SHUTDOWN: Another year, another government shutdown in the books. That phrase sounds really serious, as the government shutting down could be understood as if there are no rules until it’s up and running again. But fear not, the country won’t descend into anarchy while we wait for it to be back up and running. In fact, for a person looking from the outside, it could seem like a shutdown didn’t even really occur while it’s happening.

This time around, the shutdown lasted only about three days, but the last shutdown in 2013 lasted 16 days. Believe it or not, history has shown that shutdowns can last a lot longer. Back on Dec. 5, 1995, the government was shutdown for a whopping 21 days, and that was after it had already been shutdown for a week the month before.

And that’s not all. States can have government shutdowns of their own, too. Pennsylvania had its very own shutdown back in July of 1991. This was all over officials not being able to agree on a spending plan for that fiscal year (sound familiar?)

Even counties can have government shutdowns, as Erie County, N.Y., had a shutdown that lasted just 12 hours back in 2007. The shutdown occurred after the county changed comptrollers, essentially in the middle of negotiating a short-term $100 million loan. The problem? He wanted to read the terms first, since he was new to the upcoming deal. But that was enough to prompt a shutdown — that is, until he finished reading it.  

PFC. TAYLOR: Daniel Karrasch of Bradford made an interesting find, and he is asking for the public’s help in scouting out a good home for it.

He writes, “I found a book donated to the BHS library from the Class of ’48 in memory of PFC. Richard J. Taylor. I would like to track the family down to give this book to them.

“I can be reached at (814) 368-5254 or djkrash@verizon.net.”

Readers?