost their third straight, this time to
Buffalo, 24-7. The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Ravens, 34-26.
+ The Marlins lost 6-1 to the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the World Series.

Don't forget about the Kriskringlemart coming up in Lehighton November 1-24. Enjoy an "old-fashioned" Christmas. Stroll lamp-lit streets. Shop three acres under one roof. There is a free petting farm. Held Monday through Saturday from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM, Sunday until 5:00 PM, at Country Junction.

Donald Rabb will have carpal tunnel surgery on his right hand Tuesday morning, and a few email words of cheer from you would be in order. He will get what you send him, but don't expect a response for a couple of weeks. If Donald can survive a double knee replacement done at the same time, he can streak through this minor setback!

Didja hear about the couple that went to the Chinese restaurant for dinner. In an effort to be helpful, he asked his date if she wanted her rice boiled or fried. As she looked over the top of her menu, she replied, "Thrown."

We can't find today's birthday list, lost in the packing somewhere, so we'll mention and comment at a future time on the local people who celebrate their birthday's with columnist Jack Anderson who turns 81 today.

We do remember that today is the anniversary of the surrender that ended the American Revolutionary War and it happened in Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781. British general Lord Cornwallis surrendered about 8000 British troops to George Washington's army as England appealed to America for peace. The Treaty of Paris officially ended the war two years later.

Many investors will remember Black Monday on Wall Street on this day in 1987. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 508 points, or 22.6%, which set the record for the largest drop ever. The previous record had just been set the preceding Friday. Although not of interest to everyone, we are working on an "investment page" for the Benton News, in an attempt to consolidate things financial in a neat little bundle.

The Farmers Almanac provides this piece of trivia. If for the moment we forget about Alaska and Hawaii, and think of the continental United States as a flat plane balanced on a fulcrum, the point at which the plane would be perfectly balanced is near the town of Lebanon, Kansas. Remember this trivia the next time you drive across the United States.

Want to see how the White House will be decorated for Christmas? Hurry on over to the White House Historical Society's web page.

In sports...
Juan Pierre and the Florida Marlins took the World Series opener 3-2 Saturday night from the New York Yankees. Since May when the Marlins lured Jack McKeon out of retirement to become the team's sixth manager in 11 years, the Marlins have been the hottest team in major league baseball. Nothing changed that last night!
Penn State coach Joe Paterno summed it up last week following his team's 28-14 loss to Purdue: "If you lose the ballgame," he said, "it's tough to see any bright spots."

A forestry researcher from Penn State reported that oak trees are disappearing from the state. The oak is disappearing at an alarming rate and species with lower value to many of our wildlife species are taking over. Many reasons exist, including acid rain, invasive species, deer overpopulation, acid mine drainage--and, of course, the ever-present chainsaw... You can do your part to help restore this wonderful tree.

In the "Seeking Employment" news, three of the four Luzerne County correctional officers on duty the night Hugo Marcus Selenski and Scott Bolton tied their bed sheets together have been suspended without pay.

The Wyalusing Rocks became a geologist's dream last year when evidence of Pennsylvania's deep past were unearthed. What was found came from a period when what is now Bradford County was a tropical river delta, sitting at the border of land and sea. The area around the 400 feet high cliffs beside the Susquehanna River has over the last year produced lobe-finned fish and four plant and animal fossils, all from the late Devonian period of some 350 million to 360 million years ago. Identified so far is the lower jaw of a Sarcopterygiian, a prehistoric carnivore that moved along river bottoms, a nearly intact Bothriolepis, an armored bottom-feeder with a tail like a shark, and a sand-filled stump of an Eospermatoperis, a tree that grew in the marginal areas where salt and fresh water met.

If you want to refresh your memory about the 2003-2004 hunting seasons and bag limits, go to http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/PGC/hunting/sb_03_04.htm .

We hear that the Job Corps center will be constructing the new stage at the Rodeo Grounds as a project. The location will be changed somewhat to keep the entertainers from having so much sunlight in their eyes while they are on stage.

We will not publish a Benton News Saturday, and so we'll mention the birthday of Pedo Coen in advance. Pedo is the son of Frances McDormand and the grandson of Rev. and Mrs. Vernon McDormand. And this is as good a place as anywhere to plug Frances' new movie, Something's Gotta Give, also starring Academy Award winners Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton with Keanu Reeves and Amanda Peet in a romantic comedy from writer/director Nancy Meyers (What Women Want, The Parent Trap). Jack Nicholson plays a perennial playboy who has a romantic weekend with Amanda Peet at her mother's Hamptons beach house. The playboy that Jack portrays develops chest pains and winds up being nursed by Diane Keaton, playing a divorced New York playwright. Jack gets romantic when Keanu Reeves steps in and starts to pursue Diane. It all opens December 12. And if you wondered about the derivation of the word, "pedo," in a combining form it means "child," sometimes used in the formation of compound words. And, by the way, don't spell Pedo's name the same as Boston pitcher Pedro Martinez who allowed three runs to the Yankees in the eighth inning last night.

The New York Yankees stepped forward and once again crushed their century-old rivals from Boston, 6-5, in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. Not since 1918 have the Red Sox won a World Series, and in that year they had the help of a pitcher and part-time right fielder named Babe Ruth. Wednesday night, the Florida Marlins polished off the Chicago Cubs, 9-6, to take the NL pennant. The Yankees will face the Marlins in the World Series beginning Saturday, October 18, at 7:30 PM.

And speaking of television, PBS' Masterpiece Theatre will present Goodbye Mr. Chips Sunday night, October 19, from 9-11 PM. The tale is of a schoolmaster whose skillful teaching blossoms into inspirational mentoring when he marries the love of his life. His dear wife, with her radical feminist ideals, transforms all the men around her, including the icy old headmaster who replaces strict corporal punishment with insightful reasoning.

We'll take a second and remember the Danish engineer Valdemar Poulsen of Denmark, who invented the telephone answering machine. Poulsen patented his Telegraphone in 1898, the first practical apparatus for magnetic sound recording and reproduction. It recorded on a magnetized wire the varying magnetic fields produced by a sound. In 1903 he helped found the American Telegraphone Company for the manufacture and sale of his device.

If you've got problems with Microsoft Excel that you can't solve, try the busy forum at http://www.mrexcel.com/board2/ . It's free.

Arcadia Word of the Day: "Jauntsamore"
Asking if one wants seconds at mealtimes.

Some thoughts for today:
• We watch many people who stop to think and forget to start again.
• We don't repeat gossip on this web site, so listen carefully.
• We are what we eat, and today we are gong to be either fast, cheap, or easy.

It is nice to have Ted and Marisa Whitenight Back Home in Benton, PA, following their six-week stay in Rome and Naples. Marisa went to Rome to say her final goodbye to her brother, Luciano Ferretti, but they didn't get to say it in person, as he passed away as the Benton couple were landing in Rome. Marisa's family of 9 brothers and sister is now down to 6. The family did get to celebrate Marisa's October 6 birthday, and we'll extend a belated Happy Birthday to her.

For the email readers of the Benton News, we will publish at least three hours later each day starting Monday and will continue on that schedule for ten days.

Don't forget to sign up for the Benton Foundry tour November 18. There are a few spots available for the plant tour and lots of space left for the breakfast and discussion at the Brass Pelican. For more information, go to FEATURES.

Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for more than 51 million Americans will increase 2.1% beginning in January 2004 for people who get Social Security benefits and on December 31, 2003, for people who receive SSI benefits.

John Unbewust celebrated his 81st birthday today with a one-candle cake. The person giving him the cake felt that he would only be able to muster up enough air for one candle! If living, Noah Webster would be celebrating his birthday today, too. He was born in Hartford in 1758 and didn't start writing the first American dictionary until he was 43. Webster tried to standardize American English and to have its own rules rather than relying on British dictionaries. It is also the birthday of American playwright Eugene O'Neill, born in 1888. He began writing furiously after recovering in a sanatorium from illness, releasing eleven one-act plays in just a few years. His play, A Long Day's Journey into Night won the Pulitzer Prize in 1957.

