The Naples Daily News from Naples, Florida • 11

Scene Marco Island Everglades City Immokalee Bonita Springs Golden Gate Vanderbilt Beach Section NAPLES DAILY NEWS Wad Sept 24 1975 Marco Notebook By TONY WEITZEL Immokalee Food Prices Comparable Loan Will Acquire Land For Lee Housing Units of chains "On the other hand you have to put more of your money there" Overhead in a small store said Passmore and Leroy Miners Jr manager-owner of By-Rite in Immokalee is less than in commercially known markets Miners who opened his store last month said he has spent most of his working hours in his store since moving to Immokalee He and his wife and son and some store employes were busy stocking shelves and marking prices during the survey "We have chain store prices" Miners boasted "It's a challenge to me to give something different that hasn't been offered in the past" He said prices in other Immokalee stores have dropped since he opened Blackman said he is "out to make a business like everybody else If you don't make money you stay in HE SAID comparing prices from other stores with his market was unnecessary still open and we have he remarked Nearly 260 of the 400 monthly welfare cases in Collier County are from the Immokalee area said Mrs Monahan supervisor of the Assistance Payment Unit She questioned the buying habits of the welfare and food stamps recipients "They don't know what to buy" she said "Business takes advantage of them The people are at a She said prices rise in Immokalee during the winter months But Passmore said meat prices at Kennedy's (do) not" increase he said "the more volume we turn over the less we sell it for That's sound He said Kennedy's does not offer an item such as veal because it is too expensive for his patrons Nearly 500 people shop the store daily he said During the season this patronage rises as high as 900 daily Kennedy's has been in town since 1951 Shopworth has been open 12 years and By-Rite is a town fixture although Miners said he did not know when it was founded Food stamp recipients comprise 20 per cent of the purchasing power at By-Rite Miners said Passmore agreed that many patrons at his store use stamps Blackman however said the number of people using stamps at Shopworth was "They are nothing to be ashamed of" Passmore said of food stamps But he said 75 per cent of Immokalee food stamp recipients use them in Fort Myers think if a supermarket comes in here it will have a hell of a time keeping open" he said He added he didn't think a chain would open in Immokalee unless the town has a larger population "And in the summer it's he said By DAVID MOORMANN County Reporter Immokalee as Sally Monahan of the state welfare office in Naples said "is an interesting community It's so different from Naples" Naples is the "big-city" in the eyes of many Immokalee residents And that includes shopping for food Three major chain stores operate in Naples none in Immokalee although there has been talk of a Winn Dixie moving to town This raises two questions: Are major chains superior to the well established family-run supermarkets of Immokalee? Are Immokalee residents many of them migrant and agricultural seasonal farm workers paying more for food than Neapolitans? IN AN EFFORT to study these questions the Daily News conducted a small survey of two stores in Immokalee last week and three in Naples Prices of the Naples merchandise are an average of those from the three major chains Two of the Immokalee stores were chosen at random The other was selected for its proximity to a predominantly black and migrant section of town Items selected are comparative (see accompanying chart) as to brand and size In some instances they are sale prices James Blackman manager of the Shop-worth Market in Immokalee put the price comparison in perspective when he said are not everything A number of things round out the picture" HE SAID HE opposed comparing prices because another newspaper once surveyed his market and printed erroneous prices "I see any sense for it unless you want to stir up a lot of trouble" he said A Grand Union spokesman in Hialeah said chain stores including Publix Winn Dixie and Grand Union the three chains in Naples are The Daily News survey showed the prices from the three chain stores to be close on most items PRICES OF THE two Immokalee supermarkets were close to Naples chain store prices on many items and actually lower on some "We cater to the working class the migrants and the explained Wallace Passmore meat department manager of Grocery in Immokalee "We hold our prices to where they can afford Quantity and appearance are the major differences between the large chain and the small town store he said Although he said offer the same thing and the same he admitted the chain store displays its merchandise better and has more items from which to choose 1 ADMIT it looks good to the housewife with all the large variety" he said MEMO FROM MRS Dee Roepstorff and Al and Sandy are back from that jaunt to Lake Forest III where son Marty wed a pretty girl named Victoria Reynolds Sanders Papa Al Roepstorff served as best man for Marty And little Sandy