THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 31, 1995 TAG: 9510310334
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
As if by magic, in the chill of the night, the pumpkins in Larchmont vanished.
But it wasn't a wicked witch who flew through the neighborhood Thursday night near Old Dominion University, snatching Halloween decorations, it was a group of college students about to throw a party.
But neighbors' homes need not be bare for tonight's trick-or-treaters. The stolen items were discovered at an apartment on 40th Street near the campus.
``I was amazed,'' said Sally Hartman, a Larchmont resident who lives near the corner of Cambridge Crescent and Hanover Avenue. ``All of them around us are gone. I guess someone made a clean sweep.''
Hartman said four pumpkins - three decorated by her 6-year-old son Luke - were swiped from her front porch.
``He was disappointed that someone would do that,'' she said. ``In the whole scheme of crime I guess it's not important, but it's irritating.''
Because of a dry summer and wet early fall, the pumpkin crop has been poor. Therefore, prices for good pumpkins have been a bit higher.
Valerie Kurtzhalts, who lives on Brunswick Avenue, said she paid $4 or $5 each for her two pumpkins. One was stolen.
``We were very surprised,'' she said. ``It was a very unremarkable pumpkin. There was nothing special about it.''
Caroline Brown reported two pumpkins and a flag stolen. She estimated the flag's cost at $45 and the pumpkins $5 to $10.
She said her daughter Meredith had decorated them.
``She was mad about it,'' Brown said. When Brown suggested buying another, her daughter replied: ``No, they might steal that one too.''
Brown said she discovered the loot near ODU's campus about 6 p.m. Saturday while walking along Powhatan Avenue near 40th Street.
``I noticed the house with all these flags and pumpkins out front,'' Brown said Monday. ``I went back and told my husband and the neighbors.''
She and her husband, Gene, confronted a group of young men preparing for a Saturday night Halloween bash.
``They had 15 to 20 flags and a million pumpkins,'' said Brown.
She said the men claimed they bought a truckload of pumpkins and that someone had ``left'' the decorations at their apartment that morning.
Campus police, who have jurisdiction in the area, confiscated 19 flags, but the pumpkins - deemed perishable - were left at the apartment, according to Beth Cooper, an ODU spokeswoman. Nobody was sure how many pumpkins were taken from the neighborhood.
``The dean of students is investigating it,'' Cooper said. ``Disciplinary action will depend on the severity and if the students have a previous record.''
Cooper said university police plan to circulate fliers in the neighborhood to inform residents of the find.
Residents can pick up their flags at the university's public safety office located at the corner of Hampton Boulevard and 49th Street, or they can call 683-4000. ILLUSTRATION: TRICK OR THIEF?
[Color Photo]
HUY NGUYEN
The Virginian-Pilot
Old Dominion University police officers confiscated 19 flags,
believed to have been stolen from the Larchmont neighborhood, from a
residence near the campus.
by CNB