Lititz Record Express

              THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2000
L i t i t z R e c o r d E x p r e s s ^ '^ o iic a tio ^
124TH Y EAR 32 Pages- No. 36 LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA Two sections 30 Cents
IN BRIEF
Holiday Deadlines
Please take notice of deadli­ne
changes for the Lititz Re­cord
Express issues of Dec. 28
and Jan. 4.
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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
□ Religion
Christmas dinner
Trinity E.C. Church is once
again hosting a free community
Christmas dinner. Details of
this annual tradition, and in­formation
on other Christmas
services and events in the area,
can be found on Page 7.
□ Social
Three-day Walk
Two Lititz women recently
completed a 60-mile, three-day
walk in New York, as part of the
Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day
Walk. For more about their par­ticipation,
and their motivation,
see Page 26.
□ Business
Autopark Opens
Meet the Herr family, own­ers
of the new Warwick Auto
Park north of Lititz. The loca­tion
may be new, but they are
veterans of the auto sales and
service industry. Their story is
on Page 18.
Two Dr. Bergs
Dr. Richard E. Berg is hold­ing
an open house this week­end
for his new medical office
in Brickerville. His story, in ad­dition
to an interesting sidebar
on the confusion that naturally
arises when two doctors with
the same name work in the
same town, is on Page 18.
□ inside
Cookie success
Jane Sohns was overwhelm­ed
by the outporing of good will
she received for her visit to the
Lebanon VA Hospital, as over
100 dozen cookies were donat­ed
for her trip. Page 32.
□ Sports
Backyard rivals
In a battle of backyard rivals,
Ephrata’s wrestling team beat
Warwick in a close match,
31 -24. Coverage is on Page 8.
Also, the Warwick Girls Bas­ketball
team improved to a 4-0
record with a 68-47 thrashing
of Garden Spot.Page 8.
Football Contest
The final football contest of
the year, featuring coliege bowl
games, can be found on Page
12 of this issue. Try your luck...
the winner will receive a $50
gift certificate!
□ Index
Arts/Entertainment................ 16
Births............................... 14
Business.................... 18-19
Classified............................ 27-31
Commentary/Letters................ 4
Obituaries...........................12-13
Out of the Past................... 24-25
Police/Fire Log ....................... 2-3
Religion.......................... 26-27
School News...........................6-7
Social.................................. 14-15
Sports.....................................8-11
6 7 7 4 9 0 5 3 0
Twp. strongly denies racism charge
Black police officer could still be hired; plaintiffs defend allegations
RICHARD REITZ _____________________________
R e c o rd Express E ditor
WARWICK TWP. — Officials named in a discrimination
lawsuit broke their silence last week, refuting “in the strong­est
possible terms” charges that they did not hire a police of­ficer
candidate because he was black.
“These allegations are false and are totally without sub­stance,”
said Bruce Bucher, supervisor chairman, at the
Board’s Dec. 6 meeting, in a statement made on behalf of
the Board.
On Nov. 9, Warwick Township Police Chief Alfred Olsen
and Warwick Sergeant Gary Hutchinson joined Ron Simril,
the black police officer candidate, in a complaint filed in the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania.
The lawsuit charges that Simril was denied employment
on two different occasions, despite claims that he had the
highest score on an aptitude test. Since the lawsuit was filed,
Olsen and Hutchinson have been placed on paid administra­tive
leave.
The suit names the supervisors and a former supervisor,
More LAWSUIT on A-17 Stop
or go?
Motorists appear
confused by new
traffic signalization
STEPHEN SEEBER_________
R e c o rd Express S ta ff
LITITZ — At Orange and
Broad streets, green doesn’t neces­sarily
mean “go.”
Just a few weeks after spending
$8,141 to install a supplemental
traffic light at one of the borough’s
busiest intersections, residents and
Borough Council members are
finding flaws.
The supplemental light, recessed
two car lengths from the main traf­fic
light on West Orange Street,
was installed to improve the turn­ing
radius for the growing number
of big rigs using Route 772, which
cuts through the middle of the bor­ough
as West Orange, the first
block of South Broad Street and
the length of East Main.
The use of two signals for one
intersection is an unusual configu­ration,
but the idea is to use the
pre-intersection red light to create
space so that large trucks can
make difficult turns.
