DATE: Friday, November 21, 1997             TAG: 9711210684
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: Staff writers Erika Reif and Debbie Markham contributed to

        this report.

LENGTH: 89 lines

HAMPTON ROADS NEWPORT NEWS

Neighborhood upset

at not being told

about male flasher

The Newport News Police Department has upset some Crime Watch members in the city's Hilton neighborhood after residents discovered they had not been informed about a male flasher.

Police have been searching for a man who exposed himself to girls on three Sundays near Hilton Elementary School. The most recent report was on Nov. 2, and police issued a media release Nov. 18.

John Lash, a participant in Hilton's Crime Watch, says he heard about the flasher from a friend who saw a television news report, then he read about the offenses in Wednesday's newspaper.

He said police should have told Crime Watch so he could warn parents to protect their children.

The police are ``asking us to participate and yet they're not telling us what's going on in the neighborhood and what to be aware of,'' Lash said. ``We felt completely left out of the loop.''

After a white male exposed himself Oct. 26 to two girls, ages 11 and 12, police did not have enough of a description of the suspect and did not want to jeopardize their investigation by announcing the offense, said police spokesman Pete Edgette. Police again remained silent after a 12-year-old girl reported a nude male beckoning to her and saying ``Come here,'' Nov. 2.

While canvassing the neighborhood after the second flashing, investigators discovered that a 15-year-old girl had seen a man fondling himself in the woods Oct. 12. None of the girls was approached or hurt.

All three incidents took place near Hilton Elementary School in a wooded ravine used as a nature classroom.

The city finished cutting out the underbrush yesterday, bringing the trails, footbridges and benches into view. REGION

Boys scout for donations

during annual food drive

On Saturday, Boy and Cub Scouts throughout South Hampton Roads and Northeastern North Carolina, will participate in the ninth annual Scouting for Food Drive.

The Scouts will collect food for distribution to local Foodbanks.

The Scouts, who have left Hannaford Food and Drug Superstore plastic bags at local homes to be filled with canned and non-perishable food items, will collect the food between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Those who did not receive a bag may drop off donations of food at the following locations:

Any Hannaford Food and Drug Superstore in Virginia Beach;

The Hannaford Food and Drug Superstore at Wards Corner in Norfolk;

The Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia on Granby Street in Norfolk;

Tower Mall in Portsmouth;

Wal-Mart/Sam's Club on Battlefield Boulevard in Chesapeake. PORTSMOUTH

Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner

is free to senior citizens

Arabia Temple No. 12 and Arabia Court No. 23 will sponsor their 15th annual Senior Citizens Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Shriners Temple on the corner of Effingham and Queen streets.

Much of the food - turkey and all the trimmings - is donated by local merchants, and the remainder is donated by the Shriners of Arabia Temple and the Daughters of Arabia Court. Eating utensils are donated by the Portsmouth and Chesapeake Paper Co., which has provided those items for the past 12 years.

The dinner is free to all senior citizens, but reservations are required.

To make a reservation, call Robert Shropshire at 461-3040, Lillian McDowell at 399-6580 or Mary E. Slade at 545-2998.

NORFOLK

Hundreds of donations are

needed this holiday season

While there is only one real Santa Claus, the city's Department of Social Services could use a few hundred stand-ins this season.

The department is looking for 427 Santas to ensure that foster children have a happy Christmas. The department needs Santas to make cash donations, which are tax deductible, or donate toys to the department's Foster Care Christmas Fund.

Toy collections have already started and will continue through Dec. 16. For more information, call Ruth Baum at 664-7749.

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