SPORTS
Justin Shorter
hoping to ‘tear
the whole world
apart’ in Year 2 1B
VOLUME 131, No. 122
STAY CONNECTED CENTREDAILY.COM
Three new residential
developments studied
for Centre County
BY MARLEY PARISH
mparish@centredaily.com
BELLEFONTE
If a trio of projects are ap-
proved, hundreds of acres in
Centre County could be devel-
oped to provide additional hous-
ing options in Potter, Gregg and
Spring townships.
Chris Schnure, subdivision and
Crews work on an addition to Sheetz on South Atherton Street. The store would be the seventh Sheetz in Centre County to serve beer and wine.
State College, chains have lion’s
share of Centre County’s liquor
licenses; you’d better BYOB
BY SARAH PAEZ
spaez@centredaily.com
A debate last month at the
State College Borough Council
meeting over whether to approve
a liquor license transfer into the
borough stirred up community
interest over how liquor licenses
get distributed through Penn-
sylvania counties.
The short answer? It’s compet-
itive and expensive.
The long answer? Well, it’s
complicated. Each Pennsylvania
county has a fixed amount of
liquor licenses that can’t be
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land development planner for the
county’s planning and communi-
ty development office, presented
the Potter and Gregg township
plans to the board of commis-
sioners during a July meeting.
POTTER TOWNSHIP
The first plan is located a half
mile east of Centre Hall Borough
at the terminus of Lane Avenue
and Kreitzer Avenue, just past
transferred out of county. The
only workaround is the relatively
new Act 39 of 2016, which
allowed the Pennsylvania Liquor
Control Bureau to resurrect ex-
pired or “zombie” licenses from
the year 2000 onward and auc-
tion off 25 twice a year to the top
bidders.
“We’re very cognizant of the
value these licenses have in the
secondary market and we’re very
careful ... when it comes time to
determine which licenses we put
in the auction,” said Shawn Kelly,
spokesman for the PLCB.
Within counties, each munici-
pality has a quota as part of the
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the Lions Club, Schnure said.
Currently, the land is undevel-
oped farmland.
The 55-acre development pro-
ject — The Horizon at Brush
Valley — is in the planning stages
and proposes a preliminary sub-
division of 98 lots, comprising 94
residential lots, two open space
lots and two storm water man-
agement lots with corresponding
infrastructure, Schnure said.
state liquor code that’s based on
population — one liquor license
for every 3,000 residents, said
Kelly. The state tries to track
each liquor license by county and
municipality, but “it’s constantly
changing and we do the best we
can to stay on top of it,” he said.
WHERE ARE THE
LIQUOR LICENSES?
In Centre County, almost 75%
of restaurant liquor licenses are
concentrated within the Centre
Region: State College Borough
and College, Patton and Fergu-
son townships, according to the
PLCB database. There are some
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The developer, Loesch
Construction, wants to price the
homes at an affordable cost and
hopes they will increase tax reve-
vacates
nue for the township, said Vice
President of Operations Jules
Loesch.
“The hope for the development
Centre Hall
woman’s
is to increase housing in the Cen-
tre County area,” Loesch said.
The Tri-Municipal Park, a
collaborative multi-purpose rec-
reational space being developed
conviction
by Gregg and Potter townships
and Centre Hall Borough, could
benefit from the development, BY BRET PALLOTTO
Loesch said. bpallotto@centredaily.com
“We like to build communities,
not just houses,” Loesch said. The state Superior Court on
Centre County and Potter Friday vacated the conviction
Township staff met with the and sentence of a Centre Hall
developer and agent John Sepp woman accused of stealing more
with PennTerra Engineering, Inc. than $14,000 from a Snappy’s
in April to discuss a sketch plan safe.
There were “significant evi-
SEE DEVELOPMENTS, 2A dentiary errors” and the Centre
County district attorney’s office
did not present any direct evi-
dence that Tracy Addleman — a
former manager at the Potter
Township store — was the one
who stole the money, a three-
judge panel wrote.
Assistant Public Defender
Shannon Malone said she was
“extremely happy” with the rul-
ing.
