Lititz Record Express

              TH E RESS
SERVING THE WARWICK AREA FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY
109th Year ESTABLISHED APRIL 1877 AS THE SUNBEAM
CONSOLIDATED WITH THE LITITZ RECORD 1937 Utitz, Lancaster County PA, 17543. Thursday, October 2,1986 25 CENTS A COPY, $8.50 PER YEAR BY MAIL
WITHIN LANCASTER COUNTY 24 Pages-No. 78
Liability risk threatens PTOs,
officers fear personal suits
by Bonnie Szymanski
and Ann E. Boegel-DiNovis,
correspondent
“How much risk is there to
making and selling subs, to
having an ice cream
social?” The question was
asked this week by John
Bonfield, Warwick School
District superintendent, in
response to the recent
debate among district
Parent Teacher Organiza­tions
about her personal
liability risk factor for PTO
officers.
The John Beck PTO has
been wrestling with the
problem of the high cost of
liability insurance since its
officers decided last year it
would be wise to protect
themselves in the event an
accident would occur during
a PTO-sponsored event.
Last year, the PTO was
in fo rm ed th a t the
organization would have to
produce an unexpected $150
for four hours of liability
insurance for the Spring
Carnival at John Beck
Elementary School.
PTO president Elaine
Hensel said this was the first
she knew that the school
d i s t r i c t ’s in s u ra n c e
coverage did not provide
p ro te c tio n fo r PTO-sponsored
events.
She recalls signing a form
provided by the school
d i s t r i c t , a c c e p tin g
responsibility for the event
and admits that she did not
realize the extent of her own
personal liability risk until
Robert Heron, principal of
the elementary school,
pointed it out to her.
Said Mrs. Hensel this
week, “I ’ll never sign
another one, and I’d never
ask anyone else to sign. ”
Bonfield explained that the
application forms have since
been changed. They now
require the signature of an
organization’s represen­tative,
not of one who is
assuming responsibility for
an event.
School district insurance
still covers facilities and
grounds, Bonfield noted,
expressing his opinion that
most accidents are equip­ment-
or facility-related, any
of which would be covered
under the district’s liability
insurance program.
Insurance costs up
Bonfield said that the
school board has considered
the PTO’s request for
liability coverage but, on the
advice of the district’s in­surance
brokers, board
members have decided the
cost would be too high to
include in the district’s
(Turn to Page 21)
Texas native settles in Lititz
Record reporter long way from home
The Record’s newest
editorial staff member is a
Texan who has worked as
both editor and reporter for
weeklies and dailies in her
home state.
Before moving to the Lititz
area, Becky Collins lived in
Karnes County, Texas,
where she won the Texas
Press Association award as
a reporter for the Karnes
Citation and Kenedy Ad­vance-
Times, sister weeklies
covering the South Texas
area.
She was awarded the TPA
honor for her coverage of the
Kenedy Independent School
District’s fight against the
Texas legislature’s in­troduction
of a sweeping
education reform plan the
school board considered
“ socialization of Texas
schools,” said Ms. Collins.
P re v io u s to h e r
association with the Karnes
County weeklies, Mrs.
Collins was an editor and
reporter for thé Devil’s
River News in her hometown
Becky Collins
of Sonora.
She was most recently
society news editor and
reporter with the Alice
News-Echo, a Texas daily
located in a town she
describes as “at one time
one of the biggest boom
towns in South Texas.”
Eighty percent Hispanic,
Alice is a town where, ac­cording
to Mrs. Collins, the
laborers in the oil fields
“hold their breath waiting
for the price of oil to go up.”
The low price of oil has had
significant impact on Texas
families such as Mrs.
Collins’.
She and her husband, Bill,
and their three children -
Steve, 10, Evan, 3, and
Jessica, 4 months - have
emigrated from the once-vital
oil country for “per­manent
roots in Penn­sylvania,”
said the Record’s
new feature writer this
week.
And despite the fact that
she “loves seeing things
growing in the fields that I
normally would only have
seen on a supermarket
shelf,” she still pines for
“the wide open spaces,” she
admitted, and misses
“seeing men in Wèstern
boots and shirts with
mother-of-pearl snap but­tons.”
This is Homecoming Week at Warwick
Members of Warwick’s 1986 Homecoming Court
include, left to right, front row, Amy Nuss (junior),
Jenny McCreary, Debbie Beans, Julie Turano and
Kim Buckwalter; back row, Kerry Buckwalter
(freshman), Connie King, Barb South, Nicole
Hilton, Nicole Gochnauer, Donna Groff and Kim
Harris (sophomore). All are seniors except the
three underclass representatives.
Homecoming Week ac­tivities
at Warwick began
Monday with “Nerd Day,”
the day students dress in
outfits they wouldn’t be
caught dead in the rest of the
year.
On Tuesday, students wore
Warwick’s school colors for
“Red and Black Day.”
Wednesday saw students
transformed from unknown
teenagers to “stars,” as
everyone dressed in a
manner befitting their
favorite TV or movie
celebrity for “Star for a
Day” day.
