The Times Leader from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania • 59

2F The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA, Sunday, March 15, 1992 Returns Virginia town says it's a Pepper, too I 1 By DAVID REEP 'J i i mi! Waco." said Lloyd, the only barber in this southwestern Virginia town of 970 people. A more popular version at least around here came from Dr. Doug Humphrey, the town's mayor and dentist: Dr. Pepper invented the drink, and a lovesick Morrison stole the formula in revenge and sold It In Texas. Mrs.

NefJ has an old ledger in which Dr. Pepper makes vague references to "swamp root." quinine, spices, raisins and soda. Another version has thejdoctor's son, Louis, as the inventor. But Jim Ball, the Dr Pepper Co. historian, said "there is no proof It ever existed" in Rural Retreat According to company brochures and the Waco museum.

Dr. Pepper "had an attractive young daughter and it wasn't long before a romance developed between Morrison and the girl. The doctor discouraged the affair and a dejected Morrison left Virginia-" Morrison opened a drug store with a soda fountain in Waco and hired Charles Alderton as a pharmacist. Ball said Alderton invented the soda In 1 885 after customers tired of the old fruit flavors. It became so popular that they brought in a beverage chemist to help mass-produce the syrup and bottle the drink.

Dr Pepper Co. moved to Dallas in 1923. merged with Seven-Up in 1988 and now is the nation's third-largest soft drink company with sales above $40 billion. But there's a major flaw in the company history. Mrs.

Neff found a reference to the Pepper family in Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia. It shows that Dr. Pepper's daughter would have been in elementary school about the time Morrison worked at the drug store. "That's a revelation to us," Ball said from Dallas. Attoowed Pres Wrner RURAL RETREAT.

Va. Want to know the real story of how one of the nation's oldest soft drinks got its start? Stroll into the old Rural Retreat Drug Store, once owned by Dr. Charles Pepper. Drop 50 cents for the namesake soda and you'll get five different versions before you can drink it down. "They carried this story down through the years, but everything gets pretty, well mixed up.

unofficial town historian Slgred Tuesday. Fact merges with fiction, even in the company's version, to make a concotion fizzing with romance, dejection and betrayal. Waco. Texas, gets the official credit as the.first home of Dr Pepper, in 1885. But after a museum opened there last year to honor the invention, some folks in Rural Retreat tried to set things straight.

This much Is well documented: There was a real Dr. Pepper. He was born in 1830. the son of one of the oldest families In the New River Valley. "He's buried right up the hill there in the graveyard.

You can see it for yourself," Jim Lloyd said. Pepper graduated from the University of Virginia medical school In 1855. After patching up Confederates during the Civil War. he bought a drug store In Rural Retreat and became a pharmacist A few years later. Pepper hired an assistant pharmacist named Wade Morrison, and this is where things get sticky.

Morrison, who was in love with Dr. Pepper's daughter, invented the secret mix of fruit syrup and seltzer "and tried to get in good with her father by naming it after him. It didn't cut any slack with Dr. Pepper. (Morrison) went away, brokenhearted, to APLEAFDESK SODA POP Rebecca Heldreth talks with Reed Counts outside her mom's drug store in Rural Retreat, where Dr.

Charles Pepper was the pharmacist. Residents say an employee spirited Pepper's pop away to Texas Bo Corporate Ladder Pa. Millers Mutual announces promotions Pennsylvania Millers Mutual Insurance Company, Wilkes-Barre, recently announced the following promotions: Joan Thomas, of Dallas, was named commercial lines services supervisor. She joined Pennsylvania Millers In 1976 as a policy preparation clerk. Mike Gipson, of Tunkhannock, was promoted to agribusiness field supervisor.

He Joined the company 1986 as an agribusiness field representative. Marion Black, of Forty Fort, has been named office supervisor, agribusiness. She began her career with Pennsylvania Millers in 1972. clude other athletes like pitcher Nolan Ryan and catcher Carlton Flsk in recent months. "Where Bo fits in this year will be up to him and our creative folks." Kidd said.

Larry Franklin, head of Franklin Sports in Stoughton, said Jackson's inability to play football last season had no perceptible impact on sales of his football gear and expects no fallout from news of his hip surgery. Tiger Electronics, based In Vernon Hills, has sucessfully marketed a Bo Jackson electronic game for two years. "Tiger stands behind Bo 100 percent. His injury in no way reduces his appeal to kids," said spokesman Marc Rosenberg. But Marty Blackman, a professional talent broker, said the decision to have a hip replacement will probably scare off new advertisers.

"If this is the end of his sports career, even the Nike thing will run its course," Blackman said. Kelley named to Marion Merrell Dow post (Continued from Page IF) badly during baseball spring training this year in Florida. On Tuesday, he announced he would have hip replacement surgery, expressed hopes that he could eventually resume playing baseball but conceded his athletic career may be ended. Pepsi and Nike already have defied the critics who said Jackson's injury would end of his ad career. The companies featured his injury in Jackson commercials last year.

