DATE: Friday, June 13, 1997                 TAG: 9706130751

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER   

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  101 lines

TICKED-OFF TOURIST IS BACK - AND HE'S SMILING MERCHANTS AND CITY MOBILIZED AT HIS COMPLAINTS OF BEACHFRONT ROWDINESS.

For one brief moment, he was the most famous tourist in town. And he promised never to return.

By day, Ted Lee was an unassuming optometrist who made his living in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, a quiet suburb on the east side of Columbus. For untold legions of people like him, summer means vacation, and last year the Lees picked Virginia Beach.

When Lee and his wife and son arrived last June for a relaxing visit by the sea, they found themselves face to face one evening with the boisterous youth culture that thrives at the resort.

It was not pleasant - for him or his hosts. One family's restless week grew into a public relations nightmare for city tourism leaders, eventually serving as a wake-up call to the resort area.

Upon his return home, Lee fired off a sharp-tongued letter to The Virginian-Pilot, saying, ``We couldn't believe the gangs of preteen and teenage youths that now roam Atlantic Avenue using the filthiest language; male and female youths grabbing and groping each other in public, bumping and pushing into pedestrians and not even caring.''

Worse still, Lee said he would advise all his friends and neighbors to drop plans they had of coming here for a vacation. To his surprise, things began to happen. Fast.

First the phone began to ring. City officials, resort promoters, you name it, called to apologize for his ``ruined'' holiday and offered all manner of freebies if he'd give the city one more chance. Even a state senator called to apologize. Later, the city conducted a series of City Hall meetings on the subject.

This week, Ted Lee and family are back and, it seems, quite happy.

``We're being treated like kings and queens,'' Lee said Tuesday after returning from deep-sea fishing with his 10-year-old son. ``We're just so impressed that everyone seems to care.''

The Lees arrived last Saturday to a free room at the Princess Anne Inn at 25th Street, offered by Dawson Sterling, the inn's owner. They also received free tickets to the Virginia Marine Science Museum, its IMAX theater, and Busch Gardens, courtesy of the Virginia Beach Hotel & Motel Association.

``I'm delighted he's given us all a second chance,'' said Mary Pat Fortier, the association's executive director. ``Everyone has good and bad experiences. We are delighted that he will have the perfect experience here in Virginia Beach.''

``He certainly cannot say he is not welcome here,'' she added. ``He is a symbol of hospitality, of customer service at its best.''

There is more at work here than simply pleasing a man named Ted Lee and his family, and it's a fact not lost on James H. Capps, president of the hotel and motel association.

``The thing you have to realize is that the impression our visitors have when they leave is the single most important aspect of their visit, from our standpoint.

``If they have a good time, we believe, then not only will they come back, but they will send their friends,'' said Capps, who owns the Breakers Resort hotel.

``That's the reason the city and industry have gone to such great efforts to revitalize the resort area and the city as a whole. It creates the opportunity for people to enjoy. That, in a nutshell, is why we want people to leave with a good impression. They will be a good ambassador for us and, in a sense, it's one less person who we don't have to pay a commission or a salary.''

Families just like the Lees - well-educated, middle class - are exactly the kind the city wants to attract. According to the Department of Visitor and Convention Development, Ohio sends the third-highest number of visitors to Virginia Beach, behind Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Ohioans represented 8.7 percent of the 2 million people who visit during the summer.

After his encounter last year, Lee figured the best he could do was fire off a letter.

``I wrote that letter on a whim,'' he said. ``I could not believe the attention it got. I figured I'd just tell the newspaper and maybe they'd publish it. Maybe they won't. But about two weeks after I mailed it, I had calls from Senator Ed Schrock, (Councilwoman) Reba McClanan. Some citizens even wrote me a letter saying they were sorry we had a bad time. I was just shocked and surprised that so many people cared.

``That story has been shared with a lot of people in Columbus.''

This time around, the Lees haven't had the problems of last year.

``We have noticed a lot of policemen, on the beach, on horseback, bicycle and foot patrol,'' he said. ``We did see some kids smoking marijuana and we told the police. They went off right away in pursuit. So it was nice to see someone out there looking out for us older folks.

``We have seen a lot of teenagers, but most of them were just normal teenagers having a good time.''

The Beach's real victory, though, appears to be in hand.

Lee is a member of the Central Ohio Board of Opticians, which he said is always looking for a new place to hold a convention. Thus, the true test of the community's hospitality might come later when that board decides where next to hold its annual meeting.

``I have mentioned to them that we bring the state opticians down,'' Lee said. ``When we get back to Columbus, at least they'll know what a good time we had.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

DAVID B. HOLLINGSWORTH/The Virginian-Pilot

Ted Lee, son Rich, and wife Nancy are finding little offensive this

year. Last year, he wrote a scathing letter to the editor, and

apologies poured in - together with pleas to return. Now ``we're

being treated like kings and queens,'' Ted Lee said.

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