JOHNSTON, PA – After another long, obscenity-filled tirade by John A. Clanchar is against an ordinance proposed by the Southmont Borough Council that would essentially prevent him from storing his large trailers on the street, the council unanimously approved the ordinance — effective immediately.
Violations of this law carry a fine of between $100 and $500, and owners of violating vehicles are subject to criminal proceedings before a district judge. The car may also be towed at the owner’s expense, as stated in the decree.
The decree requires delivery trucks to move without delay upon completion of the receiving or delivery process, and requires contractors to move vehicles upon completion of services for a period not exceeding eight hours. The ordinance also addresses trailers, dumpsters or storage cabins placed on streets near residences that require them.
Clanchar, 46, his father, John J. Clanchar, and his mother, Joarlyn Clanchar, of 104 Dahlia St., spoke Monday during the public comment portion of the council meeting before the vote. The proposed ordinance was announced last month and was drafted after complaints from neighbors, some of whom attended the meeting Monday.
Carol Hickman lives across the street from the Clanchars’ residence, behind one of the trailers.
The 69-year-old widow and pastor of a local Methodist church said she was grateful the council was willing to enact an ordinance removing the trailers. However, I also enumerated instances in which I felt harassed by John A. Clanchar. She spoke about his language towards her after a previous encounter last month when she was exiting the building and he shouted “F-ng Christian”. She talked about the “artistic painting” that he placed in the square, which she said was painted with obscene words against women.
Clanchar doubled down on the obscenity when he had his time to speak during the public comment portion by naming words he had drawn on barrels in his yard, drawing gasps and objections from people in the crowd.
What Clanchar sought to express about the decree was lost in the liberal use of the F-word and at times his raised voice, which elicited groans from listeners. He asserted what he believed to be his First Amendment right.
Southmont attorney Michael Carbonara intervened.
“Provide us with the information you need to give us,” Carbonara said. “You’re smart enough that you can use other words than the ones you use.”
Clanchar replied, “You’re right. But do you know why I chose not to? Because it bothers everyone. And you know what bothers me? When people come to town council meetings and (swear) and moan until an ordinance is passed, that stinks.”
At Clanchar’s home, there are three trailers parked in the street and a Corvette with an old, historic license plate parked behind one of the trailers, none of which are moving, according to neighbors’ testimony over past encounters. Clanchar declined to specify how often the vehicles move.
The items were previously parked in a paper alley next to his home until he lost a legal dispute with a neighboring property owner. He then moved them into the street, causing friction with other neighbours. He said his actions since then were a protest against his inability to park in the alley.
After Clanchar’s sermon Monday, Stephen Chesko, of Cheney Oak Drive, spoke and identified himself as a retired U.S. Marine.
“You’re wrong,” Shesko said to Clanchar. “You don’t use that kind of language in public. You’re offending me. You’re offending people… I think with the women here, the old women, the Christian women… you’re completely wrong. I wish the police would jump in.” They tied you up and dragged you from here, that’s my opinion.”
Sam Ross, of Violet Street, who opposed the Clanchar family’s trailers, described times when he said Clanchar’s men tried to intimidate him.
“I’m not intimidated, so it won’t work,” Ross said. “It’s all intimidation… They deal with the intimidation, and then they want to roll over and play the victim. It can’t have it both ways… When you impose this kind of situation on a community, you affect everyone in the community.” “Everyone on Dahlia Street was affected. Their property value was affected. Their peace of mind was affected.”
He told the council: “We need you as an official body to confront this matter.”
The council voted unanimously to approve Decree No. 545, which prohibits the parking of large vehicles, trucks and trailers on the town’s roads.
When Clanchar walked out of the building, followed by a police officer, Carbonara informed several members of the public who were present that the town council had informed Cambria County Prosecutor Gregory Neugebauer of Clanchar’s actions during the meetings.
Carbonara said Neugebauer would have to give consent for West Hills Regional Police officers to charge him 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 to do something about it — this council and I are willing to do something about it — but we can’t do that without the attorney general’s support, so I recommend you contact his office and ask him to do something about it,” Carbonara said. With something.” “I’m not trying to pass the buck. If police officers were directed to arrest him on obscenity charges, Neubauer told us he wasn’t sure he would be prosecuted. I told him I didn’t agree with him. “I’ve been district attorney for many years. There’s not necessarily a bright line, but I think I know it when I see it.”