BY TERRY AHNER

TAHNER@TNONLINE.COM

Charges have been bound over for court against a Palmerton man charged with illegal dumping of sewage at a Carbon County restaurant.

Gilbert Green, 68, was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing Wednesday before District Judge William Kissner of Palmerton.

Instead, Green agreed to waive his right to the hearing, and will appear Dec. 17 for a pretrial status conference in Carbon County.

Green faces charges on one count each of unlawful conduct, prohibition against other pollution, pollution of waters, and sewage discharges.

He remains free in lieu of $10,000 unsecured bail.

According to the affidavit:

On Feb. 10, the Attorney General's office started an investigation based on information from Carbon County District Attorney Jean A. Engle that the Covered Bridge Inn had illegally dumped waste.

Jan. 3, state police went to the Covered Bridge Inn at 4300 Little Gap Road, Lower Towamensing Township, after a complaint that the Covered Bridge Inn was dumping sewage.

Trooper Marvin Shair arrived at the Covered Bridge Inn at 10:25 p.m. He parked in the vicinity of the Covered Bridge Inn, along Hahn's Dairy Road.

He noted the stench of sewage, and noted a septic system, including an underground tank.

Shair could hear a pump running, and observed a black electrical cord running from the tank to inside of the Covered Bridge Inn.

He also followed a black flexible pipe that ran across the surface of the ground into a storm drain located along Hahn's Dairy Road.

A green hose ran from a spigot on the side of the Covered Bridge Inn into the same storm drain.

Clear water was running from the green hose, and brown water was running from the black hose. The smell of sewage was evident.

Shair said Covered Bridge Inn staff said that the illegal pumping of sewage "had been going on for years," and referred him to Green, who was paid by the inn.

As part of his job duties, Green was instructed by owners to pump the liquid contents of the Covered Bridge Inn septic tank into a storm drain along Hahn's Dairy Road.

Green estimated that he was instructed to pump the tank about "every couple of weeks" and pumped the septic tank six times or more over the course of his employment.

Green said he was told to pump at night to avoid detection.