Monday, March 26, 2007

G-V Staffers Take Honors

Continuing a long-standing tradition of award-winning journalism, four staffers of the Gazette-Virginian were honored for their efforts this weekend as they received Virginia Press Association awards during the Association’s annual awards ceremony.
The awards were offered for work published in 2006 and were judged by members of the Michigan Press Association.
G-V Sports Editor Joe Chandler received a first-place award in the sports feature photo category for an entry entitled “Expressions.”
Page designers and photographers Nicholas Elmes and W. David Conner II received first-place awards for editorial page design, submitting a body of work that in the words of the judges featured “great use of graphics and political cartoons” and offered the “most consistent” entry in the category.
Conner also received a second-place award in the sports news photo category, with an entry entitled “Under Pressure”. He also received a first and third in the sports news photo category, third for general news photo and second for photo essay in a separate judging division for photos taken while in a previous position.
Elmes was also honored with a third-place award for page design, with an entry the judges felt “the designer obviously puts time into.”
Staff writer and photographer Keith Strange was awarded a second-place award for a County Life page entitled “Remembering The Forgotten”.
In their comments, the judges praised the use of photos as well as words to tell the story.
“The pictures tell a very compelling story that is supported by the poem included in the text,” they wrote. “The overall impact is strong.”

School Board Passes Redistricting Plan

In a rapid-fire five minute special called meeting, the Halifax County School Board voted 6-2 to approve a proposed redistricting plan Thursday night.
With a motion by Trustee Arthur Reynolds and a second by School Board Vice-Chairman Steve Anderson, the Board split on the vote, with Trustees Nancylee Bagwell and Doug Fisher opposing.
“I would like to make a motion that we approve the proposed school zones and that Halifax Elementary School be combined with Sinai,” he said as the motion was rapidly seconded Anderson.
The crowd of approximately 75 seemed subdued at the news, following a sparsely-attended rally earlier in the evening at Halifax County Courthouse Square.
Prior to the vote, School Board Member Sandra Rister addressed the crowd and emphasized the difficulty of the decision.
“I would like the people in the crowd tonight to know that as late as today we went out to see the schools to try and determine what’s best for the children,” she said.
Trustee Joe Bailey, in whose district Halifax Elementary lies, echoed Rister’s sentiment.
“We had a tough decision to make,” he said, “and we feel like our duty is to make the best decision for our children. I want to let everyone know we have the children first in our minds and our hearts. If we get some funding to do something with Halifax Elementary School, we will do it.”
Friday, School Superintendent Paul Stapleton said he hopes the community can move forward after the issue.
“I think this Board has spent a lot of time thinking about this,” he said. “They had to do something and I honestly feel they did what they felt was best at this point.
“My only concern at this point is the response of the people out there,” Stapleton added. “I hope this doesn’t become a divisive thing in the community. I think all our people will come together as one.”

