LEWISTON, Maine — It’s a dilemma no business owner should have to face: whether to reopen after a mass shooting.
The answer didn’t come easily to Justin and Samantha Juray. But when they did decide to reopen their Maine bowling alley, they didn’t hold back.
When patrons return Friday, six months after the gunman opened fire, they will see inspiring pictures at the end of each lane, bright paint on the walls, and new floors. The Lewiston venue has undergone a complete makeover, giving it a vibrant, airy feel.
Samantha Juray gets emotional when recalling the events of Oct. 25, when the gunman killed eight people at the bowling alley before driving to a nearby bar and pool hall where he killed 10 more during the deadliest shooting in the state’s history. He later died by suicide.
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“It’s never going to leave my head,” Juray said this week, as she made final preparations to reopen. “I think if we don’t move forward — not that there was a point to this whole thing anyway — but we’re just going to allow the people that have taken so much from us win.”
Justin Juray initially was dead-set against reopening and they also got some negative outside feedback. But that all changed, she said, as people in Lewiston rallied behind them. Within weeks, they knew they had to reopen, Samantha Juray said.
They decided to keep the same name: Just-In-Time Recreation. They call it that because when they bought the venue three years ago, the owner was days away from shutting it down. It also fits with Justin’s name.
Justin Juray, right, owner of Just In Time Recreation, bumps fists with local bowler Moe St. Pierre, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Lewiston, Maine. The bowling alley, where eight people were killed in last October’s mass shooting, was scheduled to reopen Friday, May 3. Credit: AP/Robert F. Bukaty
Across the country, people have taken varied approaches after mass shootings. Barbara Poma, the former owner of the Pulse nightclub in Florida where 49 people were killed in 2016, said every situation and community is different.
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“You are suddenly thrown into a state of shock, and emotions dictate your thoughts,” Poma said in an email. “Eventually you are forced to make a critical business decision based on how it will impact others emotionally and publicly. There just is no easy or right answer.”
The City of Orlando last year agreed to buy the Pulse nightclub site to create a memorial.
In Aurora, Colorado, a movie theater where 12 people were killed in 2012 later reopened under a new name. Buffalo’s Tops Friendly Market reopened in 2022, two months after 10 Black people were killed.
Samantha Juray gets emotional while recalling the events of the mass shooting last October at the bowling alley she owns with her husband, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Lewiston, Maine. Credit: AP/Robert F. Bukaty
In Newtown, Connecticut, Sandy Hook Elementary School was razed, and there also are plans to bulldoze Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
In Lewiston, Kathy Lebel, who owns the second business hit by the gunman, Schemengees Bar & Grille, also hopes to reopen at a different venue.
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At the bowling alley, Tom Giberti said people are “so excited to get us back.”
Giberti, who has worked at the bowling alley for 20 years, is credited with saving the lives of at least four children the night of the shooting. He ushered them along a narrow walkway between the lanes to an area behind the pins. Before Giberti could get to safety himself, he was shot in both legs and hit with shrapnel.
After undergoing surgery, it wasn’t long before Giberti stopped using the mobility walker he’d been given. These days, he enjoys playing golf and shows few physical signs of his injuries as he strides about the bowling alley.
A lot of people in Lewiston have helped get the venue reopened, he said.
“The community has been phenomenal,” Giberti said. “They’ve been right here for us, they’ve been supporting us.”
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The makeover of the bowling alley includes a new scoring system and many tributes, including a table featuring pictures of the eight who died at Just-In-Time, and bowling pins with the names of the 18 shooting victims from both venues.
Among those killed were two bowling alley staff members. Most of the staff who survived are returning to work at the venue.
Samantha Juray said they are fully prepared to serve customers again and can’t wait to see the familiar faces of regulars as they get used to a new normal.
Among those planning to speak at a ceremony Friday afternoon is Maine’s governor, Janet Mills, a Democrat.
“I’m excited about opening,” Juray said. “I know it’s definitely going to be a very long day, and probably an emotional day.”
After Maine’s first Democratic gubernatorial debate, I commented that the candidates seemed to be vying with each other to be agreeable. Would it last? Back then, I thought I’d be happy with any of them as Maine’s next governor.
Not so now, as I observe the cronyism of Shenna Bellows, Troy Jackson and Hannah Pingree, whose plan to rank each other when they vote provides a blueprint for gaming the ranked-choice voting system in the primary. The political insiders are forming an alliance against the outsiders, Nirav Shah and Angus King III.
Shah’s campaign responded that it would stay focused on winning voters’ support, a more principled approach, in my estimation.
I prefer a governor who listens and learns from his constituents over one experienced at alliances and deal-making. I want integrity and leadership, not manipulation and exclusion.
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I no longer believe that Bellows, Jackson or Pingree would make a good governor.
BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – A Wall Street Journal article reports that Amy Gertner, the wife of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, told campaign aides she found sexually explicit text messages on Platner’s phone after he launched his bid for office last year.
According to the report, Gertner disclosed the messages while aides were conducting opposition research, and she asked a campaign aide to review what Platner had sent—reportedly to several women—to determine whether it could become a liability for his campaign.
The Wall Street Journal reports Gertner believed she was confiding in someone she considered a friend.
The article also states the couple discussed the messages in marriage counseling.
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In a statement from Gertner provided by the Platner campaign, she wrote that they have gone through counseling and that their marriage today “is stronger than ever before.”
Amy Gertner provided a statement through the Platner campaign.
“I confided deeply personal details about my marriage to someone I considered a friend. In the months since, I have had to watch as she spread malicious gossip to anyone who would take her call. I trusted this person with the most private chapter of our lives – the early days of our marriage before any campaign was on our mind – and I am deeply hurt by her betrayal and the invasion of our privacy.
“It is no secret that Graham and I have struggled on our fertility journey. We did the hard work that marriage requires. We went to counseling. We were honest with each other in ways that weren’t easy. And we came through it, not in spite of how much we’ve been through, but because of how much we love each other and the life we’ve built. Our marriage today is stronger than ever before.
“I know who Graham is. I know the man I married and the husband he has been to me on the best and the worst days of my life. That hasn’t changed, and it won’t.” – Amy Gertner
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Platner and Gertner married in 2024, according to the report.
