Tobacco Settlement Lump Sum Payment Opportunity Tuesday

Farmers receiving payments from the tobacco buyout will have another opportunity to obtain a lump sum settlement beginning Tuesday.
Locally, Farm Credit through its Halifax Branch will be offering these buyouts for both quota holders and producers.
Branch team leader Rex Crews reports that in the initial buyout period that ended December 2, their office purchased 30 Successor in Interest Contracts which had a face value of $1,193,080.
Overall, Farm Credit of the Virginias, ACA purchased 1,175 contracts with a face value of $9,521,278 from growers and quota holders in Virginia and West Virginia.
Based upon inquiries to date, he expects a larger number of individuals to elect to sell their tobacco buyout for a lump sum.
In 2005, many farmers decided to wait until 2006 to consider a lump sum distribution so that they would have more time to consider the effect the tobacco buyout would have on their taxes. Also, by waiting until 2006, producers and quota holders were able to get their 100 percent of their first two payments.
According to FSA records, there were 2,775 approved quota holder contracts and 1,600 approved producer contracts made in Halifax County. Of these, 203 quota owners and 57 producers elected to sell their contracts by Successor in Interest Contracts.

 

MLK Birthday Is A Call To Action

Guest Speaker Urges Audience To Work Hard, Be Good Christians

“It’s time to sing a new song,” guest speaker Jack Gravely told a capacity crowd at the Halifax County Business and Professional Council Martin Luther King birthday celebration yesterday at The Prizery.
He encouraged the younger members of the audience to “always dream” and implored them to follow the four-B’s of Bible, books, ballot and bucks.
Gravely implored audience members to do their best to be good Christians and follow the teachings of the Bible, noting the Bible is the text Martin Luther King Jr. often relied on in his life.
Education is also key, Gravely said, noting the world is now a global marketplace.
“The landscape has changed,” Gravely said. “We must preach in to our children that education is important.
“Our children’s competition isn’t coming from Brunswick County or Mecklenburg County,” he said. “It’s coming from Osaka, Japan, Paris, France, and San Paulo, Brazil.”
People from other countries come here ready to work hard and compete, Gravely told the audience, and they must do the same.
“Hook me up,” Gravely said, is a mentality that leads to failure in life. “Go out and get a Master’s degree.”
No employer wants ignorant employees, he added.
“Who’s gonna hire an all-district athlete who can’t think?” he asked the crowd. “It’s time we take a sense of what we need to do as a people.”
Gravely also urged members of the audience to vote, noting the struggles African-Americans have faced to gain the right to vote.
“The ballot is important,” he said. “You want people to respect you, people respect power.
“You can walk in the front door to vote when your fathers had to go in the back door,” he said.
Lastly, Gravely said black business is important to the community.
“There is nothing wrong with black folks having money,” he said. “It’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil, but there’s nothing wrong with earning an honest living.
“Don’t tell me you’re poor,” he exclaimed. “People are poor when they think poor.
“Something is wrong with us if we can’t go to church, get an education, vote and make a buck,” he said. “When you get tired think about those dusty roads our aunts and uncles walked.”
Also at the event, interpretations from two of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches were presented. Yancey Pointer read from King’s “I Have Been To The Mountaintop” speech delivered in Memphis, Tenn., a day before his assassination, and Dwight Scott performed an excerpt from King’s renowned “I Have A Dream” speech given at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

 

