SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 2022 n $3.00 n LANCASTERONLINE.

COM

Valiant effort
Penn State football team comes
up short against Arkansas
in the Outback Bowl
n Sports, Page C1
TM

LIVING NATION
Angie Shell, who started Snow and icy temperatures Today’s coupon value

$148
special effects school at the compound misery for residents n See
start of the pandemic, is now of Colorado suburbs already Page A2
a Hollywood makeup artist. reeling from a wildfire’s effects. for details.
n Page E1 n Page A9

C A P I TO L R I OT A F T E R M AT H PANDEMIC

LANCASTER COUNTY TIES

Back to
SILENCE SURROUNDS school
INSURRECTION doubts
Holiday vacations end with
variant raging at record levels
NEW YORK TIMES
In two short weeks, as the year closed out,
the omicron variant drove coronavirus case
counts to record levels, upended air travel
and left gaping staffing holes at police de-
partments, firehouses and hospitals.
And that was at a
time many people
INSIDE were off for the
Results of millions
of rapid at-home
holiday season.
COVID-19 tests are rarely Now comes Mon-
reported to public health day, with millions
departments, foiling an of Americans hav-
accurate count of cases. ing traveled back
Page A4 home to start
school and work
again, and no one is sure of what comes next.
Most of the nation’s largest school districts
have decided to forge ahead and remain
open, at least for the time being, citing the
toll that remote learning has taken on stu-
dents’ mental health and academic success.
And the rising number of cases has not yet
been followed by a proportionate increase in
hospitalizations and deaths, though hospi-
talizations have increased in recent days — a
sign that the omicron variant seems to cause
PANDEMIC, page A4

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Insurrections loyal to then-President Donald Trump rally Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. U.S. Capitol Police officers who were
attacked and beaten during the Capitol riot filed a lawsuit Aug. 26 against Trump, his allies and members of far-right extremist groups, accus-
ing them of intentionally sending insurrectionists to disrupt the congressional certification of the election in January. Five people from Lancaster
County have been charged with crimes ranging from violating curfew to unlawful entry to assaulting police.

Why did Lancaster County residents — including those arrested

— go to D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021? Here’s how we tried to find out.

A
KRISTON JAE BETHEL | THE NEW YORK TIMES

s the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was playing out A child receives a COVID-19 test Dec. 23 in Nor-
ristown. As businesses, schools, and families
on TVs, computer screens, smartphones and social media, LNP | end the holiday break to face a new pandemic
wave, some wonder whether life will ever be
LancasterOnline began scrambling to find locals who were there. We normal again.
knew many people from Lancaster County traveled to Washington,
D.C., to hear President Donald Trump speak. Thanks to social media, we knew
some of their names. They were witnesses to a momentous historical event. We DAN NEPHIN
wanted to know what their experience was. LNP | LANCASTERONLINE

Did they listen to Trump’s speech did they see? What did they think about 3 LOCAL KEY PLAYERS
at the “Stop the Steal” rally? Did they what took place? Why did they go?
MICHAEL LOPATIC SR.
heed his words when he asked them to But getting answers for the stories we
“walk down Pennsylvania Avenue” to were writing that day — and for many Michael Lopatic Sr., of
the Capitol? stories since — wasn’t easy. Manheim Township was
arrested at his home Feb. P.J. REILLY
As the live video from Washington We knew that many people traveled 3, 2021, and accused of LNP OUTDOORS WRITER
showed the violent confrontations to D.C. by bus from Elizabethtown. repeatedly punching a
at the Capitol, we wanted to know if Partnership for Revival, a Christian police officer in the head
county residents battled with police, or
if any entered the building? If so, what
nonprofit group based there, chartered
JAN. 6, page A6
during the insurrection.
Prosecutors also allege Trout season to
that he ripped the body
camera off another officer and later threw
it away, apparently trying to get rid of
open on same
evidence.

RELATED
SAMUEL LAZAR day across state
Video and still footage

T
COVERAGE on social media showed he Pennsylvania Fish and Boat
n How could so Samuel Lazar, 36, of
Commission this fall voted to do
many people believe Ephrata, spraying a
the 2020 presidential chemical irritant at police away with two separate trout season
election was stolen, and encouraging violence openers in the state.
that fraud was near the Capitol on Jan. Starting this year, trout season will open
rampant, that a 6, 2021. Law enforcement statewide on the first Saturday in April.
sitting president was agents arrested him at his That’s April 2.
denied reelection by Ephrata apartment July 26. He is charged
with assault and obstruction-related crimes.
Since the Mentored Youth Trout Day is
a vast conspiracy? always a week before the statewide opener,
Page A6
EDWARD MCALANIS that day will be March 26.
n PERSPECTIVE: According to the agency’s board of com-
On the one-year Edward McAlanis, 41, of East Cocalico
anniversary of the
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
Township, was arrested July 14, 2021, missioners, surveys conducted the past
Protesters try to break through a police barrier Jan. 6, 2021, at on charges related to trespassing inside couple years show anglers prefer having a
insurrection, three the Capitol in Washington. Reaching people from the county
columnists reflect the Capitol building Jan. 6, 2021. Friends single opening day rather than two.
who were there, let alone getting them to talk, has been chal- provided authorities with photographs of
on its implications lenging. For this story — almost 52 weeks since the events — “Thank you to the anglers of Pennsylvania
for the United States him in the Capitol that he had posted to for making their voices heard about trout
reporter Dan Nephin tried again to contact the nearly two dozen Facebook.
moving forward. Lancaster County residents we knew were in Washington that season and being a partner in this decision,”
Page F1 day, including four who ran for local office in 2021. Read about them and others, Page A7 TROUT SEASON, page A8

INDEX
CLASSIFIEDS ............................CL1
DEATHS REPORTED ............. D12
LIVING .......................................... E1
59 29 N
LOTTERY ....................................A2 PERSPECTIVE ............................ F1 TODAY’S WEATHER 227th Year, No. 200
MONEY.........................................D1 REAL ESTATE .......................... RE1 COPYRIGHT © LNP MEDIA GROUP, INC.
NATION & WORLD ..................A9 SPORTS........................................C1 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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