Lititz Record Express

              T H E S e R E S S
SER CISC THE WARWICK AREA FOR MORE TESAS A CESTI R I
108th Year ESTABLISHED APRIL 1877 AS THE SUNBEAM
CONSOLIDATED WITH THE LITITZ RECORD 1937 Lititz, Lancaster County, PA. 17543, Thursday, June 14,1984 25 CtNTS A COPY: $7.00 PER YEAR BY MAIL
WITHIN LANCASTER COUNTY 28 Pages-No. 12
Plays Amish Girl At Funeral
Lititz Teen Tastes 'Hollywood'
As An Extra In Paramount Film
By Jennifer Shenk
Most high school seniors
on the verge of graduation
have a lot on their minds . . .
finals, fittings for caps and
gowns, plans for senior week
activities.
Stephanie Schaieh of Lititz
has all the normal things on
her mind...and something
more.
The May 31st graduate of
Lancaster Catholic High
School is experiencing a
thrill most 18-year-olds only
dream about. She is one of
150 area residents chosen to
appear as background peo­ple,
or extras, in the Para­mount
film, “Witness,” cur­rently
being filmed in Lan­caster
County.
The movie stars Harrison
Ford of “Indiana Jones” and
Hans Solo fame. It is the
story of a Philadelphia
homicide detective, Ford,
whose investigation of a
murder, witnessed by a
young Amish boy in a
Philadelphia train station,
brings him to Lancaster
County.
When the film-makers ar­rived
in the county earlier
this year, rumors circulated
that they would be hiring ex­tras
to play Amish people in
several scenes, including a
barn raising and a funeral.
Stephanie, the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Edward
Schaich, 1401 Rothsville
Road, found out about the
call for extras last April
through the choreographer
at Lancaster Catholic where
she was dancing in the
school’s production of “ An­nie
Get Your Gun.”
The day before Easter
Stephanie and many others
would-be extras reported to
the Host Farm to apply for
the job.
The Schaich family visited
Universal Studios in Califor­nia
last year and saw how
films were made, Stephanie
said. She decided it would be
fun “to try it first hand.”
Her interview at the Host
“was not anything per­sonal,”
she recalled, adding,
“there was a whole room full
of people.”
She was asked if she could
quilt, manage large animals
or speak Pennsylvania
Dutch. She answered no to
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Eighteen year old Stephanie Schaich relaxing at her Lititz home...
...and on the set of the Paramount-movie.-“Witness,”
non-speaking role as an Amish girl
all three questions, but add­ed,
“I told them I could
speak a little German.’
When nearly a month pass­ed
without a word from the
producers, Stephanie assum­ed
she had been rejected.
Then the call came. The
crew was filming on Green
Street in Lancaster at the
time and Stephanie was told
to come in for a fitting. The
shooting later moved to a
farm in rural Strasburg
Township.
Because she was in the
midst of finals, the casting
director told her to bring her
school work along to the set
of the funeral scene.
All the extras were asked
to report to the Historic
Strasburg Inn at 6 a.m.
From there they were bused
to the farm, where members
of the crew checked their
hair and costumes.
In the funeral scene,
Stephanie wears a black
dress and a prayer cap. She
said she does her own hair,
parted in the middle, twisted
and pulled back under the
prayer cap, before she
leaves for Strasburg.
Finishing touches are add­ed
by the crew. (“When they
grease my hair down . . . it
■ B H B ■ H i
_______ v '
A fire in a second story apartment at 343 E. Main
St. was a bit disconcerting for Lititz Fire Chief H.
Richard Neidermyer — it was his building.
Damages from the fire, which began at an
aquarium air circulator pump, was limited to about
$500 in structural damage and $800 in content
damage.
Fire Damages Chief's Apartments
Lititz Fire Chief H.
Richard Neidermyer got a
bit of a jolt Friday night
when he received a fire call
on his radio about 11:40 p.m.
“Fire in the 300 block of
East Main Street - the
Neidermyer apartments,”
the dispatcher said.
Fortunately for Neider­myer,
the residents of the
two apartment units in his
building, the damage was
confined to a second story
enclosed balcony-type area
where the fire began.
The building at 353 E.
Main St. also houses
Neidermyer’s accounting
office. He said this week
there was some water
damage to carpeting, and
about $500 in structural
damage to the building, in
addition to $800 or so in
damages to the contents of
the room where the fire
started.
