SUS
Vol. 77 No. 26 July 13, 1977
QUEHAN
R.De 2
Susquehanna Times & The Mount Joy Bulletin
MARIETTA & MOUNT JOY, PA.
MOUNT Jovy,
RALPH M SNYDER
BOX 3040
PA, 17552
FIFTEEN CENTS
Woodsman’s festival
—want to climb a greased pole?
The Elizabethtown--
Mount Joy Forest Fire
Crew will conduct its first
annual Carnival and
Woodsmen’s Festival on
Friday, September 9 (5:00
p.m. - ?) and Saturday,
September 10 (12:00 noon -
?) on the grounds of the
Crew station on Greentree
Road in Mount Joy Town-
ship. A building dedication
ceremony will also be
conducted on Saturday,
September 10, at 10:00
a.m. (Rain Dates - 16 & 17
sept.)
Everyone is invited to
attend. There will be dis-
plays, live entertainment,
games, contests (log chop-
ping, greased pole climb-
ing, etc.), Food and fun for
all. The Countrymen will-
entertain with country and
western music on Friday
evening and the Singing
Miller family will entertain
with family and gospel
music on Saturday evening.
You may also inspect the
forest fire station while
you're there.
For more information call
653-2130 or 367-5460.
Boro Authority
Authority members
heard the Consulting En-
gineer, Robert Stark, detail
the progress of the 1
million gallon standpipe
being constructed at Rapho
Industrial Park. According
to Stark, the standpipe will
be started within the next
few weeks. The foundation
is almost completed.
The Authority will make
a decision at a later date as
to the lettering proposed
for the standpipe. One
idea, proposed by a con-
tractor, would place the
words ‘‘Mount Joy’ on the
structure in 3 ft. high
letters.
In other business the
authority granted permis-
sion to the engineers to
prepare bid documents and
contracts to advertise the
repainting of the existing
meets in Mount Joy
standpipe at David and
Lumber Sts.
The Authority approved
requisitions for the follow-
ing:
From the Sewer Bond
redemption and Improve-
ment Fund for the payment
of interest on the short-
term loan in the amount of
$1,525.73; To be paid from
the Water Construction
Fund as follows: $31,057.65
for Estimate No. S of
Contract III construction
of water transmission
mains and related work;
$38,371.32 for Estimate No.
4 of Contract I, construc-
tion of well pumping sta-
tions and water softening
plant; and $31,030.81 for
Estimate No. 3 of Contract
IV, construction of 1.0
million gallon standpipe
and related work.
Junior misses
—3 local girls try for title
Three DHS Juniors are
entering the ‘Junior Miss’
contest at Hempfield High
School.
Contestants will be
judged on both talent and
appearance. Winners will
receive money.
The local contestants are:
Eileen Penyak, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. John
Penyak, Fairview Ave.,
Marietta, is a member of
the band, dramatics club,
Spanish club, varsity club,
National Honor Society,
soccer team, and is a
cheerleader.
Karen Lin Albright,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
M. Albright, RD1 Marietta,
is a member of the
National Honor Society,
Spanish club, Hispanic
Honor Society, and the
basketball, track, and
hockey teams.
Joi Shearer, already Miss
Mount Joy, is the daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Paul
Shearer, 220 Delta St.,
Mount Joy. She is a
majorette, is on the honor
roll, and a member of the
dramatics club and chorus.
All three girls plan to
perform on the piano.
Story of a refugee
Two years ago, Tri Duc Vu left his native country, and risked his life,
to find freedom. Now he is starting a new life here in Mount Joy
“I didn’t like commun-
ists; I wanted freedom,”
says Tri Duc Vu, a Viet-
namese refugee now living
in Mount Joy.
On April 30th, 1975, it
was raining in Saigon. Tri
had been a law student up
till then, but on that day
the Viet Cong entered the
city, and Tri decided to
leave. Along with ten other
people, he climbed into a
small fishing boat -about 15
feet long -and took off
down the Mekong River.
‘““We had to hurry,” he
relates. Crowds were surg-
ing toward the boat,
threatening to capsize if too
many boarded — and the
communists were not far
behind. The group got
away from shore, but the
communists fired a rocket
at them, which hit the
water about thirty feet
from the boat and explod-
ed. Tri was deafened in his
right ear by the blast.
Escaping the river, the
tiny boat drifted out to sea.
There was no food or
water. Two infants died
and had to be thrown
overboard to the sharks.
The boat had a motor, but
they had no idea where
they were, or where they
might end up.
Finally, on the fourth
day, the exhausted refu-
gees were picked up when
a U.S. Navy ship chanced
upon them. Four days after
that they arrived in the
Phillipines.
Tri’s ear healed eventu-
ally, although he was
totally deaf for several
hours after the rocket hit.
“No worries about that,”
he told the Times reporter,
‘“We just wanted to live, to
get out.”’
Tri lived at an Air Force
base in the Phillipines for
two months, and then
another base in Guam for
two more months. During
this time he had no idea
what had happened to his
family, whom he had last
seen in Vietnam. He had
known only one man in the
fishing boat (his teacher at
college —now living in
Memphis, Tennessee).
Tri Duc Vu works in the meat room at Weis Market in Mount Joy. Now 22 years
old, Tri came here two years ago —and had some scary adventures on the way.
Eventually he was sent
by the authorities to a
refugee camp in Arkansas.
He spent another two
months there.
On his last day at the
camp, Tri recalls, he was
“walking around to re-
member,”’ when he hap-
pened to glance down at a
scrap of discarded news-
paper on the ground. The
paper had his brother’s
name on it. Tri got in touch
with the American Red
Cross, which found his
brother’s address: Indian-
town Gap. (His brother had
also managed to escape,
with his wife. The rest of
Tri's family is still in
Vietnam: his mother and
sister, who live in their old
house, and two additional
brothers, interned in ‘‘edu-
cational camps.’’)
Shortly after that, Tri,
his brother, and his sister
-in-law moved to Mount
Joy. They now live at 363
No. Barbara St. His brother
works for Brubaker Plumb-
ing Co. in Rohrerstown. All
three were sponsored by
St. Mark's United Metho-
dist Church.
Tri spent his first six
months here looking for a
job. His biggest barrier
was linguistic. Although he
had studied some English
in Vietnam, he could
understand our tongue
much better than he could
speak it. He applied at ten
places, but in the end his
fourth application came
through at Weis Market in
Mount Joy.
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