Says he feared Carbon commissioners would sue him in retaliation

By Chris Parker, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.McClatchy-Tribune Regional News

Aug. 29--The owner of a Jim Thorpe bed-and-breakfast has withdrawn his criminal complaint against Carbon County commissioners over courthouse tower carillon that rings endless repetitions of the same tunes, saying he fears a lawsuit.

Robert Handwerk withdrew the complaint against Commissioners Charles Getz, Wayne Nothstein and Chairman William O'Gurek on Monday.

He had filed the complaint, which said the recorded bell music constitutes harassment and disorderly conduct, both summary offenses, on Aug. 16 with District Judge Edward Lewis of Jim Thorpe.

But Handwerk plans to appeal again to the commissioners at their public meeting tomorrow to scale back the music.

"I found out what they had planned to do -- to hire a high-priced lawyer and if they lost, keep appealing it and then come back and sue me for legal fees," Handwerk said Wednesday. "I'm not stupid -- that's what they did to those people with the Packerton building."

Handwerk referred to a suit filed in Carbon County Court against Thomas Zimmerman IV, who repeatedly challenged the demolition of the old Packerton Yards. Zimmerman in April was ordered to pay the county $8,114 for money it spent defending its actions.

"I'm glad that he's withdrawn it. The countersuit never came up with any of the commissioners. Where he's getting that, I don't know," Getz said. "I'm not too happy with those remarks. And as for Packerton Yards, that is like comparing apples and oranges.

"I just wish he would let it go. Everybody we talk to enjoys those bells," Getz said.

Handwerk said none of the commissioners told him they would sue him, but that he had heard it from other people.

Handwerk, owner of the historic Harry Packer Mansion overlooking the downtown, has publicly complained to the commissioners for weeks that the music from the tower's computerized carillon, which plays a series of tunes five times a day, is driving him crazy.

Handwerk's home, an 1874 mansion he runs as an inn, is atop Packer Hill, a few hundred feet behind and level with the courthouse clock tower.