According to Neidermyer,
the fire was caused by an air
circulator pump on an
aquarium which either
overheated or shorted out. A
tenant of the second story
apartment, Craig DeSantis,
was home w a tch in g
television, Neidermyer said,
when the television went off.
DeSantis went to investigate
and discovered the fire in the
room. He then grabbed a fire
extinguisher and began
attacking the fire, Neider­myer
said. The downstairs
tenant, alerted to the fire,
also used a garden hose on
the fire.
Neidermyer said the
action of the two tenants
prevented the fire from
spreading, and with the
additional water supplied by
the fire company, the fire
was soon extinguished.
“If they (the tenants)
would not have been able to
do that, we would have had a
real problem,” Neidermyer
said. “It (the fire) was about
ready to get into the roof.”
The Lititz Fire Company
responded to the scene with
three trucks plus its air
tru ck and about 25
firefighters, Neidermyer
said. In addition, Manheim’s
rescue truck responded and
one of Manheim’s engines
stood by at the Lititz fire
hall, Neidermyer said.
Neidermyer said the
tenants were able to return
to their apartments by
Saturday night.
Responding to a fire at his
own place is “a situation I
hope doesn’t occur again,”
Neidermyer said.
That’s one irony he can do
without.
Three Injured In Collision
In Warwick Township
in which she Ms á rnmôr,
feels like a wicker chair,”
she says.)
Stephanie said she was
amazed by the time it took to
shoot a scene.
“For two minutes of
shooting, it took two hours to
set up,” she said. “We spent
a lot of time waiting . . .
waiting, waiting, waiting.”
But while she was waiting,
she got to talk with some of
the other extras and even
meet some of the stars.
She’s gotten Harrison
Ford’s autograph and even
snapped a few pictures of
him, but added that he’s not
(Turn to Page 14)
A Warwick Township man
and a Lebanon woman
remain in fair condition in
Lancaster General Hospital
this week after a three-car
collision Saturday morning
on Route 501 near Farm
Lane.
According to Warwick
Township police, Harvey
Jack Bair, 20, 510 E.
Brubaker Valley Road, was
traveling north on Route 501
and entered into the
southbound lane. A car
driven by Frances B.
Shelley, 58, of Lititz, was
traveling south, observed
Bair in her lane, and
swerved to the right in an
attempt to avoid hitting
Bair, police said.
Bair then sideswiped the
left side of the Shelley
vehicle, causing the Shelley
car to go into a spin, police
said. It came to rest ap­proximately
80 feet south of
the. impact, according to
police.
After the Bair vehicle
struck the Shelley car it then
struck a car driven by
Thomas C. Dilger, 37, of 822
Marcon Drive, Lebanon.
Dilger, who had been
traveling behind Shelley in
the southbound lane, was
unable to react to what was
taking place, police said.
The impact between the
Bair and Dilger vehicles was
head on, and both cars came
to rest in the southbound
lane of travel, according to
police.
Bair was transported to
Lancaster General Hospital
where he was taken into
immediate surgery for
removal of a piece of metal
unpaled in his neck, police
Two passengers in the
Dilger car, Catharine E.
Kreiser, 51, and Keith R.
Bender, 25, same address as
Dilger, were also tran­sported
to L an c a ste r
General. Bender was treated
and released, but both Bair
and Kreiser remain in fair
condition in the hospital, a
hopsital spokesman said
Tuesday.
Bair was cited for not
driving on the right side of
the roadway. The accident
occurred at 8:30 a.m.
In addition to the police,
the Warwick Ambulance, the
Rothsville Ambulance, the
Lancaster General Medic
Unit and the Ephrata
Community Hospital Medic
Unit responded to the scene
of the accident.
All three vehicles had to be
towed from the scene, ac­cording
to police.
In another accident a 13-
year-old fa rm youth
received moderate scrapes
and bruises after he was
thrown from a mule-drawn
hay baler which collided
with a car on Erbs Quarry
Road last Wednesday
evening, according to
Warwick Township Police.
Christian L. Stoltzfus, 125
Fairland Road, was driving
the baler south at a curve in
Erb’s Quarry Road in the
wrong lane of travel and
struck the front left fender of
a car driven by James
Maurice Crouse, 26 But­tonwood
Drive, police said.