“I obviously didn’t agree with
the evidentiary rulings before the
trial and during the trial. And
there was information that was
kept from the jury’s consider-
ation that, I believe, they
should’ve been able to consider,”
SEE VACATED, 2A
Federal
investigation
opened into
Epstein’s
cell suicide
ABBY DREY adrey@centredaily.com
BY JULIE K. BROWN
jbrown@miamiherald.com
STATE COLLEGE
BOROUGH, WITH 19
U.S. Attorney General William
Barr has opened a federal in-
vestigation into the suicide of sex
ACTIVE RESTAURANT
LIQUOR LICENSES, IS
trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who
was found unre-
sponsive Saturday
morning in his cell
36% OVER ITS at the Metropol-
LIQUOR-LICENSE itan Correctional
Center in Manhat-
QUOTA. tan, a federal pri-
son where he had
Jeffrey been housed
municipalities that have zero Epstein awaiting trial.
restaurant liquor licenses, despite Federal sources
having breweries or distilleries, say that paramedics tried un-
which operate under different successfully to revive Epstein
licenses. Hotel liquor licenses can after he was found hanging in his
also offer workarounds to the cell about 6:30 a.m.
traditional restaurant liquor li- The facility, in Lower Manhat-
censes — they don’t have the tan, is considered one of the
same quota and restaurants can most secure federal prisons in the
operate in the same building as a nation, which raises questions
hotel to be under one. about how it was possible that
Two recently approved trans- Epstein – one of its highest-pro-
fers — one from Moerschbacher file inmates – would have been
Enterprises in College Township able to kill himself.
SEE LIQUOR LICENSES, 2A SEE SUICIDE, 2A
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FROM PAGE 1A
VACATED
Malone said. “The Superior
Court did find that, in both
instances, keeping those
out from the consideration
of the jury was an abuse of
discretion. It was improp-
er.”
Addleman, 41, was hired
by Snappy’s in June 2017.
State police at Rockview in
March 2018 charged her
after Snappy’s district man-
ager Marie Rossman said
she discovered the money
was missing in December
2017, the Superior Court
wrote.
About the same time
Rossman discovered the
FROM PAGE 1A
SUICIDE
Epstein, 66, allegedly
tried to harm himself sev-
eral weeks ago, so at one
point he was on suicide
watch, though it appears
that he had been taken off
suicide watch since then.
The Miami Herald was
unsuccessful in reaching a
spokesman for the federal
Bureau of Prisons.
The Department of Justice
released a statement saying
“Life-saving measures were
initiated immediately by
responding staff. ... Epstein
was transported by EMS to a
local hospital for treatment
of life-threatening injuries,
and subsequently pro-
nounced dead by hospital
staff.”
Victims and their fam-
ilies were stunned.
Jena-Lisa Jones, who was
molested by Epstein when
she was 14, said that he
took the coward’s way out.
“I just can’t believe it.
We were finally feeling that
we might have some justice
after all these years,” she
said, her voice cracking.
Eva Ford, the mother of
victim Courtney Wild, was
angry. “How does someone
who is this high profile
commit suicide? They had
to have cameras on him!
Someone must have been
paid to look the other
way,” Ford said.
“I just wanted him to be
held accountable. I would
never wish that somebody
Berks Homes has requested a zoning change in Spring
Township. Berks hopes to develop residential units on land
behind its Amberleigh development off Benner Pike.
FROM PAGE 1A
DEVELOPMENTS
and provide suggestions
before the plan was formal-
ly submitted. PennTerra
submitted the plan to the
Centre County Planning
and Community Devel-
opment Office last month,
Schnure said.
After reviewing the plan,
Potter Township Supervisor
Dick Decker said the board
and planning commission
support the proposed pro-
ject.
“We welcome new de-
velopment in the town-
ship,” Decker wrote in an
email. “Provisions needed
to insure citizen safety
must be in place prior to
occupying any of the
homes.”
GREGG TOWNSHIP
The final subdivision
plan of Century Estates for
BCM Holdings, LLC is
missing money, Addleman
bought her coworkers
lunches, snacks and gifts,
the Superior Court wrote.
The district attorney’s
office argued the testimony
established Addleman’s
motive to steal the money,
showed her alleged failure
to make daily deposits with
the bank was not a mistake
and established her as the
one who accessed the safe,
the Superior Court wrote.
“The Commonwealth
also introduced the bank
records of Snappy’s depos-
its (during the trial),” the
Superior Court wrote. “The
Jeffrey Epstein, center, died by suicide early Saturday while
awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. The death was
stunning for his victims and their families, some of whom
said they regret that Epstein won’t face justice in court.
would die, but he took the
easy way out,” said victim
Michelle Licata.
Palm Beach lawyer Jack
Scarola, who represents
several victims, said an
investigation is called for
into how Epstein was able
to, once again, get authori-
ties to look the other way.
“It is inexplicable how
such a high-profile person
on suicide watch could
commit suicide without
help,” Scarola said.
“Epstein once again
cheated his victims out of
an opportunity for justice.
While I’m sure none of
them regret his death, all of
them regret the informa-
tion that died with him.
The one expectation is that
Epstein’s death not derail
the investigation into
others who participated in
his criminal activities.
MARLEY PARISH mparish@centredaily.com
located in Gregg Township.
The proposal shows the
subdivision of nine resi-
dential lots with corre-
sponding infrastructure on
about 150 acres of land.
