THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 18, 1996 TAG: 9602160206
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
Saturday, Feb. 10
2 p.m. - Dollar Tree, Fairfield Shopping Center.
A woman enters the store, grabs a basket and begins filling it with boxes and packages of Valentine candies.
``Teacher or bus driver?'' an older woman asks sympathetically. ``Room mother,'' the shopper replies, shaking her head. ``And the teacher just called me 45 minutes ago to let me know that she needed this stuff,'' she adds as she adds another half-dozen bags of red hot hearts to her basket.
- Jo-Ann Clegg
Tuesday, Feb. 13
4:40 p.m. - City Council Chambers.
A proposal to construct a communications tower is before City Council. The plans prepared by an outfit called Copeland Engineering have caught the attention of Councilman Robert K. Dean, who is widely regarded as a stickler for details.
``I must say this is one of the best site plans that has ever come before this council,'' Dean says. ``I hope they get a chance to do more work in this city.''
Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf laughs a little and say, ``Thanks, Bob, for that commercial.''
``Hey,'' Dean shoots back. ``They didn't contribute to my campaign.''
At that, Councilman Linwood Branch leans back in his chair and smiles broadly.
``But you've got one coming up,'' Branch says.
The chamber erupts in laughter and a slightly rose hue rises in Dean's cheeks.
- Tom Holden
8:30 p.m. - Laskin Road Farm Fresh.
The grocery store is crowded with customers, several holding huge, red helium-filled Valentine's Day balloons and other holiday items. Long check-out lines snake back into the store aisles.
Only one regular grocery line is open while several cashiers man the express lines. The cashier tending to the long line of folks with full baskets is harried but trying to maintain her cool.
``This is worse than Christmas,'' a customer tells her.
``I don't know what's going on,'' the cashier says, surveying the crowd. ``But my husband better be out shopping tonight, too, because tomorrow is our anniversary and Valentine's Day.''
``He'd better be shopping,'' agrees the customer. ``You'll be grumpy enough as it is after you finish up this night!''
The cashier laughs good-naturedly and moves on to the next customer.
- Mary Reid Barrow
Wednesday, Feb. 14
7:20 a.m. - Kempsville Road.
A van pulls out of a neighborhood side street heading toward Centerville Turnpike. Its bumper displays this sticker:
``Pro-Choice
Pro-Child
Every Child a Wanted Child''
It seems the driver doesn't believe the same philosophy holds true for fish.
The van's license plate frame urges fishermen to throw back any wild trout they catch.
- Kevin Armstrong
4:55 p.m. - A grocery store on Baxter Road.
Shoppers are lined up 10 deep at the one open express lane and newcomers are joining the line at an alarming rate, each carrying a single box of candy or bouquet of flowers.
A second express checker shows up and announces that her lane is open. Shoppers from the rear of the line make a dash but those who had been waiting much longer are stuck in the slow-moving original line, trapped by magazine and candy racks.
Most groan. Some of the last minute shoppers, on this day meant for displaying love, make unkind comments.
- Jo-Ann Clegg
8 p.m. - A resort strip restaurant
Two couples sit at a table enjoying a Valentine's Day dinner. One of the couples is apparently visiting from Baltimore and the
subject turns to the advantages and disadvantages of big-city life.
The Baltimore wife speaks well of the museums, the restaurants, the Orioles, etc. Then the husband interjects, ``But you can get shot if you go into the wrong areas, and we've been burglarized - people took our stereo.''
The other man replies that he enjoys country life and doesn't plan to leave the rustic setting of Pungo.
``You can get lost in Pungo and about the worst thing that can happen is that people will take you out to dinner.''
- Gary Edwards
Thursday, Feb. 15
7:45 a.m. - City treasurer's office at the Oceanfront.
It's 15 minutes before the office even opens and the line of procrastinating city decal buyers is at least 100 yards long. Starting at the front door, it snakes along the sidewalk along 19th Street and then makes a sharp turn into the fenced parking lot behind the building and continues toward the rear of the lot.
And it's getting longer by the minute.
First in line is a man who is squatting on a box right by the entrance. He's wearing Walkman earphones and an unhappy expression.
``How long have you been here?'' someone asks, referring to his prime spot in the line.
``Too long,'' he answers sourly.
- Melinda Forbes ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
It was just a little ice!
Marguerite Dickerson is dwarfed by the size of a 300-year-old pine
tree that fell under the weight of last week's ice storm. The tree
was in her yard in the Thoroughgood section of Virginia Beach.
by CNB