The sordid saga of William R. Runnells Jr. ended May 16. He was 67 when he died, according to the funeral home in Farmville that buried him in a family plot there.

A year ago, officials gathered on a lot near Oceana Naval Air Station to break ground for an apartment complex for homeless veterans. Hopes were high that the $1 million studio apartment complex would be open this summer. But nothing has happened at the site beyond those few ceremonial shovels of dirt. Blame it on bureaucracy.

Long before it was parked off Granby Street, at the gate of the Norfolk Naval Station, the "Turtle" had cemented its place in aviation history. The first of the Navy's P2V-1Neptunes to be modified for long-range travel, Turtle set an endurance record on its initial try, flying nonstop from Perth, Australia, to Columbus, Ohio, in the fall of 1946.

It unfolded like a scene in a bad horror flick: Nasty, razor-toothed fish surfaced in local waters. Officials claimed the fish would annihilate the ecosystem and began an extermination campaign with poison and electric charges.

VIRGINIA BEACH 

The smell for the past couple of years at the Kempsville Area Library was not of old books. Think wet ink or even paint thinner.

Terrell Copeland became "Case no. 58105" on The History Channel's new "UFO Hunters" series. There, on national TV, host Bill Birnes declared the Suffolk man to be a "hybrid" - a product of intergalactic breeding who is being prepped for direct contact with his alien relatives.

By Greg Gaudio

VIRGINIA BEACH 

The phrase "sewage treatment plant" tends to conjure up certain visuals. A serene family cemetery generally isn't one of them - unless you're talking about Hampton Roads Sanitation District's Atlantic Treatment Plant at the end of Firefall Drive. The 500-acre property is home to two 19th-century cemeteries.

By Greg Gaudio

NORFOLK The 60th anniversary of Elwyn Hepple's selfless rescue passed with little fanfare. On May 16, 1948, the 29-year-old Australian seaman drowned while saving two women from rough waters near Norfolk Naval Station.

By Greg Gaudio VIRGINIA BEACH The last time Garland Eaton went to Wash Woods, beat-up beach buggies still cruised the dunes. In those days, he'd drive his old junker south of Sandbridge and spend his weekends camping and exploring. One trip 50 years ago led him into the brush behind the beach, to a little church and its cemetery - the last remnants of a community long abandoned.

VIRGINIA BEACH The Wappadoodles, and the woman who for 30 years has made the puppets come alive, are still gigging. It's just harder to find them now that Alma Beisel has moved into her retirement apartment. When Beisel arrived at the Westminster-Canterbury complex this spring, she brought many of her fanciful puppets, such as Chipper the Chimpanzee, Felecia de Lard and Percival the Dragon.