THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 23, 1996 TAG: 9606210173
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: 69 lines
Around Town is a not-quite-newsy look behind the scenes from City Hall to City Park.
PAYING TAXES: Olde Towne Civic League is making its first quarterly tax payment of $123.28 this week on the house at the corner of London Boulevard and Washington Street.
The civic league bought the house to save it from destruction and to keep an old house at the 600 block entrance of Olde Towne. The 600 block renovations are an initiative in the Vision 2005 plan for the area.
When the civic league purchased the house, it agreed to pay real estate taxes, according to Les French, president of the group. Previously the house had been off the tax books because it was owned by Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority and then the Portsmouth Community Development group.
French said the civic league is working inside the structure now, replacing deteriorated beams before putting on a new roof. The league plans to do basic repairs, then put the house on the market for sale to someone who will restore it.
NORFOLK WATER: A line right through the middle of Portsmouth carries untreated water to Norfolk's 37th Street plant.
The line is marked only in one place: Port Norfolk.
Two bright yellow water hydrants near the new Fountain Park on Broad Street indicate the path of the line.
Portsmouth's hydrants are painted silver with red, green and yellow tops. The color codes indicate the flow from the hydrant for the Fire Department.
City Public Utilities Director Jim Spacek said Norfolk permitted the hydrants on the line in an agreement many years ago with the Portsmouth Fire Department.
At that time, Port Norfolk had a lot of industrial and manufacturing in the area around the former railroad connections.
The firefighters needed the water to keep those fires from getting out of hand, Spacek said. He said the last time he remembers anybody using Norfolk's yellow hydrants was when a plywood plant in Port Norfolk burned 15 or more years ago.
``It's raw river water, so it's only good for fighting fires,'' Spacek said.
OUR OWN MED SCHOOL: Although many people don't realize it, Portsmouth has its own medical school. The Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth is one of three major teaching hospitals in the Navy.
During a Friday ceremony, 68 physicians who successfully completed internships at the hospital were recognized by Rear Adm. Frederic C. Sanford, chief of the Navy Medical Corps.
Doctors who have completed a three-year residency program in Portsmouth also were honored. They included 30 physicians, four psychiatrists and four psychologists.
Also recognized during the program were five Chaplain Corps officers who completed the Pastoral Care Residency Program.
PORTSMOUTH CONNECTION: Former President Jimmy Carter, whose son Jack was born in Portsmouth Naval Hospital on July 3, 1947, has received a special book from Sylvia Kreng, a Van Nuys, Calif., writer who once lived in Portsmouth with her family.
Kreng sent Carter a copy of her new book, ``The Angel Manual,'' with a note telling Carter, ``I feel you are one of the most angelic presidents we ever had.''
Carter replied, ``I appreciate your remembering me in such a thoughtful way and send my thanks and warm wishes.''
The book is one of a series Kreng calls ``Books for the Soul.'' The series includes titles such as ``Beyond Peace and Quiet'' and ``Love's Little Suggestion Book.''
Kreng said in a press release that much of the inspiration for the soul books came from years in Portsmouth. by CNB