Rockne Newell , The Shooter in Eastern ,Pa !
 

...................Mr. Rockne Newell , was receiving $600 SS disability , all he wanted was to beable to continue living on at his home . The Board of supervisors had been harassing him for quite a while . He had NO other place to go , his dogs had no other place to go . It seems no one in the community tried to reach out to him to help him bring his home up to code standards , no outreach groups , NO church groups , nada . Where was Habitat for humanity , why couldn't they offer up a little labor and organization to make his home livable ?
...................I don't condone what he did , although I can fully understand WHY he became so angry and decided to take the action(s) he did ! These kinds of situations by governing entities displacing poor people with NO access to an attorney seem to have become SOP nowadays from what I read in the Press . Instead of just forcing him from his home why couldn't they have enlisted the help of community groups , I guess I just don't understand their attitude . , fordy

Did he want help, or just left alone?

Innocent people die and this guy is the "victim".

Just another grenade, with the pin, already pulled.


A shame, this has to happen, for sure.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...ebook-guns.php

Everyone has a breaking point. Looks like he reached his. Too often you see local government pressuring some poor person to get them off their property and some government thug ends up getting the property for little or nothing.

Killing several people is not the answer! How hard did he try to get clean up help?

It's not that difficult. When we bought this place there was junk, some metal...called a guy who advertises looking for free scrap and he hauled it away. Some of it junk lumber, I placed a CLad offering free firewood and scrap lumber, gone.

From what I had seen, they initially just wanted him to clean the place up, which looking from the images, with the trash and boards strewn about, could be accomplished with just the cost of a match.

This is more about him, than the county, IMO.

The worst part about this, is that everybody saw it coming.


http://www.nbc4i.com/story/23065047/...-chaotic-scene

Quote:
"We've known Rocky Newell for many, many years, and he's made many, many threats," Martin said. "Rocky's always been that way. Rocky's always one who believed in his property and believed in his ideals and told everyone the government was out to get him. This thing has brewed for many, years, and I believe it escalated to the point where he took matters in his own hands."

The nerve of the guy. Believing he owned the property and wanting to be left alone to live the way he wanted. Everyone must conform. Welcome to the machine.

It not a machine. It's called society.

It was his mistake, to believe it, because that is not the way it is, where he chose to live. They have rules, people are supposed to follow. I didn't see where they wanted his property to be sparkling clean, just better than a rats nest.

If your neighbor wants to open a meth lab, you are good with it? It's his property.

.................Whether or not he owned the property is really not relevant , here ! What matters is that HE , considered "The Property" to be his home and all his actions were based upon that idea . He had been there for over 20 years from what I have read , so whether the property was privately owned city or county property someone should have still attempted to help him , at least , find a place to live with his dogs . IF , the city authorities had just quit pushing him and tried working WITH him this tragedy might have been averted . , fordy

He lived there for over 20 years and it's likely some nosy neighbor complained about him. I'll wager he has been there longer than the neighbor who complained. It's like people who build a house near a hog farm and then complain about the smell.

Making meth is illegal. Collecting things isn't. But, no, I might not like it but I won't be calling the law on him either. I got my big nose by keeping it out of other people's business and letting it get its full growth.

Maybe a neighbor was trying to sell their home but no one would touch it with a 10 foot pole because of the crap hole across the street?

I tend to be all about live and let live, but blighted properties affect those around them. Who would say live and let live if a garbage pile of a property was taking thousands and thousands of dollars out of their pocket via the value of their property because the neighbor is a total slob? I know of a house like that around here..the house is roach and flea infested and the barn completely overrun with rats..you think those vermin don't wander over to the neighbor's places?

Back to him getting help to clean up. I've had a sharp education in such an endeavor this summer.

When a hoarder mentality comes into play it's very, very difficult, it's possible people have tried to help him and come up against what we did.

The family of the property mentioned above needed help and needed it badly, a group of us stepped in to try to help. We got a dumpster donated, the services of an exterminator donated, a crew of volunteers to help clean the house. We paid for the whole family to stay in a motel while we tried to make the house livable (they have children living that way in there). The day I arrived there to help, as I pulled into the driveway I was greeted by a volunteer who ran out of the house, tore off her face mask, doubled over and vomited on the driveway...Yeah, it was THAT bad. They had had full grown turkeys and geese living free range in the basement where their daughter slept on a filthy bed in the corner, you could literally not see the floor for clothing and debris, all of it covered in poultry waste and vermin.

At first the family seemed grateful for the help, but a couple of days in the hoarder mentality came into play. The man of the house threw a fit when he came over and saw his animal urine and feces soaked, roach and flea infested couch going into the dumpster. We had already bought him a new couch to replace it, but he threatened volunteers using foul language and telling them to sleep with one eye open.

