Lititz Record Express

              Three
■ Civilization is the ad­vancement
from shoeless
toes to toeless shoes.'
Sites
The
Listed For Bobst Recreation Center
Lititz Record - Express The bitterness of poor
quality remains long after
the sweetness of cheap
Serving The Warwick Union Area For Nearly A Century price is forgotten.
83rd Year E stab lish e d April, 1877, a s The Sunbeam
(Consolidated w ith The Iiitltz Record, 1937) Lititz, Lancaster Co., Pa., Thursday, June 25, 1959 7 cents a Copy; $3.00 pe r y e a r by mall
with in L an c a s te r County; $3:50 elsewhere. No. 12
Present
Plot Is
Included
Negotiations Begun
With Owners Of
Land Involved
A site for the proposed new
I. Walton Bobst Recreation
Center has been narrowed to
three possibilities, it was an ­nounced
yesterday.
Richard S. Allebach, chair­man
of a planning committee
for the new center, a gift from
industrialist Elmer H. Bobst
in memory of his late father,
listed the possibilities as:
1. The present site in ­cluding
the Lititz Springs
Pretzel Bakery property.
2. The present site in ­cluding
th e parking lo t of
the Veterans of Foreign
Wars, Post 1463 and
3. The plot west of the
p a rk and no rth of the War­wick
High School, owned
jointly by th e park and the
borough.
Allebach said ground work
on the three sites has been in­itiated.
Members of the plan­ning
committee, he said, are
a t the stage where they’re
ready to talk price to the own­ers
of the pieces of land in­volved.
Price, he said, will be a fac­to
r in the final choice since
th e committee wants to pro­vide
the most in recreation
facilities for every dollar
spent.
Meet Ju ly 2
The committee is hopeful
some kind of tentative reports
on each plot and the cost in­volved,
will be ready for its
next meeting, scheduled for
Thursday, July 2.
Utilization of the present
site was seen as a possible
savings in the overall cost.
The ground and present Rec­reation
Center was given to
Lititz by Ralph Spacht, fathe r
of the recreation program in
Lititz, as a gift.
Spacht envisioned the need
for providing facilities which
(Continued on Page 6)
2nd Pool Report
Due Council
Next Tuesday
Borough Council will hear a
second report on the progress
of a swimming pool commit­tee
a t its meeting Tuesday,
June 30.
George Kaldnich, chairman
Of the committee, reported on
progress a t the May meeting.
The committee is charged
with investigating th e feasibi­lity
of a public swimming pool
for Lititz, financed by a $170,-
000 bond issue.
Council wants a final re ­port
by August. Then it will
weigh recommendations made
by the committee and decide
whether to float the bond
issue, authorized by a referfen-dum
last November.
Boro House Ransacked, Police Dept. Silent
A . U , P „ . . Burglars Steal $9
For Not Working
A Warwick High School
teacher has asked the school
board to pay teachers for ta k ­ing
days off.
The request was made by N.
Lee Klopp, Brownstown, a ma­thematics
teacher in the high
school.
The board’s present policy
is not to pay teachers who
take unauthorized days off.
Teachers are granted ten days
sick leave annually. Sick leave
may be accumulated so th a t a
teacher would he eligible for as
much as 30 days sick leave In
any one school year without
losing any pay.
Klopp’s request was in addi­tion
to the sick leave ruling.
He said la st year he had
taken off to go hunting and
th e school board, under its
PROMOTED
‘BONGO’ ROCK’ AT
PARK FRIDAY NIGHT
Senior Girl Scout Troop 17
will sponsor “The Bongo Rock”
dance a t the pavilion in Lititz
Springs Park Friday from 8-
11:30 p.m.
The public Is invited to this
dance, for which Johnny Johns
will be master of ceremonies.
Mrs. Robert Dull,, troop lead­er,
in in charge and aided by
Mrs. Cynthia Sites.
Robert T. Rihn, 413 South
Spruce Street, (L ititz ), has
been promoted to adm inistra­tor,
Market Planning, Power
Tubes, officials of th e Lan­ca
ste r P la n t of th e Radio Cor­poration
of America announc­ed.
-R ih n was manager, Pow­e
r Tube Manufacturing, and
has held various positions in
Manufacturing ahd Quality
Control during sixteen years
with RCA. He attended Penn
State University. F o r the
p ast fo u r years he has been
associated' with th e Small
Business Division of th e Lan­caster
County Uiiited Cam­paign.
This year he was
named Chairman of th e Divi­sion,
responsible fo r contact­ing
over 900 small commercial
and in d u stria l firms an d bus­inesses
in metropolitan Lan­caster.
Here in Lititz, h e h a a
been actively engaged in th e
Community Center an d has
served as a director an d past
president of the Board. Rihn
and his family of two children
have resided in L ititz for th e
p a st eight years.
Sewer Line Tn'
On Locust1 Street ■
in stallatio n of sewer lines
on Locust Street between Mar­ion
and Second Avenue has
been completed by the Lititz
Machine Co.
Work on a second line in
the area, to be installed by the
Paul Berry firm, is slated, to
begin on July 6.
Buch Recalls Tale Of
Civil War Escape Try
ruling, deducted the time off
from his salary. The board
ru lin g has been in eifect since
th e new high school building
Is in operation.
It covers 109 teachers in the
Warwick District. School board
memibers said they felt the
ruling is necessary because
unauthorized leave taking
would strain the school budget.
Klopp proposed th a t the
board consider paying teachers
the difference in the salary
paid a substitute and the re­gular
teacheTS salary. This
would be about $10 a day. He
cited th a t in 42 years as a
teacher, last year was the first
time in his experience a district
had deducted from his salary
for days he went hunting.
Own Idea
He told the board he was
making the appeal of his own
volition since requests th a t the
Warwick Teachers Asn. bring
up the matter hadn’t been ful­filled.
Normally, such requests
go through the association
channels to the administration
and then to the school board.
In addition to ten days paid
sick leave a year, teachers now
get three days leave with pay
in the event of the death of a
close relative and one day with
pay in the event of d ea th of a
d istan t relative.
Board members d id n ’t dis­cuss
the matter a fte r Klopp
left the meeting tabling it until
the July session.
By Ralph Buch
(Ninth Installment)
Rev. I. W. Bobst served a
long pastorate here. He was
a Civil War veteran who had
survived as a prisoner both a t
Andersonville and Libby pris­ons.
Occasionally he would
give a lecture on th is ordeal,
always mentioning with sad­ness
of meeting a fellow
prisoner by the name of Stur­gis,
of Lititz.
By tunneling under the
prison walls, many escaped.
Sturgis was very sick prior to
the date set for th e attempt
to escape and Bobst told him
to try to- hold on and join,
them th a t night. But Stur­gis
died the same day.
He was a brother of- Julius
and Nathan Sturgis of town,
the la tte r b ro th e r returning
from the war with a bullet
wound through the stomach.
He carried th e bullet a fte r­ward
in his pocket as a me­mento.
Throughout the years, the
local papers have often de­scribed
the successes of Lititz
boys who went out into the
world and made good.
Rev. William Pfautz, now
a successful preacher in the
weit, came up the hard way.
In his young days he was a
(Continued on Page 6)
Boro Man To Attend
D.A.V. Convention
Joseph R. Gelato, 341 N.
Broad St., will a tten d the con­vention
of the Disabled Ameri­can
Veterans in Asbury Park,
N. J., June 25 to June 28.
A life member of the group
Gelato, who came to Lititz
two years ago, had been active
in veterans affairs in New
Jersey for 25 years. Gelato’s
wife has been employed by the
Lambert-Hudnut Co. for 30
years and the couple moved
here in, 195,7. Gelato is a
member of Veterans of
Foreign Wars Post 1463, Lit­itz.
Wage Tax
On July 6th
Effective
Residents of Lititz and the
Warwick School District viill
re tu rn from the Independence
Day celebration of Ju ly 4th, to
the shackle? of ’ democracies
latest form of taxation; a one
per cent levy on wages.
The levy becomes effective
on July 6th and is payable to
the school district. Every
resident of Warwick Twp., ex­cept
those ifnder age 16, rpust
comply with the tax enacted
by the Warwick School Dis­trict.
In enacting the wage tax the
school district Gut the pro­perty
tax from 49 to 45 mills
and sliced the per capita tax of
$10 in half, to $5.
Employers- w i t h i n th e
school d istric t wil) be req u ir­ed
by law to withhold th e
one p e r cent tax from th e pay
district. Then, th e law reads
of workers who live in th e
district. Then, the law reads,
q uarte rly payment by em­ployers
of the withheld tax­es
must be made to the
Lancaster County Tax Col­lection
Bureau which is
handling collection of wage
taxes for 16 local school dls- ,
tricts.
Tax money withheld for
Ju ly through September must
be paid on or before October
31; tax withheld from October
through December must be
¡laid on or before Ja n u a ry 31;
tax withheld Jan u a ry through
March, 1960 must be paid on
or before, April 30, 1960 and
tax. withheld April through
June, 1960 must be paid no
la ter than July 31, 1960.
