Photo by Curt Werner

Dillsburg VFW volunteers and staff.

Breakfast with Santa

The Dillsburg VFW Post 6771 held its annual Breakfast with Santa last Saturday. More than 125 children and 177 adults were served breakfast by volunteers, had a chance to see Santa and received a gift and stuffed animal. Gifts were donated by Follmer Excavating, Jim and Judy Follmer, VFW Auxilary, Keith and Alicia Shanahan, Nancy and Barry Folk, Norton Hodgson, Al and Shirley Phipps, Beth and Scott Augenbaugh, Tom Keefer, VFW Riders and the Marine Corp League.

Mackenzie Myers, 6 months old, see Santa for the first time, pulling on his beard.

No tax hike in store

Peggie Williams

Carroll Township residents will see no increase in their local taxes in 2020. Supervisors passed a budget with over $3.6 million of expenditures, just over $2.2 million of that for the police force.

Proposed road work in the budget for next year includes base repairs and resurfacing for Spring Lane Road from Gettysburg Pike to the point of previous overlay, the resurfacing of Hidden Springs Road from Chestnut Grove Road to the end, and crack repair and micro-surfacing in the Logan Downs and Fairway Hills developments.

In other business, Northern York County Fire Rescue was given a $7,500 donation toward the $18,565 they spent on repairs to their ladder truck. According to Fire Chief Scott McClintock, he was asking all the municipalities served by his organization to share the costs and felt that $5,000 would be Carroll Township’s fair share. At the time of this meeting he had no firm commitments from any of the others.

Supervisor Brian Schmick made the motion to give $7,500 stating, “They’ll just come back to us for more anyway if they don’t get enough.”

Supervisor Bruce Trostle voted against the donation. In an interview after the meeting he said he felt the amount was too much, and he was concerned that the fire company was depending on the municipalities and not doing enough to raise money on their own.

Supervisors officially endorsed the concept plan that would reroute Route 74 through property in northern Franklin Township near Glenwood Road to Carroll Township just south of the Northern school complex and eventually to Old York Road, thus removing it from both Dillsburg and Wellsville boroughs. This plan has been proposed by Carroll Township Supervisor Kelley Moyer-Schwille, who has been meeting with officials from other local municipalities and PennDOT and York County to get them on board. She stressed this is just an idea in its early stages.

Moyer-Schwille also reported that a traffic study done at the intersection of Route 15 and Mountain Road/Harrisburg Street showed that a left-hand turn signal in the east/west directions is warranted. The report was formally accepted by her fellow supervisors and will be forwarded to PennDOT.

Township engineer Phil Brath was given permission to seek increases in the surety bonds for the following developments: Carroll Village Phase 1A, Stone Bridge Crossing Phase 1, Logan Meadow Phase 1 and 2 and Chadwick Meadows. These moneys are generally in the form of a letter of credit from a lending institution and are held to make sure developers finish the public infrastructure in their development. According to township solicitor Duane Stone, the township is legally entitled to increase these bonds by ten percent each year if it’s warranted to cover any inflationary rises to the cost of that infrastructure construction.

Supervisors authorized staff to make a formal offer on a 20-acre piece of land along the Yellow Breeches to be used for recreation. There is potential grant money to help pay for the purchase and property development if the deal goes through.

Police Chief Tom Wargo was given permission to order a new patrol car using funds set aside for that purpose in the 2020 budget. It will take up to six months to get the car order, delivered, equipped and on the road.

Supervisors Andy Ritter and Rich Rocco said farewell as they ended their meeting as township officials.

Ritter said he had learned a lot and enjoyed the experience, especially meeting the residents. Rocco agreed.

Photo by Curt Werner

Neck and neck race in the Men's 200-Yard IM between Northern's Noah Spencer, who placed second with a time of 2:08.20, and Trinity's Tommy Chase, placing first with a time of 2:06.12.

Bears split against rivals

Joe Guty

The rivalry continues. Last Tuesday, Dec. 17, Northern swimmers and divers clashed with Trinity/Camp Hill (combined schools co-op) at the Keystone Aquatics Center in Carlisle.

The Mid Penn Colonial Division battle saw the Polar Bear Boys team post a 91-78 victory while the Shamrock girls edged Northern, 88-82. The girls overall record stands at 1-3 and Colonial Division mark is 1-1.

“It was a tough loss for us to a very good team,” said Head Coach Bill Resser.

The boys squad improved to 3-1 and 2-0.

“In the boys meet, despite our only winning two events, our depth really carried the day,” added Resser. “Our second through fifth place finishes won the meet for us. It was a tremendous team effort.”

Personal records were plentiful as Northern recorded 40 more career best times, four first legal swims, seven in-season best times, three season fastest relays (Girls 200 Freestyle, Boys 200 Freestyle and Boys 400 Freestyle) and several season best times.

