JANUARY 30 - FEBRUARY 5, 1999
FEBRUARY 5, 1999
The Two Graves
Good morning. It is 21.7 degrees at 6 A.M. It is Friday and I am glad!
Many of you are new to The Mountain Laurel Review through this web
site. We have many articles that we re-run from time to time. One such article is the
story of two young men who were early residents of this area. This story can be found in
other parts of this web site. We encourage you to explore it.
The Two Graves
BY HAROLD THOMAS BECK
We take for granted the history–rich area
in which we live. The story "The Two Graves" first appeared in the Mountain
Laurel Review in November 1994. It is the story of the two tombstones located on Route
321 between Kane and Marshburg. The story makes reference to Larry Ely as being one of my
major sources for history because of his age and vivid memory. We have since lost Larry,
and with him that source of information before the building of the Allegheny Reservoir and
the Kinzua Dam. The loss of a good friend like Larry is always a bitter loss, but the loss
of his knowledge and the feelings he was able to relate to us regarding the past is one
that is irreplaceable.
The Ely family was one of many who were displaced by the building of the hated dam.
They watched their farm along the Sugar Run become flooded and then covered by the waters
that were being held back so Pittsburgh could become a boaters’ paradise. As the
waters covered their farm, it also covered the town of Morrison and Kinzua Creek. Both
areas are rich in history. Sugar Run and the flats along it where it joined the Allegheny
River was once the place where Chief Cornplanter successfully defended his people from
British, Mohawk and American attacks. His people lived there long before the white men,
and when the Morrison family first came to the area in the 1790s, it was Chief Cornplanter
who allowed them to settle along Kinzua Creek. The Morrison family and their descendants
would live in the area even to this day all because of that first friendship with the
Great Chief Cornplanter.
As Larry Ely and I drove 321 and I did the double take at the sight of the graves,
Larry told me what he knew.
"There’s a descendant of the Morrison family buried there along with a young
boy. They aren’t related. They’re just buried together for one reason or
another."
James Morrison, I would find, was one of the original settlers of this area. He
traveled up the Allegheny River from Pittsburgh in the late 18th Century through what was
at that time still hostile Indian territory. The treaty between Pennsylvania and the
Seneca Nation was still not a reality when he chose a site along the Brokenstraw to
settle. That was in the summer of 1790, and when the aged Chief appeared with 20 or so
warriors, Morrison wisely put his best foot forward. He presented the Chief with a newly
forged flintlock and a shining new knife. Cornplanter accepted the gifts and allowed
Morrison to stay.
Their friendship grew and the chief invited his friend to his camp often. When spring
floods washed away Morrison’s cabin and drowned his livestock, Cornplanter invited
his friend to occupy an area of fertile land several miles from his own town located up
the Kinzua Creek. With Cornplanter’s help he would rebuild at the new site. This
would become the location of the town of Morrison.
The Morrison family thrived in the fertile valley. Floods did not affect it as they had
on the Brokenstraw. The surrounding hills were teaming with game, and as he slowly cleared
the land, he was successful at growing crops.
Samuel Morrison was a direct descendant of James Morrison. When the Civil War broke out
he enlisted in the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry. The 12th Pennsylvania fought in the second
battle of Antietam, at Manassas and at Gettysburg. As the Confederate forces retreated
from their defeat at Gettysburg, the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry was part of the pursuing
Union Army. In 1864 and 1865 it saw action in and around Richmond. During the final
battles of the war Samuel was wounded and hospitalized.
Army field hospitals were barbaric at their best. Infection was a certainty if you
survived the initial wound. With Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse,
Samuel’s comrades came to visit him. He pleaded with them not to let him die so far
from home. They took him from the Army hospital and began to transport him by wagon
through Winchester, VA and Hancock, MD back to Pennsylvania. North of Bedford, Samuel
died. Similar to the modern novel "Lonesome Dove," his buddies continued the
journey. News was sent ahead of Samuel’s death. A grave was prepared for him next to
that of his childhood friend, Samuel B. Stanton.
