Wednesday, May 22, 2002
By Rick Nowlin,(Pittsburgh) Post-Gazette Staff Writer
A zoning dispute apparently was the spark that caused a Hampton man to threaten township officials and pupils, leading to a lockdown of schools Monday.
John K. Baker, 37, was arrested later that day and charged with terroristic threats and harassment after saying he would carry out "a Columbine incident at one of the Hampton schools," Police Chief Dan Connolly said.
The reference was to the April 1999 incident in suburban Denver in which two students shot and killed a dozen fellow students and a teacher before turning their guns on themselves.
Baker was arraigned before District Justice William K. Wagner of McCandless and was held in the Allegheny County Jail in lieu of $100,000 cash bond.
Baker threatened to take firearms to one of the schools, shoot children as they exited the building and "hope one was a police officer's child," Connolly said.
Hampton School District spokeswoman Pat Forest referred to it as "a general threat" and not directed toward any one of the district's five schools. As a precaution, the district had all schools under lockdown from noon to 1:30 p.m. Monday. Parents were not notified during the lockdown, Forest said.
Although the threats were new, Connolly said police were familiar with Baker. Police arrested him Sunday for threatening to kill township officials. Connolly said one threat came by telephone to state Rep. Jeff Habay, R-Shaler.
He was released on $10,000 bond in that case but subsequently went to CVS pharmacy in Hampton and made the other threats, this time to a clerk who was a Hampton resident.
Land use administrator Larry Moore said the township has cited Baker numerous times for operating a junkyard, in violation of township zoning ordinances, at his Hampton Avenue home over the past 10 years. Connolly said Baker has accrued fines of at least $25,000 because of 38 cars plus boats, all-terrain vehicles and various large automotive parts scattered about the property.
The township took Baker to Common Pleas Court in February, and Judge Cynthia Baldwin gave Baker seven days to clean up the site. He did not comply with that order, Moore said.
Baker has insisted that other township properties also violate zoning ordinances and that he was being singled out because neighbors complained. "We told him to put together a list" of properties he felt were also in violation, Moore said.
Connolly said police also arrested Baker in February for trespassing and harassment for visiting other properties he believed violated township ordinances.
"Because of that situation, he's made threats to numerous police officers, the township manager, even the magistrate," Connolly said.
I have the notion that Libertarians would really want to give Mr. Baker a medal.