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The Citizen, 1991-11-13, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1991. PAGE 5. Drive-ins take back seat to videos The first one in the world opened in Camden, New Jersey back in 1932. The last one - in my neck of the woods, anyway - closed on October 20, 1991. Drive-in movies, I’m talking about. Or ‘Park-In Theatre’ as that first New Jersey one was awkwardly called. It wasn’t much. Just a big sheet of canvas hoisted over the roof of a scuzzy machine shop on the outskirts of Camden. The hopeful proprietor had bulldozed flat a field in front of the screen, creating parking space for 400 cars. On opening night, 14 showed up. Each driver paid 25 cents for the privilege of squinting at a forgettable feature-length piece of fluff entitled Wife Beware. It was a lousy flick, but then who ever went to the Drive-In for the quality of the movies? Drive-Ins were never intended for serious cinema buffs. The sound systems were pathetic, your line of vision was obscured by passing cars, skimming popcorn boxes and Letters to the Editor Where were you? (Intended for last week) There was a “town hall meeting”, held last Tuesday night, You said that you would be there; - did I not hear you right? You had so many questions, and some directives too, Discussions with the Candidates, as to what they all should do. The Candidates were present, all seated in a row, Upon the stage, and under lights, that brilliantly did glow. The Candidates, were seated, alphabetically by name, Each given time to speak their piece, when asked to do the same. The “turn out” by the voters, as usual was small, I could not count a hundred, altogether in the hall. What would it take, I wonder, to fill up every seat, To get the “sidewalk Pundits and the Partisans to meet. To meet on equal footing, and each issue to pursue, Not Coffee Shop, or Gossip, and back stabbing like they do. The Candidates, Incumbents, are flesh, and bone, and blood, They will enter into dialogue, if you don't “sling the mud”. The Candidates, before you, on stage last Tuesday night, Spoke of issues popular, while some of them were trite. Experience, was emphasized, - would you feel that essential? Foresight, and candor, openness, should be a bare credential. I know there is a feeling of vendettes, on the loose, That Candidates, with purpose; might want to form a noose! If there's a coalition, that has GAIN as their alignment, The voters may turn this around, vote for true consignment. We have no place in our small town, for someone on the “take”, Dispel all rumours at the Polls, with the choices that you make. Choose wisely of your Candidates, you'll have them for three years, If you have voted, that's what counts, we'll listen for the cheers. What makes a Politician? from people just like you, What makes them tick, accept abuse, as all of them must do. Lord knows it's not the glory, the pay won't make them rich. Why do they choose, to loose good sleep, maybe end up with an itch? It's CIVIC PRIDE, that motivates, that drive these people on, Or something stems from an abuse, or something has gone wrong. Because they all are human flesh, mistakes are sometimes made, It's then they'll walk “THE LONESOME MILE”, to retirement in the shade. - Sweetgrass distressed-looking patrons looking for the washroom - not to mention the welter of bug carcasses ossifying on your own windshield. But as I say, very few folks went to the Drive-In to see the movie. And no, madame, we didn't just go for THAT, either. Sure, the Drive-Ins had a seamy rep. “Passion pits” my father called them. I won’t pretend that they were playing Trivial Pursuit in that ‘57 Chevy with the fogged up windows in the back row, but there was a lot of kids in a lot of cars who weren't into any sexual hanky panky. They were just fantasizing about it. Fact is, most of the high school kids I knew (including Your Obedient Scribbler) were dateless on a Saturday night, more often than not. We went to the Drive-In anyway. Loading up on junk food, laughing at the terrible movies and letting rip with megadecibel wolf whistles whenever we spotted a car in which the heads had disappeared from view. I tell ya, there's no substitute for young sophistication. But randy teenagers were not the only Drive-In regulars. A lot of the incoming vehicles featured Mom and Dad up front, closely followed by a back seat full of hyperventilating kids, from adolescent down to toddler. Drive-Ins were a swell recreational deal for young parents low on cash. Where else could you fmd a place that would feed you, entertain you and allow you to fall asleep if you felt like it? Plus you could get in wearing your pyjamas. Such a good idea, the Drive-In, and now they've almost as scarce as pterodactyl eggs. Why? What killed the Drive-In? A couple of things, I think. The price of land for starters. Any Drive-In worth the price of admission has got to have at least five clear acres of parking. Any idea how many town houses you can cram into five acres? Then we have the modem car. Back in the 40s, 50s and 60s, North American cars were big and roomy, with sofa-sized seats and enough in-cab space to stage a volleyball game. Today's cars look like attache cases. They're cramped and unyielding. Only a masochist would willingly spend an evening in them. So the Drive-In screens are going blank, one after another. On October 20, 1991, it was the turn of the K-W Drive-In in Kitchener, Ontario. The K-W's been packing them in Friday and Saturday nights for the past 41 years. On the last night, just 17 carloads paid to see Forbidden Planet, the last film that would