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Isolated areas of traffic congestion reported in the Wyoming Valley

LeBron ends the debate, no one can deny his greatness now

<p>Standing in his front yard, my buddy Alner was positively fuming.</p><p>&#8220;All I wanted was a nice fence here, and the inspectors said the town doesn&#8217;t allow any kind of fence in front,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Can you believe that?&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Alner,&#8221; I said, clapping my neighbor on the shoulder. &#8220;There&#8217;s probably a good reason. What if the firefighters or EMTs have to get into your place? A fence would be a hindrance.&#8221;</p><p>He started to calm down. But the glint in my eye must have been a dead giveaway because he suddenly shouted &#8220;heaven help me, not another trip&#8221; and bolted toward his porch.</p><p>I was too quick, though. Thanks to my power of metaphysical travel, within seconds we were strolling down a street in Wyoming Valley decades ago.</p><p>&#8220;OK, where and when are we?&#8221; he asked, resignation all over his face.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re back in the 1920s,&#8221; I said. &#8220;You want to see really unnecessary laws? There were all kinds of things you couldn&#8217;t do years ago. Look at those people over there, practically begging to be arrested.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;They&#8217;re just playing baseball,&#8221; Alner said. &#8220;Good crowd, too.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Old pal,&#8221; I said, &#8220;this is Sunday, and in this day and age pitching a ball or swinging a bat on a summer Sunday can get you fined or even land you in the local hoosegow. That was the law.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not sure I&#8217;d want to live here,&#8221; he shivered.</p><p>&#8220;Lots of things we take for granted were illegal years ago. Now let&#8217;s fast forward to a freezing cold winter morning in about the 1950s.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Oh, thanks a lot,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And I&#8217;m in short sleeves.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Alner,&#8221; I groaned. &#8220;I have a power to cover this. We won&#8217;t feel the weather. Now look at those kids slogging through the snow on their way to the high school.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;The guys look like explorers, but how come the girls aren&#8217;t bundled up?&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Schools had a rule back then that girls had to wear dresses or skirts, no matter what the weather. And remember, the snow day hadn&#8217;t been invented yet, and there weren&#8217;t many school buses either. You got to class yourself. Logic, where art thou?&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;So maybe I shouldn&#8217;t complain too much,&#8221; he sighed.</p><p>&#8220;Right you are, buddy,&#8221; I said. &#8220;We&#8217;d go crazy having to cope with some of the laws and rules our ancestors faced. Speaking of schools, we&#8217;re not so far away from the time when female teachers had to quit when they got married: no wives or moms allowed in the classroom. Unbelievable in our day.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Are we suddenly somewhere else?&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Yep. We&#8217;ve gone back in time just a tad. See those folks with glum faces streaming out of that big building? They&#8217;re Bingo fans, and they&#8217;ve played their last game because Wilkes-Barre has just declared the public playing of Bingo illegal.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;The city fathers would faint if they ever heard of Internet poker,&#8221; Alner laughed.</p><p>&#8220;Hey, what color is margarine?&#8221; I asked, pointing to a grocery store.</p><p>&#8220;Yellow, of course.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Nope,&#8221; I said. &#8220;In this time it&#8217;s greasy white, like lard, and you have to put some orange powder in it and whip it up. What fun! The law says you can&#8217;t sell margarine that looks like butter.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m getting the message,&#8221; he said. &#8220;On the way back let&#8217;s stop at a garden store.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Yeah?&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I want to buy some landscaping stuff &#8211; flowers, peat, you know. Suddenly I think I can live with the fence law.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Remember When </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_TOM_MOONEY-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Remember When </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Tom Mooney</p><p>Remember When</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Tom Mooney is a Times Leader history columnist. Reach him at tommooney42@gmail.com.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Remember When: Do you remember when bingo, baseball and and married teachers were illegal?