Lititz Record Express

              T H U R S D A Y , F e b r u a r y 1 6 , 1 9 9 5
L i t i t z R e c o r d E x p r e s s
118TH YEAR LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA 24 Pages- No. 44 30 cents |
WMS students load time capsule
Warwick seventh graders loaded various momentos of their
middle school lives into a pencil-shaped time capsule, which won’t
be opened until the year 2000. Read more on page 24.
Hagey recalls band memories
Weaver Hagey, an accomplished trombone player and former i
leader ofthe New Holland Community Band, is this month’s resident;
of the month at Audubon Villa Nursing Home. See more on page 24. i
Warriors earn Team Tourney berth
Warwick’s wrestling team won four matches last week and quali- i
fied for the District Three Team Tourney for the fourth consecutive i
year. Turn to page 8 to read more.
Business 18-19
Church ' 16
Classified 20-23
Editorial 4
Manheim 17
Obituaries 2
Out of the Past 4
School News
Social
Sports
6-7
14-15
8-11
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Friday and Saturday, partly
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Several local students were among
the gold key or silver certificate win­ners
in the county-wide Scholastic
Writing Competition.
Eight Warwick High School stu­dents,
one Warwick Middle School
student and one Lititz Area Menno-nite
School student were selected
from over 800 entries in 16 writing
categories.
Warwick senior Christopher
Hookway, 18, earned two gold key
awards, including one for his poem,
“Rolling Around,” and one for his
writing portfolio, which included
“Fear,” “My Dog the Nut,” “Discor­dant
Rage,” and “A Friend.”
Abigail Landis, 17, a senior at
WHS, also received two gold keys,
including one for her writing portfo­lio,
which included “Decision of a
Lifetime” and “A Moment of
Change.” She also earned the New
York Times James B. Reston Portfo­lio
gold key award for her writings,
“My Feline Friend,” “High Spirits”
and “A Moment of Change.”
Warwick senior Elizabeth Caskey,
17, received a gold key in the humor
category for her story, ‘Tomorrow I
Clean My Room.”
Kelly Lunds ten, 17, a senior at
Warwick, earned a gold key in the
non-fiction category for her story,
“The Gobbler.”
WHS senior Emily Robb, 17,
received a gold key for her writing
portfolio, which included “Babbit
Tales,” “The Scaffold,” “Great-grandma”
and “Laura.”
Marcia Towers, 18, a senior at
Warwick, earned a silver certificate
in the New York Times James B.
Reston Portfolio for her writings,
“My Interest in Engineering” and
Walking
Butterfly Acres
d istan c e concerns parents
residents raise questions about student safety
RICHARD REITZ
Photo by Richard Reitz
Eight students from Warwick High School were among the winners
in the Scholastic Writing Awards competition. Pictured are (front, left to
right): Liz Caskey and Chris Hookway; (back, l-r) MarciaTowers, Abbie
Landis and Kelly Lundsten. Not pictured from the high school are Emily
Robb, Caroline Nuffort and Melanie Kerstetter.
Lititz a re a s tu d e n ts rec eiv e
Scholastic Writing Awards
“Tourist Foolishness.”
Caroline Nuffort, a 16-year-old
junior at Warwick, earned a silver
certificate for her non-fiction story
“Solvey.”
Warwick senior Melanie Kerstet­ter,
17, also received a non-fiction
story silver certificate for “I
Remember...”
Eighth grader Sarah Ruiz, 13, was
the only Warwick Middle School
student who received a Scholastic
Writing Award. She earned a gold
key for her poems, “The Moment”
and “Spring Run.”
Audrey Zimmerman, 14, an eighth
grader at Lititz Area Mennonite
School, received a silver certificate
for, her short story,“Lori.”
The 14th annual writing competi­tion
is sponsored by the Lancaster
County Library and Stemgas Pub­lishing
Co.
