Black Forest Broadcasting

…Bradford man sentenced to prison for fatal crash….Beer thieves sought in McKean County…Credit card theft investigated in Eldred….Mansfield woman arrested for stealing vehicle….Bear hunters have three seasons this year….

McKean County

 Following a sentencing hearing at the McKean County Courthouse on October 13, 2022, President Judge John H. Pavlock sentenced Daniel Oaks, II, of Bradford to 19 months to 56 months incarceration in state prison as well as additional terms such as mental health evaluation; restitution; no contact with victims or their families; and boot camp; etc. Numerous witnesses provided testimony at the sentencing hearing for the Court to consider in fashioning the sentence. Oaks had been convicted following a jury trial of Homicide by Vehicle, Involuntary Manslaughter and three counts of Aggravated Assault by Vehicle. A trial in 2021 resulted in a hung jury on several of the counts but the jury convicted him of 5 counts of Recklessly Endangering Another Person at that time. District Attorney Stephanie L. Vettenburg-Shaffer and Assistant District Attorney Michael Alfieri retried those counts in a second  jury trial in August, 2022, and the jury convicted him of the remaining counts, Homicide by Vehicle, Involuntary Manslaughter and three counts of Aggravated Assault by Vehicle. The charges were the result of a motor vehicle crash that occurred in Duke Center, McKean County, on September 8, 2018. OAKS was the driver of a Subaru WRX that collided with a Dodge Ram that had been parked in a yard on Main Street. A passenger in the OAKS vehicle, Alyssa Hawk, died as a result of the crash and three men, who had been standing in the yard where the vehicle collided with the Dodge truck, suffered serious injuries. Following the crash, neighbors in the area of the crash provided aid to the injured.

State police at Lewis Run are looking for two men who stole merchandise from the Kane Sheetz last Saturday night. The thieves walked off with four cases of beer and a bottle of Fireball whiskey at about 10:30 pm.

A theft by deception is also being investigated by state police at Lewis Run. Someone fraudulently used a credit card belonging to a 56 year old Eldred man Sunday morning and the investigation is continuing.

Physical Harassment charges have been filed against a 37 year old Ludlow man. State police did not release details and withheld the suspect’s name. The incident allegedly occurred on Church Street in Hamilton Township early Monday morning.

Troopers at Lewis Run are seeking help in locating a lost firearm. It is a black semi automatic pistol which was lost last early last Friday on Airport Road in Lafayette Township. Anyone who finds the gun or has information is asked to call state police at 814.368.9230.

Tioga County

A 23 year old Stroudsburg, PA woman was arrested by Mansfield state police for theft of a motor vehicle. Troopers claim the suspect stole a vehicle belonging to a 50 year old Wellsboro man on October 1 on Leone Lane in Charleston Township. The vehicle was later recovered by Horseheads Village Police Department and returned to the owner.

Statewide

Pennsylvania is once again offering three bear seasons this year.Properly licensed hunters can take black bears

in multiple ways – with bows, muzzleloaders and, in cases, even rifles – in what can be considered the early bear season.That includes the archery bear season, which runs from Sept. 17 to Nov. 25 in Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) 2B, 5C and 5D, from Oct. 1 to Nov. 18 in WMU 5B, and statewide from Oct. 15 to Nov. 5. It also includes the muzzleloader and special firearms seasons. Muzzleloader hunters can take a bear from Oct. 15 to 22, while juniors, seniors and some other special categories of hunters – including mentored hunters ages 16 and under, active-duty military and certain disabled persons’ permit holders – can harvest a bear with a firearm from Oct. 20 to 22.

The second component of Pennsylvania bear hunting is the regular statewide bear season. It runs from Nov. 19 to 22, including the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Finally, there’s the extended bear season, which allows hunters with a license for bears to take one during all of part or the firearms deer season. The extended season runs from Nov. 26 to Dec. 3 in WMUs 1B, 2C, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E and 5A, including the Saturday and Sunday that mark the first two days of deer season, and from Nov. 26 to Dec. 10 in WMUs 2B, 5B, 5C and 5D, which includes the entirety of deer season.

Hunters can take only one bear during the license year. But added together, those seasons provide a lot of opportunity.

A total of 215,219 people bought a bear license in 2021; that was not far off 2020’s record sales of 220,471. In both years, only white-tailed deer put more hunters in the woods.

The numbers prove that. Hunters harvested 3,659 bears in 2021. That’s the state’s fifth-best harvest ever.

Those bears came from across the seasons.