Wind pulled down power lines and trees all over the area Wednesday, and in Bradford County over 1,660 households were without power. A man was even trapped in the elevator at Keystone Theatre. In the Hazleton area, steady winds of 20 to 30 mph, along with gusts of between 35 and 45 mph, persisted throughout most of the day. Sullivan Country from World's End to Davidson Township was dark for much of the night. Strong winds caused power outages in a 29-county area served by PPL Electric Utilities. A low-pressure center in the St. Lawrence Valley was blamed for the high wind over much of the state.

Standard & Poor's Rating Services dropped its ratings of Pittsburgh's General Obligation bonds by five notches from A- to the junk bond grade of BB and placed the City on CreditWatch with "developing implications" yesterday.

The State House yesterday passed legislation to impose possible jail sentences and significant fines for persons who provide body piercing services for a person under 18 without parental consent.

Mario Puzo (1920-1999) was born on this date into an immigrant family in New York City in the area known as "Hell's Kitchen." Many of us saw the world for the first time as viewed through the eyes of mafia characters. His novel The Godfather (1969) was the best-selling novel of the 1970s and was adapted as an almost three-hour movie in 1972 starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, James Caan, Talia Shire, Diane Keaton, Sterling Hayden, John Cazale, Robert De Niro and Richard Castellano. He also published The Fortunate Pilgrim (1964), The Sicilian (1984) and The Last Don (1996).

If you've ever seen a cartoon, then you can thank J. Stuart Blackton for inventing motion picture animation in 1906. Thomas Edison photographed some of Blackton's drawings with his Kinetograph camera and Blackton became fascinated by moving pictures and later formed the Vitagraph Company. In the midst of the Spanish-American War, they made what is considered the world's first propaganda film, Tearing Down the Spanish Flag. In addition to filmmaking, Blackton also controlled a record player manufacturing company, Vitaphone, founded and helmed the Motion Picture Board of Trade, and created the first movie fan magazine in America, Motion Picture Magazine. When the stock market crashed, he lost everything and for the rest of his life worked on a government project in California.

For computer buffs...
• If you really want to see (just about) every file extension there is, try http://filext.com/index.php .
• We have told you about the helicopter at http://www.hurtwood.demon.co.uk/Fun/copter.swf before, but we'll mention it again as a fun little diversion.

Up in Syracuse, FedEx has triumphed in a three-year battle against a local coffee shop first called Federal Espresso. Agreeing to a change, the owners then came up with Ex-Federal Expresso. The shipping giant still wasn't amused. Finally, the two have reached a settlement, and the java business has adopted the name Freedom of Espresso.

Area jails were never the place to be, but in light of the recent jailbreak in Wilkes-Barre involving Hugo Selenski from a "maximum security" cell, a real crackdown is in place. Take the Bradford County Correctional Facility for example. An inmate escaped from there October 7 while taking out the trash by simply walking away from the jail. We suspect this inmate was housed in a "minimum security" cell. Police apprehended the inmate a day after his escape at his mother's house. And speaking of accused killer Hugo Selenski, the Hazleton Standard Speaker says his "undisclosed location" is the Dallas State Correctional Institution, a little closer to Benton than before. This morning's Citizens Voice says Selenski is in a 5-foot by 8-foot prison cell by himself without windows.

The Times Leader in Wednesday's edition tells about bringing in tomatoes from the garden, vines and all, and hanging them from a rope in the basement, allowing them time to ripen naturally. The article says that you can have fresh tomatoes for Thanksgiving using this method. It is hard for most of us to get past eating the tomatoes green this time of the year. But the recipe given in the newspaper was a little different than we are used to; i.e., they suggest dredging the tomato slices in self-rising flour or Italian bread crumbs and cooking them in half a stick of melted butter or margarine, or even substituting two tablespoons of olive oil. While we fry our green tomatoes in a skillet, the article suggested baking for about six minutes on one side and five minutes on the other.

The city of Harrisburg seems to be the latest city with financial problems. The Harrisburg Patriot-News reports the "debt for the city and all its agencies and authorities is about $680 million." The problem with the city's higher-than-average debt load came to light as a result of a closed incinerator in debt to the tune of $104 million.

In baseball playoffs...
• The Chicago Cubs remained one win shy of a pennant for a second straight game, following a bizarre eighth inning that allowed the Florida Marlins to rally for eight runs, five of them unearned, and an 8-3 victory that forced a winner-take-all Game 7 in the National League Championship Series.
• The Yankees and the Red Sox go at each other again at 4:18 PM Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. David Wells put the New York Yankees on the verge of another World Series, sending them back to the Bronx with two chances to keep The Curse alive. Wells worked his way out of trouble to lead the Yankees over the Red Sox 4-2 Tuesday for a 3-2 lead in the AL championship series. With one more victory, New York will extend Boston's perennial heartache to 85 years.

Benton is going through a pretty-up and tidy-up phase, and shaking out near the top of the list is this Main Street house now owned by Deb and Dan Jankowski.

The painting contractor tackling this huge job was Dennis James Conklin, Lighstreet Road, Bloomsburg.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
--Dwight Eisenhower

Get out today and see the beautiful scenery in the area. It should be the best of the next two days and over the weekend there could be a little white on the hilltops to go with the color. The leaves are not going to last long with the wind that is forecast for Wednesday.

A couple of quick questions... (Answers at the end)
• 1. If you go to bed tonight at 9 PM and wound your alarm to go off tomorrow at 10 AM, what is the most sleep that you could get tonight?
• 2. If your doctor gave you three pills and told you to take one every half hour, how long would the pills last?
• 3. If you have two coins totaling $.55 and one is not a nickel, what are the two coins?
• 4. Which is heavier, light crème or heavy crème?

The Wilkes-Barre area celebrated a 30-plus year reunion of remembering digging out of mud and debris after the flood of 1972. You can read the account of Hurricane Agnes under FEATURES, Hurricane Agnes.

The Huntington Mills United Sportsmen Camp 271 will hold a coyote hunt on January 16, 17, & 18, 2004.

Lonestar will appear at the F. M. Kirby Center Saturday, November 15, at 8 PM.

Whatsa new on this web site? Well for one thing, you can now go to the side panel and under LEISURE ACTIVITIES you can play 25 different crossword puzzles. We have introduced pictures of 40 houses and businesses in Benton, many of them taken before the Benton Fire of July 4, 1910. You won't recognize all of them, however, since many were destroyed in the fire. Over the coming months, we'll add current pictures of the houses to bring you up to date, or if they were destroyed we'll tell you about the houses and the owners. We could use a lot of help from readers on this. The original pictures come from a souvenir book of Benton published about 1904 by H. A. Kemp & Son, photographers. You will find the beginning of the article under FEATURES, but it is a long ways from being finished. Look for "Souvenir Book of Benton, Penn'a."

Demetrius Fannick, Hugo Selenski's defense attorney, has been everywhere lately. He appeared on a Geraldo Rivera show at 10 PM Sunday, showed up on the "Today" show Monday morning and was scheduled on CNN Monday night. But with all that flurry of activity, Hugo Selenski was able to find his lawyer who arrange his surrender at 8:47 PM Monday night. The accused killer is back in custody, three days after he escaped from the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in Wilkes-Barre via a window apparently not properly repaired from a prior escape attempt, making it susceptible to being removed. Selenski surrendered last night to police at his Kingston Township home without incident and is being held in an undisclosed location. In June, police found five bodies, three burned, buried on the property.

Quote of the Day:
"I wouldn't have missed this trial for anything."
--Hugo Selenski

We are going to take a short break from reporting the Benton News after tomorrow while we examine up close Actor Arnie's pledge to repeal a tripling of the California state car tax and a law granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, and to renegotiate state-employee contracts. In a state where no other top state office is in the GOP column, the California Guv has his work cut out for him. An example: canceling the state car tax will set the state back a reported $4 billion on top of California's current $8 billion deficit, money crucial to local governments in funding fire and police crews. A swift outcry is expected and the honeymoon should be short. We'll begin reporting Sunday from the Golden State.

