Lititz Record Express

              _________________________________________________________________________ THURSDAY, December 5, 1991
1 ip ¡1. iii'iiV' limi 'i'.i: i i ■hi 'iii ii iiiiiii'<1111111111>mi < nini'■ !iiiiiii<mi i <ii: mi <i m i - pi - M i K « * r a i a i i r «mnwiMi jm <im nnr i m mmi ■)i . ■< » >mi m Lititz Record Express
115TH YEAR Two sections LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA 32 Pages- No. 35 30 cents
Borough taxes won’t go
but service fees may be
up
hiked
L ititz is where the
action is next July 4
The Fourth of July celebration has
always had a special place in the
hearts of Lititz residents, that is ever
since 1818. That was the first local
observance of this nation’s greatest
day. The Fourth of July activities
have grown over the years making it
one of the finest in the county. But
next year’s celebration is certain to
surpass any program of any type
held in this community.
Next year will mark the 175th
•ourtli of July celebration in Lititz.
It is the o ld e s t co n tin u o u s
community-wide observance in the
United States. A special committee
has been formed to handle the prog­rams
and if preliminary plans are
any indication of what is to take
place you may just want to hang
around the “old” town.
The committee has decided it will
be more then a one-day celebration.
In fact, the schedule of events will
require an entire week and may
become an endurance of sorts. Ten­tative
activities are scheduled for
each day Saturday, June 27 through
Sunday, July 5. It will take on the
atmosphere of an old-fashioned
town fair.
All of the activities are in the
planning stages but will be
announced in the future as each day
is finalized. Without revealing too
much it can be stated, the fireworks
will be staged two nights, the group
is hoping to host some big names,
and the activities will cross all ages.
The special Fourth of July com­mittee
is chaired by Ron Reedy with
Jim Nuss as vice chairman. Miriam
Mowry is serving as secretary and
Sue Long is treasurer. Other mem­bers
and their responsibilities
include Stephen J. Palkovic (public
relations), Jim Nuss (special events),
George Hribick (public safety), Roy
Clair (special entertainment), Mike
Tait (technical assistance), Ron
Loercher (logistics), Sam Kirchner
and Janet Wynkoop (program and
concessions). Garth and Helen
Becker (Sunday in the Park) and
Dennis Bortz (clean-up).
LORIN BEIDLER_________________________
Record Express Staff
The good news is that despite the fact that Lititz
Borough’s proposed 1992 budget is 5 percent lar­ger
than this year’s, a tax increase is not in the
offing.
The less-good news is that the $4.47 million
budget, which borough council released for public
review during its Nov. 26 meeting, will include
several fee increases and could mean a lowering of
borough reserves if expenditures hit their budgeted
levels.
For the second year in a row, there would be no
major rise in taxes or water and sewer fees. The real
estate tax millage of the last seven years, seven
mills, would not change in 1992. Water fees, raised
in September of 1990 to cover operation costs at
the nitrate removal system, would again remain at
their current rates.
Also for the second year in row, however, bor­ough
residents face an increase in the amount they
pay for trash removal. Reflecting an increase in tip­ping
fees — the fees landfills charge trash haulers
to dump garbage — of 4.8 percent, the borough
will have to raise trash removal charges to borough
residents by two dollars per quarter, to $31 per
quarter. The $124 per year that Lititz residents
would pay is still one of the lowest rates in the
county and well below the $175 to $240 that Lan- Boro debates
of downtown
caster City residents, with their multi-hauler sys­tem,
must pay each year.
In addition to trash fees, Lititz residents would
also have to pay more at Lititz Springs Pool. Fami­ly
memberships will jump to $99 for 1992 and dai­ly
admission prices would be raised 50 cents.
Despite the increases, pool expenses are still
expected to exceed revenues by around $20,000, as
they did this year.
The cost of appearing before the zoning hearing
board would also be higher in 1992, according to
the proposed budget. Zoning hearing fees, current­ly
$65 per case, would be upped to $100.
On the general fund’s bottom line, budgeted
expenditures would actually fall in 1992. The 1991
budget included budgeted expenditures of $2.15
million, with the 1992 figure proposed at $2.12
million. In 1991, actual spending is up from 1990’s
figure of $1.52 million, but the $1.9 million that is
expected to be spent by year’s end is still well
under the budgeted amount
General fund revenue projections have tended to
be more accurate, with $1.76 million budgeted for
1991 and actual receipts heading for the neighbor­hood
of $1.74 million. According to the proposed
1992 budget the borough expects to receive $1.77
million in general fund income.
