SUSQ
Vol. 77 No. S February 2, 1977
Deane Portner enjoys a dish of Susquehanna River ice cream.
UEHANNA |
Susquehanna Times & The Mount Joy Bulletin
MARIETTA & MOUNT JOY, PA.
Ralph
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FIFTEEN CENTS
Good time
to make ice cream
As we all know, there’s a
good side to everything.
Right?
Anyway, the Susque-
hanna Times has dis-
covered a good side to the
recent cold weather! This is
the perfect time of the year
to make Susquehanna River
ice cream.
According to the Portner
brothers (Joe and Ed) of
Marietta, river ice makes
the best homemade ice
cream.
The ice, mixed with salt,
is used as a freezing agent.
Since it never touches the
ice cream, a skeptic might
doubt that the river ice
could influence the flavor
of the finished product.
However, the Portners
are experienced ice cream
makers, and they maintain
that Susquehanna ice is the
best.
In warm winters, the
Portners have been forced
to use snow to freeze their
ice cream. “‘It just doesn’t
work as well,”” says Joe's
wife Loretta.
(continue on Page 3)
Bus service coming
to Marietta
Someday, the bus will
stop in Marietta.
Reed Rodman, executive
director of the Red Rose
Transit Authority, says bus
service to the Borough of
Marietta will begin within
the next 2-3 months.
The bus will travel up
route 441 from Columbia
and will turn left on Market
St. in Marietta.
The exact route through
town and the number of
stops have not been deter-
mined. The authority would
appreciate suggestions
from citizens “about - route
and number of stops.
600 still laid off here
At least 600 workers
have been laid off at local
plants as a result of the
natural gas shortage. The
lay-offs occured at the
Armstrong plant in Mariet-
ta and the National
Standard Co. plant in
Mount Joy.
Spokesmen for UGI, the
company which supplies
gas to the affected indus-
tries, say there is little
chance that the situation
will improve for at least a
week.
Fuel oil and electricity
are still available locally,
and businesses which use
those fuels have not closed.
Governor Shapp’s re-
quest for a shutdown of all
‘non-essential’ businesses
last weekend went almost
unheeded locally. Business-
men took the governor's
request seriously, but felt
that lowering their therm-
ostats was more useful
than closing for the week-
>nd.
The average store temp-
erature in this area is now
62 degrees, a Susquehanna
Times survey revealed.
Many local businesses
also closed early during the
chilly weekend.
Crazy priestess, crazy prices
The confusing story of natural gas
Natural gas has been
causing confusion since
pre-Christian times.
In ancient Greece, people
tried to solve their prob-
lems by taking them to a
priestess, who was called
an oracle; sat in a temple
in the town of Delphi. The
temple was built over a
spot where natural gas
seeped up from cracks in
the ground.
When the oracle had
breathed the poisonous
fumes for a few minutes,
she began hallucinating
and babbling incoherently.
People assumed that the
oracle’s crazy answers to
their questions were the
words of the god Apollo.
Manufactured natural
gas was invented in the
early 1600's by a Dutch
alchemist named van
Helmont, who was trying to
create gold in his labora- *
tory. He didn’t get rich,
but he got high. The
psychedelic effects of
breathing natural gas im-
- pressed Von Helmont so
much that he named the
stuff ‘‘wild spirit.”’ The
Dutch word for spirit is
geest. We've been calling
van Helmont’s discovery
‘‘gas’’ ever since.
Since those bad old days,
scientists have learned that
natural gas can kill you if
you breathe it, but will
keep you warm if your burn
it. Gas is also used to
manufacture synthetic mat-
erials and chemical rea-
gents.
The American natural
gas industry may be a
model of modern efficiency,
but the regulations govern-
ing the industry are as
confusing as the oracle’s
ravings.
placed in
The federal government
sets price ceilings on all
gas that crosses a state
line. A man who owns a
gas well in Texas can sell
his gas to Pennsylvanians,
but he can’t charge much
for it.
The exact price a Texas
gas producer can charge is
determined by the year in
which he dug his well. For
a well that started produc-
ing last year, the price
ceiling is $1.42 per 1000
cubic feet of gas. A well
dug in 1975 brings only 52
cents per 1000 cubic feet.
On 20 year-old wells, prices
may be fixed as low as 32
cents.
Since a gas producer can
get $2.00 in his home state,
he is not likely to pipe his
gas to Pennsylvania if he
can help it.
The UGI company, which
supplies Lancaster County,
gets all its gas from
Columbia Gas Transmission
of Charleston, West Virgin-
ia. Much of our gas comes
from Texas and Louisiana.
If the federal government
‘‘deregulates’’ natural gas
(stops fixing prices), it is
possible that more gas will
start flowing into Lancaster
County immediately. Of
course, the gas will also
become more expensive.
UGI spokesmen don’t
know how much extra gas
they could expect to receive
if the government lifts its
rrice freeze. Although Tex-
ans have plenty of gas, and
Pennsylvanians have very
little, there seems to be a
general shortage in the
U.S. as a whole. No one
knows if there is enough
gas for the whole country.
The government is con-
sidering several plans to
force gas-rich states to
send their gas north even if
they lose money in the
process. A UGI spokesman
calls this ‘‘just shifting
from the haves to the
havenots.”’
Total de-regulation is the
only long-term solution to
the gas shortage, the UGI
spokesman continued, be-
cause it would ‘“‘induce
producers to get more
holes in the ground - to go
out and seek new sources
of gas.”
The government may not
agree. Gov. Shapp has
speculated that the gas
shortage may be the result
of a conspiracy among
producers to get rid of the
profit-cutting government
rules.
Everyone seems to agree
that government regula-
tions caused the current
mess. The disagreement is
over who should take the
blame - a resentful industry
or a profit-slashing beauro-
cracy.
In the days ahead, legis-
lators in Washington will
try to amend the regula-
tions, one way or another.
If they make the right
moves, workers at Arm-
stong at National Standard
will get back to work
before Spring.
Mount Joy baby sweetheart
contest gets underway
Voting is now underway
to elect the 1977 Baby King
and Queen of Mount Joy.
The Royal balloting began
Friday, January 28 and will
conclude Friday, February
11 at 7 p.m. Pictures of the
contestants have been
one of the
following Mount Joy busi-
nesses: Union National
Bank, National
Bank, Stehmans IGA, and
Hostetter Hardware.
Central
The public is invited to
cast their ballots to elect
their favorite candidates by
penny-a-vote. The boy and
girl with the most vote will
be crowned Sweetheart
King and Queen at cere-
monies to be held Satur-
day, February 12 at 10:30
a.m. in the St. Mark's
Methodist Church Fellow-
ship Hall.
The votes will be counted
by a bank teller Friday
evening. February 11.
Winners will be announced
at the crowning ceremon-
ies. Registration for can-
didates is 10:15 a.m. Feb-
ruary 12, in the Fellowship
Hall.
Proceeds from the con-
test will be prgsented to
the Donegal Dental Clinic
the day of the crowning,
compliments of the Mount
Joy Joycee-cttes, sponsors
of the Swectheart Contest