The plan is bisected by
Bitner Hollow Road and is
located west of the Ross
Hill Road intersection.
County and township
staff met with the devel-
oper and agent Robert
Myers with Hawbaker
Engineering, LLC in May
to discuss the plan before
formally submitting it on
July 3, Schnure said.
Two memorandums of
understanding explaining
the projects were presented
to the board of commis-
sioners and passed with the
approval of last week’s
consent agenda. The plans
are scheduled for review at
the Centre County Plan-
Commonwealth did not,
however, present any direct
evidence that it was (Ad-
dleman) who stole the
funds from Snappy’s safe.”
Addleman was convicted
in September of one felony
count of theft by deception
and acquitted of one felony
count each of unlawful
taking and receiving stolen
property. She was
sentenced in October to
four years of intermediate
punishment.
In her appeal filed in
November, Malone suc-
cessfully argued she should
have been allowed to in-
troduce evidence that Ad-
dleman engaged in similar
gift-giving behavior at her
previous Dollar General
job. Centre County Judge
UMA SANGHVI AP
There are named and un-
named co-conspirators who
still need to be brought to
justice,” Scarola said.
Attorney General Barr
said he directed the FBI
and inspector general to
open separate probes into
his death. “I was appalled
to learn that Jeffrey Epstein
was found dead early this
morning from an apparent
suicide while in federal
custody. Mr. Epstein’s
death raises serious ques-
tions that must be answer-
ed,” Barr said.
His death came one day
after the Miami Herald
published a trove of docu-
ments describing in detail
how he operated the equiv-
alent of a sexual pyramid
scheme, luring girls, most
of them 14 to 16, to his
Palm Beach home, then
coercing them into sex.
ning Commission’s Aug. 20
meeting.
SPRING TOWNSHIP
Berks Homes has pro-
posed a new residential
housing development pro-
ject, but the property, lo-
cated behind the Berks
Homes Amberleigh
Development off Benner
Pike, would require a zon-
ing change from agricultu-
ral and single-family resi-
dential to R-3 or high-
density residential.
June meeting minutes
report that a request for the
change was made for the
Hartle tract on Valentine
Hill Road. The property is
currently owned by Paul
and Ellen Hartle, Martha
Hartle, William and Tracy
Small and Quality Rehab,
and according to the rezon-
ing application, Berks
Homes wants to purchase
the land to create lots for
residential development.
Minutes report Township
Manager William MacMath
said the planning commis-
sion looked at the request
and recommended that a
R-3 district should be cre-
ated. The intent of a R-3
district is to provide high
density residential devel-
opment opportunities,
ensure diversity of housing
types and to meet mini-
mum standards of health
and safety by protecting
against hazards and nui-
sances, according to zoning
guidelines.
Prior to the change, the
Nittany Valley Planning
Commission would have to
review the request. A hear-
ing to discuss the rezoning
was scheduled for Aug. 5,
but MacMath said the mat-
ter was tabled and will be
discussed at a later time.
Marley Parish:
@marley_parish
Katherine Oliver excluded
the evidence and conclud-
ed it was “irrelevant” and
“marginal at best,” the
Superior Court wrote.
“We agree with (Malone)
that her evidence was rele-
vant to rebut the Common-
wealth’s theory that (Ad-
dleman’s) generous beha-
vior toward her coworkers
began, for the first time, in
December 2017 and its
implication that her gene-
rosity stemmed from her
misappropriation of Snap-
py’s funds,” the Superior
Court wrote. “(Malone’s)
evidence that (Addleman)
engaged in similar generos-
ity at her previous job di-
rectly challenges the infer-
ence the Commonwealth
sought the jury to make.”
FROM PAGE 1A
LIQUOR LICENSES
to the planned Queenstown
restaurant in State College
and another from Hofbrau
in Bellefonte to the Sheetz
at 765 Benner Pike in Col-
lege Township — under-
score some of the central
themes in Centre County’s
liquor license market.
The first is that Sheetz
Inc. owns the most restau-
rant liquor licenses in Cen-
tre County, at five current-
ly, with four transfers
pending approval by the
PLCB. In fact, Sheetz has
161 stores in Pennsylvania
that sell beer and wine,
with 22 applications pend-
ing before the PLCB, ac-
cording to liquor law at-
torney Mark Kozar, who
represents Sheetz. The
second is that liquor licens-
es are overwhelmingly
concentrated in the Centre
Region — of 60 active
restaurant licenses, 44 are
located in an area with a
State College mailing ad-
dress.
Additionally, State Col-
lege Borough is 36% over
its liquor license quota —
there are currently 19 ac-
tive restaurant liquor li-
censes in State College,
and population based on
the census count say there
should only be 14. In total,
there are 48 retail locations
in the borough that serve
alcohol, according to bor-
ough Assistant Manager
Tom King.
