Lititz Record Express

              T H U R S D A Y , D e c e m b e r 1 1 , 1 9 9 7
L ititz R e c o rd E x p re ss
121 ST YEAR 28 Pages - No. 35 LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA 30 Cents
in s id e So much for
rest in peace □ Holiday Deadlines
Please take notice of the early
deadlines that will be in effect for
the Lititz Record Express issues
on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1. For the
Dec. 25 issue, all news and retail
display ads must be received by
5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 19.
Classified reader ads will be
accepted until noon on Mon.,
Dec. 22. The issue will be printed
on Tues., Dec. 23 and received
by subscribers on Dec. 24. The
Jan. 1 issue will require all news
and retail display ads be
received no later than 5 p.m. on
-ri., Dec. 26. Classified reader
.ds accepted until noon on Dec.
29. The issue will be printed on
Dec. 30 and received Dec. 31.
iI . a* •j*» •
SV'
L
□ Back Page
Wildlife artist issues
holiday cards
Two wildlife prints by local
artist Stephen Leed, including
the painting of an owl pictured
above, are featured on wildlife
Christmas cards. For more on
this, see Page 28.
□ Social
Bed and breakfast
tour includes Lititz
A tour of several Lancaster
County bed and breakfasts
will include 14 stops, including
one at the Cricket Hollow bed
1 breakfast in Lititz. For more,
See Page 14.
□ Business
Consignment shop
caters to kids
The Kidz Korner Consign­ment
Shop is now open at the
Warwick Center north of Lititz.
To find out more about the
shop and owners Jason and
Jennifer Sheaffer of Manheim,
see Page 18.
□ School
H.S. holiday concert
is this weekend
This Saturday and Sunday,
the Symphonic Orchestra and
the Concert Choir and
Chamber Singers will present
the holiday concert “Christ­mas
Because of the Children
in Us All.” For more, see Page
7 .
□ Out of the Past
STEPHEN SEEBER
Record Express Staff
ELIZABETH TWP. — A local
farmer came looking for a morator­ium
on the construction of new
cemeteries, but supervisors buried
the idea as a non-issue.
They did, however, agree to have
the township’s planning commission
take a look at rules regarding proper­ty
setbacks, in addition to an interpre­tation
as to what constitutes
“building.”
The pursuit is what one church
leader referred to as Gene Hack­man’s
ongoing opposition to land
development at the New Haven Men-nonite
School on Crest Road.
Hackman, 1500 Furnace Hills
Pike, said that the lack of restrictions
on cemeteries in the township is
going to create future problems,
including parking and traffic safety.
New Haven purchased six acres of
land adjacent to Hackman’s property
last June. Since then, they built a
school and have plans for a cemetery.
Although no funerals have taken
place along Crest Road, Hackman
told the supervisors that he can
already anticipate the problems.
“Those Mennonite people have
hundreds and hundreds of cars,” he
said, adding that the plot has room for
130 grave sites just feet from his
land.
“This is just another Daniel King
situation, try it and you’ll get away
with it,” Hackman said during Mon­day
night’s meeting.
Elizabeth Township removed
restrictions to the building of cemete­ries
about two years ago, when King,
an Amish farmer who was planning a
small cemetery for his church, said
that such rules regarding the burial of
the dead were sacrilegious.
Supervisor Chairman Larry Wik-er
said that there has never been a
problem with rural cemeteries in the
past, and he does not think there will
be any in the future.
“You’re just grasping at straws
here,” he told Hackman during the
meeting. “Under our current zoning,
there are no conditions for cemete­ries
in rural areas.
Linford B. Weaver, deacon at
New Haven Mennonite, said that
there will be no problem with park­ing
during funerals once they pave
the school lot next summer.
“I’m not surprised,” he said of
Hackman’s moratorium request “He
was opposed to the school from the
start.”
Weaver said that the church simp­ly
wants a place to bury its dead
members.
In other township business:
•Supervisors adopted the town-
(See Cemetery, Page 28)
Firefighters were assisted by other volunteers who were near the Brunnerville barn that was destroyed by
fire shortly after noon on Dec. 4. Barn leveled by fire STEPHEN SEEBER
Record Express Staff
WARWICK TWP. — A Lexing­ton
Road family is planning to
rebuild their bam and livelihood after
a Dec. 4 fire leveled the structure in a
little over an hour.
Brunnerville Fire Chief Ken
Kline investigated the aftermath
with State Trooper Adam Kosheba.
They finally mled that the power
takeoff on a tractor, which was mov­ing
a load of feed dropped off at the
Photos by Richard Reitz
After the lighting of the Christmas tree and a performance by the Warwick High School choir, the Moravian
Trombone Choir led the crowd in performing several popular Christmas carols.
Community
Christmas
spirit alive
in Lititz
RICHARD REITZ
□ Meetings
Looking back in time
Ten years ago, the owner­ship
of the Lititz Record
•Express changed for only the
fifth time in 110 years.
Seventy years ago, a tragic
accident occurred on the train Record Express Editor
tracks on the outskirts of LITITZ SPRINGS PARK —
town. Ninety years ago, Lititz Mayor Russell Pettyjohn is making
was paid a visit by Pa. Gov. sure that this Christmas, the youth of
Edwin S. Stuart. For more the community are properly
local history, see Pages 22- recognized.
