Lititz Record Express

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S E R U M ; T H E W A R W IC K A R E A E O R M O R E T H A \ A C E N T E R Y
109th Year ESTABLISHED APRIL 1877 ASTHE SUNBEAM
CONSOLIDATED WITH THE LITITZ RECORD 1937 Lititz, Lancaster County PA, 17543. Thursday, June 27,1985 25 CENTS A COPY: $7.00 PER YEAR BY MAIL
WITHIN LANCASTER COUNTY 24 Pages-No. 12
Psychiatric Exam
Ordered For Meiskey
Michael Meiskey, the 20-
year-old former resident of a
group home at 438 W. Marion
St., presently in Lancaster
County prison for the alleged
May 19 abduction attempt of
a five-year-old Lititz girl,
has been ordered by the
Lancaster County Court of
Common Pleas to undergo a
psychiatric examination,
reported District Justice
James Garrett Monday.
“ Currently all court
hearings are stayed pending
the final determination of
this petition,” said Garrett.
Garrett said the results of
the examination, to have
been administered by June
25, will be submitted to the
court in a report no more
than 15 days after the
examination date.
A preliminary hearing,
scheduled for earlier this
month, had been postponed
at the request of Meiskey’s
attorney, Public Defender
Henry Heffner.
Said Garrett Monday, “We
will not do anything until the
court advises. We’re waiting
to hear from the Court 6f
Common Pleas whether to
proceed or not proceed.”
Airport Masterplan
Update Is Finalized
The final meeting of the
advisory committee for the
L a n c a s te r . A irp o rt
masterplan update was held
Tuesday.
The m a ste rp lan as
presented and approved,
outlines a three-phase plan
of growth and development
designed to take the airport
into the 21st century.
The first phase has
already been , put into
operation with the removal
of a house located adjacent
to the terminal, at a
demolition cost of $3,400,
$7,200 less than projected.
Other projects proposed
for the short-term period,
from 1985 to 1989, include:
expansion of the rental car
and employee parking
areas; expansion of the
terminal building; possible
construction of two more
hangars; additional apron
and improved airfield ac­cess;
and more automobile
parking.
According to Norm
Lamar, airport manager,
projects scheduled for im­mediate
attention include:
additional aircraft parking
(Turn to Page 9)
Latchkey Program
Is A Cooperative Effort
The Warwick School
Board and the Lititz Rec
Center have come to an
unofficial agreement on
room rates for the Latchkey
program, scheduled for a
trial-run at the John Beck
Elementary School in the
Fall.
Latchkey is an after-sch
o o l p ro g ram fo r
elementary school children
whose parents work or for
other reasons require after­school
child-care.
A recent survey sent out
by Developmental Day Care
Systems, a Lititz-based
planning and consulting
agency, revealed that 11.6
percent of the children at
John Beck had a need for the
program, followed by 10.6
percent at Kissel Hill and 9.5
percent at Lititz Elemen­tary.
The survey was based
on a poll of 1035 children, K
through four, in the Warwick
School District.
Of those responding, 45
percent of the children were
cared for after school by
parents in the home, 29.4
percent were receiving care
by other adults, and 18
(Turn to Page 9)
Fire Co. Requests
$11,000 For Roof
Lititz Borough Council Currently the borough
T u e sd a y n ig h t to ld contributes $716 per month to
representatives of the Lititz the fire company for
Fire Company that it would building m aintenanc e,
take under consideration a Siegrist told the council,
request to help the fire Siegrist said this was a
company pay an $11,000 “one-time expense” and that
roofing bill for the fire hall, he was not asking “that you
Fire Company President wirte us a check tonight...but
Jeffrey Siegrist asked that you budget us this year
council to consider the or over several years.”
request in light of the Councilman Russell
agreement between the fire Pettyjohn asked Seigrist
company and the borough in how long ago the expense
which the borough agreed to had been anticipated,
help the fire company pay “Our budget is set up year
building maintenance ex- to year,” Pettyjohn said,
penses at the fire hall. (Turn to Page 9)
Opening Of Rothsville Apartments
Text by Kathleen Photos by Bonnie Szymanski
Four years ago the battle
b e tw e en Housing
Development Corporation of
Lancaster and the Warwick
Township officials over the
former Rothsville School
was the hottest topic of
conversation in Rothsville.
There were a lot of angry
people who had a lot of angry
things to say during the 27
hours of hearings that en­sued
over the case.
“It’s all water over the
dam, as the saying goes.
HDC eventually won the
battle, the school was
renovated, and tenants are
now moving in.
What do the residents of
Rothsville think now?
*
Rothsville: It Should Have Stayed >en King
, school, how can they have pumped gas. “I used to go to w m m m m m
Szvmanski W PM raMM M fefjfr there?” she school there - it should have
/ - ~
“They should have made it a spot
for the kids to hang out... "Scott
Yutz.