Fire in a rural Mapleton Depot home killed seven people, including five children, early Tuesday. The town is 123 miles from Benton, between Lewistown and Altoona.

At the best, it may be weeks before the state resumes making its basic instructional subsidy payments to state schools. The Daily Review reports Tuesday morning that the Towanda "school district might have to borrow millions of dollars over the short term due to the budget crisis," a route that the Benton Area School System has gone. The Daily Review also reported that the delay is now costing the Wyalusing area school district $10,000 a month. The state says they will reimburse school districts for interest costs if they have to borrow funds due to the budget crisis.

Answers to the quiz at the beginning of this email:
• 1. You would get one hour. Wind-up clocks do not show AM/PM.
• 2. One hour.
• 3. A nickel and a half dollar. (Only one of them is not a nickel).
• 4. Since "heavy" and "light" refer to fat content, not weight and since fat is lighter than water, the correct answer is that light crème is heavier.

Keep your ears open for the rumors that we are hearing out of Harrisburg that state lawmakers are thinking about raising the gas tax from 55 mills to 85 mills at the wholesale level. To motorists and businesses, that would translate to paying an extra 5© to 8© a gallon at the pump. An increase of just 5© would raise the state tax to 31© a gallon, making it the highest in the 48 contiguous states. The equivalent of each 1© increase in gas and diesel fuel taxes generates an estimated $63 million a year. We currently pay $.267 in state taxes (vs. $.236 for the national average) and $.451 in Federal taxes per gallon of gasoline. The figures for all states can be found Here.

We recently saw a photograph of a sign at Telegraph Hill in San Francisco which read, "Caution pedestrians slippery when wet."

To toggle back and forth to your desktop without using your mouse, use the Windows key and the "D" key. To go back to where you were, just hit the Windows key and the D key again. Try it!

Outhouse races are becoming popular in this country. Up in Conconully, Washington, locals celebrated the 20th running of the unusual event, lashing homemade outhouses to skis. A person sat inside and two people pushed on the outside. There were divisions for men, women, kids and seniors. And to top that, there is a bucket race where pushers wear buckets on their heads, with the outhouse sitter shouting directions.

Out in Virginia City, Nevada, the World Champion Outhouse Races and Privy Parade recently took place. Using a name borrowed from Actor Arnie, "Urinator," they rolled through the old western town in pursuit of the Royal Flush Trophy and other prizes including a toilet seat and bedpan. This bizarre behavior has been going on since 1999, when wheels were first attached to the outdoor commodes. Twenty-two outhouses and portable toilets participated this year. The event came about after Storey County banned the use of outhouses and citizens protested by putting their outhouses on wheels and parading them down Main Street.

Dushore in Sullivan County, has had an annual outhouse race for years according to a reader who sits and ponders such matters.

You can find out more than you'll ever need to know about outhouses under FEATURES.

Historical trivia...
We were reading an advertisement from the 1850s where apparently a farmer who was a Democrat developed a strain of corn which he called "Buchanan corn" because he said, "It can't be beat!"

Many cities have had a nickname, like Bill's Town for Williamsport and the Windy City for Chicago and the Big Apple for New York city, Beantown for Boston, Burlington, Vermont, is the Queen City; Rutland, Vermont: Marble City. Lancaster was once know as the Red Rose City. The red rose was the symbol of the royal house of Lancaster in 16th century England.

In 1833, the first moveable threshing machine was invented by William Kirkpatrick. The machine was powered by horses and could thresh about
500 bushels of grain per day.

The first hard-surfaced road in the United States was the Lancaster Turnpike, completed in 1795. The road was about 63 miles long and 20 feet wide and made of broken stone and gravel, following a plan by Scotchman, John Loudon Macadam. You can read more about this Scottish engineer and road-builder. A solid foundation of broken stone was placed on the cleared road surface. The loosely packed smooth stone was used on top of this. The traffic acted to settle and harden the road. There were ten toll houses along the route. A long bar called a "pike" was placed across the road to stop travelers in order for them to pay the toll. When the tolls were paid, the pike turned out of the way to allow the traveler to pass and hence the road that charged tolls were called "turnpikes." You can read a great deal about the local Susquehanna & Tioga Turnpike here.

A friend tells us that he is giving up preparing dinner for four, unless he can find three others to eat with him...

Accused murderer Hugo Marcos Selenski, 30, reportedly bragged to his fellow prisoners that the maximum security cells of the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, a prison designed to hold 255 inmates but currently housing 510, wasn't strong enough to hold him. Friday night, he tied 12 bed sheets together and descended seven stories (about 60 feet) after removing a 12" x 18" window. In the process, he got a mattress through the window, and that got him over the razor-sharp wire. A cellmate decided to try the same trick, but Selenski shoved his partner as he shimmied down a rope of knotted bed sheets, Warden Gene Fischi said Sunday. The cellmate fell and is now in critical condition at the Hershey Medical Center with multiple broken bones and an $80,000 bail hanging over his head. Police are quoted as saying that Selenski might have been involved in as many as 16 homicides. Anybody with possible information should call state police at 570 679-2000, or call 911. The case has now moved to the "District Attorney Wants Answers!" phase.

Quote of the Day:
"How can something like this occur in this day and age, where it seems that an inmate can simply pop a window out of the prison, climb out and run away?"
--Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas

Many will remember back in 1975 a massive search of Northeastern Pennsylvania for heiress Patricia Hearst, kidnapped by the radical Symbionese Liberation Army. Miss Hearst hid out in a rented Wayne County farmhouse in South Canaan, 77 miles from downtown Benton, PA, in July, 1974. She was finally arrested in San Francisco in 1975. She was convicted and sentenced to seven years for the bank robbery and served two years before President Carter commuted her sentence.

In sports...
Number 18 ranked Purdue beat Penn State 28-14, the Bloomsburg Huskies knocked off Millersville 50-7, Tampa Bay scored 4 touchdowns late in the game to defeat Washington, 35-13; the series goes on to game six: Marlins 4, Cubs 0; Hall of Fame jockey Bill Shoemaker, who rode four Kentucky Derby winners, died yesterday at the age of 72.

The Federal Trade Commission recently reported that more than a third of a randomly drawn spam sample contained false-address information. Of these e-mails, 46% also alluded to an existing personal relationship between the sender and the recipient. In addition, 96% of all spam that concerned investment and business opportunities contained false addresses, subjects or message texts.

The deer harvest for the 2002 seasons was 517,529 deer, which included 352,113 antlerless deer and 165,416 antlered deer. This was an increase of about 70,000 antlerless deer from the previous year and a reduction of about 40,000 antlered deer.

October 11, 2003, the birthday of Beatrice Marie Roberts. We can't divulge her birth date straight out, but we can hint and say that on her birth date CBS-TV introduced its comedy "Leave It to Beaver." The "Cleaver family" included Theadore Cleaver, his brother "Wally," mother "June" and his father "Ward." Cheyenne and Wyatt Earp were on ABC-TV at 7:30 and 8 PM earlier in the evening. Happy birthday, Bea!

It's the birthday of Eleanor Roosevelt, born in New York City in 1884. She married Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a distant cousin, in 1905, and together they had six children, one of whom died in infancy. FDR contracted polio in 1921 and was permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Eleanor tried to make up for her husband's disability. When he was elected president in 1933, Eleanor continued to be actively involved as the First Lady. In 1933, she was the first president's wife to give her own press conference. In 1936, she began writing a daily syndicated newspaper column entitled "My Day." She was responsible for "Prospects of Mankind with Eleanor Roosevelt," which first aired in 1959. After Franklin died in 1945, Eleanor became a delegate to the United Nations and chaired the Human Rights Commission.

The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in Washington, DC, on this date in 1890. Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, was launched on this date in 1968 with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham aboard.

"For longer than any of us can remember, the Benton Foundry, once Harrington Foundry, has been associated with the business, industry, and economy of northern Columbia County. Its job offerings drew many of our families to this area, and kept here many of those whose parents and grandparents had settled earlier. Today, 2003, having weathered booms and declines alike, it remains the prominent company in the Benton Area." These words are the words Dr. Harold Ackerman will use to open a discussion of the Foundry Back Home in Benton, PA, and later we will post the entire program to this web site.

The readers of the Benton News have often gathered around the breakfast table at home to gulp down their morning nourishment and a cup of coffee, but we never get together as a group to do it. We are going to change that on November 18 when up to 100 readers of the Benton News can gather for food and fellowship at the Brass Pelican Restaurant, Elk Grove, and listen as Harold Ackerman spins a yarn about the foundry and its 150-year history, the approximately 9,000 different products that it has made over the years, get to meet Fritz Hall, the owner of the Benton Foundry, and thirty people who sign up in advance will actually get to tour the foundry, following the breakfast and the discussion.

Reservations are not required for breakfast at 8:30 AM. Breakfast is at your expense, by the way. We'll start the discussion about 9:15 AM and we'll be finished with that about 10 AM. Those going on for the Foundry tour will then caravan to the Foundry and the rest can return to the happenings of their day. For admittance to the Foundry only, email here. Although not necessary, if you plan to join us for breakfast, let us know how large your group will be. We have some surprises planned and it should be a fun morning. See'Ya!

We've noticed...
• Old age is when you still have something on the ball but you are just too tired to bounce it.
• Some people have spent a fortune on deodorant and others wouldn't like them even if they didn't use deodorant.
• Women should put pictures of missing husbands on beer cans.
• Mothers feeding their babies with little tiny spoons and forks . We wonder what Chinese mothers use.

On the subject of budgets...
• The City of Pittsburgh faces projected deficits of $121-million in the next two years. The city has contacted the state for help in resolving the fiscal crisis.
• The stalemate over the education funding portion of the budget continues in Harrisburg. The second basic education subsidy payment is due to Pennsylvania's 501 school districts October 23. The first payment, which was due in late August, has yet to be made. This week chances of a timely October 23 payment were still in limbo.

You won't believe this one! Hugo Marcus Selenski and another inmate (later captured) escaped from the Luzerne County Correctional Facility last night by scaling approximately 70 feet from the top floor. The jail is about a block from the courthouse in downtown Wilkes-Barre. Selenski is the key suspect in the strangulation deaths of Michael Jason Kerkowski, and his girlfriend, Tammy Lynn Fassett, who were killed in May, 2002, and buried in a burn pit near the Dallas football field.

With the leaves just beginning to turn color, and the Harvest Moon lighting crystal clear evenings, it is hard to believe that some folks are talking about Christmas. But Christmas Spirit is spreading from North Street to Mill, from the dam to West Creek. Benton promises to be even more festive than usual this year.

Thanks to the efforts of local residents, businesses and Town Council member/organizer, Mike Ruane, Mayor Jan Swan and organizer Carol Vance, Benton is getting large, beautiful, electric decorations for the light poles on Main and Mill Streets and doing other things in support of the Christmas celebration.

The Borough of Benton bought the main swag that will go across the street at the bridge. Another donor bought two more swags and the rest of the decorations were sponsored by businesses and individuals at a total cost of $8,500. PPL requires $210 per pole to hook up the electricity. There are 19 poles, for a total installation cost of $3,900 and the OK to install had to be given to PPL by Labor Day.

One of the Christmas decorations
planned for Benton Borough

Through fundraisers like bake sales, a raffle and donations, the Benton Borough Decoration Fund has raised $3,290. There is a balance of $700, plus about $500 for installation supplies. The fund is currently $1,200 short of its goal. Town Council and the Fund are asking for your help to complete this project. If all goes as planned, the lights will come on Thanksgiving night and will stay on through the Christmas Holidays, lighting both Main Street and Mill Street. Won't you please help! Send your contribution now to Benton Borough Decoration Fund P. O. Box 520 Benton, PA 17814

Dorothy Kocher is again spearheading the "Wrap a Present" campaign to decorate porches and posts. The first meeting is at 7 PM, November 4, at the Little Tiger Teachery, Main Street. Everyone is welcome. If possible, bring your own scissors, outdoor holiday wrap, empty boxes and ribbon. We will have materials available on a limited basis. Everyone in town is encouraged to fill their porches, front steps or lawns with packages. The "Wrap a Present" committee will make lots of extra bows, and they'll be available to anyone who wants them.

With real decorations on the light poles, festively wrapped presents piled on porches and lawns, wouldn't it be great to have real Christmas trees up and down Main and Mill Streets? Well, that is also possible. Free trees will be provided to residents of those streets who are willing to display and light a tree in front of their property. If you live on either Mill or Main Streets and wish to participate, please double click this hyperlink.

It is going to be a great holiday season Back Home in Benton, PA!

On this date...
. in 1813, composer Giuseppe Verdi was born in Italy, became a church organist by the age of seven, and later produced three masterpieces:
Rigoletto (1851), Il Trovatore (1853), and La Traviata (1853).
. in 1845, the United States Naval Academy opened in Annapolis with a class of 50 midshipmen and seven professors.
. in 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew pleaded no contest to one count of federal income tax evasion and resigned his office.
. In 1979, it snowed in Washington, DC.

Everett Clyde Williams Jr., 80, 1329 Elk Grove Road, Benton, died Thursday, October 9, 2003, in Reading. He was born in Dauphin County. He was predeceased by his first wife, Lillian, and by his second wife, Esther Viola (Mowery) Griffith Williams. He was a steelworker for Lukens Steel, before retiring in 1988 and an Army veteran of WWII. Surviving are two sons: Harold Lee Williams of Orange, TX; and Larry Dean Williams, Nottingham; there are two daughters; Gloria Jean (Williams) Templin of Mohnton; and Bonnie Jo (Williams) Reilly of Coatesville; there are two stepsons: Terry Lee Griffith of Warwick, MD; and Joseph Elwood Griffith of Newark, DE; and one stepdaughter: Carole (Griffith) Zeisloft of Newark, DE; there is one sister: Dorothy (Williams) Wagner of Hummelstown; and numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and one great-great-granddaughter. He was predeceased by a brother, Harold L. Williams, and a stepdaughter, Barbara Jane (Griffith) Karns. Arrangements are private; contributions may be made to your local American Heart Association.
--From a Press Enterprise obituary

We love to see movies by Ethan and Joel Coen, the talented screenwriters and directors who made the Academy Award-winning comedy Fargo and the Academy Award nominated O Brother, Where Art Thou?. A new romantic comedy about lawyers and rich people called Intolerable Cruelty has been in the works for nearly eight years. Catherine Zeta-Jones, George Clooney, Richard Jenkins, Billy Bob Thornton and Geoffrey Rush star in the laugh-out-loud movie about a man who wins in court and a woman who courts to win. The movie opened today in Bloomsburg, but we'll have to warn readers that we hear that the language is not for everyone.

We heard about a man who came home from work, sat down for a snooze in his favorite chair, turned on the television, and asked his wife to bring him a beer "before it starts." She brought him the beer, but looked a little puzzled. He snarfed it down, and asked for another beer, saying "hurry, before it starts." That beer went down as fast as the first two, and he told his wife, "Quick, bring me another beer. It's gonna start." The wife exploded, saying "You waltz in here, flop down, don't even say hello to me and then expect me to run around like your slave. Don't you realize that I cook and clean and wash and iron all day long?" The husband sighed. "Oh shoot, it's started."

Mark your calendars...
. The Benton United Methodist Church is hosting a 2003 Christmas Cantata December 14. Practices will be held at the church on Sunday late afternoons from 4-5:00. First practice begins October 12, 2003. Participants may just show up at a practice or call Megan Huntington at 925-5696 or Alan Hack at 925-6649 for more details.
. The October meeting of the Red Hat Society will be held at the Hoboken Sub Shop at 2 PM Wednesday the 15th. A cup of chicken and corn soup and a half a turkey-salad sandwich will be served, with pie alamode and beverage for $6.50, including tip and tax. This is Queen Mother Joselle Confair's last official meeting. Carol Vance will be crowned in November.
. ESPN airs a documentary "The Season: Joe Paterno" tonight on ESPN at 7 PM and again on Thursday, October 16 at 4 PM.
. This is the weekend for the Mid-Atlantic National Chainsaw Carving Championship at the Sullivan County Fairgrounds on route 154 in Forksville. Over the next two days, carvers are required to complete a masterpiece project. The pieces will be auctioned.
. The Benton News is planning a breakfast meeting for readers November 18. Make sure that you read tomorrow's edition for more details. We'll give you a clue: the meeting involves a visit to the Benton Foundry.

