Wednesday,
August 13, 2003
New
Cigarette Industry Making Millions Daily
Almost 20 Years Passed Before Idea Became
Reality For Two Virginia-Born Tobacco Families
By DOUG LOFTIS | G-V Staff Writer
Why would two men approaching retirement even think of opening
a cigarette-manufacturing operation?
In South Boston?
“It’s all we know how to do,” was Marvin
Ligon’s abbreviated reply.
More passionate with his response, A.G. Fisher just can’t
get enough of the cigarette industry. “I love it. This
is my life.”
Not surprising, the two grew up on tobacco farms–Ligon
in Halifax County and Fisher in Dinwiddie. And it was tobacco
that caused their paths to cross in the mid 1980s.
From 1966 to 1978, Ligon was employed with Larus Bros. and
Philip Morris managing cigarette-manufacturing operations
in the Phillipines.
Ligon had spent almost five years in Indonesia managing
what then was the fourth largest cigarette manufacturing
company in that nation.
His wife and their two sons, Mike and Chuck, all lived in
the Phillipines during his foreign employment.
Marvin and his family finally returned to his Scottsburg
home place in 1984 and he started his own business of buying
and selling used cigarette-making and packaging machines.
Fisher, at the time, was employed with Brown & Williamson
in Petersburg where he was manager of packaging maintenance.
Fisher and Ligon just hit it off and, you might say, the
seeds of today’s Virginia Brands LLC were planted.
But for most of the next 20 years, the cigarette company
would remain just an idea.
And during those years, cigarette-makers were being nailed
with lawsuit after lawsuit in a climate that grew increasingly
adverse for the tobacco industry that would come to know
the real impact of the Master Settlement Agreement.
Meanwhile, Fisher left B&W and moved from Petersburg
to Durham, N.C., to join Liggett. In 1991, Fisher formed
his own consulting firm before joining another cigarette
manufactuing company in Oxford, N.C.
Life for he and his wife, Betty, could hardly have been
better.
Ditto for Marvin and Phyllis.
Good jobs, nice homes, great communities.
But their dream of owning their own cigarette company would
not go away.
Nor would the realities of such a start-up venture.
Cigarette-making and packaging machines are horribly expensive.
So expensive, in fact, that only the big boys such as PM
can afford them.
Cigarette machinery is now produced in England, Germany
and Italy. U.S. makers have long exited the market.
A fully-automated cigarette making and packaging machine
will easily sell for $2 million, $3 million, even $10 million!
Incredibly enough, some turn-of-the-century (twentieth that
is) machines are still in operation.
But the old machines will fetch $150,000 to $500,000 and
buyers must be able to rebuild and retrofit them to even
come close to competing in an industry with the likes of
giants such as Philip Morris, Brown & Williams, Liggett,
Reynolds and others.
And A.G. Fisher is just the man for the task!
Fisher knows what makes a cigarette machine tick. He’s
able to completely disassemble, repair or replace worn-out
parts, equip them with high-tech control systems and, finally,
teach someone whose never seen a machine how to operate
it.
Ligon’s global connections and Fisher’s mechanical
skills represented a unique team.
The two began to seek financing sources and an overall business
plan which they found in the persons and organizations Larry
Harris– Small Business Administration, Bill Confroy–former
Halifax IDA director, Clarke Hogan–Virginia House Delegate
and Irby Jones–Workforce Services and Lonnie Powell–Community
National Bank. Things starting coming together.
Several older buildings, including one that once served
as a tobacco-processing facility in South Boston, were considered
before Ligon and Fisher discovered a relatively new, storage
warehouse in Riverdale belonging to John Cannon.
Meanwhile, their application for a license to operate a
cigarette company was finally approved by the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The licensing process alone
took over a year.
They reached a lease agreement, began to adapt the warehouse
for manufacturing and started moving in machinery earlier
this year.
Ligon and Fisher had considered locating their company in
Roxboro before deciding that South Boston would be a more
logical choice.
The 23,500 sq. ft. Riverdale location, shared by the well-known
CCI Systems, was situated on three major highways U.S.58,
501 and 360, and was convenient to several motels and numerous
restaurants.
With Halifax County’s high unemployment, there was
an abundant labor supply.
