Lititz Record Express

              T H U R S D A Y , A u g u s t 1 6 , 2 0 0 1
Lititz Record Express ^ » t d - W i n n , ^
K E Y S T ONE
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125TH YEAR 30 Pages - No. 17 LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA Two sections 30 Cents
INSIDE
□ Special Deadlines
Labor Day
Due to the Labor Day Holi­day,
special deadlines for edit­orial
copy and advertising will
change as follows:
Retail and classified display
ads and all editorial copy for
the Sept. 6 issue of the Lititz
Record Express must be in the
office by 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug.
31.
Classified reader ads will be
accepted until Tuesday, Sept. 4
at noon.
The offices of the Lititz Re­cord
Express will be closed on
Monday, Sept. 3.
Entertainment
Summer Jazz
Next week, Jazz fans will
have two opportunities to enjoy
local concerts, as The Moon­lighters
will perform at The Gar­dens
behind the Lititz Museum
on Sunday, Aug. 19, while the
Tom Witmer Trio will play at the
Lititz Public Library on
Wednesday, Aug. 22. Page 24.
Business
Heading South
Susquehanna Bankshares is
$4.9 billion strong and growing.
The Lititz-based holding com­pany
is now in the process of
purchasing four branch offices
in West Virginia. Read more on
Page 1.8.
□ School
National Champs
The New Line Revue traveled
south to the Drum Majorettes
of America National Team
Competition, and returned
home with seven first place
awards. The details of their trip
are on Page 7.
□ Religion
Penryn Picnic
For over a century, Penryn
residents have been enjoying
summer fellowship in the fa­mous
picnic woods off of New­port
Road. This Saturday the
tradition continues as St. Paul
Evangelical Lutheran Church
hosts another picnic in the
grove. Info on the bands, the
food and the fun can be found
on Pages 16-17.
□ Social
Small Stuff
Kathy Blankenbiller knows it
can be tough to not “sweat the
small stuff.” She delves deeper
into ways you can try to avoid
or handle stress, in her In Sites
column on Page 14.
□ Also Inside
Termites vs. Ants
The second part of Al Spod’s
Nature Notes column takes a
look at winged ants, and the
differences between ants and
termites. Page 25.
□ Sports
Fall Sports
Sweltering temperatures wel­comed
the return of fall sports
practices at Warwick High
School on Monday. Public
awareness has increased over
heat concerns and athletes, but
Warrior coaches are confident
with continuing past proce­dures
that have been effective
in keeping athletes safe from ill
effects from the heat. Page 8.
□ Out of the Past
Bobst Bio
Thirty years ago this week,
pharmaceutical pioneer and
former Lititz boy Elmer Bobst
began research on his autobi­ography.
That story and many
others are featured in Out of
the Past on Pages 22-23.
Index
Arts/Entertainment................. 24
Births......................................... 14
Business.............................18-19
Classified............................25-29
Commentary/Letters................ 4
Obituaries.................................12
Out of the Past...................22-23
Police/Fire Log...................... 2-3
Religion...............................16-17
School News...........................6-7
Social.................................. 14-15
Sports.................................... 8-11
77490"43000
WHS student eyes mascot return
RICHARD REITZ________________________________
Record Express Editor
LITITZ — A Warwick High School student is proposing a
plan to bring back the Warrior mascot to future sporting
events, possibly by Homecoming weekend.
The proposal by Brendan Walters, a junior and the stu­dent
representative to the Warwick School Board, comes
one year after the Indian mascot was felt by district officials
to be an inappropriate representation of Native Americans.
Brendan said he appreciates those concerns, and said that
the mascot he envisions would be respectftd of Native Amer­icans.
“I thought it was the wrong thing to take away the Warri­or,”
he said. “The vast majority of students support the
Warrior name and icon, and wish to have a mascot return to
represent the pride, honor, and spirit of Warwick.”
The mascot was removed from the sidelines last year,
after a campaign by several students during the 1999-2000
school year to try and change the Warrior name and logo,
contending that it was disrespectful to Native Americans.