We enjoyed seeing the sign "Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the (name deleted) Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance."

We keep getting more and more school-age kids reading the Benton News, and it makes it difficult for us. A word of explanation is necessary. Not only are they reading, but because they know how to use email they are writing asking us to explain certain things they just can't fathom, like the term "balloon tires," which we'll casually refer to in a second. We often mention some of the things that confuse them, like the fact that there was no fast food when this old codger was growing up. The American goal now seems to be home ownership, but in our dim past the concept was that few of our parent's friends owned their own house, we could never wear blue jeans to school, the concept of playing golf or even having the time to consider playing golf was beyond comprehension. Our exercise came from work and our transportation came from riding our one-speed, 15-pound bike with balloon tires. Pizza pie was our favorite dish, and we can't even remember when the word "pie" got dropped from the name. Pizza pie was never available for delivery, but newspapers and milk were usually delivered and the higher the butterfat content in the milk the better. We had car headlight dimmers on the floor, boxes with real ice, telephone numbers with word prefixes, stamps that were green with the letters S & H on them, ice cube trays made out of metal, a drive-in theatre on route 11 with pot holes large enough that on occasion a tractor would have to pull cars out of the mud. So when we talk about something like drinking soda pop while listening to the jukebox, you may find that we go into more description that you would care to hear. Remember that others are struggling to figure out what we are talking about.

The Press Enterprise says that The Home Depot under construction at Buckhorn is planning a December 18 grand opening.

On Sundays at Jimmy Klinger's Fireside Video and Deli on Center Street, it is possible to rent two new releases and get an old movie rental free. On Wednesday, you can buy one cheese pizza and one two-liter soda and rent one movie for $8.99. There are other specials, too, that last through the month of October. Stop in for a complete list.

On this date...
• in 1956, the malling of America began when the first fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall in the United States—Southdale—opened in Edina, Minnesota. It included 72 stores on two levels, and was anchored by two major department stores—Dayton's and Donaldson's. The mall offered a ten-minute helicopter ride between Southdale and the airport, downtown St. Paul, or the Dayton's in downtown Minneapolis. Southdale Center is today a 1.6 million square foot regional shopping center with over 15 million shoppers visiting Southdale's 130 retailers each year.
• in 1871, the Great Chicago Fire broke out at the barn of Catherine and Patrick O'Leary, when Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over a kerosene lamp while she was being milked. 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 completely destroyed, property damages were $200 million, about 100,000 people were homeless, and nearly 300 were dead.
• in 1871, the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, the worst natural fire in U.S. history ravaged the city of Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Peshtigo was a lumber town, surrounded by more than one million acres of pine forest. The fire killed about 1,500 people, with about 350 bodies unidentified.
• in 1918, Sgt. Alvin C. York almost single-handedly killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132 in France.
• in 1956, Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game ever in a World Series as the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 2-0.

We have to apologize to those people we have offended by suggesting over the past few weeks that Actor Arnold might not, you know, be qualified, or that he's rude to women, or that Californians do a lot of bickering over politics, blah blah blah. California likes watching movie stars and entertainers plunge into politics—Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood, George Murphy, the late Sonny Bono—but nothing was quite like the swift and improbable political rise of Actor Arnold in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a wide margin. Liberal on social issues, conservative on fiscal issues, he Cruzed past other politicians and suddenly is the second most popular Republican in the country!

This has been quite a year in politics! A former world-champion body builder becomes the new governor of California, the former governor of Vermont is the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, and in Louisiana, for the first time since Reconstruction, neither November 15 runoff candidate is a white male. The candidates are Republican Piyush Jindal (listed on the ballot as "Bobby Jindal"), 32, a son of Indian immigrants, and Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, the 60-year-old Democratic lieutenant governor.

We will not publish a Benton News for the next two days, and so we'll wish Happy Birthday to Don King, Dottie Rabb and Frank Edson in advance of their birthdays. We also wish John and Sandy Kogut a Happy Anniversary.

Two excellent examples of "bringing home the bacon" were on hand yesterday near Steamtown when U.S. Senator Arlen Specter showed up with a promised $5 million study for a proposed rail link from Scranton to New York City and Congressman Paul Kanjorski, D-11, secured money to study the establishment of a spur that would connect Wilkes-Barre to the line. The rail line, if built, is estimated at $200 million.

For the hunters...
The Pennsylvania Game Commission expects statewide grouse populations to be as low as anytime since they began keeping grouse flushing records in 1964 because of the rainy spring nesting season that hurt grouse-chick survival. The PGC estimated that last year 119,00 grouse were taken during Pennsylvania's seasons in 2002 and early 2003.

The underhunted squirrels become fair game starting October 18 following Pennsylvania's special youth squirrel season October 11 and 13. There should be plenty to shoot at this year. The Game Commission estimates that last hunting season a million squirrels were taken, and only groundhogs were taken in larger numbers.

The state squirrel and ruffed grouse seasons run concurrently from October 18 to November 29 and December 15-23. There also is a post Christmas grouse season from December 26 to January 10; and a post-Christmas squirrel hunt from December 26 to February 7.

Small game hunters must wear at least 250 square inches of fluorescent orange clothing on the head, chest and back while in the field.

The State Game Lands system currently contains about 1.4 million acres. Under state law, the Game Commission is authorized to purchase property for no more than $400 per acre from the Game Fund, with certain exceptions.

The Benton Halloween parade Tuesday, October 28, will be hosted for the 20th time by the Benton Lions Club, and will be bigger than ever. There will be three marching bands this year: Benton, Millville and Catawissa. Prizes are bigger than ever, too: there will be three $50 prizes, four $25 prizes and four $15 prizes. There will be ten prizes for marching couples of $10 each and ten prizes of $10 for singles. The parade forms at 6:30 and moves at 7 PM. Details will follow.

Construction is expected to begin early in 2005 on a 111-acre PPL site three miles from Jerseytown that will have four soccer fields, a camping area, softball and baseball fields and an amphitheater. An extensive nature-trail system will connect all the facilities.

There will be a Rummage Sale at Christ the King Church Friday from 9-3 and Saturday 8-1. On October 18 there will be a roast beef dinner at the Fairmount Township Volunteer Fire Department from 4 PM.

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me,
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
--Emily Bronte (1818-1848)

Jim and Gloria Harvey celebrate 50 years of wedded bliss Saturday afternoon at the Benton Volunteer Fire Station with an open house. Their many friends are invited to stop and say "hi," but no presents please.

The Benton Cider Mill is pressing cider Tuesday, Friday and Saturdays. And speaking of apples, didja know...
• apples keep well for about six months at temperatures between 32 and 45° F. A Styrofoam chest in a cool mudroom or cellar can approximate root cellar conditions.
• apple cider may be frozen after first pouring off a small amount to allow for expansion.

It doesn't look good for Penn State... Saturday they play at Purdue, next Saturday they have the week off, on October 25 they are at Iowa, and on November 1 Ohio State comes to town. Next weekend may be their best shot at not getting depressed!

