Lititz Record Express

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124TH YEAR 28 Pages- No. 23 LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA 30 Cents
INSIDE
□ Entertainment
Cats and Generals
The Lititz Public Library will
host upcoming programs on
topics ranging from cats to
generals. Details on these inter­esting
subjects, and how you
can participate, are found on
Page 22.
□ School
T r u s t i s t h e c h i e f c o n c e r n
Mayor accepts full
responsibility for
hidden camera
STEPHEN SEEBER_________
Record Express Staff
LITITZ — An approved surveil­lance
operation has driven a wedge
of mistrust between Lititz Police
Chief Douglas Shertzer and the 12
officers in his department.
The news broke last week in a
Lancaster New Era article in
which Lititz Mayor Russell Petty­john,
Chief Shertzer, Borough
Council President Dennis Stuckey
and Lititz Sgt. Kerry Nye sat down
with a reporter to explain why the
Lititz Borough Police Officers As­sociation
filed a grievance against
the chief on Aug. 31.
Officers were distraught to learn
that Shertzer had the ability to
monitor them from his home with
a hidden camera that was installed
during the construction of the new
borough hall. It was a violation of
the officers’ contract, wherein it
states that working conditions can­not
be altered without negotiation.
Shertzer responded to the griev­ance
on Sept. 6, but had no com­ment
for the Record Express this
week.
Even though the response,
which is in essence an apology, is
expected to be accepted by the As­sociation,
the breach in trust has
left a gaping wound that is far
from healed.
“We feel very disheartened,”
Sgt. Nye, president of the Police
Officérs Association, said to the
Record Express this week. “I think
the chief made a mistake and it
certainly has caused a lot of prob-
More CAMERA on A-23
News interns
Warwick High School seniors
Megan McDonald and Lindsey
Fund joined the Lititz Record
Express staff last week, where
they will spend part of the
school day over the coming
year at the newspaper office,
as part of the Open Campus
program See more on Page 6.
Warwick Day
It was a fun-filled day for the
family last Saturday, as the
Warwick Twp, Police Officérs
Association hosted its second
Warwick Day. For more about
the event, and the winners of
the Bike Rodeo, see Page 7.
□ Business
Morrone’s opens
Morrone’s Italian Ices and
Homemade Ice Cream opened
recently in Leola, though the
business was originally sup­posed
to be in Lititz: Find out
more about this local man’s
new business on Page 18.
□ Social
Appraisal Faire
The Lititz Lioness Club will
host its third antiques and col­lectibles
Appraisal Faire at the
Lititz Community Center on
Sept. 30. To find out more
about how you can determine
the value of those dust-covered
gems in your attic, see Page
14.A
lso, what is columnist
Kathy Blankenbiller “whining”
about? Find out in her In Sites
column on Page 14.
□ Church
Retiring pastor
A special retirement service
is being planned for former Li­titz
Moravian Pastor Rev. Mar­lin
Schaffstall. Details are on
Page 16.
□ Sports
Classic win
Warwick’s field hockey team
won the 13th annual Warwick
Classic on Saturday, and con­tinued
defending their State
title, improving to a perfect
6-0-0 record with back-to-back
shutout wins over West Chest­er
East and Lower Dauphin. For
more on the tournament, plus
other local sports news, see
Pages 8-11.
□ Index
Births......................................... 15
Business.................... 18-19
Church............... 16-17
Classified............................23-27
Editorial/Letters......................... 4
Arts/Entertainment..................22
Obituaries...................13, 17,19
Out of the Past................... 20-21
Police/Fire Log.......................... 2
School News...........................6-7
Social...................................14-15
Sports.................................... 8-11
A train will return
to Lititz very soon
Restored caboose to serve as park museum
RICHARD REITZ
Record Express Editor
LITITZ — The tracks have been
laid for a vintage caboose that will
serve as a museum and accompany
the train station at the entrance to
Lititz Springs Park.
The Park Board learned last
week that it would receive a
$12,800 grant through the state
Department of Community and
Economic Development, which
will be used to purchase and re­store
an old Reading Railroad cab­oose.
Work on a permanent home for
the caboose began last Saturday,
when workers installed a rock bed
and the tracks adjacent to the Li­titz
Welcome Center.
“It’s all ready for the caboose to
be brought in,” said Bob Herzer,
the Park Board member who has
been working for the past several
months to bring a caboose to Lititz.
“Things are finally starting to fall
into place.”
Earlier this year he found one in
Jim Thorpe, which was brought
down to Temple, north of Reading.
From there, they will transport the
caboose on a flat bed truck to
Roger Gerhart’s Brunnerville
Road shop, where restoration will
begin. Herzer hopes to transport
the caboose within the week.
While there, it will be sand­blasted
and repainted as close to its
original colors as possible. Accord­ing
to Herzer, it will be red with a
brown roof, black steps, and yellow
trip.
Once the exterior work is com­pleted
— which Herzer hopes will
be finished in about three week’s
time — it will be transported to its
new home, where interior work
will commence.
“I have a lot of pictures of the
interior,” he said. “We are hoping
to restore it to look like it did in
the days of railroading.”
When the interior is completed
and the caboose is opened to the
public — hopefully by next spring
— it will be utilized as a museum
for park and railroading memora­bilia.
They hope to have rotating
exhibits that will keep the museum
fresh and interesting for both visi­tors
and residents.
Herzer said the state grant was
obtained with assistance from Sen.
Noah Wenger, who was the key­note
speaker at the train station’s
dedication ceremony in May 1999.
He said the grant should cover the
entire cost of purchase and restora­tion.
The purchase price for the cab­oose
was $3,000, “which is a pretty
good price these days. They are
pretty scarce, and a lot of them are
in bad shape.”