Individuals whose employers
don’t deduct the tax must pay
twice yearly. Tax due for
Ju ly 6 through December 31,
1959 earnings, must be paid
on or before April 14, 1960.
Tax due on money earned be­tween
Ja n u a ry 1 and Ju ly 3,
1960 must be paid no la ter
(Continued on Page 6)
Russell R. Erb
Appointed Rural
Mail Carrier
Russell R. Ertb, Brunnerville,
has been appointed a ru ra l mail
carrier for the Lititz Route 3,
Acting Postmaster Raymond S.
Reedy announced.
Erib, well known as a basket­ball
and baseball official, oper­ates
a gasoline service station
in Brunnerville. His appoint­ment
as a ru ra l carrier becomes
effective Saturday.
Reedy said he succeeds tem­porary
carrier, Isaac H. Stoner
who had been servng the Lititz
Route 3 area since th e re tire ­ment
about a year ago of Paul
E. Bushong.
6:00 a.m.
8:00 a.m.
12:00 noon
1:00 p.m!
1:30 p.m.
3:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
7:30 p.m.
9:15 p.m.
9:30 p.m.
9:40 p.m.
10:30 p.m.
Tlic ivnoMiti'd llc ck Memorial ItaiiiNhcl!
■»tamis read) lo r I lie Jill) till I Vlchral ion
and Pageant of Candles. Estimated to cost
$15,000, it represents another stage of a
continuing p a rk improvements program in ­itiated
with a g ran t of over $ 100,000 by
July 4th Program
Ringing of the Church Bells.
Clearing of the Park.
Program of recorded music from the Band
Shell. » ^
Registration for Baby Parade at the Cof­fee
House.
Baby Parade follows main path and ends
at" Band Shell.
Concert by Luken’s Steel Band of Coates-ville.
Program of recorded music from the Band
Shell.
Concert by Luken’s Steel Band.
Pageant of the Queen of the Candles.
Illumination of the Park with thousands
of candles.
Concert by the Luken’s Steel Band.
Gigantic Fire Works Display.
Boro Industries
Plan Vacations
Over Holidays
Lititz industries go on a
vacation schedule sta rtin g June
27 when the majority of in­dustria
l firms here come to a
virtual shutdown for the In­dependence
Day holidays.
Skeleton staffs of mainten­ance
workers will be retained
by most firms. Thé schedule of
closings, as reported to the
Lititz Chamber of Commerce,
includes:
Alsam Shoe Co.; Badorf Shoe
Co., B. & G. Shoe Co., A. J.
Beford Shtoe Co., and Lititz
Shoe Co., from Saturday June
27 until Monday, July 6-
Lamlbert-iHudnut Manufact­uring
Laboratories from Sat­urday
June 27 until Monday,
July 13. Wilbur Chocolate Go.,
Saturday June 27. until Mon­day,
July 13. Animal Trap Co.
from Thursday July 2 and F ri­day
July 3 for some emplayees,
until Monday, July 20.
—Record-Express Photo
Elmer 11. Bobst. Improvements to the band-shell
were made with money donated by
Lititz a re a residents during a drive for
p a rk funds to augment the work begun by
Bobst. '
Board Lacks
Insurance
Assurance
An insurance policy purchas­ed
by the Warwick School Dis­tric
t isn ’t what the school
board was led to believe. Atty.
K. L. Shirk has informed di­rectors.
As a resu lt it provides no
coverage for children during
the Summer Playground ses­sion
from July 6 through Aug­ust
15, as originally thought.
The playground is a p a rt of the
Recreation Program which is
tied in with the school district.
School board members said
they would carry a protest
to th e Pennsylvania In su r­ance
Commissioner of what
it claimed was “false adver­tising”
by th e Maccabbees
Co., of Detroit, Mich.
Supervising Principal G. Mar­lin
Spaid said in advance pu­blicity
given the board by the
(Continued on Page 12)
Record Closed Fftr
July 4th Holidays
The Lititz Record-Express
Will n o t be published next
week so th a t our employes
might enjoy the July 4 th
holidays.
Publication will be re ­sumed
with th e issue of
Thursday, Ju ly 9. And th a t’s
a th re a t.
Groff Scores
Assessments Of
Township, Boro
' Reassessment of property in
Lititz Borough has been finish­ed
by the county amid the ob­jections
of one Warwick
School Director.
The director is Raymond
Groff, Rothsville, who claimed
th a t many assessments in Lit­itz
were lowered "while in War­wick
Township, where Groff
resides, they were raised.
Groff said he was going to
seek an explanation from the
county. j
He said he made his ob­servations
on some of the
assessments fo r th e Second
Ward of Lititz and compar­ed
them with some assess­ments
he knows were also
made In Warwick Township.