First place and gold key entries
have been sent to the national com­petition
in New York. National win­ners
will be announced this spring.
i P lan n e r s m a y a ct
j on Wal-Mart p lan
i at Feb. 22 h e a r in g
The Warwick Township Plan-rung
Commission will meet on
Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m.
in she Warwick Middle School
auditorium to continue review of
plans for a proposed Wai -Mart
superstore.
Planners are expected to make
a recommendation for supervisors
at shat meeting.
Record Express Staff
Several parents in the Butterfly
Acres development are worried
about the distance their children have
to walk to and from school every day.
The group feels walking up to l'A
miles is too long for the students,
especially when it follows what they
believe is a potentially hazardous
route.
At the Feb. 9 meeting of the War­wick
School District Student Activi­ties
Committee, several parents
asked the board why their middle
school children must walk as much
as VA miles to school, crossing
Route 501 each way, and why
elementary students must walk
almost one mile to school, with some
crossing Sixth Avenue.
Patricia Neuffer, 521 S. Locust St.,
said her primary concerns are about
the safety for children who have to
cross those routes twice a day, where
traffic is often moving very fast.
“To let my child out of my sight
and alone for a mile is ridiculous to
me,” she said.
“I’m not saying a mile is a far dis­tance
for a child to walk,” added resi­dent
Nancy Wentworth. “But this is
not the 1920s or 1930s — it’s 1995.”
Neuffer said they would like to
have buses transport the children
from that neighborhood, located in
the southeastern comer of Lititz
between Route 501 and Kissel Hill
Road.
She submitted two petitions
signed by parents in the Butterfly
Acres development, with one for
elementary parents and one for sec­ondary
parents.
“Every house we went to, they
signed,” she said.
School board member Madaline
Buckwalter explained that the school
district buses secondary students
who live over 114 miles away from
the school because of state funding.
“If we lower the distance, we do
not get state reimbursements for the
students,” Buckwalter said.
Adult and student crossing guards
are provided at intersections along
the route.
The district recently reduced the
distance from 114 to one mile for
elementary students, according to
assistant superintendant Dr. Dan
Doremus, but the school is not reim­bursed
for students in that range.
Wentworth said they are not
requesting an overall reduction of the
minimum distance requirement.
“This could be an addendum
because of the hazardous situation,”
she said.
Doremus said the state reimburses
the district for about half of the total
cost of busing students in qualifying
areas.
Exceptions to the distance require­ment
can be made in an area where
the route is considered hazardous, he
added, such as a road without a
sidewalk. But that distinction is
made by the state, he said.
“It is not a matter of this commit­tee
deciding if it is or isn’t hazard­ous,”
Doremus said. He does not
believe that, with the sidewalks and
crossing guards between the deve­lopment
and the schools, that the
state would consider it a hazardous
route.
For that designation, the school
district would submit to the state a
request to study the safety of the
route, including a police study of the
traffic volume and number of acci­dents
in the area, as well as the num­ber
of students using the route.
Doremus said additional crossing
guards could be an option to consid­er,
and would not require state
involvement. He said the crossing
guard budget is funded equally by the
borough and the school district.
“I think we can come up with a
workable situation,” Buckwalter
said, adding that parents can con­tinue
to express their concerns with
Doremus.
“As the community grows, safe
walking routes are something we are
worried about,” she said. The board
will study the matter.
If a decision is not satisfactory, she
said they would consider a traffic
study for possible busing.
Neuffer said many parents of non-bused
students would also like a
designated drop-off and pick-up area
at tire schools for children trans­ported
by individual cars.
“Many of us feel it is simply not
safe for our children to walk, so we
drive them,” Neuffer said. But now
the conjestion caused by the indivi­dual
cars is creating another hazard.
She describe the situation as “total
mayhem” at times, and suggested the
district consider designating an area
for car traffic, similar to the area
restricted to buses only.
“But if we could eliminated some
of the walking students, that could
also eliminate some of this conjec-tion,”
she said.
