By R.A.R. It all began early Wednes- day. ® © o Sometime in the night I heard the rain. About 4 a.m. 1 was awake again, listening, listening. The wind was blow- ing—not howling, not moan- ing, more like sighing. B ® ® There was something eerie. It was dark and I wondered how the world sounded and looked during the second and third day of creation as the winds blew and there was still darkness across the wa- ters. ® © o The weatherman had said there would be a lot of rain Thursday and Friday. O. K. But this seemed ridiculous. ® oO eo At 4 am. I got up, sat at the front window a while and waiched through the dark- ness. Later I tried to read. The milkman—at 5 a.m. rattled me into reality again. It was still raining. oo o By 8 a. m. I had learned that some approaches to Mt. Joy were in trouble. I wond- ered, vaguely, about the six'h chapter of Genesis, for one of the Bulletin’s biggest press motors was under water and there was water in the base- ment. Things were getting worse at 9 a.m. and already the radio was crackling with the shadow of coming disaster ® © eo As the ocean is made of tiny drops of water, so is a mighty flood. First the gutters overflowed, then the curbs, then the sewers and then the streams. ) ® oo © As the storm mounted, the streams turned the creeks to raging torrents and finally the creeks changed the beauty of the Susquehanna into des- truction—and death. ® oo o There were three distinct phrases of the trauma. 1.— Mount Joy as it suffered the early batterings of downspout, streets, sewers and creek; 2. — The flioodfng of half of Marietta and the evacuations, and 3. — The cleanup in Mar- ietta. ® 6 © That’s, perhaps, an over simplification, but there were those three separate parts. Each, of course, was expand- ed a hundred fold as each in- dividual fought the battle: for himself and for his family, neighbors and others in his community. ® oo © A few—very few—people were virtually untouched by the disaster. But practically every person in the entire area—in one way or another — was affected. The woman who had no water dampening the inside of her home per- haps worked the hardest helping to sort clothing two days later for those who lost practically everything. ® © o A housebound grandmother who was not touched in any way served extra time as baby sitter so that young par- ents could give hours and hours of help in very real ways. ® © eo There were those who did not dirty their hands sorting clothing or did not donate a single can of food but who willingly opened their pocket- books with generous cash gifts. ®e © © The outpouring of sub. stance and service was more, more, more than can be coun- ted and for anyone to try to name even a few of those (Turn to page 16) Mount Joy's ONLY Newspaper VOL. 73. NO. 6. MOUNT JOY, PENNA., WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1972 Devoted to the Best Interest and Welfare of Mount Joy TEN CENTS Borough Near Normal After Flood Flood Information Centers Opened Effective immediately, the Columbia and Mount Joy Flood Information Centers will be closed. Instead, two new offices will be placed in- to operation on Wednesday, June 28, 1972, in the follow- ing locations where there is a greater immediate need for these centers: Riverview Elementary School Route 441 Marietta, Penna, 17547 Telephone 426-1561 Zion Lutheran Church East High & Hazel Streets Manheim, Penna. 17545 Telephone 665-5880 Unemployment Compensa- tion claimants who are accus- tomed to reporting for claims activity at the Susquehanna Fire Company in Columbia will continue to report there on their usual day for claims processing. The Flood Information Cen- ter Offices represent a one- step service operation for per- sons who have been victims of the recent flood disaster & desire information or some type of service. State & Fed- eral Representatives will be available to assist people hav- ing problems involving wel- fare, housing. health problems building inspections and other problems associated with the flood. The Flood Information Center Offices will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mon- (Turn to page 11) COMMUNITY COUNTS ITS BLESSINGS Mount Joy, in the main, was back to near normal by early this week following one of the most devastating rain storms the area ever has experienced. On the fringe of he viciousness of Hurricane Agnes, as she passed along he Eastern seaboard, the area was mauled by a torrential downpour which dumped approximately 12 inches of water within a period of about 24 hours. The storm bscame a torrent of flood water and great damage was done to local private and public property. However, as the community moppad up from the de- luge, it also counted its blessings. Almost without exception, erty and not to people, And, in the vast damage, locally was to prop- majority of cases the property damage is of a nature which can and will be overcome in relatively .short order. Beginning only hours after the downpour, the mop-up operations began and by weekend virtually were completed as people turned to assisting others who were in far worse circumstances in Marietta. There was mud and dirt to be cleaned away, tree limbs to be disposed of and minor home repairs to be made. Massive Relief Effort GROWS TO TORRENT FROM SMALL START Like the disaster it was seeking to help — it started with a trickle and ended in a flood! Saturday, Mount Joy Jay- cees put signs on a couple of vehicles and set out to collect a few pieces of clothing and whatever else was immediate- ly available for use at the Marietta refugee center, loca- ted at the Riverview element- ary school. But, within “a less than 24 hours the quantity of food, clothing, household items and much other property became an overwhelming torrent of assistance. Scores and scores of people participated actively in dozens and dozens of ways—all on a voluntary basis. Mount Joy's borough