ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9601030021
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
The Peaks of Otter Lodge reopened for dinner at 5 p.m. Saturday after the go-ahead came down from Washington - the same place that ordered it closed during one of its busiest weeks.
Calvin Rice, food manager, said the lodge reopened after a 10-day shutdown while the president and Congress tried to hash out the nation's budget.
Despite the fact that the lodge is privately owned, the Blue Ridge Parkway, where it is located, is patrolled by government employees. The park service can close down private concessions on the parkway if the safety of travelers could be imperiled by the decrease in the number of rangers on patrol.
Rice said the holiday week is normally one of the busiest of the year. Even after only short notice of the lodge's reopening, a crowd of about 75 diners showed up Saturday night.
The lodge's 63 rooms had been booked solid this week, and lodge employees had been calling guests with reservations two days in advance to tell them of the shutdown.
With the lodge's reopening, about 27 rooms will be filled tonigh.
The lodge closed for one weekend in November under similar orders from the government; the owners of the lodge estimated the loss at about $40,000.
Rice said he could not estimate how much money the lodge lost during the most recent closing.
``It's been devastating to the lodge,'' he said. ``We're just glad the employees can come back to work.''
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