Meanwhile his wife started throwing a hissy about her crockpot being thrown out, it was encrusted with ancient food and crawling with bugs. We had bought her a brand new crockpot, new coffee maker, new beds, new standing mixer, new clothes for the kids all kinds of brand new fitures for the house..none of it was good enough, she wanted the infested stuff to stay. Then she started demanding the colors she wanted each room painted (for free), and going so far as to demand a new 'red and chrome kitchen makeover' all for free. Then they wanted their cell phone bills paid by the group, their vehicle tags paid for.

We have collection cans set up around the community that fund the group's efforts as a whole, for all community families in need..she went around and tried to collect them all saying the monies were all meant for her.

Anyhoo, I suppose that was a rant, but my point is, some people profess to want help but when you try things don't quite go as planned.

The property I described should be condemned, their neighbors are close by and certainly must be affected by the vermin proliferating on a monumental scale so close by...Yeah, If I lived next door, I'd want them out too.

I entered into that situation with a lot of sympathy, and left with none (except for the children and animals who have no choice)

Apparently it is illegal, when your "collection", is strewn about creating health and safety hazards for the rest of the community.

Hopefully those meth-heads, won't rob, maim or kill, someone you care for.

Interesting, that children were molested in the Catholic church - for decades,. because everyone thought it was best, to "look the other way" and mind their own business.

It's easier that way.

I don't care what the local government did, it doesn't make him a victim that he decided to go kill people. I know people have breaking points, they snap and rave on the streets, they live in their cars or start drinking or using drugs... they don't just go kill people.

Don't put the responsibility for HIS actions on anyone else. Don't make it a case of "Oh it's not his fault... it's the mom didn't love him enough" routine. He and He Alone decided to go kill people and that's his decision he's got to pay for.

If the local rules said "No junk all over your yard" then he's got to abide by the rules. There's almost ALWAYS help to be had if you really want it and if you really are willing to ask for it. From the articles it seems like he had no desire to comply, in fact he felt he would needle the people and make things worse deliberately.

It sucks if you own property and then the city grows up around you. It sucks if you want to have a pig sty and the locals around you disagree. But to say that in any way is an excuse for him murdering people is ridiculous.

Was he on disability for physical or mental issues?

I personally think if a person is found mentally disabled they should not be permitted to own a firearm.

I hear what some are saying that the Thiefdom drove him to this and they "broke" him.. I agree they are complicit in this. BUT! That doesn't give this coward the right to shot innocent bystanders/fellow town members not directly involved..

From my understanding he randomly shot anyone in the meeting. He is wrong, no matter what caused him to be "broke".. He had options, that from my understanding he chose to ignore or refuse...I hope they hang him high and let the vultures pick his bones.

Harsh? Yes! but you don't kill innocent people because you are mad at the township..Period!

Nc
 

In NC,law says mentally disabled can't own a fireman. Have a friend with a nice house, immaculate yard, etc. Next door is in a mess. What happened is a house burned. That house is still standing. Then they built a house right in front of burned house. New house isn't being taken care of. Friend has planted many shrub, trees to block view of house that burned. What I don't understand is why Building Inspector hasn't been notified. There had to be inspections when new house was built. Literally new house is just a few feet from burned house. New house blocks burned house from road. Sorry to ramble.

Unfortunately, it would be nice if some of you took the time to dig a bit deeper before assuming that this guy was just being oppressed by the local government, or wasn't offered any help. It doesn't take the perspective I have, as a local who knows several of the victims, it just takes a few minutes researching this guy's long, and unpleasant history in the local paper, all of which is available online. Pocono Record BTW.
The sad fact is that this guy was deeply mentally ill, and chose to live in a sub-human manner. There is nothing on his property that even resembles a structure that one could offer assistance in fixing up. He didn't bother digging an outhouse hole, preferring to defecate in drywall buckets that he piled up next to a stream. The campsite he squatted in was so foul that sheriff's deputies got sick while entering the property. He did anything possible to be as defiant and disruptive as possible when anyone attempted to help him. He constantly lied to the courts as they attempted to assist him, and failed to comply with any attempt to get his property cleaned up, or eliminate the hazards it presented to the local community. This was not a guy out in the back woods on land that has been in the family for generations. This guy bought a worthless patch of swamp on a busy road, with full knowledge that it was uninhabitable, and could never be used for a residence. That information was printed in the deed. He then went out of his way to act like an animal, sleeping in old vehicles, collecting trash, and building a bridge that was poorly built, a flood hazard and completely illegal. He spent decades acting like this and in the end the township auctioned the property to satisfy thousands in unpaid fines. They didn't want his land, it's less than worthless, as it isn't going to be cheap to clean up and has no real value for agriculture or other uses. They just wanted him to stop squatting on it, stop polluting the area, and stop living in a pile of his own feces. BTW, the second he was told be the county judge to no longer enter the property he found suitable living arrangements with friends and relatives, so no this was not a case of big brother throwing this guy out of his "home". He never had one, and chose to in squalor.

Hopefully, Fordy and all who took time to plaster silly like "like hearts" on his post now have a bit of an understanding of the truth. Assuming can be dangerous, and when it comes to the contents of Fordy post, not only is it all assumptions, but every single assumption is wrong. This guy never was a victim, he spent decades looking for a battle, and when society grew tired of his BS, he grabbed a few guns and began murdering innocent folks. Crazy yes, not a victim in the least.