The two Samuels played together as children. They were inseparable and roamed the
forest on the eastern side of the Kinzua Creek. His mother, Betsey, would recount in her
diary that the boys played Revolutionary War. She feared the wild beasts: panthers, wolves
and bears who all still frequented the area. Her fear of the beasts would prove to be
unfounded. It was measles that took her son’s life in 1849. He was one of several
hundred, including many Seneca, who died in the winter outbreak that arrived with
immigrants from Germany.
The burial site was selected by young Samuel Morrison and O.L. Stanton, Samuel’s
father. The young pine tree was the site of the boy’s fortress where they could take
refuge from the armies of the evil and crazy King George. Samuel Morrison would miss and
grieve the loss of his friend his entire life. As he left to fight in the war it was his
last stop before going off to enlist. Finally, realizing he could not survive the journey
home, and, as he lay dying, his last wish was to be buried next to his friend. That wish
was granted and fortunately after all of these years, the monuments and the site have
survived.
Today, as we speed past the two graves and the pine tree that is now in excess of 150
years old, I cannot help wonder if that pine tree might not pose imminent danger to the
grave sites. Our friend, Bart Bandy, has suggested the removal of the tree. He feels that
the rotting and aged pine could easily fall and destroy the tombstones. He has also
suggested the erecting of a fenced area around the grave sites and a marker that would
give the history of how they came to be there.
It is easy to make suggestions, but Mr. Bandy, a person who is a professional in the
management of trees, has offered his services for free. He wants to take the tree down and
then be involved in the creation of some sort of memorial park for the two young men who
once enjoyed this area just as much as we do.
We are looking for your input and suggestions. The history of this area, unless it is
recorded properly, could easily be lost.
You may comment on this story at rdhedbud@penn.com.
FEBRUARY 4, 1999
Unprecedented actions
Good morning . It is 37.9 degrees at 5:58 A.M.
Property values have already increased at the news of the Marshburg Dome.
Ed O'Hara, the new mayor of Marshburg, called from Florida yesterday to get the low
down. Already there are action groups springing up who have formed to oppose the
construction of the stadium in an environmentally sensitive area.
One such group, headed by Slick and Crystal Eschrich, calling themselves
POTHOLE, Preservation of the Hill, oil leases, & everything, promise to file suit in
Federal Court to protect the deer tick, which they claim should be considered an
endangered species because the deer are all gone. They promise to picket the Court House
and The Rainbow Inn in protest. Slick has also threatened to chain himself to the commode
in the men's room at The Rainbow on a Friday night to disrupt the Fish Fry.
These are unprecedented events.
Other unprecedented events include having our State Senator, William Slocum (R) under
investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency . Even though his political cronies
were able to reach the Attorney General's Office here in Pennsylvania and give him a clean
bill of health; even though only Youngsville Borough was cited by the state Department of
Environmental Protection; Slocum's buddies have no influence on the Federal level and the
investigation continues.
Also, equally unprecedented was the accusation hurled by Mr. Slocum at a Washington
Township Supervisor and J.P. Mascaro and Sons of Harleysville at a public hearing in
DuBois on January 13th.
The DuBois Courier-Express recently reported that: "At the public meeting
portion of (a) hearing, Slocum said he believed some kind of
pay-off must have occurred for the Host Community Agreement to
be signed by the township supervisors. The agreement, according to Slocum, circumvented
township zoning and allowed Eagle Environmental to begin work on its proposed Happy
Landing Landfill." The article continues: "Mascaro is now the equitable owner of
the landfill after entering into an agreement with an option to buy the landfill from
Eagle."
As a result of the accusation, Supervisor James Patton sent a letter to Slocum noting
his resentment to the accusation. As reported by John Brennan, a Tri-County Sunday
writer, Patton said: "I take great offense at the reference that I took a
pay-off to sign this agreement. I did not take a pay-off."
Two days later, Brennan reported, "Attorney William F. Fox Jr., general
counsel for Mascaro, issued a similar letter and threatened to sue the senator unless he
issued a public apology for his statement." They wrote: "Your
public pronouncement and direct inference that one or more of the Washington Township
Supervisors accepted a payoff in connection with the Host Community Agreement and that one
or more of the representatives of our company, who negotiated the Host Community
Agreement, offered a payoff to have the agreement signed is a blatant lie, is defamatory
and is actionable."
