Lititz Record Express

              T H E R E S S
SERVING THE WARWICK AREA FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY
101st Year ESTABLISHED APRIL, 1877, AS THE SUNBEAM
¡CONSOLIDATED WITH THE LITITZ RECORD, 1937 Lititz, Lancaster County, PA. 17543, Thursday, July 7,1977 15 CENTS A COPY; $5.00 PER YEAR BY MAIL
WITHIN LANCASTER COUNTY 18 Pages - No. 15
School Budget OK’d,
Warwick Will ^ive
10 Mill Tax Increase
The Queen and her Court for the “Queen of the Candles”
Pageant on July 2 in the park include, from left to right, Ardy
Holder, Dawn Steffy, Vickie Zercher, Brenda Gingrich, Beth
Risser, Gail Washchysion, and Lynn Eckman, who was selected
as Queen of the Candles for 1977. Next to Lynn is Elizabeth
Hanna, the Queen for 1976, who crowned Lynn this year. In front
of Elizabeth are Janelle Miller, flower girl, and Matt Stark, crown
bearer. Behind the children is the rest of the court which in­cludes
(left to right) Sharon Smith, Kim Adams, Joy Kreider,
Janice Cooper, and Patti Snavely. Festive Fourth of July Is Celebrated
By Laurie Knowles
The highlight of the Fourth
of July activities in Lititz
Springs Park on Saturday,
July 2, was the crowning of
the 1977 Queen of the Can­dles,
Lynn Eckman.
Lynn is the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. James Eck­man,
Newmanstown, and a
recent graduate of Warwick
High School. While in high
school she was a member of
the National Honor Society.
Lynn’s favorite activities
include anything that has to
do with art. She is also an
avid seamstress and she
enjoys horseback riding.
Collecting antiques and
plants are included in her list
of hobbies.
Lynn is employed as a
waitress at the Brickerville
House, as she saves her
money to begin college in the
fall. She will attend Franklin
and Marshall College as a
pre-medical major, and her
planned future includes a
career as a veterinarian.
A lth o u g h w in n in g
pageants isn’t anything new
to Lynn, since she has been
both Halloween Queen and
Homecoming Queen during
the past year, she admitted
that winning the title of
Queen of the Candles was
one more honor that took her
completely by surprise.
Lynn was crowned by last
year’s Queen of the Candles,
Elizabeth Hanna, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Gary Hanna,
303 E. Third Ave., and her
young attendents were
Janelle N. Miller, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Dale Miller,
17 Star Lite Dr., as flower
girl; and Matt Stark, son of
Mr. and Mrs. L. Douglas
Stark, 417 Eshleman Dr., as
crown bearer.
The Queen of the Candles
Court included 11 other
recent Warwick High School
graduates, and they were
Kim Adams, Janice Cooper,
Brenda Gingrich, Ardy
Holder, Joy Kreider, Beth
Risser, Sharon Smith,
Patricia Snavely, Dawn
Steffy, Gail Washchysion,
and Vickie Zercher.
The announcement of
Lynn Eckman as winner of
the Queen of the Candles title
was followed by the lighting
of the thousands of candles
for the Fairyland of Candles.
The entire park was soon
aglow as the candles along
the stream were lit. The
Fairyland of Candles is a
long-time Lititz tradition
that began in the 1840’s, and
is now one of the only such
traditions in the United
States.
In 1843 only about 500
candles were lit in honor of
the Fourth of July, as
Police
Number
The new telephone
number for reaching the
Lititz Police is 626-0231.
compared to the thousands
used today.
Fourth of July just
wouldn’t be the Fourth of
July without fireworks, and
a display followed the candle
lighting ceremony. The
colorful bursts of light and
the thundering sounds were
received with excited
“ooh’s” and “ah’s” from the
crowd, and all too soon the
last grand firework was
displayed composed of many
bright and colorful fireworks
exploding in quick suc­cession.
The weather was quite
cooperative of the occasion,
providing sunny skies and
w a rm t e m p e r a t u r e s
throughout the entire day,
and the evening was
refreshingly cool as
thousands watched the
Fairyland of Candles and the
fireworks.
