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T H E R E S S SER VING THE WAR WICK AREA FOR NEARLY A CENTUR Y 96th Year E s ta b lis h e d A p ril, 1877, a s T h e S u n b e am (C o n so lid a te d w ith T h e l i t i t z B e co rd , 1937) Lititz Record-ExDress. Thursday, March Ì, 1973 10 c e n ts a Copy; $4.00 p e r y e a r b y m a il w ith in L a n c a s te r C o u n ty 16 PAGES — No. 49 Ok Given fo r Light In d u s try In Penn Twp. The way was cleared for light industry to come into Penn Township last Friday night at a special public meeting of the township supervisors. The supervisors adopted an amendment to the existing zoning ordinance which will allow light industry to go into existing structures in commercial districts. Only buildings which had been utilized for permitted uses are included in the new ruling. No new buildings may be erected for light industrial purposes. The immediate impact of the ruling will probably be the renting of a former Bomberger’s Store building to a clothing manufacturer. Under the provisions of the ordinance, the zoning, hearing board shall determine that any proposed use is a light industrial use and will not be offensive to adjoining uses and properties. Firms will not be allowed to create offensive noise, vibration, smoke, odors, lighting glare, hazards of fire or other objectionable effects. Adequate parking facilities must be provided under the terms of the ordinance. Also, the zoning hearing board may impose additional requirements to insure that the proposed use will not detract from the use of adjoining properties for any of the permitted uses. L ititz R e co rd E x p re s s P h o to s Homemade products are featured at the stands of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Minnich at Lititz Central Market. Above, two clerks display some of the popular items, Mrs. Central Market Has Variety Of Meats, Homemade Foods NOTICE The Lititz Retailer’s Association Will Meet Wednesday, March 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the General Sutter Inn. ALL AREA BUSINESS MEN ARE INVITED TO ATTEND. (Editor’s Note: This is the 58th in a series of articles to acquaint our readers with our local retailers. The 59th article will appear next week.) One of the busiest places in town on Fridays and Saturdays is Lititz Central Market, where a small group of stand owners offer a tempting variety of fresh meats and chicken, farm fresh eggs, and homemade goodies that range from chicken corn soup to bread, cakes and pies. Located at 53 E. Main St., the market is the former Lutz Central Market, and is now run by Mr. and Mrs. Earl Minnich, who operate the bakery, salad, and produce stands, and James E. Benedict, who owns the meat department. Two other farm stands are open one day a week, Saturdays, one of them run by Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Musser, Lititz RD4, and the other by Mildred R. Shreiner, Lititz. Fridays and Saturdays, the two days of the week that the market is in operation, sees a steady flow of customers to the various stands. The ones which the Minnichs own feature mainly homemade Mearig Files Petition For School Director Richard L. Mearig, 521 Lincoln Rd., Warwick Township, will be a candidate for Warwick District School Board in the spring primaries. Mearig, a Republican, filed a nomination petition with the Lancaster County Board of Elections. As of press time this week, he was the only person filing for any of the three school director positions in the primaries. Mearig is chairman of the social studies department at Hempfield High School, and a member of the Warwick Township Municipal Authority. From 1968-1972, he served as Councilman from the Second Ward on Lititz Boro Council, resigning as of Feb. l, 1972 when he moved out of the borough. He is married to the former Judith Ruebman and has two sons. Keith. 10, and Neal, 8. Three school board terms will Richard L Mearig Candidate for School Board expire Dec. 31, those of David E. Buckwalter, current president of the board, Paul Wissler, and Kenneth Weaver. The area Republican Committee has indicated that Wissler and Weaver will not be running again the spring primaries, but did not comment on whether or not Buckwalter will run. A potential candidate for one of the seats will be Wallace E. Hofferth, Republican from the borough’s Third ward, who told the Record-Express this week that he “is considering” running for school board. Since school directors are elected “at large,” rather than by wards and townships, this spring’s primaries could prove a wide open contest if Hofferth, and another potential candidate unofficially reported to be considering running, should announce their candidacies. Hofferth has a history of appointments in the borough. He served eight years on the Zoning Hearing Board, was appointed to fill an unexpired two and a half vear term on the School Board, ran for re-election but was defeated for the same post in the next election, and immediately after that, served a term on the borough Planning Commission. The local GOP committee has not indicated yet what candidates it will endorse in the primaries, although Raymond Reedy, area chairman, said the committee should have its endorsed slate ready in another week. Final date for filing and circulating nomination petitions is March 6. Three new petitions from the Record-Express circulation area (Continued On Page 14) Jim Benedict, who owns and operates the meat department at the Lititz Central Market, is shown at work at his cutting block. Street Resurfacing Studied Boro Council Tuesday night considered a $30,000 street' resurfacing schedule for the year, involving 21 streets and lanes in the borough.' The streets will be reviewed again at the March meeting. Streets being considered are: West Second Avenue, from South Spruce to West Orange, at an estimated cost of $5,041. Robin Road, from Blue Bird Road to cul-de-sac, estimated cost. $1,053. Rome Road Cul-de-sac, form North Elm to Cul-de-sac, $1,002. Forney Drive from Kissel Hill Road to Plum Street, $2,970. South Locust Street from proposed Lemon Street to East Second Ave., $2,871. Kissel Hill Road Intersection, from Forney Drive to South Locust, $685. East Second Avenue from South Cedar to Laurel Avenue, plus 250 feet east of Cherry, $1,553. Hensley Street, from West Marion east to End, $1,042. Spring Avenue, from West Marion west to End, $3,225. West Sixth Avenue, from East of Golden Street to west of Marion Street, $2,089. North Elm Street, from East Main to North Lane, $759. Liberty Street from Front Street to East Lincoln, $1,668. Rome Road from North Oak to Balmer Road, $595. South Spruce Street from West Fourth Avenue to West Sixth, $2,584. (Continued on Page 14) Council Postpones Burning Law After Citizens Protest Anna May Martin, Rothsville (left) holding pies, and Mrs. Martha Shenk, Lititz RD2, holding containers of soup. items which Mrs. Minnich prepares in the kitchen and small bakery at her home at Lititz RD3. Available are stuffed peppers, chow chow, slaws and potato salads, red beet eggs, fruit jello salads, rice and tapioca puddings, applesauce, baked beans, chicken and ham salads, and fresh produce in season. The Minnichs’ stands also feature a variety of homemade (Continued On Page 14) A proposed trash burning ordinance and Market Street parking restrictions drew another full house to Boro Council meeting Tuesday night. Although Council was expected to enact an ordinance prohibiting all outdoor burning in the borough, it instead tabled the matter for another month in the face of protests from citizens, including one petition containing 76 names, many of them businessmen in the area. Regarding the trial ban on parking on the north side of Market Street, Council left the restrictions in force for the remainder of the trial period, ending April 15. Wayne G. Hummer, local attorney, speaking on behalf of Glenn McElroy and also as a private citizen, turned over a petition to Council President Curt Amidon containing 76 names of citizens, many of them businessmen, protesting the proposed ordinance against outdoor burning in the borough. Hummer said the way the proposed ordinance is written, even charcoal cooking fires would not be allowed. He asked why such a strict ordinance was needed and suggested that the borough toughen up its present ordinance without ruling out certain things like burning paper. He said the proposed ordinance would mean that his client, McElroy, would have to spend $35 a month to have his trash hauled away, whereas it now costs him $6 as long as he can burn part of it. Hummer said that the feeling and sentiment in the borough “is overwhelming” against the proposed ordinance. He said the question of air pollution is not raised by trash burning, but that it comes from automobiles and industrial smoke stacks. Council President Curt Amidon replied that if the persons who wanted this ordinance sought a petition, they could probably get up an impressive list of names, too. He agreed with Hummer, however, that the proposed ordinance “is silent” on the matter of charcoal cooking fires, and said this should be clarified, adding that it was not Boro Council’s intention to prohibit this type of fire. Another resident, Mrs. Gerald Weaver, whose husband is an Elizabeth Twp., School District Disagree On Realty Transfer Tax Elizabeth Township supervisors are expected to pass an ordinance Friday night which will enable them to collect half of all realty transfer taxes paid on properties sold in the township. The measure is expected to add some $5000 annually to the township treasury. Presently, all the tax is paid to the Warwick School District. The tax amounts to one percent of the selling price on each property transferred. Dr. H. Dale Winger, superintendent of the Warwick School District, has voiced his opposition to the Elizabeth Township move. The school district is comprised of Elizabeth and Warwick townships, plus Lititz borough. All real estate transfer taxes throughout the school district are presently paid into the district’s coffers. If Warwick Township and the borough were to follow Elizabeth Township’s example, Winger says the school district would be losing $31,000 in revenue. “If they take it away from us one place, we’ll have to raise the money some other way,” Winger 38- Year Old Theater Tom Down This Week The old Lititz Community Theater, which opened its doors 38 years ago, was demolished this week, thus ending another era of history that brought some of filmdom’s greats to the Lititz screen. The last remains of the building, now owned by Lititz Improvement, Inc., will be cleared away to make way for a new downtown parking lot. The grand opening of the old theater on March 21, 1935 was heralded by many months of watching and waiting by citizens of Lititz, as the 818-seat theater with its historic murals painted by a French artist, took shape. More than 1200 persons flocked to inspect the new $60,000 theater the afternoon of its opening, virtually blocking Main Street as they waited entrance to the building, according to accounts taken from The Lititz Record. Crowds also filled the theater for its first film, “The Gilded Lilly,” (admission 30cents and 15 cents), which was presented along with a dedicatory ceremony on March 21. Flowers filled the lobby and space in front of the stage, all gifts from businessmen in town, contractors who had worked on the building, and friends of the owner and builder, Harry Chertcoff. Robert Posey, Lancaster, was master of ceremonies, and the Burgess, John C. Brenneman, officially received the theater in the name of Lititz. Prof. M.C. Demmy, who was supervising principal of schools, and Dr. F.W. Stengel, of Linden Hall, spoke on the educational value of the motion picture, and W.H. Muth, then president of the local Rotary Club, spoke of the pride Lititz had in the new theater. One of the biggest attractions in the theater were murals denoting Lititz history, painted on the walls of the lobby by Franz de Merlier of Belgium, who was present for the opening night ceremonies. The murals included paintings of the Lititz Springs Park, General Sutter Inn, the first fire hall and East Main Street houses. Prof. H.H. Beck, local historian, who was consulted on the design of the murals, also attended opening ceremonies and spoke on the value the murals would have in preserving local history. Recalling some of the theater’s history, John J. Heisey, 109 W. Third Ave., who was projectionist at the theater until it was closed in 1962, explained that the murals were covered up about 1948, when the theater was redecorated. There was much controversy about covering them up, Heisey said, but cinemascope was coming in then, and the engineers said the murals were posing an acoustical problem. Ivan Utter was the first manager of the theater. During two years of World War II, when Heisey was away, John Worth took over his job as projectionist. When television came into the picture, the theater met the financial problems typical of many neighborhood theaters. Before it closed its doors in 1962, Heisey recalls, it hadn’t been paying for itself, and was in fact being carried by other theaters. A lack of free parking also hurt the theater somewhat after parking meters were installed in the borough, Heisey recalled, and the Lititz theater was one of about 13 owned by Chertcoff that eventually closed. said. “And the only way we can do that is by raising real estate taxes throughout the district.” Winger also feels that Pennsylvania law will compel the school district to relinquish half the realty transfer tax in the borough and Warwick township. “The law says that school districts must levy taxes equally on every municipality within the district,” Winger said. “And our opinion is that if one municipality gets half the transfer tax, then all the municipalities have to get half the tax.” A spokesman for the law firm of Roda, Morgan, Hallgren & Heinly disagreed with Winger, however. The firm is thè solicitor for Elizabeth Township. The representative said that this research had led him to believe that the district would not be forced to drop half the tax in other municipalities if Elizabeth Township adopted the ordinance. “Besides,” he said, “Elizabeth Township needs the money.” The ordinance will be discussed at a public meeting on Friday night at the Brickerville Fire Hall. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. osteopath with offices at 4 Kissel Hill Rd., told Council she and her husband were concerned about the proposed ordinance, because her husband always burns d is c a r d e d c o n tam in a te d dressings and medicianes, like pills. Mrs. Weaver was informed by Council that gas injected incinerators for the home or office are available, and could be used with a permit issued in Lancaster. Another citizen, Ford Gochnauer, 411 Woodcrest Ave., told Council that the whole issue was not an “environment thing but a neighbor thing” and asked: “Why don’t you call it what it is?” Clyde Hendricks, 318 S. Spruce St., also speaking out against the proposed ordinance, said Council was “going overboard on this pollution thing” and that they were being too hard on businessmen. ’ Council agreed to resubmit the proposed ordinance to borough solicitor George Morgan to have included several items brought up at the meeting, like charcoal cooking fires, and take it up again at their March meeting. Market Street About 15 residents of Market Street were present at the meeting, most of them opposing the trial parking ban and asking Council to put the street back to two side parking. Jim Weaver, 26 E. Market St., who was a spokesman for the group at last month’s meeting, said he and Council had misunderstood each other last month, and that he had not intended for Council to change the side of the street where the parking ban was placed, but rather to do away with the ban all together. The borough had imposed no parking restrictions on the south side of the street as of Jan. 15 for (Continued On Page 14) II • v W i ü L ititz R e co rd E x p re s s P h o to s These pictures show the steps in demolition of the old Lititz Theater, as crews went about tearing down the old building this week to make way for a downtown parking lot. LITITZ STORES NOW OPEN j THURSDAY NIGHTS TIL 9 P .M ARMOLD JEWELERS, INC. B & V OUTLET BENNER’S PHARMACY BINGEMAN’S CLOTHING STORE D.p. FURLOW VARIETY CENTER GLADELL SHOP HAGY’S WESTERN AUTO J.B. HESS MEN’S WEAR Shop these Stores on Thursday Nites KLOTZ KLENERS LADS & LASSIES CHILDREN’S APPAREL LIPPART’S OF LITITZ LITITZ BOOK STORE LITITZ SEWING CENTER McELROY PHARMACY TRUDI K SHOP WHITE SHIELD DISCOUNT CENTER THIS IS IN ADDITION TO THE REGULAR FRIDAY NIGHT HOURS.
Object Description
Title | Lititz Record Express |
Masthead | Lititz Record Express 1973-03-01 |
Subject | Lititz (Pa.) -- Newspapers;Lancaster County (Pa.)—Newspapers |
Description | Lititz newspapers 1877-2001 |
Publisher | Record Print. Co. |
Date | 1973-03-01 |
Location Covered | United States;Pennsylvania;Lancaster County (Pa.);Lititz (Pa.);Warwick (Lancaster County, Pa. : Township) |
Type | Text |
Original Format | Newspapers |
Digital Format | application/pdf |
Identifier | 03_01_1973.pdf |
Language | English |
Rights | Steinman Enterprises |
Contact | For information on source and images, contact LancasterHistory, Attn: Library Services, 230 N. President Ave., Lancaster, PA, 17603. Phone: 717-392-4633, ext. 126. Email: research@lancasterhistory.org |
Contributing Institution | LancasterHistory |
Sponsorship | This Digital Object is provided in a collection that is included in POWER Library: Pennsylvania Photos and Documents, which is funded by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania/Pennsylvania Department of Education. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Subject | Lititz (Pa.) -- Newspapers;Lancaster County (Pa.)—Newspapers |
Location Covered | United States;Pennsylvania;Lancaster County (Pa.);Lititz (Pa.);Warwick (Lancaster County, Pa. : Township) |
Type | Text |
Original Format | Newspapers |
Digital Format | application/pdf |
Language | English |
Contact | For information on source and images, contact LancasterHistory, Attn: Library Services, 230 N. President Ave., Lancaster, PA, 17603. Phone: 717-392-4633, ext. 126. Email: research@lancasterhistory.org |
Contributing Institution | LancasterHistory |
Sponsorship | This Digital Object is provided in a collection that is included in POWER Library: Pennsylvania Photos and Documents, which is funded by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania/Pennsylvania Department of Education. |
Full Text | T H E R E S S SER VING THE WAR WICK AREA FOR NEARLY A CENTUR Y 96th Year E s ta b lis h e d A p ril, 1877, a s T h e S u n b e am (C o n so lid a te d w ith T h e l i t i t z B e co rd , 1937) Lititz Record-ExDress. Thursday, March Ì, 1973 10 c e n ts a Copy; $4.00 p e r y e a r b y m a il w ith in L a n c a s te r C o u n ty 16 PAGES — No. 49 Ok Given fo r Light In d u s try In Penn Twp. The way was cleared for light industry to come into Penn Township last Friday night at a special public meeting of the township supervisors. The supervisors adopted an amendment to the existing zoning ordinance which will allow light industry to go into existing structures in commercial districts. Only buildings which had been utilized for permitted uses are included in the new ruling. No new buildings may be erected for light industrial purposes. The immediate impact of the ruling will probably be the renting of a former Bomberger’s Store building to a clothing manufacturer. Under the provisions of the ordinance, the zoning, hearing board shall determine that any proposed use is a light industrial use and will not be offensive to adjoining uses and properties. Firms will not be allowed to create offensive noise, vibration, smoke, odors, lighting glare, hazards of fire or other objectionable effects. Adequate parking facilities must be provided under the terms of the ordinance. Also, the zoning hearing board may impose additional requirements to insure that the proposed use will not detract from the use of adjoining properties for any of the permitted uses. L ititz R e co rd E x p re s s P h o to s Homemade products are featured at the stands of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Minnich at Lititz Central Market. Above, two clerks display some of the popular items, Mrs. Central Market Has Variety Of Meats, Homemade Foods NOTICE The Lititz Retailer’s Association Will Meet Wednesday, March 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the General Sutter Inn. ALL AREA BUSINESS MEN ARE INVITED TO ATTEND. (Editor’s Note: This is the 58th in a series of articles to acquaint our readers with our local retailers. The 59th article will appear next week.) One of the busiest places in town on Fridays and Saturdays is Lititz Central Market, where a small group of stand owners offer a tempting variety of fresh meats and chicken, farm fresh eggs, and homemade goodies that range from chicken corn soup to bread, cakes and pies. Located at 53 E. Main St., the market is the former Lutz Central Market, and is now run by Mr. and Mrs. Earl Minnich, who operate the bakery, salad, and produce stands, and James E. Benedict, who owns the meat department. Two other farm stands are open one day a week, Saturdays, one of them run by Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Musser, Lititz RD4, and the other by Mildred R. Shreiner, Lititz. Fridays and Saturdays, the two days of the week that the market is in operation, sees a steady flow of customers to the various stands. The ones which the Minnichs own feature mainly homemade Mearig Files Petition For School Director Richard L. Mearig, 521 Lincoln Rd., Warwick Township, will be a candidate for Warwick District School Board in the spring primaries. Mearig, a Republican, filed a nomination petition with the Lancaster County Board of Elections. As of press time this week, he was the only person filing for any of the three school director positions in the primaries. Mearig is chairman of the social studies department at Hempfield High School, and a member of the Warwick Township Municipal Authority. From 1968-1972, he served as Councilman from the Second Ward on Lititz Boro Council, resigning as of Feb. l, 1972 when he moved out of the borough. He is married to the former Judith Ruebman and has two sons. Keith. 10, and Neal, 8. Three school board terms will Richard L Mearig Candidate for School Board expire Dec. 31, those of David E. Buckwalter, current president of the board, Paul Wissler, and Kenneth Weaver. The area Republican Committee has indicated that Wissler and Weaver will not be running again the spring primaries, but did not comment on whether or not Buckwalter will run. A potential candidate for one of the seats will be Wallace E. Hofferth, Republican from the borough’s Third ward, who told the Record-Express this week that he “is considering” running for school board. Since school directors are elected “at large,” rather than by wards and townships, this spring’s primaries could prove a wide open contest if Hofferth, and another potential candidate unofficially reported to be considering running, should announce their candidacies. Hofferth has a history of appointments in the borough. He served eight years on the Zoning Hearing Board, was appointed to fill an unexpired two and a half vear term on the School Board, ran for re-election but was defeated for the same post in the next election, and immediately after that, served a term on the borough Planning Commission. The local GOP committee has not indicated yet what candidates it will endorse in the primaries, although Raymond Reedy, area chairman, said the committee should have its endorsed slate ready in another week. Final date for filing and circulating nomination petitions is March 6. Three new petitions from the Record-Express circulation area (Continued On Page 14) Jim Benedict, who owns and operates the meat department at the Lititz Central Market, is shown at work at his cutting block. Street Resurfacing Studied Boro Council Tuesday night considered a $30,000 street' resurfacing schedule for the year, involving 21 streets and lanes in the borough.' The streets will be reviewed again at the March meeting. Streets being considered are: West Second Avenue, from South Spruce to West Orange, at an estimated cost of $5,041. Robin Road, from Blue Bird Road to cul-de-sac, estimated cost. $1,053. Rome Road Cul-de-sac, form North Elm to Cul-de-sac, $1,002. Forney Drive from Kissel Hill Road to Plum Street, $2,970. South Locust Street from proposed Lemon Street to East Second Ave., $2,871. Kissel Hill Road Intersection, from Forney Drive to South Locust, $685. East Second Avenue from South Cedar to Laurel Avenue, plus 250 feet east of Cherry, $1,553. Hensley Street, from West Marion east to End, $1,042. Spring Avenue, from West Marion west to End, $3,225. West Sixth Avenue, from East of Golden Street to west of Marion Street, $2,089. North Elm Street, from East Main to North Lane, $759. Liberty Street from Front Street to East Lincoln, $1,668. Rome Road from North Oak to Balmer Road, $595. South Spruce Street from West Fourth Avenue to West Sixth, $2,584. (Continued on Page 14) Council Postpones Burning Law After Citizens Protest Anna May Martin, Rothsville (left) holding pies, and Mrs. Martha Shenk, Lititz RD2, holding containers of soup. items which Mrs. Minnich prepares in the kitchen and small bakery at her home at Lititz RD3. Available are stuffed peppers, chow chow, slaws and potato salads, red beet eggs, fruit jello salads, rice and tapioca puddings, applesauce, baked beans, chicken and ham salads, and fresh produce in season. The Minnichs’ stands also feature a variety of homemade (Continued On Page 14) A proposed trash burning ordinance and Market Street parking restrictions drew another full house to Boro Council meeting Tuesday night. Although Council was expected to enact an ordinance