Areas of Practice

None; Retired from Practice of Law

Biography

Law Practice

Pennsylvania Bar Admission, 1956
Areas of Practice:
- Wills & Estates
- Real Estate
- Municipal Law
  - Emphasis: Zoning & Subdivision Law
  - Serving as: Township Solicitor; Borough Solicitor; Special Township Solicitor; Zoning Hearing Board Solicitor; Municipality Authority Solicitor; Land owners’ Counsel
Assistant Public Defender, late 1960s – early 1970s
New York Bar Admission, 1953

Professional Activities

Pennsylvania Bar Association:
- Chairman: Bar Related Titlel Insurance Study Committee – early 1960s
- Chairman: Municipal Law Section – 2 terms
Pennsylvania Bar Institute
Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors
Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association
- Course Planner, Moderator, Lecturer, Author of course study materials for several dozen CLE seminars regarding various aspects of municipal law, particularly Zoning & Subdivision law, as well as Regulatory Takings opinions of U.S. Supreme Court
  & Pennsylvania appellate courts.
Author of series of articles analyzing the United States Supreme Court’s Regulatory-Takings opinions in the cases of Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, Nolan v. California Coastal Commission, Dolan v. City of Tigard and Suitum v. Tahoe Regional
Planning Council, as well as the earlier Commonwealth Court’s opinion in McClimans v. Board of Supervisors of Shennango Township, which appeared in the Pennsylvania Law Journal and the Pennsylvania Law Weekly.
Author of Chapter entitled “Zoning Hearing Boards” , of Solicitor’s Handbook, distributed by the Governor’s Office to Municipal Solicitors throughout the Commonwealth.
Land owner’s counsel in landmark case of Anstine v. Zoning Board of Adjustment of York Township, 411 Pa. 33; 190 A2d 712; 1963 Pa LEXIS 474, where, for first time, an appellate court struck down a zoning ordinance for unreasonable, arbitrary and discriminatory
treatment of mobilehomes.
2013 Distinguished Service Award by Pennsylvania Bar Institute and the Municipal Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association: “In recognition of your commitment to the highest standard of excellence in Municipal Law”

Education

Wm. Penn Senior High School, York, PA, 1944
Pennsylvania Military College, 07/01/1944 – 12/31/1944
- Army Specialized Reserve Training Program
Gettysburg College, BA, 1949
University of Virginia School of Law, LLB, 1952

Military Service

Army of the United States:Reserves: 05/22/1944 – 12/31/1945
- Army Specialized Training Reserve Program @ Pennsylvania Military College, Chester, PA : 07/01/1944 -12/31/1944
Active duty: 01/02/1945 – 11/02/1946
- Asiatic Pacific Theater (Leyte & Japan): 08/03/1945 – 09/17/1946
- On troopship, in vicinity of Eniwetok, Marshall Islands, when 1st A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima. President Truman’s decision to drop the bombs saved my a–. Those who lament that act were not faced with the nightmare of invading the Japanese homeland.
  I can’t believe that I would have survived.
- On Leyte in Philippine Islands 10 days +/-
- Arrived Tokyo Bay 5 days after surrender signed on USS Missouri
- While member of Japan Occupation force, saw sample of pre-war Japan:
  - During 3 day pass to undamaged Kyoto: stayed in Japanese Hotel, through good office of the Japanese photographer, whom my 2nd Lt friend & I took along (all Jap facilities were off-limits to GI’s &, if caught the Lt & I would likely have been court marshaled & the Japanese prosecuted – so much for any law & order reputation I may have had; ate & enjoyed sukyaki dinner served by Geisha; bathed in communal bath – teeth chattered on immersion, as water scalding hot, but too embarrassed not to take the plunge – not particularly embarrassed at the mixed company.
  - Liked Japanese beer, particularly when compared to the 2.0% GI beer otherwise available.
  - Fortunate to be able to fly home & avoid 3 – 4 weeks of discomfort on a troop ship & arrive too late for college. Colleges opened late in 1946 – October 1 – because of great influx of returning Gi’s, whom they were not ready to accommodate. I was still in Japan on September 16,1946 & only the island-hopping 2 day flight in a C-54 brought me home in the nick of time.
  - Rank: Sergeant
U.S. Air Force Reserve: 1949-1954
- Rank: 2nd Lieutenant

Civic Activities

York Little Theater, 1957-1960
- The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (2nd male lead) – got to kiss the pretty girl
- Inherit The Wind, with Cameron Mitchel as W. Jennings Bryan (Radio Announcer)
- Othello (walk on)
- Set crew
Cancer Crusade, York County Chairman, 1960 & 1961
- Proud that contributions, in each of those years, greatly exceeded those in prior & many succeeding Crusades
York Jaycees
Izaak Walton League
Shrewsbury Lions Club: President
Masonic organizations, Current
- York Lodge # 266, F&AM, Coudersport Consistory, Zembo Shrine
Veterans of Foreign Wars

Personal Life

Parents – Harry L. McNeal, Sr. & Gertrude R. McNeal
Family:
- Wife: former Peggy Ann Hubbard – married: 10/07/1961; passed on: 08/15/2012
- Additional Family: One daughter & two grandsons
Home: “Fieldstone” – circa 1810, stone farmhouse on 20 acres, Southern York County, PA