Robert Gerenser says boat rescue tapped resources
By: Cynthia Williamson
NEW HOPE Councilman Robert Gerenser spent a night in the Bucks County Jail in Doylestown last week for failing to appear at a hearing for child support he owes.
The Bucks County Sheriff’s Department served the contempt of court warrant on Mr. Gerenser around 8 a.m. Jan. 24 while he was having breakfast at the Bridge Street Café in New Hope.
If he had known about the Jan. 11 hearing, Mr. Gerenser said, he would have attended it. But notice of the hearing got "lost in a stack of mail." Furthermore, he never received a subsequent warning letter the Bucks County Domestic Relations Unit mails out if no response is received within three to four weeks of the initial notice, he said.
"If I had known there was a warrant out for my arrest," he said, "I would have gone right to the courthouse."
What bothers Mr. Gerenser more than the arrest is that word was "on the street 20 minutes after I was grabbed."
"Clearly, my political opponents were tipped off from inside law enforcement," he said, "and it brought them much joy and rejoicing."
He said political opponents will use the arrest as another "attempt to discredit me."
"In my opinion, this situation does not interfere with my abilities as a councilman," he said. "If it were embezzling public funds, that might interfere with my duties."
He said "personal problems due to financial affairs" is none of anyone’s business.
Mr. Gerenser estimates he is two or three months in arrears in child support payments, saying he fell behind due to a "bloody fortune" he has spent trying to recover his 65-foot sightseeing boat from the Delaware River. The vessel was untied from a dock in August behind an ice cream shop he owns on South Main Street and drifted downstream where it became stranded on rocks below the wing dam.
He said the recovery effort has cost him $20,000 not including the hours he has spent working on the vessel.
"It’s taken me away from the hands-on management of my business," he lamented. "Not being there to manage is what made me fall in arrears."
And while he said the "mothers of his children," a son, 15, and daughter, 9, are "understanding" about his financial woes, Mr. Gerenser said the court is much less forgiving.
"The problem is the new state payment system," he said. "If you miss a payment, it goes into the computer. It’s automatic; no fuss, no muss."
Since his arrest last week, Mr. Gerenser said he’s heard from "many fine upstanding citizens" who also found themselves "caught up in the paperwork guillotine."
"What I found interesting about my time in prison is people crying and complaining they owe $1,200 a year in child support," he said. "I pay more than that in a month and have been religiously for 13 years for my son and nine years for my daughter."
He pays $320 weekly in child support for his two children.
Mr. Gerenser said he still has faith in the judicial system but feels certain aspects of it need to be revamped.
"Yes, I did wrong," he said. "But the penalty is excessive for the infraction."
He was released from jail after meeting with the judge the day after his arrest.
With the spring tourist season less than two months away from bursting into full bloom, Mr. Gerenser says his "cash will start flowing again" and vows to bring his child support payments up to date.
"I love my kids," he declared. "They are well taken care of. They spend every possible minute they can with me."
He shares joint custody of his teen-age son who lives with Mr. Gerenser a majority of time in an apartment above the ice cream shop. The boy’s mother, Lisa Landley of Solebury, is Mr. Gerenser’s second wife.
Mr. Gerenser never married his daughter’s mother, Leah Reay Smith of Trevose, Pa., but he said the two have remained good friends. His daughter visits regularly, he said, recalling proudly she and a friend sold Girl Scout cookies in front of his store on a recent weekend.
He said personal problems of the past two years, including a broken leg, knee surgery, walking pneumonia and a mother in ill health, have impeded his ability to earn a living.
In September, a second property Mr. Gerenser owns in the borough at 6 Stockton Ave. was scheduled for the auction block for 1998 taxes he owed. He made the $4,000 payment by the deadline, and the property was removed from the tax sale list.