Southmont parking ordinance passes; behavior at meetings addressed
Sep. 19—After another obscenity-laced tirade by John A. Klanchar against Southmont Borough Council's proposed ordinance that would essentially prohibit him from storing his large trailers on the street, the council unanimously approved the ordinance — effective immediately.
Violations of the ordinance carry a fine between $100 and $500, and owners of vehicles in violation are subject to criminal proceedings before a district judge. The vehicle may also be towed at the owner's expense, the ordinance reads.
The ordinance requires delivery trucks to move without delay upon the completion of pickup or delivery, and it requires contractors to move vehicles upon the completion of services, not to exceed eight hours. The ordinance also addresses trailers, Dumpsters or storage pods placed on streets near residences requiring them.
Klanchar, 46, and his father, John G. Klanchar and mother Joarlene Klanchar, of the 100 block of Dahlia Street, each spoke Monday during the public comment portion of the council meeting prior to the vote. The proposed ordinance has been advertised for the past month, and it had been shaped after complaints from neighbors, some of whom were present for the meeting on Monday.
Carol Hickman lives across the street from the Klanchars' residence, beyond one of the trailers.
The 69-year-old widow and local Methodist church pastor said she was thankful that the council was willing to enact an ordinance that would remove the trailers. However, she also enumerated instances where she has felt harassed by John A. Klanchar. She spoke of his language toward her after a previous meeting, last month, when she was exiting the building and he yelled "F-ng Christian," and she spoke of the "artwork" he has set in the yard, which she said is painted with obscene words relative to women.
Klanchar doubled down on the obscenity when it was his time to speak during the public comment portion by naming exactly the words he painted on barrels in his yard, which elicited gasps and objections from people in the crowd.
What Klanchar sought to express about the ordinance became lost under liberal use of the F-word and at times his raised voice, which elicited groans from listeners. He asserted what he believed was his First Amendment right.
Southmont Solicitor Michael Carbonara interjected.
"Provide us what information you need to provide to us," Carbonara said. "You are smart enough that you can use other words than the one you are using."
Klanchar responded: "You are right. But do you know why I choose not to? Because it upsets everybody. And you know what upsets me? When people come down to borough council meetings and (expletives) and moan until they get an ordinance passed, which stinks."
At Klanchar's residence, there are three trailers parked on the street and a Corvette with an antique historical license plate parked behind one of the trailers, none of which move, according to testimony of neighbors over the course of past meetings. Klanchar has declined to say how often the vehicles move.
Those items were previously parked in a paper alley along the side of his house until he lost a legal dispute with an adjacent property owner. He subsequently moved them to the street, causing friction with other neighbors.
His actions since then, he said, have been made in protest of not being able to park in the alley.
After Klanchar's tirade on Monday, Stephen Shesko, of Cheney Oak Drive, spoke up, identifying himself as a retired U.S. Marine.
"You're wrong," Shesko said to Klanchar. "You don't use that kind of language in public. You offend me. You offend people ... I think with women here, elderly women, a Christian woman ... you are just wrong. I wish the police would have jumped up and threw cuffs on you and dragged you out of here. That's my opinion."
Sam Ross, of Violet Street, who has opposed the Klanchars' trailers, described times where he said the Klanchar men allegedly attempted to intimidate him.
"I don't intimidate, so it's not going to work," Ross said. "It's all intimidation. ... They deal in intimidation, then they want to flip-flop and play the victim. You can't have it both ways. ... When you inflict this kind of situation on a community, you affect everybody in the neighborhood. Everybody up and down Dahlia Street is affected. Their property value is affected. Their peace of mind is affected."
"We need you as an official body to confront this," he said to the council.
The council voted unanimously to approve Ordinance No. 545 prohibiting parking of large vehicles, trucks and trailers on borough roadways.
When Klanchar stepped outside the building, with a police officer following behind him, Carbonara informed the several members of the public who were in attendance that the borough council has made Cambria County District Attorney Gregory Neugebauer aware of Klanchar's actions during the meetings.
Carbonara said Neugebauer must give approval for West Hills Regional Police Department officers to charge Klanchar in such situations at public meetings or for the type of obscenity publicly displayed in his yard.
"If you feel strongly about the language that's going on here, and you want something done about it — this council and myself are ready to do something about it — but we can't do it without the support of the district attorney, so I would recommend you contact his office and ask him to do something," Carbonara said.
Carbonara urged those at the meeting who had concerns about conduct at the meeting to call Neugebauer.
Russ O'Reilly is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @RussellOReilly.
