Fall River native

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 11:58 am

A Fall River native here...now retired and living out in the country side by the Susquehanna River in Montgomery, PA. I wanted to post a little something that may turn up without notice in the lives of just about any of us. There is a reason this information has not surfaced. Is it possibly because of who pulls the political strings? Maybe!

Anyway, there may be an adjuster in your future and this is a public
policy that needs scrutiny.

Adjusters who are licensed at all are licensed to represent either the
company or the policyholder--one or the other, but not both. However,
many company adjusters conduct business on the notion they represent
policyholders and commonly act to prepare, file and adjust claims for
policyholders. Most adjusters who work for insurance companies have
never taken an exam and do not have an adjuster's license. They operate
under the license of the insurance company itself and are educated the way
the company sees fit...

Full article:
http://www.disasterprepared.net/assumptions.html

Our Forum is an eye opener. Take a look...
Disaster Prepared/Aftermath Forum:
http://disasterprepared.net/ipw-web/bul ... um.php?f=2

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 1:02 am

I did see your website! After 2 hurricanes and one *on the horizon* the title caught my eye, as you can well imagine!
I think your information is valuable and it's interesting as well.
I didn't check out everything yet tho- I am working on the next Hatchet issue.

Welcome to the Forum!
I'm from PA.

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 6:31 pm

Thanks for your interest Kat. I hope the information is of some help. I see from your profile you are located in FL and now that makes better sense re: the hurricanes. But you do say you are from PA...originally? Are you the editor of the Hatchet? The Lizzie Borden story lives on. I can remember growing up in Fall River being reminded often of the infamous Lizzie. As I recall her home on Second St. had been converted to some kind of a commercial business.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 8:09 pm

Around here, anyone under 25 has never heard of Lizzie Borden. More kids are being born in Florida and staying.
We moved around a lot.
Yes I was born in PA but moved away when I was about 2 or 3. We returned often to visit relatives. I recall relatives of our mother telling us about the Johnstown flood way back when.

I think there was flooding from IVAN in your neck of the woods?
We have Jeanne looming and the thing is her path keeps being adjusted every 12 hours or even every 8 hours. People are tired here.

Stefani, my younger sister, is Editor of The Hatchet. I assistant edit and proof and fact-check, and write as well.

How did you find this site and are you interested in Lizzie?

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 5:24 am

I remember the story of the Johnstown flood. It was quite an interesting and devastating event. People were in denial even as it was happening. No one believed the dam breaking would have that effect. Yes, we had quite a flood here is Montgomery thanks to Ivan. It rained very heavy and especially north of here, so the river was much higher than normal and the creeks and streams couldn't empty into the river. Instead they backed up. My backyard was 6 foot deep with water and it came within about 50 feet of my home. The two bridges in town were completely submerged with just the railings barely showing. We were cut off from everything except for one road out of town and that led to a town that was worse off. Only lasted like that for a couple days though. Some homes were flooded but for the most part not that much damage.

I just saw on the weather report that this next hurricane is supposed to make landfall between Cape Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale. Are you anywhere near there? Hope you stay safe and sound.. I've ridden through a couple hurricanes and they are scary when everything starts moving.

Only have a passing interest in Lizzie myself. I usually don't dwell on murder mysteries. But I can understand the interest. Spend most of my time with restoring an old El Camino and my Website right now.

joe · Post by **joe** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 6:52 pm

Now there a few of us "seniors" on the forum. Glad to have you among us.
Joe

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 7:27 pm

Thanks for the welcome Joe. I see you are a man of letters. I appreciate that. I know our age puts us in the "seniors" category; however, I believe our attitudes and openness of mind are the real determining factors. I was just reading an essay entitled, "Circles," by my favorite author Ralph Waldo Emerson. He created a great many works and this is one of those gems. I don't know if you are familiar with it, but if not it is very worthwhile reading. Some of his thoughts on the subject: "Whilst we converse with what is above us, we do not grow old, but grow young...This old age ought not to creep on a human mind. In nature every moment is new; the past is always swallowed and forgotten; the coming only is sacred. Nothing is secure but life, transition, the energizing spirit...People wish to be settled; only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them..."

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 1:18 pm

I don't think much about a person's age. The more years, the better. (Consider the alternative ...) I enjoy our Seniors. So much you can learn from them. One of my best friends passed away not long ago, and he was 79. He was one of the most fun people - and most dear - I ever knew. I only hope that when I reach older age, I am able to do it as gracefully as so many of you have set an example.

