ONE MORE: Lester Jordan of Smethport has a follow-up on our
reports about Holmes and Gilfillan, a store in Smethport which
carried lumber and assorted other material. Along with selling
construction material, Lester tells us, the owners ran a general
machine shop, had a portable planer for the oil business, and a
pin-setting device.

Lester and his brother bought the equipment when the company
went out of business including a milling machine that had an 1842
patent.

LOOKING AHEAD: If you’re one of those crazy people who buys
Christmas gifts early, we have a suggestion for all those former
Pennsylvania residents on your list.

The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has
published a 2009 calendar which features Pennsylvania state parks
throughout the four seasons.

“Nothing beats the beautiful scene of sun sparkling on a lake or
a fall foliage vista as those found in our 117 state park system,
and they are captured in this calendar for year-round enjoyment,”
said DCNR Secretary Michael DiBerardinis.

“It also provides the added value of tips and facts that make it
easy for people to get outside to discover what the state parks
have to offer.”

The calendar features beautiful photography, notes holidays and
significant environmental observances, highlights state park
information and activities, and includes valuable outdoor
recreational facts, tips and guidelines.

We had to check it out ourselves – you can too at www.dcnr.state.pa.us – and must
say that it offers some exceptional photographs of the parks,
including a couple local ones.

You can purchase the calendar at these state parks: Bald Eagle,
Chapman, Codorus, Caledonia, Colonel Denning, Cook Forest, Frances
Slocum, Gifford Pinchot, Greenwood Furnace, Keystone, Kings Gap,
Lackawanna, Leonard Harrison, Little Pine, Lyman Run, Nockamixon,
Oil Creek, Parker Dam, Pine Grove Furnace, Promised Land, Reeds
Gap, Ricketts Glen, Salt Springs, Shawnee, Shikellamy, Sizerville,
Tobyhanna, and Worlds End.

DiBerardinis said the money raised from the sale of the calendar
benefits the state park system.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “The press is really like a canary in a mine –
when the press is suppressed, it’s a clue to other terrible things
that might happen,” said Anthony Lewis, author, columnist, the New
York Times, 1999, according to our Freedom Forum calendar.