DATE: Friday, August 1, 1997                TAG: 9708010744

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: Staff writers Eric Feber, Janie Bryant, Terri Williams, Jo-Ann

        Clegg and Katrice Franklin contributed to this report.

LENGTH: 90 lines

HAMPTON ROADS

CHESAPEAKE

Kids to get chance

to play TV reporters,

take home videotape

The city of Chesapeake's cable access television station, WCTV-23, will give children the opportunity to find out how it feels to be a television news reporter.

As part of the Chesapeake contingent at the 10-day Fair At the Beach, the city's TV station will send its state-of-the-art remote television broadcast truck to the fair for Sunday's Chesapeake showcase.

Mark S. Cox, Chesapeake's director of public affairs, said that all children, from elementary to middle school, will have the chance to read a special scripted 30-second public service announcement while being videotaped.

``Participating youngsters will get to feel what it's like to stand in front of a camera in a news broadcast situation,'' Cox said.

Every participant will be given a couple of attempts and then will be videotaped reading a public service message mentioning the child's name, the fair, Chesapeake's involvement and a promo about the city.

Every participating youngster will be able to take his or her tape home, at no cost.

VIRGINIA BEACH

Pre-National Night Out

celebration will be Sunday

Virginia Beach will kick off its celebration of National Night Out with festivities in Hangar 122 at Oceana Naval Air Station from 3 until 6 p.m. Sunday.

Events include miniature golf, a dunk tank, music, displays of military and emergency vehicles, appearances by local and national sports figures, and line and step dancers.

The program is sponsored by the Virginia Beach Police Department, the Crime Prevention Steering Committee and Oceana Naval Air Station, with support from more than a dozen local businesses. It will be open to the public.

National Night Out, sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch, is held annually on the first Tuesday in August. Several Virginia Beach subdivisions, including Aragona, Arrowhead, Atlantis Apartments and L & J Gardens, will hold walks to celebrate the event. All residents are asked to turn their porch lights on that evening in support of the efforts to fight crime and drugs.

For details on the kick-off celebration, National Night Out events or other crime-prevention programs, call the Crime Prevention Unit at 563-1006.

PORTSMOUTH

Crisis intervention training

to be offered in September

The Crisis Center, a 24-hour telephone suicide prevention and crisis intervention service, will offer a five-week training course beginning Sept. 15 for persons interested in volunteering with the program.

The center is staffed by volunteers from several area cities. There are no educational requirements other than the free training the center offers.

Classes will meet from 6:45 to 9:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays. Applicants must attend an orientation. For details, call the center by Sept. 10 at 399-6395.

SUFFOLK

Department opens today

with one-stop services

Suffolk will officially open its new Department of Neighborhood Development Services with a ceremony at noon today in the Housing Inspections Building, 438 W. Washington St.

The new department eventually will provide one-stop shopping for zoning, building and housing inspections. For now, residents still must go to two buildings, housing and building inspections. Early next year, the department will be moved to City Hall.

Mayor Thomas G. Underwood, City Manager Myles E. Standish and Steve Herbert, assistant city manager for development, will be on hand today.

For more information, call Dana Woodson at 925-6339.

COMING UP

TODAY

Norfolk - An overview on Virginia's welfare-reform laws will be presented at a regional public symposium from 9 to 11 a.m. in the Norfolk Senior Center, 924 W. 21st St., Norfolk. Speakers will include Clarence Carter, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Social Services. For more information, call 629-0500, Ext. 106.

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