Lititz Record Express

              THURSDAY, SEPTEMBERS, 1999
L i t i t z R e c o r d E x p r e s s
^ d b i i c a t i o d
123RDYEAR 28 Pages - No. 22 LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA 30 Cents
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□ IN S ID E R e v i e w c o n t i n u e s
o n s c h o o l t a x s h i f t □ Government
Joint Strategic Plan
Take a closer look at the
Joint Strategic Plan, and at
ways to improve community
services and facilities, in the
first of a series of articles that
preview the public meeting
scheduled for later this month.
Page 20.
□ Social
Old Zion service
Old Zion Church in Bricker-v
ille will host its annual
Anniversary Service on Sun­day
afternoon. More about the
ceremony is on Page 14.____
□ School
HEALTH* YOUTH
Family activities
Warwick School District’s
Healthy Communities/Healthy
Youth program is preparing a
handbook of family activities
and services, and will also
spotlight activities in a regular
feature in the Lititz Record
Express. Also, check out pho­tos
of some of the newest
te a ch e rs in the Warwick
School District. It’s all on Page
□ Business
Maps on the Internet
With the help of a local col­lege
student, James Hess,
owner of the Heritage Map
Museum, is creating a web
site that will circle the globe.
Page 18.
□ Editorial
Final installments
The last columns by Matt
Nuffort from his cross country
bicycling adventure, and from
Matt Bieber and his experi­ence
as a page in a congres­sional
office, both begin on
Page 4 .___________________
□ Manheim
Friendly breakfast
The first Friends Helping
Friends Breakfast, sponsored
by the Manheim Ministerium
and local Lions and Lioness
clubs, w ill be held this
Saturday. Find out more on
Page 22. ______
RICHARD REITZ
□ Church
A Good Long Life
In his monthly column,
Norman Saville tells the story
of Pastor Charles and Mary
Beth Bieber, residents at
Brethren Village, and how
missionary work has led to a
good long life. Page 16.
□ Sports
Warwick’s Male-strom
The Warriors recaptured
the Male Trophy with an
impressive performance last
Friday, sh u ttin g out the
Mountaineers in Ephrata last
Friday. For the complete story
from the game, plus all of your
local sports news, check out
Pages 8-11.
□ Index
Business........................... 18-19
Church...............................16-17
Classified..........................23-27
Editorial / Letters....................4
Entertainment....................... 21
Government.......... ................20
Manheim News........................ 22
Obituaries............................. 2-3
Out of the Past........11, 18-19
Police Log.............................. 7
School News....................... 6-7
Social........................... ,...14-15
Sports..................................8-11
Record Express E ditor
LITITZ — A tax restructuring
plan under review in the Warwick
School District could mean lower
taxes for some property owners...
and higher taxes for other residents.
That is just one aspect'of the Act
50 tax reform plan that Warwick
school officials continue to review,
as they determine whether or not
shifting some of the property tax bur­den
over to income would be
beneficial.
“I stress that we are still studying
this ” said Dr. Stephen Iovino, super­intendent
at the Warwick School
District. “We have reached no con­clusions,”
adding that he expects a
report will be released in November
or December.
F o g i s n o t a
p r o b l e m f o r
o p e n i n g d a y
LITITZ — A foggy first meant a
cautious trip to school for most bus­ing
students on Wednesday.
The 1999-2000 year began Sept. 8
for the Warwick School District, and
while bus drivers took their time dur­ing
the early morning routes, there
were no significant delays.
“Eveiything ran smoothly,” said
Dr. Dan Doremus, assistant superin­tendent.
“If anything, the fog just
required them (bus drivers) to go a
little slower.”
Enrollment figures were not avail­able
Wednesday, but Doremus said
that those should be filtering into the
district office in the next day or two.
Kindergarten students in the dis­trict
will not start school until Friday.
H u r r i c a n e r e l i e f t e a m w i l l
s h a r e t a l e s o f d e v a s t a t i o n
STEPHEN SEEBER
Record Express Sta ff
LITITZ — It’s hard to imagine
anything good coming out of a hurri­cane
that takes 9,000 lives and leaves
another million homeless. But for a
group of local relief workers, the
positives were definitely there.
Those positives will be shared here
this weekend.
“The positive out of the experi­ence
was working side by side with
people who had a need,” said John
Zook and experienced missionaty
and relief worker who helped organ­ize
a team of 23 to help clean up the
wrath of Hurricane Mitch.
Mitch hit Central America last
November, leaving in its wake hun­dreds
of destroyed bridges, downed
phone lines and few useable road­ways.
It has since been confirmed as
one of the worst storms to ever strike
the Western hemisphere and the
clean-up if far from complete nearly
a year later.
Zook is a 59-year-old cabinet con­struction
manager from Leola who
felt the urge to fund his own trip to
the ravaged country of Honduras in
February. It wasn’t hard to find
others from local Mennonite Chur­ches,
including Lititz, who were
equally eager to join the outreach
f i t
1-
The Warwick School Board’s
Finance and Legal Committee has
served as a task force to investigate
the possibility of implementing tax
reform allowed by Act 50, passed by
the state legislature into law in May
1998.
Act 50 allows school boards to
levy an earned income, or net profits,
tax of up to 1.5 percent, in exchange
for elimination of occupation, occu
pational privilege, per capita and
other taxes. Currently the district can
tax earned income by one jK-rccnt,
with lh percent directed to the mini
icipality where the taxpayet resides.
Under Act 50, the municipality
would continue to receive (hat
amount.
It also allows for a reduction in
residential property taxes through a
“homestead exemption.” A home­stead
is the primary residence of a
homeowner. In order to qualify for
homestead and farmstead exclu­sions,
property owners must file
applications with the assessment
office.
The intention of Act 50 is to
reduce porperty taxes through the
exclusions, which would be offset by
increases in earned income taxes.
It is a concept that many find appe­aling,
particularly property owners
who are on a fixed income. School
officials stress that this is not a tax
reduction, but rather a tax shift. So if
a payment drops for one person, it
will increase for another to offset the
change.
“If we reduce property taxes, we
are going to make it up some way,”
said David Zerbe, district business
manager. The district will still have a
$33 million budget, and must raise
that amount in revenue to meet its
expenses.
(See Act 50, Page 7)
Photo by Richard Reitz
The new Warwick- Lititz T railway features new split-rail fencing, plus a magnificent view of historic proper­ties
along the rails-to-trails project that stretches nearly a mile from the Warwick Township building to Oak
Street. A scenic vision realized
RICHARD REITZ
effort. In fact, so many want to make
the trip, some had to be turned away.
The two-week trip was organized
through the Mennonite Central Com­mittee.
They nursed the sick, deliv­ered
supplies to the hungry and
rebuilt shelter for the homeless.
“We paired up with a team from
Michigan and together we repaired
71 houses,” Zook said. “And that’s
just a small dent in what needs to be
done.
“I saw a lot of physical damage
there. About 80 percent of all the
bridges have been destroyed or
severely damaged. The effect that
has on the local economy
tremendous.”
No bridges means fanners, whose
crops of bananas and pineapples
were completely wiped out, are com­pletely
isolated from the rest of the
world.
“The most valuable experience I
had was working with the Honduran
people,” Zook said, again recalling
the positives. “They never com­plained
about their situation.”
These accounts and much more
will be shared during a special prog­ram
this Sunday, Sept. 12,7 p.m., at
Lititz Mennonite Church. Everyone
(See Hurricane, Page 13)
Record Express E dito r
WARWICK TWP. — It has it all:
History, excercise, natural beauty...
and it was done without the use of
local tax money.
The newest Warwick Township
recreational area is nearly completed
and is expected to open soon to the
public, three months after it received
approval for a state grant and just a
few weeks after gaining approval
from the final property owner along
the trail.
This project has been a long-time
coming. According to Daniel Zim­merman,
Warwick Township mana­ger,
discussion about converting this
old railroad bed into a trail dates back
to 1978.
Over the past few years, the plan
came closer to realization with a
feasibility study, followed by the cre­ation
of a three-phase plan for a trail
network extending from Oak Street
to the township building, and up to
Newport Road.
On June 4, Warwick Township
received a $65,000 Keystone Rail
Trail grant from the state Department
of Conservation and Natural Resour­ces.
Add to that a $15,000 Lancaster
County Community Parks Initiative
grant, plus funding from developer’s
recreational fees, and this project
began and ended with a budget that
involves no local tax dollars.
Zimmerman said the project cost
e s t im a t e w a s b e tw e e n
$100,000-$l 10,000, but that they
were able to trim the cost by 20-30
percent by having the Warwick
Township Public Works Department
construct the trail. “These guys are
doing a great job,” Zimmerman said.
