Initial Malathion Spraying Dampens Business for Many

Debbie Meeks figures that the war against the Medfly already has cost her about $40.

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When El Tecolote Cafe closed early Wednesday so that customers and employees could get home before the start of an aerial assault on the fruit-ravaging pests, Meeks lost a few hours of wages plus tips.

For Meeks, head waitress at the landmark eatery on Lewis Road, Ventura County’s fight against the fruit fly has hit her right in the pocketbook.

And that’s just Round One. She’s not happy about this happening every other week for the next six months.

“I’m going to lose all kinds of money,” she lamented Thursday. “I think it’s horrible. It’s awful.”

At small businesses throughout the 16-square-mile spray zone, similar stories repeated.

Before a squadron of malathion-dumping helicopters lifted off from Camarillo Airport about 9 p.m. Wednesday, some businesses normally open after that hour closed for the night.

And many of those that stayed open past 9 p.m. got few customers.

Shortly after the blue-eyed insects were discovered in an orchard in eastern Camarillo, the spraying program was pitched as the best way to rescue the county’s $848-million agriculture industry.

Some smaller businesses--such as carwashes and stores that sell car covers--have profited from that decision. But, after Wednesday night, many others discovered that they stand to lose money during the six-month program.

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At a Jack-in-the-Box restaurant in a strip mall near Las Posas and Lewis roads, employee Rosa Rosales said late Wednesday that only five customers came in after 9 p.m.

“It’s like a holiday,” she said.

Not even dollar night at Harley’s Camarillo Bowl could bring people out of their homes during the aerial assault.

On a night when the promise of $1 a game usually packs the place with bowlers, only about 10 people hit the lanes Wednesday night. And half of those were employees.

“Maybe we’re going to have to close early,” said Assistant Manager Claudia Andrade, who looked on in frustration Wednesday night as most of the 20 lanes stood empty. “We’re running a special already. We can’t go any lower than $1 a game.”

After figuring lost sales of food and beer, Manager Roger Jewell estimated that the bowling alley lost between $600 and $800 in business Wednesday night.

“They picked the wrong night for us, that’s for sure,” Jewell said Thursday. “I don’t think they considered all of the factors as far as small businesses are concerned.”

Carol Nordahl, executive director of the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce, said Thursday that the chamber had received only one call from a merchant concerned about lost business because of the aerial spraying.

Nordahl said in the two weeks before the next scheduled spraying, chamber officials will discuss such concerns with state officials, who are directing the eradication program.

“It’s a very difficult situation,” Nordahl said. “There is no real easy solution for everybody.”

Some merchants in the spray zone said business did not drop off at all Wednesday night.

“A lot of people were staying out looking for the helicopters,” said Leng Tang at Four Season’s Donuts, a 24-hour operation. “I think it’s probably exciting for some people.”

And at O’Connor’s Sports Bar & Grill, on the western edge of the spray zone, Manager Donna Hegg said business was a little better than usual Wednesday night.

“I think people, if they were in the spray zone, didn’t want to get stuck at home,” she said Thursday. “It was a lot busier than I thought it was going to be.”

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Still, customers or no customers, some businesses decided to shut down altogether before spraying started. Carolyn Rossetti, general manager of a couple of Subway Sandwich shops in the spray zone, closed both before 9 p.m.

“I knew that it would be really slow,” Rossetti said Thursday. “Also, I didn’t want the employees driving around in that stuff. I wanted them to get home before they started spraying.”

She said she probably will close the stores each time the spraying takes place.

“We’ll probably be losing about 20 customers (a night), but it’s worth it,” she said.

At El Tecolote, owner Dave Jones says he figures that he lost hundreds of dollars by closing an hour early Wednesday. At 8 p.m., he turned away a party of nine.

But he said he, too, will continue to close early as long as the pesticide-dropping helicopters continue to take to the sky.

“Six months of this is going to hurt my business,” Jones said. “But I want all my customers and all my employees to be under cover prior to the start of spraying.”