Although the county assess­ment
office tre a ts this infor­mation
as confidential, Groff
would have access to it
through his role as a school
director.
Groff’s allegations conflict­ed
with a statement by Donald
E. Climenson, the county’s
chief assessor. Climenson
.said Tuesday the assessment
unit could provide "equitable
assessments” for -Lititz when
the county commissioners set
a ratio to he used as a tax
base.
He said the value of the
land here is considered “ con­fidential”
until th e work has
been completed on a county­wide
basis. i
Groff said* he intended to
get figures to back up hjs
claims th a t Warwick Township
residents who have been re­assessed
by the program didn’t
fare as well as residents of
Lititz.
Top Band
Slated For
Concerts
The 117th annual F ourth of
July Celebration will feature
one of the best of its unique
programs. The Luken’s Steel
Band of Coatesville,’ outstand­ing
in the state, will present
two concerts, from 3: 00 p.m. to
5:00 p.m. and from 7:30 p.m.
to 10:30 p.m.
This band is known as
“Pennsylvania’s Finest Indust­rial
Band” and is directed by
Earl L. Mayberry. The program
will include semi-classical and
military music and novelty
numbers. Je rry John will be the
soprana soloist, there will be a
Steel Men’s Quarete and a
trumpet trio.
The program will begin in
the morning at 6:00 a.m. with
the ringing of the Church Bells.
At 8:00 a.m. th e -P a rk will be
cleared and every one will eith­er
leave or buy a ticket for the
day.
Recorded music- from the
Band Shell will begin a t noon
and registration for the ever
interesting Baby Parade will be
at 1:00 p.m. a t the Coffee
House with the parade at 1:30
p.m. on the main walk of the
Park ending a t the Band Shell.
A twenty-five dollar savings
bond will be given for the most
outstanding float with money
prizes for the following classes,
floats, most artistic, most origi­nal
and -best decorated coach.
(Continued on Page 6)
From ‘Piggy’ Banks
Alvin Y. Long, Wife
Married 50 Years
Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Y. Long,
148 South Broad St., observed
their fifieth wedding anniver­sary
quietly at the ir home yes­terday.
Mr. and Mrs. Long were
married on Ju n e 24th 1909 at
the home of Mrs. Long’s par- ,
ents Mr. and Mrs. George Sch-reiber
in Lititz. The Rev. Kyl-mer,
pastor of St. James Luth­eran
Church, Lititz officiated.
They are living in the same
house since the ir marriage.
Wilbur Co.
Union Gets
32c Raises
A contract calling for a total
of 32 cents an hour raises with­in
the next three years has-been
sighted by Wilbur Chocolate Co.
and the American Bakery and
Confectionery Workers, it was
announced this week.
Warren Newcomer, president'
of the Wiibur Co., and Thmoas
P. Rearich, union president,
made a joint announcement of
the signing of the new three-year
contract.
I t calls for a raise of ten
cents a n hour effective Ju ly
1st. The old contract d id n 't
expire u n til Ju ly 30. Other
raises will he ten cents an
hour for the second yea r Of
th e contract and 12 cents an
hour in the th ird year.
Other terms of the negotia­tions
included some ad ju st­ments
in the hospitalization!’
plan.
Negotiations had been under­way
for several weeks. The
company’s offer was voted upon
and approved by th e union
memberships a fte r being pre­sented
by the negotiating com­mittee
of the union.
Albert Taft Home
Entered During
Family’s Absence
Burglars ransacked and
damaged a Lititz house last
week taking $7 in cash from
children’s “ piggy” banks, but
the borough police department
has maintained a silence on
Options Being
Lifted On Fish
Lake Land Sites
The State Fish Commission
has begun exercising options
obtained on land to build a
proposed Fish Commission
Lake near Zartman’s mill.
I t was the first concrete
move by the commissioh to
obtain land from some 30 pro­perty
owners involved. Options
were secured as much as six
to eight months ago.
With the commission exer­cising
the options it meant th e
land procurement is definite­ly
underway. Several proper­ty
owners acknowledged r e ­ceipt
of letters fr.om the com­mission,
sta ting it wanted to
purchase the land on whiclh
options had been taken.
The burglary, a t the home
of Mr. and Mrs. Albert W.
Taft, 413 N. Water St., occurr­ed
Tuesday of last week. Since
then Chief of Police Lloyd J.
Hoffman has kept it quiet
without explanation.
Yesterday when th e chief
was contacted for news he
reported the re was none.
He reported similarly la st
week. At th a t time some
disorderly conduct arrests
had been made, several for a
fight on the square. These,
too, were kept quiet.
