The Pocono Record from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania • Page 13

judges profit under pension law exemption OTIAWAY NEWC cnujrc r- i OTIAWXY NEWS SERVICE Harrliburg 11 IS TM RG When Monroe County Judge Fred W. paid $27 0(io a year 968 COUn Penns lvanla were Nine years later, Davis, now 79, continues to sit as a senior judge and to reap both his pension and a day for working as a Judge. During the 1975-1976 fiscal year, Davis was paid $44,004. He was also paid $4,740.34 in ex- Tho bulk of Davis' Income came from his $29,424 state pension. The remainder, $14.750, came from silting as a judge for 118 days during that fiscal year.

Davis and about 35 other senior judges In Pennsylvania are reaping the benefit of a slate Justice Department legal opinion exempting them from a portion of the slate pension law limiting slate employment by persons on stale pensions. State Senate Majority Leader Thomas Nolan, D- Allegheny, wanls Ihe praclice slopped. Nolan says Solici- tor General Vincent Yakowicz's opinion circumvents Ihe intent of present law, The pension law requires stale departments employing retirees to notify the employes' retirement board when a stale pensioner works more than 60 days In a year, pension benefits are cut off until the person stops working again: While olher departments and branches of state government dutifully report to the pension board, judiciary 'does not, Nolan says, and he has introduced legislation to force court administrators to meet the same requirements of olher state departments. In a study prepared for Nolan by the Joint Slate Government Commission, one senior judge was paid $71,580 during the 1975-1976 fiscal year in pension and court time 'payments. Another judge, the study claims, worked 2459 days during the year and received $33,625 over his $19,051 Commonwealth pension.

Twenty-four senior judges worked more than 60 days. Nolan emphasizes he is not faulting the judges, for they are following the justice department opinion, but he The Pocono Record Markets feels Yankowiez's advice to them clearly violates state law. Yakowicz, in a Feb. 17 letter to Nolan, stated it would be a violation of the separation of powers doctrine for the executive branch, namely the pension board, to monitor, supervise or administer the work of senior judges. "I don't agree with the attorney general.

The attorney general cannot set aside a law in this state," Nolan said. "I feel the court administrators should notify the pension system after 60 days." State Court Administrator Alexander Barbieri Tuesday said senior judges are needed to fill gaps in some counties. "There is no question on our right to use retired judges," Barbieri said. He Ihen acknowledged Ihere have been some problems wilh judges' workloads, but they are being straightened out. For instance, the judge Nolan said worked 269 days in a year, more days than a court would be in session, actually worked 247, Barbieri said.

Nolan says the slate should create more judgeships in areas where senior judges are working hundreds of days to clear up backlogs of civil cases. The additional judges would be less costly for the Commonwealth than using senior judges, Nolan said. Barbieri disputes this contention, and says using senior judges in some areas saves money, although there are counties which need more judges. He faults the legislature for not providing more judges. In legislation which will be considered next week by the Senate, it is proposed to raise the per diem rate for senior judges to $150 and mandate reports to the pension board after a judge works 60 days.

The bill also sets up a mechanism for making sure judges are physically and mentally capable of handling cases after their 75th birthday. Davis could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but Barbieri was quick to come to the defense ol the long-time Monroe County jurist. "Fred Davis is not very young, but he doesn't mind serving, or traveling," Barbieri said. "He does a very good job for us." The Stroudsfaurgs, Pa. Mar.

9, 1977 13 fr" Kenny Strunk of S-burg among firemen busy with grau fires. (Staff photo by Donald Fisher) expect closings STROUDSBURG Local Acme stores Tuesday had special sales on perishable items in anticipation of having' to close this week because of a strike by members of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union. The strike has been in effect since early this week. The stores would be forced to close if butchers set up picket 'lines and other em- ployes refused to cross them, according to George Beis- i a spokesman for Acme's regional office in Philadelphia. He said he has no way of knowing when or where picket lines might be set up.

I He said Acme's meat departments are now closed! Acme Markets also withdrew advertising, which would have appeared in today's Pocono Record, in anticipation.of forced closings, Beiswinger said. He said negotiations between the meat cutters and three food store chains which they voted to strike have been 1 suspended since an all-night'bar- gaining session ended at 5 a.m. Sunday. He said the stores are ready to meet whenever a federal mediator, who has been working with both sides to settle a wage dispute, calls another meeting. The meat cutters union voted to strike Acme, AP and Food Fair-Pantry Pride stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

Local AP stores will not be affected by the strike because their meat cut- belong to the Wilkes- Barre local, which is not striking, said one AP manager. Mobile home park permit issued by Upper Mt. Bethel By JEFF WIDMER Pocono Record Reporter MT. BETHEL Saying they had no other choice, Upper Mt. Bethel Township supervisors Tuesday reissued a permit for a 250-unit mobile home park proposed for the township.

