Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 5, 1990 TAG: 9007050291
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ELLIE SCHAFFZIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The July 4 crowd at the beach reached capacity at about 11:45 a.m. After that, people were allowed to enter in small groups after up to an hour's wait. As temperatures climbed toward 100 degrees, sunbathers stood in line without a word.
It was too hot to say anything.
Park officials decided to limit attendance to 1,000 after overcrowding last year strained the facility, the environment, concession workers and lifeguards.
Bedford County Deputy Sheriff Jerry Fielder said he hadn't thought the heat would keep things quiet.
"No, the hotter they are the more they argue . . . but it's been peaceful down here. It's a good crowd," he said.
But the ones lucky enough to be inside the beach area had a little more to say. Grilling hamburgers in the shade by the lake, several Lynchburg residents said they waited in line no more than five minutes.
"We pulled a scam," said one, explaining that they had cut in line and said they needed tickets "for a busload of old people or something."
Beach regulars, such as concession worker Jeanette Shelor, said they couldn't understand why the crowds would want to go through the wait.
"I think it's ridiculous. It's amazing that this many people showed up for so little beach," Shelor said.
Surveying a traffic jam of rafts from her lakeside perch, lifeguard Michelle Hess agreed.
"I wouldn't drive an hour to come out here . . . it's so crowded you can't walk around the beach," she said, adding that the crowds made it difficult for her to see all the swimmers.
Kellie Bocock of Roanoke was perfectly happy in the water, although she encountered some swimmers in the lake who had been there even before the earliest crowds had arrived.
"The fish just come up to you once and a while and nibble at you," she said.
A sunbather from West Virginia was also happy, but opted to stay on her beach blanket.
"We just wish they'd change the sand," she said, saying it should be a little smoother and softer.
Doug Kaufman was worried about neither sand nor surf. He was more concerned with the sun.
"I'm trying to get rid of my farmer's tan," said Kaufman, who works at a nursery.
John Robbins of Altavista was not bothered by the crowds, either. The construction worker was reading Gilham's Manual for Volunteers and Militia. His copy was an original, published in 1862. He considered the description of Civil War army techniques perfect beach reading.
"You kind of get engulfed by it," said Robbins, who spends his free time re-enacting Civil War scenes for schools with a group out of Lynchburg. Robbins said he likes the beach, but he needed the book because he likes "to be doing something."
Robbins' wife Kim and her friends were happy doing nothing.
"We're going to fry like a bunch of lobsters," friend Lisa Barvieri said.
Robbins and Barvieri waited in line for an hour for their spot on the beach.
"We were foolish like the rest of them," Kim Robbins said. She said it was worth the wait, but typically "overcrowded and overrated." She hoped the beach would be expanded in the future.
But the park's Department of Conservation and Recreation has said it does not plan to expand the capacity because it is concerned about preserving the wooded areas and wildlife in the park.
by CNB