“It would have been better as a
rec room or building for
kids... "Denny Styer.
Their a ttitu d e can
probably be summed up in
the words of Warwick
Township Supervisor Robert
Smith who said this week
that “the battle went on for
so long, people are weary of
it.” To get a sense of just how
people in Rothsville did feel,
the Record-Express con­ducted
an informal survey
Friday of residents as they
came and went at the town’s
busiest spot - the Pen-supreme
store on Main
Street.
One of the most frequently
stated feelings among the
people interviewed was a
sense of anger or regret that
the school was ever closed in
the first place.
“I was against the school
closing,” one woman said.
“If it was condemned as a
school, how can they
families living there?
wanted to know.
The woman said she was
certain,” with the way
R o th sv ille and th e
surrounding a re a is
growing,” that “ they’re
going to come back and say
we need a hew school.”
According to Dr. John
Bonfield, superintendent of
the Warwick School District,
the school was closed in 1977
because it did not meet
Pennsylvania Labor and
Industry requirements for
school buildings. Bonfield
said it would have cost
betwen three-quarters and
one million dollars to
upgrade the school at that
time. Bonfield said students
were already being tran-
"We have only two fields I
could use another... "Michael
Werley
pumped gas. “I used to go to
school there - it should have
been a school.”
Scott Yutz, a student at
Warwick Middle School,
aurmi. ”1 h\e down in the
“Rothsville could use a com­munity
centei. . "fi.iy Lausch
sporUd in sciio '1
“It’s a shame that the
whole place got renovated,”
Scott Williams, a 20-ish
young man said as he
- \
■ %
|M ¡ ¡ Í Í f ¡ |¡M i
Record Will Publish Early
Week Of July 4th Holiday
The Record Express office
will be closed Thursday,
July 4, in observance of the
Independence Day holiday:
News for the July 3
(Wednesday) issue should be
submitted to the Record
office no later than noon on
Monday, July 1.
The mail slot in the Record
Express front door, 22 E.
Main St., will accommodate
weekend press releases.
The deadline for display
advertising for the July 3
issue is Monday at 3 p.m.
Classified ads may be
submitted until 5 p.m.
Monday.
“That’s not low or moderate
income... "Scott Williams
“It helps out with people to get
them started... "Dale Burkholder
trailer park...I could have
been a walker, or rode bike.”
Instead he went to Kissel Hill
Elementary School by bus,
he said.
Scott said the kids in the
. neighborhood hate the idea
of conversion of the school
into apartments.
“They should have made it
a spot for the kids to hang out
- they should have made a
gym to shoot basketball,”
was his opinion.
Quite a few of the residents
questioned expressed those
same two sentiments - that
the school either should have
remained a school or it
should have been made into
“some place for the kids to
go.”
A School
“It would have been better
for a rec room or building for
the kids,” Denny Styer said
from a seat at Jim and
Shirley’s. “I used to live here
for 18 years - we were
always all over the place. We
didn’t have any place to go,”
he said.
Styer says there still isn’t
a place for kids to go.
HDC officials have said
they’d be willing to open the
gym, the ball fields and the
tennis courts to the com­munity
if the community
would donate its time and
money to help renovate
those facilities.
“I’d donate some money to ‘
that, knowing it’d go to a
good cause,” Styer said.
Michael Werloj, a
(Turn to Page 24)
“I think it stinks...having it
shoved down our
throat... "Warren Spechi
“It was a good thing they used the
building...rather than let it
decay... "Rosie Clugston.
“I could care less as tong as (they)
can do their thing and I can do my
thing... "Carl Sweigart.
Is There A Future
For Area Vo-Techs?
by Bonnie Szymanski sibility to pay for a resource
“My feeling is that if ^ ^ ’s there,” an obvious
something isn’t done soon, reference to Manheim
we really are seeing the end Township’s contention that
of the vo-tech system as we they are being asked to pay
know it.” an inequitable amount for
Dr. John Bonfield, tile maintenance of the vo-superintendent
of the tech system.
Warwick School District and Manheim Township is one
staunch proponent of the °f the 16 county district’s
new funding proposal for the whose vote of approval was
county vocational-technical required for the new funding
education system, was procedure to go into effect,
responding to the Manheim With only that one
Township School Board’s dissenting vote, the proposal
recent vote against the new ^as *3een invalidated,
funding proposal. According to Dr. Bonfield,
Said Bonfield, “ All the resulting * * * hold-up in the
districts have a respon_ new funding structure could
Wi fÈÊ-wyt. W#m mjpÊ
ÆÆ..:. !I1ÉMlihauMü1I§
à . • ,
Vickie Klaassen, a cosmetology student at
Brownstown Vo-Teeh, is a Warwick High School
senior. One day a week, the advanced cosmetology
students accept clients from the public. After 1250
hours of theory and practicum, the students are
eligible to take the state exam for certification.
cost the vo-tech system in
terms of innovative and
potentially revitalizing
programs.