Board Chairman William Carpenter, in making the motion, said although the situation was "distasteful," the supervisors "have no alternative legally to refuse this'." Carpenter and supervisor Larry Rymon spearheaded the township's fight against the park. Barring court injunction, the permit will allow mobile home park developer Enterprises Ltd. of Martinsvillc, N.J. to begin construction. A township which must be renewed annually, expired Dec.

31, 1976. i Carpenter said the board had to reissue the permit because Emerald Enterprises had secured a permit for its sewerage treatment plant from State Department of Environmental Resources (DER) Board solicitor William Cas- sebaum said the permit also had to be reissued because Emerald Enterprises' attorney Thomas Walters can furnish a $5,000 sewage plant performance bond and has arranged for the escrow amount in which the board money will be placed. The board reissued the permit but not without a challenge from Carpenter, who asked whether Emerald Enler- prised has obtained permils from the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) and the environmental protection agency. Carpenter said he believed the development will draw such a substantial amount of water from' the ground and discharge an equally sufficient amount of effluent from the treatment plant into an unnamed tributary of the Allegheny Creek that it should have a permit from the DRBC. Walters said Emerald Enterprises does not need permits from those two governmental bodies.

In a related matter, township auditor Darwyn Happel said auditors will let the courts decide whether supervisors should have paid legal fees to fight the mobile home park. Happel said bills sent to the township from Philadelphia attorney Harold Lockwood for an appeal on the issuance of the DER permit should not have borne the name of a private citizen's group Concerned Citizens of Orderly Progress (CCOP). Happel claimed it appeared the township was footing the bill for a private group. Carpenter denied this. Lockwood's bill for the township for 1976 totaled $13,846.

While both CCOP and the supervisors appealed to the state Environmental Hearing Board, Cassebaum said both groups appealed independently but used the same solicitor because of his background. Rymon said the township paid only its share of the appeal costs, and that Lockwood placed a breakdown of CCOP's share onto township bills for informational purposes only. Happel, one of three elected township auditors, said he turned the audit over to the School board not responsive, according to district attorney Slateford corpse identified By MIKE JOSEPH Pocono Record Reporter SLATEFORD Authorities have identified a 32-year-old man found dead along the Slateford Road between Slateford and a as Matljew Covey, who was living at the Slateford Inn. Covey, an employe of Truck Slops of America in Columbia, N.J., was found dead, lying face down alongside the road, by a passing motorist about 7 a.m. Tuesday.

a Coroner Joseph Reichel has termed the death "suspicious" but said there was no apparent signs of foul play. "It's just a sudden, unexpected death at this point," Reichel said, An autopsy is scheduled for today. Covey had lived at the Slateford Inn since Nov. 23, according to Bob Bushey, owner of the inn. Bushey said Covey had been a quiet tennant who had had "no visitors to speak of." Bushey added that Covey had been walking back and forth two and a half miles to Truck Stops of A i a where he worked as a dishwasher and busboy on the 10 p.m.

to 6 a.m. shift. That work schedule would account for Covey walking along the road, but Russell Hinklc, the manager of Truck Stops of America, said Covey had failed to show up for work on the night and morning of the day he was found dead. i said he last saw Covey Monday afternoon in front of the Portland National Bank in Portland. Hinkle said Covey was acting strangely at that time.

Police, Fire Calls Sayiorsburg home damaged SAYLORSBURG The William Bell home on Mt. Eaton Road near Sayiorsburg was seriously damaged by a fire of undetermined origin early Tuesday night. The alarm was turned into the Blue Ridge Hook and Ladder Co. at 0:45 p.m. when a Pen Argyl man driving by noticed flames coming out the dormers and stopped at a neighbor's house to call for help.

No one was home when the fire broke out, and neighbors rescued the family dog. According to Fire Chief George Kitchen, a second floor bedroom was gutted and the rest of the two-story stone and frame building sustained smoke and water damage. Six acres burn BARTONSVILLE A forest fire swept over six acres of land off Bartonsville Avenue in Bartonsvllle Tuesday afternoon, according to William Raish, fire chief of Pocono Township Fire Co. Raish said Ihe fire began at about 4:45 p.m. when the woods caught fire from a pile of debris that someone had been burning.

The fire climbed up the hillside, making it hard to fight, Raish said. He said 30 men with four trucks battled the fire for two and a half hours. No one was injured. Driver injured ALBRIGHTSVILLE A 19-year-old man was slightly injured early Tuesday morning when he-lost control of his car and slammed into a tree on Rte. 903 one mile west of Albrightsville, according to state police at Fern Ridge.

