DATE: Thursday, October 2, 1997             TAG: 9710020546

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:  136 lines

HAMPTON ROADS [BRIEFS] PORTSMOUTH

NORFOLK

Bon Secours to open the area's first acute care unit for elderly

Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center is opening the first Acute Care for the Elderly Program in Hampton Roads.

The ACE unit, a 17-bed in-patient program, will help the elderly recover from acute illness.

An open house will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. today.

ACE is a new concept in care, in which a team of health care professionals focuses on helping older adults care for themselves. The facility has been designed to provide a homelike environment by adding a kitchen and living area.

The program encourages patients to eat meals in the dining room, participate in strength-building exercises and wear street clothes.

First Volunteer Day at NSU

planned for this Saturday

Painting a house or two, renovating a community-center room, landscaping and cleaning the college neighborhood are some of the things planned for the first Volunteer Day Saturday sponsored by Norfolk State University's Student Government Association.

College students and the public are invited to what's hoped to become an annual event to support collaboration between the university and the surrounding community, said Liana Nestor, student-government community relations co-director.

Registration begins at 7 a.m. Saturday at the Brambleton Outreach Community Center at 909 Marshall Ave., at the corner of Marshall and Corprew avenues. Work will run from 8:30 a.m. to about 1 p.m. A light breakfast will be available, followed by hamburgers and hot dogs.

For more information, call Nestor or Ohio Sokoni at 683-8205 or 683-2320.

New elementary school

named for Mack Benn Jr.

What will become the city's 17th public school has a name: Mack Benn Jr. Elementary School.

Naming the school for the former superintendent and School Board member was a surprise announcement at Wednesday's formal ground-breaking for the $10 million facility near the southern end of Nansemond Parkway.

Benn, 69, accidentally drowned in May when his fishing boat overturned on the Nansemond River. He had retired in 1988 after a 35-year career as teacher, coach, principal and administrator. He returned briefly in 1991 as acting superintendent and served as a school-system consultant.

Not long after Benn's death, talk began of naming the new school - referred to generically as ``the central elementary school'' - for him to honor his contributions to Suffolk's educational system. Four other city schools are named for people.

The new school is designed for 808 students from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade. It's scheduled to open in September 1998.

Teen standing on tracks

struck by train and killed

A teen-ager was killed when he was struck by a train early Wednesday.

Nathaniel Alexander Leggett, 18, died in the accident at about 2:40 a.m., police said. He was standing on railroad tracks between Pinner and Commerce streets when he was hit by an eastbound train, they said.

Police could not explain why Leggett, of Forest Oak Lane, was on the tracks. The body was taken to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy.

An investigation is continuing.

CHESAPEAKE

Board will discuss rehiring

Falkner at meeting tonight

After firing its executive director last week, the Chesapeake Redevelopment and Housing Authority's board of commissioners will meet tonight to discuss rehiring Douglas Falkner.

Last week, the board announced Falkner's termination at a special meeting.

Falkner, who managed the authority for only six months, said he intends to sue the authority if he is not rehired.

Last Friday, a meeting scheduled to discuss severance pay for Falkner had to be postponed after only four of the nine commissioners showed up.

Authority Chairman Roland Thornton, who called for the fourth special board meeting in less than three weeks, has said he would like a vote in open session on Falkner's employment.

The meeting will be held at the authority's headquarters at 2133 Smith Avenue at 6:30 p.m.

Grant enables city to buy

100 saplings for arboretum

The city has received a grant from the Virginia Department of Forestry to purchase 100 saplings for the Chesapeake Arboretum.

The trees and shrubs will be planted by volunteers around the arboretum's man-made lake, said City Arborist Miklos Lestyan.

The trees will form a ``riparian buffer'' around the lake, which will help control erosion and stabilize the bank, as well as decrease pollution and provide habitats for wildlife. The tree planting will be from 8 a.m. to noon Oct. 11. Portsmouth

Lecture topic: art from

a historical perspective

Jeffrey Acosta, curator of the MacArthur Memorial Museum in Norfolk, will discuss the importance of art from a historical perspective at the Portsmouth Arts Center at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The free lecture is part of the First Sunday series held monthly in downtown Portsmouth. Acosta's talk was scheduled in conjunction with the 1997 Military Artists Juried Art Exhibition now on display in the center's first-floor galleries.

The Arts Center is at the corner of High and Court streets.

COMING UP TODAY

Virginia Beach - The Coastal Cancer Center at Virginia Beach General Hospital will host a lecture on ``How to Determine if You're at Risk for Breast Cancer'' at 6:30 p.m. today in the Health Education Center. Call 481-8889 to register for this free lecture.

SATURDAY

Norfolk - The Norfolk Naval Shipyard's eighth annual bodybuilding contest will be held Saturday at the Scott Center Annex Drydock Club. Pre-judging will be at noon, with a 6:30 evening show. All contestants must be registered by 10:45 a.m. Admission is $3 for the noon session, $5 for the evening or $7 for both. For details, call Mike Becton at 396-2754.

SUNDAY

Norfolk - The Blessing of the Animals will be at Christ & St. Luke's Church at the end of the Sunday service from about 10:15 to 10:45 a.m. All animals - real or stuffed - are invited.

Norfolk - The Friends of St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery will host the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at 9 a.m. in front of the mausoleum, followed by the recitation of the rosary. All are welcome. For details, call 499-7202. MEMO: Staff writers Matt Dolan, Matt Bowers, Liz Szabo, Debbie Markham,

Susie Stoughton and Ida Kay Jordan contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Mack Benn Jr.

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