Monday, August 18, 2003

Decision Day For Schools?
Supes’ Decision On A $21.9 Million School Board Request For Capital Improvements Expected Tonight

A tough economy and taxpayers' willingness to take on debt versus the School Board's vision for the future.

The decision is in the Board of Supervisors' lap tonight.

Supervisors are expected to make a decision on the School Board's request for $21.9 million for Phase II capital improvements during its 7 p.m. at Mary Bethune Complex in Halifax.

Phase II school improvements include a building a new Washington-Coleman Elementary School in South Boston and improvements to Cluster Springs, South of Dan, Meadville and Sinai Elementary schools.

Phase III of the School Board's plan includes renovations to Halifax, C.H. Friend and Turbeville Elementary Schools, as well as the Middle School. Expected cost for Phase III is almost $30 million.

Following a meeting with the School Board on July 21, supervisors agreed to set tonight for a decision on the school request.

Support and opposition to the Phase II improvements are expected to draw a crowd, particularly in the wake of Virgilina Elementary School closing this year.

Also on the agenda, a report by the King Village Trail Rural Addition Board of Viewers.

Viewers are expected to recommend a new route to King Village, one running parallel to the Banister River.

Right-of-way and funding options are being explored. The second option would be to increase the width and improve the current King Village Trail road.

King Village residents are seeking road improvements, citing child safety issues as well as concern that emergency vehicles could not reach residents following heavy rain or snow due to road drainage problems.

King Village Trail is located near the intersection of Cowford and Love Shop roads.

In other business, two public hearings are included in the Board's five-page agenda.

The Halifax County Industrial Development Authority is seeking a conditional use permit for a metal working operation to be located at 1021 Industrial Park Road. The building was formerly occupied by Medical Textiles and Daystrom Furniture in the Halifax County Industrial Park.

Fred Jeffress Jr. is seeking a conditional use permit for a golf driving range, with concessions. The driving range is located on Route 344, MacDonald Road, adjoining Staunton River State Park.

Joey Long is seeking a conditional use permit for a motorcycle parts and accessories sales - future sales and repair services for motorcycles - at the northeast corner of the intersection of Route 58 (Philpott Road) and Route 881, the former Bill's Country Store site.

Supervisors also will hear a rezoning application from Verlyn Emswiler, Emswiler Diesel, regarding diesel repair, parts sales and storage units at a site on the north side of Route 58 (Bill Tuck Hwy.), 0.1 mile west of Route 742, Alphonse Dairy Road.

In other business, there will be a Public Works and Environmental Services report on policy on solid waste convenience center locations and replacement of current solid waste dumpsters.

An Alton area site is currently under consideration.

Proposed locations for possible convenience center sites to serve county residents are the following: one adjacent to the animal shelter and one at the Old Bethel Landfill.

The committee report also is expected to address efforts by the county to work with the Town of Halifax to site a convenience center in proximity to the town, not for primary service to town residents, but as supplemental service and to serve the non-town residents whose normal travel routes come through or near the town.

A Building and Grounds Committee report will discuss lease/ purchase of the Virginia Legal Aid Society building on Main Street in Halifax.

Jason Fisher, acting unit chair for the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, will also present a report for his office.

Good Samaritan Robbed At Gunpoint
Police Searching For Man Who Robbed West Side Trailer Park Resident

The South Boston Police Department is looking for an individual who robbed a West Side Trailer Park resident at gunpoint late Thursday night.

Investigator T.M. VanAernem said yesterday that the department received a call Friday reporting the incident.

Upon the officers arrival, they spoke to the victim who said that shortly before midnight Thursday the victim gave a black male a ride from Sonny's Quick Shop on Sinai Road to the West Side Trailer Park, according to the investigator.

VanAernem said the victim then reported that as the pair drove through the trailer park, the subject pulled an unidentified firearm and pointed it at the victim.

The attacker, described by police as being a light-skinned black male, approximately 5'2" tall and weighing 150 pounds, then made the victim get out of his vehicle and demanded all of his money, according to police reports.

"As the victim ran away from the subject into a wooded area, several shots were fired," VanAernem said.

During the course of the incident, the victim's 1978 Ford pickup truck was stolen.