The first event of the day
was a concert by the Ar­chers,
a gospel rock group
from California. They en­couraged
their audience to
sing along and clap, as they
sang many original songs
and a few old favorites.
The next event of the day
was the traditional per­formance
of the Rohrer-stown
Band. The band
provided the audience with
many popular melodies, as
well as a few more unusual
pieces, such as variations of
“ Twinkle Twinkle Little
Star” .
A highlight of the 1976
Bicentennial Celebration
was the first performance of
the Bicentennial Choir and
this year the group which is
an offshoot of that choir, now
called the Heritage Choir,
presented beautiful religious
arrangements and patriotic
songs to a large crowd,
which began to gather
around 7 p.m. The Heritage
Choir was directed by Mrs.
Julia Keehn and Mrs.
Virginia Burkey.
For hungry park visitors
there was plenty of food,
including hot dogs, bar-beques,
ice cream, and cold
drinks. The food was sold by
members of the Lititz Youth
Ministry, which is the youth
organization under the adult
leadership of the Warwick
Association of Churches. The
youth decorated the stands
with religious signs, all in
keeping with a strong
religious note in the music
presented by both the Ar­chers
and the Heritage
Choir.
Other organizations also
provided food for visitors
and one particular favorite
among those attending the
festivities was the funnel
cake sold by the Jaycees.
No Fourth of July
festivities can take place
without great planning and
the many persons behind the
scenes in the planning of the
Fourth of July Celebration
kept things running
smoothly.
The general committee
included Arthur Myers,
Douglas Minnich, and Mark
[Continued on Page 5]
■ lliiill
The new Queen of the Candles,
Lynn Eckman, and her young at­tendents,
Janelle Miller and Matt
Stark, as they posed following
announcement of the queen.
the
Real estate taxes in
Warwick School District
were increased 10 mills,
from 91 to 101 mills,
following Warwick School
Board’s final approval of a
new budget for 1977-78 last
Thursday night.
The $5,719,467 budget was
approved by a six to two
vote, with School Board
President Bill Owens, and
Directors Ruth Husser, Dick
Mearig, Wilson Smith, David
Buckwalter, and Bill
Dussinger voting in favor of
it. Opposing adoption of the
budget were Directors
Wallace Hofferth and Roy
Yeager. Director Raymond
Groff was not present.
The Board set the per
capita tax in the district, for
all persons 18 years of age
and older, at $5.
Earned income tax was set
at one percent, with a two
percent discount on taxes
paid on or before Sept. 30,
and a 10 percent penalty on
taxes paid after Dec. 1.
The new budget includes
the following changes:
Administration -raised
from $167,100 to $176,911.
Instruction—raised from
$2,667,131 to $2,735,693.
Pupil personnel services—
raised from $120,600 to
$125,654.
Health services—raised
from $47,800 to $52,492.
Transportation—raised
from $187,600 to $207,950.
Plant operation—raised
from $606,700 to $728,954.
Fixed charges—raised
from $366,800 to $441,700.
Food services—raised
from $5,100 to $6,300.
Student activities—raised
from $53,000 to $77,500.
Community services—
dropped from $20,400 to
$16,723.
Capital outlay—dropped
from $13,241 to $6,380.
Debt service—raised from
$854,739 to $892,510.
Intersystem payments—
raised from $234,590 to
$245,700.
Budgetary reserve—rais­ed
from nothing to $5,000.
The school district will be
starting the new fiscal year
with $13,970 in cash
available.
Income expected for 1977-
78 includes:
Revenues from local
sources—decreased from
$2,945,300 to $2,918,050.
Revenues from state
so u rc e s—ra ise d from
$2,225,764 to $2,231,921.
Revenues from federal
sources—raised from $48,260
to $51,700.
Refund from prior years—
decreased from $17,167 to
$1,000.
Rothsville School
Under the new budget, all
items for the Rothsville
School, which has been
closed for next year, have
been transferred, with the
budget reflecting only the
utility costs to maintain the
building. The $50,000 savings
projected from closing the
Rothsville school have now
been put in the budget for
any capital repairs to
buildings in the district,
Owens said.
Administrators’ Salaries
In further business, the
School Board approved the
following administrators’
salaries: Thomas L. Logan,
assistant principal at the
Middle School, $18,150, an
increase of $900; Carl B.
