The "Bringin' In The Troops...Who Were Those Guys?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  June 6, 2020 in the small town known as Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania and the troops have arrived!  A local group had organized a "Black Lives Matter" rally in the center of town.  As people began to assemble about lunchtime for the rally, someone noticed a fellow up on the roof of a nearby business carrying semi-automatic weapons as well as a sidearm.  Very well equipped to go to war!  And, he wasn't the only one!  So, who invited these guys and who are they, anyway.  It was insane and dangerous, to say the least.  The Elizabethtown Police Chief was notified and he said he had been notified the night before that a few of the local businesses planned to have security inside their shops.  But, evidently it is not unlawful to carry a weapon if you have a permit to do so.  

A lone gunman stands watch on a rooftop in Elizabethtown.

Then it was noticed that store owners were wearing a piece of green tape on the front of them.  Why?  They did not say if they had, or had not, invited these armed men to town, but the green tape telling the gunmen who they were not to harm made them look pretty suspicious.  A Lancaster Newspaper reporter asked one of the gunmen, who was recognized as an Elizabethtown resident, what group it was that he belonged to and why where they at the rally.  The guy, who refused to give the reporter his name, said he belonged to a group called the Domestic Terrorism Response Organization.  The group has about 300 members in central Pennsylvania and is dedicated to protecting businesses, citizens and homes.  So, who are they protecting, and from whom?  All rally participants were marching peacefully along the sidewalks.  One black man, Alaak Deu, a 21-year-old walked up to a white policeman who was standing along the street, and asked him, "Is being Black a crime in Elizabethtown?"  Policeman Dustin Ryan replied, "Absolutely not!"  And then the two hugged!!  Well, it turned out that there were two militia groups in attendance on June 6.  One of the groups was known as the Carlisle Light Infantry and are a direct descendent of the Carlisle Light Infantry that marched with George Washington against the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania and fought for the Union in the Civil War.  The other group, now calling itself the Domestic Terrorism Response Organization, identified itself as "Anti-ANTIFA" on a newly created Facebook page June 1, but changed it to Domestic Terrorism Response Organization shortly after President Trump declared the loosely organized American anti-faxcist movement to be a domestic terror group.  One of the gunmen told a newspaper reporter he was there to protect everybody...store owners, police and protesters.  The newly incarnated Carlisle Light Infantry, in its modern incarnation, now describes itself on its website as the "living, breathing, operational element of the 2nd Amendment as defined by the signers of the constitution of the United States as 'a well regulated militia.'"  On their website they say: "We live in a time where we as citizens are apprehensive, even afraid of our uniformed officers.  We're doubtful and suspicious of our local elected officials.  Our leaders do not have our best interests, our families and our livelihoods in mind as they make decisions that effect every aspect of our daily lives.  We therefore live in a time where it's our personal and civic duty to stand up for what's right and protect what matters most."  Wow! They claim to not discriminate against anyone, but there isn't a single black or brown face in any of the photos posted on the website.  Many members say they have lost faith in this country and its institutions, including the political system, the police and the military.  But, they also have a fear of people of color, immigrants, diversity and a world not dominated by white people.  And, could it be, just maybe, that they did show up in Elizabethtown just in case the Black Lives Matter rally got out of control so they could step in with their weapons and quell the situation?  Well, another rally is scheduled at Elizabethtown's Borough Park for today at 1:00 PM.  They claim they haven't been requested by any business for assistance, so they won't be here.  We will see!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Spooks And Goblins Of Gable Park Hotel" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Riding around the area of Lancaster, Pennsylvania known as Quaker Hills and Gable Park Woods with my wife, trying to find the location of what at one time was known as Gables Park Hotel.  

Post Card of the hotel at Gable's Woods.

The Hotel was along Wabank Road which I traveled over for four years while a student at Millersville State Teacher's College.  Little did I know at the time, but I was driving past a haunted house all those years.  Some people in the area believed the hotel was haunted for years.  Seems that the family who lived in the hotel in the 1950s would see white footprints crossing the floor from the window.  They were white footsteps from the limestone quarry across the road. The residents also said they would hear a door slamming shut every night at midnight and an old bloodstain that could not be removed from the wood floor of the bedroom.  

After supper at Gable's Woods, August 8, 1902

Another neighbor reported looking up at the old abandoned hotel on the hill and thinking that witches could have lived there.  The history of the house is interesting.  A local real estate entrepreneur by the name of Jacob Gable Jr. built the hotel in the 19th century.  He died in 1903 and was buried with his wife Alice in the cemetery between what are now the Quaker Hills and Gable Park Woods developments.  

