Lititz Record Express

              r i H T T T I
i n i ! i R E S S
SERVING THE WARWICK AREA FOR NEARLY A CENTURY
99th Year ESTABLISHED APRIL. 1877, AS THE SUNBEAM
CONSOLIDATED WITH THE LITITZ RECORD, 1937 Lititz, Lancaster County, PA 17543, Thursday, July 24,1975 10 CENTS A COPT, S4 00 PER YEAR BY MAIL
WITHIN LANCASTER COUNTY 16 PAGES — No. 18
Lititz Record Express Photos
Inflation gardens are the in thing these days, and many area
gardeners are taking advantage of rented plots to grow their
own crops. The heavy rainfalls have spurred the growing rate
here, and many of the crops have already been harvested and
put away in freezers and shelves for the months ahead. Above
left, Mr. and Mrs. Hilary Little, 308 S. Cherry St., work on their
cabbage patch in one of the gardens Woodstream Corporation
rent out along Front Street. The Littles also have three other
garden plots in Willow Street, south of Lancaster. At right, Bob
Weaver, 216 Oxford Dr., picks potatoes out of a 30 x 90 foot plot
he rents on the old Becker Farm property along Woodcrest
Avenue, now owned by St. James Catholic Church. Weaver farms
this plot along with his two sons, Jim and Bob Weaver, and his
son-in-law, Jim Tribble.
Warner-Lambert Lititz Rehires Workers Over fifty former em­ployees
of the Lititz plant of
the Warner-Lambert Corp.
have been sent letters asking
them to report for work by
August 4.
The fifty are more than
half the number of
production workers recently
laid off at the plant.
The recalls, according to a
company spokesman, should
bring the total number of
production workers to 500.
The rehiring of the fifty
employees has been a t­tributed
to the rise in sales of
the two main products made
at the Lititz plant: Listerine
and Efferdent.
The reason for the recent
upsurge in sales of the two
products, said the
spokesman, is because
retailers and wholesalers
are beginning to place orders
for their dwindling in­v
e n to r ie s . F o rm e r ly ,
retailers and wholesalers
had relied on their stock in
hand to supply customers
and had not reordered in
keeping with the recessional
attitude of the economy.
But, explained the
spokesman, the entire
economy is in an upswing
period, and retailers and
wholesalers are once again
beginning to build up their
depleted inventories of the
two W a rn e r-L am b e rt
products.
Will the economy remain
up? Our spokesman, who
prefers anonymity, would
not speculate as he is “not an
economist.”
Although, according to the
same spokesman, sales at
the Lititz plant have
generally been down in
comparison to last year’s,
th e W a rn e r-L am b e rt
Company as a whole has
been “going bananas,” and a
report is soon to be released
by the company stating that
the Warner-Lambert Corp.
has had record sales and
earnings in the second
quarter of 1975.
Said our spokesman, the
domestic trend in sales has
been “soft” for some time in
keeping with the general
recession in this country. He
explained that Americans
just aren’t buying like they
used to do.
Apparently, this is not true
with the markets in other
parts of the world since the
company as a whole is
having record sales.
As a result of a new
warehouse d istrib u tio n
center started at South
Brunswick, NJ recently, 33
jobs were eliminated in July.
Only four Lititz workers
transferred to the New
Jersey facility although
employees knew their jobs
would be shifted there when
the center had been com­pleted.
Other Lititz
Industries
Two other Lititz industries
contacted about the recent
hiring trend in their plants
reported a general leveling
of hiring.
Woodstream reported
through Personnel Director
Ed Stevens that although
they don’t anticipate any big
lay-offs, they will not be
hiring before September; in
fact, they are no longer
accepting any applications.
Wilbur Chocolate Co.
spokesman Russell Murr,
personnel manager, said his
company would be hiring
about 12 more people within
a month because they have
just received a government
contract for the vitamin
enriched chocolate ration
discs made by Wilbur and
used by the military as a
supplement to field rations.
Nevertheless, said Murr,
they will be hiring from the
many applications already
on file with the company.
In addition to the govern­ment
contract, Wilbur’s
regular business is doing
well, said Murr, and may
even be picking up.
Limited Hiring
Applications are still being
accepted by Lititz Paper
Mills, Inc, (formerly Morgan
Mills), but, according to new
plant manager David
Haronois, only from workers
experienced on machines to
be used at the beginning of
the plant’s operation. They
are also still taking ap­plications
from former
employees of the old paper
mill.
