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September 21, 1977
Mount Joy Borough Council;
Police want back-up men; merchants want boro to
remove snow; and no more right turn on red
To double-up or not to
double-up? That was the
question at last week’s
Mount Joy Borough Coun-
cil meeting. Council dis-
cussed the matter for an
hour and 45 minutes before
reaching a temporary solu-
tion.
““Doubling-up,’”’ in this
case, means puting two
policemen in one patrol
car. Mount Joy police had
routinely cruised the
streets in pairs on Friday
and Saturday nights, until
council halted the practice
last August for financial
reasons.
Because the budget for
part-time policemen had
been exceeded, the council
decided that one officer per
car should be enough.
Policemen attacked the
change at last week’s
meeting. Chief Bruce Kline
pointed out that, although
the part-time police budget
has been exceeded, the
overall police budget is
exactly at the 2 mark at
the end of a six-month
budget period.
(Although Mr. Ricedorf
notes wages overall have
exceeded the budget.)
Officer William Reuter
told the councilmen that
having a second patrolman
on duty couid both deter
law-breakers and prevent
injury to policemen.
MOUNT JOY AS
DANGEROUS AS
ANYPLACE?
Reuter stated that a
police officer in Mount Joy
is in no less danger than a
police officer in any city or
town in the world. His
report indicated that Friday
and Saturday nights are the
particular nights in the
week when domestic argu-
ments and barroom distur-
bances most often happen.
Statistics show that more
police officers are injured
and killed while answering
domestic calls than while
performing any other
duties.
Following Officer
Reuter’s report, council
discussed the question of
doubling-up policemen.
Councilman James
Heisey suggested that
council ask the public
which they prefer: a cut in
police service or a tax
increase.
A group of area residents
who attended the meeting
urged that the doubling-up
system be re-instated. One
resident offered council the
use of police radio scan-
ners, free of charge, ‘‘so
you fellows (councilmen)
can hear what’s going on in
this county, because you
apparently don’t know
what’s happening.”’ Other
comments from the audi-
ence included: ‘‘“We need
two officers at all times,”’
and ‘‘How can we afford
not to have this service on
Friday and Saturday
nights?”
Councilman William
Bower offered a motion to
‘‘reinstate the double-up
program.’”’ Bower’s motion
was seconded by Council-
man Ammon Smith.
The motion was defeated
by a 5-3 vote. (Councilman
Keller and Mayor Gingrich
were not present.)
It was noted that the
motion could have been
misunderstood, and a dif-
ferently worded motion was
offered by Councilman
Smith (and seconded by
Councilman Bower) to
reinstate the double-up
system.
This second motion met
a 4-4 deadlock. Under
normal circumstances,
Mayor Gingrich would have
been empowered to cast to
deciding vote, but his
absence left the matter
unresolved.
Council President
Charles Ricedorf then told
council that ‘‘as acting
mayor | say the double-up
will be reinstated for this
following weekend, and
when the mayor returns, he
can decide whether to
continue doubling-up until
the next council meeting.”
Mr. Ricedorf pointed out
that, under the August
motion eliminating doub-
ling-up, the mayor has the
right to reinstate the
practice on any weekend
during which it seems
necessary.
Mr. Heisey then asked
why Mr. Ricedorf felt that
doubling-up was suddenly
necessary this weekend.
Mr. Ricedorf said that he
was responding to public
opinion, as expressed by
citizens at the meeting.
‘“No one here has spoken
against doubling-up,”’ he
noted.
Supporters of the doub-
ling-up system claim that
the budgetary problem was
of council’s own making.
In drawing up the budget,
council did not take into
consideration the fact that
three part-time officers
were scheduled to attend
training school during
double-up nights.
This schooling for police
officers is mandatory (as of
7/16/74) and the borough
is reimbursed in part by
Federal funds. Council
budgeted $4000 for part-
time officers this year,
which may represent an
oversight on council’s Hart,
since last year’s t 1 for
part-time help was $.100.
Earlier in the meeting,
during the public hour,
council was told that the
Merchant's Association is
unhappy with the handling
of snow-removal in the
borough.
Councilmen point out
that the police, including
Chief Kline, had a hand in
making up the budget.
Some councilmen suspect
that the law did not require
sending all three part-time
right in the
policemen to school this
year.
“We thought we’d send
two,’’ a councilman said.
“‘I think that sending three
was a goof-up, and I don’t
know how it happened.”
MERCHANTS WANT
BORO TO PAY FOR
SNOW REMOVAL
Merchants Association
president Jim Roberts,
owner of the Western Auto
store, told council that,
since the downtown area is
metered, the merchants
feel that the borough
should pay for snow
removal.
The Merchants’ Associa-
tion has a $1100 snow
removal fund, which they
volunteered to turn over to
council; Mr. Roberts indi-
cated that the merchants
would probably be willing
to contribute more.
The borough currently
scrapes downtown streets,
but doesn’t remove the
snow. However, the boro
lends its trucks and
personnel to the mer-
chants, who pay the cost of
having snow trucked out of
town.
The merchants feel that,
since the downtown is
metered, council should
pay for snow removal.
Councilmen, however,
point out that snow
removal is a special
service, which is not
performed in other parts of
town.
The Merchants and
councilmen plan to hold
meetings to discuss the
subject, and spokemen for
both groups are confident
that a workable compro-
mise can be arranged.
NO RIGHT TURN
ON RED
In other business, it was
decided to install ‘*‘No right
turn on red’’ signs at the
four traffic lights in town.
The cost will be about
$200.
DID YOU HEAR....
Stephen Ruby of Mariet-
ta made the front page of
Saturday’s Intelligencer
Journal—but he probably
wishes he hadn’t. Stephen
was bitten by a rabid bat
boro of
Marietta.
Although he is undergo-
ing a very painful series of
anti-rabies vaccinations,
young Stephen complained
to reporters only about the
tedium of the two-week
hospital stay he faces. ‘‘It
burns when he shoots (the
serum),’”’ Stephen admitted
when pressed.
The experience has not
dampened his ambition to
become a game warden.
He still likes working with
animals.
SUSQUEHANNA TIMES - Page 3
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