THE
VOL. 74 NO. 11
R- De
Mount Joy,
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Pa...
wor BULLETIN
MOUNT JOY'S ONLY NEWSPAPER
PETITION THURSDAY NIGHT
MOUNT JOY, PENNA.
AUGUST 7, 1974
TEN CENTS
Ask Manheim Central District For Release
Will there be a secession?
Whether or not it will happen is a
moot point. But, it could happen.
At least, that is the feeling of
some people who would like to
leave the Manheim Central School
District and join the Donegal
District.
There is no rebellion involved,
but there are a number of people
living in the lower reaches of
Rapho township — that area
between Little Chiques Creek and
Chiques creek — who believe that
it would be more logical for their
children to attend Donegal schools.
In fact, on Thursday night of this
week, a petition proposing such a
move is to be presented to the
Manheim Central school board.
Bearing nearly 50 names, the
paper points out a number of
situations which are believed to be
important and relevant to the
proposal.
For instance, it is stated that
there are few church, banking
business or shopping connections
tying the lower part of the township
to Manheim. Natural associations
are with Mount Joy, or perhaps
Columbia, it is pointed out by the
petitioners.
The actual area involved in the
proposed change, according to
Mrs. Donald Miller of Newtown,
who has been working on the
matter for many , many months, is
that territory between the Little
and Big Chiques creek and south of
Road 230.
The area includes about 6.46
square miles. And, the best current
estimate is that about 100 school-
age children live in the triangle.
Mrs. Miller points out that school
Lower Rapho Township ‘triangle’ would
include 4.46 square miles and involve perhaps
100 pupils who now attend Manheim Central
School District.
children living in the area have no
opportunity to participate in school
activities unless they drive their
own cars. There is no ‘‘activities”
bus, she said. And, she added that
opportunities for making lasting
friendships among the children are
greatly curtailed.
Some children are bussed as
many as 13 miles north to school,
she said this week as she plans to
attend the Manheim Central school
board meeting and to present the
petition.
The petition, for the present, is
intended to ‘‘show interest’ and is
one of the steps which could lead to
the change of school district
boundaries.
Mrs. Miller, mother of four
ranging from 16 to 3 years in age,
has discovered that there is a 1967
law which provides for the forming
of an independent school district
for the transfer of pupils.
It would not only be necessary
for the area to be released by
Manheim Central but to be ac-
cepted by Donegal.
Actually, some of the triangle in
question is south of Donegal school
As Donegal Superintendent of
Schools R.F. Hallgren expressed
it, “those people can look north and
BUT, IT ISN'T GREEN!
see us turn the lights off and on at
Donegal high school.”
Although there have been con-
versations: for six, eight or ten
years about the possibility of
changing school district lines,
recently there have been what can
be termed ‘more serious’ at-
tempts.
Letters and conferences have
been held with numerous people of
influence and importance in
government and in education in
an effort to determine how such a
change could be made.
First, the backers of the plan are
told, it would be necessary for the
area involved to ‘‘secede’’ from
Manheim Central district and then
join Donegal.
But, the mechanics of such a
double play are involved and
(Continued on Page 8)
Mount Joy Tennis Club
Sets Labor Day Meet
The Mount Joy Tennis
Club will sponsor its first
tennis tournament —
directed at Labor Day
weekend ‘‘stay-at-homes’’ —
starting at 10 a.m. Saturday,
Aug. 31, and ending Monday,
Sept. 2.
All entrees must be
present for the opening.
Matches will be played on
the Mount Joy borough
courts.
All finalists will receive
trophies.
The tournament will cost
$4 per team for men’s and
women’s doubles. Balls will
be supplied by the club and
United States Lawn Tennis
Association rules will be
followed for all matches.
Entries may be made by
calling Mary Ann Coover or
‘Bonnie Ritravato before
August 24.
The tennis club is
scheduled to hold a meeting
on Wednesday, Aug. 4 at the
Borough building, beginning
at 7:30 p.m.
The club will sponsor a
junior tournament, during
the last two weeks in August.
Entries, for boys and for
girls 14 and under and 16 and
under, close August 10. .
‘Ob This aud That’
by the editor’s wife
We felt like Ewell Gib-
bons!
As we walked through a
heavy woods in Tobyhanna
State Park this past week
end, gathering huckleberries
by the handsful, nibbling on
delectable wild black
raspberries, picking black-
berries and wild red rasp-
berries, we almost felt as if
the noted nature food
authority were walking at
our side!
It was a delightful ex-
perience!
We gathered enough of the
huckleberries for a big pie
(in addition to the ones we
ate!) But we picked only a
few of the raspberries and
blackberries.
One of the pleasantest
parts of our ‘“‘berrying’’ was
walking in the beautiful
woods where we found them.
