THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995 TAG: 9512020114
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 122 lines
Wednesday, Nov. 22
6:30 p.m. - Farm Fresh on Laskin Road.
A long line of last-minute shoppers waits to check out on this Thanksgiving eve.
A woman surveys the other customers - most holding holiday birds under their arms - then turns to a stranger behind her. ``I have never seen so many turkeys in line here,'' she says.
The man nods. ``Yeah, both the frozen and the two-legged types.''
- David B. Hollingsworth
Friday, Nov. 24
4:58 p.m. - Pacific Avenue.
A shiny white Chevrolet Blazer, stopped at the Laskin Road intersection, wears some sassy post O.J. trial merchandise. Three yellow and black window stickers carry messages saying ``Not a Bronco,'' ``Not O.J.'' and ``Not Guilty.'' The lone bumper sticker reads, ``Whatever.''
- Holly Wester
Sunday, Nov. 26
3 p.m. - Cavalier Hotel.
Several kids on bicycles make their way slowly up the side and onto the top of the hill where the old Cavalier Hotel stands.
Once on top, they take off, one by one, on their bikes and race straight down the terraced front slope, leveling off on the terrace. Then like ski jumpers, bikers and bikes fly up in the air and don't touch ground until they are halfway or more down the slope. The fun continues until someone from the hotel arrives and the bikes scatter.
- Mary Reid Barrow
3:30 p.m. - Baltic Avenue at 24th Street.
A red-tailed hawk, looking for a Thanksgiving feast of its own, spots dinner on the side of a tall pine tree. The hawk moves in and snatches a small gray squirrel off the side of the towering pine.
The rodent never makes a sound. With the squirrel in its talons, the hawk navigates swiftly through a stand of trees, flashing its tail to guide it past nearby power lines.
Just as suddenly, the bird drops the squirrel and it falls to the alley, dead. The hawk does not return.
- Tom Holden
Monday, Nov. 27
10 a.m. - The newspaper office.
In the mail are tips on how long consumers should keep holiday leftovers in the refrigerator. According to the Whirlpool Homelife Network Services:
Turkey - two days.
Stuffing - one to two days.
Cranberry sauce - seven days.
Cold cut trays - three days.
Sweet potatoes - seven days.
Fruit cake - no one knows.
- Melinda Forbes
Tuesday, Nov. 28
8 a.m. - Virginia Beach SPCA.
A small, dead dog in a grocery crate greets the shelter staff at the front door this morning.
Then at the back door, workers discover a stray dog giving birth.
Safe inside the SPCA, the friendly border collie/spaniel mix has seven healthy puppies.
``What began with sadness and death ends with seven puppies,'' a staffer says. ``Will the cycle continue?''
- Mary Reid Barrow
12:30 p.m. - Leggett Department Store, Lynnhaven Mall.
A very pregnant woman is slowly making her way through the men's department. She stops occasionally to catch her breath and check out the sale merchandise.
Other shoppers, especially older women, smile at her sympathetically.
Suddenly a male's voice booms up from behind the woman.
``You know what I hate the most about being pregnant?'' the voice asks. The woman turns and the man, apparently a stranger, sidles up to her. ``It's that lower backache that never goes away!''
The woman smiles embarrassedly as the man passes her, rubbing his back in mock pain.
- Pam Starr
3 p.m. - City Treasurer's office in Haygood Shopping Center.
The first question listed under a sign that says ``The Top 10 Most-Asked Questions at City Hall'' is ``Where do you obtain a marriage license?''
Someone has penned in an answer. ``TPI.''
- Lori A. Denney
Wednesday, Nov. 29
1 p.m. - A Diamond Springs area home.
A man sits propped up on a couch. To the left sits a shiny new wheelchair and to the right a gleaming silver walker.
``I don't care about myself,'' says the man, discussing with a visitor the sad state of his financial affairs after a recent tragic accident that has left him paralyzed from the waist down.
``I can do without medicine if I have to, but I can't have my kids do without Christmas. How do you tell a 6-year-old there's no Christmas this year?''
- Lori A. Denney
7:30 p.m. - Hecht's at Lynnhaven Mall.
Two black police mountain bicycles, the type officers use to patrol the Oceanfront in the summer and shopping area parking lots during the holiday season, are parked in the foyer on the ladies side of the popular department store.
To prevent theft, they're locked together - with handcuffs.
- Melinda Forbes ILLUSTRATION: The Twilight Zone?
Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
In an eerie-looking scene, steam rises from hot asphalt as workmen
pave the parking lot for the Avis Service and Operations Center
building under construction off Baxter Road. The center, part of the
Avis car rental company, will open in March of next year and employ
500 to 600 people initially.
by CNB