LOCAL FINDS: Phyllis Montgomery of Hinsdale, N.Y., shared information pertaining to a question we asked in Friday’s column.

We were wondering whether or not writer James Patterson had a local connection.

Turns out, Phyllis has been wondering the same thing.

She said about five years ago she read “Step on a Crack,” by Patterson. In one chapter, one of the characters stabbed another man with a KA-BAR knife, then burned the fingerprints off his fingers with a Zippo lighter to avoid arrest.

KA-BAR, as many of you surely know, is a subsidiary of Cutco Corp. in Olean, N.Y., and Zippos are, of course, made right here in Bradford.

Phyllis noted she works part-time at Cutco when she is not working at Evergreen Elm in Bradford.

At the time she read “Step on a Crack,” Phyllis was so intrigued she tried to contact someone through Patterson’s website to find out what he knew of the area. 

“I felt there was a connection,” she said.

No one got back to her, so it remains a mystery she has yet to resolve.

The biography page on Patterson’s official website lists the author’s professional achievements and volunteers efforts, but doesn’t really talk about him personally.

Wikipedia reports that he was born in Newburgh, N.Y., located east of Pennsylvania and about 60 miles north of New York City.

METEORS: For any skywatchers, this weekend and early next week are expected to be good days to see meteors.

EarthSky.org reports that, because of the new moon on Saturday and the presence of the Delta Aquarid meteor shower, shooting stars will be visible to us Earthlings, as long as the sky is clear.

“The shower can be seen across the entire Earth, and sky watchers in the Southern Hemisphere and northern tropics have an especially good view,” EarthSky writers Bruce McClure and Deborah Byrd state in “Everything You Need to Know: Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower.”

While the shower is generally active from around July 12 through Aug. 23 annually, its peak will occur over the next few days, featuring “15 to 20 meteors per hour in the predawn hours around July 29.”

Next month, from Aug. 10 to 13, the Perseids meteor shower, which appears particularly active to people in the Northern Hemisphere, will be visible, according to EarthSky.