THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 25, 1995 TAG: 9506230167
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Susie Stoughton
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Shoot to kill, says Chuck Jordan. But only if you're hungry.
Hunting or fishing just for sport is distasteful to the nature lover.
``I just can't wantonly kill anything,'' said Jordan, a Norfolk native who built a retirement home on Lake Meade five years ago.
Twice he's led area lake-cleanup efforts - as head of Norfolk County Anglers Club and as Cohoon Creek-Speights Run Watershed Committee president. Boaters won fishing permits for bagging trash from the Portsmouth water supplies.
``Nature is God's gift to mankind,'' said Jordan, 74.
In 1980, he fell in love with country life when he and his wife, Joyce, left Churchland and retired to Currituck County, N.C. He turned a 10-acre tract into a nature preserve with winding trails, feeders and nesting boxes.
He raised ducks and geese he later released into the Albemarle Sound, chickens and briefly a billy goat - until he became the butt-end of a joke.
He loved watching ducks and geese overhead in the Atlantic flyway. Hunters, however, threatened their safe passage, so Jordan built a blind to keep them at a distance. He'd sit there several times a year, as his permit required, and he'd shoot - aiming low with his shotgun or directly with his camera.
In 1990, the Jordans moved closer to their five children. He's a member of Ducks Unlimited, the N.C. Beach Buggy Association and a deacon at Suffolk Presbyterian Church.
What brought you here? It's beautiful, convenient and close to the environment.
Fondest childhood memory? Riding the trolley car to Ocean View Park on a Fourth of July, going swimming, riding amusement rides, munching on a Doumar's home-made ice cream cone and watching the fireworks.
Pets? A 4-year-old dachshund, Sir Max, who owns us even though we try to convince him otherwise. Also a parakeet named Sally.
First job/worst job? First steady job was slinging sodas at Coot's Drug Store at Granby and 35th streets in Norfolk. Worst job was splitting firewood and shoveling coal for my grandfather.
Occupation? Structural steel shipfitter, then a planner, estimator and production-controller in the aircraft carrier overhaul office of the Naval Shipyard.
If you had a choice, what other job would you choose? Since I studied accounting in college, I would probably chose to be an accountant or tax lawyer.
What's your favorite hangout? I enjoy walking the malls and doing a bit of window shopping.
Favorite night out on the town? Dinner theatre or a social dance with good friends.
Favorite food/drink? Thick steak cooked rare-/-old-fashioned thin chocolate milkshakes.
Favorite movies/TV show? ``Casablanca,'' ``It's a Wonderful Life,'' ``Gone With the Wind,'' ``Grumpy Old Men,'' ``Forrest Gump,'' Rush Limbaugh, CNN News.
Book you wish everyone would read? ``The Book of Virtues'' by William J. Bennett and Rush Limbaugh's ``The Way Things Ought To Be.''
Ideal vacation? Traveling to places I've never been, otherwise staying home and going fishing.
Can't resist? Getting my ``two cents' worth'' into a conversation.
Few people know: I am really a shy person.
Most embarrassing moment? The morning I rushed over to Wal-Mart, and as I walked through the store I realized I still had on my bedroom slippers.
If you won the lottery, what would you do/-buy? I'd bank the money until I could decide the best way to help others. There's nothing I really desire that strongly for myself.
What is the best advice you've been given and by whom? When I was in my early teens, my Uncle Buck, who was self-educated and became a lawyer and CPA, said to me, ``Son, in this life, be whatever you want to be, but always try to be the best in whatever you do.''
What's the best thing about yourself? I have made many mistakes and poor judgments in my life, but I found God some years ago and try to live a life that He would approve of. I cannot undo my past mistakes but try to keep from adding more.
If you could trade places with anyone in the world, who would you be and why? There is no one on this earth that I envy or would trade places with. Every person has their own problems and I'm content to deal with my own without assuming someone else's.
Something you wish to say but haven't? I consider myself conservative. I believe that my government owes me nothing but what I pay for in taxes. This nation was founded by people who felt oppressed by their governments and emigrated to this land to seek freedom to live as they chose so long as it didn't infringe on their neighbors. We must always remain alert to overenthusiastic individuals who wish to impose their views on us and tell us how to live. We will all answer to our maker individually, in due time. This is what America is all about. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
by CNB