Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 11

Guor randof afcy if's oo erotfdod at fori fiicho? i. -r -hil Iw: Sl St 4 -iCS-tFi It rjutauai bmw Bsisx Ksa i By DENNIS TRISTRAM The Reno movie theater business is spinning along oh busy reels but those taking the tickets aren't ready to call it a return to the golden age of Hollywood. Nationally, according to trade publications, patrons are ambling down the aisles in numbers not seen since the heydays of the 1940s, but local theater operators and employes are reluctant to speak of patronage in three-D, super-spectacular terms. A few theaters have experienced turn-away crowds on weekends and near turn-away numbers on some weekdays. Quality movies and the com- paratively inexpensive tab for a night at the flicks compared to dining out or other competing en- jB i a i s.

I 1 1 III II 5ft-: 111 ijTr Ill I Good cheap tickets l-' 11 A sunrise for the 'Sundowner' School children decorated the walkway of the $6 Harrah's, now the largest with 326 rooms. The new Co. on the site of the old Central Junior High School, million, 11-story Sundowner Hotel being built at hotel will have 300 parking spaces, a restaurant, bar The Nevada Art Gallery sponsored the painting of the Fourth and Arlington streets in Reno. The hotel, and casino. It is being built by Cal Neva Development walkway.

which will have 349 rooms, will be bigger than (Gazette Photo) tertainments are seen as factors reeling the patrons in, suggested house manager Betty Berg at the Keystone Cinema Theater. "There seems to be a trend," she said. "People are going back to the movies. "There are good pictures all over town," she added. "It's been a long time since I've gone into the auditorium and heard people laughing continuously," she said, a phenomenon occurring regularly during the showing at her theater of "Freebie and the Bean." Inflation is a factor, she guessed.

"Where can you go for $5 a couple and spend a couple of hours for enjoyment? You just can't sit home all the time." Snack bar sales support this theory, she said. Patrons still buy but they are selective rather than indescriminately greedy as they appeared in' past years, she said. There's some evidence that inflation has hit the small fry, too. "Kids don't have quite as much money (to spend at the snack bar) as they have had," said Mrs. Berg.

Debbie Hudson, cashier at the Cinema, said the movie made the box office. Since "Freebie and the Reno Evening Gazette plans for steam Phone (702) 786-8989 Reno, Nevada, Saturday, January 11, 1975 go up in smoke And it was a long one got his day in court 'Golden days' still gone Sparks Mayor Jim Lillard's hopes for adding one of the majestic old Mallet articulated locomotives to the city's bicentennial railroad display have gone up in a cloud of steam and turned into diesel smoke. No, Lillard says somewhat regretfully, won't even be a little steam locomotive. It'll have to be a diesel. There are two reasons, Lillard says.

First and foremost, the Southern Pacific Railroad won't transport an old steam locomotive to Sparks. Second of all, Lillard says, he's been unable to find a steam locomotive available anywhere to couple onto the business car and caboose the city already has on its Street display. The SP has said it can't assume the liability of transporting a steamer to Sparks, according to Lillard, because all of them have been decommissioned so long they could pose a serious threat of breakdowns, derailments and serious damages while in transit. But Lillard is taking the dissipation of his dream well. "The caboose was built in the 40s, and the business car was built in the 30s, so a diesel from maybe the late 40s would carry through the theme," he said.

"We weren't looking for equipment 100 years old," he added. "I'd be satisfied with a diesel. They could even salvage the engine out of it and just give us the shell. However, Lillard adds, he hasn't found an available diesel yet, either, "but we still have plenty of time." Voigt, who had taken the stand to testify in his own defense, had steadfastly maintained he had drunk only one beer, and drove regularly on the shoulder of the highway "because some of those people out there go past me like a bullet." He denied shouting at the officers or resisting arrest in any manner. Voigt maintained he had beei "struck with a billy club or sap" by one of the officers, and witnesses" in his defense said before his hospitalization, Voigt had turned black and blue over much of his body, complained of dizziness, and headaches and, just before the Veterans Administration was summoned to take him to the hospital, was found lying on the dirt floor of his home, unable to stand up.

