THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 11, 1996 TAG: 9601100176
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
LENGTH: Long : 255 lines
Saturday, Jan. 6
12:30 p.m. - Food Lion, Bennetts Creek
Every station the motorist tunes in has the same news: The biggest blizzard in decades is about to hit.
Folks in Bennetts Creek must have heard the warnings. The parking lot, normally less than half filled, is packed. Drivers cruise around, looking for a vacant spot and hoping to stock up on bread, milk and munchies.
- Phyllis Speidell
4 p.m. - Lowe's, Suffolk
A sign on the front door reads: ``Out of kerosene heaters; out of kerosene; out of shovels.''
Inside, a woman tells the caller: ``We're out of snow shovels; we don't carry rock salt; but we still have some Ice Melt.''
- Susie Stoughton
Sunday, Jan.7
9 a.m. - Orbit, central Isle of Wight County
With his 15-foot john boat hooked behind his tractor, John Stiltner pulls his children, Haley, 7, and Hayden, 5, in the soybean field.
His brother had done it for him when he was a child. ``The only difference was he used a pickup truck instead of a tractor,'' he recalls.
The tractor makes circles, figure-eights and laps around the field.
``The faster we go, the better they like it,'' he says.
- Jody R. Snider
Monday, Jan. 8
8:30 a.m. - Heading to Suffolk
How are the roads?
Depends on where you live.
North Carolina state highway 32 is in fair shape - not much ice but snow covers much of the road.
Cross the state line, and Virginia Route 32 is clear and clean. You can drive at normal speeds and there is nothing to worry about.
Want to worry? Drive downtown Suffolk. Perfect, if you enjoy slippin' and slidin'. That goes for both the streets and sidewalks.
- Frank Roberts
10 a.m. - Obici Hospital, Suffolk
Outside, crews clear the parking lots. Inside, it's business as usual. The only problem is leaky ceilings - from melted snow and rain seeping into three rooms.
Fortunately, the leaking has stopped and the rooms have been put back into service, says Susan Stone, marketing director.
``It's stopped because it's frozen up there,'' she says. ``When it melts, it may leak again.''
- Susie Stoughton
10:15 a.m. - Downtown Suffolk
Downtown is as closed up as if it were Sunday. One exception is Nansemond Drug Co. - part of it anyway. The pharmacy is open, the lunch counter is not.
``People get sick, so we'll stay open as long as we can,'' says Peggy Hopewell, the owner. ``We sent one delivery out. If we have to, we'll send another - even if I have to do it myself.''
- Frank Roberts
Late morning - O'Berry's Farm Center, Isle of Wight County
Joey Mitchell, a highway contractor, has the day off.
``I pour concrete,'' he says, ``and I can't do anything in this mess. But this is just part of God's work, and you can't do anything about that.''
- Jody R. Snider
Noon - Movie Time, Suffolk
No ``Die Hard With a Vengeance'' or ``Mortal Kombat'' video tapes are left. Not even ``Love Me Tender,'' starring Elvis Presley.
Rusty Smith, who works for O'Connor & Co., was hoping to grab a few videos on his lunch break.
``It seems like everyone had the same idea: Let the kids play in the snow and then watch movies,'' says an exasperated Smith.
- Terri Williams
About noon - North Mason Street, Smithfield
``Anytime it snows, I'm here,'' says Dawson Moody, a regular at the local sleighing hill.
``Come on back tonight and you'll probably see lots of people,'' he says. ``I stay all day, all night. I stay as long as I can.''
The sledders discuss who might have sandpaper left to smooth their runners, and the winter revelers light a fire in a 55-gallon drum for warmth. Moody recalls 1980 when the hill was so slick that people rode on their stomachs - no need for a sled.
Moody looks skyward and says: ``Come on snow, keep snowing . . . Hopefully it won't melt till springtime.''
- June Arney
12:20 p.m. - Norfolk Southern railroad, Suffolk
``We're still rolling,'' says Henry Jackson, a mechanical supervisor.
Trains can get through as long as workers keep the switches clean so the tracks won't freeze.
But some runs are canceled, like the ``rock train'' that was scheduled to bring stone from a Lawrenceville quarry to Norfolk tonight, Jackson says. ``The stone would freeze in the cars,'' he says.
- Susie Stoughton
12:30 p.m. - Virginia Department of Transportation, Suffolk
Kim Bartholomew, a V-DOT spokeswoman, considers every employee a hero.
The 560 Suffolk district staffers have been real troopers, but two stand out: Dottie Farliegh and John Gibbs, both fiscal assistants who monitor levels of salt and other abrasives used to melt snow. They also handle emergency calls.
Farliegh has worked more than 40 hours the past three days and hasn't gone to her Deep Creek home to sleep, staying instead at a Smithfield motel.
And Gibbs has had no sleep; he's worked 45 hours straight.
- Terri Williams
12:45 p.m. - Suffolk Public Works Department
Street crews won't get an early reprieve like other city workers.
``They've been out there since 6 o'clock Saturday night, almost constantly,'' says Sheril Davenport, as she prepares to leave.
She and her co-workers don't have to drive in the snow.
