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Wednesday, March 19, 2003 Page: 3A
KINGSTON TWP.
Assault charges
could be dropped
Assault charges against a part-time Plymouth police officer will be dropped
if the officer undergoes alcohol counseling and avoids further problems.
A clerk at District Justice James Tupper’s office said Tupper ruled charges
against Charles Benson will be held in abeyance for six months while he
undergoes counseling.
Benson was charged with simple assault and harassment after police were
called to his home during the early morning hours of March 11.
Benson’s wife told police he arrived home at 1:45 a.m., kicked and threw
her puppy, and later held a rolled-up kitchen towel to his wife’s throat,
according to Dallas Township police. She asked Benson if he was going to
strangle her and he didn’t answer. He later told her he needed to find his
gun, police said.
Dallas Township Police Chief Robert Jolley said police confiscated multiple
weapons from Benson’s home.
The clerk said Benson’s wife and the arresting officer agreed with the
decision to hold the charges in abeyance.
Plymouth police Chief Myles Collins has said Benson was placed on unpaid
leave after his arrest. Collins could not be reached Tuesday for additional
comment.
SCRANTON
Cabaret owner sues
over BYOB ordinance
Cabaret owner Jules Greenberg has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the
constitutionality of a Kingston zoning ordinance that prohibits him from
opening a bring-your-own bottle club that would offer totally nude dancing.
The suit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District
of Pennsylvania, asks a judge to rule the ordinance unconstitutional and issue
an injunction prohibiting the borough from enforcing it.
Greenberg has battled the borough for years to try to turn part of the
Market Street club, which features partially nude dancers, into a BYOB club.
A 1999 ordinance forbids an “adult business” from locating within 1,000
feet of a church, public or private school; nursery school; university or
college; or residential area.
Greenberg claims the ordinance is so restrictive that there is not a single
location in Kingston that would allow for the establishment of such a
business. That’s a violation of First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,
Greenberg’s attorney, Todd Johns of Archbald, says in the suit.
Greenberg tried to open part of the club as a BYOB in 2000, but the
borough’s Zoning Board denied him an occupancy permit based on the ordinance.
He filed several unsuccessful court appeals, ending in November 2002 when the
state Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
The latest suit takes the case out of state court and starts the legal
battle all over again.
WILKES-BARRE
Men plead guilty
in sexual assaults
Antwon Leon Bickerstaff, 18, and Jeremy Kendricks, 21, both of
Wilkes-Barre, pleaded guilty Tuesday to statutory sexual assault.
Police said the two in September got two 13-year-olds and a 15-year-old
from the Mountain Top area drunk at Bickerstaff’s former Nanticoke apartment
then engaged in sex acts with the two youngest.
Additional charges were dropped in exchange for the plea. The two also
pleaded guilty to charges in separate cases.
Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Conahan will sentence
the two at 8:30 a.m. April 24.
WILKES-BARRE
Man challenges
candidate’s petition
A Back Mountain resident on Monday filed a challenge to the nominating
petition of a Lake-Lehman School Board member.
James Mahon of Shavertown, Kingston Township, wants board member Joseph
Kapitula removed from the Republican ballot because he was not a registered
Republican when circulating or filing his nominating petition.
Kapitula is seeking re-election to the board.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for today.