The owner of a Parryville business was a no-show at his preliminary hearing and will have his case sent back to Carbon County Court.

Mark Stemler, owner/operator of Riverwalck Saloon, was scheduled to have a hearing Wednesday before District Judge Bruce Appleton of Palmerton on charges of disturbance of waterways and watersheds.But, Stemler failed to attend the hearing. As a result, Appleton conducted the hearing in his absence.The prosecution called Scott Christman, waterways conservation officer, Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission, as its first witness.Christman said he responded to a complaint about earth disturbance activities that occurred by the Pohopoco Creek in Parryville.He said one stream bank of the creek was encroached upon, there was no proper erosion and sedimentation plan, and no permits were obtained.The prosecution then called Chris Kulick, of DEP, Bureau of Watershed Management, as its next witness.Kulick said he responded to a complaint at the site, and determined there was a violation, and that no permits were issued for work done at that time.After the brief testimonies, Appleton ruled that the case be returned to the Carbon County Court of Common Pleas for a pretrial conference at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 27.According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by Christman:On Sept. 16, 2009, Christman received a complaint from James Clauser, district manager of the Carbon County Conservation District, that his district received a complaint about earth disturbance activities that occurred on or along the stream bank of the Pohopoco Creek in Parryville, upstream of the newly erected Center Street bridge, to an area known as the Parryville Dam, according to the affidavit.The Center Street Bridge was in the process of being built by Clearwater Construction, 601 Simpson St., Suite 2, Mechanicsburg, the affidavit says.Clauser further informed Christman that upon inspection of the site, that the earth disturbance activities were in violation of the Clean Streams Act, including Erosion Control regulations. No Chapter 105 and Chapter 102 permits were obtained, and the earth disturbance occurred within a FEMA area.Clauser advised Christman that Stemler, who is a co-owner of the Riverwalck Saloon, which is across the street from the affected site, was the responsible party for committing the earth disturbance activities.Shortly upon receiving Clauser's complaint, Christman received another complaint, via telephone, from Richard Fedor, zoning officer, borough of Parryville, in reference to the earth disturbance that had occurred at the site along the Pohopoco Creek.On Sept. 18, 2009, at about 1:20 p.m., WCO Lee Creyer and Christman arrived at the site of this incident and met with Chris Storm, Carbon County Conservation District technician.Storm informed Christman that the affected property along the Pohopoco Creek was owned by Francis Hager of Palmerton. Stemler had recently leased the property to Hager, and then had the affected property excavated by employees of Clearwater Construction during non-working hours. A sign was posted on a tree at the entrance road of the affected property, indicating Hager/Riverwalck Arborteum.Storm advised Christman that upon his inspection of the site, it was determined that Stemler failed to submit an erosion control plan, and the work was done in the floodplain/floodway area.Storm also indicated that proper Erosion Control Best Management Practices have not been installed. A silt fence was in place at the time Creyer and Christman were at the site. However, the silt fencing was not installed properly.During the final inspections of the affected property by the Carbon County Conservation District, it was determined that Stemler failed to have an Erosion and Sediment Control Plan available on site; failed to implement and maintain effective Best Management Practices; failed to obtain an NPDES Permit for storm water discharge associated with the construction site; and that the site conditions presented a potential for pollution to the waters of the commonwealth.Prior to any earth disturbances occurring on the property, the property had an existent dirt lane which was gated and lead from the Center Street bridge to the Parryville Lowhead Dam. The dirt lane was overgrown with vegetation, and was primarily used as a right of way by the Palmerton Water Co.From the outer edge of the dirt lane to the Pohopoco Creek was a gradual slope, which contained vegetation and trees. Stemler had the gradual slope of the stream bank removed by excavating the area, and also installed another roadway along side the creek, which then connected to the existing dirt lane on top of the bank. It was also determined that earth material was also brought to the site from the construction activities taken place at the Riverwalck Saloon.During Christman's investigation, it was revealed that Stemler had approached the workers of Clearwater Construction, who were working on the new bridge at the time of this incident, to clear the affected area. Stemler paid the operator of the track excavator, which was owned by Clearwater Construction, to excavate the affected area.Christman met with and interviewed