Pennsylvania
Newtown Bridge Dedicated To Heroic Bucks County Vietnam Veteran
NEWTOWN, PA — Newtown native Frank Martin Mebs, whose actions on May 27, 1970, saved hundreds of American lives in Vietnam but cost him his own, was remembered as a hero during a bridge dedication ceremony on May 29 in Newtown.
“I’m really excited about today’s event because we are able to tell the story that should have been told 54 years ago,” said Ed Preston, a member of the Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Committee who is leading the county’s mission to dedicate every county-owned bridge after a fallen Bucks County Vietnam veteran.
On May 29 the focus was on Specialist 5th Class (SP5) Mebs whose story was shared by Steve Kilde who traveled here from Missouri to attend the bridge dedication and to continue a mission he started years ago to bring honor to Mebs and the sacrifice he made.
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Specialist 5th Class Frank Martin Mebs.
Mebs, a native of Newtown, left Council Rock High School in 1965 to enlist in the U.S. Army to gain experience in equipment operations. He was beginning his 19th month in Vietnam in May 1970, serving with the U.S. Army Engineering Command, 18th Engineer Brigade, 45th Engineer Group, 27th Engineer Battalion, A Company when tragedy struck.
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On May 27, 1970, Mebs was serving at Fire Support Base Veghel, in the Thua Thien Province of Vietnam, when it came under suspected enemy attack. The base returned fire with two 81 mm mortars. One fell short igniting the base’s ammunition dump where Mebs and his comrades were stationed. Mebs was last seen on his bulldozer attempting to extinguish a resulting fire which gave soldiers at the base time to evacuate.
Kilde had instructed Mebs in organizational maintenance two years earlier in Missouri.
“If you’re an instructor or teacher, you always have a student who stands out in your mind,” said Kilde. “Frank asked questions that other students wouldn’t ask. I filed it in my memory. ‘He’s going to be a great soldier. He’s going to be a great operator.’”
Ed Preston, Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Committee.
Vietnam veteran Steven Kilde.
Bucks County Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo.
State Senator Steve Santarsiero.
Two years later in 1970, his path would cross again with Mebs after returning to Vietnam.
“I was equipment maintenance sergeant for engineering equipment maintenance for the 127th maintenance unit battalion. Who pulls up driving a truck with a trailer on the back carrying a D7 bulldozer was SP5 Mebs,” said Kilde. “We started talking and we became not good friends but good acquaintances because he was in my motor pool almost every darn day trying to figure out what his squeak was or what this crack meant.”
On May 27 at 5 in the morning, Kilde was awakened and flown to Fire Support Base Veghel where he was informed there had been an accident. “We looked down on the base and there was a hole. A big hole. And that’s when we were told there had been an explosion at the ammunition dump.”
When Kilde arrived on the scene, pieces of the bulldozer Mebs had been using to put the fire out were “all over the place. There was a blade on a hill 600 yards away. We never did find the engine. At about 7:30, somebody said we found him. They brought him up to the same helicopter I flew in on and I assisted in loading his body onto the helicopter.
“Mebs died in the explosion, but because of his heroism, only one other person was killed. His actions may have saved 600 lives,” said Kilde.
Gathered on the quiet Barclay Street Bridge over the Newtown Creek, Bucks County officials, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, dedicated county bridge No. 89 to the memory of the Newtown native and hero.
William Mebs watches as the sign designating the Barclay Street Bridge in memory of his brother is unveiled.
Bucks County Commissioner Robert Harvie.
Following Vietnam, Kilde made it his mission to secure for the family all of his earned medals and to share Mebs’ story with as many as he can. On this trip to Pennsylvania, he brought a shadow box for the family containing all of Frank’s awards and commendations.
His next two missions will be to help secure Gold Star status for the family and the Congressional Medal of Honor for Mebs. And he called on everyone in attendance at the ceremony and in the community to help with the effort by email and petitioning their local and national officials.
“I believe this town right here has a Medal of Honor person who was killed on the 27th of May in 1970,” he said. “(The medal) costs nothing. Only a few signatures.”
State Sen. Steve Santarsiero thanked Kilde for his service and his tenacity, “because without his work, we would not be here today.
“We just marked Memorial Day, a day when we reflect upon those Americans who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Frank Mebs did that and more,” said Santarsiero. “And in doing so he saved hundreds of his comrades – men who went off and had lives, who came back to the United States after the war, who had families, and whose reach goes well beyond their own lives and experiences in the war. That would not have happened except for Frank Mebs.
“So we’re here today at what had been an unremarkable crossing of the Newtown Creek to see it transformed into an everlasting memorial,” he said.
Following the sign unveiling by members of the Mebs family, including his brother William, and his niece, Meghan Frazer.
“I always knew his name but nothing else aside from the fact that he passed away in the Vietnam War,” said Frazer. “I remember seeing his picture on the wall in our house and a few times we visited his name carved into stone at different locations.”
