By Nathan Willisonm, LNP, Lancaster, Pa. (TNS)
Kimmel Schaefer Jr.’s family property in Paradise Township is highly flammable.
His business, Schaefer Fireworks, stores pyrotechnics on site, and his father’s business, Schafco Packaging, keeps flammable lubricants on the property. That became an issue when Schaefer’s next-door neighbor began leaving bonfires unattended, according to testimony Tuesday in Lancaster County Court.
The hearing had its own fireworks, resulting in Judge Leonard Brown III ordering sheriff deputies to remove Schaefer’s neighbor, Samuel E. Esh, from the courtroom.
What started as a typical cease-and-desist case involving municipal ordinances has devolved into a protracted legal conflict with one side attempting to appeal to biblical law.
The township notified Esh, who operates Sam the Tree Guy tree services on Georgetown Road about four miles southeast of Strasburg, that he was violating township burning and nuisance codes in April 2022 and asked him to stop.
The township also contended that Esh failed to get a …