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It's been four years since the Solanco High School FFA Chapter's small engine repair team won the regional contest. This year's two-member made up for that. Kyle Phipps and Wyatt Kudia compiled a total of 503.5 points in the March 18 contest to take first place in the team competition, outscoring second-place Lampeter-Strasburg by more than 200 points. Phipps came in first in the individual competition with 262 points, followed by Kudia in second place with 241.5 points. "Solanco's boys gave the rest of the teams a good old Mule kick and clobbered the field," said Carey Kalupson, Solanco's lead ag teacher. "Of course I'm proud. This is the first team in years that has lived up to my expectations."  Residents rely on volunteer firefighters to handle emergencies ranging from a tree across a road to freeing people trapped in a wrecked car, fighting fires, and providing emergency medical care.
Now one group of volunteers is asking the people they serve for help. Last week, the Quarryville Fire Company mailed thousands of letters asking for donations. The drive is the all-volunteer fire company's major fundraiser. "Last year, we received $94,000," said Tim Ryan, the fire company's president. "We heard from about 27 percent of the residents and businesses we serve."  In nearly three decades, she has handled weddings, mule sales, craft shows, and recreational vehicle gatherings.
"They're all in my little red book," Sandra Glackin said last week. Make that three books, all of which hold the history of rentals of the Solanco Fair Association's Hoffman Building as well as other association properties. Starting on December 22, 1986, Glackin began recording reservations and payments in a small red ledger. After filling that book in 1989, she moved on to another and started a third ledger in 2006.  Even when he was riding his bicycle to raise money to fight diabetes, Garrett Swayne liked to walk.
He would cover blocks of Quarryville on foot, knocking on doors and asking for donations. This year, he's still covering the borough's sidewalks in search of donations, but, unlike other years, he will stay on foot when the fundraisers gather. In 2012 and 13, he rode his bicycle to raise money to benefit the American Diabetes Association. He was prepared to do a third year with the Tour de Cure in 2014 when the sponsoring group's local office closed. Last year, they got off to a slow start and there were only four summer concerts at Quarryville’s Huffnagle Park.
“The [Quarryville] Lions picked up on the concerts last year,” said organizer Monica Wagner. The local club took over after the Huffnagle Park Committee disbanded. The Lions didn’t get involved until late winter, well after many groups had already made commitments for the summer of 2014.  They have a well-practiced routine.
Volunteers show up at the church shortly after noon to begin preparing the meal they will serve in just over four hours. With food in the oven and on the stoves, and tables set in the adjacent hall, there's time for a short break at 4 p.m. The first diners arrive just after five, nearly a half hour before dinner will be served. The only variable is the number of people who show up for the free roast chicken dinner.
 A mother and daughter team have begun a pair of support groups for people who are homeschooling their children and for people who are raising their grandchildren.
The two groups are separate, said Dawn Warfel and Jackie Myers. "So many people are raising their grandchildren on their own, doing it by themselves," Myers said. "I thought it would be good to form a support group so they can encourage each other. We open the floor for people to share what's in their hearts and what help they may need." A broken water main cut off service to one block of Quarryville's E. State St. for nearly a dozen hours last week.
The eight-inch diameter line broke near the intersection of State and Lime streets sometime before 9 p.m. on Monday, March 3. Bill Lamparter, the borough's maintenance superintendent, discovered the break. "I was going home from [borough] council meeting and saw water running down the street," he said. The borough's crew found water fountaining from the curb on the southwest side of the intersection. As part of the district's Read Across America celebration, guests read Dr. Seuss stories to Quarryville Elementary School students on Wednesday, March 4.
Volunteers coped with Thursday's 10-inch snowfall to clear the grounds in time for Bart Township Fire Company's 51st annual sale.
The sale opened to sub-freezing temperatures, but the sunny day warmed quickly as bidders bought everything from bird seed to carriages. Long scheduled for demolition, the stone arch over Pumping Station Rd. has a new lease on life.
Eden Township, PennDOT, and Norfolk Southern Railroad have come up with a plan to preserve the span. The stone arch bridge was built more than a century ago to carry the Pennsylvania Railroad's low grade freight rail line. It now serves the trail along the former railroad.
 Bart Township Fire Company volunteers already know how they're going to spend the money they raise in their 51st annual auction.
The funds will help pay for the company's new pumper, due to be delivered this spring. The engine will replace one purchased in 1990. It takes the volunteers about a week to get ready for their biggest fundraiser of the year. On Saturday morning, February 28, the volunteers and helpers from the community were beginning to set up for the March 7 sale. "There's a lot of snow we have to get rid of," sale committee chairman Reuben Petersheim Jr. said. Icy streams and poor road conditions have forced the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission to reschedule the first trout stocking of 2015.
The commission was scheduled to stock the Big Beaver Creek on Tuesday, March 3. That has now been postponed to Friday, March 6. Commission employees and volunteers will stock sections of the Big Beaver, Bowery Run, Conowingo Creek, Fishing Creek, Meetinghouse Creek, Stewart Run, and the West Branch of the Octoraro Creek by mid-month. Counselors and psychologists will be on hand Tuesday morning, March 3, to help students and staff cope with the death of Solanco High School Assistant Principal Avery Wilson.
Wilson and his wife, Yarra Wilson, were found shot to death in their Lancaster Township apartment on Saturday morning, February 28. Manheim Township police are investigating and have said publicly they believe the deaths are a murder/suicide. Police have not said which person is believed to have been the shooter. |
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