Back in business

The T-shirts depict a man’s face emerging from a baseball like a phoenix reborn from the burning Capone’s logo depicted underneath.

On the back, the phrase: “Our competition burns with envy.”

A sense of humor and endless determination helped carry Tom and Teresa Capone through the loss and rebuilding of their Post Falls sports bar after it was destroyed in a July 2007 arson fire.

“It’s a huge weight off our shoulders, financially and emotionally,” Teresa Capone said of the newly reopened Capone’s Pub and Grill at 315 N. Ross Point Road.

Business has been booming since the Post Falls Capone’s reopened in mid-May.

Starting over wasn’t easy. All of the sports memorabilia that had decorated the restaurant was lost in the fire, and Tom Capone had to replace it all with money out of his own pocket since it wasn’t covered by insurance.

“There was nothing left. It was all gone,” Tom Capone said. “I had stuff here my dad gave me that I could never replace.”

He spent months scouring eBay for baseball gloves, posters, hockey sticks, photographs and all the other memorabilia decorating the rebuilt sports bar. Other items, including old game tickets and jerseys, were donated by customers and friends.

“We haven’t really sat down and figured out how much we spent,” Teresa Capone said of costs over and above what the insurance covered.

One good thing that came from the fire was the ability to design a newer, fresher sports bar. The original Post Falls Capone’s was opened in a remodeled restaurant. Inside the new restaurant, much is different. The kitchen has all new appliances and is larger. A banquet area was replaced with additional restaurant seating and the bathrooms have been improved.

“We got it exactly the way we wanted it this time,” Tom Capone said.

“It looks good,” said customer Chad Clifford, a regular at the Coeur d’Alene location, who swung by the Post Falls Capone’s for a recent lunch. “It’s good to have it open again.”

Employees picked up right where they left off before, Tom Capone added, serving up the 41 beers on tap at both lunch and dinner. Twelve new flat-screen TVs line the walls.

Meanwhile the trial against accused arsonist Richard E. Hanlon has been delayed until fall.

Hanlon, who owned the rival bars Paddy’s in both Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls, was set to be tried in June for setting the fire at Capone’s.

Kootenai County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Marty Raap said that he and Hanlon’s defense attorney agreed to postpone the trial.

Capone’s Post Falls location, an expansion from the original restaurant in Coeur d’Alene, had been open just eight months when the fire was set.

Hanlon is accused of setting the blaze because his competing bar was failing. Friends and employees said that in the immediate aftermath of the Capone’s fire, Hanlon had fresh burns on his legs. He blamed those burns on cooking oil, but police believe he suffered them in the Capone’s fire.

Police recovered running shoes at the scene of the crime which they believe belonged to Hanlon. Those shoes were submitted for DNA testing.

The results of that testing were not allowed to be presented at the preliminary hearing against Hanlon because the tests were done at a private, rather than the state-run lab, but Raap said he fully expects the DNA evidence will be allowed during the fall trial.

Losing the business to fire was bad enough, but finding out someone deliberately set the sports bar on fire was devastating, Teresa Capone said.

“I can’t even describe how creepy it is. It’s awful,” she said.

“You just feel violated,” Tom Capone added.

More than anything now, however, the Capones are grateful for the backing from Post Falls residents.

“The community support has been overwhelming,” Teresa Capone said.