Loading...
Times Advocate, 1989-05-17, Page 7n the Street By Jim Beckett f the comments of those who were fortunate enough to see the SHDHS Nightbeat performances last week are any indication we'll be seeing and hearing more about some of our homegrown talent. The best compliment any. performing group can get is being sold out. The fact this happened every night is a credit to all who were involved. * * * * * * Every once in awhile you can find humor in the classified ads. Someone brought in, a copy of a "Lost Dog" ad which read, "Three legs,blind in left eye, missing right ear, tail broken, recently neu- tered, answers to the name of LUCKY." * * * * * * If anybody asks you to join the "Jokers Club" I suggest you think it over - very carefully before becoming a member. Several Orange- ville and arca businessmen -lacked excitement in their lives and formed the Jokers Club to fill the void. The rules are simple and members must take an oath to abide by them. You must carry a Jokcr at all time or risk suffering the ultimate humiliation of having to "moon" if a fellow member flashes his card and you are unable to produce yours. If you are able 16 produce your Joker the member who challenged you in the first place must suffer your punishment. An acquaintance who owns a large auto dealership in Orangeville had to suffer his humiliation while dining at a posh restaurant and had to.tip heavily and pick up the champagne tab at the next table to avoid getting tossed out.. * ****.* Anita Swartman is back in town and working on the other side of the street at Raintrec Design. * * * * * * The Exeter Lions Club will be receiving a cheque for $2,973 from SAAN Stores as their contribution to the Youth Centre. As well as getting 10 percent of SAAN's sales for the week the club managed to sell 96 dozen hotdogs and several pancake breakfasts on the week- end. * *.* * * * If you've been thinking about taking a day off you might change. your mind after reading this which is taken from thc B.I.A. bulletin. ADayOff So you want a day off, let's take a look at what you arc asking for. There arc 365 days available for work. There are 52 weeks per year, of which you have 2 days off each weekend, leaving 261 days available for work. Since you spend 16 hours each day away from work that accounts for 170 days. There arc 91 days left for work. You spend 30 minutes each day on breaks, that accounts for 213 days each year. - Lcaving 68 days for work. You spend 1 hour a day on lunch, that accounts for another 46 days. Leaving 22. days for work. You spend 2 days per year for sick leave. Leaving 20,days for work. You take 9 holidays per.year. Leaving 11 days for work. You take 10 days vacation each year. Leaving 1 day available for work. Taking all of this into consideration, don't be surprised if the boss doesn't let you take this day off too. Rathwell explains resignation CLINTON - A position came open with the Huron County Board of Education after thc resignation of trustee Sally Rathwell at the Board's May meeting. Mrs. Rathwell, trustee for the Township of Tuckcrsmith and Vil- lage of Hensall, resigned in order to take employment with the board in the capacity of secretary at Vanastra Public School. After accepting the resignation the board faccd a decision of either filling the position by appointment Kongskilde layoff temporary • EXETER The layoff of 15 workers at the Kongskilde farm machinery factory was caused by a shortage of imported parts, say company Officials. Rick Miles, vice-president of fi- nance, explained that rebrganization of the European factories which produce heat-treated parts for the Danish -owned conglomerate has .-created temporary.shipment prob- lems. "We're trying to get some dead- lines worked out," said Miles, who added that air freight deliveries have brought a small supply of parts to Exeter, enough to , bring three workers back so far. He hoped all employees would be back at work within eight weeks. • Miles called the layoff unfortu- nate, but necessary under the cir- cumstances. "You can't have 15,pcople clean- ing•off light bulbs," he said. The Exeter plant fabricates 55-60 percent of the plows assembled at the plant, but relies on foreign - sourced parts to complete the prod- ucts. or calling for an election in Tucker - smith and Hensel'. Trustee Tony McQuail made a motion that the board call an election, on the grounds that there are two and a half years left in the current term of of- fice. "It would seem appropriate to me to let the ratepayers decide rather than have the board appoint some- one this early in the term," he said. Trustee Norman Picket' said he has welcomed Mrs. Rathwell's council, and noted "I'm goir to miss Sally very much as I'm' sure all of us as trustees arc -going to." Mrs. Rathwell says she is sorry to be leaving the board, but policy states that no board employee -may. hold,a position asa trustee. Mrs. Rathwell