Though on the proposed budget, expenditures
exceed revenues by $348,961, finance sub­committee
chairman Sam Hess says he would be
surprised if spending approaches budgeted
amounts in 1992. While the budgeted projects give
the borough goals to shoot for, Hess adds that “the
year goes by so fast and there just isn’t enough time
to get everything done.”
Where the budgeted year-end general fund net in
1991 was $384,671 in the red, the actual net will be
more like a $148,838 deficit The borough carried
nearly $800,000 over into 1991, however, leaving
a projected $650,000 carryover entering 1992.
Noticeable changes in the proposed 1992 gener­al
fund budget as compared to the 1991 version,
include a jump in the police chiefs salary alloca­tion
from $38,135 to $60,423. That is not to say
that the chiefs salary itself jumped that high; the
amount was merely allocated in case the borough
has to reimburse Chief Jim Fritz for back vacation
time and sick leave that he never took. Fritz may be
retiring at the end of 1992.
An additional $6,000 was included in the 1992
budget for the purpose of formulating a comrehen-sive
park plan. The plan would be required in order
for the borough to qualify for future matching grant
monies.
The administrative legal services line item
would be $4,000 higher on the 1992 budget than in
1991, owing to the fact that expenditures exceeded
the budgeted amount by $3,651 in 1991.
(Turn to Page 7)
switch
lights
LORIN BEIDLER
P la n ahead...
Holiday issues of the Utitz Record Express will be
printed and mailed on Monday, Dec. 23 and Monday, Dec.
30. Deadlines for editorial copy and retail and classified
display ads will be Thursday at 5 p.m., Dec. 19 and Dec.
26. Classified reader ads will be accepted until Friday at
10 a.m., Dec. 20 and 27. Please plan ahead for these spe­cial
deadlines. Thank youl
Record Express Staff
At its monthly meeting last week,
the Lititz Borough Council was
approached by two representatives of
Pennsylvania Power and Light
(PP&L) asking council to consider
allowing the utility company to
replace the borough’s street lamps
with new, state-of-the-art mercury
vapor lamps.
Barbara Bertolet of PP&L told the
council that her company would be
willing to replace the borough’s
incandescent lamps and their metal
standards with brighter mercury vap­or
lamps and fiberglass standards. In
addition, PP&L, with the borough’s
permission, would replace the lights
along South Broad Street between
Orange and Sixth streets that are still
hung high on utility poles, with the
newer, lower lamps.
The borough had heretofore
resisted the now nearly universal
conversion to vapor lamps for aes­thetic
reasons. Mercury vapor lamps
have traditionally had a much “col-
W a r w i c k p l a n n e r s r e c o m m e n d
g r a n t i n g C r o s s w in d s w a i v e r
JENNIFER KOPF
Lititz Record News Editor
The Crosswinds preliminary plans
may not have been approved earlier
this month, but the Warwick Town­ship
Planning Commission has
recommended a waiver for one por­tion
of the development’s expansion.
While the waiver, according to
landscape architect Mary Kline, is
not part of a new, revised Block H
preliminary plan, one of those is also
expected to make its way to the
awnship.
At its meeting last week, the com­mission
voted 4-1, with chairman
Dan Garrett in the minority, to waive
the right-of-way width for a road
extending from Crosswinds toward
the current West Seventh Street dead
end. This, argued Robert Redcay of
developer Bennett Williams, would
make it easier to provide a potential
second access to any future Block H
built. During discussions prior to the
supervisors rejecting a Block H preli­minary
plan in November, one major
concern raised was that the current
single access into the winding deve­lopment
would not be enough.
The waiver would allow a 30-foot
cartway in a short stretch along the
Woodridge Swim Club.
Much of the potential for the even­tual
extension of Seventh Street cen­ters
around Bennett Williams attain­ing
ownership rights to the land link­ing
the current Seventh Street to
Crosswinds. That land is now owned
by Norm Keller, and Redcay con­tended
that he has a verbal agreement
with Keller to acquire the land. “Mr.
Keller says he’s agreeable if the
municipalities are,” Redcay said.
Other factors still up in the air
include a wait-and-see situation with
Lititz Borough’s plans to extend
Spruce Street. According to town­ship
Supervisor James Klopp, at last
week’s commission meeting, as far
as he knows the borough still has
plans to extend Spruce Street to link
up with Seventh Street. “They
haven’t made any comment as to
whether it’ll be ’92, ’93 or ’94,”
Klopp cautioned.