The Virginia Employment Commission began to screen applicants
and, by mid-summer, Virginia Brands was producing cigarettes
that met the specifications of their first customer, Kingston
Tobacco Company in Pollocksville, N.C.
The Kingston brand is not available in Virginia at this
time.
None of the persons hired for production had ever been in
contact with cigarette making machinery.
“The VEC has done an excellent job,” said Ligon.
Virginia Brands is a contract cigarette maker and offers
a selection of tobacco blends to its customers.
In other words, it offers no brand of its own but produces
cigarettes to a customer’s specifications.
Virginia Brands’ manufacturing equipment is capable
of producing the two popular sizes, 84 and 100 millimeters,
regular and menthol.
Today, with a total of 22 employees, Virginia Brands is
able to produce over one million cigarettes in an eight-hour
shift.
That may sound impressive until you consider that Philip
Morris can produce over one billion cigarettes a day!
On each pack of 20 cigarettes that Virginia Brands produces,
it must pay $0.39 federal tax.
Within a year, the South Boston cigarette-maker predicts
employment will increase to 50 persons and, perhaps, a second
shift.
“Once we get to 50 (persons), we’ll start to do
things differently,” said Fisher.
Doing things differently will require higher performance
equipment but Fisher wants to establish a highly-skilled
“core” work force before racheting up production.
“We want this place to be viable for years to come,
that’s our goal.”
Ligon and Fisher say they’re pleased with the progress
their company has made thus far.
‘The
Romance Is Gone’
Tobacco Goes Digital At SoBo
Market
A computer click, not the distinctive staccato of the auctioneer's
chant, opened the South Boston tobacco market yesterday.
Only the familiar aroma of flue-cured tobacco gave comfort
to old-timers gathered to witness the historic event.
Breaking with a centuries' old tradition, company buyers
gathered at the beginning of a row of golden leaf in Planters
at mid-morning ...and practiced the new digital buying drill.
Suddenly, with a nod and a click, the sale began, wrapped
in an awesome silence.
Export, Dimon and Universal were buying at Tuesday's sale.
"Most of the good tobacco was bought," Charlie
Payne of Planters said yesterday.
The average for the day was $1.83 to $1.84, with 202,000
lbs. sold, according to Payne.
Although the neat tobacco rows still beckoned buyers, the
absence of the tobacco auctioneer's chant drilled home the
message of change.
With the change, the South Boston market joined the digital
sales market, with nearby Clarksville one of the few remaining
tobacco markets with an auctioneer.
The new hand-held computer system was led by a auction controller
Steve Nelms and the buyers pushed a button to bid.
You cannot push a button at the same time someone else does,
explained one of the tobacco buyers.
The new system "measures the first push and then he
announces who bought it and the money," said the South
Boston tobacco buyer.
Some at the sale yesterday suggested the new system actually
took a little longer, but others disagreed.
"It's very quiet and you really don't know what is
going on," said Kim White, who had attended the Danville
tobacco market opening.
"It's got a few advantages and a few disadvantages,"
said tobacco producer Bill Devin of Wyliesburg. "I
think the growers will be pleased."
Some buyers see the computers as an advantage, noting each
buyer has to bid individually and is not driven by another
man's judgement.
"By computer, no one knows if anybody is bidding, and
when they bid. So, you have to bid fast, act fast on your
own judgment," said Devin, who was selling tobacco
yesterday.
With tobacco grading completed and some of the Robert Conner
family's crop sold, Lucy Conner was pleased with prices
yesterday, calling them fair.
Robert Carter also thought the government grading was fair.
Nevertheless, the Tuesday sale was a sentimental journey
for most.
One South Boston resident remembered opening tobacco auctions
as a time when the town was packed with farmers and the
aroma of tobacco filled the air.
Mrs. Lucien Roberts was a young girl then, living with her
uncle, a South Boston businessman.
"When I lived with my uncle, Francis Hunt, and I left
for work, I would say, 'Doesn't that smell good?" recalled
Roberts. "And he would say, 'Doesn't that smell profitable?'"
Crash
Kills SoBo Man
Loses Control Of Vehicle; Crashes Into
Several Trees
Keith Hamilton Watts, 31, of South Boston, was killed in
an single-vehicle accident on Route 683 at 6:05 Monday night.
