Lititz Record Express

              T H E R E S S
s e r u m ; THE WARWICK AREA FOR MORE W A S A CÜSTVRY
104tti Year ESTABLISHED APRIL 1877 AS THE SUNBEAM
CONSOLIDATED WITH THE LITIT2 RECORD 1937 Lititz, Lancaster County, PA. 17543, Thursday, February 5,1981 20 CENTS A COPY; $6 00 PER YEAR BY MAIL
WITHIN LANCASTER COUNTY 24 Page$-No. 45
Public Hearing Continues Feb. 19
Intense Opposition To School Project By Jennifer Shenk
The Warwick Township
Zoning Hearing Board sat
through nearly five hours of
testimony, citizens’ com­ments
and legal bickering
last Thursday night before
adjourning a standing-room-only
public hearing on the
proposed conversion of the
former Rothsville School
into apartments.
Over 100 concerned
residents gathered in the
municipal building’s small
meeting room to hear and
refute testimony given by
witnesses for Housing
Development Corporation
(HDC) of Lancaster County,
the applicant in the zoning
request.
The hearing was stopped
shortly after midnight at the
Î i i t Ë
request of HDC lawyer
Donald H. Nikolaus and will
be continued on Thursday,
Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the
Rothsville Fire Hall.
HDC, a private, non-profit
corporation which lists
housing development as its
major activity, purchased
the former Rothsville School
over a year ago and must be
granted a special exception
to the township zoning or­dinance
by the zoning
hearing board before it can
proceed with its plans to
convert the building into 15
apartment units.
The residents attending
Thursday night’s hearing,
some of whom brought their
own chairs and many of
whom stood during the five
hours of testimony, made it
i#" 'S
■ ■■■
clear to the board that they
were not in favor of the
project.
Charles B. Grove Jr.,
acting solicitor for the
zoning hearing board,
served as moderator during
the sometimes heated
proceedings.
“I’ve got a suggestion-let’s
stop bickering and ask
the people of Rothsville if
they want it (the housing
project),” one resident
remarked following an in­stance
of legal sparring
among two of the four at­torneys
present.
Nikolaus represented
HDC; William C. Crosswell
served as counsel for the
Warwick Township super­visors;
and attorney 0 .
Howard Mummau acted as
spokesman for citizens
opposed to the project.
Among the applicant’s
three witnesses giving
testimony Thursday was
HDC president Edmumd R.
Ruoff who cited a need for
h o u sin g in Warwick
Township based on a survey
taken by the corporation
through advertisements in
the Lititz Record Express
and the Ephrata Review.
During cross-examination
by Mummau, Ruoff was
asked to describe inadequate
housing and to explain who
would be served by the
housing project.
“A light bulb hanging from
a ceiling, toilets that don’t
flush, paint falling off
walls,” Ruoff commented.
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Apparently these northbound geese at Middle
Creek know something that our regional ground
hog has overlooked. On the other hand, with
another dip into the single digit temperatures, they
may turn right around and head back toward a
warmer, sun tanning climate. (Photo by Stan Hall)
Three Shows Saturday
Rotary Club To Present
The Canadian Far West'
Dennis Cooper’s “The
Canadian Far West,” the
fourth program in the Lititz
Rotary Club’s Travel and
Adventure Series, will be
presented this Saturday,
Feb. 7, at 10 a.m., 3 p.m. and
8 p.m., in the Warwick High
School Auditorium.
Cooper, bom in Spokane,
Washington, retreated from
the city to the lumber camps
of his father, the late Senator
George R. Cooper. He loved
the woods and mountains
and his father had to almost
drag him off to college where
he studied engineering. It
looked for awhile like Dennis
would abandon his woods
c a r e e r fo r one in
engineering, but he yielded
to the call of “the great
outdoors” and returned to
the mountains of Western
Montana, where he and his
brother, Don Cooper, ran a
logging and sawmill
operation for several years.
Always interested in
photography, Dennis finally
decided to photograph his
trees rather than saw them.
He traded his chain saw for a
camera and his logs for film,
and, together with Brother
Don, entered the fascinating
world of Travelogue
Photography. Their films,
covering their adventures
and mis-adventures from the
Arctic to the Tropics, have
been re c e iv e d with
gratifying enthuiasm by
travelogue audiences
throughout the nation.
Although he is a newcomer
to the lecture platform,
Dennis’ quiet humor and
factual presentation have
earned him great popularity
wherever he has appeared.
The film is based on the
effo rts of Alexander
MacKenzie to establish a
route to the Pacific Ocean.
As a result of his ex­plorations,
MacKenzie
became the first man to
cross the continent north of
Mexico. His route traversed
such a wild and hazardous
part of the world that it was
never used. However, it gave
Canada its first valid claim
to the West Coast and was of
great importance in the
subsequent boundary
negotiations between the
United States and Canada.
