So Virginia Beach is toying with the idea of a Farm Park Museum; they think it would be a great tourist draw. As if they need any more tourists. I recall that more than a year ago our Director of Tourism tried to get that same kite off the ground but the winds were not favorable. As I remember it, and Joe Barlow concurs, Suffolk was the logical place for one – after all, who has the farmers? Not much farmland left in VB and it’s shrinking here. But we still have enough room for such a museum, and enough old farm tools lying around gathering rust in fields and barns. We probably also have a lot of old farmers that sold their farms to developers and have nothing to do but count their money. Some may want to get back in the old clothes and volunteer to show the visiting folks around the museum – there are millions of Americans who could not answer the question, &uot;What is a plow?&uot; So, was Brugeman just ahead of her time?

A while back, Virginia Beach published a disclaimer pointing out that the risk of drowning off their beaches in riptides was far greater than being bitten or killed by a shark. Now they have amended the statement and point out that the risk is even greater that you will die in an ambulance on your way to a hospital after your auto accident because of traffic congestion. Now you can relax and enjoy your swim among the stinging jellyfish. And did you know that donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes, and the first owner of Marlboro died of lung cancer? And you thought you knew everything.

I had to watch the tapes twice before I could decide how I feel about the decision of the Planning Commission in regards to Barons, a new &uot;nightclub&uot; on Main. I think that visions of a raucous nightclub were on the minds of several members who influence the vote. I don’t regard the Commission as a bunch of old fogies, but certainly we are not providing for representation by younger men or women of this city. The only way to rearrange the Commission is to rearrange the Council. At any rate, the influence of the local churches was evident when it came to allowing music for the customers.

I suppose to some, even the thought of alcoholic drinks being served with or without meals in a restaurant is sinful, and to be located near a church an abomination. But the Commission spoke not of the booze, nor the late hours – only of the music. The nightclub owners want now and then, wow, as much as a three-piece band, inside the building, not out on the street as in New Orleans, during the eating and drinking hours of 5:30 until 2 in the morning. The Commission prefers no music on Sundays but okayed it until 2 a.m. There really was little opposition to Barons because the gods know something is needed downtown to liven thing up. One Commission member dared to suggest that such a place was not where you would bring your family. Maybe he wouldn’t, but Elizabeth McCoury shushed that when she reported that she often dined, with family, at a twin of Baron’s in Portsmouth. Good for her. If Baron’s keeps the prices high enough there will be few problems with the place; besides, it’s smack in between two police stations.

Suffolk witnessed an excellent drill when one gentleman locked himself in a private home with a gun. The police, including the SWAT team, had a great chance to take an inventory of their equipment and their skills with the TV cameras rolling. All worked out well, including the teargas bombs and the smooth talking hostage negotiator. Many neighbors reported how distressing it was to the area – but how do you account for the citizens who brought chairs so they could watch comfortably? Some entrepreneur could have made a fistful with hot dogs and cold beer.

DO YOU KNOW? Atheism is a non-prophet organization? What you would do if you saw an endangered animal eating an endangered plant? Why, if we evolved from apes and monkeys, do we still have apes and monkeys? How it is possible to have a civil war? Is there another word for synonym? If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

Robert Pocklington is a resident of Suffolk and a regular News-Herald columnist.