Medical testimony indicated that the reportedly necessary force used by the officers might easily have bruised Voigt considerably more than it would have a younger man. The police denied they ever struck Voigt. Prosecutor Coppa said Voigt's circumstances "have not gone unheard" and indicated with others that his ultimate sentencing will not be overly harsh. Bean" opened after Christmas they've never turned patrons away but "we've really been close at times to a full house." At the Crest Theater, said assistant manager Maria Maslowski, business was "not up all that much." The 8 p.m. showing both weekends and weekdays has occasionally sold out, however, she said.

"I think it's the movie," she said of attendance numbers. Also, "maybe it's a cheap form of entertainment." Cashier Janet Martineau at the Granada Theater said attendance has been "about the same" as usual at that theater and at two other theaters under her cashierwomanship. They've been turning patrons away from full houses at the "Trial of Billy Jack" at the Cinema A street in his honor? Pete Lemberes likes the idea, but most residents don't Inflation smacks snack bar By JACK STEVENSON It didn't do Paul Voigt any good, but he got his day in court. And it turned out to be one of the longest days of its kind for Sparks Justice Court. It involved a full-blown trial with prosecuting and defense attorneys, a jury, and plenty of witnesses.

The charges against Voigt, an 84-year-old pensioner who lives in an old mine shack on the Pyramid Lake Highway, were relatively simple misdemeanors Driving under the influence of liquor, reckless driving, and resisting arrest. Ordinarily, such a case might have been quickly resolved by a pleading of the defendant, or a summary hearing by the judge. Voigt, however, is a fiercely independent sort of a character who not only proclaimed his innocence, but demanded a jury trial. On top of that, he alleged Highway Patrol officers had beaten him up and caused his hospitalization for treatment of multiple cuts and bruises. Friends and neighbors of Voigt's, all of whom have known him for years, testified at the trial to his general good conduct, peculiar driving habits (he customarily drives on the shoulder of the highway leading to his residence), his generally mild disposition, and his almost complete abstinence from the use of alcohol.

The State of Nevada brought to bear against Voigt three veteran highway patrolmen, a nurse, four doctors, and Deputy Dist. Atty. Don Coppa. The medical testimony, although fraught with inconsistencies as such testimony often is, intimated Voigt's initial injuries and subsequent hospitalization were relatively minor, although complicated somewhat by his advanced age. Medical records indicating Voigt had a blood alcohol content of .083 (.10 is legally presumptive evidence in Nevada of being under the influence of liquor) tended to bear out the allegation that he had drunk more than the "one or two beers" which he admitted to.

Patrol officers Richard Haas, William Bauer, and Sgt. Floyd Sorensen said the Oct. 1 arrest of Voigt was made on presumption of driving under the influence, that Voigt flew into an unexplainable rage, shouted at and cursed the officers, and demonstrated "surprising strength for a man his age" in a subsequent struggle to handcuff him, place him in a patrol car and transport him to a hospital. Lest the State of Nevada appear to-be leaning rather heavily on the frail-appearing (6-foot, 143 pounds) old man, it must also be said that it did its share to air his case. Deputy public defender Andy Demetras defended Voigt.

A jury of six Sparks residents, all of them women, was empaneled Thursday morning to hear the evidence. They, along with Judge Jack Lamberti, sat through 15 hours and 10 minutes of the hearing which ended at 1:10 a.m. Friday following two hours and seven minutes of formation. He also said his committee had considerable discussion concerning the council's vote, citing street name continuity and the pending anticipated extension of El Rancho Drive as major reasons for its recommendation that the council rescind its original vote to rename the street. Regarding street name continuity, Cooper told the council, "The committee's normal position would be to rename the street Kietzke Lane.

However, in view of the adverse response of the addressees polled, the committee felt it would be in the best interest of all concerned to leave the street name El Rancho Drive. So it looks like Lemberes, who said, "I wish you after the council's vote to change the name, is out of luck. He'll find out Monday, when the council considers the Ktrppt Namp fnmmittpp's rprnmmpnriatinn to take back its By BARBARA HENRY Will El Rancho Drive ever become Lemberes Lane? Certainly not, if a recent poll of homeowners on the street is considered. More than 100 persons responding to a recent questionnaire weren't as enthusiastic as the Sparks City Council, which voted 4-0 in November to change the street's name and rechristen it "Lemberes Lane" after Sparki Councilman Pete Lemberes. Only one response to the questionnaire agreed with the' council and four indicated it didn't make any difference to them.

