About 41 percent of the total county population lives in the urban planning area town and county officials are defining.
South Boston, Halifax and county officials are exploring projected needs of an urban strip stretching from the Town of Halifax through Centerville and South Boston and spilling out into the county.
Presenting an urban planning area overview to officials Monday night, assistant county administrator Jerry Lovelace offered a map with existing water/sewer service as well as area landmarks.
Lovelace also addressed population within the area, land use, roads and highways, agriculture, business and industry.
The Monday night session also raised questions from officials and requests for additional information, specifically the number of square miles within the urban planning area and the unserved water/sewer portions within the urban planning area.
The session also provoked questions about the urban area's size and the viability of providing urban services within its confines.
"I think we need to look at some more specific data to see if this area might be too large," said South Boston Mayor Glen Abernathy.
"You are probably looking at 30 years down the road," replied Supervisor Earl Watts, addressing growth and provision of services.
The two largest unincorporated areas within the urban area without water/sewer are Riverdale and Golf Course Road area.
Supervisor Garland Ricketts asked that the Economic Development Commission look at the urban area "to see if it hinders or helps their efforts."
"To see if they have areas they think we have left out," added Mayor Abernathy.
Lovelace emphasized exploring the needs in the urban planning area was not about controlling growth but managing growth.
"Setting the stage so we have some basic foundation" to handle it whatever happens, he explained.
Members of the joint session agreed to meet next at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 21, at Mary Bethune Complex in Halifax.
Supervisors also set a Thursday, May 27, work session on the budget. They also agreed to set a work session date on the Confined Animal Feeding Ordinance at their next meeting.
In other business, following the joint towns session county supervisors voted six to one - Supervisor Robbie Smart opposing - to appropriate $30,000 for Scottsburg for repair of their water/sewer system.
The contract calls for $30,000 at 4 percent interest for three years with payments of $885.72 per month and the Board will write the check after Scottsburg Town Council enters into the contract.
---A contract was awarded Rowe Insulation & Window Co. to insulate the attic area above the gymnasium at Mary Bethune Complex and Recovery Drilling Service was awarded a contract for work at the landfill to vent methane gas.
Supervisors also approved a resolution of support of South Boston businessman John Cannon for the Governor's Workforce Preparedness Commission. The supervisors' action was in support of his nomination by Southside Economic Development Partnership.
Following executive session, county administrator Dan Sleeper said supervisors agreed to make an offer of purchase for a piece of property near the landfill for the protection of the landfill. The land is owned by John David Jones and Jeanette Jones.