Police said the driver, Harold Clampitt 19, of Indian Mountain Lake, Albrightsville, sustained facial cuts but did not need immediate medical attention. Two passengers, Carl Meyer and Russell March, both of Albrightsville, escaped injuries. Police estimated $400 damage. Auto flips on Rte. 115 FERN RIDGE A 56-year-old Blakeslee man escaped injury at about 11 p.m.

Monday night when his car flipped over on Rle. 115 after it slid on ice and slammed into a concrete drain crossing. Uninjured was Ralph B. Ryan of Red Arrow Inn, Blakeslee, state police at Fern Ridge said, Police estimated $800 damage to his car. S-burg grass fire STROUDSBURG Stroudsburg Fire Co.

was called to a grass fire at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at a spot near Elm Strc-et about a block from W. Main Street along Pocono Creek. The cause of the fire was undetermined and 33 men with four trucks spent an hour dousing it, according to Tom Philips, fire chief. Rre in Jackson APPENZEL Jackson Township Fire Co.

put out a grass fire Tuesday on the property of Lawrence Hilliard in Appenzel. Rip-off technique repeated STROUDSBURG A theft last week at Malozi Salon, a beauty shop at 730 Main Stroudsburg, illustrates a particular technique used in several recent thefts, Stroudsburg police said Tuesday. Police said several persons entered Malozi's between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and distracted employes while one of the thieves sneaked into the back of the store and made off with three purses owned by employes.

STROUDSBURG Monroe County District A James F. Marsh Tuesday characterized the Stroudsburg School Board as "arrogant and insolent," and criticizes them for failing to investigate alleged safety problems with the district's school buses. Marsh recently told the school board he has received numerous complaints about the safety of some of the school's 'buses, and put -the board "on notice" that if it doesn't take action he as district attorney will look into the matter himself According to Marsh, the school board has not responded to past requests by many people to investigate alleged bus problems. He said that when he announced plans to start his own investigation, the school board's attorney questioned his legal authority. "In, effect, he was asking 'what legal right dp you have to ask these questions of the school board? 1 Marsh said.

"This attitude is a continuation of the arrogant and inso- lent manner in which certain members of the Stroudsburg school board have approached many matters in the past and are apparently approaching this matter at this time." Marsh said that during a past school budget hearing on increasing the real estate tax, some parents were "brow beaten, insulted and patronized by some of the members of the board." "I'm disturbed at the attitude of some members of the school board. As a taxpayer and parent, I think I have every right in the world to ask these questions, and every other parent does too," Marsh said. However, Marsh's criticism that no action was taken on bus safety precautions was disputed by John F. Calkins, transportation supervisor for the Stroudsburg School District. "I have on many occasions deadlined a bus for mechanical conditions prior to a school run," Calkins said, "I must admit, we have had a problems; however, in each case corrective action has been taken and improvements have been made.

At no time have I been approached on a problem for which I did not follow up with an immediate response." Samuel Newman, solicitor for the Stroudsburg school board, said the board has been "extremely safety minded" and has immediately corrected bus safety problems. "If the district attorney wants to conduct an investigation, that's up to him. We have nothing to hide," Newman said. John H. Parker, chairman of the Stroudsburg school board, said "Contrary to anything that's been said, I know the board has been more than aware of the problems and has done its utmost to work with the contractors to improve the system." He said he had no comment on Marsh's charge that some members of the board have been "arrogant and insolent." courts because then the legal bills are "not on our heads." He said had auditors approved the audit, they would have automatically been approving the bills.

Rymon cautioned the audience to take the auditor's remarks with a grain of salt, calling Happel's remarks "political." Rymon said auditors do not have to have special qualifications for their jobs and should not be confused with paid accountants or state auditors. Cassebaum said the township can appeal the audit in the courts. Busing operation defended STROUDSBURG The owner of Pocono Mountain Trails, which is contracted to bus about two-thirds of the Stroudsburg School District's students, says his buses and drivers "are as good as any in the area." But while he. defends his operation against charges of unsafe buses and incompetent drivers, he does admit there are some problems. "We don't have any more problems in our district than any other district or carrier, said Ralph Gurkhart, Pocono Mountain Trails owner.

"All of us have a few driver problems, but nothing that can't be solved. And there's no neglect of the mechanical condition of my buses I think I've got a pretty reliable bunch of drivers, and the mechanics keep the vehicles in good shape." According to Gurkhart, his buses are inspected three times a year, twice by his garage mechanics who perform the semi-annual state inspections, and every August by the state police. Among the problems Gurk- a says faces in the school bus business are rowdy students, a high turn-over of bus drivers, and financial instability caused by the loosely- written contract with the school district. Gurkhart said that because the school district was low on funds in 1974, he lowered his three-year bid by several thousand dollars. Primary candidates pour in on time STHOUDSBUHG Incumbent Monroe County Treasurer Robert Coleman of Kunkletown R.D.