¿5. On Friday evening, Pettyjohn
helped warm the hearts of several
hundred folks — each bundled up to
combat the chilly weather — at
Tuesday, Dec 16 7 p m Hometown Christmas in the Park
— Warwick School Board" ’97. Aiong with his specia! Christ-administration
building, 301 mas message, the auchence eiqoyed
i Q , the melodic sounds of the holidays,
[ f n 9 e as well as the traditional lighting of
Wednesday, Dec. 1 7 , 7 ^ Community Christmas Tree.
p.Hl. - Warwick Twp. Super- Pettyjohn told the crowd that he
■Visors, 315 Clay Road. was moved by recent stories about
inspiring local youths that he read in
the Record Express. He cited the
Nov. 27 stories about Emily Adams,
Business........................18-19 who is recovering from leukemia,
Church............................16-17 and the support she has received
Classified............. 25-27 from family and friends; the pancake
Editorial / Letters 4 fundraiser by Boy Scout Troop 142
Entertainment....” Z Z Z l 2 for their fellow scout Patrick Straw
Manheim News............ ......2 0 also has letjemta; and the stoty
(Obituaries / Births....... 2-3, 17 about Amanda Brubaker who was
Ont nf thP P a c t 99 ok one of uut or me ra s i...............¿ ¿ -¿ b school s tusd*e™n™ts 1t haWt marawdeic Ckh rMist“m1*as
o i l 0 6 , ,9................................. ^ ® cards for soldiers and sailors over-
School News..................... 6-7 seas that will not be home for the
Social........................... 14-15 holidays.
Sports....... ...................... 8-11 (See Sounds, Page 17)
□ Index
barn that morning, had mal­functioned.
Damage to the bam and its con­tents
was initially estimated at
$230,000, but Kline said that this was
a ballpark figure and that the total
could be lower. A feeding stable to
the rear of the bam was reportedly
saved.
Also, more than 100 steer were
safely removed from the burning
building.
One neighbor said that the owner
of the 306 E. Lexington Road bam,
David Sensenig, was away at a
church-related function when the fire
began. His son, Joseph, was working
in the vicinity of the bam when a pile
of straw ignited.
“The only thing I can think of is
that tractor,” Joseph told the Record
Express as he inspected the charred
remains of structure. “There was
nothing else running in the bam.”
Lynn Mearig, Brunnerville’s
deputy fire chief, said that the bam
was fully involved when fire fighters
arrived around 12:30 p.m. Farm
workers even joined the fight to save
anything possible.
“When we first came down we had
a fully-involved bam,” he said. “It
seemed like it started in the center,
the tractor area. But there was no one
around to tell us exactly what was
happening. It (flames) was already
coming through the roof at that
time.”
“I don’t have any idea, I just don’t
know,” Joseph said about what they
would do next. “This is our second
farm. We’ll probably rebuild the
bam.”
(See Fire, Page 28)
F a s t a c tio n
Residents ask borough council
to control speeding. Two weeks
later, Spruce St. is more safe
X STEPHEN SEEBER
Record Express Staff
LITITZ — Speeding on South
Spruce Street had residents worried.
Apparently, congestion along
Broad Street has prompted many loc­al
drivers to use adjacent north-south
throughways to move about the bor­ough
more quickly.
The speed limit on Broad Street,
which is a wider state-owned road, is
35 mph. The speed limit on a parallel
street like Spruce, which are narrow
and more residential, is 25 mph.
The problem for residents is that
when drivers take a Broad Street
alternative, they usually don’t adjust
their speeds. The problem for local
police is that there was not a single
speed limit sign along South Spruce
Street, between Second Avenue and
Sixth Street
This, according to Police Chief
Douglas Shertzer, makes enforce­ment
extremely difficult
Not any more.
A petition signed by 30 residents
along that stretch of roadway was
presented to borough council last
month. As a result, council voted in
favor of posting a total of four 25
mph signs — two at each intersection
entrance to that section of Spruce
Street
The signs are already up, police
are enforcing them, and residents are
noticing the difference.
Carol Collins, 442 S. Spruce St,
organized the petition drive. She said
that she is very pleased with coun­cil’s
quick action on the matter.
“I have a little boy,” she told the
council last month. “I notice the cars
zooming down the street The neigh-
(See Speeding, Page 4)
Tricky entrance on list
of Weis improvements
STEPHEN SEEBER
Tim Reedy and his daughter Hannah, 3, of Lititz, enjoy singing
Christmas carols during the lighting of the community Christmas tree in
Lititz Springs Park last Friday.
Record Express Staff
LITITZ — Meeting all the
requirements for a 10,000 square
foot expansion is not like taking a
gallon of milk through the “10 items
or less” express line.
When Weis Markets came to the
borough’s planning commission last
month in hopes of quick action for an
expansion of unspecified use, HRG
engineers appeared confident that the
avenues of approval would be rela­tively
easy.
On Nov. 26, Borough Engineer
Darrell Becker submitted a list of
concerns and recommendations for
alterations to the original land deve­lopment
plan. This list was relayed to
HRG, the firm hired to organize the
Weis improvements, at the Dec. 2
planning commission meeting.
Items that will need to be revisited
before a final plan is approved by the
borough include parking, landscap­ing
and stormwater management
One of the main issues from the
land development plan that could
lead to a major improvement for
Weis customers, and anyone who
drives South Broad Street, would be
the entrance to the main parking area.
“The level of service could be
improved by widening the driveway
and providing a left turn lane,” Beck­er
wrote in his three-page list of
recommendations for the borough.
“However, we believe that with the
extention of Spruce Street, the num­ber
of left turns will dramatically
decrease and the level of service will
improve.”
(See Weis, Page 28)
Pitts to hold
town meeting
LITITZ — U.S. Rep. Joseph
Pitts (R-16th), will hold a town
meeting on Thursday, Dec. 11 from
7:30-8:30 p.m. at Lititz Borough
Hall, 7 S. Broad St.
In an open forum format, Pitts will
address the legislative initiative of
1997 and discuss initiatives he will
undertake in 1998.
The town meeting is open to the
public.
For more information, contact
Tonya Neff at (202) 225-2411.