Heading toward the June 8 filing deadline, one supervisor announced he would not seek re-election; a South Boston councilman said he would seek the ED-8 supervisor's post; and the county's commonwealth's attorney announced he would seek re-election.
Supervisor W.A. "Bill" Abbott, ED-4, announced yesterday he would not seek re-election citing family, business and farming demands on this time.
South Boston councilman W.C. "Corky" Rorrer Jr. announced he would seek the ED-8 post being vacated by R.L. "Robbie" Smart. Rorrer is running as an Independent.
"As a current member of South Boston Town Council, I hope to bring a new and different perspective to the Board of Supervisors," said Rorrer in a prepared statement.
Commonwealth's Attorney John Greenbacker is seeking the Republican Party's nomination in his bid for the office he has held since 1988. The GOP Mass Meeting is scheduled next week.
"My platform remains the same: I will continue to fully prosecute all persons fairly accused of committing crimes in this jurisdiction," said Greenbacker in a prepared statement.
"I believe that the achievement of equal justice under law requires that all legitimate criminal cases be pursued without fear or favor.
"That means that you shouldn't short change the rights of the victim or the needs of the community because the defendant is well regarded or his attorney prominent. This has been and remains by abiding philosophy as a prosecutor," said the commonwealth's attorney.
Noting "a dramatic decrease" in homicides and gun-related violence since the last election, Greenbacker said he prosecuted 13 homicides in 1997, three of which were attributable to one capital murderer currently serving a life sentence. Only one homicide indictment was prosecuted in 1998, and one to date in 1999, according to the prosecutor.
"While this is encouraging, I believe it would be foolish for us to ascribe it to other than the cyclical nature of crime," continued Greenbacker. "Homicide may have decreased, but there has been a 60 percent increase overall in felony offenses prosecuted in this county from 1996 to 1998, reflecting an explosion of 'drug related' larcenies, forgeries and burglaries."
The commonwealth's attorney said, "Cocaine and alcohol remain the primary catalysts of criminality."
He vowed to continue advocating the strengthening of the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Guidelines for cocaine distribution, repeat-offender property crimes, high-dollar thefts and for a more effective juvenile justice system.
"I appreciate the support I have received from so many in our community, and I hope to have your support at the polls," closed Greenbacker.
In announcing his bid for the Election District 8 seat, twice-elected city councilman Rorrer said he plans to keep his seat on town council "unless or until I am elected to the Board of Supervisors."
Encouraged to run my family, friends and members of South Boston Council, Rorrer said he hopes "to bring a new and different perspective" to the Board. "While I feel that recent months have brought an improved relationship between the Board and Town Council, I hope my unique relationship with both will foster an even stronger sense of cooperation."
In announcing his decision not to seek re-election, Abbott said the decision had been a very difficult one and that he had enjoyed most aspects of the position.
"However at this point in my life, there are just not enough hours in the day to adequately meet the demands of family, business, farming and county matters," said the supervisor.
The Halifax businessman said he was in the planning stages of a major renovation of Abbott Farm Suppliers. For the next few years, Abbott said he could not "devote the necessary time and energy serving on the Board of Supervisors requires."
"I do think that in the future there will come a time when I will be able to serve the county again and would welcome the opportunity."
With five seats up on the Board of Supervisors, Earl Watts in Ed-5, Garland Ricketts in ED-7, and R.E. "Dickie" Abbott in ED-1 have announced re-elections bids. Ricketts and Abbott are running as Independents. Watts is seeking office under the GOP banner and faces opposition for Independent candidate James E. Edmunds II.

It will be up to a Halifax County Grand Jury to decide if an elderly Charlotte County woman charged with killing a fellow resident at Berry Hill Nursing Home last month will be tried for second degree murder in Halifax County Circuit Court some time this fall.
During a preliminary hearing in Halifax County General District Court Monday, Judge Joel C. Cunningham certified second degree murder charges against 76-year-old Lillie Stanley Redd, of Evergreen Road, Charlotte Court House, who was charged with killing Mary P. Perkins, 90, at Berry Hill Nursing Home April 9.
According to reports from the South Boston Police Department, the two women, who were both residents of the South Boston nursing home at the time, were arguing in a common area near one of the nursing stations when Mrs. Redd allegedly pushed Mrs. Perkins, causing her to fall to the ground and hit her head.

Nurses in the area reportedly heard a commotion and rushed in to find Mrs. Perkins lying on the floor. A doctor was called shortly after the 7 p.m. incident, and the victim, who suffered a severe head injury, was taken to Halifax Regional Hospital where she died almost nine hours later at 3:45 a.m. April 10.
Following an investigation by Lt. Rick Loftis and Investigator Brian K. Lovelace with the South Boston Police Department, Mrs. Redd, who returned to her home in Charlotte Court House following the incident, was arrested at her home by Charlotte County Deputy R. Lawson, Lt. Loftis, and South Boston Police Officer Wanda Garner April 13.

Mrs. Redd remains free on $5,000 bond.
According to Ms. Redd's lawyer, Halifax County Pubic Defender Buddy Ward, if the Grand Jury, which meets again in July, finds sufficient evidence to indict Mrs. Redd, a trial date will probably set for some time in September or October.

