THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 6, 1996 TAG: 9602060279
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 135 lines
Saturday, the snow was fun.
Sunday, the snow was . . . OK, still fun.
By Monday, housebound parents were ready to blowtorch the stuff that was keeping their youngsters home from school.
``Want to adopt 'em?'' said Allen Crute, offering his two kids, whom he'd brought for lunch and a change of scenery to the General Booth McDonald's in Virginia Beach.
``We just needed to get out. We were having cabin fever,'' Crute said with a laugh.
Crute had spent the weekend entertaining a sick daughter, Allison, 6, his son Nathan, 12, and what felt like half the kids in his neighborhood.
``Unfortunately, we have the longest driveway in Hunt Club Forest, and the kids have been sledding on it with their boogie boards,'' Crute said.
A few tables away from Crute, Kim Black also knew what kids wanted when it snowed. But by now, it was making her a little nuts.
``The biggest problem is dressing them to go out, undressing them to come back in and drying everything,'' said Black, a mom of two little boys.
Three days of family togetherness drove her onto the slippery roads. With Luke, her 3-year-old, and Victor, her first-grader, and their friend, Alexis Nacchio, 9, this mom carefully headed toward the fast-food restaurant. There it was warm, she didn't have to cook, and, for at least as long as the french fries lasted, the fellas were quiet, happy and dry.
And, what Mcluck! - an indoor playground.
``I'm going to let 'em burn off some energy in there,'' Black said, nodding toward the glassed-in, soundproof jungle gym.
Monday was an unscheduled holiday not just for schoolchildren, but for government employees and shipyard workers, service members and private businesses. If it wasn't dragging the kids to McDonald's, people found other diversions.
Barbara Vaughan, a civilian employee of Dam Neck Fleet Combat Training Center in Virginia Beach, was busy shoveling snow from her sidewalk in the Cedar Lakes neighborhood of Chesapeake.
``This is just what I need - another government holiday,'' she rolled her eyes and said.
Patricia McNeal, a 28-year-old receptionist whose insurance office closed, thought it a good move to head to Pembroke Mall and get a jump on her taxes.
``But it seems like others had the same idea,'' said McNeal, looking at a cluster of people around the H&R Block counter. ``I need to get them done. The lines won't get any shorter as the weeks pass.''
Portia Newby, 9, a Virginia Beach fourth-grader, said she prayed Sunday night that school wouldn't open Monday. Her prayer was answered, but guess what she ended up doing on her day off - homework. Portia and her mom, Nicole Gildon, were seated warm and snug reading books at a table in Barnes & Noble bookstore.
``This is a relaxing environment for us; there's nothing to wash, nothing to clean. We can relax with no other mission,'' said Gildon.
At Planet Music next door, Faye Eaton of Virginia Beach scoured the bins with two of her three children. Eaton, a metal worker with the Navy, said it was a day for shopping and buying things ``I can't afford.''
``It's called out-of-the-house cabin fever,'' Eaton said. ``This is the fourth place we've been today.''
Teenagers took advantage of the snow day to do exactly what Johns Hopkins University says they should be doing in the morning: sleeping in.
But for some, Monday was a day to catch up.
``This paper has been dragging on for so long,'' said Michelle Wong, a Norfolk Academy junior who spent the day writing a five-pager on ``The Scarlet Letter.'' By 11:30 a.m., she was still working on her thesis statement. ``Something about sin and guilt and conformity,'' she mused.
Free from homework, a little scavenging and a little art was on the agenda for Luis Parades, a Cox High senior. ``I don't have any canvases, so I think I'll break down some cardboard boxes and paint on that,'' Parades said.
``Or, I might go take a walk and see if anyone has thrown away any old wood or furniture and paint on them.''
Portsmouth's Jacquie and Harry McCready lost their power Friday and bought a kerosene heater. But it didn't work right so they ended up with their Glensheallah neighbors - Dr. O.P. and Betsy Delcambre.
The Delcambres had some electricity, but it wasn't full power - not enough to keep the furnace running, Jacquie McCready said.
By the next day, both couples were looking into motel reservations.
They found out a lot of other people had beat them to that solution.
So the four of them ended up in Churchland at the home of their friend, Jennie House.
``We've had a good time,'' House said.
``They brought food and we cooked and played cards and watched TVs.
``We were already good friends, but we're even better friends now.''
No one expected the house party to go on so long, though. Three nights later, after 5 p.m. Monday, the electricity finally came on back home.
By then the trickle of water McCready had left running had formed an icicle from the spigot to the drain.
MEMO: Contributing to this story were staff writers Jon Glass, Denise Watson,
Janie Bryant and Susan Smith.
ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
HUY NGUYEN
The Virginian-Pilot
Had enough fun yet?
With classes canceled at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk,
Jackie Faircloth and some fellow students decided it was time for a
game of snow football. They ran, passed and slid for three hours.
Across Hampton Roads, schools and many businesses were closed on
Monday.
[Closings appeared on page B4]
SCHOOL CLOSINGS
NORFOLK: Closed. Twelve-month employees report two-hours late.
VIRGINIA BEACH: Closed. Twelve-month employees report two-hours
late.
CHESAPEAKE: Closed. Twelve-month employees report one-hour late.
SUFFOLK: Closed. Twelve-month employees report one-hour late.
PORTSMOUTH: Closed. Twelve-month employees report two-hours
late.
NAVY CLOSINGS
NORFOLK - Personnel assigned to all activities at Naval Base
Norfolk with the exception of NADEP, will report as follows:
Category ALFA personnel will report to work at normal times.
Category BRAVO personnel are authorized a two-hour delay in
reporting.
PORTSMOUTH - The Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth will be
operating on the following schedule today: Alpha personnel should
report on time. Bravo personnel will have a 2-hour delay for the
first shift only. Later shifts should report on time.
COURTS
VIRGINIA BEACH - General District Court closed.
RECREATION CLOSINGS
VIRGINIA BEACH - Mount Trashmore will be closed to sledders.
MISCELLANEOUS
SUFFOLK - No trash collection.
KEYWORDS: WINTER STORM by CNB