THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994 TAG: 9406110075
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Long
DATELINE: 940612 LENGTH:
10 a.m. - Circuit Court.
{REST} Judge Thomas S. Shadrick is aghast.
Before him, in Courtroom No. 5, is an amazingly bad speeding case. Police caught the young man, about 20 years old, driving 105 mph in a 55 mph zone.
``What were you driving?'' the judge asks.
``A motorcycle,'' the young man answers.
The judge is dumbfounded. ``Jeez, you're lucky you're here,'' Shadrick says. ``At least you're guaranteed you'll be killed rather than maimed.''
Shadrick fines the young man $500, but not before giving him an old-fashioned lecture. ``You're not going to be around long if you continue to drive like that,'' the judge scolds. ``That's totally ridiculous.''
The young man promises to pay the fine in 90 days. Then he walks slowly out of the courtroom, carrying a motorcycle helmet to cover his shoulder-length blond hair.
- Marc Davis
\ Friday, June 3
1:30 p.m. - Denny's on Virginia Beach Boulevard.
A naval officer, his wife and a 3-year-old little girl pig out on the restaurant's daily lunch specials.
The sparkling blue-eyed toddler, who cannot seem to concentrate on the basket full of fries and cole slaw in front of her, stares over her left shoulder at a strange looking customer seated in a booth.
The customer, a red-headed, sun tanned teenager with a silver nose ring, ignores the little one.
After a few minutes, the baby's mother, who is decked out in a pastel tennis outfit, looks to the teen and says in a frightened voice, ``She's fascinated with you.''
- Holly Wester
\ Saturday, June 4
9 a.m.- Atlantic Avenue at 16th Street.
The D-Day commemorative parade is forming behind a contingent of men dressed in World War II vintage Canadian army uniforms - brown woolen blouses and trousers, greenish berets.
They stand solemnly at rest in ranks, cradling the muzzles of their rifles in one hand as they wait. The men are re-enactors who will participate in a mock D-Day invasion later in the day at Fort Story.
A young woman dressed in loose summer shorts and blouse bounces from the crowd on the northwest corner of the intersection, her blond ponytail bobbing.
She approaches a tall, uniformed young man and speaks. He nods, steps from the ranks and puts one arm around her shoulders.
Both smile as another young man, dressed in shorts and a polo shirt, steps from the crowd, aims a camera in their direction and fires.
There is a instant flash. The smiles vanish. The ersatz Canadian soldier returns to ranks. The young woman returns to her companion on the corner.
A few minutes later the parade lurches to a start amid the screech of bagpipes.
- Bill Reed
\ 10 a.m. - Pembroke Mall.
A retired couple has wandered into ``A Bit of England Dart and Game Shoppe'' looking for something to help them mark, in their own personal way, the 50th anniversary of D-Day.
They explain to the store owner that they already own an American flag but want an English flag to fly alongside it on their patio.
The husband relates how he served as a captain in the 101st Airborne Division's 321st Glide Field Artillery unit that participated in the D-Day invasion. He was later wounded at the Battle of Batogne. The wife says she, too, served during World War II as part of the English military's Auxiliary Territorial Service and was an ambulance driver from 1942 to 1945.
Upon hearing the veterans' stories, the store owner presents the couple with an English Union Jack. He says there will be no charge for the flag.
Tears well up in the couple's eyes as they express their gratitude for the surprise gift. They leave the store a few minutes later embracing their prize.
- Kevin Armstrong
as told by Margot Jordan
\ 3 p.m. - Fort Story, re-enactment of D-Day, Normandy.
The place is crawling with spectators eager to get to their cars and home, having had enough of tanks, gunfire and simulated death.
One veteran of World War II with a young boy in tow asks a military policeman for directions to the car lot after the bus service proves not up to the logistics of moving thousands. Autos inch by as the trio stands in the center of the highway.
The little boy looks up at his army hero from under the brim of a camouflage hat, resting on a little nose and a pair of ears.
A driver comes unnecessarily close and the vet, in his VFW medals and fired by the mock war, yells, ``Are you in a *&%! hurry or something?'' A verbal altercation ensues, and the boy watches the battle with wide eyes.
The man's presence returns and he says to the boy,'' I'm sorry you heard me talk that way.''
``That's OK, Grandad,'' the boy says. ``I've heard worse.''
``Oh, you have, have you? Where?''
``School,'' comes the proud answer.
- Carole O'Keeffe
\ 8:45 p.m. - Szechuan Garden Restaurant.
He has just put a ring on her finger and asked her to marry him. Tears puddle in her eyes; he's blushing red to the roots of his short haircut.
The goldfish in the globe-shaped tank in the middle of the room keep circling lazily. The glasses of wine on the couple's table collect beads of water on the sides as they sit looking at each other and forget to eat.
The singer leads into another old Carpenter's love song and eventually they pick up their forks again.
But they fiddle, mostly. Push around the rice, take sips of water, hold hands.
He excuses himself after a while and heads for the men's room.
She gives up the pretense of being hungry and puts her fork down. She sips her wine, slips her left hand into her right and holding it in her lap, looks down, admires her ring and smiles.
- Krys Stefansky
\ Sunday, June 5
6:45 p.m. - Oceana Family Bowling Center.
The Sunday night mixed league bowlers are celebrating the end of the season with a few games of Scotch doubles, draft beer and lots of munchies.
However, a sticky lane three is presenting a problem to competitive bowlers.
One man, who almost falls because of the dirty lane, grabs his soiled bowling towel and gets down on his knees to wipe it clean.
His wife, who is watching from a distance, yells, ``Why don't you do that at home?''
- Holly Wester
by CNB