Halifax County Circuit Court Judge Charles L. McCormick III denied a motion to reduce the $75,000 secured bond set for a Belize man arrested on drug charges earlier this month.
Alexander Findley Monsanto AKA Alex Jordan Monsanto AKA Alexander Maxwell Coleman, 35, from Belize, was arrested May 6 and charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine after the Halifax/South Boston Regional Narcotics Enforcement Task Force executed a search warrant at 502 Cardinal Court in South Boston where he was staying.
During the raid agents reportedly seized a substantial amount of crack cocaine, marijuana, cash, documents and proceeds from an alleged illegal drug operation in South Boston.
At the time of the arrest, agents said that additional charges are anticipated against Monsanto. As this investigation continues, future arrests and seizures of assets reportedly are anticipated of coconspirators and associates of Monsanto, including his base of narcotics customers.
Monsanto was initially jailed in the Blue Ridge Regional Adult Detention Center in Halifax, but following his arraignment May 7, his bond was reduced to $10,000.
That evening, the Department of Immigration and Naturalization placed a detainer on Monsanto as an alleged illegal alien. His bond was subsequently increased to $75,000.
Monsanto's lawyer, Halifax County Public Defender made a motion in Halifax County Circuit Court Monday to reduce the $75,000 bond back to $10,000, but due to the circumstances surrounding Monsanto's arrest and the nature of the investigation and other factors, McCormick denied this motion.
In other cases, McCormick revoked a South Boston mans unsecured personal recognizance bond and remanded him to jail for violating the conditions of his release.
Lester Dontrell Lawson, 18, of Cherry Hill Church Road, South Boston, who was facing charges of grand larceny and embezzlement and released May 4 on a personal recognizance bond, was remanded to jail after McCormick ruled that he had not remained of good behavior.
· Max Morgan Jenkins, 38, of the Westside Village Apartments in South Boston, pleaded no contest to charges of possession of cocaine and possession of marijuana and was found guilty.
He will be sentenced during the July Circuit Court term following an evaluation.
Jenkins was remanded to the Blue Ridge Regional Adult Detention Center in Halifax.
· Herman Louis Thaxton, 45, of Gravitt Street, South Boston, entered an Alford Plea to two counts of distribution of cocaine, conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was found guilty.
He will remain free on bond until his sentencing date in July.
· Johnnie Loumeril Barksdale, 32, of Jeffress Street, South Boston, entered a plea of no contest to charges of driving after being declared an habitual offender (subsequent offense) and was found guilty.
McCormick sentenced him to 12 months in jail and authorized work release.
Barksdale was remanded to the Blue Ridge Regional Adult Detention Center in Halifax.
· George Myers Breedlove, 34, of Route 1, Nathalie, pleaded guilty and was found guilty of forgery and uttering.
He was to remain free on bond until a presentencing report was presented in July, but was remanded to the Blue Ridge Regional Adult Detention on other charges.
· Eddie Clark, 35, of Bane Street, South Boston, pleaded guilty and was found guilty of operating a motor vehicle after being declared an habitual offender.
He remains free on bond until his sentencing date in July.
· Christopher Mark Clay, 24, of Liberty Road, Nathalie, pleaded guilty and was found guilty of one count of writing bad checks.
He was released on bond until his sentencing in July.

Halifax County investigators have ruled out foul play in a camper-trailer fire that claimed a man's life in Oak Level last Wednesday. The cause of the fire, however, remains undetermined.
According to William Clark, assistant fire chief of the Oak Level VFD, John Elmo Lloyd Jr., 47, apparently succumbed to smoke inhalation when the camper-trailer in which he was sleeping caught fire shortly before midnight May 12.

When firefighters arrived at the scene, the camper-trailer, located behind a residence on Pine Ridge Road in the Vernon Hill community, was already fully engulfed.
The small camper burned so completely and so quickly that investigators have been unable to determine the source of the blaze.
Officials were unsure if anyone was inside, but neighbors informed them they had seen Lloyd enter the camper earlier that night around 9 p.m.
When firefighters encountered the body laying on what they believed was a mattress, they immediately called in the Halifax County Sheriff's Office and the Rescue Squad.
Williams said because of the intensity of the fire and the camper's proximity to the residence, firefighters sprayed the house to prevent the fire from spreading to the larger structure.

