Friday windstorm hurts slots, computers at Sharkey's

An evergreen that fell into power lines behind Sharkey's Casino on Friday afternoon knocked out power at the casino that night and caused an estimated $10,000 of damage to slot machines and computer equipment, Sharkey's Manager Ron Terrell reported Monday.

"The damaged power pole had to be replaced with a new pole and because of the location, they had to dig the hole by hand," Terrell said by e-mail. "After installing the new pole and completing the hook up, the power was restored to Sharkey's at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday morning."

Terrell said the power company would only turn on the power if Sharkey's had a licensed electrician on the property.

"Minden Electric agreed to help us out and checked on the progress of the power company every few hours." he said. "They were on property and successfully powered up the casino and restaurant slowly to prevent further damage to the equipment."

Sharkey's staff were able to get the casino's slot machines back up and functioning on the computer by 2 a.m.

"Damage to the slot machines and computer equipment is estimated at $10,000 and the lost revenue for a Friday exceeded $18,000," Terrell said. "The great thing is that no one was seriously injured. There were a lot of cars parked near the tree and they had very little damage.

"While the tree was resting on the pole with both the tree and pole on fire, cars were still driving on Gilman Avenue. We were very lucky to get the traffic stopped and one of Sharkey's customers blocked the road with their truck until the sheriff's department arrived."