THE SUSQUEHANNA BULLETIN WILL NOT BE ISSUED DECEMBER 31, 1975 PUBLICATION WILL BE RESUMED JANUARY 7, 1976 SUS a ya op » - Volume 75 No. 49 December 17, 1975 ey HANNA BULLETIN Fr rL.anyder ' -t «& Susquehanna Times & The Mount Joy Bulletin MARIETTA & MOUNT JOY, PA. Ten Cents Doug Kline (holding bird in photo above) shares his father’s hobby of breeding and racing pigeons. Doug’s father, Bob Kline, has been raising pigeons in Mount Joy since 1964. The borough has ordered them to tear down their coops by Dec. 18. Will Bob Kline lose his pigeons? Bob Kline has been raising racing pigeons in Mount Joy since 1964, but he may have to give up his hobby soon. According to Kline people complained about Bob’s new pigeon coops on the south side of Hill St. along Green Alley, and Borough Manager Joe Bate- man revoked Bob’s building permit. In a letter dated Decem- ber 3, Bob was ordered to remove the coops and birds by December 18. Bob Kline says he never heard any complaints about his old coop, which was built directly acroos the alley from the new structures on rented land. Bob's troubles began when he bought a vacant lot next to the land he had been renting for his birds. He obtained a building permit for pigeon coops on July 8 of this year, before buying the land. However, when com- plaints were heard at the Borough Hall, the permit was revoked. According to the com- plaints, the pigeons create a nuisance and litter the neighborhood. Bob Kline thinks the real reason for the complaints is the unsightly appearance of the coops Bob had planned to put siding on the coops and build a fence around them. There are 77 pigeons in the coops. Most of them were raised by Bob and his son, Doug. The birds are bred to win races. Some of them can travel all day at an average speed of 60 miles per hour. Bob’s birds have raced from Chatenooga, Tenn., to Mount Joy in a single day. The Kline home boasts several displays of racing trophies. The pigeons have not been outside since they moved into their new coop. (continued on page 3) Marietta reduces real estate taxes three mills Marietta Borough Council approved a budget of $133,925, almost $500 less than last year, last Tuesday night. The real estate tax declined from 19 to 16 mills. The reduction in tax was made possible by local municipilities taking an additional quarter of the one per cent earned income tax, which previously went to the schools. Mount Joy initiated the appropriation of the additional quarter last win- ter. Salary increases in Mari- etta were held to S per cent. The boro renewed its franchise with Warner Cable of Marietta at $6.25 effective next July 1. The reorganization of the boro council with new members elected in Novem- ber, will take place January 5S, Pioneer Fire Company trucks were granted $296 to convert radios for communi- cation with Lancaster. Boro parking meters will be bagged from December 1S to January 2 for the convenience of Christmas and New Year's shoppers. The following officers were appointed: Robert Billett, Zoning Officer; Steven Bailey, Zon- ing Board; Thomas Rose, Assistant solicitor; Dennis Shumaker and Ken Geesey, borough planning commis- sions. New fire siren Friendship Fire Company No. 1 notifies residents of Mount Joy Borough and surrounding areas that their siren has been changed. Instead of blowing one long siren until shut off manual- ly, the siren will blow up and ° down and shut off auto- matically after approximate- ly 1 1/2 minutes. Mayor Gingrich seeks more space Mayor Jim Gingrich wants immediate action to improve Mount Joy’s police facilities. The Mount Joy police station is a 10 X 18 foot cubicle in the Borough Hall. All police business must be carried on in this cramped, public space. When drunks are being detained in the small room, children wander in to ask for ' bicycle permits. When crime suspects are being questioned, police are interrrupted by citizens with | routine bu:iness. Evidence must be hidden in odd corners. There are no lockers for officers to store their gear. Confidential police notices cannot be posted on the bulletin board, where the public can see them. When the S full-time and S part-time officers hold a departmental meeting, they have to perch on filing cabinets and desk-tops. When Borough Council is in session, officers have to walk through the meeting to reach a bathroom. At the last Borough Council meeting, Mayor Gingrich refused to sign the new budget until a commit- tee was appointed to study up dating the police facili- ties. According to the mayor, one simple way to give the police more room is to give them the Borough Council chamber. The present police head- quarters is connected to the spacious Council meeting for Mt. Joy Police headquarters 27 5 E 4 PY Officer Bill Roberts works in the cramped, one-room Mount Joy police station. Photo shot through door to Council room. room by a doorway. Extra police equipment is stacked along a wall in the Council room. Mayor Gingrich thinks the Council, which meets only twice a month, could use a fire hall for its meetings. The present Council room could be divided into police locker and storage rooms, an office for the chief of police, a room to interrogate suspects, and a room for Mayor Gingrich stands in Boro Council meeting room near the door to the one-room police police work with desks and equipment. The mayor thinks that the Borough Manager's office should stay in the Borough Hall, but the rest of the. building could be turned over to the police. A lock-up is not on Mayor Gingrich's list of needed improvements, since the borough cannot afford to hire full-time jailers. Prison- ers are sent to Lancaster jails. headquarters. The mayor thinks police need this space more than the Council does. .
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