DATE: Friday, April 4, 1997                 TAG: 9704040743

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:  148 lines

HAMPTON ROADS [BRIEFS]

REGION

Local students test

global knowledge

in geography bee

Six students from local middle schools are participating in the state-level competition of the National Geography Bee in Richmond today.

The competition includes fourth- through eighth-grade students in nearly 20,000 schools from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. The state bee is the second level of the National Geography Bee.

Local students competing are Alexander V. Kirk of Norfolk Collegiate School, Oscar John A. Moralde of St. Pius X School, Jordan Lex of The Williams School, Joel Josiah Glynn of Salem Middle School, Brett Conrad Cooper of Kempsville Middle School and Eugene Paul of Star of the Sea School.

Each state winner will receive $100 and a trip to Washington for the May 27 and 28 finals. The national competitors will vie for three scholarships totaling $50,000.

CHESAPEAKE

Homeowners fight to stop

expansion of nearby landfill

Homeowners on Elbow Road who are opposing expansion of a nearby landfill are rallying their neighbors to help them persuade the city and the state to close the operation, which piles such things as tree stumps, concrete and other construction demolition and debris.

The Chesapeake Council of Civic Organizations, the umbrella group for civic leagues, plans to write letters and lobby against the project. Based on environmental and residential concerns, as well as a history of violations, the CCCO specifically will ask the City Council to revoke a permit it gave to Elbow Road Farm Inc. in 1984 to expand the landfill from 8 acres to 29 acres.

Department of Environmental Quality officials, who inspect the landfill at least eight times a year, say that the landfill is not considered a problem and that workers have been responsive in correcting problems found during visits.

Wal-Mart promises city

$8,000 for development

Chesapeake city officials were given a pledge for $8,000 from Wal-Mart officials Thursday, money that will help the city create more economic development.

Wal-Mart donated the first $4,000 of the grant in a ceremony with Mayor William E. Ward and City Manager John L. Pazour. The remainder of the grant will come later.

Nationwide, Wal-Mart has allocated more than $2 million annually in industrial development funding.

Pazour said the city will use the Wal-Mart money to update the city's marketing video. He also said interactive computer-generated marketing presentations will be created with the funds.

The grant comes at a time when the local Wal-Mart has major expansion plans before the city's planning and public works departments.

The company, which submitted the expansion plans to the planning department Feb. 5, wants to build a Super Wal-Mart by adding 90,000 square feet to the existing 115,000-square-foot store near the Battlefield Boulevard interchange of Interstate 64. No decision has been made on the application.

Mobile home health fair

scheduled for Saturday

The second annual health fair for Woodshire Mobile Home Park will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the community building on Heidi Drive.

The event, open to the public, will include blood-pressure checks, glucose and cholesterol screenings, CPR and nutrition demonstrations, and other health information.

There also will be information and activities for neighborhood safety and crime prevention.

Woodshire Mobile Home Park is located on Heidi Drive near the 3200 block of S. Military Highway in Chesapeake.

For more information, call Mary Brewer, 485-4721.

NORFOLK

Acclaimed writer will speak

at NSU's award banquet

Leon Dash, a Pulitzer Prize journalist and writer for The Washington Post, will speak at a special banquet in Norfolk State University's Scott-Dozier Dining Hall at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Dash became nationally known with the publication of ``Rosa Lee: A Mother and Her Family in Urban America'' in 1996. The book is based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper series about a family trapped in the urban underclass.

The banquet will honor Marvin L. Lake, a 1967 graduate of the university and director of recruitment and retention at The Virginian-Pilot, with the school's Excellence in Communications Award.

The banquet is free, but tickets are required. Call 683-8330.

City department overloaded

by calls to repair potholes

Norfolk's Department of Public Works Streets and Bridges Division has been overloaded with phone calls requesting pothole repairs in cities other than Norfolk.

Only Norfolk has declared April Pothole Repair Month; only Norfolk residents are invited to call the department and report potholes to be repaired within five working days.

Citizens in other cities should call their city's Public Works Department to find out more about pothole repairs in their area. The numbers are:

Chesapeake, 382-6342

Hampton, 726-2900

Suffolk, 925-6385

Virginia Beach, 563-1470

Newport News, 249-5700 or 249-5730

This month, Norfolk residents are encouraged to report potholes to the Division of Streets and Bridges at 441-2952 Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

PORTSMOUTH

Pitts, Bullock will speak

at abuse prevention rally

The Portsmouth Child Abuse Prevention Rally is set for Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Cradock Afton Square, 45 Afton Parkway.

City Councilman Cameron Pitts and Commonwealth's Attorney Martin Bullock will be the keynote speakers.

The Portsmouth Sheriff's Department will offer its Ident-A-Kid service, and the Health Department will give free immunizations and lead-poisoning checks.

Information also will be provided on teen-age pregnancy, AIDS and substance abuse.

Bonnie Finney, a former Portsmouth resident who started the nationwide ``Blue-Ribbon Campaign to Prevent Child Abuse,'' will be honored at the rally.

For more information, call 397-1159.

ALSO. . .

Virginia Beach - The Community Phase of the Boy Scout's Friends of Scouting Campaign began this week to raise $42,000 to support the 21,000 local Boy Scouts. The community team includes Commonwealth's Attorney Chuck Griffith in Norfolk, Dr. Glenn Fritz in Portsmouth, John Cussen with Faggert and Frieden in Chesapeake, and Ray Roenker with William E. Wood in Virginia Beach. To join the team or for more information, call 499-7202.

COMING UP

SATURDAY

Norfolk - From 9 to 11 a.m. at the Norfolk Parks and Recreation Garage on Dana Street, volunteers from the Norfolk Master Gardeners will wrap 5,000 tree saplings in preparation for the annual Arbor Day tree giveaway April 12. Call 441-2237 for details.

MONDAY

Virginia Beach - Coleman Andrews will formally announce his candidacy for lieutenant governor at 8:30 a.m. at the Virginia Beach Central Library to kick off his four-day, 22-city campaign tour. MEMO: Staff writers Mike Knepler, Louis Hansen, Mac Daniel, Meredith

Cohn and Janie Bryant contributed to this report.

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