Dan River To Lay Off 500

DANVILLE, Va. (AP) — Textile manufacturer Dan River Inc. will cut about 500 jobs in March, when it closes a plant in its headquarters city of Danville.
The company, which was purchased this month by India-based Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd., said it informed employees of the decision on Friday. A day earlier, Dan River said it would eliminate an unspecified number of white-collar jobs by May.
Dan River spokesman Calvin Barnhardt said GHCL did not initiate the cutbacks. Both were planned before Jan. 2, when GHCL bought 90 percent of Dan River stock for $17.5 million and assumed debt of more than $70 million. Following the latest cuts, Dan River will have 500 to 600 workers in Danville. Currently, Dan River employs 1,660 workers — with about 1,100 of them in Danville.
No layoffs were planned for Dan River’s plant in Campbell County. The company has been outsourcing more work to overseas manufacturers, who can produce at lower costs.
Dan River is one of many U.S. textile manufacturers that have suffered as the domestic industry has unraveled. Since 2001, the United States has lost more than 350,000 textile and apparel jobs due to the low-cost competition overseas. To make matters worse, the expiration of global quotas this year led to a surge in Chinese imports.
Local officials had expected the layoffs. And several workers leaving the Danville weaving plant on Friday said they also knew they were coming.
‘‘I just feel sorry for my friends that haven’t been around here long enough to retire,’’ said Billy McNichols, an employee of 44 years.
Dan River began producing its first yarn and fabric in Danville in 1883 and grew to become one of Virginia’s largest employers, with more than 10,000 workers in the 1970s.
But more recently, the ailing company was forced to close factories and eliminate jobs across the South. It filed for bankruptcy protection in March 2004, emerging in February. At that time, it had 3,100 employees — 2,500 to 3,000 of them in Danville.

 

Obituaries

Mamie Moore Tuck

Funeral services for Mrs. Mamie Moore Tuck will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the Banister Hill CME Church in Meadville with the Rev. R.S. Wimbish officiating.
Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at the church one hour prior to the service.
Mrs. Tuck, 76, of Meadville, died Thursday, January 12, at Halifax Regional Hospital.
She was born May 1, 1929 in Halifax County to Annie Mae Moore and the late George Moore and was married to the late Tommy Tuck.
Mrs. Tuck was a member of the Banister Hill CME Church in Meadville.
In addition to her mother, Mrs. Tuck is survived by a godchild, Bernice Boone Gomes; two devoted and faithful friends, Glory Powell and Patrick Jennings, and other relatives and friends.

Earnest Lewis Jones

Funeral services for Mr. Earnest Lewis Jones will be held today at 2 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Millstone with the Rev. Bob Watts and the Rev. John Wilder conducting the service.
Burial will follow in the church cemetery with Masonic rites.
The family will receive friends at the home, 204 Pine Lane, South Boston.
Mr. Jones, 82, of Pine Lane in South Boston, died Friday, January 13, 2006, at Halifax Regional Hospital.
He was born in Halifax County on April 12, 1923, the son of Fleming Jones and Mattie Guill Jones and was married to Mary Francis Jones.
Mr. Jones was a member of the First Baptist Church of Millstone and was a World War II Army veteran, where he served in the 81st Wildcat Division. He was also a member of the American Legion Post 8, VFW Post 8243, WOW and a Mason at the Faulkner Memorial Lodge 91 and the Halifax Lodge 96.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Jones is survived by two sons, Dan L. Jones of Boone, N.C., and Ted D. Jones of Clayton, N.C.; two grandchildren; one sister, Annie Smelcer, and a number of nieces and nephews.

Eva Oliver Carrington

Funeral services for Mrs. Eva Oliver Carrington will be held Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the New Bethel Baptist Church with the Rev. Harvey Bigelow officiating.
Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
The family is receiving friends at the residence, 1238 Coleman Drive in Alton.
Mrs. Carrington, 75, of Coleman Drive, died Friday, January 13, at her residence.
She was born in Halifax County on January 26, 1930, the daughter of Lelia Wade Oliver and the late Harry Keister Oliver and was married Junius “Pete” Carrington.
Mrs. Carrington was a member of the New Bethel Baptist Church and a retired employee of Halifax Regional Hospital.
In addition to her husband and mother, Mrs. Carrington is survived by a daughter, Patricia “Pat” Carrington of Alton; two sons, Calvin Carrington of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Ronald Carrington of Alton; two sisters, Marie Blake of Hardeville, S.C. and Doris Seymour of South Boston; four brothers, William Oliver and Robert Oliver, both of Alton, Harry Oliver of Fort Washington, Md., and Nelson Oliver of Bronx, N.Y.; three grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; a daughter-in-law and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

