Lititz Record Express

              T H U R S D A Y , A u g u s t 1 3 , 1 9 9 2
Lititz Record Express
116TH YEAR LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA 26 Pages- Nö. 17 30 cents
Record fish kill traced
to factory ammonia leak
LORIN BEIDLER___________
Record Express S ta ff
As a dozen or so members of
the Lititz Sportsmen’s Associa­tion
gathered at the Robert B.
Koch Fish Nursery on Lititz Run
Road last Thursday afternoon,
little was said. The members all
wore waders and grim express­ions.
They had good reasons to
wear both.
The members were there to
bury the more than 12,000 brook,
rainbow and brown trout that had
been their charges... had been,
that is, until a clowd of liquid
ammonia swept through the races
of the nursery killing all but the
few dozen fish that the club keeps
in a nearby spring.
At around 8 a.m. that morning
more than 40 gallons of ammonia
leaked from a piece of cooling
equipment in the Wilbur Choco­late
plant and washed down the
Lititz Run, killing every living
thing in their wake. By Thursday
evening, the stream was com­pletely
void of non-plant life
between Broad Street and the
Lititz Wastewater Treatment
plant.
According to Wilbur President
William Shaughnessy, Wilbur
uses compressed ammonia to cool
water, which is in turn used to
cool chocolate making equip­ment.
Wilbur pumps the cooling
water from its own wells and,
after use, discharges it into the
Lititz Run. The leak occurred in a
coil in the cooling apparatus,
allowing the ammonia to mix with
the cooling water that was run­ning
out of the plant and into the
stream.
(Turn to Page 17)
Photos by Lorin Beidler
Dick Fridinger, manager of the Lititz Sportsmen’s Association’s fish
nursery, takes stock of trout killed by an ammonia spill last Thursday.
Lititz Sportsman Dick Williams helps with the abominable job of cleaning out Lititz’ trout nursery.
Innundation of water leads
homeowners to ask for help
More than three dozen Warwick
Township residents filled the gallery
at the Warwick Township Supervi­sors’
meeting last Wednesday to hear
discussion of two township prob­lems,
and most left having heard
what they wanted to hear.
The supervisors took action to
ease flooding in the Pine Acres deve­lopment
and also vowed to make the
intersection of Newport and Roths-ville
Station roads safer.
Following last month’s meeting,
when residents of Pine Lane Estates,
located just south of Orange Street
west of Lititz, had complained that
the storm water drainage in their
development was not sufficient, the
supervisors had appointed township
engineer Grant Hummer to meet with
the residents and assess the problem.
Hummer reported back last week
that many of the stormwater manage­ment
features shown on the final plan
map, filed with the township when
the development was approved, do
not actually exist.
Much of the flooding results, both
Hummer and residents say, when
rain water runs off of farmland to
west of Longenecker Road and to the
southeast of Green Acre Road.
“We’re at the bottom with gently
sloping farmland all around us and
all the water just comes down to us,”
one homeowner testified.
Water runs off of the farmland,
across Green Acre and Longenecker
roads and onto properties in Pine
Lane Estates.
According to Hummer, swales
connecting Green Acre and
Longenecker roads with Buttonwood
Drive were intended to carry the
runoff across the development.
Roadside swales were then to convey
the water down Buttonwood to a
retention basin located on the north
side of Buttonwood, between Sense-nich
Drive and Sycamore Circle.
These swales, if they ever were
dug, have since been filled in, Hum­mer
told the supervisors.
One resident, who lives very close
to the retention basin, told the super­visors
that, while his neighbors’
lawns flood with every sizeable rain,
he has only seen water accumulate in
the retention basin “once or twice.”
One possible solution, Hummer
suggested, might be to run pipes from
Longenecker and Green Acres roads,
under the development to Button-wood
Drive. Roadside swales, as
originally proposed on the final plan,
could then be dug to carry the water
to the retention basin.
Digging off-site retention basins
that would keep the water out of the
development might also be possible,
Hummer added.
He would not know if either solu­tion
was feasible, Hummer con­tinued,
until topographical studies of
the area are done. The supervisors on
Wednesday granted Hummer per­mission
to do such studies, at an
expected cost of $2,000-$2,500.
Supervisor Mike Brubaker also
urged the township to get in touch
with the two respective farmers and
find out if they have conservation
plans on file. If the farmers are not
utilizing farming techniques that
maximize water retention, much of
the flooding might be alleviated if
they could be convinced to do so,
Brubaker told the board.
Twp. debates what to
do about visibility
LORIN BEIDLER
Record Express S ta ff
At a recent meeting, Warwick’s
supervisors had listened to com­plaints
from residents of the Con­rad
Estates development. They
urged the township to do some­thing
about the sight lines at the
intersection of Newport and
Rothsville Station roads.
Motorists turning from Roths­ville
Station Road onto Newport
Road have a hard time seeing
eastbound Newport Road traffic,
they said, because trees along
both roads impede their vision.
The sharp angle at which the two
roads meet makes the problem
even worse.
After hearing their complaints,
the supervisors had commis­sioned
Hummer to look into the
matter. Hummer reported back on
Wednesday.
The biggest problem, Hummer
said, was a coniferous tree,
located near the intersection along
Rothsville Station Road. Motor­ists
stopping at the appropriate
place look directly into the tree, he
said.
The tree is located on the prop­erty
of Eugene Wendel and does
not lie in the township’s right of
way, Which means the township
cannot force him to remove it.
Another problem, Hummer
added, is related to the large deci­duous
trees, also located on Wen-del’s
property, which hang out
over Newport Road. The branches
make it difficult to see up New­port
Road, which climbs steadily
uphill west of Rothsville Station
Road.
