THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 9, 1996 TAG: 9601090238
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: THE BLIZZARD OF '96
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
The city's highest hill awaited as a perfect wintertime playground while children by the thousands flocked to it Monday for the rare treat of sledding - Southern style.
Freed from school rooms citywide, they descended Mount Trashmore on makeshift sleds of every imaginable variety.
Some used cardboard appliance boxes, some hauled black plastic to the top of the hill, others city-issue trash-can lids. There were boogie boards, inner tubes, even inflatable children's swimming pools under tushes; and one enterprising man showed up with a 6-foot, red and white inflatable canoe.
``It works great,'' said Norfolk electrician Shawn A. McInroy of his canoe. ``I've given rides to all kinds of people.''
For most of the day, people like McInroy were out having a ball, but problems arose as the sun set, the hill got slicker and some people's judgment waned.
The Kempsville Volunteer Rescue Squad reported a wide range of injuries, including some broken bones and dislocated shoulders, from sledding accidents.
Kevin Lipscomb, a paramedic and the squad's president, said at least 10 people were treated for minor injuries and six of them were taken to area hospitals for a checkup. Calls to the park became so numerous that the squad eventually stationed a rescue truck on the south side of the hill while volunteers walked about the park with radios and emergency kits.
Some of the injuries came on the northwestern face of Mount Trashmore near the city seal, where the city had erected three sections of snow fencing to discourage sledding. But adults and children alike ignored the fence and tore it down over the objections of the three park personnel who were assigned to watch over the throng.
Harold Barkley, park caretaker, was the picture of frustration by sunset as people rushed down the hillside, some of them thudding into parked cars or even sliding past the cars and into the parking lot in front of moving vehicles.
``We have patched this fence all day long and people just keep tearing it down,'' said Barkley. He estimated the park was host to about 4,000 sledders at any given hour throughout the day. Dare devils had been hitting the slopes steadily since Saturday, but Monday morning's snowfall and school closings brought an avalanche of children to the park.
Even part of the wooden, split-rail fence that forms a barrier between the hill and the parking lot was torn down and stuffed in a trash can.
``People just don't listen,'' Barkley said. ``They say, `I pay taxes. I'm going where I want to go.' People just went crazy here by the afternoon. People just need to be more conscientious of each other.''
For the most part they were conscientious. Earlier in the day, when the snow was fresh and children's spirits high, many parents happily stepped forward to ensure the safety of children who were sledding where it was allowed.
Ray Sexton, a 39-year-old Norfolk electrician, was among them. While his son played, Sexton stood by a wooden park sign. City workers had stacked bales of straw at its base, but somehow children managed to sled right for the sign. So as children whooshed down the hill, Sexton made sure they didn't hit the sign posts, which are made of 4-by-4 timbers.
``I have a 9-year-old of my own so I don't want to see any of these children getting hurt,'' said Sexton.
He was hard pressed to slow some kids as they sped down the icy hill. At best, all Sexton could do was break their speed and impact into the straw. Eventually, he and another man pulled the sign out of the ground and set it aside in the parking lot, eliminating the danger altogether.
Mount Trashmore is a largely treeless park, except for a few trees around the base of the hill. It was in this area that parents stood guard against wayward sledders.
Maureen McCleland, of Salem Lakes, did her part by huddling near a pine to make sure sledders didn't collide with it. As she watched her three boys, Matt, 16, Mike, 13, and Mark, 11, who seemed oblivious to everything but the fun around them.
A few yards away, Bill Bertholf, a 45-year-old Bayside resident, manned another tree while his children, William, 11, and Erica, 14, laughed it up on the snowy hillside.
``This is the kind of weather that makes you wish you had friends in Upstate New York who you could visit and then come home,'' Bertholf said. ``But it's really been a lot of fun for the kids.'' ILLUSTRATION: VICKI CRONIS
The Virginian-Pilot
THRILLS: Logan Pancoast, 4, and his uncle, Michael Tomesch, both of
Virginia Beach, enjoy the snow holiday at Mount Trashmore.
KEYWORDS: WINTER STORM BLIZZARD by CNB