Friday, July 11, 2003

Fisher: ‘A Sad, Terrible Thing’
Counselors At 4-H Camp Allegedly Organized ‘Fight Club’ With Campers; Despite Reports, No Halifax Campers Involved

Reports that Halifax County residents were involved in organized fighting during this year's 4-H camp are simply "inaccurate," according to Jason Fisher, 4-H Youth Development Agent.

Investigators with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office are investigating allegations that counselors at the June 30 summer camp arranged fistfights between the campers, aged 9 to 13, charged admission to the brawls and even allowed betting.

One published report claimed that campers from Bedford County were involved "in bare-knuckle fights last week with boys from Halifax County."

According to Fisher, no one from Halifax County was ever involved in the alleged incident.

Fisher said that he was worried the behavior of a few could ruin all the good the 4-H organization tries to accomplish.

"This thing is just terrible," Fisher said yesterday. "It's a sad thing, but at this point, we don't know how many (of the media reports) are valid.

"It appears that it did not directly involve anyone from Halifax County," Fisher said. "The (media) reports are appalling."

Fisher was among the 14 adult counselors aged 21 and above at the camp. In addition to the adult counselors, the camp enlisted 50 teen counselors between the ages of 14 and 19.

Franklin County Sheriff Quint Overton said Tuesday that the youngsters were reportedly told to lie to their parents about the fights after several campers suffered black eyes and one broke his hand.

"It's hard to believe anyone would do this," Overton said. He said he had heard that the campers were allegedly charged $1 for admission to the fights and the campers and counselors could bet up to $4 per fight.

According to Overton, investigators have talked to several parents since the first complaint came in Monday from Richard Rawls, who said his 10-year-old son came home with a black eye.

"They pitted these kids against each other like a damn cockfight," the father said.

Rawls told reporters that his son was forced to fight five times during the week. He won the first four fights, but was knocked out the fifth time.

The Roanoke Times reported yesterday that investigators had interviewed 25 children who stayed at the camp on Smith Mountain Lake and substantiated the original allegations.

Yesterday, Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood said that, although he had no information implicating Halifax County campers, he would like to talk to anyone from the county with information about the alleged incident.

"From what I understand from the investigators, there are some people from Halifax County that we'd like to talk to," the commonwealth's attorney said.
"That doesn't mean that they were involved or have done anything wrong, but they may have some information that could help us and we don't know who they are."

Hapgood said that the six investigators looking into the allegations have developed a list of about 60 people they need to contact.

"I'm hoping to have the majority of the interviews done by Friday," he said. "Then we'll sit down and see what factual information we have before making any decisions."

Hapgood added that it's too early in the investigation to determine whether any crimes were committed. "The first thing we need to know is exactly what happened."

He asked that anyone with any information about the incident call Lt. Cundiff at 1-540-483-3000.

Steve Umberger, director of the Virginia Cooperative Extension, which runs the 4-H program, released a statement Tuesday where he said he was "shocked and deeply concerned" about the alleged fights.

The director went on to say that organizers "in no way condone or tolerate the kinds of behavior that are alleged to have happened during the camp last week."

"We want to reassure parents and young people that 4-H camp is a safe and wholesome environment," Umberger said.

One paper reported that investigators were looking into whether counselors at the camp "exploited a rivalry between the Bedford and Halifax 4-H clubs."

But Fisher said yesterday that no such rivalry existed and reiterated that no children from Halifax County were involved.

"We got along great," he said.

Fisher said that he only learned about the alleged fights on Monday after returning home from the camp.

"Not one parent," from Halifax County had reported any knowledge of any fights as of yesterday. "That tells me our kids weren't even in the lodge.

"The fights are alleged to have happened late at night in one lodge that didn't have any Halifax children in it," he said. "We have never camped with Bedford before and any reports of a rivalry are inaccurate and need to be cast aside. This was a camp, not two counties camping together."

Four teens and two adults were in charge of the lodge where the fights allegedly occurred, according to Charlie Stott, spokesman for the extension service.

The camp, a joint effort of the Halifax and Bedford 4-H clubs, held 343 campers, Fisher said.

Halifax County had 190 children attending, while Bedford had 153.

Fisher insists that this year's summer camp, the eighth since his arrival in Halifax County, was "the best we've ever had."

"The 4-H is a good thing," he said. "I intend to continue our efforts in the future to organize programs that provide educational and recreational opportunities for youth."

"It hurts," Fisher added. "It hurts to be involved with an organization like this and have something come along and deface such a valuable youth education program."

Fisher said that the entire organization was working hard to keep the best interest of the campers in mind.

The 4-H program was founded to educate children in home economics and agriculture. Today, however, more than half of the participants are from cities and suburbs.