Nancie · Post by **Nancie** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 4:26 pm

My 82 year old Dad just got his Real Estate license
this summer and is working and energetic, unbelievable. When I gush at him "how amazing at
your age" he quickly tells me that I will see that being 50 or 80 is no big difference.

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 8:54 pm

That is so cool, Nancie. He must be quite a guy.

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 6:04 am

Thank you Augusta, I like to think I am better for my age than the reverse. When we lose the eye of the tiger life catches up and quickly leaves us standing still. Emerson is a great example of a wonderful, active mind with great accomplishment in his later years. He lived about 50 miles from Fall River, before the time of the automobile and gave his talks and lectures all around that area. We can only imagine what fortitude it took to ride a horse 50 miles to deliver a public speech. Yet during that time he wrote volumes of material that lives on as if time stood still for him. He wrote for the ages.

Your father has a great attitude Nancie. The more years for a healthy mind equals a larger data base from which to draw. There are limits of course, though we set most of them ourselves with outlook and attitude. My mother still lives in Fall River, actually just a stones throw away from Lizzie's house. We recently celebrated her 90th birthday! She still does her own cleaning and cooking, drives her car, and does a crosswords puzzle every day. Her drive to stay independent as long as possible is an inspiration to me.

Nancie · Post by **Nancie** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 4:06 pm

thanks augusta and tonyb, it sure is a good
example to see our parents active in their 80's and
90's. Tony I used to read Thoreau's Walden once a
year when I lived in Vermont, reminding me to "keep it simple", he was a student of Emerson I
believe. New Joisey has trashed me, nothing simple
here! But the example of our parents is priceless
and enduring.

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 5:15 pm

You don't look trashed at all to me Nancie. You look like a cheerful, warm lady. The inner person does show through I believe. I don't know much about Thoreau...I do know that he and Emerson had a lot of similar beliefs. I did read Walden and liked it but it didn't have near the impact on me that Emerson's work has had. I was never that much of a reader until an acquaintance suggested I look into the work of Emerson. I was able to buy a couple of books that contain all of his work and was hooked. Lately I've been reading Dr. Wayne Dyer who is a completely different kind of writer but also a visionary.

I used to go up to Vermont once in awhile to do some skiing with my son, but haven't been lately. We may go over Christmas. Nice places up there. If you ever have the time to listen to a very strange story of coincidence, it happened to me and my son on one of our skiing trips in Vermont. Kind of a long story and don't want to clog this forum. let me know if you might be interested and I'll send a private message.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 2:23 am

You can write it here.
We like coincidences!
They prove one is *In Touch* with the Universe.

I was saying here to my neighbors that through these hurricanes, nature is only doing her job. This is what she does- erodes the beaches, throws the junk up out of the ocean- carves a new coastline- renews everything- just all speeded up, is all. It's *Natural.* We are the ones in the way.

I must say tho, I've seen some stunned birds!

Wow! You sure did get Ivan! That's a bummer about the flooding but your attitude is good!

It turns out I am on a hill, 85 feet above sea level. The highest point in my neighborhood, too. A lake at the top and a lake at the bottom, but being on a hill is advantageous!

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 6:59 am

Glad you made it through safely Kat. I too live on a hill and yes, it does have its advantages. Nice outlook you have on Nature. In spite of the turmoil it can cause at times for its creatures.

Well, let me preface my story of coincidence:

I grew up in Fall River at 111 Brayton Avenue. Between 1994 and 2001 I worked at a warehouse about 25 miles from Fall River. One day while shopping at a store in Fall River I saw a worker there from the warehouse. I made the remark that I didn't know he lived in Fall River. He said the same about me. I told him I grew up on Brayton Ave. He said that is where he lives. I said I lived at 111 Brayton Avenue. He said that is where he lives. I said I lived in the second floor tenement. He said that is the tenement where he lives. Anyway, I soon put all that in the back of my mind and rang that one up to just a strange coincidence.

Now I fast forward several years later to the ski trip with my son to Vermont. We rented a hotel room on the slope but when we arrived it was raining. We decided to stay and see if the rain would end or turn into snow. When we picked up the key to the room I noticed it was for room 111. We went to our room and watched skiing on tv while it rained outside. I made the remark about our room number being 111 and related the story of 111 Brayton Avenue to my son. And, we soon after began talking about California where we had lived twenty years before. There had been a family who lived across the street from us and in all the years since we had moved from that area we had never mentioned them but I wondered what ever became of the young girl who had a lot of energy and determination. As we talked we couldn't remember her full name. We knew her first name but couldn't quite come up with her last. Cara Beth Bernstein was my best guess. On the tv screen the next downhill skier was taking position in the race and on the tv screen in letters that went across the whole screen came: Cara Beth Burnside

I jumped out of my seat as if hit by a lightning bolt! I couldn't believe it but there she was on the screen..someone we had never mentioned in 20 years!

