Bowling: Elks Club lanes back in operation

The bowling lanes at the Elks Club reopened for league bowling Tuesday night after being closed when a faulty sprinkler in the service club’s upstairs kitchen cut loose and flooded a portion of the basement bowling center over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Lanes manager Rod Hackett confirmed the reopening Tuesday, after earlier saying most of the week’s league bowling slate would be lost.

“I’ve been calling everybody to let them know,” Hackett said, saying the biggest concern was the computerized telescorers, located just behind the approaches at the 12-lane center.

Most of the flooding was confined to behind lanes 1 through 5, as well as the desk area.

“I honestly didn’t expect to have it dried out before Thursday,” Hackett added. “But we had heaters in here to dry the carpet all night.

“We shampooed the carpet (Tuesday), replaced some of the ceiling tiles, and we’re back in operation.”

Hackett said no damage was done to the synthetic bowling surfaces or the approaches, as they were covered with plastic as a preventative measure.

The lanes had flooded once before while Hackett has been managing the lanes, affecting lanes 9 through 12 at the start of the season a few years ago and putting a hold on bowling for about two weeks.