Lititz Record Express

              The Lititz Record - Express
S e r v i n g T h e W a r w i c k A r e a F o r N e a r l y A C e n t u r y
94th Year Established April, 1877, as The Sunbeam
(Consolidated with The Xiititz Record, 1937) Lititz, Lancaster County, Penna., Thursday, December 17,1970 IO cents a Onpyi $4.00 p©? year by mall
within Lancaster County 18 Pages No, 37
Council Okays New FireStation Site;
Police,Borough Future Is Undecided
The Myrtle M. Eckert Bell Choir,
from the Linden Hall School For Girls’
presented several seasonal selections at
the Woman’s Club meeting Monday even­ing-
Members of the choir, directed by
Miss Joan Fyock, are: left to right — Ann
Rainear, Jane Boucherie, Coral Arico, Be-be
Hofmeister, Cindy Frey, Paula Wellard
and Dcbba Robinson.
Woman's Club Enjoys Local Concert
The Linden Hall Music De­partment,
under the direction of
Miss Joan Fyock, presented a
Christmas concert at the Lititz
Woman’s Club meeting a( the
Lutheran Education Building
Monday evening.
Participating in the concert
were: the Vesper Choir, the
Lindenaires, and the Myrtle M.
Eckert Memorial* Bell Choir.
The program o£ music included
several traditional Moravian
Christmas selections and sea­sonal
songs.
Mrs. Ito.v Yeager, president,
presided at the business meet­ing.
She announced that bro­chures
were available tor club
members describing a trip to
Sapin being sponsored by the
■ Pennsylvania Federation of
Woman’s Clubs in February.
A play, under the direction of
Miss Pat Sullivan, has been
scheduled for presentation in
March. Club members were ask­ed
to participate.
The Ways and Means Com­mittee,
Mrs. Robert Derek,
chairman, announced the Card
Tournament will start the be­ginning
of January. The Christ­mas
tree, displaying the lovely
items made by the club mem­bers,
was donated by Stauffers
of Kissel Hill. It will be given
to Luther Acres.
Mrs. Garth Becker, member­ship
committee chairman, intro­duced
the following new mem­bers:
Mrs. Vance Forepaugh,
Mrs. Robert Lowther, Mrs. Al­bert
Wilhelmi, Mrs. Elwood
(Continued on Page 3)
The Lititz Fire Company this
week was making final arrange­ments
to purchase a property on
South Broad Street for $20,000
for possible construction of a
new fire station within four
years.
The purchase, which was slat­ed
to be finalized Wednesday
night, followed a meeting Mon­day
night between borough
councilmen and several fire­men.
Councilmcn urged the
Fire Company to go ahead with
purchase of the property.
The purchase commits the
borough to go ahead with con­struction
of a new fire station
within four years.
The property is owned by
Richard McCreary and it is lo­cated
between Center and
Lemon Streets on the east side
of South Broad Street. It is
located between the large brick
property on the corner of
Lemon and South Broad known
as the Seldomridge property
and the white frame house at
145 S. Broad.
The property has a 58 foot
frontage on South Broad and
runs 200 feet to Raspberry
alley. The property was sold to
McCreary a few years ago at
public auction as two lots. The
lot on South Broad is vacant,
but the lot on Raspberry Lane
has a two and one-half story
double brick dwelling.
The agreement which has
been reached with McCreary,
Christmas Eve Vigils Set At Moravian Church
The Lititz Moravian Congrega­tion
is preparing for its 2111 h.
consecutive Christmas Vigil
series with four identical ser­vices
to be held on Sunday eve­ning,
December 20th at 6:00 and
7:45 p.m, and on Christinas Evo
at 6:00 and 7:45 p.m.
A staff of 130 vocal and in-si
mine Ola! musicians and a
corps of 40 servers who will dis­tribute
the lovefeasl elements
and the candles arc anticipating
a total overall attendance of
dose lo 3,000 worshippers and
workers.
Tickets for a capacity audi­ence
have already been distri­buted
lo members and friends
by the Elders, under the direc­tion
of Larry Donmoyer.
The pastors, Rev. William W,
Matz and the Rev. Edward C.
Albce, will preside at ibe ser-
Warwick Schools To
Close For Holidays
The schools in the Warwick
School District will be closed
J or the Christmas Holidays from
December 24 to January 3.
Classes will resume on Monday,
January, 4.
In addition, schools will dose
early Wednesday, December 23.
