Anthony Schultzy, a 68 - year - old bar tender, lives in the north woods of Wisconsin. He has one daughter and a son in law who manages his bar.
On November 12, 2001 the Wood Pecker, Tony’s first bar, burnt to the ground. It was not only his bar though it was also his home. Tony had been living in the apartment upstairs for 23 years and lost everything he had and during the fire.
Tony says, “Everything I had worked for in the past 10 years was gone, (He snaps his fingers), just like that.”
The fire in the bar started in the kitchen. It was only a small grease fire at first.

“I thought I could contain it easily,” says Tony.
If you don’t know anything about grease fires, putting water on them does nothing.
“It spread so fast that I had to realize to get out and save myself,” said Tony.
The nearest town, Rheinlander, was so far away that by the time the fire department got there it was nearly down to the ground. Tony had to sit and watch his bar and home burn to the ground.
His home, his work, his life, all gone. He was going to have to start over from scratch.
Tony loved one thing and that was owning a bar. About 4 months later with his insurance money, he built a new bar on top of where the old one once was. This bar is now called Circle K. A nicer bar than the woodpecker would ever have been.
He also had some money saved up before the fire and decided to build a house miles away from the bar.
“I learned my lesson once. Don’t live where you work,” said Tony.
Tony daughter got married about two years ago and for a gift Tony decided to pass down ownership to his new Son in law, Mark. Tony still tend bars once and a while just for fun but he still loves coming in every night and living the bar life.