Aaron Haun wanted to become a police officer in a small town in Lancaster County. Quarryville Borough needed to hire an additional cop. The two goals came together on February 6 when Haun, 26, was sworn in as Quarryville's fourth full-time police officer. He started work the following day. "I grew up in Lancaster County and lived in Drumore for a while," Haun said. "I like small towns and the idea of working in one." He, his wife, their son, and his step-daughter live in the county. Haun is also a member of a U.S. Army Reserve unit based in West Chester. He joins patrol officers Cheryl Thompson and Charles Grimasuckas and school resources officer Chris Dilworth. Police Chief Ken Work also serves as the borough manager. The police department also has several part-time officers. When she finally steps down from her part-time position in Quarryville's borough office, Diane Hastings will remain on call in case her replacement has questions. Her replacement, Valeria Keene, is also on call when her replacement as Bart Township's secretary-treasurer has questions about the job. Hastings has been working part-time at the borough for several years. She works several days a week, except when the quarter water and sewer bills are being compiled and mailed. Then she can work five or more days at a time. Three weeks ago they graced living rooms across the Southern End. Decked out with tinsel and ornaments, lit from top to bottom, evergreens sheltered presents waiting for Christmas day. Last Friday, 159 of them returned to nature, stripped of decoration and chipped into mulch, waiting to be spread along Eden Township's section of the Low Grade Rail Trail. Crews from Quarryville Borough and Eden Township took just over an hour to grind the trees up and truck the chips to the trail parking lot along Bushong Rd. They will be back early in February to recycle the trees that are now piling up in the parking lot of the SECA Pool on Memorial Drive. New poles topped by old lights were supposed to be in place on Memorial Park's lower field before softball season got underway.
It didn't happen. PPL was going to erect new ones at no charge. That's not going to happen, either. Quarryville Borough's new mayor swore in two fire police officers Thursday night, February 4. Although he's served in borough positions for more than 30 years, this was John Chase's first official act as mayor. Appointed earlier this month, he replaces Joy Kemper, who has been the borough's mayor for the past six years. In a hearing that lasted just under 20 minutes, Quarryville Borough's zoning hearing board approved a special exception and two variances that will allow Quarryville Fire Company to add on to its E. State St. station.
Kyle Munro didn't miss a day of school during his last semester at Solanco High School.
But what he learned during the three hours before he headed off to class in his final semester at Solanco reinforced his decision about how he will spend much of his adult life. Munro will go to Lebanon Valley College in August where he will begin studying criminal justice. The first of 106 Hometown Hero banners began appearing on Quarryville's E. 4th St. last week.
By the time the work is done, the banners will hang on utility poles on 4th St., East and West State St., S. Church St., S. Hess St., and S. Lime St. There will also be a few on Park Ave. Susan Griffith, a member of Quarryville's borough council since January 1, 2014, has resigned.
Griffith submitted her letter of resignation last week, council president William R. Mankin said Monday. She cited personal reasons, Mankin said. Quarryville Borough is asking four neighboring townships to help pay for the local fire company's workman's compensation insurance.
"We've been talking about this for several years," borough manager Ken Work said last week. "We want the surrounding townships to pay their share." The borough has been paying the entire cost of the insurance, just over $21,000 for the coming year. A contractor started tearing down a house on Quarryville's Park Ave. this week to give children in the adjacent elementary school more room to play.
The project will also give the Solanco School District additional parking space for Quarryville Elementary School and the district's administration office. Although the pillars flanking the entrance to Quarryville's Memorial Park have been restored, members of a local club think there is more work to be done.
The pillars were rebuilt a year ago and rededicated last November. Those pillars carry the names of men who were killed in World War I and World War II. The restoration work began in the fall of 2012. Some of the records sealed in boxes may be valuable or provide insights to Quarryville's history.
"Some of them date back 75 or 100 years or more," said Quarryville Borough Council President William Mankin. "Some are pretty historic. We don't want to throw those away." Most of the records, however, are worthless. There are hand-written police reports from the 1970s and paid water bills going back even further. They had to decide months before the National Weather Service or the Old Farmer's Almanac came out with their predictions for the winter of 2014-15.