Taking a walk near Gable's Woods, August 8, 1902

The large residence served as both the Gable family house as well as a hotel after being built.  The Betz family purchased the building from the Gable family and later rented it to Richard and Pauline Miller.  Patricia Miller Pabon, daughter of the Miller's, grew up in the building in the 1950s.  She said that there were so many rooms in the house and was told that it was a hotel at one time.  

Gable's Park Lake, August 8, 1902

Yvonne Riggs grew up in a house next to the hotel.  She remembers the ghostly cemetery stories as well as a story about her brother who was 12 years old at the time.  He used to walk around the house and would hear a woman screaming even thought the house was vacant and run down.  Bernadine Lucas remembers visiting a friend who lived near the hotel and stopping to look at the abandoned house on top of the steep hill.  It looked like witches could have lived there.  

Near Gable's Woods - August 8, 1902

The photograph I have of the residence/ hotel shows an impressive building with three floors with a wrap-around balcony on the second floor.  On either side of the residence were steps leading from the ground level to the balcony on the first floor.  The house/hotel was eventually torn down in the 1970s, a few years after I had graduated from Millersville.  The photographs I have found of the place show an exceptional house/hotel on a incline near what appears to be the Little Conestoga Creek which flows nearby.  The history of Lancaster County is very interesting, and from time to time stories arise that make it even more interesting.  I recently read a story titled "50 YEARS AGO (1906) that was published in the Thursday, May 3, 1956 Lancaster New Era and told of a group of teenagers who hid in the woods at Gable Park in hopes of breaking up parties in the woods.  The constable descended on the park and fired shots into the air.  I imagine the group disappeared rather quickly.  Can you imagine doing that today.  The constable would lose his job instantly.  Such were the goings-on around Gable Park Hotel.   Oh, for the good old days!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Another view of the Gable's Wood Hotel

This is what I believe to be the waterway near the Hotel.

The "Vigilante #17540" Story

It was an ordinary day.  The headline on page A-1 read, "Vigilante Justice."  Wow, I haven't heard that word for years.  Brought back memories of Zorro, Robin Hood and even The Lone Ranger, all childhood heroes of mine from years ago.  Well, maybe not that many years ago, but...enough said.  Big photograph at the top of the article shows the side of a man's face from the nose down with a tattoo on his neck that read "17540".  Guy called himself "Mr. 17540", since he lives in nearby Leola, Pennsylvania which has the same zip code.  Mr. Justin Perry is 33 years of age and a self-styled vigilante, but totally different than my heroes from the past.  Seems he draws people to his social media page and then confronts then, in a bullet-proof vest, when he shames them before his massive online audience.  Not my idea of a smart move, but it seems to work for him, since he has had almost three dozen "busts" within the past couple of years.  He poses as a young girl of the age of 15 and hopes to draw older men into his sexual web so he can confront them, video-tape them and present text and evidence he has assembled on the perpetrator to law enforcement.   He has created a conviction in one case, but the embarrassment and stupidity of his "clients" is what makes him continue his vigilante justice in hopes of punishing his clients.  I will admit it takes quite a bit of daring to do what he does, but he does so since he has a 15 year-old step daughter that he fears may be approached by someone such as he is trying to get off the street, so to speak.  The newspaper story was intense as well as interesting, but the "Opinion" article published three days later by the editorial staff on the newspaper saw it quite differently.  The article stated that they believe in the rule of law, but enforcing the law properly requires dedication and education,  much like that learned while going to school to be a law enforcement officer.  Law enforcement is dangerous work that requires rigorous training, strict discipline and skills honed by practice.  Not the way Mr. Perry is doing it.  They go on to say that an untrained person, feeding on the approval of a crowd on his media page, can unwittingly cause a great deal of harm.  They also understand the impulse to want to name and shame perpetrators of child sexual assault.  Trying to catch sexual predators is serious business and should be left to trained people.  "Just flying by the seat of my pants," as Mr. Perry says, isn't enough.  The editorial staff concludes with...Some things are just too important to be left to amateurs, however well-intended, who are making it up as they go along, and being egged on by social media fans.  Mr. Perry certainly isn't Zorro or even Robin Hood.  His bullet-proof vest may not be enough sometime and he will wish he hadn't opened this can of worms.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an oridnary guy.

