DATE: Wednesday, July 16, 1997              TAG: 9707160480

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:  108 lines

HAMPTON ROADS [BRIEFS]

VIRGINIA BEACH

Oceans apart, couple marries over phone, also gets pay raise

Bride Natalie Wirth got a kiss from marriage commissioner G. Dewey Simmons instead of a kiss from the groom after her wedding Tuesday.

Otherwise, the speaker-phone ceremony between Wirth in Simmons' Virginia Beach office and Keith Norris, a Navy man aboard the USS Constellation in the Arabian Gulf, was legal in all respects.

``You are now as married as you can be anywhere in the world,'' said Simmons, who's been performing marriage ceremonies via telephone for Navy couples for several years.

The bride, in a white pants suit, was attended by best friend Amy White, in blue overall pants, and mom, Janie Wirth, in a green and white checked sundress.

The groom, who described himself as being attired in a T-shirt, camouflage pants and flight deck boots, was attended by his commanding officer.

Although the bride and groom will marry again in a formal wedding Nov. 1, the early proxy marriage made dollars and sense.

Now that Norris is married, he will make more money because he will receive a quarter's allowance for his bride in his paycheck.

PORTSMOUTH

Small rooftop fire gives firemen unnecessary scare

When Battalion Chief Gary L. Norton saw a ``terrible black smoke'' rising from the roof of the new Norcom High School on Tuesday morning, he thought firefighters were in for a long day.

``It looked a lot worse than it was,'' he said.

Once firefighters got up on the roof, though, it took only about two minutes to put out a fire that did minimal damage.

The fire occurred in a small area where roofers had placed a pallet of supplies, including a 5-gallon bucket of roofing compound.

The exact cause of the fire had not been determined Tuesday afternoon, but Fire Marshall Matthew Smith said it appeared to be accidental.

The new school is scheduled to open in early 1998.

CHESAPEAKE

School Board will protest governor's education plan

The School Board voted to send a letter to the governor stating their opposition to his proposals that family life education and elementary school guidance counselors no longer be required by the state.

The board voted 8-1 to express its opposition to a plan it said endangered fundamental educational programs.

Board member L. Thomas Bray voted against the decision.

Board member James M. Reeves presented the idea to the board, accusing the governor and the state board of education of trying to rush to a decision before the public had adequate time to respond to the proposal.

``They're trying to do through the back door what they couldn't do through the front door,'' said Reeves.

``I don't like these kinds of shenanigans. This quickie evaluation of family life education and elementary counselors is unfair.''

Other board members joined Reeves in his opposition, but asked that the issue not be ``politicized.''

``I think the intent truly was to bring the level of where decisions are made down to the school level,'' said Patricia P. Willis, but she added that she decided to vote for the Reeves proposal because she thought the arguments for mandating family life and elementary guidance counselors outweighed the local control issues.

Hospitals' joint laboratory dedicated in Greenbrier

A joint laboratory for four South Hampton Roads hospitals will be dedicated today in Greenbrier near Interstate 64.

Shared Laboratory Services will run a regional laboratory partly owned by and operated for Chesapeake General Hospital, Louise Obici Health Systems in Suffolk, Virginia Beach General Hospital and DePaul Medical Center in Norfolk.

American Medical Laboratories in Chantilly, Va., owns the remaining 49 percent of this regional lab on Greenbrier Circle.

Designed as a way for hospitals to reduce costs through shared services, SLS will take on lab work with an estimated turnaround of four hours or more. But urgent laboratory needs will still be handled by smaller laboratories at each of the hospitals.

Remote-control airplanes to race at Fentress Field

Giant remote-control airplanes flying at up to 200 mph will be racing at Fentress field beginning Thursday.

The Giant Scale Aviation Unlimited Expo, featuring airplanes with wing spans up to 10 feet, begins at noon Thursday and continues from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Fentress Naval Auxiliary Landing Field, Highway 165, Mount Pleasant Road in Chesapeake.

It's free and open to the public.

About 75 contestants from throughout the East Coast are expected to compete in the following classes: unlimited, super unlimited, 42 percent Formula One, AT-6, Thompson trophy and biplane.

There also will be a model aviation trade show, and giant scale model aircraft will be on display.

The event is being hosted by the Tidewater Radio Control Club and is sanctioned by the Unlimited Scale Racing Association and the Academy of Model Aeronautics Inc.

The East Coast event is one of four held across the nation to determine qualifiers for the Giant Scale Air Racing World Championship held in Rialto, Calif., in September. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

CHARLIE MEADS/The Virginian-Pilot

Newly married Natalie Wirth is congratulated by Dewey Simmons, who

just performed a ceremony, by telephone, uniting her with Keith

Norris on the USS Constellation in the Persian Gulf. Her mother,

Janie Wirth, looks on.

Photo

Keith Norris

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