Mildred Ann Hazlewood

Services for Mrs. Mildred Ann Hazlewood will be held today at 11 a.m. at Woodland Cemetery with the Rev. Rudolph Jacobs officiating.
Mrs. Hazlewood, 59, of Old Roxboro Road in Alton, died Thursday, January 12, at her residence.
She was born in Halifax County on August 26, 1945 to Etta King Martin and the late Leonard George Martin and was married to James M. Hazlewood.
Mrs. Hazlewood was the owner/operator of Ann’s Crafts.
In addition to her husband and mother, Mrs. Hazlewood is survived by two daughters, Janet C. McGee and husband Mike of Victoria, and Lisa S. Glover and husband Marvin of Bracey; two step-sons, James Hatcher Jr. and wife Jackie of Clarksville, and Bobby Hatcher and wife Teresa of Crewe; two step-daughters, Jennifer Vaughan of South Boston, and Stephanie Owen of Orlando; four sisters, Ruth Smith and husband Vernon of Chase City, Lessie Crews of Brookneal, Edna Martin and husband Andrew of Chase City, and Louise Womack and husband Dean of Halifax; a grandson; three step-grandchildren; a niece, several nephews and several great-nieces and nephews.
For memorials, please consider Halifax Regional Hospice, 2204 Wilborn Avenue, South Boston, Va. 24592.

Ernest Hamlin Allen

Ernest Hamlin Allen of Greensboro, and formerly of Halifax County, died
Sunday, January 15, at the age of 78.
Mr. Allen was born October 10, 1927, the son of Joseph H. and Mary O. Allen.
He was a veteran of WWII and a 32 degree Mason and Shriner of the Revolution Masonic Lodge 552.
Ernest Hamlin Allen is survived by two daughters, Debra Yates and Rita Franklin, both of Greensboro; one sister, Love Martin of Danville; one brother, Steve Allen of South Boston; four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by one brother, John H. Allen, and two sisters, Mary Lea Burton and Josephine Hassenpflug.
Funeral services for Mr. Allen will be held sometime Tuesday following a Monday night visitation.
For more information, please contact Forbis & Dick Funeral Home, Greensboro, N.C., at (336) 275-8408.

 

Comets’ Road Stint Almost Over

HCHS Will Face Carlisle School Tuesday In Tune-Up For Friday’s District Game

The lengthy five-game road stint for the Halifax County High School varsity boys basketball team is almost over.
Halifax County’s final road game in that lengthy series comes Tuesday night when the Comets hit the road to face Carlisle School.
Tuesday’s game will serve as a final tune-up for the Comets as they prepare to hit the heart of their Western Valley District schedule. The Comets will get back into district play Friday when they host Patrick Henry.
“We’ll treat Tuesday’s game like any other regular-season game and get prepared for Friday,” said Comets head coach Ron Parson.
“All of our emphasis will be on the district game. We’ll be gearing everything towards Friday’s game.”
Friday night’s Western Valley District game here against Patrick Henry will be the first of five straight district games for the Comets, three of which will be played here.
After Friday night’s action, the Comets will face E.C. Glass here (Jan. 24), GW away (Jan. 27), Franklin County here (Jan. 31) and Patrick Henry away (Feb. 7).
Following those games, the Comets will play a pair of non-district games and then conclude the regular season with a Feb. 10 home game against GW.

