Uranium Mining ‘Call To Arms’ Thursday

Who decides whether the people of Southside should have to endure uranium mining and its impacts on human health and our environment – the citizens of Southside Virginia, or the corporate officers of Virginia Uranium Inc.? SCC Chairman Jack Dunavant

That’s the question that will be posed to citizens and elected officials of the Southside communities directly affected by the proposed mine in Pittsylvania County during a 7 p.m. Thursday meeting in Halifax County High School’s auditorium.
Presenting the case for decision-making by the people will be constitutional attorney Ben Price and Shireen Parsons, the projects director and the Virginia community organizer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), a nonprofit, community-interest law firm.
Since 1995, the Legal Defense Fund has assisted community groups and local governments in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia and New Jersey to draft municipal ordinances that prohibit corporate activities determined by the citizens to be a threat to their health, safety, environment and quality of life, according to a CELDF prepared release.
Municipalities that have asserted their right to self-governance by adopting such ordinances have tackled issues including long-wall mining, ground water withdrawals, factory farms, sewage sludge and corporate waste dumping, according to CELDF officials.
“Just government exists only with the consent of the governed,” reminded CELDF officials in outlining the case.
“Some who distrust democracy argue that it is ‘beyond the authority’ of communities to make governing decisions and pass laws on such issues,” according to Price. “They assert it is up to the state, or the ‘experts’ to decide what’s best for the people, the ecology, and future generations of Virginians, and that a centralized system of decision-making is ‘more efficient.’
“But that’s not the model of decision-making and self-government envisioned by the American Revolutionaries who signed their names to a bold statement of community rights that asserted: “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.
“Clearly, when people are governed by powers derived, not from their consent, but from some other force, governing power is separated from justice,” noted the attorney.
“Those who disparage the people and their decision-making ability pretend that compliance and obedience are necessary in service of the greater good, for an abstract ideological concept, or for ‘homeland security.’ But security really begins at home,” said Parsons.
“If our communities are not secure, if we, the people are stripped of our rights of self-determination and self-government, if the health of our children can be jeopardized in service of corporate profits and the political security of those who decide for us, how can we say the nation will be secure? Homeland security begins at home – if our communities are not secure, the nation cannot be secure.
“Regulating is not governing,” said Parsons.
“State regulatory agencies issue permits for activities that are detrimental to communities across Virginia, and the people in those communities are prevented by their own elected representatives from corporate assaults that promise gradual but complete destruction.
“Citizens are told they can regulate the rate of destruction by advocating for the strict enforcement of permissive regulations. But to regulate harm is to allow it, while merely attempting to limit the severity. To regulate is not to govern,” Price emphasized. “The people have an inalienable right to self-government, not a limited right to mitigate harms. If the people are denied their inalienable right to self-government in the communities where they live, they have it nowhere at all.”
The time for action is now, mining opponents urge.
The Thursday evening presentation will bring the necessity for action to the forefront, according to sponsors.
“Gathering data, writing to legislators, petitioning regulatory agencies, testifying at public hearings – these are not self-governing activities, but grievance procedures,” warned Price. “There is no hero waiting in the wings to save our communities from ruin. We are the ones we have been waiting for. Our time has come. There is no time to lose.”