As I hopefully made clear in my post, this guy didn't live on this property for decades. He squatted in a feces filled campsite while sleeping in cars, collapsing sheds and such. And no, it has nothing to do with a specific neighbor complaining, he had no immediate neighbors. His squalid crap hole was located on the shoulder of the road. The road is a popular route to reach one of the larger, older developments in the township, and many of the neighbors had been there for decades, some families for centuries, before this nut job paid a few hundred bucks for this patch of swamp.

...................I posted my response based upon the info available at the time ! Had I been privy to your knowledge of the situation I'm sure my response would have been different to some extent . That said , I have No problem reasserting the fact that the local zoning officials didn't use good sense in how they handled the situation ! If he was mentally ill , and it was known by all who delt with him then WHY wasn't the State brought in to deal with his illness !
....................Had the local authorities engaged the state mental health resources to work collectively for a plan to get him off the street , the murder and mayhem might have been avoided ! , fordy:shrug:

The story about his situation was easily available to read. How he spent his life picking fights over everything for decades, how he lived camping on ground that had no way to dispose of human waste so he didn't bother. etc. It was all easy to find.
There are people who do the stupidest of things and blame everyone else for their self-inflicted misery. This man was one of those.
And I'm sure he was well known to local mental health departments but they are limited unless it can be proven he is a danger to himself and others, he can't be forced into treatment. I've tried a couple of times to help someone who didn't want help- it can't be done despite the Dr Phils of TV land.
I remember one woman who made herself unwelcome everywhere because she wanted to keep her SSI checks to herself. After months of work, a woman was found to offer her a home, where upon she immediately pee'd in the woman's heating ducts, neccessitating all of the duct work to be taken apart and cleaned to get rid of the smell. So she slept in a bus shelter and bought food at a Seven Eleven til she died of exposure. This was not only her choice but she had gone through every possible place for housing and no one would take her in. Yet a court found she was not a danger to herself or others and could not be involuntarily committed.

Fordy, you are correct on the mental illness part of the problem, dead wrong on how the local officials handled the situation. They spent decades tolerating a difficult and abusive nut who enjoyed being an issue, and did so with little support from the court system, and obviously zero back-up from the non-existence mental health system. Earlier this year the courts finally ordered Newell to vacate the property and to not step foot on it again until the heath and life safety issues were resolved. He was, up until this point NEVER denied access to his property, but cited for living with no adequate shelter, or sanitation while operating an illegal dump and piling feces in containers. It appeared that Newell obeyed the courts by no longer living there, but refused to address any issues. The township then had no choice but to let the property go to sheriff's sale to gain title, allowing them to legally clean the mess up.

The only problem is with the mental health system in this country is that there really is no effective mental health system in this country. Starting decades ago the left had a flaky idea that mental institutions were oppressive, and everybody needed to be set free. The right was happy to oblige, because the system is horrendously expensive to run properly. This state is unusually pathetic, and our current leadership is a good example. Governor Corbett tried to eliminate funding for adult group homes. This is a system of housing eighteen thousand mentally and physically limited adults in the least expensive, least restrictive environment possible. Many of these older adults were far too messed up to ever live without full time supervision, or no longer had living family to take the burden when the doors closed. According to Corbett's sorry plan, the unwanted and unmanageable would of ended up in the few remaining institutions , costing the state TEN times as much to care for. It was such a cruel, stupid and short sighted idea that even his extremely conservative legislative leadership told him they would actively prevent him from doing so.

My own sister is a middle aged, mentally ill , drug and alcohol addict. She lives alone and on all the usual programs, SSI, Medicade etc... she is an unrepentant drunk driver who has done a long sentence for drunken vehicular homicide, and has been convicted of DUI with an extremely high BAC since then. She currently owns a newer car and has reasonable full coverage insurance. She is under the care of a state paid "psychiatrist" but it's a total fraud. The visits last a few minutes (literally less than five) and are geared toward making sure that the patient has an adequate drug supply. She is entirely unable to function as an independent adult, and is a threat to society, since she could jump is the car today, with another .30+ blood alcohol level and kill another victim. Since she is "not a danger to herself" the state cannot even attempt to place her in a group home, where she needs to be. She has been in one before and will never go willingly. She knows that the substance abuse would come to a dead halt in that setting, and it scares the hell out of her.

All of our social services are of this caliber. My wife taught for thirty years and was well aware that she was obviously morally and legal bound to report abuse and neglect to the county social services. She reported whenever it was needed, but was fully aware that it was just a CYA on her part, as absolutely nothing was going to be done. In the end the staff had a secret closet full of clothing, food and other needs to help the kids that were sent to school with no breakfast, and wearing the same dirt clothes for weeks, or had no school supplies since mommy was blowing her welfare check on meth...

No easy answers, but don't blame the dead and wounded, for the failures of society to support them, as they worked hard to do the right thing their community.