Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 12, 1995 TAG: 9507120055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHLEEN WILSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When you turn the key, it starts. And when you push the brake pedal, it stops.
Other than that, it isn't worth much.
``It's funny-looking and uncomfortable, but it gets the job done, and I need it back,'' implores Jim Lebrato.
Along with a few remaining carnival rides yet to be dismantled, Lebrato has become part of the residue of the Salem Fair. He is stranded in the parking lot of the Salem Civic Center until someone recovers the truck that pulls his food-vending trailer up and down the East Coast carnival circuit.
When an employee took the truck - and $270 - Friday afternoon to pick up some supplies and didn't return, Lebrato notified not only the Salem police. He also called his best friend, Tom, in California.
When Lebrato later called his home in Massachusetts to check his phone messages, there was one from Tom.
``He said, `I notified 602 of your closest friends in Roanoke and asked them to look for your truck,''' Lebrato said.
Tom, whose full name was not available, searched the member directory of America OnLine for anyone whose profile included the word ``Roanoke,'' and sent them all the following message:
``HELP! Retired 'Frito-Lay' Truck Stolen in Roanoke!
"Please help. A retired Frito-Lay delivery truck (mini-cab for small tractor-trailer) has been stolen in the Roanoke area. It looks like a bread delivery truck from the front - with a short cab and a tractor-trailer-style hitch on the back. It's only about the size of a pickup truck. It has (had) a white upper, a brown stripe, and a mustard-gold bottom. A sign on the door reads Lebrato Concessions - or at least it did at the time of the theft.
"If you have seen this truck, please notify the local police, me, or leave a message for Jim Lebrato at (413) 528-2152.
"Sorry if you may have gotten this message more than once. Thank you.
"Jim may lose his business if it is not found. Please help.''
``It's such an oddball piece ... a real ugly duckling,'' Lebrato said of his truck. Grumman Corp. made 50 or 60 of the 1984 custom-built trucks to haul Frito-Lay tractor-trailers. But when Frito-Lay wasn't happy with them, the company sold them all.
Lebrato bought his four years ago and spent a year customizing it to pull his green-and-white ice cream trailer.
Until the truck turns up, Lebrato is stuck in the lot of the Salem Civic Center.
``I do have a friend in New Jersey who offered to drive 12 hours down here ... to bail me out,'' Lebrato said.
Still, he really wants that truck back. Lebrato is tapped out at the bank and can't afford to buy another truck. Without the truck, he can't travel.
Lebrato wonders what became of his employee.
"The thing that doesn't make any sense is that I owe him more than $270 for the work he did for me," he said. "And it is totally out of character for this guy.''
If you have information regarding Lebrato's oddball truck with the mustard-gold bottom, white top and brown stripe, the Salem Police ask that you contact them at 375-3078.
by CNB