HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1987-11-18, Page 5Briefly
By Jim Beckett
A few days ago I read a report
in the London Free Press about a
judge in Sarnia who granted con-
ditional discharges to five people
who had been charged with sho-
plifting.
This action from the judge
went against most of my right-
wing ideas on how justice
should be meted out in this
country. My income and liveli-
hood depends on retailers making
a profit and obviously shoplift-
ing is a major problem for many
merchants whether they're in
Sarnia or Exeter.
The immediate reaction was
the judge should be criticized for
his seemingly light sentences.
Why should these people go
free? If I were sitting on the
bench I could have done a much
better job. Justice according to
Beckett would be swift and
firm with the very fear of com-
ing up in front of me enough to
discourage anybody who was
thinking of taking up crime for a
carter.
In fact, I stuck with this opin-
ion for a few days until I over-
heard sports reporter Mark Bis-
set ask Yvonne Reynolds,
our expert on everything from
religion to hatching chickens,
what kind of person King Solo-
mon was to actually cut a baby
in half to settle a dispute be-
tween two women claiming to
be the child's mother.
Yvonne calmed Mark down
quite a bit when she assured him
Solomon didn't actually cut the
child in half ... he only threa-
tened to.
Our provincial court judge
Gary Hunter and our justice of
the peace Doug Wedlake
aren't usually faced with tough
decisions like those thrust upon
a king in Biblical times, but
nevertheless they have to be fair.
Our society frowns on minor
crimes like shoplifting and traf-
fic violations. But victims like
the retailers in Exeter and other
towns must be protected. Let's
pretend you're the judge on a
few imaginary examples. Read
the details of the cases carefully
and write in your sentence for
each crime before you read any
further.
Case #1. Your store has
been losing money for many
months due to theft. Chief Hardy
has found some of the stolen
merchandise and charges are
pending against a 15 -year-old
who has previously been in-
volved in minor vandalism.
What would your sentence be?
Please write your answer in the
spaces below.
Case #2.
Your child is walking down the
sidewalk when suddenly a fast-
moving car jumps the curb,
striking her and breaking a leg
so badly all hopes of that figure
skating career you dreamed about
are gone forever. The young
driver is known to associate with
a beer -drinking group of students
and admits to having a couple,
but is not legally impaired.
What is your decision?
Case #3. You've been raised
to respect life and always have
sided against those who argued
in favor of abortion. Dr. Henry
Morgentaler is in front of you
charged with many repeated of-
fenses against our laws on abor-
tion, the most recent being per-
forming an abortion on a healthy
person who wants to pursue a
career without children. Do you
punish Morgentaler or not?
Case IA. Chief Hardy rings
your doorbell with your 15 -year-
old in tow. He's been a handful;
He is basically a good child and
has only been involved in a few
minor scrapes, but now faces a
shoplifting charge. He didn't take
much but there is no question as
to his guilt. Now, what sentence
do think would be fair?
Case 2A. Your daughter,
who has always been a careful
driver, has caused fairly serious
injury to a young child with
your automobile. She hates al-
cohol but tells you peer pressure
made her let down her guard and
have a couple of drinks just be-
fore the accident. Your decision
could have an effect on her for
years to come. What will it be?
Case 3A. Your daughter has
just qualified to enter a prestig-
ious university to study medi-
cine. Graduating as valedictori-
an, she celebrated with her
classmates later that evening
and, in an action which was to-
tally out of character for her,
didn't fight off the advances of
her date and became pregnant.
Dr. Morgentaler is charged with
performing an illegal abortion
and your daughter is now free to
go back to school and pursue her
studies. Do you think Morgen-
taler should be punished.
These three cases are very sim-
plistic examples of the decisions
faced by judges every day. Each
case has two sides, a victim and,
many times, a decent person
who has made a mistake. How
do you match the punishment to
compensate for the crime?
A more severe punishment
still does not begin to compen-
sate most victims, and yet a
light slap on the wrist from our
judges does nothing to act as a
deterrent for other members of
our society. Thank heaven I'm
not a judge.
