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Look in this section for articles of local interest, history, sports, entertainment, and just plain fun.  If you would like to contribute to this page please register here.


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The Return of the Return of the Unidentified Man: UM 3.0
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The saga continues. Two of our venerable reporters have once again picked up the scent of the most curious character that our reporting staff has ever encountered.  I speak of the Unidentified Man, of course. The saga began six years ago when the two reporters were foraging for food near the Conewago Trail. That activity was not uncommon due to their ...[more]

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From the Debunking Corner: An Ingenious Way to Answer the Great Questions of Science
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A recent Gizmodo article takes the EPA chief Scott Pruitt to task for his “idea for a ‘red team-blue team debate’ on climate science.” The article goes on to add that Pruitt, “who all but admitted recently that his entire goal is to dismantle the EPA, has suggested collecting a group of scientists and having them debate objective reality, perhaps ...[more]


A New Hire at the Journal Debunks Fake News
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The crack editor of EJ is fed up with the constant stream of fake news. Accordingly, the newspaper has hired a reporter whose sole job it is to debunk the incorrect, unfair and, frankly, anti-Trump coverage in the mainstream media. It is time, the editor stated, for the American people to get the news they deserve. Here is the first debunking. A ...[more]


Not Only in the White House
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The editor of the EJ was interviewing a candidate to join his crack staff of reporters. The grueling interview was almost over when he asked the most important question of all: “Can I count on your loyalty?” ‘How about honesty?” countered the candidate. “Can you give me obedience?” “I can promise you integrity.” “Hmm, that’s not enough. Can you give me faithfulness?” “No, but I ...[more]

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Elizabethtown College Crime Spree at Lake Placida
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Chris Hayes of MSNBC is the author of a recently published book, A Colony in a Nation. The book artfully tells the story of the colonial status of  people of color and the role of the police in maintaining and defining that status. The tale affords considerably attention to Ferguson and related incidents that occurred around 2014.  During that time ...[more]

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EAHS April students of the month named
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  April 19, 2017- Elizabethtown Area High School seniors Kaitlyn Welch and Tyler Rae were named the Elizabethtown Rotary Club’s students of month for April. Welch and Rae were honored for their high academic achievement and extensive involvement in school and community service activities. Welch is the daughter of James and Tracey Welch of Elizabethtown. She is a member of the prestigious ...[more]


State of the Union, the real progressive reply
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Washington is certainly different now, at least around 1600. Yet despite the iconoclasm, the deconstruction, the incompetence; there is a constancy in the tune which we hear. EJ has taken the opportunity to re-post an article that originally appeared some time ago, the day after President Obama's 2014 State of the Union address.  As you watch what is transpiring now, ...[more]

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The Method of Frames (essay)
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Research from cognitive psychology, sociology, and findings from other disciplines inform us that the way we typically explain our own behavior, others' behavior, and the social world is lacking in accuracy.  Most of us use a similar method  to construct these explanations. We can call it "the everyday method".  As science informs us, it is less than accurate.  Consequently, it ...[more]


Do Names Matter?
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What’s in a name, said the Bard? Well, if you call yourself Integrity Bank, you’d better make sure your operations are on the up and up. But the pressure proved to be too much, and they succumbed. In 2013, two bank executives and a third person were sentenced for “their roles in a conspiracy to commit bribery and bank fraud, insider ...[more]


Opinion: More White Puzzle Pieces
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Elizabethtown College recently made national news. The college's democratic club promoted a program to spread awareness of the idea of white privilege. The story was picked up nationally and internationally.  Not surprisingly, it elicited quite a bit of response. Ever in the mix, The Elizabethtown Journal posted a submission by a reader and local columnist concerning the matter. I made ...[more]

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Opinion: Puzzle pieces & disabilities
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This essay was submitted by Jerry Shenk. Jerry Shenk is a Dauphin County-based writer whose work is featured at PATownHall.com.  He can be reached at jshenk2010@gmail.com His work occasionally appears at American Thinker online and is published weekly in the Lebanon Daily News. Beginning in mid-February, the Elizabethtown College Democrats began distributing all-white pins in the shape of puzzle pieces. They ...[more]


My Journey into Darkness
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I rejected it.  It was partly due to its source.  It was partly due to dubious facts and hyperbole.  It all started about 25 years ago when two related movements began to emerge.  Both originated from the right and became a convenient multipurpose narrative.  One movement was the fight against political correctness, a right epithet employed to describe the language ...[more]

