David Hamlin, Emmy Award winning filmmaker and producer for National Geographic TV, will be in Lititz Feb. 23 to talk about his work in Africa. This visual program, sponsored by the Lititz Rotary Club Travelogue, will be held at the Warwick High School Auditorium, 301 W. Orange St., Lititz. A matinee is scheduled for 2 p.m., and an evening show is set for 7:30 p.m. A musical prelude starts at 1:30 and 7 p.m., respectively. Tickets are available at the door; adults are $5 and students are $2.

Brenda Heist, missing for 11 years and declared legally deceased, found in Key Largo

By:  STEPHEN SEEBER, Record Express Staff

She dropped her kids off at school, befriended a group of vagabond hitchhikers, left for Florida and never looked back…until last Friday.

Brenda C. Heist, who on Feb. 8, 2002 traded her life as a Lititz homemaker for that of a dumpster diving scavenger, was immediately reported missing and eventually presumed dead after an extensive investigation went cold. The case was brought back to life, more than 11 years later, with a phone call to Lititz police on April 26.

“I was shocked,” said Det. Sgt. John Schofield, the officer who took the call. “Quite honestly, I presumed her to be deceased as well, and I thought we were going to get the phone call one day that her remains were discovered.”

The call came after Heist, who was reportedly tired of being homeless and on the run, approached a sheriff’s deputy in Key Largo. She said there was an open warrant on her in which she used a false identification. While the officer was checking on the warrant, she handed over her Pennsylvania ID and said her husband reported her missing in 2002. A national database search confirmed that Brenda Heist was missing and declared deceased, and a photo sent to Schofield via text matched the face to the name.

By:

MELINDA S. ELMER Record Express Correspondent

, Staff Writer

In a rare split decision, Elizabeth Township Supervisors voted Monday to approve a resolution adopting IMPACT 2017, the Warwick/Lititz/Elizabeth Joint Comprehensive Plan. Jeff Burkholder cast the lone dissenting vote, saying there are a "number of things" he is uncomfortable with, but "the main thing is now we have committees being formed to enforce the plan."

Fellow supervisor Rodney May disagreed that committees would be charged with enforcement. Burkholder said he had a number of other issues with the plan but did not elaborate. May said that he liked the sustainability of the plan and the help that it would provide with MS4 (storm water management) compliance.

Resident Eileen Lieberman asked if the supervisors had heard anything about Transferrable Development Rights as they relate to the plan. May said that Warwick Township Manager Dan Zimmerman is willing to come to Elizabeth Township to explain the concept. May thinks that a Planning Commission meeting would be the best venue for that discussion.

Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the current draft of the Warwick Emergency Services Commission Intermunicipal Agreement. The commission would hire a full-time coordinator to be responsible for recruitment, retention and training of volunteers as well as filing incident reports and other paperwork and for bulk purchasing.

By:

GARY P. KLINGER Review Express Correspondent

, Staff Writer

Warwick Township become the latest local municipality to vote in support of IMPACT 2017, which is the latest update to the strategic plan for a region roughly equal to that of the Warwick School District.

Supervisors first held a required public hearing in which the details of the plan were presented and at which local residents were given the opportunity to raise questions and raise any concerns.

No residents were present to offer testimony in the hearing.

Impact 2017 is the culmination of a several-year joint effort between the township, Lititz Borough and Elizabeth Township to consider a wide range of regional issues – from transportation to environmental protection, business and residential growth, to the preservation of historic resources. It is the multi-municipal comprehensive plan for each of the partnering municipalities, which sets the goals and objectives for the next five years.

"This is not so much of a fresh sheet plan as an update to what has been in place now for several years," explained Warwick Township Manger Dan Zimmerman. "This is now the third such update to the regional plan, the first of which was issued in 2000."

In next week’s edition, we will celebrate all those special ladies in our lives with a "Celebrating Mom" section. Look for these full color pages in the May 30 edition of the Lititz Record Express, and start getting your pictures of dad ready for June.

Inside

A Manheim couple helped this man rebuild his life. Read about this and other Manheim area news, including a look back at grocery stores from the past, on this week’s Manheim page, A17.

The next coffee meeting with the editor will take place Thursday, May 30, 8 to 9 a.m., at the Young Men’s Business League.

Join Steve for a hot morning beverage and discussion of the week’s top news items. Bring along your story tips and suggestions for the newspaper; or if you need to drop something off for publication, this saves you a trip to Ephrata.

This is also a great time to check out what the Business League is all about. This organization, which served as the town’s chamber of commerce many years ago, will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2014. It’s located at the Square, right across the street from Lititz Borough Hall.