By JOHN ROGERS
Associated Press Writer
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - When the history of 21st century farming is written, one of the milestones noted might be the day the farmer himself joined his mule in the march to obsolescence, replaced by a robot.
Or maybe not.
''I don't know whether we'll have robots out there on our tractors or not. That's maybe far-fetched,'' Eldon Cole of the University of Missouri said, laughing.

''But,'' the livestock specialist continued, ''I think anything that can take the labor out of agricultural production, that's what we'll be looking at.''
Thus, he and other experts say to expect more breakthroughs in high-tech fields involving satellites and computers.
Satellites already can tell farmers exactly how much manure or pesticide to use on a field to obtain the best results. And in the future, they will probably do a better job of forecasting the weather as well, said Dan Cassidy of the Missouri Farm Bureau.
Another area where breakthroughs are expected is in genetics.
''Research will lead the way with specialized varieties of crops,'' Cole said. ''Crops that can withstand different types of environment.''
They'll also be able to resist diseases and pests, Cassidy said, and thrive on fewer nutrients.
Cassidy also sees genetics playing a big role in livestock production, although Cole is more cautious in trying to guess what will happen there.
''We've had a good bit of debate, and I sure don't know where this is headed, but we have the cloning thing in livestock,'' he said.
While he added that he does expect cloning to be used to at least some degree, he suspects it will be done ''with some self control.''
Even without it, farmers are already breeding leaner, meatier animals, and Cassidy said he expects that to continue.
All of this, the experts say, should result in a 21st century farm that produces more food than its 20th century counterpart.
In 1930, one American farmer was producing enough food to feed 9.8 people, a figure that had risen to 128 people by 1988. Expect that to rise even more in the years ahead, Cole and Cassidy said.
''People in agriculture feel that in the 21st century we do have the potential to keep on producing more food,'' Cole said. ''But we want to quickly add that we also want to get paid for it.''
''Right now,'' he continued, ''agriculture is kind of in the pits, as far as farmers getting adequate returns for their food.''
That could be corrected, he said, if more foreign markets for American food open up in the years ahead.
''Certainly, there are hungry people in this world who need our food,'' he said. ''Sometimes we can give it to them, but by and large it has to be a financial reward for the person producing it.''
Which brings up one of the biggest questions on the minds of those in Missouri agriculture, and that is just who that producer will be.

The last years of the 20th century saw the rise of huge corporate hog and poultry farms in Missouri, a trend Cole said has many small cattle and dairy farmers worried that they might eventually be squeezed out of business by big operators producing more food at a lower price.
''One concern that the farmers I run into all seem to have ... is who will be a farmer,'' Cole said. ''Agriculture does have a very bright future. The question is who is going to control agriculture.''

Alma Clark Howerton of 1075 Snow Hill Road, Alton died Monday, May 17, 1999 at her home. She was 83 years of age.
Mrs. Howerton was born May 2, 1916 in Halifax County the daughter of Roland Jackson Clark and Minnie Whitlow Clark and was married to Luther Cage Howerton. She was a member of Cedar Grove United Methodist Church.
Graveside services will be held at Halifax Memorial Gardens Thursday, May 20 at 11 a.m. with Rev. Daryl Joyce officiating.
Survivors of Mrs. Howerton include one sister, Edna C. Green of South Boston; a special friend, Sue Williamson of Alton; and a number of nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband and eight brothers.
The family will receive friends this evening, May 19 from 7 until 8:30 at Brooks Funeral Home, and other times at the home.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider Cedar Grove United Methodist Church or Hospice Support Care of Southside Virginia, PO Box 1355, Halifax, VA 24558.