LAKE COUNTY — Bowlers and skaters can breathe easy after Lakeside Lanes owner Roland Barnes said Wednesday that the bowling alley and hangout spot will keep its doors open.
“The bowling alley will stay open as long as I can keep it open,” Barnes said. On the advice of his lawyer, Barnes changed the locks Wednesday and told skate park operator Paul Mitchell that he did not have to pack up and move 5,000 square feet of skateboard ramps after all.
Mitchell said he found out late Tuesday afternoon that the bowling alley was closing. The news meant he would have to find somewhere else for the many children who use the skate park to go. The park had just opened in December 2007.
“This is the only place in Lakeport where we can come to skate and not be on private property,” Justin Shipley, 15, said. His mother Denise Bond said Shipley is seeking sponsorships to take his hobby to the next level.
“He”s done a 360 in his life (since the skate park opened). It keeps him from getting in trouble,” Bond said.
Elsie Shaffer, secretary for the Wednesday Night LaGents Mixed Four bowling league, said she knew of at least 10 leagues that would have been displaced. Lakeside Lanes had asked for a guaranteed 33 weeks of league activity. Had Lakeside Lanes closed Friday, the leagues would have stopped four weeks early.
“We knew there were problems, we just didn”t know to what extent, or what was going to happen,” Shaffer said.
Barnes told the Record-Bee that he had been in the process of selling the bowling alley and Hot Shots bar to Bob McDaniels. McDaniels took over management in August 2007 in order to decide whether he could afford to buy and operate the business, according to Barnes, but proceedings came to a halt when the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) suspended the bar”s liquor license in January.
“The license is indefinitely suspended, and the establishment cannot sell or serve alcohol because it is revoked until such a time as the license is transferred to another individual,” ABC spokesman John Carr said. Six counts were on an accusation ABC filed in December 2007. They include three counts for serving an intoxicated individual and three counts for serving a minor. The incidents are alleged to have happened between March 10, 2007 and April 1, 2007.
Barnes said his and McDaniels”s lawyers are discussing who is responsible for which bills.
“My lawyer said I am not responsible for debts from March 26 backward,” Barnes said.
“They”re working it out between the lawyers, but it will be back to normal tomorrow. People will be back here to skate and they”ll be here to bowl,” assistant manager Mary Lou Worth said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com
