Lititz Record Express

              T H E R E S S
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I CONSOLIDATED WITH THE LITITZ RECORD. 1937 Lititz, Lancaster County, PA 17543, Thursday, June 5,1975 10 CENTS A COPY; S4.00 PER YEAR BY MAIL
WITHIN LANCASTER COUNTY 20 PAGES — No. 11
Local Paper Mill May Reopen,
Pollution Control Promised Morgan Mills paper plant,
which has been shut down for
the past year and a half, is in
the process of being pur­chased
by a New York City
man, Stanley G. Preston,
who said this week he hopes
to have the plant open and
operating by Aug. 1.
Both Preston and Lan­caster
attorney, Charles
Grove, J r., who is
representing Preston during
the negotiations, are op­timistic
that the sale will be
finalized, once final approval
of plans is given by the
Department of En­vironmental
Resources.
Preston told the Record-
Express Tuesday that there
is “much to be done” before
the plant is operable again,
including some substantial
renovation of equipment.
Preston said he will be
hiring about 5t) production
workers at the beginning of
the operation, with this
number to increase to about
100 eventually. He said he is
hoping that some of the
former Morgan Mills
production workers will be
returning to work there.
Although Preston has been
looking over the plant, and
conferring with local of­ficials
for several months,
his proposed purchase of the
plant was made public just
this Week when the Lan-c
a s t e r I n d u s t r i a l
Development Authority
approved a $400,000 loan for
the purchase.
The loan will come through
the Commonwealth National
Bank.
The total cost of the
project has been set at
$550,000, which includes
engineering fees and
renovation of equipment, in
addition to the purchase
price.
Preston is president of a
newly formed company that
will operate the mill, the
Lititz Paper Mill, Inc. Kal M.
Heir, Paramus, N.J., is
secretary-treasurer of the
company.
Preston reportedly has
had extensive experience in
the paper business, having
operated paper mills some
years ago with his father,
and more recently, having
been a broker of paper
products.
Commenting that Lititz’
mayor and borough
manager have been “very
helpful” to him during the
recent negotiations and
environmental studies of the
plant, Preston said he was
“extremely appreciative” of
what the people of Lititz
have done for him.
“ The cooperation with
Lititz has been absolutely
splendid - without it, we
couldn’t have done this,”
Preston said.
David Cunningham of
Huth Engineers, who has
been handling the
engineering plans for
Preston, told the Record-
Express Tuesday that
Preston intends to purchase
pulp from Maine or Canada.
The pulp, he explained, will
be brought to Lititz already
baled.
The local plant “will only
be adding water to the pulp
and putting it onto machines
to make products, primarily
toilet tissue,” Cunningham
said. He stressed that the
plant will not be recycling
material or making pulp, the
two operations that caused
so many pollution problems
for Morgan Mills.
It is the recycling process
that yields so many un­d
e sirab le by-products,
Cunningham expalined.
Preston “will be starting
with cleaner material and
not recycling,” he said.
“This is one of the most
important things - there will
be no printer’s ink, colored
dyes, etc. that were present
in the waste from Morgan
Mills,”'he said.
Cunningham said the plant
will be lining some of the
spray field north-west of the
borough, which Morgan
Mills used, until the
borough’s sewer treatment
plant is expanded. Howeyer,
he said, the state will be
limiting the area of the field
which the plant may use, and
will also be limiting the
application rate. “It will be a
uniform coverage of the field
- there should not be any
problems,” Cunningham
said.
He said that once the
treatment plant is expanded
and can handle all the ef­fluent
from the mill, then all
the effluent will go there.
“Primarily, the effluent
will be water with cellulose
(paper bits) in it,” Cun­ningham
said. He added that
when Morgan Mills was
operating the plant, “other
stuff” was being sprayed on
the field.
“There will be nothing
dumped in the stream -
that’s a condition of the
sale,” Cunningham said.
He pointed out that
Morgan Mills had its smoke
problem “ pretty well
straightened out” through
the installation, shortly
before it shut down, of stack
monitors. He said that with
proper maintenance, there
should be able to control
smoke pollution satisfac­torily.
“We’re not setting out to
do anything that would run
the risk of causing problems
with the stream or water­shed,”
Cunningham said,
“we’re going with a straight
legal and engineering ap­proach.”
Morgan Mills, which is
owned by Media General,
Inc. of Richmond, Va.,
closed on Dec. 31, 1973
because of operating losses
brought on by increased
costs of raw materials and
fuel, combined with a
shortage of waste paper.
About 160 employees lost
their jobs in the shut-down.
In its last 10 months of
operation, the mill lost
$440,000. In addition, the
plant was plagued with fires
and pollution problems.
