RALEIGH (AP) - The Clinton administration's decision to seek reimbursement for treating sick smokers further jeopardizes the livelihood of tobacco farmers, ten congressmen said in a letter to the president.
U.S. House members from leaf-growing areas of North Carolina,  Virginia and Kentucky have asked the president to reconsider his plan for the federal government to sue the tobacco industry.
A federal lawsuit, ''if carried out, would result in devastation for tobacco farmers, their families, and their communities throughout the tobacco-producing states of this nation,'' said the letter dated Tuesday.
North Carolina Democrat Bob Etheridge, also a tobacco grower,  said a federal lawsuit will only increase ill-will among North  Carolina growers. Farmers believed the recent settlements with the states and a new trust fund had laid the issue to rest.
Another costly settlement also would probably prompt cigarette  makers to go overseas and buy less-expensive tobacco to stay profitable, Etheridge said.
''It's ridiculous,'' he said Friday. ''The farmers are tired of being picked on. They pay their bills. They helped build a lot of schools in their communities. ... We're talking about a major economic interest in our state and a lot of others.''
The bipartisan letter also questions the president's ability to sue cigarette makers to recoup Medicaid dollars for smoking-related illnesses.
President Clinton announced his administration's decision to file a federal lawsuit during his State of the Union message Jan. 19. He also said tobacco growers should be protected.
''By all accounts, and despite your stated desire to achieve both, those two objectives - assaulting the tobacco industry and protecting tobacco farmers - appear to be mutually exclusive policies,'' the letter said.
Details of the lawsuit are incomplete. A U.S. Justice Department task force is being formed to shape a legal strategy.
An administration spokeswoman said Friday U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno advised the president the lawsuit is necessary to recoup federal dollars.
''The Justice Department made the determination after months of study,'' said Julie Goldberg, the spokeswoman. ''It determined that the liability the tobacco companies have in this matter is massive.''
Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., said in a statement the proposed lawsuit contradicts earlier administration statements indicating Medicaid statutes provide no explicit authority for such an action.
''Everyone in tobacco country has grown tired of hearing the president talk of protecting tobacco farmers in the same breath he outlines proposals to destroy the industry they rely on for survival,'' he said Friday.
Last year, the tobacco industry reached settlements with all 50 states totaling $246 billion. The money will go to the states to pay for health and anti-smoking programs. Last week, the four largest companies agreed to put $5.15 billion into a trust fund over the next 12 years. The money will help tobacco growers and communities harmed by the settlements.
Other congressmen who signed the letter are Howard Coble, Richard Burr, Walter Jones Jr., Charles Taylor, Cass Ballenger and Robin Hayes, all of North Carolina; Virgil Goode of Virginia; and Harold Rogers of Kentucky.

WASHINGTON (AP) - For more than 40 years, the Tobacco Institute was the industry's voice in the nation's capital.
But the institute plans to closes its doors today, a result of the settlement between states and cigarette makers reached last year.
''Of all the things that have been in Washington, what could be a more pronounced symbol of change than closing the Tobacco Institute?'' Scott Williams, an industry spokesman told The Washington Post.
Disbanding the institute had ''been on the list of things the industry can do in a tangible way to illustrate it is changing,'' he said.
Ending tobacco-related trade associations, such as the institute and the Council for Tobacco Research in New York, was among the conditions of the $206 billion deal between 46 states and the tobacco industry in 1998.

