Lititz Record Express

              THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2000
L i t i t z R e c o r d E x p r e s s
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124TH YEAR 28 Pages- No. 37 LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA 30 Cents
Holiday Deadlines
Please take notice of deadli­ne
changes for the Lititz Re­cord
Express issues of Dec. 28
and Jan.,4.
For the Dec. 28 issue, all news
and display ads must be re­ceived
by 5 p.m. on Friday,
Dec. 22. Classified reader ads
will be accepted until noon on
Tuesday, Dec. 26.
The Jan. 4 issue will require re­ceipt
of all news and display
ads no later than 5 p.m. on Fri­day,
Dec. 29. Classified reader
ads will be accepted until noon
on Jan. 2.
The Lititz Record office will be
closed on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.
INSIDE
□School
Lego champs
A team of Lititz homeschool-ers
earned a top honor at a
state competition where stu­dents
must use robotics tech­nology,
Lego building blocks,
and their own creative abilities
to win. Page 6
□ Business
Welcome to Lititz
Lititz will soon have a new
welcome sign at the northern
end of town, courtesy of
Benchmark Construction and
Roiex. The story and other local
business news can be found on
Page 18.
□ Religion
Charity party
Area homeschoolers com­bined
their annual Christmas
party with charity, collecting
new toys for children of impris­oned
parents. Details are on
Page 16.
Also, details on Christmas
Eve services and other holiday
events are on Page 16.
□ Commentary
Christmas
What makes the Christmas
season special? Richard Reitz
shares his thoughts about this
holiday season in “For the Re­cord,”
while Ken Ebert has his
own personal experience in
“LGC Corner.” Page 4.
□ Out of the Past
Bishop dies
Sixty years ago this week, Li­titz
remembered the life of
Bishop Crosland, a prominent
member of the Moravian
Church and a beloved member
of the Lititz community. Page
2 0 .
□ Also Inside
Pool Party
Brethren Village hosted an
unusual pool party last week,
where the guests of honor were
friendly canines. Page 24.
□ Sports
Winter sports
The winter sports season
kicked into high gear, and the
latest Warriors results can be
found on Pages 8-11.
□ Index
Births......................................... 14
Business............................. 18-19
Religion............................... 16-17
Classified............................ 23-27
Commentary/Letters................ 4
Arts/Entertainment..................22
Obituaries................... 12-13,17
Out of the Past................... 20-21
Police/Fire Log.......................2-3
School News...........................6-7
Social...................................14-15
Sports.....................................8-11
7 7 4 9 0 5 3 0 0 0 5
WHS track coach
recommendation
comes under fire
RICHARD REITZ___________
R e c o rd Express E ditor
LITITZ — News that Blake
Bender has received the adminis­trative
recommendation to become
the next Warwick High School
track coach was met with a mixed
and vocal response, which was ar­ticulated
at Tuesday’s School
Board Meeting.
Bender, a Warwick Middle
School teacher and assistant track
coach, was one of the candidates
for the position being vacated by
Bob Derr. Following a review of
the candidates by an administra­tive
review committee, Bender was
the one recommended to become
the new coach.
George Mobarak of Lititz,
speaking on behalf of the parents
opposed to Bender becoming the
new track coach, called the recom­mendation
“a mistake by the ad­ministration,”
alleging instances
where inappropriate comments
were made in front of girls on the
team. Allegations of lying and fin­ancial
problems were also con­veyed
at the meeting.
“Mr. Bender should not be
promoted based on his past per­formance,
and his behavior,” Mo­barak
said. He said they contacted
superintendent Dr. Stephen lovino
and Athletic Director Terry Kauff­man
about their concerns during
the interview process, and con­veyed
their suggestions on what
they would like to see in a track
and field head coach.
He suggested that some girls left
the team because of the prior
More TRACK COACH on A-21
Will Lititz have a
white Christmas?
STEPHEN SEEBER
R e c o rd Express S ta ff
LITITZ — Winter arrived two
days early, blanketing the borough
and surrounding area in 3-5 inches
of powdery snow.
To the dismay of more than a
few school students, the storm
wasn’t quite heavy enough to
thwart a full day of classes, but
school district superintendent Dr.
Stephen lovino did call for a two-hour
delay, which sec rued to be the
standard across the county.
But while the pupil community
was afforded a few extra hours of
sleep Wednesday morning, local
road crews were up well before
dawn to make sure the travelways
were in good shape for the morn­ing
rush hour.
Mike Weaver of the borough’s
public works department said that
the storm itself didn’t pose too
much of a problem in terms of
plowing, but some of the early-to-
More SNOW on A-21
Warwick ready to retrieve
more in fraud settlement
RICHARD REITZ_________
R e c o rd Express E d ito r
LITITZ — Warwick School
District may soon receive anoth­er
payment toward its $2.1 mil­lion
investment in 1997 that was
fraudulently managed by John
Gardner Black.
At the School Board meeting
on Tuesday, it was announced
that an out-of-court settlement
had been reached involving
Kutak Rock, the law firm that
advised Black, and was charged
with recklessly suggesting that
his investments were secure.