W a rw ick m a k e -u p
s c h e d u le d F r id a y
The Warwick. School District is
reminding parents that the first snow
make-up day is scheduled for Friday,
Feb. 17.
School will be in session for all
students in the elementary schools,
middle school and high school on
that day, originally scheduled as a
weather make-up day.
Warwick schools were closed on
Feb. 6 due to the weather.
WARC endorses Kauffman,
Cohen in commissioner race
STEPHEN SEEBER
Record Express Staff
Warwick Republicans reached a decision last week —
after interviewing candidates at Grace Brethren Church,
501 W. Lincoln Avenue, Lititz — on who they hope to
see in May’s primary.
The Warwick Area Republican Committee (WARC)
met last Tuesday evening to discuss which candidates
would best represent this area’s interest, said committee
vice chairman Barbara Tshudy.
In a race that finds incumbent commission chair James
E. Huber—running for a fifth term — struggling for sup­port,
WARC members decided to back incumbent Terry
Kauffman and current county recorder of deeds Ron
Cohen for the county commissioner seats.
“You have to put your trust in someone conservative
who will not raise taxes and is fiscally responsible,” said
Tshudy on the WARC endorsements.
Although the WARC committee considers Cohen to
be a responsible choice for the seat, the recorder of deeds
has recently fallen under criticism for his faulty claim of a
business degree from John Marshall College in Jersey
City, N.J. — a college that has not been accredited since
1947, according to regional accreditation officials in
Philadelphia.
Two-term county treasurer Paul Thibault is the fourth
commissioner candidate.
Huber’s party support base has weakened, receiving
only four GOP endorsements from the 17 area commit­tees.
Huber’s support comes from Eastern Lancaster
County, Pequea Valley, Columbia and Penn Manor.
WARC has also decided to back Robert Getz, of Den­ver,
for the county prothonotary office. Clair Wolf is
stepping down from the prothonotary position after his
second 4-year term. Facing Getz for the seat is current
deputy prothonotary Mary Forney.
“I feel that Getz is more qualified for the position
because of his proven leadership ability,” said Tshudy, ’
“you have to be able to manage an office and he has the
management experience.”
WARC also endorses the following county row candi­dates
which are running unopposed:
Tom Walker — register of rolls, Diana Thompson —
clerk of courts, Barry Walp — coroner, Gregory Sahd —
treasurer, Phil Bomberger — sheriff and Joe Madenspa-cher
for district attorney.
During a second set of interviews at Grace Brethren on
Thursday, WARC endorsed candidates for service on
Lititz Borough Council, Warwick Township Supervisors
(Turn to Page 20)
Warwick considers 2 HACC -S
post-secondary p ro g ram s
RICHARD REITZ
Record Express Staff
Warwick School District is con­sidering
two separate educational
initiatives to provide studies utilizing
Harrisburg Area Community
College.
At the Warwick School Board
meeting on Feb. 7, Judy McCoy from
the technology education department
explained a matriculation agreement
with HACC where students may
have an opportunity to earn up to six
college credits for courses currently
offered at Warwick High School.
“This is a landmark thing,”
McCoy said. “This opens up an
avenue that wasn’t there before.”
She said the program could give
technical education students a “good
lead in post-secondary education.”
The courses include WordPerfect
on IBM PC and introduction to
microcomputer software for
business.
McCoy said the program would
require no change in the current cur­riculum
at Warwick, since the
courses are already recognized by
HACC as meeting its requirements.
Dr. John Bonfield, superintendent,
said the students earn credit without
paying tuition or attending classes
outside the school.
The program will be reviewed at
the next school board meeting, and
requires approval from the board to
take effect.
✓ Another HACC program was
reviewed by the board could give stu­dents
pursuing health careers or
mechanical drafting as much as a full
year of college while still in high
school, but at a cost.
Bonfield said the program is “in
the spirit of the tech prep program,”
but the district would have to contri­bute
$2,472 per student for a 12 cre­dit
semester.
Students would also take their
classes at HACC’s Lancaster campus
instead of at the high school, and the
school would agree to accept that as a
senior year.
