As the Thome case – which was also found by Hess Graf to be a justified shooting – heads towards a civil court trial date, Paul Messing, a Philadelphia-based attorney who represented the Dzwonchyk estate, spoke to LebTown about the findings his law firm’s investigation yielded in the months prior to settlement of that lawsuit.
James Mentzer
James Mentzer is a freelance writer and lifelong resident of Pennsylvania. He has spent his professional career writing about agriculture, economic development, manufacturing and the energy and real estate industries, and is the county reporter and a features writer for LebTown.
James is an outdoor enthusiast whose hobbies include hunting, Ultimate frisbee, disc golf, spikeball and pickleball, biking, traveling and attending live concerts for a number of bands, including moe., String Cheese Incident and Widespread Panic.
His published works include the books Pennsylvania Manufacturing: Alive and Well; Bucks County: A Snapshot in Time; United States Merchant Marine Academy: In Service to the Nation 1943-2018; A Century of Excellence: Spring Brook Country Club 1921-2021; Lancaster Development, Inc.: An American Story of Family and Infrastructure, and several other titles. He has also had business profiles published in Central Pennsylvania: Our Time Has Come, and an article in The Columbiad, a scholarly publication of Civil War Times Illustrated, concerning a little-known African American fort and battle along the James River in Virginia. Another book is currently in production for Morris Country Club in Morris, Illinois.
Posted inNews
Annville Township and Palmyra Borough advance plan to consolidate police forces
Two of the three municipalities that conducted a regional police force study are moving forward with plans to potentially consolidate their forces by 2024.
Posted inNews
County contracts with Georgia firm for maintenance services at county prison
Citing an emergency situation at the county prison, Lebanon County Commissioners approved by a 2-1 vote Thursday a contract with a Georgia firm to provide maintenance services at the facility.
Posted inNews
Phillips will run with Bill Bering Jr. in bid for commissioner; Kuhn also to run again
Bill Bering, Jr. will run with incumbent Bob Phillips in the coming election for Lebanon County Commissioner. Bering, Phillips, and current commissioner Mike Kuhn have now all announced their intent to run in the Republican primary.
Posted inNews
Commissioners approve tentative 2023 budget, avoid millage bump
Lebanon County Commissioners on Thursday approved a tentative $100.5 million county fiscal budget for 2023, which does not include a tax increase.
Posted inNews
County Commissioner Bob Phillips is first incumbent to announce a re-election bid
Lebanon County Commissioner Robert Phillips announced Tuesday, Nov. 22, his decision to run for a fourth term in office.
Posted inNews
ACLU contends Lebanon County Courts non-compliant with the Sixth Amendment
An ACLU inquiry has prompted Lebanon County Courts to reexamine how attorneys are appointed to cases where a public defender has a conflict of interest preventing representation of a given individual.
Posted inNews
County Commissioners accept several grants at relatively light regular meeting
Lebanon County commissioners approved Thursday, Nov. 17, the county’s ongoing participation in a nine-county South Central Counter Terrorism Task Force.
Posted inCommunity Shoutouts
Ringing in the giving season: Red Kettle campaign launches in Lebanon County
The goal of this year’s Salvation Army campaign is to raise $93,000 to assist needy Lebanon County families and to fund other programs throughout the year.
Posted inNews
Commissioners stick to lesser of 2 percent or CPI for row office salaries
The Lebanon County Commissioners set salaries Monday at a special meeting for a number of row officers elected in 2023 and who will begin their four-year terms in 2024.
Posted inNews
93-year-old Dollie Kiscadden has volunteered at the polls for past 60 years
When the polls opened Tuesday, Dollie Kiscadden revived a personal tradition dating back to the early- to mid-1960s.
Posted inNews
Lebanon County expects a record number of mail-in ballots for Tuesday’s midterms
Lebanon County commissioners learned Thursday that the county’s election bureau expects to receive a record number of mail-in and absentee ballots for the midterm election on Tuesday.
Posted inPeople & Places
Lebanon County reaches landmark: 20,000 acres preserved in perpetuity
The addition of the Bollinger Family Farm into Lebanon County’s farmland preservation program is a historic event: it signified 20,000 acres preserved since the first farm was placed into the program 30 years ago in 1992.
Posted inNews
$1.75 million settlement over death of Andy Dzwonchyk finalized in county court
A settlement with the estate of Andy Dzwonchyk over the November 2021 shooting of Dzwonchyk by a Pennsylvania State Police trooper was finalized Thursday in Lebanon County Court.
Posted inNews
Swatara State Park to expand thanks to gift of land by conservation nonprofit
The size of Swatara State Park is about to grow by more than 130 acres thanks to the transfer of two parcels of land to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