Now, about three weeks after con­struction
began, the Warwick-Lititz
Trailway is open to walkers, joggers,
cyclists, and roller-bladers.
The new trail covers nine-tenths of
a mile, starting at the Warwick
Township municipal building, where
Zimmerman urges anyone using the
trail to park.
“The parking is limited on Oak
Street,” he said. With 80 spaces
available at the township building, he
said it is “the only place to park.”
Future plans call for an underpass
for pedestrians when crossing Clay
Road from the township building to
the trail. In the meantime, a cross­walk
will be marked near the town­ship
sign for trail users.
The newly-paved trail connects to
a path stretching along Clay Road
and the eastern side of the Pebble
Creek housing development. Zim­merman
said future plans include a
trail stretching down to the Warwick
Township Riparian Park.
Ten feet in width, the main trail
continues west toward Lititz Bor­ough,
with homes in Pebble Creek
along the southern side of the trail,
and farmland to the north. There will
be a six-foot grass buffer between the
trail and the farm, and trees, shrubs
and a fence between the trail and the
residential development.
“We will just use native plants
along the trail,” Zimmerman added.
The trail features periodic “inter­ceptor
p>oints,” or places where the
trail connects with other pathway
entrances. At these points, Zimmer­man
said the pavement will be
“stamped” to designate it as an inter­ceptor
point. There will also be
benches, trash cans, and the posted
rules and regulations at these points,
to make sure everyone who enters the
trail properly will see the rules.
Though the former railroad bed
provided an excellent base for a
walking trail, some grading work
was necessary to make it safe and
smooth for pedestrians. The Public
Works Department had to raise one
area, located near the end of Pebble
(See Trail, Page 13)
B e a r s b e n e f i t R o n a l d M c D o n a l d H o u s e
j. . . 1 , ^ *
w m m
Tell Us About It!
The Lititz RecordExpress
626-2191
Teddy Bear Day is this Saturday, a must see event for hug-lovers like
(from left) Elise Schofield and sisters Ashley, Amanda and Samantha
Kutcher.
LITITZ — School may be open,
but summer fun in the park doesn’t
officially come to an end until after
die bears come to town. Teddy bears,
that is.
The annual Teddy Bear Day,
hosted by the Lititz Women of
Today, is set for this Saturday, Sept.
11, in Lititz Springs Park from 10
a.m. to 3 p.m.
This is a day for fun. Just about
everyone at one time or another has
enjoyed a warm hug from a fuzzy
stuffed bear, so why not make a day
out of it. The Teddy theme will
include lots of games for children,
face painting, pony rides, a petting
zoo, entertainment, food, a teddy
bear contest and a coloring contest.
Entry forms for both contests can
be picked up in advance at the Lititz
Public Libraiy, Bob’s Save Rite
Market, D&J Video and the Lititz
Community Center. Be sure to pick
up one of these forms as it can mean
(See Teddy Bear, Page 13)
i# A ’ . ; , '
I-KÉ Photo by Richard Reitz
Harold Keck and Verna Trautman will be exchanging vows on
9-9-99, at 9 a.m., with nine in attendance.
Wedding bells chime
for couple on 9-9-99
RICHARD REITZ
Record Express Editor
ELIZABETH TWP. — When
Verna Trautman and Harold Keck
were searching for a meaningful
date and time for their wedding
day, a Thursday morning cere­mony
was not exactly what they
had in mind.
That is, until Verna noticed
something special about this
Thursday.
Verna and Harold are getting
married today on a date with spe­cial
significance — the ninth
month, of the ninth day of 1999 —
9/9/99.
It’s the first time in over 11
years that the month, day and year
are all nines. It is a numerical cur­iosity
that won’t occur again for
another 11 years — when it
occurs four times: On January 1
and 11, and November 1 and 11 in
the year 2011.
“When I looked at the calender
to search for a good date, I noticed
Sept. 9, 1999,” Vema said. “I
knew he’d never forget that one
— or that anyone else would, for
that matter.”
In making preparations for the
ceremony at their home, 589
Hammer Creek Road, they have
continued to include the number
nine in their plans.
“We decided to keep going
with the nines,” Harold said. “It
just snowballed.”
Now they will have as many
nine-related aspects of their wed­ding
as possible. For example, the
ceremony begins at 9 a.m., and
there will be nine people in atten­dance:
Harold’s son, Timothy
(See Wedding, Page 13)