Stanley Andy Horn, roadway superintendent of Clearwater Construction, in reference to this incident. Horn informed Christman that on Sept. 11, 2009, Stemler approached his track excavator operator, Tyler Skripek, and asked him if he would level out the dirt that was hauled in what Stemler said was his property. Horn stated that Skripek asked Stemler if he had all the permits necessary to do any work, and Stemler stated that he had all the permits necessary to do the work on the property as of Sept. 1.Horn stated that the dirt was brought to the site by George Excavating from the property of the Riverwalck Saloon. Upon Skripek performing the excavation work, Horn saw Stemler had a Riverwalck gift card to Skripek in the amount of $375 for his work.Christman interviewed Skripek, who informed him that on Sept. 11, 2009, he was approached by Stemler to level out dirt by the stream at the price of $45 an hour. Skripek stated that he was the operator of the machine used to perform the work.Skripek was informed that he could perform the work on Sept. 12, 2009. Stemler informed Skripek that all the necessary permits were in order for the work to be done. Skripek indicated that Horn was present while the conversation took place.Skripek indicated that he did the work for Stemler on Sept. 12, 2009, at 9 a.m., and completed the work at 6:30 p.m. Upon completing the work, Skripek received payment in the form of a gift card from the Riverwalck Saloon from Stemler in the amount of $375.Skripek informed Christman that upon receiving the gift card from Stemler, he thanked him and later found out that Stemler did not have the permits as required for the work that was done.Christman spoke with Brian McKain, project superintendent, of Clearwater Construction, who informed him that he was approached by Stemler to do some work for him on a parcel of property next to the bridge project.Stemler indicated that he wanted to build additional parking. McKain asked him if all the permits were in line because the parcel of property was off the right of way from the bridge project. Stemler indicated to McKain that everything was taken care of. McKain indicated that Stemler had also agreed to replace the fuel in the machinery that was used to excavate the parcel of property.Christman interviewed Blake Allen Reppert of Clearwater Construction, who informed him that while he was working on the new bridge at the time of the incident, he heard the owner of the Riverwalck Saloon ask Skripek, the operator of the track excavator, to do some excavation work.Reppert indicated the owner of Riverwalck Saloon said that he would provide the fuel, along with compensating Skripek. He also indicated that the owner stated that the property belonged to him.On Sept. 29, 2009, at about 8:30 a.m., Creyer and Christman visited the site and met with the Carbon County Conservation District, Parryville Zoning Officer, PennDOT, DEP, Stemler and his attorney and consultants, Hager, and a representative from Clearwater Construction.Christman advised Stemler of the violations relating to the encroachment of the affected site, and the penalties relating to Title 30 Pa. Fish & Boat Code, section 2502, Disturbance of Waterways and Watersheds.Stemler informed Christman that he asked Clearwater Construction to level out the ground that was placed at the site, and that Clearwater Construction went beyond what he wanted done.During the course of Christman's investigation, it was determined that Stemler had hired a company to transport the track excavator owned by Clearwater Construction from the other side of the bridge to the site of the encroachment.When Christman questioned Stemler about hiring a company to transport the track excavator, he stated that Clearwater Construction knew that there would have been problems crossing the creek because Clearwater Construction was not allowed to have their machinery in the creek.Stemler further informed Christman that there was an old road where the excavation took place along the creek. Although he claimed there was an old road, Christman had patrolled the area numerous times in the past, and had previous knowledge of the area, and there were no indications that a road was ever in existence where Stemler stated there was a road. The only road in the affected area was the gated dirt lane, which was a right of way for the Palmerton Water Co.Kulick conducted an on-site inspection of the affected site and noted that Stemler performed earth moving activities within the right outer bank (west bank) area of the Pohopoco Creek, and that he graded the site by cutting and filling. The affected site was within a detailed FEMA area.Kulick noted that Stemler failed to obtain a Chapter 105 permit for the work that was done, and provided Stemler with a copy of the Water Obstruction and Encroachment Inspection Report.Christman interviewed Hager, the property owner of the affected site, who informed him that Stemler asked to lease the portion of the land for parking for his employees.Stemler informed Hager that he would clean up the brush at the small parking area that was at the entrance of the original gated dirt lane and on the dirt lane. That was the extent of the work that Hager thought Stemler was going to do.