was, into. her fourth year with the Board, having served three years •as trustee for Clinton and Tuckcrsmith, Last September she applied for the Secretary position at Vanastra public school, but wasn't success- ful. Recently the' position came up again, she came ou) ahead of 140 other applicants, and can start after resigning." ' An election to fill the vacancy on the Board has been called for Junc 26, with advance polls .on Junc 17 and 22. The last day to file nomination papers will be Jape 5. A preliminary list of electors will be posted May 19. GIC Rates 1 •NO FEES •NO CHARGES .FUNDS TRANSFERABLE. Yr. VIA CHARTERED BANK INVESTMENTS O 524.2773 ooe«Lcn 1-800-265-5503 Times -Advocate, May 17, 1989 Page 7 Drive -In still going strong By Wayne Proctor SHIPKA - Drive -In theatres may be on their last legs in society, but don't try telling that to Emerson Dcsjardines, owner of Star .Lite Drive -In near Grand Bend. Desjardines opened the eight -acre theatre on a parcel of land, he bought near the Grand Bend Airport June 30 1955, and at that, time he faced compet;tion from drive ins in place like Goderich, Clinton,'Sea- forth and three in London. Today, he and another in London, at Hyde Park Road and Fanshawe Park Road, are the only two in the area that have survived. Desjardines bought the parcel of land from a farmer in 1955 and got the idea of opening a drive-in after seeing several drive ins in Florida and thought of making a go of it locally with the Grand Bend market. It has always been an independent theatre and run by him and his fam- ilyIt's an independent theatre, fami- ly run, my two son in laws both have projectionist licenses and my wife runs the ticket booth," Desjar- dines explained. - The movies he has shown at the Star -Lite have changed a great deal over the last 34 years. The first mo- vie ever shown there was "Calamity Jane", starring Doris Day and Ho- ward Keel, but others like "Bib Country", "Bridge over the River Kwai", "Miracle Worker", "Goldfin- ger", "Bullet", "The Godfather", "Deliverance", "The Sting" and "The Rose" have been some of the hit movies shown on his screen over the years as well. • The first screen was slightly smaller than what it is now but shortly after it opened he increased the size to its present 60' X 40', meaning his was the first theatre in the area to show movies in cinema - scope. The type of crowds have not dif- fered much over the years, according to Desjardines. "We had more people back then than we do now. But it has always been basically family-oriented in the summer and in the spring it has been mostly students, but it de- pends upon what film is showing," he said. Dcsjardines believes the rise of the video cassette recorder has a had a lot to do with the decline of the drive-in theatre over the years, but because a large majority of his cus- tomers are tourists, he thinks his business is safe for many years to come. Your Business iIIniiiii'�� $ Projection room - Emmerson Desjardines stands in the projection room of the Star Lite Drive in Thea- tre in Shipka, which he has owned since 1955. Students in EXETER - Businesses looking to round out their workforces this summer with a student employee, might be in for a rougher ride than past years according to the Em- ployment Centre for Students. Deb Hodgins, who returns to the centre again this year, said that job offers coming into her office al- ready outnumber the students look- ing for work. Hodgins can only gucss what will happen once the busy season arrives: Most of those seeking jobs through the Employment Centre are secondary studcnts. Hodgins short supply has seen few post -secondary stu- dents make use of the office. - "I guess they're . finding the jobs themselves," she said. At one time, South Huron used to offer little outside of the agricul- tural sector in the way of summer jobs. That has all changed, ex- plains Hodgins. A student can choose from a variety of summer endeavors to gain experience for fu- ture careers. This means lata., intensive farm work, picking, is becoming a • • •'av of elementary student employ Many employe were hop •ing for .govcrnm.,iit subsidies for Letters to the Editor Dear Sir: Finance Minister Michael Wil- son's recent budgettook a long overdue step by cutting Canada's bloated foreign aid budget by $400- million. However, at $2.4 billion it is still far too much. Running the huge deficit we are, it is money we cannot afford. In 1986-87, Canada gave $170.96 million to India. Yet, India ha., the fourth largest army in the world. in 1987 -alone, it purchased mbre than $5.2:billion worth of arms. It has nuclear -powered submarines and at- tack aircraft capable of deliver! nuclear arms. It is absurd thr to( Canadian taxpayers•should h' W- ing foreign aid to 1 Idia. Thi - . government shoul.I rostral:• its arms -buying frenzy an 1 u �f its own.resourccs to .r in that country. Too often, fore'. :imply