NORTHERN CAMBRIA - At the height of the Cold War, volunteer groups such as Northern Cambria Civil Defense served as neighborhood task forces on how to prepare for and react to the threat of Communist attacks.
Those days may be decades gone, but one group's rustic Susquehanna Township headquarters apparently still operates and has a tax-exempt status that is now under the county's microscope.
Cambria County President Commissioner P.J. Stevens said a complaint brought the issue to the county's attention. After doing some homework on it, the commissioners now plan to challenge that exemption status, where a 65-acre property is rumored to have become a quiet social club that draws little outside interest.
"Times have changed. And for the sake of fairness, we're just trying to find out what the case is," Stevens said. "If they should be tax-exempt, we'll welcome that. But if their mission has changed and their charter is not valid, they should pay their fair share."
The club is located in Susquehanna Township and within the confines of the Northern Cambria School District, neither of which receive taxes from the property. This week, the county sent letters to the school district and township, asking if the pair want to join the county in its appeal, which would eventually be brought before the local Assessment Appeals board.
"They'd come before the board, produce a charter, their mission and activities and we'd go from there," Stevens said. "We just want to clarify the matter."
Records show the group was granted a tax exemption in 1963. And until now, the status apparently had not been questioned.
The property is listed as 65 acres, containing two buildings and a pavilion.
Records also show the group has a small games of chance license.
On a 2008 license renewal, the group described itself as a "volunteer rescue squad" although the Cambria County Department of Emergency Services officials said they were unaware of the group.
Group members weren't reached for comment. No one answered phone calls to a number listed in the group's name.
Tax records list the property in care of Dean Whited of Northern Cambria, who did not appear to have a listed number. A telephone number listed to Susquehanna Township's Joseph Vozar, the group's apparent president, was disconnected.
Mirror Staff Writer David Hurst is at 946-7457.
