THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996 TAG: 9605310204
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 74 lines
Look for a torch passing through the streets of Great Bridge Thursday morning. The event will be staged in honor of the upcoming 100th summer Olympics to take place in Atlanta this summer.
Forty-four Chesapeake students will participate in the torch run accompanied along the way by Chesapeake Mayor William E. Ward, Superintendent of Schools W. Randolph Nichols, School Board members, Del. J. Randy Forbes and other school administrators and PTA officials.
The torch run begins at 8 a.m. in front of Chesapeake City Hall. It will continue to the School Administration Building, the Great Bridge Primary School parking lot, Briarfield Drive, Parker Road, Briarwood Drive, Johnstown Road, Stardale Drive, Hanbury Road, Wildcat Parkway and into the grounds of Great Bridge Intermediate School, where a school Olympic Festival will begin. Scout plies plants
The area around the Sentara Nursing Center on Oak Grove Road is a little brighter with flowers thanks to a dedicated teen.
Jason Garrett, the 15-year-old son of Elaine and Vernon Garrett of Red Oak Colony, recently completed his Eagle Scout community service project at the nursing center.
The Norfolk Collegiate School ninth-grader planned and supervised the construction and installation of four raised flower beds.
Friends, family and fellow Scouts on his project team donated more than 140 hours of time building and installing the raised wooden planters and planting donated flowers. In addition, he and his team weeded the nursing center's patio area and performed other minor repair jobs on fences and benches.
Young Garrett is a member of Troop 55 based at the Oak Grove United Methodist Church. The 40-member troop is headed by Jason's dad, Vernon Garrett.
With the completion of his service project, Jason needs only to complete the paper work and go before the Eagle review board before he earns his Eagle Scout honor.
``This fine young man demonstrated great patience and caring as he worked with the residents to plant the gardens,'' said Donna Millis, the facility's activity director. Speechless
Not much ruffles or riles David Desler Jr., engineer at WFOS-FM 88.7, the radio station of the Chesapeake public schools.
But recently he was stopped in his tracks, so to speak, by an innocent remark by a second-grader.
The affable Desler was at Southeastern Elementary School May 22 for a career day presentation. Desler showed up at the school with the WFOS remote broadcast truck, known as the ``ambulance.''
``I had seven classes come through, and I told them all about the ambulance, I showed off our remote broadcast facilities and talked about what we do at the station and on location,'' Desler said.
He then told the youngsters about carrying the Mutual Broadcasting System's news and news affairs program, beamed to the station from a satellite.
``I told the kids that the satellite is in orbit far out in space about 23,500 miles above the Earth,'' Desler said. ``I then explained to them that the satellite is in fact closer to Japan than it is to us here in Chesapeake.''
At that mention, Desler noticed a cute second-grader raise her hand. He pointed to her. The little girl spoke.
``She then blurted out for everyone to hear, `I was conceived in Japan!' '' he said with a laugh. ``Well sir, up until then I had this great little tempo going with my patter, but after that comment I was absolutely dumbfounded, as if someone had hit me in the face with a custard pie.
``Kids do say the darnedest things!'' ILLUSTRATION: Though the tree that once shaded this house at 3816
Franklin St. had been dead for years, a recent storm finally toppled
it. If you have a photograph of a scene that you would like to see
in ``Mark Carey's Chesapeake,'' send it to Carey, c/o The Clipper,
921 N. Battlefield Blvd., Chesapeake, Va. 23320. by CNB