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Vol. 78, No. 22, May 31, 1978
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Susquehanna Times & The Mount Joy Bulletin
MARIETTA & MOUNT JOY, PA.
Why the new fire house?
Mount Joy’s Friendship
Fire Company #1 and its
ambulance service are sol-
iciting funds for their new
fire house right now. The
public is being asked to
give, and some people are
wondering, Why? What's
wrong with the old fire
house? :
For one thing, the new
fire house will be an invest-
ment in the future. The
building which now houses
the fire equipment is in its
85th year of use, and
getting older. A new one
will be needed eventually,
and the firemen point out
that a new one will be
cheaper now—building
costs rise each year, as do
all other costs.
A letter from Sadie Brooks says
The present structure is
also just too small—too
small for engine repair
facilities, too small for
training, no room for
ambulance equipment. Al-
though complete plans of
the new fire hall have not
been made public, the new
structure is planned to be
much larger than the old
one. When the rumors are
dispelled through news-
paper articles in the follow-
ing weeks, you can see for
yourself that the new fire
house is planned for the
future growth of our area
as well as meeting today’s
needs.
Until now Friendship
Fire has relied on bake
sales and the like to raise
funds. But bake sales are
not highly profitable ven-
tures, and the new fire
house will cost $300,000.
That’s a lot of bread. When
you are asked to give,
think: How much would
your taxes rise if Mount
Joy one day set up a mun-
icipal fire company with
full-time paid employees,
because the volunteer com-
panies just couldn’t per-
form their job adequately
anymore, because of lack of
space, equipment, training
—in other words, money?
The fire and ambulance
volunteers all over our
township have worked for
years without pay to pro-
[continued on page 2]
Mount Joy’s gifts arrived May 1st
at Honduras orphanage
contributed by
Fredine Bednarzick
It may have been May
Day here, but it was
Christmas high in the
mountains of Honduras!
A letter recently brought
that good news to the
people of Glossbrenner
Church, Mount Joy towns-
~ people, and others from
more distant towns who
helped provide Christmas
for children living in an
orphanage or hospital in
the mountains of Hon-
duras. The plight of these
children was brought to the
attention of the people at
Glossbrenner United Meth-
odist Church through let-
ters written by Sadie
Brooks, who is again in
Honduras on a medical
mission.
The gifts did arrive on
May 1, coinciding exactly
with Sadie’s arrival! Here
are excerpts from her letter
of thanks:
“The Christmas gifts you
so lovingly and generously
provided back in October
have finally reached their
destination. There was
much excitement as the
truck pulled into our drive-
way.
‘‘Certainly our Lord must
have a special place in His
heart for all who made this
bonanza possible.
“I wish each of you
could have seen what I
saw. Your hearts would
have been warmed because
you helped make this pro-
ject such an overwhelming
success.
‘‘l1 saw the names of
many dear friends as I
helped play ‘Santa.’
““If you can recall the
confusion in your own
home as your few children
received their gifts, you
can imagine what it was
like here with each
reaching for his package
first!! Quite a few packages
were opened for inspection
as they went through
customs three times, and
names were lost and last
minute substitutions had to
be made. So, will you
please understand if you do
not receive a ‘personal’
note from the child who
received your gifts. Their
gratitude was very evident
in the may hugs and kisses
and the ‘Gracias, muchos
gracias.” So I send them to
you.
“I'd like to say which of
the gifts were appreciated
most, but I doubt if there
was much difference. The
bicycle is used by several
children as transportation
to school, about % mile
away. The bicycle pump
and tire patches are a
much-needed item. These
stone roads are hard on
tires. The soccer and
volley balls have been the
center of many a lively
game in the evening after
work is done. The hospital
children love the tricycles.
The red wagon was given
to the kindergarten chil-
dren. It is constantly in
use. The carton of musical
instruments will be the
basis of a small orchestra,
and the suitcases in which
‘many of the gifts were
packed fill a real need.
They serve in place of a
dresser, as a storage place
for a child’s precious
possesions.
‘“‘May 1 express my
heartfelt appreciation and
love to you, dear friends,
who have made all of this
possible. I'm proud to be a
member of Glossbrenner
Church and the Mount Joy
community.”’
FIFTEEN CENTS
A Presidential nudge;
First Brother signs beer can, falls in pool
6
x
4
i
Loretta Portner holds the First Brother's invitation card; Joe exhibits the autogra
There’ll never be another party like this in Georgia”
3
So . Fo
CB y *
oa
beer can; and son Dean displays a souvenir of the South.
LY
phed
Local couple meet the Carters
His friend told him he
couldn’t meet the girl or
her father either—but Joe
Portner made up his mind
he would meet both of
them.
He introduced himself to
the girl first. ‘‘Get your
father to sign this beer
can,’’ he told her, ‘‘and I'll
dance at your next wed-
ding.”
““That’s just an expres-
sion,” he later explained to
a reporter. ‘‘I didn’t even
know she was getting
married.”
Joe, who lives at 25
Essex Street in Marietta,
has a son Dwayne who
collects beer cans. He knew
his son would prize an
autographed can of the
brew, even though two of
the man’s signatures were
already on it: the beer was
‘Billy Beer,”’ and the man
whose signature he did
eventually get was Billy
Carter, the ‘‘First Brother’’
himself.
As readers of the front
page of the Lancaster
papers know already, Joe
was in Americus, Georgia,
on business, staying at the
Best Western Motel, where
Billy’s daughter Jana was a
desk clerk. She not only got
her famous father to sign
the beer, but also invited
Joe and his wife Loretta to
her wedding.
When the invitation
arrived, the Portners were
a bit surprised that it really
had come. After some
nervous deliberation, they
decided to attend the
:ceremony, held Sunday a
week ago.
Joe had met the First
Brother at the motel, but
had not seen his brother
the president before. He
did meet Jimmy in an
unusual manner.
At one point during the
festivities, it started to
rain, and everyone ran
under a shelter. Joe heard
someone say, ‘‘Excuse
’
me,’’ as he was nudged
aside. He turned to see
that the nudger was Jimmy
Carter.
“l was speechless,”” he
recalls.
The Times asked Joe if
he got to dance.
‘““A lot of people have
asked me that,”’ he replied.
‘‘As a matter of fact, there
wasn’t any dancing. They
don’t seem to dance at
their weddings down there.
They just drank a lot of
alcoholic beverages and
ate.”
The wedding was un-
usual in several respects.
First, the Secret Service
was very much in evidence.
“They were standing a-
round with their arms
folded,’”” says Loretta.
“You were afraid to reach
into your pocketbook.’’ The
entire property on which
the wedding took place was
surrounded by Georgia
[continued on page 7]