Lititz Record Express

              THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17,1998]
L i t i t z R e c o r d E x p r e s s
122ND YEAR 28 Pages - No. 23 LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA
-, O \£ NX'' □ inside B o r o u g h p l a n s t o t e a r d o w n e y e s o r e
□ Lititz Fall Sales
Register to Win!
5 It’s time for Lititz area Fall
Sales, and shoppers can reg­ister
to win tickets to experi­ence
American Music
Theatre’s “Holiday Treasures”
show.
Full details on how to enter
can be found in this issue of
the Lititz Record Express. But
hurry, because registration
ends on Sept. 26.
Check this issue for special
savings throughout the Lititz
area.
□ Manheim
Penn Twp. residents
: can get free testing
Through a grant received
from the American Lung
Association, free radon testing
kits will now be made avail­able
to residents. For details,
see Page 20.
□Social
Woman’s Show
returning to area
; The fifth Central Pennsylva­nia
Women’s Show, "
featuring demonstra­tions,
programs, semi­nars
and
more deal­ing
with
women’s
issues, will
be held
this week­end
at the Host Resort
in Lancaster. For more
details on this year’s event,
turn to the Lititz Record social
section on Page 14.
Twp. Bike Rodeo
draws large crowd
Heather Wilson (above),
he 6-year-old daughter of
Craig and Stephanie Wilson,
waits her turn as she prepares
for the next station at the
Warwick Township Police Bike
Rodeo on Saturday. She and
or brother Matthew, 10, were
„mong the 100 youngsters
who took part in the fun and
educational event. For more
on the bike rodeo, and for a
look at the winners and partic­ipants,
see Page 6.
□ Sports
Warwick grad named
basketball coach
Ryan Landis, a 1993 War­wick
graduate, was named as
the Warriors new boys bas­ketball
head coach on Tues­day
by the Warwick School
Board. Landis, a former player
for the Warriors, talks about
his new position on Page 8.
□ Index
STEPHEN SEEBER
Record Express Staff
LITITZ — With the assistance of
an anonymous philanthropist, bor­ough
council is about to close the
book on a downtown eyesore.
Council President Dennis Stuckey
confirmed that Ed Cericola, owner of
the gutted stone church at South
Broad and West Orange streets, has
signed a letter of intent to sell the
property to the borough for
$180,000.
A resolution that would make the
purchase official will be voted on
during the Sept. 29 borough council
meeting, and Stuckey said that he
expects a settlement with Cericola
sometime next month.
Demolition of the former Lutheran
church and the construction of a
small park at that comer appears to
be the most likely direction council
will take. Considering the extreme
zoning limitations for a structure of
that size at one of Lititz’s busiest
intersections, combined with the
location’s parking problems, the
V Î -■
JàI
4
Photos by Stephen Seeber
Lititz Borough Council has extended a helping hand to the Power
Connection youth ministry, with intentions to help the teen center to find
a new home when the old Lutheran church atOrangeand Broad streets
is torn down. Shown here from the left is Council President Dennis
Stuckey, Power Connection Director Paul Castellitto and Lititz Mayor
Russell Pettyjohn.
‘Peon’ sues Elizabeth
Twp. for $18 million
STEPHEN SEEBER
Record Express Staff
BRICKERViLXE — The saga
over junkyards and zoning com­pliance
continues in Elizabeth
Township.
A fo c u se d
1st g rou p
Attendance low
at public mtg.
RICHARD REITZ ________
Record Express Editor
LITITZ — Depending on who
you asked, attendance at the first
meeting of the Joint Strategic Plan­ning
public focus groups was vety
good... or very disappointing.
But all seemed to agree that the
quality of the discussion at Warwick
Middle School on Tuesday evening
far overshadowed the spar ce quantity
of participants.
(See Focus Group, Page 28)
This week, Daniel Groff served an
$18 million multi-defendant lawsuit
against, among others, the town­ship’s
board of supervisors and Gov­ernor
Tom Ridge.
Township solicitor Joseie Cleaiy
was one of the litigants named. She
doesn’t expect the case to go any­where
since similar actions filed by
Groff have been summarily dis­missed
in court. Nonetheless, it’s a
big headache.
