MELT DOWN

Sometimes the magic works was a saying my best friend and I had whenever things when very well or something great happened to us. This saying became almost a prayer on Thursday the 10 of June at 2:30 PM. The cell phone rang as I was driving through town. Jody, my banquet manager called. “We have a real problem here at the restaurant. GPU came to install a new meter and the old one was melted inside and they are turning off the building's power.”

Within two minutes I was at the restaurant. A man and a woman from GPU were standing in the driveway holding my old meter. The bottom line was that the box holding the meter had started to melt, thus they could not put it back. Panic sunk in as I saw about $10,000 dollars worth of food going bad, not being able to open that night or maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday and not being able to prep for the Belmar Seafood Festival. The loss would be staggering.

Panic stricken I asked what I had to do. They told me the electrical system had to be replaced, permits ordered, cut cards issued, the main lines from the street had to be cut and get it inspected before it could be turned back on. Panic turned to pure anxiety as I ran up to stairs to call…..call who? I didn't know who to call. I turned and ran next store to Torcon, the company building the Two River Theater. Explaining to Steve the foremen what was wrong I almost begged for help. “Let me call Soden Electric. They are doing the job here.”

By 2:40 Mark Burdge from Soden’s was standing my driveway looking at the meter box. Trying not to look at the sheer stress and panic on my face he called his office and was given the go ahead to fix the system. Two more electricians, John Feeny and Bob Soden joined Mark and left to pick up the parts they needed. Mary, Lena & Kim in Soden’s office made arrangements for the permits. Red Bank Borough Hall had the permits issued in less then and hour and the girls from the office dropped them at Danny’s. Mark and his crew pulled four one inch cables from the overhead box and cut them while they were still live. They went to work to replace the system.

At 4:00 PM Red Bank Electrical inspector pulled up and simply stated, “I hear you have a problem…I am sure these guys can fix it. I’ll be around most of the night to check it.” At 5:30 the GPU truck driven by Larry pulled up and cut the over head lines. About the same time the original GPU meter man showed up with a new meter. He told me that most people yell at them when this happens and because I asked for help his boss told him to come back with a new meter. As everyone worked to get the system back up and running I began to realize that this had been a blessing. The melt down could have happened when the restaurant was full or at night and burned the building down with me in it.

Sometimes the magic works was certainly working this night. Mark’s crew put everything back together by 8:00 PM. Larry in the GPU truck had prepared the one inch cables to be put together again. He meter was installed. Henry the Red Bank inspector checked everything out and the current was back on by 8:30. I brought everyone inside for ribs and a drink. I could not thank them enough. Everyone had pulled together doing the jobs they are so well trained for. That night it was not magic but pure dedication and skill performed by everyone involved. To all of them, thank you from the bottom of my heart.