CHAOS WASHING MACHINES

The Fourth of July always means that my neighborhood is filled with constant fireworks explosions and the smell of hot dogs on the grill, hotdogs being mandatory on the 4th and fireworks being legal in Virginia-- and being especially legal this year since they just cleared a whole range of more robust fireworks for public use. At the oceanfront in Virginia Beach the displays people light off can rival the official city display. Here in this neighborhood, without sand and ocean around to catch sparks, the homeowner in me is a bit less excited about the fireworks. But at least my old neighbor moved, taking his devilish kid with him, a bottle rocket firing little fiend that terrorized Mother Maybelle. The people who moved in have been barbecuing chicken all day, superior to hot dogs in all respects.

More worrisome than the fireworks is the smoke from the huge fire in the Great Dismal Swamp (which is just south of my house and stretches into North Carolina). the smoke continues to blanket the region. Here is the smoke forecast for today. I have five beehives down on a friend's property right next to the Dismal Swamp, so I am wondering what the smoke is doing to the bees. Smoke makes bees eat and definitely will not encourage them to forage, so I have some concerns. Those bees make particularly good, very dark Great Dismal Swamp honey. I am hoping that they are pulling through.

The local 4th of July parade had an Iraq war double amputee veteram as Grand Marshal, hard not to feel the really heartrending and useless tragedy of this.

"The parade’s hero could have been straight out of central casting, too: Army Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, a son of Chesapeake remembered for his football prowess at Indian River High School and again at West Point.

Gadson, the grand marshal, spent the parade atop a silver Corvette convertible as sleek- looking as his prosthetic legs. Injured in a bombing in Iraq last May, Gadson recovered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

He lost both legs above the knee.

He remains on active duty – he hit the 20-year mark in June – and is now stationed at Fort Belvoir in Northern Virginia. In addition to intensive physical therapy, Gadson is pursuing a master’s degree in public management at Georgetown University.

At a presentation after the parade at Lakeside Park , John Dukes choked up introducing his former player.

“This is a very special person,” Coach Dukes said after leaning over and kissing Gadson’s head. He presented the soldier with a Braves football jersey like the one he played in from 1980 to 1983: blue and white, No. 44.

Gadson spoke briefly.

“I am proud to be an American,” he said to cheers. “I’m really proud to be from Chesapeake. I represent you all. I came from you all. You all sent me.”

His parents still live in Chesapeake, and Gadson said the sense-of-place he got growing up helped him overcome his injuries. “The reason I couldn’t quit was I remembered where I came from.”

Afterward, he explained that the community – its teachers, coaches, and neighbors – molded him, teaching him discipline, dedication and teamwork. “Your neighbors knew who you were, and if you stepped out of line, they were going to let your parents know,” he said with a smile.

The Fourth of July doesn’t have more meaning for him now, he said, but he thinks differently about words such as “sacrifice” and “freedom.”

He acknowledges that his physical freedom – to walk or drive or do chores, without a second thought – will never be the same.

“It’s much more complicated,” he said.

“I’m OK with it. I don’t have any animosity or anger. I don’t have any regrets. I’m proud of my service.”"

Other than that things are as usual in Hampton Roads. Double homicides within four miles of each other in Chesapeake, an attempted armed robbery in Hampton ends up in one dead and two wounded robbers, and then a there was a shootout last night in Isle of Wight that included this perfectly named individual:

"Two of the men involved in a shooting at a Sonic restaurant in Carrollton Thursday are in stable condition and one has been released from the hospital.

James T. Outlaw, a 20-year-old from Smithfield, was released from Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News Friday, said hospital spokesman Peter Glacola. Jamario Louis Harper and Cedric Donell Smith, both 19-year-olds from Newport News, remained in stable condition at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, said hospital spokeswoman Sandra Miller. She said she did not know when they would be released.

The three men were wounded during a gunfire exchange Thursday that resulted in the death of Tyrone Ramone Seaborne, an 18-year-old from Smithfield. Officers with the Isle of Wight County Sheriff’s Office recovered two guns from the scene, where shell casings indicated a possible third gun’s involvement, Don Robertson, an Isle of Wight County spokesman, said in an e-mail.

Harper and Smith were in a burgundy Jeep Cherokee and Seaborne and Outlaw were in a white Honda Accord when the gunfire exchange occurred, he said.

No charges had been filed as of Friday afternoon but the sheriff plans to consult with the Commonwealth’s Attorney Monday to determine what charges will be filed, Robertson said."

Perhaps an argument about the comparative MPG of the jeep and the Honda Accord was the cause?

Funny, as I have been considering other areas of Hamnpton Roads to move to, Isle of Wight had struck me as an oasis in this violence saturated region. Nope.