The Brennan story continues with: "Fox said that normally when people get
emotional about an issue and make off the wall statements, his company does not respond.
But when that person is a senator, Fox said he has no choice but to go even further than
just issuing a rebuttal."
"But in this case, a rebuttal by our company is simply not enough given
the irreparable damage you have caused to our company's business reputation and to the
reputation of certain Washington Township Supervisors. In this case, you must retract your
defamatory statement and apologize, or suffer the legal consequences of your actionable
conduct."
The letter gave Slocum 48 hours to submit an apology.
The only comment given by Slocum to date came from his district director, Todd Nyquist.
"It is currently being reviewed by our legal counsel and we intend to respond
to this at sometime in the near future."
Finally, it is unprecedented for a State Senator to purposely attempt
to circumvent three duly elected County Commissioners and without even
the courtesy of a letter, attempt to regionalize a local Tourist Promotion Agency.
Linda Carlson, a past president of Seneca Highlands Tourist Association, called the
Commissioners' interest in the workings of the local agency as "unprecedented."
That may be so, but it is our job to take an interest. If we are the first board
since Ray Curtis, Pat Costello, and Sherwood Anderson to do so, then I say the succeeding
boards were negligent in the exercise of their duties. It is our job to oversee and
promote McKean County. That Ms. Carlson, includes tourism.
In a recent Jim Buck article (The Bradford Era, Wednesday, February 3,
1999) it was reported:
According to Slocum, "There were some initial meetings, but not anything close to
the merging agreements. We talked about cooperative agreements where each organization
would retain its own identity..while becoming part of the greater umbrella group."
Beck, however, claims that during a banquet last year, Slocum remarked that tourism
bureaus in McKean and Warren counties were working toward a formal joinder that would be
run from an office in Warren. Slocum denies having said that.
If Bill Slocum denied having said that as Mr. Buck has reported, then Bill
Slocum is a liar.
I did not dream up this merger idea with Warren being the headquarters. No. On the
contrary, Mr. Slocum very eloquently described to me how Bradford would have a
"satellite office" as a part of the larger group. He told me, like Linda Carlson
said again at the Commissioner's meeting this week, that Charlie Dach was to step aside as
the merger took place. He said, "that was the agreement made with Dach long
ago." That, incidentally, is exactly what Ms. Carlson said at the meeting.
While regionalism may make sense down the road, with McKean County getting less than
4-6% of all tourism in Pennsylvania, we should concentrate on increasing that figure
before giving up our identity. Until we can promote McKean County to our own residents and
get our own activity calendar in order and not competing with itself, we have no business
looking elsewhere for the answer.
Mr. Slocum is out of line. He needs to begin to either tell the truth or remember what
he tells elected officials. What is going on is truly unprecedented. Imagine three County
Commissioners taking their jobs seriously and not answering to the bosses of the party.
Imagine them putting the people first. That is unprecedented.
Comment on this article at rdhedbud@penn.com.
FEBRUARY 3, 1999
The Marshburg Domed Stadium
Good morning. It is 30.9 degrees at 5:34 A.M. and the rain has just changed to
snow, but a sunny day is in the forecast. I am also writing to you from a place very near
to the site of the proposed Marshburg Dome.
That's right. You heard it. A domed stadium for Marshburg!
I was at a meeting yesterday at Sena Kean Manor helping a nice elderly gentleman
understand the intricacies of the law regarding nursing home care. It was during that
meeting that I received an urgent call from the Governor's office. I immediately returned
to the court house so I could return the call. What followed went something like this.
Commissioner Beck, the voice at the other end of the line said. I am
calling at the behest of Governor Tom Ridge. The Governor needs your help.
Why certainly, I said. I would be proud to be of a service to Governor
Ridge. What can I do?
Commissioner, the voice said. Governor Tom certainly recognizes you as a
man of the people who carries a great amount of influence in Northwest Rural Pennsylvania.
