Bedminster

Thomas David Duane, 75, of Bedminster, a retired professor, former chairman of the ophthalmology department at Thomas Jefferson University and devoted Shakespearean scholar, died Sunday at Chandler Hall Hospice, Newtown. Dr. Duane had a wide influence on ophthalmology as the editor of a multi- volume textbook in worldwide use, as an advocate for the founding of the National Eye Institute, and as the driving force behind Wills Eye Hospital's affiliation with Jefferson Medical Center.

This northern Bucks County township was so rural more than 40 years ago that the part-time police force consisted of one farmer who had to be called from his fields to answer complaints. In those days, the township supervisors' meeting was held in the chairman's kitchen. "It had moved into the kitchen from a local hotel, [where] it had taken place in a bar," said Barbara Thomas, a former supervisor who moved there in 1965, not long after the monthly meeting abandoned its folksy past.

Truth be told, it wasn't a particularly practical idea. It didn't seem to make sense to take the structure apart - 50-foot wood beam by 50-foot wood beam, stone by stone, handmade nail by handmade nail - to number the pieces, load them onto two tractor-trailers, and drive them 1,300 miles. But on a rainy late afternoon almost a year ago, Dean Leatherman realized that no matter what the hassle, he should listen to his dying father and take his family's 150-year-old barn to Kansas.

What do you get when you cross an in-line skater with a skateboarder? If Kathy Forman of Bedminster has calculated correctly, the answer could be a brand new sport and perhaps the next national rage. Forman's invention is the Rollerwing. It attaches to an in-line skate, and was named among the top 15 new products at last month's SuperShow '98 in Atlanta, the annual convention of the sporting-goods industry. The Rollerwing also was featured on NBC's Today show, and has caught the eye of some of the nation's largest toy manufacturers, Forman said.

Robert J. Binder Jr. , formerly doing business as Monavie , and June K. Binder , formerly doing business as Pampered Chef , 407 Hilltop Circle, Elizabethtown; Chapter 7; no schedules available. Barilotti Plumbing & Heating Inc. , 611 Oakborne Rd., West Chester; Chapter 7; no schedules available. CSL Enterprises Inc. , 2427 Bedminster Rd., Perkasie; Chapter 7; no schedules available. Better Choice Construction L.L.C. , 79 N. Bayard Ave., Woodbury; Chapter 7; no schedules available.

The rich may indeed be different, but when it comes to toxic wastes, they may as well be anybody. At least that's how it seems here in the heart of New Jersey's exclusive horse and hunt country in Somerset County, which state officials are considering as a place to store millions of tons of hazardous wastes. "I have a wonderful cleaning lady who's been with me for 25 years, and she said just this morning, 'With all the open space in this state, I can't believe they chose this area.

For 25 years, the bitterest battles of the Central Bucks County sprawl wars have been fought in the courts, where townships have often lost. Time after time, developers have sliced through local zoning regulations by challenging their legality in court. Losing townships have watched new houses rise by the thousands. Now, once-frightened township officials in Central Bucks say they are ready to do battle again, with a new, smarter breed of zoning laws that are surviving in the courts.

Barry Williams is well-acquainted with the character he is portraying in the Bucks County Playhouse production of City of Angels. All of last year, he played the quintessential '40s private eye in the national tour of the Tony Award-winning musical. "These detectives have their own moral code, their own way of life, of understanding things. It's fun to play," said Williams, known for his role as Greg Brady, the oldest brother in the 1970s television sitcom The Brady Bunch. The musical, which is at the Playhouse through Sunday, focuses on the making of a detective film.

A self-described minister accused of selling property in Bucks County that he never owned was convicted yesterday of illegally tape-recording seven conversations in connection with the alleged land fraud. Jonathan Selby, 40, was found guilty by Bucks County President Judge Isaac S. Garb of seven counts of violating the state wiretapping law, which forbids the recording of conversations without the consent of both parties. Selby admitted taping the telephone and personal conversations of lawyers, local officials and a newspaper reporter last summer, but he said that he did it only for business records.

The highlight of last week for many people was Thanksgiving dinner. But for three Bucks County residents, the week was memorable for the meals they missed: dinner on Tuesday, and breakfast and lunch Wednesday. Isaac Ben-Ezra of Levittown, Janis Ryan of Bedminster and Linda Briggs of Bristol Borough, all of whom work in social services, fasted from sundown Tuesday to sundown Wednesday to register their concern over U.S. involvement in the confrontation in the Middle East. The fasters stressed that they were opposed to war, not to U.S. troops.

