Bellefonte preparing for crowds with Sandusky hearing

Bellefonte is gearing up for a monumental day Tuesday. Jerry Sandusky’s preliminary hearing is drawing crowds from all over.

When 6News made it into town, road signs were already up blocking off every entryway to the Centre County Courthouse. The borough Manager said this is unprecedented.

This small town full of history will be making it Tuesday. It will be seeing some of its largest crowds it’s ever drawn before.

“We’ve closed streets for special events, and things going on in the community, but I think this is going to be one of the largest events in our history,” Ralph Stewart, borough manager, said.

But it may not be for all of the right reasons. Media from all over was pouring into Bellefonte Monday night. Live trucks from NBC News, CNN, and Philadelphia were there to name a few.

“Definitely the volume of people is going to be picking up, traffic is picking up. We’re seeing a lot of media vehicles, a lot of onlookers coming into town, and I think anticipating a large crowd for tomorrow’s event,” Stewart said.

But the borough is making sure they’re prepared. Police have sections of Allegheny Street, West High and East High Streets blocked. Any entry leading to the courthouse was closed.

“We’ve put a lot of planning and time into this, and we have some good plans in place, ready to go, we believe just about anything’s going to take place,” Stewart said.

As Bellefonte is making its way into the national spotlight, residents are hoping the show is over as fast as it escalated.

“There is some inconveniences they’re [residents] dealing with and obviously that creates some anxiety, but hopefully they’ll be patient and work with us as we deal with this event in town,” Stewart said.

Stewart said he will be relieved when all of this is over.

Officials said if you are heading into town Tuesday, give yourself some extra time and be prepared to park farther away than usual. Traffic is expected to be at its worst right before the hearing around 8 a.m.