PAGE 4 THE POST EDITORIAL Sunday, August 20, 2006 MOMENTS IN TIME The History Channel e On Aug. 22,1749, a troupe of English actors performs “Cato” in a warehouse in Philadelphia. But like many colonists, the locals consid- ered acting to be immoral, and the city council ran the troupe out of town. e On Aug. 21,1903, America's first transcontinental auto race, from New York City to San Francisco, is completed. The race was between two Model F Packards traveling an average of 80 miles per day for 51 days. On Aug. 23,1926, the death of silent-screen idol Rudolph Valen- tino sends his fans into a hysterical state of mass mourning. Each year for three decades on the anniversary of his death, a mysterious “Lady in Black" appeared at his tomb and left a single red rose. ® On Aug. 24,1938, Clark Gable reluctantly agrees to play Rhett Butler in “Gone With the Wind.” Gable hesitated to take the role because he feared the production's high profile would set impossible expectations for any actor playing Rhett Butler. ® On Aug. 25,1945, John Birch, an American missionary to China before the war and a captain in the Army during the war, is killed by Chinese communists. In the 1950s, Robert Welch created a right- wing, anticommunist organization called the John Birch Society. For Welch, Birch was “the first casualty in the Third World War between Communists and the ever-shrinking Free World." ® On Aug. 27,1963, 15-year-old Edmund Kemper Kills his grandpar- ents with a rifle. Kemper then called his mother and told her, “I just wondered how it would feel to shoot Grandma.” * On Aug. 26,1980, workers at Harvey's Resort and Casino in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, discover a 1,000-pound bomb disguised as a copy machine. An attached ransom note demanded $3 million in return for instructions on how to defuse the bomb. Experts tried to disassem- ble the bomb with robots. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful: The bomb exploded, demolishing the hotel. (c) 2006 King Features Synd., Inc. STRANGE BUT TRUE e Are you worried about our water resources? Well, you're not the only one. Parts of Australia were recently in the grip of a drought so severe that the nation’s Environmental Minister encouraged lovers and what he called “sympathetic friends” to shower together in order to conserve water. e What do Mohandas Gandhi, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, Ayatollah Khomeini, Bono, planet Earth and the computer have in common? They've all been recognized by Time magazine as its “Person of the Year.” Yes, Person of the Year. ¢ Of all the mammals, the Australian bandicoot goes from concep- tion to delivery in the shortest period of time - as a general rule, the females of the species are pregnant for only 12.5 days. * Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard of Dean Koontz - the author of such novels as “The Husband,” “Odd Thomas" and “Velocity” - but you probably haven't heard much from him. Unlike most best-selling writers, Koontz has never gone on a nationwide book tour or been on a talk show. Why? He refuses to fly. * Many people these days are worried about high cholesterol and obesity, and those who smoke cigarettes can't help but be aware of the adverse effects that habit has on health. So it might come as a surprise that when it comes to heart disease, there's a better pre- dictor of who will suffer from that malady than any of these three risk factors: high levels of hostility. * Do you consider yourself to be average? If you really are like the average American, every week you spend $61 dollars you can't ac- count for. : ® 00 Thought for the Day: “I have noted that persons with bad judg- ment are most insistent that we do what they think best.” - Lionel Abe LIBRARY HOSTING SPECIAL KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM The Back Mountain Memorial Library will hold a kindergarten readiness program at 1 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 22 in the Children's Room of the library on Huntsville Road in Dallas. Parents of 4- year-olds will receive a special “Kindergarten, Here | Come!" cal- endar, filled with monthly activities to do with a pre-school child. Luci Callahan, a kindergarten teacher in the Dallas School Dis- trict, will explain the benefits of the calendar and inform parents and caregivers about the requirements for kindergarten regis- tration. Linda Fritzges, a kindergarten teacher with I'm Big Now Learning Center, will talk with parents about kindergarten class- es in private schools. The activity calendars run from September 2006 to August 2007. Every month contains four weeks of activ- ities that use simple materials or ideas for projects parents can do at home with their child. Each one of the activities focuses on a readiness skill for a child's entry into kindergarten in 2007. Parents may attend with or without their preschooler. A story time will be held in the back of the Children's Room while the parents participate in the program. Refreshments will be served. For more information or to register for the program, call the library at 675-182. THE POST TIMES®LEADER Community Newspaper Group 15 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 18711 ® 570-675-521 thepost@leader.net