It has since been recovered and is in the custody of the South Boston Police Department.

Anyone with information about this or any other crime is asked to call Crimestoppers at 575-TIPS or VanAernem at 575-4271.

In other police business, Christin L. McDougald, 19, of Bold Springs Road in South Boston, was arrested Thursday and charged with the use of abusive language.

The alleged offense occurred August 1.

Deputy R.C. Lipscomb was the arresting deputy.

Erica Tyrese Jones, 19, of Thompson Store Road in Vernon Hill, was arrested and charged with the abuse and neglect of children.

The alleged offense occurred June 9.

Deputy T.O. Lewis was the arresting officer.

Renee Ray Reagan, 31, of Snow Hill Road in Alton, was arrested August 8 and charged with two counts of making false statements for public assistance.

The alleged offense occurred October 21, 1999.

Deputy Q.W. Clark was the arresting deputy.

Waverly Harris, 31, of L.P. Bailey Highway in Halifax, was arrested Saturday and charged with breaking and entering the home of Nakesia McCargo.
The alleged offense occurred Thursday.

Deputy S.M. Bowen was the arresting deputy.

Calvin Anthony Oliver, 32, of Ridgeway Road in Vernon Hill was arrested Saturday and charged with disorderly conduct.

The alleged offense occurred Saturday.

Deputy T.O. Mocarsky was the arresting officer.

Sean Christopher Hill, 24, of Leighwood Trail in Halifax, was arrested yesterday and charged with public intoxication.

The alleged offense occurred yesterday.

Deputy D.H. Barksdale was the arresting deputy.

Back From The Crusades
Tuck, Austin Share Their Summer Experiences With Campus Crusade For Christ

Kristi Tuck spent the summer in Orlando, while Adam Austin was in Myrtle Beach, but neither of them had much time to work on their summer tans.

Tuck and Austin are glowing, not necessarily on the outside, but inside, after a summer each has spent working with the Campus Crusade for Christ.

Tuck, a rising sophomore at the University of Virginia, recently finished a summer project in Orlando, while Austin, a junior this year at James Madison University, worked with another project in Myrtle Beach.

Founded by the late Dr. Bill Bright on the campus of UCLA in 1951, Campus Crusade for Christ serves 191 countries through a staff of 26,000 full-time employees, and 225,000 trained volunteers.

Those numbers make Campus Crusade for Christ the largest evangelical organization in the world.

The goal is to win students over, bring them into a Christ-centered life, build them up as Christians, and bring them closer to God, Austin and Tuck agreed, in explaining the Crusade's focus.

Both Tuck and Austin became involved with Campus Crusade their freshman years in college.

"I became involved with Cru when I went to college at UVa," recalled Tuck.
"They have something called a summer project, an option for students every year.

"The projects are all over the U.S. and all over the world, most of them from six to 10 weeks in the U.S., and six weeks in other countries."

Tuck added she knew about Campus Crusade from Adam, who had become involved the year before.

Neither of them expected or experienced the type of summer "vacation" one would normally seek in Orlando or Myrtle Beach, both prime vacation destinations.

Both locations provided plenty of opportunities for Tuck and Austin to work toward the Campus Crusade for Christ's acknowledged goal, that of bringing students and others closer to God.

They had plenty of company during their respective projects, with 49 students taking part in the summer program in Orlando, and 67 in Myrtle Beach.

Tuck worked as a volunteer intern at Campus Crusade's World Headquarters in Orlando, while Austin worked at a McDonald's restaurant in Myrtle Beach.
"We both had to raise money to cover the cost of living while we were there," said Tuck.

"There was an option of raising additional support for a salary, but I didn't do that," she noted, adding students in stateside projects had the option of working a day job.

Austin pursued that option.

"My project was different in that we all went out and got a job in the community," began Austin.

"Staff trained us for different teams, including leadership, evangelism, community life and stewardship," he added.

Although each day of the week had its set routine, there was plenty of time for Tuck, Austin and other participants in their summer projects to spread the Crusade's message.

Tuck said that Monday activities included a praise and worship, as well as a guest speaker, along with a group dinner.

Bible study was reserved for Tuesday, and Wednesday night offered a time for reflection, including two hours of prayer and meetings designed to help the group reflect back on what they had learned.