The high school will close at 2
p.m. and the elementary schools
at 2:30 p.m.
vices which will be heralded by
I he Brass Choir as 11 plays on
Church Square before the ser­vices.
Mr. John Keehn will be con­ducting.
Church Square will be
¡Ruminated with the flicker of
lighted candles placed in every
window of Iho 200 year old
buildings lining iho Square,
The services, well known for
their beauty, will begin in. dark­ness
as the choirs sing “Stille
Nacht, Hallige Nacht” in Ger­man.
The Junior Choir of the
congregation is scheduled to
sing the “Children’s Te Dcum”
written b,y Henry Tucker,- and
the traditional Moravian anti-phonal
hymn “Morning Star,”
written by Francis Florentine
Hagen, under the direction of
Mrs. Hazel Moore.
Singing the solo in the “To
Deum” will he Mrs. Thelma
Keatb. The four “Morning
Star” soloists chosen from the
children of the congregation
will be Lynn Sipe, daughter ol
(Continued on Page 2)
Four members of the Junior Choir of
the Moravian Church have been selected
to sing the solo part in the traditional
“Morning Star” anthem at the four Christ­mas
eve vigil services at the Church. Se­lected
were: left to right — Lynn Sipe,
Gary Derek, Alison Miksch and Kelly
Reedy.
according to Paul F. Diehm,
chairman of the fire company’s
building committee, calls for
four payments of $5,000 each
over the next three years. The
first payment is to be made as
soon as settlement, is reached.
The present owner retains
rental income from the proper­ty
until the fire company as­sumes
possession. The fire com­pany,
however, has the right to
speed up the payments and take
an earlier possession.
Subject To Zoning
The purchase agreement is
subject to zoning approval to al­low
erection of a fire station,
Diehm noted.
George Sleedle, borough man­ager,
said the property is locat­ed
in an R-2 zone and a special
exception would be needed to
permit a fire station.
At Monday’s meeting, it was'
noted that sideyard require­ments
call for construction at
least eight feet from the ad­joining
property. If construc­tion
is planned closer to the ad­joining
properties, a variance
would also be required.
Diehm said at noon Wednes­day
that the agreement with
McCreary for purchase of the
site would be finalized Wednes­day
night, subject to zoning ap­proval.
The Monday Meeting
At the Monday night meet­ing,
councilmen and firemen
discussed five alternative sites.
Both councilmen and firemen
agreed that the McCreary site
•was the only attractive one of
the five from both a cost and
location standpoint.
Firemen said the McCreary
site is adequate for construc­tion
of a three-bay station
which would provide for fire
vehicles two deep in eachbay. In
addition, firemen said they are
thinking in terms of space for
a kitchen and meetings, as well
as parking.
Some councilmen, as well as
Mayor Russell Templeton, said
they favor a joint building for
file, police and borough func­tions.
The borough officials
said they feel the McCreary
site is a good one for a fire
station, but there was reserva­tion
on whether it would be
desirable for the police and
borough. A site closer to the
eeriter of the borough was men­tioned
as being more desirable,
particularly for the borough.
Lititz Stores Open
lo 9 p,m. Daily
Most stores will be open to 9
p.m. each evening until Christ­mas,
except December 24 when
they will close at 5 p.m.
Santa’s Castle Hours
(Located Beside the Sutter Inn)
Friday 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Saturday 11 a.m. lo 2 p.m.
5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Steed to also noted that from
an administrative'standpoint, it
is important that the borough
and police work closely to­gether.
Amidon indicated that al­though
a majority of council
members were present Monday
to informally approve the Fire
Company’s purchase of the land
and the borough’s commitment
to build within four years, offi­cial
council action would also
be taken at council’s regular
meeting later this month.
In discussion on whether
police, fire and the borough
should be located in the same
building, several firemen said
there is no objection to being
together as long as the fire
company has plenty of room for
future expansion.
Reasons for having joint faci­lities,
borough officials said, in­clude
higher operating costs for
two buildings, including double
heating and lighting costs, and
the possibility of selling tlie
present borough building to
help off-set cost of a joint build­ing.
The meeting concluded with
the borough officials agreeing
that the McCreary site is a good
one for a fire station and com-mited
to acting on beginning
construction of a fire station
within four years.
