THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 29, 1996 TAG: 9602290028
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
GARY SMITH'S 10-year-old daughter is older than he is. Six-year-old Stephen Shepheard is getting married this year.
But 4-year-old Christina D'Amato was refused a driver's license in New Jersey. Well, even eternal youth has a down side.
That's what happens when you have a birthday on Feb. 29, which comes around only every four years.
``Can't vote. Can't drive. Shouldn't be paying Social Security. Shouldn't even be working!'' said Gary Smith of Virginia Beach, from his office at Smith and Keene. ``At age 72, I'll finally be able to vote. I'll have to be 64 to be able to drive. Oh, I can't wait for that!''
Leap year came about when Pope Gregory XIII got fed up with the Christian holidays drifting out of kilter with the proper seasons of the year. Because the Earth is not so obliging as to circle the sun in exactly 365 days, the calendar - which steadfastly holds to that count - was becoming skewed.
Under the old Julian calendar, by the 16th century, holidays such as Christmas, Easter and Lent - had drifted 10 days off course. This prompted Pope Gregory to dump the Julian calendar.
In 1582, he ordered 10 days skipped that year to put the calendar right, and an extra day added every four years to account for the Earth's insistence on completing an orbit every 365.2425 days. Under the Gregorian calendar, people who went to bed on Oct. 4, 1582, awoke the next morning on Oct. 14.
To keep things on track, the pope also decreed that century years would not be leap years unless evenly divisible by 400. That means the years 1600 and 2000 are leap years but not 1700, 1800 and 1900.
Other countries were slow to adopt Pope Gregory's calendar, and by the time England (and the American colonies) accepted it in 1752, they had to drop 11 days, prompting riots in which people yelled ``Give us back our 11 days.''
``It must have been strange for those people traveling between France and Europe, because they had to change their calendars,'' said Dave Maness, director of the planetarium at the Virginia Living Museum. ``They could get to England a few days before they left (France).''
Shepheard of Virginia Beach says he's heard all the standard jokes about leap year birthdays. But if anyone asks when he celebrates his birthday in years without a Feb. 29, he has a pat answer: ``It can be in the middle of July and I say, `We can celebrate right now if you like.' ''
The Shepheard family takes a leap year birthday in stride. After all, Stephen's brother was born on April 1 and his mother on Good Friday. They handle it better than does the Department of Motor Vehicles, which got the birth date right on his driver's license but misspelled his name.
``People think it's a fake ID because of the spelling and date,'' Shepheard said.
D'Amato of Chesapeake also had trouble with a driver's license. She was turned down for a license in a non-leap year, because the clerk had no Feb. 29 on his calendar.
``Someone said to me, `It's an unusual birthday,' '' D'Amato said. ``It's no more unusual than Dec. 25 or Independence Day. It's just another day of the year.''
But Smith's wife and children like to celebrate big when leap year rolls around. When he turned ``8,'' they took him to Disney World. When he turned ``9,'' it was a trip to the circus. For this year's ``10th'' birthday, he had a Power Rangers cake and a surprise party with a clown. The party was last week. And because Smith has been a very good boy for the past four years, he's spending his actual birthday in Hawaii.
Those with leap year birthdays have a treat in 1996. For one thing, restaurants with free birthday desserts or meals will honor a Feb. 29 date this year. In non-leap years, D'Amato said, she's been refused.
Smith said his older brother, in non-leap years, calls at midnight on Feb. 28 to say, ``Hap--. Oh, it's over with,'' and hang up. But he couldn't do it this year.
As Smith sat in his office surrounded by balloons and black wilted carnations, his wife, Penny, surveyed him with a critical eye. ``For 40, he looks pretty good,'' she said. ``For 10, he looks pretty bad.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo Vicki Cronis/The Virginian-Pilot
Gary Smith (left, at 8 months) celebrates his 40th birthday -his
10th in leap years - at a surprise party, complete with clown. With
him are his daughter Heather, 10, and parents, Carlita and Archie
Smith.
Graphic
[A leap Year Quiz]
New York Times Syndicate
For copy of graphic, see microfilm
KEYWORDS: LEAP YEAR BIRTHDAY by CNB