It’s always the small things you miss. Never before have I realized how much a French toast bagel from Dosie Dough means to me.

Being away from home has renewed my appreciation for the adorable Lititz. I love how people always say "hello" when you pass them walking down Main Street. I love Wilbur, and I have yet to find somewhere that makes better chocolate.

I love the Teddy Bear Emporium, where you can always find a smile. It’s the best cure to any case of the blues. I also love Second Friday, when the downtown really comes to life with food and music. It is guaranteed to be a good time.

However, despite how amazing Lititz is, I am in no hurry to come home. In fact, I will be gone for another eight months. I am spending this year "living it up" as an exchange student in the most beautiful country in Europe. That would be Italy. For this, I might be one of the luckiest young ladies in the world. I owe a huge thank-you to the Speedwell Foundation, who provided full-scholarships for three Warwick High School students, including myself, to become ambassadors for the U.S. through American Field Service (AFS).

Ephrata's Bridget Haller (10) dumps a shot over the net as Cocalico's Gina Glass (9) and Dana Shugarts (19) attempt to block. (Photo by Stan Hall)Ephrata's Bridget Haller (10) dumps a shot over the net as Cocalico's Gina Glass (9) and Dana Shugarts (19) attempt to block. (Photo by Stan Hall)

Santa’s Top 10 Legos

Barbies

Trains

Transformers

Electronic Devices

Bikes/Scooters

Star Wars items

Trucks

American Girl Dolls

Books This past weekend was "quite slow," according to a report from Mrs. Claus, "with our visitors popping in with large spaces of time in between. In fact, Santa and Mrs. Claus actually went out to Broad Street, right by the park entrance, and waved to passersby to break the boredom."

"In total, including some very funny teenagers, we visited with 66 children," she said. "Our first two guests were Lila, age 2, and her little sister, Jocelyn, who was just one month old."

Among the more unusual requests were a pet armadillo, hermit crabs, a hamster, bulldog food and a garbage truck.

By: STEPHEN SEEBER Record Express Staff, Staff Writer

Venture Lititz, the local organization focused on maintaining a vibrant downtown, is morphing into a regional entity.

And while it will continue to exist in some way, shape or form, its bylaws and non-profit status will used to create what will be known as the Regional Economic Development Commission (EDC).

With grant funding nearing its end for Venture Lititz, the regional approach to downtown vitalization is expected to attract more financial aid from the government. The focus will be on business retention and job creation.

"Venture Lititz is growing and changing to help other businesses/industry grow in our region," said Kelly Withum, Lititz’s downtown manager. "This is a very exciting time and we have been looking at this for quite some time."

The process of going regional with the downtown concept began about two years ago, according to Karen Weibel, president of Lititz Borough Council. The decision was made jointly by Lititz Borough, Warwick Township, Elizabeth Township, Warwick School District and Venture Lititz.

"The focus of the EDC will be different from Venture Lititz, but the two will still function," she explained. "Venture Lititz will continue to focus on the downtown."

By: STEPHEN SEEBER Record Express Staff, Staff Writer

For the second December weekend in a row, downtown Lititz was bustling with holiday shoppers.

The first week got a boost from two well attended events — Christmas in the Park and Have Yourself A Merry Lititz Christmas.

The second enjoyed a busy turnout for 2nd Friday and the addition of a Christmas market in the historic Rudy building at 27-31 E. Main St.

With less than two weeks left before Christmas, the shopping interest should continue as local stores have designed some festive window displays — from the metallic snowmen at Cherry Acres, to the festive fireplace at Teddy Bear Emporium, to the award-winning storefront at Candyology. And history buffs will enjoy the framed Christmas 1979 streetscape in the window at Heavenly Soaps & Scents, which features former downtown businesses such as D.E. Furlow’s 5&10, Bingeman’s Restaurant and Spacht’s Furniture.

Spacht’s was located in the old Rudy building, a stately structure in the heart of downtown Lititz. It has been vacant for some time as owner Wes and Lisa Terry renovate. Last weekend, they opened the doors to the former town hall building.

By: MELINDA S. ELMER Record Express Correspondent, Staff Writer

Lancaster County Planning Commissioner Gwen Newell told the Elizabeth Township Supervisors on Monday that its neighboring municipalities, Lititz Borough and Warwick Township, are currently updating their comprehensive plans, expecting to complete them in 2012.

She asked if Elizabeth Township would "want to come on board," increasing the possibility of receiving state grant money to fund the process. Regional plans are given precedence over local plans for grant funds.

"Comprehensive plans shall be updated every 10 years and Elizabeth Township is up for an update," Newell said. "Lititz and Warwick are doing the process in-house, with county support from (Newell) and with help from the county GIS (mapping) system."

Newell expects the cost would be in the $5,000 to $7,000 range.