``They picked us up and they're taking us home,'' she says. ``That's the advantage of having street crews.''
- Susie Stoughton
1 p.m. - Orbit Grocery, central Isle of Wight County
June Scott, part-time clerk, enjoys her first break since 7 a.m.
``There's been a bunch of people here today,'' she says. ``Everybody's afraid the power's going to go out. They're coming in here for kerosene and canned goods so they can cook, if the power does go out.''
People are comparing this to the 1980 snow, with drifts of 3 feet, and the 1989 ice storm, she says.
``Everyone wants it to turn warm and the ice to melt,'' she says.
- Jody R. Snider
1:15 p.m. - Copeland's Wrecker & Road Service, Suffolk
Elgin Copeland operates two wreckers but isn't too busy.
``For one thing, they don't want to pay no money,'' he says.
A Churchland woman hung up after he told her he would have to charge $75 to come from Suffolk.
He is leery of jobs that aren't close by.
``By the time I'd get there, someone else would have pulled them out,'' he says.
And he would lose the fee.
``They won't pay,'' he says. ``They won't pay.''
- Susie Stoughton
1:30 p.m. - Suffolk Post Office
Despite heavy snow, most mail is being delivered.
Carriers are living up to the unofficial motto: ``Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.''
They've gone ``everywhere they could get to without hurting themselves,'' says Postmaster W.J. ``Bill'' Matthews. ``Some of those back roads are pretty bad.''
Matthews drove his four-wheel drive vehicle to Surry County to help a carrier who couldn't get his car going.
``By the time I got there, a neighbor had helped him get started,'' Matthews says, ``so I just followed him back to Suffolk.''
- Frank Roberts
3 p.m. - A home in Southampton County
The 5-year-old has never seen snow before. He and his mother are enjoying the reprieve from work and day care.
``Mom, I love winter,'' he says. ``This is the best holiday I ever had.''
- Susie Stoughton
4 p.m. - Obici Hospital
The emergency room could be the scene of an episode from the hit TV show ``ER.'' The staff has seen more than 50 patients - double the usual number - most suffering fractures, dislocations or sprains resulting from storm related falls.
One young girl spent Sunday sledding in a flat-bottomed boat and survived being flipped into a ditch without a scratch. On Monday she stepped out her front door, fell down ice-covered steps and joined the broken-bone bunch.
``Our nurses have become experts at putting on splints and casts today,'' says Susan Stone, planning and marketing director.
- Phyllis Speidell
4:10 p.m. - Family YMCA, Suffolk
More people than usual have come to work out or swim, says Sheila Foster, membership and physical director.
But the Y's day-care facility closed at 1 p.m.
``Most people are out of work,'' she says. ``They're home with their kids.''
- Susie Stoughton
4:40 p.m. - Holiday Inn, Suffolk
``We had a lot of cancellations,'' says Lynnette Evans, front desk manager, ``maybe 10 or so.''
But no one has been stranded.
``Most of them are truck drivers,
so they just get in their big, old trucks and drive off,'' she says.
- Susie Stoughton
Monday. Jan. 8
5:15 p.m. A home in Riverview, Suffolk
With one arm in a cast, Mary Carson Saunders, 10, doesn't share her little sister's enthusiasm for sledding.
Last week, while visiting their grandmother near Philadelphia, she crashed a sled into a tree and broke her arm.
But 3-year-old Grace is exuberant. She woke up Sunday to a winter wonderland, ready to rush out and build a snowman, says her mother, Ellen Saunders.
This morning, they went sliding down a neighborhood hill as the girls' older brother, Harrison, tackled the slope beside the Suffolk Swimming Pool on Constance Road with the ``older kids.''
``Everyone is just so desperate for snow,'' Ellen Saunders says. ``It's good to have a change from the ordinary. And all the activity helps with naps.''
- Susie Stoughton
Tuesday, Jan. 9
8:45 a.m. - Leaving home in Suffolk
The snow-covered driveway isn't hard to navigate and the street doesn't look too bad. The tricky part is getting over the icy mounds the snow plows created.
The engine grinds to a halt, the car perched atop an icy crest, as the driver gets out and chips at the frozen barricade with a shovel.
There must be some way to clean the street without creating an obstacle course, he thinks.
- Susie Stoughton
Lunch time - Wal-Mart, Suffolk
Rubber boots are gone, but plenty of suede ones are on sale, as customers scramble for sizes.
A woman grabs a pair to fit her, happy that her feet will be dry.
``I decided several years ago that if I ever found a pair of shoes I liked that fit me, I'd buy them if they were less than $18,'' she says.
- Susie Stoughton ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
WHITEOUT!
Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Jessica Bryant doesn't need a sled to ride down the slick slope at
Constant's Wharf on Monday while others wait their turn.
Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Jason Adkins, left, and Earnest Whitley race their go-carts outside
Mike's Trainland in Suffolk.
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Henry Burbridge, left, wraps his step-daughter, Monika Anderson, up
for a sightseeing ride through the neighborhood on sled. She closes
her eyes tight before takeoff, above.
Earl Myers guides his snowplow outside Benns Church on Route 10,
right.
KEYWORDS: WINTER STORM BLIZZARD by CNB