Supervisors Meet With Town Councils Tuesday

Members of the board of supervisors will have an opportunity to meet Halifax County Service Authority (HCSA) Director William E. “Willie” Jones during its Tuesday evening joint meeting with the towns of South Boston and Halifax that gets under way at 6 p.m. in the Mary Bethune Office Complex.
Jones, a Gladys resident, joined the HCSA from the Bedford County Public Service Authority, where he served as executive director since 1987.
Prior to his Bedford County PSA position, he worked as Brookneal’s public works director.
During the joint meeting, supervisors and town council members will discuss the combination of transportation safety committees as well as receive an update on the status of the county’s transfer station.
The new solid waste transfer station will be built off Plywood Trail at an estimated cost of $1.2 million.
County officials anticipate the project will take approximately six months to construct.
Draper Aden Associates of Blacksburg is the engineering firm charged with development of the solid waste transfer station to be built on a wooded lot adjacent to the Norfolk Southern Railroad.
Architectural drawings call for the 10,000 square-foot two-level pre-engineered metal building featuring three bay doors to be fully enclosed.
Similar transfer stations have been built in Danville, Martinsville, Bedford City, and in the Richmond and Roanoke areas, according to County Administrator Bryan Foster.
Once constructed, the transfer station will primarily be used by the county and towns that provide commercial use garbage collection, but will not be available for use by individual residents.
The transfer station will operate from 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7-9:30 a.m. on Saturdays, ending its day in time to make the last haul to Mecklenburg before the regional landfill closes.
Six to eight tractor-trailer loads filled with between 100 to 140 tons of trash are expected to pass through the transfer station each day with a typical tractor hauling an average 20 tons per load to the regional landfill.
After the joint meeting is adjourned, supervisors will reconvene to discuss the transfer station bid that was due to be awarded Jan. 8.
Appointments also are slated to be made to the recreation committee, economic development council, planning commission, industrial development authority, William M. Tuck Airport commission, board of zoning appeals and Lake Country Area Agency on Aging.
Supervisors are expected to go into closed session to discuss a prospective business or industry or the expansion of an existing business or industry at the conclusion of the meeting.

Griffin Named Library Director

Rhonda H. Griffin will begin her duties as director of the Halifax County – South Boston Regional Library on April 1.
Griffin, who is currently systems administrator for Hyconeechee Regional Library in Hillsborough, North Carolina, brings 22 years of public library experience to the job.
Library board chairperson Barbara Speece, who also chaired the Search Committee for the new director, said “The Halifax County-South Boston Library Board is extremely pleased to welcome Rhonda Griffin to our staff. “In addition to an outstanding career in library work in different capacities and systems, Mrs. Griffin brings enthusiasm and energy to continue to provide the citizens in our community the best library services, delivered both via paper and technology,” added Speece. “The transition from our current director, Paul Johnson, has been smooth due to the careful planning of Mr. Johnson and our board. Paul is an excellent director for our system, and he will certainly be missed when he retires. “
Johnson is retiring at the end of April after 18 years with the library system. About his successor, he said, “Rhonda Griffin will be an outstanding library director, with up-to-date skills and knowledge that prepare her for all the challenges of a rapidly changing profession.”
Griffin looks forward to the job.
“I am excited to accept the position of director of the Halifax/South Boston Regional Library,” she said. “As a native of Danville, I have had the honor of being involved with the Halifax/South Boston area for a number of years, including working with the regional library through my previous position in the Danville Public Library. Some of my family members, also, have worked in the Halifax/South Boston area. My sister, Bethanie Tucker, spent several years as a teacher in the Halifax County Public School System, and my father, Buster Hamlett, was proud to serve in the 29th Army Infantry Division, headquartered in South Boston during World War II.
“I look forward to continuing to serve this great community by working with the library board, staff, local officials, and Friends of the Library to provide library services to the people of Halifax and South Boston,” said the incoming director.
Griffin completed her Masters in Library Science last year at North Carolina Central University. She began her library work as a part-time page at the Danville Public Library as a teenager. Prior to her present position she was the Head of Circulation in Danville for three years, a period when Halifax County shared Danville’s automated circulation system. Thus she has long been familiar with this area’s library system and community.
The new library director is a lifelong resident of the Danville area and makes her home in Pelham, N.C., with her husband, John, a registered nurse, and their two daughters.

