Lititz Record Express

              THURSDAY, February 27, 1992
L i t i t z R e c o r d E x p r e s s
114TH YEAR 24 Pages- No. 45 LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA 30 cents
Boro asked for options
to a proposed land buy
JENNIFER KOPF
■ 1
* wPhoto by Lorin Beidler
A NEW BANK ON THE BLOCK—The Bankof Lancaster County opened its Lititz Branch, located in Kis­sel
Hill Station at the intersection of Route 501 and Owl Hill Road, last Friday with a special ribbon cutting
ceremony. The ribbon, which was covered with $200 worth of $20 and $50 bills, was then turned over to the
Lititz Fire Department. Branch Manager Bob Ingraham, above, hands the money ribbon over to Fire Chief
Jeff Siegrist as branch employees (left to right) Anne Toth, Carolyn Frey, Sharon Perry, Karen Courtright,
Diane Gehman and Carmen Tucker look on.
Utitz Record News Editor
Borough council was asked this
week if there are any options to pur­chasing
Linden Hall and Moravian
congregation property as part of the
sidewalk installation project
At council’s Tuesday night meet­ing,
Larry Gemmell, 413 Woodcrest
Ave., said that “on the surface of it
(this agreement) is patently unfair to
all borough” residents, non-profit
organizations and businesses, He
would, he added, be in favor of
exempting walkways in these areas
because the cost would not justify the
amount these walkways would be
used.
“I don’t disagree with the sidewalk
ordinance per se,” Gemmell said,
adding that there had been borough
sidewalks in unsafe condition.
While Russell Pettyjohn, council
president, noted that, while the
sidewalks themselves are required by
borough ordinance, the “sticky prob­lem”
of what to do arose at locations
where there were no existing walks
to repair. The borough right-of-way
line in most areas, Pettyjohn said,
was back far enough to allow the
construction of sidewalks and
curbing.
Along part of the Linden Hall
property at Marion Street, however,
the right-of-way line ended at the
curbline. There was, Pettyjohn said,
no land back behind this to allow
construction of walks. While the land
might have been condemned, he
added, “(council) is hesitant to call
for condemnation” under eminent
domain rules. It can be a very costly
process, he said, with legal advice
and engineering fees coming into
play.
“I’m afraid you’d spend, almost
dollar for dollar” in a condemnation
process what would be spent to simp­ly
construct the walkways.
Pettyjohn also, said that negotia­tions
must still continue with the
Moravian congregation; unpur­chased
burial ground lots abut the
land now being discussed for sidew­alks
but no definite distance has been
determined.
The issue is still open, Pettyjohn
told Gemmell, and nothing is “a done
deal.”
Council also extensively dis­cussed
the progress of a Fire Com­mittee
survey sent to 89 local
employers, canvassing their opinions
on volunteer firefighting. More than
50 of the surveys were returned, and
Councilman Dale Shelley initially
told council that the committee
recommended approaching the
employers on a one-to-one basis to
see if they would be willing to
encourage employee volunteers.
Those visits have been tabled for
the time being, however, as a result
of Councilman Clyde Tshudy’s con­cerns
that businesses might interpret
the action as a scare tactic.
The intent, Shelley said, was not to
intimidate businesses but rather to
make them aware of the need for day­time
firefighters. “Daytime volun-
(Turn to Page 17) What is impact of ‘ritualism9 at the county level?
L o c a l o f f i c e r s a y s i t i s m o r e w i d e s p r e a d t h a n m a n y w a n t t o a d m i t
LORIN BEIDLER
Record Express Staff
When the headline, “Lititz police raid
satanic rites,” ran across the top of county
newspapers a month ago, many throughout
the Lititz area, as well as the rest of Lancaster
County, were shocked.
Steve Echtemach, a sergeant with the
Strasburg Borough Police, was one of few
who was not.
“It’s not running rampant through the
streets of Lancaster County but it does exist.
We have no more serious a problem and no
less a ¡problem than anywhere else,” he says.