ever flicker across the K-W's concrete block screen. The site has been sold to - here's a surprise - a land developer. Forbidden Planet was pretty bad - even as lousy sci-fi thrillers go. But I'll betcha it's infinitely better than the next thing that pops up where the K-W Drive-In used to be. Writer laments passing of the trains The following letter appeared recently in a Toronto paper: I am an actress and at this point am fortunate enough to work fairly regularly. What this means is a lot of time living away from home and loved ones. Working in Niagara-on-the-Lake for the Shaw Festival should have been a treat. In many ways it was, but there was one huge overriding difficulty: that of getting back and forth to Toronto for auditions, doctor's appointments, etc. There is no way. There used to be a way. There used to be a train. This summer I worked in Blyth, for the Blyth Festival. Myself and others faced the same difficulty: Huron County is a lovely area, packed with little towns, yet the only way I could go home was to bribe one of my fellow workers to spend two hours driving me into Stratford to catch one of the few trains continuing on to Toronto. A few weeks ago I was unable to talk anyone into wasting their night off coming to get me and I ended up spending $50 on a taxi: An experience I simply cannot afford. Where are the trains? I'd like to finish off with a short story of the day I arrived here in Blyth. One of my associates was kind enough to offer me a drive with all my luggage and took me on a scenic route. He showed me the abandoned railway stations in all the towns between here and Toronto, or where the stations used to be. It surprised me how sad I found it to be. Twenty minutes outside of Blyth we crossed a railway line from which the tracks had actually been removed. This was a first for me and I was struck with a strong image of toothless gums in the face of the countryside. Julie Stewart Toronto. Letter from the Editor By Keith Roulston To the leaders: get out and listen Maybe it was just me, but there seemed to be an underlying edge of bitterness and frustration among Huron County Councillors last week that went beyond what usually is part of the debates at the county level. Councillors, particularly those from rural townships, were on their feet to complain about changes in the welfare system, the rigidity of the land severance policy that keeps farmers from selling off parts of their land for building lots (and the cash to let them pay their bills), more jobs being added to the county payroll, expensive additions to Huronview building costs and the possibility of new services being added to the county level, such as a transportation service for seniors and the handicapped. At a time when the term of this council is winding down and one might have expected a quiet meeting, there was probably more participation in debate than has been seen in months and not just on one issue but on many issues. Perhaps it’s a measure of the frustration of the rural reeves themselves since most of them are farmers and face the uncertainty of this year's disastrous prices. Perhaps it also comes because these people have been on the campaign trail lately, meeting people in their kitchens and backyards, hearing directly how bad things are out there. The irony, and perhaps the cause of some of the frustration, is that there is little these politicians can do to relieve the suffering of their neighbours. All the levers of power rest in the hands of the provincial and senior governments. Yet these senior politicians seem totally preoccupied fighting battles that have nothing to do with the current emergency situation. While farmers are going broke, while factories are closing and 1.4 million people are unemployed, the main obsession of the federal government continues to be fighting inflation and the deficit. The leaders of the land apparently fail to see that by keeping the Canadian dollar high to fight inflation, they are crippling Canadian exports at the very time they tell Canadians they must be more competitive. Fighting the deficit through taxes like the GST, they fail to see that they are driving the country farther into recession, thereby driving the nation's deficit higher because bankrupt companies and unemployed workers don't pay taxes. While the country pleads for leadership and imagination, the federal government is still fighting last year's battles, apparently not aware that the world has changed in the last 12 months. The provincial government too seems caught up in its own rhetoric. It promptly gave a huge increase to nurses because it tell they were underpaid in relation to doctors, now will force many to be laid off because the government can't afford to pay the increasing costs of hospitals and will force beds to be closed. The government also turned the welfare system into an income-maintenance system. Fully-employed people can now qualify to have their incomes increased under the Back on Track reforms that came into effect Oct. 1 (but if you're a self-employed farmer, tradesman or small business owner, forget it). Meanwhile welfare are increasing so fast because of the economic downturn that the government is wondering where the money is going to come from for the people who really need welfare. Maybe if our federal and provincial politicians, particularly the government members, were forced to get out on the back roads and go door to door meeting the ordinary people the seriousness of the situation might sink in. Maybe then people would get their act together and attack today's problems, not spend time implementing yesterday's policies.