Haronois said that they
will be starting limited
production as soon as they
can and hope to expand into
other paper production
areas.
Boro Council
To Award
Paving Bids
Boro Council will award
bids for street resurfacing at
its regular monthly meeting
Tuesday night.
Bids will be opened at a
special public meeting
Monday at 7:30 p.m. in Boro
Hall.
Council will also be
hearing a recommendation
from the boro manager to
purchase errors and
omissions insurance for
public officials and em­ployees.
A mid-year budget review
is also on the agenda.
New Look for House on Front
There’s a new look to the
house at 54 Front St., which
one year ago this month was
rocked by an explosion in its
basement.
The front of the house has
taken on a log-cabin effect,
and the house now looks like
a small lodge nestled among
the trees in the deep front
yard. The rest of the house is
covered with new white
aluminum siding.
The interior has been
gutted and completely
remodeled, one side turned
into a four-bedroom home
and the other side into a two-bedroom
home.
A new kitchen and a new
bath were put into each side
of the house, insulation has
been added, and new oil-hot
water heating installed.
And the property that the
former owner bought eight
years ago for $5,000 is now on
the market for $35,900.
Sylvan Brandt, a building
and demolition contractor
from Manheim R5, is the
man responsible for this
unique conversion of a house
that most of the town thought
would have to be torn down.
Brandt adopted some of
the ideas he uses in putting
up log houses in the
Delaware area and for the
historical society in
Manheim.
When he first bought the
house last fall, he also
thought it would have to be
torn down, Brandt said.
But then, he explained, he
found that by remedying the
peculiar effects from the
explosion, he was able to get
a building permit from the
borough.
The blast had caused the
second floor joyce to fall
through, which in turn
pushed the front wall out
about six inches. By
replacing the joyce, Brandt
was able to put the floor back
up, he explained. He then
removed all the old plaster
inside of the house, insulated
the walls, put in the new
heating and plumbing, added
some attractive new doors
and windows, and came up
with an eye-catching new
two-family house.
Aaron Burkholder was the
There’s a new look to the house at 54 Front St.,
where disaster struck one year ago this month in
the form of an explosion in the basement. The
house has been gutted and remodeled by con-
Record Exjjtpeb fhoto
tractor, Sylvan Brandt, to give it this unique log
cabin look in the midst of one of Lititz' residential
areas.
Street
former owner of the
property. He and his family
lived in the east half of the
house, his wife’s sister and
her sons, Mrs. Betty Young,
Jacob and Tom, lived in the
other half.
Mrs. Young and the oldest
boy, Jacob, had been trying
to relight a gas water heater
in the basement when the
explosion occurred. Gas had
escaped through a faulty
safety valve on the heater,
and had accumulated in a
cistern under the cement
floor. When the blast came,
it blew off a concrete slab
that covered the well near
where the two were stan­ding,
and a flash of flame
severely burned the mother
and son.
Mrs. Young spent over six
months in Lancaster
General Hospital, is still
receiving treatment and skin
grafts, and must undergo
more surgery yet. However,
although still very weak, she
is being encouraged to get
out more to meet people, and
still keeps in touch with the
friends she made in the
hospital.
She is living with a sister in
Halfville for the present. Her
son, Jacob, has since
married, and her other son,
Tom, lives with Mr. and Mrs.
Burkholder in a house they
moved into on Raspberry
Lane after the disaster.
In This Issue
Business Directory 12
Church News 11
Classified Ads 14,15
Editorial Page 4
Sports Section 6,7
Women’s 10
Merchants Protest
Proposed Hike in
Parking Meter Rates
Local merchants are
unhappy about a proposed
increase in parking meter
rates that the borough is
considering and they have
asked Boro Council not to
carry through with any rate
change.
However, Assistant Boro
Manager Curt Amidon, who
was Council president when
the rate change was
suggested, is still calling for
an increase on the basis that
Lititz is “behind the times”
in respect to parking meters,
and needs to modernize.
The issue has been tabled
by Council for the past two
months, and is likely to come
up again at the Boro Council
meeting Tuesday night.
The proposed rate in­crease
was part of a package
proposal that Councilman
Bill York called for last
March to update fines and
fees in the borough. The
proposal includes eight
changes in the Boro Code,
dealing with increases in
fees and fines for such things
as parking tickets, bicycle
licenses, food store
registration permits, and
meters.
The proposal to double
meter parking rates was the
only one to which the Lititz
Retailers Association ob­jected,
stating that this
would cause an unnecessary
inconvenience to shoppers.