Main St. UMC - A Mission Of Hope

Block after block, mile after mile of empty foundation slabs swept clean by Hurricane Katrina 18 months ago stretched before the 12-man mission team as they rolled into Biloxi, Miss.
Lines of precious possessions deck some slabs, but mission volunteers say no one violates the space.
“These were pieces of people’s lives scattered everywhere,” recalled Main Street United Methodist Church Pastor Ed Rigg.
It was early March and the Main Street UMC volunteers were beginning their own one-week odyssey, one that would change lives and bring joy and peace not only to recipients Ernest and Lynn Smith, but to the seven women and five men who made the mission happen.
But it was not an easy task.
Up early, the volunteers would leave their dormitory-style rooms at the UMCOR disaster center headed for work by 8 a.m.
Work was the one-story brick rancher that was once the Smiths’ home.
Lynn Smith, who is a nurse’s aide at a group home for the physically and mentally disabled, was evacuated with the group home as Katrina bore down on Mississippi in August 2005.
Ernest and the couple’s two sons, Desmond and Xavier, climbed into the attic of the family home as water swept in.
“The boys were able to get out through the gable vent,” explained Rev. Rigg. However, Ernest Smith could not get through the vent and had to exit through four and one-half feet of flood water downstairs.
Since the flood, the family, which lost virtually everything, has lived about 20 miles away in a FEMA trailer.
Since the handicapped, elderly and poor were at the head of the help list, folks like the Smiths — with both working — were not considered immediate priorities, explained the pastor.
“This family waited 18 months,” said Rigg. “They had almost five feet of water in their house and spent a half day in the attic and then Ernest waded out in chest-deep water.”
Yet the Smiths, like so many others in the hurricane-swept Gulf states, measure progress “getting home” not in days, not in months, but in years.
The mission team would change that for the Smiths.
They would take the Smiths’ “empty, gutted house and help give it shape again as a home,” but it took 458 man-hours to get it done.
Debris was removed from inside the house, ceilings demolished, exterior walls insulated and about 95 percent of the sheetrock for the walls and ceilings hung by the volunteers. The nails in sheetrocked walls were mudded and some taping of seams completed.
Bathroom fixtures were removed and the team spent about $1,587 for new fixtures, which will be installed by the next team of volunteers.
“We took cash and a Lowe’s card,” explained the pastor. “We were told it would cut red tape, and it did.”
While the cash and card cut the red tape in Biloxi, mission volunteers say it was the South Boston community’s response to the church’s fund-raising pancake supper Shrove Tuesday that provided the $1,600.
At the Smiths’ home the yard was cleaned and cleared, with MissionChairman Thelma Crowder credited by volunteers with getting the help to remove the debris.
“You can not go anywhere without seeing devastation from Katrina,” observed Betsy Anderson. “Bridges are still out, roads closed.”
Mission volunteers describe vacant condos and hotels still standing along the beach, silent sentinels of the August storm’s wrath. A church steeple is saved, protected, but the church it served is gone, one of Katrina’s many victims.
But volunteers also saw “American flags and crosses everywhere” as the region struggles to its feet.
“We were encouraged to share the story so that people in the United States, in the world, would understand they still need help there,” said Bowman. “Lives are in disarray. There’s a lot of hurt down there, but there’s a lot of hope.”
“This group hopes to return,” added Crowder.
“And anyone can participate,” said Mr. Rigg.
“Without the support of the community and congregation, the mission would not have been as effective,” said Anderson.
Volunteers credited the prayers offered by the community and the church — for them as a group and as individuals —as a source of strength, a source of calm strength still reflected in the faces of UMC volunteers Jean Church and Marion Wilkerson as they told the story.
“We were the messengers but the church is the message,” added Crowder.
When the United Methodist volunteers left Biloxi for home, the Smith family’s “home” future was bright ...and blessed.
A scripture, Deuteronomy 11:18-21, with a blessing and the volunteer team’s signatures is written inside a wall, sealed forever at the home.

Obituaries

Clarence Linwood Pulliam Jr.

Mr. Clarence Linwood Pulliam Jr., of Piney Grove Road in Alton, died Thursday, March 22, at Halifax Regional Hospital at the age of 62.
He was born in Halifax County on December 8, 1944 to the late Clarence Linwood Pulliam Sr., and Martha Garland Pulliam. He was a member of the New Bethel Baptist Church in Alton and was a retired purchasing officer at Georgetown University Hospital.
Mr. Pulliam is survived by one son; Fredrick Bradford of Alton; two grandchildren, Terrell Harris and Lauren Bradford, both of Alton; one sister, Vera Pulliam of Alton; two brothers-in-law, Allen Coleman and Dewey Epps; two nieces; one nephew, two great-nieces and a host of other relatives and friends.
Funeral services for Mr. Clarence Linwood Pulliam Jr. will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, with services a the New Bethel Baptist Church in Alton with the Rev. Harvey Bigelow officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at the residence, 3165 Piney Grove Road, Alton.

Cheryl Ann Lacks Moorman

Ms. Cheryl Ann Lacks Moorman of Baltimore, formerly of Halifax County, died March 22 in Baltimore at the age of 47.
She was born in Halifax County on July 18, 1959, the daughter of Josephus James Lacks and the late Dorothy Grinnan Lacks. She was a member of the St. Mathew Baptist Church.
Ms. Moorman is survived by three daughters; Shaqueata Wilson, Princess Ebony Moorman and Janae Johnson, all of Baltimore; one son, Phillip Moorman III of Owensboro, Ky.; six grandchildren; her father; one sister, Consuela Daniels of Baltimore; five brothers; Michael Lacks of Baltimore, Albert Lacks of Owensboro, Darnell Lacks of New York, N.Y., Wardell Lacks of Hartford, Conn., and Darren Lacks of Littletown, Pa.; and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
Funeral services of Ms. Moorman will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 27, with services at the St. Matthew Baptist Church with the Rev. Dr. Whitfield Scott officiating. Burial will follow in the Lacks family cemetery.
The family will receive friends at the church on Tuesday.

