Anyone who?s been to an Allentown City Council meeting this summer has been witness to a disquieting ritual.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Bill Villa gets to his feet and asks for a public apology from Councilman Michael Donovan.

Villa begins with a blistering condemnation of Donovan, asks for an apology, and cedes the final 60 seconds of his three-minute allotment back to the councilman. Then, for an eternal uncomfortable minute, the chamber sits silent. At the expiration of the time, Council President Mike D?Amore says, ?Thank you, Mr. Villa,? and the meeting moves on.

At Wednesday?s council meeting, after this ritual was repeated and Villa left, D?Amore raised the question whether there should be limits placed on Villa?s comments.

Councilman Michael Schlossberg read a passage from city council rules: ?Privilege of the floor will not be extended for personal insults or personal attacks on any individual, name calling or other behavior that is inconsistent with the purpose and intent of conducting city business.?

Councilman Julio Guridy raised the issue whether it was necessary for council to hear the same message repeated from week to week.

Councilwoman Jeanette Eichenwald said she would be ?exceedingly hesitant? to put restrictions on the public comment portion of the meeting. And Donovan himself said, ?I am prepared to go through this crap every time because of democracy.?

Councilman Ray O?Connell said he was more concerned about disruptions he claimed Villa makes when interacting with other members of the public in attendance.

Council reached no resolution on the matter, but D?Amore asked for a legal opinion on where lie the ?boundaries? of what council may do, both constitutionally and as per the city charter. The issue of how a speaker?s comments would be curtailed was not addressed.

Villa is asking an apology for comments that Villa says Donovan encouraged on his private website in March of this year. The comments, mostly from anonymous authors, assailed Villa?s character.

In April, Villa brought a charge against Donovan before the city Ethics Board. He accused Donovan of allowing the website posts for Donovan?s ?social and political gain,? to curry favor with other bloggers who then might write favorably about Donovan. In June, the board ruled that Donovan had not violated the code. Ever since, Villa has appeared at each council meeting, and repeated his demand that Donovan apologize.

At last night?s meeting after Villa departed, Donovan said, ?If I had done something wrong, I would be the first to apologize. The problem is that this is being totally distorted.? Villa and Donovan agree that Donovan himself did not write the posts, but Villa says Donovan encouraged others to attack him with interjections such as ?attack away on both sides,? and ?I?m just going to let all the comments run. They are fun to read.?

Villa?s daughter Sheena, a 25 year old dance instructor, was killed in a car accident in March 2006. She was a passenger in a car driven by Robert LaBarre of Allentown.

In February 2007. LaBarre pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, and was sentenced to five-and-a-half to 12 years in prison. At the time, Villa criticized Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin for not pursuing 3rd degree murder charges. Martin said there was insufficient cause for the stiffer charge. Villa later criticized the Morning Call newspaper for not taking Martin to task. Villa posted his criticisms, often in biting sarcastic language, often alleging corruption and conflicts of interest, on a website of his own. Both the newspaper and the DA dismissed Villa?s allegations as unfounded.

Villa?s internet campaign led to engagement with other Lehigh Valley-area bloggers, some who initially supported Villa?s cause. But over time, the engagement turned caustic, with Villa and other bloggers regularly taunting each other online. Their animosity spilled over into the courts with several bloggers filing complaints of Summary Harrassment against Villa and Villa countersuing for libel and malicious prosecution.

Donovan claims he too initially helped Villa and ?went to bat for him? on several occasions. But when a Donovan blog was published in the Morning Call, Donovan says, Villa began attacking Donovan online. ?I?m an easy target because I?m an elected official,? Donovan said. Donovan questions why no one is talking about the ?hundreds of pages? of attacks he says Villa has posted against him.

In this environment of fractious online hostility, late last year and early this year, Donovan allowed anonymous contributors and the same bloggers with whom Villa has tangled to discuss Villa on Donovan?s website. The comments castigated Villa for what the bloggers saw as Villa?s preoccupation with his daughter?s death, at one point comparing his advocacy to necrophilia. The anonymous post in early April read, ?Necrophilia is a mental illness where patients have odd attitudes towards the dead. In Allentown we have a man who pimps a dead woman's memory to extort pity for himself.?

The necrophilia remark remained on Donovan?s website for less than 24 hours. The other comments disappeared in mid-June when Donovan changed the format of his website. Donovan says he changed the website in order to gain more control in moderating its online discussions. He says the deletion of the comments relating to Villa occurred inadvertently when he was moving material from his old website to the new one. Villa contends that the deletion of the comments was intentional and is tantamount to an admission of guilt.