Obituaries

Eunice Elizabeth Banks
Eunice Elizabeth Banks, 67, of Paterson, N.J. died December 20, 2007, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Passaic, N.J.
Ms. Banks was born in Halifax County on July 29, 1940, the daughter of James L. Banks Sr. and Amanda Majors Banks.
Survivors include four daughters, Sophia Banks-Benjamin of Norfolk, Donna Banks of White Plains, Md., Dawn Banks-Waller of Waldorf, Md. And Karen Banks-Jones of Apple Valley, Minn.; two brothers, James Jr. and Jesse Banks, both of South Boston; one great aunt, Sarah J. Burns of South Boston; nine grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; three special cousins, Sandy Davis-Johnson, Audrey Davis-Sehon and Queen Miller Davis; two special girlfriends, Agatha Chalmers and Evira Martin, both of Passaic; and other relatives and friends.
One sister, Mildred B. Crawley, also preceded her in death.
Cremation services were conducted by the Madonna Multicultural Home for Funerals in Passaic County, N.J.
A private burial will be at Halifax Memorial Gardens.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider the American Lung Cancer Society at www.lungusa.org.

Wilkins, Blount, Crouse Inducted Into Virginia Motorsports Hall Of Fame

By Joe Chandler
Sports Editor
Little did the late E.B. “Buck” Wilkins and the late Dave Blount know that what started out as what Wilkins called “a spur of the moment” project would have such a big impact on their community and NASCAR racing.
Wilkins and Blount, who, along with former partner Louis Spencer, constructed and opened South Boston Speedway in August 1957, and South Boston Speedway’s first NASCAR Modified Division champion, the late Eddie Crouse of Glen Allen were inducted into the Virginia Motorsports Hall of Fame Saturday night during a ceremony held as part of the annual South Boston Speedway Awards Banquet.
Jenny Wilkins, wife of the late Buck Wilkins, and Tommy Blount and Reya Roller, the son and daughter of the late Dave Blount, accepted the posthumous honors for the deceased recipients. Carolyn Crouse, wife of the late Eddie Crouse, accepted the posthumous honor for the late champion driver.
The induction of Wilkins, Blount and Crouse bring the number of Virginia Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductees to ten. Wilkins and Blount are the first two South Boston residents to be inducted into Virginia Motorsports Hall of Fame. The trio are also the first individuals to be inducted into the Virginia Motorsports Hall of Fame in three years.
Previous inductees into the Virginia Motorsports Hall of Fame include the late Wendell Scott of Danville, the late Ray Hendrick of Richmond, the late H. Clay Earles of Martinsville and the late Paul Sawyer of Richmond, all of whom were inducted in 2003.
Longtime former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car owner Junie Donlavey of Richmond, and Glen and Leonard Wood of Stuart were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004.
Wilkins and Blount, who were partners in a Halifax County construction business, built South Boston Speedway in 1957 on a site that was known as the McRae Farm, opening its doors for the first time in August 1957.
In a story published a little over 10 years ago in the Gazette-Virginian, Wilkins said that the McRae Farm was not purchased with the idea of building a racetrack.
“We didn’t buy the farm with that (building a race track) in mind,” Wilkins stated.
“I really don’t remember how we came to do it. I think there was a racetrack up near Republican Grove and they were having some pretty big crowds up there. I guess we figured that if they could do it up there we could do it better down here.”
Wilkins noted in the story that it took about a year to plan and build the quarter mile dirt oval that was the original South Boston Speedway. Spencer was a partner in the venture for a brief period before Wilkins and Blount bought him out.
The ironic part, Wilkins said in that story, was that getting into stock car racing was a blind project for the pair.