He believes this new addition to
the park will be a valuable one.
“It will bring back a little bit of
those railroading days, when the
Reading-Columbia Railroad
served Lititz,” Herzer said.
Photo by Kari Radvansky
Miranda Markle, 4, of Lititz, creates a special prize bag, one of the many fun activities for young­sters
at Teddy Bear Day last Saturday.
A ‘K od iak ’ m om en t
llth annual Teddy Bear Day was picture-perfect
KARI RADVANSKY_________
Record Express Staff
LITITZ — Lititz Springs Park was
bustling with activity Saturday for
the annual Teddy Bear Day.
Many residents and tourists
filled the park last Saturday to
Elizabeth Twp. farmers will rezone voluntarily
STEPHEN SEEBER
Record Express Staff
BRICKERVILLE — It appears that Elizabeth
Township will preserve its agricultural integrity - vol­untarily.
More than 50 residents converged on Elizabeth’s
municipal building last Wednesday to hear the Lan­caster
County Planning Commission offer a vague ex­planation
on why rezoning is essential to ag preserva­tion.
This week, several farmers showed up at the
regular meeting of the township supervisors to show
collective support for voluntary rezoning, from rural
to agriculture. ,
The township’s proposed comprehensive plan was
called into question by county planners last month be­cause
it left too many farms in rural zoning, essential­ly
leaving the door open for development.
The county would like the township to adjust its
comp plan, rezoning about 3,000 acres of rural district
to agricultural, which would place more restrictions
on development potential. It’s what some in the town­ship
call forced preservation.
“Most people are in favor of preserving,” supervisor
Larry Wiker said. “Some folks don’t want to give up
More ELIZABETH on A-21
enjoy the games, food, and fun at
the annual event hosted by Lititz
Women of Today.
“It was really packed,” said
Marcia Correa, co-chair of the
event with Donna Plourde. “I
think this was the best one we’ve
ever had.”
For the past 11 years, the Lititz
Women of Today select a charity
to support with the proceeds raised
at the event. This year, they will be
able to contribute at least $1,500 to
the Diabetes Center for Children
and Young Adults at Lancaster
General Hospital.
Though the Diabetes Center was
the big winner on this day, there
were a number of youngsters who
won prizes in the contests held
during the event.
The annual coloring contest this
year was judged by Anita Lipkow-ski,
a first grade teacher at Lititz
Elementary School.
Winners in the age four and
under group were: Rachel Davies,
first place; Jessica Hochreiter, sec­ond
place; Brianna Olivier, third
place; and Jeffrey Carroll, honor­able
mention.
The winners for the 5-year-old
to 7-year-old group were Caitlin
Waltz, first place; Alicia Spotts,
second place; Mikayla Schutte,
third place; and George Carvell,
honorable mention.
Eight to 10-year-old winners in­clude:
Becca Keener, first place;
Lauren Klahold, second place;
Sydney Brink, third place; and
Chris Mowrer, honorable mention.
“We had a wonderful day, with
great traffic flow,” Correa said.
“We had a blast, it was so much
fun.
“And we are grateful to the peo­ple
who supported it and made
Teddy Bear Day a great success.”
Bee-utiful!
LATE BLOOMERS — When Derwood and Lois Strunk bought six cattleyea orchid plants
earlier this year at Root’s Market near Manheim, they weren’t given much of a shot that the tropi­cal
plants would bloom when placed outside their home at 312 Balmer Road. But to their sur­prise
and the surprise of their neighbors last week, one of the orchids blossomed into a fragrant,
beautiful, and bright white flower near their front door. “Our neighbors were amazed that it blos­somed,”
Mr. Strunk said. They weren’t the only one’s captivated by the arrival of these flowers,
as a bumblebee took apparent delight in this unusual plant, casually searching for sweet nectar
in its blossom. Mr. Strunk said their daughter, Kathryn, who lives in Hawaii, helped them by send­ing
some plant food, wood chips, and advice to help the plants grow.
Jellybricks to headline Sat.
Tibetan Freedom Concert
RICHARD REITZ
Record Express Editor
LITITZ — The Jellybricks will
headline a free concert at Lititz
Springs Park this Saturday, in an
effort to raise awareness about the
plight of the Tibetan people.
The Lancaster chapter of Stu­dents
for a Free Tibet is throwing a
Tibetan Freedom Party at the
bandshell on Sept. 16, and they are
hoping to capitalize on the success
of a concert they sponsored earlier
this year at the Chameleon Club in
Lancaster, also featuring the Jelly­bricks,
where about 300 students
attended and learned more about
the organization.
The party will also feature per­formances
by Wondercrush, as
well as an acoustic guitar duo dur­ing
the outdoor concert.
Jocelyn McIntosh, a Warwick
High School student and organizer
of the event, said that they hope to
attract a nice crowd for the event.
They hope to not only entertain,
but educate as well.
“We have no idea how many
will attend, but we’re ready for as
many as possible,” Jocelyn said.
The group currently has 10 active
members from Warwick and Man­heim
Township high school — hav­ing
lost many of its members re-
Tibetan Freedom
Concert featuring
The Jellybricks
Saturday, Sept. 16
7-10 p.m.
Lititz Springs Park
Cently to graduation. But they
hope events like this and others
over the coming school year will
increase those numbers.
“We hope to have at least one
representative from each school in
Lancaster County,” she said.
There are 350 chapters of Stu­dents
for a Free Tibet worldwide,
committed to educating people of
the oppression of the Tibetan peo­ple
by communist China. “The
people of Tibet have suffered
under this brutal regime that sup­presses
the most basic human
rights and harshly restricts speech
and religious expression, often
through torture and murder, since
1949,” according to a statement
from the Lititz-based chapter.
More FREE TIBET on A-7