The "The Other LDub...Revisited...When Will It Ever End?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just got home after a few hours of work at the gallery where I work matting and framing artwork for a former student of mine.  My wife told me to sit down so she can tell me something.  Uh, Oh!  She said the bank had just called and told her they weren't going to give us the home equity line of credit loan we had requested.  They did some checking and found we hadn't paid our state taxes for three years. "WHAT!" I said to her.  Her face had a serious look to it...for about 5 seconds until I saw the smile...almost laugh, when she said it had happened once again.  I knew instantly what she meant.  Story began over 30 years ago when I was at school running the printing press during summer break.  My youngest son answered the home phone and after a short time called down the stairs to my wife telling her dad had left his wallet at the Whirl-A-Sage, a questionable massage parlor in downtown Lancaster, PA.  When I got home my wife looked at me with a serious look on her face and asked if I had my wallet with me.  I pulled it out of my pocket and then she told me about the call.  Called back and told them it wasn't me!  A year or two later a collection agency called and said they were trying to collect $700 for a bill that was submitted to them for Larry W. Woods.  Seems I had spent five days in the Lancaster General Hospital psychiatric unit and hadn't paid the bill.  My wife took care of that problem for me when they checked the date of birth.  A few years after that the Sheriff from Willow Street, a nearby town, called and told Carol I needed to come in and settle an issue they were investigating.  Once again she took care of that, knowing by now exactly what to tell whomever called.  Not long after that we saw in the birth section of the newspaper that my wife and I had just had twins.  Wasn't long after that we began to get invitations in the mail to join the twins club.  Also started getting coupons for free baby material.  And then, one day a call came from a veterinarian in Elkton, Maryland who said my wife had passed a bad check and they found my name in a Pennsylvania phone book and called to tell me to send another check.  Starting to see how annoying this can become.  And then a call came once again from the Sheriff in Elkton telling me about a summons for my arrest due to a bad check passed at a home improvement store in Elkton.  We called the store and talked to a gentleman who said he waited on Larry Woods who said he had just returned from Iraq and wanted to pay for his materials with a check.  He wasn't supposed to take a check, but did so since he felt bad for me.  Check bounced and I was wanted by the Sheriff's office.  Seems the salesman pressed charges since he was made to pay the bill since company policy didn't allow him to take a check in the first place.  Asked for the full name of Larry W. Woods and when they said Larry Wayne Woods, Jr. I told them my middle name was William.  Date of birth wasn't the same either.  Today Carol told me it happened once more.  We weren't given the loan since Larry W. Woods had not paid three years of state taxes in Pennsylvania.  We knew right away who it was!  I called my financial advisor and he was upset the bank didn't ask for Social Security numbers or date of birth of the fellow that hadn't paid their taxes.  I then called the bank and asked them.  They had no good reason, but realized by now it wasn't me who had not paid their taxes, since my wife had spent quite q bit of time on the phone with them telling about all the problems we have had over the years.   They did require me to stop and sign a paper saying I wasn't that Larry W. Woods whom they had checked.  Wasn't going to do so, but thought it was the easiest thing to do to put an end to it.  So...what's next?  Only time will tell.  But, if you see my name on the front page of the paper telling about my arrest, don't worry.   I'll be writing about it since it really won't be me.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "A Really Sick Joke? Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading and re-reading the story about a young man who was expelled from school last year and has now been ordered back to school by a Lancaster County Judge.  The newspaper reporter,  Alex Geli, wrote in a story in LNP Always Lancaster: "In one Snapchat message, Jaden included a picture of another student with text superimposed on the image. 'I'm shooting up the school this week.  I can't take it anymore.  I'm DONE!'"  Another message said many students would "perish in the storm" and mentioned "tying up and eating students" Geli reported.  This all happened in the Manheim Township School District where I taught in the high school for 33 years.  The evening that the message was sent, it was read by another student who showed it to his father who happened to be a teacher at the high school.  He passed the message on to the administration which eventually found its way to the local police department.  Then the school Superintendent sent a message to  parents of all students in the school.  The young man, known in the newspaper as J.S. or Jaden, claimed it was all a joke or misunderstanding.  But, this isn't something to joke about.  And, if that was the case, he certainly is learning a lesson the hard way.  One that he will never forget, hopefully.  Last year there were 94 school gun violence incidents which was a record high since the collection of this data began in 1970.  A record 55 people were killed in school gun violence last year.  Now, that's not a joke to anyone.  And, did it all begin as a joke to someone?  Mannheim Township has a strict policy on social media as well as making terroristic threats and cyberbullying.  J.S. didn't seem to care when he sent the message.  Well, the school did care and expelled him from the school for good.  Yes, it made a difficult situation for the student and his parents.  But...so what!  The school district did exactly what it had to do.  It is their responsibility to protect all students as well as teachers and staff who work in the school environment.  Since I produce the Middle School and Intermediate School yearbooks, I am in the school quite often taking photographs.  I must sign in and wear an ID badge while in the school.  Each school has monitors in the building with a police presence in both the Middle School and High School.  Schools try their best to keep everyone in the school buildings safe and they MUST take every threat seriously, whether it be real or "a joke" as alleged in this case, or they wouldn't be doing their duty to the citizens in the school district.  And, when you have over 1,500 students in the high school, it is a daunting task.  If a student in the Middle School had sent a threatening message to another student, I would hope they would be removed from the school.  If I am going to walk the halls of the school to take photos, I don't want someone "shooting up the school".  I do feel safe knowing that the school district takes my safety seriously.  What I can't believe is that a judge can reverse the expulsion.  He said he didn't feel the school district provided sufficient evidence to back up the expulsion.  There were no bodies, no screaming and crying, no huddling in the classrooms.  Thank God there was none!  Perhaps it's because someone found out before it happened and expelled the culprit.  Other schools in the county are complaining about the judge's reversal saying it could be a chilling precedent.  I recently heard that the student and his family, who would have graduated this year, has decided not to return to the school.  He would have had to wait at least 30 days while the school decided if it would appeal the decision.  By then the school year would almost be over.  It is a sad occurrence that happened at Mannheim Township High School.  But, it could happen at any school.  I am glad how it turned out, but sad for the young man if it was "just a joke."  A really sick joke!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "An Alarming Experience" Story