1, a Democrat filed his nominating petition Tuesday, the final day to submit petitions. Coleman will face Republican challenger Jack Meyers of Sayiorsburg R.D. 1. For other county offices, Robert Allen of 243 Secor East Stroudsburg has filed to be county coroner. Allen is a Republican.

Other persons filing petitions recently Include: Chestnuthlll Grace Arnold, Brodheadsvllle, inspector of elections; LeRoy Bonser, Stroudsburg R.D. 5 Supervisor. East Stroudsburg Pearley Hunt, 115 Maple mayor; Marie Price, 133 Lenox Third Ward Inspector of elections; Marianne Miller, 34 Stemple Second Ward judge of elections. a i a Snyder, Stroudsburg R.D. 2, i Rose Schoch, Stroudsburg R.D.

2, Inspector of elections, northern district. Jackson Richard Normyle, Stroudsburg R.D. 3, sup i i Singer, Stroudsburg R.D. 3, assessor. Middle Smithfield Lothar Schneider, East Stroudsburg R.D.

5, assessor. Mount Pocono William Russell, 35 Pocono council. Paradise Dan Smalla- combe Mount Pocono, auditor. Pocono Robert Brinn, Tanncrsville, supervisor; Donald Simpson, Henryvllle R.D. 1, a i Emma Shlck, Henryville, judge of elections.

Polk Clinton Bruch, Kunkletown R.D. 1, supervisor; Kathryn Hldenour, Kresge- vllle, auditor; Joyce Schaffer, Kunkletown R.D. 1, inspector of elections. Smithfield Jean Dillon, East Stroudsburg R.D. 2, tax collector.

Stroud Edward a 1111 Hillcrest supervisor; George Decker, 934 Overdeck a Staples, East Stroudsburg R.D. 3, constable; Handy Miller, Stroudsburg R.D. 3, constable. Hippler, 204 Mnth council; David Hughes 26 Momingside tax collector; William Heckman, 520 Spring Garden tax collector. a a A Knecht, Pocono Pines, auditor; Mary Warner, Pocono Lake, inspector of elections, western district.

Tunkhannock Gertrude Albrightsville, tax collector; Huth Heller, Long Pond, judge of elections; Russell Gower, Blakeslee, constable. Barrett Bill Helbig, Cana- densls, supervisor; Edward Bevan, Buck Hill Falls, supervisor; Kathryn Dann, Cana- densls, tas collector. Chestnuthill Theodore May, Sayiorsburg R.D. 1, supervisor. Coolbaugh Fern Regan, Tobyhanna, inspector of elec- tions; Mary Jane Guida, Pocono Summit, judge of elections.

East Stroudsburg George Stettler, 46 Stemple mayor; Julie Hauston, 124 E. Broad inspector of elections, Sixth Ward. Eldred Boyd Smith, Kunkletown R.D. 2, tax collector; Jacob Hawk, Kunkletown R.D. 3, inspector of elections.

Hamilton Alfred Rumboli, Sayiorsburg, auditor. Jackson Thomas Conway, Reeders, supervisor; Donald Singer, Reeders, constable. Polk Carl Davidson, Kunkletown 2, judge of elections; Raymond Donnelly, Kunkletown R.D. 1, constable. Smithfield Albert Wilson, Shawnee, supervisor.

Stroudsburg Waller Adelmann, 539 Thomas tax collector. Tobyhanna George Kcr- rick, Blakeslee, judge of elections, western district; Betty Argot, Pocono Lake, inspector elections, western district. a Maureen Andreson, Albrightsville, lax collector; David Witt, Long Pond, auditor. Irving Sommer of 39 S. Green East Stroudsburg a i a Stroudsburg school director; Victor Rodite of Stroudsburg R.D.

5 has crossfiled for Stroudsburg school director; Robert Jacques of Stroudsburg R.D. 5 has crossfiled for Stroudsburg school director; and Chris Darrell of Tobyhanna R.D. 1 has crossfiled for Pocono Mountain school director; Frances Dorshimer of Brodheadsville has crossfiled for Pleasant Valley school director; John Ferencze Jr. of Kunkletown R.D. 3 has filed as a Democrat to be Pleasant Valley school director.

Earl Ammerman of Stroudsburg R.D. 4 crossfiled to be district magistrate in Stroud Township; John Davies of 727 Scott St. has filed as a Democrat to be district magistrate in Slroudsburg. Shirley Tarhovicky of Marshalls Creek has withdrawn race East Slroudsburg school director..