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Wanderings: Standing Tall for Landowner Rights

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:27:57

by Walter Brasch

Julia Trigg Crawford of Direct, Texas, is the manager of a 650-acre farm that her grandfather first bought in 1948. The farm produces mostly corn, wheat, and soy. On its north border is the Red River; to the west is the Bois d�Arc Creek.

TransCanada is an Alberta-based corporation that is building the controversial Keystone Pipeline that will carry bitumen�thicker, more corrosive and toxic, than crude oil�through 36-inch diameter pipes from the Alberta tar sands [...]

Local History: Watts Building- a Hawley landmark

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:55:24

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By Peter Becker

Managing Editor

HAWLEY- One of the many landmark commercial buildings in Hawley, Pa., is the Watts Building, constructed in 1912. At the corner of River Street and Main Avenue, it commands a prominent position at the beginning of the lower downtown section of Main, overlooking the Middle Creek.

We know it today as an office building for [...]

Hope for the Day: 'Sterotypes'

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:37:55

By Diane Houghtaling

I’ve been thinking about stereotypes. We all do it. We cast people into stereotypes based on first impressions, what we’ve heard about them, a specific characteristic they have, or their race, gender or social status. Many times we stereotype others because of one incident from their past. One past action can define who they are to us for a lifetime.

Even though we all do it, we have no idea how damaging this can be to others. An example is a [...]

Looking Up: See the Crow flying south

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:52:56

By Peter Becker

Managing Editor

Spring bird watchers don't have to wait till dawn to look for feathered friends. There's one in the night sky every spring evening. It's Corvus the Crow.

Crows may not be very colorful birds, but this is the dark of night. In mid-May, in mid- evening, the Crow constellation is visible "flying" due south, low in the sky. The principal stars hardly resemble a crow, but they make a neat trapezoid.

You can find Corvus [...]

Local History: Recalling the A&P at the Eddy

Mon, 13 May 2013 15:36:49

PART TWO OF TWO PARTS

By Peter Becker

Managing Editor

HAWLEY - Part 1 of this story highlighted Joseph Solliday and his family, and the general store he operated for most of the late 19th Century in the Eddy Section of Hawley.

The store, selling groceries and dry goods, had a prominent location at the east end of Church Street facing up Welwood Avenue and right at the foot of the old Eddy Bridge. It sat diagonally across from the Eddy Hotel. Solliday lived from 1824 [...]

Secret to a super happy Mother's Day

Sun, 12 May 2013 2:01:00 +0000

Pay attention, because today I'm going to pass along the secret to an unforgettable Mother's Day. I know all about it because I, mother of two, unearthed it. That's right, me, the mother.

Before I divulge my incredible secret, I will confess something. Some harps and Kleenex please: It arose out of supreme frustration, intense bitterness and profound heartbreak.

OK, that's a bit strong. Let's just say, I was so unhappy one Mother's Day that I vowed, "This will [...]

WANDERINGS: 'A' is for Average

Thu, 9 May 2013 17:42:42

by Walter Brasch

About 1.8 million students will graduate from college this year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. At least one-third of them will graduate with honors. In some colleges, about half will be honor graduates.

It’s not that the current crop is that bright, it’s that honors is determined by grade point average. Because of runaway grade inflation, the average grade in college is now an “A.” About 43 [...]

Looking Up: Once in a while one blows up

Thu, 9 May 2013 16:56:48

By Peter Becker

Managing Editor

Stars are not as steady as they first appear. Constellations of stars remain our faithful friends, returning night after night or year to year. For the most part the stars never seem to change.

Many stars are known to vary periodically in brightness, and it is interesting to track them and plot their estimated magnitude on a chart, with the magnitude scale on the vertical side and he dates or even hours on the horizontal line or [...]

Local History: Hawley's Solliday Store

Mon, 6 May 2013 16:33:19

By Peter Becker

Managing Editor

HAWLEY - One of many local general stores in Hawley's history sat at the end of Church Street by the Eddy Bridge. Serving the public for generations, the store, as well as the bridge, became victim to the enormous flood in May of 1942.

The store appears in several photographs, as part of the overall scene and taken from several directions. The Eddy has long been viewed as a picturesque part of town, and hails as the site of the [...]

Hope for the Day... Grab the Lifeline

Fri, 3 May 2013 9:50:06

By Diane Houghtaling

A friend shared a story about her missing cat who was nowhere to be found. She continued to call to her and heard her meowing but couldn’t spot her anywhere. She asked her son to join in the hunt. He narrowed the sound down to another building and finally decided the cat might be stuck in the chimney.

Her son climbed up on the roof to take a peek and found kitty stuck in the chimney. The only thing they could find to try to get her out was [...]

Local History: Recalling Hawley's canal locks

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:17:06

By Peter Becker

Managing Editor

HAWLEY - The 108-mile Delaware & Hudson (D&H) Canal had two special locks where boats not making the entire trip would have to stop to determine the freight charge. One of those "weigh locks" was at Hawley, PA; the other was 100 miles east, at Eddyville, NY.

This special lock in Hawley was located in the canal section running parallel to lower Hudson Street.

The D&H Canal which began in Honesdale and [...]

Hope for the Day: Open the Hood

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:55:18

By Diane Houghtaling

Recently I hit a deer with my car. The damage appeared to be minimal. Half of the grill was broken out and there was a small dent in the hood just above the broken grill.

A few days after the accident I wanted to open the hood. But I found that the impact dented it in such a way that I couldn’t get my fingers in to open the latch. Then I wondered if I found someone to open the latch if it would close and lock again.

While pondering this dilemma [...]

WANDERINGS: NRA liars and congressional cowards

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:45:07

By Walter Brasch

President Obama cast off his "No Drama Obama" garb, and became the fiery leader of hope and change that Americans first elected in 2008. At a speech in Hartford, Conn., the President, frustrated by Republican obstructionism, demanded of his audience, "If you believe that the families of Newtown and Aurora and Tucson and Virginia Tech and the thousands of Americans who have been gunned down in the last four months deserve a vote, we all have [...]

Local History: New Covenant Fellowship opened 30 years ago

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:37:03

By Peter Becker

Managing Editor

HAWLEY - Among the churches of the Hawley area is one that is marking its 30th anniversary since it opened in a historic location downtown, and for the past 25 years has been on the hill behind the Post Office.

New Covenant Fellowship Pentecostal Church has an active congregation, with two pastors, Senior Pastor Robert Nurnberger and Pastor Jackie Mohrmann. The church is heavily involved in both local and foreign mission work and [...]

Looking Up: Night sky has inspired artists of all time

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:37:59

By Peter Becker

Managing Editor

Science may try and claim the night sky, but many viewers see art as well. As sure as the petals around a flower, sculpted sand dunes rippling over the desert, foaming waves crashing on the shore or the intricacies of a spider’s web, the stars above have inspired artists for time immemorial.

Scientific explanations can fill a book with tables of information, formulas and graphics to detail the motion of a planet or the [...]

Local History: When Hawley was a canal town

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:59:29

By Peter Becker

Managing Editor

HAWLEY- Both Honesdale and Hawley, Pennsylvania rapidly developed in their early years not because of trains or busy highways, but around the activity of boats. Not close to shore or even a lake (Lake Wallenpaupack had not even been thought about), these towns had no harbors.

They a steady stream of had long, narrow wooden boats traveling a canal connecting them and serving as a conduit of commerce to the outside world.

Not [...]

Hope for the Day: Desperation

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 0:01:00 +0000

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By Diane Houghtaling

Desperation is a catalyst for change. When we find ourselves in desperate situations, fear arises. How we respond to the fear caused by desperation can affect us for the rest of our lives.

I recently watched a couple movies about two teenage girls who found themselves in very desperate situations. But they handled the fear of their desperation quite differently.

In one movie a 17-year-old girl had to find her missing father [...]

Looking Up: Catch the early morning sky

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:33:29

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By Peter Becker

Managing Editor

Get up and greet the milk man and enjoy what the sky has to offer! Milk man? I must be showing my age. Please tell me some communities still have milk deliveries at your front door!

At any rate, when there isn�t any Moon, the Milky Way glows beautifully as seen from a dark sky in the early morning spring sky. The hazy [...]

Signs of the grand D&H Canal

Mon, 8 Apr 2013 16:24:33

�By Peter Becker?Managing Editor?�HAWLEY - Traveling the roads today, one would scarcely imagine the grand 19th Century canal that connected Honesdale to Hawley and continued east to the Hudson River, its corridor flourishing with commerce and building communities along the way. Remnants and artifacts exist, here and there escaping the temptation of generations since to pave and fill.?Hawley was an important hub of canal-related industry, its growth and prosperity [...]

Wanderings: The Politics behind the Killing of Americans

Thu, 4 Apr 2013 16:50:19 +0000

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by Walter Brasch

Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), and vows to block the expansion of Medicaid in his state. At a news conference this past week, Perry, flanked by conservative senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, declared �Texas will not be held hostage by the Obama administration's attempt to force us into the fool's errand of adding more than a million Texans to a broken system." About one-fourth of [...]