* * * *
Exeter Police chief Larry Har-
dy expects a new program de-
signed to help young offenders
will provide an alternate option
to sentencing by judges.
The Rebound program was
started by Sarnia City Police to
help young people who have
been caught shoplifting or com-
mitting wilful damage. Hardy
said, "the program is designed to
help first or second offenders
only, not the hard core type."
The chief said adult volun-
teers, possibly from service
clubs, will be needed to work
with the young people in a
room -type setting where the
problems can bo discussed. "Our
goal is prevention. Rebound
will help young people who, if
left alone, will cause more seri-
ous problems for their commu-
nity at a later date," the chief
added.
If the chief gets his way, his
department will be able to offer
the young offender a choice of
taking the Rebound program in-
stead of being charged with an
offense. Rebound is a 12 -week
course consisting of one pro-
gram per week.
At the moment, youths who
are convicted of doing wilful
damage or shoplifting can be
sentenced to performing several
hours of community work. Har-
dy doubts the effectiveness of
this as the young people are just
looking on it as punishment in-
stead of being educated that what
they did was wrong.
Hardy noted Exeter young peo-
ple in general are very good.
"Just look at how quiet Hal-
lowe'en was. It's just a few who
continually seem to be getting
into trouble," he said.
Shoplifting is a serious crime
in Exeter. If we can reduce it
we'll be helping people who
might graduate to even more se-
rious crimes and well be help -
the community as well," the
ctuef stated.
Titles
by Adrian Harte
Even though the world's electron-
ics companies are waging wars over
whose video machine format is
best, Exeter's video rental stores
find themselves far behind the front
lines and comfortably filling the
needs of area customers.
Oscar's Video and Records has re-
cently moved from the Valu -Mart
plaza to a downtown Main Street
location with double the floor space
of the former store.
"We can carry more titles," says
Karen Monck, who along with her
husband Dwight, has owned and run
Oscar's since March. However, al-
though there is now room for more
than 1,600 titles, Monck explains
that the extra room allowed for the
addition of a Granada rental fran-
chise.
I don't think you can make a liv-
ing on just videos," says Monck,
citing high costs for new releases
and price war competition from va-
riety stores. A new movie release
usually costs around $89 with a 12
percent federal tax on top, according
to Monck, which means that buy-
ing 10 copies of a very popular tide
will cost the store around $1,000.
The expense of video cassettes has
led many city stores to impose a
small fee for insurance with each
rental. Monck admits she has con-
sidered this, but credits her custom-
ers with being honest and resonable
about damaged tapes. She has not
yet charged anyone for a damaged
cassette.
"Most of our customers are regu-
lar customers and they're very nice
people."
Oscar's stocks titles in VHS for-
mat only because, as Monck points
out, that is what the customers
want.
"Most people own VHS machines
now," says Monck, adding that Os-
car's will stock VHS for the forseea-
ble future, "unless eight millimetre
catches on."
Oscar's also provides rentals of
VHS and eight millimetre camcor-
ders along with VHS players for
customers without VCRs.
Monck believes video rentals will
begin to seriously harm the box of-
fices of theatres now that releases
are coming to video so quickly.
"We've got a release date on Dirty
Dancing already," notes Monck of a
film presently touring the theatres,
but then she concedes rapid release
onto pay television will probably
harm the video rentals in turn.
She is not too concerned by the
competition from variety stores
such as Mac's, Becker's or Hasty
Market, because of their smaller se-
lection of titles, but agrees that the
Times -Advocate, November 18, 1987 Page 5
key to video
underpricing of those rentals, subsi-
dized by the variety store sales, is
hard on the full-time video stores.
However, Monck attributes this all
to the realities of business life.
"We keep movies in Shaw's in
Hensall for the same reason."
Patrick Knight, president of,Star
Time Video, also has few worries
about variety store competition be-
cause he.is able to offer customers
second and additional movies for 99
cents. He agrees he is the last store
in town to charge a membership
fee. If he decides to eliminate the
membership fee, he may no longer
offer top -run titles at the cut rate.
"Videos are 90 percent of our
business," says Knight, "You've
got to have titles, that's the trick."
