Lititz Record Express

              THE RESS
SE Rl l \ ( , THE WAR WH K AREA EOR MORE THUS A C E S T E R I
108th Year ESTABLISHED APRIL 1877 AS THE SUNBEAM
CONSOLIDATED WITH THE LITITZ RECORD 1937 Lititz, Lancaster County, PA. 17543, Thursday, May 17,1984 25 CENTS A COPY: $7.00 PER YEAR BY MAIL
WITHIN LANCASTER COUNTY 26 Pages-No. 8
Remains At 36 Percent
For 15 years Bonnie Busch, with the assistance of crossing guards like Derek
Axe, Owen Sechrist, Doug Minney and Abdula Virmano, (left to right) has been
seeing Lititz youngsters safely across the intersection of South Broad and
Orange Street. Friday was Mrs. Busch’s last day at her post.
Bonnie Busch Leaves Her
Post After 15 Years
By Kathleen King
If the city fathers of Lititz
handed out awards for
standing on street corners,
Bonnie Busch would be a
sure winner.
For the past'15 years, until
last Friday she stood at the
same street comer, twice a
day, nine months out of the
year.
But Bonnie did more than
watch the world go by — she
made it stop. Bonnie Busch
was a crossing guard.
With a tweet of a whistle, a
wave of a white gloved hand,
all the traffic on busy South
Broad Street would halt as,
under her watchful eye,
streams of school children
crossed the intersection in
the mornings and af­ternoons.
And she loved it all, but
especially the children.
In her 15 years as a
crossing guard, Bonnie saw
nearly a generation of
children walk by her on their
way to school. When she
began seeing the children of
some of those children
starting school, she said she
knew it was time to quit.
Actually, Bonnie is leaving
her post because she and her
husband, Richard, bought a
home in Lancaster near
Franklin"- and Marshall
College. Busch is the
preparator at the North
Museum of Franklin and
Marshall College where he
prepares, restores and
maintains the specimens,
exhibits and antiques that
the museum owns.
Bonnie said she took the
job as a crossing guard 15
years ago because she had
been a crossing guard in
West Reading, where they
lived before moving to Lititz,
and the hours “suited her
lifestyle.’’
“I do like to direct traf­fic,”
the petite woman said
with a laugh. “When you’re
only five feet high, being
able to stop traffic in all
directions does kind of give
you a little sense of elation,”
she added, smiling.
Although to many people
the hours she works would be
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Benner’s Pharmacy
Bicycle World
Bingeman’s Clothing Store
Bingeman’s Restaurant
Bingeman’s Texaco
Bob’s Save Rite
Chimney Corner Restaurant
Commonwealth National Bank
Dori Mae’s Dress Shop
Eliza's Discount Furniture
Farmers First Bank
Glad Rags Thrift Shop
Hamilton Bank
Hess Men's Wear
Jeanne’s Turquoise
Lippart’s of Lititz
Lititz Office Products/Lititz Book
Store
Lititz Record Express
Long & Bomberger Home Center
McElroy Pharmacy
The Pewter Mug
Rule's Model Trains
Stauffer’s of Kissel Hill
Strings 'n Things
Trudi K Shop (Lititz Only)
Village Pedaler Bike Shop
Weis Markets (Lititz Only)
White Shield Discount Center
Wilbur Choc. Factory Candy Outlet
Merv Zimmerman, Inc. Plumbing &
Heating Showroom
Municipal Authority Says
No Alternative To Rate Hike
bothersome, Bonnie said she
liked her job because it gave
her a great deal of free time.
And when her children
where still at home, she was
able to be home when they
were, walk to school wife
them and spend summer
vacations with them.
“Seeing the kids twice a
day,” she says, is an ad­vantage
these days because
“You are always up on the
trends — Michael Jackson,
Cabbage P a tch Kids,
friendship beads.”
Bonnie especially enjoys
the kids because of their
spontaneity and enthusiasm.
“Of course I got to know
the crossing guards at my
corner the best,” she said.
And she still knows them,
and although she doesn’t
always remember a name,
she says she always
remembers a face. And
some of them still stop by to
say hello when they’re in
town or walk by her corner.
Although kids are still
kids, today they seem “to be
(Turn to Page 12)
In spite of a recent public
outcry, the 36 percent sewer
rate increase in Warwick
Township will go unaltered,
the Warwick Township
Municipal Authority decided
at their regular monthly
meeting Tuesday night. The
authority also turned down
the idea of borrowing money
from the Board of Super­visors
to help defray the rate
increase.
The decision came at the
end of a two-hour meeting
during which the authority
addressed concerns which
citizens had raised at the
April 17 authority meeting,
the April 11 Warwick
Township Supervisors
meeting, and an April 3
Concerned Citizens meeting.