Roughly seven percent of the county school system's teachers, administrators and other licensed personnel would be eligible for early retirement if the county school board adopts an optional early retirement program.
Deputy Superintendent Dr. Bobby R. Hall said that 38 licensed employees would meet the criteria of being 55 years of age and having 30 or more years of service at the end of the school year.
"There seems to be a lot of interest in it from the teachers," Hall said.
Hall and T.J. Bise, a representative of Rutherford Benefit Services who was the former chief financial officer for the Virginia Department of Education and now is the chairman of the Powhatan County School Board, outlined the plan to the Halifax County School Board last week.
Both stressed that this type of plan would be a totally local plan and, as Bise, noted, "the parameters can be changed in many ways."
Ten school districts in the state have gone to this type of plan, Bise told the school board "and all have made changes to meet their local needs." Roanoke County is the most recent school system to implement an optional early retirement program.
Under a plan that has been proposed to the school board, the individual, if he or she meets the 55 years of age and 30 years service standard and would otherwise qualify for Virginia Retirement System benefits, could apply to participate in the program.
Under the proposed plan, the individual would retire and begin to draw VRS benefits. That individual would then return to his or her job and work in that same position from which they retired for one year, which, in most cases, is a 10 month period.
That person would draw their VRS benefit and the school board would pay the employee 25 percent of the salary that the employee drew in his or her final year of work.
After the employee fulfilled that one year commitment, the school board would, for an additional four years, pay the individual 25 percent of the salary that he or she drew in their final year of work.
The money paid to the individual would come out of a trust fund that would be established by the school board. The school board would take the equivalent amount of that person's salary for the final year that the individual worked and put it into the trust fund.
"The teacher's benefit," Dr. Hall said, "is that over a five year period, the teacher will be getting 125 percent of the salary that he earned the last year he worked. The money is not as taxable as it would have been if they had drawn that full year's salary at one time."
"Plus," he added, "the teacher will be drawing his or her state retirement."
Hall pointed out that a teacher who retires and receives only his or her retirement benefits from the VRS will get roughly 50 to 60 percent per year of what their salary was in the final year that the teacher worked. With this plan, the teacher would be able to have an income that would be approximately 70 percent of what their final year's salary was.
On the school board's side, the school board would put an amount equivalent to 125 percent of the teacher's salary into the trust fund. Hall explained that when the various fixed charges such as FICA, life insurance, VRS retirement payments and so forth are added to the person's salary it comes up to roughly 125 percent of the person's salary.
"The difference," Hall explained, "is that 25 percent is paid out the first year and you put 100 percent of it into the fund to be paid out to the employee over a four year period."
"the way the school board benefits," Bise said, "is when it hires a replacement employee at a lower cost than the employee who retires. You (the school board) will not make any money the first year but, after the first year you will have payroll savings."
"Administrative costs are fairly low," Hall pointed out, "and can be paid from either the school budget or from out of the fund itself."
There is a second type of early retirement plan that some school systems have used.
In that option, the teacher or administrator retires and agrees to come back and work for 20 days each year over a five year period and receive 20 percent of their final year's salary each year.
Hall noted however, that the second option is not as good in that the retiree must fulfill a five year commitment while in the first plan, the retiree can fulfill his or her entire work agreement in one year.
Also, in the second plan, while the school system would be paying the retiree to come back and work, it would also be paying a salary for the replacement teacher or administrator.
School board members have been asked to mull over the proposal until its scheduled February 8 meeting. At that time, school system officials are likely to ask the school board permission to establish a committee including school system administrators and representatives from the school system's employee groups eligible for VRS retirement benefits to hammer out details of an early retirement proposal.
Once that is done, the proposal will be turned over to the school board for consideration sometime this spring.
Hall said that if an optional early retirement plan is to be implemented for the 1999-2000 school year, a decision from the school board would need preferably to come in April or May at the latest.

