Lititz Record Express

              ■ THURSDAY; JA N U A R Y 29, 1998
L i t i t z R e c o r d E x p r e s s
121 ST YEAR 26 Pages - No. 42 LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA 30 Cents
□ i n s i d e Lawsuit may b e Warwick’s only option
STEPHEN SEEBER
1=1Church
P.C. Spotlight
Daniel Allison has learned
from his past mistakes, and
today he is drawing from
those experiences to enjoy life
as a regular teenager. Page
16.
□ Social
Fundraiser will
benefit the library
Local independent busi­ness
operators will be gather­ing
soon at the Lititz
Community Center for a spe­cial
shopping fundraiser that
will benefit the Lititz Public
Library’s capital campaign to
fun its new building. Page 14.
□ Sports
Jessica Rose named
All-American
Warwick High School field
hockey standout Jessica
Rose, a junior, has been hon­ored
with a second team
selection as a National Field
Hockey Coaches Association
Kwik Goal High School All-
American. Find out more
about this honor on Page 8.
□ Meetings
Tuesday, Feb. 3, 7 p.m. -
Lititz Borough Planning Com­mission,
7 S. Broad St.
Tuesday, Feb. 3, 7 p.m. -
Warwick School Board Com­mittee
of the Whole, 301 W.
Orange St.
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 7 p.m.
- Warwick Township Super­visors,
315 Clay Road.
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 7 p.m.
- Elizabeth Twp. Planning
Commission, 423 South View
Drive.
□ Index
Births..................................... 15
Business..........................18-19
Church...................................16
Classified............... 22-25
Editorial / Letters................... 4
Entertainment.......................12
Manheim News.................... 20
Obituaries.....................2-3, 17
Out of the Past...............21-22
Police Log.............................22
School News...................... 6-7
Social..............................14-15
Sports................................8-11
Record Express Staff
LITITZ — Warwick is not suing
Mid-State Bank...Yet.
Weekend reports that Warwick
School District was part o f a 54-dis­trict
class action suit were incorrect,
according to Warwick Business
Manager David Zerbe.
“We did not authorize, nor did we
agree to join this lawsuit,” Zerbe said
this week. “I new nothing o f the fil­ing
until I saw it in the paper,” adding
that the district’s solicitor will be
making calls to find out how War­wick
was unknowingly entered into
the mix.
Richard Finberg, the Pittsburgh
attorney who filed the motion for a
suit, said that Warwick is mentioned
in the class but is not obligated to
participate.
He did, however, say that the com­plexity
o f the fraud investigation of
Devon Management’s owner John
Black, especially the movement of
millions o f dollars over the past three
years, is going to make full recovety
of investments extremely difficult
for all o f the school districts
involved.
“A $70 million shortfall is
expected for these school districts,”
he said. “And there is no doubt in my
mind that there will be a loss unless
they recover it from Mid-State.”
Warwick invested $2.1 million
with Black last June. In September,
the Security and Exchange Commis­sion
charged Black with fraud after a
routine audit found that $71 million
was missing from over $200 million
in investments Black was handling
for school districts throughout the
state.
Dick Thornburgh was named trus­tee
as all o f Black’s assests were fro­zen,
but his investigation has been
slow since this crime could go back
several years and involve hundreds
o f investors.
Warwick received $567,000 in a
partial payment distribution last
year, but whether or not the rest o f the
money will be found remains the key
question.
Finberg said that his firm was
hired by Bald Eagle Area School
District and that all parties were
included in the Jan. 23 motion filed
with the court. He said if the class is
certified, members, including War­wick,
will have the opportunity to
(See Lawsuit. Page 261
□ Business
When have gas prices
been so low?
Gasoline prices at some
-unrips in the Lititz area have
dipped below the one dollar
mark. Is it a result of the “gas
price war” in Ephrata? Find
out why this trend is taking
place on Page 18.
