THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, August 11, 1994              TAG: 9408110495
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                         LENGTH: Medium:   52 lines

PUBLIC ISN'T INVITED TO SEE PARACHUTE DROP AFTER ALL, NAVY SAYS

The Army wants you. But the Navy doesn't.

The public had been encouraged to watch 400 soldiers parachute at 9 this morning over the Navy's Fentress Airfield off Mount Pleasant Road.

But organizers of the 82nd Airborne Division convention, which coordinated the event, didn't tell the Navy they had invited everyone, according to Navy spokesmen.

A press release Wednesday from Oceana Naval Air Station says the public should stay away.

``The auxiliary air field at Fentress is not equipped to support a large number of people,'' the release says. ``The paradrop . . . is a training exercise for the 82nd Airborne and not a part of any open house or public demonstration.''

The Navy's ``un-invite'' caught convention officials by surprise.

``That's a little like telling the stockholders they can't come to the meeting,'' said Lee Starkey, one convention official. ``Gee, all we're talking about here is a traffic problem. I'm sure they can handle that.''

Convention officials still plan to bus to the site about 1,500 people from the 82nd Airborne Association, many of them former members of the Army division based at Fort Bragg, N.C. They're in town for the start of their three-day national convention in Norfolk.

What happens to members of the public who show up at Fentress? ``We won't turn away anyone,'' Starkey said.

That suits Michael J. Lesyshyn Jr. of Virginia Beach, who plans to be there.

``This is a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing,'' said Lesyshyn, a chiropractor who made a few jumps while he served in the Army. ``It's in your blood. It's a fraternity. It was the highlight of my very brief military career.''

Whatever happens at the entrance to Fentress this morning, there's good viewing of most of the drop from the area surrounding the field.

Traffic may be a problem, though. The main route in, Route 165/Mount Pleasant Road, is a narrow, two-lane strip.

``There's only one way in or out,'' one Navy official said. ``It's gonna be a mess.''

Chesapeake police will station one regular officer and one auxiliary officer at Fentress, said Officer Tony Torres, a spokesman for the department.

``Other than that,'' he said, ``we have no special plans.'' by CNB