The Governor has been an avid reader of The Mountain Laurel Review for years and has
concurred with you that Buckley indeed did not kill Kathy Wilson. He also is a fan of your
Cornplanter Chronicles and reads them to his children at bedtime. Your work is certainly
very familiar to the Governor. He also recognizes that from time to time you have been
critical of some of his plans.
Yes, I said. I think the plan to sell the Liquor Stores stinks and I think
it is very shabby of him to make the employees of the Liquor Stores to continue to work,
as they have since he was elected, without a contract. Who does he think he is? He has an
obligation to bargain with those people in good faith.
Yes. Yes, commissioner, the voice said. We are well aware of your position
on that issue. We also understand that you are actively speaking out against our Property
Tax scam, er, I mean reform.
Yeah, I snarled. The Homestead Act. It is a joke and you know it.
Of course we do, the voice admitted. It was an election year and we had to
live up to at least one of our campaign promises. But let's not get side tracked. Your
arguments on all those subjects are very valid. They can be discussed and even changed at
some other time. You can be instrumental in seeing that the outcome you are seeking can be
reached. First, you have to help us.
What can I do? I asked.
We need someone anywhere in this state to write an editorial in support of the
Stadium Funding Plan. Your web site has become very popular in Harrisburg ever since you
started calling Attorney General Fisher Elmer Fudd. The Lieutenant Governor rolls on the
floor every time you do it. Mark knows that our little general has designs on the
Governor's Mansion. He likes the image you give of your former classmate.
Mike Fisher is a jerk, I said.
Yes. Yes. We even agree with you. Back to the subject, if you would write a
favorable editorial in support of the funding plan, it would go a long way to changing
minds in Harrisburg. John Perzel often brags that he knows you. He says he met you at a
fund raiser for Jim Lynch. The Philadelphia Enquirer has really come out against this
issue and he is between the rock and the hard place because all of his constituents read
the Enquirer. The Mountain Laurel Review could really change his mind. Governor Tom sees
your support as the key to changing minds across the northern tier of the state.
Your help is key.
Hmmm, I said. I was actually speechless for one of the few times in my life.
Then I acted like a true politician. What's in it for me? I asked.
What would you like? he asked me. How about a lifetime appointment to the
Turnpike Commission?
Wow! I said. Is my support that important to the Governor?
Yes it is, I was told. And there is more too.
Oh, I said.
We have $300 million in the plan that we earmarked for non-stadium "economic
development." We can send $150 million of that to McKean County. I have been
discussing this with the Steelers and the Pirates and they are agreeable to helping you
out up there. The Pirates said, if you had a stadium, they would locate a AAA minor league
baseball team up there. The Steelers have promised to ghost an Arena Football League
Franchisee immediately and then guarantee a Canadian League Team within five years. Just
to add icing to the cake, the Penguins have agreed to play ten games in McKean County the
first year with guarantees of more games in successive years. As you can see, this would
become an immediate benefit to your area.
I was flabbergasted. All of this coming at me all at once. My God, I thought. They will
erect a statue of me at the Court House. I might even get invited to join the Bradford
Club. Then reality set in. Where were we going to have all of these events? I asked the
obvious question. The answer floored me.
Why in the new domed sports stadium we will construct with the $150 million just
down the road from you and The Rainbow Inn in Marshburg. Imagine what your wife's liquor
license will be worth once the news gets out. You will have your position on the Turnpike
Commission, McKean County will have new prosperity, and you and your wife will be on easy
street.
Wow! I said. I feel like a little kid on Christmas morning. How could I
ever turn down an offer like that?
You can't, the voice said. It would be stupid.
I agreed. Besides, I said echoing a recent statement made by a Steelers
official. The Steelers and the Pirates should not be discriminated against and
penalized for being in the sports business. They should be able to get tax dollars
unencumbered just like all the other industries that get white collar welfare.
Immediately Ray McMahon came to mind.
If the OECD got wind of this they would make a move on poor Lafayette Township. Bill
Slocum flashed into my mind also. My God, I thought. He will accuse us of
taking payoffs like he did on January 13 in DuBois at a public hearing over a rail
transfer station.
