THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 21, 1996 TAG: 9601190272
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 127 lines
A home on Linden Avenue, Suffolk
A fter playing in the snow a good while, despite steady rain, the three kids come inside.
Their clothing is pretty wet. And while the kids give it little thought, the adults fret and insist on dry clothing - so it's jogging pants for the host teenager, adult jogging pants for one of the neighbor boys and too-big, flannel pajamas for his younger brother.
Hot chocolate in front of them, they plop onto the floor to watch ``Oklahoma!'' for the umpteenth time over the years.
As Curly rides into view - singing atop a horse, cornfield in the background - the younger brother offers, ``Hey, if this was real, do you think he'd be singing on that horse?''
He's much too young to remember, but wasn't it real when Roy Rogers and Gene Autry sang astride their horses?
- John Pruitt Tuesday, Jan. 9
9 a.m. - A parking lot on Saratoga Street, Suffolk
W hile holding onto parked cars as she goes, a woman walks gingerly across the icy pavement.
Another woman, a stranger to the struggling pedestrian, asks if she needs help.
``Yes, I think I do,'' the woman replies.
The two make their way, arm in arm and slipping as they go, to the door of a building. What a special kind of volunteer service!
- Shirley Brinkley
7:30 p.m. - The Community House, Windsor
Carrying a suitcase-size briefcase in one hand, Town Attorney Carl E. ``Ward'' Eason Jr. strides hurriedly into the Windsor Town Council meeting. He plops the oversized attache on the table, pops it open and retrieves a small mountain of documents regarding Windsor's legal affairs.
Meanwhile, a couple of council members sitting nearby get a closer look at the briefcase. It's an elaborate affair, twice the size of normal briefcase, with two tops that flip out.
The councilmen chuckle and wonder if Eason, a partner in the Suffolk law firm of Pretlow, Eason & Pretlow, has picked up yet another job as a door-to-door Fuller Brush salesman.
- Allison T. Williams Thursday, Jan. 11
8:45 a.m. - An auto-supply store on Saratoga Street, Suffolk
Snow from The Blizzard of '96 still lingers, and - with the temperature in the mid-20s - it seems unlikely to go away anytime soon. And there's a prediction of even more snow.
That probably explains the crowding at auto-supply parts stores, as people get ready for Round 2, and it certainly explains why everyone is so bundled up.
Everyone but one man. As he raises up from peeking under the hood, he reveals bare arms exposed by his short sleeve shirt.
Which leads an observer to wonder what the man would be wearing if it were a muggy August day.
- John Pruitt
12:15 p.m. - Main Street, Suffolk
The newcomer couldn't have picked a better spot to have a problem.
The woman apparently blacked out while driving along in the heart of downtown, and her car ran up onto the sidewalk and crashed into the guardrail at the handicapped entrance into the former Leggett building.
Newspaper reporters and photographers rush from offices in the middle of the first floor, ready to report on the event, if newsworthy. White-coated nurses appear from the Suffolk Community Health Center on the far side, one carrying a box of latex gloves so they can assist, if needed. And Western Tidewater Mental Health workers have run from their offices, which narrowly missed the impact.
Mental health supervisor Joe Scislowicz appears ready for a dose of therapy to calm his nerves. He was at his window when the car headed right at him.
``I was at the phone and I said, `Oh, my God,' '' he says, watching rescue officials help the woman - now conscious - onto a stretcher.
- Susie Stoughton
12:30 p.m. - Portsmouth Boulevard
Tooling along Portsmouth Boulevard, looking left toward the Be-Lo Supermarket, you see an act of compassion.
This is a below zero day - streets, sidewalks, wooded areas all covered by snow.
It is not an easy time for fine, feathered friends. On this occasion, they have some help.
Sea gulls surround a woman, a newfound friend, who is feeding them.
- Frank Roberts
6:15 p.m. - Book Haven, Suffolk Plaza Shopping Center, Suffolk
Two men are talking at the counter. One is telling the other that he will retire soon and eventually plans to move to Honduras.
``You can have those countries,'' the other man says. ``They have drugs and crime there.''
``Well, what do you think we have here?'' the first man asked. ``My 82-year-old neighbor was robbed at knife point the other night in front of her house.''
Overhearing the conversation, a woman customer replies, ``I wonder if there's any place that's safe anymore?''
- Shirley Brinkley Wednesday, Jan. 17
3:30 p.m. - Adirondack Custom Frames, Driver
Since opening his store last summer, Dennis Vosburgh has learned that not all customers will be two-legged. He still wonders about one day before Christmas when he found large paw prints between his building and Harmony House Antiques next door.
``We have black bears around here, and I would guess that this one must have been at least a 200-pounder,'' Vosburgh said.
Could be the bear was doing a little last minute holiday shopping for something to brighten up the den.
- Phyllis Speidell
7:05 p.m. - Municipal Center, Suffolk
Shamus Riley, a bashful 15-year-old student at Lakeland High School, doesn't have much to say about making the All-American Clogging Team.
Honored at a City Council meeting, he is at a loss for words. ``I'd just like to thank y'all,'' says Riley when Mayor S. Chris Jones invites him to speak.
But there is one way of communicating that Riley and the rest of the Peanut City Clogging Team know well. After accepting his honor, he is joined by the rest of the team. They jerk their legs, the taps on their shoes popping as they make their way down the hall in true clogging fashion.
- Terri Williams by CNB