In the program, youngsters pledge their head, heart, hands and health (4-H) to goals such as loyalty, clearer thinking, community service and better living.

Downed Trees Block Roads; Storm Brings Power Outages
Was One In Line Of Quick Movers

A powerful storm swept through Halifax County Wednesday afternoon, knocking down numerous trees, blocking roads and leaving some residents without power.

“We had a real long line of storms that came across the state in the afternoon,” said Jim Hudgins, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

Warnings for the relatively short but damaging storm were issued at 4:05 p.m.
“The storm was in and out of there within an hour,” said Hudgins. “These things were moving at around 35 m.p.h.”

Trees were reported down as a result of the storm throughout the county, including along Routes 501, 680, 720, 676, 58 and 610.

“Trees were down in about every county that we cover out of Blacksburg,” added Hudgins.

The Blacksburg station covers Central, Southside and Southwest Virginia and four counties in West Virginia, the meteorologist said.

Approximately 911 customers, out of 17,000, lost power during the storm, according to Irene Cimino, spokesman for Dominion Virginia Power.

“Most of the outages were reported from Vernon Hill, Halifax and Scottsburg,” said Cimino.

Cimino said that 43 residents were still without power at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, although power was expected to be restored later in the day.

Building Pace Soars In First Half 2003
Overall Construction Is Up 72.4 Percent

Construction activity in Halifax County and South Boston during the first half of 2003 has zoomed past the comparable period a year ago, providing a sharp contrast to the gloomy economic picture painted by the current 10.7 percent unemployment rate.

Overall construction activity in the first six months of 2003 is up 72.4 percent. In dollars, this year’s $21.4 million compares to last year’s $12.4 million during the comparable period.

New home starts are up 23.6 percent, additions and remodeling of existing houses are up 75 percent and commercial building starts have risen over 60 percent according to figures released this week by the Halifax County Building Code Office.

Totally absent from the picture for both this year and 2002 is any industrial construction activity.

Down slightly was the number of permits issued for mobile homes.
Permits for mobile homes during the first half of 2003 numbered 103 compared to 122 a year ago.

Those fewer mobile homes, however, sold for higher prices ($3,703,700 compared to $3,524,612).

The largest single building projects were permitted to J.T. South Boston LLC for a new Lowe’s ($3.2 million) and commercial retail buildings ($3.3 million).
The development is situated on Old Halifax Road, where an Applebee’s restaurant has announced plans to locate.

Commercial construction has included several church additions. Grace Baptist Church, located at 1058 Buckshoal Road, Virgilina, is building at new sanctuary and classrooms-$1.3 million; St. Matthews Baptist Church- $130,000 addition/dining room, First Baptist Church-$93,000 addition/remodel and Millstone Baptist Church-$50,000 lowered ceiling.

Government building projects include a new agricultural marketing building-$110,000 and EMS building in Halifax-$350,000.

A total of 47 single-family homes this year compares to 38 for the comparable period last year. Value comparisons are $4.6 million to $3.9 million respectively.

Local residents appear to be following national trends of improving their homes. Remodel/addition permits during the first half of 2003 numbered 189 compared to 108 a year ago.

Cost of those remodeling projects was $1.8 million compared to $1.02 million.
All building permits and inspections are now performed by the county. Up until March of this year, both the towns of South Boston and Halifax had been issued permits separately.

Prior to the merger of services, South Boston’s building permit values totaled approximately $356,000 which included one mobile home and the balance in repairs and remodeling.

Halifax issued permits totaling approximately $324,000 which included two new homes and one residential addition.

Obituaries

John M. Ogden

John M. Ogden, 96, of Mt. Laurel, died July 9 at Halifax Regional Hospital.
Mr. Ogden was born April 9, 1907, the son of John Morgan Ogden and Lelia Hawkins Ogden. He was a retired carpenter.

Survivors include one daughter-in-law, Dorothy M. Ogden; two grandchildren, Lou Ann Warner and Michael W. Ogden; three great-grandchildren, Cristy Warner, David Warner and Jessica Ogden, all of Md.; his brothers and sisters; and a family friend, Pattie Hatcher of South Boston. Mr. Ogden was preceded in death by one daughter, Faye Ogden Jorengson; and one son, Jerry A. Ogden.

Services for Mr. Ogden will be held today, July 11 at 11 a.m. at Whitten Timberlake Chapel, Lynchburg. Burial will follow at Fort Hill Memorial in Lynchburg.

The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service.

Virginia Estelle Satterfield Wilkerson

Virginia Estelle Satterfield Wilkerson, 82, of Clarksville, die July 9. She was the widow of the Rev. Robert J. Wilkerson.

Survivors include two sons, Robert L. Wilkerson and wife, Mary, of Clarksville and Calvin E. Wilkerson and wife, Andrea, of Farmville; one daughter, Hallie W. Farber and husband, Dave, of Clarksville; six grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; two sisters, Emmy Redd of Lawrenceville and Angie Williams of N.C.; three brothers, Bruce and Edward Satterfield, both of South Boston, and James Satterfield of Mechanicsville; special friends, Gladys and Herbert Payne, Jean Strumb, and Gladys and Presley Thompson.

Mrs. Wilkerson was preceded in death by two sisters, Edna Slaughter and Nora Ella Harris; and two brothers, Osborne and Otis Satterfield.

Funeral services will be held tomorrow, July 12 at 11 a.m. at Crewe Baptist Church with burial to follow in Crewe Cemetery.

The family will receive friends this evening from 7:00-8:30, at Jennings-McMillian Funeral Home in Crewe.

Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider the Alzheimer's Association.

SoBo Dixie Majors Gunning For Fifth Straight State Crown
State Dixie Majors Baseball Tournament Opens Today

By JOE CHANDLER | G-V Staff Writer

South Boston Dixie Majors all-star teams have won four straight Virginia Dixie Majors championships.

Can this year's team make it five in a row?

There will be a lot of pressure on the South Boston team to do just that, especially since South Boston is hosting the state tournament.

However, South Boston manager Shane Foushee is optimistic.

"There is a lot of pressure, but I think the guys are ready to rise to the challenge," Foushee said.

"Pretty much all of these guys have been to a World Series in their baseball career. They know what it takes. They know you have to get out here and give 100 percent all of the time."

The way Foushee sees it, South Boston has a benefit by being the tournament host.

"It helps, especially if we can get the people in the community to come out and support the team." Foushee said.

"It's a big thing to have the people here behind you to fire you up."

Foushee, who is taking his first turn as the manager of the South Boston team, has seven players on his roster who played on last year's state championship team.

The group includes hurlers Jason Lloyd and Chase Hetzell, Josh Ferguson and Jonathan Barbour.

Also back from last year's squad are Jody Nelson, Matt Conner and Carlton Wazeka.

That core group gives South Boston a solid nucleus of experienced players to lean upon as they head into their tourney opener tonight at 8 p.m. against Carroll County.

If South Boston has any disadvantage it is that as the tourney host, it did not have to play in the district tournament.

"The other teams do have a bit of an advantage because they have all earned the right to be here," said Foushee.

"We have to prove to them that we deserve to be there just as much as them."
The South Boston team has played two or three scrimmage games as part of its preparations for the tournament.

"Playing ballgames always helps," said Foushee.

"That's why we have scrimmaged a couple of teams to keep our guys loose and keep our pitchers' arms right."

Foushee said he was pleased with what he saw in the scrimmage games.
"Both our pitching and bats looked very good," said Foushee.

" The guys did what they had to do. If they can come out here and play consistent baseball I think that's all we can ask."

As far as lineups go, Foushee said earlier this week that all spots are open and that a concrete lineup has not been set.

"Anybody could play anywhere at any time," Foushee said.
"We know we've got to put our bats in the lineup because we have to be able to hit."

Foushee says he feels he has a good offensive team. There is not a lot of power but there are plenty of players who can put the ball into play.

The South Boston manager says he is looking to play "small ball" or station-to-station baseball.

"We don't have many power hitters on this team so we're going to have to play a lot "small ball" which means moving runners and putting up runs any way we can," Foushee said.

"We'll do a lot of different things. We'll bunt people to move runners from one based to another, go hit-and-run and just do about anything we can to move runners and score runs."

Foushee says he has a good group of players who hit the ball well.

Lloyd, who led the South Boston Dixie Majors League in batting and Garland Comer, who was the league's second best batter, are two players Foushee will be counting on to provide some hits.

As far as power hitters go, Lloyd, Hetzell and Conner are the biggest threats to hit the long ball.

"Pretty much anybody on this team could put one out but those are the ones who could put it out on a regular basis," Foushee said.

Foushee says he is confident about his team's defensive ability.

"We don't have but a couple of power pitchers so these guys are going to have to make the plays on defense and I think they're very capable of making them," he said.

"Our emphasis is making the routine plays. What we have to do is limit our errors."

If there is a question mark about the South Boston pitching staff it is that the team has only two true power pitchers - Lloyd and Hetzell.

Foushee said that beyond those two, others are going to have to step up and help get the job done.

"We're pretty much going to have to pitch by committee," said Foushee.

" We don't have but a couple of guys that can go a whole ballgame. We're going to look to Jody Nelson to pitch some, as well as Josh Ferguson, Garland Comer and Chad Lewis.

"Those guys are just going to have to locate their pitches, be in control of their pitches, place the ball and use their heads," said Foushee.

"We hope they can get up on the batters and make the batters hit their pitch."