L i t i t z 2000
Big plans are underway to keep
folks in boro on New Years Eve
RICHARD REITZ
□ School
Warwick students win
poster contest
Three Warwick students
were named the winners in
the recent district-wide
Reading Poster Contest. They
were honored at the Jan. 20
school board meeting. For this
and more Warwick School
Board news, plus the high
school honor roll, turn to
School News on Pages 6-7.
□Entertainment
Stage One! debuts
First Stage Theatre will
debut its new evening of
music and fun in February, as
Stage One! takes the spotlight
for two entertaining programs.
Read more on Page 12
Record Express Editor
LITITZ — Plans for a community
celebration to welcome the new mil­lenium
in the borough are underway.
Already the fireworks company
that handles the Lititz Springs Park
Fourth of July Celebration has been
signed to produce a comparable
$15,000 booming extravaganza for
New Year’s 2000, according to Tim
Reedy, vice president o f the Lititz
Springs Park Board and organizer of
the Lititz New Year’s celebration.
“It’s definitely going to happen,”
Reedy said. “We just have to work
out the procedural things.”
He said talk about a New Year’s
celebration began several months
ago following the Fourth o f July, and
it was decided that rather than push to
start it at the end o f 1998, they would
New officers
in borough
make impact
STEPHEN SEEBER
Record Express Staff
LITITZ — Juvenile arrests
showed a marked increase for the
borough in 1997, according to
crime statistics compiled by Lititz
Chief Douglas Shertzer.
Local police arrested 20 per­cent
more children last year than
they did in 1996. The two most
notable jumps are in weapons vio­lations
and disorderly conduct,
showing six and 12 more inci­dents
respectively.
Most o f the disorderly conduct
reports involve fights at the high
school, according to Sgt. Kerry
Nye.
“Juvenile crime has always
been a problem in Lititz,” he said.
“At least since I’ve been here, and
that’s 18 years.”
Nye added that it is important
to note that the vast majority of
kids in town are good, but as long
as arrests are up, local police will
make youth programs like the
DARE drug education program a
top priority.
It is also worth noting that more
arrests is not necessarily an indi­cator
of more crime, according to
Shertzer. In fact, crime on the
whole is down in Lititz.
Shertzer said that it is difficult
to find a definitive answer to what
causes a crime decrease, since
such a statistic is often the result
of numerous factors. Still, he
believes successful law enforce­ment
in Lititz has more to do with
increased police presense in the
community than anything else.
Local police answered over
5,000 calls and cleared more than
75 percent o f the crimes it investi­gated,
including the borough’s
first homicide in over a century.
(See Police, Page 26)
wait for the big one as 1999 draws to
an end.
The goal, Reedy added, is to keep
people in (he community for the his­toric
moment.
“It will be a good, fun time for the
entire family. We wanted to do some­thing
that would get people to stay in
town,” he said. “The theme is to keep
people in Lititz.”
Although plans are still prelimin-aty,
and things like security and per­mits
will have to be reviewed, Reedy
envisions a festival in the park, com­plete
with a heated tent, entertain­ment
at the band shell, plus other
activities and performers at various
locations around town.
He also likes the idea o f a trade­mark
Lititz product being used to sig­nal
the new year, such as dropping a
pretzel into a jar o f Wilbur Choco­late.
He said the traditional lighting
of candles along the stream will also
be worked into the affair.
Ideas like that will be discussed by
the committee being formed to plan
the New Year’s Celebration. Cur­rently
three people are involved with
it, but he is hoping to recruit about
10-12 people to serve as planners for
the event.
He said the committee would
operate independently from the Park
Board. He hopes to begin meeting as
early as April. Anyone interested in
becoming a part of the committee can
contact Reedy at 626-9471.
