Lititz Record Express

              T H E B E S S
S E R V I N G T H E W A R W I C K A R E A F O R N E A R L Y A C E N T U R Y
98th Year Established April, 1877, as The Sunbeam
(Consolidated with The Lititz Record, 19371 Lititz, Lancaster County, Penna. 17543, Thursday, May 9,1974 10 c e n t s a C o p y ; $4.00 p e r y e a r b y within. Lancaster County 24 PAGES — No. 7
Lititz Record Express Photo
Picture above shows the Rothsville School, which
school directors have said they are considering
closing as a money-saving measure. School
Director Raymond Groff is opposing the possible
move, maintaining that the expense of keeping up
an empty building or demolishing it, plus bussing
the children to other schools, would off set any
savings in closing it.
Groff Opposed to Possible Plan
Should Rothsville School Be Closed? School Director Raymond Groff from Rothsville is
vehemently opposing recent discussion by Warwick
District School Board to consider closing the Rothsville
School as one means of cutting down expenses in the
coming year.
This is the second time in about four years that the
board has talked about closing the school. Proposed plans
to do so in 1971 brought such violent objections from
Rothsville citizens that the plan was abandoned.
However, it has come up again, with School Board
President John Evans stating Monday night at a public
budget meeting that closing the school is one of the
possible money-saving measures being considered.
Groff told the Record-Express this week that some
school directors had asked the administration for figures
on what closing the school would save the district. The
figures which Groff said the administration gave were a
savings of about $40,000 to $50,000.
However, Groff told the Record these figures are not as
clear-cut as they might seem on paper. Groff maintains
that if the school is closed, the 140 pupils there would have
to be bussed to John Beck in Brunnerville and to Kissel
Hill School, and that about 44 kindergarten children who
now walk to school would also have to be bussed.
“Maybe they have room for these children now at the
other schools, but for how long?” Groff asked. He said
that moving the children would mean that eventually the
district would have to add on to the other schools, and
payments for this could run from $30,000 to $50,000 a year
for the next 10 to 20 years.
“It would all depend on how many rooms we would have
to build,” he said. “Furthermore,” he pointed out, “these
are all only estimated figures.”
Groff said that even if the school is closed, it would still
be an expense to the district. Bills would still have to be
paid on insurance, heat, electric, janitorial service for
checking the building, mowing the grass, making sure the
pipes don’t freeze, etc. He said that if the building was
torn down, he estimates it could cost $10,000-$20,000.
Groff said the School Board property committee had
requested from $200 to $1000 for necessary equipment for
the Rothsville School, adding, “We can spend $1% million
to renovate the Lititz Elementary, with not one word said,
but if we say we need several hundred or a thousand for
Rothsville, they say close it.”
Groff said he and other Rothsville residents believe that'
their children “learn just as much at Rothsville as at any
other school,” and that the school has good teachers that
“love their school children.” He said he believed it would
be a “big mistake” to close the school.
Groff said he is calling on Rothsville residents to attend
the May 21 School Board meeting to protest any possible
plans to close the school.
Plans Unveiled for
Luther Acres Expansion
Lutheran Social Services
unveiled plans Tuesday
night for 83 cottage-type
units and a four-story
apartment containing 96
dwelling units at Luther
Acres. The plans also call for
a 100-bed expansion to the
present care facility on East
Main Street.
Proposed plans were
shown to the borough
Planning Commission by
architect Dana Gangewere
of Reading. Gangewere said
the Lutheran Social Services
wants to start building one
four-unit cottage within the
next two months and begin
construction on the apart­ment
unit Sept. 1. He said the
entire project is planned
over a five-10 year period.
After reviewing a master
plan and architects drawing
of the project, local planners
voted to recommend to Boro
Council approval of the
concept of the plan subject to
its solicitor’s opinion
r e g a r d i n g l e g a l
ramifications of allowing a
four-story building in the
borough, and also subject to
final plans of the project
being approved.
Main concern among the
planners was the fact that
plans call for a four-story
a p a r tm e n t b u ild in g .
Although the architect
pointed out it would not
exceed 35 to 36 feet in height,
it still is a violation of a local
ordinance on height of
buildings, which are not to
exceed three stories.
Planners are also trying to
establish a differentiation
In This Issue
Busniess Directory 20
Church News 18
Classified Ads 22,23
Editorial Page 4
Sports Section 6,7
Women’s 15
between regular apartment
buildings and those built by
philanthropic organizations
in connection with nursing
home facilities. The Luther
Acres cite is not zoned for
apartment use.
The planners, particularly
chairman Dennis Craig, also
voiced concern over
population density of the cite
if the plan goes through. He
pointed out that full oc­cupancy
of the completed
project would increase
Lititz’ population by 10
percent, all located on the
Luther Acres site.