prohibiting all outdoor burning in the borough, it instead tabled the matter for another month in the face of protests from citizens, including one petition containing 76 names, many of them businessmen in the area. Regarding the trial ban on parking on the north side of Market Street, Council left the restrictions in force for the remainder of the trial period, ending April 15. Wayne G. Hummer, local attorney, speaking on behalf of Glenn McElroy and also as a private citizen, turned over a petition to Council President Curt Amidon containing 76 names of citizens, many of them businessmen, protesting the proposed ordinance against outdoor burning in the borough. Hummer said the way the proposed ordinance is written, even charcoal cooking fires would not be allowed. He asked why such a strict ordinance was needed and suggested that the borough toughen up its present ordinance without ruling out certain things like burning paper. He said the proposed ordinance would mean that his client, McElroy, would have to spend $35 a month to have his trash hauled away, whereas it now costs him $6 as long as he can burn part of it. Hummer said that the feeling and sentiment in the borough “is overwhelming” against the proposed ordinance. He said the question of air pollution is not raised by trash burning, but that it comes from automobiles and industrial smoke stacks. Council President Curt Amidon replied that if the persons who wanted this ordinance sought a petition, they could probably get up an impressive list of names, too. He agreed with Hummer, however, that the proposed ordinance “is silent” on the matter of charcoal cooking fires, and said this should be clarified, adding that it was not Boro Council’s intention to prohibit this type of fire. Another resident, Mrs. Gerald Weaver, whose husband is an Elizabeth Twp., School District Disagree On Realty Transfer Tax Elizabeth Township supervisors are expected to pass an ordinance Friday night which will enable them to collect half of all realty transfer taxes paid on properties sold in the township. The measure is expected to add some $5000 annually to the township treasury. Presently, all the tax is paid to the Warwick School District. The tax amounts to one percent of the selling price on each property transferred. Dr. H. Dale Winger, superintendent of the Warwick School District, has voiced his opposition to the Elizabeth Township move. The school district is comprised of Elizabeth and Warwick townships, plus Lititz borough. All real estate transfer taxes throughout the school district are presently paid into the district’s coffers. If Warwick Township and the borough were to follow Elizabeth Township’s example, Winger says the school district would be losing $31,000 in revenue. “If they take it away from us one place, we’ll have to raise the money some other way,” Winger 38- Year Old Theater Tom Down This Week The old Lititz Community Theater, which opened its doors 38 years ago, was demolished this week, thus ending another era of history that brought some of filmdom’s greats to the Lititz screen. The last remains of the building, now owned by Lititz Improvement, Inc., will be cleared away to make way for a new downtown parking lot. The grand opening of the old theater on March 21, 1935 was heralded by many months of watching and waiting by citizens of Lititz, as the 818-seat theater with its historic murals painted by a French artist, took shape. More than 1200 persons flocked to inspect the new $60,000 theater the afternoon of its opening, virtually blocking Main Street as they waited entrance to the building, according to accounts taken from The Lititz Record. Crowds also filled the theater for its first film, “The Gilded Lilly,” (admission 30cents and 15 cents), which was presented along with a dedicatory ceremony on March 21. Flowers filled the lobby and space in front of the stage, all gifts from businessmen in town, contractors who had worked on the building, and friends of the owner and builder, Harry Chertcoff. Robert Posey, Lancaster, was master of ceremonies, and the Burgess, John C. Brenneman, officially received the theater in the name of Lititz. Prof. M.C. Demmy, who was supervising principal of schools, and Dr. F.W. Stengel, of Linden Hall, spoke on the educational value of the motion picture, and W.H. Muth, then president of the local Rotary Club, spoke of the pride Lititz had in the new theater. One of the biggest attractions in the theater were murals denoting Lititz history, painted on the walls of the lobby by Franz de Merlier of Belgium, who was present for the opening night ceremonies. The murals included paintings of the Lititz