The Halifax Education Association is calling upon the county school board to increase teacher salaries by an average of six percent among its list of program and policy proposals for 1999-2000.
Such a move would increase the salaries for beginning teachers from $25,300 for their first three years to $26,585 for their first three years and would raise the current year's $34,787 salary for a teacher on the top step to $36,526.
Along with that, the HEA, in its salary proposals, are calling for the school board to provide separate checks for duties performed and paid for outside the regular classroom, alternative education, extended contract, and homebound teaching.
Also, the HEA is asking that the school board compensate teachers for all extracurricular activities and duties such as club sponsors and game duty performed outside the hours of 8:20 a.m. to 3:40 p.m.
"According to the Consumer Price Index, in 1984, $100 helped to pay for shelter, food, and clothing," said HEA president Henry Weston.
"In 1997, these same items cost $154.50. To put this data into the perspective of the average classroom teachers' salary in Virginia, in 1996-97 an income of $35,651 resulted in a purchasing power of $23,594, a deficit of $12,057. The average classroom teachers' salary in Halifax County for 1996-97 was $29,907."
"The teachers of this county are struggling to make ends meet," added Weston.
"When I began to research the information I was dismayed by the loss of purchasing power teachers are facing."
Weston pointed out to the school board that teachers also have the responsibility to continue their professional growth. He stated that a teacher spends more than $600 out of his or her own pocket for books, fees, and tuition for graduate school classes and that teachers are constantly buying instructional materials out of their own pocket for their classroom use. The HEA figures show that amount to average $333 annually.
He also pointed to the fact that teachers have an expense for dressing professionally.
"I ask the Board - can teachers afford to stay in the teaching profession and can you expect to attract new teachers to the profession?"
Weston also told the school board that entry level salaries for trained professionals are consistently higher that entry level salaries for classroom teachers and that individuals entering other fields of employment can often earn $8,000 more by choosing private industry over the classroom.
"Over 50 percent of Virginia's teachers are employed in school divisions where the salary for ten years' teaching experience is less than $30,500," said Weston.
"Over 50 percent of Virginia's teachers are employed in school divisions where the salary for 20 years' teaching experience is less than $37,000. In each case, the Halifax County teacher at the same level of experience is well below these figures as well."
Weston told the school board that the HEA is aware that the school board has no taxing authority and cannot directly provide the raises the association is seeking.
"But," noted Weston, "you do have a voice and a budget development process which should be used to raise the standard for compensation."
That list of fringe benefit proposals, which was included in the proposals Weston presented to the Halifax County School Board last week included the school system paying the full cost of health insurance for school system employees, maintaining or enhancing the the level of benefits in the health insurance program, and make provisions that will allow school system employees to accumulate up to 200 sick leave days.
In addition, the HEA is asking the school board to provide and pay for disability income protection insurance for individual employees, and to provide funding for dental and eye care insurance for individual employees.
Other policies and programs being sought by the HEA include:
- The establishment of an early retirement policy;
- Establish a teacher observation tool that identifies the strengths and areas of concern in the teaching methodologies;
- Changing the school system's policy in posting licensed staff vacancies to include statements that current employees, when submitting an application or request for consideration, shall be interviewed prior to any other posting and that any employee may file a request with the school board office that he or she receive concurrent notification of all postings made during times when schools are not in session;
- Improve the current transfer policy to strengthen seniority rights and eliminate arbitrary selection of employees for involuntary transfers;
- Avoid all program cuts or efforts to increase class size;
- Have a joint committee of teachers and central office staff review the school system's Reduction In Force Policy;
- Have the school system provide two additional days of personal leave to each licensed employee;
- Establish sabbatical leave with at least half pay after 10 years of service;
- Remove the limit regarding use of sick leave days in cases of serious health conditions in the immediate family with the intent of allowing use of accrued sick leave consistent with the Family and Medical Leave Act. In order to accomplish this, the school system's Sick Leave Policy would delete provisions for granting Sick Leave up to three days in any one case of illness in the immediate family and provisions for Sick Leave may be granted for up to 10 days at a time for a major life threatening illness of a parent, spouse, or child during a time requiring medical treatment. However, sick leave may not be used beyond the three day limit for custodial care of a member of the immediate family during long term illness.
- Provide for a weighted class size formula when exceptional education students are placed in regular classrooms;
- Provide full funding of all tuition costs for college credit courses used for license renewal or expansion of certification;
- Provide for employee involvement in the evaluation of supervisory personnel and administrators;
- Provide each employee with a copy of the policy on Teacher Removal of Students from Class; and
- Reinstate duty-free lunch for all professional employees.
No action was taken by the school board last week on any of the HEA proposals.