Heck, I said. We'll invite him to dinner and tell him its free. He'll
forget who he is serving and ask what is being served. Besides, his largest supporter is a
part owner of the Pirates. He won't be a problem. I immediately agreed, ended the
call, and phoned my wife. She was ecstatic at the thought of a stadium.
Think of what this will do for tourism!
Yes, I said. Tourism. That's another issue.
Comment on this article at rdhedbud@penn.com.
FEBRUARY 2, 1999
Ghosts, liars, and groundhogs
Good morning. It is ground hog day in Marshburg and it is 37.2 degrees at 5:38
A.M.
A reader sent us some information on the Budweiser frogs.
While watching the football game I heard the story about the extinction of the frogs.
A young boy sent to Budweiser a joke during the year for consideration for an ad during
the Superbowl. They turned him down but then last year at game time it appeared as a
commercial on TV. He, by way of his parents, then sued Budweiser and won the case, hence,
the disappearance of the frogs. P.S. Glad you
changed your address. My frog information came from some friends I was watching the game
with. NOTE: The MLR takes no responsibility for the accuracy of this
information. We thought it was interesting so we printed it.
Speaking of interesting information, yesterday, a lawyer friend of mine, told me that
it was circulating around Bradford that during a recent meeting with the President of
Seneca Highlands Tourism Association, Richard Esch, that I picked up a telephone and
personally called Mike Schuler, President of Zippo Manufacturing. As the story was related
to the lawyer, I then entered into a conversation with Mr. Schuler regarding his support
of the terminated director of the tourism agency, Charlie Dach. As the mythical
conversation came to an end, I then am reported to have said to the people in attendance
that I had Mr. Schuler's total support for Dach.
The idea of this story is to make me out to be a fraud and a liar. The idea is to say
that while I went through the motions, I was not talking to Mike Schuler, but rather
perpetrating a deception on not only the visitors, but on my fellow commissioners, too.
Mike Schuler evidently heard this story. He phoned Larry Stratton and asked if it was
true. Larry told me yesterday that he told Mr. Schuler that nothing like that ever
happened in his presence. In fact, nothing like that ever did happen. I made no such phone
call and I did not attempt to perpetrate a fraud as the story says.
I did phone Mike Schuler last October. I phoned him immediately after speaking with
Senator Bill Slocum. Slocum told me that Zippo Manufacturing was disgusted with Charlie
Dach and was spending all of its tourist dollars for promotions with the Warren tourist
promotion association. I asked Mr. Schuler if that was true and he told me it was not.
That was the last time I talked to Mike Schuler.
Now, who spread this lie?
The people in attendance at the meeting where the phone call was to have been made at
were Commissioners Jim Weaver, Larry Stratton, and myself. Also in attendance were Richard
Esch, President of Seneca Highlands Tourist Association, Bob Lovell, Bob Foote, and Margie
Painter. Margie Painter was there at my request and in opposition to the moves being made
by the Seneca Highlands group. Bob Foote is from Lantz Corners and probably does not have
access to the Bradford in crowd. That leaves Esch and Lovell. Ho hum! Which one of them
started the lie?
Really, it makes little difference to me. Neither Esch or Lovell carry any credibility
in my opinion. All I have heard from them is double talk. Esch says there are no plans to
merge tourism with Warren County while Lovell says it is inevitable. At yesterday's
commissioner's meeting they produced Susan Carlson, a past president, who informed us that
the association had a long range business plan that included merger with Warren County and
that they were on schedule now that Dach was gone.
Meanwhile, the Charlie Dach bashing continued.
Just so you understand, Charlie Dach has been treated shabbily by a Board of Directors
that were not elected by any democratic process other than the fact that they picked and
chose themselves and their leader. They threw Jerry Clark off the board because he came to
meetings in work clothes and was offensive to their sensibilities - you know - meeting in
the Bradford Club and the such. Also, Charlie and Jerry opposed merger with Warren County
- something the Commissioners also oppose.
The issue is the merger with Warren County, not Charlie Dach.
Charlie Dach is a ghost issue and the story about me is a lie. This is not about money
or who is going to be the director. It is about the perception of power and where this
county will go under whose leadership. Will the rest of the county follow a few from an
exclusive and arrogant group who believe they know more than the rest of us? That remains
to be seen. Meanwhile, support for an Authority for Tourism is growing. Register your
opinion.