Star Time's Exeter store houses
3,000 titles, and Knight boasts a to-
tal of 25,000 titles among Star
Time's 25 stores in Huron, Middles-
ex, Perth and Lambton counties, in-
cluding stores in Lucan, Grand
Bend, Zurich and Hensall.
Star Time is one of Exeter's few
businesses listed on the Toronto
Stock Exchange and plans to amal-
gamate with a western -Canada chain
of 35 stores.
Star Time buys only VHS titles,
has no Beta, and keeps a handful of
CED videodisc titles.
"A few people still have ma-
chines, it's not a large percentage of
our business," says Knight. Knight
does not want to bring in any new
formats to his store unless a large
demand arises.
"I'm not considering it as an op-
tion at this point," says Knight of
making popular movies available
on laserdisc, eight millimetre, or
Super VHS. He sees VHS as a
stable format well into the 1990s.
"As soon as you have more than
one format, production costs go
up."
Star Time presently spends
$700,000 every year on new releas-
es for its 25 stores and understanda-
bly does not want to duplicate re-
leases for different formats.
When asked which types of mo-
vies prove most popular with cus-
tomers, Knight replies that the
'shoot 'em up' videos rent the most
often. "Anything with Clint East-
wood will go, but a comedy is al-
ways good."
"You have customers who are in-
satiable, they watch everything,"
explains Knight about the large
number of titles which can be
classed as B movies. He refers to
them as filler to his stock of top -
run films.
Knight also rents VHS camcor-
ders, and sells televisions and stere-
os to supplement the rental busi-
New family bookstore
on Main Street
"Selah", a Hebrew word liberally
sprinkled throughout the Book of
Psalms, means "pause and reflect".
That's what Don and Susan Romphf
hope people will do as they browse
among the well-filled bookshelves
and displays of one of Exeter's new-
est stores, Sclah Family Books.
Besides the Christian -oriented
books, study material and Sunday
School and church supplies, the
store carries cook books, craft
books and authors such as L.M.
Montgomery.
Sclah Family Books also stocks
plaques, posters, giftware, and a
large assortment of quality greeting
cards, as well asmusic tapes. Ac-
companiment tapes can be obtained
on special order, and future plans
call for adding Christian videos to
the inventory next year.
In addition, Don operates taping
and rapid duplication equipment to
record speakers at meetings and sup-
ply tapes for sale afterward.
FAMILY
have opened their new
cards and giftware along
BOOKSTORE
Susan and Don Romphf, owners of Selah,
store on Main St. N. Exeter to sell books, plaques,
with other Christian -oriented materials
LIONS DEN - Children have a
special nook while parents shop.
While mother or dad are shop-
ping, youngsters can retreat to The
Lion's Den. Here, in a cosy nook
designed specifically for little ones,
the children can play with lion pup.
pets and other toys.
"We are here to serve all denomi-
nations. Each customer is impor-
tant, and we want to serve them,
whether by pointing out a helpful
book, providing a listening car, or
just letting them look around at the
titles and plaques and posters while
absorbing the atmosphere of our
store. We look forward to mcetirig
the people", Susan said.
The store represents a leap of faith
for the Romphfs. For the past five
years they had been investigating all
that is involved in managing a
Christian book store. In June of
1985, Don purchased Selah Mini-
stries from a London man who set
up book tables at Christian meet-
ings, conferences, seminars and
similar events.
For the next two -and -one-half
years Don hauled books all around
the countryside while holding down
a full-time job at GM Diesel in
London. A room in the couple's I1-
derton home, their address for the
last 15 years, was devoted entirely to
-book storage.
Last November the Romphfs felt
the time had come to devote all
their time and energy to operating a
book store. They chose to locate in
Exeter, "a thriving town with un-
limited potential".
Don handed in his request for sev-
erance in February, effective in
May. The Romphfs put their Ilder-
ton house up for sale, and bought a
home in Exeter. That deal closed
in April
The ensuing months severely test-
ed the Romphfs' faith. All summer
they carried the two homes. In mid-
August they had a chance to sell
their newly purchased Exctcr home,
go back to Ilderton and forget all
about opening a Christian book
store. Instead they hung on, and
moved to Exeter two weeks before
school began.. Their house in Ilder-
ton sold in September.