Today (Thursday) the
halls and classrooms at
Warwick will be filled with
visitors from all over the
world, as students dress in
their favorite country’s
costume for “International
BREAKFAST .
MEETING
The October meeting
of the Lititz Retailer’s
Association will be a
breakfast meeting from
8 to 9 am at the General
Sutter Inn on Wed­nesday,
October 8th.
Coffee & Danish will be
served.
All area businessmen
are welcome and en­couraged
to attend.
Day.”
Friday is dress-up day,
when, once again, Warwick
students will look like
themselves - but at their
very best.
Carnations ordered last
week will be delivered on
Friday to complete “Dress-up
Day” festivities.
The same evening, a
bonfire will be held at the
Micro-midget field near
Lititz Springs Park, starting
at 8:15 p.m. The event is
sponsored by the Varsity
Club.
On Saturday, pre-game
a c tiv itie s fo r the
Homecoming game with
Solanco will begin at 1:15
p.m.
The Solanco Band will
perform, and a procession of
class floats will circle the
field. Members of the 1986
Warwick Homecoming
Court will be introduced at
this time.
Half-time activities will
feature a show by the
Warwick Marching Band.
Float winners will be an­nounced,
and the 1986
Warwick Homecoming
Queen will be crowned.
Last year’s queen, Toni
Herr, escorted by Jess
Lepard, will be in at­tendance
and will crown the
new queen.
Toni now attends Virginia
Commonwealth University.
Warwick Homecoming
activities are sponsored by
the high school Student
Government.
Meet the Court
Deborah Jane Beans,
escorted by Dennis Hurd,
lives with her parents Mr.
and Mrs. Larry Beans at 21
Pinewood Ave. The school
activities she has par­ticipated
in are basketball
during ninth and 10th
grades; field hockey ninth
through 12th; and Varsity
Club in 11th and 12th.
Deborah is presently a
member of Who’s Who in
American High School
Students. She plans to attend
college and major in
business education.
Kimberlie S. Buckwalter,
escorted by Craig Shelly, is
the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
I. D. Buckwalter, 1011 Lititz
Pike. Kim has been a
member of the track team
since ninth grade and served
as captain her junior year.
She has played field hockey
since seventh grade and is a
co-captain of the 1986 team.
Her other activities include
statistician of the boys
basketball team, Varsity
Club, and president of
Student Government. After
graduation, Kim plans to
attend a four-year college.
Nicole G o ch n au r,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Richard H. Gochnaur, lives
on Rabbit Hill Road in
Rothsville. She is being
escorted by James Sherriff,
a 1986 graduate of Warwick.
Nicole has lettered in both
basketball and track since
ninth grade. She is a
member of the Literary
Magazine and Varisty Club.
She plans on attending the
University of Delaware.
Donna Elaine Groff,
escorted by Mark Neff, is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L.
Edward Groff, 1511 E.
Newport Rd. Donna has
participated in field hockey
(9-10), glee club (9-12), show
choir (10-12), National Honor
Society (11-12), District
Chorus (11), school musicals
(9-12) and has been the girls
Varsity Basketball Manager
(9-12). She has served as
class secretary in 11th and
(Turn to Page 21)
In this issue
Editorial 4
Sports Section 6,8,9
Social 10,11
Church 14,15
Manheim 16,17
Business Directory 18,19
Classified 21,22,23
Ruth Me Ken non
appointed
to borough council
byBonnie Szymanski
Lititz Borough Council has
unanimously approved the
appointment of the first
female member to borough
council in 230 years of
recorded borough history.
Ruth McKennon, president
of Fry’s Pontiac, 529 E. Main
St., will take the seat left
vacant by Lester Stark, who
resigned recently because of
ill health.
In a Wednesday morning
interview, Mrs. McKennon
described herself as “God-and
country-oriented. ’ ’
“Nothing is more exciting
to me than taking com­munion
and voting,” said the
new borough council
member.
She is president of Church
Women United and is on the
advisory council for Close
Encounters.
Long active in Warwick
Area Churches, she has been
involved with Close En­counters
since it was first
endorsed by the association.
She is active in the tem­perance
program and is a
junior church leader at
T rin ity E v a n g e lic a l
Congregational Church, 40
E. Orange St.
A 1954 graduate of
Albright College, Reading,
Mrs. McKennon was
recently honored by the
college as an alumnae who
has contributed the most
toward the advancement
and development of the
school.
She was chairman of the
Lancaster area Albright
Alumnae Association for
several years.
In 1960, she had been of­fered
the position of alumnae
director for Albright but
opted for marriage and
homemaking at the time, she
said.
She is married to Millard
M. McKennon Jr.
Mrs. McKennon received
her bachelor’s degree from
Albright in home economics.
Employed as a home
service representative with
UGI following graduation,
she was the hostess on a
radio cooking demonstration
show broadcast out of
Harrisburg in the late ’50s.
She later hosted a similar
show on television from both
Lebanon and Reading
stations.
The McKennon family,
including the couple’s
daughter Christine, 25, and
son, Mason, 23, has been
Ruth McKennon, Lititz’ first female borough
council member.
active in “ short-term”
mission work in orphanages
in Mexico and France.