It was an ordinary day.  3:00 am and my wife was tugging on my arm with the news that our house alarm is going off.  I finally realized what she was talking about after waking from my deep sleep.  What to do?  The story goes way back to 1996 when we moved to our Beach House on Harrington Drive.  Our daughter was still living with us at the time and she said she was scared to be in our large new house without us home.  So, we decided to get a security system.  Called ADT and before long we had sensors on all doors and glass break units on both floors.  After a year or two I had a need to call the company and found they were located in Georgia.  Decided to look for a local company and found Yarnell Security.  Great local company that is very user friendly.  A year or two later, after my daughter had married and moved out of our house, my parents were house and pet sitting while we were on vacation and somehow set off the alarm.  Didn't know what to do even though I had written exactly what to do on a piece of paper for them.  I found out later that the local police arrived within a few minutes and cautiously came to the back door.  Saw mom and dad and shut off the alarm for them using my directions.  Then they told them I needed to have my license to have a security system displayed by the alarm box.  What license?  I called and they said they would give me a week to get the license and have it displayed or I would be cited.  I know...ignorance of the law isn't an excuse.  Well, the alarm was still going off when I grabbed a baseball bat and headed down the steps.  Lights were turned on and all doors were locked.  By now the alarm company was calling asking if I needed help.  My wife said she would feel better if the police came, so the alarm company called them.  Two officers searched the house and found nothing, but while they were here they got a message saying a woman had called in the next block saying someone was walking around on her first floor.  Off they went.  The alarm company called and said the alarm says that the circuit leading to the garage was the culprit.  Then I saw that part of the unit had come loose, probably from closing and opening the door for over 20 years.  I corrected the problem, but the alarm company arrived the following day to check to see if it was OK.  The repairman found that the back door sensor wasn't the problem.  A connection in the basement panel had separated due to a break in the wire.  He fixed it and off he went.  We've talked about discontinuing the alarm, but feel safer knowing that someone is watching out for us and responds quickly if we don't call them within a minute of two.  Oh yeah, luckily I now have my license right next to the alarm, since the officers checked it out when they made their recent visit.  The sound of the alarm would scare just about anyone away, but I tend to sleep to soundly to hear it until someone is pounding on my arm.  And, pound she did.  It as another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "In Her Own Words" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just added a few more books onto my Kindle for an upcoming vacation.  Picked up the latest books by James Patterson et al as well as Stuart Woods.  Also added one from an old favorite whom I haven't read lately, Clive Cussler.  Began a search for one more and decided to pick a local author or a story about Lancaster and found a book called "Love, Murder, and Corruption in Lancaster County."  