The amount that Warwick
will receive remains unknown,
according to Dr. Stephen lovi­no,
superintendent. “We are
still waiting to see what this will
bring back to the district,” he
said.
Business manager David
Zerbe said that it may take a
few weeks until they know for
sure how much of the $8 million
settlement they will receive,
though the district is in line to
receive a portion of that
amount.
Warwick’s last retrieval of
$600,459 earlier this year
brought their total recouped
amount to $1.7 million, or about
82 percent of the investment.
That leaves them $387,541 shy
of the full amount.
In February, Black, an invest­ment
broker for Devon Manage­ment,
pleaded guilty to fraudu­lent
investment of $70 million
from 43 school districts. He is
currently serving a 41-month
prison sentence.
As of February, Warwick had
spent over $21,000 in legal fees
since 1997 in an attempt to re­cover
the money.
Photo by Stephen Seeber
Krysta Hilts was angelic in her performance of “Colors of the Season,” one of three acts in Mon­day’s
Owl Hill Learning Center Christmas Pageant.
Young talent showcased at
Owl Hill Christmas pageant
STEPHEN SEEBER___________________, ___
R e c o rd Express S ta ff
LITITZ — The boys and girls of Owl Hill Learning
Center entertained family and friends with a good
old-fashioned holiday pageant Monday night.
Children from the pre-k, kindergarten and school
age groups of the school spent the last few weeks re­hearsing
with their teachers; and they took their hard
work to the stage Dec. 18.
Held at the Fellowship Hall of Lititz Moravian
Church, each performance was punctuated with
rounds of applause and flashes from the cameras of
proud parents. The night began shortly after 7 p.m.
with Mrs. Kelly Martin’s pre-kindergarten group and
“Colors of the Season.”
Meghan Nolt and Zachary Young, portraying yel­low,
stepped up to the microphone with beaming
smiles, reminding all of the bright star that shone in
the north and the warm light of a candle’s glow. Vicki
Smith and Amanda Walker wore the red of holly ber­ries
and poinsettias. Cierra Nelson won the crowd
over with her representation of evergreens and her an­nouncement
that she had to go to the “potty.” Krysta
Hilts and Cole Ledger covered white blankets of snow.
Trey Tumblin and Emily Martin conveyed the tempt­ing
theme of “cookies, cookies and more cookies” via
the color brown. And Jacob Rearich and Dylan High
closed the Christmas spectrum out with silver and
gold, the wavelengths of tinsel and bells.
Next on stage was a musical production of “Bob
Humbug, the Christmas Grump,” courtesy of Mrs.
Jamie Demmi’s kindergarten class.
The cast included Adam Brinkman as Bob Hum­bug,
Lyndsey Smith as Charlie Checker, Hannah
Shue as Mia the Mouse, Dabney Lineberry as Carter
the Cat, Ericka Griffith as the Sign Holder, and
More PAGEANT on A-21
SOUTHERN SINGERS SPREAD SPIRIT OF THE SEASON - Heaven for Shore, a southern
gospel quartet from Rising Sun, Md., have been touring for the past eight years, singing for free
(though donations are accepted) wherever their hearts may lead them. Their travels brought them
to the Lititz Springs Park entrance last Friday, where they sang outdoors at night for the first
time. Kevin Good (right), grew up in Lititz and is a Warwick High School graduate. He is pictured
singing (from left to right) with his wife Bessie Good, Gordie Mitchum, and Jim Boyd.
Boro plans to award
demolition bid Jan. 11
Council sets aside $235,000 for project
STEPHEN SEEBER
R e c o rd Express S ta f f
LITITZ — The eyesore’s days
are numbered.
The controversy behind tearing
down the neglected church build­ing
at Broad and Orange streets
has quietly faded away, and the
borough is preparing for its demo­lition
sometime this winter, per­haps
as soon as February or
March.
Specs for both selective and total
demolition are complete and a bid
for the Work should be awarded on
Jan. 11. Meanwhile, the borough
has scheduled a Jan. 4 pre-bid
meeting to cover any unclear ele­ments
of the job specs for potential
bidders.
Debate over whether or not the
building has significant historical
value consumed the floor of bor­ough
council chambers this past
summer, with a majority of local
residents favoring Council’s idea to
demolish what has become known
as the borough eyesore. The heated
discussions on preservation v. elim­ination
have cooled with the
weather, but Council continués to
move forward with its plans to raze
the structure.
An environmental inspection,
conducted in October, found very
little in the way of asbestos or lead
paint, which should reduce the
hazard elements of the project.
However, pigeon carcasses and
measurable quantities of bird feces
inside the building’s sanctuary will
have to be disposed of in a safe
manner.
In a budget which is expected to
be approved later this month,
Council has set aside $265,000 for
this project in particular. The op­tion
of a public park being built on
the site, utilizing some of the build­ing’s
90-year-old materials, contin­ues
to be the preferred route of
Council, but a decision will not be
made until bids come in next
month.
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