One last little kicker to this story. I was perusing this forum last night and saw an entry saying it has been 111 years since the Borden murders!

We have little idea of the supernatural life we live and how anything ties into anything else. There are connections far beyond our grasp of understanding.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Sep 29, 2004 3:42 am

That is so cool! Thanks for the story. I love stories like that. I think you've got some *connection* there with who-knows-what.

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Wed Sep 29, 2004 7:16 am

Our course seems preset, we may never know what it all means. I'm hoping 111 is a worthy connection, though not making any bets...like to think it's better than 666!

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 2:51 am

There are a lot of anecdotes about meaningful numbers in our lives which keep cropping up.
I think I posted the story about John Lennon and the number 9- many moons ago.

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 4:58 am

Many people have a belief in numbers. I'm not one of them. I think they are man's invention. But, it is hard to ignore how they pop up in our lives. If there is a devil I doubt that he/she would have any human identity number affixed. Maybe we are just looking for any explanation of our existence or a way to justify our actions--might as well blame it on the devil, or any other entity than ourselves.

The same goes for organized religion. it is often a way to justify a righteous attitude or action. History is riddled with unbelievable cruelty done in the name of religion. We need to stand for ouselves--good or bad, kind or selfish, natural or unnatural. Nature is a mysterious ladder that we climb step by step. The steps are actions, the new prospect is power.

"Every man is not so much a workman in the world as he is a suggestion of that he should be. Men walk as prophecies of the next age...The new statement is always hated by the old, and, to those dwelling in the old, comes like an abyss of scepticism. But the eye soon gets wonted to it, for the eye and it are effects of the one cause; then its innocency and benefit appear, and presently, all its energy spent, it pales and dwindles before the revelation of the new hour. Fear not the new generalization. Does the fact look crass and material, threatening to degrade thy theory of spirit? Resist it not; it goes to refine and raise thy theory of matter just as much."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nancie · Post by **Nancie** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:24 pm

You are quite the scholar TonyB, thanks for sharing
your thoughts. you could relate it to the debates last night even, or anything in your life. We all just
have to be ourselves, period.

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 5:24 pm

Thank you Nancie. Emerson wrote in a dated style because he wrote so long ago. But yes, his thoughts apply today and even to the debates. His opinion of politicians was not very high and it is a wonder he was able to live out a natural life in view of the the mockery he made of them in print. His style has a lot in common with that of Thoreau's Civil Disobedience.

I decided to post some of Thoreau's thoughts on the subject from his Civil Disobedience: "I think we should be men first and subjects afterward...The American government--what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity?"

Our system is the best there is but lacks integrity, more so now than ever.
Politicians have to dance with the ones that brought them, so the funding base (mainly large corporations) really pulls the strings. They control more and more of our lives every day, though many people are unaware. About the only real choice we have nowadays is to watch the puppet show or not.

I don't know if you may be interested but I wrote an essay and a verse along those lines: http://www.sure-net.com/treadmarks.html and http://www.sure-net.com/ease.html By the way, the Tread Marks story actually took place in Fall River. If you read it I hope you like it.

Nancie · Post by **Nancie** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 12:25 pm

thanks for sharing your essay and verse Tony,
i especially liked the squirrel analogy! how true that
is, if we could all be as fearless as the squirrel, no one intimidates them, they rule! In my backyard, even my yappy dog gives them their due respect.
Lizzie fed and appreciated the squirrels also, I wonder if she read Thoreau? (he died in 1862) So many of his writings seem to fit her, Joyce Carol Oates wrote "to read Thoreau in adolescence is to read him at a time when his statements carry the weight, the promise "if the human world disapponts us, as in adolescence it so frequentyly does - we have the privilege of repudiating it forever in exchange for the certainty of a far different kind of romance or religious mission......" Thanks again Tony, really enjoyed your essay and verse was wonderful.