 

Comets Fare Well Against New Horizon

The HCHS Varsity Boys Cagers Showed Improvement Despite 65-55 Loss Thursday Night To New Horizon Christian School

The Halifax County High School varsity boys cagers faced something of a stacked deck Thursday night against New Horizon Christian School.
New Horizon isn’t your normal high school basketball team. It’s a prep school team that has played nationally ranked opponents in venues across the country as well as international opponents.
Yet, the Comets (4-9 overall, 1-1 district) raised the bar on their level of play and gave the Warriors (8-5 overall) a good tussle before falling 65-55.
Thursday’s performance by the Comets at Dan River High School was a much better performance than the one they gave earlier this season in a 24-point loss to the Warriors here.
It was a performance that Comets head coach Ron Parson said helped his team.
“I thought it helped us tremendously,” Parson said.
“We didn’t play a normal high school team. These guys are a lot better. They’ve been all over the country playing. What it did for us was that it made our level of play go up. We stayed in there for four quarters. Even though we made some mistakes and got tired at the end, the guys were still playing hard.”
The Comets coach praised his team’s effort.
“I was very pleased with our effort, our focus and our attitude,” said Parson.
“It was a physical game. They banged us quite a bit. I thought there was some banging that we won’t see in a normal high school team. Being within striking distance of those guys with four or five minutes to go (in the game) is good.”
Derek Brooks led the Comets in scoring with 25 points and Jeremy Jeffress joined him in double digits with 12 points. Mark Ferrell and Blaine Key chipped in six points each. Morgan Brown scored five points and Derwin Leigh scored three points.
Brandon Hixson and Rashard Faust led New Horizon with 21 points and 19 points respectively.
Halifax County never led but did a good job in staying in the game.
Facing a bevy of tall New Horizon players in the lane including 6-11 Orin O’Bryant, the Faust at 6-8 and 6-7 Marvin Dibble, the Comets found few opportunities to get buckets inside the paint.
The Comets relied a good deal on perimeter shooting, canning eight three-point baskets in the game, five coming in the first half when they managed to snare only four rebounds.
Halifax trailed by three points after the first three minutes of the game but did not score again until Brown canned a three-pointer with a second left in the first quarter to make it a 17-8 score.
A three minute-scoring drought to open the second quarter put the Comets down 23-8 before Jeffress hit a trey and made it 23-11 with 5:01 left in the half. Halifax trailed 31-15 with just over two minutes left in the half but the Comets’ defense shut out the Warriors after that and Brooks and Jeffress hit back-to-back three-pointers to bring the Comets to within 10 points at 31-21 at halftime.
The Warriors inched their lead up to 14 points early in the third quarter but baskets by Key and Brooks brought the Comets back to within 10 points at 35-25 with 5:39 left in the third quarter.
Another lengthy scoring drought left the Comets trailing by 18 points with just over two minutes left in the period. A late Comets rally left them trailing 48-35 entering the fourth quarter.
Jeffress hit a three-pointer to open the fourth quarter to bring the Comets back to within 10 points at 48-38 and another trey, that one by Brooks, brought the Comets to within nine points at 50-41 with 6:13 left in the game.
A lay-up by Ferrell with 5:20 left made it an eight-point lead for the Warriors. That was as close as the Comets would get the rest of the way.
New Horizon built its lead back to 20 points at 65-45 with 1:58 left in the game. The Comets didn’t quit.
The Comets held the Warriors scoreless the rest of the way and scored 10 unanswered points in the final 1:36 of the game, eight of which came from Brooks, to make the 65-55 final score.
Parson said the experience of playing New Horizon was good for his team, despite the loss.
“The game was good for us because we can see some areas we still need to improve on,” Parson pointed out.
“If we were playing somebody weak, you maybe wouldn’t see some of those things.”
Parson said the players were upbeat.
The Comets fared better in the second half, more than doubling the number of rebounds they had in the first half. For the game, the Comets finished with seven steals and had only 14 turnovers.
“I bet we had close to 30 turnovers the first time we played them,” Parson noted.
Parson said all in all, the players emerged from the game on a positive note.
“The guys felt good about themselves because they know when you have given it your best shot,” he said.
“ They weren’t down because they knew they were playing a stacked team.”