Robert J. Binder Jr. , formerly doing business as Monavie , and June K. Binder , formerly doing business as Pampered Chef , 407 Hilltop Circle, Elizabethtown; Chapter 7; no schedules available. Barilotti Plumbing & Heating Inc. , 611 Oakborne Rd., West Chester; Chapter 7; no schedules available. CSL Enterprises Inc. , 2427 Bedminster Rd., Perkasie; Chapter 7; no schedules available. Better Choice Construction L.L.C. , 79 N. Bayard Ave., Woodbury; Chapter 7; no schedules available.

In a "significant" ruling, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld a rural Bucks County township's plan to preserve farmland and clarified zoning parameters for towns across the state, lawyers said Monday. The 7-0 ruling, issued last week, ends a nine-year battle between Bedminster Township and the Piper Group over a plan to build about 350 single-family houses on 400 acres of farmland. The ruling's broader effect is to provide a blueprint for "how restrictive agricultural preservation zoning can be" and how towns can fix such laws that are ruled too restrictive, John Rice, the lawyer representing Bedminster, said Monday.

Bucks County Bedminster 595 Scott Rd. , $849,000. Bensalem 1471 Custom House Sq. , $380,000. Bridgeton 1319 Birch Rd. , $675,000. Bristol Borough 1616 Wilson Ave. , $145,000. Bristol Township 5498 Schumacher Dr. , $225,000. Buckingham 3199 Meadow View Cir. , $393,230. Doylestown Borough 180 Belmont Ave. , $600,000. Doylestown Township 5 Aster Ct. , $550,000. East Rockhill 7909 Richlandtown Rd. , $499,900. Falls 9284 E. Tyburn Rd. , $399,000.

A longtime Bedminster Township supervisor was sentenced yesterday to two to four years in Bucks County prison for sexually assaulting a mentally impaired 92-year-old woman. Robert Holland, 77, had admitted fondling the woman in her room May 5 at the Pine Run Health Center in Doylestown, where he worked as a grounds crew supervisor. Despite pleading guilty in December to aggravated indecent assault and other charges, he insisted the acts inside the nursing facility were consensual.

The unassembled pieces of wood throughout Leonard Marschark's workshop in Bedminster will one day be an heirloom handed down in Wayne Bender's family. Now, they are only wood slats and carved pieces, some dyed a rich cherry and some not. But when the last screw has been turned, Marschark will have created a grandfather clock with a face that memorializes, appropriately, Bender's grandfather. "He built a cottage with his own hands after he had turned 76," said Bender, of Susquehanna Township.

A Bedminster Township supervisor said yesterday that the board chairman, charged with sexually assaulting a 92-year-old woman with dementia, will be allowed to continue running township meetings. Eric Schaffhausen said that Robert A. Holland, 76, "has every right" to be at meetings of the three-member board of supervisors. "Whether he chooses to come is his matter," Schaffhausen said. "And whether he chooses to stay on or resign is his matter. " Speaking for himself and Supervisor Morgan Cowperthwaite Jr., Schaffhausen said: "We wouldn't presume to interfere with that.

The chairman of the Bedminster Township Board of Supervisors was charged yesterday with sexually assaulting a 92-year-old woman in the dementia unit of a Bucks County nursing home where he works. Robert A. Holland, a 76-year-old retired dairy farmer who is grounds supervisor at Pine Run Community Health Care Center in Doylestown Township, had been assaulting the woman since her arrival at the facility in November, authorities said. "It's incomprehensible that this happened," said First Assistant Bucks County District Attorney David W. Zellis.

It doesn't seem easy being a public official in northern Bucks County these days. In Bedminster, township supervisors are suing a veteran police officer whom they fired last year, alleging that he filed dishonest reports for hours worked. In Richland, the former part-time, unpaid emergency management director is suing the township supervisors in federal court for at least $150,000, alleging that they illegally fired him last year. In Nockamixon, the former township administrator has sued supervisors for more than $300,000 after they fired her in January.

This northern Bucks County township was so rural more than 40 years ago that the part-time police force consisted of one farmer who had to be called from his fields to answer complaints. In those days, the township supervisors' meeting was held in the chairman's kitchen. "It had moved into the kitchen from a local hotel, [where] it had taken place in a bar," said Barbara Thomas, a former supervisor who moved there in 1965, not long after the monthly meeting abandoned its folksy past.

In a victory for developers, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court six months ago threw out this town's one-acre minimum zoning ordinance as too restrictive. Tonight, the township supervisors will meet to vote on a new zoning ordinance that would limit builders to one house per three-quarters of an acre within the Agricultural Preservation District. About 80 percent of this northern Bucks County township is agriculturally zoned. Will it work? Eric Schaffhausen, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said yesterday that he expected a further challenge.