Some of these were nearly
corrected about the time the
plant was unexpectedly
closed down.
3 Boys Being
Notice
The monthly meeting
of the Lititz Retailer’s
Association has been
scheduled for the second
Wednesday of this
month. The June
meeting will be held
next Wednesday, June
11, at 7:30 P.M. at the
General Sutter Inn.
All area businessmen
are welcome and invited
to attend.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Lititz’ Fire Siren Broken
Lititz’ fire siren is on the blink, and the borough is now
trying to find a bucket truck and crane to take the
creature down for repairs.
The siren is located on top of a high pole at the edge of
the Municipal Parking Lot. It is set off automatically by a
button in the Lancaster County Communications Center in
Lancaster, at the same time firemen’s monitors are
opened up during a fire call.
Those firemen who have monitors are now relying on
these to receive fire calls - meanwhile Pauline Shelly, who
still maintains her electronic dispatch equipment as a
backup for emergencies, has been telephoning to firemen
who don’t have monitors.
According to Boro Manager David Anderson, there is a
short circuit in the siren’s motor, and the siren must be
taken down and checked over to find out if it can be
repaired. The siren is believed to be of about 1960 vintage.
Anderson said the siren started sounding “poorly”
about two weeks ago, but when it was checked, it “seemed
in order.” Last Thursday, it sounded like a weak fog horn
trying to warm up, and by Friday noon, it wasn’t working
at all.
So far, the fire company has been called out on only one
fire in the borough since the siren broke down, that one
Monday afternoon when some youngsters allegedly
started a fire in a warehouse on North Locust Street.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Rick Pohner, president of "The
Beginning", an entertainment center
located in the Lititz Rec Center on
Friday nights, presented a $100
check to Jerry Kiralfy, Rec Center
director, recently as their con­tribution
to the Rec Center’s
X ilt it z R e c o r d E x p r e s s P h o to
programs. Pohner described "The
Beginning" as an entertainment
center for all ages; they present
various and varied programs
throughout the year, many of which
include dances for teens, as well as
movies and shows for all ages.
In Fire Three young boys are
being questioned by police in
connection with a fire
Monday afternoon in a
warehouse at 163 N. Locust
St., owned by Sylvan Brandt.
According to Police Chief
George Hicks, the boys went
into the second story loft of
the building to smoke, and
then decided to build a fire.
The fire got out of control,
and neighbors saw it and
called thq fire department.
Chief Hicks said the three
boys allegedly involved were
two 10-year olds and one
nine-year old. Their names
were not released.
Trooper Tom Nolan,
assistant state police fire
marshall, is assisting Chief
Hicks with the investigation.
The amount of damage has
not yet been set, and there
has not yet been any
disposition of the case, Chief
Hicks said.
The fire occurred about 4
p.m. Monday, and firemen
had burning lumber pulled
out of the loft and under
control within a short time.
One fireman stated that
“there were kids all around”
at the time, and that all of
them had been kept at the
scene for questioning.
The building is the same
one which has aroused the
concern of the local Zoning
Hearing Board recently.
Brandt, the owner, had
previously been ordered by
the Board to remove the
wood beams which he was
storing outside the building.
Eliz. Twp.
Considering
Flood Program
Eliz ab e th Township
supervisors took a look at
adopting a flood insurance
program for the township at
their regular meeting
Monday night.
If the township is qualified
by the state for this, it will
mean persons living in
floodplains will be able to get
a reduced rate on insurance.
In further business, the
supervisors accepted land
modules for 33 lots of Oak
Ridge Village Section No. 2,
six lots of the Speedwell
Forge Estate subdivision;
and three lots along Brun-nerville
Road, owned by
Clair E. Martin.
Supervisors also reviewed
a lot subdivision for Paul B,
Martin along Zartman Mill
Road.
The township has pur­chased
a traffic counter, at a
cost of $195, to aid in road
repairs.
Nine building permits
reported for the month
totaled $22,750, including
repairs, remodeling, and
additions. Two driveway
permits were issued.
Back of farmhouse on
Owl Hill Road (top
photo) shows section
which Messick Realtors
want to remodel into a
sixth apartment unit.
Lower picture shows
front of farmhouse,
already being used as
apartments. The building
is in a section of
Libramont development.
I i i t i t z R e co rd E x p r e s s P h o to s
6th Apartment in Libramont
Farmhouse Causing Problems The old farmhouse on Owl
Hill Road that marks the
southern entrance to
Libramont - much to the
distaste of some of the
residents of the strictly
residential neighborhood - is
causing Lititz’ Planning
Commission and Boro
Council some headaches that
even their solicitor hasn’t
been able to remedy so far.