Even before they finished plowing near-record snowfalls late last winter, roadmasters across the Southern End were being asked to order salt for the following year. There is no good way to make that decision, said William Lamparter, supervisor for Quarryville's public works department. Quarryville's search for a new police chief may be over before it started.
Members of borough council have approached current chief Ken Work and asked him to stay on the job. Work, who has been chief of the borough's police department for 14 years, announced he would retire from that post at the end of the year. He has also served as the borough manager for a year and said he will continue in that position. The U.S. Postal Service is hiring.
The jobs are part-time, but they can lead to a permanent career, Quarryville Postmaster Patricia Wright said. The local post office is hosting a job fair to tell prospective employees how they can become substitute rural route carriers. Ken Work will officially retire at the end of the day on Wednesday, December 31. He'll be back on the job in Quarryville's borough hall on Friday, January 2, 2015. After more than 13 years, Work is stepping down as the borough's police chief. He will continue to serve as borough manager. Work notified members of borough council of his decision on Monday night, July 7. It's a bittersweet decision, he said last week. "I've been a police officer for 43 years," he said. "It's tough to walk away after doing this so long.… It will be tough not to be a policeman. I've done that all my life since high school. There has never been a day when I haven't wanted to go to work. I couldn't imagine doing anything else." One Southern End township is working to allow Amish residents to keep a horse on a one-acre lot while a neighboring township will mandate at least two acres for one horse.
The changes come as an increasing number of Amish residents move into homes on one-acre lots, township officials said last week. Most townships allow one or two horses, known as travel horses, to be kept on a one-acre lot if the horses are the family's only means of transportation. Quarryville's Memorial Park was closed for two days last week after inspections revealed light poles on a pair of ball fields were in danger of falling down. Borough employees posted no-trespassing signs, put up barricades, and ran about 4,000 feet of caution tape around the park's perimeter. The inspection on Wednesday, June 11, showed one pole on the upper field was weak; one on the lower field was leaning; and a second lower field pole was rotten at the base. "We thought they would pass but we didn't know what the inspector would find," borough manager Ken Work said. A reported standoff ended peacefully Thursday evening after a man was taken into custody and transported to a Lancaster hospital for a mental evaluation. Quarryville Borough police and an ambulance were called to the residence at the intersection of State St. and N. Church St. shortly after 6 p.m. on May 5. When they arrived, they were told the man had threatened to hurt someone if an officer tried to arrest him. Borough police then asked for troopers to back them up. The man was drunk, Quarryville Police Chief Ken Work said, and did not offer any resistance when he was detained. During the incident, fire police closed off State St. from Hess St. to Summit Ave. and N. Church St. Spectators watched from the lawn of the Wells Fargo Bank and the porch of Sam's Restaurant as the situation developed. Members of the Quarryville Lions Club will host a Memorial Day commemoration on Monday, May 26.
This will be the community's first formal commemoration since a Memorial Day parade was cancelled nearly two decades ago. "We've been talking about this as something we should do since the memorial pillars were renovated," said Joanne Black, the club's past president. Quarryville needs new lights for the two ball fields at Memorial Park. But the borough doesn't have the money to buy them. The immediate issue is the safety of the 70-foot-tall poles that support the lights. Some of the poles have plates on them dating their installation to 1948. Others are more recent. Buying one new pole cost $8,000 several years ago. That's when the borough purchased a replacement for a pole that fell over. "We were able to piggyback the shipping with other poles," borough manager Ken Work said. "Otherwise, the shipping would have been at least that much again, because poles that size don't come from Pennsylvania." Now the borough will be hiring a firm to determine the condition of the poles on each field. Quarryville residents may have to contend with dirty water next week as members of the borough crew flush water lines.
"It won't be as bad as it was last Thanksgiving," borough manager Ken Work said last week. That's when the pump at the borough's well failed. The well went out of service Wednesday evening, November 26, the day before Thanksgiving and was not restored until Friday morning. There will be two local celebrations of the National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 1.
Ferguson & Hassler Supermarket, TownsEdge Shopping Village, will open its cafe at 7:30 a.m. for the celebration. |
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