build- ing became a teaming center of activity and by Sunday af- ternoon there was a process- ing system in operation which Mounted handled a treemndous amount of relief material. A constant stream of cars drew up at the front of the building, where “No Parking” signs provided space, and great quantities of clothing & food were unloaded. Some was stacked onto shopping carts and other boxes, bags and plastic containers were grabbed by many willing hands. Inside, shoes, clothing, food and other items were quickly separated, Food was divided into various assigned categor- (Turn to page 6) Riverview Is Substitute Home DOORS WIDE OPEN TO SERVE NEED How does one provide a “home” — even temporarily —for people who have been driven from their homes by raging flood waters? The answer, of course, is that you cannot. But, you can try. And un- der favorable conditions, you can go a long long way and do a wonderful substitute job. That’s the story of River- view elementary school, where where Marietta flood refugees were housed after being driv- en from their homes by the Susquehanna river. Beginning Friday night, when it became apparent that there would be need for sub- stitute homes, the school was thrown open and all facilities were made availabie. Under the direction of the American Red Cross the school served as a center of people-to-people help as hund- reds of volunteers manned the operation to provide food, clothing and shelter, : The new building was ideal- Water Is Safe It is safe io drink Mount Joy water. Official word was releas- ed Wednesday morning, June 28. The Borough Au- thority thanks the indust- ries which closed to help protect the water service. ly suited to the needs, includ- ing the spacious, modern Kit- chen, which was taken over by many of the very same people who had handled the food services only a few days before for the school. Augmen- ted by help from Marietta, Mount Joy and other surroun- ding communities, meals were served, snacks provided and no .one went hungry. The big all-purpose room saw more purpvses than dur- ing school days. The stage half of the area was filled with cots—head to head—and feet to feet, inclu- ding the stage. Scores of oth- er cots lined both sides of corridors. : The other half of the big room was a dining hall, rec- reation area and general lounge. Dogs were quartered in the maintenance and mechanical room of the school. School personnel was on hand to operate equipment, to provide the “know how’ to use the building, and volunteers turn- ed out for any need. Drinking water, at a prem- ium, arrived in huge bottles. Food arrived in a steady stream. Clothing began to ar- rive almost immediately and tenage girls began playing with and caring f or young- sters. People arrived at the build- (Turn to page 5) Rotarians Honor Henry G. Carpenter Henry G. Carpenter was honored and new officers of the Mount Joy Rotary club were installed Tuesday noon as the club held its weekly luncheon meeting at Hostet- iers, Carpenter, a charter mem- ber of the club, its first secre- tary, its sixth president and its first and only district gov- ernor, was honored as four of his friends spoke and he was presented with a plaque. In addition, he was given a Paul Harris Sustaining member- ship. Speakers were Rev. W. Les- ter Koder, John Booth, Jos- eph Shaeffer and Dr. William Nitrauer. New officers for the 1972- ’73 Rotary year were induct- ed by retiring President R. F. Hallgren. They are: Dr. Robert Brackbill, presi- dent; Dr. Dayid Schlosser, 1st vice-president; Al Newlin, 2nd vice-president; Dr. Richard Bryson, secretary; Carl Hall. gren, asst. secretary; Joseph Shaeffer, treasurer, and Jay Musser, asst. treasurer. ectors inducted include: Arth- ur Hostetter, Rev. Richard Kohler and Retiring Presi- dent Hallgren. ; During the meeting, Rotar- lans “passed the hat” for the benefit of the flood refugees and $200 was contributed. Dir-- Because there was no viol- ent or destructively vicious wind, damage was con~=2d to water connected causes. And because Mount Joy generally is not built dangerously close to the main waterways, dam age to homes was at a mini- mum. However a few did suffer grevious losses. Homes on Cove road were inundated. The Springs, home of the Jay Gingrich family, was flooded and also damaged approximately $2,500 by fire. For a time there were no trains through town because of the high water in the High- spire and Harrisburg area. Business was slow on Main street except those people ser- ving needs which were flood related. A number of indus- tries were closed—partiallv as a means of conserving water. Guards at the creek amused themselves by watching the interesting things which came floating down stream-—inciud- ing a rabbit sitting on a piece of lumber, Travel in and out of Mount Joy was very difficult Thurs- day. One Mount Joy man who lives just north of Stauf- fertown went east on the Manheim pike to the inter- change, west on the express- way and came across on the Colebrook road and back to Mount Joy on Route 230. Later in the day the Cole- brook road was closed an at least two cars were under water immediately north of the Farm Diner, By late afternoon, one Lan- caster resident who works in Mount Joy went all the way to Elizabethtown on Rte. 230 north on the Hershey Rd. and then back east on Route 283. By mid-day, water and se- wer facilities were under wa- ter and Baxter Wells, suvcer- intendent, admitted that there was trouble. Because of the heavy bur- den on all water drainage lines, sanitary sewers began (Turn to page 6) No Paper Next Week As has been the cusicm for many years, there will be no publication of ihis newspaper during Fourth of July week. The week will be a vaca. tion time for all members of the staff, However, the publication will be on regular sched- ule the next week
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers