DATE: Friday, June 6, 1997                  TAG: 9706060627

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   75 lines

VOLUNTEERS SEE DREAMS BLOSSOM INTO ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION CENTER THE NEW FACILITY IS NAMED AFTER TIRELESS ACTIVIST ERNIE MORGAN.

The ribbon, of course, was green.

And the person who cut the ribbon, of course, was Sue Morgan, the wife of the late Ernie Morgan, a tireless Norfolk civic leader.

This was, after all, the opening of the Ernie Morgan Environmental Action Center, the city's new clearinghouse for information and education about everything from recycling to wetlands to volunteer opportunities.

``We did it!'' John Deuel cheered at the ceremony Thursday. The director of the Norfolk Environmental Commission has spent the past three years organizing, worrying about and finally witnessing the opening of this community landmark amid pine trees and soft grass at Lafayette Park, near downtown.

The center is actually an old concession stand. It stood vacant and without hope until city staff, with nearly no money but plenty of volunteer spirit, converted the tired building into a handsome home for the city's environmental outreach program and a showpiece for green architecture.

The structure is heated and cooled, for example, with energy-saving natural gas. Some of its carpets are made from recycled milk jugs. And rainwater will be collected and sprayed for irrigation.

In recognizing a virtual army of volunteers who helped build the center, Deuel counted more than $100,000 worth of donated services and time. Navy commanders, chain-gang inmates and animal tenders from the Virginia Zoological Park all lent a hand, Deuel said.

Indeed, earlier in the day, zoo staff were busy laying the last shingles on the center's roof.

``Ernie spent all of his retirement on making things better in this city,'' said Sue Morgan, ``so I know he'd be very happy with this.''

Ernie Morgan dedicated much of his civic efforts toward cleaning up Ocean View, a Norfolk community wrestling with urban blight. Friends and colleagues on Thursday remembered his relentless activism and positive outlook. He died at age 80 in 1994.

The 1,700-square-foot center that bears his name will house the city environmental commission, which Morgan also helped form in 1979. Commission staff previously have been in cramped quarters inside a two-room City Hall office.

But this is much more than a government building. Teachers and students will be encouraged to visit planned exhibits inside, or to participate in workshops about environmental issues of the day at an in-house classroom.

An open library will be established there in coming months, with computers targeted to Internet sites offering conservation news and with journals and books providing background materials on local, regional and national environmental goings-on.

And the center will be available to civic and environmental groups in need of a meeting place.

``This really is an important occasion,'' Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim said at Thursday's opening ceremony. ``All of us know government cannot do it all, and this center will help guide us . . . toward preserving and improving this city's air, land and water.''

Officials half-jokingly called the center a work in progress, noting that because of a shortage of time and funds, work still is needed to complete its interior and exterior.

A planned compost pile and worm bin, where some of the center's trash will be broken down and reused as fertilizer, is not done. And a native plant garden, illustrating how indigenous flowers and shrubs can reduce the use of chemical fertilizers, is pending.

Indeed, officials took advantage of the big crowd Thursday to urge new volunteers and interested citizens to step forward and get involved in completing the center.

``That's what this is all about - helping your community,'' Deuel said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by NHAT MEYER/The Virginian-Pilot

Mary-Claire English, left, and Christopher Carr, both 10, put in the

final piece to finish the ``Earth Puzzle'' during the opening of the

Ernie Morgan Environmental Action Center at Lafayette Park on

Thursday. The center plans to offer exhibits and programs for

students.

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