Lititz Record Express

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THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2000
Lititz Record Express ^ a ï d -W i n n ;
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E K I
P u b lic a tio n
124TH YEAR 34 Pages- No. 12 LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA Two sections 30 Cents
A Fourth to be reckoned
F l o o d w o n ’ t s p o i l F o u r t h p l a n s
RICHARD REITZ
INSIDE
□ Deadlines
4th Deadlines
Due to the Independence Day
holiday, deadlines for editorial
copy and advertising will
change as follows:
Retail and classified display
ads and all editorial copy for the
July 6 issue must be in the
Record office by 5 p.m. on
Friday, June 30. Classified
reader ads will be accepted
until Monday, July 3 at noon.
The offices of the Lititz
Record Express will be closed
on Tuesday, July 4.
□ Entertainment
John Dressier
Musician and entertainer
John Bressler brings his show
back to the Lititz Springs Park
celebration for the first time
since 1996. An interview with
this year’s featured performer is
on Page ID3.
Record Express Editor
LITITZ — On Monday morn­ing,
Ronald Reedy was worried
they might have to modify or
cancel some of the Fourth of July
festivities because of the flood
damage in the park.
But by Monday afternoon, with
volunteers responding above and
beyond the call, he was upbeat and
quoting P.T. Barnum.
P P f mm
□History
Fourth history
Since 1818, Lititz Springs
Park has been hosting a com­munity
celebration of our coun­try’s
independence, making it
the longest continuous Fourth
of July event in the United
States. For more on the history
of the celebration, see Page
ID2.
□Memorabilia
Fourth goodies
For folks looking to add some
Millennium memorabilila to their
collection, the Lititz Springs
Fourth of July Committee will
whet your appetite, with every­thing
from ornaments to T-shirts.
A look at all of the
goodies that will be available at
the park on Tuesday can be
found on Page ID4.
□ Sports
Lititz Lilacs
The annual Lititz Lilacs Soft-ball
Tournament is underway,
with teams from local churches
competing for the champion­ship.
Will Lititz Mennonite
Church retain its title, or will one
of the seven other church teams
claim victory? Page 8.
□ In Other News
“The show will go on,” Reedy
said. And the 183rd celebration of
the Fourth of July at Lititz Springs
Park will, indeed, go on as sched­uled.
Headlining at this year’s extra­vaganza
on Tuesday is musici-an/
entertainer John Bressler, who
last entertained the Lititz crowd in
1996. He will perform at 1 p.m.
and 7:15 p.m., and also serve as
master of ceremonies throughout
the day. (See related story)
The observation of the anniver­sary
of the signing of the Declara­tion
of Independence begins at 6
a.m., as local churches chime in
the day with the tolling of their
bells. The gates of the park will
open at noon, and at 2 p.m., bells
will ring again, as Lititz partici­pates
in the National Bell Ringing
Ceremony. Participants include
Mayor Russell Pettyjohn, C. Wil­liam
Dussinger, and members of
the German Regiment, Revolu­tionary
War re-enactors.
At 2:10 p.m., the New Line
Revue, directed by Linda Brown,
will present its hour-long “Show­case
of Talents” on the bandshell
stage, as the young dancers,
twirlers and pom lines perform
some of their finest and award­winning
routines. They will return
at 8:30 p.m. for a 15-minute per­formance
and prelude to the 59th
Queen of Candles Pageant, which
begins at 8:45 p.m.
Dancing fans will want to return
to the bandshell at 5 p.m., when
the Encore Dance Center, under
the direction of Alvina Kline, will
present their routines for “Danc­ing
in the U.S.A.”
Registration for the 11th annual
Baby Parade takes place at 2:45
p.m. near the wooden train at the
playground, and the parade will
start from that point, led by
parade marshals, Christopher
Murphy, crown bearer, and Katie
Lynn Tucker, flower girl, for the
Queen of Candles Pageant.
The parade will proceed west
along the walkway to the band
shell, where judging will take
place. Floats will be judged in four
categories: Most Humorous, Pret­tiest,
Best Representation of the
Theme, and Best Use of Red
White and Blue.
