by David Flint
A man with a gun threatening to commit suicide caused quite a stir on the Plank Road in Berlin last Friday afternoon, resulting in the road being closed down for some time. Jacob Morris, who lives up on the Plank Road, not too far from the village of Berlin, said he was driving up the road on his way home when a police car came “flying by.” Then he saw two more police cars in the road by his neighbor’s house on the property owned by Marion Goodermote. He was astonished to observe in addition a State Trooper with his handgun drawn and a
Sheriff’s Deputy with a shotgun yelling to a man on the porch to “Put the gun down!”
Eventually, he said something like a dozen police and Sheriff’s cars arrived and completely shut the road down. And, noisily circling above, he could see a State Police helicopter.
The man in distress was Alan Neaton who is the caretaker of the property for Goodermote. According to Goodermote’s daughter, Jan Newport, Neaton had recently been informed that he would have to move out. Morris said he did not see Neaton threaten anyone with the gun. After about a half hour the police took Neaton into custody and took him away.
State Police spokesperson Maureen Tuffey said the subject, 63 years old, was reported to be suicidal and in possession of a 22 caliber rifle. He had been going back and forth between the houses of his brother and sisters threatening to shoot himself. He was apprehended under the Mental Health law and transported to the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Albany.
