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by Teresa Williams
GREEN — The Starlite Drive-In was a mess.
Sugar from soda had turned to resin at the bottom of the stadium seating in the indoor portion of the theater. Leaks from the ceiling had created mold. Calcium had built up on the masonry block walls. Doorways were enclosed in spider webs.
Umpqua Community College board member Tom Keel remembers the theater in better days. He worked part-time at the drive-in — the indoor theater wasn’t open yet — during the summer of 1954.
Things are looking up for the old Starlite Drive-In in Green. Umpqua Community College maintenance supervisor Jess Miller points out changes made to the old inside theater as local dignitaries look toward the roof. The drive-in and inside theater will house UCC’s construction and other trade classes. Andy Bronson / N-R Staff photo
On Monday he returned to the theater, one of several college representatives who came to thank the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians for use of the site as the new UCC Construction Technology Center.
The Cow Creeks bought the theater in 1999, two years after it had closed, and agreed not to show a movie for at least 20 years. The land and building sat dormant until a few weeks ago, when UCC director of maintenance and grounds Jess Miller and his crew started cleaning and painting.
“We’re very, very excited about this facility and what it will offer the college,” UCC President Blaine Nisson said. He thanked the Cow Creeks for their vision, leadership and community support.
Nisson made presentations to several Douglas County organizations asking for free or low rent for the college’s new programs, and the Cow Creeks offered the theater rent-free for construction technology, logging technology and electrical apprenticeship programs.
“This is really a great day for the community,” said Sue Shaffer, Cow Creek chairwoman and former UCC board member.
Tom Keel’s Studebaker sits in the parking lot at the Starlite Drive-In in Green recently. Keel, a former employee of the drive-in and an Umpqua Community College board member, was on hand to see changes made by UCC.
Andy Bronson / N-R Staff photoThe decision to offer use of the theater was simple, Shaffer said. “We’re supporting the mission of this college. And the tribe had this property, so why not? We’re partners in what we do anyway, helping people build their lives. You’re giving people a chance to have constructive jobs with a good income.”
UCC board chairwoman Shirley Cairns praised the Cow Creeks for their contribution to education.
“I don’t know of anything that we have asked of the tribe that they have not been willing to consider,” Cairns said.
Keel said community colleges were told they would be on their own when state funding was cut drastically a few years ago.
“I think that this is living proof that community colleges are never going to be on their own,” he said.
Vice president of instruction Terry Peek was instrumental in starting the new programs that will use the converted theater.
He was amazed with the change in the building.
“I never dreamed it would look so nice,” Peek said. “He’s made a miracle happen — Jess and his people.”
A bricklaying class has already been working in the facility, though renovation isn’t complete. The college has invested about $35,000, Nisson said. Much of the theater floor will be
built up so it’s level, and wood will be stored underneath the classrooms.
Walls and a computer lab need to be added, too.
Miller is confident the changes will occur quickly now that the basic work is done.
“This is going to be a great training facility,” Nisson said.
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