Gladys Snead Waggoner

Mrs. Gladys Snead Waggoner, 92, died Saturday, March 24 at Halifax Regional Hospital.
She was born in Halifax County on October 9, 1914, the daughter of the late Stanhope Downs Snead and Ada Allen Snead.
Mrs. Waggoner was a homemaker and a retired employee of Baptist Hospital in Knoxville, Tenn., was a member of the Eastern Star. She was also a member of the Scottsburg Baptist Church.
Survivors include six sons; A. Wayne Conner and wife Evelyn of South Boston, Alvin R. Conner and wife Carol of Salemburg, N.C., Stan Conner and wife Brenda of Buffalo Junction, Gerald G. Conner of Emporia and Edwin Dunn and Gary Dunn, both of Richmond; three daughters, Dorinda C. Martin and husband Bob of Buffalo Junction, Claire D. Davis of Richmond and Yvonne D. Burnette and husband Jerry of Richmond; 18 grandchildren and 14 grandchildren. Also surviving are two brothers, Earl and Thomas Snead of Scottsburg, and two sisters, Wilma Puckett of Pamplico, S.C., and Shirley Burgess of Courtland, Va.
Mrs. Waggoner was preceded in death by her husband, Walter Waggoner, son Hugh H. “Billy” Conner, one sister, Joyce Cassada and two brothers, Maxwell and Hugh Snead.
A funeral for Mrs. Waggoner will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, at Brooks Funeral Home. The Rev. Billy Coghill will officiate. Burial will follow in the Oakland Cemetery in Scottsburg.
The family will receive friends tonight from 7-8:30 p.m. at the funeral home and other times at the home of Wayne Conner, 1033 Avondale Drive, South Boston.
The family requests that anyone wishing to make memorials please give to the charity of your choice.
Online condolences may be sent to brooksfh@earthlink.net.

Lady Comets Ease Past Chatham 15-2

By Doug Ford
G-V Staff Writer
The Comets varsity softball team broke open a tight game with 13 runs the final three innings to defeat Chatham 15-2 here Friday.
Halifax led only 2-0 after three innings, before scoring three runs in the fourth and two in the sixth, adding eight more in the sixth inning to put the game away.
That was more than enough for Comets hurler Paige Rickman, who allowed two runs on seven hits, while striking out ten batters in a complete game performance.
Rickman helped her own cause with a double, two singles and two RBI’s, while scoring twice.
Betty Rose, Stephanie Clark, Melissa Sims and Lashunda Davis each finished with two hits and an RBI, while Shayna Oakes smacked a two-run double and Key Ferrell added a base hit.
The Comets got off to a slow start at the plate, scoring its first two runs with the help of Chatham errors, but got rolling as the game went along, according to coach Melanie Saunders.
“We didn’t execute some things at the plate early in the game, but we were able to come back around and lay some bunts down, get some hits and score some runs,” said Saunders.
“There were a couple of innings where we got the leadoff batter on base and didn’t score, and we have to work on that, but we were able to move some runners later on in the game.
“Paige did a great job on the mound today, and she showed us she could go the distance.
“Betty had a good day behind the plate, and I’m very pleased as a whole,” she continued.
“We moved some people in and out of the game and got a chance to see them. Altogether, it’s a good win and we’ll take it.”
Halifax got two runs early for the only scores until the fourth inning, Rose reaching base on a third strike passed ball, and Davis reaching base on another error in the first inning.
Rickman hit an RBI single and Davis scored on a passed ball to make it 2-0.
Sims hit a leadoff single in the second and Liz Trickey reached on an error to start the third, but Halifax didn’t score again until the fourth, when Ferrell drew a leadoff walk, stole second and went to third on a passed ball.
Sims hit a RBI single, Clark a base hit and Trickey reached on an error to plate another run, before a two-out RBI hit by Rose made it 5-0.
Two more runs the next inning gave Halifax a 7-0 advantage, Rickman starting the inning with a leadoff double, advancing to third on a Ferrell sacrifice and scoring on a hard grounder by Sims that was mishandled for an error.
Heather Hudson drew a two-out walk and Clark hit a RBI single to complete the rally.
Chatham scored two runs on two hits and two RBI groundouts the top of the sixth, but Halifax sealed the win with eight runs in the bottom of the frame.
Five base hits to start the inning, singles from Rose and Davis, an RBI hit from Rickman, and another hit from Ferrell, were followed by Oakes’ two-run double.
Amber Bowman and Hudson walked, Ally Thompson and Rose reached base after being hit by a pitch, before a two-out RBI single by Davis finished the inning.
Now 3-0 on the season, the Comets face a test at Tunstall today, with game time at 5 p.m.