HALIFAX COUNTY
NAME FG FT F TP
Terry 0 0-0 1 0
Burrell 0 0-0 0 0
Leigh 1 0-0 1 3
Jeffress 4 1-2 0 12
Brown 2 0-0 5 5
Key 2 2-2 1 6
Brooks 10 0-0 0 25
Edmonds 0 0-0 0 0
Pippen 0 0-0 0 0
Ferrell 3 0-0 4 6
Totals 22 3-4 12 55
NEW HORIZON
NAME FG FT F TP
Lomax 3 0-0 0 9
Goines 0 0-0 0 0
Mabry 0 0-0 0 0
Hixson 8 4-4 4 21
Faust 8 3-6 0 19
Hughes 2 0-0 1 5
Cunningham 0 0-0 0 0
O'Bryant 1 0-0 5 2
Montgomery 1 0-0 1 2
Martin 3 1-2 3 7
Dibble 0 0-0 1 0
Johnson 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 25 8-14 15 65
Three Point Field Goals: Jeffress (HC) 3, Brooks (HC) 3, Leigh (HC) 1, Brown (HC) 1, Hixon (NH) 4, Faust (NH) 3, Martin (NH) 1

Halifax County 8 13 14 20-55
New Horizon 17 14 17 17-65

 

Comets Varsity Girls Cagers Suffer Close Loss

HCHS Falls 37-34 At William Campbell

The Comets varsity girls basketball team has played an opponent close twice in a row without getting a “W” the past week, this time a 37-34 setback Wednesday at William Campbell.
And again, the keys to the loss, much as they were in the Comets’ 51-50 loss here Tuesday to E.C. Glass, were costly turnovers down the stretch and another bad night at the free throw line.
Halifax hit only three of nine free throws against William Campbell, connecting on only one of six chances in the fourth quarter, and were again stymied by mental mistakes that cost them a chance to win.
Kemper Russell led the Comets with nine points, while Lashunda Davis finished with eight points and Talesha Medley six points in the low scoring contest.
Deelynn Leigh scored four points, Key Ferrell three points (trey) and Markeshia Coleman and Taniqua Younger two points each for Halifax, which trailed 8-6 after one quarter before taking a 19-16 halftime lead.
The score was tied 29-29 with a quarter remaining, but both teams combined for only 13 points in the final period, William Campbell pulling out the close win, despite five fourth-quarter points from Russell.
Mistakes at critical points in games are taking their toll on the Comets in the won-loss column, according to coach Ray Reaves.
“Free throw shooting and too many mistakes down the stretch cost us a win tonight,” began Reaves.
“Once again, we could not get to the line as much as I would have liked us to tonight, but when we did, we could not convert.
“That’s two games in a row where we failed to close out a team, partly because we could not hit our free throws, and we also made some mistakes down the stretch that really hurt us.”
Reaves noted that there were several possessions in a row where the Comets could not even get a shot off because of poor decisions, and others where the team rushed to get a shot away.
“There was plenty of time of the clock, but we began to panic with about two minutes to go in the game, and we just couldn’t seal the deal in the end,” said Reaves.
The Comets did some things better than in the team’s first meeting a month ago, particularly on its defense inside the paint, holding the Generals’ Attiana Brightwell to only three points. Brightwell had 24 in a 55-39 win for William Campbell here December 14.
Halifax had far greater difficulty with Shamika Hubbard, the General’s quick point guard, who finished with 16 points against the Comets after a 12-point game the first time around.
“She’s [Hubbard] quick, with good ball-handling skills and can finish around the basket,” said Reaves.
“We did much better against here than last time, but just couldn’t get the stops when we needed them.”
With a crucial string of five consecutive district games on the horizon, Reaves is looking for the Comets to play a consistent four quarters of basketball in order to bolster its chances for a berth in the post season tourney.
“We just need to find a way to put four full quarters together and finish out games, but again we worked hard and showed some improvement, especially with patience on the offensive end,” noted Reaves.
“Our confidence level is rising, even though we’ve had a rough season and we are learning a lot about ourselves, and how to control our emotions when times get tough.
“We just want a win or two to make it all seem worthwhile.”
Halifax, now 2-9 overall and 0-2 in the Western Valley District, plays at Carlisle tomorrow, and Friday at Patrick Henry, the first of five straight district games. The Carlisle game is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.