But the borough officials also
indicated they remain undecid­ed
on the future of borough and
police offices, and indicated the
alternatives are as diverse as:
remaining at the present loca­tion
on South Broad near the
square, relocating with firemen
to the McCreary site, or find­ing
an entirely new site closer
to the downtown for a new
building.
Local School Board Asks PLRB
To Resolve Department Head Issue
The Warwick School Board
Tuesday night voted to ask the
Pennsylvania Labor Relations
Board to decide an issue be­tween
the board and the teach­ers
in the preliminary stages of
the upcoming 1971-72 teacher-board
negotiations.
■ At stake Is the issue of
whether department heads arc
represented by the Warwick
Education Association, the
teacher bargaining agent.
Department heads are teach­ers
hired by the board to head
various departments, such as
English and science. The board
is contending that these depart­ment
heads are administrative
personnel and should not be in-ing
unit, while the WEA is
eluded in the teacher bargain-maintaining
• the department
heads should be represented by
the WEA in the negotiations.
Similar disagreement over
the status of department heads
is reported in many other local
school districts Li Lancaster
County. The new Public Em­ploye
Relations Act of 1970,
Act 195, said that the act did
not apply to administrative per­sonnel.
The school board is con­tending
that -the department
heads are administrative per­sonnel,
while the WEA says
they are primarily teachers.
(Continued on Page 4)
NOTICE
The RECORD-EXPRESS
will be published next
week on Wednesday, De­cember
23 because of
Christmas. All news and
advertising should be in
the RECORD office by
Monday, December 21.
PP&L Is Building New Substation
To Increase Service in Lititz Area
The Pennsylvania Power &
Light Company has announced it
is building a new $300,000 sub­station
west of Lititz in War­wick
Township.
Designed to meet present and
future load growth in Lititz
borough and surrounding areas,
the new substation is scheduled
lor completion in the first quar­ter
of 1971.
The substation and new lines
allow for expansion as future
needs require. It will take pow­er
at 66,000 volts from the com­pany’s
high-capacity system a
Why Elizabeth Township Wage Tax Means Higher Taxes
Should Elizabeth Township take one-half
of the one per cent wage tax which Warwick
School District now collects in Elizabeth Town­ship?
Elizabeth Township supervisors periodical­ly
over the past several years have threatened
to take half of the wage tax. Under slate law,
either the local school district or township can
impose up to a one per cent wage tax. but if
the other body desires, it can take up to one-half
of the tax. For many years the Warwick School
District has been allowed to have the entire one
per cent.
So far, Elizabeth township supervisors have
backed off from taking its one-half of the wage
tax in the face of strenuous opposition not only
within their own township but also from War­wick
Township and Lititz Borough. Warwick
and Lititz also are members of the Warwick
School District and officials have explained that
if Elizabeth takes one-half of the wage tax, they
would be forced to follow suit out of fairness lo
their own taxpayers.
But while Elizabeth supervisors have so far
not taken the township's share of the wage tax
and have formally slated they will not take it
for the 1971 budget, the issue remains very
This is a three-part interpretative edi­torial
on Elizabeth Township government
with special emphasis on two issues and how
they do and will affect the citizens.
The two issues are: the implications of
the townships recurring threats to take the
one-half mill of wage tax from the Warwick
School District and an explanation of why
the township’s proposed 1971 budget may
lead in the future to a renewal of the town-ship's
demand for the wage tax.
The editorial also discusses the town­ship’s
planned new building program, why
this program is so important in determining
the future direction of the township and why
citizens should be invited, through public
meetings, to participate in important deci­sions
affecting the building program.
This interpretative editorial is intended
as a public service for the people of Eliza­beth
Township and the Warwick School Dis­trict.
much alive because individual supervisors con­tinue
to indicate their interest in taking the
wage tax in the future.
If the school district did lose half of its
wage tax, it would be forced to make up the
loss from other tax sources, probably through
increased real estate taxes, about the only al­ternative
major revenue source open lo the
school district.
In 1969-70, the last full fiscal school year,
the Warwick District collected a total of $435,=
440 from the wage tax. Loss of half that amount'
would bo more than $217,000 to be made up
from other sources.
At present, the School District collects
about $15,500 for each one mill of real estate
tax increase.
This means that to off-set the loss of onc-liatf
of the wage tax, the School District would
have to raise its real estate tax by about 14
mills. And this is one of the major reasons that
the Elizabeth Township proposals to take half
the wage tax are so strenuously opposed.