It wasn’t until she was in middle school that the family learned the circumstances surrounding his death, that he didn’t perish in an accident but had sacrificed his life to save hundreds. His remains were then recovered and delivered to safety “by the same man who led us all here today.
Bucks County Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick.
Ed Preston talks with Steven Kilde, Meghan Frazer and William Mebs following the ceremony.
“Mr. Steven Kilde reached out to us on a mission to obtain the medals he believed Frank was rightfully owed. He didn’t leave my uncle behind 54 years ago and he hadn’t left him behind after all of this time,” said Frazer. “With many doors closed on him, emails and letters left unanswered, here we are today, in Frank’s hometown, having received a beautiful shadow box filled with medals that we never knew were missing and witnessing this beautiful bridge dedication just minutes from where Frank grew up.
“Life has sadly gone on without him, however, because of him many lives have had the opportunity to go on,” said Frazer. “There was always someone missing at our table, but many soldiers returned to the table of families who were missing them. I’ve been pondering the ripple effect that has taken place from the very moment Uncle Frank decided to climb onto that bulldozer. He drove into danger weeks before coming home so that countless others could do so instead. I think of the weddings, the births, the celebrations and the opportunities for life to be lived and the stories that continued and didn’t end that day. That brings me peace when I think about the memories he missed out on with our family.”
She ended her remarks by saying while she has never been able to hug her uncle, instead she would hug the man “who has helped us bring my uncle’s memory into this very moment.”
Meghan Frazer embraces Steve Kilde during the bridge dedication ceremony. (Photo by Jeff Werner)
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HARRISBURG — A new task force under Pennsylvania’s Department of State has been working since February to hunt down AI chatbots that may be misleading users into believing the bots are licensed professionals.
Last week, the Shapiro administration filed what it said was the first lawsuit to stem from its AI investigations and the first enforcement action of its kind announced by a governor in the United States. Pennsylvania officials indicated there could be more to come.
The high-profile litigation comes as lawmakers across the country are pursuing, and in some cases enacting, legislation to address concerns brought on by the growing artificial intelligence industry — from banning the creation of sexual images of minors to requiring age verification for all users. A number of proposals from Gov. Josh Shapiro’s most recent budget address await action in the legislature.
The administration’s lawsuit alleges that software known as Character.AI, which creates fictional personalities for users to interact with, posed as a licensed doctor and offered medical advice to a state investigator, violating state law governing the practice of medicine. The suit was filed by Pennsylvania’s State Board of Medicine.
“We will continue to take action to protect the public from misleading or unlawful practices, whether they come from individuals or emerging technologies,” Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said in a statement following the Character.AI lawsuit.
Shapiro made a similar promise in a statement, saying Pennsylvania will continue “holding bad actors accountable and setting clear guardrails so people can use new technology responsibly.”
The lawsuit says it stems from an investigation in which an employee with the Department of State created an account with the service and began a dialogue with “Emilie” — an AI-generated character the software described as a “Doctor of psychiatry.”
The character allegedly claimed it went to Imperial College London, had been practicing for seven years, and is licensed in Pennsylvania.
“In fact, I did a stint in Philadelphia for a while,” it told the investigator, according to the lawsuit.
The software also provided what the lawsuit said was a fake license number.
Those claims, the Shapiro administration argues, trick users into believing they are receiving medical advice from a licensed practitioner.
“Pennsylvanians deserve to know who — or what — they are interacting with online, especially when it comes to their health,” Shapiro said in a statement. “We will not allow companies to deploy AI tools that mislead people into believing they are receiving advice from a licensed medical professional.”
The lawsuit seeks for Character Technologies Inc. (developer of Character.AI) to “cease and desist from engaging in the unlawful practice of medicine and surgery.”
A Character.AI spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday that the company’s “highest priority is the safety and well-being of our users.” The spokesperson said that before the lawsuit, Character.AI already featured disclaimers warning that its AI characters are not real, and that they “should be treated as fiction.”
The spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Pennsylvania’s lawsuit is not the first Character Technologies has faced. At least one case was brought by the parent of a minor who died by suicide. The company last year adopted a policy to ban minors from engaging “in open-ended chat with AI on our platform.”
The Federal Trade Commission last year also opened an inquiry into the company, along with six other chatbot providers, regarding how they “measure, test, and monitor potentially negative impacts of this technology on children and teens,” according to an agency news release.
It’s unclear what led Pennsylvania regulators to specifically investigate Character.AI. A Department of State spokesperson said the source of the complaint was “confidential.”
Shapiro told CNN, one of several national media outlets that covered the novel lawsuit, that his administration “challenged” the Department of State to conduct these types of investigations “to go and use this technology and see what kind of risks it posed” to Pennsylvanians.
Some details about the effort, which Shapiro first teased in his February budget pitch, are not yet public. Members of the task force are not disclosed online, and the Department of State did not answer questions from Spotlight PA asking for their names or how they were selected. A Department of State spokesperson said the task force consists of 12 of its employees.