The Crouse vehicle had
swerved in an attempt to
avoid a collision, police said.
Stoltzfus was “ejected
from the wagon and run over
by the cart portion of the
baler,” Warwick Township
police said.
He was then dragged
approximately 25 feet.
Police said the boy’s father
refused treatment for him at
the scene and said he would
seek it later. The two mules,
owned by Amos K. King,
(Turn to Page 2)
Class Of 1984 Graduates
At Warwick Commencement
In This Issue
Editorial 4
Sports Section 6,7,8,9
Social 10,11
Classified 14,15
Church 24,25
Business Directory 26
Four graduating seniors
won 14 awards among them
last Wednesday evening as
members of the Class of 1984
received their diplomas at
the Warwick High School
Commencement ceremoni­es.
Kathy Lynn Keith and
David Howard Pierce each
won four awards and Lori
Geiger and Sherry Kline
each won three. In addition,
four seniors, Carolyn Lepard
Robert Derek, Judy Eileen
Shenk and Andrew Mac-ferran
won two awards each.
The class of 232 seniors
graduated under clear skies
on Grosh Field. It was the
28th commencement for
Warwick High School.
Carrying out the theme,
“What We Value,” four
seniors spoke to their fellow
classmates, administrators
of the school and teachers,
parents, family and friends
gathered on the field and in
the stands.
Randall Meek spoke on
“ Memories,” Andrew
Macferran on “ Time
Present-Friendship, ’ ’ Lori
Geiger on “Time Present-
Opportunity,” and Kathy
Keith on “Dreams.”
Timothy Reedy, president
of the graduating class
presented its gift, a check for
$300 for the high school
library.
With the graduating class
were three foreign exchange
s tu d e n ts : C h ris tin e
Grosjean, Belgium; Fabiana
Rusco, Argentina, and Peter
Westland, West Germany.
Awards and award win­ners
were:
Valedictorian Award - Lori
Geiger, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. William Geiger. Wrist
watch with engraving
presented by Warwick
Township Lions Club.
•«
Kathy Keith Lori Geiger
V ' p
V
David Pierce
Outstanding Business
Student - Karen Samelko,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Adam Samelko. A $100
savings bond presented by
Farmers First Bank and
engraved pen presented by
Future Business Leaders of
America Club.
L ititz Lions Club
Academic Awards - Carolyn
Lepard, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Richard Lepard,
o u ts ta n d in g E n g lish
student; Lori Geiger, out-
Sherry Kline
standing science student;
Robert Derek, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Robert Derek, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Derek,
1 outstanding math student;
Kathy Keith, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Keith,
outstanding social studies
student. Each received a $50
check and a plaque.
Rotary Scholarship - Hiep
Pham. A scholarship of $250
per year for four years
presented by the Lititz
_______ (Turn to Page 5)_____
MS Father Of The Year
Makes Every Day Count
By Karen Belber
When I first saw Don
Fisher I was immediately
struck by his youthful
presence - trim and cheerful
with not a hint of his af-flication
- multiple sclerosis.
I was apprehended by my
ignorance of the crippling
disease.
Don is not recognizably
stricken by sudden seizures
or alarming bouts of jerking
muscle tremors. Nor is he
confined to a wheelchair.
The 25-year-old, who’s
birthday was June 9, was
diagnosed as an MS victim in
1977, on the day he was
supposed to have married
his high school sweetheart,
Donna Hershey. It also
happened to be the day
before Christmas.
Don has been selected as
this year’s MS Father of the
Year by the Lancaster
County chapter of the
National Multiple Sclerosis
Society.
He was nominated by Mrs.
Bette Keen, office coor­dinator,
of the Lancaster
chapter because she felt that
Don’s qualitative lifestyle
best represented what the
society considers “ out­standing.”
Mrs. Keen
commented that Don’s
“radiant smile and cheer­fulness”
have been a great
inspiration throughout his
personal battle with MS. She
also said that Don’s mother
and his wife have been ex­tremely
helpful doing
volunteer work for the
society.
He remembers well those
seven days he spent at the
Hershey Medical Center.
Utopian it wasn’t.
The “utopia” Don e
perienced was far fro:
pleasant. Utopia in the wor
of medicine means visu.
imparity. One day Dc
started seeing double; 1
(Turn to Page 2)
MS Father of the Year Don Fisher enjoys moments like these with his
daughter Katy Marie.