"It’s not free, but it’s cheaper than doing it on your own," she said. "Sustainability and economic stability should be emphasized," Newell added.

Supervisor Chairman Brian Wiker asked, "Is there any evil to it?"

"There might be some ideas that, because (Elizabeth Township is) more rural, won’t apply to you. Mostly it depends on how well you get along with your neighbors. I see very little negative. You already do the regional recreation commission very well," Newell answered.

My name is Emily Daniels. I am 16 years old, and, up until this September, I’ve lived in Lititz and attended Warwick School District. But now I am spending my junior year in the small village of Loxstedt, Germany. That means 10 months of talking, eating and living like a German. The title of my column, Marmeladenglasmomente, is the German word for moments that are so amazing you want to keep them in a jar forever. So far, my year has proven to be full of these.

I think my parents thought I was kidding when I told them one night of my plans to be an exchange student. I remember my mom’s response being something like, "Uh, yeah … maybe you should give that a little bit more thought."

Santa and Mrs. Claus spent their final afternoon in the red caboose at Lititz Springs Park last Saturday, reporting a good turnout and giving us their final top 10 list of most requested toys from local boys and girls (check the list on this page).

Mrs. Claus, who has been working as a Record Express correspondent during her visit to Lititz, submitted her final report to the news office this week. It follows:

Dear Steve (as in assistant editor Seeber),

Our last day in the caboose we visited with almost 70 children, which included three teenage boys who came into the caboose not to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas, but to ask for a hug from Santa (who happily obliged). Each boy left with a candy cane.

Legos and Barbies topped the list this week.

Of special note, Colin, age 7, wanted candy. Lots of candy. Mrs. Claus suggested to Santa that a new toothbrush would be in order as well.

Nick, age 5, had a rather lengthy list, but to our delight included on his list were two old favorites — a G.I. Joe and Play-Doh!

By: GARY P. KLINGER Record Express Correspondent, Staff Writer

Lititz Borough Council made it official on Tuesday night with a unanimous vote to raise real estate taxes.

With the .5 mill increase adopted by council, real estate owners within the borough would now be assessed at 2.1 mills. That would amount to an additional $50 in taxes per $100,000 of assessed real estate value.

"Even with the tax increase, Lititz Borough will still have the second lowest tax rate among county boroughs, with only Ephrata Borough having a lower tax rate," said borough manager Sue Ann Barry. She placed emphasis on the fact this ranking applied to county boroughs and not all Lancaster County municipalities.

This .5 mill tax increase is the first such increase since the 2007 budget.

In previous meetings, budget chairman Shane Weaver proposed the rate increase with a certain degree of hope that another such increase might be staved off for another year or two. He did, however, concede that a number of challenges may make that a difficult goal to meet with the ongoing economic situation and the new changes in the way Earned Income Taxes are assessed and collected, having an uncertain impact on the local budget.

By: TODD RUTH Record Express Staff truth.eph@lnpnews.com, Staff Writer

Photo by Stan Hall
Warwick's Bethany Zimmerman drives past Cocalico's Rebecca Grube (left) and Kristen Boyer (24) and goes to the basket.Photo by Stan Hall
Warwick's Bethany Zimmerman drives past Cocalico's Rebecca Grube (left) and Kristen Boyer (24) and goes to the basket.

The seeds for Cocalico’s 47-36 win over Warwick Tuesday were planted in the second half of a blowout loss Friday night at Manheim Township.

The Lady Eagles, who were held scoreless by the Blue Streaks the entire first half that night in the eventual 42-14 decision, used the second half of that game to work out the kinks of an offense that had a hard time getting going.

Tuesday night, they earned the fruits of their labor with a complete performance to take down the Lady Warriors. Cocalico opened up an early lead, took care of the basketball when the Lady Warriors turned up the defense, and put it away down the stretch with an impressive 19 for 22 performance from the foul line.

First-year Coach Tony DiMatteo couldn’t have asked for anything more than he got from his troops Tuesday night in Denver.

Bruce Morgan

Record Express

Sports Editor For awhile, it seemed as though student sections at local high school basketball games were becoming a thing of the past.

In a lot of gyms throughout the league, you might have small pockets of students cheering here and there in the bleachers, but not a real organized showing. There are exceptions, but there aren’t a lot of places anymore where the student sections really stand out.

On Tuesday night, the fine students at Warwick gave me a pleasant surprise.

From the time I walked through the doors, they had a lot of energy and they sustained it over the course of the game in a key contest against Cocalico. They were loud. They were funny. And they were good.

The presence of a pep band, right beside their classmates in the corner of the gym, was a huge, huge plus to the atmosphere.

If I’m not mistaken, the students also had a regular presence at football games this fall. A row of them had "W-A-R-R-I-O-R-S" spelled out in body paint and they were doing a good job of making noise to support the home team.