Out of Bounds, the local hang out in Lyle, has been managed by Austin native Gina Barnett the last six months. The owner of this bar is Dale Helgett who lives in Rochester, and he also owns another bar in Elgin. Barnett managed Apollo Liquor before she took over as the manager of Out of Bounds.

"This job just came up. I was a bartender down here before. I know lots of people in Lyle. I'm a familiar face too. I learned to be a bartender out in West Yellowstone and in Alexandria," Barnett said.

When the owner of Out of Bounds was looking for a new manager, long time employee, Jodi Wilder suggested Barnett.

"It really doesn't seem like a job to me. I like the small town atmosphere, I am definitely not a city person. I used to work in factories and I didn't care for that type of work. Working in a factory is too many people in an enclosed environment. The worst part about my job is that there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything," Barnett said.

Out of Bounds opens their doors to the public at 10 a.m. Barnett is usually at work by 7:30 a.m. doing paper work. The evenings she works the night shift she does not come to work as early.

She is working to get a permit to be open every Sunday. At present the bar is open 12 Sundays a year. One of those Sundays will be this March 16. The bar is having their annual St. Paddy's Pool Tournament. The tournament starts this Friday and continues through Sunday.

"People come from Iowa and as far as Rochester. It's two men teams and the tournament is held between here and the Lyle American Legion. This pool tournament originally started in this bar," Barnett said.

Out of Bounds is an airy, clean bar. They have a grill and deep fryer for sandwiches and snacks. Customers stop in for lunch and the bar plans on being busy serving food during the upcoming pool tournaments. There are 13 employees at this local watering hole. Monday through Friday a free lunch for a customer is drawn for the following day.

"Last weekend we had music from a deejay. We sometimes have karaoke. We don't have a lot of room for a band inside. We usually have a band for the Fourth of July outdoors," Barnett said.

Thursday afternoons and evenings, card games of Whist and 500 are played. On Saturdays who ever shows up plays a friendly game of cards.

Out of Bounds used to be owned by the city of Lyle. According to former manager, Gary Meyer, who has worked at the bar for 20 years, it was normal for a town to own the local bar because it created revenue for the town. This has since changed because insurance premiums increased the 1990s for bars owned by a town.

Meyer and Barnett like the pace of this small town bar where they know almost everyone that walks through the door.

"We get the strangers coming in on Saturdays that are driving through town. We like seeing new faces too," Meyer said.

Sheila Donnelly can be reached at 434-2233 or by e-mail at :mailto:newsroom@austindailyherald.com