THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 4, 1995 TAG: 9506020221
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Bill Reed
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Remember the glorious days of El Sid?
No, not Don Rodrigo Dias de Vivar. That was El Cid, Spanish national hero, conqueror of Valencia in 1094 and doer of heroic and splendiferous deeds in old Espana. His exploits have since been immortalized in song, dance and celluloid, most recently in a movie starring Charlton Heston.
We're talking El Sid here. Pride of Princess Anne, Generalissimo Supremo of a local political machine that generated a lot of juice even in Foggy Bottom back in the '50s, '60s and '70s. When El Sid spoke, folks sat up and listened. Even LBJ.
Sid was the guy who defied the powers that were in Norfolk back in the early '60s. He stared down the barrel of the infamous ``water pistol'' and engineered the merger of Princess Anne County and the resort town of Virginia Beach to avoid annexation by Norfolk.
Never mind those who argue he got us into this whole water mess in the first place. He made a lot of three-piece suits in Norfolk unhappy in the process.
Ah, those were the good old days - when men were men and pols worth their salt could bluff or snooker their way to undreamed-of fame and power with nerve, dash and style. And El Sid was a master at that.
Virginia Beach could use those talents these days to nail down a badly needed water supply deal.
Right now the Beach is at an impasse with its good sister city. Norfolk wants at least $200 million over the next 35 years to make up for lost water sales, if and when the Beach gets its own water source.
The Beach is willing to pay about $84 million and no more - well, maybe not. So, we have a standoff.
Since all else has failed to this point - and Norfolk is holding up an agreement with North Carolina to allow Virginia Beach to tap into Lake Gaston - it's rumored that city leaders are trying one last desperate ploy.
They're going to try to resurrect El Sid. In some quarters it is thought he might be induced to return from the hereafter on his white steed, or even his Buick Roadmaster, to rescue his native city from treasure hungry pirates.
Word is, a delegation of local bigwigs has been dispatched secretly to a Caribbean island to seek out a local voodoo practitioner, world renown for possessing heavy mojo.
It is said this highly skilled individual can, with the proper inducements, conjure up powerful spells. And - if the inducements are really spectacular - it is said he can raise the dead.
And what are inducements to Virginia Beach at this stage of the game? The streets of the largest city in Virginia seem to be paved with gold. It is approaching the half-billion dollar mark in spending on the Lake Gaston pipeline venture and will probably shovel out as much in future tribute to other freebooting neighbors who stand in the way of its water source.
Now, if our voodoo wizard could just make El Sid reappear and seat him at the bargaining table with Norfolk water negotiators, the Beach might have the political heft needed to swing a favorable deal.
A little guile, a little arm twisting - toss in some flattery, a few impossible promises and a threat or two - and Voila! an agreement could be reached that would keep Virginia Beach taxpayers out of the poor house.
And, El Sid is just the guy who could do it.
Yessir, those water spigots would be wide open, those resort restaurant tumblers would be brimming with icy water, those suburban lawns would be sprinkled within an inch of their life cycles and those family jalopies would be getting royally hosed down.
And as El Sid rode off into the sunset, those Norfolk pols would be lucky to return to City Hall Avenue with their skivvies intact. ILLUSTRATION: 1981 file photo
The late Sidney Kellam stared down the barrel of the infamous
``water pistol'' and engineered the merger of Princess Anne County
and the resort town of Virginia Beach to avoid annexation by Norfolk
in the early '60s.
by CNB