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Local college institutes instant replay
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A central Pennsylvania college has become the first in the nation to institute within classroom instant replay (WCIR).  WCIR is a program to intercept harmful or biased speech (HBS) on campus and to help adjudicate violations concerning the proscription of such speech.  HBS is defined as any speech that results in the perception by a student of material or emotional ...[more]


Sisyphus Revisited: The Myth of the Conservative Ideology
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The president-elect's appeal has a few elements.  Supporters and voters (not always the same) do so for a couple of different reasons. The appeal upon which which he first capitalized and was exhibited in the primaries was to nativism and a return to tradition. It was an appeal to the conservative grand narrative. Those who hopped on the bandwagon for ...[more]

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Trump’s Uncanny Resemblance to St. Augustine
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Did Trump’s recent apology for past behavior mollify the liberal media? Not in the least! Here’s the wretched New York Times (1) : “During a 90-second videotaped appearance, Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, offered a strikingly brief articulation of regret for a decade-old audiotape in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitals and said he could have his way with ...[more]

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Elizabethtown College spearheads ECHOS to assist area homeless
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From E-town NOW This past summer, Elizabethtown College secured approval of a collective impact grant, the result of which offers a heartwarming opportunity to the College and community to fulfill the College motto of Educate for Service. The grant, through Lancaster County Coalition to End Homelessness, made it possible for the College to spearhead E-town Community Housing and Outreach Services (ECHOS), which ...[more]


Reason and Knowledge Have Left the Room: We have met the enemy and he is us (Commentary)
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This article appeared four years ago in EJ.  We have re-posted it because of its enduring relevance.   Talk radio.  Network TV.  Cable news channels.  On-line blogs and news. Newspapers and magazines.  We, as Americans, are privileged to have access to such a wide variety of information sources to inform us about issues concerning our civic lives and our elected officials.  Despite ...[more]

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Sarah Uhl volunteers at abode services in Fremont, California
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10 August 2016 (Elgin, IL) – Sarah Uhl of Elizabethtown, PA has recently undertaken a Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) assignment with ABODE Services in Fremont, CA.  Abode Services works in partnership with homeless people, affirming their personhood and offering opportunities for self-help, self-determination, and community interaction. Workers share the burdens of their clients while encouraging them to improve their own ...[more]

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Pennsylvania’s unending story of corruption and sleazy emails
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Pigs love to wallow in mud. In Pennsylvania, members of Pennsylvania’s political and legal establishments seem to relish wading into cesspools of corruption. Nine years ago, in Pennsylvania, Democrats were charged with “illegal use of government funds for political purposes.” Former House Speaker Bill DeWeese and Democratic Whip Mike Veon went to jail for their starring roles in Bonusgate. (1) Republicans were ...[more]

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Municipal Services and Finance Proposal Makes Rounds around Pennsylvania and the Nation (redux)
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It' summer.  It's VBS time.  For the unwashed VBS is short for vacation bible school.  This has motivated the editors of EJ to resurrect a previously published article (Oct. 2011) that tells a tale of how church advocates may stealthfully garner government support for church agendas and evangelism.  This comes on the heels of a program in Pennsylvania (and some ...[more]


Hillary? Terrell’s latest
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Here is a link to David Terrell's latest column at Clyde Fitch.  In it, he discusses the challenge of a Hillary candidacy. [more]


Trump Will Meet EJ Editor on Neutral Territory to “Settle Differences” May 15, 2016
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From the Senior Special Correspondent for International and Philosophical Affairs The life of an EJ editor, it has been noted more than once, is not an easy one. The arrows of outrageous fortune come at him unceasingly from all sides, but the consummate professional that he is, he deals with the trials and tribulations visited upon him with equanimity. And then he ...[more]


Terrell’s latest: Bernie Wins (Eventually)
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Elizabethtown's David Terrell's latest offering in the Clyde Fitch Report can be found here: http://www.clydefitchreport.com/2016/04/2016-election-politcal-parties/ [more]


Professor Homer is Not Happy About Trump Panel Discussion at Elizabethtown College (includes unsolicited response)
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Editor's note: Sanjay Paul is an Associate Professor of Economics at Elizabethtown College.  As for Homer, we are not exactly sure who he is.  He may be the ghost of the ancient author or, perhaps, the human manifestation of the popular television personality.  Many scholars believe that Homer may not be a single person and they hypothesize that he may ...[more]

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EAHS APRIL STUDENTS OF THE MONTH NAMED
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April 20, 2016- Elizabethtown Area High School seniors Katie Gizzi and Christopher Bair were named the Elizabethtown Rotary Club’s students of month for April. Gizzi and Bair were honored for their high academic achievement and extensive involvement in school and community service activities. Gizzi is the daughter of Zane and Melissa Gizzi of Elizabethtown. She is a member of the prestigious ...[more]