While he denies being an “expert” on the
topic, Echtemach is the Strasburg Police
Department’s resident authority on satanism
and witchcraft. Several years ago, Echter-nach
encountered instances of ritualism and
his curiosity was piqued. Recognizing the
potential threat it posed he began to educate
himself on the subject,' reading voraciously
and attending law enforcement seminars on
the topic. Nowadays, Echtemach is often
called upon by to speak on the subject
Echtemach usually refers to witchcraft
and satanism by the more general term, “ritu­alism,”
which encompasses both groups.
Witches, he says, are those people who
believe in the practicing of spells. Satanists,
on the other hand, are those who worship
Satan much as Christians worship Christ.
Though not very common in this area,
there are formal, doctrinal “churches” for
both groups operating throughout the United
States. Such groups have their own litera­ture,
buildings, services and tax-exempt sta­tus
just like other religions.
Like other religions, Echtemach points
out, the beliefs of these groups and their
rights to practice them are Constitutionally
protected.
While the more formal groups tend to be
more law abiding, many self-styled spin-offs
from such groups often have a propensity for
breaking the law. Therein lies Echtemach’s
interest. Crimes associated with ritualism
run the gamut from criminal mischief and
desecrations up through alcohol and drug
violations, all the way to homicide.
Like the legal practice of such beliefs,
Echtemach believes that the illegal practices
associated with ritualism are not yet rampant
in the county. He does, however, believe that
the link between crime and ritualism is often
underestimated in this area.
“I would say that there are more crimes
(related to ritualism) than are classified that
way,” he says. “Police officers aren’t sure
what they are finding and — the other thing
"One of the most often
asked questions is, ‘Why
Lancaster County?’ Why not
Lancaster County?... This is
the ‘Bible Belt’ of Pennsylva­nia.
We don’t believe it can
exist here.”
— Sgt. S teve E ch tem a ch
is — the media. As soon as there’s one inci­dent,
the media wants to drum it up and make
a big deal out of it. And it sells newspapers,
that’s the bottom line.
“That’s why some of the stuff isn’t pushed
the way it should be,” he adds. “No commun­ity
wants to be labeled that way even though
every community has the same problems.”
Part of the reason people were surprised
when the Lititz case made the news, is that
Lancaster County is generally thought of as a
religious and morally conservative area.
Echtemach says that such religious agar
often makes an ideal culture for the incuba­tion
of ritualistic groups.
“One of the most often asked questions is
‘Why Lancaster County?”’ he says. “I say City Mayor tells students State rec organization
to take principled stand visiting local operation
‘Why not Lancaster County?’ What you
have to understand is that they’re looking for
a place where they can come in and the’re not
threatened. This is the ‘Bible Belt’ of Pen­nsylvania.
We don’t believe that it can exist
here. It’s a very conservative county.”
Religion often leads to naivete regarding
ritualism, Echtemach says, and that in turn
leads to denial.
While youth are particularly susceptible to
the lure of ritualism, Echtemach adds that
people of all ages, genders and socio­economic
classes have fallen into it. “There
are no boundaries here,” he says. “It’s not
just the young, it’s not just the poor or the
uneducated... Very often it’s the overachiev­er,
the person who has a good education.”
The reasons that people get pulled into
rutualism are almost as varied as the people
themselves. “For some,” he says, “it’s just
the lure of the unknown. For others it’s the
promise that the’re going to get power,
money, all the girls—if it’s a guy— then too
there’s always the lure of drags and alcohol.”
Echtemach estimates that drags and/or
alcohol are involved in 85 to 90 percent of all
ritualistic acts.
While all age groups are susceptible to
ritualism, Echtemach says that young people
tend to be more fascinated by it than others
and that young dilettantes are by far the
area’s most common practitioners.
“We mostly see the teenage dabbler, the
kid that’s experminenting with it,” Echter­nach
says. “Occasionally yo.u’11 ran into
someone who’s a little more involved.”