In addition to the specialized field
of interest, other general education
courses would be required.
“It is experimental, but it has
worked with other schools,” Bon­field
said. “It is just a question of
whether we want to do it.”
Board member Madaline Buck-waiter
was concerned that the prog­ram
should be open to all seniors.
The program currently limits the
enrollment to 10 students per school.
A vote of the board to consider this,
as a pilot program for 1995-96 split,
and Bonfield suggested that they
hold off and continue to evaluate the
program for the following school
year.
“I would want to see a stronger
consensus among the board,” Bon­field
said.
ÊÈÈÈÊÊÊÊÈBm
■¡burn* Photo by Stephen Seeber
Richard Reitz has been named as the new editor of the Lititz Record-
Express.
Reitz named n ew editor
for Lititz Record-Express
Committee recommends against Warwick STEP program
RICHARD REITZ
Record Express Staff
The Warwick School District
should not pursue the Senior Tax
Exchange Program (STEP), accord­ing
to an evaluation by the school
board’s finance and legal committee.
The committee recommended the
board continue with cost reduction
efforts that help all taxpayers instead
of the STEP program, “which has
such a limited impact.”
The program would provide senior
citizens who earn less than $15,000
per year with a $500 tax credit if they
volunteered time and service within
the school district.
At the Warwick School Board
committee meeting on Feb. 7, Larry
Walker, 80, told the board he didn’t
feel the program covered enough.
“There are people on low income
who are paying taxes and are less
than 62 years old,” Walker said. He
said STEP could be considered a
form of discrimination.
Other issues that concerned the
review committee were matters of
worker’s compensation, liability and
union issues, its impact on current
volunteer programs, and its limita­tion
to property owners.
The committee also reviewed the
10 tax rebate programs that have
been implemented in Pennsylvania,
some of which have since been
discontinued.
The purpose of STEP was to pro­vide
retirees an opportunity to volun­teer
up to 100 hours during the school
year at $5 per hour with a maximum
tax credit of $500.
The district would set an annual
tax credit allowance each year, and
selection would be based upon the
needs of the students, the district and
the applicant.
Volunteer duties would include
tutoring, maintenance, clerical work
or an activity in their area of
expertise.
The Lititz Record-Express has
named Richard Reitz as editor, gen­eral
manager Robert G. Campbell
announced recently.
Reitz, who lives in Denver with his
wife Lisa, joined Lancaster County
Weeklies, Inc. in 1993, and previous­ly
served as a staff writer and editor
for The Ephrata Review.
While at The Ephrata Review, he
primarily covered the Cocalico area,
and wrote a weekly feature column,
CocaliComer, dealing with topics
related to the region.
Reitz, 25, graduated from Camp
Hill High School in 1987 and Mil-lersville
University in 1991 with a
bachelor’s degree in English.
He studied at Humberside College
in Hull, England during his sopho­more
year of college, and was editor-in-
chief of The Snapper, Millersville
University’s student newspaper.
He has previously written for the
Lancaster New Era, Intelligencer
Journal, and The Sentinel in Carlisle.
Reitz replaces Connie Buckwal­ter,
who has taken another position.
“The Lititz Record-Express has a
long tradition of providing its readers
with the best local coverage possi­ble,”
Reitz said. “1 look forward to
continuing that tradition with the
talented staff here.”
He said working with the Lititz
staff in the past has made the transi­tion
from Ephrata smoother.
“I knew Steve Seeber, Bruce Mor­gan
and Connie before coming on
board, so when I joined the staff on
Feb. 9, we all had an idea of what
direction we were heading,” he said.
“I am excited about the potential of
the Lititz Record-Express.”
Although he grew up outside Har­risburg,
Reitz said he does have one
tie to the Lititz area — his father,
John Reitz, graduated from Warwick
High School in 1966.
“I look forward to working with
the people of Lititz, and learing more
about its history and about the issues
that face the community today.”