"We learned many lessons about
patience and waiting during the
summer", Susan recalled.
The store opened on schedule on
October 19, in part of the former
Pryde Monuments showroom and
work arca. Building owner Gerry
Fergusson did most of the renovat-
ing with assistance from his father
and father-in-law. Don Romphf and
a friend built the book islands and
installed the shelving.
The store's stock and decor are the
result ideas picked up on visits to
27 different Christian book stores.
The Romphf family is "very im-
pressed" with Exeter. Julie, 14, has
already made many friends. Twelve -
•year -old Chad has adapted well to
the giant step from grade six in a
200 -pupil rural school to grade sev-
en classes in South Huron District
High School.
In the store, Julie is the expert on
contemporary Christian music, and
Chad is responsible for inventory
control, pricing and stocking the
card racks.
Sclah Family Books will hold its
official opening on Saturday, No-
vember 21 at 11:00 a.m. Mayor
Bruce Shaw and John Penner, direc-
tor of the Christian Booksellers As-
sociation, will cut the ribbon to-
gether. The 26 churches in this
arca have been invited to send repre-
sentatives to the ceremony.
rentals
ness.
Tammy Beswarick, manager of
Mac's Milk in Exeter, realizes that
her selection of only .150 titles,
which are rotated every two weeks,
arc norlikely to seriously compete
with the video stores in toyvn.
"This is a conveniepce store,"
says Beswarick, and adds that the
idea of picking up a movie along
with the household's milk and bread
complements the idea of conven-
ience.
While it is not known what direc-
tion home video will follow in
years to come, Exeter's video rental
outlets appear confident they will be
serving their customer's needs,
whatever they may be, for years to
come.
BIG SCREEN- Karen
one of the rental
Monck of Oscar's Video and Records stands beside
televisions that supplements their video rental trade.
Video format wars
While VHS may presently be the
most popular video format today,
there exists a veritable alphabet
soup of competing formats which
all vie for their market share.
The first videocassette format
was Sony's U -Matic which never
gained much of the home market,
but remains today as a staple of the
commercial market. Sony eventu-
ally developed the Beta format
using one-half inch tape, but only
licensed its production to a handful
of Japanese companies.
JVCPdeveloped the half-inch
VHS format to compete with Beta,
and the larger number of compa-
nies producing VHS machines
have eventually replaced Beta as
the most popular home format.
Rumors persist that some suppli-
ers of home videos will cease pro-
duction of Beta releases by this
Christmas.
The CED videodisc machines
are no longer available, nor arc the
titles, but the Pioneer laserdisc is
building a loyal following because
of its superior picture quality to
VHS, and because, like a compact
disc, it is not subject to mechanical
wear.
Sony's new eight millimetre for-
mat has proven itself as a favorite
format for miniature camcorders
over the past year, but it has yet to
gain popularity among home VCR
users.
A new item on the horizon is the
introduction of Super VHS. These
new machines will accept regular
VHS cassettes, bat can also record
on the Super VHS casseues with
superior picture quality, around
400 lines instead of VHS's 240
lines. Unfortunately the new cas-
settes will not play on older ma-
chines.
Sony will also introduce within
the next few months ED Beta
machines which are claimed to
give a 500 tine picture on a high
quality monitor.
What mayprove to be a hot item
in the next fw years is the CDV. It
is a compact disc with a few min-
utes of video added to it as well as
digital audio tracks, but that is
another story.
3,000 TITLES- Patrick Knight, of Star Time Video, shows off some of
the large number of titles that always
thing new on their televisions. help his customers find sgme-
nave sr.
Tr Sias <iOsoo
mase.
.10
TAX PLANNING SEMINAR - Robert Stcuhing, vice president of
Mutual Trust conducted a seminar on tax planning for pmfcssionals in Ex-
eter Wednesday. Steubing, left, is shown with local Mutual Life of Canada
representative George Godbolt.