The sewer rate increase
was approved at the
au th o rity ’s March 20
meeting, and became ef­fective
April 1, so that the
increase will show up on the
July 1 billing. It had im­mediately
stirred the ire of
Township residents, many of
whom turned out for the
previous meetings.
A p p ro x im a te ly 10
residents attended Tuesday
night’s meeting.
Under the new rates,
residential users will pay $95
per quarter, up from $70, and
commercial users will pay
$102, up from $75.
At the meeting the
au th o rity ’s solicitor,
engineer, auditor, and
operation’s manager ad­dressed
the specific
questions and suggestions
raised by the citizens: the
use of water meters or
household occupancy to
determine rates, the ex-tention
of the sewer system
to fringe areas, the accuracy
of sewer connection figures
on which the budget of the
authority was based, the
accuracy of the rate
calculation, a cost per user
analysis and the outlook for
the 1985 budget, the town­ship’s
sewer treatment fees,
a higher level of par­ticipation
by the Authority in
the operation of the
wastewater treatment plant,
and a loan from the
Supervisors.
Water Meters/Occupancy
Authority solicitor William
Crosswell addressed the
issue of a sewer rate based
either on actual water
In This Issue
Editorial 4
Sports Section 5,6,7,8
Social 10,11
Classified 14,15
Church 22
Business Directory 24
consumption or the number
of occupants in a residence
as opposed to flat rates.
He said “ p ra c tic a l
problems” such as the lack
of public water on which to
base sewer usage made it
difficult for the township to
consider any alternatives to
a flat rate. Although meters
could be installed on wells,
because the authority cannot
require the property owners
to install meters at their own
expense, “ the authority
would have to bear this
expense itself which is
estimated to be $100 for each
meter,” he said.
According to Authority
Chairman J. Richard
Coates, installing meters for
all the sewer customers in
the township would cost the
authority about $200,000, not
including maintenance and
meter reading costs. That
would amount to about $10.80
additional expense per
customer, Larry Zim­merman,
Authority engineer
said.
Crosswell said the idea of
billing on the basis of the
number of occupants was
also impractical. He said
such a practice would result
in higher administrative
c o sts and c o n s ta n t
monitoring. Crosswell said
that “even if such a billing
procedure could be im-
Township Officials 'Upset* By Vote
HDC Receives Funding
For Rothsville School Project
Warwick Township of­ficials
continued to voice
their dismay over the
P ennsylvania Housing
Finance Agency’s decision
last Thursday to lend the
Housing Development
Corporation of Lancaster
County $530,000 for its
subsidized housing project at
the Rothsville School.
Meanwhile, HDC officials
expressed “pleasant sur­prise”
and suggested that its
time “to bury the hatchet.”
HDC president Edmund
Ruoff said Tuesday that he
was “absolutely not” aware
that a decision would be
made last Thursday, but was
“very pleasantly surprised”
that the PHFA voted to lend
HDC $530,000 for the con­version
of the former
elementary school into 15
rent-subsidized apartments.
Steve Wallace, the only
Warwick Township super­visor
to attend the PHFA
meeting in Harrisburg last
Thursday, said the township
would have had better
representation if they had
known a vote would be
taken.
“We were very upset
about it,” supervisor Pat
Herr said this week. “We
were definitely told that this
was a fa c t-fin d in g
meeting...PHFA told us
there would not be a vote. ’ ’
Mrs. Herr said that if they
had known a vote would be
taken at least three super­visors
would have attended
the meeting Thursday.
Several of the Supervisors
had attended an earlier
PHFA meeting, she said.
Wallace said he could not
say whether additional
township representation
would have influenced the
PHFA vote, but added, “it
would have been nice to
know.”
“ It’s unfortunate that
something as important as
this issue is to the township
gets by without (township
residents) having an op­portunity
to comment on it,”
he said Monday.
Township officials may
appeal the loan to Governor
Richard Thornburgh,
Wallace said.
“Right now we’re just
trying to figure out the best
way to proceed in contacting
the governor,” he said.
Asked what he thought the
chances of the governor
vetoing the loan, Wallace
said he couldn’t guess, but
added, “As Yogi Berra once
said, ‘It ain’t over till it’s
over.’”
The total project will cost
about $700,000, or $45,000-
46,000 per unit, Ruoff said
(Turn to Page 16)
plemented, a minimum
quarterly charge would have
to be established for each
equivalent dwelling unit
regardless of the number of
occupants in the dwelling in
order to meet the debt
service obligations and the
operating costs of the
authority.”
Expansion To
Fringe Areas
In answer to some of the
residents’ questions about
expansion of the sewer
system into the fringe areas
of the township, Zimmerman
prepared a feasibility study
of three areas - Pierson
Road, Rabbit Hill and Or­chard
Road.
In each case he said ad­ding
the additional units
would co st e x is tin g
customers $42.50 if all three
areas were connected.
He said in each case the
construction costs, debt
service and operation ex­penses
outweighed the in­come
that would be received
from those customers.