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Elizabethtown man scores
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March 29th was a normal day for most Elizabethtown residents, but not for one local who was in for a major surprise.  Randy Hilton of Elizabethtown has been entering sweepstakes for years, sometimes spending as much as eight hours each day entering to win prizes. Hilton's persistence paid off in a big way when he was recently selected as the ...[more]

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EAHS students claim top prizes at National History Day competition
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April 6, 2016- Students from the Elizabethtown School District recently took part in the National History Day (NHD) regional competition at Manheim Township School District. High school juniors Aparna Paul and Katy Shank both took home awards in the highly regarded academic program. Paul placed first in the senior individual research paper and Shank placed second in the senior individual ...[more]

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Terrell’s latest
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David Terrell's latest column, Bernie Sanders, a Thinker’s Troublemaker, can be accessed here. [more]

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Commentary Redux: Lance Armstrong, Rascals in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and Rascals in the United States Congress
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The election season has once again prompted us to ask questions about our government and our electoral process.  Questions like, "Why do they publicly tell us one thing and govern in a different manner?" and "Why do they govern in a manner that is not in the interest of those that elected them and then develop a narrative that clumsily ...[more]

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EAHS February students of the month named
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February 12, 2016- Elizabethtown Area High School seniors Sarah Sellers and Santino Buonamici were named the Elizabethtown Rotary Club’s students of month for February. Sellers and Buonamici were honored for their high academic achievement and extensive involvement in school and community service activities. Sellers is the daughter of Lewis and Gayle Sellers of Elizabethtown. She is a member of the prestigious ...[more]


Liberty vs. Equality or Liberty and Equality
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The latest column from Elizabethtown resident David Terrell discusses liberty and equality, their place in the thought of the founding fathers, their use by libertarians, and what is and could be.  It's at Clyde Fitch and can be found here: http://www.clydefitchreport.com/2016/02/2016-election-liberty-equality-history/ [more]

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Kopko’s newest book gives insight on influence of presidential running mates
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From Etown-NOW by Cory Caudell With the current election process underway, Dr. Kyle Kopko’s newest book, “The VP Advantage: How Running Mates Influence Home State Voting in Presidential Elections,” provides insightful information to politicians and researchers alike. Already released in the United Kingdom, the book will be available in the United States in March. “The VP Advantage” looks at the importance ...[more]

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Sisyphus Revisited: The Myth of the Conservative Ideology
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Twenty-sixteen is not 1916 and it can never be.  The world in which we live is not a world of industrial capitalism and small merchants.  The world in which we live is not a world of isolated nations.  The world in which we live is not organized by local communities and their concomitant primacy in defining life. The world in ...[more]


Choosing the Heads of the IMF and World Bank
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Dec 18, 2015 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) are two major components of the international financial system. They were established at the end of World War II, with differing objectives. The IMF was meant to provide short-term loans to member countries that found themselves in balance-of-payments crises—typically situations where countries were running short of foreign-exchange reserves ...[more]

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Newest Clyde Fitch from Terrell
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The following link will take you to Elizabethtown resident David Terrell's most recent article for the Clyde Fitch Report.  It addresses the issue of prison reform:   U.S. Prisons: Sense and Sentencing.   [more]

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Book Review Essay: Beyond Reason
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Two books that share a common insight.  Both have been best sellers.  Each book has a separate story to tell. The essay accessed by the link below features these two books: The Righteous Mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion by Jonathan Haidt and Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. The review examines two books and three ...[more]


Voting App available form EJ
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It's election season.  Don't be left out in the cold.  Is civic duty worth $49.99? I have invented an app (AutoVote) that chooses a candidate...so you don't have to.  It is compatible with all mobile devices, personal computers, TRS-80, and Heath Kit computers. The cost is just $49.99 and picks all national and congressional candidates for you...so you don't have to.  ...[more]


Homer Ponders New Rules for the GOP Debates
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  Editor's note: Homer is the author's alter ego or fantasy nemesis or a distant relative.  We are not sure. He couldn't believe it. Homer was watching the third GOP candidates' debate, and was shocked to see the CNBC moderators ask the presidential contenders one “gotcha” question after another. Did they have no respect for the distinguished people standing at their podiums? ...[more]