Proposed ordinance setbacks and regulations for confined animal/hog feeding operations will be delivered to supervisors tonight by the Halifax County Planning Commission.
The meeting is at 7 p.m. in the Conference Room at Mary Bethune Complex in Halifax.
A public hearing on a county Public Nudity Community Standards Ordinance is also scheduled Tuesday night.
The hog issue was first referred to the planning commission and the Halifax County Agriculture Development Committee last summer.
Since that time the county and Southside Concerned Citizens have sponsored information sessions, tours to North Carolina and public hearings by the county.
A new organization, South Central Agriculturists For the Environment, sponsored its first information session on hog production and the environment last month.
Tonight, Southside Concerned Citizens Chairman Jack Dunavant is expected to ask supervisors to support two House Bills, one calling for a two-year moratorium on large confined hog operations statewide until technology catches up with the industry, and one calling for no protection under the Right to Farm law for operations with over 750 hogs.

State Police have identified the South Boston resident who died Thursday as a result of a traffic crash in Riverdale as 89-year-old Cosimo Giuffrida of South Boston.
Giuffrida, who resided at 1717 Irish Street, died at Halifax Regional Hospital early Thursday afternoon about two hours after the car he was driving collided with a tractor-trailer rig at the intersection of Routes 58 and 501 in Riverdale.
It is not yet known if Giuffrida died as the result of injuries he sustained in the traffic accident or died of other causes.
Trooper D.J. Cline said he talked to Giuffrida after the accident and that the injuries the man sustained in the accident did not outwardly appear to be extremely serious.
Giuffrida, he said, accepted a ticket for a traffic violation relating to the crash. However, no charges are now pending in the crash.
The victim's wife, 77-year-old Norma Sue Guiffrido of South Boston, received a serious head injury in the crash and was transported b emergency medical helicopter to Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. for further treatment.
The death of the South Boston resident marked the second highway traffic fatality of the year on Halifax County's highways.
The driver of the tractor-trailer rig, Tommy Lee Hunter, 46, of Asheboro, N.C., was not injured in the crash that occurred at about 11:20 a.m.
Trooper Cline said that the car driven by Cosimo Giuffrida was heading east on Route 58 and made a left turn to head north on Route 501. The car pulled into the path of the on the tractor-trailer rig driven by Hunter which was headed west on Route 58 and the two vehicles collided in the intersection with the tractor-trailer rig crashing into the passenger side of the car.
Rescue workers had to cut open a portion of the car to free Norma Guiffrido from the wreckage.
The 1988 model car driven by the deceased victim was declared a total loss with damage estimated at $2,500. An estimated $2,000 damage was done to the 1989 model tractor-trailer rig driven by Hunter.
No injuries were reported in the wake of a two car mishap that occurred Friday at 4:25 p.m. at the intersection of Routes 501 and 654.
That mishap involved a pickup truck driven by 59-year-old Elish Howard Dawson of Scottsburg and a car driven by 48-year-old Katherine B. Stanfield of Cluster Springs.
According to a report filed by Trooper L.G. Perkins, Dawson stopped for a vehicle that was ahead of it and was struck by the car driven by Stanfield.
Damage to the 1998 model pickup truck driven by Dawson was estimated at $1,000. An estimated $750 damage was done to the 1970 model car driven by Stanfield.
No charges were filed by Trooper Perkins in connection with the accident.
A warrant was issued last week charging 35-year-old Ellis Linwood Moore, Jr. of Halifax with reckless driving in connection with a single vehicle crash that occurred January 24 on Route 832.
Forty-one-year-old Thomas Wayne Conner, a passenger in the car driven by Moore, was injured in the crash that occurred at 5 p.m. on Route 832,a tenth of a mile east of the intersection of 934.
According to a report filed by Trooper R.T. Ridgeway, the car driven by Moore was traveling at an excessive rate of speed, swerved to avoid a vehicle turning ahead of it, and ran off of the left side of the road.
The car then came back across the road, went off of the right side of the road, traveled down an embankment and struck several trees.
Damage to the 1963 model car driven by Moore was estimated at $1,500.