But Kelly said most
counties and their munici-
palities are well over the
liquor license quota, and
the PLCB will not take
licenses away from busi-
nesses in those places.
That’s because the quota
system was put in place in
the 1930s, and existing
liquor licenses were grand-
fathered in, he said. The
PLCB also has no control
over intermunicipal liquor
license transfers, he said,
which are up to the mun-
icipal governments receiv-
ing the transfer applica-
tions.
They can, however, deny
an application or a license
renewal if the business has
a history of disruptions or
code violations, he said.
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Assistant District At-
torney Josh Bower, who
prosecuted the case, de-
clined to comment. The
district attorney’s office
may ask the state Supreme
Court to review the deci-
sion and also may bring
Addleman to trial again
with 180 days, Malone
said.
She and Addleman may
also consider any potential
plea offers or file any mo-
tions as though Addleman
was never convicted, Ma-
lone said.
“It’s been probably the
hardest thing she’s ever
been through in her life,”
Malone said. “This defi-
nitely enlightened her as to
what people go through
when they’re charged with
‘UNFORTUNATE FOR
INDEPENDENT, SMALL
BUSINESS OWNERS’
In Bellefonte, which
currently has three active
restaurant liquor licenses,
several restaurants have
turned to Bring Your Own
(alcoholic) Beverage setups
due to customer demand,
the high cost of liquor li-
censes and competition
from State College.
Dustin Smith, co-owner
of State Burger Co. in
Bellefonte, said he and his
business partner looked at
getting a restaurant liquor
license, but the competitive
and pricey market in Cen-
tre County — largely driven
by State College’s down-
town — deterred them.
‘‘
... I THINK YOU
FIND THE PEOPLE
WITH DEEPER
POCKETS ARE THE
PEOPLE THAT ARE
GETTING THOSE
LIQUOR
LICENESES.
Dustin Smith, co-owner,
State Burger Co.,
Bellefonte
“When we were looking
at a liquor license, what I
came to realize is the com-
petitive pricing ... it’s really
expensive for this area, and
so I think you find the
people with deeper pockets
are the people that are
getting those liquor licens-
es,” he said.
Liquor licenses in Centre
County go for anywhere
from $200,000 to
$500,000, business own-
ers have said. Two recently
auctioned “zombie” licens-
es in Centre County
fetched $307,500 from
Sheetz Inc. in 2016 and
$325,419 from Weis Mar-
kets in 2017.
Central Pennsylvania
Business Journal found in
2017 that five large super-
market and convenience-
store chains bought more
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crimes, particularly when
they’re innocent of the
crime. ... It’s very hard to
prove a negative — to prove
that you didn’t do some-
thing. As anyone who has
ever been charged with a
crime can attest, the deck
is stacked against you from
the moment someone ac-
cuses you. ... From the
moment you are accused,
you start out in a hole that
you have to try to dig your-
self out of.”
Bret Pallotto: 814-231-4648,
@BretPallottoCDT
than 60% of licenses sold
in PLCB auctions since
2016. The two chains that
made up 40% of the win-
ning bids were Sheetz and
Giant Food Stores LLC.
“I think that is unfortu-
nate for independent, small
business owners, because,
you know, we can’t really
compete with that from a
price standpoint,” Smith
said.
In the past several years,
liquor licenses once owned
by small businesses in
Centre County have been
purchased by chains. Sto-
ver’s Tea Room in Miles-
burg closed in 2017 and
sold its liquor license to
Snappy’s Convenience
Store and Gas Station
across the street.
The Sheetz at 820 S.
Eagle Valley Road in Win-
gate applied to transfer a
liquor license in 2018 from
the now-closed Brenda’s
Tavern in Boggs Township,
but it was denied by the
PLCB after Bald Eagle
Area School District Super-
intendent Jeff Miles pro-
tested against the store
selling alcohol near two
schools. Sheetz has ap-
pealed that decision and
the case is ongoing.
And in May, Sheetz got a
liquor license transfer con-
ditionally approved for its
South Atherton Street store
at 120 Southridge Plaza —
from the former Philips-
burg Super Bowl in Rush
Township, reported
StateCollege.com. That
location is pending approv-
al for the construction of a
seating area.
Smith said he isn’t sure
the liquor license market in
Centre County will swing
in favor of small, independ-
ent business owners who
aren’t as established in the
community. But he does
have some hope.
“I think the trend is go-
ing to be looking for al-
ternatives like teaming up
with some breweries or
doing BYOB,” he said. “But
at the same time, there is
something to be said about
the percentage of sales that
a liquor license brings in.”