When asked if these teens are merely
“playing” with ritualism out of ordinary
teenage angst — the urge to rebel — or
whether such “dabbling” is based on a
genuine propensity toward this belief, Ech­temach
responds that often it’s a combina­tion
of both. “A lot of times rebellion pushes
them into it,” he says. “But the problem is
that once you get caught up in it, particularly
if you’re involved with someone who’s real­ly
into it, then you’re trapped. It may start out
as rebellion, and you may think, ‘This is no
problem,’ and next thing you know, you’re
basically trapped in something you had no
idea about
“A lot of kids dabble in it and end up get­ting
really hurt by i t ”
Echtemach is quick to state that he is a
police officer, not a behavioral psychologist.
But by observing fife from behind a badge,
Echtemach has drawn a few conclusions
about why people fall into the trap of ritual­ism.
“There are so many voids in people
today and they need something to fill that
void,” he says. “That’s where ritualism com-
(Turn to Page IS)
BRUCE MORGAN
Record Express Staff
Lancaster City Mayor Janice Stork
got a first-hand look at Lititz when
she paid a visit (b the Linden Hall
School for Girls last Friday and
delivered a talk to approximately 75
students and teachers during an
assembly.
In acting as a female role model
for the girls at the school, Stork dis­cussed
her background and the road
she took toward getting involved
with politics, first becoming a city
council member and then taking
office as the first woman mayor of
Lancaster City in 1990.
“As a city council person leading
up to running for mayor, I learned
what the community is about because
you have to go out and (do) what they
refer to as ‘grass root politics’ — you
go out and knock on doors and talk to
(Turn to Page 18)
JENNIFER KOPF
Utitz Record News Editor
Sure, the Lititz Community Center
is well known around the county. But
soon, its name will become a little
more familiar to recreation profes­sionals
from across the state.
The Center has been chosen to
serve as an “pn-site institute” during
the March 1-4 Pennsylvania Recrea­tion
and Park Society conference.
According to the LCC’s Diane
Lokey, one of the tour organizers,
participants will visit the Lititz cen­ter,
along with the Ephrata Rec Cen­ter
and Overlook, to get an idea of
how non-urban areas coordinate
recreational activities.
(Turn to Page 18)
Mayor Janice Stork
U n e x p e c te d $ 1 0 ,0 0 0
g iv e n b y L e g io n
Tally up another donation from the American Legion Post 56.
At a meeting of the Lititz Community Center Board of Directors last week,
Legion representatives Earl B. Rettew and Jack H. Pontz were on hand to pre­sent
a check for $10,000 to the Community Center.
The money, Rettew said, was earmarked for LCC debt reduction.
The contribution was made to David Lloyd, incoming executive director of
the Lititz Community Center. According to Rettew, this $10,000 donation
brings to $40,000 the total amount given to the Lititz Community Center by
the American Legion Post 56 over the past four years.
Photo by Bruce Morgan
HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES — Warwick Wrestling Head
Coach Jerry McDonald (left) and Lititz Record Express Sports Editor
Steve Palkovic pose with the plaques they received for being
inducted into the District 3 Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame Satur­day
night. See more on page 10.
THIS WEEK IN THE RECORD EXPRESS
Kissel Hill students
take part in contest
In what Kissel Hill Elemen­tary
art teacher Elspeth Moate
described as the “most diffi­cult
contest” she’s ever had to
judge, Kissel Hill students
broke out the crayons, pencils
and paint to compete in a
school-wide flag design con­test.
Read more on page 17.
Local author donates books to Lititz Library
When over a half dozen
books on computer program­ming
by author, Tom Swan,
disappeared from the stacks
at the Lititz Public Libra
library officials had little tro
ble replacing them. Th
author, a Lititz resident, mere­ly
donated copies of the miss­ing
books. Read more on page
17.
î
i
Junior High grapplers
win Section Two title
Warwick’s Junior High wres­tling
team was missing four of its
wrestlers when the Warriors
traveled to Elizabethtown last
Tuesday, but they were still able
to defeat the Bears 47-34 and
claim the Section Two title. Read
more on page 11.
THE INDEX
Business 19
Church 16
Classified 20-23
Editorial 4
Lunch Menu 6
Manheim 18
Obituaries . 2
Out of the Past 4
School News 6
Social 14-15
Sports 8-11
WEATHER: Partly sunny
Thursday. High in the upper 40’s.
Variable clouds Friday, Saturday
and Sunday.