the youngest relative at the nuptials was strictly on his best behavior The two families get along beautifully so it was a fun time with everybody in the pool after the rehearsal and plenty of backgammon competitidn Marty was in Para-Rescue in the Air Force during the Vietnamese war so a lot of his buddies and their wives turned up for the affair SPEAKING OF WEDDING GIFTS among other things Marty and Victoria got the French phone the one he brought back from Italy for Mama Dee Now it will grace their new hacienda After the Nassau honeymoon Marty will be back at Florida International finishing his business administration course Vickie has an advanced degree from Northwestern and is cup rently a supervisor at Southern Bell OUR MARCO ISLAND CLUB is really going strong They've got a great program for the upcoming season and at the moment there's a waiting list of 33 for membership BRAD STACKPOOLE PERFORMED NOBLY as ring-bearer at his Uncle Gary wedding last weekend He managed to balance the ring beautifully on its little pillow and he didn't stumble even once And while he was waiting around with the ring he managed to count the house and the number of candles As for his sister Rae Lynne she was the cutest flower girl you ever saw Lovely wedding all the way DRAKE DOTY PREXY OF THAT NORTH SIDE Leasing and Rental outfit handed our Marco firefighters a check for $100 for the of fund And the Marco lads now have close to $1000 to pour into the Jaws coffere BOB AND ALESE FONTAINE ARE BACK from a week in the Bahamas and are really hooked on skin diving The amazing thing is that Alese never learned to swim until last May when Bob insisted she get into the pool and work at it But when they went snorkeling along a Bahamian reef they discovered an undersea world never seen before THEY SNORKELED ALONG THE REEFS for hours each day viewing the sea fans and the gorgeous coral formations and following schools of little exotic fish around Then they went on a scuba diving expedition and that did it like Disney World under the sea" Alese sighs "so gorgeous!" And they have even become connoisseurs of fins Their favorite is a new type that covers the whole ankle and lets you move well without cramping the leg muscles WE HAD A GREAT CONVERSATION about scuba diving and I remembered the time I tried to swim through an undersea gap in a reef at Acapulco but the incoming waves kept pushing me back And you taught me how to time the waves and get through on the ebb Hey let's go skin diving next week! THE REVEREND JOSEPH WEAVER and his lovely Diane are back from Wisconsin Ohio Pennsylvania Maryland and the Carolinas in that order They visited scads of friends and relatives And spent some time with daughter Judy Schaefer who works for Century Life Insurance which has a great deal for the hired hands Every employee gets 10 minutes a week to call anyone they want using the company's WATS line (For a monthly fee the company can call anywhere in the nation anytime) Diane is busy with new yoga and exercise training classes for the Women's Club and she's also doing a Tuesday evening adult education class plus two classes a week for guests at the Marco Beach Hotel TOMORROW NIGHT DR ARTHUR NIGHTINGALE will address members of the Marco Island Democratic Club at the Naples Federal clubrooms Dr Nightingale has been for some four years the Collier County Coordinator for Common Cause You're Invited FRED AND CLAIRE SMITH MADE a gorgeous trip strictly the hard way last week Fred had a session of Seminole Electric at Ocala and he had personal business at his new condominium project in Con-nistee Falls NC and then a regional Rural Electrification Administration meeting in Louisville (as a director of Lee County Electric Cooperative) They were looking forward to the motor trek from Knoxville through the fantastic autumn display of color in the tree-clad mountains But what did they see all the way to Louisville and all the wayback to the Florida line? They saw fog and rain and rain and fog Maybe next fall things will be better million in new federal funds for its construction industry because of the program's multiplier effect Ravenell said project is a direct result of continued sujjport in the Florida Legislature We would like to express our appreciation for their support "The 60 families that will benefit from this program couldn't otherwise obtain a building site" The state Department of Community Affairs was scheduled to complete a loan transaction with the Lee County Commission this afternoon for the purchase of a 20-acre-tract of land for residential building Department Secretary William Ravenell in a letter to state Rep Mary Ellen Hawkins R-Naples said the $172210 loan will be used to acquire the land and to develop 60 residential building sites for low and moderate income families The Rural Housing Land Acquisition and Site Development Assistance Fund of the Department of Community Affairs was to make the loan Ravenell said the lots will be sold to eligible purchasers through the Home Administration Rural Home Loan Program Each lot will cost about $2950 It is possible that Lee County may receive close