THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996 TAG: 9607040229
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 105 lines
Monday, June 24
10:30 a.m. - General Booth Boulevard near Birdneck Road.
Police Officer C. Faxio is so busy that at one point he has two speeding motorists pulled over at the same time. He walks out into the road, pen and pad in hand, to flag down a sports car, then radios in to report that he's just stopped his third violator.
``You were going 51 in a 35,'' the officer tells the motorist, who politely explains that she had been unaware that the speed limit on the stretch of road near the Virginia Marine Science Museum had been dropped. Faxio tells her that the new, lower limit went into effect three weeks ago. He points to the unmistakable median signs.
Clearly hoping for mercy, the driver imploringly asks whether there should not have been a notice plainly posted warning local drivers about the change.
``I'm just so used to going 55 here, and I didn't realize . . . ''
``The old limit was 45,'' replies Faxio somberly.
- Nancy Lewis
Wednesday, June 26
10 a.m. - Ocean Lakes Little League complex.
It is the last day of the Little League season. An announcement over the public address system brings a half a dozen baseball games and the hubbub associated with them to a temporary halt.
Coaches, spectators and players - from early teens down to T-ball peewees - stop talking, stand still and doff their hats.
``There'll be a moment of silence for those killed in Saudi Arabia,'' the announcer intones. ``And we'll remain standing for the national anthem.''
A slight breeze flutters the folds of Old Glory in the outfield of the senior's field as the last notes of the anthem wafts over the bared heads.
Then, with a burst of cheers, whistles and clapping hands, the games resume.
- Bill Reed
3 p.m. - North End.
A fax arrives from the Office of the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the 69th Street Irregulars.
The irregulars is a loose-knit group of neighbors who, among other activities, compete with one another to grow the best vegetables each year.
The fax announces that the winner of the first tomato of the season category is a pair of better boy tomatoes, grown by Fielding L. Tyler, picked on June 25 and eaten today. Coincidentally, Tyler, who is the director of the Old Coast Guard Station Museum, also serves as the irregulars' deputy minister of agriculture this year.
- Mary Reid Barrow
Saturday, June 29
11:45 a.m. - South Boulevard.
A man sitting in a lawn chair tries to entice folks to a roadside garage sale.
As motorists pass, he flashes a cardboard sign that says, ``free parking.''
- Lori A. Denney
8 p.m. - Virginia Beach Boulevard near Princess Anne High School.
A sign in the median strip sports a small helium filled balloon and the legend ``Mom &''
A few yards down the median a second sign, also with a balloon attached, bears the words ``Dad Happy.''
A third and final sign tells the rest of the story. ``50th Anniversary,'' it says.
- Jo-Ann Clegg
Monday, July 1
11 a.m. - Southern Boulevard near Witchduck Road.
A man wheels a battered bicycle east next to the railroad tracks. On the front is a bright blue plastic basket loaded with somebody else's trash, which he seems to have gathered as his personal treasure.
Obviously an enterprising sort, he has managed to find a practical use for the abandoned SPSA basket just three days after the demise of curbside recylcing in Virginia Beach.
- Jo-Ann Clegg
Tuesday, July 2
1 p.m. - Birnam Woods development.
Hundreds of anxious fans are desperately seeking Sting tickets that radio station 94.9 The Point is giving away to people who call in at just the right moment.
A young TCC student participates in the mass hysteria by rapidly dialing and redialing the phone number as she studies for a major microbiology exam.
She doesn't connect the first hour, and the radio disc jockey announces that ``Becky'' was caller number three and won the tickets that hour.
The college student keeps trying.
The second hour the disc jockey announces that ``Glen'' is the happy winner, receiving the last set of free tickets to see Sting and Natalie Merchant at the Virginia Beach Amphitheater that evening.
The college student throws her hands up in despair and yells ``forget it!'' as she truth sinks in. She's going to be ``enjoying'' microbiology not rock 'n roll that night.
- Lizelle Espinosa ILLUSTRATION: We don't know who's more confused
Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Princess, a 13-year-old Pekinese/poodle mix, thinks ``Bean'' a
6-week-old kitten, is her pup. The owners, Carlee and Mike Battelle
of Virginia Beach, say Princess started producing milk and the
kitten now nurses from the dog. The Battelles recently had a baby
and got the kitten for the dog so it would not be jealous of the
baby. ``We've been trying to discourage the nursing, but she thinks
she's a mom again,'' said Carlee Battelle. by CNB