A 35-year-old South Boston resident, Lionel R. Barnette, was arrested Friday and charged with grand larceny stemming from an alleged theft that occurred over three years ago.
Barnette, who resides at 1317 Llewellyn Avenue, is charged with stealing $720 in cash from Sylvia Butler. The alleged theft occurred July 30, 1995.
Deputy Sheldon A. Jennings made the arrest.
Robert Gene Long, 36, of 3111 Dan River Church Road, South Boston, was arrested Saturday by Deputy Thomas O. Lewis on a felony charge of intentionally possessing a concealed firearm after having been previously convicted of a felony.
The alleged offense occurred January 2.
A Halifax County Circuit Court grand jury returned an indictment on the charge against Long earlier in the court term.
Thirty-four-year-old Susie Belvin Godsey of 113 William Road, Brookneal, was arrested Friday by Deputy J.K. Henderson and charged with a felony auto larceny charge.
Godsey is charged with the Friday theft of a 1987 model Toyota four wheel drive pickup truck belonging to Mark T. Fisher and Dudley H. Fisher. The theft occurred on Lenig Road near Nathalie.
A March 3 hearing has been set in Halifax County General District Court for Godsey who also has an address of 1024 Indian Jim Trail, Nathalie.
Also over the weekend:
Twenty-one-year-old Crystal Gayle Crews of 1905 Georgia Street, Lynchburg, was arrested was arrested Saturday by Deputy Q.W. Clark on a felony bad check charge.
The October 15 offense alleges that Crews, with the intent to defraud, issued two or more checks or drafts which have an aggregate represented value of $200 or more within 90 days knowing that there were insufficient funds in the account for the payment of the checks or drafts.
The checks were drawn on The Virginia League Central Credit Union and were made payable to Belk.
A hearing for Crews has been set for February 19 in Halifax County General District Court.

ROCKY MOUNT, Va. (AP) - Virgil Goode Jr., a conservative Democratic congressman who voted to impeach the president, once joked that the only way he would become a Republican is if someone abducted and threatened to kill his beloved dog, Peppy, unless he changed.
Local Democrats like to say that Virgil (he prefers first-name informality) would never defect because he worshipped his father and everyone knows Virgil Sr. would roll over in his grave if his son abandoned the party.
''I don't disagree,'' Goode said when asked about the sentiments of his father, a state legislator and prosecutor so popular that the government building where his son works and the main road into town are named after him.
But if the elder Goode was a ''yellow-dog Democrat,'' a term for someone who would vote for a yellow dog over a Republican, the younger Goode is a confirmed Blue Dog, a term taken by conservative House Democrats unafraid to buck their party.
Democratic leaders in Goode's rural, tobacco-growing district were so angry that he voted for three of the four impeachment articles against President Clinton that they snubbed him socially and threatened to field a challenger in the 2000 primary.
Republicans, eager to maintain their slim House majority, are inviting Goode to come on over. Democrats, eager to regain the majority they lost in 1994, want Goode to stay put.
The overtures on Capitol Hill from both sides come up during casual conversations, Goode said.
They're also coming from back home: ''Virgil has a family tradition of being in Democratic politics,'' said Tucker Watkins, the 5th District GOP chairman. ''His father and my grandfather worked together in Democratic politics. I told him my family had to make the switch.''
Goode, wearing a casual tweed jacket, no tie and a pair of well-worn suede bucks in his district office last week, seems comfortable with his situation. And he's keeping everyone guessing.
Asked whether he plans to switch parties, Goode leaned forward in his chair, slipped his long, thin fingers together and said with his characteristic Appalachian twang, ''I have no intention not to run in 2000.''
Asked why he doesn't give a direct answer, Goode leaned back, raised his hands in the air and said with a shrug, ''I have no comment on that.''
He says he plans to remain a Democrat at least through this year. ''I'm looking at 1999 now, and I'll think about 2000 when it's 2000.''
Goode, 52, said he will continue to attend meetings of the Blue Dogs and will host a caucus of House Democrats at Wintergreen Resort this month.
Former Rep. L.F. Payne, the resort's developer and Goode's Democratic predecessor in the 5th District, said he talks with Goode from time to time and expects him to stick with the party.
''The Democratic caucus is a big tent,'' Payne said. ''I was part of the Blue Dog Democrats when I was there, and we were intent on trying to move the party more to the center. I think Virgil certainly voted for Dick Gephardt for speaker, which is the most critical vote you can cast in a session.''
Gephardt did not return telephone calls seeking comment on Goode.
Goode will miss the state Democratic party's annual Jefferson-Jackson fund-raising dinner in Richmond on Feb. 6. Virginia's 5th District broke a 20-year tradition by not inviting Goode to co-host a reception there.
''We are unhappy with him in his current position, voting 74 percent of the time against the president and his programs,'' 5th District Chairman Carl Eggleston said.
Before the impeachment hearings, 30 Democratic office holders from across the district called Goode to a meeting and asked him not to vote against the president. The Fluvanna County Democratic Committee wrote in a letter to Goode that no Democrat there would ever support him again if he voted to impeach.
Eggleston said a vote for impeachment would be political suicide and named several Democrats who might challenge Goode.
But the frost between Goode and Virginia's Democrats seems to be thawing.
Eggleston said Thursday that he is not recruiting an intraparty challenger for Goode's seat and has no plans to do so. ''He may kiss and make up with everybody before then,'' Eggleston said.
Goode was elected to Congress in 1996 and was unopposed for re-election last year. Political analysts and local supporters say Goode could win as a Democrat, Republican or Independent, notwithstanding his impeachment vote.
University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato cautioned Democrats to be careful because they could lose the seat if they force Goode out of the party.
Jeff Powell, a Rocky Mount businessman who considers himself a GOP-leaning independent, said he supports Goode because he votes his heart, not the party line. ''I'll vote for him if he's a Republican or a Democrat, and just about anyone you talk to will say the same thing.''
Goode has no second thoughts about his vote to impeach Clinton and gets animated in defending it, pointing his finger in the air for emphasis.
As dedicated a Democrat as his dad was, Goode said, ''he would never have tolerated a president who made false statements in a sworn deposition, who lied under oath, no sir.''

