Environmental Mess in Muhlenberg Township

March 19, 2006 by Matt Heckman.

This is a newsmaker that you won’t find in the Reading Eagle, because this matter hits pretty close to home for me since this involves members of my own family. What I’m about to tell you will be shocking to some, and in my family there has been an off limits policy to what I’m going to say, but after seeing the results of what has occurred today, I can not in good conscience keep quiet any longer about this.

Some of the local readers know about Bernharts Park. It was a public park that has been closed down since the early nineties due to contamination of lead, and other pollution. The speculation of what caused it was Excide Corporation, but there were a lot of missing pieces in the puzzle as to how the lake in the park got contaminated.

Harry A. Heckman Jr. who owned property on Herb Road right next to the old pricetown road where it dead ends. Next to the property is a creek that streams down to the lake at Bernharts Park. Harry has been using the land as an illegal landfill for the Hispanic community in Reading, particularly in the 9th street section around the Zig Zag Bar where Harry is known to the Hispanics as Mr. Sonny. Since he bought the property in the mid nineteen fifties there are tons of waste buried in that back yard from Tires, Car Batteries, Aerosol cans, automobile parts, and some whole automobiles containing leaded gasoline in the tanks that are buried a good 25 feet down. The creek next to the land was also used for dumping used motor oil, and all of it going downstream into the lake at Bernharts. Unaware to some of the Hispanics that Harry no longer owns the property, and despite signs posted my Muhlenberg Township warning of fines of $1,000.00 if caught they still dump motor oil in that creek, because I drove by, and saw them doing it today.

With help from his oldest son John A. Heckman Sr. who is famous for driving a Suburban into a house on Frush Valley Road on October 13, 1995, have been pocketing money under the table for years from this venture. Most of that money goes to fund the Boosters Club which is a private bar on Georgia Road, and the rest of it to fuel their drug and alcohol habits. Harry Heckman Jr. lost the property due to back taxes in 2004, but is still collecting money from the dumping of motor oil in the creek, and has since gone into hiding.

I invite anybody to drive by on Herb Road, and you will see in tires alone how much of a mess the property is. The property has changed tons of owners since 2004 due to the extreme cleanup costs. The only progress was that the house, and barn were overhauled, and looks pretty nice, but the back yard as tons of tires stacked way high. Sadly I doubt there will never be a way to know how much damage to the soil and to the creek has been done. I already submitted a complaint to the D.E.P. to offer any testimony if needed. I will keep you all posted as this develops.

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