Fire Rescue News - Bowlers rally around Loyle Lanes and its Linwood owner after the Vineland bowling alley was allegedly to
By DANIEL WALSH Staff Writer | Posted: Saturday, January 23, 2010 | 0 comments
If any one good thing has come out of the Loyle Lanes arson, it’s that the Loyle family and their patrons found out just how good their friends really were.
After the Jan. 11 fire destroyed the $4 million bowling center in Vineland, people began helping right away....Continue Reading
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Steven Henry Smink, 47, operator of Pike Bowling Lanes in Bridgeton, is charged with arson in connection with the Jan. 11 Loyle Lanes fire.
Local businesses donated a construction trailer, file cabinets, pizza and doughnuts, and offered to help haul out rubble. Friends and patrons have dropped off photos, letters, and donations of bowling balls. Facebook groups have blossomed, including one that helped prompt nine local leagues to cancel plans to bowl at Pike Lanes in Deerfield Township, the operator of which, Steven Smink, now faces arson charges for the fire.
Smink now sits in Cumberland County Jail on $300,000 bail after being extradited from his native Philadelphia on Friday, with an arraignment scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday at Cumberland County Courthouse.
Chuck Loyle Jr., the Linwood man who runs the bowling alley with his brother, Mike, tried not to dwell on Smink, instead marveling at all the help people have offered. His family includes several longtime Rotary Club members, and he said that legacy has come back to them.
“The Rotary motto is service above self,” said Loyle, who lives in Linwood. “We’ve put so much into the community, and that’s why this is coming back to us now.”
Felix Antonio Manzano of Philadelphia is charged with arson in connection with the Jan. 11 Loyle Lanes fire.
Response to fire
It started with the unknown Home Depot security guard who Loyle said called 911 the night of the fire, and then there was Millville police officer Rick Kott, a friend of Loyle’s whose girlfriend worked at Loyle Lanes. Loyle recounted how Kott saw the fire shortly before 3 a.m., while returning from a call that had taken him down Delsea Drive into Vineland. Loyle saved Kott’s voice mail.
“Yo, Chuck, the bowling center is on fire,” Kott said in the 2:45 a.m. message. “It is completely on fire. I don’t know what time you left tonight. I’m working all night. It is completely engulfed. The flames are high. Oh my God, I don’t know what happened.”
That’s how Loyle found out about the fire.
Early on, there was just grief, both of the owners and the bowlers who called Loyle Lanes “our house.” Loyle described one patron in his 80s who showed up the morning after the fire.
“He’s been bowling in our house since the day we opened, and we bowls three nights a week,” Loyle said. “He’s buried both of his kids. He’s buried his wife. To see him Monday, just standing in the parking lot crying, there was nothing you could do but go up and hug him.”
On the morning after the fire, an ex-employee who works as an emergency medical technician had a mobile unit sent to Loyle Lanes specifically for Loyle’s father, Charles Loyle, Sr., who he knew has heart problems. The elder Loyle used to run the bowling alley with his brother, John, and the EMTs checked Charles Loyle several times, according to Chuck Loyle.
Two days after the fire, Charles Parrish donated a construction trailer his company, Parrish Construction, uses for jobs. The Loyles have used it as a headquarters outside their building, setting up employees there to watch the building on nights. Parrish also offered storage space for free at Parrish Storage in Vineland.
“We were happy to do it, because they’re really good people, and they deserve whatever people give to them,” Charles Parrish said. “Everybody feels really bad about what happened to them.”
Anonymous donor
Local bowler James “J.T.” Taylor showed up with Chuck Loyle’s friend, Joe Lynch, to help bowlers retrieve gear they lost in the fire, making the trip through the wreckage that Loyle says was a bit too emotional for family members to make so repetitively.
Phil Plowman of Plowman’s Windows of Doors offered to haul out wreckage and help provide new materials. Roy Greenblatt of the Matt Blatt car dealerships offered file cabinets and office space. Phil Maniaci, a regular Loyle Lanes bowler, dropped off free pizzas and donuts from Jim Main’s Bakery, which his family owns.
“He feels like that’s his second family,” said Maniaci’s wife, Sandra.
Someone named “Chris” dropped off five bowling balls to be used as house balls after Loyle Lanes is rebuilt. The person left only a signed letter marking “Chris” as someone who had bowled at Loyle Lanes as a child, courtesy of the free bowling games offered to all local students there as part of an anti-drugs effort. Loyle Lanes offered one free game every day of the summer to any student in the area.
“I benefited from several summers of it, 96 to 2000,” “Chris” wrote. “Please accept these bowling balls as a thank-you gift and a contribution (house balls) for when the bowling alley gets rebuilt.”
Facebook fans
Former employee Carl Rutter offered to drill holes in the balls of bowlers who lost gear in the fire — at no cost. Dozens of bowlers lost shoes, balls and other gear left in lockers.
“So that when Loyle Lanes reopens, they can all get back to it,” said Carl Rutter.
The list goes on.
Vineland’s last two mayors, Perry Barse and Bob Romano, both stopped by to offer condolences and support. The Loyles praised Vineland Police, who worked with other law enforcement agencies to arrest Smink and two accused accomplices eight days after the fire.
Bowling alleys in Egg Harbor Township, Wildwood, Glassboro and Deptford Township offered jobs for part-time employees now at out of work or to host Loyle Lanes’ leagues at discounted rates or revenue-sharing with the Loyles. John Daly of Millville starts Saturday at King Pin Bowling in Egg Harbor Township, Loyle said.
Finally, there is Facebook.
On Jan. 10, the Loyle Lanes Bowling Center’s Facebook page had 110 people registered as “fans,” Chuck Loyle said. As of Friday night, they had 2,241.
Two other pages have sprung up. One is dedicated to the rebuilding of Loyle Lanes, and despite misspellings in its title, 525 people still found it by Friday night to sign on as fans.
And then there is the Boycott Pike Lanes page, which Millville’s Brett Clendaniel launched Tuesday night after learning of Smink’s arrest. By Friday night, it had 905 fans. Before its launch, nine local leagues planned to move to Pike Lanes.
“Since this page has gone up,” Clendaniel said, “they went from taking nine leagues – that’s about 1,000 people – and now none of them is going.”
Contact Daniel Walsh:
856-649-2074
