Lancaster farming. (Lancaster, Pa., etc.) 1955-current, January 28, 1995, Image 1
016192 1299 S m rTI PERIODICALS DIVISION ' g ff r " PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY hIIWL jIILLU x W 209 PATTEE LIBRARY Hlt n\\ UNIVERSITY PARK PA 16802-1802 ilf f* \\ ‘ H ” ~^ L - I b B^r*B m JjcwjJSAOkr jfefcSJy VOl. 40 NO. 12 Lancaster County Tax Reassessment Is Reason To Assess Goals VERNON ACHENBACH JR. Lancaster Fanning Staff LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.) Lancaster County land owners, primarily farmers, must make some hard decisions about what they intend to do with their New Directors Named At Bradford Holstein Meeting. Janl Burke Marketing Short Course, Value-Added Products At Vegetable Conference ANDY ANDREWS Lancaster Fanning Staff HERSHEY (Dauphin Co.) More than 1,600 Pennsylvana veg etable and fruit growers are expected to convene here at the Hcrshey Lodge and Convention Center for the annual Pennsylvania Vegetable Conference and Trade Show, scheduled Jan. 31-Feb. 2. The conference is held concur rently with the 136th annual meet Sire Power Reports Good Year, Awards Scholarships Scholarship recipients are from left, back row, Gary Hennip, Northeast sales direc tor, Suzane Cadwallader, Howard Reyburn, Joshua Harvatlne, Marc Toothman, Dean Kohler, and Ted Ridgely, Maryland sales representative. Front row, Amy Packard, Carrie Bryant, Jennifer Trout, Cara Tussey, and Shannon Harrison. 60* Per Copy land because of a county-wide tax reassessment that could signific antly raise real estate values and taxes. Even those who have sold their development rights as part of an effort to preserve agricultural land CAROLYN N. MOYER Bradford Co. Correspondent Wysox (Bradford Co.) Elec tion of directors and plans for future activities were on the agen da at the Bradford County Holstein Club’s annual meeting. Held at Bonanza Restaurant here, more than 70 people attended the noon meeting. On lop of the list of activities was the election of three new directors. A 1 Calkins of Troy, Tom Wright of Canton, and Jeff Jenkins of Columbia Cross Roads were selected to fill the posts vacated by retiring directors Keith Thomson of Towanda, Bill Hennip, of Rome and Dave Walrath, of Milan. The three new directors join President Dean Jackson of Colum (Turn to Pag* A2O) ing of the State Horticultural Asso ciation of Pennsylvania. Also, the state horticultural societies of Maryland and New Jersey also meet in conjunction with the fruit growers from Pennsylvania at the three-day event During the conference, a wide variety of grower topics, panels, and meetings provide an array of information to vegetable and fruit growers in the region. Lancaster Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 28, 1995 aren’t safe from having taxes rise significantly, according to experts. On Tuesday night, a meeting was held at the Lancaster Farm and Home Center, sponsored jointly by the Lancaster County Tax Assess ment office and the county Farm Bureau to explain the reassessment process, what it means, and aspects of the state’s Act 319, also called the “Clean and Green Act.” It was one of four meetings ■scheduled to be held at various locations around the county. Two meetings remain: Jan. 30 in Hoff man Building of the Solanco Fair VERNON ACHENBACH JR. Lancaster Farming Staff HERSHEY (Dauphin Co.) Donald Lanius of York was honored as the fairperson of the year, and Jennifer Marie Ran dall of Somerset was named the 1995 Pennsylvania fair queen, by the Pennsylvania State Associa tion of County Fairs during its 83rd annual convention held late last week at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center in Hershey. (Turn to Pag* A 22) Farming provides a complete schedule in this issue. More than 20 pesticide applicator training credits are available to growers attending the sessions. . This year, according to Bill Troxell, executive secretary of the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association, Northumberland, special sessions on Wednesday morning will highlight valuc (Turn to Pago A 23) Fair Association Selects Queen, Fairperson Of Year grounds in Quarryville; and on Feb. 3 at the Blue Ball Fire Company. The county-wide, real estate value reassessment for tax pur poses was performed at the order of the state supreme court because county leaders failed to call for a county-wide reassessment since 1962. Efforts to correct the situation began in the city of Lancaster in 1980 with efforts by the Leaque of Women Voters, the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and the city of Lancaster school districts. Donald Lanius holds his plaque presented to him as he is named fairperson of the year by the Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs, while PSACF legislative con sultant Fred McKlllop offers congratulations. EVERETT NEWSWANGER Managing Editor HERSHEY (Dauphin Co.) The largest crowd to ever attend the annual Sire Power, Inc., meeting in the Hotel Hershey heard reports of success for 1994. While the profits were not as large as 1993’s record-breaking, net returns were acceptable in light of the new approach to sales across the country. Starting last year, the organiza tion went from using independent contractors to a system of employ ing their own people to provide ser vices to a large portion of the states and locations where dairy farming takes place. More than $1 million was spent on equipment and per sonnel to expand the operation. Currently they have employed sales people in all U.S. markets. President Gary Rickard reported improved sales as these sales peo ple become established. In addi- Four Sections After several years of discussion, it eventually became an issue for the courts. Even though reassessing prop erties on a reasonably cyclical basis would be prudent, just, and fulfill the intent of the law, it is an anathema for career politicians it has been observed by some poli ticians that very few get re-elected following a county-wide reassessment While that has been blamed by some for the inequities in taxing rates that resulted in a court (Turn to Pag* A 27) don, the young sire program has expanded to include 130 bulls per year. A new 100 stall young sire bam has been completed and cur rently is in use as the beginning step of their increased product development program. During the past year, new bylaws were written for the cooperative to outline the purpose and operational structure of the organization. These new bylaws establish three director regions, each with approximately the same number of members. A delegate system replaces state boards, and these delegates will elect three directors from each region to serve on the Sire Power board. A patronage dividend was not declared due to the modest net income of $308,461. DuWayne Kutz, general mana ger, described 1993-1994 as a year $21.00 Per Year (Turn to Pago All)