Elizabeth Township supervisors, however,
have argued that if they could get half of the
wage tax they could reduce other taxes such
as the real estate lax. However, the township
real estate tax is only 10 mills.
This means that even if Elizabeth Township
would eliminate its real estate tax after getting
half the wage tax, it would end up with more
total tax revenue and the taxpayers would be
paying four mills of additional tax.
In effect, then, proposals by Elizabeth
Township supervisors to take half of the wage
tax are also proposals lo r tax increases. The
supervisors have indicated they are aware of
this and that the real reason they want, half of
the wage tax is to enable the township to in­crease
its tax revenues.
Therefore, in answering the question of
whether or not Elizabeth Township should take
one-half of the wage tax, it is necessary to ans­wer
whether the township should increase its
lax take.
The answer to the question of increased
taxes hinges on such basic issues as the quality
and quantity of township services and facilities.
How much government, how many em­ployes?
— these are really the questions which
must be answered in Elizabeth Township. The
answer lo these will ultimately determine
whether the township really needs increased tax
revenue in the form of part of. the wage tax.
half mile away and step it down
to 12,000 volts for distribution
through existing facilities in the
Lititz area.
The substation is under con­struction
in the narrow section
ot Warwick Township west of
Lititz and east of Penn Town­ship.
It is located north of Lime
Rock Road and south of the
Reading Railroad.
Known as the Lititz Substa­tion,
the new facility and relat­ed
transmission and distribution
lines will cost approximately
$300,000, which compares with
the $254,000 cost for identical
installations built before 1965.
Arch G. Knisely, PP&L’s com­munity
service manager in the
Lancaster Division, said the
modern aluminum structure is
being built along low-profile
lines and color treated in differ­ent
shades of green to blend
with the natural surroundings.
Involved in the environmental
treatment are the structure
flaming, electrical equipment,
fencing and incoming power fa­cilities,
The outgoing power
lines are being placed under­ground
in the immediate area
and the site will be seeded at a
later date, Knisel ysaid.
In addition to providing addi­tional
power supply and service
reliability, the new station will
release capacity to nearby sub­stations
by relieving them of the
responsibility for supplying Lit­itz
and. vicinity.
Why 1971 Township Budget Spells Future Tax Trouble
For the past several years, Elizabeth Town­ship
supervisors have claimed a financial crisis
exists in the township. They have said that the
extreme shortage of funds with which to per­form
governmental functions is the reason why
they are compelled nearly every year to consider
taking half of the wage tax from the Warwick
School District.
Actually, our study of the 1971 Elizabeth
Township budget shows the township is easily
able to meet its current programs with even
less taxes than, it is now charging.
Among key figures in the 1971 budget are
the following:
—A $4,500 item for a road master, com­pared
to $150 in 1970.
—A new $7,000 item for a front end loader.
—A new $18,000 item for building construc­tion.
intended for a township building.
These three major new items are in addi­tion
to several other new items for much small­er
amounts, including $1.650 for a zoning of­ficer.
Primarily, this new spending is to be met
in two ways: A new $25,000 loan and reduced
debt payments.
Besides the $25,000 to be borrowed, the
1971 budget shows that instead of debt pay­ments
of $15,000 in 1970. there will be only pay­ments
of $6,100 in 1971, $5,000 principle and
$1,100 interest.
This a net savings of about $8,900 in debt
service, made possible by the completion of re­tirement
of all township debt except for the
proposed new five-year $25,000 note.
This difference of $8,900 must be added to
the new $25,000 note lo arrive at a realistic total
of new spending proposed by Elizabeth Town­ship
in 1971. The township is increasing its
spending by a total of $33,900, some $18,000 for
the proposed new building and another $15,900
for other new expenditures.
This $15,900 alone is equivalent to the in­come
from nearly 10 mills of real estate tax
in the township. Ten mills is the current town­ship
real estate tax rate.
When it is noted that the total proposed
(Continued on Page 4)
Hot Coffee!
Christmas shoppers in
downtown Lititz will be sew­ed
free coffee and cookies
Friday evening.
The Lititz Jaycce’s animal
coffee and cookies project
will run from 6 to S D.:n. Fri­day.
The booth dispensing the
hot coffee and cookies pro
vided by Kenyon's Pastry
Shop will be set up in front
of Harris Variety Store on
East Main Street.
Chairman of the event is
William Kauffman. Assisting
him are Terry Fulmer and
James Bednar.