At Council meetings, members
have discussed a Spruce Street exten-tion,
but have opted in favor of
watching progress with the Cross-winds
situation rather than moving to
begin lengthening Spruce Street
“What if Seventh Street is
extended (creating) a temporary cul-de-
sac, and down the road the deci­sion
is made not to extend Spruce...
what have we gained?” Garrett
asked.
The request to extend this block-length
street now, according to
Kline, was make because “we feel if
it’s not run through now, (Cross-winds)
will be boxed in forever... and
we won’t be able to get access out...
we’re trying at this time to plan for a
future access.”
(Turn to Page 16)
der” color than incandescent lights.
Now , Bertolet claims, mercury vapor
technology has improved to the point
where, while still being much bright­er,
the mercury vapor lamps have a
similar color to incandescent
lighting.
PP&L’s main reason for wanting
to switch, John Myers, another
PP&L representative, told council, is
that it is now very difficult to obtain
parts for the incandescent lights, as
very few municipalities use them
anymore. Myers told council that for
years he has been saving old parts
from incandescent lights that are tom
out, knowing that Lititz; still uses
them and knowing that new parts are
hard to come by. His stock of used
parts, Myers says, is getting critically
low.
In addition, Bartolet told the coun­cil,
mercury vapor lights, while more
expensive to operate, are up to seven
times brighter than their incandes­cent
counterparts. As for the fiberg­lass
standards, because they do not
need paint, they are less expensive to
maintain. The fiberglass standards
would be the same style as the bor­ough’s
current metal “Washington”
standards.
Another reason PP&L is no doubt
in favor of the switch is that if all of
the borough’s lamps are switched,
Bertolet estimates the borough’s
electric bill would rise approximate­ly
$850 per month, or $1 per month
per light, due to the higher wattage of
the mercury vapor bulbs.
(Tum to Pag« 7)
A«*,* *.
Photo by Jennifer Kopt
HUNTER CAPTURES 12-POINTER — Buck season dawned with
rain, but Dale Brumbach of Snyder Hill Road didn’t have to wait too long
for his prize: a 12-pointer, shot in his usual spot “somewhere in northern
Lancaster County.” Brumbach said Monday that, while this is the fifth
buck he’s bagged, it also “wins the prize” for the biggest so far.
Hometown Christmas This Weekend!
The Lititz Retailers’ Association will hold
its first “Hometown Christmas" this Friday
and Saturday in downtown Lititz. Events
will begin with lighting of the “Community
Christmas Tree” at 6:30 PM on Friday,
followed by a community carol sing led
by the Warwick Warblers Choral group
from Warwick High School. Special shop­ping
hours are also planned for Friday
night and Saturday...with food, music,
turkey giveaway and other special activi­ties
planned for Lititz shoppers. See de­tails
on pages 21, 22, 23 and don’t miss
Hometown Christmas this weekend.
THIS WEEK IN THE RECORD EXPRESS
R a n d a l l s e e s t h e w o r l d In w o r k i n g f o r p r i n c e s s
Five times a day, Tracy Ran­dall
must hear the Muslim call to
prayer in her memory. Only last
week, she was still in Saudi
Arabia living with the royal family
as part of a job assignment that
sent her to London, Paris and
New York City as well. Read
more on page 7.
New sports complex
at WHS is appreciated
The Warwick winter teams
will have a new home to exhi­bit
their talents as they open
another indoor season this
week. Many fans have taken
advantage of several oppor­tunities
to view the new com­plex,
and there are some num­bers
they might find interest­ing.
Read more on page 9.
Remembering
Pearl Harbor
To commemorate the 50th
anniversary of Pearl Harbor, a
reproduction of the front page
of the Dec. 11, 1941 issue of
The Lititz Record Express
appears on page 32. Also
appearing on this page is a
story about two World War II
friends finding each other
after 46 years.
THE INDEX
Business 15
Church 26-27
Classified 29-31
Editorial 4
Lunch Menu 6
Manheim 17
Obituaries 2
Out of the Past 4
School News 6
Social 24-25
Sports 8-11
WEATHER; Mostly sunny ear­ly
Thursday. Chance of rain
showers Friday. Partly cloudy Fri­day
and Saturday.
-i** 'rnmrwxeiimtemmwmm