Comment at rdhedbud@penn.com.
FEBRUARY 1, 1999
The frogs aren't funny......
and they probably never really were. At 22.1 degrees at 5:45 A.M. in
moonlight Marshburg, high atop the Alleghenies, that is the thought of the morning.
The Budweiser Brewing Company of St. Louis, MO, in its quest to obtain market
share came up with the bright idea to use frogs to promote beer. Now what frogs have to do
with beer is a real stretch of the imagination. I know that in my younger years,
when I did drink quite a bit of beer, it would seem that I turned into a frog, rather than
a prince, when I drank my ample share of Bud. Beyond that, and beyond the fact that my
buddies and I used to drink Budweiser when we floated down the Sangamon River in Illinois
and stuck forks in frogs during the years in the service, they had nothing to do with
drinking beer. However, when some bright ad man (or woman) conceived of the idea, it
caught on.
Maybe, thinking frogs are funny, says something about us.
On my way to New York City this year I stopped at the American Candle Factory in the
Poconos area just off Interstate 80. Sharyn and I have made it a practice to give candles
at Christmas each year. As we were checking out I spotted Louie, the iguana, that entered
the Budweiser ad campaign last year. (Louie is the guy who is jealous of the frogs.) Louie
came in green and in brown. I bought them both, gave one as a present and kept the other.
Thinking about it, how can you make a candle in the image of an iguana and when would you
burn it? Why would you burn it?
I guess that says something about me.
This was the fourth year of the frogs and the third year for Louie. Following Louie's
attempt to electrocute the frogs last year (another piece of humor), the frogs were fired
this year. In the past, when they were not attaching their tongues to the back of a beer
truck, the spoke only three words. Bud, wise, and er. They said it in
harmony and in the proper order which gave Budweiser name recognition, not to mention the
thousands of barroom imitators who managed to annoy everyone around them as they did
their own renditions. After the first two years of that, I sort of secretly hoped that
Louie would not have sent a ferret to do a weasel's work. I secretly hoped that Louie
would have been successful so we wouldn't have had to listen to the frogs, and those who
would be frogs, do the bud-wise-er routine.
I guess maybe the management at Anheiser Busch may have shared my feelings.
The frogs were fired. In being fired they began to speak. As they spoke they told Louie
what they thought of him. In telling him what they thought they began to give him a
physical tongue lashing across the face.
I watched. I waited for a punch line that never came. I wondered to myself and now to
you if the executives at Budweiser thought they got their money's worth with that ad? With
Super Bowl spots in the first quarter of the game going for prices in excess of $1.6
million for thirty seconds, I wonder if they thought they got the message out? I counted
three frog spots in the first quarter and that was a little more that $4.8 million.
Do they make that much money that they can afford to blow $4.8 million?
Heck, this web site could use liberal advertisers like Budweiser!
With the end of the frogs (I hope) we saw the introduction of the Budweiser Lobster. On
its way to the boiling pot with its eyes bulging at its fate, the lobster grabs a Bud from
a tray a waiter is carrying who happens to walk past. The lobster breaks loose
holding the Bud in one claw and with its free claw fights off the kitchen help, armed with
meat cleavers. The lobster backs out the door and makes a break for the street. Running
through the dining room still holding the Bud, a customer spots the fleeing lobster and
calmly says: On second thought, I'll have the steak.
Funny, like beauty, must be in the ear instead of the eye, or the pea brain, of the
beholder.
However, in defense of the lame brained executives at Budweiser, I really do believe
that I would rather watch frogs and lobsters and iguanas on television than continue to
see Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton. Beyond that pair, the ferret is a far sight better
than having to watch Senators parade in front of television cameras attempting to finally
sound intelligent. While it is my belief is that Clinton is a scum bag and that he is a
liar and a coward and in fact did break the law. And, in light of the fact that the
American people in ever increasing majorities just don't care. What else is there to do
but watch frogs sell beer? They, at least, will go away until next football season.
Comment on this article at rdhedbud@penn.com.
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