Springs Park, General Sutter Inn, the first fire hall and East Main Street houses. Prof. H.H. Beck, local historian, who was consulted on the design of the murals, also attended opening ceremonies and spoke on the value the murals would have in preserving local history. Recalling some of the theater’s history, John J. Heisey, 109 W. Third Ave., who was projectionist at the theater until it was closed in 1962, explained that the murals were covered up about 1948, when the theater was redecorated. There was much controversy about covering them up, Heisey said, but cinemascope was coming in then, and the engineers said the murals were posing an acoustical problem. Ivan Utter was the first manager of the theater. During two years of World War II, when Heisey was away, John Worth took over his job as projectionist. When television came into the picture, the theater met the financial problems typical of many neighborhood theaters. Before it closed its doors in 1962, Heisey recalls, it hadn’t been paying for itself, and was in fact being carried by other theaters. A lack of free parking also hurt the theater somewhat after parking meters were installed in the borough, Heisey recalled, and the Lititz theater was one of about 13 owned by Chertcoff that eventually closed. said. “And the only way we can do that is by raising real estate taxes throughout the district.” Winger also feels that Pennsylvania law will compel the school district to relinquish half the realty transfer tax in the borough and Warwick township. “The law says that school districts must levy taxes equally on every municipality within the district,” Winger said. “And our opinion is that if one municipality gets half the transfer tax, then all the municipalities have to get half the tax.” A spokesman for the law firm of Roda, Morgan, Hallgren & Heinly disagreed with Winger, however. The firm is thè solicitor for Elizabeth Township. The representative said that this research had led him to believe that the district would not be forced to drop half the tax in other municipalities if Elizabeth Township adopted the ordinance. “Besides,” he said, “Elizabeth Township needs the money.” The ordinance will be discussed at a public meeting on Friday night at the Brickerville Fire Hall. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. osteopath with offices at 4 Kissel Hill Rd., told Council she and her husband were concerned about the proposed ordinance, because her husband always burns d is c a r d e d c o n tam in a te d dressings and medicianes, like pills. Mrs. Weaver was informed by Council that gas injected incinerators for the home or office are available, and could be used with a permit issued in Lancaster. Another citizen, Ford Gochnauer, 411 Woodcrest Ave., told Council that the whole issue was not an “environment thing but a neighbor thing” and asked: “Why don’t you call it what it is?” Clyde Hendricks, 318 S. Spruce St., also speaking out against the proposed ordinance, said Council was “going overboard on this pollution thing” and that they were being too hard on businessmen. ’ Council agreed to resubmit the proposed ordinance to borough solicitor George Morgan to have included several items brought up at the meeting, like charcoal cooking fires, and take it up again at their March meeting. Market Street About 15 residents of Market Street were present at the meeting, most of them opposing the trial parking ban and asking Council to put the street back to two side parking. Jim Weaver, 26 E. Market St., who was a spokesman for the group at last month’s meeting, said he and Council had misunderstood each other last month, and that he had not intended for Council to change the side of the street where the parking ban was placed, but rather to do away with the ban all together. The borough had imposed no parking restrictions on the south side of the street as of Jan. 15 for (Continued On Page 14) II • v W i ü L ititz R e co rd E x p re s s P h o to s These pictures show the steps in demolition of the old Lititz Theater, as crews went about tearing down the old building this week to make way for a downtown parking lot. LITITZ STORES NOW OPEN j THURSDAY NIGHTS TIL 9 P .M ARMOLD JEWELERS, INC. B & V OUTLET BENNER’S PHARMACY BINGEMAN’S CLOTHING STORE D.p. FURLOW VARIETY CENTER GLADELL SHOP HAGY’S WESTERN AUTO J.B. HESS MEN’S WEAR Shop these Stores on Thursday Nites KLOTZ KLENERS LADS & LASSIES CHILDREN’S APPAREL LIPPART’S OF LITITZ LITITZ BOOK STORE LITITZ SEWING CENTER McELROY PHARMACY TRUDI K SHOP WHITE SHIELD DISCOUNT CENTER THIS IS IN ADDITION TO THE REGULAR FRIDAY NIGHT HOURS. |
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