Bowlers get reprieve

April 18, 2006

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - Kids, youth, moms and church groups still have a place to bowl in the Valley. But for a while Monday, things looked grim for 10-pin lovers younger than 21.

A couple of buses of Boy Scouts pulled in to the parking lot of North Bowl Monday morning, but they didn't have a day at the lanes as they planned. According to Dustin Sherman, operator of the pro shop in the only bowling alley in the Valley, 60 to 80 kids were turned away. Not only that, but the youth bowling leagues that have been active since 1985 had lost a place to bowl, and more than half the employees at the lanes were facing loss of their jobs, because they are younger than 21.

The problem, it seemed, was that the Mat-Su Borough wouldn't sign off on a permit for the bowling alley to operate as a restaurant, which made the whole building, in effect, a bar. Monday morning, an inspector with the Alcohol Beverage Control Board said that meant no one under 21 in the building, unless accompanied by a parent.

&#8220We have churches, summer leagues with scholarship money, neon bowling and even birthday parties,” said Mark Stowers, the manager of North Bowl. &#8220But unless every child was with a parent, no way.”

The sad turn of events was short lived, though, after owner Bob Stevens drove in to Anchorage and sat down with Bill Roach of the ABC Board.

&#8220Stevens didn't understand the way bowling alleys work and thought he could apply for a restaurant permit and that would take care of it,” Roach said.

Stevens said he filled out all the paperwork about two and a half years ago. He thought the delay was caused by Mat-Su Borough officials refusing to sign off because they wanted to shut him down.

Roach said he clarified the permitting rules to Stevens and explained that the delay was not due to friction between Stevens and the borough. T here are several provisions in the law tailored to bowling alleys. He and Stevens went over the plans, put a new diagram in the file, and approved the bowling alley for all users.

&#8220It's something I wish we had done two years ago, when he got the place,” Roach said. &#8220It was a matter of people sitting down and talking to each other rather than using faxes and long-distance phone calls.”

The difference will be that there will be beer served in the settee area, with certain areas to remain dry for under-age bowlers, he said. The concourse remains a licensed premises, or bar, he said.

Although kids got the boot for only a few hours, the idea of not having a place to bowl was decidedly unpleasant for some bowlers who glimpsed a future without an alley in the Valley.

&#8220I've been bowling since I was 4,” said Marguerite Rykaczewski, 19. &#8220This is what I do, it's all I've ever done. I coach, run summer leagues and volunteer in all the youth leagues. I pretty much live here.”

Rykaczewski, who said her handicap is 30, said she works weekends at North Bowl and wouldn't know what to do without a local bowling alley, something echoed by Daniel Mason, 18.

&#8220I've worked here for two and a half years,” Mason said. &#8220I don't want to find another job. This is what I do.”

Mason, who goes to Wasilla High School, said he's earned scholarship money from bowling. His handicap is 20, he said, and the alley is his second home.

Andrew Collin Dowling, 19, feared that if he couldn't bowl, he'd just sit home and get fat. With the lanes open, he is on for the National Junior Olympics in July.

&#8220I bowl at least 100 games a week,” Dowling said. &#8220I go to college, I go home to eat, and I go to the alley.”

In some leagues, Dowling has a 24 handicap, and in some, he has none.

&#8220I could contend with adults,” he said. &#8220My life is dedicated to this sport now.”

Contact Mary Ames at 352-2284 or mary.ames@ frontiersman.com.