By Tom Murse
Published Nov 14, 2005 13:06
The annual folk-art show. The tour of homes. The trombone concert. Christmas in the Park.
But residents of this proud, tradition-rich town are rattled. In a matter of five days, separate incidents of extreme violence have left a mother and father dead, and a police officer seriously wounded.
“It’s devastating. Disheartening,” said Ron Reedy, 66, a lifelong resident and president of the committee planning the town’s 250th anniversary bash next year. “You think you live in a quiet, peaceful community. You think it’s not going to happen here. But it does.”
Another lifelong resident, 61-year-old retiree Mike Hoffman, said: “What’s happened in the last few days is a tragedy. It gives this beautiful community a sour note.
“In a town like this, the big thing had been smashing pumpkins at Linden Hall,” said Hoffman, who was sipping coffee at an East Main Street cafe this morning.
Retiree Bert Concklin, 70, was reading the news at a coffee shop on North Broad Street early this morning. He moved to East Main Street a year and a half ago from Alexandria, Va., because Lititz is “robust and vital in its institutions.”
That violence has shaken its residents not once, but twice, in recent days, he said, is “disquieting.”
“Most reasonable and sophisticated people believe that we live in a society where violence and the use of firearms is really prevalent, and our younger people today have been given a pass too many times,” Concklin said.
“But when it manifests itself in a small town like this, it can be overwhelming,” he said. “You don’t want to overly romanticize Lititz, or any other small town, but this stuff happens. It is a form of losing your innocence.
“No small town — even Lititz — can escape,” he said.
Lititz residents are clearly proud of their town, and some turn defensive when asked about the shootings. One woman, who observed a reporter asking questions of locals, remarked in passing: “We have a safe place here.”
Another man, 80-year-old Larry Cataldi of Woodcrest Avenue, said the separate shootings were nothing more than “isolated incidents.”
“This is a quaint town. Everything is so quiet,” he said.
Ed Brophy, 51, who moved to Lititz from Boca Raton, Fla., almost nine years ago to operate the General Sutter Inn, said residents of the town are incredulous and mournful “that something so horrific has happened in such a short amount of time.”
He said residents are also uncomfortable with the national exposure because of the violence.
“People take some pride in the fact that this area has been somewhat immune to the problems that are associated with other parts of the country,” said Brophy.
“In truth, there are always underlying problems in any community,” he said. “In truth, I think that Lititz is not immune from these kinds of scenarios. But the town in general should not feel harmed in any way by the occurrence.”
Lifelong resident Bill Dussinger, 68, said that while Lititz and surrounding Warwick Township have grown in population, the town has remained mostly the same.
“We have a lot more people. Different people. But it’s still a wonderful community to live in. We happen to have had two things in a row that bring attention. I don’t think it’s a trend or it means anything,” said Dussinger, of Sussex Place.
“Those things occur and it’s just an unfortunate thing,” he said.
Others aren’t so sure.
Reedy, who is planning next year’s town celebration, thinks Lititz’s character has in fact changed in recent years.
“People have not identified with the historical significance of the community — not that they totally have to — but it was founded by the Moravians. We’ve move forward. We’ve grown.
“It has brought many changes to the once quiet, conservative community of Lititz,” Reedy said.