On this date in 1982, the musical Cats opened on Broadway in the first of a record 7,485 performances. Australian novelist Thomas M. Keneally was born in Sydney on this date in 1935. He recorded the events in the story of Oskar Schindler, a German who saved more than 1,300 Jews from the Nazis. It is also the birthday of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, born in Paris in 1955. His first public cello recital was at the age of five and he debuted at Carnegie Hall when he was nine. He once left his cello dating from 1733 named Petunia in the trunk of a New York City taxicab. (He got it back). He was voted one of the sexiest men alive by People Magazine for 2001, the year he received a Grammy Awards for the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Don't forget...
• the Pumpkin Fall Festival starts at 10 AM Friday and 9 AM Saturday at Rohrbach's Farm Market, Route 487, between Catawissa and Bloomsburg. Crafters, stage entertainment and hayrides will be available along with a corn maze.
• the program about factory farms and the impact they have on family farms and communities tonight on WVIA-TV-44, at 8.
• the burning ordnance in the Borough of Benton permits burning in the morning hours only, and garbage may never be burned.

The Larson Design Group is close to finalizing Labor and Industry Drawings for a proposed Borough Hall at Everett and Airport Road, Benton. During the monthly town council meeting last night, Andrew Frontz of the LDG estimated construction costs of approximately $50 a square foot.

Andy Borowitz writes that Arnold Schwarzenegger will mean billions of dollars in new revenue for California's troubled comedy industry out there on the left coast, an industry that "suffered huge job and income losses during the administration of Governor Gray Davis, whose near-total lack of personality has proved a daunting challenge for the state's struggling joke manufacturers."

The seven existing members of the Benton Town Park need some fresh ideas, more volunteers to help, an infusion of cash, and could use suggestions from the community as relates to the park. The lovely 17-acre Benton Town Park and baseball field takes in revenue through minimal charges for reservations, personal donations and revenue from sales at the ice cream stand, etc. This year, the carnival moved to the rodeo grounds because of construction adjacent at the high school, and it appears as though the carnival will return to the rodeo grounds next year—and that means additional loss of revenue. Last night, park commission member Ron Kelsey came to the town council for help and suggestions as relates to income sources, vandalism, usage and maintenance. The town park is one of the major assets of the community and is well known from the days of the Farmer's Picnic and the carnival, but it is to the point where an infusion of help is needed. If you can volunteer a suggestion, or some of your time or a little of your money, contact Ron Kelsey or president Lee Remley. A letter simply addressed to either man and sent to Benton, PA, will mean a lot. Please don't leave this paragraph until you have given the subject serious thought. Thank'Ye!

Was it cold in the high school yesterday? We heard it was cold as a frosted frog, as cold as an ex-wife's heart, cold as a cast iron commode, cold as a banker's heart. It was cold, and it may be that way until the end of October, if rumor is correct. That being said, here are some questions for the kids to think about until it warms up at the high school:
• Why do we often say, "Close the window it's cold outside," but after we close the window, it's still cold outside?
• If you saw a heat wave would you wave back?
• Why is it that since our body temperature is 98°, when we are outside in 85° weather, we feel hot? Shouldn't we be feeling cold?
• If the first thermometer wasn't invented until the 1600s, how can they say global warming is the worst in 10,000 years?
• Is there a certain temperature at which it stops being qualified as cold? At what temperature does it qualify as hot?

Pumpkins growing on the former Bob Stauffer farm, on Camp Lavigne Road. The farm is now owned by Brian Campbell, operating under the Farmer Moofy label.

J. Robert Sands running the loader, filling the cardboard containers of pumpkins for Farmer Moofy's two locations: Central Road near Bloomsburg next to the old Giant Store. The second location is in Berwick across from the Giant Store.

Farmer Moofy's Produce was established by Brian Campbell (Farmer Moofy). The business started by selling produce off the back of a pickup truck when Brian was only 12 years old. Notice that the field below is orange with ripe pumpkins.

Jane Brewington celebrated her 92nd birthday on September 20. Jane's son, Bob Smith, told us in advance about the birthday, but somehow we neglected to mention it. Jane was born in Berwick on September 20, 1911, and taught school in Berwick for 35 years. She would like to say "hi" to all of her friends in the Benton and Berwick area. Her address is:
The Gardens Court
C/O Jane Brewington
3803 PGA Blvd.
Palm Beach Gardens, Fl. 33410

The exterior sign at Kameeo's Restaurant, route 487, just north of Benton. Kameeo's was formerly the Mortgaged Inn.

The redesigned bar area at Kameeo's Restaurant. This will be a very popular area October 31 at the costume party the restaurant is planning.

Back in 1683 on this date, thirteen pious families from Krefeld, Germany, arrived in the colony of Pennsylvania and founded Germantown, today a part of Philadelphia. They were Mennonites arriving on the sailing ship The Concord, looking for religious freedom after having been persecuted in Europe. The Krefelders were also drawn to William Penn's offer of 5,000 acres of land. They had their share of initial hardships, but their carpenters, weavers and tailors created a prosperous community that grew with each new arrival. As early as 1684, the group held the first country fair in Philadelphia. The Krefelder's cloth found markets in Boston and New York. By the American Revolution there were an estimated 100,000 Germans in Pennsylvania, more than a third of the state's total population at the time.

A story is told about some old Germans who had a river baptism during the late winter. Ice had to be broken for the ritualistic ceremony. After the dunking, one of the churchmen asked the new communicant whether the water was cold and was told that it was not a bit cold. The reverend put him under again, this time a little longer, saying "he doesn't seem to have been cured of lying."

Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent announcement of support for gun control seems inconsistent with the opposite message he has given to millions of people throughout his acting career. Oh, well. It will soon be over.

In news of the local military...
• Erik Jost is studying network programming and setup and other computer related things in 29 Palms, California. His address is:
JOST ERIK PFC
LOC #1574 MCCES, MCAGCC
BOX 788253
29 PALMS CA 92278-8253

• Jesse Laubach is now stationed in Okinawa, Japan.

• Skyler Galgon is now at Parris Island. His address is:
RCT GALGON SKYLER R
PLT 2104 2ND RTBN GOLF CO
BOX 12104
PARRIS ISLAND SC 29905-2104

We love to read how times change, but over the years, not everyone felt that change was good. We found an old letter from a woman who wrote, "Folks used to do their business in a one or two holer outside the home, and make their sauer-kraut inside the house; now they make their sauerkraut outside and do their business inside the house!"

The Columbia County Historical Society published A Quiet Boomtown, a history of Jamison City from 1889 through 1912, thirty-one years ago. It is now being reissued and will be available from the Society in November. Craig Newton, on of the authors, has added a new chapter "Post-script 1912-1927." The book is $18 for non-members of the Society, and would make an excellent Christmas present.

The local Garden Club will hold an open house with complimentary refreshments and art supplies on October 9 at 7 PM in Christ the King Church social hall, Mendenhall Lane, Benton. Renowned horticulturist/daylily specialist, Eleanor Charles, will show how to properly split perennials (bulbs, tubers, and specialty grasses) as well as discussing her specialty, daylilies. The fine art of painting on terra cotta and creating beautiful pots will be under the direction of locally known and accomplished artist, Faith Hunter. There will be a perennial plant sale, from everyone's extra perennials. Proceeds will be donated to Columbia/Montour Home Health Agency Hospice Program. Maggie Glass is president and can be reached at 864-3979.

It was nice seeing Shirley Bogart Roberts at the Twin-Bridges Festival, but we learned that regrettably she flew in from Colorado, while Allen stayed home to "wash the hay," in order to attend the funeral of mother Eulalia Bogart's sister-in-law, Helen G. Whitenight, 87, Orangeville.

The Redskins lost to the Eagles, 27-25, yesterday in front of 67,792 at Lincoln Financial Field.

The office of Dr. John Morris, Market Street, Benton

Photo taken in the late 1950s and furnished courtesy of John and Zane Unbewust, Benton.

Anna C. Hasay, 81, (January 21, 1922-October 3, 2003), State Route 239, Huntington Township, died Friday at the Mercy Hospital, Wilkes-Barre. She was a daughter of the late Chester and Vincentine Snecienski Orzechowski, Mocanaqua. She was a member of St. Mary's Church, Mocanaqua. Surviving is her husband, John A. Hasay; three sons, State Representative George C. Hasay, Shickshinny Lake, District Justice Johnny Hasay, Red Rock, and Andrew Hasay, Shickshinny; and three grandchildren, Rachel Hasay, John Jacob Hasay, and Molly Anne Hasay. Funeral services will be Monday, October 6, 2003 at 9 AM from the Mayo Funeral Home Inc., Shickshinny, followed by a 9:30 AM Mass of Christian Burial in St. Mary's Church Parish cemetery, Mocanaqua.

