Complaints

Two black Paulsboro residents yesterday signed formal complaints against three local police officers, contending that they physically or verbally abused them at the police station. Six other written complaints of physical abuse by officers were received Tuesday night by black community leaders, who said yesterday that they would file the letters with the state Division of Civil Rights. The two complaints yesterday were filed with the Paulsboro court clerk and will be scheduled for a hearing.

Bricks, wood and other building debris covered the sidewalk for nearly a month, but it took just hours to launch an investigation into the mess after residents' complaints hit the stands. By mid-morning, city officials who learned a local demolition contractor left North Camac Street in ruins sent a front loader and trash bin to the rescue. Residents, who'd been living with the mess - and the rats, dogs and cats it attracted - watched with glee from their homes as the debris was carted away.

The owner of Dominic's Tavern on Browning Road agreed at a Planning Board meeting last night to meet with the borough engineer to finalize parking plans for his recently purchased two-acre lot. The spacious parking lot is Dominic Bissari's answer to complaints by nearby residents that the tavern's patrons took up their street parking and made themselves a nuisance. Bissari, who paid $225,000 for the lot across the street from his establishment, said he intended to present a plan at the March Planning Board meeting to create 40 parking spaces, with an option to add 12 more.

One resident, out for a walk with her dog, had to step over a passed-out drunk on her property. Another said his child could not get inside the house because the entrance was blocked by a copulating couple on the front steps. Still others went on about street fighting, drunken driving and public urination. At a special meeting last Wednesday, Wissinoming residents complained that life near some of the neighborhood's bars was not exactly dull. Too often, they said, the night life brings out the wild life.

Constance Taylor used to cringe whenever the phone would ring. Frightened and upset, her children would ask: "Is that the bill collector ?" The calls from BancOhio National Bank were abusive, profane and as often as five times a day for several months. The collector called her Sundays at home. He talked to her mother and to her supervisor at work. He threatened to visit her South Philadelphia home if she didn't pay $484 owed on her Fashion Bug credit card. When she told him she could only pay a little at a time, he would scream profanities.

The Somerton Civic Association called on school officials last week to tighten controls on students, particularly those at George Washington High School, in the hope that the action may reduce vandalism in the area. Members of the association charged that in recent weeks students had been free to roam the streets during school hours, trashing everything in their path. "They're really getting out of hand," a resident of the area around Bustleton Avenue and Verree Road told the 35 members at the assocation meeting Tuesday at Arthur's Catering, Bustleton and Byberry Road.

Even as Foxwoods Development Corp. L.L.C. got the nod yesterday to build a casino in Philadelphia, employees at Foxwoods' huge Connecticut casino were airing complaints about working conditions and compensation. Some of the anger was being expressed on the Internet at MadatFoxwoods.com, a Web site where anonymous posters, who say they are employees, complain about their compensation and Foxwoods' management practices. The Web site urges workers to call in sick on New Year's Eve. While Stephen Getchell, who heads the Employee Group Council - the company-formed workers' organization - does not condone the call-out, he said the threat, expressed both on the Web site and in conversations among workers at the casino, had caused management to get more serious about addressing complaints.

The odor emanating from the Upper Moreland-Hatboro Sewer Authority facility isn't pleasant. In fact, many times it's downright rancid, according to neighbors and employees of the 10-acre treatment plant on Terwood Road near York Road. Cloudy, damp days are especially bad, said Bill Washnock, the plant's general manager. The odor seems to hang in the air at those times. Over the last couple of months, complaints about the smell have increased, Washnock acknowledged. And he's not exactly sure why. The Sewer Authority recently spent $3 million on capital improvements to the plant, adding odor-control devices and air-pollution equipment.

Reports from state and local officials that defective Bic cigarette lighters were causing deaths, injuries and fires were not enough to prompt a public warning or recall of the lighters by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. State attorneys general, coroners and local fire investigators are among the hundreds who have filed complaints or reports with the safety commission about the lighters, according to documents newly obtained from the safety commission through the Freedom of Information Act. The commission, which is supposed to ensure the safety of products sold in the United States, did not even respond to reports by some officials.

East Fallowfield resident Charles Johnson has complained about 4-foot-high hedges obstructing the view of Caln Road at the corner of Bailey Road. According to Johnson, whose complaint was aired at Wednesday's meeting of the Board of Supervisors, the hedges have been obstructing his view for five months. The supervisors have the power to remove any hedge exceeding 2 feet in height next to an intersection to protect the safety of the motoring public. The board, however, decided to give the hedge owners additional time to trim the hedge.