By: MICHELLE REIFF AND WENDY KOMANCHECK Special to the Review, Staff Writer

For some voters it was business as usual for a primary with a presidential race. For others, it was a heated General Assembly race that drew their attention to Tuesday’s election.

Though voter turnout was low in area polls, in some locations only 10 percent reporting, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney received the most votes statewide as expected. In the Ephrata and Cocalico school districts, Romney received the most votes, with 2,397, followed by Rick Santorum with 917, Ron Paul with 759 and Newt Gingrich, with 618. The GOP will decide if Romney gets the nomination when the chosen delegates attend and vote at the Republican National Convention in August.

But for voters in Adamstown, Denver and Clay, East and West Cocalico townships the race for the Republican nomination for representative in the 37th Legislative District of Pennsylvania’s General Assembly was the one everyone was talking about. Mindy Fee received the nomination, with 4,264 votes district-wide, beating Black’s 2,514 and Barry McFarland’s 521 .

Some voters believe the outcome was a result of mudslinging between candidates.

By: LES MARTZALL Review Correspondent, Staff Writer

(Front row, left to right) Mark Eby, Aaron Fisher; (back, l-r) Joe Zook, David Lapp and Paul Beyer display some of the 1,500 gallons of donated milk. (Photo by Les Martzall)

Members of the National Dairy Producers Organization, Inc. have donated 1,500 gallons of milk to Blessings of Hope, a local charity with multiple locations in the Ephrata area.

The National Dairy Producers Organization has launched its 2012 National Agenda which includes having the Dairy Pricing Association donate milk to charity as part of a program to help maintain a level of milk production that meets the needs of the consumer while stabilizing the price paid for raw milk to member dairy producers.

"Our long range goal is to provide millions of tons of milk and milk products to the needy of our country for distribution by the very people who are daily involved in the work to feed hungry people," said local NDPO board member and dairy producer Mark Eby of Intercourse. "We encourage more dairy producers in PA and across the country to join us in this important effort to strengthen the dairy industry, by helping to meet the needs of organizations like Blessing of Hope as they work to meet the needs of hungry families, mothers and children."

As good as Ephrata has been over the last few years, it has never beaten Manheim Township in boys lacrosse.

The Mounts will get another opportunity Thursday (7 p.m.) at home with a lot on the line when the Streaks make their first-ever trip to Mountaineer Field. Barring any upsets over the final week of the regular season, Thursday’s rematch of last year’s L-L finals will more than likely determine the league’s regular season championship.

Ephrata enters the game unbeaten in league play at 8-0 and is 10-1 overall on the season. Township is also undefeated in league play and is 10-4 overall heading into this winner-take-all game.

Monday night at home, Ephrata prepped for Thursday with a convincing 16-4 triumph over Cedar Crest. The Mounts got out of the gates quickly, jumping to a quick 8-0 lead after one quarter and coasted in from there.

Eight different players scored for Ephrata, led by Josh Frey’s four-goal performance. Joey Sellers returned to the lineup after missing several games and produced three tallies while Tucker Keefer, Dakota Keefer and Evan Hornberger each had two goals apiece.

Rounding out the scoring for the Mounts were Nate Muckle, Colin Cammauf and Teagan Pfautz.

The Cocalico girls lacrosse team keeps chugging right along and Tuesday night claimed another victory under the lights at Eagle Stadium.

The Lady Eagles, playing their first game of the season in the stadium, jumped out to a 9-3 halftime lead over visiting Warwick and coasted in for a 14-8 victory.

Cocalico (12-0) used a balanced scoring attack to knock off the Warriors. Kari Longstaff had three goals and four assists while Avery Longstaff scored four and assisted on two other goals to pace the Lady Eagles.

Other scorers for Cocalico included: Cortney Gensemer (3 goals, 1 assist); Katelyn Costanza (2 goals, 2 assists); Courtney Forry; and Sam Marino. Megan glover added an assist for Cocalico, which outshot the Warriors, 20-12.

Emily Harting and Jess Talbot each scored a pair of goals to lead Warwick.

In addition to Tuesday’s game, Cocalico also was in action Friday at Hempfield where the Lady Eagles captured a 20-10 victory over the Black Knights.

Cocalico scored 10 goals in each half to close out Hempfield as Avery Longstaff scored eight goals while Gensemer added five goals and three assists to lead the way in the win.

By: TODD RUTH Review Sports Editor truth.eph@lnpnews.com, Staff Writer

Monday’s track meet between Cocalico and Ephrata had everything.

Not only did the meet feature a pair of backyard rivals, some of the best athletes in the county were performing on the track and in the field behind the Ephrata Middle School.

And the weather was horrible. Sleet, in fact. But that didn’t deter what turned out to be an entertaining meet that ended in a boys/girls split among the schools.

In girls action, Ephrata clinched at least a share of the Section Two title with a dominant performance. The Lady Mounts (5-0 section, 6-0 overall), who can clinch the title outright with a win at home in the season finale next Monday afternoon, took 16 of the 18 events contested to sprint past Cocalico, 104-45.

On the boys’ side, the Eagles took control in the pits, sweeping all of the field events to key an 87-63 victory.

"When we first arrived at the meet I teased (Ephrata Coach John) Keller that the Cocalico-Ephrata meet is supposed to have much better weather," Cocalico Coach Ron Derr said. "With the weather being the way it was I was very pleased with the competitiveness and performance of our kids. They were preparing well for their events and competed well throughout the meet."

By: TODD RUTH Review Sports Editor truth.eph@lnpnews.com, Staff Writer

The Section Three girls’ soccer race is officially going to go down to the wire.

Monday evening, things got a whole lot tighter as Cocalico and Manheim Central played to a 1-1 draw in Denver while Donegal was cruising 3-0 against Lebanon.

The good news locally is the Lady Eagles currently sit on top with just four games to go, and they control their own destiny. Cocalico (9-1-1, 28 pts.) holds a slight one-point lead over second-place Donegal (9-2-0, 26) while Manheim Central (7-3-1, 22) sits in third heading into the final week.

The Lady Eagles can be assured of a title with wins at Lebanon Wednesday, home vs. Northern Lebanon Friday (7 p.m.), at Donegal next Tuesday (4 p.m.) before closing the season with a night game next Thursday at home vs. Garden Spot.

With his team sitting on top, Cocalico Coach Dan Hogan said Tuesday the continuing focus of his team is to take each game one at a time.

By: TODD RUTH Review Sports Editor truth.eph@lnpnews.com, Staff Writer

The Ephrata and Cocalico boys tennis teams both closed out the regular season in impressive fashion last Wednesday as the Eagles swept Penn Manor while Ephrata did the same against Elizabethtown.

In Cocalico’s 7-0 victory, Drew Weinhold, Zach Weinhold, Evan Hinckley and Solomon Thorpe all posted singles wins. In doubles action, the Cocalico teams of Weinhold/Weinhold, Austin Noll/Simeon Thorpe, and Luke Diciano/ Charles Wolf all were winners as well.

Cocalico closed out the regular season at 8-6 overall (5-5 Section One).

"Reflecting on this 2012 tennis season, I would say that we are pleased with our (season)," Cocalico Coach Todd Snyder said Tuesday. "We played up to our potential and were successful against the teams we hoped we could beat, and we lost to the teams who are the perennial tennis powers. We had an unexpected loss to McCaskey in which two matches were decided by a few points, but we beat Elco, who went on to finish second in Section Two. An upset of one of the top teams in Section One would have made our season one to remember."

Section Two is turning into a two-team race for the title between Ephrata and Solanco.

With just six baseball games remaining, the Mounts hold a slight half-game lead over the Mules heading into Friday’s showdown between the two teams at War Memorial (7 p.m.).

Tuesday night, the Mounts forged ahead of the idle Mules with a 10-5 victory at McCaskey (stats were unavailable at presstime). With the win, Ephrata now owns an 8-2 record in Section Two and is 10-4 overall. Solanco, which faces Section One leader Hempfield Thursday afternoon in Landisville, is currently 7-2 in section play (9-2 overall) with one of its two losses coming in a 14-3 verdict to Ephrata in Quarryville back on April 2.

This past week, Ephrata split a pair of games against the top two teams in Section One.

Last Wednesday at defending L-L champion Cedar Crest, the Mounts broke a 3-3 tie with three runs in the top of the ninth. The Falcons countered with two in the bottom half but Ephrata held on for the 6-5 victory.

Jeremy Franck pitched four innings of scoreless relief to earn the win on the mound for Ephrata. Andre Hoover and Parke Martin had two hits each to pace the Mounts offensively.

Ruth E. Young, 93, formerly of Adamstown, Ephrata and Belle Plaine, Minn, died Tuesday, April 17, 2012, in Riverwood Center, Jacksonville, Fla.

Born in Shillington, a daughter of the late Martin and Carrie (Peters) Heft, she was a 1937 graduate of Shillington High School. She last worked for Science Press, Ephrata, and earlier in the garment industry. A member since baptism of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Adamstown, she later belonged to St. John’s Lutheran Church, Belle Plaine.

Surviving are daughters: Rosalind Buhman, of Belle Plaine, Minn; and Eileen Senesac, of Jacksonville, Fla.; three granddaughters; seven great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.

She was also predeceased by her former husband: Harold Young; a brother; and a sister.

Graveside services were held April 24 in Cedar Grove Cemetery, Adamstown, with the Rev. Sandra L. Gideon officiating.

Kindly omit flowers. Contributions may be sent to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Box 385, Adamstown, PA 19501 and St. John’s Lutheran Church, 18 Chestnut St., Belle Plaine, MN 56011.

Good Funeral Home, Reamstown, is honored to be serving Ruth’s family. For more information, visit goodfuneral.com.

Pastor Edgar D. Wert, Sr., 86, of Ephrata, passed away Saturday, April 21, 2012, at the Ephrata Community Hospital.

Born in Millersburg, he was the son of the late Harry and Flora (Deibler) Wert and was the husband of Lorraine B. (Spangler) Wert. They were married for 62 years.

Pastor Wert graduated from Lebanon Valley College (1950) and received his master’s degree from United Theological Seminary in 1954. He was ordained as an elder in 1954. His appointments were Brunnerville, Lancaster: Covenant, Ephrata: First United Methodist (UM); Reading; Covenant; Reading: Ebenezer; Birdsboro: Christ UM; Brownstown: Emmanuel; Palmyra: Gravel Hill; and Hope UM. He was a member of Annual Conference, retiring in 1992.

He had served during WWII in the Army Air Force as sergeant.

Pastor Wert loved the mountains, reading, traveling and spending time with his grandchildren.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by three sons: Edgar, husband of Marietta (Gustantino) Wert Jr., of Reading; Geoffrey, husband of Diana (Schaeffer) Wert, of Reading; and Timothy, husband of Carolyn (Elmer) Wert, of Newtown; a daughter, Sharon Owens, of Reading; seven grandchildren: Wendy, wife of Kevin Button; Scott Owens; Jeffrey Owens, Thomas Owens; Jonathan Wert; Emily Wert; and Christine Wert; and two great-grandchildren: Shelby and Madison Button.