THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602250041
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEXIS M. SMITH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
The Atlantic Ocean was 37 degrees Saturday - just right for Miss Virginia and 330 other brave souls to take a dip for a good cause.
At about 1 p.m., people of all ages lined up on the Oceanfront beach near the Clarion Resort and Convention Center for Polar Plunge IV, a benefit for the Special Olympics. Then they charged the surf, screaming and hollering as they hit the water. Some went in only up to their knees, but others went all the way under.
``We are dubbing today's event the `Solar Plunge' because the temperatures is high and the sun is out,'' said John Devel, 39, a Virginia Beach resident and member of the Adventure Club.
Conditions were downright balmy compared with Feb. 3, when the plunge was originally scheduled. That day was a bit too polar for the plunge - an ice and snow storm made the conditions in and out of the water deadly.
``My dad said he didn't believe they canceled the polar plunge three weeks ago because it was too cold,'' Miss Virginia, Amber Medlin, said, laughing. ``But this is for a good cause and I want to do it.''
It took the plungers two minutes to get into the water and one minute to scurry back to the hotel.
Adventure Club member Kim Eddy, 34, of Williamsburg, stood out in the crowd. She wore a bathing suit, two drain plungers connected to the top of her suit and a toilet seat strapped around her waist. Jumping up and down in the surf, she tried to keep the plungers from impaling the people around her. ``This is great fun,'' she said.
For safety's sake, police divers from Prince William County and Virginia Beach manned the water to make sure no one disappeared under the surf.
Lt. Art Carroll of the Richmond Police Department, a member of the Undersea Explorers Club, said: ``I usually have a wet suit on when the water is this cold. Immediately after I hit the water, my feet started to go numb. The cold took my breath away. Lord, where is my lady?''
The Norfolk and Chesapeake sheriff's departments participated in memory of two officers who were scheduled to take the plunge but died before the event.
Corp. George Lynch, 41, had 32 volunteers from the Norfolk's Sheriff Department lined up for the plunge on Feb. 3, but he died of a heart attack. Chesapeake Under Sheriff Col. Noah Byrum Jr., 54, also died before the event. Nineteen people from his department braved the frigid Atlantic.
Saturday's event raised about $56,000 and was the kickoff for the Regional III District Law Enforcement Campaign in support of the Special Olympics. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
L. TODD SPENCER
Dale Houk, left, and Kim Eddy clown for friends during Saturday's
Polar Plunge IV. Eddy, 34, of Williamsburg, and a member of the
Adventure Club, said the event was ``great fun.''
by CNB