to $12 Festival Group To Meet but Everglades City officials began preparations for the event last month Mrs Shepard said the city cannot accomplish much until Dec 1 when the season if At that time she said the city will begin advertising the festival and buying materials tar said a spokesman will explain the plans A turnout of II to IS people Is expected for the "preparation Mrs Shepard said She said most of them are coqimittee workers The Seafood Festival Is not until early February EVERGLADES CITY -A representative of the state Department of Natural Resources will speak at the Seafood Festival meeting Thursday at 7:31 pm in City Hall City Clerk Dorothy Shepard said the department will have a display at the festival Thursday she Bridge To Get Repairs Immokalee 's Library Gets Heavy Usage Demos To Discuss Upcoming Convention BONITA SPRINGS The sagging strip of pavement at the north end of the bridge over the Imperial River on old US 41 has been scheduled for repair this Sunday morning or the next said state Rep Paul Nuckolls (R-Fort Myers) late Tuesday afternoon Nuckolls said he checked with the Florida Department of Transportation (DOT) officials to find out what was delaying the repair work after he learned at the Monday night meeting of the Republican Club of Bonita Springs that this small strip of pavement has been in bad shape for some time problem was one of trying to schedule the work at a time that would avoid tying up traffic on the two-lane highway since the new US 41 bypass is not ready for he said-A workcrew will come in about 5:30 am on a Sunday to put a cold patch on the strip of pavement Nuckolls said Nuckolls also said he would check into the status of traffic lights at the new US 41 Bonita Springs Bypass and the Bonita Beach Road Bruce Downs traffic operations engineer with the Bartow office of DOT told the Daily News last week that the projected traffic figures did not warrant the Installation of an electronic signal system at this intersection until the volume of traffic increases get them for a short time Located on Roberts Avenue across from the private Immokalee Day School and adjacent to the Community Center she admitted it was the beaten path REALLY when you know where it is at a centrally located site We do have such a spread out Her husband Frank is president of the Immokalee Chamber of Commerce and headmaster at the day school Mrs facility serves as the School's library Mrs Jelks principal of Bethune Elementary said with school in session she did not know if library activity would be as high as in summer She worked with youngsters from the Comprehensive Employment Training Act at the library this summer "A lot of children don't read during the explained Mrs Warriner away on vacation and they play But by August they start to get And the library she said then becomes a popular place By DAVID MOORMANN County Reporter IMMOKALEE Florence Jelks is sure people are aware there is such an animal in Immokalee" and Joyce Warriner said it is of off the beaten path for a lot of Yet in spite of this' the Immokalee Community Library at least in terms of numbers is flourishing In August 359 adults used the library and read 627 books That was a slight increase from 353 adult patrons The number of children availing themselves of the library went from 239 in July to 492 last month Books checked out also rose from 421 to 486 TRY to run the gamut from preschool to grandmothers and grandfathers" explained Mrs Warriner the assistant librarian trying to upgrade all (libraries) in the Soon the library will provide the public with best sellers on a temporary basis She said the books would be too expensive too buy but because of their popularity the library will scheduled for Nov 14-18 in Orlando will be discussed The Lee County democrats recently elected School Board member Rayma Page and former Lee County Commissioner Walter Shirey as delegates to the party's first statewide convention since to be held 1800 Woolsey said he is pleased with the steady growth the local Democratic club is experiencing since it was re-activiated earlier this year He invited all Democrats to tonight's meeting "Refreshments will be served" he said BONITA SPRINGS The Bonita Springs Democratic Club will hold a meeting tonight at 8 pm in the Community Hall Russell Woolsey president of the club said Tuesday that a guest speaker from Fort Myers is scheduled but he did not know at this time who would be addressing the club or what the subject of the address would be Woolsey who has just returned from a vacation in Indiana said the upcoming statewide convention SAT Registration Forms Due Friday right they are Jim Barfield Leah Waller Janet Crews and Stanley Broome Phato hy LIBRARY STUDY Mrs Warriner Instructs four Immokalee Day School students on proper use of the library From left to The lest which many colleges require for entrance will be held at 8:30 am Nov I at Naples High For further information contact your high school guidance department gistration forms for the I Scholastic Aptitude Test be postmarked no later Friday midnight accord-to the Collier County Is guidance departments.