The cite comprises 39.6
acres, and the plan
presented Tuesday night
would be the total
development, the architect
said. Several sections of it
would be left in open space,
he said.
The proposed plan calls for
a series of single-story
cottages ranging from
duplexes to four-unit
dwellings, totaling 83-
housing units. The four-story
apartment building, which
would have 96 dwelling units
(four with two bedrooms, the
rest with one bedroom
each), would be located in
the center of the develop­ment
and would be tied in
with the present nursing
wing.
The apartment building
would have fire-retarding
walls, either masonry or
brick, a sprinkler system
and smoke detectors. It
would have two hospital size
elevators, eight feet in total
depth. Entrance doors and
bedroom doors in apart­ments
and cottage would be
a minimum of three feet four
inches wide, so the beds
could be rolled out to
elevators and then to nursing
wings in case of illness.
Kitchens in apartments
and cottages would be ef­ficiency
size and residents
would be required to eat one
meal a day in a central
dining room, as part of a
nutritional program for the
entire facility.
Occupants would be
required to be a least 65
years of age.
Plans also call for 345
parking spaces around the
various cottages and
apartments. The roadway
through Luther Acres would
be opened through to Kissell
Hill as well as onto East
Main Street, the architect
said.
In further business, the
planners recommended
denial of a rezoning request
from Carson A. Mellott, Jr.,
to have property at 224 N.
Cedar St. rezoned from
Residential R-2 to com­mercial,
until the owner can
give definite plans for the
property. The property was
just recently rezoned from
commercial to residential.
The planners also
recommended approval of a
preliminary plan for Forney
Development, a plan and
profile of Forney Drive and a
section of South Oak Street
and a plan and profile of
Plum Street and a section of
South Oak Street, in the
development.
WIMPO Meeting
Monday Nile
The Warwick In­strumental
Music Parents
Organization (WIMPO) will
meet in the band room at 7
p.m. Monday, May 13.
An installation of new
officers will be conducted at
this time. Mrs. Garth
Becker, president, will be in
charge of the meeting.
Major Tax Hike Inevitable
For Warwick School District Taxpayers in Warwick School District can brace
themselves for a big tax hike next year, probably about
18.5 mills, according to school directors who gave public
budget previews Monday and last Wednesday nights.
Depending on what is left in, or cut out, of the budget
drafts now under consideration, the hike could range from
14 mills to as much as 28 mills, School Board President
John Evans said.
However, Director Raymond Groff told the Record-
Express this week that the budget totals presented to the
approximate 30 people gathered for the two sessions were
not a true picture, that the tax hike could not possibly go
up more than 23 mills.
Groff said that a $104,000 error in the initial $4% million
proposed budget had been corrected, and while school
directors were notified of this correction, (which amounts
to about five mills), the public was still given the $4%
million total at the public sessions.
The error, Groff said, was in payments from the district
to the Vo-Tech schools.
Groff said he does not know why the matter was not
made known at either of the public meetings, but in­dicated
that he believed it was a “political-type”
maneuver on the part of some school directors to talk
about a possible “28 mill tax jump” in order to make the
actual hike more palatable to the taxpayers.
The budget will be up for tentative adoption at the
Board’s May 21 meeting, and will go on display for 30 days
in the administration office before it is finally approved.
School directors are now seeking public opinion on how
much taxpayers want to spend and what programs, etc.
they want included or deleted from the budget.
The present tax mill is 74 in the district. Even if War­wick’s
taxes jump to 23 mills, it will make it the highest
rate present or proposed in the county to date.
Pequea Valley School District recently proposed a tax
hike which would bring that district’s total millage to 96.
School directors pointed out numerous reasons why
Warwick’s taxes must go up this year.
Inflation is a major reason. “Even if the district stands
still (makes no increases in programs, salaries, etc.),
taxes would have to go up 14 mills, or 20 percent,” Evans
said.
Current drafts of the 1974-75 budget are allowing in­creases
of $204,000 for all teachers salaries and benefits;
$30,000 for other salaries and benefits; $90,000 for
renovation to Lititz Elementary School; $11,000 for the
athletic program.
An 1‘acrease of $68,000 had been proposed for additional
personnel and curriculum, but was cut down to a $38,000
increase in the proposed budget figures made public this
week. This involved an additional counselor for the high
school, part-time typing and music teachers, a reading
teacher, ,a part-time psychologist, and salaries for
teachers to work over the summer developing cirriculum.
