Dairy Of Distinction Winners Rebuild After Two Arsonist-Set Fires
BY LOU ANN GOOD
ELIZABETHTOWN (Lancaster
Co.) Fire!
The word shoots a flame of fear
through fanners. It’s one of the
worst catastrophies a farmer can
face.
The Glen Longenecker family
of Elizabethtown has faced it
twice.
In 1962. five minutes after the
family had crawled into bed, an
explosion rocked their house and
sent them racing to the windows
where they saw hungry flames leap
from their bam.
On July 24, 1988, the family
was at church when the message
came that their bam was on fire.
By the time they made the five
minute return to home, the black
ened bam timbers had already
fallen.
Both fires were considered sus
picious. Last year’s fire was ruled
arson.
The fear of fire can’t compare
with the hot surge of anger that
flashes through a farmer when he
hears the word arson.
“It’s all so senseless,” Glen
Longenecker remarked. “If fire
results from lightening or other
natural ways, it’s bad; but when it
starts from arson...” his voice trail
ed off, then he cleared his throat,
shrugged and said, “You learn to
accept it and live through it to get
rid of bitterness.”
His wife Sharon agreed. “You
can’t let those negative feelings
control you. Still...it would be nice
if the arsonist would be caught to
spare others from going through
the same thing.”
Before the Longeneckers had
left for church on that fateful Sun
day morning, they had scanned
their buildings and even drove
around the back of the bam since
the milk truck was blocking the
unlike caring for her 35 cats. When fire destroyed their bam,
cat litters, they didn't know existed, came running out. Even
If cats aren’t profitable, Dolly forms a special attachment to
them, that she Isn’t about to relinquish.
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driveway. They hadn’t noticed
anything suspicious, but when the
driver closed his truck door several
minutes later, he smelled smoke
and then noticed pitch Mack smoke
tolling out of the hay mound.
Quickly the driver called the fire
company and then let the cows and
steers outside.
The arid black smoke soon
turned white, which is a signal that
the fire was petroleum set since
hay bums white. Neighbors also
reported seeing a suspicious pick
up parked in the area.
“The milkman was our hero of
the hour,” Sharon said.
Glen said, “It’s a good thing, I
wasn’t here, because I would have
had a hard time letting out the
steers.”
Although the steer building did
not bum, the steers would have
suffered smoke inhalation if they
hadn’t been moved.
The fire raged out of control
before any of die equipment could
be removed.
“That’s another reason why it’s
good I wasn’t here,” Glen said.
“Otherwise I would have tried to
remove the equipment and that
would have been too dangerous.”
Three weeks before the last fire,
the Longeneckers had their 1,000
foot long driveway paved. The
heavy fire equipment made a mess
of the blacktop and deep gullies
formed in it
It’s the side affects of the fire
that often are the hardest with
which to cope.
Glen said, ‘Tire really sets you
back. Insurance doesn’t even cov
er half of the expenses caused by a
fire."
Although the steers were
brought back and temporary water
lines and electrical hookups were
done, the Longeneckers decided to
sell their cows and buy new ones
iw that the bam has been rebuilt, the Longenecker family can smile. They are
standing In from of the brick milkhouse and bam that they built by themselves. Left to
right: Dolly, Jamie, Glen and Sharon.
after the bam was rebuilt
“It’s more mess than it’s worth
trying to rebuild and milk at the
same time,” Glen said.
The bam that was destroyed by
fire was the Longenccker’s joy.
In 1962, the family had tom the
bam down from its original Mil
lersville farm. The massive
SOxIOO-fool structure was unique.
“You couldn’t find one like it in a
million,” Glen bragged. Every
time he walked inside, he remem
bers feeling awed by the 50-foot
rafters that were all in one piece.
“The bam we have now looks
like a heap of junk compared to the
old one.” Glen said.
After the second fire, the
Longeneckers learned that arson
ists are attracted to huge bams—
the bigger the better. Consequently
they settled for an unpretentious
47x82-foot bam.
The Longeneckers rebuilt the
barn themselves. Two crews
helped them lay the block for the
foundation and the brick
milkhouse.
Sharon said, “We called the two
crews the day and the night crews,
but we (our family) worked on
both of them.”
The family thought brick laying
was fun.
Their 16-year-old daughter Dol
ly said of the experience, “Brick
laying is not as hard on the back as
laying block.”
Glen admits that he can do
almost anything. He credits his
grandpa, who was a carpenter, for
passing on handyman skills. Glen
said that when he finds out how
much he would need to pay some
one else to do it, he figures he’ll do
it himself.
Earlier the family had built the
hog bams and put in a liquid man
ure system.
On January 30, 1989, six
months after the fire, the
Longeneckers finished (he bam
building and began milking with
their new herd. They kept only one
of the original herd.
Asked if the cow was a top pro
ducer, the family roars with
laughter and answers, “No. it’s just
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When H came to deciding whether or not to keep the origi
nal herd, only this one, named ill, was deemed worthy
enough to keep. Emotional attachment won over productiv
ity, for Jamie, who dally feeds ill candy bars, laughs when
asked If 111 is a good producer. Jamie said, “ill Is special
because she’s so tame you can sit on her and she licks you
all over enough to give you a bath.”
spoiled.” The family pampers the
cow and hand feeds her candy
bars.
Despite the setbacks caused by
fire, the Longeneckers and (heir
two children, Jamie, 19; and Dolly,
16; have rebuilt their dairy and,
this year, earned a dairy of distinc
tion award for their farm of 117
acres and they rent an additional
180 acres on which they grow
com. alfalfa, grain, soybeans and
barley.
Their interests are diversified
with 70 cows, 1,500 swine, and 90
steers. Dolly reminds her father
that she also raises 20 turkeys, 12
chickens, S roosters, and 35 cats.
Not only do the Longeneckers
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take care of building and repairs,
they also do most of their vet work.
Sharon also does AI work.'
She said, “Glen wanted me to go
to school to learn how to check
pregnancies, but I refused.”
She winked and said, “The more
I leant, the more work I have to
do.”
Jamie loves the farm and enjoys
wood working in between times.
He builds roll top desks, picnic
tables and clocks. Recently Jamie
married and commutes from his
apartment five miles away. The
farm is a two-family operation.
When fire destroyed their bams.
(Turn to Pago B 4)