ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 24, 1996 TAG: 9606240076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SOUTH HILL
SOURCE: Associated Press
TINY AMERICAN FLAGS lined U.S. 1 into South Hill, a city of 4,217 in the heart of Virginia's tobacco country. Spectators carried flags and a local choral group sang patriotic songs.
The Olympic flame got its biggest reception in the littlest of three Virginia localities it visited Saturday.
About 2,500 people coped with midday temperatures in the 90s as they greeted the Olympic torch in South Hill, the flame's final stop before heading into North Carolina.
Smaller crowds were on hand earlier in the day when the torch stopped in Petersburg and when it left the state Capitol in Richmond.
Jim Eppes of Coon Bottom, Ga., whose job is to rev up the crowds at torch stops along the route to Atlanta, said he was not surprised to see the day's biggest Virginia crowd in South Hill.
``There's much more enthusiasm, more patriotism in the small towns,'' said Eppes, who has been with the torch relay since it began nearly two months ago in Los Angeles.
Tiny American flags lined U.S. 1 into South Hill, a city of 4,217 in the heart of Southside Virginia's tobacco country. Many spectators carried flags of their own, and a local choral group sang patriotic songs while the crowd awaited the flame's arrival.
Beth Steele, a 16-year-old high school senior from Collinsville, carried the torch for a short stretch leading to the celebration at Dogwood Triangle Park.
``It was three-tenths of a mile, and all hot,'' she said as she cooled down with an ice cream bar. ``But every step was worth it.''
The honor of carrying the torch onto the stage and lighting the cauldron fell to John Bass, a local dentist and avid marathoner. His leg of the relay was twice as long as Steele's, but for him it was no sweat.
``That was glorious!'' Bass exulted as spectators jockeyed for position to have their picture taken with him and the extinguished torch.
``It may be 95 degrees, but when that flame came up here [on stage], I got goose bumps,'' Mayor Earl Horne said.
For most spectators, there was no hiding from the searing heat. Only a few could crowd under a couple of canopies erected on the vast expanse of treeless property.
Tracey Holley, 26, of South Hill draped a blanket across the front of a stroller to deflect the sun from her 71/2-week-old son, MacKenzie. She said putting up with the heat was a small price to pay for ``a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.''
For most of the sun-baked crowd, seeing the flame arrive was good enough. By the time John Hereford of Clarksville left the park with the torch a half-hour later, more than half the spectators had headed for their air-conditioned cars and homes.
At 90, Hereford was the oldest Virginian to carry the torch.
Petersburg's Central Park offered plenty of shade, as well as activities ranging from sack races to Frisbee-tossing, for the several hundred spectators who gathered for a brief torch celebration earlier in the day.
Jerry Farmer, a Prince George County security guard who rescued a woman from a burning building two years ago, jogged into the park on a bum right knee with the torch held high.
``For one brief moment, I had the Olympic flame in my hands. I wanted to make all Virginians proud,'' Farmer said.
In Richmond, where about 15,000 people attended a downtown torch celebration Friday night, only about 300 early risers were on hand as the flame departed the Capitol steps in the hands of 14-year-old Bob Newcomb.
The Hanover County student dashed past clicking cameras and whirring video recorders in front of the statehouse designed by Thomas Jefferson. A kilometer later, he passed the flame on to cancer survivor Carole Kass.
Ginny Bowie of Richmond said she believed the event was important enough to get her three children and one of their friends out of bed early and make the trip downtown.
``Who knows when we will see this again,'' she said.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Emily Rae Hightower, 2, waves an American flag alongby CNBwith Candice Jones (background), 7, and Chris Jiggets (left), 7,
during the Olympic Torch Relay ceremonies in South Hill. color.