“What he’s doing is costing the
township time and money,” she said.
Several years ago, township offi­cials
estimated their legal costs
against Groff at $10,000. The price
has gone up considerably since then
and Groff shows no signs of slowing
down.
Groff and the township have been
butting heads since 1971, the year
zoning was introduced to the rural
municipality, according to Cleary.
The township’s problem with
Groffs property at 1651 Furnace
Hills Pike is that he is reportedly
operating an illegal junkyard in a
rural/residential zone. The town­ship’s
ordinance restricts junkyards
to the municipality’s industrial zone
(See Lawsuit, Page 28)
WÊSWÊttÊÊÊtÊttÊÊtÊttÊIÊtKkSÊtKmÊÊtsmKmmIÊÊÊtÊÊtÊÊÊÊÊtÊÊÊtÊIÊIÊlÊUÊ
r / *■ J 1- A i +
•-■sr.
¿Í-V * ¡ggj¡
Births..... ............. .............. ...14
Business............. .............18-19
hurch.... ........................ 16-17
Classified............ ............ 2 4-27
Editorial / Letters. .................4
Entertainment..... .................. 22
Manheim News...,................ 20
Obituaries........... ............. 2-3
Out of the Past............. 2 1 ,2 3
Police Log........... ................... 23
School News...... ................. 6-7
Social.................. .f.Trrr.7.14-15
Sports.................. .............. 8-12
Photo by Stephen Seeber
Noah and Mimi Hughes of Ephrata were named grand champs dur­ing
the Aug. 12 Teddy Bear contest in Lititz Springs Park. The annual
Teddy Bear Day event was sponsored by Lititz Women of Today.
Unbeatable bears
Teddy Bear enthusiasts converge
on Lititz Springs Park Aug. 12
STEPHEN SEEBER -— — --- Sfp^rin’g3s Park. Bear Day “ Utitz
Record Express Staff While Noah’s shy demeanor and
LITITZ — It was ’bearly’ a con- Mimi’s cute comments wowed the
test after Noah Hughes walked up the judges, the unsung hero here is Mom
bandshell stairs wearing a fuzzy coat Hughes, otherwise known as
of brown fur. Samantha, who sewed Noah a life
Noah and his sister Mimi of size bear suit for an entry that just
Ephrata were named grand champ- could not be beaten,
ions of the Teddy Bear contest at this (See Teddy Bear, Page 28)
choices on what to do with this prop­erty
are few.
An attractive park maybe the most
feasible option, and because the
money to buy comes through the
donation of a concerned citizen, local
taxpayers will not be pressed a bit.
Stuckey said that the donor
approached the borough with the
idea of purchasing the church. The
generous gift was made under the sti­pulation
that the donor remain
anonymous.
“It’s a win-win situation for every­body
as far as I can see,” Stuckey
said.
The only sticking point is the pro­jected
displacement of the Power
Connection Christian youth mini­stry,
which has been renting space in
the church’s basement ever since
Cericola purchased the building.
While the prospect of moving con­cerns
Power Connection Director
Paul Castellitto, he has been assured
by Stuckey that the borough will help
the ministry relocate with the least
amount of disruption to the program.
“My first concern when I heard
that the church might be sold was that
we would relive the beginning, when
we first moved in here,” Castellitto
said.
Shortly after the ministry settled
into the 2 W. Orange St. basement,
neighbors began to complain about
rude teens that loitered on sidewalks
late at night. A mediator was eventu­ally
needed for the two parties to
work out differences. Since then, the
complaints have disappeared and
Castellitto has been revered for his
good work with local troubled youth.
“So I was a little nervous at first,
but when I met with Dennis Stuckey
and Ruth Fry McKennon, it gave me
a positive feeling,” he said. “I’m
looking forward to seeing how the
borough is going to help us with this
transition. One of the things they
mentioned is a task force.”
Stuckey told the Record Express
that council has been working on a
solution to public outcry concerning
the decaying building, but at the
same time, the government wants to
be compassionate to the needs of the
Power Connection’s beneficial
program.