Though the Warwick School Board ultimately determined
that the Warrior name and logo was not insensitive, it did
make some changes with the way the name was represented,
including the elimination of the mascot.
Brendan plans to present his suggestion to the Warwick
School Board this fall — provided he feels the action is sup­ported
by other students.
More MASCOT on A-13
N A A C P
w ill c o m e
t o T w p .
RICHARD REITZ___________
Record Express Editor
WARWICK TWP. — Disap­pointed
with unsuccessful at­tempts
to meet with township offi­cials
concerning a discrimination
lawsuit, the head of the Lancaster
NAACP is planning to take the
matter to the next level.
Rev. Ronald L. Taliaferro, Lan­caster
NAACP president, is plan­ning
to hold a press conference on
Monday, Aug. 20 at 6 p.m. at the
Warwick Township building, 315
Clay Road.
“This decision leaves the local
branch of the NAACP no other
choice but to refer this case to our
State and National General Coun­cil
for further action,” Taliaferro
wrote in a statement announcing
the press conference.
Former Warwick Police Chief
Alfred Olsen said Tuesday that he
plans to attend the meeting.
Allegations against several
township officials and police offi­cers
stem from a lawsuit filed last
November by Olsen, former War­wick
Twp. Sgt. Gary Hutchinson
and Ron Simril, claiming that
Simril was not hired for a position
on three occasions because he is
black.
Shortly afterward, Olsen and
Hutchinson were suspended from
their duties, and on March 13 their
employment with the township
was terminated.
At a press conference held on
More NAACP on A-13
Library hires
community
relations
coordinator
KATHY BLANKENBILLER
Record Express S ta ff
LITITZ — Lititz resident Kim­berly
Hocker was welcomed last
week as the Lititz Public Library’s
new community relations coordi­nator.
Graduating in 1992 from the
State University of New York at
Geneseo, Hocker immediately
found a human resources position
with a printing company in Lan­caster
County. Hocker and her
husband, a landscape architect
More HOCKER on A-13
‘Watercrafts’
Photos by Kathy Blankenbiller
Rain failed to stop the shoppers at the Lititz Rotary Craft Show on Saturday. Here (from left
to right) Jessica Reese, Anne Hackman and Michelle Reese, all from Ephrata, found a way to
keep exploring the booths at the show.
Show outlasts downpour
KATHY BLANKENBILLER____________
Record Express S ta ff
LITITZ — Customers arrived as early as 6
a.m., to begin their search for treasures at the Li­titz
Rotary’s 23rd annual Lititz Craft Show.
Moving quickly from one booth to the next,
guests attempted to beat what they were sure
was to be a powerful storm.
“We got here around 7:30 a.m., bright and
early,” said Sue Allen of Ambler, Pa. “My
daughter and I love coming to this show every
year and after listening to the weather report we
thought that this year we’d better get here
earlier than usual. Now we’re very glad we did.
We managed to finish our shopping just as it re­ally
started to pour.”
Raindrops as big and hard as bullets flew
from the darkened skies and Mother Nature un­leashed
her fury only an hour and a half after
the “official” start of the show. Promptly at 9:30
a.m. the torrential downpour began. The crowd,
which had been shoulder-to-shoulder only mo­ments
earlier, now scattered wildly, searching
for shelter.
Hundreds of frazzled vendors rushed to lower
the flaps on their booths and to cover their dis­plays
of merchandise to avoid as much damage
as possible.
Cheryl Wyatt of Country Elegance Crafts by
Cher-Ronn out of Newark, Del., had a wet initi­ation
as her booth flooded soon after the rains
More CRAFT SHOW on A-13
Khoal Petticoffer, 4, stands among the scare­crows
at Shelly Wilson’s booth at the Lititz Rota­ry
Craft Show. Wilson, pictured in the back­ground,
owns Shelly’s Country Crossroads in
LeReysville.