This year, more prizes than ever
before will be presented, including
ribbons for all winners, teddy
bears for first, second and third
place winners in each category,
D&J Video gift certificates for
first place winners, and a $50 U.S.
Savings Bond for the grand prize
winner. The event is sponsored by
the Lititz Women of Today.
The Lititz Community Band,
under the direction of James E.
Metzger, will take the stage at 4
p.m. to perform the big band,
brass, and marching music that
See COURTNEY, page ID3 See MOONLIGHTERS, page ID2
Steven Courtney performs at
last year’s Fourth celebration.
Courtney
headlines
Fun Day
RICHARD REITZ
Re cord Express Editor
LITITZ — There are few enter­tainers
— local or otherwise —
more suited to herald the first
Family Fun Day than Steven
Courtney.
The popular musician from
Manheim has been performing his
kid-friendly fare for the past
decade, when he made the deci­sion
to pursue his music full-time.
Since that time he has become a
local favorite, and has been the
headline performer at the Fourth
of July Celebration in Lititz
Springs Park, including last year’s
show.
When Courtney rolls into Lititz
m Sunday, July 2 for Family Fun
Day, he will arrive fresh from a
three-day gig at Creation 2000, the
annual four-day Christian music
festival in Mt. Union, Pa. that at­tracts
thousands of Christian
music fans every year.
Even if you’ve seen Courtney
before, you haven’t seen a show
Photo by Stephen Seeber
This was the scene at Lititz Springs Park around 6 a.m. on Monday, just hours after heavy rains sub­merged
the grounds in 36 inches of water. The entangled debris was the wooden frame work for 10,000
candles, which were to be used during next Tuesday’s Fourth of July celebration. The effort to salvage
and rebuild in timeforJuly 4 began on Monday.
Flash flood wipes out hard
work of Fourth organizers
Massive volunteer effort rallies to keep celebration on schedule
STEPHEN SEEBER
Re cord Express Staff
LITITZ — Sunday’s storm may
have submerged the borough in its
worst weather-related predicament
since Hurricane Agnes in 1972, but
it did little to dowse pride in the
park board’s annual Fourth of July
celebration.
“As long as there isn’t another
storm, we’ll be ready for the
Fourth,” Jim Nuss, Lititz Springs
Park manager, said Monday.
“That’s a guarantee.”
Nuss’ prediction may sound bold
since he made it just a few hours
after the park was ravaged by flash
flooding, but as the sun came up so
did the volunteers.
“I’d say we had about 150 people
show up to help clean the mess,”
Nuss said. “I was overwhelmed. All
I can say is that we are very for­tunate
to have that many people in
this town who care. ’ ’
Laura Smith was a part of the
mass effort to rejuvenate the park
in time for Celebrate 2000. She and
her friend Sue Dundore didn’t
think twice about taking a day off
from work, rolling up their sleeves
and beginning the less-than-glorious
task of removing tons of
mud and railroad gravel from the
park landscape.
“I just love Lititz,” Smith said
while removing debris from the
playground area. “I could have
cried last night when I saw all the
water.”
The Lititz area — spanning from
Neffsville to Brickerville — was the
sole recipient of 5.5 inches of rain
over a short period of time on
Sunday. The rest of the county, ac­cording
to Eric Horst, director of
Millersville University’s weather
information center, remained com­paratively
dry.
“Most of the county didn’t see
much water,” he said. “This storm
just centered on Lititz.”
The slow-moving thunder storm
rolled into town around 8 p.m. and
just lingered for the next five hours.
Reports of flooding in park round­house
first reach Nuss at 9 p.m.
Between that first report and
daybreak the high water mark in
the park reached 36 inches, the
wooden framework for 7,000 can­dles
which spanned the length of
the park was ripped apart, picnic
tables and playground equipment
were washed as far east as Cedar
Street, refrigeration equipment was
destroyed in the Jaycees refresh­ment
stand, and a big question
mark loomed over the status of this
year’s Fourth.
Again, as groups of concerned
citizens converged on the damaged
park, the question mark quickly
turned into an exclamation point.
The Fourth is on!
