By R.A.R.
It all began early Wednes-
day.
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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.
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The weatherman had said
there would be a lot of rain
Thursday and Friday. O. K.
But this seemed ridiculous.
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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
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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. )
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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