Richard L. Connor David C. Konopki PUBLISHER EDITOR Trish Roe ADVERTISING The Back Mountain sure has changed a lot over the years. Did you know trains and trolleys once rolled through our community? Did you know the Back Mountain had its own movie theater - the Himmler Theater on Lake Street in Dallas? If you answered “yes” to those questions, you might be just the person we're looking for. The Post is looking to publish your stories - childhood and otherwise - about the Back Mountain, whether you grew up in the early 1900s, the 1950s or the 1970s. Or if you have some old photographs you'd like to share with your neighbors, we'd love to publish those. High resolution photos in JPEG format may be e-mailed to thepost@leader.net. They may also be mailed or dropped off at our office, 15 N. Main Street in Dallas. If the photos are one-of-a-kind, call editor Dave Konopki at 829-7248 and he'll make arrangements to have your photo scanned into our system while you wait. Stories and remembrances should be e-mailed to thepos- t@leader.net. Be sure to include your name and daytime phone number. For more information, call editor Dave Konopki at 829-7248. The above and below photos were sent to The Post by College Misericordia archivist and local historian Harrison Wick. The photos show a group of College Misericordia students waiting near a train station at the school in1927, as well as a photo of the Himmler Theater in1960. To see more photos of the Back Mountain, visit the Back Mountain Historical Association's Web site www.backmountain.org. New books added to library's shelves The Back Mountain Memorial Library recently added the fol- lowing books to its collection. For information about donating a book in someone’s memory or honor, call the library at 675- 1182: EXPRESS (1 week) “Every Breath You Take” by Judith McNaught “Memory in Death” by J.D. Robb “The Debutante Divorcee” by Plum Sykes “Angles Fall” by Nora Roberts “Judge and Jury” by James Patterson “Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven” by Fannie Flagg “The Cold Moon” by Jeffrey Deaver “Two Days After the Wed- ding” by Joan Medlicott FICTION “Fort Pillow” by Harry Turtle- dove “The Assassins Gallery” by David L. Robbins “Natural Selection” by Dave Freedman “Charmed Thirds” by Megan McCafferty “The Messenger” by Daniel Silva “Hot Item” by Carly Phillips “Danse Macabre” by Laurell K. Hamilton “Angels Fall” by Nora Roberts “Judge and Jury” by James Patterson “Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven” by Fannie Flagg “Cold Moon” by Jeffrey Deav- er “Hardscrabble Road” by Jane Haddam “Younger” by Pamela Red- mond Satran “Two Days After the Wed- ding” by Joan Medlicott “The Blood Knight” by Greg Keyes NONFICTION “Double Crossed” by Kenneth A. Briggs “Rumspringa: to be or not to be Amish” by Tom Shachtman “The Places in Between” by Rory Stewart BIOGRAPHY “Dispatches from the Edge” by Anderson Cooper “The Toughest Show on Earth” by Joseph Volpe LARGE PRINTFICTION “Angels Fall” by Nora Roberts “Cell” by Stephen King “Dark Assassin” by Anne Per- ry “Sunstroke” by Jesse Keller- man “A Fine Passion” by Stephanie Laurens “Anansi Boys” by Neil Gaiinan “Dinner with Anna Karenina” by Gloria Goldreich “Good Girls Do” by Cathie Linz BOOKS ON CD “The Osama Bin Laden I Know” by Peter L. Bergen “One Bullet Away” by Natha- niel Fick “Once Upon a Day” by Lisa Tucker “With Ossie and Ruby” by Os- sie Davis and Ruby Dee : “The Templar Legacy” by Steve Berry “Highway Horror” “Famous Premieres” “Gamblers and Gangsters” “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote YOUNG ADULT “Party Princess” by Meg Ca- bot “Wait for Me” by An Na SPECIAL DONATIONS The following books were re- cently donated by I'm Big Now Learning Center: “The Icky Sticky Chameleon” by Dawn Bentley “The Icky Sticky Anteater” by Dawn Bentley “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis “Precious Moments Gift Trea- sury” “A Charlie Brown Christmas” by Charles M Schulz “The Little Engine That Could” by Watty Piper “100 Things You Should Know about Wildcats” by Camilla de la Bedoyere “Dora’s Big Book of Stories” “Low Song” by Eve Merriam “All about Corduroy” by Don Freeman “Peekaboo, Blue” by Jenny Mi- glis : “Adventures of Frog and Toad” by Arnold Lobel “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” “I'm a Little Teapot” “Sponge Bob Squarepants: Sea Mail” by Steve Heinrich ' “Mother Goose” “Clifford Counts” by Norman Bridwell “If I Could Ask God...” by An- dy Robb “l am a Little Bat” by . Prims and Nuria Roca “Dr. Seuss’s ABC” by Dr. Seuss “I am Not Going to Get Up To- day!” by Dr. Seuss “Pox in Socks” by Dr. Seuss “On Monday When It Rained” by Cherryl Kachenmeister “Clap Your Hands” by Lorinda Bryan Cauley “Blue Skies, French Fries” by Judy Delton “Big Red” by Jim Kjelgaard “Coyote Autumn” by Bill Wal- lace “The Clue of the Left-handed Envelope” by George E. Stanley “The Invisible Fran” by Jim Benton “Even More Short & Shivery: thirty spine-tingling tales” by Robert D. San Souci “Flying Solo” by Ralph Fletch- er “All of a Kind Family” by Syd- ney Taylor “Elevator Family” by Douglga Evans “Sponge Bob Squarepants: : Jokes from the Krusty Krab” by David Lewman .
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers