
DATE: Sunday, September 21, 1997            TAG: 9709190345

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 04   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   78 lines

SLICES OF LIFE IN WESTERN TIDEWATER

Thursday, July 17 12:45 p.m. - North Main Street, Suffolk<

A motorist driving north on North Main Street is surprised to see something that resembles a large, slice of pizza with arms and legs standing beside the road. A another quick glance reveals numerous faux toppings.

Waving at the sea of cars passing by, the person under the ``pizza suit'' must be as hot as a pizza fresh from the oven since the temperature is hovering in the 90s!

He or she is calling attention to the opening of Papa John's.

- Shirley Brinkley Monday, Aug. 18

3:40 p.m. - Suffolk Police Department, Wellons Street

George Cipra, wearing civilian clothes and a smile, waves goodbye to Capt. Larry Wilson.

Cipra, who retired as head of the detective bureau at the end of 1996, has been called to give polygraph tests to prospective police officers.

``I'm leaving now,'' he says. ``You know why?''

Why? asks Wilson.

``Because I can,'' Cipra says. Friday, Sept. 13

1:35 p.m. - City Council chambers, Market Street

Kyle W. Holmes and five fellow police officers are being promoted to higher ranks.

Holmes, selected to present remarks on behalf of the group at the department's first public promotional ceremony, starts with a well-known quip around police headquarters.

``Yesterday, I couldn't spell lieutenant,'' he says. ``Today, I are one.''

- Susie Stoughton Monday, Sept. 15

1:45 p.m. - The Nansemond Grill, Main Street

He doesn't normally watch the Miss America pageant, says Gary Williams, while waiting for his order.

But Saturday night, he turned on the television, knowing the reigning beauty was also a literacy advocate.

To his surprise, Williams - head of the Suffolk Literacy Council - saw his face in a filmed tribute to Tara Dawn Holland, the outgoing Miss America.

Williams had gone to Richmond to see Holland, when she appeared there. He really wanted her autograph, he says, but he was unable to obtain it.

However, when he saw himself on TV, he really didn't care about missing out, he says.

- Susie Stoughton Tuesday, Sept. 16

3:30 p.m. - Lakeland High School

William Hill, Lakeland's principal, was having a busy day. Classes were over, but Hill faced a late afternoon and evening filled with meetings with the PTSA, the Academic Boosters, and a few other folks.

Excusing himself from an early meeting, Hill explained that he had one more task to finish for the Academic Boosters' reception - scooping chicken salad into several dozen tiny pastry shells and checking on the ginger ale supply. ``You do what you have to do get the job done,'' Hill said.

- Phyllis Speidell ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by MICHAEL KESTNER

Workmen labor to strip the aluminum facades from the front of a

building at the corner of North Main and West Washington streets

this past week.

The facades, which were put up years ago to give downtown Suffolk a

more modern look are being stripped away to give it a more historic

look.

Some interesting window signs were revealed when workmen removed the

metal facades from a building on the corner of North Main and West

Washington streets.The shiny gold-leaf letters announce that Union

Finance would make small loans from $25 to $600. Those are pretty

small loans by today's standards.