Lemberes abstained from the November vote after Councilman Jim Vernon's motion to change the name "because it sounds a lot like Lover's Lane." Street Name Committee Chairman Lynn R. Cooper, in a letter to the Sparks councilmen, relayed the poll in she said, and attendance "always depends on the movies" being shown. and PG rated movies also make more money because of the children's tickets sold, she said. 'But there's no landslide back to movies," she said. Still, in the entertainment field, "I think movies are one of the cheaper things." "It depends on what movies we get," said the assistant manager at Cinema 21 and 22 who declined identification.

"Inferno" has been the big draw there since the week before Christmas and last week they were playing to full houses weekdays and turning patrons away on weekends. A four-year employe at the theaters, the assistant manager could see no radical steady surge in business, nor did she see any back-to-the-movies trend developing. "Last year we were just as busy during she said. Still, for a half-hour before showtime Thursday night both she and a cashier were unable to take even the briefest time out to speak on the phone. "We've got a long line," gasped the cashier.

"Call back in 20 minutes." original vote. HOu) ABOUT CHEAP SHOT A SKATE, a V. u' deliberation by the jury. Jury foreman Naomi Marks announced the verdict. "Guilty, on all three counts." Maybe H'o just bocauce auerybody's fcsbe eable is on She blind if a work crew could be convinced to ascend Ward Peak late Friday to do the work, and then camp overnight there, out of season.

And what about the customer? The one who's already lost cable service for more than 10 per cent of his monthly billing cycle? "Generally, when it's a situation beyond our control for a short number of days, a rebate would not be a practical thing to even try to give the subscribers, at about 20 cents a day," Nelson replied. "And we did continue to provide the local stations." Do customers have to pay the approximately 80 cents they'll be charged for their four days without service? Bill Prox of the state Public Service Commission, which governs cable service and rates, said the commission cannot make a determination on that unless and until an official complaint is filed. But he said if any cable subscriber does want to start a state investigation of the situation over 80 cents, all they have to do is go to the commission's Carson City office and file a complaint. "The problem is the kind of winds they get up on Ward Peak in Squaw Valley," Nelson said. Teleprompter maintains the microwave relay station on Ward Peak which brings distant TV and FM stations to the Reno area.

"We were having winds up to 100 miles an hour," Nelson said. "The only access is by a mile-long ski lift. "When strong winds are blowing, you can't run the ski lift. You can't go in there by any other method either." So, Nelson explains, it wasn't until Wednesday afternoon, a day and a half later, when the wind had subsided, that crews were able to top Ward Peak and find out what went wrong. "It blew away!" Nelson exclaimed.

"And uh we haven't found it yet. "It" is the microwave ray dome, the element that was picking up the distant TV and FM signals to pass them on to Reno and Sparks. In addition, Nelson said, work crews found that the winds tore the heating element out of the microwave system. A heating element keeps ice which blocks the transmission and reception of signals off the microwave antenna. Dutifully, Teleprompter bought a new ray dome and heating element and sent work crews back up on the Ward Peak Thursday, Nelson said, where they quickly discovered it wouldn't fit on the old "microwave dish." The latter item looks something like a grey saucer four feet in diameter.

Its purpose is to reflect signals into the antenna. A new. ''dish," Nelson said, already has been ordered, and if if things go right, cable ssb-scribers in the Truckee' Meadows just might be able to turn on their TVs and radios right this minute and find their favorite stations there again. But that "if" depends on a lot of other "ifs," according to Nelson. He said it could happen if United Air Lines figured out a way late Friday to load the new dish onto an airplane.

Nelson said there's a good possibility the "dish," with its four-foot diameter, wouldn't fit through the aircraft's doors. He said cable TV might be back in service today too. Teleprompter Cable Television officials in Reno said this morning they hoped to have service restored to the Reno area by this afternoon. "But we can't make any promises," a spokesman said. Reno and Sparks residents have been without long distance TV and FM for the past five days, because part of the cable system blew away and now it's lost.

The spokesman said workmen have been trying to restore the service since Tuesday. "It's kind of a long, complicated story," Teleprompter spokesman Gary Nelson began explaining Friday. "It's really interesting! a secretary exclaimed. It all began at 7 a.m. Tuesday, when the five TV and two FM stations from Sacramento and the one TV and three FM stations from San Francisco provided by cable disappeared magically from Reno and Sparks receivers! From that moment on, Nelson said, it was one problem after another for Teleprompter..