Lititz Record Express

              T H U R S D A Y , D e c e m b e r 1 8 , 1 9 9 7
Lititz Record Express
121 ST YEAR 30 Pages- No. 36 LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA Two sections 30 Cents
«¡»»»MSS
INSIPE Workers hit hard twice □ as factory folds
□ Holiday Deadlines
L Please take notice of the
'early deadlines that will be in
¡effect for the Lititz Record
Express issues on Dec. 25
and Jan. 1.
J For the Thursday, Dec. 25
¡issue, ail 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
Monday, Dec. 22. The issue
will be printed on Tuesday,
Dec. 23 and received by sub­scribers
on Wednesday, Dec.
24.
: The Jan. 1 issue will
require all news and retail dis­play
ads be received no later
than 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec.
26. Classified reader ads
accepted until noon on
‘Monday, Dec. 29. The issue
will be printed on Tuesday,
Dec. 30 and received
Wednesday, Dec. 31.
□ Out of the Past
The world’s biggest
■: pipeline here?
T One hundred years ago this
week, construction on the
¿longest pipeline in the world”
¡¡was completed, connecting
Millway with Bayonne, N.J.,
,128 miles away. See Page
17.
□ School
Students honored
r Two Warwick High School
■seniors, Dana Irwin and
Stefani Moose, were recently
Ihonored for their academic
‘achievements. For more on
each student’s accomplish­ment,
see Page 7.
STEPHEN SEEBER
□ Sports
Warriors victorious in
Section challenge
The Warwick boys basket­ball
team faced a big chal­lenge
in its first Section One
game on Tuesday against
Hempfield, but came away
with a big victory. For more on
the game, and on all of the
local sports action, see
Pages 8-12.
□ Entertainment
Lititz is favorite spot
of travel author
Record Express Staff
LITITZ — Lightning may not
strike in the same place twice, but
don’t tell that to 160 unemployed
people who worked for a local office
furniture manufacturer.
Great Connections reportedly
went out of business last week after a
series of mergers, set in motion by
the firm’s top shareholder, pulled too
much money from the profitable
Front Street industry.
Terry Thompson, Great Connec­tions
president, is apparently trying
to revive operations with a skeleton
crew of workers, but for many of the
out-of-work employees, this is the
second management breakdown in
two years. Most are not optimistic
about the site’s future.
A successful Yerger Brothers bus­iness
was run out of the facility for
nearly 80 years. Many say the factory
took a turn for the worse when John
Yerger took control in the late
1980s.
Yerger Brothers went bankrupt in Barn up
one w eek
after fire
STEPHEN S E E B E R __________
Record Express Staff
BRUNNERVILLE — One week
after fire destroyed his bam on Lex­ington
Road, David Sensenig is back
in business.
Church members and neighbors
joined forces less than 24 hours after
the blaze downed the structure and
caused an estimated $230,000 dam­age.
By Monday work was complete.
“it’s amazing,” said Sensenig,
who was away from home when a
feed wagon malfunctioned on Dec. 4
and ignited straw in the bam.
Lititz and Brunnerville fire fight­ers
were on the scene, but flames had
already overtaken the building by the
time they arrived. Sensenig said that
he hasn’t received all the bills yet, but
he thought the damage estimate was
excessive. Brunnerville Fire Chief
Ken Kline said last week that it was a
ballpark figure.
More importantly, none of Sense-nig’s
animals were injured during the
incident. He runs what he calls a gen­eral
farming operation with steer,
hogs and poultry.
It was initially reported that Sense­nig
did not have insurance, making it
(See New barn, Page 20)
1995 and because the company
offered a self-insured health plan,
many of the workers were left with
unpaid medical bills.
Even though prospects seemed
grim two years ago, Yerger was able
to help bring in Great Connections to
take over the operation and most of
the unemployed Yerger Brothers
workers went back to work in a few
days.
Earlier this year, the sound of
thunder was heard again when a tex­tile
factory in Georgia was on the
brink of going out of business. That
factory was reportedly owned by
Great Connections’ top investor,
Jodi Vitale, who began pulling from
Lititz profits to compensate for his
southern disaster. Before long Great
Connections began missing delive­ries
on some of their contracts.
Last week, Great Connections
contacted Staples office supply
superstore, the company’s largest
client, to let them know that they
could not meet contractual obliga­t
e Great Connections, Page 20)
__ _______
Greg Nies, left, talks to other out-of-work Great Connections employees during a breakfast meeting at the
Chimney Comer.
"'fe*. P on tz h on o red for
y ea rs w ith L egion
Now he is looking for younger
veterans to continue tradition
RICHARD REITZ
Photo by Stephen Seeber
Members of White Oak Mennonite Church and neighbors of David
Sensenig’s Lexington Road farm pitched in to rebuild his barn after a
Dec. 4 fire.
Record Express Editor
LITITZ — When Jack Pontz
joined the American Legion Garden
Spot Post 56, the veterans organiza­tion
had about 200 members — many
of them veterans of the first World
War.
Today Post 56 boasts a robust
membership of about 975 members,
and is one of the largest American
legion groups in Lancaster County.
But the World War II veteran is
concerned that those numbers may
start dwindling.
“Younger veterans are not taking
over like we did after we joined fol­lowing
World War n ,” the Lititz resi­dent
said. “Fifty percent of our mem­bership
now is from WorldWarII,70
years old and over.”
If membership has to fall, Pontz
wants it to be for the right reasons.
“We don’t mind being put out of
business, as long as it’s because we
don’t have any more wars,” Pontz
added.
Pontz has been one of the most
active members of the Lititz Ameri­can
Legion post since 1947. But now,
51 years after he first joined, he his
stepping down from his longtime
work as an officer and as a member
of the Board of Directors.
