THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 29, 1995 TAG: 9511290489
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
FLEET HOLIDAY BAND CONCERT: The Navy's Atlantic Fleet Band will perform two holiday concerts at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 6 and 7 at the Armed Forces Staff College. The program is free and open to the public, although a canned food donation to the Norfolk Food Bank is requested and will be accepted at the auditorium. Band director Lt. Cmdr. Mike Alverson said the concerts are planned as an annual event and will feature traditional seasonal, Christmas and Hanukkah music. Tickets, while free, are required. They may be picked up at the Morale, Welfare and Recreation offices at Norfolk Naval Station and Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, and at the Norfolk or Virginia Beach offices of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.
VETS OPEN HOUSE: The Vietnam Veterans of America, Tidewater Chapter 48, invites all Vietnam-era veterans, family members and all interested in the welfare of Vietnam veterans to an open house reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 8 at the Clarion Hotel, Fifth Street and Atlantic Avenue, Virginia Beach. For more information call 498-2541.
ARMY OFFICER RECEIVES AWARD: Maj. Dwain Watts was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster at a special ceremony at the Defense Industrial Supply Center in Philadelphia. Watts received the award for his outstanding service as I Corps supply officer at Fort Lewis, Wash., his previous duty assignment. He is currently assigned as a readiness advocate officer at the Defense Industrial Supply Center. He is the son of Orestes and Josephine Watts of Portsmouth.
FEDERAL CAMPAIGN CELEBRATES: More than 500 volunteers from the United Way, Combined Federal Campaign and the Combined Virginia Campaign of South Hampton Roads, will celebrate the end of this year's fund drive with a ceremony aboard the amphibious assault ship Saipan at Pier 7 of Norfolk Naval Station at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. This year's overall campaign goal is $15.6 million. The amount raised to date will be announced at the end of the program. Guest speakers include United Way Chairman David A. King Jr., retired from Nations Bank; Combined Federal Campaign Chairman Rear Adm. Robert Cole, commander of Norfolk Naval Base; and Combined Virginia Campaign Chairman John H. Payne, district manager for the Department of Motor Vehicles.
GARAGE DOOR GLITCH? Navy officials in San Diego are pondering whether one of its ships is responsible for interrupting some residential electric garage door openers. More than 180 calls from residents, complaining their garage doors wouldn't open, or opened by themselves, came from residents located along San Diego's coast near La Jolla and Point Loma after an unidentified Navy ship passed by. The Navy acknowledged it uses radio frequencies in the 225- to-400-megahertz range for communications. Many garage door openers operate on the same wave lengths as secondary users. To find a solution, the Navy has asked garage door manufacturers to refrain from assigning openers in the 310-megahertz range for a while to determine whether that could be the cause. Cmdr. Steve Burnett, a spokesman for the base, said there have been no new reported cases since the change.
COMINGS & GOINGS RETURNING:
The Norfolk-based destroyer Comte De Grasse will return to Norfolk from UNITAS, an annual Navy exercise with South American navies, at 8:30 a.m. Monday at Pier 25. The Comte De Grasse is commanded by Cmdr. Richard C. Hill III and has a crew of 335. Led by Rear Adm. M.J. Mayer, commander of the U.S. South Atlantic Force, the task force began UNITAS operations in the Caribbean Sea with naval forces from Venezuela and Colombia. The task force then went through the Panama Canal and moved south to operate with naval and maritime forces from Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Canada. After completing the transit of the Strait of Magellan and a trip to Cape Horn, U.S. forces headed north to complete operations with Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Spain and Canada. The ship departed Norfolk June 27 and traveled more than 23,000 miles.
CHANGE OF COMMAND:
Navy Reserve Rear Adm. John B. Totushek of Virginia Beach relieves Capt. John Young Jr. as commander of Reserve Readiness Command Region Eight, headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla. Totushek, in civilian life, is vice president of McKenzie Construction Corp. His reserve duties encompass 7,000 personnel in Georgia, Florida and Puerto Rico. Young is being reassigned to Destroyer Squadron Six in Pascagoula, Miss.
- staff and wire report by CNB