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 5:54 pm

You're most welcome Nancie..glad you enjoyed it. The squirrels in my back yard are the same way as you describe. The cats in the neighborhood, including my Blackie, give them wide berth. By the way, I read about your cat story and Blackie came to me as a lost soul. She was a newborn in a pack of wild cats that lived next to a mill in Fall River. One cold night in the middle of December I had to work on my car and was lying underneath it in the garage when I heard a very weak little meow. She was shaking from the cold but refused to come to me. The next night the same thing happened, but this time she came to some food I put out. That was 11 years ago. Her and I have been partners ever since. She spends most of her time outdoors and is really a nice cat...and not much trouble.

I appreciate people who can relate well to nature. I once had a friend who was intelligent and with a great sense of humor, but lacked any connection with animals. It eventually was the factor that I believe had us drift apart as friends. He couldn't stand to be around my cat and that annoyed me, not so much of it being my cat , but because he had no feeling for animals. We are just one of the very many running around on this planet and we flatter ourselves to think we are so special compared to all other forms of life. A reverence for Nature and its creatures is mandatory in my eyes.

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 6:07 pm

Hi tonyb, your stray cat story is very similar to mine. My cat showed up on my patio on a February day back in 1997. She was only a kitten and not much more than a ball of fur.

Naturally I fed her (a hot dog if I remember right) and she left. She returned for the next few days and one day it was very cold and rainy so we let her in. She curled up in a corner and slept. She was such a loving cat that we decided to keep her.

We gave her a name - Blackie. Maybe these black cats do have mysterious powers.

William, another of our forum members, I believe also has a cat named Blackie.

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 8:44 pm

Thanks for that Harry. Looks like I'm in the right place!

In my yard there is a spring fed stream and I placed rocks across with a little foot bridge and voilá...a fish pond was born! I kept stocking it with gold fish but a local muskrat decided he liked sea food so I had trouble keeping up with his appetite. When we had the flood last week the pond was under six feet of water and the gold fish took off for the creek or the river, but I also had about ten natural brook trout that stayed, and now I have about forty brook trout! They are mostly two and three inches long but a couple are over four inches. The pond is too shallow to support them for very long but for now they seem content to accept my fish food and hang around.

I got to thinking about us humans and our perspective on the order of nature, and I think because we are usually at the top of the food chain it gives us the idea that we are so special. Anyway, it reminded me of an old joke. A man was running from a bear and was backed up to a cliff with nowhere to go. He fell to his knees and looking up to heaven said, "Please Dear God, let this bear gain religion." The bear looked to the sky and thought, "Thank you God for providing this meal!"

Nancie · Post by **Nancie** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 8:39 pm

you must be an atheist Tony? That story was horrible. I like jokes but I just didn't get-it.

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 4:59 am

No Nancie, I'm not an atheist at all. There is a God, but not only just for us.

Nancie · Post by **Nancie** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 5:50 pm

True, I just thought of that this morning. These ugly
horrible slug-like things are out on my pathway in
early morning and I've thought of ways to destroy
them, salt? moth balls?, but it hit me that they might
be doing something, like an earthworm who turns the earth for us gardeners. Anybody know if these
discusting little things DO anything for the order of
nature?

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:02 am

A creature doesn't have to exist for human benefit to be an equal partner in Nature, that includes slugs, mosquitoes and many other forms of life not looked on as beneficial. They are all part of the food chain. I'm not sure of what natural enemy the slug has other than humans...mabe birds. Have you ever watched a robin hunting for worms? They know where they are located under the earth, by listening and sensing any movement. Many animals have senses far beyond our capabilities. Worms, in our view are welcome creatures in our garden not to be destroyed, but to a robin they are sustenance.

My little fish pond helps control numbers of mosquitos. The fish eat the larvae and keep down the mosquito population. When i'm out by the pond and mosquitos land on me to take a drink of my blood for their sustenance, I swat them and drop them into the pond--again, fish food.

Nature in many respects seems crude, but it is well refined. Around and around goes the cycle, kept well in balance except by changes in that balance made by man.

tonyb · Post by **tonyb** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 7:18 am

"Animals do not coexist in perfect peace and harmony, any more than humans do. They eat each other. They fight each other. They vie for territory. Even plants subtly jostle for position and dominance if left to their own devices in a field. It is no wonder really, that people find it so hard to get along or to fully, fairly co-operate with each other. We are all resisting, the whole time, a bunch of primeval impulses and urges to conquer and be cruel. Yet we can rise above this and we do sometimes... rather gloriously! " --Johnathan Cainer

Lizzie Borden Society Forum

Fall River native

Fall River native

Welcome Tony