He has served for the past 19 years
as the treasurer for the Garden Spot
Home Association, which funds the
community, social and activity pro­jects
supported by the organization.
“I’ve served on just about every
committee,” Pontz said. That
includes three terms as the post com­mander,
in 1955-56, 1963-64, and in
1969-70.
“It has been my life, outside of my
job and family,” he said.
Pontz, at retired computer systems
analyst at Armstrong, joined the
American Legion after serving his
country from June 1942 to Novem­ber
1947. He initially served as a
teacher at the radar school in Boca
Raton before being transferred to the
Ninth Air Force at the France-
Germany border from March-August
1945, at the close of the war.
“We were supposed to be sent to
Japan, but before that happened the
(See Pontz, Page 20)
Coal stove carbon monoxide leak sickens family
RICHARD REITZ
Record Express Editor
BRUNNERVILLE — An mal­functioning
coal stove created a car­bon
monoxide emergency that
caused a Warwick Township family
to become ill in the early hours of
Dec. 9.
But the smell of sulfur may have
helped the family recognize the dan­ger
and escape the house safely.
Warwick Township police, Brun­nerville
Fire Company and Warwick
Community Ambulance responded
to the home of David and Cheryl
Heiss, 1 Knollwood Drive, shortly
before 12:45 a.m.
Mr. Heiss said he had noticed ear­lier
that day that the coal stove had
not been burning very well, and had
an unusual odor.
He said they had never had any
trouble with the five-year-old stove,
but that night his wife was up when
she smelled a strong sulfur odor, and
began feeling sick. The rest of the
family also began feeling ill, and
Mrs. Heiss then called 911.
The operator suggested they leave
the house immediately, suspecting
that it wasn’t that odor that was mak-ing
them sick; it was carbon
monoxide.
Mr. and Mrs. Heiss and their two
children, Michael, 16, and Andy, 11,
were out of the house when emergen­cy
crews arrived at the scene.
“It was a big scare,” Mr. Heiss
said. “We didn’t realize just how
lucky we were.”
According to Brunnerville Fire
Chief Ken Kline, the residence had a
positive reading of 64 parts per mil­lion
of carbon monoxide in the
basement.
“It was not life-threatening at that
moment,” Kline said. “But it was
enough to make them sick.”
Kline said carbon monoxide can
initially cause headaches and nausea.
“You can’t smell it, can’t taste it,
and can’t see it,” Kline said. “It will
make you sleep, and if it’s present
and you are already asleep, it won’t
wake you up. You can die from i t ”
Although they were alerted by the
smell of sulfur emitting from the
stove, it turned out to have little to do
with what was making them sick.
“It’s the stuff that you can’t smell
that’s dangerous,” Mr. Heiss added.
Firefighters on the scene cleared
the air in the residence while two
Warwick ambulances transported
family members to the St. Joseph
Hospital for observation.
Mr. Heiss said that they were
placed on oxygen on their way to the
hospital. When they arrived, Mr. and
Mrs. Heiss and Michael were told
they had 18 percent carbon mono­xide
in their blood. Andy had a 13
percent reading.
They were released three hours
later, only after the carbon monoxide
level fell below five percent, he said.
Everyone recovered completely
from the incident
(See Monoxide, Page 20)
T yp ical tow n m e e tin g
Pitts tackles issues of local concern
STEPHEN SEEBER
□ Index
Ai o n n a Smi t h of
Philadelphia has written a
pew guide book “Lancaster Recofd &p fe s s §faff
County - The Best Fun, Food, L IT rrz _ Congressman Joe
Lodging, Shopping and pitts ^ to Litit| for ^ old_
Sights which touts Lititz as fasMoned town meeting on Dec. 11.
one of the most ¡ntngumg After a Wcf ^ ¿ t l o n of ses-towns
in the county to visit sion ^ hts b ^ 16th District
fo r more on her book and R ¿ T aL immediately opened
her local ties, see Page 18. upp’for some good oldJ as^ ned
Clinton bashing.
Campaign finance reform, or at
Business 24-25 ^east 311 inquiry into the daily func-
Church 14-15 lions what many in attendance con-
P.lpQcifipri 97-9Q sider to be an immoral and manipula-
Ed tonai / Letters......................... ...... ,4 stievee mWehdittoeb eHaotuospep raiodmritiynfiostrr^atio2n5,’
Entertainment.............................18 people that stuffed themselves into
Manheim News....................... 16 borough council chambers.
Ob itu arie s / Births..... 2, 15, 19 Afterward, Pitts called it a “typical
Out of the Past..........................17 town meeting.”
Police Log....................................30 He assured those concerned the
School News............................ 6-7 issue is serious and is being
S o c ia l......................................22-23 investigated.
Sports 8-12 “What they’ve (Clinton-Gore)
done leaves a bad impression on our
young people,” said one audience
member. “It’s going to hurt this
countiy in the long run.”
Pitts, who said that he would never
borrow money to run a campaign,
said that he is pushing for limits on
soft money and full disclosure for
every dime used.
“They (the Clinton administra­tion)
say that everyone does it,” said
Pitts. “That’s not true.”
Other topics of interest included
changes in social security, mudsling-ing,
predictions on who would be the
next Republican nominated candi­date
for president, medicare private
contracting, human rights, the anti-
Christian media, crime and drugs,
and education.
The Pitts-sponsored Dollars to the
Classroom bill, which would send 90
percent of every federal dollar that is
earmarked for education to the local
(See Pitts, Page 20) in
Joe Pitts discusses social security with Lititz resident Charles Hendrick after last Thursday’s town meeting
Lititz borough hall.