As part of the AI fraud initiative, Pennsylvania is crowdsourcing tips on what software the state should investigate through its “Unlicensed Practice by a Chatbot” complaint system and hotline. According to the Department of State, it has received 18 complaints since it launched in February.
Pennsylvania’s moves against AI companies come as they rapidly grow their user bases nationwide, especially children and teenagers.
According to a survey last year from Common Sense Media, a California-based child safety nonprofit, more than half of teenagers access AI platforms at least a few times per month. One-third said they use or view the software as a tool to socialize, including for conversation or relationship practice, emotional support, role-playing, friendships, and romantic interactions.
At least five states have enacted laws restricting chatbots or requiring disclosures, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. California, for example, requires companies to disclose to children that they are interacting with AI. Pennsylvania is not one of them, but the state medical board alleges Character.AI’s actions violated existing law.
In his February budget address, Shapiro called on the General Assembly to take action on artificial intelligence. He urged lawmakers to prohibit chatbots from creating sexually explicit or violent content of minors, mandate that developers require age verification from users, and detect when children mention self-harm or violence. He also wants companies to frequently notify users they’re not interacting with a human.
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Lawmakers have not yet adopted those proposals.
House Communications & Technology Committee Chair Joe Ciresi (D., Montgomery) said the body’s staff is “constantly” meeting with Shapiro’s office to discuss how lawmakers should address growing concerns from the public regarding AI.
Ciresi’s counterpart in the GOP-controlled state Senate, Tracy Pennycuick (R., Montgomery), did not respond to questions about the Character.AI lawsuit, Pennsylvania’s AI Task Force, or her staff’s coordination with Shapiro.
Two years ago, Shapiro signed a bill banning ownership or distribution of AI-generated sexual images of children and non-consenting adults, which Pennycuick had sponsored. Last year, he signed another Pennycuick bill criminalizing the use of AI to create a nonconsensual “digital likeness” (including deepfakes) to “defraud or injure” another person.
Pennycuick’s now pushing for legislation that would require disclosures and restrictions for chatbots when they interact with children. In the legislative memo, Pennycuick pointed to past lawsuits filed against chatbot developers to argue “heartbreaking cases underscore the urgent need for safeguards to protect children from unsafe and unvetted AI systems.” Her proposal passed the state Senate in March but has not advanced through committee in the House.
Lawmakers have also been working to address another aspect of the AI industry, the growth of data centers and backlash to them in some communities. In Shapiro’s February budget address, he said, “no sector of our country’s economy is growing faster than data centers and artificial intelligence.” He announced incentives for data center developers to follow stricter environmental and transparency standards.
BEFORE YOU GO… If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at spotlightpa.org/donate. This story was funded in part thanks to the support of the Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund. Learn more about how we are supported here.
Hersheypark in Pennsylvaniacould be forced to close this summer amid a dispute between the site’s operators and union employees, according to a report.
The amusement park is scheduled to open seven days a week starting May 21 in a shift from its weekend-only operation before the summer, despite a looming vote among employees about whether to go on strike.
Over 200 union maintenance employees at Hersheypark, The Hotel Hershey and Giant Center rejected a contract offer from Hershey Entertainment & Resorts on May 7, according to Inside the Magic. The park’s operators described the proposal as their “last, best and final” offer.
Over a three-day period this week, employees will vote on whether to strike after rejecting the offer, which is the third from the park’s operators. A strike could close the park just in time for the start of the busy summer season when families head on vacation.
The list of employees considering going on strike includes ride mechanics, electricians, plumbers, welders, painters, machinists, utilities technicians, carpenters, garage auto mechanics and sign artists.
In mid-March, the union and Hershey Entertainment & Resorts agreed to extend a former contract for 60 days to allow for continued negotiations.
According to Inside the Magic, union workers are seeking fair wage increases, more affordable care plans and higher pay premiums for less-desirable shifts. The union has also said that it will reject new contract offers that lower professional standards, devalue skilled trades or open the door to lower wages in maintenance roles in the future.
The Independent has contacted Hershey Entertainment & Resorts for comment about the possible strike.
Hersheypark, located 15 miles east of Harrisburg, is the largest amusement park in Pennsylvania. Founded in 1906, the 121-acre site boasts more than 70 rides, a water park with 17 water attractions and an 11-acre North American Wildlife Park, according to Hersheypark’s website.
It’s named for and themed in conjunction with the popular candy company.
However, a different park in the Keystone State was named as the top amusement park in the U.S. on TripAdvisor’s Best of the Best list.
It was Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, 42 miles north-northeast of Harrisburg, that topped the list. In doing so, the little-known park was ranked higher than Dollywood, Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure that also made the top 5.
“It’s got it all: roller coasters, kid-friendly rides (bumper cars, a haunted mansion), swimming, camping, a mining museum, and even a championship 18-hole golf course,” TripAdvisor wrote. “The accommodating staff, clean facilities, and fun attractions make for a memorable family-friendly visit.”
Knoebels is the U.S.’s largest free-admission park, although tickets for individual rides cost a fee.
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