“Paul has done an outstanding
job,” he said. “The young people that
we are talking about are citizens of
the community and it is important to
us what happens to them.”
Still, the status of the church had to
be addressed. In the three years since
Cericola bought the building, bor­ough
hall has received several letters
from local residents complaining
about its deteriorating nature.
After Cericola auctioned off the
church’s stained glass windows and
other valuables, he had planned to
redesign the interior for business
offices, apartments and possibly a
catering facility for wedding recep­tions.
But zoning restrictions, most
of them dealing with parking require-
L4- 1-
to
The church at Orange and
Broad streets was built in 1911.
ments, cut most of Cericola’s ideas
short. Eventually, he decided against
investing anymore money into a
building that for all intents had no
purpose.
“The frustration was with the zon­ing
board,” Cericola said this week.
“They wouldn’t concur with what we
wanted to do with the property.”
His co n tra c tin g b u sin e ss,
Dynatech Controls Inc., was located
at Warwick Center in Warwick
Township, but it recently moved to
Marietta Avenue
(See C h a rth , D-iste
âge 28)
"
-r vy.
Bgjggfilistap
*
■I V1;?-;’ 8— bw
■ * M.
y ' 4 J-vT-
tit;.-*' ....................... .
V.-;
Photo by Stephen Seeber
Glenn B. Knight of Conway Drive is the mind behind lititzPA.com, a local website that is growing quickly. A
sample from the trivia section of the site is below.
R e ta ile r s em brace lititzPA .com
Local website features everything from 18th
century grocery stores to area weather forecasts
STEPHEN SEEBER
Record Express Staff
LITITZ — A woman from Mis­souri
has never heard of a small town
called Lititz, but soon discovers that
her great-great-great grandfather is
none other than the great nineteenth
century Warwick educator John
Beck. A Georgia teacher who loves
chocolate can now stay in touch with
her former Front Street home. And a
downtown business gets a few unex­pected
customers.
It’s a postive trend for Lititz, one
which was set in motion about a year
ago when Glenn Knight took the bor­ough
to the worldwide web with
lititzPA.com, an internet site that fea­tures
anything and everything you
need to know about Lititz — past,
present and future.
Knight, 54, is a retired Marine and
Air Force man who loves his
hometown.
“I was bom and reared here. I’m
proud of my community,” he said. “If
I can help a small business have
access to this medium and pay some
of my bills, that’s where I want to
be.”A
lways a work in progress, lititz-
PA.com got a huge boost last month
when it became the official site of the
Lititz Retailers Association.
The Association’s internet com­mittee
found that the site was easy to
access, the price ($5 a month to be
linked to the site) could not be beat, it
is very informative, and the webmas­ter
is from Lititz.
Knight said that Lon Heibeck,
Retailers president and owner of
ISttk & pRAisand ia r a rIaiTfe Lw*«we ¡hUpT/Á
Ip- ■
t.rtjù Tririi-tffMS.
PAaK y
m -
H l
Hearts & Wings on South Broad
Street, got two new customer who
saw his business listing on the site.
A listing is provided free of charge
since Knight wants his business
directory to be as complete as possi­ble.
He can also provide other ser­vices,
like creating a home page for
any business for $50 and maintaining
it for $10 a month.
Don Campbell of the Retailers
Association said that the internet
committee had been pricing the
market for a website, and similar ser­vices
cost an average of $500.
“It’s a good buy if your business
can improve through the use of the
internet,” said Knight. “But for the
typical mom and pop operation, it’s
too much money. I try to make it rea-listic
for these people to benefit from
the internet.
LititzPA.com is a lot more than a
downtown shopping guide, it’s a val­uable
source of historical informa­tion,
a complete list of local govern­ment
officials, churches, schools,
and even local weather conditions.
Karen Scott of Springfield, Mo., is
one of many who have already bene­fited
from the resources of this
website.
A direct decendant of John Beck,
she had never heard of Lititz or the
importance of Beck to this area
before she hooked up with
IititzPA.com.
“In one afternoon I went from
knowing only my grandmother’s
(See Web Site, Page 28)