THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 9, 1994 TAG: 9410070315
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sun Spots
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Monday, Sept. 19
10 a.m.: Driving along U.S. 460 near Wakefield
The couple, passing the hour's drive to Petersburg with lively conversation and music, ignores the warning from the speedometer needle. But they cannot miss the other warning: the bright blue lights, the siren wailing behind them.
The driver pulls back onto the highway, his ears stilling ringing with the the policeman's warning to watch his speed. He drives around a curve, where he sees a huge billboard with the message: ``Commit a random act of kindness today.''
Perhaps, the driver's passenger suggests, the policeman had just seen that sign, too.
- Allison T. Williams Thursday, Sept. 22
11 a.m.: U.S. 460 beside the Peanut Fest sign at the Sentry Mart
Sun photographer John Sheally suddenly spots a 300-pound, solid-black hog wandering in unfamiliar territory beside the busy highway.
The photographer makes a U-turn and pulls in to the nearby State Police safety office on Pruden Boulevard.
``There's a 300-pound hog wandering beside the highway over by Sentry Mart,'' the photographer says to the half dozen or so troopers in the office.
They all look up, and one of them says: ``Two-legged or four-legged?''
- Shirley Brinkley Monday, Sept. 26
9 a.m.: Sunbury Elementary School
He comes to school bearing a gift - a birthday present for his grandson. He is a courier for the little boy's dad.
The surprise is a nap mat with a bunch of Power Rangers on it.
Daddy told his son, the night before, that Grandpa would be delivering the gift.
``What is it? What is it?'' The little one just had to know.
``I can't tell you,'' Daddy had replied. ``It wouldn't be a surprise.''
A moment of quiet - then the solution.
``Tell me what it is, and I promise I'll forget right away.''
- Frank Roberts Tuesday, Sept. 27
11:30 a.m.: Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, Suffolk
The teenager shuffles across the floor of the crowded lobby, his name-brand tennis shoes making no sound on the tile. His head is lowered, eyes on the floor, his beltless jeans drooping below his waistline.
Behind him, a deputy firmly grasps a chain that encircles the teen's waist.
``I'm glad that's not my son,'' says a woman, a witness in a later case.
``Me, too,'' says the woman next to her.
The judge will decide whether the teen, who looks about 14, should remain in detention until his trial. The two women, both of them mothers of sons, wonder what he might have done.
``He's not my son,'' the first woman says, ``but he is somebody's son.''
- Susie Stoughton Thursday, Sept. 29
6:25 p.m.: Business After Hours, Professional Building, Obici Hospital
Two women at the business get-together compare their name tags, each with the same first name.
``Joyce,'' one tag reads.
``Joyice,'' the other says.
``This is the right way to spell it,'' the second woman tells the first.
She had also spelled her name ``Joyce'' until she was a senior in high school and had to produce her birth certificate to prove her age for college admission. That's when she discovered her ``real'' name, she says. The unusual spelling was a typographical mistake, her mother had said. But since then, Joyice says, she has used the unique spelling.
``This,'' she says, ``makes me special.''
- Susie Stoughton ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
A wandering hog calmly surveys the scene as traffic rushes by the
Sentry Mart on U.S. Route 460. Maybe he was trying to hitch a ride.
by CNB