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Vol. 77 No. 37 September 28, 1977
Forget that
“tax break’
Last week, we reported
that the Donegal School
Board had reopened their
budget to receive a
possible state subsidy, and
that some of the money
might be returned to tax-
payers.
School Board members
were unhappy over the
article, because the proba-
bility that Donegal taxpay-
ers will get a refund
exactly Zero. If the money
ever comes, it will be used
to fix the roof on DHS, and
to replace the heating sys-
tem at Beahm Jr. High.
Both jobs are urgently
needed, and repair work is
scheduled to start this fall,
but no money for the
repairs was included in this
year’s budget. The Board
has re-opened a quarter-
million dollar line of credit
to pay for the repairs,
instead of raising tax
money directly to pay for
the work.
The board followed this
seemingly round-about pro-
cedure because they ex-
pected to get the state
subsidy. In case the state
money doesn’t arrive, the
board arranged to start
paying off the loan next
vear, to avoid running over
this year’s budget.
The School Board plan-
ned to start paying about
$50 thousand a year. If the
state subsidy doesn’t come
through, repairs will cost
taxpayers roughly 3 mils
[continued on page 2]
Francine is runner-up
in Miss Lancaster
contest
Two local women were
runners-up in the Miss
Lancaster County contest
held last week in Ephrata.
Francine Huss of Mount
Joy came in second after
the new Miss Lancaster
County getting the first
runner-up position. Fran-
cine, who performed a
modern dance to Rhapsody
in Blue, will receive a $500
scholarship from the Sico
Co., to help her continue
her education at Adelphi
University in New York.
Fourth runner-up was
Mary Kanoff of Maytown.
Mary sang an operetta
piece, The Litlle Damozel,
which earned a ‘‘lion’s
share’’ of the applause,
according to the Lancaster
Sunday News.
Mary will receive a $200
scholarship from the Eph-
rata National Bank.
Both Francine and Mary
received trophies in addi-
tion to their scholarships.
Mary Kanoff got a $25 gift
certificate from Donecker’s
in Ephrata.
Two other contestants,
both from Mount Joy,
missed out on becoming
runners-up (there were four
runners-up all together).
They are Cindy Charles
and Linda Sherk. Both
women will receive $100
scholarships.
The Manheim experiment; no
The Borough of Man-
heim abolished all their
parking meters last Christ-
mas, after much discus-
sion. How do they feel
about their decision now?
‘“No one wants them
back,’’ says police chief
John Winters of the
Manheim Police.
The Manheim police are
particularly happy to be rid
of the mechanical tax col-
lectors. ‘‘People didn’t
respect it,”” Chief Winters
told us. “We were always
getting nasty letters and
complaints about them [the
UEHANNA
Susquehanna Times & The Mount Joy Bulletin
MARIETTA & MOUNT JOY, PA.
Parking meters: who needs them?
Marietta folks have mixed opinions
Parking meters. Not a
motorist drives who hasn’t
at some time or other been
irked, peeved, irritated,
angered, or infuriated by
their insatiable demands
for change —or worse,
their habit of flashing the
VIOLATION flag 27 se-
conds before the auto
owner gets to them and
finds a policeman writing
out a ticket.
Following up on the
letter sent us last week by
Mr. Frank Pines, the Times
decided to do some
investigating. Our original
inquiries about Marietta’s
policy of ticketing till 9:00
on Friday nights quickly
led us into a survey of
meters in general.
We pose this question:
Would Marietta be a plea-
santer town, albeit a poorer
one, without the parking
meters?
When we asked mer-
chants in the meter zone
for their opinions, we got
mixed answers.
Paul Snyder at Columbia
Hardware is in favor of the
meters. ‘You need to
regulate it somehow,’’ he
said, ‘‘so there will be
some space for parking
during business hours.”
Bob Spangler told us that
a study should be made.
This, he feels, would put
any answer on a sound
basis.
A spokesman for Marco's
Pizza said their business
was not hurt by the meters.
A few merchants, mostly
those whose customers
meters]. I think it’s helped
the general image of the
Police Department.’
Under the new system, a
car is allowed to park in
downtown Manheim for
two hours during business
times. Enforcement is less
irritating to the public
because, as Chief Winters
put it, “‘If you get a ticket,
you've definitely been
there over two hours.’’ The
culprits never get caught
one minute after the meter
runs out, and don’t feel
innocent. Therefore they
accept the fine without
complaining.
stayed in their businesses
for a longer period of time,
had strong feelings about
the meters.
“‘I hate them,’’ said Lou
Ann Hess, the hairdresser
‘““My patrons complain
about them, and neither 1
nor they have any place to
park.”
Ms. Hess said that she
often works on one
customer for three hours,
and the meters can’t be
plugged to run over two
hours. This makes it
impossible for them not to
get tickets, she claims.
*“The only place I have to
park my own car, so I don’t
get ticketed, is out back,”’
she said. ‘‘I’'m afraid to
walk there at night with my
receipts. I'm afraid I'll be
robbed.”
Another merchant who
was strongly against the
meters, even though he is
on the edge of the zone, is
Gary Youndt. ‘‘Marietta
doesn’t need them,’’ he
told us. ‘‘I dislike them
very much.’’ Mr. Youndt
complained also of uneven
enforcement. ‘‘The meter
parking is enfcrced in
spurts,’ he said.
“I never carry change in
my pockets,’ he went on.
““The other day I went into
Columbia Hardware for a
minutg, and got a ticket. A
ten cent bolt cost me two
dollars.”
David Kalmbach, one
of the owners of the
Marietta Theater, com-
plained about the police
enforcement as well as
John Shank, president of
the Manheim Merchants’
Association, told us that
the lack of meters has
“‘worked out pretty good’’
for merchants.
‘Some [merchants] were
a little concerned at first,”
he added, ‘‘but I think they
like the new system now.’
The only drawback he
could see was a difficulty in
finding parking places on
Friday evenings. ‘‘But you
always seem to find one,”
he said.
Doris Hollinger of the
Mam'’selle Shoppe in Man-
heim, had been refered to
RALPII M
ReD, :
MOUNT JOY
SNYDER
BOX 3040
PA, 17552
Y
1 11vl1L,
FIFTE*N CENTS
Everybody forgets to plug the meter sometimes — even
Marietta police chief James Millar. In his case, it
shouldn’t matter, because under state law, no police or
ambulance vehicle is ever legally “‘parked.”
In spite of this law, the Lancaster City police have
sometimes ticketed the chief for parking violations. Like
everybody else, he gets angry. And, like everybody
else, he pays the fine.
about the meters. ‘‘They
[the police] are down here
at 7:30 every Friday night
in front of the theater.
They know that most of our
[continued on page 2]
more meters
the Times as one of the
originally opposed mer-
chants. - She told us,
however, that she had been
against them from the
start, and now feels the
same.
‘“The customers were
always nervous before they
took them out,” she said.
‘““Even though the tickets
were only a dollar, there's
something about meters
that kept the people
worried. They seemed to
want to leave the store in a
hurry.”
When the system chang-
ed, the fine was increased
from $1 to $5 for a viola-
tion. There are fewer
tickets given now, and the
income to the borough from
fines is about the same as
before, according to Chief
Winters.
In making the change,
however, the borough did
lose some income. Mary
Strack, Manheim treasurer,
told us that the borough is
$10,000 per year poorer in
change since the. meters
stopped being emptied.
She personally likes the
new system, although she
told us that ‘‘at first,
people couldn’t believe it."
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