Sounded interesting until I began to read some of the reviews about the book.  Seems it was a story about Lancaster native Lisa Michelle Lambert who was sentenced to life in prison for the 1991 killing of a romantic rival, Laurie Show.  For years she has been complaining that her trial and lawyers weren't fair to her.  The author of this new book, which was recently published, is a Philadelphia attorney named David Brown.  The book describes the December 20, 1991 murder of Laurie Show in her East Lampeter Township condo by Lisa, Tabitha Buck and Lawrence Yunkin. Yunkin pleaded guilty to his part in the murder and served his 10-20 year sentence.  The two girls are both still in jail and probably will be for the rest of my lifetime.  In the late 1990s, Lambert was released when a Federal Judge agreed with her that the prosecutors tampered with evidence and framed her.  Wasn't long before she was back in jail once again.  Since that time she has filed appeal after appeal which eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Today she sits in a Massachusetts prison cell.  The reviews of the book don't tell much that I haven't read over and over again in the newspapers during the trial and eventual appeals.  Lisa still says she was framed by the police who gang-raped her earlier in the 1990s before the murder was committed.  She claims she was controlled by her two accomplices and that she was actually trying to help Show. Evidently in the new book's preface, Lisa tells of her nearly Amish upbringing and wonderful parents and the fact that after a 2010 TV story about her life aired decided to tell her story once again.  And that is done by Philadelphia lawyer and author David Brown.  He says he was intrigued by her story and proposed co-authoring her version of events once more.  Mr. Brown has practiced law for more than 20 years, but says his passion is writing books.  He claims the book is primarily in Lisa's words with a few commentaries by himself.  Brown attempts to discredit Pennsylvania judges in the book and tells that just about everyone wants to keep her in jail.  He claims that if a wrongly convicted person persists enough, eventually they will be exonerated.  His book on Amazon is Lisa Michelle Lambert's latest attempt to claim her innocence.  He does say that since Lambert is barred by law from profiting from the crime, he will receive all the profits from the book.  OK, now I get it!  I think I'll look for another book for vacation rather than pay someone for something I have read over and over again in the local newspaper.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "All Hell Breaks Lose in Manheim Township" Story

It was an ordinary day.   Remembering when I first began my teaching career at Manheim Township High School, the school from which I had graduated in 1962.  The year was 1967 and my Industrial Arts department chairman was Mr. George Ehemann.  Mr. Ehemann was a very tall, well-built man who had played semi-pro basketball.  The type of teacher that demanded respect and got it.  One of his students whom he had in his drawing class during my first year under him was a boy named William Murry.  William's father was a wealthy businessman and builder in Manheim Township.  So, William was a rather obnoxious and contentious student.  He felt entitled since his family was wealthy.  Well, Mr. Ehemann couldn't stand him and every day he had him in class he had to tell me about what he did that day and how much self-control it took to keep from throwing him to the floor and trouncing him.  Mr. Ehemann died many years ago, but if he were still around today he would love what is happening to William.  Seems that William Murray is now the President of the Manheim Township School Board and is in big trouble.  In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania all the individual school districts are independent from one another.  Each is run by a School Board which elects a Superintendent to run the district for them.  Mr. Murray has been the President for a few years now and the Superintendent of the district has recently resigned.  No one knows for sure why because it has been kept a secret from the residents of Manheim Township.  The school board had recently paid $71,000 for a six-month investigation into problems related to the Superintendent.  That's $71,000 of taxpayer funds; and some of that is my money!  And that, my readers, is not allowed under what are known as the Sunshine Laws of Pennsylvania.  The Lancaster Newspaper found out that the school board was holding secret meetings for months and the Lancaster County District Attorney began an investigation into the matter.  But, the obnoxious, contentious, belligerent and entitled Mr. Murry doesn't seem to care.  He does whatever he wants to do .... with my money!  So, one of his board members secretly taped a recent executive session where Mr. Murry told board members he would make individual private phone calls to board members to avoid public discussion on the hiring of a search committee to find a new Superintendent.  This all led to the big headline in the morning paper a few days later which shouted: RESIDENTS TELL BOARD: RESIGN.  At the regular monthly meeting this past week a huge crowd of residents attended and really gave it to the board.  They called the board's actions "reprehensible, deeply troubling and embarrasing" to the citizens of Manheim Township.  Members of the crowd called for the resignation of Mr. Murry and also District Solicitor who has been giving the school board advice on what to do.  A few of the board members apoligized to the crowd for what was happening.  One of those, Mr. Todd Heckman, was recently escorted out of a youth basketball game for arguing with the referrees.  A good role model as a school board member!  His name should be added to the list of those called on to resign from the board.  And what does Mr. Murry have to say after his voice could be heard in the secret tape telling board members of his upcoming private calls to each one and being told he should resign?  He replied that he hadn't given much consideration to residents' calls for his resignation.  A petition, launched by several residents on the website Change.org has garnered quite a few signatures as well as a few comments.  Here's hoping that something good will come from all the negativity that Mr. Murry and the school board of Manheim Township has created in the past few months.  Only time will tell.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.