Lititz Record Express

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112th Year One Section ESTABLISHED APRIL 1877 AS THE SUNBEAM
CONSOLIDATED WITH THE LITITZ RECORD 1937 Lititz, Lancaster County PA, 17543. Thursday, April 6, 1989 30 CENTS A COPY $9.50 PER YEAR BY MAIL
WITHIN LANCASTER COUNTY 22 Pages- No. 52
After 12 years
storage shed
will be built
By Jed Kensinger
Record-Express Staff Writer
After 12 years of intermit­tent
discussion, Elizabeth
Township su p e rv iso rs
awarded a contract Monday
night for construction of a
salt shed.
Brecknock Builders, Den­ver
Rl, was awarded a con­tract
to build a 36-foot by
40-foot frame shed to store
the township’s supply of
road salt at a cost of $15,080.
Construction is expected
to begin shortly, the supervi­sors
said. The supervisors
were pleased with the cost
estimate, which board chair­man
Larry Wiker remarked,
“is a far cry from the previ­ous
bid.” Last fall, the super­visors
rejected a bid to have
the shed constructed at a cost
of $52,800.
Since that time, a concrete
foundation has been built at
the site of the proposed shed,;
which is adjacent to the
township office.
Groffdale Poured Walls
constructed the foundation
late last year at a cost of
$3,800.
Salt and cindering mater­ials
were previously stored
on the ground behind the
municpal building. Last
year, Wiker said he was con­vinced
that the location of
the salt pile was causing a
high concentration of
sodium in the municipal
building’s well water. The
well water, in fact, tested
high for sodium content.
Newspaper files at the
Record indicate the on-again,
off-again debate
about the construction of a
(Turn to Page 14)
Marc Geyer, 10-year-old son of Colleen and Phil
Geyer of 564 Hackman Road, gets a participation tro­phy
from Jae C. Shin, president and grand master of
Photo by Jed Kensinger
the World. Tang Soo Do Association, while Bob
Recher, instructor and owner of the Lititz Tang Soo
Do School of Karate, looks on.
Township seeks
comments for
developing plan
Karate grand master applauds
program for special people
Warwick Township is
seeking public participation
in updating its comprehen­sive
plan at a town meeting
to be held at 7:30 p.m. April
17 at the Warwick Middle
School.
The comprehensive plan,
which coordinates land use,
population growth, econom­ic
development; public utili­ties
and services with local
goals and objectives, will
take about a year to
complete.
Harry Roth, project con­sultant
from die firm of
Gehringer-Roth Associates,
Lancaster, emphasizes the
importance of gaining input
so that the plan can reflect
local needs.
“Then,” he states, “a set of
planning goals will be deve­loped
for use throughout the
rest of the study.”
Local officials hope that
the meeting will be well-attended
and productive, and
note that other local govern­ment
issues, besides the
proposed comprehensive
plan, will be addressed in the
public forum.
Anyone who cannot
attend this town meeting is
encouraged to send written
comments to the Warwick
Township Office, 315 Clay
Road, Lititz, 17543.
Additional public meet­ing
will be conducted as the
comprehensive plan project
continues.
By Jed Kensinger
Record-Express Staff Writer
Jae Chul Shin, grandmaster and president of the World
Tang Soo Do Association, made a special visit to Lititz
last week.
The grandmaster, who has trained more than 3,000
blackbelts, including Chuck Norris, presented participa­tion
trophies to 15 members of the Association of
Retarded Citizens — Lancaster.
The awards ceremony was held Wednesday night at the
Lititz Tang Soo Do School of Karate. ARC members have
been taking a karate course there for the past three months.
Recher, instructor and owner of the Lititz studio, has
cooperated with ARC in sponsoring the unique program.
Recher provided the services of a staff and coordinated
volunteers to assist him in leading the karate classes.
The karate grand master presented Recher with a com­mendation.
Lancaster karate master John Beam said that a
commendation is the highest honor a blackbclt can
receive.
Recher presented Shin with an appreciation award for
his support. He also presented his volunteers with certifi­cates
of appreciation. Volunteers are David Hull, Robert
Miller, Matt Geyer and Kathy Recher.