“The first race that we saw were the first laps that they raced on our own track,” Wilkins was quoted as saying in that story.
Jimmy Holland of Republican Grove emerged as the winner of the first race at South Boston Speedway, picking up the win in front of what was described as an overflow crowd of approximately 1,500 fans.
“I remember we didn’t have enough change to sell tickets with that night,” Wilkins said, “and I went over to town (to South Boston) and got some change. When I came back, there was so much traffic I had a hard time getting back to the racetrack. There was more traffic than we had any idea that there would be on that first night.”
Because the season was late getting started, there were only about a half a dozen races at the South Boston Speedway that first year. But, there were good car counts and good crowds, leaving Wilkins and company with the notion that their venture into racing was a success.
For 25 years, with the exception of a brief span in the mid-1970’s when the track was leased to the late C.C. “Clem” Chandler, Blount and Wilkins made South Boston Speedway one of the most successful and well-known short tracks in NASCAR.
Today, more than 50 years later, South Boston Speedway is recognized as one of the premier short tracks operating under the NASCAR banner. Many of racing’s legendary drivers including Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, David Pearson, Joe Weatherly, Wendell Scott, Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt competed here at South Boston Speedway.
The track is also noted as the track where a number of top NASCAR stars including former Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton, Jeff Burton, Elliott Sadler, Stacy Compton cut their racing teeth.
Bill Dyer, who worked for Blount and Wilkins for 15 years in public relations and marketing, presented the pair for induction during Saturday’s ceremony.
“Dave’s expertise as a promotor and Buck’s expertise as a business partner paved the way for a successful partnership that lasted until Dave’s death in 1982,” Dyer noted.
“It was a long and successful ride for the two partners who built a racetrack on a whim over 50 years ago.”
Dyer finished his presentation by calling out the names of the previous seven inductees into the Virginia Motorsports Hall Of Fame. He noted that, “none, absoloutely none, are more deserving than Dave Blount and Buck Wilkins.”
Eddie Crouse
Crouse was a key figure not only in the history of South Boston Speedway but also in the history of NASCAR.
The cigar-chewing resident of Glen Allen, who drove the well-known “Flying 11” Chevrolet coupe co-owned by Jack Tant and Clayton Mitchell for a period of time, was one of the early stars at South Boston Speedway where he won numerous races.
Crouse was South Boston Speedway’s first NASCAR Modified champion, winning the title in 1960, the year that South Boston Speedway joined NASCAR. He finished second to Johnny Roberts of Baltimore, Md. in the chase for the 1961 NASCAR national Modified championship and came back to win the NASCAR national Modified championship in 1962 and 1963.
The Glen Allen resident competed in over 100 races a season in each of those three seasons.
Bill Mangum, who presented Crouse for induction, told the audience that Crouse said competing on dirt was a feeling that he wished future drivers could experience. He also said he once drove a race with vice-grip pliars holding the steering wheel on. “Today,” Mangum said, “they park them.”
Mangum reminded the audience that back in Crouse’s day, when a driver competed for a national championship, he would race everywhere from Daytona Beach, Fla. to New England.
“You would run against the best of the best that was on dirt,” he noted.
A crowd-favorite for his pedal-to-the-metal driving style, Crouse, who passed away in 2004 at the age of 78, is remembered as one of South Boston Speedway’s and NASCAR’s racing legends.

Shooting Woes Doom Comets

By Joe Chandler
Sports Editor
Despite an inability to make free throws, hit open shots and rebound, the Halifax County High School varsity boys basketball team gave William Fleming a good tussle for the first 20 minutes of Friday night’s Western Valley District contest in Roanoke.
When the Colonels finally started capitalizing midway in the third quarter, they did it in a big way. The final result was a big 61-27 win for William Fleming which improved to 11-3overall and 3-1 in Western Valley District play to remain within a game of district leader GW in the district standings.
“You can look at the score and see it’s a blow out but we were in the mix,” said Comets coach Lynn Ramage.
“We were right there.”
Ramage’s game-plan to slow down William Fleming’s potent offense and keep the score relatively low worked well at the outset.The game was tied at 6-6 with just over two and a half minutes left in the first quarter and Fleming held a 15-9 lead at the end of the first eight-minute quarter.
Even when Halifax County (10-6 overall, 1-3 district) scored only five points in the second quarter, they managed to keep the contest reasonably close.
Michael Ferrell, who scored 15 of his team’s 29 points in the game, hit a three-pointer to end a two-minute-plus scoring drought to open the second quarter to bring the Comets to within six points at 18-12. Despite scoring only two points the rest of the first half, those coming on a pair of free throws from Russell White. the Comets trailed by only nine points, 23-14, at halftime.
That, in itself could have been taken as a good omen at the time as the Comets were a paltry 4-21 from the floor in the first half including 2-12 in three-point shot attempts. Had it not been for a 4-7 effort from the charity stripe, things would have been even worse for the Comets.
Eventually, though, the Comets’ poor shooting, their inability to make lay-ups and an inability to box out well enough to keep the bigger, athletic William Fleming quintet off of the boards for second and third shots.
With the same problems that plagued them in the first continuing in the second half, the Comets struggled to stay within 10 points of the Colonels in the opening minutes of the third quarter. A lay-up by the Comets’ Deshon Dabbs allowed the Comets to cut the Fleming lead to eight points at 28-20 with 3:55 left in the third quarter.
Then, Fleming finally broke the game open.
A 9-0 run by the Colonels in a span of two minutes and 11 seconds put Fleming up 37-20 with 1:28 left in the quarter. Even with four points in the final 58 seconds of the quarter, the Comets found themselves trailing 42-24 at the end of the third quarter.
Fleming sealed the game with a 10-0 run in the first 2:23 of the fourth quarter, a run that pushed the Colonels’ lead to 52-24.
Ferrell scored the first points of the fourth quarter for the Comets with a three-pointer with 4:26 left to make the score 52-27. The only other basket the Comets scored in the fourth quarter was a lay-up by Jeremy Dixon with six saeconds left in the game.
Poor shooting, missing free throws at key points in the game and not boxing out well on the boards took its toll on the Comets in the second half.
“It’s ‘the big three,’” Ramage pointed out.
“We’re not making the clutch free throws, we’re missing lay-ups and we’re giving them (opponents) second-shot opportunities.We’ve been plagued with that all year. You can do anything you want to, but when you get to district play, you’ve gotto make free throws on the road, you have to make lay-ups and you’ve got to hit open shots. If you can’t do that, you’re not going to beat anybody.
“I thought we had a good week of (practice in) boxing out,” added Ramage.
“We did improve, but, those guys (William Fleming) getting two or three shots per chance increases their chances of getting shots.”
Ramage noted that his game plan appeared to work well.
“I thought we had a good game plan,” said the Comets coach.
“I thought we did a good job of executing it early. We held them down. Offensively, they didn’t take away anything from us. We just couldn’t hit shots.”

