ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, August 23, 1996                TAG: 9608230075
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: B-4  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: TOANO
SOURCE: Associated Press 

GREAT PUMPKIN VANISHES, REAPPEARS

A CASE OF arrested development for a prospective prize-winning pumpkin has the patch's proprietors hoping the next development in the gourd-napping is an arrest.

Growing along the side of the road in a patch where passers-by took delight in its progress, the Dzulas' pumpkin had become something of a landmark.

At 300 pounds and counting, it was certain to be a big attraction at the upcoming New Kent County Fair.

Then somebody stole it.

``It makes my blood boil that somebody could do something like that,'' said Walter Dzula, who has offered a $100 reward for information leading to the arrest of the pumpkin thief or - considering its size - thieves.

The pumpkin was taken from its vine Sunday night or early Monday - and then dumped by the side of the road about a half-mile away.

Dzula, his wife, Debbie, and 6-year-old daughter, Beth, grew the fruit along with potatoes, tomatoes, corn and flowers at their farm along the border between James City and New Kent counties. They also raise animals and have opened the farm to tours by local school children and Cub Scouts.

The family learned the pumpkin was missing from a neighbor who saw it abandoned on the roadside early Monday. Even the police officer who took the report remembered seeing it still on the vine Sunday night.

Dzula, a papermaker at Chesapeake Corp., said he hopes the vandals are caught and punished: ``I'd like to see them get a little community service, going up and down the road picking up trash.''

In the meantime, the family has its pumpkin back, a little bruised and its growth stalled, its destiny as a ribbon-winner ruined by a senseless act.

``I just would have liked to see how big it would have gotten,'' Dzula said.

LENGTH: Short :   46 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. Beth Dzula, 6, sits on a 300-pound pumpkin in Toano.
          The pumpkin was taken from its vine Sunday night or early Monday - 
          and then dumped by the side of the road about a half-mile away.