The problems is, since the light
went into service last month, cars
are either missing the first red
light, or getting caught between the
two lights, rendering the intended
radius improvement useless in
More TRAFFIC on A-17
D ev elo p e r’s
plan worries
neighbors at
Rabbit Hill
RICHARD REITZ___________
R e c o rd Express E ditor
WARWICK TWP. — A nine-lot
subdivision is being proposed near
Rabbit Hill Road, but some nearby
residents are concerned that its ac­cess
road will have a negative im­pact
on their properties.
At the Dec. 6 supervisors meet­ing,
Craig Bomberger, an engineer
representing the developer, Greg
Hassen, explained their plans for
Rabbit Hill Estates, a housing de­velopment
that would include
eight new homes and one existing
home on 31.3 acres.
The plan includes the construc­tion
of a new road that will con­nect
the development to Rabbit
Hill Road. In addition, Bomberger
said that if the plan is approved,
they would agree to the rezoning of
the two largest tracts from residen­tial-
rural estate to agricultural.
Several neighbors and members
of the nearby Rod and Gun Club
expressed concerns about the
stormwater runoff impact of a new
development. Some are worried
that a bad situation might become
even worse.
“We already have a lot of gullies
caused by the runoff,” said Glen
Wetzel, a member of the Rod and
Gun Club.
Supervisor Chairman Bruce
Bucher said that the impact should
be an improvement, not a detri­ment,
to their properties, due to
strict state regulations concerning
stormwater management. He said
that any new development is re­quired
to retain more water than
the property would if left undevel­oped.
Mike Miller, 960 Rabbit Hill
Road, expressed his concerns
about the access road, which cuts
More RABBIT HILL on A-17
these angels and other performers will share their spirit with the community this Sunday as they go
a-caroling through town, beginning at 6 p.m. Pictured at the manger are (front row, left to right) Lydia
Wingert, Hannah Mitchell, (back row, l-r) Allison Wingert, Claire Deibler and Julie Krushinski.
H eat w oes change Christmas plans
LITITZ — The Christmas decorations were hung
with care in the Lititz First Church of God, as the
stage was set for a heartwarming Christmas Pageant
this Sunday.
Unfortunately, it looks like a heartwarming pag­eant
is the only way heat could be generated in the
stately brick church at 33 E. Center St.
The congregation was hoping that their boiler,
which has faithfully heated the church for the past 75
years, would carry them through the spring, when
plans to install a new heating unit would be imple­mented.
Unfortunately, the boiler broke down at the
beginning of the Advent season... just as the cold
weather started rolling in.
As practices for the Christmas Pageant continued,
the congregation contemplated a search for a tempo­rary
place of worship, as they learned that the church
would be without heat at least two weeks, and might
not have it restored before Christmas Day.
Fortunately, Steve Montpetit of Spacht Funeral
Home on Broad Street offered his parlor for the Sun­day
meeting place, where the congregation could sit
comfortably while discussing their alternatives for cel­ebrating
Christmas.
The Christmas Pageant was scheduled for Dec. 17
at the church, and nearly every member of the congre­gation
had a role, including shepherds, wisemen, an­gels,
scribes, the innkeeper, King Herod, Mary, and
Joseph. Even recent arrival Ethan Campbell snagged
the principal role as the baby Jesus.
They anticipated an audience similar to last year’s
standing-room only crowd, when friends, relatives and
visitors filled the sanctuary to watch the re-enactment
of the Christmas story.
More ANGELS on A-17
Lititz family fostering care
for pets in search o f homes
KATHY BLANKENBILLER
R e c o rd Express S ta ff
LITITZ — It’s Christmas morn­ing.
The tree is twinkling, and the
children run in to open their gifts,
soon to discover a cute little puppy
with a big red bow around its neck
popping up from a big gold box.
Commercials around the holi­days
show this scene time after
time. Kids and puppies, the perfect
combination, right?
Wrong, according to a local
woman who has learned the hard
way what can happen when the
“cute” wears off.
Animals are not toys; they re­quire
long-term commitment, said
Amanda Brubaker, 17, of Lititz, an
employee at the Lancaster Hu­mane
League. They must have a
safe, comfortable environment, af­fection,
feeding, cleaning, play­time.
