
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 2, 1994                   TAG: 9402010129
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Lon Wagner Staff Writer
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STOP THOSE (BEEP!) WEATHER TRAILERS

It's not so much the bad weather that bothers me, but those annoying BEEP BEEP BEEPs that come through the TV to warn us about it.

But what really tore it for me was the weather advisory that came across last week during "Seinfeld" - not to mention the inane logo that covered about a quarter of the screen.

The pesky beeping and the school names scrolling across the bottom of the screen aren't enough, we need a big, klutzy graphic hogging up the screen. I know Jerry, Kramer, George and Elaine are there somewhere. Why not

just make a graphic of a snowplow cruising back and forth across the screen?

I plan my week around "Seinfeld." People show up unannounced - but welcomed - at my apartment Thursday nights at 9 to watch Seinfeld. They know I'll be there.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. The National Weather Service has issued an advisory for freezing rain and freezing drizzle . . .

Freezing drizzle? Terrifying. Is that as bad as "pelting snow flurries"?

The National Weather Service issues weather bulletins on differing scales, depending on the seriousness of the weather and its certainty.

The National Weather Service puts out an "advisory" when it expects less than four inches of snow. A winter weather advisory pretty much means: Hey, watch out, it's winter and we're having weather.

But the Beep Wars among the television stations - heightened when Channel 10's Bill Meck refused to sign a nonproliferation treaty - have escalated to the point where advisories are fair game.

How'd they like it if we came in their living rooms and threw newspapers at their TVs every time it got cold in the winter?

BEEP BEEP BEEP . . . the following schools are closed: all of them. Except Bedford County, which is asking teachers to report before noon, students to report after noon, cafeteria workers to stay home, and will be running only the buses whose license-plate numbers are divisible evenly by seven.

In addition, the Highland County cat obedience school has canceled classes for this evening.

BEEP BEEP BEEP . . . The Roanoke Express hockey game scheduled for this evening is still on, but patrons are advised to steer clear of a giant ice slick in the middle of the Civic Center.

by CNB