For reasons we don't even understand, we'll start adding the inventions of the day when we remember to include them. These inventions are the things that have been influential in our history, and we often take for granted. Here is a sampling: The AEROSOL CAN was invented in 1926 by Erik Rotheim of Norway. AIR CONDITIONING was invented in 1902 by Willis Haviland Carrrier. The AUTOMOTIVE AIR BAG was invented in 1952 by John Hetrick. The ENGINE POWERED AIRPLANE was invented in 1903 by Orvill and Wilbur Wright. The LIGHTER THAN AIR AIRSHIP was invented in 1852 by Henri Giffard of France. The ALPHABET was invented c.1700-1500 BC, by the Hemitic speaking people on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. If you would like to know more about writing over the ages, turn to http://www.geocities.com/remenkimi/boulosayad.htm .

There will be an Honoring God and Country service at the Benton United Methodist Church on November 9 beginning at 7 PM. The Benton Council of Churches is sponsoring this celebration, and all are invited to share in an evening of praise and worship. If you are a Veteran, you are encouraged to attend and to wear or bring any medals, ribbons, or other memorabilia you have concerning your Military Service.

Many of us forget about the wonderful shortcut that combines the Ctrl key and the letter "Z." If you delete something and discover as soon as you do it that you shouldn't have, use control and the z key and it comes back!

We are always amazed that deer seem to be attracted to the middle of the road just seconds before a car chooses the identical spot. Deer collisions will continue through the end of November and begin to slow down in mid-December. Deer don't pay attention to what's going on around them during the fall breeding season, commonly referred to as the "rut," something quite different from when we as humans get "in a rut."

The Benton United Methodist Church will hold its annual fall soup, bake, and craft sale on Election Day, November 4. Craft items will be available to sell.

Quickies...
• Rumors in Harrisburg are that the Guv is working on a budget resolution to hike the state sales' tax by 1 full percent.
• The Pennsylvania School Boards Association estimated that the budget impasse in Harrisburg was costing local school districts an extra $1 million a week. Legislators in Harrisburg have not yet reached a compromise in passing an education budget that will keep all 501 school districts in the Commonwealth operating.
• The Liberty Bell moves at dawn Thursday from Market Street in Philadelphia to a new home only 100 yards away in the new Liberty Bell Center.
• Late night talk show host David Letterman awakened the morning of September 20 to find a 300-pound male bear in his Choteau, Montana, ranch-house kitchen, ransacking his refrigerator and cupboards and helping itself to peaches, chocolate cake, beef jerky and other delectables, while swigging on a bottle of whiskey. Wildlife biologists released the bear near Glacier National Park after its capture.
• Penn State lost 30-23 to Wisconsin yesterday, making it almost certain that Penn State will have a losing season for the third time in the last four years. Joe Paterno and Penn State had just one losing season in his first 34 years as head coach.

Quote of the Day:
"I'm just trying to figure out what happened today."
--Joe Paterno, 77.

Former Guv Dick Thornburgh, with the help of a University of Pittsburgh Press editor, has written and published a 386-page autobiography entitled "Where the Evidence Leads." Thornburgh rented a summer house in Eagles Mere for many years.

Didja know that locally the sycamore tree is usually called a buttonwood tree, supposedly because the wood was used to make buttons? The name comes from the Greek word for broad. The sycamore is also known as a buttonball, an English plane tree, water beech and Virginia maple. The bark flakes off in irregular patches because of the fast growth of the tree and has three colors: the outer is light gray, the inner is pale tan, and there is a greenish or chalky white color. One Ohio sycamore is 129 feet tall and measures 48 feet around the trunk. The leaf of the sycamore is as much as ten inches long, with three to five teeth, and can grow to be 500 years old although from about 200 years on it is hollow in the center. A few years ago, we timbered some land below Benton and an extremely large buttonwood tree was cut. The center of the tree was hollow, and about 20 feet of the tree was taken to Iola where a play house was constructed on top of the tree truck, with access to the tree house via a ladder inside the trunk. The interlocking grain of the tree makes it nearly impossible to split. The wood is used for rolling pins, butcher blocks, saddletrees, shipping crates and violin backs.

The reunification of East and West Germany took place in 1990 on this date. The two countries had been divided since the end of World War II. The Berlin Wall, lasting 28 years, was the most visible sign of this division.

Terms of the Day: "Ransack" and "Shanty."
• "Ransack" comes from the Old Norse, from a compound of "rann,"
meaning house (the related Old English word "aern" gave us "barn") and "saka," meaning search, related to "seek." At first it meant to search a house, but later took on the more aggressive meaning. A derivation gave us "ramshackle," and a shortened form of that gave us "shack."
• "Shanty," meaning shack, is an American word, and probably came from the houses of Irish immigrants. In Irish, "sean tig" means "old house. (The word "Shanty" as a sailor's song is derived from a French word related to "chanter.")

We'll have a pop quiz this morning. Which city has the highest concentration of million-dollar houses? You probably won't guess the correct answer so we'll tell you that it is Cambridge, Massachusetts, the home town of Harvard University. One in every eight houses is valued over a $1 million. New houses everywhere that are under construction seem to keep getting bigger and bigger. Many houses in this area were once just clapboard, ramshackled shanties, especially in the lumbering operations of Sullivan County.

We'll tell you a favorite story of ours, set in a board-n-batten house here in Fishing Creek valley about a hundred years ago. A traveling salesman asked for a night's lodging at a farm house. He fed and put up his horse for the night, finished his supper and shared the news of the outside world with the farm family. The traveling man was put off to bed early as was the usual custom in the house. Now don't get ahead of me here, there were no bosomy daughters or anything like that involved, but the salesman had to sleep with little Jacob, already in bed. Before he extinguished the flame in the old-fashioned coal-oil light, "Jakey" jumped out of bed, got down on his knees near the foot end, bowed his head, one hand on the side of the bed.

The boy was very quiet and it stirred the heart of the traveling salesman, and he quickly thought back to the days of his youth when he would recite "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" at this time of the night.

The salesman quickly got out of bed, knelt down opposite little Jakey, head bowed, hands on bed, about to begin silent prayer. Jacob studied the stranger for a moment, then blurted out, "Gee mister, Mom'll give you hell in the morning when she finds out--the pot is under this side of the bed!"

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
--Words of a children's prayer.

Quickies...
• Town Perk, a Main Street Bloomsburg coffeehouse, reopened its doors last week with new owners, a new look, a New York Style lounge and a large menu.
• The Google search engine at http://www.google.com keeps getting better. To find out who a telephone caller is, simply type the number, including area code, in Google's search box. Try it with your own number. If you're looking for an item, there's no need to make your fingers do the walking in the Yellow Pages. Just type the one word category followed by the area code, for example "restaurants 570" (without the quotes).
• Andy Borowitz writes that a dialogue coach who worked with Arnold Schwarzenegger on several films said that the actor "habitually and wantonly" groped for pronunciation and manhandled the English language despite repeated requests by her that he stop. The coach worked to teach him to "pronounce the word 'accelerator,' but he just kept manhandling it." "I told him to stop, but he wouldn't take no for an answer."

The Benton High School Class of '37 recently gathered with friends at Painter Den Club. Members of the class and friends are shown above.

You can download a Pennsylvania Voter Registration form by going to http://www.acms.org/vote/2003vrf.pdf , which isn't such a bad idea since Monday is the last day for people to register to be eligible to cast their ballots in the November 4 election. Registration forms can also be picked up at libraries, post offices, municipal buildings and liquor stores.

The Bloomsburg University field hockey team lost Thursday, 1-0 to Lock Haven, their first loss since September 25, 2001, when they played East Stroudsburg.

Area newspapers report that 90% of the 5,500 members of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties cast votes Monday and Tuesday, and 95% of them supported a decision to strike if contract negotiations remain stalled.