The farmhouse, a large
brick structure, was con­verted
into five apartments a
number of years ago, before
zoning was established in
that area. Four of the
apartments are now oc­cupied,
the fifth one is
vacant.
Mylin Messick, the
developer of Libramont and
owner of the farmhouse,
wants to remodel the back of
the house into a sixth
apartment. However, he
does not want to take up as
much of the valuable far­mland
left in the Libramont
development that the local
zoning ordinance requires in
a residential area. Messick’s
plans allowed 26,000 square
feet of land for the “yard” of
the apartment - this figure,
was increased to 35,000
square feet this week - but
according to the zoning
ordinance, he needs 12,500
square feet for every
dwelling unit, or six times
12,500 square feet, or 75,000.
Meanwhile, Messick needs
approval for the entire
subdivision plan of the
section of Libramont that
includes the farmhouse, so
that he can continue building
houses.
And it is there that the big
issue has been hung up for
the past two months, as the
Planning Commission, Boro
Council, and their solicitor
debate whether or not the lot
requirements can be com­promised,
and whether
Messick should even be
allowed to add a sixth
apartment in the house.
Part of the question gets
into the legal définition of
what Messick actually needs
in the way of a variance or
special exception. The
apartments are now non-conforming
uses in a
residential district. Since the
apartments were there
before zoning was put in, the
town can’t interfere.
But once Messick adds
another apartment, ac­cording
to the solicitor’s
interpretation, the building
then becomes a non-conforming
structure in the
residential area, and
Messick must come up with
the proper lot sizes for each
dwelling, or apartment unit.
And this is just what
In This Issue
Business Directory 14
Church News 12
Classified Ads 18,19
Editorial Page 4
Sports Section 6,7
Women’s 10,11
What Makes You Happy?
Yes, people have a lot of things they’re happy
about. We’re finding this out as letters start
tumbling into our office from readers responding to
our request last week to let us know three things
that make them happy. Keep the letters coming
and before long we’ll be ready to write you a real
happy story. Just jot down three things that make
you happy, and send your letter to the Editor, Lititz
Record-Express, 22 E. Main St., Lititz, PA 17543.
Messick says he can’t afford
to do. He says that it would
not pay him to put 75,000
square feet of remaining
farmland in Libramont into
a yard for the apartments.
The issue has gone back
and forth between the
Planning Commission and
Boro Council, with the
planners recommending that
the plan be rejected, and
Boro Council calling for a
special session with the
commission and with
Messick to try to work out a
compromise. This is the
meeting that was held
Tuesday night, but the only
results were that both
governing bodies decided
they should have yet another
joint session, with their
solicitor present at this one
to tell them just how far they
can stretch the zoning or­dinance.
The land on which the
farmhouse is located was
formerly a part of Warwick!
Township but was annexed
to the borough in January
1972. The apartments existed
at that time. :
Some local persons
“recall” a verbal agreement
between Messick and the-borough
that the farmhouse
was to be taken down
eventually, and early sketch
[Continued on Page 18]
Awards Assembly Held at Warwick
The annual Awards
Assembly was held last
Friday morning for Junior
and Senior students in the
high school auditorium. Carl
B. Kauffman, assistant high
school principal, was in
charge of the program.
The Lititz Woman’s Club
Sewing awards were
presented by Mrs. Charles
Edson, club president, to
Deb Knauer, first; Beth
Fissel, second, Miriam Nolt,
third and Jane Gregory, first
in the tailoring division.
Mrs. Edson also presented
the Woman’s Club Speech
Contest award to Doria
Smith. Richard Busch
received the club’s
Photography award.
Jack Hartz, branch
manager and cashier,
Commonwealth National
Bank presented the Future
Business Leaders (FBLA)
Award to Sharon Godfrey.
Miss Judith Drager,
business education in­structor,
presented the
Outstanding Typist award to
Nancy Furlow.
Barry Becker received the
Outstanding Vo-Ag student
award, sponsored by the
Society of Farm Women 1,
from Clifford Grube, Vo-Ag
instructor.
Mrs. Lugenia Rozman,
Home Economics instructor
presented the Outstanding
Home Economics student
award, sponsored by the
Society of Farm Women 1, to
Deb Knauer.
Marina Van Ressen
received the Betty Crocker
Homemaker award.
Lu Kubicki presented the
American Legion Speech
Contest awards to Ginny
Seaman, first; Chris Shenk,
second and Scott Ruth, third.
Mrs. Wanda Shirk
presented Teepee Topics
awards to April Hall, editor-in-
chief; Paula Schoen-berger,
features editor; Gail
Baldwin, front page; Kathy
Pearsall, business editor and
Mike Hoffman, sports editor.
Mark Mentzer received
[Continued on Page 8]