Medaled in attendance

nOn New Year's Eve, you got ready to ring in the New Year by banging pots and pans at midnight. Yes, some people fired shots into the air, but not as many as today.

nYour family's car did not have power steering.

nGetting pins for perfect attendance in Sunday school. The pins had links so you could wear them in a vertical row. I had so many that I looked like a South American general. What do you mean you don't believe that? If you attended another church on vacation, you picked up a visitor's card and had it signed by a church official to keep your streak going.

nSixteen Major League Baseball teams and a 154-game season; 10-game NFL seasons and six teams in the NHL.

nThe diner at Engleside. How long has that one been gone? Still stands, but as a motorcycle shop.

nThe Philadelphia Bulldogs of the Continental Football League.

n"Ramar of the Jungle" episodes on TV.

nWhen there were huge pre-dawn raids in Lancaster County to arrest those who possessed marijuana. I'm talking 50 and up arrests at a time.

nWhen making a turn, you used your "blinkers." You also remember a time when the driver put his arm out the window to signal a turn.

nYou needed permission to leave the table.

nYour parents never had a credit card.

And now, I turn the column over to Dave Jenkins, of Lititz, who remembers:

nBeing part of the crowd at North Queen and East Chestnut streets to hear presidential hopeful Richard Nixon deliver a campaign speech one morning in late October 1960.

nThe "cool" kids at my high school (Hempfield) bought their clothes at Jason's on West King Street, or at Parks on North Queen. My dad bought all of my clothing at Groff & Wolf on North Queen or at Watt & Shand; obviously I was never "cool."

nClarke's Diner on North Prince, next to the Fulton, was an excellent place to have breakfast. For coffee drinkers, they had wrapped sugar cubes, common in those days. My dad and I had breakfast there many times on Sunday mornings when I was supposed to be in Sunday school. Mom never fully endorsed those breakfast outings, but she understood the importance of our time together.

nIn the early '60s Lancaster had a new supermarket (Best Market) on the east end of Harrisburg Avenue at James Street. What made the store unique was having your bagged groceries carried to a pickup station on the west side of the parking lot, via a conveyor belt, and then loaded into your car by Best Market employees.

nAnd the No. 1 reason you know you're an old-timer is remembering when Pennsylvania was known as the "Safe Driver's State."

You'll hear more from Dave in later columns.

I get occasional letters from readers who think daughter Abigail is disrespectful to her father, because of the comments you see here.

Nothing could be further from the truth, and you can verify that with her Sunday school teachers Marcia Hess and Megan Frey.

What you don't see is how I pick on her. The other day the 17-year-old commented: "I should get paid for this harassment."n