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Vol. 79, No. 10, March 14, 1979
Gerry Alleman
Gerry Alleman
When Gerry Alleman
graduated from Milton
Hershey School, one of the
last things that school
personnel told him was;
‘“‘Remember what Mr.
Hershey did for you. When
you leave here, get
involved in Scouting, or the
YMCA, or youth work.
Give back what Mr.
Hershey gave to you.”
‘“l guess they brain-
washed us,’”’ says Mr.
Alleman, who has been
devoting so much time to
Scouting in recent years
that he sometimes appears
to be a full-time volunteer,
whose hobbies are work
and sleeping.
Mount Joy people know
Gerry Alleman as the
general manager of their
local G.C. Murphy store.
Some people also know him
as a lay minister, who
preaches an occasional
sermon in area churches.
His Scouting activities are
somewhat less visible,
because they are mainly
administrative.
Gerry’s Scouting careel
began when he was a boy
and a Scout growing up in
Mount Joy. After gradu-
ating from Hershey, he
joined the Murphy chain of
stores, as a stockroom
worker in Washington,
D.C.. After that, his
interest in Scouting lan-
guished until, in 1972, the
company granted his re-
quest to be assigned to
Mount Joy.
‘““Then,”’ ' he says, ‘1
really got involved.”’
As advancement chair-
man of the Western
District of the Lancaster-
Lebanon Council of the Boy
Scouts of America, Mr.
Alleman interviews all
prospective Eagle Scouts
from this area, as a final
step before their applica-
tions are sent to the
national committee. He is
also a major fund-raiser for
this area. Last year, his
calendar listed at least one
Scouting meeting or event
on an average of one day
out of three.
On top of this, he
publishes a monthly 24-
page Scouting newsletter,
The Flash, which he types
and mimeographs himself,
with the help of 4 boys.
To encourage local cub
packs to meet their
fund-raising goals, Mr.
Alleman connived to bring
Tony the Tiger to this
year’s district dinner. He
Wrestlers win district tourney—page 6
tried the idea out on fellow
Scout leader Chuck Taylor,
the manager of the
Lancaster Kellog’s plant.
‘Chuck said he didn’t
know if there was a Tony
the Tiger suit, but he
called Battle Creek and
learned that there is one
suit. It cost $6,000, and it
was the only one, but it
looks like we’re going to
get it.”
Local business also sup-
ports the monthly Flash.
NCR donates the paper.
In addition to all the
work, Gerry Alleman’s
Scouting activities provide
him with some fun. He
traveled to Phoenix Arizona
for last year’s bi-annual
National Council meeting,
and was entertained by the
King Sisters and comedians
Skyles and Henderson,
Amanda Blake of ‘‘Gun-
smoke,’’ and Burl Ives. (He
also participated in some
serious discussions about
whether or not to ‘‘water
down’ the Eagle Scout
requirements for handicap-
ped boys. It was decided to
give them extra time to
complete the requirements,
instead. ‘‘1 think we
reached a logical decision,”’
says Gerry.)
Scouting is a popular
activity in the Western
District (which includes
Donegal school district,
plus surrounding communi-
ties like E-town, Columbia
and Rohrerstown, Manheim
and East Petersburg). Sixty
per cent of all boys who are
eligible to join the Cub
Scouts, have, in fact,
joined. So have 40 per cent
of all possible Boy Scouts.
Three point five per cent of
local Scouts attain Eagle
rank, as opposed to a mere
one per cent nationally.
Gerry Alleman credits
district chairman Dick
Collister (an executive
vice-president at Arm-
strong) and district execu-
tive J. C. Ruoff, for
Scouting’s success here.
“J. C. lives Scouting,”
says Gerry. ‘‘He eats,
sleeps, drinks and thinks
Scouting. Those two at the
top of the organization are
enough to get the rest of us
enthusiastic. Then we go to
work with the troops and
packs in the field and try to
pass that enthusiasm along
to them. Enthusiasm is
pretty contagious.’’
USQUEHANN A
SUSQUEHANNA TIMES & THE MOUNT JOY BULLETIN
MARIETTA AND MOUNT JOY, PA
RALPH M SNYDER
R.D. 2 BOX
MOUNT JOY, PA.
3040
17552
a LviES
FIFTEEN CENTS
Gingrich reinstated
Mount Joy Council prevails on ex-mayor
Ex-mayor James A.
Gingrich was appointed as
the new mayor to replace
himself at last Monday’s
Mount Joy Borough Coun-
cil meeting.
The mayor walked into
the meeting about an hour
after it had started and
took his usual place next to
council president Ricedorf.
About an hour after that
councilwoman Horst, who
had headed the committee
to pick a new mayor,
announced the appoint-
ment.
After the unanimous vote
of reinstatement, president
Ricedorf asked Gingrich if
he wanted to ‘‘make a
speech.’’
“You're good persuad-
ers’ was all that the mayor
said.
Gingrich resigned at last
month’s meeting, citing
lack of time as his reason.
He has recently been
promoted at his job, and is
very busy. Since last
month, though, council
members talked him into
staying on to the end of his
term.
Police report
Chief Bruce Kline gave
the police report. Mr.
Ricedorf asked him after
his report if the cruiser had
been hit on both sides
instead of one in the recent
accident. Kline said that
since the accident on
Cloverleaf Road that cruis-
er has been backed into a
telephone pole and suffered
a broken tie rod in a
back-alley chase since the
Cloverleaf Road accident,
but the other dent was
from an accident before
that one.
"
“I can’t believe it,”’ said
Ricedorf, apparently refer-
ring to the amount of
damage the cruiser has
sustained recently.
Kline said that the
Mount Joy police are not
particulary hard on their
cars. He said that the East
Hempfield police have
demolished S cars in the
past few years, and said
that only one police car
accident last year was
claimed against their insur-
ance; all the others were
paid by the other parties’
insurance companies.
When the insurance
premium increase for the
police cars was brought up,
Kline said that no increase
had been due to any
accident. Only the rising
costs of repair were to
blame, he
said. (the
Dean Bricker, a reflective young man, is shown above with his electronically
premiums have gone up to
$2000 a year from $1200
recently).
Ricedorf commented that
perhaps a safe driving
policy for the police is
needed.
Abandoned vehicles
Mount Joy recently sent
out 35S letters to owners of
‘“‘junk’’ vehicles ordering
their removal. Most of the
owners complied, but se-
ven, including two car
dealers, did not and were
prosecuted. Justice of the
peace Ray Knorr found the
two dealers not guilty,
which Council seemed to
feel was a threat to the
abandoned vehicle ordin-
ance.
Knorr explained to the
Times later that he had
found the two dealers not
guilty because of a state
law which takes precedence
over any local ordinance.
This law says that state-
licensed car dealers don’t
need inspection stickers or
regular tags on vehicles
they own. He also noted
that the two dealers had
each been in business for.
more than 40 years, and
their operations had in the
past been personally ap-
proved by a mayor of
Mount Joy.
]Continued on page 11]
oriented solar water heater, made of flat mirrors arranged to form a parabola. He
won the senior high Grand Championship at the Donegal High Science Fair last
week. MORE ON THE SCIENCE FAIR ON THE BACK PAGE.