Thursday night was usually development time, and Friday night was the time for outreach programs.

The group used Saturday nights for social gatherings, depending on what happened the night before, according to Tuck.

We went to church on Sunday and enjoyed lunch together, along with our Bible study, she added.

Austin said his group held parties for local students, went out to area attractions or simply took walks together.

"Sometimes, it wasn't planned, and we just developed relationships with our co-workers," said Austin.

"We went to local beaches, homeless shelters, some of us went to a jail," recalled Tuck.

"At the beginning of the week, all of us set a faith goal, of how many people they would talk to that week, or specific people they wanted to talk to.

"After six days on our project 49 students had spiritual conversations with 1,133 people," Tuck said.

Tuck recalled that some in her group went to a local coffee shop a couple of times a week for two weeks.

"I met two students from Turkey, we became friends, and I eventually shared the Gospel with them," Tuck recalled.

"We had a week called "Killing the Giants Week," where we 'slayed' any giant standing between us and sharing the Gospel and living as a witness to others."

Austin said he and his group got a wide range of responses when approaching individuals with the Crusade's message.

"Some were real open about discussing it, some were very closed, and some got very hostile about discussing religion," Austin said.

"Some of them, it didn't bother at all."

Austin added the Crusade has been going to Myrtle Beach for 30 consecutive years, and that local businesses and merchants look forward to their coming.
"They get excited when we come there, because they know we're hard workers," he explained.

Tuck and Austin said they both learned valuable life lessons from their individual summer programs, lessons that both continue to pass on to others.
"It taught me a lot about how to know God more personally, and how to grow closer with others in Christian fellowship," Austin summarized.

"And how to be a better man for God."

Tuck said she also benefited from her experience in Orlando.

"I can definitely say my life has totally changed since becoming a Christian, and Cru (Crusade) has built me up during that time.

"It taught me a lot about being Christ-like in everything I do, and to live day-to-day for Him."

Austin could only reflect on what was told to him before he left for Myrtle Beach by someone who had gone before him.

"He told me that it was the hardest summer of his life, but that it was the best."

Searching For Answers
Some Questions Remain For HCHS Football Coach James Hodges

By JOE CHANDLER| G-V Staff Writer

Halifax County High School varsity football coach James Hodges was looking to find answers to some questions when he took his team into Friday night’s preseason scrimmage against Gretna.

Offensively, Hodges was hoping to see one of his candidates for quarterback, David Baskervill, Bobby Owens and Charles Barnes, step up and show signs of taking control of the team.

Hodges was also looking to fill a hole at fullback, check the progress of his team’s new defensive front and see how far the defensive secondary has progressed.

In some cases, Hodges found the answers he was looking for. In others, he did not.

The Comets coach rated his team’s performance as “fair” in the scrimmage, which, if one was keeping track of points, was won by Gretna.

While Gretna “won” the scrimmage, a factor in that was that Hodges and his coaching staff did not make a lot of adjustments to counter Gretna’s wide-open passing attack, opting instead to concentrate on working on the team’s base defense.

“We knew Gretna runs a wide-open passing game but we decided last week we were going to stick pretty much to running our basic defense,” Hodges explained.

“With the type of wide-open passing attack Gretna runs, you need to really go after them on several plays and, on other plays, you need to drop a lot of players deep. Instead we went with our base defense.

“We made some big plays and hit the quarterback a few times,” added Hodges.

“When Gretna ran a basic offense, we pretty much shut them down. If this had been a regular-season game, we would have made several adjustments and I feel like the outcome definitely would have been different.”

A big positive for the Comets was that the team came away from the scrimmage with no serious injuries.

Tailback Brandon Richardson went out in the first offensive series with a mild ankle sprain and was held out of action the rest of the night. His status for this coming Friday’s scrimmage against Bluestone is questionable.

The only other injury was a bruised knee sustained by Darrell Bowman.

Bowman is expected to be back in action this week.

Also, the Comets did not encounter any heat stress problems resulting from the high heat and humidity.

“It was 101 degrees when we got into Gretna,” Hodges pointed out.

“The temperature has dropped a little bit by the time the scrimmage started but it was still well up in the nineties and it was still very humid.”