“This is very meaningful tonight,” Shul said, after pre­senting
the trophies to the participants. Recher’s program
for people with mental retardation, Shul noted, is only the
second such program he’s ever known. The other program
for people with mental handicaps was held in Scranton.
Physically handicapped programs are available at many
places, Shul said. However, the most difficult handicap
for a karate participant would be a mental one, he said.
“I believe c< nr-mlration and disciplinary training is
beneficial to mentally handicapped people,” he said.
He credited Recher for the patience and effort neces­sary
to sponsor the program. He commended Recher for
upholding the association’s virtue of supporting the spir­itual
and physical benefits of individuals without financial
gain.
“Bob Recher demonstrates that virtue and I highly com­mend
his endeavor and result. That’s why I eame here,”
Shin said.
After observing the students in action, Shin said he was
impressed with the “I can do it” attitude of Rcchcr’s
students.
Bom in Seoul, Shin has been actively involved in karate
for 42 years. He now lives in Philadelphia. As grand mas­ter,
he is responsible for overseeing the World Tang Soo
Do Assocaition, which draws members from 22 countries.
Water option
approved by
twp. authority
By Dave Knauss
Record-Express Editor
Warwick Township is one meeting away from an agree­ment
by which it would be allocated a total of700,000 gal­lons
of water a day.
Tuesday night, the Warwick Township Municipal
Authority voted 4-0 to accept Option B of a proposal by
the Lititz Borough Council, said Ron Nuss, operations
manager for the authority. The authority has binding
decisionmaking power on water and sewer matters for the
township.
Under this option, the township would pay for a new
pump and gas generator at the borough water plant and
receive an additional 476,OCX) gallons of water a day. Cost
of the pump and generator—which would allow 3 million
gallons a day to be treated and pumped at the plant — is
estimated at $110,000.
Also under the option, water rates for township users
(Turn to Page 22)
Nuss division
okayed by
town planners
By Dave Knauss
Record-Express Editor
On Tuesday night the
Lititz Planning Commission
approved a 44-lot prelimin­ary
subdivision plan for the
Nuss estate tract in the
borough.
With the stipulation that
four conditions be met by the
developer, the commission
will now recommend
approval of the subdivision
plan to the Lititz Borough
Council.* The council will
deal with the matter at the
Feb. 25 meeting, said bor­ough
Business Manager Sue
Barry.
These are the four condi­tions
to be met, said Barry:
• Redesign or straighten
the continuation of South
Cedar St.
• Relocate the Montgom­ery
House from the tract, or
have the house otherwise
removed from the right of
way.
• Continue sidewalks on
the east side of South Cedar
Street. All sidewalks, curbs
and streets are be provided
by the developer.
• Ensure maximum space
between the house existing
next to Lot 15 and the living
space of the house that will
be built on that lot, for maxi­mum
privacy.
The Nuss Estate has prop­osed
44 residential lots on
the 22.5-acre tract in the
southeastern part of the bor­ough,
said Borough Busi­ness
Manager Sue Barry.
Two sizes of lots are prop­osed:
12,500 and 8,400
square feet.
Currently, the Nuss Estate
is the sole owner and deve-
(Turn to Page 2 2)
Laotian refugee enjoys artistic freedom
By Jed Kensinger
Record-Express Staff Writer
Phong Ninnasopha under­stands
freedom.
In America, Phong is able
to express himself freely
through art, something that
might have been restricted in
his native country.
His poster of an incarcer­ated
POW/MIA soldier
behind bamboo bars, which
has won him numerous
awards in the United States,
might have been enough to
put him behind bars in the
country he left in 1979.
Although the 18-year-old
Manheim Central senior was
just a youngster when his
family moved to America
from their native Laos, he
knew something was awry
in his homeland.
“The thing that brought us
here was the Vietnam War,”
he says. Political unrest and
government persecution
continued when his family
left.
People who disagreed
with the government were
taken away to camps with­out
the public’s knowledge,
Phong says.
The government was
coercing people to do things
that they didn’t want to do,
Phong says. “But I was so
young at the time that I
didn’t realize everthing that
was happening.”
Family members have
told him that children were
being brainwashed in the
schools.
