Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 11, 1994 TAG: 9405110112
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FINCASTLE LENGTH: Medium
As riders from the Tour DuPont streamed through this rural community, a solar eclipse blocked the sunlight overhead.
The locals were reluctant to figure the odds of two major news events crisscrossing on the tiny Main Street of Fincastle.
Tom Moore, the clerk of the Circuit Court, took a stab.
"I'd say about one in 15 billion," he said.
This is pretty heady stuff for a town where the grand jury convenes only four times a year to deal with all the crime.
"We're kind of laid-back," Moore admitted.
"It must be some kind of sign," said Harold Eads, a local lawyer, while looking toward the heavens.
For school kids, it was a chance to have fun. Children from nearby Breckinridge Elementary School spent a couple of pre-race hours scribbling the names of riders onto Main Street with chalk.
Jason Bandy, 10, was more interested in the bicycle race.
"It was my first time seeing this," he said, while writing a name on the pavement. "I like bicycling."
A few minutes later, his attention had shifted and he was running up the street.
"I'm going to get on TV," he said.
Pam Burrell, 11, a sixth-grader at Breckinridge, said both the race and the eclipse were worth watching. She was pleased that "two things were going on the same day that were so fascinating."
That fascination brought office workers to the curbside as homeowners sat on porches with their dogs. There was a 4-year-old boy dressed up in his Sunday clothes and women in floppy hats.
At the courthouse, the judge stood behind the fence as a baby cried out in its mother arms.
It was pretty normal stuff on a day that was otherwise abnormal. About a hour before the race came through, a thick cloud cover dissolved to allow the eclipse to be seen.
"Only in Fincastle," said Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, the Republican who represents the area in the state Senate.
Then he reassessed his position.
"Wait a minute. They're coming through Buchanan, too," he said. "Make that 'Only in Botetourt County.'''
The clock in the old courthouse rang 2 p.m. as the riders of the Tour DuPont whisked through town and the eclipse began to fade away.
On the porch of a law office, second-graders waved banners in support of Team Coors Light.
Two others were watching the eclipse with special glasses.
"Bright," was the way Keith Cook, 8, described it.
"It looks like the moon is taking a bite out of the sun," John Wicks, 7, said.
Emily Dunnavant, 9, saw other advantages to the day's events.
"Mostly, to get out of school," she said.
by CNB