These are non-fixed items, Evans pointed out, on which
HOW DO YOU LIKE IT? Shown
above is the “experimental" light
Boro Council has on display on East
Main Street at the Square. The light is
actually one of the present modified
Washington Boulevard standards
used on Lititz streets with a new
mercury vapor, historicai-styled light
on top. Council is considering
replacing the present lights with this
new type, but first wants to know if
the citizens like it. If you have an
opinion, call your Councilman or drop
a card to Boro Manager George
Lititz Record Express Photo
Steedle before May 28, when the
decision is expected to be made.
Figures from Pennsylvania Power
and Light Company show that the
new lights would be 6,650 lumens,
mercury vapar as compared with
4,000 lumens incandescent lights on
the present ones. Annual main­tenance
cost per lamp would be
$121.80 as compared with $94.20 on
the present ones, or an annual cost of
$6,314.35, including surcharge. Initial
cost of conversion would be $65 per
lamp.
the School Board is seeking public opinion about which
ones to leave in, or cut out of the budget.
Also included under expenses for next year if $93,000 in
non-recurring state revenue, i.e. funds which the district
received this past year from the state but won’t be getting
in 1974-75. Also included is a loss of $20,000 in state subsidy
over last year’s subsidy.
The district’s pupil aid ratio has dropped this year, as
have many districts due to increased wealth of real estate,
according to superintendent, Dr. H. Dale Winger.
Whereas it cost the district $1,012 per pupil for instruction
this year, the state will only be paying $328 per pupil of
this next year, he said.
Dr. Winger said that when the pupil aid ratio bill was
passed, the average cost per year of educating one child
was figured at $712 by the state. One bright light, he
pointed out, is that a new bill may be passed by June that
raises this cost estimate to $750 per pupil.
“In 1971-72, the state paid 51 percent of the cost on in­struction
per pupil; in 1974-75, the state will pay 43 percent
unless something is done,” Dr. Winger said. He said the
state has the money to raise this subsidy, and urged local
I Continued on Page 7|
Foot Patrol in Park
Not the Solution,
Police Chief Says
Police Chief George Hicks said this week that the
borough police department does not have the manpower
to provide foot patrol in Lititz Springs Park, as Boro
Council asked for last week.
Questioned by the Record-Express on his opinion of
Council’s statements last week, Chief Hicks said that foot
patrol was not the answer to problems in the park.
“While the officer is there, fine,” Chief Hicks said.
“When he leaves the Park, the littering, disorderly con­duct,
etc. will take place.”
Asked what he believes the real solution is, Chief Hicks
said it was all contained in his letter to Council. In that
letter, Chief Hicks had stated that local police can and do
make arrests for any crimes they observe committed in
the park, but that any arrests for trespassing must
originate with the park trustees. He said that the park
board has a “definite responsibility in this area” and that
any member can ask any undesirable person to get out of
the park. If they refuse to leave, then they are
trespassing, and at that point the police can act on a
complaint, the chief said.
Chief Hicks had also told Council in his letter that while
many citizens complain about some of the activities going
I Continued on Page 7|
Two Boys on Bike
Hit at Intersection
Two local boys, riding double on a bicycle, were taken to
Lancaster General Hospital at 8:05 a.m. Wednesday after
being struck by a car at the corner of East Main and
Cedar Streets.
Injured were David Husser, 13, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Gerard Husser, 311 Balmer Rd., and Barry Diffenderfer,
14, son of Mrs. Shirley Diffenderfer, 371E. Main St.
At press time, the hospital reported that the boys were
in “good condition,” but that the extent of their injuries
would not be known until X-rays were taken. The Husser
boy may have a possible leg fracture and the Diffenderfer
boy was complaining of pain in an ankle. They were taken
to the hospital by the Warwick Ambulance.
Driver of the car which struck the boys was Clarence
Eugene Long, 209 New Haven Dr.
The accident is believed to have occurred before the
school crossing guard came on duty.
Although their investigation has not been completed,
police believe that Long was making a left turn from East
Main Street onto North Cedar, and that the boys were
heading west on Cedar on Husser’s bicycle.
New
Column Bn
Pets Starts
This Week Dr. Raymond Minor
A new feature, “You and Your Pet,” appears this week
in the Lititz Record-Express.
The column is written by Dr. Raymond A. Minor, who
has been a veterinary medical practitioner, writer and
lecturer for more than 30 years. It is distributed as a
public service by Nor den Laboratories of Lincoln, Neb.,
veterinary pharmaceutical company.
In his columns, Dr. Minor blends a high degree of
professionalism with a perceptive and understanding
doctor’s knowledge of the special niche pets occupy in
family life. He knows veterinary medicine and he knows
the concern of parents and children for the health and
well-being of their favorite animals.
“You and Your Pet” is wriiten for all types of pet fan­ciers
with what’s best for pets-and people-uppermost in
mind.