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‘We’ve been here before:’ Stuck inside… an all night lockdown

By LOU BERNARD

You’ve been hearing it over and over, recently. Stay indoors. Don’t go out unless it’s strictly necessary.

Many people are doing exactly that, and I give you my respect.

For a few that don’t seem to be getting the message, let me say it in capital letters: STAY HOME, YOU MORONS. YOU ARE GOING TO KILL SOMEONE.

And while everyone is staying inside, let me give you something to read. Let me tell you about another time when people were ordered to stay indoors. Admittedly, for a much different reason. Instead of the fear of a horrible virus, it was the fear of being blown up. At this point, I should probably mention that World War II was going on at the time.

It was June of 1942. Charles Herr was the mayor of Lock Haven, and he declared that we were participating in an all-night blackout. This was a part of nationwide drills to learn how to avoid making communities a target for bombing from the Japanese or Germans. And before you scoff at the idea that Lock Haven would have been a priority bombing site, remember: We had Piper making the L-4 Grasshopper for the war effort. We had a wire company in Castanea making a component of the nuclear bombs. And we had Rebecca Gross of the Express writing articles for the Navy that affected the course of the war.

So people were, for a practice session, ordered to stay indoors. And overnight, their lights were to be turned off, so they wouldn’t present any targets to planes in the sky. So not only were people stuck at home, they had to do it without lights.

And here you’ve been going bananas every time Netflix glitches.

The Clinton County Times made the announcement on June 18, 1942 — On June 23, it was to be a lockdown and an all-night blackout as part of a three-day statewide practice run. Charles Edwards, a WWI veteran from Castanea, was appointed the chief air raid warden. The lights were to go out, and people were to stay in.

For the first half-hour of the night, beginning at 8:30 p.m. lights were to be entirely extinguished. After that, exterior lights were still not allowed, but dim interior lights were, assuming you’d put some sort of black paper or cloth over all windows. And taped around the edges to prevent light leakage. They were taking this thing pretty seriously.

The Times, in an effort to be encouraging, stated,”Now, it is one thing to shut off our lights for a half hour and keep dark and still for that brief period, but it is an entirely different matter to keep lights off for a whole night, or for a week or for a month. Under these latter circumstances we are compelled to learn how to keep up our normal life in semi-darkness, to run a home, prepare meals and care for our family without our lights showing outside; to run a store, or hotel, or print a newspaper.”

Edwards monitored the whole thing with the help of deputized air raid wardens, and most people complied, understanding how serious the whole thing could become. One man in Flemington didn’t, and five businesses also were spotted with lights on. This included a Henderson Street drug store. So, currently during Covid-19, don’t be a Henderson Street drug store—Stay home.

Afterward, it was reported that we did pretty well, but only a few people could have gotten everyone else killed. And if you don’t yet see the parallels here, you’re not paying attention, so go back and read it again. Edwards handed over a list of the violators to Mayor Herr with the recommendation that the offenders be arrested or fined. The penalty for this, incidentally, was two hundred dollars or ninety days in jail, presumably with lights.

We made it through World War II, and at least once, we did it by staying home and killing the power. We’ll make it through this, too. And right now, I’m going to paraphrase the Clinton County Times: It’s one thing to stay home half an hour, but another to go a week or a month. But for now, we have to learn how to keep up our new normal life.

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