Since March of 2000, Diane Vallade and Robert Benson have been residents of East Fifth Street in Bellwood.
In those four years, they claim they’ve been harassed and threatened by neighbors and to this day, the Bellwood Borough Police Department has done nothing to help them. In fact, they claim Bellwood police are doing more harm than good evidenced by citations for disorderly conduct and harrasment they recently received in the mail.
“This is an outrage,” Vallade said last night at the regular board meeting of the Bellwood Borough Council. “We have never had a scuff with the law. We’re law abiding citizens and an asset to Bellwood Borough. This should have never happened.”
According to Vallade, the battle with the neighbors began soon after they moved in. She said she can’t mow her lawn without headphones on because of the rude remarks shouted at her. She said the neighbors would burn “stinky” garbage for 10 to 15 hours straight. She also said the one neighbor runs his plow onto her property, which causes extensive damage.
She said she contacted police on several occasions, but nothing was ever done.
Vallade and Benson appeared at last evening’s council meeting with Altoona attorney Terry Despoy, who stated that he never approached a borough council on a situation like this, but when he looked into it more, felt compelled to attend.
Despoy told council that he was appaled at the police action in the case. He said the borough’s police department filed summary charges of harassment and disorderly conduct against Vallade and Benson after only speaking to the three neighbors. He said at no time did the police department contact Vallade and Benson to hear their side of the story.
He also explained, through his knowledge of criminal cases in the recent past, that the “neighbors” have been on the court dockets in the Blair County Court of Common Pleas. He said the department should take criminal history into consideration when investigating cases such as this.
Despoy said he attended the meeting for two reasons. First, he wanted council to know and understand the situation. Also, he wanted council to use this example as a learning experience for council members and as a tool to perhaps look at policing procedures within the borough.
Although most council members and Mayor James Bonsell, the head of the police force, didn’t comment through much of the meeting, police chief Paul Pfahler was summoned to speak.
“We did the same thing we did for the neighbors,” said Pfahler, although he admitted he was on vacation at the time of the incident and other members of his department handled the case.
Pfahler claimed the department did speak to Vallade and Benson on different occasions about the problems, but admitted that in this particular case, only the neighbors were spoken to.
“Is that a common practice of the police department,” asked Despoy. “to only interview one side and file charges based on those statements?”
Pfahler nodded, stating that normally, when police are called to the scene, they interview only those present and file charges accordingly.
Vallade, a professional in the community, said the summary charges filed against her could make her lose her job.
She also said she has looked into having her propery sold and also expressed that the incident is costing her a large sum of money working through the legal aspects.
According to Despoy, a hearing has been scheduled at District Magistrate Fred Miller’s office on Jan. 21 at 2 p.m.
“I’m confident these charges will be dismissed,” said Despoy. “It’s just unfortunate they had to come this far.”
