THE
SUSQUEHANNA BULLETIN
WILL NOT BE ISSUED
DECEMBER 31, 1975
PUBLICATION WILL BE
RESUMED
JANUARY 7, 1976
SUS
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Volume 75 No. 49 December 17, 1975
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HANNA BULLETIN
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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was revoked.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.
.