Kaufman, assistant High
School principal, $21,697, an
increase of $1,245; John D.
Edgerton, Lititz Elementary
principal; $22,878, an in­crease
of $1,476; George
R em e tz , Jo h n Beck
E lem en ta ry p rin c ip a l,
$23,028, an increase of
$1,476; Jerry C. Shupp,
principal at Kissel Hill and
Rothsville Schools, $22,428,
an increase of $1,326; Robert
A. Heron, Middle School
principal, $22,623, an in­crease
of $908; Harold W.
Swisher, High School
principal, $25,508, an in­crease
of $1,403; and Barry
O. Smith, administrative
assistant to the superin­tendent,
$18,588, an increase
of $1,176.
The salary increases were
approved by a 5-3 vote.
Approving them were
Directors David Buckwalter,
Wallace Hofferth, Dick
Mearig, Wilson Smith, and
Roy Yeager. Opposing them
were Board President Bill
Owens, and Directors Ruth
Husser and Bill Dussinger.
The Board also approved
an eight per cent increase for
12 month non-instructional
employees, including clerks,
secretaries, and custodians.
The Board also approved
four weeks vacation pay for
outgoing superintendent H.
Dale Winger, whose last
official day with the district
was June 30.
Teachers Dropped
The Board terminated the
temporary professional
employee contracts of three
non-tenured te a c h e rs,
noting that all three are
c o n s id e re d e x c e lle n t
teachers, and the Board does
not like to see them go, but
funds are not available in the
budget to carry them.
Released were Deborah
Aichelle, from Kissel Hill
E lem en ta ry ; Michael
Grumpert, from Lititz
Elementary; and Robert C.
Lauseh, physics teacher at
the high school.
The cuts were the result of
reassignments after one
team of teaching positions
was dropped from the
Middle School. Director
Ruth Husser cast the only
vote opposing the cuts.
Teachers from the science
department were present at
the meeting to urge the
Board to reconsider its
decision on dropping the
physics teacher, noting that
Lauseh was the 11th physics
teacher hired by the district,
and that he was valuable to
the program. They asked the
Board to consider
reassigning some other
teachers to keep Lausch’s
position open for him.
However, Superintendent
H. Dale Winger said that the
district is already
“overloaded” with secon­dary
teachers assigned to
the lower grades, at a time
when the district’s need is
for elementary teachers. He
said the lower grades should
not have to absorb the
problems of the secondary
schools, and that the district
now has three persons
certified to teach high school
physics.
Board President, Bill
[Continued on Page 15|
Drag Charges on Six Suspects Returned to Usât
Charges against six
suspects arrested in the
April 19 drug raid on alleged
sellers in the Lititz area were
returned to Lancaster
County Court for trial, and
charges against a seventh
suspect were dismissed,
following a series of
preliminary hearings last
Thursday before District
Justice Sharron Simpkins.
All had been charged with
selling controlled substances
to an undercover agent who
is a Lancaster County
sheriff’s deputy, working
with the Pennsylvania
Bureau of Drug Control. All
the alleged transactions
reportedly were witnessed
by a confidential informant
whose name has not been
released by the court.
Cases returned to court
were those of Sebastian Soto,
Jr., 20,651E. Main St., Greg
Harding, 19, 521 Hackman
Rd., Brunnerville, Dennis
Rosenberg, 21, 112 W. Third
Ave., James Miller, 21, 50 S.
Broad St., Charles Gray, 21,
840 Clearview Ave.,
Ephrata, and William Getz,
22, 104 N. Broad St.
Charges against Douglas
Getz, 22, 125 S. Cedar St.,
were dismissed upon
restitution of $5 to the
Commonwealth and the
payment of court and con­stable
costs by the defen­dant.
Getz had been charged
with theft by deception and
criminal attempt on Feb. 14
on the sale of a substance
falsely represented to be
amphetamine.
Assistant District Attorney
Boy Bitten in Park Sun.
A 12-year-old Lititz boy
was bitten Sunday by an
unknown animal as he was
helping to clean candle wax
out of the water following the
Fourth of July festivities in
Lititz Springs park.