The third problem is the sharp
angle at which the two roads meet.
Motorists turning right onto New­port
Road face a 10-foot radius
turn. PennDOT recommends that
such turns be no sharper than a
35-foot radius.
Hummer added that increasing
the radius to 35 feet would mean
commandeering a substantial
ammount of Wendel’s land and is
therefore probably not realistic.
Increasing the turning radius by as
little as 10 feet, however, would
(Turn to Page 19)
Good deed improves safety
Flory’s efforts
lead toward
Scout badge
LORIN BEIDLER
Record Express S ta ff
Nathan Flory saw it happen a num­ber
of times on his way to Warwick
High School.
West Main Street motorists, not
realizing that the street became one
way when they crossed Broad Street,
would stay to the right side of the
street, even if they were turning left
on to Spruce Street. Motorists behind
them, who knew the road was one
way, would then pull around to the
first motorist’s left, thinking the first
motorist was turning right.
If both motorists were wanting to
turn left, only defensive driving
would keep them from making the
turn together and possibly entangling
their fenders.
After seeing it happen again and
again, and after considering the pos­sible
consequences, it occurred to
Flory that simply dividing the road­way
into two clear lanes and making
one lane a left turn lane and the other
a right turn lane, would eliminate the
risk. It wasn’t exactly a life-threatening
situation, but it was a
fender-bender waiting to happen,
Flory thought, and for a couple hours
of the borough works crew’s time,
the danger could be eliminated.
“It seemed like a problem area and
it didn’t seem like it would cost much
to fix it,” Flory says.
Flory wrote down his idea in the
form of a letter to the Lititz Borough
Council and on Tuesday morning,
borough works employees put the
idea into action by painting direc­tional
arrows on West Main Street.
Not only will Flory’s idea make
Lititz a little safer, conveniently
enough, it will also help him on his
way toward becoming an Eagle
Scout. Flory, the son of Charles and
Diana Flory, is a Life Scout with
Troop 44.
His traffic modification idea will
meet one of several requirements
Flory must fulfill for the Citizenship
in the Community merit badge, one
of the few remaining badges Flory
needs for his Eagle classification.
The merit badge is intended to famil­iarize
scouts with the workings of
their local municipal governments.
Flory, who will be a senior at War­wick
this fall, will clean up and
restore his church’s picnic area for
his Eagle project.
(see photo on page 26)
C r o w d s l i n e d o w n t o w n s t r e e t s f o r a n n u a l R o t a r y C r a f t S h o w
JENNIFER KOPF
L ititz Record News E d ito r
It may be called the Rotary Craft Show,
said one of the event organizers, Tom Oeh-me,
but its success is in large part due to com­munity
effort as well.
It would have to be. Tens of thousands of
people, eager to browse and buy, nearly 850
craft stands and at least as many crafters, and
the need to feed, escort and guide them all.
It’s a tall order for a small town.
Last Saturday’s show was the latest in a
series of craft events which the Lititz Rotary
Club has been organizing and hosting for
years. Judging by the enthusiastic reponse of
many of those walking downtown Lititz, it’s
an event they try to schedule onto their calen­dar
as soon as they hear about it.
Likewise, for the people Oehme termed his
“faithfuls”, the crafters who come back year
after year. While some craft shows have a
steady turnover rate of crafters who decide
not to come back, that’s certainly not the case
with this local show.
Its reputation has spread as well, almost as
quickly as the renaissance of crafting popu­larity.
An indication of this is the club’s
extensive waiting list, holding the names and
numbers of almost 200 crafters who are
awaiting their turn at the Lititz show.
Last weekend’s throngs were treated to a
smoothly run collection of hundreds of local
and out-of-state talents. While Oehme admit­ted
his duties didn’t afford him much time to
wander, he said that what he saw met some
high standards.
“One of the strengths is the variety,” he
noted Tuesday. “There were a lot of nice
woodworking items, handcrafted clothing
seemed to be doing well, there was a wide
variety of dried flowers and arrangements...
that seemed to be successful.”
Bringing in that much variety, and manag­ing
it well, takes much time on the part of all
Rotary Club members, Oehme said. “It’s the
whole club, really,” who should get the cre­dit.
“It’s also a positive for the community,
for their support, as well,” he added.
Oehme also noted some other key groups
provided invaluable assistance. “The mer­chants,
police, fire police, ambulance crews,
they all did a great job,” he said.
(See photos page 22)
THIS WEEK IN THE RECORD EXPRESS
Brickerville Fire Co. to
hold carnival, picnic
The Brickerville Fire Com­pany
will hold its carnival and
picnic this Saturday and Sun­day.
The dunk tank, featuring
some surprise “ guests” fam il-1
iar to Brickerville residents,
will be just one feature of the
event. Read more on page 26.
Local athletes win
medals at Keystones
Several local athletes were in
on the fun at last week’s 11th
annual Keystone State Games,
and many of them returned to
Lititz with medals. More than
6,500 athletes from across the
state competed at the Games.
Read more on page 8.
Penpal friendship leads
to vacation in Australia
During a family trip to Phi­ladelphia
eight years ago, Eli­zabeth
Caskey’s chance con­versation
with a vacationing
Australian family led to a pen­pal
friendship with another
girl her age and, this past
spring, a trip to Australia.
Read more on page 26.
THE INDEX
Business 20
Church 16
Classified 23-25
Editorial 4
Manheim 18
Obituaries 2
Out of the Past 4
School News 6
Social 14
Sports 8-1 T
WEATHER: Thursday, partly
sunny. High 75 to 80. Chance of
showers Friday through Sunday.