Barker Reaps Top Honors At SBS Awards Banquet

By Joe Chandler
Sports Editor
Adam Barker had what many competitors would characterize as a storybook season in 2007 at South Boston Speedway.
The young driver from Hurt won his first career NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division feature race in the second race of the season, added nine more wins before the season ended and won the South Boston Speedway NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock car Division crown.
Barker, who won 10 of the track’s 18 points races last season, reaped the rewards from his championship season Saturday night, taking home $14,965 in prize money and awards he received during the annual South Boston Speedway Awards Banquet.
A total of $70,000 in cash and awards were presented to competitors during the awards ceremony held in the Chastain Theater of The Prizery.
“This makes everything sink in,” Barker said.
“It’s by far the biggest accomplishment I’ve had in my racing career and I’ve got a whole lot people to thank for that. It’s a very big deal with all of the “name” drivers that have raced here like Ward Burton, Stacy Compton, the Sadler, and Jeff Burton. All of those guys used to race here. To put my name on that list is a big deal.”
Barker, his team owner, NASCAR driver Stacy Compton and his crew chief, Neil Perkins of Nathalie, made for a potent combination in the 2007 season. The 10 wins was the tops in the division. Not only that, his eight pole position wins and 1,444 laps led were division highs for the season.
“It’s been an outstanding year and we’ve been fortunate to run the way we did, ”Barker said.
“The first time Neil and I paired together we set a new track record in qualifying. The next weekend we won our first race. Then, we won nine after that.”
Barker said the fact that he had virtually no mechanical failures during the season was a big factor in his success.
“I think we broke in only race,” Barker said.
“That’s the reason we’re here tonight as the champions. I’m so fortunate to have been able to be in the car I had and driving for somebody as great as Stacy Compton and working with somebody as smart as Neil Perkins. They did everything they could to make me win. They want to win just as much as I do. It’s a hard combination to beat.
While Barker was able to build a solid lead in the points standings, he had to withstand a late rally by Ford driver Wayne Ramsey of Amherst, who dominated the last portion of the season in winning the last four points races and closed the final gap in the points standings to 18 points.
“Wayne Ramsey did a heck of a job,” Barker remarked.
“He was there all year. At the end of the year we didn’t have anything for him. We tried all we knew how to do but we just couldn’t catch him.”
Other Late Model Stock Car Division drivers honored in addition to Barker were Ramsey, veteran Eddie Johnson of Midlothian, C.E. Falk III of Virginia Beach and David Triplett Jr. of Timberlake, N.C., who took second through fifthplace respectively in the division points standings.
In the Limited Sportsman Division, it was South Boston driver Bruce Anderson, who won his second straight Limited Sportsman Division title in 2007, taking home the bulk of the honors.
Along with the awards he received for winning the championship, Anderson received awards for the most wins, most pole position wins and most laps led.
Division runner-up Danny Willis Jr. of Cluster Springs, Brian Pembleton of Amelia, Lee Pulliam of Semora, N.C. and Timmy Langford of Amelia were presented awards for finishing second through fifth in the division points standings.
Chuck Watkins of Stem, N.C., who won his second straight championship in the Pure Stock Division also received multiple honors. In addition to the awards for winning the division title, he also received the award for winning the most pole positions in the division.
Halifax resident Mark Francisco, Joey Throckmorton of Scottsburg, William Ridgeway of Burlington, N.C. and Quain Moore of Callands received awards for finishing second through fifth in the division points standings.
Throckmorton was presented the awards for having the most race wins and leading the most laps in the division.
Randy Smith of Bassett, who won the championship in the Southern Vintage Modified Division, was also honored Saturday night. The 2007 season marked the first time that the division had been included among South Boston Speedway’s regular four track divisions.
A number of special awards were also presented the during the annual event. Most Improved Driver Awards were presented to Falk in the Late Model Stock Car Division, Terri Marks of Capron in the Limited Sportsman Division and to Justin Tucker of Elon, N.C. in the Pure Stock Division.
Rodney Cook of Reidsville, N.C. in the Late Model Stock Car Division, Willis in the Limited Sportsman Division and Throckmorton in the Pure Stock Division received Most Popular Driver Awards.
Sportsmanship Award winners included Ramsey in the Late Model Stock Car Division, rookie George Spencer of Halifax in the Limited Sportsman Division and Courtney Crosby of Scottsburg in the Pure Stock Division.
Matt Lofton of Timberlake, N.C., in the Late Model Stock Car Division, Pulliam in the Limited Sportsman Division and Melissa Daniel of South Boston, Va. in the Pure Stock Division received Rookie of the Year honors.
The annual Goo Fallen Spirit Award, named in honor of late Halifax County businessman and race team owner, Floyd “Goo” Fallen of South Boston, was awarded to Owen Miller of Emporia, who finished sixth in the Late Model Stock Car Division points standings.
Craig Turlington, the crew chief for Late Model Stock Car Division competitor Scott Turlington of Richmond, was presented the Craftsman Mechanic of the Year Award.
In addition to the competitors who compete in South Boston Speedway’s four NASCAR racing divisions, the champions of the five competitor groups of the Halifax County Motorsports Academy Karting Program were recognized.
The group included students Jenna Elliott, Brittany Crews, Austin Thaxton, Brent Younger and Matthew Wilborn.