![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
There's violence all over the globe. Our major manufacturers are falling into bankruptcy and the venerable Boston Globe is on the verge of shutdown. Closer to home, our state capital is under a state of seige. In sport, two major final series are reaching their climaxes and the Mets beat the Phillies. (This list, obviously, is NOT in order of importance.)
So what, you might wonder, is the top "24-hour breaking news" story at this very moment on the home page of the Buffalo News?
Burned Maine topless coffee shop reopens in a tent.
I had to go look- sorry, I'm a guy- and while there were no titillating photos, there was, instead, a rather sweet, and totally Down East, story of a town rallying around a distressed business, no matter what the business was:
VASSALBORO -- Bikini tops have given way to sweatshirts for the women serving coffee and doughnuts at the former Grand View Topless Coffee Shop on Route 3.
The controversial business, destroyed by arson June 3, has been restarted under a tent near the burned-out building.
The waitresses, who are volunteering their time, wore sweatshirts on a rainy Tuesday morning.
"They're getting a little wet out there," said business owner Donald Crabtree. "Anything to get back in business and get the girls working again.
"They have car payments, house payments, kids. They're volunteering their time and they're still getting tips and they're getting checks in the mail from people. One girl got a $10 check from a lady out of state."
Tuesday morning's waitresses were Krista McIntyre and Amy Greenleaf.
In between serving food and drink, the waitresses worked on reclaiming a few rooms of the former motel.
"Hopefully by the end of the week we'll be in three temporary rooms so the staff can go back to being topless," Crabtree said. "We'll still have some waitresses outside fully clothed. There's no charge until we get into a new building."
The arson occurred the same night that the owner was at a public hearing which sought reaction to his plan to (sorry, it was in the original article) expand the facility. That reminded me of a similar venue in our old home town, around the corner from the home of some friends of ours, tastefully named the "Barrel of Dolls." It, too, suffered a fire which suspended its business, and its owners, too, promised to rebuild the place bigger and better than ever.
"Rebuild it out of WHAT?," I recall asking at the time. "Silicone?"