Warner Robins roller skating rink reopens after fire

June 26--WARNER ROBINS -- Quinton Head grew up roller skating at the Olympia Skate Center in the 1980s.

Today, he skates there with his 11-year-old daughter, Jenae.

"We're here every weekend just about that we can be here," Head said. "It's really a good place to be."

The rink on Greenbriar Road reopened for a few hours Thursday after a weekend fire, and it resumes normal summer hours Friday.

Head said the rink is an institution in Warner Robins.

"This is where normally everybody goes," he said. "A lot of the old skaters I know are starting to come back here, and we just have a good time on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. They even have a Christian night on Mondays."

His daughter skates at the rink often.

"I like the fact that you can come in and enjoy the music and just have fun," she said.

Frank Lewis, 15, his sister and two brothers also skated at the rink Thursday.

The children, who live in Cobb County, were in town visiting their grandmother. Their father, Frank Lewis, said the rink offers a wholesome environment.

Head said he believes in the rink so much that he showed up Thursday to help clean up and get ready for Friday.

He and co-owner Amy Alexander go way back. She used to manage the rink before owning it as well as another one in Macon where he skated.

Alexander and her husband, Sean, a former Houston County sheriff's deputy, bought the rink in 2000 when Amy Alexander said it was about to go under.

She credited God's intervention when a fire broke out above the office in the attic about 10:15 p.m. Saturday. The rink had closed an hour early because it was a quiet night.

All the patrons had left, and only a handful of employees, including two teenagers, were in the building when the fire started. All of them got out safely, Warner Robins firefighters contained and put out the blaze quickly, and the rink's floor was spared from water damage.

The fire and water damage was mostly to a corner of the attic, the office and part of the concession area. The fire report labeled the cause as electrical, but the insurance adjuster thinks a box that was too close to a hot bulb in a light fixture caught fire, Alexander said.

As a precaution, Alexander said three electricians were brought in to check all the wiring, and a Warner Robins building inspector also signed off on the rink reopening.

"We're open and ready for business," she said.

For more information about the rink, visit www.olympiaskate.org or check out its Facebook page.

To contact writer Becky Purser, call 256-9559.

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