THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 17, 1994 TAG: 9406160174
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 29 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: 940617 LENGTH: Long
Lots of places.
{REST} There are five community recreation centers, 192 outdoor tennis courts, 137 baseball/softball fields, 53 outdoor basketball courts and 186 neighborhood parks.
And that's only part of Virginia Beach's growing recreational inventory.
``We've added about 60 of those neighborhood parks in the last five years,'' said Nick Sessoms, superintendent of parks construction and maintenance. ``And lost 23 full-time people in the same time.''
Maintaining the fields and facilities is a massive undertaking. But, if you're like most people, you probably don't notice what the city's doing with your taxes unless there's a problem. If you showed up to play softball and there was a hole in the infield where second base used to be, then you might notice.
The point is, the fields don't take care of themselves.
So meet the men and women who do take care of them - the workers of parks maintenance.
At 8:00 a.m., Monday through Friday, they load up equipment, hop in pickups, or on tractors and graders, and pull out of the facility's headquarters on Lynnhaven Parkway. The 69 full-time employees spread out over the city to make sure Virginia Beach has a place to play.
Chuck Van Sciver and Mark James make the short drive to the city's largest athletic complex - 92-acre Princess Anne Park. Van Sciver drives the city pickup onto the infield of PA Park, where the two men hop out, lift a box-shaped aluminum contraption from the bed, and attach it to the bumper with a chain. The drag has metal edges on one side, bristles on the other.
James places it on the metal side and drives around the infield from the pitcher's mound in ever-widening circles to home plate. He gets out, turns the drag over and repeats the drive with the brush side.
Van Sciver throws fill dirt in the batter's boxes and behind home plate - areas worn from countless batters digging in and catchers and umpires doing their things. He smooths and evens the dirt, getting field No. 2 ready for another night of softball.
``We try to drag the infields three times a week,'' said Tony Petty, athletic field maintenance supervisor.
Petty is Sessoms' right-hand man in the field. He and Sessoms both started working for the city 19 years ago.
Petty watches as Allen Morrill stands at the wheel of the white Huber-850-A grader. The big blade scrapes the infield clay from high spots to low, leveling it into an even surface.
``Taught myself how to operate it,'' Morrill said.
The crews try to grade the infields twice a month.
Petty walks briskly across the park to field No. 5.
``I love my job, love being outdoors and outside sports,'' said Petty, who plays softball himself. The maintenance crew team has won the city department championship four of the past five years.
``I want the fields to look the way I'd like them to look if I played on them all the time.''
Bertha ``Dinky'' Taylor pushes red clay from home plate to the bottom of the backstop on field No. 5.
She and Jim Fentress then stretch a nylon rope from home plate to the edge of the outfield grass down the third base line. They pull it taut and chalk the foul line. They will use paint on the outfield grass foul lines out to the fences.
Taylor is the lone female worker today.
Crew leader Mike Cuffee drags the infield on field No. 5 while his partners chalk and fill. Cuffee has worked for the city for 15 years.
Lou Bryant loads a dump truck with red clay from a huge pile behind field No. 7. His backhoe extends its claw like a huge mechanical predator, scrapes a ton or so from the pile and drops onto the dump truck bed.
Henry Coker then drives onto the infield with the load and drops it near the pitcher's mound.
``We got some complaints about the mound after a game here Sunday,'' said Petty.
Complaint taken care of.
``We grade about 10 fields a day,'' said Coker. He also works on the horse ring at Princess Anne Park.
``Disc it (with tractor attachment), add sand, make sure it's not too hard, not too soft,'' said Coker. ``Has to be right footing for the horses.''
Petty's crews also seed and fertilize as needed, haul portable bleachers from one field to another, collect trash from the parks, repair guard rails, bases, and benches, install pitching rubbers and take down the fences after softball to turn the place into a football complex.
``We built those two volleyball courts too,'' said Petty, pointing toward Princess Anne Road at the front of the park. ``And my guys stripe tennis and basketball courts.''
The good news is that another parks maintenance crew cuts the grass at the parks. The bad news is that there's an awful lot of it.
``About 1,200 acres or so,'' said Jerry Jones who supervises the cutting operation.
Jones has 15 workers mowing that acreage. They cut half of it, 600 acres, every week. At a 1/4-acre average yard size for Virginia Beach homes, each operator mows the equivalent of 160 yards a week.
Bring on the iced tea!
Stacey Cornick works in general maintenance, doing carpentry and painting. The 8-year city employee talked about the overwhelming task at hand.
``Tony and Nick don't get credit. People don't realize how all this gets done. They find a way to do it, even though we're short-handed sometimes. They're doing a damn good job,'' Cornick said.
They have to - so Virginia Beach can have a place to play.
by CNB