ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 5, 1995 TAG: 9512070005
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Beth Macy
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT
SOURCE: BETH MACY
In his 40-plus years of delivering this newspaper, Donnie Akers has made some observations on life in the early morning darkness:
The hour between 5 and 6 a.m. is always the coldest. That's why he wakes up every morning at 2 to deliver The Roanoke Times - so he can be snug back in bed by 4:30.
He's observed many a crime and once marched a guy who was stealing the paper from a lawyer's office to the police station.
He has perfected the art of throwing newspapers. ``He can put three papers in one hand and then hit three boxes at once - and not even stop,'' his daughter, Rhonda Akers, says.
Donnie Akers has delivered so many newspapers - close to 4 million of the inky bundles - that he is positively addicted to the early morning air.
``I like the dark,'' the quiet 59-year-old says. ``It's nice and peaceful, and you can do a lot of thinking.''
It all started in 1945 with a red and white bicycle, the coveted Western Flyer.
Akers remembers pining away for the shiny two-wheeler on display at the local Western Auto. Then he remembers begging his dad to sign him up for a paper route so he could buy the bike himself. He was 9.
By the time he was 13, he was making more money than his father. He stocked shelves at Leggett, cleaned up at the drive-in theater, popped popcorn at the movie theater uptown and delivered The Roanoke Times.
At 16, he sold more new subscriptions than any other carrier, earning himself an expenses-paid trip to Richmond, the chance to shake Gov. John S. Battle's hand - and his very first ride on an elevator.
It was an auspicious beginning to a lifelong career. Akers has built apartment buildings that he still owns, and has property at Smith Mountain Lake. He had his own contracting business, from which he recently retired.
But, except for a 4-year stint with the Navy during the Korean War, he's never stopped delivering newspapers. ``I don't do it for the money, needless to say. I just enjoy doing it.''
As a 9-year-old neighbor in Rocky Mount, Norma Jean Akers remembers throwing rocks at him. ``He delivered to my brother's house, and I'd be there playing. I can still see him going down the sidewalk carrying these two great big old bags.''
Now, the husband-and-wife team split a 600-house route, Norma Jean taking off in her Chevy Nova and Donnie in his faithful red Dodge Colt (``dependable and cheap - good for papers'').
Daughter Rhonda remembers riding on the bundles as a baby, drinking a Fresca and eating peanut brittle. And her brother Eddie, who's 29, still wakes up religiously every morning at 3 - even though he no longer has a route.
The Akers family has developed its own internal alarm clock, no snooze-buttons necessary. They have never missed a day because of weather. ``If Donnie can't do it by car, he'll walk,'' Norma Jean says.
Neither one of them has much patience for people who refuse to work. Donnie Akers started out earning $18 a week as a kid. His kids all bought their first cars with paper-route money.
You could call his early morning pursuit an addiction to peace and quiet. Or you could call it a tribute to the work ethic.
Asked about his other hobbies, Akers said, ``None. I'm not even a good golfer.''
But when he wants to remember what it was like to be 9 again with a paper bag slung over each shoulder, he doesn't have to go far. He takes out the change from his paper route and makes stack after stack of coins, roll after roll.
``We save all our change for Daddy and he'll spend hours rolling it up,'' Rhonda says. |n n| Joni Mitchell was right when she sang: ``Don't it always seem to go that you don't what you've got till it's gone?''
They paved Entranceway Park. And took down ... my STAR TINSEL TREE!
OK, so it looked pretty tacky during the day. OK, so I have made fun of the city's conehead of a Christmas Tree more than once.
But, like the Mill Mountain Star and those omnipresent front-porch flags, the tinsely star tree was starting to grow on me - and not like a fungus. Driving past it on the expressway at night, I learned to appreciate its anti-Martha Stewart appeal.
If you squinted your eyes, it was almost elegant.
``It looked great at night, but it was starting to look dingy and dirty during the day,'' says Michelle Bono, the city's P.R. person. ``We had electrical problems with it, too. People were all the time calling to report, `The third star on the second row from the left is out. ...'''
Downtown Roanoke has replaced the other holiday decorations, too: Tinsel is out. Banners and building-perimeter lights are in.
Two other holiday tips, compliments of Bono:
nFantasyland at downtown Heironimus has been moved to the Roanoke Valley History Museum in Center in the Square. (I hope those old ``COMET IS OUT EATING HAY'' signs will disappear with the improved maintenance.)
nAnd if you're venturing from the First Union Tower to check out the holiday decorations at Hotel Roanoke, remember: Video-surveillance cameras record activities in the pedestrian walkway 24 hours a day.
So, save the wedgie retrievals for later. You're being watched.
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: In the early '50s as a young newspaper carrier, Donnieby CNBAkers (right) won a trip to Richmond to meet then-Gov. John Battle.