WEST DECATUR – Shortly after a Boggs Township resident asked how he could get a job if plans for a landfill in the township are approved by the Department of Environmental protection, the state police were called to the Boggs Township meeting Monday night.
The resident, who refused to give more than his first name of Tim, said he just drove back from working in Altoona, and gasoline was $2.95 per gallon. He said he was “tired of traveling” for work and asked the supervisors for information on how to contact PA Waste LLC about employment.
Tim said he did not want people to know his last name because he was afraid of repercussions from others at the meeting.
Sam Carns, also a Boggs Township resident, then took the podium for public comment and attempted to speak to Tim. “You talkin’ to me, son?” Carns asked.
Carns was told to sit down but refused to do so, saying, “I did absolutely nothing except answer the man’s question.”
The supervisors advised Carns that the state police would be called if he did not come back under the order of the meeting.
Carns looked at Tim and said, “He (the supervisors) has me arrested, you’re in serious trouble.”
The supervisors again asking Carns to take his seat as the public comment portion of the meeting is to address the supervisors and threatening others is not permitted.
In asking Carns to be seated, Frank Norris, a Boggs Township resident who is also running for supervisor in Tuesday’s primary, said, “This is what my lawyer calls squelching public speech.”
Supervisor Bill Dickson said Carns was not addressing the supervisors, but he instead went after a resident.
The supervisors temporarily stopped the meeting. Carns walked outside but returned in a few minutes.
As he walked back into the building, he said, “We’re still in America, remember that.”
The supervisors said no charges were filed as a result of actions at the meeting.
In the past, Boggs Township has employed a constable to attend meetings.