Lititz police reported that
the boy told them he had
reached into the water to
retreive some candle wax
when a small animal bit him
on the hand. The boy said he
tought it was a muskrat, but
Officer Leroy Emmerich
said his description sounded
more light he might have
been bitten by a rat.
Officer Emmerich said the
animal may have been
hiding in a drainage pipe and
became frightened at the
boy’s hand in the water. He
said there have been no other
reports of animal bites in­cidents
involving wild
animals attacking anyone.
But, he added, for the sake of
the boy it is imperative that
anyone who may have seen a
wild animal behaving oddly
over the past few days to
contact the Lititz police or
the state health department.
A decision has yet to be
made on whether or not the
boy will undergo the ex­tensive
and very painful
series of rabies prevention
shots. A physician has told
the boy’s parents that he
must start the shots by
Friday if they are to be ef­fective.
Their decision may
rest on reports of other wild
animal incidents in the area,
said Officer Emmerich,
which is why police are
appealing to the public for
any information they may
have.
Officer Emmerich said
park officials already have
made arrangements for
exterminators to rid the park
of small animals this week
as a precautionary measure.
But, he noted, “This is the
first time I’ve ever known
anyone to have been bitten
by a wild animal (in the
park),” and said he couldn’t
even remember when a
rabid animal was reported in
Lancaster County.
Louise Herr was prosecutor
for all the hearings. Attorney
John Pyfer was defense
attorney for Harding,
Rosenberg, Miller, Gray,
and both William and
Douglas Getz. Attorney
Michael Perezous was
defense attorney for Soto.
Sebastian Soto
Soto was charged with the
Feb. 9 sale of two ounces of
marijuana to an undercover
agent and conspiracy in that
action with a Lititz female
juvenile whose name was not
released by the court.
Upon questioning by Mrs.
Herr, the undercover agent
testified that on the evening
of Feb. 9 he went to Soto’s
apartment at 651E. Main St.
to talk to him about buying
some drugs. He said that
Soto handed him a plastic
bag that had been on a table,
that it contained an ounce of
suspected marijuana (later
confirmed to be marijuana
by the state crime lab) and
that Soto told him it would
cost him $40.
The agent said he then
asked Soto if he had more
and Soto told him that he did.
Soto conferred with a girl
that was present, according
to the agent, then went into
another room and returned
with a second plastic bag of
suspected marijuana.
The agent said he offered
Soto $75 for the two bags, and
that Soto and the girl agreed
on the price. Then, the agent
said, the girl asked him if he
knew anyone who wanted
any Mexican marijuana,
which was selling for $25 a
ounce.
The agent said he agreed
to take an ounce of Colum­bian
marijuana and an ounce
of the Mexican, that he gave
Soto $65 for a bag of each,
and left the apartment.
The bags were then turned
over to David Gibson, an
agent for the Pennsylvania
Drug Control Bureau, with
whom he was working.
Under cross examination
by Perezous, the undercover
agent said that an informant,
whom he knew as “Chuck,”
and who he said knew Soto,
had taken him to Soto’s
apartment. Perezous, and
later Attorney Pyfer, both
tried to bring out the name of
the confidential informant,
but Justice Simpkins ruled
that the agent did not have to
reveal the name.
Lititz Police Officer
Charles Shenenberger,
testifying for the Com­monwealth,
said he had filed
charges against Soto April 18
after getting information
from Gibson on the Feb. 9
transaction.
He said that the time lapse
between the alleged tran­saction
and the filing of
charges was due to a police
investigation of drug selling
going on at the time.
Perezous argued that no
testimony had been given
showing any agreement
between Soto and the girl to
constitute conspiracy, but
Justice Simpkins stated that
prima facie evidence showed
that there had been con­spiracy,
and she returned
both charges to court.
Perezous then requested
that Soto’s $20,000 bail be
reduced, but Justice Sim­pkins
turned down the
request, pointing out that
Soto was already out on bail
anyway.
William Getz
William Getz was charged
with the Feb. 21 sale of two
ounces of marijuana and the
Feb. 26 sale of two ounces of
marijuana and conspiracy in
[Continued on Page 15]
I n t h i s is s u e
Business Directory 14
Church News 12
Classified Adas 16,17
Editorial Page 4
Sports Section 6,7,8
Social 10,11