Mice at the movies? An e-mail gets the rumor mill going
Published: July 20. 2007 4:00AM PST
When Bend mom Hattie Starling heard that there were mice in the food service area of a local theater, she was pretty upset.
She talked to her husband and decided she had to let her friends and family know. She realized that some people might call her a liar.
So Starling, 30, sent out an e-mail last week saying, among several assertions, that a dead mouse was found in a sack where the popcorn kernels are kept — which has not been substantiated in health inspections reviewed by The Bulletin. She told the recipients to forward it “to as many Bendites as you know.”
By Thursday afternoon it had landed in the inboxes of countless locals.
And if you haven’t already seen it, check yours, because it’s probably there.
The frenzied forwarding phenomenon is commonly referred to as “going viral” in online circles, said Robert Niles, editor of the online journalism review at the University of Southern California Annenberg School of Journalism.
“If you see something that has been forwarded 10 times, that creates some credibility for the message, quite frankly,” Niles said. “You see that a lot of other people have read and essentially endorsed this message, which makes it a lot more powerful.”
Starling’s e-mail referred to the Regal Old Mill Stadium 16 cinema in Bend. Deschutes County health officials have found rodent droppings at the theater in three separate visits in the past year. In the last two inspections, no droppings were found.
Some locals online referred to Starling’s note as “another Baltazars,” referring to an e-mail that circulated earlier this year criticizing Bend restaurant owner Baltazar Chavez for not wanting children at his establishment.
Starling said she sent the e-mail because an employee at the theater told her there was a serious mouse problem there and that the rodents were around the food service area.
During a surprise health inspection Wednesday, the theater received a perfect score of 100 and no problems were found.
Past inspections
Health inspection reports dating back five years show that the pristine conditions found at the cineplex Wednesday have not always been the case.
Inspectors first found rodent droppings at the Old Mill theater in the food service area in October during a regular semi-annual inspection, according to Deschutes County Health Department records. A second inspection report dated 10 days later said rodent feces were still present on a dirty floor.
An inspector revisited the cinema two weeks later and the problem appeared to be gone, according to his report.
But in May, the inspector again found rodent feces in the food service area. The same report noted a dirty shelf in the popcorn machine and that the floor in the food service area had not been cleaned.
That inspector’s May 23 report showed “no evidence of rodent activity today.”
Two Old Mill theater managers said that corporate policy prohibits them from commenting, and directed calls to the Knoxville, Tenn.-based Regal Entertainment Group, which owns the Old Mill theater.
“We are aware that we previously had a problem, but we currently are not aware of any problem,” said Dick Westerling, senior vice president of marketing for Regal Entertainment Group.
The theater has been on a monthly inspection schedule with a pest control company since before the droppings were first found, Westerling said. And, he said, an extermination crew spent a week at the theater after the May reports.
Health inspectors in Deschutes County see rodent problems in about 10 percent of the inspections they perform at about 500 restaurants each year, said John Mason, of the Deschutes County Health Department.
Health inspection reports for the four other movie theaters in the county show that none were found to have rodent droppings.
It is standard procedure to give a food service facility a chance to correct violations and then re-inspect the premises, Mason said, If the problem persists, he said, a plan is put in place to correct it and a third inspection is done.
“The way the law is written you essentially get three strikes,” Mason said.
In the last five years, the theater’s inspection scores have ranged from a low of 70 to, most recently, a high of 100.
Critical violations, like rodent droppings or unsafe food temperatures, mean a deduction of four to five points, Mason said. Inspectors knock off one or two points for less serious violations, he said.
“So to lose 20 or 30 points on hot dogs, popcorn and ice in comparison with a restaurant that might serve beans and rice and lettuce and meat and countless other items, it’s not good,” Mason said.
Word of inbox
Deschutes County Commissioner Tammy Baney said Thursday that she got Starling’s e-mail. She plans to go back to the theater now that she’s heard the inspection results.
But the e-mail did have an effect on her.
“My daughter wanted to see a movie last night and instead we went to Anthony’s (restaurant) and did a little shopping,” she said Thursday. “But it does sound to me like they are on top of it and have taken care of the problem.”
Lifelong Bend resident Eric Brand, who goes to the cinema every Tuesday with his wife, said the e-mail threw him into a tailspin.
“We always get the popcorn,” Brand said. “We didn’t go this week because we were waiting to hear the result (of the inspection). But I’ll be back next Tuesday.”
Starling said Brand, 22, contacted her a few times, looking for advice about where to find inspection reports.
“I’ve received e-mails and phone calls and people have said, ‘We really appreciate that you’ve gotten this out,’ and asked me to call them when things are under control and they can go back.”
Starling’s reaction is becoming more and more common in the age of the Internet, Niles said.
“In any type of situation like this, you’ve got people who are the power brokers of the viral movement,” he said. “We just called them gossips before, but if you get the information in front of the right gossip …”
Bend resident Bev Tyler said she was concerned about Starling’s e-mail because she considered the information questionable.
“I received it three times, but didn’t pass it on,” she wrote in an e-mail. “I made a point of NOT passing it on because I think it is gossip until the facts are verified.”
And Starling said Thursday that she’s also gotten some e-mails criticizing her for what she did.
“I was just trying to help the public and my friends and family and that was it,” she said. “I didn’t do it to hurt the business, I mean, it’s a huge asset to this town. I just wanted the problem to be solved and the public to be safe.”
Cindy Powers can be reached at 617-7812 or cpowers@bendbulletin.com.
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