Jodie’s Restaurant in South Webster Re-opens for the first time on Wednesday, since June 28

Portia Williams | Daily Times

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PORTIA WILLIAMS

PDT Staff Writer

SOUTH WEBSTER — Jodie’s Restaurant re-opened its doors on Wednesday, July 18, after being closed since June 28, 2012, due to the recent turbulent storms which blew throughout Scioto County that left thousands of Ohio residents without electricity. Jodie’s was one of the businesses affected by the storms that forced the owners, Jeanne andJerry Brafford, to close their doors.

“The first couple of days I was hopeful, I didn’t think it was going to be a whole week. We were running a generator, and that was costing us twenty-five to fifty dollars a day to keep it running. And then one of the generators quit on us. We got everything we could, and took it to the house, because we had power there,” Jeanne said.

As the days waned, Jeanne Brafford said that maintaining the restaurant became increasingly difficult and they had no other choice but to close their doors.

“The power companies tend to look after the people in the bigger cities. They forget all about us here in the country. We lost a lot of stuff because one of our freezers went bad on us, so we lost at least one thousand dollars in food for the restaurant. It was just a mess. We also lost at least a couple of bundles of shingles on the roof.

Brafford said that the restaurant lost an estimated three thousand dollars due to the loss of electricity.

Jeanne and Jerry Brafford initially feared that their regular customers would not return, but would choose to seek out other options for their dining needs.

“It’s just been one crazy ride. Now that Jodie’s is open again for business, I feel better. Our customers are coming back, all of our guys are coming back. I hope that things will get better from here. I plan to be here as long as possible,” Jeanne said.

Portia Williams may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 234 or portiawilliams@heartlandpublications.com