Watts was declared dead-on-arrival at Halifax Regional Hospital,
according to a hospital spokesman.
Trooper R.T. Ridgeway said, Watts lost control of his 1988
Oldsmobile approximately 1.3 miles west of Route 680, failed
to negotiate a curve, ran off the road to the left, and
struck several trees which caused the vehicle to overturn.
The victim was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the
accident.
Ridgeway declared the vehicle a total loss, estimating damages
sustained at $5,000.
Watts was the eleventh Halifax County highway fatality for
2003, equalling the total number of highway fatalities in
2002.
In other highway crashes, Kevin James Newcomb, 18, of Scottsburg,
was charged with failure to yield right of way following
a double-vehicle Saturday evening accident at the intersection
of Route 716 and Route 729.
Thaddeus Arey Barker, 44, of Hurt, was towing a trailer
on his 2001 GMC pickup on Route 716 when Newcomb attempted
to make a left hand turn into Barker’s path, according
to Trooper G.M Gilliam.
Gilliam said that Barker struck Newcomb’s 1985 Chevrolet
in the side, running off the left side of the road into
a ditch and striking a mailbox.
Gilliam assessed $2,000 in damages to the Chevrolet, $22,000
in damages to the GMC and $75 in damages to the mailbox.
Raymond Lee Roberts, 58, of Clover, was charged with reckless
driving following an accident Saturday afternoon on Route
746 approximately .9 of a mile east of Route 841.
Trooper G.M. Gilliam said that the 1970 Chevrolet operated
by Roberts hydroplaned on water on the road, ran off the
right side of the road, went over an embankment and struck
a stump and several trees.
Gilliam estimated that the Chevrolet sustained $3,000 in
damages.
Laquita C. Jaminson, 21, of Martinsville, and her 3-year-old
passenger, Tynasia L. Hariston, were injured in an accident
on Route 58 at 5:15 p.m. on Sunday.
Trooper G.M. Gilliam said that Jaminson fell asleep and
ran off the road approximately .2 of a mile east of Route
730, going through the median and into an embankment.
Gilliam estimated that the 1988 Honda sustained $1,000 in
damages.
Gilliam charged Jaminson with reckless driving.
Speaking
Of Sports
By
DOUG FORD| G-V Staff Writer
I'm back in the saddle again.
After a week of vacation with my family I returned to work
Monday morning to face the inevitable frightening sight
- a pile of faxed press releases, reports and a mile-long
to-do list.
I had made up my mind I wasn't going to let it get to me.
No matter how bad it was, I wasn't going to let it dampen
the wonderful relaxed mood I adopted while I was away.
Thankfully, things were not as bad as I had envisioned.
The pile of faxed press releases and reports was there but
only about half the size of normal.
My e-mail in-box was crammed full of mail that needed reviewing
and discarding and a few required responses.
The to-do list needed to be tackled but, that too, was shorter
than usual.
Then there was the post-vacation debriefing with cohort
in sports, Doug Ford.
Between phone calls and the usual day-to-day stuff, I finally
got things fairly straight by the end of the day - at least
straight enough that I had some sense of where I was and
what I was supposed to be doing.
Things could have been a lot worse, a lot, lot worse.
The fact that the pile of papers , the post-vacation to-do
list and the other things I am usually faced with when I
return from vacation wasn't as bad as usual is attributable
to the effort Doug Ford put in while I was away.
Doug puts in a lot of effort and time into sports as it
is and he did a super job handling things while I was away.
------------
Man, what a summer!!
Seven South Boston and Halifax County baseball and softball
teams won state championships and advanced to the World
Series.
That is a record for our community and it is one we all
should take a great deal of pride in.
No, we didn't win a World Series title this year and some
of the teams were bounced out early.
Yet, it was an outstanding performance by our young people
and their coaches and is one we will all remember for a
long time.
Such accomplishments do not come by easily.
It takes a lot of time, effort and planning on everyone's
part, from the players, the coaches, the parents, league
officials and community supporters to achieve the likes
of the accomplishments our teams reaped this summer.
Likewise, we need to congratulate the officials and volunteers
that put in many long hours to stage the five state tournaments
held in our community this summer.
While I have nothing but my memory to serve me on this one,
I think the five state tournaments we hosted is a record
for the most state tournaments held in this community in
any one year.