October 2, 2003. Today is the birthday of Jackie Becker, who shares her birthday with comedian Groucho Marx, and singer-songwriters Don McLean, 58, and Sting, 52, and talk show host Kelly Ripa, 33. Five years ago today 4,600 pages of evidence were released by the House detailing President Clinton's efforts to contain the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Hollywood's singing cowboy and former owner of the Anaheim Angels, Gene Autry, died at age 91. A year ago today, a Maryland resident was shot and killed in a grocery store parking lot in Wheaton, the apparent victim of a sniper; the next day, five people in the Washington D.C. area were shot dead.

Quote of the Day:
"Marriage is a wonderful institution. That is, if you like living in an institution."
--Groucho Marx, born on this date in 1890

We recommend that you make a cover for over the plants that you want to keep outside for a few more days. The temperatures will get near "chilly" overnight.

In the local music news...
• Mary Hermann and her band will be playing Bluegrass favorites with some special guests from out of town at the Clover Leaf Village Roots, Danville, Friday night, October 3 from 6-9 PM.
• Look for live entertainment at the new Southern cuisine restaurant in Bloomsburg called Magnolia (near the former Hotel Magee).

Under the new and tougher speeding laws in the state, a motorist asked a police office what the officer felt the man should do with the ticket for speeding that he just received. "Keep it," the officer advised. "When you get three of them, you get a bicycle."

We often mention Benezette Township in Elk County as being a wonderful place to watch the elk population of Pennsylvania, and recently we mentioned Winslow Hill as one of the most popular viewing areas. There aren't many roads on the 835-square mile elk range that pass fields where the big elk graze, and so eventually elk watchers seem to be drawn to Winslow Hill to see and hear the wild elk. We have often seen the intent look on people's faces as they turn at the Benezette Restaurant on route 555 and head up the curves of Winslow Hill, past the cemetery and the woods and the neatly lined houses and the occasional dumpsters marked "Elk Waste" and run kerplunk into droves of other elk watchers. Winslow Hill is the state's most popular elk viewing area, but is usually clogged with traffic just following daylight and just before sunset.

Elaine Laubach, wife of former Benton resident Jim Laubach, tells us that her "father was a Winslow and was born and raised on Winslow Hill. The area that now comprises the elk range was owned by all my dad's family." Elaine's grandmother sold her rights to the hill to her brothers and wanted off the farm. Elaine said that "as kids, my brother and I were sent to the farm at Winslow Hill for our summer 'vacations.' Since three of the four uncles maintained farms, we sure got in a lot of 'vacations.' We go over to the old homestead on occasion, but the traffic is so bad. But we do see the elk and they are a sight to behold."

Jim and Elaine have owned three railroads in their lifetime and love anything related to railroads. Jim, in fact, is considering coming to the North Mountain Historical Society next spring to talk about local railroads and perhaps we could get him to tell us a little about his father and the J. Paul Laubach Construction Company.

Besides the lure of Winslow Hill, Elk County visitors should consider these areas to view elk and other wildlife: Sinnemahoning State Park along Route 872; Hicks Run Viewing Area, along Route 555, about 12 miles east of Benezette; Elk Trail, a 19-mile loop off Route 555, 10 miles east of Benezette; Thunder Mountain Equestrian Trail, a 26-mile loop, off of East Hicks Run Road, 12 miles east of Benezette; and Beaver Run Dam, off the Quehanna Highway, southeast of intersection with Route 555.

If you are looking for an ideal Christmas present for a child in your life, consider what Max Hartman is making with his son down in Raleigh. The items are currently being offered for sale on eBay, or you can contact Max by writing to us and we'll forward it on.

Rush Limbaugh resigned Wednesday night from ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, a victim of controversial statements he made about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. Rush was having other problems, as this mornings New York Daily News reported that Limbaugh was being investigated by the Palm Beach County state attorney's office for illegally buying and abusing prescription painkillers.

Out in California, a majority of Californians seem to want to recall Democratic Governor Gov. Gray Davis. Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to have surged past his most formidable opponent, Lt. Gov. Cruz M. Bustamante, the only prominent Democrat in the race. The LA Times put it this way: "Gov. in critical condition, with Schwarzenegger standing on his chest." A recent poll in California indicated that only 8% of voters say that Arnie has the "the best experience for the job," but lets face it: if his political career doesn't work out, he has other skills he can fall back on. Columnist Arianna Huffington summed it up by calling Schwarzenegger a political fraud, but said he was a "charming man." Stories of a young Schwarzenegger smoking marijuana, taking steroids and engaging in group sex would have sunk most politician's ship, but Arnie keeps right on rollin'. It should be interesting. Isn't Pennsylvania a great place to live!

The wet summer should bring the leaves to their full color a week or so later this year, and they probably won't stay on the trees in full color as long as they have in past years.

Whatever happened to the old concept of teaching civics in high school?

Quickies...
• The state Department of Revenues collected $1.9 billion in tax revenue in September, about $116 million and 6% greater than projections.
• The state Department of Revenue said yesterday that Pennsylvania's unemployment rate was 5.2% and the United States' rate was 6.1%.
• Check out SpywareInfo at http://www.spywareinfo.com. It has tons of information about keeping your computing and Internet use to yourself and out of sight of people who are too nosey for their own good.
• Friday's garage sales seemed to start this week on Wednesday night on Mill Street.
• Pumpkins are back on Mill Street and other locations. Pumpkins seem to be good size, with sturdy stems and excellent color.
• Don't forget the auction Saturday at the rear of Leona Bardo's residence. Pocket doors out of the Hotel Moses VanCampen are interesting items that will be sold.

The state House of Representatives approved and sent to the Guv a measure to impose a levy on nursing homes, which he wants to attract additional federal aid. The state Department of Public Welfare proposes collecting $252 million in assessments from 601 nursing homes and other long-term care facilities so that the state can receive an additional $344 million in federal Medicaid matching funds.

The Press Enterprise in its Wednesday edition reported that the Columbia Montour Area Vocational-Technical School is one of the 50 best schools of its kind in the country. The selection was made from more than 1,110 vocational-technical high schools in 27 states. The Columbia Montour Area Vocational-Technical School serves students from the Benton Area, Berwick Area, Bloomsburg Area, Central Columbia, Danville Area, Millville Area, and Southern Columbia Area school districts.

We missed reporting the death of Jack L. Dawson Sr., 81, (March 6, 1922-September 28, 2003), 2274 Old Berwick Road, Bloomsburg, who died Sunday at his Scott Township home. Survivors include son Dennis W. Dawson, Benton, co-owner of The Old Filling Station, Benton. Other survivors of Jack L. Dawson Sr. include his wife of 61 years, Christine (Heckman) Dawson; a daughter, Mrs. James (Linda) Stotler, Berwick; five sons, including Dennie Dawson: Jack L. Dawson Jr., Bloomsburg; Larry Dawson Sr., Mill Creek; Jeffrey A. Dawson Sr., Bloomsburg; and Scott J. Dawson, Bloomsburg. Funeral services were Wednesday from the Allen Funeral Home, Bloomsburg, with burial in Elan Memorial Park, Lime Ridge.

We won't be hearing much from the gambling interests as the election rolls closer in the 27th District race. Rep. John Gordner, R-109 of Berwick and his Democratic opponent Kent Shelhamer have both said they oppose gambling as the answer to the state's fiscal problems.

Thursday will be an interesting day as the ballots of the 5,500 or so members of the union representing the faculties at the 14-state owned and operated universities will be counted to see if a strike by the teachers will occur.

The bedding manufacturer Simmons Company announced plans to construct a 215,000 square foot manufacturing facility employing 250 near Hazleton. State taxpayers kicked in $2.3 million in loans and grants to make it happen.

If you have ideas about the Susquehanna Greenway that you would like to contribute, consider attending a Susquehanna Greenway Public Forum on October 2, 2003, from 6-8 PM at the Columbia County Cooperative Extension Office, Agricultural & Human Services Building, 702 Sawmill Rd., Suite 702, Bloomsburg.