Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 25, 1994 TAG: 9407250055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When the blindfold was removed, Jeri Suarez of Blue Ridge found herself at the top of a staircase wearing a big hat and a feather boa. At the bottom of the stairs were several men dressed as waiters, and beyond them an entire orchestra and a mostly empty auditorium.
Suarez was in the middle of a scene from her favorite musical, ``Hello, Dolly!'' then in production at Mill Mountain Theatre. It was a belated third anniversary surprise from her husband, James Lesniak.
``They opened these french doors and the spot hit her in the face, and all the dudes down at the bottom of the stairs started singing `Hello, Jeri!' It was great,'' Lesniak said.
Lesniak arranged the surprise performance through play crew member Jennifer Moss. After a recent Thursday night performance, the cast changed back into the appropriate costumes, the right sets were moved back onto the stage, the orchestra stayed in the pit, and the rest of the cast and crew stayed quiet as Suarez was led into the theater and up the stairs.
Lesniak said he drove his blindfolded wife in circles around Roanoke for a half-hour to confuse her thoroughly.
At first, she was a bit daunted and speechless about the whole affair, Lesniak said. But after a while, she was doing the kicks in the kick line, and near the end squeaked out one line from the musical's title song: ``Look at this old girl now!''
Lesniak is proud of his romantic prowess, but a little concerned about where to go from here.
``I told [Jeri] that maybe I should have waited until we were 80 to do this,'' he said. ``I just don't think I can ever top it.''
Playing possum in Bedford
Meet Courtney, the courthouse possum.
For months, the elusive possum has been infrequently sighted in the large magnolia trees outside the Bedford County Courthouse. But now it seems Courtney has packed up and moved to a higher court.
Deputy Circuit Court Clerk Becky Turner named the possum a few months ago by the order of Circuit Judge William Sweeney, who thought a judicial possum deserved an appropriate name.
She recalled the first time she met Courtney. ``One morning I was coming outside [the courthouse] ... and I was standing on the front portico here. I heard this noise in the magnolia trees, and here's this baby possum ... ducking in and out of the tree, and the first thing you know, he's heading down the tree nose-first.''
Bedford Animal Control Officer Jeff Cox was called to the courthouse once to check out the possum.
He said the courthouse staff ``wanted me to leave [the possum] alone, so I left it alone. I'm not trained in wild animal control, so I try to stay away from that.''
And, Cox added, Courtney ``was up too far in the trees, anyhow.''
Turner said the possum was popular with many people at the courthouse. A trusty from the jail who was doing landscaping work at the courthouse used to feed Courtney, she said.
No one has seen Courtney lately. ``I suppose he grew up and went away,'' Turner said.
But there's still hope he'll return. One employee of the General District Court who preferred to remain anonymous said, ``I haven't met [Courtney] yet, but there's some skunks of the two-legged type I'd like to see up there'' in the magnolia trees.
Nine years, $15 million, two miles
How long should it take to build a two-mile road?
Blue Ridge Parkway Superintendent Gary Everhardt says the nine years it will take the federal government to build the access road connecting the parkway to Explore Park shouldn't be surprising - given the environmental impact studies that have had to be done before the road can cross the the now-closed Roanoke regional landfill.
But the normally unflappable Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, is so steamed he made a point of raising the road's delay at Explore's opening ceremonies this month.
``It's dragged on and on and on in unbelievable fashion,'' Goodlatte explained later. ``It's been seven years, and they still haven't turned a spade of dirt.''
The project goes out to bid this fall, and construction isn't expected to be completed until 1996, some nine years after Congress approved funding for the road.
``It's pretty ludicrous to me,'' Goodlatte said, ``and a prime example of an ineffective federal bureaucracy.''
by CNB