I have been to a bunch of state tournaments in my time and
these five state tournaments were the best run and best
organized I have seen anywhere at any time.
Speaking of state tournaments, we will be getting more next
year.
The Dixie Youth Major League and Minor League state tournaments
will be held here next summer, giving our community at least
two keynote summer baseball tournaments.
That having been said, summer is all but over and it's time
to start diving into the fall sports season.
In fact, the Halifax County High School golf team has already
launched the fall sports season and many of the high school
and middle school fall sports teams have begun practice
and tryouts.
Halifax County High School's varsity football team has its
first preseason scrimmage game ahead on Friday evening,
a sure sign fall sports is just around the corner.
Whether I'm truly ready or not, it's time to get back in
the saddle once again.
Obituaries
Mya Rayona Bradshaw
Mya Rayona Bradshaw was born August 4, 2003, and died August
4, 2003.
Survivors include her mother, Sonya Lovelace; her father,
Raymond Bradshaw Sr.; her maternal grandmother, Valerie
Paniel of South Boston; grandfather, James Lovelace of Philadelphia,
Pa.; great-grandmother, Katie Duncan of South Boston; and
her paternal grandfather, Gladstone Bradshaw of Columbia,
S.C.
A graveside service was held at Blue Rock Holiness Church
Cemetery in Vernon Hill on August 9 at 1 p.m. Dist. Elder
Bernard Wilkins officiated.
Marshall
D. Moore
Marshall D. Moore, 81, of Crewe died August 8.
His survivors include his wife, Gloria B. Moore; four children,
Marshall L. Moore of Westminster, Md., Darlene Braden and
husband, Joe, of Blackstone, Carolyn DeNoon and husband,
Esten, of Powhatan, Gail Whitten and husband, Dickie, of
South Boston; eight grandchildren; and 17 great-grandchildren.
Mr. Moore was preceded in death by a granddaughter, Annette
Huff.
He was a member and deacon at Crewe Christian Church.
Graveside services for Mr. Moore were held August 11 at
2 p.m. at Ward’s Chapel Cemetery.
Anne
Bernice Richardson
Anne Bernice Richardson, 85, of 6105 Philpott Road, South
Boston died August 10 at Twin Oaks Convalescent Home.
Miss Richardson was born in Halifax County on September
23, 1917, the daughter of the late Ossie Richardson and
Hannah Brooks Richardson. She was a member of Miller Memorial
Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pa. and also of Cross Road
Baptist Church. She was a retired employee of the Veterans
Administration.
Survivors include her caretaker, Sharon Marie Harris; her
nephews and nieces; John Harris of south Boston, Ossie Harris
of South Boston, Branch Coleman of Hollywood, Md. and Brenda
Lee Chandler of Greensboro, N.C. Miss Richardson was also
preceded in death by a sister, Alibeth Richardson.
Graveside services will be held August 14 at 11 a.m. at
Cross Road Baptist Church with the Rev. Harvey Bigelow officiating.
The family is receiving friends at the home.
Keith Hamilton Watts
Keith Hamilton Watts, 31, of 1081 Cluster Ridge Trail, South
Boston died August 11 at Halifax Regional Hospital.
Mr. Watts was born in Richmond on February 17, 1972. He
was a member of Grace Baptist Church and a member of Hyco
Hunting Club. He was a part-time employee of Midway Mechanical
Heating & Air Conditioning.
Survivors include his wife, Virginia 'Ginny' Owen Watts;
his mother, Teresa W. Crenshaw and her husband, Roger; his
father, William Harry Watts Jr. and his wife, Bonnie; one
daughter, Abbie Dare Watts; one son, Dawson Lee Watts; one
sister, Ashley Brooke Watts, all of South Boston; one brother,
David Rodney Watts and his wife, Tara, of Scottsburg; his
maternal grandfather, Leonard Lee Wilbourn; his maternal
grandmother, Lula W. Wilbourn; and his paternal grandmother,
Dorothy Pool Watts, all of South Boston. Mr. Watts was preceded
in death by a brother, Christopher Brad Watts.
Services will be held at Brooks Funeral Home Chapel Friday,
August 15, at 2 p.m.
The family will receive friends at Brooks Funeral Home Thursday
evening between 7:00 and 9:00.