The retailers sent a letter
to Amidon last May asking
Council to consider their
objections before taking any
action.
They protested that they
had seen no figures on costs
and man hours involved in
changing from the present
rate system, or on the
estimated income increases
expected and whether these
would be worth the effort
involved or the in­convenience
to shoppers.
They said that the half
hour and one hour parking
limit proposed were too short
and would restrict the
amount of time persons can
spend shopping in Lititz.
And they said that another
proposal being considered -
to increase parking meter
fines - will automatically
increase revenue to the
borough enough to com­pensate
for leaving meter
rates where they now are.
The Retailers stated it is
their aim to “promote and
encourage shopping in Lititz
stores” and asked Boro
Council’s “ cooperation in
meeting that aim.”
Amidon replied to this
letter on July 15 with a
“compromise” proposal of
raising meter rates to five
cents for 40 minutes, 10 cents
for 80 minutes, and 15 cents
for 120 minutes.
At the time of this second
proposal, Amidon had left
Council and had taken over a
new job as assistant boro
manager.
He told the retailers that
he had contacted a
representative of Rockwell -
I n te r n a tio n a l C o rp .,
manufacturer of the
borough’s parking meters,
and learned that the meters
could “easily be adjusted” to
change the time allowed for
five and ten cents and that
the firm would furnish a clip
to attach to the time in­dicator
plates which would
cost about 70 cents per
meter.
Amidon said that this
would give the borough a 50
percent increase in parking
meter revenue and that he
hoped the retailers would not
find these changes “ ob­jectionable.”
Amidon stated in his letter
that the meter rates and
penalties are the same today
as they were when installed
in 1948, with the exception
that in 1971 the one cent slot
(for 12 minutes) was
eliminated and the 10 cent
slot (for 120 minutes) was
added.
He also noted that the 50
cent fine for overtime
parking is the same today as
| Continued on Page 14)
Clancey and Janice - best buddies
since Clancey moved into the
Bresnock home on West Marion
Street a year and a half ago.
Grad Chooses Colorful Career
In Interior Decorating, Design
Editor’s note: This is one
of a series of articles that is
currently appearing in the
Record-Express and deals
with young people in the
Lititz area. This article is
about Janice Bresnock, 1975
graduate of Lancaster
Catholic High School and the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
John J. Bresnock, 404 W.
Marion St.
by Bonnie Szymanski
Although Janice Bresnock,
recent graduate of Lan­caster
Catholic High School,
professes to have taken the
summer off to relax, she is
spending a lot of her relaxing
time involved in art projects
for her family and friends.
The soft-spoken and ar­tistic
young lady hopes
eventually to continue her
education in the field of art,
particularly in the area of
interior design or
decorating. She has finished
two oil paintings recently:
one, titled “Mexican
Hillside, was created for her
parents’ anniversary; the
other, a brilliantly colored
rendition of a ship in harbor,
is being painted at the
request of a neighbor.
Janice admits that she
dislikes drawing and sket­ching
and bases most of her
work on her fascination with
colors. Blendings and in­tense
color combinations are
the hallmark of her
creations.
Like it or not, Janice has
been drawing to complete a
project instigated earlier
this year by her father.
The family’s recently
renovated basement and bar
area needed a unique
decorating touch; so, good
old Dad, a sports fan, asked
Janice to paint a series of
sports figures across the
front of the bar.
She is now in the process of
drawing the figures to be
transferred to the wooden
surface of the bar and
completed there.
Painting sports figures is
not her only connection with
the world of athletic com­petition.
Her father insists
she is endowed with ESP
when it comes to choosing
winning teams.
“I always seem to pick the
teams that end up winning,”
she told us. “I picked the
Miami Dolphins (as an up
and coming team) a few
years ago before they won
the Super Bowl two years in
a row. And I knew the New
York Jets couldn’t lose with
Joe Namath.”
Her choice as the team to
watch in the next year or two
is — maybe, we shouldn’t
divulge the name . . . well,
O.K., just one little hint. The
team hails from a town
where the natives speak with
a drawl, and the team’s
name is derived from a
product appropriately called
“black gold.”
Sports Idol
Although it’s not unusual
for a teenager to look up to
some public figure as the
symbol of all he or she ad­mires,
quite often it’s a
movie star or someone in the
entertainment field. Not so
with Janice.
Her favorite personality is
a sports figure. It’s Bobby
Orr of the Boston Bruins
hockey team. She admires
Orr, not because he’s cute or
because he’s a great hockey
[Continued on Page 14]