The Ninnasopahas were
not considered boat people,
he explains. The family left
under better conditions than
those who were uprooted
several years prior to their
departure.
“At least, all our family
are here,” he says. He lives
with his mother and father,
21-year-old brother and nine
year-old sister.
Some people were not so
lucky. One of his friends
came with an older sister.
Until recently, the friend had
not seen his father.
The father recently came
to visit, indicating things
have changed for the better
in Laos, he says. “Things
have calmed down,” Phong
says.
In fact, some Laotians,
people who are homesick,
are returning now. But for
Phong, America is home.
After all, he’s lived more
than half his life here. His
immediate family and
friends are here.
Eventually, he hopes he
can visit his aunts, uncles,
cousins and grandparents,
all of whom remain in Laos.
Assimilation, however,
has not been without obsta­cles.
He had to learn English.
When he was a junior high
school student, Phong’s
family moved to Manheim
from Boyertown, where a
church sponsored his family.
Moving to Manheim was
tough, Phong says, because
he had to adapt to a new
environment again. Phong
says he has met new people
through his involvement in
soccer and interests in art.
Apparently, Phong has
adjusted well to all the
changes. His classmates
recently elected him as Man­heim
Central’s representa­tive
for the Good Citizen
Award, sponsored by the
Daughters of the American
Revolution.
Shocked by the award, he
says, “I never thought I had
that many friends.” When he
looked through the names of
seniors nominated for the
award, he didn’t notice his
name on the list, “i voted for
someone else,” he says. “I
just considered myself a reg­ular
student,” Phong admits.
In art, however, he’s
proven himself to be an
exceptional student. His art
work is going places. A port­folio
and three of his single
pieces are in New York for
the national judging of the
Scholastic Art Awards
competition.
In addition to the three
finalist awards, Phong won
seven gold keys and had 13
pieces accepted in the Lan­caster
County Scholastic Art
Awards competition. His
portfolio was among the
four from the region selected
for the national competition.
He also won two special
awards.
The POW/MIA poster is a
pencil drawing which previ­ously
placed first in a local
poster contest. Paul E. Pink­erton,
an organizer of the
Lancaster-Lebanon POW/
MIA organization, got
Phong’s permission to
reproduce the design on t-shirts
and sweatshirts, which
local people wore to a rally
in Washington, D.C. The
design was so popular that it
is being used nationwide,
says Bea Kreiner, Phong’s
art teacher.
Mrs. Kreiner says Phong
works hard at realism and
has an eye for Oriental cul­ture.
Dragons and mytholog­ical
characters, even sym­bols
from the Laotian lan­guage,
have played an
important role in Phong’s
work.
“The thing I enjoy the
most is fantasy-type illustra­tions,”
Phong says. “I like to
dream a lot, create some-
(Turn to Page 18)
■ &
Photo by Jed Kensinger
Phong Ninnasopha expresses himself through art work.
Retailers
set meeting
The Lititz Retailers
Association will have
its monthly meeting
next Wednesday, April
12, at 7:30 p.m. at Bing-eman's
Restaurant, 35
N. Broad St. All area
business men and
women are welcome
and invited to attend. I
Performing ‘Robin Hood'
“Robin Hood,” the
musical, will be per­formed
tonight at 7p.m.
at Warwick Middle
School. The show will
be perford by 68 kids
from Warwick Elemen­tary
School. A half-dollar
gets you in the
door. To find out who
the stars are, see page
22.
!W B
A lighter side of sports
Smile, your on can­did
camera, Warwick
athletes! Some winter
sports photos never
found their way into the
Record...until now.
The photo essay por­trays
a lighter side of
sports at the end of
another successful
season. Turn to page 8.
Recycling
schedule
Recyclable materials
will be picked up in Lititz in
the area north of Main
Street and east of Route
501 on Wednesday, April
12. Recyclables — alumi­num
cans and glass con­tainers
— should be
placed on the curb by 7:30
a.m. for pickup by the
Water Street Rescue
Mission.
Record
Index
Church 16
Classified 18-20
Editorial 4
Manheim 15
Out of the Past 17
School Menu 10
Social 10-11
Sports 6-8