The Comets scored twice in the scrimmage with the first team scoring once and the second team scoring once.

A 30-yard pass from Baskervill to Brent Long that put the ball at the 6-yard line set up the score for the first team.

Ricky Petty, playing at tailback, carried it in from there on a counter play.
The other Comets score came when Willie Stephens broke a long run down the sideline.

“Offensively, we’re still a little slow,” said Hodges.

“We didn’t handle the ball real well and put it on the ground a couple of times.

They (Gretna) were sending seven and eight men at a time and we had a couple of missed assignments.”

As far as the play of the quarterbacks went, Hodges said Baskervill and Owens had a fairly decent outing.

“Barnes didn’t do as much as I’d hoped,” Hodges said.

“But, he’s a player and he can help us in more than one area.”

Hodges said that neither Baskervill nor Owens showed a sign that one was better than the other. He said he is considering rotating them in and out of the lineup.

“We’ll continue to look at them,” Hodges said.

“I’ll do what I think is best.”

As far as the offensive backfield goes, Richardson appears to have the inside track at tailback.

Richardson went out in the Comets’ first offensive series with a mild ankle sprain and Ricky Petty played in Richardson’s spot.

Sophomore Marcus Coleman distinguished himself enough that he appears to be on track toward landing the starting slot at fullback.

“He hasn’t been a running back since middle school,” Hodges said.
“Our offensive schemes are a little more complicated than middle school. He just needs time to learn.”

Stephens, another sophomore, showed signs of promise but needs more work, Hodges said.

“He did a decent job but he put the ball on the ground twice. He’s got to correct that if he plans to see a lot of playing time.”

Defensively, Hodges said the new defensive front line did a pretty good job in its first test.

“Once they really got into the flow of things, the defensive line and defensive ends did okay,” Hodges pointed out.

The team’s three experienced linebackers, Trad Moore, Ryan Gieselman and Greg Ragsdale, also had a pretty good night.

“I felt like they did a fairly decent job considering that Gretna was spreading us out,” Hodges pointed out.

“We’re still looking to find someone who can fill the one remaining linebacker spot.”

In the defensive secondary, Long, Charles Brandon and Petty got a lot of work with Blake Waller and Blake Robertson also getting to see some action.

Hodges pointed out that Robertson got burned on deep patterns several times but came back late in the scrimmage and showed improvement.

“I was glad to him stick with it,” Hodges said.

“He came back and knocked down a pass and played better. I hope he learned something from that situation and will continue to work to improve.”

The Comets will return to the practice field today to continue preparations for the start of the new season.

Halifax County will face Bluestone here Friday at 6 p.m. at Tuck Dillard Stadium in its second and final preseason scrimmage game.

Obituaries

Bryan Jennings Sanford

Funeral services for Mr. Bryan Jennings Sanford will be held Tuesday, August 19, at 1 p.m. at the Sunflower Baptist Church.

The Rev. Robert Tucker will officiate.

Burial will follow in the church cemetery with military honors.

Mr. Sanford died at his residence at the age of 56.

He was born in Halifax County on April 28, 1947, to the late Governor Sanford and the late Virginia Jennings Sanford.

Mr. Sanford was married to Lizzie Baker Sanford and was a member of the Sunflower Baptist Church.

He was a retired Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force.

Mr. Sanford is survived by his wife, one sister, Carolyn Davis of South Boston, one brother, Lorenzo Sanford of Danville, two step-daughters, Gwendlyn D. Hunters of Syracuse, N.Y. and Doretta Clark of Houston, Tx., three step-grandchildren, two brothers-in-law, five sisters-in-law and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

Mary Stewart Winstead

Private family services for Mrs. Mary Stewart Winstead will be held at the Oak Ridge Cemetery on Friday, August 22, at 1 p.m.

Mrs. Winstead, of Columbia, Md., formerly of South Boston, died Wednesday, August 1.

She was 82.

Mrs. Winstead was born on September 28, 1920, to the late Hugh Stewart and the late Lottie Bacon Stewart.

She was the mother of four children, Hugh, Leitner, Bruce and Bob Winstead, and was the grandmother of Hunter, Louise, Ashley and Brittany Winstead and Amanda Johnson.

Mrs. Winstead is also survived by other dear relatives and friends.