Ms. Geraldine "Bean" Clark of 1199 Shiloh Church Road, Nathalie died January 28, 1999 at the Lynchburg General Hospital at the age of 48.

Ms. Clark was the daughter of Willie and Elizabeth Adams Clark and was a member of the Sunflower Baptist Church.
Her survivors include her children: Tim Bailey of Lynchburg and Todd, Adriane (Kathy), and Tomecia of the home; grandchildren: Malik and Todd Garnett of the home; sisters: Nancy Bailey of Colorado Springs, CO, Kathleen Tucker of Virgilina and Martha Clark of Washington, DC; and a brother: Willie Howard Clark of Columbus, OH.
A funeral service was held Sunday, January 31 with the Rev. Chester Spruill presiding. Interment was in the church cemetery.

Sam Elwood Coleman of 2146 Howard P. Anderson Rd., Halifax, died January 30, 1999 at the Berry Hill Nursing Home at the age of 89.
Mr. Coleman was born in Halifax County on April 8, 1909 and was the son of Thomas Coleman and Sadie Henry Coleman. He was a member of Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church.
His survivors include his sister: Mary C. Hodge of Newport News and other relatives.
A funeral service will be held Tuesday, February 2 at 1 p.m. at the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church with the Rev. James Traynham officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at the home of Mrs. Millie Coleman Carr, 1226 Howard P. Anderson Rd., Halifax.

Mrs. Olivia Murphy Bowman of 7052 Red Bank Road, Virgilina died Thursday, January 28, 1999 at her daughter's residence in Scottsburg at the age of 72.
Mrs. Bowman was born on April 4, 1926, the daughter of George and Hattie Murphy. She was married to the Rev. Robert F. Bowman and was a member of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

Her survivors include her husband; daughters: Hattie Royster of Rahway, NJ, Barbara Johnson of Virgilina, Novella Jackson of Scottsburg, Ovella Burton of Bronx, NY and Della Phelps of Mansfield, OH; sons: Robert T. Bowman of Danville and Andrew L. Bowman of Glen Allen; eight grandchildren; sisters: Dorothy Clark of Danville, Grace McFadden and Virginia Byrd of Durham, NC; brother: Charlie Williams of Durham; and a foster brother: James E. Chappell of South Boston.
A funeral service was held Sunday, January 31 at the Zion Hill Baptist Church with the Rev. Thomas Bolden officiating. Burial followed in the Bluewing Baptist Church Cemetery in Oxford, NC.