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Elizabethtown Artist Wendy Edsall-Kerwin has been chosen to represent Pennsylvania
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CHARLOTTE, N.C., SEPTEMBER 28, 2015—Artist Wendy Edsall-Kerwin of Elizabethtown has been chosen to represent Pennsylvania in American Craft Week’s first virtual gallery featuring 51 works of art representing one celebrated craft artist from each state and Washington, D.C. The exhibition, “Masterpiece E-xhibit & Sale, is online exclusively and will run through October 11 to coincide with American Craft Week (Friday, ...[more]

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Groundbreaking ceremony for Lancaster Habitat’s Elizabethtown Home Build
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This is the first in a series of reports chronicling the progress of the Lancaster Habitat's Elizabethtown Home Build. At the unmistakable sound of shovels hitting dirt, guests attending Lancaster Area Habitat for Humanity’s Groundbreaking Ceremony at 50 East Washington Street on Tuesday, September 15 applauded the official launch of the organization’s Elizabethtown Home Build. The four shiny gold shovels that upturned ...[more]

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An essay on punditry and the origins of political attitudes
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Click on the link below to view an essay on the origins of our political attitudes.  It was written as an antidote to the somewhat parochial manner in which pundits explain the political affinities of the electorate to us.  It also describes one of the critical features of our life-worlds that guides the development of all of our attitudes, not ...[more]

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Art exhibit at Etown College
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Originally published in E-Town NOW. Some artists are all about the finished product, about stepping back and taking in their creation. Others, like Elaina Posey, revel in the process of creating. They find a nugget of inspiration, put in their time in front of the canvas and, then, they move on to their next piece of work with little reflection on the ...[more]

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Franz Kafka’s The Trial: The State and Religion
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Ah the glorious days of misspent youth.  In my case, I am not sure they were all that glorious nor were they particularly misspent.  However, some important things were not accomplished. Recently, through deep introspection, I came to acknowledge and accept an important absence from my youth: I had never read Kafka.  Consequently, as part of my journey to achieve ...[more]

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Redux: He’s a Successful Businessman, So He Knows What the Country Needs: A Commentary
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The popularity of Donald Trump is a bit reminiscent of the last successful businessman who asserted that those business skills offered an advantage in the skills that are required of a president.  So EJ dug into its archives and resurrected the following article, originally published in December of 2011. An often-heard platitude during the seemingly endless media coverage of the seemingly ...[more]


Dream Team for 2016
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Noted diplomat Dennis Rodman is not content to rest on laurels. You may recall that last year, he single-handedly undertook a dangerous mission to North Korea where, through a game-theoretic strategy involving high-stakes basketball, he managed to disarm the Little Dictator and make the United States North Korea’s BFF. Upon his return to America, he was rewarded by the media ...[more]

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Summer Writers Experience exposes teens to creative life
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From E-town NOW Throughout the summer, Elizabethtown College’s Bowers Writers House provides an opportunity for teens, who have a thirst for writing and creativity, to join in conversations with those whose vocation and avocation center on just that. Jesse Waters, Writers House director, assembled professional writers in a variety of genre to take part in the Summer Writers Experience—free, casual craft talks ...[more]

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Elizabethtown’s History in New Book told through images: Release scheduled for June 1
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The book by local author Jean-Paul Benowitz is set to release on June 1, 2015. The book includes 200 vintage images, many of which have never been published, and showcases memories of days gone by. Settled in 1708 and incorporated as a borough in 1827, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, is located five miles from the Susquehanna River in Lancaster County, 20 miles from ...[more]

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May Students of the Month Named
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May 18, 2015- Elizabethtown Area High School seniors Linden Taylor and Benjamin Good were named the Elizabethtown Rotary Club’s Students of Month for May. Taylor and Good were honored for their high academic achievement and extensive involvement in school and community service activities. Taylor, daughter of Kent Taylor and Susan Traverso of Elizabethtown, has excelled in the classroom having earned membership ...[more]

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All Abuzz About E-town’s Bees
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From E-town NOW It was one of those off-the-cuff ideas that had Elizabethtown College Dining Services buzzing this spring. “Charlie saw something in the Merchandiser about a free beekeeping class,” said Eric Turzai, director of Dining Services. He was referencing Charlie Downs, residential dining chef, and a six-hour introduction to the habits and lives of the fuzzy little honey producers. “We were amazed ...[more]

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Police violence redux
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It's a tad frustrating that the commentaries are on a path toward insight, but never actually arrive there. We have been presented with three dominant commentaries that claim to explain why the police engage in violent acts against the citizens they are charged to protect.  The most common of these commentaries is one that asserts that these acts are acts ...[more]