THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512290252
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: EDITOR'S COLUMN
SERIES: 1995: YEAR IN REVIEW
SOURCE: KEVIN ARMSTRONG
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
If you're looking for the ``news'' in your newspaper today, you'll have to turn to other sections of The Virginian-Pilot.
That's a difficult thing for an editor to admit, but on this one day I confess it without regret.
As the community news section for Virginia Beach readers of The Virginian-Pilot, The Beacon strives to deliver the best and latest of what's happening in the resort city we call home. We work hand-in-hand with the ``mainsheet,'' as we call it, to achieve that mission.
But part of that aim, and of staying informed, requires us to step back from time to time and inventory what we've done and where we've been. Those unwilling to pause and look back are assured of repeating the same mistakes we've made collectively as citizens.
With that in mind, we've thrown out the usual features, columns, editorials and reports in today's Beacon so that we can take stock of what's happened in the last 12 months in Virginia Beach.
We'll return to our ``regularly scheduled programming'' after today.
In the meantime, we hope that after looking back on '95 through these pages you'll be challenged to look ahead to '96.
This year, like most, was both impressive and distressing.
Our city's greatest achievements came during crises.
In April, we mourned when news of the Oklahoma City bombing, half a continent away, shook our own foundations of security and civility. In addition to our prayers, donations of food, blood and supplies, we sent a team of local rescue workers. They returned home as heroes, having restored a little of what was lost as freedom-loving Americans.
We were tested again in September by an arsonist's crime.
Princess Anne, the city's oldest high school still in use, was gutted by an early morning blaze that erupted just days before the school year was to begin.
Again, though, it pulled us closer together instead of apart.
Donations poured in from all over Hampton Roads as students took to the streets to rally support and funds to rebuild. While firefighters inescapably exposed asbestos fibers buried within the veteran school's structure, the episode exposed a side of our citizenry no money could ever buy.
It couldn't have come at a worse or better time for a beleaguered school system.
The district ran up a $12.1 million deficit for the 1994-95 school year and was in need of a leader after the superintendent took a job in Georgia.
Most of what happened and who was responsible remains to be learned. That task falls to a special grand jury, charged with probing the district's fiscal failures.
The School Board did, however, fulfill its Christmas wish of christening a new chief. Tim Jenney, head of Greenville (S.C.) County Schools, will soon take control.
He should hope that his fortunes prove so timely as another new leader in town. Economic Development Director Don Maxwell arrived just in time from Hampton to strike gold. From Corporate Landing and Oceana West to Center Pointe and Burton Station, the city is bursting once more with new businesses putting down roots here.
Work also got under way on a 20,000-seat amphitheater near Princess Anne Park that will put us on the entertainment map, and the Virginia Marine Science Museum began the task of tripling in size.
We came close to working out a deal with our neighboring Tarheels over Lake Gaston's water, but instead found success in the courts. While we're still unable to wash our cars or water our lawns, the city is finally handing out construction contracts for the pipeline's completion.
The year ahead will find us working on these same issues and more.
It's election season in May. We'll revisit the issue of how we elect our representatives to the City Council and School Board, as well as who will occupy those seats after July 1.
Expect at least half of the incumbent School Board members not to seek re-election. On the council side, stay tuned to see who might challenge Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf. The toughest challenges, however, likely face maverick Councilman Robert K. Dean.
Pat Robertson's political troops will again march onto the national scene in the race for the White House, but the biggest revival of religious fervor in Washington may be orchestrated by the Rock Church.
The Rev. John Gimenez is calling on Christians across the country to descend on the Mall this spring for a march similar in size to that of the million men called there last month by the Rev. Louis Farrakhan.
And don't forget Atlanta.
The capital of the Southeast will be the spotlight of the world this summer. With any luck, we'll have a few Beach representatives there. From horse trainers to gymnasts, we've got some stars of our own.
For all our failures in '95 we at least learned along the way. Let's hope we build upon that in '96. by CNB