“We want to make sure that
there’s a Fourth of July here,”
Robby Zoccola, said while rum­maging
through the damage at the
refreshment stand. “It’s the longest
running one in the nation. It can’t
stop now.”
Zoccola and his girlfriend, Jen
Camfield, spent most of the previ­ous
evening trapped at the intersec­tion
of Route 501 and Airport
Road, where their car had stalled
out in deep water. Even after a frus­trating
night of car damage and no
sleep, they couldn’t resist the urge
to help out once they saw the home-
See STORM, page 18
Mummers return for Lions parade
B e g i n s M o n d a y
a t 6 : 3 0 p . m .
□ Index
T o p N e w s S to r ie s St e p h e n s e e b e r
Though its the one of the big- ,, c,
gest annua! events m Lititz, the
Fourth of July Celebration is not LITITZ — The Quaker City
the only thing going on in town. String Band will again be the high-
Open up this special 4-page light of this year’s Fourth of July
color “Fourth of July Wrap” for parade.
other news and events in the , The Lititz Lions Club sponsor of
Lititz community. the event, decided to ask the ener­getic
group ot Philadelphia
Mummers to return mainly because
the group’s presence has become an
integral part of the annual Inde-p
ir+hc p-| pendence Day celebration here.
................................. in it “Thepeoplelikethem...andthey
business........................... - (the Mummers) like to come back,”
Church................................ 14-15 gjp Dussinger Sr., Lions Club
Classified........................... 26-33 member and one of the parade or-
Editorial / Letters.................... .4 ganizers. “It’s a chance for every-
Entertainment.........................24 one to see something different. It’s
Obituaries.............................. 12 +
Out of the P a st.............. 22-23 , J 0 o 193J11 1a5 nbda ntdh es group7 —g0C Sw Khich is
Police/rire Log.....................made up of members aged 11
School News........................6-7 through 80 — puts on spectacular
Social................................ 21 -22 shows at the annual Mummers Day
Sports.................................. 8-11 Parade in Philadelphia, Mardi
f l 1mi l l
m
___ ,
■to imp
Flamin’ Dick
Gras in Texas and St. Patrick’s Day
in Ireland.
This year’s Lions Parade —
scheduled to begin on Monday, July
3 at 6:30 p.m. — marks the third
visit to Lititz for the Quaker City
stringers. In that brief number of
showings they’ve already built a de­voted
following at Moravian
Manor, where the put on a short
show right before the parade
begins.
The parade route, same as last
year, is as follows:
Parade participants will gather
at Warwick High School at 5 p.m.,
with the caravan of celebrants
scheduled to start marching
promptly at 6:30 p.m.
The procession will head east on
West Orange Street, south on South
Spruce Street, east on Lemon
Street, north on South Cedar Street
See PARADE, page ID3
T u e s d a y , J u l y 4 UuHMy uncssriiwsfwii
1:()() p .m . - T h e J o h n B r e s s le r S h ow
2 :0 0 p .m . - N a tio n a l B e ll R in g in g C e r em o n y
2 :1 0 p .m . - S h ow c a s e o f T a le n ts
2 :1 5 p .m . - P a n n in g fo r G o ld a t th e A rc h e d B rid g e
3 :1 5 p .m . - 1 1 th A n n u a l B a b y P a r a d e .
(registration at 2:30 p.m.)
4 :0 0 p .m . - L ititz C om m u n ity B a n d
4 :1 5 p .m . - C h ild re n ’s G am e s & P e a n u t S c ram b le
5 :0 0 p .m . - “D a n c in g in th e U .S .A .”
6 :0 0 p .m . - T h e M o o n lig h te r s
7 :1 5 p .m . - T h e J o h n B r e s s le r S h ow
8 :3 0 p .m . - “C e le b ra te th e F u tu r e ”
8 :4 5 p .m . - 5 9 th P a g e a n t o f th e Q u e e n o f C a n d le s
9 :0 0 p .m . - 1 5 8 th G r a n d I llum in a tio n o f C a n d le s
10:00 p .m . - “T h u n d e r O v e r L ititz ” F irew o rk s