THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 30, 1995 TAG: 9507280155
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Town Talk
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Sharon Wilson needs some dino-help.
The information specialist for the Children's Department at the Chesapeake Central Library is planning a monthlong dinosaur exhibition during October.
The celebration will feature a month of exhibits and displays and will culminate with a grand affair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Oct. 28.
In enlisting aid to make this a memorable event, Wilson said she's already sent letters and press releases to the Virginia Living Museum, the Virginia Zoological Park, the Virginia Marine Science Museum, the Dinosaur Society based in Islip, N.Y., the Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado and even the GMC Oldsmobile/Truck dealership on Military Highway.
An automotive dealership?
``They once had two humongous dinosaurs on display there,'' Wilson explained. ``They were bigger than any trucks. We'd love to have them on display, lurking next to the Central Library.''
Wilson hopes the organizations she's contacted will see fit to send speakers, materials, exhibits, displays or whatever they can spare.
But she also needs local help.
Throughout October Wilson said she wants to set up displays featuring anything to do with those ``terrible lizards'' that dominated and roamed the Earth for several million years.
``I'm looking for anyone who knows about dinosaurs or has anything to do with them,'' she said. ``If they contact me we can arrange to have them come in to talk about some aspect of dinosaurs or finding fossils or we hope we can borrow from their collections.''
Wilson said she hopes people with extensive fossil collections, digging tools, equipment, art works, models, posters, pictures, displays, dioramas or even videos will come forth.
``If we could get some good videos on dinosaurs we could show them on a continuous basis somewhere in the library,'' Wilson said. ``We hope people will help us make this a memorable month of dinosaurs.''
If you want to help with the Chesapeake Central Library's dinosaur celebration in October, call Sharon Wilson at 547-6562. Top yard
Congratulations are in order for Joyce and Richard Byrd.
Their yard was chosen to be top yard in all of Deep Creek for 1995. The choice was made by Chesapeake Master Gardeners who picked the Byrds' Deep Creek yard from nominations submitted to the Chesapeake Environmental Improvement Council's annual Yard of the Month program.
Each year, from April to September, the council sponsors its ``Yard of the Month'' competition. It fields nominations from different Chesapeake neighborhoods each month.
June's was Deep Creek and the Byrds had, according to the judges, ``a fine example of the best of Chesapeake: a blending of suburban setting and occasional visits by wildlife.''
The Byrds' beautifully manicured and very green yard is regularly visited by rabbits, squirrels and woodpeckers. Even a deer or two and bear have been known to pass through.
Judges cited the yard's environmentally friendly landscape practices which includes cutting the grass long to retain moisture, a driveway made out of stone which helps with water run-off and a solar panel on the side of the house to heat water.
Judges were also impressed with the yard's perfectly trimmed boxwood shrubs, tall pine trees, flower beds full of azaleas, roses, mums and other flowers and landscape timbers outlining the driveway and flower beds.
- Eric Feber by CNB