You will travel the portion of
MacKenzie’s trip from the
western praries to the sea.
Many surprised people
find that agriculture is wide
spread in the rolling prairies
of Alberta where they grow
sugar beets, large fields of
wheat and cattle. In Alberta
is Edmonton, the capitol and
site of the University of
Alberta. Very close by is the
Indian village of Wetaskiwin
where we see Indian tribal
dances. Then we go to the
headwaters to two great
North American rivers, the
Sasketchewan and the
Athabasca.
MacKenzie’s route north
carried him through much of
what is now Jasper National
Park, with its awesome
beauty. Here MacKenzie
made his famous “wrong
turn” choosing the wrong
river which led him, not to
the Pacific Ocean, but to the
Arctic Sea. And here we see
the Arctic rivers and Ocean.
At the Point of Decision
Cooper and brother Dennis
(Turn to Page 2)
Í NOTICE I
I
I
I
The monthly meeting
of the Lititz Retailer’s
Association has been
scheduled for the second
Wednesday of this
month. The February
meeting will be held
next Wednesday, Feb.
11 at 7:30 P.M. at Wells
Warwick House.
A special program
will tell how small
businesses can employ
students during school
hours, through the
Lancaster County Vo-
Tech.
All area businessmen
are welcome and invited
to attend.
“Many of the people in this
room would qualify.”
At one point Mummau
commented that “it is our
belief that these projects are
really about making money
not providing housing” to
ffhich HDC Counsel
Nikolaus retorted, “Mr.
Mummau, you are in the
process of slandering a very
reputable corporation and if
Twere you, I’d watch what I
say in front of 100 people.”
"Several of the “100 people”
tiien voiced support of the
statement with comments
such as “We agree with
him” and “We’re behind
him.”
Occasional outbursts from
the crowd came throughout
the hearing Thursday, with
the board’s solicitor Grove
reprimanding one resident
following a hostile remark.
A major concern of the
residents is the lack of water
in Rothsville.
Jeff Gill, of Cole Brothers
Well Drilling, Myerstown,
testified at Thursday night’s
hearing that he drilled a well
Thursday that, when tested
at 237 feet, yielded three-and-
three-quarters to four
gallons of water per minute.
According to Gill, it was the
third of three wells dug
Thursday. The first well
produced about three-fourths
a gallon of water per
minute and the second,
though not completely dry,
produced less.
Under questioning from
residents, Gill said that he
used a “watch and bucket”
procedure, approved by the
state, to test the quantity of
water yielded by the wells.
He was asked to diagram a
well on the blackboard and
then show how the testing
worked.
In answer to a question
from Mrs. Sharon Dietz,
project opponent, Gill
testified that his pay (from
HDC) was not dependent on
finding water and that the
sites drilled were deter­mined
by the corporation.
Gill also testified that the
recovery rate of the well had
not yet been determined
since they were still drilling.
Another resident asked
Gill how the wells dug on the
HDC property would effect
neighboring properties, to
which he replied, “It could
have some effect on
neighboring wells or it could
have no effect.”
Some Rothsville citizens
expressed skepticism.
“You can drill two dozen
wells and still get no water,”
area resident Benjamin
Forney commented.
David D. Biteman,
Reading, a Mechanical
engineer, employed by
DeVitry, Gilbert and
Bradley architects to work
on the Rothsville Project,
and HDC’s third witness,
testified that 2.083 gallons of
water per minute or about
3000 gallons per day of water
would be required to satisfy
and demand for the proposed
housing project.
Biteman based his
calculations on an estimated
60 residents in the apartment
building and research
figures from Penn State.
When citizens noted a
discrepancy in Biteman’s
figures, (he first stated that
an average person uses
between 100 and 200 gallons
of water per day), Biteman
(Turn to Page 2)
Important Information
From Township Polie«
The Warwick
Township Police wish to
inform the residents of
the township that the
phone number for call
for normal and routine
business is 620-8882.
For dire emergencies,
township residents
should dial 911.
New District Justice
Named For Lititz Area
Geese Agree With Orphie, Spring is On the Way
I n t h i È i s s u e
Editorial 4
Sports Section 6,7,8,9
Social 12,13
Church 18
Business Directory 20
Classified 21,22,23
James L. Garrett of Lititz
has been nominated by Gov.
Dick Thornburgh to fill a
vacancy as a Lititz area
district justice.
Garrett, 50, is employed by
Kochel Associates, general
agents for the Midland
Mutual Life Insurance
Company.
After state senate con­firmation,
Garrett will fill
the post left open by the
.death Of Sharron Simpkins
last July.
Garrett said that he hopes
to be installed by March 1
and noted that he intends to
occupy the same Route 501
office used by the late
Lititz Police News
k
James L. Garrett
Justice Simpkins.
