1965 — The Abington Players presented the musical “South Pacific” at the Abington Heights High School. Eight dancing nurses from a chorus line were featured in a photo, half of which ran on page one and the other half on page three of the journal. Page one showed only their legs under the headline, “16 Legs in Search of an Audience…” with no explanation, in a clever gimmick to to draw readers to the inside pages.
1973 — Murder was in two non-related headlines, both on that week’s front page.
The first involved the preliminary hearing, held in Magistrate James T. McHale’s Clarks Summit courtroom, of a former Scranton man, Harold Ellis, who was facing a murder charge along with two New Jersey men, Gerard Festa and Gerald Donnerstag. The victim was Jed Feldman, whose partially clothed and badly decomposed body was discovered about two years prior in a freshly-thawed pond in Greenfield Township.
The second announced a reward of $100 for the arrest of the murderers of two South Scranton boys, whose bodies were found in Falls Township near Shultzville the week before. Clarks Summit Borough Manager Elwood Lewis and Mayor Donald Eilenberger announced their personal contributions of reward money, as the borough was unable to offer such reward itself.
1980 — The Abington Heights football team was on a five-game winning streak, after defeating the Mid-Valley Spartans 36-0 at Fern Hill Grounds.
“Statistically, Mid-Valley didn’t fare that badly, managing only two less first downs than the Comets and moving the ball well at times,” read the Journal article. “But the Spartans were pushed off the line of scrimmage by a large and strong Comet front line and three Abington backs scored five touchdowns on the ground.
“Coach Mike Hemak’s two starting running backs, Dane Hewlett and Pat Kennedy each scored two touchdowns on the ground and Duane Hewlett scored once.”
1995 — The building of the Presbyterian church got a facelift, with its second renovation since 1913.
“An active Christian education program, plenty of activities and a dedicated pastor to shepherd the flock — all First Presbyterian Church of Clarks Summit lacked was a solid building,” read the Journal article. “Sunday, the church dedicated its renovated facility, with new classrooms, a new narthex, handicapped access and plenty of fresh paint.”