“Something must be done
very soon,” asserted the
Warwick superintendent this
week, stressing that he
foresees the system’s
“demise” in as little as two
years, under present fun­ding.
“If we begin to see a
decline in enrollments, staff
will be dismissed and
programs will be cut,”
warned Bonfield.
With fewer courses to
a ttr a c t students, the
downward spiral could
continue until, if Bonfield’s
prognosis is correct, the vo-tech
system’s plight could
become critical.
Despite his apparent
pessimism in the face of the
recent funding defeat,
Bonfield said he has reason
to hope for the system’s
continued existence.
That existence depends,
though, on the ability of the
16 county school districts to
come to a mutually ac­ceptable
funding proposal.
Evelyn Sullivan, Manheim
Township School Board
representative to thé vo-tech
joint operating committee,
said this week that, despite
the board’s vote, Manheim
Township goes on record as
“absolutely” in support of
the vo-tech system.
(Turn to Page 24)
Vo-Techs Have
Respected History
by Bonnie Szymanski of thousands of immigrants
When th e co u n ty and their children, illiterate
vocational-technical educa- in the English language, and
tion system was instituted in transmute them into in-
1970, it was hailed as the formed, productive citizens,
answer to problems that By means of the public
have plagued educators school system, this country
since Horace Mann spoke in produced an educated
favor of public education middle class majority un-back
in the early 1800’s. precedented in human
After the European history,
tradition, American public Decades later, it had
schools had been designed to become clear that the public
produce literacy and a school system, by virtue of
general competency for its success, was becoming
everyday living. the catalyst for its own
Adapted from the classic failure,
liberal arts education, the It had produced a nation of
c u r ric u lum s tr e s s e d individuals with high ex­language
arts, mathematics, pectations.
history and the sciences. Unfortunately, not all
By means of the public those expectations could be
school system, this country fulfilled through the chan-was
able to absorb hundreds (Turn to Page 24)
Brian Bomberger, a Warwick High School
sophomore, works at a drafting table in Richard
Copenhaver's drafting class.
On July 9 At 8 P.M.
Developers O f Townhouse
Complex Plan Public
Meeting To Discuss Details
by Kathleen King the proposed development
Developers of a con- than were revealed at
troversial townhouse and Wednesday’s hearing,
apartment complex in According to Hartz, he and
Warwick Township will hold Mel Hurst (who he said is no
a public meeting on re la tio n to developer
Tuesday, July 9, at 8 p.m. to Richard Hurst) are planning
discuss the proposed to build 143 townhouses on
development and show plans approximately 20 acres of
for the tract, Jack Hartz, one the 32-acre tract,
of the developers, said this He said the townhouses
week. would be in units of five to
Hartz said the meeting will six townhouses each,
be held at the General Sutter In addition, a four-acre
Inn and is open to any in- tract containing the existing
terested party, and in farmhouse and pond would
particular, the residents of be sold as a separate unit,
th e F a i r Meadows The remaining two sec-development
which is east of tions would be sold for
the tract. apartments, he said. One
The meeting is the result section, off Brunnerville
of a heated dispute at a Road, would probably hold
Warwick Township Zoning five apartment buildings,
Board hearing last Wed- and the other section, off
nesday. , Newport Road, would hold
The d e v e lo p e rs , three apartment buildings,
Hurst/Hartz Partnerships, Hartz said,
consisting of Jack Hartz of Each apartment unit
Lititz and Mel Hurst of East
Petersburg, had requested a
variance to decrease the lot
sizes of their proposed
development. The tract is
located south of East
Newport Road and east of
Brunnerville Road.
In an interview Friday
Hartz gave more details of
In This Issue
Editorial 4
Sports Section 5,6,7,8
Social 14,15
Church 18
Business Directory 20
Business Update 21
would hold a maximum of 12
apartments, for a total of 96
ap a rtm en t units, the
developer said.
The plan calls for Cardinal
Road to connect from where
it now dead-ends in the Fair
Meadows development to
East Newport Road, he said.
In addition, two cul-de-sacs
would be constructed off of
Cardinal Road.
“These would be fee-simple
townhouses,” Hartz
said. “They can be sold
individually...although one
person could buy the whole
six,” he said, just at a person
can buy a set of rowhouses in
town and rent them out.
Hartz said he understood
that a sketch plan showing
300 total units had been
drawn up by another
developer in 1981.
“That’s under the R-3,”
Hartz pointed out. “We’re
talking about 260 units under
R-4 zoning.”
Hartz said the variance for
smaller lot sizes would
enable the tract to be laid out
with more open space, yet
still allow the developers to
“receive a fair return on
their investment.“
Wjth the current R-3
(Turn to Page 24)