Nike created an ad that showed Jackson starring in a Las Vegas-style show but suddenly deciding to get serious about his rehabilitation. Pepsi used him In last year's "Chill-Out" campaign, lounging on the beach and asking, "What else am I going to do this summer More recently. Jackson was shown pretending to be shocked at the thought that Pepsi's new broadened advertising appeal meant the soft drink company "won't need celebrity endorsers anymore." Andrew Giangola, a Pepsi spokesman in Somers. N.Y.. said Pepsi has no current plans to fea- "We found out that Bo on the sidelines still has tremendous name recognition.

5 Andrew Giangola Pepsi spokesman ture Jackson in more ads, but he said the company's contract with him has not yet expired. He declined to say when it docs "We found out that Bo on the sidelines still has tremendous name recognition and tremendous magnetism, Giangola said. "We are wide open to any suggestions." Nike said it will stand by Jackson as long as he indicates he wants to continue playing sports. Spokesman Dusty Kidd said the Beaverton. Ore-based company is currently considering this year's approach to advertising its cross-training line of shoes.

Jackson was featured almost exclusively in advertising that line in recent years but Nike began diversifying the campaign to in John P. Kelley a Wilkes University graduate, has been named product group director for cardiovascular products. Marion Merrel Dow Inc. Kelley Joined Marion Laboratories predecessor to Marlon Merrell Dow, in 1976 as a sales representative. He holds a bachelor's degree from Wilkes University and a master's degree from Rockhurst College in Kansas City.

He is the son of John and Marian Kelley of Wilkes-Barre. (Continued from Page IF) 8 parked a lot of real estate activity In 1991, and If you bought, sold or refinanced a home that will affect your taxes, said Michael Weatherwax, a certified public accountant with his own firm In Boulder. If you sold or refinanced your home, youTl need your closing statement and receipts for such things as fix-up expenses. If you bought a another house, youll need the closing statement for that transaction. Be sure to document every-.

thing dealing with partnerships, estates and trusts. If you have any of these relationships, you should have received a Schedule K-l that lists your share of Income or deductions. For partnerships, you must be able to explain if your involvement is active or passive. Other income sources include state tax refunds, taxable pensions or Social Security benefits, unemployment insurance, alimony and gambling winnings. EXPENSES: Deductions are what we add up in hopes of offsetting the income.

You'll need to be able to Justify the deductions, so keep (or find) records, receipts and canceled checks. IRAs are fully or partially deductible under certain conditions, and money contributed to a Keogh is fully deductible YouTl need records of your contributions for past as well as the current year. You can deduct alimony from your Income. Canceled checks are proof of payment. Interest you forfeit is also deductible.

An example would be cashing in before maturity a certificate of deposit that is paying a lower rate and using the proceeds to buy one with a higher rate. You can write off medical expenses. If they are more than 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income. (If you made $50,000, your medical expenses would have to exceed $3,750 before you could claim a cent.) You need receipts or canceled checks from doctors, dentists, hospitals, pharmacies and labs. You can also deduct the cost of modifying your house for medical reasons.

You'll need a signed statement from the doctor and a receipt for the Improvements. TAX WRITE-OFFS: State and local Income taxes, real property taxes and personal property taxes are deductible. You should have the canceled checks or validated tax bills to substantiate your claim. You can write off charitable contributions, but you need canceled checks or receipts. If you donated more than $500 worth of used goods, the IRS wants to know how much they cost originally, when you bought them and how you determined their value when you gave them away.

The big deduction for most taxpayers is mortgage interest. As of 1991, you may no longer deduct personal interest, for example, credit card or car loans. If you refinanced your house last year and took out a new loan that included a home-equity loan, you need Information on how to account for it, said Gerald Marrs, director of tax at Ernst Young in enver. An acquisition loan of upo $1 million is deductible, but a Home-equity loan is only deductible up to $100,000, he said. And you may find yourself a candidate for the alternative minimum tax if the amount refinanced Is greater than your original mortgage.

Under AMT guidelines, you cannot deduct the home equity portion at all, unless you use it to improve the property, Marrs said. If you sold your house in 1 99 1 you'll need records to substantiate how much you paid for it plus the cost of any improvements you made to it. One of the big changes, although it won't affect anyone whose income is less than 100,000 (or $50,000 if filing separately), is that itemized deductions begin to phase out above that level. However, medical expenses, casualty and theft losses, investment Interest expenses and gambling losses are not subject to the 3 percent floor. For the average taxpayer, though, 1991 filing shouldn't hold too many surprises.

We'll bury Japan They may not want our cars, but there's one vehicle Japanese literally are dying to ride the classic American hearse. Businessman Bill Stevenson, who formed a company in Japan to handle funerals of foreigners who die there, says more and more Japanese want Western style funerals. He says Emperor Hlrohlto's 1989 funeral and recent funerals of top Japanese mobsters have speeded the demand for a last ride, American style. Knlght-Rldder Either Your Money Can Work Harder Or You Can. Find the person you're looking for In our "Jobs Wanted" section In the classified pages.

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