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WHITBY FREE PRESS, Thursday, May, ll, 1972, Page 7 Couldn 't Happen Here -Or Could It? Take a drive from the four corners, e a st towards Thl ck son Roàd and you wil 1l pass the RED BARN. Leave Northiands Plaza in Detroit and drive east on Eight Mile Road and you will al so pass a RED BARN. On the out- s i d e they could both have been bull1t from the same set of plans. So what? Let's take it a stage further. When you orderyour 'Big Barney' in Whi tby, the friendly staff takes your money and handsyou the food. They do not expect their clientle to mug them or to-pull. a .gun. Surewe have_- criminal element who do this sort of thing, but they still find i t lucrative to concentrate their efforts on banks and similar ventures that could offer better reward for their risks than a hamburger joint. Lif e, relatively cheap In Detroit the situation is differ- ent. Unless acrook has served a good apprenticeship knocking over gas sta- tions and beating up old ladies, he is un i i kel1 y to get within spitting dis- tance of a bank w ithout either the police or security men using him for practice. With six hundred and thirty mu rders a year (Toronto had thirty- two in the same period), life is rela- tivelycheap, and although a thief can hardly g e t rich from being a hot dog stand spec i1alist, he can scrape a reasonably tax-free, dishonest liv- ing. Now the Red Barn is hardly the t y p e of i n s titution to frighten its customerswith armed security guards watching them eat, so here in Detroit they have t a k en other precautions. The staff is separatedfrom the patrons by thick plexoglass, which stretches from counter top to ceiling. You give your order through a series of verti- cal siates which actas a speaking grille. I didn't exactly find out wheth- er the plexoglass is bullet-proff as I d i d n 1 t have a . 4 4 magnum on me at the time, but it looks pretty tough. Itts "We willI stop Ameeting of POP, Whitby District drew over one hundred and eighty p e opl1 e into the Centennial Building Wednesday night. An Oshawa folk greetedpeople at the door and apples were distribut- ed. Before the introduction of guest speakers, a film with sound track was featured. The tone of the meeting was quiet. Questions from the floor were intel- ligent an d were not laced with heck- Iing. In his address Dr. Charles Godfrey POP Chairman, saidthatWhitby would be plunked down between Toronto and the proposed city of Cedarwood. "Whitby then, " he said, "will nolong- erexist as Whitby. And that would be a p i t y, h e continued, as I think you have a certain amount of charm here which should be preserved. That is not to s a y we a r e against development, but development should proceed in an orderly fashion. " diffi cult to say whether the staff is friendly - you can hardly make a date w ith a pretty girl through a speakinq gr ill1 and she cannot slap your face througha plexoglass shield... stale- mate! The grand finale A f ter pi a cing your hard earned do I I a rs in a steel trough at counter level, the girl scoops them from her s i d e of the shield. Your change re- turns the same way. Now for the grand finale of the whol e performance. By this timel1 was fully convinced that my 'Big Barney' was going to be squeezed through to me via the money trough, and without a spoon handy this c o ul1 d h a v e given me problems. My o n c ern was undue. They are well- organized. The counter girl slid up a m e t a 1 roller blind on something that 1ooked a little like a bread bin. She placedmy food inside, closed the blind andsignalledmeto open a similar one on my side of the plexoglass. Appar- ently these are made so that both sides cannot b e open at the same time - no chance of holding hands... ..."Just in case" I telephoned the Red Barn head of- fice for permission to have this mast- e r p i ece photographed and explained the ai rport" In reference to his meeting with Transport Minister Don Jamieson he said the only recourse for POP would be apublic inquiry which they are now waiting to implement. Studies on the p r oposed airport are-being written now, I said Godfrey when they should have been under- tak en l1o ng before the government's deci sion to build the airpor t was made. The basis for a decision on our pub- l ic inquiry is now. The studies are being undertaken now. D r. Godfrey who has always been optimistic about stopping the proposed a i r p o r t was quoted a week ago in "Airport Information, ASpecial Fest- v i a II s sue" summarizing hi s feel ing on the issue saying: "The government has stated since March 2, that it will build an airport at Pickering. It con- t i n u es to make the same statement. H owever , we are having an effect. W e will work harder and think hard- er. We will stop the airport." that Ihad credentials from the Whitby Free Press who were not interested in casing the joint for a future raid. AI- though they were very polite at Red Barnsof Michigan Incorporated, they toîdme that the principals were out of town and they would be sure to frown on thi s type of publicity. They also went to great leng th toexplain that they w e r e n't expecting trouble, this was j ust in case someone leaned over the counter to empty the cash register, this protection is entirely experimen- tal, etc. etc. Their story is hard to swallow as I have been in m an y drug stores, fish bars-, record shops, etc. with the same system just in case! There are even supermarkets fitted with diamond steel mesh across their doors and windows. A wi ndow shopping trip helps you understand the eyestrain a chicken i s under when looking out of a coup aIl day. Bankswith hidden c a m e r a s , armed guards patroll1 ing m o t e I s a t night, police that always travel a t least two to a cruiser, and local n ew s reports ail bear witness to the scene. Could it happen here? Could i t happen here? You be the judge. Torontohas had arson, shoot- i n g s, b o mbings and bank robberies dur ing recent months. Against Det- roi t, our numbers seem negliable, b u t ho w f a r do we go before these sort of elaborate precautions become ne ce ssary for business to survive? in the final analysis, i t is the con- sumer who has to pay for the high in- surance rates and ail these junk pro- t e c t i on systemsi in the price of his purchases. WHITBY-HARRISON FUELS LIMITED "Ys TEXAC DeaW 211 Brock St. S. Phone: 668-3610 VOLKSWAGEN SEE OUR LARGE SELECTION OF COMPLETELY RE-CONDITIONED AND FULLY .GUARANTEED V.W.'s AT YOUR AUTHORIZEn V.W. DEALElR. Pickering Car Centre Ltd. DASELINE RD., AJAK ftÀ! 942-1SSI\Y SPECIALS 2595. 72 Super Beetle Sun roof, Ziebart Radial Tires 7, 000 miles Like New Lic. 714-24P 66 Deluxe- eleia White. Radio, excellent. condition. Lic. 355-57A Comu Te FICKERINS CAR CENTRE LTI. Per That pesonul Touc $895. it