Comets Back On Track

By Joe Chandler
Sports Editor
After being slaughtered out of last Tuesday night’s game by Tunstall, the Halifax County High School varsity baseball team needed to get itself back on track.
The Comets took a step in doing that Friday night with an 8-1 road win over nearby Dan River High School.
Friday night’s win improved the Comets’ record to 2-1 on the young season.
Comets lefthander Kyle Long got the win on the mound with reliever Daniel Wilborn coming into the game in the fourth inning and finishing the contest.
Long fanned five batters and yielded three walks and two hits while throwing three scoreless innings. Wilborn struck out one batter and allowed one walk, six hits and one run.
They were supported by nine hits on the offensive end with Billy Joe Garrett leading the way with a big 3-4 night at the plate and Justin Jacobs and Kaleb Long chipping in two hits each as the trio accounted for seven of the team’s nine hits. Justin Bagbey and Allen Stephens had a hit each.
Halifax County was solid on defense as well, playing errorless ball through the seven-inning contest.
The Comets jumped on top early, riding a three-run homer by Kaleb Long in the top of the second inning to a 3-0 lead. Prior to Long’s roundtripper, Allen Stephens walked and Patrick Currie reached base on a Dan River error. Both scored on Long’s homer.
It was Kaleb Long again in the top of the fourth inning as his double with two out plated Currie who reached base on a walk earlier in the inning to make it a 4-0 Comets lead.
Two more runs in the top of the fifth inning put the Comets up 6-0. Garrett led off the inning with a double and Bagbey followed with a base hit to put two runners on base. Jacobs followed with a double that scored both Garrett and Bagbey and put his team up by six runs.
Dan River tagged Wilborn for four hits in the bottom of the sixth inning but some good defensive play held the Wildcats to only one run as they pulled to within five runs at 6-1 after six innings.
Halifax County scored its final two runs in the top of the seventh inning with Jacons kicking off the inning with a double and Stephens following with a single. A passed ball allowed Jacobs to score and make the score 7-1 and Stephens scored when Wilborn grounded out to the shortstop for the first out of the inning to make the final 8-1 score.
The Comets will be back in action today, going on the road to face Tunstall High School in a game set for 5 p.m. Halifax County will host Martinsville High School Tuesday at 5 p.m. and will face Dan River High School in a rematch here Friday at 5 p.m.

Girls Soccer Earns
4-0 Win At Dan River

By Doug Ford
G-V Staff writer
The Comets varsity girls soccer team got two goals from Mary Beale and two others from Sarah Rosche and Emily Bowen in a 4-0 shutout at Dan River Friday.
Halifax had a total of 46 shots on goal for the game, with two goals scored in each half, but the Comets got off to a sluggish start, according to coach Sid Young.
“We were a little sluggish at the start of the game and I don’t think we played as well as we are capable of playing in the first half,” said Young.
“I think that we played much better in the second half. There were a few letdowns, but overall we picked up our level of play.”
The game was scoreless until Rosche’s goal at the 24-minute mark of the opening half, and Bowen added another score on a penalty kick at the 39-minute mark.
Beale knocked home both goals for the Comets in the second half, the first coming five minutes in and the final one about three minutes later.
Those scores proved more than enough for Comets keeper Leah Yosich, who turned away five shots on goal by Dan River.
Young said that the Comets need to play at a more consistent level and continue to improve as the important district schedule approaches.
“We can’t have any slow starts or letdowns and we have to work to improve during these games,” said Young, adding everything is geared toward the district contests on the horizon.
“The Western Valley District teams are more evenly matched this season, and we can definitely compete, but we need to maintain our focus. It’s a matter of bringing our “A” game each time we play, and I think that the girls saw tonight that if they don’t hit the field running, things may not go as well as they should.”
Now 4-0 on the season, the Comets varsity girls soccer team plays here twice this week, starting with Prince Edward tomorrow at 5 p.m.