He would also like to keep the cost
at a minimum, and is preparing to
visit the numerous local service orga­nizations
to explain his plans in
(See New Year’s, Page 26)
Photo b y Stephen Se ebe r
The Lititz Borough section of a 15-member steering committee forjointstrategic planning will be, from left,
David Bucher, James Wenger, Karen Weibel, Roy Burkholder, and Kevin Zartman. Warwick Township rep­resentatives
have not been officially named at this point.
C om m u n ity p a r tic ip a tio n n e e d e d
St e p h e n Se e b e r
Record Express Staff
LITITZ — What will Lititz and
Warwick Township look like 25
years from now?
Now the public can help answer
that question as both municipalities
join forces with business leaders and
local residents in a $75,000 joint
planning project.
Plans for fiiture development are
vague at this point, but the potential
is great, and all funding for the pro­ject
will come through the county as
Commissioners Ron Ford, Paul Thi-bault,
and Terry Kauffman allocated
the cash in their 1998 budget.
Lititz and Warwick Township are
now in the process o f forming a steer­ing
committee, which will interact
with the county and consultants.
Lititz appointed its, five member
panel on Tuesday night — Bucher,
Karen Weibel and James Wenger of
the Lititz Planning Commission;
Kevin Zartman, borough council
vice president; and Roy Burkholder,
member of the Historic Area Advis­ory
Committee
Dan Garrett and Logan Myers
have been named to represent War­wick,
but the remaining three mem­bers
have not been appointed.
In addition to the government con-
'mÊÊÈBÊÊÊm
Photo b y Stephen Se ebe r
Lititz residents Mary Barr and John Kubinecwill leave for Japan next week, with plans to hand out 45,000
gospels during the winter Olympics.
Going for the gold
.4 Special Gift for You .tram
The Pocket. Testament League
««a '»<3*
rwe csostsei. opjoww
45,000 gospels to be handed
out during winter Olympics
tingent, five residents from Lititz and
Warwick Township will round out ;
the steering force. f t
The key to the success o f this long­term
project, however, will be in the
participation o f hundreds o f local
taxpayers.
“The purpose is for the community
to come together,” said Weibel, a
three-year member of the borough’s
planning outfit. “This is a unique
opportunity for every resident in <
Lititz and Warwick Township to plan
where they want to be in the future.
Literally hundreds o f citizens and
will provide input.”
(See Planning, Page 26)
Top ass’t.
principal
is Wyble
RICHARD REITZ
Record Express Editor
LITITZ — WarwickHigh School
Assistant Principal Robert R. Wyble
has been named the Pennsylvania
Assitant Principal of the Year.
Wyble learned o f the honor on Jan.
15 when he received a letter from the
National Association o f Secondary
School Principals, based in Reston,
Va., announcing his selection. He
was recognized by the Warwick
School Board at their Jan. 20
meeting.
Wyble said he was honored to
receive the award, adding that he had
all but forgotten that Principal Fred
Cummins and Superintendent Dr.
John Bonfield had nominated him.
“It was completely out o f the
blue,” he said.
Wyble said a state selection com­mittee
reviews nominated candidates
for the honor, and make a selection
based upon their involvement in edu­cational
initiatives and changes that
benefit the student body.
STEPHEN SEEBER
Record Express Staff
Lit it z — A pair o f local resi­dents
will be participating in next
week’s winter Olympics in Nagano,
Japan.
However, sports fans will not see
Mary Barr and John Kubinec racing
down a bobsled chute at breakneck
speed. Instead, the goal for the two
Lititz residents will be to get the
word o f the Lord out to as many peo­ple
as possible.
As members o f the Lititz-based
Pocket Testament League, Barr and
Kubinec will go for the gold as they
take the 18-hour flight to the Far
East, armed with 45,000 copies o f the
Gospel of John. They will join a nine-member
team from all parts o f the
globe when they arrive.
The task may sound daunting, but
gospel distribution has become
somewhat of an art form for the
Pocket Testament League. Members
have given out thousands at Olympic
games, presidential inaugurations,
(See Olympics, Page 26) Robert Wyble