“You must be prepared be­fore
you adopt a puppy — or a
kitten,” she said. “This is called re­sponsible
pet ownership.”
Amanda said Humane Leagues
across the country have an incred­ible
amount of puppies, many pure
bred breeds, brought in soon after
Christmas.
“It’s so hard to think about what
some animals go through in their
short lives.” Amanda said, blinking
back tears at some painful memo­ries.
“Working at the Humane
League really opened my eyes. It
Photo by Kathy Blankenbiller
Deb and Amanda Brubaker of Lititz help abandoned and
abused animals find new and happy homes.
didn’t take too long before I knew
what I was meant to do.”
Amanda’s mom, Deb Brubaker,
realized nine years ago that her
daughter’s life would somehow in­volve
working with animals. “She
started out puppy sitting at age 8.”
Deb said. “To Amanda it was more
of a privilege to walk and care for
the animals. She and her friend
would walk the dogs down to the
store, buy treats for the dogs and
flowers for the owners. That’s just
how she is.”
Through the years, Amanda’s
love for animals grew, leading her
eventually to volunteer time at the
Humane League of Lancaster
County. She began by doing any­thing
they’d allow her to do; clean-
More FOSTER PETS on A-17
Old atlas
nets $35k
at auction
KATHY BLANKENBILLER
R e c o rd Express S ta ff
LITITZ — Frederick DeWit’s
1688 atlas was sold on Saturday,
bringing in an impressive purchase
price of $35,000.
The Heritage Map Museum held
its last auction of the year at the
Lititz Public Library, offering 280
lots of prized cartography items.
Bids for the rare DeWit edition
atlas had been phoned in from as
far away as Sri Lanka, Brazil, Bei­jing
and the Faeroe Islands off
Scotland. The purchaser, however,
was an absentee bidder from
northern New Jersey.
Auctioneer Jeffrey DeHart
opened Saturday’s auction at 1:30
p.m. as 30 registered guests sat
ready to bid on their favorite
pieces. Phones were manned and
the bidding battle began.
The atlas was discovered 20
years ago by a couple who bought
it at an auction for $50. When the
popular PBS television show, “An­tiques
Roadshow,” came to their
Baltimore hometown, they learned
that the atlas turned out to be a
rare edition printed in Amsterdam,
with a value estimated between
$30,000-$40,000.
What is it about an auction that
gets our juices flowing? Is it’s the
thrill of the hunt, though in a
More OLD ATLAS on A-17
School Board
OKs Hofferth
for president
LITITZ — Wallace Hofferth
will serve his 14th — and possibly
his final — year as president of the
Warwick School Board in 2001.
Last year Hofferth was elected
to complete the final two years of
Donald Cromer’s term on the
board. Prior to Cromer’s death,
Hofferth was planning to step
down from the board at the con­clusion
of his term in 1999. His
present term ends next December.
Hofferth, 76, first joined the
Warwick School Board in 1967
when he filled an unexpired term.
He lost in the 1969 primary elec­tion,
but returned in 1973, and has
served on the board ever since,
compiling nearly 30 years of serv­ice
in the Warwick School District.
Returning as officers for their
fourth terms in 2001 are William
Flickinger as vice president, and
Lawrence Gemmell as treasurer.
Committee assignments were
also announced at the Board’s Dec.
5 reorganization meeting.
• Jay Hostetter will serve as
chairperson for the Building and
Property Committee, and as the
Lancaster County Career and
Technology Center representative.
• David Pusey will serve on the
Building and Property Committee,
and as the Lititz Community Cen­ter
representative.
• Cathryn Ketterman returns as
Education Committee chair.
• C. Wendell Hower will serve
on the Education Committee.
• Karen Malleus serves on the
Finance and Legal Committee, and
as Legislative Representative.
• Flickinger will serve as chair­person
of the Student Activities
Committee, the Meet and Discuss
representative, and as chairperson
of the Personnel Committee.
• Gemmell will also serve as
chairperson of the Finance and
Legal Committee.
• Kim Rosensteel, the Warwick
High School student representa­tive,
will serve on the Education
Committee and on the Student Ac­tivities
Committee.
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