Free coffee and copies of the Record Express will be available to the public, on the front porch of the YMBL. See you there!

By:

LAURA KNOWLES Record Express Correspondent

, Staff Writer

Jillian Silbert, a Linden Hall junior, recently received a perfect score on her SAT test.

Most high school students would be happy to be practically perfect.

Not Jillian Silbert. Nearly perfect isn’t nearly good enough. For the 16-year-old Linden Hall junior, perfection is her goal.

So, when Silbert scored a perfect 2400 on her SATs, it was exactly what she was striving to do.

"I knew I could do it," says the bright-eyed overachiever. "I just had to actually do it.

The daughter of pediatric ophthalmologist Dr, David Silbert and Jennifer Silbert. Silbert does admit to feeling some stress. But that was only after she took the almost four-hour exams that tested critical reading, writing and mathematics.

When her scores arrived, Silbert was scared to look. Unlike some students who just want to do well enough to get into college, Silbert was expecting a perfect score.

"I knew it was possible," says Silbert, who admitted that not getting a perfect 2400 would have been a bitter disappointment.

Of course, that’s exactly what she got. A perfect 2400, with 800 in critical reading, 800 in writing and 800 in mathematics.

Rear Admiral Janice M. Hamby

The biggest news of all for May 27 is that there will be no Memorial Day parade in Rothsville this year.

"Unlike past years, we won’t have a parade in Rothsville," Rich Bryant, event organizer said. "The high school band was not able to come, and what’s a parade without a band?"

Aside from the lack of marching, those who served will still be honored in the manner to which Rothsville has become accustomed. A memorial service will be held in the cemetery of Jerusalem Lutheran Church, 36 Church St., at 9 a.m.

Children will place flowers on the graves of veterans, marked by American flags. An invocation by Pastor David Unangst of Salem UMC will follow, along with a musical rendition of "America," and a reading of the Gettysburg Address. Music is provided by the Lititz Community Band.

Rear Admiral Janice M. Hamby will be the guest speaker for the services in Rothsville and Lititz. Hamby is currently serving on the staff of the Secretary of Defense as Deputy Chief Information Officer for Command, Control, Communications and Computers and Information Infrastructure Capabilities for the U.S. Navy.

Due to the upcoming Memorial Day holiday, the Record Express will be operating under the following early deadlines for the May 30 issue:

Classified and retail display ads

Friday, May 24, 4 p.m.

Classified line ads:

Tuesday, May 28, 11:45 a.m.

Editorial copy

Friday, May 24, at noon.

The Record Express office will be closing at 3 p.m. Friday, May 24 and re-opening Tuesday, May 28.

By:

LUCY RICCOMINI Record Express Staff

, Staff Writer

Tuesdays primary elections proved to be a relatively quiet voting night in Lititz. It may may have been a lack of contested races that kept the polls quiet, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s our civic duty to vote.

"I’m very very disappointed," said Karen Harnly, a committee person for the republican party in Warwick. "People have that "’it doesn’t really matter so why should I bother?’ attitude."

Harnly said she never saw the polls so slow.

"It was a boring day," she added. "People at the ground roots level, it’s a valuable thing for part of their life, we really need to wake up to that."

Despite the low turnout, Lititz residents will see new faces for mayor and council in the November elections, a vote that will most likely prove to be a technicality for the candidates.

Republican Timothy Snyder won the primaries and will vie for Ronald Oettel’s seat as mayor of Lititz, whose four-year term ends in December.

Snyder is a former council president and also served as a member. He is the owner of Julius Strugis Pretzel Bakery.

By:

TIFFANY WOODALL Record Express Staff

, Staff Writer

Summer is quickly approaching, and for 21-year-old Katelyn Martin, of Lititz, that means traveling with dad, Jeff, an eighth grade social studies teacher at Warwick Middle School.

"When I run around on my little adventures, she’s always my sidekick," said Jeff of Katelyn. "We do have a lot of fun together."

Father-daughter trips haven’t always been enjoyable, though. Some summers ago, trips consisted of 8-hour stints or overnight stays at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital for Katelyn’s cancer treatments.

At seven years old, Katelyn developed problems associated with her balance and depth perception. An MRI revealed a tumor attached to Katelyn’s brain stem, and she was immediately referred to a neurosurgeon at Hershey who gave her a 60 percent chance of surviving the surgery to remove the golf ball-sized tumor, called a medulloblastoma.

Doctors were successful in eliminating Katelyn’s tumor, but her recovery was far from over. Jeff and his wife, Susan, watched their daughter undergo six weeks of radiation and a year and a half of chemotherapy.

"My wife deserves much credit as her strength held us all together," said Jeff.