a .means tp trans'- . .,, iron) -the. workim 1 .1i.:ern nations • to the militarists and despots of Third World countries, Third World poverty, is usu..11y the result of overpopulation or misuse of re- sources. Foreign aid merely cush- ions those responsible from having to deal with their mistakes and per- haps rcforming. Aid tends to keep those who have made the disastrous decisions in power. Instead of battling the deficit by hashing Canadians with higher tax - 'es, Michael Wilson should consider further cuts in our foreign aid pro- gramme and in such frivilous hand- outs as the $276.S. million allocated to multiculturalism programmes which tend to create division among newcomers, rather than stressing unity and adaptation to Canadian ways. Sincerely yours, Paul Fromm Research Director Citizens for Foreign Aid • hiring a student this summer have been disappointed. Both the pro- vincial OSEP and federal SEED programs have been cut back' in southern Ontario in response to low regional unerfiptnyment levels. - "They feel we don't need it," said Hodgins. Another aspect of the competition to attract student workers is .the ef- fect on wages. The minimum rates of $4.75 an hour for those over 18, and $3.90 for younger workers of- ten don't apply. Hodgins says many jobs arc offering students up- wards of $5.50 an hour. As a result of the changing sum- mer, student market, the Employ- ment Centre for Students is cutting backon employer visits to promote hiring. The emphasis instead will be on finding the students to -fill the openings available. He points out that three quarters of his business comes from people staying at the Pinery Provincial Park, the rest come locally from places like Parkhill, Exeter and Hu- ron Park. "1 think VCR's have hurt the business a lot, but• I don't t.hink it has hurt us too much because the people that are here in the summer don't bring their VCR's wi!tt them, and they have their families with them and they don't have babysit- ters, so t think itis a good place for them to come and a cheap night out for the family," said Dcsjardines. Current admission price is $5 per person, and that. is good for two movies where most theatres charge $6 or $7' for only one showing.. Star Lite is open weekends from mid-April until the end of June then daily until Labor Day. Dcsjardines still spends his, winter months in Florida. He said on- a good weekend • this year he can be about three quarters to almost full but again it depends. upon which movie is playing. • It has long been fun and adventcr ous for some to try and sneak peo- p into a drive-in in a car trunk. Desj dines says that is still aprob- lem bu of like it once was. "We st get them coming in trunks and over fences but not as much as .we used to. We have .a. pretty good system. If my wife sus- pects something is wrong when theybuy tickets, she will phone me in the projection room and ask me to keep an eye'on the car," he said. Desjardines has an observation arca where he watch every car from the projection booth. When the drive-in first openedhe said the most popular movies were westerns. Today the favorite attrac- tions are comedies, but Desjardines said there aren't that many 'good comedies around these days. Pop- corn is still the biggest seller in the snack bar. Desjardines books his movies from a company in Toronto about a month and a half in advance. The current program runs until the end of Junc and he will be deciding shortly which oncs to show in the. summer. He makes three program decisions a year. He gets some first - 'run movies but most titles have. been released in theatres previously. - He said he is getting better movies than he_ used to and they arc also easier to book. In 34 years of showing movies he has had only one film ever bjcak on him, but if it happens he Just splic— es it back together. The projector is -. such that if a movie docs break that it shuts itself off. Once one movie is finished and run through the ma- chine, he flips it over- the thc sec- ond feature is ready to go. The first movie is then rewound separately while the other movie is playing. Desjardines . said he has had thoughts about getting out of the hu nrs•s, possibly letting his son n yaws run it, but it is still a source -of income and enjoyment he isn't quite ready to lct•go yet. 7 origage ar� NEED A MORTGAGE? 1st, 2nd, Multi Family or Com- mercial; flexible terms,- fast, confidential service, Call "The Mortgage Mart". London 433-6666 WE GET RESULTS! NOW OPEN Brian's Barbershop Tues. Thurs. Fri. Evenings by, appointrn.ent CaII 235-0402 after.6 p.m. OPEN SATURDAYS 7-2 (except last Sat. of each month) Entrance at rear of Star Time Video 411 Main St. Exeter Apple Pectin Shampoo & Conditioner COUNTRY rEc1wksbMoving Sale 25 % oft everything in store front Does not include custom orders. Fresh stock arriving daily. Cash and carry only 235-2350 Personal shopping only