A Nesquehoning man who said he was kidding when he threatened Panther Valley School Board members with physical violence, and thus was permanently banned from board meetings as well as school property, has filed a formal objection to a federal judge's recommendations that favored the school board's actions.

John Barna, 82, filed his objections on Monday through his lawyer, Gary D. Marchalk of Tamaqua.The objections, filed in the U.S. District Court in Scranton, are based on a case in Rutland, Vermont, in which Marcel Cyr said his first and 14th amendment rights were violated when he was banned from school district property for perceived threats.Barna and his lawyer claim the board deprived Barna of his first amendment right to participate in a limited public forum. The federal judge, Martin C. Colson, had opined that Barna's conduct "repeatedly was found to be threatening, disruptive and offensive to board members and other meeting participants."Barna's objection to being barred from all school functions is what he feels is a violation of his first amendment rights. His lawyer writes in the objection, "Mr. Barna does not necessarily care about speaking out on matters of public concern at a basketball game on Panther Valley School District property, the sanction does in fact violate the First Amendment by virtue of being insufficiently narrowly tailored."According to the response by Barna, he also feels some of the matters raised by the judge should have been decided by a jury.The board had ruled following the threatening gestures by Barna that he could address any concerns he has in writing to the superintendent.His lawyer writes in the objections, "Defendants did not provide Mr. Barna with a reasonable means of expressing his views."The case originates from incidents that happened at school board meetings in 2011.The defendants are then school board members Anthony Pondish, Donna Trimmel, Koreen Nalesnik, Jeffrey Markovich, David Hiles, William Hunsicker and Anthony DeMarco.Of the defendants, only Markovich, Hunsicker and DeMarco are presently on the board.At a meeting held April 8, 2011, Barna told the school board that he and some of his friends were confused about an electrical contract "and what they perceived to be a waste of public resources."Markovich invited Barna to bring his friends to the next meeting, to which Barna responded, "You wouldn't like that. Some of my friends have guns."Barna claims that he was joking and felt Markovich took it as a joke.Later in the meeting, when Barna was asked to leave, "at least two board members were laughing at him, inspiring him to retort, 'Don't laugh. I may have to come after all of yous (sic).'"At another meeting, Barna felt he was threatened by Markovich and responded to the board member, "Do you want to fight? Let's go." No punches were thrown and the two men left the meeting through separate doors.The objections filed by Barna request "that this court reject the foregoing finds and recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson and deny defendants' motion for summary judgment."