It was early Summer and I think it was 1988 or 1989. I was putting a new roof on The Hampton Inn on the North end of Virginia Beach, a very nice place but roofers stayed at a dump in the city. We couldn't be trusted to not tear the place up and wreck the hotel bar. Little tourist kids might see how we were acting or a female family member may follow someone to their room for a good time. Someone's husband or father would show up and then there would be the fight that some little tourist kid might see. But I digress. The day we got there and were getting set up, we took a walk around the roof to see what we had to work with. One section overlooked the pool and the gang of us hung over the edge and watched a dude get an underwater present from his wife/girlfriend or whatever. She came up for air and saw us and started gagging......good thing the little tourist kids weren't around. Several days went by and we had a lot of the big work done and we were in the back section that overlooks the beach. We worked from dawn to dark. I got to watch some Navy Seal training maneuvers one night...it was a fun jobsite.
But you are here to hear the story of how I single handedly shut down the shipping lanes on the Eastern Seaboard for a night. I was the detail guy. While we were on the back section of the roof, we were told to
not move the tripod. When we needed to lay that area, a couple of guys would hold it up and we worked around them and they held it in position. But hey, I had to re-flash the drain and seal it to the rubber we just put down. This tripod was in my way and I could not work around it, so I picked it up and laid it in the corner. I did my exceptional drain work and my area needed to dry and set up. And this tripod had very pointy prongs on the legs and I needed to make cushions so it wouldn't puncture the rubber. I figured there would be no harm in that thing being in the corner overnight.
We got up the next day, rolled to Waffle House for breakfast (we weren't in a big hurry that day) and headed back to the hotel. We also were not allowed to use the indoor access to the roof because of whatever, so I banged a ladder and was the first guy up. And there they were. Two guys dressed in black suits and looking like they were going to arrest someone. They
were allowed to use the indoor roof access, and the badges may have had something to do with that. Man in Black #1 says to me, "Who removed the sensor in the back?" Sensor?! I didn't see a sensor. I told him that it was I that moved the tripod over the drain so I could work. Man in Black #2 says, "Do you have any idea what that is?" I replied that I thought it was a rain gauge and since the weather was looking good, it was fine laying in the corner. MiB #1 is shocked. SHOCKED that was unaware of what it really was. MiB #2 then asks if I really had no idea of what I moved and I didn't know any clearer English to explain that I was dead serious.
Then they escorted me to the back roof section and explained to me that several buildings along the shore have these sensors so they can reflect radar to help guide ships as they move along the coast. As I looked out at the horizon, there they were. At least 10 ships just sitting in a line. I helped put the tripod back into its' EXACT location and explained again that I had no idea that was what I moved. MiB #1 pulls out a radio and lets someone else know that the situation was under control and restored to normal. I got a very stern warning to never touch that device or any like it without contacting authorities. One by one, you could see ships starting starting to move on the horizon. It's amazing how much technology has advanced over the years. We laughed and shook hands and they went away and I finished my drain and we all went to the bar.
They never asked for my ID or my name, thankfully. At that time, the anti government movement was starting to grow and I had done some things that put me on a watch list. A few years later, it got bigger and I was in a warehouse in a residential Harrisburg neighborhood engraving serial numbers into antique Russian assault rifles. Some high profile mailing or such had my name linked to them and I was reaffirmed on this watch list. This was all prior to 9/11/2001. Today, if this was all added up, I would be sitting in a prison and labeled as a terrorist.
This image shows Market St at Second St in 1982. When I moved to this hole in 1982, that area had the pawn shop, an adult theater, (anyone remember the Senate?) and when you turned right onto Strawberry Alley, there was a little strip joint tucked away. Steven Reed was elected in 1981 after George Gekas did nothing to make the city better and try to make this city move away from the bad image that it had for too long. City Island used to have a great concert stage and had national acts each summer in the early 1980's. However, you had to rouse the gays having sex in the bushes to get them on their way, although they may have enjoyed the Judas Priest show in '82. Sadly, the concerts went away as did the haven for gay sex and in the center of an island of weeds and trees, a baseball park appeared and flourished with some great teams early on. The Island became a family friendly environment. Say what you will about Steve Reed, but the man had a vision for Harrisburg and what it could be.