It was quiet, cool and
shaded, with tall trees rising
60-70 feet above us.
Underneath our feet were
moss and soft, moist loan,
out of which grew acres of
luxuriant ferns, some of
them waist and even
shoulder high! Catbirds
called ‘“Meow!’’ to us, and
we saw a Baltimore oriole.
Huckleberries were brand
new to us, though we have
eaten and enjoyed their tame
“cousins,” the blueberries,
all of our lives. It was
thrilling’ to see the shiny-
leaved, stocky little
huckleberry bushes, to raise
their delicate branches and
see the pretty little blue
berries in wild profusion!
Excitedly we gathered
them, sometimes eight or ten
at a time! Tiny though they
are, our container filled up
(Continued on Page 8)
Former Resident
Of Schock Home
At 103rd Birthday
Although she is not a
Mount Joy resident now, she
will be very much in the
minds and hearts of many
local people on Thursday,
Aug. 8!
Miss Grace Blanchard,
formerly a resident of the
Schock Presbyterian home
on Main street, will mark her
103rd birthday.
Miss Blanchard is now a
resident at Lehigh Manor,
another of the Presbyterian
homes, located in Reading.
She formerly was a
teacher in the Kingston area.
Although she is frail, Miss
Blanchard is not completely
bedfast but is up for a time
each day.
In an interview at the time
of her 100th birthday she
attributed her long life to
“plenty of spinach and very
little candy.”
Coal Black Color Of New Track
At Donegal Disturbs Some Directors
But, it isn’t green!
And, with that comment on
an obvious fact, is the
possible beginning of
dissatisfaction with the new
Donegal high school running
track.
Although drainage, layout,
grading and sub structure all
are important parts of the
building of a track, those
thing must finally add up to
the finished running surface,
which then is ‘the track’.
All that has been done and
a super surface of special
macadam which ‘heals’ the
spike wounds left by the
spiked shoes worn by
athletes participating in
Swimmers Set Marks
At Divisional Meet
On Saturday, August 3, the
Mount Joy Swim Team
participated in the
Divisional Championships
held at the Landisville Pool.
Although the swimmers
were seventh with 97 points,
several outstanding in-
East Donegal Township
Plans Hearing Aug. 13
A public hearing on a
proposed comprehensive
plan for east Donegal
township will be held
Tuesday, Aug. 13, at 8 p.m. in
Donegal high school
building.
Copies of the com-
prehensive plan, together
with 10 questions and an-
swers that pertain to the
planning program in the
township, will be available
for public examination and
purchase at the American
Legion Home on North King
Street in Maytown on August
6, August 8, and August 12,
from 7 to 8 p.m. Three
Township Planning Com-
mission members will be
available on each date to
answer questions about the
Comprehensive Plan.
Copies of the com-
prehensive plan along with
the questions and answers
and abstract will also be
available for public
examination at the Maytown
office of the Union National
Mount Joy bank.
dividuals broke teams
records and claimed high
places.
In the 8 years and under
age girls, Amy Hess had
three firsts and broke three
team records. She won the
25m. freestyle in 20.3, the
25m. butterfly in 24.9, and
teamed up with Hope
Madara, Amy Westerman,
and Jodi Nolt in the 100m
freestyle relay to win in
1:37.8.
Mount Joy’s other two
firsts came from a 12 and
under girl and a 17 and under
boy. In the 12 and under,
Sherri Kinsey won the 50m.
breast stroke and set a new
team record at 44.2 Dean
Buchenauer won the 17 and
under boys breaststroke with
a 33.4.
Meet Results to
Fourth Place
8 and Under
Girls — 25m. Free, — Amy
Hess, 1st; 25m. Butter, —
Amy Hess, 1st, and 100m.
Free, Relay — 1st (Hope
(Continued on Page 8)
track has been laid.
But — it isn’t green.
And, Donegal high school
had expected it to be green —
green for Donegal, you
know.
But, instead, it is a coal
black color, which, in all
probability, will turn grey as
it weathers.
The disappointment
centers around pictures
presented to those respon-
sible for the construction.
Those pieces of ‘selling’
literature showed a green
surface — not black,
schoolmen day!
Whether consciously or
unconsciously, there is a
feeling in the minds of at
least some of the school
board members that the
decision to install the ex-
pensive surface was in-
fluenced by the fact that the
green ‘‘would be very ap-
propriate’’ for Donegal’s
Indians.
But, apparently, the final
specifications which stated
how the track should be built
did not mention a ‘‘green”
finished surface.
Now, the track is black
unless something additional
is done.
In fact, schoolmen are
told, a green coat can be
added — at a price of about
$5,000.
However, td retain the
color, the coating will need to
be renewed probably about
every five years.
Life expectancy of the
basic black is estimated at 20
years.
(Continued on Page 8)