Top placers in the meet: Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay: Jane Secord, Elena Stonge, Ann Secord and Raina Diziki (second place in 2:12.59) and Elizabeth Anthony, Jenna Breon, Madison Thatcher and Lauren Sober (third in 2:20.11); Boys 200 Medley Relay: Shawn Cutright, Sondo Yoon, Aric Graham and Andrew Chavey (second place in 1:54.96) and Tristian Wise, Jackson Hazen, Aaron Argot and Matthew Langland (third in 2:12.29); Girls 200 Freestyle: Abigail Soerens (first place in 2:09.90 and CC Knox (fourth in 2:26.88); Boys 200 Freestyle: Ben Clarke (second place in 1:53.69) and Gavin Stuckey (third in 1:58.29); Girls 200 IM: Evangeline Soerens (second place in 2:25.33) and Audrey Weaver (third in 2:29.12); Boys 200 IM: Noah Spencer (second place in 2:08.20), Sondo Yoon (third in 2:12.42) and Ryan Boyce (fourth in 2:18.23); Girls 50 Freestyle: Jenna Breon (second place in 29.62) and Raina Diziki (fourth in 31.04); Boys 50 Freestyle: Shawn Cutright (second place in 24.97) and Andrew Chavey (third in 25.77); Girls’ 100 Butterfly: Jackie Brettschneider (third place in 1:09.48) and Ann Secord (fourth in 1:15.40); Boys 100 Butterfly: Gavin Stuckey (second place in 58.62) and Ryan Boyce (third in 1:02.40); Girls 100 Freestyle: Jane Secord (second place in 1:05.38) and Madison Thatcher (fourth in 1:08.79); Boys 100 Freestyle: Noah Spencer (first place in 51.70) and Aaron Argot (third in 1:00.25); Girls 500 Freestyle: Abigail Soerens (second place in 5:40.90) and Audrey Weaver (third in 6:10.92); Boys 500 Freestyle: Ben Clarke (second place in 5:17.94) and Sondo Yoon (third in 5:19.84); Girls 200 Freestyle Relay: Jackie Brettschneider, Evangeline Soerens, Audrey Weaver and Abigail Soerens (first place in 1:50.86) and Jenna Breon, Madison Thatcher, Lauren Sober and CC Knox (third in 2:05.76); Boys 200 Freestyle Relay: Shawn Cutright, Gavin Stuckey, Noah Spencer, and Ben Clarke (second place in 1:35.66) and Aric Graham, Matthew Langland, Aaron Argot and Ryan Boyce (third in 1:45.45); Girls 100 Backstroke: Jackie Brettschneider (second place in 1:06.34) and Ann Secord (third in 1:09.95); Boys 100 Backstroke: Shawn Cutright (second place in 1:07.24).

Photo by Curt Werner

Aric Graham swims the third leg of the Men's 200-Yard Medley Relay.

Photos by Curt Werner

Hailey Irwin drives hard to the basket against James Buchanan in the fourth-quarter of play.

Defense proves key to victory

Joe Guty

An aggressive defense, combined with overall team speed and intensity, proved to be the difference in the Northern High School Girls varsity basketball team’s 49-40 win against James Buchanan High School The Mid Penn Colonial Division match-up last Friday night, Dec. 20, pushed the Lady Polar Bears to the .500 mark with a 3-3 overall record on the young season.

"The girls gave 100 percent tonight and we were able to get to loose balls and rebounds, which created the number of possessions we needed," said Head Coach Paula Clendaniel. "Katie Ryan provided good floor leadership and helps us handle the ball when we are pressed. She created some good offensive opportunities for her teammates."

Northern led 23-16 at halftime and 34-28 after three quarters. A 15-12 fourth quarter run, with clutch free throws down the stretch, ensured the win. Freshman Hailey Irwin led Northern with 11 points and senior Jaeden Longenecker added nine. Juniors Katie Ryan (8) and Quinlyn Fisher (7) also contributed with sophomore Kawena Jacobs (6), senior Allie French (5) and senior Jonna Rinehart (3).

Fisher had 10 total rebounds followed by Ryan (9), Jacobs (6), Longenecker (4), Irwin (3), Wenger (3), French (2) and Rinehart (1). Ryan and Irwin also had three steals apiece.

"We depend on the combination of Allie French, Jonna Rinehart and Haley Irwin to put tremendous ball pressure on our opponents,” added Clendaniel. “Tonight, was another night that their combined efforts created the turnovers we needed to get some offense off of our defense. It was also great to have Jaeden Longenecker back from an early season knee injury and she knocked down some timely threes for us tonight."

Northern fell to Susquehannock 55-30 in a non-league, road game on Wednesday, Dec. 18. In the first quarter, the squad played well against the hosts before the Lady Warriors switched up their defense. Susquehannock also hit several three-pointers to prevail over Northern. Quinlyn Fisher and Jaeden Longenecker paced Northern with seven points apiece. Also contributing: Katie Ryan (5), Hailey Irwin (4), Allie French (3), Kawena Jacobs (3) and Hope Wenger (1). Northern shot an improved 67 percent from the free throw line. Kaelyn Duvall led Susquehannock and all scorers with 15 points. Dylan Elliott (10) and Kelsey Gemmill (9) were their other top scorers.

On the schedule: Northern has a home game on Monday, Dec. 30 against Middletown High School The Lady Polar Bears start the new year at home against Big Spring High School on Friday, Jan. 3. Northern then faces Shippensburg on the road on Tuesday, Jan. 7 and then hosts Carlisle on Thursday, Jan. 9.

Not resting on any laurels, many tough teams loom ahead on the Northern schedule.

"We will need to get back to work as we prep for a very solid Middletown team," added Clendaniel early in the week.