To do all three areas, he
said construction costs
would amount to $675,885,
contingencies to $202,725,
debt service to $93,203, and
operation expenses to $12,000
but actual income would
only be $25,840 leaving a
deficit of $79,363 to be
distributed among the
existing customers.
Authority member Bill
Sharpless said he checked on
the availability of grants but
because many of the houses
in those areas were con­structed
after 1972, the
authority would be ineligible
for state or federal grants.
Crosswell said the “only
way to increase revenue
w ith o u t in c re a s in g
corresponding costs is for
the developer doing it
(connecting) themselves,”
of for there to be hookups tc
existing lines, but “not at the
authority’s expense.”
Hook-Ups
Operations Manager
Ronald Nuss presented a
projection of hookups for
1984, 1985, 1986 and beyond.
He s a id in p re s e n t
developments 68 units at the
most may hook up to the
system this year, with a
possibility of seven more in
proposed developments.
He estimated that hookups
from present and proposed
developments in 1985 would
probably be 134, and in 1986,
32, with an additional 619
hooking up somewhere
beyond 1986.
B ased on p o ssib le
developments in the
discussion stages and
developments that may
come into being if land were
rezoned, he said there could
be 1,150 connections in the
later part of the ’80’s.
“For 1984,” Nuss said,
“our figures are proving to
be realistic.” He said the
authority had projected 50
hookups in 1984.
Rate Calculation
Zimmerman then com­pared
figures used by the
Concerned Citizens group to^
figures the authority had
used to determine the
amount of the sewer rate
increase.
Zimmerman said the
Concerned Citizens had
overestimated the amount of
new customers and the
revenue those customers
would generate and also had
failed- to include the total
budget deficit of $214,500 in
their calculations.
The figures he used in­dicated
there should have
been a $28 rate increase, as
compared to a $25 increase
per quarter.
Cost Per User
Anaylsis
In further financial
analysis, the authority’s
auditor, Randy Sensenig
from Miller and Miller,
reviewed a budget analysis
(Turn to Page 16)
In Warwick Township
Supervisors Adopt Capped
Water, Sewer Ordinances
The Warwick Township
Supervisors last Wednesday
night at their regular
monthly meeting adopted a
capped water ordinance and
a revised capped sewer
ordinance. The ordinances
passed after an initial
decision to delay the vote.
The capped water or­dinance
and a revised
capped sewer ordinance
passed after an initial
decision to delay a vote. The
ordinances will require
developers to connect their
developments to an existing
water and or sewer system if
existing lines are within
1,000 feet of the develop­ment,
or installed a capped
system if lines will be con­structed
within 1,000 feet in a
“reasonable time.”
Wallace said that the
Lancaster County Planning
Commission, in its com­ments
on the ordinances said
“look out, you’re about to get
yourself in trouble” in
the future. Wallace said that
the supervisors have to be
concerned and careful
“when we force a developer
over 1,000 feet” to install a
capped system. Wallace said
the supervisors would have
to be careful in their use of
that discretionary power if
“reasonable time” were not
clearly defined.
The capped water and
sewer ordinances were
tabled and then brought up
again for a vote later in the
evening after a short recess.
The ordinances were then
passed unanimously.
The Supervisors also
adopted a floodplaion or­dinance
amendment, and
approved the Lancaster
Industrial Development
Authority application of
Strobro (Stauffer’s of Kissel
Hill).
The floodplain ordinance
amendment was also ap­proved
unanimously. It
prohibits certain usages in
the floodplain conservation
are a : hospitals, nursing
homes, mobile home parks,
jails and production of
certain dangerous materials
such as ammonia, chlorine,
petroleum products, sulphur
and radioactive substances.
On the Stobro/LIDA ap­plication,
through which
Stobro is financing $3.2
million. Jay Oberholtzer,
one of the partners in the
Stobro corporation, which
owns the Stauffer’s of Kissel
Hill locations, told the
supervisors th a t ap­proximately
45 additional
jobs would result from
construction of the new
store, scheduled to begin
sometime this summer.
The vote was 4-0 in favor of
the application, with
Buckwalter abstaining.
Also at last Wednesday’s
meeting the supervisors said
they would be willing to
discuss a loan to the War­wick
Township Municipal
Authority to “help defray
sewage user fees” recently
hike 36 percent by the
municipal authority.
At Tuesday n ig h t’s
m u n ic ip a l a u th o r ity
meeting, the authority
decided against approaching
the supervisors for a loan on
the basis that such a loan
would only increase the debt
of the authority and not solve
the authority’s financial
problems. (See related story
on page one)
(Turn to Page 12)
0
I
District Magistrate James Garrett installs the new Warwick Township Police
officers, Edward Tobin (left) and Timothy Davis, (right) as Tobin’s fiancee, Kathy
Pladus, and Davis' wife, Shelby, look on at last week's Warwick Township
supervisors meeting.