Lititz Record Express

              THURSDAY, March 17, 1994
L i t i t z R e c o r d E x p r e s s
117TH YEAR LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA 26 Pages- No. 48 30 cents |
THIS WEEK IN THE RECORD EXPRESS
It’s Spring Bargain Time
Everybody is ready for
Spring... including Lititz area
merchants who are offering
special bargains in this
week’s Issue. Plus, you can
register in participating
stores tor a ; $250 Spring
Giveaway now through April
2. Top pilie is $100... check
this week’s issue for all the
details.
WHS wrestlers win District medals
The Warriors’ wrestling team
had a strong showing at Districts
la s t w e e k e n d , a s S c o tt
Krushinski won a silver, and
Brad Krushinski and Brad
Dauberman each won bronze
medals. All three also qualified
for the PIAA Championships,
which are being held in Hershey
this week. Read more on page &.
THE INDEX
Business
Church
Classified 22-25
Editorial 4
Manheim 20
Obituaries 2
Out of the Past 4
18 School Menu m 6
16 School News 6
Social 14-15
Sports
WEATHER: Thursday, mostly
sunny but windy. Partly cloddy
Friday. ; /
Photo by Bruce Morgan
Despite the problematic winter weather, progress continued on the new John R. Bonfield Elementary
School. The weather hampered some progress at the construction site, just as it caused the district to cancel
school several days this year.
Board revises calendar
Additional time to be tacked onto school days
BRUCE MORGAN
Record Express Staff
The Warwick School Board on
Tuesday evening adopted a recom­mendation
from Superintendent Dr.
John R. Bonfield which will amend
the school calendar to allow for the
make-up of snow days.
The recommendation was that all
students attend school on Good Fri­day,
April 1, 1994. Also, if the State
Legislature gives its approval, 33
minutes per day would be added to
the Elementary day and 44 minutes
per day would be added to the secon­dary
day for 18 days of the school
year to make up two additional days
of school.
By amending the school calendar
in this way, graduation for seniors
would be set atJune 10,1994, and the
last day of school for the remaining
District students would be June 17.
This would also be subject to the
approval of the teachers.
Bonfield also reviewed a proposed
Bill which would allow a School Dis­trict
to go with its original graduation
date as long as it made “a bona fide
effort” to provide 180 days of
instruction.
He said the Department of Educa­tion
interprets a bona fide effort as
(Turn to Page 19)
WTMA board approves
cooperative resolution
Supervisors acted on related ordinance
CONNIE BUCKWALTER
Record Express Staff
The Warwick Township Municipal Authority Board
passed a resolution approving a management agreement
between the authority and township offices.
Authority Board members acted on the resolution dur­ing
their meeting Tuesday night, March 15. Warwick
Township supervisors were expected to vote on the adop­tion
of an ordinance to that end during their meeting
Wednesday night, March 16.
The ordinance was advertised in the Lancaster News­papers
legal section early last week and was an issue that
the supervisors and WTMA board members had been
discussing for some time in joint executive sessions.
Basically, the texts of both the resolution and the ordi­nance
authorize the township to provide management
services to the authority.
“I feel that this will create some efficiencies and I hope
everyone is going to benefit from it—taxpayers and cus­tomers,”
said Donald F. Engle, authority board member.
Troy Clair, WTMA board chairman, said that he also
thought that the agreement will ultimately benefit the
customers because there is greater efficiency in merging
and combining efforts.
Several others in attendance at the WTMA meeting
also expressed their support of the action.
Charles McConaghay said he liked the idea of the
township and the authority working closer together.
Dean Hoffer, Warwick Area Republican Committee
chairman, said that the resolution marked a step forward.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction and I think it is
going to be appreciated by the citizens of WarwicK
Township,” he said.
Larry Zimmerman, authority engineer with Glace
Associates, who has worked with the authority for years,
said that he was bothered by the misconception that some
people may have that the township and authority offices
never have gotten along.
“We’ve always worked together and now we will be
working closer together, which is good for the township,”
Zimmerman said.
At the supervisors meeting last Wednesday night,
March 9, Chairman Michael W. Brubaker said that the
supervisors planned to accept public comment on the
proposed ordinance during their March 16 meeting.
Supervisors and authority board members said that the
ordinance was being considered to provide “greater effi­ciency”
to authority and township operations, including
the sharing of equipment and labor. This year already the
authority has announced one rate drop in sewerage fees
from $80 to $65 per quarter.
Earlier this month, the authority board had authorized
Glace Associates, consulting engineers, to observe the
operations of municipal authority administrative staff for
a two-week period.
Both the township and authority staffs have had their
share of changes during the past year. The township is in
the midst of a search for a new township manager. And
during the WTMA board meeting Tuesday night, board
members announced that Terry Long had been termi­nated,
effective as of March 9. Months previous, Ron
Nuss and Bob Baker had also left the employ of the
authority.
(Turn to Page 19)
Borough police released two sketches of the bank robber— one with
the suspect wearing a knit hat (I) and one showing how the man might
have looked without the cap.
Unidentified man
robs Farmers First
DIANE NIXDORF
Record Express Staff
For the first time in recorded his­tory,
a bank robber targeted the
small, historical town of Lititz. An
unidentified man hit Farmers First
Bank last week and fled from the
scene with an undetermined amount
of cash, said police.
At 11:30 a.m, last Wednesday
morning, officer Joel Hartz, Chief
Douglas Shertzer and officer Ronald
Sandhaus responded to a silent alarm
triggered at the main branch of Far­mer
s First Bank, 9 E. Main St.,
located just around the comer from
the Lititz Police Department.