Borough Manager David J.
Bauer said yesterday he knew
nothing of the burglary. Pres­ident
of Council Russell L.
Templeton said he was una­ware
of it and Burgess Ben­jamin
G. Forrest, under whom
the department operates, said
it was unknown to him, also.
However the burglary did
occur, it was ascertained,
while the Taft family was not
home. Entry was gained
through an unknown method
and drawers throughout the
entire house were ransacked
by thieves apparently in
search of money.
The intruders took an es­timated
$7 in cash from the
savings bank of Taft s daugh­ter,
Dianne and an estimated
$2 in cash from the bank of
a son, Ricky.
Shatte r Windows
In addition several large
picture windows in the rea r
of the house were shattered,
apparently by stones. “ Jimmy”
marks were evident about the
doors, indicating a screwdriv­er
or someother prying tool
was used in an effort to gain
entrance. None of the doors
was forced open, however.
The burglary was discover­ed
when the family returned
home and borough police were
notified, but have withheld in­formation
on the case.
Normally, police news is
dispensed by the chief. Efforts
by the Record to set up a
system whereby the depart­ment’s
records are available to
the press have been unsuccess­ful
and the police office is
kept under lock and key.
W. C. T. U. Meeting
Tuesday, July 7th
A meeting of the Women’s
Christian Temperance Union
will be held Tuesday, July 7
at the home of Ella Stauffer,
Kissel Hill.
The meeting will be a cover­ed
dish supper starting a t 6
p.m. Reports of activities for
the ye’a r will be made and an
election of officers held.
Salt In Wounds Of ‘Pretzel
Town’; Bakery Said Folded
One of Lititz most famous
industries, a pretzel bakery,
may have ceased operations
here, it was learned this week.
The bakery is th e Lititz
Springs Pretzel Co., Inc., lo­cated
adjacent to Lititz
Springs Park. Efforts to
check reports th a t operations
had ceased locally were un-sucessful.
However, it was learned
th a t th e bakery has been
idle th is week and local resi­dents
working th e re have
n o t been told whether they
should come back to work.
Edward Ozinski, Norristown,
one of the owners, was re­ported
unavailable yesterday
as was Charles “Chick” Brod-ie,
bakery manager. Brodie,
who resides in. Lancaster, was
in Lititz Monday and reported­ly
told friends th e bakery had
called it quits. >
Several months ago the firm
was reported in rocky finan­cial
straits, but a t a reorgan­ization,
decided to keep man­ufacturing
the Lititz Springs
pretzels.
Two Bakeries Left
Should reports prove tru e
it would leave Lititz with only
two pretzel bakeries. One,
the Lititz Pretzel House, oper­ated
by James D. Cleland
which is_ primarily a to u rist
attraction since it is acknow­ledged
as the birthplace of the
pretzel in America; th e other,
the bakery of Phares L. Ko-froth
a t 323 E. Main St.
The Lititz Springs -Pretzel
dates back to 189 0 when it
was first baked commercially
on F ro n t Street. Later the
present bakery was built ,by
P. B. Bucher and Samuel Erb.
Other owners were James J.
Huebener, Louis “Dewey’.’
Haines, Charles Brown and
then the corporation headed
now by Ozinski.
Historians agree generally
th a t Lititz was the birthplace
of the pretzel, with the found­ing
fathe r one, John William
Rauch, in 1820. Rauch was
succeeded by an employe,
Julius Sturgis, , who in 1861
built the bakery opposite Lin­den
Hall.
Kofroth now operates the
former Edgar Sturgis bakery
while other bakeries in Lititz
onbe were operated by William
Kissinger, James Sturgis and
David Habecker.
Highways Department Says ‘No*
To Boro’s Appeal For Signals
Lititz Borough has received
a second tu rn down from the
State Highways Department
on the request for a traffic
signal a t Broad and Second
Streets.
The Department 6f High­ways
reiterated its ruling th a t
the volume of traffic using the
intersection doesn’t qualify
the intersection for fixed tr a f ­fic
control signals.
This ruling was handed
down on May 4. The borough,
a t council’s request, wrote a n ­other
le tte r to the department
citing the use of th e in te r­section
by playground chil­dren
as well as vehicle traffic
The sta te merely referred tc
its previous le tte r in reaffirm­ing
the denial. Permissior
from the sta te is required tc
install a signal. The state, how­ever,
wouldn’t pay for installa
tion and maintenance sinci
this would be up to th<
borough.
Council has expressed it:
desire to spend the money fo:
a signal as a safety factor
but can’t do so without stati
approval since Route 501 is i
sta te highway.