Close
call
Spring Ave. man
just a few steps
from being shot
STEPHEN SEEBER_________
Record Express S ta ff
LITITZ — Bradford Mearig
would not put his gun down as he
continued to walk toward Lititz
Police Officers Ken Lockhart and
Karl Spidel.
It was a move that could have
cost the Spring Avenue man his
life.
“It was a very close situation,”
said Lititz Sgt. Kerry Nye, the
commanding officer on duty Aug.
9. “A few more feet and he proba­bly
would have been shot.”
Nye was in court in Lancaster
when the call for help at 525
Spring Ave. hit the Lititz station.
Officers Lockhart and Spidel re-sponded
tQ find a distraught man
holding what appeared to be a
.45-caliber army-issue pistol in the
air. Neighbors said Mearig, who
lives at 523 Spring Ave., had been
acting strangely. He had been
drinking and was despondent over
family matters, police said. When
he approached his neighbor’s front
porch with a gun, the incident
began to spiral out of control.
By the time police had arrived,
Mearig was standing in the side
More TOY GUN on A-13
Water table
remains low
LITITZ — The borough has re­leased
the following statement in
regard to local water usage:
“While the borough’s water sup­ply
is sufficient, the level of the
wells has dropped. The State
placed Lancaster County under a
‘drought watch,’ effective Aug. 8.
Borough council asks that resi­dents
voluntarily conserve water
by following the state’s recommen­dations
for a 5 percent reduction in
water use.”
Rainfall during this past week­end
should not change this call for
conservation.
Dennis Stuckey, borough coun­cil
president, said he would like
local residents to continue using
caution until a more significant
amount of precipitation finds its
way to Lititz.
LCC seeking
Elizabeth Twp.
representative
BRICKERYILLE — hli/abelli
Township has 60 days to liiul a
volunteer to serve on the boaid ot
directors of the Lititz Commuml\
Center.
On Monday, township supcivi­sors
read a letter from the l.( (
board, urging the township lo find
a replacement for Bill Fennell
soon.
Pennell, who has served on the
board as the Elizabeth representa­tive
for the past few years, recently
resigned. According to LCC by­laws,
a new appointment must be
named within two months. If
someone does not step forward the
board will hold an election for the
open position.
Of the 1,559 paid memberships
at the Lititz Community Center, 59
are from Elizabeth Township.
Photo by Kathy Blankenbiller
Volunteers who came out to help with the Lititz Community
Center playground project on Aug. 11 in spite of the threat of rain,
are (front row, left to right) Bill Pennell, Roger Plante, Tim Homing',
Jeremy Bracken, (back row, l-r) Betsy Saatman, Hetta Saatman,
Jerry Allison, Mike Shifflet, John Webber, Roderick Saatman, Karl
Saatman, Mark Reidenbaugh, and Art Lavoie.
LCC’s new playground
Volunteers still needed to finish work
KATHY BLANKENBILLER
Record Express S ta ff
LITITZ — Volunteers complet­ing
the playground at the Lititz
Community Center weren’t about
to let Saturday’s steady rainfall
keep them from progressing with
the much-anticipated project.
It was to be the next-to-last step
toward the completion of the new
playground, located in front of the
Lititz Community Center. The
small group of volunteers worked
at a fever pitch on Saturday morn­ing,
hoping to finish their work be­fore
a major storm front moved in.
“We had hoped for a better
turnout as far as volunteers goes,”
admitted Betsy Saatman, LCC di­rector
of Children’s Services.
“Nothing goes exactly as planned,
I guess.”
According to what they were
told in the beginning, Saatman
said that the project would need a
total of three volunteers and would
take about two weeks to complete.
“Well, here we are nine weeks
later, instead of two,” she said.
“We ran into limestone, so we had
$5,000 in unexpected expenses and
on top of that, we found that we
needed at least 10 volunteers each
time we worked on it.
“We ended up with a core group
of 10 volunteers who never gave
up; I can’t thank them enough for
all their hard work, patience and
perseverance; it was a great group
of people to work with.”
Less than an hour after the
foundation for each piece of equip­ment
was poured, torrential rains
More PLAYGROUND on A-13
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