Sweetwater Fire Remains Talk of Town

Friday, July 04 2008 @ 12:05 am EDT

Contributed by: CBrining

From the Atlantic City Press On-Line Published: Thursday, July 03, 2008

By ERIC SCOTT CAMPBELL Staff Writer, 609-272-7227

MULLICA TOWNSHIP - Billy's Oak Grove Inn on the White Horse Pike accumulated plenty of familiar faces Wednesday evening, but not too many conversation topics. The demise of another traditional evening haunt, the Sweetwater Casino, seemed to be on everyone's mind.
"We kind of share customers," said bartender Mark Kasilowski, who worked for nine years at the 81-year-old riverfront restaurant. He got 26 related phone calls and messages Monday before 8 a.m. "It's like losing a member of the family."

Click read more for newspaper articles.

(Continued from Page 1)

Customer Dee Cypra professed to love both places, calling the smaller Billy's "the best-kept secret around here." She sat at the end of the bar, splitting a fried mozzarella square with Joe Carey, a northern New Jersey resident, and peppering a visitor with interesting tidbits about the restaurants.

However, "I can't even bring myself to go see" the ruined Sweetwater Casino, which is less than a mile from her house.

Sweetwater volunteer firefighters Gary and Peggy Franklin took the booth at the end of the bar for their usual Wednesday visit. Gary Franklin, Sweetwater's chief, supervised the multi-company firefight at the restaurant that lasted a full day and night.

Fire investigators left the scene for good Wednesday. The pursuit of what caused the fire will continue in the form of "messing around with some theories," lead investigator Sgt. James Wild of the Mullica police said by telephone. "It's going to stay undetermined for a while. We have a lot of theories, but nothing to go on," Wild said.

The building was lost before dawn Monday. Owners Jeff Anastasi and Joe Cavalieri plan to rebuild on the same footprint.

Carey works in restaurant construction, so he was asked how soon Sweetwater Casino could be expected to be back on its feet.

"Depends on how much you want to spend," but six months after the paperwork period is a good guess, Carey said.

Asked where the heavy Sunday crowd would gather in the meantime, Cypra indicated they'd probably disperse, naming several likely restaurants in Atlantic County.

Kasilowski hopes Billy's pulls in some extra traffic, but he was thinking as much about its off days of Monday and Tuesday.

"I want them to rebuild quick so we have someplace to go," Kasilowski said.

E-mail Eric Scott Campbell: ECampbell@pressofac.com