Christine is now married,
operates a notary messenger
service in Pottstown, and is
a student at Ursinus College,
said her mother.
Mason is studying auto
marketing and hotel ad­ministration
at Northwood
Institute in Florida.
Mrs. McKennon and her
husband continue to be
ac tiv e in sh o rt-term
missions. They served
several weeks at the Arctic
Mission in Alaska this past
summer, during which time
Millard acted as chef for the
mission group, while the
home ec graduate found
herself on a step ladder
painting building exteriors.
The couple has recently
opened a bed and breakfast
in their home at 507 E. Main
St., which they have named
“Carter’s Run Inn” after the
stream that runs through
their backyard.
Mrs. McKennon will begin
serving as a council person
immediately. The term she
has filled expires in
December 1987.
Speed Chek helps boro enforce laws
By Linda A. Harris
Lititz Borough P.D. Of­ficers
Bill Seace and Ron
Sandhaus had the 4 p.m. to
midnight shift Monday, Sept.
22. During part of that shift,
they would be running Speed
Chek equipment at a pre­determined
area in the
borough. When they
reported to the station, they
also found that a reporter
would be accompanying
them as an observer.
Seace, the first of the of­ficers
to arrive at the
station, began answering a
series of preliminary
questions concerning how
the equipment worked, did
the officers as well as the
equipment need to be cer­tified,
how long did it take to
set up and so on.
Widely Used
Speed Chek, according to
Seace, is one of two systems
widely used by municipal
police departments in
Pennsylvania (radar is
limited by law to use only by
Pennsylvania State Police).
The second system is
VASCAR used in this area by
Warwick Township P.D.
Speed Chek, Seace ex­plained,
is a portable unit
which employs two wires
placed five feet apart on a
roadway to determine the
speed of vehicles passing
over them. The speed is then
electronically displayed on a
small sealed box placed on
the dash of the patrol
vehicle. The machine as well
as the lead from the box to
the wires taped across the
road are certified for ac­curacy
every 60 days.
After Seace and Sandhaus
collected the equipment
needed as well as a supply of
citations and traffic study
forms, we were off in two of
the borough’s marked patrol
vehicles. On the way to the
intersection of Second
Avenue and Cherry Street,
Seace continued his orien­tation.
Older Methods
He explained that prior to
three or four years ago when
the borough purchased
Speed Chek, officers had
only two methods to check
speed—a stop watch and
following a suspected
vehicle for a distance of .3 of
a mile.
Each had drawbacks. For
instance, motorists seeing a
marked patrol vehicle in the
rearview mirror are likely to
suddenly brake. While this
results in the motorist
slowing to an acceptable
speed, it does not give the
officer a chance to stop the
vehicle (officers must have
probable cause to stop a
vehicle and without the
mandated .3 mile, there is no
probable cause) and to talk
with the motorist concerning
the dangers of speeding.
At the site, it was decided
that Sandhaus would operate
the “chase” vehicle while
Seace would operate the
Speed Chek equipment. At
that point, the two began the
10 to 15 minute process of
setting up Speed Chek. To
ensure accuracy, each
checked the other as the
distance was measured, the
wires laid and taped down,
the distance remeasured,
the leads to the box checked
and finally the unit itself
i T l
Officer William Seace begins to remove the
Speed Chek equipment from the Cherry Street
and Second Avenue intersection.
checked as vehicles began
rolling over the wires.
Chase Vehicle
Satisfied with the ac­curacy,
Sandhaus left to
place the “chase” vehicle a
distance away to be able to
safely stop vehicles iden­tified
by Seace as exceeding
the speed limit.
As we watched the monitor
and Seace continued to
record time and speed of
each vehicle rolling over the
wires, he explained that the
speed is determined by the
elapsed time from when the
first set of wheels of a
vehicle passes over the first
V -
Officer William Seace halts traffic while watching Office Ron Sandhaus tape
Speed Chek to the street.
line to when the second or
last set of wheels rolls over
the second line. And no, the
weight of the vehicle is not a
factor nor can a vehicle
tailgating another cause the
machine to record only the
lead vehicle.
“The Speed Chek is fairly
infallible,” Seace asserted,
because the electronics are
sealed to prevent any
tampering and the machine
is calibrated and certified at
regular intervals. The one
used Sept. 22 was calibrated
and certified for accuracy
Sept. 11. The monitor itself
alerts the officer both
visually as well as audibly
when a vehicle exceeds the
limit punched into the
monitor.
Reactions Of Motorists
Since the patrol vehicle
recording speeds was visible
to motorists before they
entered the intersection,
reactions were rather in­teresting.
Many motorists
slowed their vehicles, while
one briefly stopped even
though the direction traveled
was not controlled by a stop
sign.
Seace said that if the
purpose of conducting speed
programs was solely to issue
warnings and citations
carrying what could amount
to rather hefty fines and
costs, officers would place
vehicles out of sight.
“We’re not interested in
seeing how many citations
we can write in a certain
period. The whole purpose of
this is to get drivers to think
about what they are doing
(Turn to Page 21)