He said he is looking
forward to filling the
Man Suffers Gunshot Wound
A Lititz man Was
hospitalized in serious
condition last Wednesday
night after emergency
surgery for a gunshot
wound, according to borough
police.
Police said Jeffrey Fritz,
26, of 504 Hensley St., shot
himself in the abdomen with
a .38-caliber pistol while
sitting in a car parked in
front of his home about 5
p.m.
A teenage boy, playing
basketball in a driveway
across the street, heard the
shot and saw Fritz stagger
out of the car and fall to the
street, policeman Leroy
Emmerich said. Fritz had
left the house and gotten into
the car alone, the officer
said.
Fritz was treated by
Warwick and Ephrata
ambulance crews and was
taken to St. Joseph Hospital,
where he underwent surgery
at 6 p.m. for abdominal
injuries and an injured
spleen.
The pistol belonged' to
Fritz, Emmerich said.
The neighborhood boy was
not identified. Police said his
mother telephoned for an
ambulance.
Police said the incident
was still under investigation.
James L. Sweigart, 18, of
231 Briar Hill Road, has been
charged by Lititz police with
burglary, theft, receiving
stolen property and criminal
conspiracy according to
Chief George Hicks.
Sweigart is accused of the
burglary of the John V.
Dawber residence at 110
Leamon Street, and of the
Sharron Weidman residence
at 228 Front Street, both on
December 16, Hicks said.
Motor Violations
Feb. 1 - Ricky L. Bouder,
1905 Pennyslvania Ave., void
inspection, operating a
vehicle during suspension
and o p e r a tin g an
unregistered vehicle.
Feb. 2 - Roger H. Attiek,
Penn Valley Village, voidl
inspection; Charles V.'
'Zumbo, 915 E. Maple St.,
Palmyra, void inspection;
Virgina C. Kiralfy, 129
Market St., void inspection;
and Sherrie Lynn Trexler,
405 Pierson Rd., void in­spection.
position, especially as it
involves “working with
people.”
The nominee will serve in
the appointed post until the
end of the year, when Mrs.
Simpkins’ unexpired term
will end. Garrett said he
plans to enter his name for
re-election in the Spring
primary.
Garrett has completed the
Commonwealth’s Minor
Judiciary Board schod at
Wilson College, Cbam-bersburg,
a one-month
course which district justice
candidates must take, and
has been ceitified as a
justice.
He is an alumnus of In­diana
University and is
presently vice president of
the Lititz Rotary Club.
A veteran of 30 years in the
insurance business, Garrett
has also been associated
with the Educators Mutual
Life Insurance Company in
Lancaster, Towson, Md.,
and Columbus, Ohio, and
with the Life Insurance Co.
of North America.
He is a member of the
Lancaster and National
Associations of Life Un­derwriters.
Garrett served in the U.S.
Army in the early 1950s and
was stationed at Fort Knox,
Ky- An Indiana native, he has
resided in Lancaster County
since 1973. He and his wife,
Dorothy, have two sons,
David and Mike.
At Moravian Manor
New Nursing Unit In Use
One of the two nursing
wings which have been
under construction at
Moravian Manor for almost
a year is now in use. The
second wing is scheduled to
open in mid-March. When
that wing is completed, there
will be a total of 110 beds
available to provide the
excellent nursing care for
which the Manor is noted.
The new wings extend the
existing hallways, and the
beautiful new dining rooms
on each floor are easily
accessible from all patient
rooms. A spacious activities
room occupies the ground
floor of one wing and will
open on to a garden patio
equal in beauty to all the
other patios at the Manor.
The staff will have a com­fortable
lounge and dining
room on that level for their
rest period.
Several residents have
already moved into the new
wing. Applications for the
rooms vacated by those
residents and for the ad­ditional
beds provided by the
new facilities are now being
received by the Director of
Admissions at the Manor.
Spachts Building Sold
To Lititz Book Store
The awesome beauty of “ The Canadian Far West” will highlight the Rotary
Club’s fourth travel program to be presented at the Warwick High School
auditorium Saturday.
It was announced this
week by William Spacht and
William Bell that the Spacht
Building on East Main Street
was sold to The Lititz Book
Store.
The Spacht Family has
conducted the furniture
business in Lititz for the past
61 years, however it was
stated by Mr. Spacht that his
desire is now to dose out the
Furniture business so he can
devote full time to his
funeral business at 127 S.
Broad St., Lititz. Spacht’s
will have a Going Out of
B u s in e s s in v e n to ry
liquidation sale starting this
week.
Mr. Bell said that he is
buying the building to take
care of the needs of his ever
expanding re ta il and
commercial office supply
and equipment business. His
business will move into the
building within the next
several months.
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Some residents have already moved into the new rooms as shown in the photo
above.