Knowing only that the alarm was
activated, police had no description
of the robber, said Detective Joseph
Kilgore. Although the officers
dashed to the bank when the alarm
came in, the bandit had already
escaped.
According to Kilgore, the robber
parked in the back lot and entered
(Turn to Page 19)
Search committee
narrows down
field for manager
CONNIE BUCKWALTER
Record Express Staff
Warwick Township continues to
move closer towards finding a new
township manager.
The number of candidates for the
manager’s position has been nar­rowed
to a field of about 20 possibili­ties,
said Michael W. Brubaker,
supervisor chairman.
Brubaker reported on the progress
of the township manager search com­mittee
during the supervisors’ March
9 meeting. The meeting was original­ly
scheduled for Wednesday, March
2, but was postponed until March 9
because of weather conditions.
Brubaker said the committee had
reviewed more than 100 resumes
before honing down the field to its
current number.
The goal of the committee is to
meet again on March 17 and further
narrow the number to about 10 candi­dates.
The deadline for applications
is not until March 18, but Brubaker
said that the committee would make
any changes necessary to their slate
of possibilities if they received a
promising resume on March 18.
On March 30 & 31, the committee
plans to interview the final group
either in person or through telephone
conference calls. Brubaker said the
committee decided that individuals
being interviewed would need to pay
for their own travel expenses.
Immediately following those
(Turn to Page 22)
Photo by Diane Nixdorf'
SUPPER FOR 500—Volunteers from the Rothsville Fire Company spent countless hours in the kitch-:!
en last week preparing the delicious food for the annual ham and turkey supper. The cooking began, !
Thursday and Friday evenings and continued throughout the day Saturday. Pictured above, firefighter !
John Lamb (I) and Raymond Rutt, treasurer of the fire company and chairman of the supper committee, h
“slave” over the hot stove. From 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, close to 30 volunteers served turkey,1 ■
ham, potato filling, green beans, dry corn, rolls, pepper cabbage and cake to 500 hungry residents from.;
throughout the county. One of the company’s major fund raisers, this month’s supper raised close to';
$1,500. The fire company also holds a beef and turkey supper the second Saturday in November. All pro-1
ceeds from the suppers are placed in the fire company’s general fund.
C r im e
r a t e
d r o p s
i n b o r o
DIANE NIXDORF
Record Express Staff
Borough residents can breathe a
sigh of relief knowing that the Lititz
Police Department is doing its job —
and doing it well.
According to the department’s
1993 crime report, the number of ser­ious
crimes in the borough dropped
17.5 percent.
“I’m proud of this report,” said
Chief Douglas Shertzer, who took
over as chief last month. “We have to
give credit to our policemen for dig­ging
in and taking a big initiative.”
In particular, burglary and theft
offenses decreased considerably. “I
attribute some of this to the increased
visibility of the officers,” said Shert­zer,
noting the success of the recently
developed bicycle patrol.
Overall, miles of patrol through­out
the year increased 22 percent
Despite the significant decrease in
serious crimes last year, officer Ker­ry
Nye encourages local residents to
take precautions. “If the first two
months of 1994 are any indication of
what this year is going to be like,
crime will increase significantly,”
said Nye, noting that car thefts in par­ticular
are on the rise. “People should
report all suspicious activity to the
police immediately.”
To eliminate the problems asso­ciated
with juveniles, the police are
concentrating their efforts on the
high school. “We are cracking down
on the thefts,” said Shertzer. “We put
a lot of impact and influence at the
high school over the past year.”
According to the report, juvenile
arrests are down 30 percent.
Although the number of serious
crimes decreased, those of a less seri­ous
nature increased by 6.2 percent
— particulary DUI and disorderly
conduct. However, Shertzer attri­butes
the increase to “more
crackdown.”
“We attacked DUI aggressively,”
he said, noting that there is more
aw a re n e s s th ro u g h o u t th e
community.
In 1992, the pbïïce department
also initiated a policy for students
involved in fights at Warwick High
School. “With the program in effect
for a full year, we issued a lot of cita­tions
for students caught fighting,”
said Shertzer.
In traffic related incidents, acci­dents
decreased by 14 percent Due
to the abundance of construction in
the borough during 1993, Shertzer
said traffic was forced to slow down
— thus causing less fender benders.
According to Nye, the addition of
a traffic light at Cedar and Main
Streets helped eliminate a good num­ber
of accidents.
Police also believe the 20 percent
decrease in injuries can be attributed
to the increased wearing of seatbelts
and child restraint devices. “We are
issuing seatbelt violations,” said
Shertzer, noting that he hopes to
encourage people to wear their belts
on a regular basis.
Fortunately, no fatal accidents
were reported last year.
Not surprisingly, the most danger­ous
intersection in the borough (the
site of seven accidents) was Lincoln
Ave. and Route 501. With the con­gestion
involved in moving the
Schouten house and improving the
road conditions, Shertzer said he is
not surprised. “A lot of trucks were
having problems,” said Nye. Howev­er,
accidents should decrease now
that the house is moved and the
intersection is widened.
Three additional intersections also
topped the list with five accidents
each: Water and Front Streets, Sec­ond
and Broad Streets and Orange
and Broad Streets.
“There are only stop signs for east
and west bound traffic on Front
Street,” said Shertzer, noting that a
four-way stop might alleviate some
of the problems at the Water/Front
Street intersection.
(Turn to Page 19)