The Roanoke Times, Va., Dan Casey column [The Roanoke Times, Va.]
By Dan Casey, The Roanoke Times, Va. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Besides skating and playing hockey, since 2010 the 51-year-old has been sharpening skates outside the
There, he'd sharpen blades for a nominal charge. Inside, in space donated by the civic center, he'd fit newbie skaters into used-but-serviceable skates that cost them nothing.
Shinault has not been there since October, however. That was when the
They wanted
Shinault first got interested in skating six years ago, when his now 17-year-old son Tommy joined the local recreational organization Valley Youth Hockey.
"I decided it looked like too much fun," Shinault told me. So he started skating, too. First it was recreational. Later, he got involved in adult hockey, and began playing as an occasional substitute for the Rusty Blades, an over-45, no-check league.
That's how he developed a keen understanding of the difference between skating on dull blades and ones that have been carefully sharpened.
He bought a specialized, blade-sharpening grinder for
Two Saturday mornings a month, he'd cart the grinder and generator to
With the money Shinault earned, he'd prowl Goodwill and other thrift stores for used skates and buy them, sharpen them, and add them to his inventory.
People donated unwanted skates, too. Others came through
Last month when he learned of the insurance requirement, he did some shopping.
Some insurance companies didn't even bother to call him back. "The ones that did said 'We're not interested,'" Shinault told me. He finally found a company based in
But that expense was more than Shinault was willing to bear for what is, essentially, volunteer do-gooder work. It put him between a rock and a hard place.
So with the aid of
But it's not the same. The hockey players know he's there, but many of the recreational skaters who use the civic center don't, necessarily.
And that's where things stood, until Wednesday, when I talked to
Schon told me that the civic center didn't realize it had exposure from Shinault's sharpening operation until late in the last skating season, which was early this year. The civic center's insurance company ruled he needed his own coverage, she said.
"What would happen if a chunk of metal flew off a skate when he was sharpening it and hit someone in the eye?" Schon told me in the first of two phone calls.
"We love that he provides a service out there, don't get me wrong," she added. "We want to make this work. We don't want him to go away."
Ultimately the civic center staff was able to persuade its insurance company that Shinault's homeowners policy -- which has a far lower coverage limit -- was sufficient. And that I learned in the second phone call.
Shinault says he'll be back in business outside the civic center Saturday morning. Hooray.
If you're so inclined, you might want to stop by and thank him. The world would be a little better place if we all turned our passions into a bit of public service.
___
(c)2012 The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Va.)
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