Friday, June 08, 2007

Bucks County VA Cemetery Moves Forward

Last night the Council Rock School Board voted to sell the Melsky tract to Toll Brothers who have said they will in turn sell around 200 acres of the Dolington tract in Upper Makefield, Bucks County, to the VA to be used as a federal veterans cemetery.

There are still a few niggling details. Read more here:

Gentry, Kendra, and Rachel Canelli, "Melsky tract sale approved," Bucks County Courier Times 6/06

5 comments:

samuel said...

I recently read an an article where Upper makfield zoning board solicitor William Bolla esq. put a decision in escrow with Judge David w. Heckler.Shouldn't Judge Heckler recused himself since the Judge and his good friend Mr. Bolla are partners in the same law firm. I also believe that Mr. Bolla works closely with Judge Hecklers wife Susan and has worked with his daughter betsy when they started a foundation at Childrens Hospital together. Wouldn't that be a Conflict of Interest?

AboveAvgJane said...

You bring up some interesting points. The article you mention is no longer available freely on the Internet but you can find it in its entirety on the East Vincent message board here.

As for their being at the same law firm, I cannot find any mention of that. Bolla has been part of McNamara, Bolla, Williams & Panzer since 2000. (It was originally just the first three; Panzer came in later). The firm website is here: http://www.mbwplaw.com/w_j_bolla.html
Heckler has been on the bench since 1998 so any law firm association is at ten or more years old.

Nor can I find any evidence of the connections between Bolla and Heckler’s family, either on the free Internet or in the Philadelphia papers (going back over 20 years).

While I appreciate the information you have contributed it would be better if you could provide verifiable sourcing for any suggestions of unethical behavior, especially as I cannot find any.

samuel said...

I know I read an article about Judge Heckler's Family and Upper Makefield Solicitor William Bolla Esq.. So I went online and found the article on the Morning Call Newspaper's archives, Titled "11 Youths Honored By Bucks Chamber" Dated: November 3, 1988 and I will Gladly e-mail it to you. As for their Law Firm, It was actually established by Judge Heckler and Mr. Bolla Back in 1974 and was Macnamara, Heckler, and Bolla. The latest document I found listing the firm as such was a court record on 4/30/98 COMMONWEALTH v. HOENISCH.

AboveAvgJane said...

Samuel,

I am impressed by your research skills and your access. What my local library makes available on the Morning Call does not go back anywhere near as far as 1988. If you would not mind sending it I would like to read the article (email is janeaboveaverage[at]yahoo.com. I would also love to hear how you get such an extensive backfile of the MC.

AboveAvgJane said...

Samuel did send me a copy of the article in question. It is searchable on the www.mcall.com site archives but only available full-text for a fee (me being cheap, I only search what I can get for free). Betsy Heckler did, before her death from cancer at age 19, help William Bolla with a foundation he set up at Children's Hospital. Heckler, then a state representative, later a state senator, was part of a law firm with Bolla.